For The Love of Travel

18 of us gathered for Xmas lunch at Jacqui and Mike’s (my cousin and her partner) place on the edge of the Kinglake National Park.  A hot day of 38 degrees in Melbourne, you can always take off about 3 degrees in Castella, and then there was a southerly breeze – so lovely to celebrate the season in the shady garden. Delicious food, great company and a fun time for the kids….perfect! And the new addition to the Castella household, Tich, needed a kip…..

Visited my brother and sister-in-law on the Fraser Coast, Queensland in the days leading up to Christmas. Hot and humid at this time of the year, Maryborough boasts a relaxed atmosphere and is nestled upon the Mary River. With beautifully preserved colonial streets, visitors have the chance to soak up some of Queensland’s richest history and heritage architecture by doing a historical walk through town, guided by knowledgeable local government staff. Once one of Australia’s largest ports, the original wharf district is now home to vintage restaurants, pubs, museums and art galleries.  Maryborough is also the birthplace of Pamela Lyndon Travers, the creator of Mary Poppins. I did the touristy stuff when I visited earlier in the year, so this visit was an opportunity to relax with Stef and Sue.

Flew into Hervey Bay, rented a car and drove to the promenade for lovely ocean views. On the way to Maryborough some 40 kms away, saw beautiful flame trees in bloom.

We spent a leisurely time together  – visiting the Rustic Emu Gallery and enchanted Garden with Sue;

    doing some fine dining with Stef and Sue at the Coast restaurant, Hervey Bay (delicious mocktails; yummy chicken, quinoa salad and banana split)

….and travelling 50 kms! to see the historic town and for some delicious Mammino ice-cream at Childers, in the region of Isis (as you do on holiday).

Undulating hills, bright green sugar cane fields and reddy brown volcanic soil. There is conjecture about whether the region was named after the isis River in England, others say because its such a fertile red soil plateau, it was named after the Egyptian goddess of fertility.  

We had a great time that night doing ‘drive by’ in Maryborough, sampling Christmas house decorations …