The Day of a Happy Father

I woke up today not remembering that it was Father's Day.  For the past two years I have been lucky enough to celebrate four Father's Days--I was in the U.S. last year and the U.K. this year for their June holidays, and then I got the bonus Australian holiday each time,celebrated on the first Sunday in September.  Anyway, after opening my presents from Will and his mum this morning, we loaded up the car and drove up to the Sunshine Coast for the day.  We had breakfast at a café in Mooloolaba, where Will had his usual "baby chino" and we all had waffles. We then drove further north towards Noosa, stopping a few kilometres short of there to go to Sunrise Beach.  There must have been no more than 20 people within a kilometre of us on the beach itself.  Will had a great time exhausting his parents by running around and threatening to drown himself in the surf.  We also had a chance to work on his sandcastle building skills.  Unfortunately, right now Will is more pleased with knocking down a pillar as soon as it's built rather than adding to it, so in the end there wasn't much to show for our efforts.  The weather was absolutely perfect, and V. and I sang along to '80s hits on the radio on the way home.  Once home I did a quick run to the grocery store while V. got Will ready for bed.  Our dinner was lamb burgers topped off with Greek-style yoghurt and accompanied by juicy corn on the cob.  Now, that's a meal that would have been a challenge to make (at an affordable price) back in the States. 

Yes, I had a perfectly happy Father's Day!

Tropical Fruit World

Last Sunday we spent the day with Fiona and her two girls on a trip to the Queensland-New South Wales border. It was Fi's birthday and her husband Ian was on a business trip. For the first part of the day we went to Tropical Fruit World, a family-run attraction just south of Tweed Heads in NSW. Going on the basis of two brief word-of-mouth reviews, we really weren't sure what to expect. Well, it turned out to be quite wonderful. TFW is a real working fruit farm full of vast orchards of exotic fruits from around the world. Things start off with an introduction to the wide variety of fruits in a sort of stage show that included a chance to taste everything. As you can see here, even Will enjoyed himself.
Afterwards, we boarded a tractor-train that took us around orchards of avocados, bananas, oranges, soursop, coffee beans, pineapples, and many more. At one point we got off the train next to a macadamia tree (native to Australia), where we picked up nuts off the ground and cracked them at little nutcracker stations set up underneath the tree. At the end of this tour we were let off at nice little oasis called Treasure Island. A miniature train took us for rides around the perimeter of the island. We then boarded a covered boat that slowly took us on a lagoon tour while we fed ducks and geese swimming alongside us with bread provided by the tour guide. But that wasn't all! We then got off the boat to spend a little time at a petting zoo, complete with cows, mules, sheep, wallabies, and kangaroos. Will was having such a great time, but so were the rest of us. After spending a few minutes buying some fruit at TFW's little shop, we then headed off for lunch at the Gold Coast. We found ourselves near the most southern point of Queensland at Kirra Beach. Yes, once again we whiled away some time at a beautiful Australian beach. V. and I took turns standing guard while Will ran back and forth in the surf among Fiona's girls making sand castles. During the one-hour drive back home, a few passengers may have fallen asleep. It was a superb day. More pictures can be found in the album.

Byron Bay

Yesterday we decided at 9 am that we needed to explore another part of the coast, so we headed south to the New South Wales border. Once we got to Tweed Heads, I saw a sign indicating that it was only another 67 km to Byron Bay, a place I knew little about, but which has been frequently recommended by friends. With both V. and Will snoring comfortably in their seats, I decided to go for it. And I'm glad I did! The drive was spectacular through verdant hills that sit below craggy mountain ranges. Byron Bay itself is gorgeous. There are mountains on one side and a peninsula topped by a beautiful lighthouse on the other. The town is full of galleries and cafés, but it didn't feel as upscale as Noosa on the Sunshine Coast in Queensland. We spent about three hours there before turning back, but we will definitely return many times. Check out our photos in the newest album in my gallery (upper right).

Breakfast in Paradise

For the last three mornings, Will has woken up between 2 and 4 am. Somehow, our hosts, the Clarks, haven't been too bothered by this, but yesterday we decided to leave the house at 5:30 and drive an hour south to Surfer's Paradise to give them some peace and quiet. We arrived just after sunrise. At first it seemed like we had the place to ourselves, but it turned out that the Gold Coast marathon had just begun. Hundreds of racers ran by while we had breakfast. Will had his second baby "chino," which is an espresso cup filled with a milky froth. We also had omelettes and pancakes. A nice treat here is that pancakes are always served with real maple syrup and ice cream! Then we had a short stroll on the beach before driving back to Brisbane.

Thanks for all the comments and emails. I am hoping that I'll finally get a chance to catch up with my correspondence later today (after I go to work for the first time).