Oz Wk 11 - Final week

Monday 22nd May

This is our final week here in Australia. We fly out next Monday night but although [as they say] all good things must end, we have so enjoyed our adventures that we are sure to return one day and see even more of this huge country.

We are still travelling in convoy with S and J although they will be returning home to Brisbane tomorrow morning. We are staying a second night here in Maleny and are planning to do a fairly substantial walk later on.

The river Mary runs through town and is said to be home to Platypus so we are looking out for them at every opportunity.

When we draw back the curtains first thing this morning we are greeted by fog. Not good. After breakfast however, the sun is desperately trying to break through so we decide we'll do the planned 7km walk. After following the trail beside the Mary River we step onto a viewing platform where there is a plaque suggesting it might be posssibe to see Platypus from this site. We wait and watch. John spots it first but there it is, much larger than the ones we'd seen at Broken River.

We comlete the huge circular walk and are treated to coffees before returning home to our vans for a leisurely afternoon.

After a hot shower we again join S and J for an evening feast and lots of chat. We are so enjoying their company after weeks of being on our travels alone. we will talk about these times often once we are home again.

Tuesday 23rd May

After bidding farewell to our fellow tavellers John and I walk back through the boardwalk shortcut to the lovely town of Maleny to seek out the information centre. I had seen a Koala refuge walk marked on a map but we weren't sure if this was accessible so we went to find out. The girls at the centre had never heard of it and tried some extensive searches online but nothing positive came up so we abandoned that plan.

We started our drive south to Beerwah through some magnificent views of deep valleys and wooded mountains beyond. We stopped before our destination beside a huge lake for lunch and then went for a walk along a popular bridle path. After about 1 km we were met by a young lady walking her dogho breathlessly explained she had run from a spot on the path where she'd seen a very venemous black snake that she'd only just avoided stepping on. It turns out she was originally from Yorkshire and chatted for a while explaining that she'd been here every day with her dog for the past 3 years and it was the first time she'd seen a snake. She also mentioned Montville was a much nicer place and this was also suggested by Jenny earlier so we went back to our van to check out the map. We put it into Tom Tom but the road to Montville was closed for roadworks so we drove to our site here in Beerwah instead.

There is a walkway from the site directly into a fairly substantial shopping area. We walked all around but found no suitable restaurants for tonight so we will feast on the Chili con Carne left from yesterday's meal and eat out tomorrow night instead of the other way round.

Wednesday 24th May

Our last full day in the van and the dawn has broken with bright sun and not a cloud in the sky.

Stephen collected us from The Britz depot on Thursday afternoon. we will spend our last weekend enjoying their wonderful hospitality and get ready for our travel home starting in the early hours of Monday night. If all goes to plan we'll be back in Reigate late on Tuesday night.

Thank you to everyone who read the blog, I hope you enjoyed some of our fantastic adventures. I plan to edit and add more photos once we're home again which will be available in a better reading format if anyone is interested.

Thank you also to all the Australians we met on our journey, to the wonderful and sometimes curious animals and birds we encountered for revealing themselves to us and to the councils who provided some excellent facilities and allowed us to see and enjoy a tiny bit of this vast country in safety and especially to our superb hosts who really made it all possible.

We will return.....

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