#178 Nomad Diary. 16-22 March 2024. Gold Coast, Queensland, Australia. Visit Cruise Friends Tricia and Gary. Tricia's Urunga Family. Rain Forests. Coasts.
| Me and Tricia with Beautiful Views on Our Road Trip Sydney to Gold Coast |
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Kangaroos in Andrew and Cathy's Grass
Saturday. 16. Road trip with Tricia and Gary from Urunga to Gold Coast. Scenic stops along the way. Arrival to their home and unwind and rest and learn the house and our place here for the week. We rested well at Andrew and Cathy’s home. They shared meals, dinner and breakfast with us. Andrew cooked eggs, bacon, vegemite (lol), and some huge slices of the local bakery bread toasted and buttered. There was fresh fruit and coffee too. The day was lovely with some time on the porch to enjoy looking at the forest and the large kangaroos who came for morning grass grazing. I tried the vegemite on the buttered toast. As directed I spread it very thin on my buttered toast. First impressions: I like it. It tastes like spreadable vegetable bouillon to me. I asked if they make soup with it. Answer: no. We said our goodbyes, loaded the car and spent the rest of the day with Gary driving us up the coast to Gold Coast and our week long stay at their house. On our trip, Tricia had a picnic packed. We carried our water bottles and stopped at scenic locations for breaks from sitting in the car. Our picnic took place at a beautiful waterfall. Along the way Tricia and Gary told history and comments about where they have lived and worked. |
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| Another Rest Stop with Lizards Next to A River |
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| Arrived and Just Inside to Tricia and Gary's at Gold Coast, Queensland, Australia Their Travel Wall with a Pinned World Map and Pictures from Their Decades of Travel! |
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| Meeting with this Church on Sunday at a Library Room. Darrell Preached with the Regular Preacher Out Today. A Family From California. Also Other Regulars and Visitors. |
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| Went to Beth, Lily and Craig's House for Lunch. Darrell Caught These Wild Parrots on Their Deck. Sunday. 17. Borrow a car and go to morning worship. Lunch with Beth and daughter Lily. We found the church of Christ meeting at a Library community room. Beth’s husband is the official preacher for the small group and he was working away for the weekend. Darrell volunteered to preach and Beth was very happy to put aside her idea of tuning into another churches worship online. One of the members led our singing, and other visitors led in prayer. After worship and a short time of visiting, Beth invited Darrell and I to her home for a sandwich. We accepted. After she fixed us lunch we visited while she fed the wild parrots on her back deck. She asked Darrell about what he did before retirement. After his discussion, she asked me. I told her about working privately with trauma and lesser forms of emotional brain issues and growth. She lit up and asked if I could or would work on her, but made sure that I could back out. I loved my EPT work (Emotional Polarity Technique), and was thrilled that she’s so interested and trusting to want to work with me. We went to a private room to work together while Darrell went to watch the parrots. We worked together for a little more than an hour. She felt great after the session and was so grateful for our time together. Darrell and I got ready to leave and Craig arrived home from work. He was a couple hours earlier than Beth expected, and we got to meet briefly in person. They gifted us some of their fresh produce to take with us which was very nice. It supplied us salad for a week! |
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| Grandson Quinn, 3 1/2, So Excited for His First Day of All Day Preschool in Brasillia, Brazil! Monday. 18. Gary drives us into the mountains. Waterfalls, rainforest, walks and picnic. Quinn, our 3 ½ year old grandson is beginning preschool in Brasillia, Brasil today (or tomorrow on the other side of the date line). |
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| At Cape Byron Lighthouse Tuesday. 19. Borrow car and drive to Byron Bay. See lighthouse and most easterly point in Australia. |
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| North of Gold Coast Center at the Spit and Gold Coast Seaway. |
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| This Flower at Varsity Lakes was on a Huge Blooming Tree |
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| At Varsity Lakes in Gold Coast This Lovely Trimmer Greenery |
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| Water Glistening in the Gold Coast Sea Way Next to The Spit and Lighthouse. Wednesday. 20. Coastal drive with Gary and Tricia both south and north of Gold Coast, through Currumbin and Surfer’s Paradise. Thursday. 21. Hanging out at the house. Doing computer stuff. |
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| Our Final Night on Friday. Tricia is Building a Sharing Platter for Our Relaxed Dinner at Their Home. |
Friday. 22. Met up at the mall with Beth for brunch and a chat. At dinner, Tricia put together a sharing platter and a former neighbor came over and visited for the evening. At bedtime we had agreed that we will leave by 8:30 on Saturday morning for the Brisbane airport.
Nomad Notes. I’m beginning my diary in these notes this week. Our arrival time to Gary and Tricia’s house was unknown and our schedule was getting decided close to our arrival date. Darrell and I said that we would like to go to church worship on Sunday if possible. As it turned out, Tricia and Gary made that possible for us by arriving to their house on Saturday night rather than on Sunday night. They lent us a car to go for Sunday. The church had 3 different addresses on the internet and was difficult to know which was current. Darrell e-mailed a contact on Saturday night and received an answer back with the current information. We were able to arrive to the small group meeting in a library community room. The preacher’s wife and daughter greeted us as we arrived and said her husband was working away today and they have an online service to dial into. Darrell volunteered to preach and was gladly allowed.Turned out that there were about 20 in attendance with several visitors. One family from California comes every year for 2 months and it was their last Sunday. After we had completed our worship and were visiting afterwards, Beth invited us over for a sandwich and more visiting.
We met Gary and Tricia 2 years ago on our first cruise after Darrell’s full retirement. We were on a Panama Canal cruise together. We ended up spending some time in Fort Lauderdale together as their plans changed after a week long Caribbean cruise. Darrell and I were in Fort Lauderdale staying with a friend and waiting to get on our trans-Atlantic Iceland cruise. Gary and Tricia were also on this cruise with us. We spent a few of our excursion days together and several tea times on sea days. They introduced us to several helpful travel apps as well as the possibility of being housesitters. It is our love of long and slow travel that has us meeting up in similar paths. We even crossed paths in England and did a day long road trip in 2022. Now we have benefited from their invitation to stay at their house in Gold Coast. As they are lifelong travelers, they were preparing for 6-7 months away from home beginning next week! We stay in touch through fb and whatsapp. Until next time!!
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