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We are haunted by the Rainbow Beach experience.

We were driving up to Nudgee Beach this morning, and across the bay we could see the rainclouds moving across the water.

We arrived at Nudgee Beach and the air was breezy but humid. Off to the South the sky looked imposing in a very grey way.

We decided to go for it and walked up the beach. Within five minutes ten mosquitoes had gone to meet their maker. They were swarming.

We escaped from the mangroves despite Eloise's complete lack of urgency or sense of concern over the circumstances. We got onto the beach itself. And it started raining.

So, remembering the drenching we got at Rainbow Beach, we turned tail and made our way back to the car.

It pitter-pattered a bit on the way back.

Swimming with Attitude

Not much going on today, other than the return of the plumber to nail that leak good and proper. Which was done, just in time to get off for swimming.

Eloise was quite bossy today. A little boy waiting for his next lesson dipped his hand in the water to check it and a voice came from the other end of the pool shouting gibberish to the effect of "Oi! You! Get your blimmin hand out my pool!" accompanied by a face like thunder. His mum was quite scared I think, but then she did at one point tell him not to go near the edge of the pool "without your floaties because you can't swim and mummy doesn't want to have to dive in and rescue you." I of course was taking notes in order to adjust my parental values to the cultural norm. Then again, hopefully that wasn't it.

Nicole went out for her Pilates lesson later on, and we went out for a walk. We got back in time to see Nicole getting back. Eloise can recognise the car at a hundred yards now.

We're feeling a bit ropey. I think a cold is on the way.

Sunshine Coast Sunday

On Sunday we decided to go up to the Sunshine Coast. Four adults, one child and two dogs was a tight fit in the car to say the least.

We went up to Mooloolaba to the dog beach there and wandered up onto the rocks there, playing in the rock pools and climbing across boulders, glancing askance at the models having their photographs taken there and paying no attention to their assets whatsoever.

A paraglider climbed up the cliff and jumped off, slowly circling down beneath his parachute before settling onto the rocks. "Ooooooh!" said Eloise.

We walked further, and Eloise found a lovely warm rock pool which she repeatedly jumped into.

The paraglider set off again, and slowly circled down before landing unceremoniously in a tree. A great roar of laughter went up from the beach below.

We went across to a park on the other side of the spit of land we were on, and barbequed kebabs, some of fish, some of tempe, watching catamarans and yachts sailing gently by. Eloise made friends with dogs and children and old people playing cards. She went down with Nicole and had a paddle in the calm waters of the enclosed canal, wading out until she had to be rescued by some bathers. Nicole obviously not wanting to get wet... I was getting the car at the time! Tiny slipped her collar from where she was tied to a tree when Eloise disappeared from sight down the staircase that led into the water, and went over to keep an eye on her.

We got back home about six o'clock and drank coffee and ate ice cream before dropping the visitors back at the airport.

Paddington and Housewarming

On Saturday I woke up around 8.30 to find Nicole absent and after a little bemused searching I found her in a hammock out back reading. How she jumped when I appeared next to her!

Julie and Gary got up a little later and we were treated to a fried breakfast.

Nicole had the idea of going to Paddington and exploring the quant-yet-trendy Latrobe Terrace where we've been a couple of times. When we got there, of course, Gary and I soon discovered that this was a window shopping trip by another name. We were taken round bathroom fitting shops, knick knack shops, clothes shops, etc. though nothing was actually bought, to my knowledge.

We rounded off the Paddington leg with coffee and cakes (and toast for me) at a coffee shop sum florist at the top of the road.

Then back home so Eloise could have a nap (I might have grabbed a little shuteye too).

Then we went out to Banyo where Fiona, a friend of Gary and Julie's from their days in Belize, was having a housewarming party. There were probably twenty people there. Eloise made friends with a little girl called Amber. When they weren't arguing they were cuddling. There was a certain amount of drunkenness occurring, and so it was quite good fun. Champagne was being consumed by the cart load, mostly by Fiona, who was doing a lot of cooking. The ceiling was thick with mosquitoes casting long shadows around the light fittings. We clapped away at them; my personal score was seven.

Time passed and we didn't get away until ten. Eloise was in fine form, exploring the house, liberating Listerine and Q-tips, breaking into bedrooms and generally making a nuisance of herself in an agreeable way. When the Carribean music came on she danced along with the inept dancing that was going on.

Pitter Patter

It appears that I must apologise for my lack of wordsmithery over the weekend, but it's been busy.

We were "entertaining" this weekend.

Julie arrived on Thursday night, and on Friday we dropped Eloise off at Nursery. Sharon was a little surprised to hear of our lack of success with the toilet training, and said that they would see how they got on.

We headed on out to Mount Coot-tha. We got to the normal place and it was raining so we had a cup of coffee up at the Lookout. We could see pockets of raining moving over the city below, but eventually things dried out so we headed back down and did the Eugenia Circuit, which took us a couple of hours. Simpson Falls still had water running down it, amazingly, although it has continued to rain on and off around the area. Matilda was somewhat more careful exploring over there this time around.

We called a plumber out in the afternoon as there is a drip-drip-drip from the back of the house. We waited in in the afternoon and he arrived later on, and had a look - which involved taking planks of wood off the outside of the house - and fixed a plumbing extender on the sink in the back room which apparently wasn't tight enough. We'll see how we get on with it.

On Friday evening Gary rolled in from Perth where he's been on business and we had a nice curry for tea, although Nicole complained that it wasn't spicy enough. Cook's prerogative.

Homework

"Take a picture of a sunset: vary the exposure for each shot"

Carry on Camping

On the way back to the campsite we formulated our plans. We had discarded the idea of eating al fresco on stove-prepared nibbles and decided already, subvocally, to eat out.

So Nicole and Eloise went off to shower and put our clothes into the tumble dryer. "Where are the other nappy liners" asked Nicole. "Um" I replied.

I stayed behind to inflate the new mattress using the car-powered pump. Brilliant! The new mattress was much more like it. I am getting to be quite a dab hand at this bed making business.

Now, did I remember to mention that mossies had shown their ugly faces? By this time, I recall my tally was up to fourteen. Another nail in the coffin of the alfresco eating experience option.

We drove down to the restaurant, all of a hundred yards, and the dogs relaxed in the car while we ate a really nice meal. We were gorged by the time we'd finished. The staff were very accomodating and loved Eloise who, not having actually slept yet all day, and having eaten really well for her supper on garlic bread, pasta and seafood, was now entering the hyperactivity phase and I was having to chase her around the restaurant while she chatted up young boys and fellow diners, and tried to get to the stereo with its pretty flashing lights.

We were done around half past eight and got back to the tent. Just as we were about to get back to the tent the heavens opened. Big time. We stayed in the car, the rain hammering down on the roof like a thousand dwarves with little hammers hammering away on a tin roof. "It'll be over soon" I said. "It always has been so far today."

After half and hour I suggested we drive over to the toilet block to break the monotony. I also needed to make use of the facilities, increasingly.

I switched on the headlights and the vista before us was a lot more watery than it had been. It looked as though the pools of water, which hadn't been there previously, were about to merge together into one big one. The tent was surrounded by water.

We looked at each other with a look that said "Bugger this."

"Bugger this," we said together.

We formulated our plan on the way over to the toilet block.

To cut a short story shorted, we temporarily parked under a large wooden shelter in the woods, leapt out of the car, I fed the dogs while Nicole rearranged the boot. Where are the dog bowls? Good grief. The dogs ate out of plastic bags on the beack seat of the car. Even under the shelter we were getting wet. We moved the contents of the boot into the footwells so we could sling the tent in. Eloise was strapped into her car seat and soon, miraculously, fell asleep.

We drove over to the tent. Nicole took care of the table and chairs etc whilst I deflated the mattress and took care of the bedding. We were soaked to the skin within thirty seconds of leaving the car.

Then the tent came down. Got folded. Put in the boot.

Then we drove over to the laundry and got changed into dry clothes. And away.

Back in Brisbane for 12.30am or so.

Six hours driving for ten minutes on the beach and a nice meal. Oh how we laughed.

Rainbow Beach

We were packed and ready to leave by 11am. As always with leaving the house for an extended period of time (one day, hah!) there was a certain amount of stress and tension in the packing and preparedness department.

As we backed out of the drive muggins remembered that a key aspect of preparedness had been left unattended to and to Nicole's disgust went in to activate the computer and, yes, print out the directions... just to be on the safe side, you understand.

Progress up the Bruce was good but I was starting to get tired at Gympie, so we stopped off at a nice little park, which was suspiciously waterlogged, for some sandwiches and a toilet stop and leg stretching.

Then onwards for the 70km leg to Rainbow Beach up Tin Can Bay Road. Rolling green hills gave way to forested plains with the archetypal road stretching away into the distance. The drive was punctuated by short sharp showers, which were generally followed by shared glances filled with meaning and trivialised dread.

I was a proud Dad when Eloise started to recite from one of her books. "Roar roar roar! Snap snap snap!" we shouted as we cruised toward our destination, half an eye on the dark clouds rolling up from the south.

The camp site, when we arrived, was extensive and offered waterfront camping, which we took advantage of. We found ourselves a nice little spot not too close to the beach under some trees, and proceeded with a little urgency to pitch the tent as we didn't know what we were doing and it felt like it might start raining any minute.

However the tent went up without incident and, that done, Nicole put the billy on the stove and I went off to stretch the dogs' legs on the beach which Nicole inflated the double bed we'd bought the day before.

The beach was reminiscent of Nudgee in that the sands stretched away as the tide seemed to be low, with mangroves along the shoreline. The mangroves here were a little different in that the roots protruded from the trunks above ground level, then probed down into the sands a little way from the tree, giving the impression of spiders' legs.

The sky was dark overhead. Gravid clouds moved in from the trees behind and darkness spread over to Tin Can Bay. Pretty soon a breeze built up, and, sure enough the first spots of rain began. I hastened back to the yurt, sorry, tent, to find a vexed Nicole.

The double mattress we'd bought was obviously designed for supermodels or people who were tremendously thin. As far as we could tell it was a single mattress in all but name. We had a giggle about it before sitting down indoors to wait for the rain to pass while we sipped our drinks.

Then, as we obviously had a potential nocturnal crisis on our hands, we went to Rainbow Beach to locate a camping shop where we could upgrade our sleeping arrangements to the status of vaguely acceptable.

This was easily achieved at a little shopping centre where a camping shop sold Nicole a genu-wine double mattress.

Thence to the actual beach. Down a wooden staircase from the parking space and onto another one of those damned beaches that stretch as far as the eye can see with perfect sand, roaring surf, et cetera. This one was a little different, though, as a short walk south there was a massive sand dune, probably oh a hundred feet high rising up behind the beach.

I remembered we were literally just a few minutes south of Fraser Island, a famous tourist trap which is an island made of sand, and ah-ha this is the Great Sandy National Park. Actually come to think of it the camp site was pretty sandy and by the side of the road the landscape seemed predominantly composed of, not wishing to be predicable, sand.

The sand at the beach though was multi-coloured, some of it was as you might expect sandy-coloured, some of it was darker. Rocks poked through and sat on the beach, and they too were two-tone. There were little caves of dark rock with lighter streaks over them, apparently made by running water by the looks of them. We wondered what could be in the water to cause this.

We picked our way over the rocks and through the deep pools. Eloise sat down in the pools. One set of clothes down. And a nappy liner. "Have you packed more than one nappy liner" Nicole asked. "Oh probably" I said.

Over the water we could see rain moving.

Some four wheel drives made their way up the beach, at the end of a day of hardcore off-roading no doubt. The beach led up to Double Island Point, where there is a lighthouse, then round the corner from that a the wreck of a ship called the Cherry Venture, then beach south of that called the 40-Mile Beach. Promising!

At the south of the beach, the cliffs were obscured my a mist. "Is that rain" Nicole asked. "Oh probably" I replied. "Maybe we should think about going" Nicole suggested. "I am doing that already" I ventured.

I climbed up on some rocks to get a picture of a rock formation. The dogs climbed up with me. "Daddy! Daddy!" I could hear from the beneath.

The first spots of rain came down. I jumped down from the rocks. Eloise squeaked delightedly. We legged it. And were pretty comprehensively drenched by the time we got back to the car.

A Trail of Treats

Eloise insisted on carrying the dog treats around when we went for our walk this morning. As you can see they are an extremely effective method of encouraging canine obedience. In fact for a while Eloise was the dogs' absolute best buddy. Then Matilda ran away into the woods and I had to retrieve her. Thongs are not the best hilly-woods negotiating footwear, I can now reveal.

Nearly a disaster

We had a nice lunch out to celebrate Eloise's birthday. On our return we popped over to see Val who is kindly loaning us some camping equipment as we are off to Rainbow Beach on Wednesday night. As we were carting stuff over the road we left Eloise looking at the two guinea pigs in their day hutch. When Neil returned neither was where they should be. Neil recaptured one but the other disappeared into "safety". There was a tense 10 minutes searching for the lost animal. Luckily, the next door neighbour's dog found it. Tiny was over the road or it would have been another story. By some strange turn of fate there was a post for guinea pigs on freecycle this evening!