Airlie Beach

We went to Airlie Beach for the weekend just gone.

We didn't take the van we stayed in some accommodation instead we thought it was kinda pointless to tow the van the 2 hours there and then set it up for just a night and have to pack it up the next day

Airlie Beach is beautiful lots of young tourists and backpackers and lots of foreigners we heard a lot of english accents. It's very much a party town we would love to go there with a group of friends!

They had a market on the Saturday that was pretty good so we spent some time wandering around there. I bought Summer a couple of outfits that a lady makes they are singlets and nappy covers we figure it's going to get so much hotter she isnt going to need much clothing when the real summer comes. Anyway I got talking to this lady and discovered that they also are on a trip around Australia and have two young children their baby was younger than Summer probably 7 or 8 months old and another little girl who I thought would have been about five or six. She makes the clothes and sells them at markets and she also has suppliers in a couple of baby shops. They are from NSW so we finally met some people our own age travelling and they are heading further up north (like we are) and she gave me her card so that was great. She is pretty clever and i have already had lots of comments on the singlets when Summer and I were at the shopping centre this week. I wish I could sew or do something that would make me some money while we are travelling!!

They have a lagoon there to which has different depths so we took summer there for a swim and ended up spending most of the day there in the water. So many people easily would have been 500 but because it's so big you weren't squashed in and didn’t really seem like many people at all. There were beautiful bodies sunbaking everywhere (and some not so beautiful but no one seemed to care) girls walking around the street in bikinis even girls at the pub in their bikini tops and shorts. I decided then and there to go on a diet haha. Shaun was pretty happy spent a fair bit of the weekend with his eyes hanging out of his head!

After the lagoon we headed up to the pub for a few drinks and very easily could have settled in there for a bit of a session! but we had Summer of course (we did talk about how we should have bought our parents along on the trip to babysit) everyone was so relaxed and seemed to be having lots of fun. They had a big street party there that night with bands and so on but we didn't go us old people have to stay home nowdays and look after our kids!!

On the Sunday we went out for a really yummy breakfast and then we headed off really there wasn't that much to do there other than the lagoon and of course the trips to the whitsunday islands and the charters and so on and the pubs. There is a bit of shopping there but because it's such a touristy place it's pretty pricey.

We headed to a place called Dingo Beach for a look which was just a small seaside town and then another place called Hideaway Bay which was also a small seaside town we took a 4wd dirt track and ended up finding an eco resort there! in the middle of nowhere so we stopped and had a couple of drinks it was nice and there was a fair few people but we couldn't really work out why you would go there to stay nothing to do and the beach there wasn't very nice at all but they did have a nice bar so I guess that's one reason!

We took heaps of photos of the weekend so will put a few up for you all to see

Summer @ the Lagoon

The Lagoon

The Beach (tide was out)

An Update

It's been a little while since I have updated but we haven't really been doing all that much. We are all well and still having a good time I guess it still feels like a holiday so no real homesickness yet a little here and there but the phone calls and emails and skype keeps us in contact with everyone so we are doing ok.

Shaun is working still so we are still in Mackay trying to save some money so that we can move on.

We caught up with Jodie and Travis at Airlie Beach and went out for a lovely meal when they were up here so that was really good to see some more familiar faces and catch up with them and the kids.

The weather has been beautiful we are enjoying days of 28/29 degrees so it's really hard to believe that it is winter. Has had us talking about why we would want to go back to those freezing cold wet tassie winters!!

Summer is loving the warm weather and has been doing lots of swimming and playing at the beach. She isn't a huge fan of the water in the beach she wont go in very far at all (like me) but she loves the pool. Erin has an outdoor jacuzy here which she just loves and has way to much confidence when she is in there which is a bit scary. She goes under and tries to swim! they also have a cold spa here at the house they are renting which so far only Shaun and Summer have been brave enough to get in...

Here's a couple of pics of Summer in the jacuzy

You can see how tall she is getting in this one!!

What we are up to!

We are still in Mackay. We had planned to head to Townsville last week but Shaun was offered a job so we have decided to stay for a bit and build up our funds. We thought he would work for them for a couple of months but it looks like they are going to give him a car and a phone!! so if they do I guess we will have to stay a bit longer. We really don't know what we will do but the money will be handy for now so we will stay until September at least. We head back to Brisbane in early September to catch up with Paula and Mark and the kids which we can't wait for then after that we head down to Coffs Harbour to see Melissa and Stephen and the kids so we are very excited that we have some people from home coming to visit us :) Shaun has told his work that we have holidays booked and they were fine with that. We think we will probably fly to Brisbane as it seems to be a lot cheaper for us to do that than to drive from Mackay to Coffs Harbour is about 1400 kms so flying would probably be better. We found some $79 flights to so that's a lot cheaper than what we would pay in petrol.

The weather up here has been beautiful it's hard to believe it's winter when they days are 27/28 degrees it can get windy but still warm. I am not sure how I will cope in the actual Summer months because I imagine it's going to be stinking hot!!

I thought i'd give a little update on Summer she has grown heaps now and is getting tall! all her trousers are getting to short. I should measure her so I know how tall she is! she is talking really well and saying heaps and heaps of words and is saying more of two words together now. She has changed so much since we left home she doesn't really seem like a baby anymore but a little girl now! speaking of which my baby will be two next month!!! i can't believe it!! she seems to have adjusted to everything really well I guess we are lucky that she has always been such an easy going baby so adapts well. She loves the people and has no problem sweet talking them either she definately isn't shy and will go with anyone which is a little bit scary at times. She is no longer in a cot and is sleeping in a little bed with a rail on the side that Shaun made up for her she thinks it's great she has her own bed and points to it all the time saying "Summer's bed" she sleeps really well in it and doesn't get out during the night so that's good!

I took a photo of her in her new bed for you all to see :)

Summer and the Frog

We found a frog at the front door the other night so Shaun caught it and we kept it to show Summer the next morning. She was so excited the first thing she went to do was pick it up and of course I screamed and scared the life out of her. She wasn't to phased though she loved it. I did take a video of her so will try and upload that to here as well.