A Messy Museum

Today we have to "make some kilometers" otherwise we will never reach our target - Cairns. We prebooked the next campground in Hersey Bay / Scarness next to Frazer Island. This is about 230km from Dicky Beach.


On our way we plan to visit the Gympie Goldmining and Historical Museum (http://www.goldmuseum.spiderweb.com.au/). Gympie claims to have saved Queensland from bancrupy with their gold mining activities. Most mines are closed today and on the land of one of them the museum was established. The museum is at first a collection of old buildings from the old home of the second Australian prime minister, school, barns, blacksmith, train station, shaft to a converted water tank and more.





And then there is the actual collection - which one could also call a bit of a mess. There is just everything that is old. Of cause some mining stuff, typing machines, telephones, bottles, kitchen machines, hospital equipment, pianons, organs and so on.


And then the machineries; old engines, boats, chaises, waggons, lorries from the 20s and 30s, a hughe ore crusher, an old bus and so forth.





One can easily spend a whole day on the grounds of the museum. On our way through Gympie we then found the old train station.


The only train departing here is the historic Valley Rattler Steam Train through the Scenic Mary Valley.


At the time we arrived the train had just left the station and only an old diesel train was there.


Next to the station is the old historic railway hotel which can be reached from the station over a very old frail wooden bridge.





So back to the camper van now and another 120km to go. On our way we stop by an Aldi shop - quite surprised to find them almost everywhere here down under. And the shop layout is exactly the same as in Germany!





In Hervey Bay we stay on the Australiana campground - which has WiFi everywhere;-)

We will see what we will do tomorrow, potentially another day on the beach. Initially our plan was to go to Frazier Island. But it seems this is only senseful if we book a full day tour with boat, 4wd bus, BBQ buffet etc. This would cost us as a family between 600 and 900 AU$ - quite a lot and not sure the kids would like it. So we might save the money for a Great Barrier Reef tour...

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Position:Shelley St,Scarness,Australien

A Day on the Beach

This morning we decided to stay another night at Dicky Beach. The weather is so good that we spend the whole day on the beach. So there is not much to write, just enjoy the pictures.










Jeremia took the next picture this evening, showing daddy saving the pictures of the day to the harddisk.


In the evening we went to the beach again to watch the stars and the dark sea.





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Position:Dicky Beach, Australia

UnderWaterWorld - another rainy day down under

This night we had loads of rain again and the forecast for today is not good either. After an extensive breakfast in the camper van we head to our todays target, the UnderWaterWorld in Mooloolaba (http://www.underwaterworld.com.au)





The kids had a lot of fun and we spent the whole day watching various kind of fishes, seals and otter.





The long shark tunnel with its conveyor belt was a real attraction.





And the seals played with the kids...





Even the spider craps were posing...





And suddenly the kids themselves become part of the underwater world...












On our way back to the campground we stop at one of the many nice playgrounds.





Finally a last stop at the see before the sun set at only 5pm...





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Position:Mooloolaba, Australia

First Day On The Road

So today is our first day on the road with the camper van.
After a last night staying at our friends house, we hit the road.





After some shopping in the large Westfield Chermside mall, we leave Brisbane heading north to the Sunshine Coast. The coast does not yet show us why it carries its name as we still see rain for most of the day.




Our first stop is at the Caboolture War Plane Museum. A small museum in a hangar on the Caboolture airfield.
(http://www.caboolturewarplanemuseum.com/)















Joshua, Jeremia and Jonah sitting in a Mig 17 fighter plane from the 50s.

From there we leave to the Dicky Beach Family Holiday Park in Caloundra. The beach is named after a ship wreck. "S.S. Dicky", carrying 11 crew and 40 tonnes of sand, was forced onto the beach during heavy seas in 1893.






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Position:Caloundra, Australia

Campervan and Internet Access

Today I picked up the camper van from the Britz / Maui rental station near Brisbane airport. Due to a music festival in the regon, the station was very busy and we had to wait for more than an hour. The van looks fine and there should be sufficient space for us - although not too much.

After this I had sort out my Telstra pre-paid sim card. Returning to the shop they told me I was on a text and voice plan without internet - although I had specifically asked for internet. Now they told me I had to purchase another Sim card for 2$. This did not sound very plausible but for 2$ I did not mind. However, after handing me out another sim card he figured out how to reconfigure the other card. So after 30 mins. I was able to access the net through my MiFi device.

Tomorrow we will start our camper van trip - possibly with a visit to the large Westfield Chermside shopping mall.

By the way, Brisbane is currently rainy and cold and the forecast doesn't look too well for the next days.


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Position:Pimelea St,Everton Hills,Australien

Jeremias 7th Birthday

On July 26 we celebrated Jeremias 7th birthday. At breakfast he opened his presents and had his birthday cake. Then we went to Gold Cost to go to Movie World which he chose to celebrate his birthday party with his Australian friends Kathleen and Leo and the family.


Jeremia really enjoyed his birthday party at the park...









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Position:Pimelea St,Everton Hills,Australien

Arrival in Brisbane

So here we are Brisbane. Yesterday we tried hard to stay awake to get across the jet lag as quick as possible. I bought a pre-paid sim card for my mobile hotspot. But unfortunately the so far I was not able to get internet access with it. So later I need to go back to the Telstra shop to sort it out.

The first night at our friends house was very relaxing - finally a bed :)


Joshua and Jonah just had breakfast with Kathleen and Leo. We will have a nice brunch with other friends of the family as it is Adeles birthday today. And tomorrow we will celebrate Jeremias 7th birthday...

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Position:Pimelea St,Everton Hills,Australien

In the Air...

Just 2 more hours to go and we are landing in Brisbane. So far this travel has been exceptionally good and thats what I want to report on now.

About 22 hours ago our start in Duesseldorf was not so relaxing as the airplane that should bring us to our first stopp over at Frankfurt arrived 30 minutes late. But finally we arrived only 10 minutes late in Frankfurt as this little trip only took 30 minutes - really fast. When we had to wait for our plane in Duesseldorf, Joshua became extremely eagerly - this made me quite a bit worried about what could happen on a 12 hours flight...

In Franfurt we had to change Terminal but not really necessary to worry although we only had 40 min. Between arrival and boarding for the next destination to Singapore. The Lufthansa 747-300 was a really old worn out plane (I was told it was a converted old cargo plane). Absolutely no entertainment (just some music channels and old TV screens somewhere far away). But we were prepared: iPad, iPod, 2x Nintendo DS and spare batteries to survive the 12 hours trip. Dinner was disgusting as well and seats uncomfortable. However, the kids did really well! Jonah, needless to say, was doing extremely well and caught some 10 hours of sleep. Jeremia had some difficult moments when he woke up some times but fell asleep again. Our biggest worry Joshua though has shown that he is now a big boy and behaved extremely well. So the 12 hours passed by without major incidents and we all were happy to get off the plane.


We immediately took the SkyTrain from Terminal 2 to Terminal 1 at Singapore Changi Airport to go the rooftop pool of the transit hotel. At nice temperature we took a refreshing bath with a view on the planes at the gates and on the runway. A very special experience. After three hours we went to Terminal 3 where after a burger dinner we visited the butterfly house. This is a nice little garden in the Terminal where you can observe various kinds of butterflys. Would we have had more time, there would have been many more things to do as there are kids playgrounds and a 12 meter slide and more. This is a really good transit airport.


So we walked very relaxed to our departure gate where we only had to wait a few more minutes till we boarded on our Singapore Airlines Airbus 330-300 to Brisbane. What a difference! Brand new interior with very well designed seats (still economy though) and a great entertainment system with hundreds of films on demand, thousends of songs and loads of games. And then a flatscreen of the size you only find in Business Class on other airlines. Dinner was very good - a traditional Singapore porc and rice dish with a lovely sauce, some cheese and an icecream as desert. The kids had really good kids menues as well. Joshua showed again that he is now a big boy - sitting next to little Jonah he took care of him even during dinner. Just, he couldn't sleep on the 7 hours flight as he had to try out all the games.
So we are now looking forward to arrive in Brisbane at 6am and then try to stay awake throughout the day.

Photos of the flights and our relaxing in the pool will be uploaded soon on www.frantzen.de/australia.

...and now we are only two hours away from Brisbane...

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Position:11235m above Northern Territory Australia

Photo Slide Show

fotocommunity

Only a few days to go...

Just sitting on the plane to... England - my last business trip before we start the long journey.

This weekend we will start packing the luggage and will see how much we will have to leave at home. The kids are also getting very excited now - Wednesday was their last day at school.


-------- Deutsche Version ------------

Sitze gerade im Flieger nach... England - letzter Arbeitsbesuch bevor es auf die lange Reise geht.

Am Wochenende fangen wir an zu packen - und werden sehen was wir da lassen müssen. Die Kinder sind auch schon ganz aufgeregt und Mittwoch war ihr letzter Schultag.

Position:English Channel / Englischer Kanal