Benemma

17-19 Jan 2010

POSING WITH A POOING KOALA AT CURRUMBIN WILDLIFE SANCTUARY

Our plane was three hours late leaving Sydney for Gold Coast and we’re deeply suspicious of Tiger Airways’ reasoning for the delay, if they even gave any. It seems the current favourite excuse for airlines is that the previous flight was late. I always want to ask, “So, our plane is late because the last one was?” I take it that causal rationality is not a training requirement for ground staff these days. Tiger have plenty more than delays to be criticised of but I won’t grumble now, there’s much happiness to tell of. What’s more important is that Derek, Emma’s mum’s brother, and his wife Margaret, collected us from the airport and introduced us to their rather groovy home.

Firstly there’s Margaret and Derek’s house, which is set in a large plot down a quiet road within easy reach of Brisbane and Gold Coast. There are two houses on the plot, the other being that of their son Steve and his wife Millie, with their various offspring, Dillan, Justin, Kaleb and Madison (apologies if I’ve misspelled any names). They had the second house built recently for them, right next door to mum and dad, how sweet is that? The main house is big, open and full of unique design elements, being what you would call an “architect designed home”. There’s a lot of exposed wood and brick and a high, vaulted roof. The kitchen was built on a converted veranda so cooking feels more outside than in.

Then there’s all the fun things to see and do in the area, and the potential list is huge. We started at Currumbin Wildlife Sanctuary, which is one of many such animal parks in the region. Also nearby are several full-on theme parks, water parks and myriad smaller affairs for everyone’s enjoyment. We were happy seeing native animals rather than roller-coasters. The best part of Currumbin was getting close to the kangaroos, so close they let us stroke their luxuriously soft fur and they bumped their noses against our camera lenses. They are placid, curious beasts. We also had the pleasure of holding Happy J the koala who, like all koalas, poos almost constantly through his brief waking hours, as he did at our feet as we posed for a photo.

EMMA GETTING SOME ROO LOVE

It was great to meet the family and learn about their lives. In an unfairly brief manner, it’s something like this… Steve works with his dad at the family pipe-laying business. He’s happiest with a tent, fishing rod and some kind of powerful machine. Millie is a full-time housewife but has mostly outdoor-related hobbies, primarily being on one of the best surf lifeguard squads in the world. Dillan is grown-up and has left home to train as an electrician. Justin is big into the outdoors and his naval cadet service. Kaleb is a cadet too, although he’s younger and only just in high school but he harbours an exceptional talent for art, producing aboriginal paintings so professional he has already had non-trivial commissions. Madison is the youngest at five and far too adorable for her own good. What’s worse is Madison she knows it and how to use it.

Emma and I explored nearby Tambourine Mountain one day, partly for sightseeing and partly to get the feel of what was to be our car for the duration of our stay. Derek and Steve had brought over one of their work cars for us, a thumping Nissan Patrol 4×4. Oh yes, that’s right, our very own ManToy.

Tambourine Mountain hosts a charming community of boutique art and food establishments, all very healthy stuff. But the best bit for us was a stroll through the gum tree rainforest there. Kookaburras filled the air with their mad call, like a self-help group for howler monkeys who are suffering from stutters. We saw big, weird things like land mullets and bush turkeys. Palm leaves patterned the light all the way up to the canopy over which soared a few great trees with twisting trunks which resembled skyscrapers made from spun rope.

RAINFOREST CANOPY AT TAMBOURINE MOUNTAIN

We explored the coast for a while in our growling tank. We aimed for Sanctuary Cove because it sounded nice and had a brown sign dedicated to it but it turned out to be a smart resort with no obvious place for us to picnic away from cars and restaurants. After passing several places with inviting names such as Hope Island, we finally settled on Labrador, which is nicer than it sounds. Not that I have anything against Labradors, we’ve owned several, but I wouldn’t want to eat my lunch on one. This Labrador has a natural lagoon that invited us to get into our togs and swim in the warm, shallow water encircled by white sand. We were really starting to like this part of the world.