Day 299 to 301. Brisbane / Ipswich

Still the best of friends....


Scarlett holding the gate
on our way out of Kalbar

This morning; Friday, Shane had his last day at work at RAAF Base Amberley, and we are moving the van over to Flinders View - to Scarlett's mate Connor's house. It was sad saying goodbye to Hailey and her family, as we have had a wonderful time out here on their property. But reluctantly we hooked up the van heading off around 8am, and returned to suburbia once more.

When we reached Connor's house, Mark (Connor's dad) was the only one home. Everyone was at either school, work or daycare and it was very quiet (for the moment). We parked the van and had a quick catch up, before we were back in the car and off to the RAAF base out at Amberley. Shane had to pop into work to pick up a trailer from a mate to help us with moving some furniture this weekend. We also called into my work and picked up some stuff I had stored there, and made a quick visit back to the storage centre to drop it all off. 

Scarlett, Briony and Mia

After lunch we took Scarlett over to her old day care teacher from last year, Briony's house. Briony no longer works at 'B4Kids', so we had to track her down at home. There was no way Scarlett was coming back here and not visiting her old teacher who she loved dearly. And it looked like they both enjoyed the catch up as much as each other, it was great to see her again.



Benjamin, Connor and Scarlett

Today when Connor got home, Scarlett was over the moon to see him, they really seemed to have missed each other this past year. They played along with Connor's brother Benjamin for hours, and had a great night watching a movie in my bed with popcorn. When Cherie-Anne (Connor's mum) came home, we all sat in the van looking at photos from our trip. We were telling stories and catching up for ages; it's been so good to see them all again.

posted by Bec



On Saturday morning, I had a date back up at Redcliffe with Katherine and Tony. I needed to pick up a box of kitchenware, and also the dining room table that Tony and his work mates refurbished for us. I arrived at 9am, and after a cuppa and chat, we loaded up the trailer with the table and box, and I was on my way. I ended up buying the guys a carton of Jim beam to say thank you, and Tony was very appreciative. I hope the boys enjoy them, as they have done a fantastic job. On my way back to Bec and Scarlett, I went via the storage shed once more and dropped off the gear. While I was away, Bec took Scarlett, Connor and Benjamin to the movies to see 'Puss in Boots'. Apparently they had a ball, and the kids really enjoyed the movie - as did Bec. Afterwards, Bec treated them all to lunch at McDonalds as well as a play in the local park.

Connor, Mark, Benjamin and Cherie-Anne

While Bec had the kids, Cherie-Anne was busy at home preparing Benjamin's 3rd birthday party. I think she really appreciated Bec taking all the kids out for a few hours, as it gave her the time to do the party preparations without the hassle of having the kids around.

We all returned to the house early afternoon, and helped with the final preparations - then the fun began! There were kids, food, games, painting and balloons galore - the party was a raging success. Benjamin loved being the centre of attention, and he loved his 'Tiger' birthday cake Cherrie-Ann had made him!

"Ying Yang"

To say it was a big day would be an understatement, but the kids finally went to bed after all the guests had left, and us parents sat around for another hour or two enjoying a quiet drink while talking the night away. All in all, it was a great day!

Achilles and Willow

Sunday morning saw Bec and I leaving early to head north once more - but this time to collect 'Achilles' and 'Willow' - our two Diamond Pythons. They have been looked after for the last 12 months by Mary and Ryan; two complete strangers who answered our call for help and offered to look after our 'babies' while we were away travelling on our adventure around Australia.

Achilles, Willow, and Scarlett

Wow! We couldn't believe our luck. Achilles and Willow looked amazing, and Bec was so happy to be finally reunited with her beloved snakes once again. We stayed and talked to Mary and Ryan for hours, before reluctantly packing up the snake enclosure onto the trailer, the snakes on the back seat of the car, and saying goodbye to two very amazing people. We left them with a little parting gift to say thank you for all they have done for us as they have performed above and beyond anything we expected of them. Thanks guys.

We returned back to the house after dropping off the snakes enclosure to the storage centre, where the kids were so excited to see the snakes. Scarlett was so proud to be able to handle them in front of her friends, before placing them in their travel boxes, and into the caravan.

We ended up catching up with 'Woofy', Cas, Oakley and Cas's parents at the Spring Lake Tavern for dinner that evening. Cas is due to have her second baby this week, and even though Bec asked her to please pop it out before she left, poor Cas was unable to comply with her request. She will be induced on Wednesday, so good luck mate, I hope it all goes well and we will have to wait till you move down to Sydney in Jan to meet little bub.

We were absolutely buggered after such a big weekend running around, we almost instantly fell asleep....

posted by Shane