Phone.
Seriously. My kids have now wiped all of the data on my phone 3 times now. They are fascinated with the buttons and numbers on an iPhone, and unfortunately don’t care about punching the correct PIN number in within 5 attempts. Because I have my work email on my phone, after 5 failed attempts it completely resets my phone. Wipes out everything. Thankfully I had last backed up on Tuesday, but I had taken heaps of pictures since then. And, the blog I had spent hours writing was erased. So, we will see if my second attempt comes out as good as the first. Ugh.

Brookie!!!
Aunt Brookie is here!! She made it! And her friend Tansie survived, as well. They were late getting into Sydney on Monday, and they didn’t have a phone that works in Australia to let me know which flight they were going to be on. So I used my mad investigative skills (thank you Google and the Qantas sales guy) to figure it out. Since they arrived in Brisbane on a domestic flight, I actually got to go to the gate to greet them off the plane. You don’t need a boarding pass to go through security at most airports in Australia. No worries. I was thrilled to see both of them smiling! Brooke has a weak stomach, so I wasn’t sure what shape she would be in when she got off the plane. That patch she used worked great!

Loot.
We didn’t have a whole lot of time before we had to go pick up the kids, so the girls took a quick shower and pulled out some of the loot they brought us from the states. As Brooke calls it, lots of processed cheese snacks. Have I ever mentioned how amazing Cheetos are? Seriously. There is no substitute for the perfect crunch and flavor of a Cheeto. Will never take them for granted when we move home. The girls brought me a beautiful pair of Coach earrings, and since they were at the Coach store at LAX I had them bring a new purse for me, too. I was missing my favorite hair conditioner. And Jolly Ranchers. And pink Orbit gum. Good loot, ladies!

Buggy.
I wanted to make sure the girls knew how to get to the marina, so we went for a quick buggy ride to the grocery store to pick up some essentials.

Kids.
We went to pick up the kids, and although they were a little shy, they were excited to see the girls! We took the long way home so I could show them how to get to Sanctuary Cove. I was also hoping to spot a kangaroo but none wanted to make an appearance. We went home and Jay picked up kebabs for dinner. Brooke wasn’t a fan. Poor thing might struggle a bit with the food here…

Girl from Down Under.
Brooke has been talking about this amazing Christmas present she was making for Lily, that she insisted on delivering in person. I had no idea what it could be. When she showed us, I agreed. The most awesome gift ever. She made a book for Lily. Hand sewn, totally creative, so perfect. A puzzle of the Aussie flag and Sydney opera house. Lace up the Harbour Bridge. Unsnap a gum tree leaf to feed a koala. Play peekaboo with a baby roo. Braid a jellyfish. Brush a brumby’s mane and a shark’s teeth. Unzip a croc’s mouth. Count the sea turtles. Dress up the mermaid. A.Maz.Ing.

Tuesday.
I had to go to work on Tuesday so the girls were on their own. They were going to go to Sanctuary Cove, but after playing in the pool for a bit, Brooke got a headache. She took off her patch and almost immediately got sick. She was down for the count for the entire day. Bummer dude.

Wednesday.
Brooke felt much better on Wednesday morning. They walked to Sanctuary Cove and did a little shopping. They got a kick out of the yachts – crazy big. They spent an hour trying to find a few ingredients to make dinner for us. Turns out lamb isn’t a good substitute for Brooke’s ham ball recipe. And sugar water is a terrible substitute for Karo syrup. But the corn casserole was amazing!! That night Jay watched the kids so I could go with them to the wine bar. We had a glass and then went to the tavern for a beer and a bucket of chips. We had a few left over so we threw them into the water. A bunch of big fish came over to eat the fries. They thought they were baby sharks, so I (cough cough wink wink) asked the waiter what kind of fish they were. “Baby sharks. Definitely baby sharks.” Or not. The world may never know.

Thursday.
I had a doctor’s appointment down the coast a ways on Thursday morning so I dropped the girls off at Surfers Paradise. There was a cyclone off the coast, which was causing some high winds and rough seas. So, the plan to lay on the beach was a bad one. They could barely stand to go dip their toes in. But, it was the first time Brooke had seen the ocean, and even during a cyclone that sea is beautiful. They shopped, ate, and drank. I worked from home the rest of the day. Jay and Ty had haircuts that evening, so I picked up Lily and went to get the girls. It sounded like they had a good day. They loved watching all of the wind surfers.

Friday.
I was going to drop the girls at the train station on Friday morning so they could explore the city, but they wanted to chillax a bit. They swam, swam, laundry, swam, napped, swam. Brooke is tan as can be (b). We were all going to go to the tavern Friday night, but Ty fell asleep in the car on the way home from school, and Lily was asleep before 7:00. Jay sent us off by ourselves, so we had a yummy dinner at Red Rock then went to the tavern for a bit to watch a pretty decent band play for a while. We knew we had a long day of traveling ahead of us so we didn’t stay out too late.

Road trip!
Ty woke us up at the crack of dawn by running into our room and saying, “I am all dressed and ready to go to the hotel! Let’s go!” So we got up, got ready, loaded the car, and we’re on the road by 8:30. Girls in one car, boys in the other. We made one pit stop before arriving in Hervey Bay just in time for lunch at a little cafe. I sat at the table while the rest of the crew an across the street to the beach. It was a much calmer day so way more enjoyable for the girls.

After a yummy lunch, we headed to the dock to catch our ferry ride to Fraser (Frayza) Island. Fraser is the world’s largest sand island, known for dingos, 4wd, and camping. No, we weren’t camping. Are you kidding?!?! You will not catch me camping in Australia. Never. We couldn’t drive our car around the island because once you leave the resort area the “roads” are only sand paths. But we thought that since we have so much crap for the six of us, it might be easier to throw it all into one car and ferry it over. Best $30 ever. Plus, Jay got the thrill of driving his wagon on a boat.

Sand Bar.
We got checked in and headed down to the Sand Bar, which is a little tavern by the beach that has a swimming pool. Jay and the kids went for a swim. Lily showed us her cannon ball skills. Such a little dare devil!

Sunset.
Brooke and Tansie took Ty over to the pier to watch the sunset. Glad they got to see a good one.

4WD.
On Sunday we rented a 4WD to explore the island. I have to admit I was kind of a nervous wreck at first. I was channeling my inner Chris, worried about the kids getting whip lash, our truck getting stuck, getting eaten by dingos. We headed off in what Brooke and Jay thought was the way to Central Station – but they weren’t really sure – but there is the end of the pavement and the start of a sand path – so of course we will just go there – holy crap that is steep!!! After 10 minutes of listening to Ty giggle and laugh and say “dad this is awesome – thank you for taking us driving on the sand” I finally was able to sort of relax and enjoy the day. So I never actually relaxed, but I really did enjoy the day. At one point I realized I had been smiling so much my cheeks hurt. Is that really wide enough for us?

First stop was Lake McKenzie. Um. Wow. By far the most beautiful lake I have ever been to. The water was so perfect. Shades of blue, clear as glass, completely fresh and filled by rain water. Amazing. We realized we forgot to bring our swimsuits down to the water but Jay hiked back to get our things. There was no way we were leaving without going in. Lily and Ty couldn’t wait for their suits so in true Aussie style they stripped down (Ty to his undies and Lily to bare bum) and splashed all around. No worries.

Central Station.
While we all could have stayed at Lake McKenzie all day, we had lots of ground to cover. We wandered around Central Station and saw the clearest stream I have ever seen. The area had been used as a little clearing for the logging community back on the day.

Next up – Eurong, which is on the surf side of the island. We timed it just right to have a quick lunch at a “resort” that looked more like a prison. Jay nearly got the truck stuck pulling up to the toilets. Oops. That would have been a crappy deal. Would have really pissed us off. Would have flushed our day down the toilet. I could go on and on… Thankfully his
mad driving skills got us unstuck before too much drama occurred. Sharing chocolate milk…

Ocean.
So yeah, then we did what everyone gets to do at one point or another in their life, you know, driving on a freaking amazing beach!!!! Like for real. We had to wait until after 12:30 so the tide was out far enough to open up the “highway” which doubles as an airplane runway. Yes, you read that right. We had to be careful to stay out of the way of the planes that were taking off and landing on the beach. ON THE BEACH!!!! So cool. Jay was cruising along (all the time of course at the 60 kph speed posted on the window), occasionally splashing the wheels in the little waves, periodically running over a jellyfish that had washed ashore in the most inopportune location. Did you ever wonder what it sounds lien to drive over a jellyfish? Ka-SPLAT!!

Eli Creek.
There were lots of little streams all along the beach that we hair drive right through, which was no big deal. But when we got to the point where Eli Creek meets the ocean, I thought, um……..how is this going to work. Jay sort of slowed down and then HOLY CRAP THAT WAS AWESOME!!! We just drove right through it and everyone (including Lily) was laughing and shouting and waving our hands in the air. What a rush!! We parked the truck for a bit and waded in the creek (again, crystal clear) before heading up toward the next sight.

Maheno.
The Maheno shipwreck was awesome. I haven’t had a chance to read up on the history of it, but it was so cool to see. And we were the only people there.

The furthest north we went was to an area where the sand cliffs (no rocks/dirt/stone) were various shades of color. I think it was called The Pinnacle??

Dingos.
I might just pause here to point out that despite seeing 10,000 signs for dingo safety, I have yet to see a freaking dingo.

Wet.
We headed back south to see a few more things before we had to have the truck home by 6:00. The anticipation of going through Eli Creek again made us all very excited. I rolled my window up most of the way, but Brooke had hers all the way down in front of me. Guess who ended up with half of Eli Creek in her lap… This girl. Oh well, it was worth it!

Red lake.
Brooke remembered seeing pictures of a red lake on Pinterest, so we thought we better go check it out. It took forever to get there, but it was really red!!

Unfortunately we didn’t stay long as 2 minutes after we got down to the lake, some guy came walking down the path alone. We all instantly got the creeps and headed back up to the car. We couldn’t get out of there fast enough. Jay was convinced he was a spotter so his buddies could pillage through our truck. I was convinced we were going to be adding to the red color of the water. Thankfully none of the above occurred and we got out of there safely, but it ranked high on the list for most uncomfortable situations ever.

So yeah, taking a drive around Frazer Island was one of the coolest experiences ever. The resort itself, Kingfisher Bay, was just OK. The food options were lacking, entertainment limited (aside from the natural beauty of the place), and accommodations were definitely dated. 2 nights were plenty since we don’t own a 4WD to explore the whole island at our own pace. And we never saw a flipping dingo. I think they don’t really exist. They just tell people they do as a bait and switch ploy. But wow. What a fascinating place!!

On Monday morning we all went for a swim at the resort pool before having to load up and check out. We aught the ferry back to the mainland and then we split up. Jay took the kids back down south, and I drove Brooke and Tansie up to Agnes Water. We are staying at The Edge on Beaches resort – it is a really cute unit! We got settled in our room and went to the store to pick up aloe Vera (I somehow managed to forget to put on sunscreen this morning) and some food for dinner and breakfast. We decided to make tacos. Tomorrow is a big day! I am going to attempt scuba diving. The girls are going to snorkel. So excited!!

That’s all for now – of course more to come later!! G’day mates!