This year we decided to travel to Brisbane instead of spending Christy's Birthday, Christmas and New Year in the USA. We hoped to drive the long route (1500mi) from Melbourne to Brisbane and to see more than we did in 2021 when we hastily raced between the two places (in both directions.) At that time COVID caused all sorts of unpredictability when state borders would open and close with short notice.
In 2024 we had much more time to get there. For this reason, we decided to stop about half-way in Maroubra, south of Sydney. There, Christy got us a place for 2 nights right at the coast line. The weather was not playing along and we had mostly grey skies and rain. Still, it was great to stop, recover, go to the beach and eat in Christy's favorite cafe there (Zeebra). Some pictures from this area are below.
The two nights in Maroubra were soon over and we found ourselves on the road to Brisbane. In Brisbane Summer, Christy's sister welcomed us and opened her house for us to stay until the 26th of December. Together we celebrated Christy's birthday and had a wonderful Christmas (and Christmas lunch.) Being in Brisbane also allowed us to see Christy's Mom, Jill, as well as Tyler.
On the 26th we moved on and headed closer to Jill's place. She lives on Bribie Island. Christy had organized a place in Woorim for us. There, right at the golf course Sydney had her own room (yeahh!) as we did, too. We spent a lot of time with family. We moved on to Redcliffe (who knew that Redcliff is where the Bee Gees grew up?) and back into the city before we got to stay in Maroochydore. Summer came up as well and enjoyed our presence eating wonderful meals and playing barefoot bowl.
Too fast did the time go by and soon enough we had to head back again. We spent a night in Surfers Paradise, in one of the high rises there. It is amazing to see how this place has been developed for tourists. There, was our last time swimming in the sea before heading back to Maroubra and a few nights later back to Melbourne where we arrived tired but with many great memories.