I still stand by my statement that we’re bringing the good weather!! We’re currently about an hour north of Brisbane, staying with my grandparents in a beach apartment in Maroochadore. I love the beach, and where we are staying could not be closer to the waterfront; it’s quite literally across the road – hurrah!!
When we arrived in Brisbane, it was fairly grey and there was a definite threat of rain, however give it one night and we’re right back up to 30 degrees and cloudless skies – double hurrah! Thanks Sunshine Coast!! Being here Queensland is so nice for me as we get to spend some time with my family; my grandparents Eric and Stella, my aunt Diana, and I am just meeting my uncle Billy and his fiancé Del for the first time. Living on opposite sides of the world, family reunions are rare to come by, so we are making the most of the opportunity.
After a relatively quiet first day in the Sunshine Coast, we made sure to be up early the next day to get to the beach before the sun got too hot to enjoy. It was so nice just to walk across the road and be on the seafront, so all we took was sunglasses and a towel. I didn’t even get into the sea at this point, I just laid on the sand and prayed for a tan, but I made a vow that I would definitely swim in the sea the next day. A little later, Billy and Del drove Saf and I to Mooloolaba, a quirky little sea front town where we found all kinds of treats – coffee, gelato and candy.
By the time we returned, we still had the full afternoon ahead of us, so we walked along the beach to the Maroochadore Surf Club, where we ordered drinks and fries from the bar while watching the surfers outside. (P.S. We also saw a tiny pug.)
The minute we walked back through the main door of the apartment building, the skies opened and the heaviest rain started to fall. We could not have timed it better. Billy and Del braved the rain and headed off home, while Eric, Stella and the two of us sat on the balcony overlooking the ocean and drinking red wine. Stella told us the story of how they met, and Eric and Saf discussed politics till the stars came out. We had made plans to Skype my family as it was Elliott’s birthday a couple of days ago, so we managed to get through long enough for sufficient jokes to be made about the Australian cricket team #sandpapergate
The next morning was beautiful again, so we dragged ourselves out of bed and down to the sea. The water wasn’t too bad so it didn’t take long to get in (much quicker than my usual 20 minute charade of dipping one toe in, screaming that it’s too cold and running back out again). I’m pretty sure I did some swimming at one point, but a lot of it was just me flapping about in the giant waves. Whatever, I had a good time.
Eric had planned to take us to the Sunshine Coast’s Sea Life centre, so having dried off in the sun, we made our way there together. The aquarium has two main attractions; the ocean tunnel and the seal show. We inadvertently timed both to perfection, as while we were walking through the ocean tunnel which housed various sharks, rays and groupers, three divers entered the tank ready to feed the giant fish. This was an odd sight – the aquarium staff had packed boxes full of fish on sticks that they used to poke the food into the fishes mouths. At first, the fish were all going for it, but after a while they started to lose interest in the offerings. A little further on in the tanks, the rays were hoovering up hundreds of tiny whitebait from the tank floor.
Once we’d seen enough dismembered fish heads and guts floating around, we headed to the seal arena to get ready for the show. We arrived in just enough time to find good seats and some popcorn before the show started. The girl doing the presentation explained that the seals in the aquarium had all been rescued from various life-threatening issues in the wild; one had developed an eye infection and would have gone blind without treatment, one had become dependent on tourists who had been feeding him and could no longer hunt effectively and the last had been found with a shotgun wound in her side.
The show was great, and Saf was really buying into the theatre of it. It started with the girl introducing a seal called Moana, but the seal didn’t appear where she was due to. The girl told us she was just going to check with the team to find out where the seal was, and I heard Saf next to me muttering “where’s the seal? Is this a joke?” As he was just about ready to storm off in protest, Moana jumped out of the water, and flapped to the back of the enclosure to an unguarded icebox, where she started helping herself to some fish. A quick check of Saf’s face confirmed that he had been thoroughly taken in by the ruse.
The next act involved two guests from the audience. A tiny girl was invited up to stroke the fur seal’s belly while an older girl was asked to assist with two demonstrations. The first was to hold out a fish for the male fur seal to leap out of the water and show off how high he could jump. All went smoothly. For the second trick, she was asked to stand and wait for the seal to stand next to her to show off his whiskers. As he waddled over to the girl, he whacked her with his flipper and knocked her into the water. Saf’s face was a picture. There were probably children in the audience who were laughing less than he was. Glad to know the theatrical arts are still alive and well.
In the next section, the seals demonstrated some of their physical abilities, including using their flippers as sails to control body temperature, diving in and out of the water like porpoises, bending their bodies double to escape predators, and performing a pretty impressive handstand.
Sadly, at around midday we had to say au revoir to Eric and Stella, as Billy drove us to the station to jump on a train to Brisbane, where we were staying the evening with Diana’s family before our 7am flight back to Sydney the next day. Diana’s family were so welcoming, and it was lovely to meet some new tiny cousins. Flynn, Sydney and Luca were making the most of a day off school in the swimming pool when we arrived, so had time to show off their surfing, butterfly stroke and diving abilities before moving to the garden to show us some gymnastic routines on the trampoline. Don’t worry, Saf found a football and had the kids working on their keepy uppies in no time.
We ended the day with a lovely relaxed dinner in the deck that Brett, Diana’s partner had designed. Saf and Brett ignored their impending 5am wake up times, and knocked back a couple of bottles of wine while we just enjoyed the evening. Eventually though, we all had to head to bed to try and get a few hours sleep in before waking up to get to the airport.
It has been so lovely to see and meet our family in Australia. We’ve been made to feel so at home, and have loved being able to just sit and talk and relax for a few days!! We’re so sad to leave everyone after such a short time, but already making plans to come back and see more of Queensland.
Tomorrow we’re flying to Melbs which can only mean one thing. Food, and a whole lot of it. Triple Hurrah!!!!!
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Claudia Bow 