A blog in retrospect

My children and I just returned from a WEEKS holiday in Gladstone, Central Queensland. I say a WEEK .. because it ended up being far more than one week... infact.. twenty four days.. at last count I think !

Lets start from the end of the holiday.. and work our way backwards.

We endured no less than a large storm with torrential rain, hail and then dense fog for hundreds of kms on our return trip - nothing like the car trip up north... and certainly not what I expected considering we are in the tropics !

I was wanting to drop in on some friends just north of Brisbane on the way home.. but was truely exhausted by the bombardment of mother nature - sorry guys will come and see you soon :)

We discovered some quite unusual food on the way home. Unfortunately, I do not recall the name of the township, but it was in a roadhouse - and I do not believe you could get more Aussie tucker than this.

Yes, you are seeing it correctly - that is
a Crocodile Pie.....
a Kangaroo Pie....
a Crab Pie......
and just to be boring.. a spinach & fetta roll - should have asked them to remove that one from display whilst I took the photo maybe?


Not to be outdone by the savories.. the ice cream is Aussie also.

Click on the pictures to enlarge if you cant read it, I'm too lazy to do any editing right now.

Yes, that does say Red Dirt Ice Cream and NO, we did not purchase any.


I did however purchase a Crocodile Pie.

Now, I can not report to you that Crocodile Pies are good.. but I also can not say they are bad.
In the first instance, after biting into the pastry, I discovered it was far too hot for the driver to safely eat (namely me). Then the rain hit... then the hail.. the flooding roads.. pea soup fog ..etc etc.. safe to say that crocodile pie made it back to the Gold Coast and is presently in my fridge..(its bin day tomorrow) Come to think of it, the children COULD have eaten it if they had wanted to... I think they have lost their sense of adventure?? Bah.. the younger generation! Let's not digress? I'm so very good at that.

We spent our last 30 minutes in Gladstone at the local newly opened Bunnings store, searching for a 'reserved' padded toilet seat for a dear friend. Now, let's not laugh at the thought of needing a padded toilet seat - it may happen to us one day?
I'm not a snob.. nope.. not me but OMG what horrid customer service! I know this shop had recently opened and all employees were new.. but can staff not be helpful? Is it such a mental demand to look for a reserved item? I was palmed off to no less than 5 employees before I eagle eyed someone who looked like they might value their job and actually do the right thing. I scored.. she was worth finding - and yes she found the elusive padded toilet seat. Hurrah ! On the way to the checkout, I proudly walked past the 'help *cough* desk' to show them that 'exihibit A' did actually exist before I realised that I was parading around with a bloody padded loo seat......... not a good look really? Thank gawd I was leaving town immediately!


Just prior to my padded toilet seat exploration, I had sat in Mel's back garden sipping coffee at the outdoor table, under the finch feeder, pondering the possibility of another driving home delaying tactic. It was such a wonderful holiday - who wanted it to end?


Ahh what a splendiferous time was had !

So many thanks to those (you know who you are) that made every part of our holiday so enjoyable :)