We got here in the end

Our long awaited road trip north looked like it may not happen this week. Rain Bombs, east coast lows, catastrophic floods, with major highways impassable - you name it, we timed everything for maximum drama!!

We left Canberra early on Wednesday morning, not feeling all that confident about what the day's drive would bring. It didn't start well either; the drive through Sydney to Heatherbrae was tough with very heavy rain and poor visibility at times.

But we made it through to Coffs Harbour - our first stop on the way north to Queensland. We stayed overnight at Park Beach which was looking worse for wear (like most of the east coast) after being thrashed by rain and storms all week.

But it was our next day's drive that was making us worried! Most of the north east of NSW had been inundated with a "once in a thousand year" rain/flood event from the start of the week - towns were flooded and the highways were cut. We hoped there would be a way through to the Gold Coast by Thursday, but as it turned out there wasn't.'

So we decided to head inland and see if we could find a way north by a more circuitous route!!

We headed west from Coffs, through Grafton, via the mountainous, misty Gwyder Highway....... to Glen Innis (eventually) ...........

Then up the New England Highway, across the NSW - Queensland border to Warwick from where we were able to get onto the Cunningham Highway through to the southern outskirts of Brisbane. We eventually made it on to the M1 heading south to the Gold Coast, our eventual destination. The road in from Warwick had only just opened up so our timing worked well in that instance!

 

The drive from Coffs Harbour to the southern end of the Gold Coast usually takes us less than three hours. We drove for around 9 stressful hours yesterday, as we zigzagged our way across the country heading north (mostly). We loved seeing all that blue clear sky though through those inland highways!

 

We were so happy to finally get to our destination - Kirra Beach, after that exhausting drive.

All week we've been obsessing over such distressing news EVERYWHERE - so many thousands of people affected by catastrophic weather events, wars, invasions ...... it hasn't been the happiest or most relaxing start to our holiday.

But we know are lucky to be here - 11 nights at the (almost) new X Kirra Hotel, opposite the beach, on Musgrave Street.

We woke this morning to another grey day of turbulent looking skies - but that didn't stop us heading out for a walk along the beachfront.

The swell looked pretty rough this morning - so we couldn't quite believe the surfers making their way out to "get amongst it", in these conditions

We walked all the way around to Point Danger this morning, past Coolangatta, Greenmount, Rainbow Bay and Snapper Rocks. Along the way we enjoyed watching this group of boys getting a bit of fun out of the wild conditions.

This afternoon we were able to settle into our 10th floor room, our home for the next 10 nights (our (unplanned) first night was on the second floor). We like the views - especially when the sun came out (somewhat briefly).

Six o'clock on the balcony is the bewitching hour - the lorikeets are in full (noisy) flight and the evening light show is a stunner!

Ros and Pete are arriving tomorrow, so we're ready to have some fun together. They're flying up from Melbourne so will have no flooding dramas. Unfortunately the Internet is down all over this region. Apparently something very important for the Internet is currently under water at Woodburn and the technicians can't get to it because all the roads are cut!! We'll have to get out the books and the playing cards!!
 

Abi's tenth birthday

We celebrated Abi's tenth birthday quietly yesterday. COVID is raging through all the schools and its not the right timing for spreading the joy through more partying. But we were lucky to be included in the "quiet" family celebration yesterday.

All new horse riding gear went over well with the birthday girl, as well as her ears getting pierced!

Ella and Abi still play together a lot - mostly harmoniously, as they are both very well coordinated and cooperate well (mostly) in physical activity. I am so glad these days they don't expect us to join them in these games.

Abi ordered her favourite takeaway birthday meal - Thai (of course)!!

And Ella had made Abi the most extraordinary birthday cake ... based on the theme of "taking the horses to the beach" - combining two of Abi's favourite things. Yes this is a cake - decorated with icing (the grass), handmade honeycomb (the beach) and jelly (the water) - an absolutely amazing cake, and completely original!!!

although tricky to cut and serve .......

As part of the fun yesterday we looked at a slide show (thanks Ella) of favourite pics of Abi taken over the last decade. It was fantastic to see her emerging personality and passions over that time. What a character this girl is - we're so lucky to know her. Here's to being 10 Abi girl!
 

Abi's ten years

Our Abi turned 10 yesterday - a great opportunity to look back on a wonderful decade through some of my favourite photos of her ....

Yes, Abi was born on the 20th February 2012 at Canberra Hospital, a long awaited sister for (almost) five year old Ella. And they got on so well (mostly) right from the start.

Abi at 6 months.......

and 9 months .......

.. and a real character already at her first birthday party in 2013 ......

At eighteen months ........

Abi loved Peppa Pig (like a lot of others) by the time it was her second birthday.

This was taken Christmas 2014, when Abi's love of headbands was reaching its peak .......

which continued until her third birthday in February 2015. I made Abi doggy themed cupcakes for this birthday, which were a great hit. Abi adored doggies by this stage too (along with headbands).

The family with Granny Bobbie, who'd come to Canberra to help celebrate Abi's third birthday......

Abi loved her second visit to Ubud, Bali in July 2015 (she may not remember too much of her first visit at Christmas 2013-14). 2015 was a big year for the family as they moved house too the month before their Bali visit.

Abi was close to four when I took this picture of her with her beloved Nellie the Beagle. Rob and I had moved in with the young ones on our return from OS late in 2015. We stayed with them for around 18 months (on and off) while our new apartment was being built, so we got to share lots of precious times like this with the kids.

At the start of 2016 Abi started Kindergarten. She was lucky to have her big sister at the same school.

The Octonaut (fourth) birthday in February 2016..........

Abi and the family helped us celebrate our 65th birthdays in Ubud Bali in April 2016 (Abi's third Bali holiday).

2016 was quite the year of travel for Abi. We all went to Seoul, South Korea in September that year too, to celebrate Joel and Kay's wedding.

We took Abi for her first Canberra Merry Go Round ride in November 2016, on our return from South Korea (and Japan for us). We should have realised this was a portent of things to come when we saw how HAPPY she was to be on this (admittedly, vintage) horse.

Abi was also happy to be five - February 2017.

And growing fast - April 2017 ......

By October 2017 Sniffy was never too far from Abi's side - Nellie the Beagle had gone where all good (aged and infirm) Beagles go by this time.

Abi enjoyed her fourth holiday in Ubud Bali at Christmas 2017-18. By the time I took the pic below (in April 2018) she was a big brave 6 year old - but minus her front teeth.

We enjoyed our first mini break together in Thredbo in October 2018. We enjoyed another one at the same time in 2019, and we were even able to fit in another visit in 2020, but missed out last year because of lockdown. Hopefully we can get back to our lovely snow country visit routine again this year.

This pic was taken soon after our first Thredbo break, at Canberra's Dinosaur Museum - another passion of Abi's at the time.

Abi on her seventh birthday in February 2019.

We enjoyed a long weekend together in Coogee in early 2019 too. I remember that was the weekend when Abi could not stop doing cartwheels, on the grass, on the beach, at the hotel, everywhere .......

Abi, aged 7 and a half - getting creative with a chip and a rocket leaf. We were celebrating Jody's birthday with (another) lunch at our fave Poachers Pantry in August 2019. Abi and the family had just got back from Abi's fifth holiday to Ubud Bali. With the benefit of hindsight it was so good they'd had this travel opportunity with what we now know was coming!!

In October 2019 Abi had her first horse riding lesson at Forest Park on the Cotter Road. She was absolutely hooked right from the start!!!

I took this pic of Abi soon after her eighth birthday in 2020 (late March). We were all in lockdown at this stage, at the start of the COVID years.  Both Ella and Abi have survived these years of uncertainty, social restrictions and schooling at home with characteristic good humour and resilience - I think this photo of Abi sums it up (although wearing PJs all day was a bit of a thing during these times)!

After making it through the first COVID year Abi spent her ninth birthday in February 2021 doing her favourite thing .....

And one of the most recent pics of Abi (late January 2022) shows her once more at her happiest: at her 5 day horse riding camp with her fave Buddy!!

Happy tenth birthday darling Abi - it is so wonderful to know you and love you, and to have shared so many happy times with you over the past decade