A shorty here. Nancy and I decided to try taking the Caravan out going a ways on the first day, setting up, staying there for few days, then going back home. We have never really camped like this as we are usually on the move every day with only an occasional longer stay. We decided to try caravanning as the Aussies do and spend more time at one place and less on gas. We picked Coolum Beach because it was a nice drive south of where we live, we had not seen that area before, and it sounded interesting. Also of interest was meeting a couple friends we had met on our 2022 Christmas cruise around South America. So we made reservations at a Caravan site next to the ocean and off we went.
We got a leisurely start on Wednesday morning. We had packed everything we thought we would need the night before, I had hooked up the caravan and all was ready. We had some coffee and took off South to Coolum Beach. It was about a 5 hour trip (450Km) with our usual stop for a bakery sweetie and coffee (a flat white) at our usual place along the way in a little town named Childress .. they have a great bakery there.
We got there early enough to get set up with daylight to spare. Another reason we wanted to spend a few days in one spot is that we bought a patio for our caravan and wanted to learn how to set it up in a campground. We put it on once at home but that’s under ideal conditions. We wanted to practice the real thing. We got the patio because the caravan is quite small and if it’s raining or in the evening and we need to stay inside it get pretty confining. The patio is completely enclosed and adds about 80 Sq Feet of living space hooked right onto the caravan. Not a lot of pictures here but you might be liking that.
There might be a couple more pictures of it later. Meanwhile, the next morning we decided to take a walk on the beach. We are still on the lower edge of the Coral Sea.
That was exciting. We had a luncheon date with our friends that we met on the cruise so we polished our shoes and headed north to Noosa Heads where they live. We had a wonderful time and spent all afternoon talking and catching up. They have a beautiful home right on the green of one of the holes of the golf course they live by. The fairways drives straight up towards their home so you can watch players from tee off to putt. Great time, great people.
So we spent the remaining days just relaxing and practicing taking it easy. Not a normal thing for us but we are learning. Here are some random shots around the campground of different Aussie camping getups. Some are quite unique.
We were forecasted to get rain and it did. We were worried about taking everything down in the rain or when it was still wet. Fortunately Saturday was sunny and breezy so in the late afternoon we took everything down, packed it up, had a quiet evening, and left Sunday morning. Trip home was uneventful and we logged in another successful campout.
See, I told you it was short! Next up is our cruise around Hawaii. See you there.
