After a full day of driving, tonight we’re resting our heads on the lands of the Koa people, the traditional owners and native title holders of this area around Winton, and extending to Corfield, Kynuna and Middleton. We pay our respects to the elders of the Koa people past, present and still to come. We headed off from Magnetic Island early this morning, grabbing a chai and coffee (for Debbie and I) on the way to the ferry terminal at…

Happy birthday, Daniel! We started out this morning celebrating Daniel’s 11th birthday, reading the birthday messages we’d written for him, and him opening a couple of small presents from all of us. His big present from the family comes later in the trip – a penguin encounter in Coffs Harbour! He was very excited for that. We then headed off for today’s big adventure – the Australian Age of Dinosaurs! There were three parts of the tour – the fossil…

Today was a bit more of a relaxed day. We had a few things we wanted to check out around town, but we also wanted to opt for having some time of doing nothing much at home, ahead of a few days of visiting places and driving over the next 5 or 6 days. This morning we dropped into the Waltzing Matilda Centre; not to visit the proper display, but just to get a couple of information things and see…

This evening we’re on the lands of the Iningai people in Barcaldine. We pay our respects to the elders of the Iningai past, present and emerging. It was only a relatively short drive deeper into Central Queensland from Winton today, to an area generally known as the capital of Central Queensland. It was nice to just have a relaxed pack up in Winton, and we were on the road by about 9am (after a quick stop at a wonderful little…

Today we headed back up the road about an hour to Longreach. When we were planning out the holiday, we wanted to do things in both Barcaldine and Longreach – but with trying to squeeze so much into the holiday, and wanting to try and avoid overnight stays in towns unless we needed to, we decided to do two nights in Barcaldine and just travel back to Longreach. The first stop was at the Longreach School of Distance Education. We…

Tonight we’ve moved back to the Queensland coast, and we’re grateful to be on the lands of the Darumbal people in what’s now known as Rockhampton. We acknowledge this has always been their land, and we pay our respects to the Darumbal elders past, present and emerging. It was a long day of driving today. And not the greatest night’s sleep last night made it a very tiring day! But as far as travel days goes, it was an excellent…

Today was a day spent adventuring through a few different things in Rockhampton – I think we got quite a bit covered in one day! First stop was up to Mount Archer – known as Nurim by the Darumbal people. It’s only a really short drive from the centre of Rockhampton, 15 minutes up a windy road to the top of Mount Archer. We headed off for a wander on the Nurim Circuit Elevated Boardwalk, a beautiful winding boardwalk that…

We’ve arrived with a sense of relaxation to the lands of the Butchulla people, in what’s now known as Hervey Bay. We acknowledge the Butchulla people as the owners of this land, and pay our respects to their elders. The sense of relaxation is because we’re staying at my Mum’s place for a couple of nights – and it’s kind of like being home! We’re here every summer, and so the kids (and us) instantly feel at home when we…

Today was a day filled with beautiful family time. We started with a slow morning at Mum’s place, which was wonderful and welcomed. Before long though, my sister and her three kids came round, and Daniel, Eliza and Alexander had a wonderful time playing with them. There were plenty of laughs and running around and silliness – they only get to see them once or twice a year, so there is always much excitement when they get together. In the…

Tonight, we acknowledge that we’ve spent the day on the land of the Gubbi Gubbi people – the lands where Australia Zoo now sits, and where the town of Landsborough now sits. We pay our respects to their elders past, present and emerging. Today was a day of Australia Zoo! My mum had bought the kids tickets to Australia Zoo for Christmas a few years ago, and we decided we’d use them as part of this holiday. And as a…