Sun, sand, shells and the sea

The rain started within minutes of packing up at Boynedale and driving off the dirt road onto the tarseal. We were lucky we left when we did! We headed to Kinka Beach, just south of Yeppoon, to visit some Scouting friends of the boys. Cath and her son Stu were genuinely lovely and so welcoming of us into their home! The first weekend was a blur as it rained steadily and we discovered and fixed several new leaks in the vans roof. Sigh. The kids got on like a house on fire and were busy gaming, building Lego, watching movies and playing with Stu's many toys!

One great bonding experience was when we helped Stu make a piñata for his upcoming birthday party. It will become a Pokemon piñata, apparently! We made glue out of flour and water, and it worked really well. Despite Will having a few sensory issues with the glue on his hands, it was a lot of fun especially with a spur of the moment glue fight. 

Will is finding the constant change in travelling a bit overwhelming at times, and honestly, it's been a real struggle trying to help him cope. It's been quite difficult for all of us and his Asperger's quirks are much more pronounced than ever before. It could be the constant change, it could be burgeoning puberty hormones or even just the next stage in his psychological development. We've all had to adjust accordingly, and it will be hard for a while as we figure out what reduces his stress and our frustration levels. But I'm confident that the experience itself is worthwhile and he will gain more from travelling and learn more than he would from just staring at a school book or computer screen. We just have to acknowledge the challenge and take time when we can to calm things down for him, and for us. 

It helped that Cath's place was so full of things to see and do.  We all fell in love with Snoopy the rescue dog. Miro the little Shetland pony was a lovely distraction too, as were the neighbours chooks! 

I miss my chooks.

The bird life at Cath's was amazing! I tried several times to get a photo of the rainbow kingfishers that hung out around our van but they were just too quick! The little honeyeaters and finches were just gorgeous and fulfilled my Nature TV requirements. Give me a window to the Natural world over a TV show any day.

 When the weather cleared we were able to do a bit of exploring, and the kids got to have a go on the sea kayak and we took the dogs to the beach to look for shells and build sancastles.

We had a bit of an explore around Yeppoon, and took the kids scootering  along the boardwalk there.its a really quiet, quaint little spot, and we all want to come back for a holiday and do more touristy things. You could easily spend a month here, exploring Mt Morgan, the Caves, the National Parks and the islands. It's just a hop skip and a jump to Great Keppel, too.  Yeppoon still has a chilled and relaxed beachy vibe, and the shallow water that goes for miles is really beautiful.

The evenings were spent sharing meals and drinking wine. Cath spent many years travelling the world on a sail boat ( in fact Stu was brought up on one) and her stories of life on the boat were really interesting! She was full of tips and solutions for living in small spaces, and packing and storing food for long periods of time. She even taught me how to use her pressure cooker, and it is definitely on my wish list as an awesome piece of kitchen equipment! So simple and so fast!

In fact we were having such a good time, and we all enjoying each other's company so much, that we decided to stay a few extra nights, so we could do a little more exploring.