Last full day – making the most of it

Firstly, I’m missing out the first few hours of today due to, let’s just say “unfortunate circumstances” and I begin our day at 11am!

We had decided that today, our final full day, we would do a beach day. The forecast was good (30 degrees and clear) so we read up a little on local beaches. Apparently, for the decent beaches, you have to travel an hour north or south of Brisbane which, given the local “Bridlington Beach” here, is probably accurate so it was either North or down to the Gold Coast.

Neither of us much fancied the commercial, high-rise tourism of the Gold Coast area so we decided to head back to Bribie Island for the day. The place that had given us so much pleasure on those first few day, introducing us to Oz in the most tropical and amazing way. It seemed fitting to spend our final day on the beach that we started at with its perfect floury white sands and gentle surf.

What we didn’t count on, however, was Mr Weatherman getting it wrong (after all, why should Aussie weather forecasters be any different?)

As we left the house around 11am, we were surrounded by cloud, much of it grey, and hoped that the glimmers of blue sky would be in our direction!

We arrived at Bribie around midday to ‘drizzle’ (how very UK! (although it was 27 degrees drizzle!!)) so grabbed some lunch first and wandered around a few local shops. Something we hadn’t done much while staying in Bribie due to jet lag and ‘packing in activities’.

By the time it’d got to about 1pm, it was brightening up a little locally so we headed to the beach. We were already there anyway and kitted up in swim/sun gear so it seemed silly not to (and Bribie still looked beautiful, even in the drizzle!)

We spent a fantastic 3 hours+ on the beach. Paddling in the sea, which was warm despite the overcast weather and body boarding along the surf. The waves were absolutely perfect for it and both boys (well, all 3, in fact) had a great time! I just enjoyed being able to sit and do absolutely nothing for a few hours!

There were some BIG storms over Moreton Island (off the coast of Queensland/Bribie) and occasionally it’d try to rain but the 100 or so beach-goers didn’t care. We all just stayed paddling/sitting and the threats passed each time. We eventually decided that we’d had to make a move and get back for tea so we got showered off (Bribie beach at Woorim even has showers!), got changed and headed home where the boys got changed and we took a drive into Sandgate in search of some ‘proper’ food!

We picked out a couple of the ‘recommended eateries’ from the welcome pack and settled on a nearby pub/restaurant which was pleasant and quiet (it was only 5.30 so still quite early) One (well, four!) nice meal later and we were ready to head home to begin packing.

We’ve NO idea whether we’ll even be able to get to Manchester on Friday morning, mind you. The airport is now fully open and operational again and it’s not anticipating more disruption so fingers crossed that everything will be ok and our trip back will be uneventful.

Meanwhile, we’re bracing ourselves to drop todays 3 from the temperature and plunge ourselves back into the frozen wastelands of England. Oh joys!

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