'Wherarwee' in Oz: Log 13-11 Iluka

Just a short drive to Brisbane to catch up with Zamira’s in laws, they live in a new suburb & the street is not on the GPS so after driving round in circles for a while we rang them, Errol turned up on this huge motorbike & we did a double take. After catching up with the gossip on Tuesday we went into Brisbane city by train on Wednesday, strolled through the Queen St. mall, checked out the Wednesday markets & on to Southbank, we were able to have a good look around the bank as, being a weekday, it was fairly deserted. We took a ride on the ferris wheel & it gave us a good look around the city.

Our next stop was Surfers Paradise where we dropped in on one of Liz’s old workmates, it was good to see her again as se was a good friend when she lived on the Central Coast. We stayed in a van park that night at an exorbitant cost before pushing on to Iluka.

We stayed at an holiday park adjacent the Clarence River, although the days were hot & sunny the wind gusted from every direction & we were reluctant to launch our little boat. We stayed 3 days & there was a tropical storm each night, torrential downpours, more winds, thunder & lightning & then, after around 2 hours, it was all gone. Weather aside it’s a great place to visit, there are so few little fishing villages left that we love coming here. In the 6 years since I first visited the area (Liz used to holiday here with her family when she was young, they even bought a holiday house there) the place has grown dramatically, population is up to 2,500 & there is now a shopping centre complete with a large supermarket. (prev just a general store, a pub & a service station) But still, the only things to do (apart from the pub) is surfing & fishing, oh, & there is also a golf course now.