We found a little playground just a short walk from our house swap. The kids enjoyed romping about, and I explored "Baz & Shaz Fruit & Veg" market, picking up some frozen juice pops for the kiddos and a bunch of grapes and stone fruit for our ride back to Brisbane. Since we didn't quite have our act together and there was no real rush to get back, we had some take out Indian food and shared several pints of Ben and Jerry's ice cream (a rarity in Oz) for lunch. Amity slept through this ice cream excitement, but Zara was introduced (by Uncle Brian) to the concept of eating directly from the pint. She's ready for college now!
The ride back was uneventful until we got a text from Phil and Bri saying there was a traffic jam up ahead. Never ones to sit through traffic when we can take a scenic detour, Wes re-routed us (thanks, iPhone) through some very interestingly named places such as Mooball (many things in town decorated with cow print, including light posts and gas stations), Murwillumbah, and Nerang. Somewhere between the latter two we encountered "Zara Road" (which turns out to lead to a town called Zara, to which we did not go). You can see Zara posing with the eponymous road.
The alternate route lead us on a crazy adventure wherein we encountered a "road closed" sign, but after turning back we noticed another car pass us by. After a few minutes of waiting, they did not turn back so we figured we'd give it a try. Less than 1 km past the road closed sign we encountered a flooded causeway, and a sign that told us in no uncertain terms "do not cross when water is over causeway." Since we'd already began to embrace the spirit of adventure, rather than heed the sign's warning, Wes got out and did a little reconnoitering. He determined that yes, there was water on the causeway, but it wasn't so deep the car couldn't easily pass. So Wes walked across and the rest of us followed in the car. Wes got back in on the other side and we drove along on our merry way, congratulating ourselves on our ingenuity and bravery.
We made it to the Queensland border (and we may or may not have still been in the possession of fruit from New South Wales), and soon realized that no, we had not dodged the proverbial bullet. Those rain storms they have been having didn't just leave behind a mildly flooded causeway, but apparently there had been a rather large avalanche/mudslide on the road we were taking. Seeing some trucks actively working on the scene, we drove past the barrier that warned us "road closed, do not enter" to merely ascertain the best way to proceed, having encountered what seemed to be an unsurmountable obstacle. The friendly gentleman we spoke to let us know that yes, the road was closed, but that if we just proceeded with some caution and waited for the truck in front of us to be loaded with debris, we could follow that truck on through. For the second time that day we snatched victory from the jaws of defeat (and are starting to believe all road signs are cautionary rather than absolute!) and so, after a few minutes wait we were on our way once again.
The rest of the drive was considerably less eventful. As in, not at all. We made it back to the M1 and it was a straight, not super traffic-ful shot on into Indooroopilly. We went out for Mexican food (mmmmm...Sangria!) and then... yup, you guessed it. After all that adventuring it was straight to bed (though we're all on Brisbane time now).
We found a little playground just a short walk from our house swap. The kids enjoyed romping about, and I explored "Baz & Shaz Fruit & Veg" market, picking up some frozen juice pops for the kiddos and a bunch of grapes and stone fruit for our ride back to Brisbane. Since we didn't quite have our act together and there was no real rush to get back, we had some take out Indian food and shared several pints of Ben and Jerry's ice cream (a rarity in Oz) for lunch. Amity slept through this ice cream excitement, but Zara was introduced (by Uncle Brian) to the concept of eating directly from the pint. She's ready for college now!
The ride back was uneventful until we got a text from Phil and Bri saying there was a traffic jam up ahead. Never ones to sit through traffic when we can take a scenic detour, Wes re-routed us (thanks, iPhone) through some very interestingly named places such as Mooball (many things in town decorated with cow print, including light posts and gas stations), Murwillumbah, and Nerang. Somewhere between the latter two we encountered "Zara Road" (which turns out to lead to a town called Zara, to which we did not go). You can see Zara posing with the eponymous road.
The alternate route lead us on a crazy adventure wherein we encountered a "road closed" sign, but after turning back we noticed another car pass us by. After a few minutes of waiting, they did not turn back so we figured we'd give it a try. Less than 1 km past the road closed sign we encountered a flooded causeway, and a sign that told us in no uncertain terms "do not cross when water is over causeway." Since we'd already began to embrace the spirit of adventure, rather than heed the sign's warning, Wes got out and did a little reconnoitering. He determined that yes, there was water on the causeway, but it wasn't so deep the car couldn't easily pass. So Wes walked across and the rest of us followed in the car. Wes got back in on the other side and we drove along on our merry way, congratulating ourselves on our ingenuity and bravery.
We made it to the Queensland border (and we may or may not have still been in the possession of fruit from New South Wales), and soon realized that no, we had not dodged the proverbial bullet. Those rain storms they have been having didn't just leave behind a mildly flooded causeway, but apparently there had been a rather large avalanche/mudslide on the road we were taking. Seeing some trucks actively working on the scene, we drove past the barrier that warned us "road closed, do not enter" to merely ascertain the best way to proceed, having encountered what seemed to be an unsurmountable obstacle. The friendly gentleman we spoke to let us know that yes, the road was closed, but that if we just proceeded with some caution and waited for the truck in front of us to be loaded with debris, we could follow that truck on through. For the second time that day we snatched victory from the jaws of defeat (and are starting to believe all road signs are cautionary rather than absolute!) and so, after a few minutes wait we were on our way once again.
The rest of the drive was considerably less eventful. As in, not at all. We made it back to the M1 and it was a straight, not super traffic-ful shot on into Indooroopilly. We went out for Mexican food (mmmmm...Sangria!) and then... yup, you guessed it. After all that adventuring it was straight to bed (though we're all on Brisbane time now).
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