Wooli wanderings

If there is a long gap between posts and a complete lack of Christmas around this blog it is because just before Christmas we went on a little wander, to a lovely beachside town called Wooli. About four hours south of Brisbane, it is further than we would usually go to find the beach, but I can say it was completely worth that late night drive where we got lost because I fell asleep at a critical point in the navigation.

The town itself is tiny and built on a thin strip of land between the ocean and the river.  The scenery was spectacular.

We spent most of our time on the river side.

When the tide went out the sand felt like squishy marshmallow.

And there were masses of huge hermit crabs to collect and build a hotel for of course. This is what they look like when they are mostly inside the shell.

And mostly out of the shell. Yikes, that was not me holding by the way.

 We spent hours and hours in the golden late afternoon sun just fossicking around. The kids were in heaven. The rest of the time we were in here.

Doing crazy things like riding the dolphins down the waterslide.

We attempted mini golf but the competition and scorekeeping was way too much for one of us.

So we stuck with riding our bikes around and around the caravan park. And on the last day, the kids even went around the loop by themselves.

And then there were all the fibro shacks. One lunchtime, I strolled the tiny streets that make up this tiny town and sampled and hour of Wooli time. It was hot, still and barely a soul was stirring.

With one shop, a fish co-op and a tiny caravan park wedged between the two main streets, this is a small sleepy town. Most of the houses are fibro shacks and virtually all these shacks are either beach front or riverfront. It was basically fibro shack nirvana. They came in every colour imaginable. There was even purple but I couldn't get a pic due to a big ugly 4WD parked in the way.

We were amazed that nearly half of the town's shacks are for sale.

Several were in very original, renovators delight type states.

This one was my favourite, frangipani trees always win me over.

And I can even be quite partial to a good shed, of which there were many.

Anyway, shack ogling aside, the highlight of the trip was stumbling onto a taste of small town Christmas magic, the Aussie way. The caravan park we were staying in was also the starting point for Santa's annual sojourn down the river for Christmas carols held at the tip of the peninsula. We were all hyperventilating with excitement over spotting those six white boomers ( or kangaroos for those who have not heard this very Aussie Christmas carol).

The jolly fellow handed out sweets to all the kids before climbing on board.

Roboboy and I had decided to race Santa the 5 k's into town on our bikes. About half way, as we fly along the path running next to the river, we hear fragments of Christmas carols floating across the mangroves. It was magical, with the dusky light, the quiet streets with just the sounds of our pedals and strains of Rudolph over the lap of the water to guide us along. We did not see a single other soul the whole journey.

We arrived at the mouth of the river, to a pale sky and most of the town singing Christmas carols and waving glowsticks.

Soon, the SES marine rescue elves escorted Santa in to the shore and up the sands where he handed out more treats to the children.

 It was pure Christmas magic and we are so grateful to have been in just the right place at just the right time. Wooli, we loved you and we can't wait to come back.

(I'm presuming it's not just me who has fibro shack love, do fess up if you feel the same).

I forgot to add this before - if you want to look at some shacks to rent pop over here where many of local Wooli shacks are listed.

We stayed at the Solitary Islands Resort in a cabin opposite the pool and a massive jumping pillow as at this stage the  kids find these much more appealing than a beachfront shack. The resort is about 5k from the centre of town but there is a bike path all the way (which is almost entirely flat) and very little traffic.

Kindness and a seaside escape

Sometimes the kindness of strangers will take your breath away. A few posts back when I shared the new Nurse Nancy shelf, I mentioned that miss Liongirl was lamenting the missing red phone. A little red phone just like this one.

So, in the comments of that post I received a message from Maureen at Knitgirl 66 that she had a little red phone just like the one in the picture that she wanted to pass onto Liongirl. It had been hers as a child and she wanted to pass it on to a little girl who would enjoy it as much as she had. Liongirl was so excited, she was checking the letterbox four times a day, even on the weekend. When it arrived, we could not have imagined anything as lovely. It has a wind up key, then when you press the buttons it rings until it has unwound.

There have been lots of turns of answering with "Hospital" followed by various emergencies and ambulance requests. It will be thoroughly loved and enjoyed over here at Betsy's and I am still a little overwhelmed by the  kindness of this  gesture from someone I have never met.

She even packed a little gift for Roboboy as well, carefully labelled so not to be snaffled up by the little sister. Maureen, you might like to know that the little lizard had a washer and toothbrush packed with him in a travel case and was taken away on holidays with us the day he arrived.

So once the phone was popped in its proper place on the top of the Nurse Nancy shelf, we were out the door and off on a little mini adventure. We had not been away these  holidays at all and when Legoman was sent away for work for a week, I decided to round up my mum and run off with the kids to the seaside for a few days.

While we had some ordinary (rainy and cool) weather we still managed to enjoy ourselves. We trotted off to Redcliffe which is only about 40 minutes away.

 The beaches are not great for swimming but the flotsam and jetsam was absolutely the best. Never have we collected so much sea glass in such a small area, enough for a whole stretch of crazy paving in the mermaid garden the kids wanted to make. And the blue blubber jellyfish washed up on the beach were prized collectables too. We only picked up the ones without tentacles, even though they not really dangerous, there is a risk of an itchy contact rash. We had no problems, except that once Roboboy starts collecting he has to sweep the entire beach.

There was also an enormous assortment of seaweeds, shells, corals as well as the usual bits of bright coloured plastic we always end up collecting. See, that little yellow plastic lid is a frypan on the stove, behind that was the shower and in the entry are all those bits of sea glass in crazy paving style. What fun we had traipsing up and down the beach loading up our buckets with all these treasures before coming back to a shady spot to assemble it all.

Now as all those jellies were a deterrent to ocean swimming, luckily  Settlement Cove Lagoon is just  a quick scooter ride away. (This pic is from the official Redcliffe site here).

A huge public swimming pool, complete with an island much to Roboboy's delight, all right on the foreshore but with no risk of jellyfish stings.

And conveniently close to a large serve of calamari and chips.

With both the kids on scooters were were able to explore a large area of the foreshore. Finding some red cliffs for Roboboy to scale (now he gets why it's called Redcliffe),

finding interesting wind powered sculptures,

and upstairs art galleries with scenic vistas from their windows.

I was even able to peruse some op shops while mum stayed with the kids but the pickings were very lean, probably a good thing with all this decluttering. I did find this amazing turret  house though, (I have a thing for houses with turret rooms).

It was part of a massive rambling old house overlooking the water at Scarborough. The house had been turned into flats but was spectacular. I snuck into the front garden to take this one. The was only about one third of the frontage, it was incredible.

So, now we are arranging our massive sea glass collection and checking off all those last minute back to school  jobs we have to get done. While I think of it, can anyone tell me how I can add the reply function onto my comments? After receiving so many lovely comments and some that made me giggle (I can never think of iced vovo's the same again after comments on my last post) I would love to be able   to let you all know that I do not intentionally match my sandals to my bike, and I love all the bits and pieces you share about your own lives, so if I could reply to individual comments that would be the bees knees.

Thrifting by the sea, again.

So, I haven't found any vintage sheets in Brisbane for a few months. There are just none anywhere. Imagine my shock at finding this little pile shared between two neighbouring coast op shops. There are duplicates of two and the colours are so complimentary, all those purples and greens. I thought you might want a close up too.

And I fell in love with these measuring cup ducks.

and this wonderful sunny yellow pyrex dish, with a lid!

But my other absolute favourites were these two matching baskets that I nabbed from an opshop on the outskirts of town as we first left home to head up the coast.

There was also a gorgeous milk glass dish that I almost walked right past but every photo was out of focus. Those little white hobnails are tricky to capture but I will try soon because there is nothing better than adding a missing piece to a collection.

Linking in with Sophie for more thrifted treats.