We lived for 7 years south of the Queensland border in a Caravan
Park called North Star Resort located in a small town called Hastings Point.
NSR holds the prestige’s title of being the first 5 star Caravan Resort in Australia.
This was an extremely fun time in our life. Our van housed 5 of
us. We had a spa bath in the van and a lovely shady verandah out the front
complete with a pond and fountain. Outdoor living was common with the use of bbq's, pool, kids playground and games room.
There was a service station out front and the beach and lagoon were just
across the road.
Hubby
regularly caught fish off the beach and my skin was almost tanned black. I had the
best job too... Working at Music Downunder in Tweed Heads.
We
all have fond memories of Hastings Point. To this day that beach and a secluded
skinny dipping beach south of Pottsville called Black Point are in my opinion 2
of the best beaches in the world. 😁
They
were tough times though. We barely made ends meet. But living simply taught all
of us to be good budget planners. Even the kids learn't valuable lessons.
Living simply is a good way of life. You build up great strength of character
and value close friendships more.
You
also appreciate little things and make the most of special stuff like payday
when we'd often lash out on fresh prawns, oysters and squid at the fish co-op
in Tweed Heads and either take down to the beach for a picnic or cook up a
feast and eat on our verandah.... Washed down with a refreshing ale or 3.
😉
All
of us have fond memories of shell hunting on the beach and sitting on our
verandah at the end of the day making shell chimes with fishing line to hang......
A pastime that we have carried on wherever we go. There's something relaxing
about chilling with a coldie and doing something arty after a hot day at the
beach.
Having
a pool was good. I taught the kids to swim. It was fun for all when the
tourists arrived. But then it was better when they left. We'd sit lounging by
our pool and feel kinda sorry for the tourists that had to go home.
Today.... We are living in Perth and we are renting. People look
at me funny when I talk about my life in a caravan park. They have this 'sorry'
expression. Why?....
Sorry?....
I feel sorry for you!
Living
in a house owned by the bank (for those that are paying off a mortgage). And pretending that it is your house..... (sorry Dude, the Bank owns it)
struggling to pay the mortgage and all the overheads that go with it. Along
with all of the daily life expenses. Not being able to go on holidays. Is
that living?
No.
I'd rather pay someone else to pay the Bank....
And have
more money in my pocket to enjoy the finer things in life.
😎
The first Van
Cabarita Beach, up the road was famous for Surf Comps. My friend and I loved checking out the
surfers. She even hooked up with the
great Kelly Slater. Lucky girl.
Cabarita also had a great pub right on the beach which was great
for all afternoon Sunday lunch and entertainment.
Below is the only pic we have of Cabarita Beach. Daughter visited Hastings Point to meet up
with her childhood friend and here she is.
~~oOo~~
Hubby scored 2 great jobs during the time we lived here.
How could you not like a job at Currumbin Bird Sanctuary? Obviously there are dirty background jobs
that the public do not see. But overall
they took care of the animals and surrounds well.
He even got to chat to Steve Erwin first hand. Most of Erwin's TV
antics were totally staged as you can imagine.
But Hubby saw the genuine side of Steve which was nice.
Hubby
got to use his Horticulture skills to improve the gardens and animal
habitat. And we got to go there any
time for free! 😁
Old memory of my mum.
~~oOo~~
Beach Restoration
I was a little sad when hubby decided to leave
Currumbin Bird Sanctuary to improve his career by scoring a job that utilised
his landscape design skills.
But for hubby it was the boost he
needed. Now being in charge of a beach
dunes restoration project and team..... directly across the road from our
caravan park.
The team made footpaths, they did weed
control, made a viewing platform, planted loads of native bush, did fencing,
made steps down to the beach etc.
Both Council, locals and visitors were
impressed.
~~oOo~~
TROPICAL FRUIT WORLD
This place used to be called Avocadoland.
The new name Tropical Fruit World fits. It is great for fruit tastings and they have an exploration tour of the farm and plantations.
We loved the Restaurant that serves lovely fresh dishes.
It has grown significantly and now is a popular respected international venue.
~~oOo~~
NOOSA
Noosa is the hub of
the Sunshine Coast - 2 hours north of Brisbane. Noosa beach is ok... but better ones are
Coolum, Mooloolaba and Maroochydore.
We visited all of
them when I was growing up. I remember a
huge scary seesaw wooden plank swing at Dickie Beach, Coloundra.
We took the family
on a short holiday to Noosa and stayed in a nice apartment right on the
river. Great location with nice views.
The Sunshine Coast has always been laid back. So much different from the hustle and bustle
of the Gold Coast which is south of Brisbane.
~~oOo~~
When I was young, the coloured sands of Tewantin were popular. I
see that they still are. Tewantin is a
small town just north of Noosa.
Memory.
Years ago on one of our camping holidays dad gunned the old car
through the sand and we hit Tewantin beach. No 4x4 back then. Only one small problem.... the car boiled and
dad didn't have any water handy.
Ok.... plan b. Filled the radiator with
sea water and the old bomb went like a dream.
~~oOo~~
~~oOo~~
Australia
is well known for 'big' icons.... big banana, big prawn.... big pineapple. The big pineapple has always been the icon of
the sunshine coast for ever since I can remember. There was a period of time when it was closed
down. That was sad. But I can see that the big pineapple is back
and bigger than ever. They even have
concerts and events here.
We spent an enjoyable afternoon here.
~~oOo~~
This
is a fun attraction if you have kids. Our
2 enjoyed themselves.
Apart from a name change to Sea Life, it's still pretty much the same as I remember it. Well worth a visit.
~~oOo~~
Off the beaten path and a bit more rustic is tin bay, a
favourite of ours.
Tin Can Bay is north again from Tewantin and located at the southern tip of the famous Fraser Island.
We spent quite a few
camping holidays with the neighbours here. There is a nice lagoon with a diving pontoon
for the kids and an estuary inlet for boating and fishing. And it is right on the beach. The small shop sold awesome lollies and had an
air hocky game that was fun to play.
Tin
Can Bay was where I caught my first fish, a blow fish. They are uglier than cane toads! Well
almost.
Dad
had to cut the fishing line and throw it back in. Believe me, you don't want to mess with
blowies. They are like bull terrier
dogs, and pretty similar looking too. Once
attached, they won't let go and they are too poisonous to handle. Plus they have teeth that make bugs bunny look
like a small rat. Lol.
Ever
try hitting a blow fish with a wooden cricket bat? Doesn't
make them disengage. It just makes them blow up and look like big mean blow
fish!! .... Never mess with a blowie I say....
😏
FUNNY STORY
My mate Perry and I took the tinny out for a run up the estuary.
We spied some boys… you know... the markers that signify cray or crab pots
underneath). Being inquisitive as kids
are we couldn't resist checking them out to see if anything had been caught. Bad move.
This
mean looking dude came out of the bushes down to the water line armed with a
huge rifle, pointed it at us and told us to eff off!! Well... we didn't need any further
persuasion.... mental picture the road runner speeding over water.
😬
As we
oared outter there at 1,000,000,000 circular strokes per second.
~~oOo~~
ETTAMOGAH PUB
~~oOo~~
ETTAMOGAH PUB
Ettamogah Pub to be renamed and Queenslander's are Pissed!
Check the link above. Queensland's iconic odd shaped Pub
is being revamped. But that is not the worst. The worst is the new name. Who names a Pub - Banna Bender? Seriously!!
And the dude that will christen the new Pub's name is Wally Lewis, the famous QLD Broncos Footy player. Shame on you Wally!
This famous zoo is located just at the southern end of the
Sunshine Coast south/west of Caloundra. Didn't exist when I was a kid. But now Australia Zoo is very popular due to
some dude called Steve Erwin. I suppose you've heard of him. If you haven't, you didn't miss anything. Just google stingray barb kills famous Aussie
icon. Guess the stingray wasn't
impressed with Erwin's pretend tough Aussie bravo....
Us
Aussies categorise Erwin under the same embarrassing label as Paul Hogan. Hogan, the Aussie hero we have never been
proud of but people from overseas somehow love ? Anyway, because of this fella called Steve
Erwin, Australia Zoo is a popular place to go..... I guess.
~~oOo~~
If mountains are your thing, the hinterland and especially Buderim
is most certainly worth a visit. Mum and
dad loved the ginger factory there. I am
not really fond of ginger except for the rock hard ginger biscuits. All I remember is that ginger factory stunk!
Don't think I'll be going back there in a hurry.
The
Glass House Mountains, in particular Malaney are also worth a visit, however
watch out for leeches when forest walking. I was on a school outing one day and had a
leech on my leg that must have sucked a ton of blood from me and got big and
fat. Yuk!
And
it just dropped off when I pulled down my sock, which was hillarious for all of
my school mates. I didn’t think it was
funny. 😧
~~oOo~~
There are so many fabulous things to see and do in the
hinterland. Mount Tamborine, Lamington
National Park, Natural Arch, O’Reillys Bird Park, Thunderbird Park, bush walks,
waterfalls, wineries, restaurants etc.
~~oOo~~
Living at Hastings Point we had the best of both worlds, the beach and not to far up the road and across the border was the Gold Coast and all of the fun, glitz and glamour, and of course the fun parks.
Dreamworld was our favourite, followed closely by Sea World.
~~oOo~~
Living in a resort we had plenty of helpers to look after the young ones whilst hubby and I took a night off occasionally to go up to the Gold Coast for a night out.
Draculas Caberet dinner and show was fun.
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