We made it to Miriam Vale!

We packed up at Tim’s place and he then took us on a quick daytime tour of Mooloolabah. Gorgeous waves rolling in!


After we all had a swing in Tim’s front yard it was time to hit the road. After a week with Tim and Suzanne, we had to get used to driving any distance again. We set the GPS to take us on back roads and it took us on fantastic routes such as along ‘Diddillabah Rd’. We took a quick detour to see Noosa and were pleasantly surprised by how lovely it seemed – I was expecting another ‘Gold Coast’ but Noosa had a good feel to it. Trevor and I have added it to our ‘Places To Go Back To’ list, which seems to get longer and longer!


We soon made the 400 odd kilometre journey to Miriam Vale where we were welcomed into the home of Pat and George, parents of our friend Salli. Salli moved to Bunbury from Queensland with husband Dean and Jessica and Joel only a few years ago and we all met through Trevor and Dean’s cricket.


We had met Pat and George a year or so ago when they had driven across to Salli and Dean’s home in Stratham. We were telling them then about our planned trip away so it was great to see them now we are actually doing this trip!


Pat and George have camped away a lot, and so knew exactly how to make us welcome. We got there late Thursday evening, so it was quickly to bed. Pat and George were at work the next day but had suggested a couple of spots to check out.


We listened to them and soon found the town of Agnes Water and then the town of 1770. Yes! This is the town’s name – though it is sometimes referred to as ‘Seventeen-seventy’. This was the year that Captain James Cook first walked onto Queensland when he sailed into, and then dropped anchor at, ‘Bustard Bay’ which is just offshore. ‘Bustard Bay’ was so named by Cook because one of the sailing party killed a bustard and enjoyed eating it more than anything they had had since leaving England. The town has lots of associated street names like “Endeavour St” (after Cook’s ship) and “Banks Drive” (after botanist Joseph Banks).  There were lots of people snorkelling, fishing and generally sight seeing. Max and Harry enjoyed the chance to build in the sand, while I just took in the beautiful water and views…

On Saturday we put the back seats down so the six of could travel in one vehicle. George and Pat navigated and Trevor drove us to some interesting places, including to Benaraby where we saw the house that Dean and Salli built before moving to WA, including the beautiful garden I had heard about from Salli. They had put so much work into it and the new owners are enjoying their hard work! We drove a little further to ‘Lake Awoonga’ where the aftermath of the January Queensland floods was still evident.

The water still flows over the dam wall.

Even after 7 months, the water level is still really high!

We drove around Gladstone, seeing the amazing Rotary waterfall near the marina. Gladstone has so many big boats- I had always thought that there were a lot in Bunbury!

The waterfall from the top...

and from the bottom!

A special treat was George and Pat taking us to ‘The Duck Pond’. There were lots of ducks, but when we sat very still we saw turtles swimming and coming to the surface of the water for air. Just as we were about to leave Max spotted a massive eel in the water too!

Trevor and Harry watching for turtles

We finished off our lovely day by driving to see the house in Boyne Island where Salli had grown up in, and then went on to the ‘Millenium Park’ and beach in Tannum where the boys played and played. 

I forgot to mention that Pat and George have two beautiful dogs Foxy and Molly. Max and Harry just loved having them to play with. In fact I overheard Max offering George all of his money to buy Foxy! (Naturally George said that he didn’t have enough ).

Thank you Pat and George for a wonderful stay – you are so kind and generous!