Atherton Christmas!

We arrived at my mother's house in Atherton on Friday 20th December, as we had hoped!  It was so nice to see my mother's new house and be able to spend Christmas with her and Aaron!

 Off to the Christmas markets at Yungaburra...!

 Nahlia enjoyed opening her Christmas present... then she helped Mamma and Dadda open theirs too!  Note the glass of mango smoothie on the coffee table.

 Kauri Creek, a freshwater creek in the rainforest which flows into Tinaroo Dam, was a lovely place for a swim on Christmas Day...

 and a great place to enjoy some Kefir ice cream pudding too!

 A family shot with my cousin Megan and her two girls on Boxing Day.

 Nahlia trying on a bicycle helmet after Aaron and I went for a ride in the bush.

 Macca's playground... ssshhhh!

 Mango madness.... at first we thought it was a bargain to get a tray of mangoes for $10, then we ended up with two boxes full for free!  Mango smoothies abound!

 Into it early... it didn't take me long to get a batch of sourdough bread on among things...

From left to right: sourdough culture; ginger bug; rye and spelt sprouting in a bag; and kefir straining to make yoghurt.

Malanda Falls - our favouritre local swimming hole.  Nahlia loves our swimming excursions!

Storytime with Uncle Aaron...  LOVE it!

 And that's how we celebrated Christmas in 2013.  Ahhhh... it's good to see my family again and have some good memories together before we leave the country.

Gladstone to Atherton

 Aaron helped Ulf to check the bearings on the car before we left Gladstone.  We were safe on our way on Monday 16th December... it was getting close to Christmas, but we were hoping to reach my mother's house in Atherton by Friday the 20th...

 We stayed two nights at Home Hill, again at a rest stop with free shower and facilities, AND a library with airconditioning, toys and books for Nahlia, and some free internet!  We were disappointed that the op-shops were closed, though...  Home Hill was a lovely spot to stop, and Nahlia also enjoyed walked under a sprinkler which was watering the grass 24 hours a day!

 Nahlia loves her Daddy and her Daddy loves her!  Awwwww.....!

Before we reached Townsville, we hit 333,333kms on the car's odometer!

 Some of the beautiful scenery along the long stretches of open road...

 We made it to Kurramine Beach on Thursday 19th, and found a lovely little caravan park directly on the beach!  It had been raining, so there were lots of little puddles for Nahlia to play in!

 Fresh coconut - what a treat!  Ulf did well to get it open and it was beautiful!  Yum yum!

 

A tiny green tree frog was the security man in the ladies' toilets!

After a very windy night with hard rain and light rain and everything in between, we found a little creek inlet, which ran out to the ocean, just next to the caravan park.  We had a nice little play in the sand and water before we started our last 'pack up' and left for Atherton. 

Gladstone - Aaron's place!

 We arrived at my brother Aaron's house in Gladstone on Thursday 12th December.  It was great to see him again!  We parked our caravan under his carport, out of the sun, and enjoyed some quiet nights (no highway noise as in Tiaro and Benaraby) and slow days.... apart from the odd few hours of loud music and drunken singing from next door! Hahaha, that was funny to hear!

 Aaron took us to a swimming hole called 'Blackman's Gap', a 1.5 hour drive from Gladstone.  It was beautiful and refreshing.  There were small freshwater fish swimming around us and the pebbles/rocks along the riverbed were various shades of pink!  Some friends of Aaron's also came along and it was lovely to get to know them a little too. 

Nahlia and I strumming the guitar together, hahaha!  It was nice to relax at Aaron's place for a while and spend some time with him.  On Sunday night he gave his testamony at his church so we went along.  It was nice to hear it and to be there for him.  We left Gladstone the next day, to continue our journey north to Atherton.

Harlin to Gladstone

 Nahlia playing with her clothes...  she loves changing her clothes now and playing dress-ups!

 Nahlia and I outside our 'camp' at the farm at Harlin.  We said goodbye on Monday 9th December and started our northward journey.

 After a shopping stop at Nambour and Yandina, we camped out at Tiaro, where there was a free shower, free 15 minute internet sessions at the library across the road and of course the library provided an airconditioned play area in the middle of the day for Nahlia too!

 Nahlia enjoying the sand around the playground at Tiaro.

Helping Dadda wash up.... Tiaro.

An odd thing happened at Tiaro... one morning an old man arrived in his large car and caravan.  As soon as he had stopped his vehicle, he got out and called to Nahlia, "Here you go sweetheart," walking towards her with a lolly!  She walked to him and although I asked him what it was, he did not answer me.  I was too far away to stop Nahlia from going to him and unfortunately when I got to her I had to take the lolly from her and throw it in the bin straight away.  Sorry Nahlia.  But what a strange man.... I guess he doesn't know how socially unacceptable that behaviour is these days!

We left Tiaro after dinner and drove through the night to save on fuel (no air-con needed and we could drive 70 km/hr with less traffic). We stopped just before Benaraby, south of Gladstone for the night.  The next morning we met a french-albanian couple with the cutest little 2 year old daughter and a single aussie mum with an 8 year old son.  Their kids were riding their bikes around the park and Nahlia wanted to join them!

We arrived in Gladstone on Thursday 12th December, about 3pm.