Wednesday, 14 October 2026
Gosh, this is the laziest holiday we have had for a long time! It was late morning before we motivated ourselves to go out for a walk. We made our way across to the beach and turned south again to walk towards the Coolum Surf Club. Despite the weather being cool and overcast there were primary and secondary school-aged children on excursions to the beach. It was hard to say what the older students were doing/learning but the younger ones had ‘lifesavers’ swimming caps on and appeared to be participating in a water safety/learn to swim program with some of the surf life savers.
Reaching the surf club we continued up and over the bluff onto the Coolum Boardwalk to meander along the coast past the (un)imaginatively named First, Second and Third Bays that make up the Yaroomba Coolum Foreshore Reserve between Coolum and Port Arkwright. After about an hour heading south we decided it was time to head back to town to find something for lunch. We decided on sushi and, since that was a lighter meal (?), followed up with ice-creams before wandering back to the apartment.
With the afternoon stretching out before us, it was decided to break out some games. We managed to fit in two games of Quiddler and a game of Jo this arvo. Bernie and I each won a game of Quiddler. Finally I managed to win something. Bernie was the victor in the pre-dinner game of Jo. He has really had his Jo mojo going this week.
The oyster mornay pie we had in the freezer (from the seafood wholesaler) came with no instructions on the packaging. Thank goodness for Google which recommended cooking it from frozen for between 1-1.5 hours to avoid a soggy bottom. The operation of the oven was somewhat mystifying until Bernie worked out that we had to turn on the timer dial to make it start heating.
We almost had a disaster with fan grilling selected rather than fan-forced oven. Why do kitchen appliance manufacturers have to make their controls so confusing? Fortuitously I decided soon after the pie went in, to check to make sure the oven was actually hot and noted that the pastry was already getting a bit well toasted around the top. Oh, no. We checked the controls and switched to oven from grill and put some foil over the top to shield it a bit. We decided in a worst case scenario we could just eat the filling from the pastry as they used to in mediaeval times, ha, ha.
Eventually the pie was cooked through. That involved transferring it to the microwave for a ten minute boost before putting it back in the oven while we cooked some veggies and Robin shallow fried his flathead fillets. Not everyone likes oysters. Hmmn, the oyster pie tasted like oysters BUT we think a single oyster may have been finely minced and mixed through the mornay sauce to create the illusion of an oyster pie??? Definitely no large pieces of oyster, let alone whole oysters, in the pie. Robin was more enthusiastic about his flatty fillets.
After dinner we moved onto the warm up game of Jo with Sandra winning this evening’s game.
Finally … finally! Bernie and I won two games of Bolivia on the trot to narrow the margin to 6:5 in NZ’s favour. Now, if we can just win the first game tomorrow night we will force it to a decider!!
Thursday, 15 October 2026
Today we may have been even lazier than we were yesterday?! Robin and Sandra put us to shame, deciding to use the bus passes that Sandra purchased on Saturday to catch the bus down to Maroochydore to have a look around the shopping mall.
Today’s weather certainly didn’t help, with rain showers starting this morning, rather than arriving in the afternoon as they have on other days. Eventually, it was dry outside (but still dull and overcast) and the radar didn’t show any more rain on its way.
We headed out, turning away from the beachfront to walk through the back blocks of Coolum Beach near the Stumers Creek Riparian Reserve. We didn’t go into the creek side reserve because I read something warning visitors to watch out for red-bellied black snakes. Ugh, we don’t need to risk seeing one of those!
We turned down Tradewinds Avenue where my Auntie, and later my cousin, lived. The house that they lived in is still there, although the streetscape has changed over the last few decades, with old houses having been demolished to be replaced with new builds.
After than little bit of nostalgia we made our way back to David Low Way to walk along the main drag, finding lunch … and ice-creams! … while we were out.
The rest of the afternoon was filled in lazing around the apartment. Unfortunately, It has turned much too cool to think about using the resort’s pool areas. Robin and Sandra arrived back from Maroochydore having enjoyed their adventure on the buses.
At dinner time we ventured off to the Coolum Beach Sports Club. Robin was excited that the Thursday night special was roast dinner. Robin ordered a plate of roasted lamb and beef (with all the trimmings) from the carvery, while the rest of us opted for the salt and pepper calamari.
Back at the apartment we warmed up with a game of Jo that went to Bernie. We then moved onto the main event. It was a very stressful game! No-one could pick up the discard pile. The play went around and around the table with everyone throwing out crazy cards (tens and wild cards) to avoid giving the pile away. We had nearly played through the whole pack before the pick-up went to lucky Robin. With it being such a huge pile of cards, that pretty much decided the game – and the tournament – in a single play. I think the game limped along for a couple more rounds BUT there was no chance of us clawing the tournament back from there.
Dang, that’s the trophy heading back to NZ to be held by the Kiwis for another year … or until such time as we can coordinate a get together for the next Trans Tasman Bolivia Ashes Tournament. The final tally:
Bolivia New Zealand 7 : Australia 5
Jo Bernie 4, Sandra 3, Robin 1 and Tracey 0
With The Ashes decided we moved onto a game of Blobs, which was won by Bernie.
Friday, 16 October 2026
This morning it was time to tidy the apartment, re-pack the truck and start heading southwards. We had decided to save our visit to the Queensland Air Museum until this morning. Situated in Caloundra, it made sense to visit on our way down to Brisbane. We drove down the coast along the Sunshine Motorway and Nicklin Way finding our way to the museum situated adjacent to the Caloundra Aerodrome.
The museum is touted as Australia’s Largest Heritage Aircraft Display. Hmmn, we weren’t convinced about that having visited the Darwin Aviation Museum and the Qantas Founders Museum in Longreach, both of which also seemed pretty large with impressive collections of aircraft. I guess there are so many aircraft and each museum houses a different collection featuring aircraft used for many purposes from a range of eras. The museum here may well be the largest collection of ‘heritage’ aircraft.
The museum’s guide goes on to state … ‘Home to 80 aircraft, Queensland Air Museum has developed into Australia’s largest and most diverse aviation museum, with a focus on Australian Aviation history. This has been achieved through a progressive policy of acquiring historically significant aircraft and restoring them to a high standard’.
The museum’s collection is housed in two hangars, a courtyard area and a second external display area. This morning the museum had some fabulous volunteers available to get visitors up close and personal with some of the more significant aircraft in the collection. The volunteers are armed with keys to unlock padlocks to allow access to the interiors of the aircraft. Their expert knowledge allowed them to explain many of the internal features of the aircraft. Of particular interest were the Lockheed Orion AP-3C and the Lockheed SP-2H Neptune, both of which were used as anti-submarine aircraft.
Thankfully the rain held off as we made our way around the external displays and concluded our visit to the aviation museum. With the morning done, it was time to find a bite to eat and drive down to Brisbane to drop Robin and Sandra off with their son, daughter-in-law and granddaughter for the weekend. Before leaving Caloundra, we drove into the small shopping mall co-located with Woolies and found some sushi for lunch. Some of us would have preferred sandwiches but there were none to be found!
After our quick lunch, we piled back into the truck to continue the drive down to Brisbane. We set out on the Bruce Highway with the weather having turned very dreary again. Arriving on the northern outskirts of the city, Bernie piloted the truck through the hilly, jacaranda dotted northern suburbs to Paddington, where we dropped Robin and Sandra off. We then made the short journey to Taringa where we booked into the Essence Suites for the next two nights.
We ferried our gear between the basement car park and our room, then walked up the hill to the Coles Local for a few supplies. Back in our room, we were able to put our feet up for a short while before it was time to catch the bus into the city for our sunset river cruise. We timed our arrival at the bus stop just down the road to perfection, with the bus arriving within minutes. An excellent outcome since we hadn’t checked the timetable, we were just winging it!
Arriving in the city we made our way across the Brisbane River via the Kurilpa Bridge. On the other side of the river We walked past the Gallery of Modern Art and the State Library of Queensland to reach the River City Cruises dock. We had allowed plenty of time to travel into the city and arrived well before the required 5.45pm for a 6.00pm departure. Just after 5.45pm the staff opened the gate and invited the passengers to start boarding.
We were approaching from one side and another couple were approaching from opposite us. OMG another random meeting with a Gippsland connection. The other guy was staring at Bernie and then stuck his hand out to shake Bernie’s hand saying – I do not believe it, Bernie Gaffney! It turns out that Ian was the call centre manager at Traralgon when Bernie was looking after a team in Morwell. Both part of the Area South-East management team, they knew/know each other well. Ian and his wife, Sue, moved back to Toowoomba in 2020 and had travelled to Brisbane for a Rugby Union function tomorrow night. They decided yesterday, as did we, to book the sunset river cruise tonight. What are the chances??!
We enjoyed our hour and a half cruise on the river admiring the lights along the riverside and on the many bridges crossing the river. Bernie had a good catch up with Ian and I talked with Sue about her passion for indigo dyeing using natural fibres and traditional Japanese dyeing techniques. We also enjoyed our complimentary charcuterie plate that was included with the cruise. The four of us even scored an additional plate of charcuterie to share between us, all washed down with drinks at bar prices. I thought that might have been how they could provide ‘complimentary’ charcuterie plates but Bernie tells me their bar prices were very reasonable.
At the conclusion of our cruise we felt that the charcuterie plate had almost been enough for dinner, but we wouldn’t mind just a little bit more to tide us over until breakfast. We walked along Southbank with Ian and Sue, with the four of us deciding to share light meals at Vici Italian Restaurant.
After dinner, we decided to book an Uber to take us back to Taringa, rather than attempt the bus and/or train late in the evening and in the dark. We weren’t even sure if we could take a bus or train directly back to Taringa or if we would have to change buses/trains to get back to where we started from? Far easier to take an Uber!
