Saturday, May 23, 2009

Bye Bye Queensland, Our Road Trip Ends.




Check out the people on top of the bridge.
Ben has always been fascinated with hitches.  He loves vehicles that tow things.  Well, he now has discovered that a hitch, when not connected to something, can have a cover over the ball joint that can be quite greasy.  While riding his bike around in the underground parking lot of the hotel, he took one off and put it over his mouth, don't ask why.  We were laughing at him and I think he didn't understand why and was a little confused until we told him to go look in the mirror.  

GG now prefers a bottle of port over her water bottle.
 

Friday, May 22, 2009

Brisbane


We arrived in Brisbane a day earlier than anticipated because the weather had turned quite wet.  We were hoping to stay near the Glasshouse Mountains again, but we couldn't see them due to the rain and clouds.  We therefore spent the night at Newmarket Gardens Caravan Park just west of the city centre of Brisbane.  It poured the entire night.  The next morning we left to return our motorhome to Britz and check into our hotel.
The park was becoming a swamp.  Perfect time for our departure.
The river next to the park was rising fast.
That evening we saw on the news that the park was evacuated due to the water rising up to people's knees.
Our Bunnings umbrellas became our best friends. 
Looking up the street from our hotel as we were unloading our bags from the motorhome water flowed like a river. 

After a successful, yet very wet unloading of our gear, we made our way to drop off the motorhome.
Check out this video!
The route to Britz was quite memorable to say the least.
At one point, we thought the engine was going to stall because we were having to drive through some very deep water.
Upon our arrival at Britz, we were greeted outside by an employee saying that their office was entirely flooded and that all we had to do was hand her the key.  She asked if we could sort out the paperwork and any issues the following day. 
The following day was blue sky- shocking.  It's amazing how fast the weather turns here in Australia and how severe it can be in such a short amount of time. 
The last major flood in Brisbane occurred in Jan. 1974 that lasted for 3 days with 580mm of rain falling.  This one lasted only a day with around 400mm falling in and around Brisbane.  At Rainbow Beach where we were 4 days ago, a record of 713mm fell.  A news report said that the dams were at 50% and now they are at 75%. This was a very unusual occurance due to May typically being a dry month.  

Underwater World












On a rainy day, we decided to visit Underwater World which is basically an aquarium.  It has this really incredible tunnel with a rolling carpet that rolls you through the exhibit.  Bennett loved it so much, we spent over 1.5 hours just going round and round on this carpet.  He loved the sharks most.  Bennett also got kissed by a seal!  

Dicky Beach


Shipwreck of the S.S. Dicky

Ben found a skateboard park next to the beach.
Our neighbors at Dicky Beach Caravan Park. 

B working on his backhand