Woodford

8th September

Heading out of Noosa and its 400 roundabouts, we set off down the Sunshine Hwy to have a look at Maroochydore and Mooloolaba. Not being too sure in where I was heading in Mooloolaba, I followed the majority of traffic down the esplanade, only to quickly find myself on a one way road more suited to motorbikes than cars towing caravans. Luckily I found a turn around spot, which I did and then headed out of town to a local spot with a playground for the kids - which now seems to be the main goal of our travelling days.

The weather forecast for the next few days involved some cooler days (21 degrees) and patchy rain showers and wind, so we decided to head inland in the hope we can avoid the rain and wind. So our next destination turned out to be a place called Woodford, about 70Km SW and on the other side of the  mountains. I had always heard that the rain was so much less on the "other side" of mountain ranges, and it was quite interesting to see that the moment we started downhill, it was dry!! We got to the local Showgrounds at Woodford at about 1pm and set up. As soon as we had finished, we headed into the town to check things out and for Tracy to fullfil our need to restock the van from the local Woolies. I took Dylan and Kayla for a walk up the street when suddenly the heavens opened..... for about 5 minutes at the most and dumped close to 1" rain in that time.

When we got back, I started setting up the TV to watch the 2nd half of the classic match at The Portress, where the famous prison bar stripes were turning the Tigers into a stew, only to find the local power box I was plugged into wasn't working....Grrrrrrr. There is no way I was shifting, so we scavenged some loan extension cords and enjoyed the demolition on TV (Port wins by 57 points). Happy Fathers Day to me.....

It then showered on and off over night and all today (Monday). We were originally going for some bush walks and to Bribie Island for a look, but basically stayed dormant in the hope the weather passed. (The showers were for only a minute at a time and probably an hour or 2 apart, so over-all it was a pretty good day). I finally packed everyone in the car and took off to Bribie Island to visit a mate Scott Brady  (I worked with his dad for probably 10 years) for an expected hour. 3 hours later and a couple of beers - and a few extra wines for Tracy - we said our goodbyes and headed back. Kids were starving, so we called into a local Domino's and bought enough food to feed Cambodia for a week, and then had a race to see who could eat the most pizza the fastest without throwing up. We never did get a winner, but the heartburn I am suffering whilst writing this suggests I shouldn't have participated. I am trying to neutralise the burn with some bourbon and coke right about now, but I reckon I need quite a few more yet.

Heading into the Glasshouse mountains tomorrow and/or a place called Somerset Dam. Hopefully the weather has cleared up by then. It really hasn't rained a lot apart from than one sudden down pour, so we believe we made a good choice coming inland. Apparently it poured for nearly 2 hours last night on the coast, so I am rather glad I wasn't there.