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The third week involved a bit of traveling.

We somehow crammed 5 adults and luggage into a rental sedan. Poor Diane had to reduce her bag down to like 20% of what she started with. It was TIGHT. Dad couldn’t even fit his box of Shreddies.

It felt like it took 90 hours to get to Listowel. This pic was from one of our bathroom stops. Rosemarie was so desperate to make the time pass quickly in the car that she even agreed to play Agricola on the ipad.

Anyway we made it. This time we all stayed at my aunt and uncles new house which was a lot of fun. Terry is always on top of constant beverages. One night we had dinner at my grandparents house (first time them having guests inside in two years!), and the other night Terry, Rosemarie and I destroyed Joanne’s kitchen making pizzas for everyone including our cousin and their kids. The kids loved it when they arrived and the smoke alarm was going off.

Dad, Scott and I played Wide World with Violet, which she won, and proclaimed “I CAN’T BELIEVE I WON AGAINST TWO OLD PEOPLE AND ONE TEENAGER!”. Hehehe.

Many robins around trying to tell us it was spring, but the temperatures said otherwise.
The biggest ball of yarn I’ve ever seen.

Of course they played some Pickleball in Listowel too. Also Listowel had probably the second best gym of the entire trip? It was huge! The owner was super nice and even let me train the second day (for free!) even though the gym reception wasn’t going to be open.

I told you the car was full.

We left early on the last day because we were planning a special detour to surprise Scott. We only told him that dad wanted to go somewhere specific for lunch.

I thought dad blew the surprise when he pointed out that we could see Toronto on the other side of the lake but actually we got nearly all the way there before Scott was like “Wait… are we going to Niagara Falls?”. He has been wanting to go there the entire time we lived in Canada but we never managed it.

I also hadn’t been there since 1999! PS did you know that the falls recede by a METER every year?!

It was a nice day! We parked way down by the casino and walked all the way up along the falls to the crazy tourist area. We had lunch at Wendy’s and looked around at all the attractions while dad walked back to pick up the car. We were going to ride the rollercoaster but it was too expensive and also possibly broken. There was a 6D cinema?! I don’t even know what that means.

Thankfully our journey back to BC was much less exciting than the one to get to Ontario. We got treated to a beautiful mountain sunset and clear skies into Vancouver where Rosemarie reminded me what everything was as we flew over.

Lauren (remember him?) picked us up from the airport and we made a quick late night yam roll stop before spending one night at their house in Squamish. The next day Scott and I borrowed their car and headed to the Sunshine Coast to visit Lesley.

In typical us fashion, we had some ferry related stress. We got to Horseshoe Bay plenty early planning to park the van and walk on to the ferry, but the parking was completely full. We drove around and around trying to find a space. I was totally stumped what to do, tbh. I called Lesley and she suggested just paying a little bit more and taking the car on the ferry, which thankfully still had space. But to get on the ferry you have to drive way up the highway to turn around and join the ferry line. We got to the ticket booth with about 15 seconds to spare and were one of the very last cars to board. It was hectic.

Everybody likes Scott.

We had a fun chill afternoon/evening with Lesley and fam, playing games and eating snacks and hanging out. It actually ended up being pretty convenient to have the van with us because we were able to explore a bit the next morning after Lesley had to go to work. We went out for breakfast and looked at the water and checked out a cidery before heading back to the ferry. It was a short, but nice visit.

Smiling because it was still the beginning of the road trip.
Hotel Chambers.
Divvying up fry pies.
Glad we got to see our grandparents.
Niagara Falls.
Scott taking in the sights.
Diane did not forget about her massage offer!
Upside down house, Niagara.
Can’t believe we managed to play a whole game of 7 Wonders with a child afoot.
The Canadian Sunshine Coast is very different to the Australian version.

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We spent most of the second week doing chores at the house during the day, and then fun stuff with friends in the evening.

I spent two days scanning old photos so that we can throw out the mouldy albums. That was kind of fun. I found all sorts of funny stuff. Then I varnished a table. Scott did lots of pressure washing, which wasn’t very fun because he got wet and it was freezing out. And he helped dad carry lots of stuff. Rosemarie did a lot of kitchen stuff sorting. We took apart some cabinets and cleaned them so they can be re-used.

Writing that out it doesn’t sound like that much stuff but we filled up all the areas where we could store stuff and dad seemed pleased with his checklist, so I guess that’s good.

Unpictured:

  • Scott did get a day off one day when he went to Montreal to go to a metal concert (Mastodon) (by himself, because none of us wanted to go with him). He took a bus and stayed in an Airbnb and had a great time! And he came back with kouign amann and bagels!
  • That evening Rosemarie and I met up with Sarah and Lauren (different Lauren) for dinner and ice cream. This is the one time I forgot to take a group picture. :(

I swear the whole trip we never had more than two hours of free time, but that is partly our fault because any time we did have free time we were like “LET’S PLAY A GAME!!!”.

Bill and Suzanne invited us all over for dinner at their house and pickleball. We had tacos and then drove to the court and they taught us how to play. We were hooked! Especially Rosemarie. We played until it was too dark to see anything. Rosemarie asked when they were going to play again and they said “Tomorrow!”.

So we drove all the way back to Constance Bay and played again the next day. :D

We went to the Nordik Spa at night with Jackie which felt fantastic after all the work at the house and pickleball. It was awesome going with Jackie because 1. she’s like a spa expert and 2. we hadn’t hung out with her in ages!! The spa was great. I was surprised that there was an area that you could bring your drink right into the water. Crazy. We stayed at the spa for a loooong time, soaking and plunging, exfoliating with salt, broiling ourselves etc. (sounds like cooking a turkey, doesn’t it). We had a nice spa dinner too. The only thing we didn’t do was try the heated hammocks!

The next day I went to the gym and Rosemarie and Scott tried indoor pickleball. (I tell you, Rosemarie was obsessed.)

The next day was crazy busy. We went and saw Helenka again (post-babbies, although sans-babbies because they were in the NICU), ate another shawarma and poutine, and then drove back out to Constance Bay again to… you guessed it…. play some more pickleball. :D Then we came home, cooked hot pot for a quick family dinner, and then went bouldering with Sarah, and then met up with Sara for a drink. Whew.

PS that poutine, with the exorbitant amount of gravy and cheese curds, made me feel sooo sick, despite Lactaid. :( I feel un-Canadian.

Our final night in Ottawa we went to a Sens game with Stephko. It was one of the last games of the season and had no consequences in regards to the play-offs, but was still exciting because there were a lot of goals and even went into overtime for maximum drama.

Again, more pictures that you probably already saw on Facebook:

Bouldering with Sarah.
Spa time with our cousin Jackie.
Drinks with Sara and Sarah.
Sens game with Stephko.
Pickleball is life.
Pickleball with the Monnon’s.
Shawarma lunch with Rosemarie.
Do you like my plaids.
Inside.
Lunch outside.

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Kind of old news at this point but for posterity…

Hoofing it to the train station.
Full flight but thumbs up we’re on our way.

I think I was still a bit dopey from the flight…

Had to wake up though because Rosemarie and Lauren picked us up from the airport in Vancouver and we went directly to Liz’s house in North Van to host a party. Rosemarie prepared lots of Canadian treats for us like perogies, Smartfood popcorn, Canada Dry, party mix and lots of our Vancouver friends showed up! Thanks Liz for letting us stay there!

The next morning we headed back to the airport (via Duffins Donuts ofc) to fly to Ottawa. This is the last picture with Lauren for a while because we had all sorts of problems.

First our flight out of Vancouver was delayed. The lovely Westjet agent tried to help fix up our flights for us but since we had booked on three different tickets he was only able to get Scott on I on a new route via Calgary before that flight filled up, and had to keep Rosemarie and Lauren on the original flight to Toronto that might not make the connection to Ottawa. He offered to switch us back so that we could at least stay together but Rosemarie told us to go ahead and we’d just cross our fingers. Amazing Race style.

The way the flights were staggered we wouldn’t find out if they made it until much later. Poor MEP and Paul had to stay up all night waiting for us and didn’t even know how many of us they would be picking up from the airport.

Scott and I got to Calgary no problemo. But then we saw messages from Rosemarie saying that they didn’t let Lauren on the plane in Vancouver because his ID was expired and that he had to go home. Team member down! And that her connection in Toronto was looking TIGHT.

Scott and I got to Ottawa late but relatively successfully. But then we found out that Rosemarie didn’t make her connection, had to stand in line for hours to get her free hotel, and had to wake up very early to get her new flight the next morning. Which also ended up being delayed because they couldn’t close the luggage compartment door. Poor Rosemarie. Her team definitely lost Amazing Race.

Anyway eventually we all (well… three of us) made it to Mary Ellen’s and dad came over and of course we played some games. Yay.

That night we went to the Haberl’s for a good old fashioned sleepover. It was great. We played lots of games and ate lots of food and laughed a lot. A very lovely time.

3/4 Ace Gang Reunion. Unfortunately Cassia didn’t make it because of Spanish bureaucracy. We got lucky even seeing Helenka… she ended up having her twins very early, a few days after this brunch!!

Scott trying to catch some maple sap to see if it tasted like maple syrup (it does!).

Things relaxed (a bit) after the first few days of the trip. We spent some time hanging out at MEP and Paul’s.

Sweaty after doing a HIIT class.

I managed to keep up my training while away. My coach made me a commercial gym friendly leg strength program that was basically max squats all the time. Sometimes Rosemarie and Scott came with me, and sometimes they did other random classes or played pickleball. I am glad they get along so well.

Jill had another memorial party for Joe that just happened to fall when we were in Ottawa. It was nice to see a lot of people I hadn’t seen in ages. And the canapes and cookie favours were delicious!

We started to go through some of the stuff at the house. I think Cassia made me that poster when I was about to leave for university. D’awww.

Same pictures that I already posted on Facebook/Instagram:

Party at Liz’s.
Brunch at the Haberl’s.
Diane’s big chair.
Death by squats.
Camel Up was a hit, as usual.
Canada Geese.
So flattering.
Fam,
Joe’s memorial party at the Nature Museum.
House tour.

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We had a much more relaxed third day. We stopped in Eurong to buy some breakfast ice cream and then headed down a bumpy track for more lakes.

Us being very responsible and checking water depth before driving through. :)

First lake was Lake Birrabeen, which has very nice clear water and doesn’t get crowded. Unfortunately it was very windy when we were there so it wasn’t that great conditions for us. 5/10, probably a lot better on a calm day.

Next was Lake Boomanjin. The largest perched lake in the world, stained with tea tree. Now this was neat! So colourful!! Apparently it is good for your skin and hair. 7/10, bring your polarised sunglasses for maximum rainbow.

Monopoly Deal is srs bsnss.

We drove back to Central Station to camp that night. Rosemarie cooked us steak. We had showers. It was still pretty uncomfortable but at least this time we had bug spray.

The final day. Another lake. We hiked into Basin Lake, a teeny tiny lake that doesn’t get very busy. Scott walked all the way around and saw a snake. 6/10, nothing too special, by comparison.

We noticed on the hike to Basin Lake that there was a turnoff to hike to Lake McKenzie, our next stop, but only Scott was interested in extra walking so he went off on a solo hike and Rosemarie and I went back to the car and drove to meet him at Lake McKenzie. He still beat us there by like 30 minutes because the driving tracks around the inside of the island are bumpy AF!

No one wants to see a lizard from above!!!
Nic’s right though, this is a pretty epic shot.
Katrina for scale.

One last dip in Lake McKenzie before heading back to the ferry. I did some broad jumps in the water to keep the legs alive. This time we got to the ferry way too early, due to past trauma, haha.

Us with nice clean car in Hervey Bay.

We had a hotel in Hervey Bay that night, where we attempted to clean ourselves up. But no matter how many times you shake out your shoes, more sand comes out. We got way too much fish and chips for dinner that night and then stayed up late to watch the final heats of the ladies skeleton in the Olympics. The whole country was HYPED because Jaclyn Naracott was sitting in first place after the first two heats. Amazing. She ended up finishing silver, still an incredible result.

The final morning we woke up to emails from Jetstar saying that our flight from Sydney to Melbourne had been cancelled. Rosemarie tried to do an online chat and the dude told her that there were no possible other flights but we could cancel and get our money back if we wanted. Not very helpful considering Scott and I had work the next day, but also didn’t want to spend hundreds of dollars trying to get home on a new flight.

After getting breakfast we decided to just head to the airport early, ready to negotiate either a new flight or a hotel. We check in and the lady didn’t say anything at all so we said “Um, I think the second part of our flight has been cancelled?” and she was like “Oh yeah, nah they put you on a Qantas flight at the same time, here are the details, just walk to the other terminal in Sydney and check in again”. Was anyone planning on telling us???? Anyway despite the sketchiest “boarding pass” in the world, it all worked out and we even got a hot snack (arancini) and wine on the flight!

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I was so excited to take Rosemarie and Scott to Fraser Island. We used the same company as when I went with Natasha in 2017, Fraser Dingo 4WD, who prepared us an epic 4 day/3 night itinerary. We had a blast!! Prepare for a lot of pictures!!

The trip did start out a little stressful. It took the guy a bit longer than expected to go over all the safety information and itinerary with us, and then we didn’t follow their advice of going to the close grocery store for supplies, which resulted in a serious race to get to the ferry in time. We made it, but like… barely.

Scott letting the air out of the tires to prepare for driving on sand.
Me supervising Scott letting the air out of the tires. :D

Our first stop was Lake McKenzie. It has got to be one of the most pleasant places for a swim in the whole world. I just love that the sand is so soft, with no rocks, and the water is beautifully clear. 10/10, maybe 9.5/10 when it’s windy.

That night we camped in Central Station, in the forest. I recognized the exact campsite I stayed at in 2008! We set up camp and made dinner while getting laughed at by tons of kookaburras, and getting our ears buzzed off by seriously loud waves of cicadas. None of us had ever experienced that before, it was crazy, borderline painful. There were also tons of mosquitos so we decided we were just going to stay on Melbourne time and went to bed quite early.

The second day was going to be our only possible beach driving day, so we had to get up very early to maximize our chances of making it to the Champagne Pools, something that I didn’t get to do in 2008 OR 2017 and was dying to do.

Despite the 4WD guy making it sound extremely treacherous, we made it up to the Champagne Pools with no issues whatsoever. I actually really enjoyed the bit where I had to keep up speed to make it through the deep soft sand. Exhilarating! Rosemarie did ask if I wanted to the passage again just for fun and in hindsight maybe we should have!

Us dumdums didn’t realise there was a second parking lot so we drove back down and parked on the beach and walked back up!! Doh.

Me being a whale.

The Pools were awesome. Nice shallow spots protected by rocks, so when the waves crash in it splashes up and bubbles around you. It’s not safe to swim in the ocean anywhere else on Fraser so it’s extra special that this place exists. 10/10. Amazing.

The trail up to Indian Heads was closed for maintenance so we didn’t get to go up there, but it wasn’t whale season anyway so oh well.

Rosemarie and I on a “hike” at The Pinnacles that turned out to be about 20m long, hahaha. Good thing I brought snacks.
Maheno shipwreck.
No one wants to see a shipwreck from above!!!

We actually stopped at Eli Creek on the way up the beach first thing in the morning as well as on the way back down. I had such fond memories of it we didn’t want to risk missing in it so we did a couple loops first thing in the morning. We were the only ones there and it was REFRESHING. And of course Rosemarie loved it as much as me so we stopped there again in the afternoon and did another few laps. 9/10, needs to be longer.

Then our last activity for the day was Lake Wabby, in the dunes. We had to walk in from our beach campsite for that evening so it involved quite a bit of sand walking, but we all survived and the lake at the end is a pretty unique reward. Scott was very surprised that the lake was literally right at the edge of the dune. There are some huge fish in it as well. We had the whole lake to ourselves for quite a while too, since we were there so late in the day. I did some hill sprints to keep up my fitness. This was Scott’s favourite lake. I give it an 8/10, fish nibbling a bit and hike too long.

Visitor to our beach camp site. Scott chased him away with our Dingo Stick.
Stir fry on the dune by our beach camp site at the end of a huge day.

To be continued….