East Coast 2021.

 Greetings again; this time from very warm Mackay. We drove here yesterday from Hervey Bay, a longish drive by our recent standards.  Actually about 5 1/2 hours, but we've been doing shorter hops lately so it seemed long.  And, of course, we crossed the Tropic of Capricorn, so Judy can now correctly comment that the surroundings look "tropical ". And the good part is that it's now only a short drive from here to Airlie Beach when we leave on Saturday.  We are both a bit surprised by Mackay. Didn't know it was such a big place! And seems to be very spread out.  Lots (at least 16, maybe more that I couldn't see) very large ships anchored off. And the weather here (well, at the moment anyway) is great. 28C today I think with blue sky and barely a zephyr of breeze.  Hope that all is well for everyone.  J&R

 We're in the caravan park in Scarness, Hervey Bay, after our lovely time in Noosa.  We're almost too embarrassed to tell you about the lovely warm and sunny weather because we've been watching the weather at home and the contrast is unbelievable. On Friday we took a full day whale watching cruise a long way north along the west coast of Fraser Island which was fantastic! Tomorrow we're going a bit further north to Tannum Sands, then Mackay as we head for Airlie Beach (which will probably be our northernmost place on this trip. We hope that you are all well and staying sane and that you have good news for Tuesday.

 Hi again and greetings from Noosaville.  We drove down from TCB (Tin Can Bay) yesterday.  If you look on a map you can see that it's downhill all the way, so an easy drive.  We're in the Munna Point Van park, now known as Noosa River Holiday Park.  Over the years we've found it hard to get a site here as many people just book the same sites and dates they've had for years.  So now there's a thing called the Noosa Shuffle.  People have finally got a booking for, let's say three weeks, but they have to move to a new site every few days because they have eventually built up a three week stay by filling in fortuitous gaps as the regulars cancel.  Anyway we're here until Thursday and after that we have no idea. We came south again to have a dermatologist look at Judy's face.  That happened today and we don't need to see him again until 25/8, by which time we'll be in our apartment at Little Cove.  So we're free again for more travel.  W...

 Arrived here on Tuesday and were immediately invited for dinner by Pete and Barb (Judy's cousin and his wife). They were farming in the  Vic western district and now live full time in Tin Can Bay where they're setting up several medical clinics and bringing doctors in to greatly improve availability in surrounding areas.  So, for the last three days we've been thoroughly looked after, driven to interesting places, fed and been updated on parts of Judy's family history of which she was previously unaware.  Here, we're enjoying the sunset glow as we're having drinks and nibbles on Pete and Barb's jetty. On the way here from Hervey Bay we (without having planned it) met up with Jill and Ross in Maryborough, which was great.  Sorry to hear about the latest Victorian lockdown.  Stay safe everyone. 

 It was cloudy today; a good day for reading.  But yesterday was beautiful, sunny but not too hot. Tomorrow only a fairly short drive south to Tin Can Bay.  And we're not coming home for a while yet but we're already thinking about whether we might need to bypass NSW. Best regards from us. 

 We're still at Urangan, on the tip of Hervey Bay and will be here until Tuesday, when we're going south again for a while to Tin Can Bay.  Then down to Noosa for a few days while Judy has a spot on her cheek looked at. (And in Noosa we're actually going to Munna Point, a caravan park you can't normally get into unless you've been going there forever). Today is not a beach day, so after morning coffee overlooking the sea we checked out the impressive botanical gardens here... And speaking of coffee. We brought our nice stainless steel plunger on this trip but then bought a little plunger for $2 at Urunga.  Now, at Urangan, we have added a compact coffee pod machine that Woollies has on special $50. Hardly feels like camping!  Best wishes to all.  R&J

 Yesterday we moved a very short distance (Torquay to Urangan, maybe a couple of Km) but tomorrow we're going to set a new record, moving to another caravan park that is about 400m away. It's hardly worth rolling up the awning for such a short trip.  The reason for these moves is that it's very busy here and although there are so many caravan parks, there are very few sites available; just an occasional space that's free for a couple of nights.  However we think that we now have a plan that will cover us until late July (and the school holidays end this weekend, which should also help). They put on great sunsets around here. Mind you, without the clouds they'd be nothing much.  Best regards from J&R

 At last! A warm and sunny day.  There were plenty of people swimming, but not us this time.  Tomorrow we're moving to a different caravan park that's just few Km away.  Then... not sure.