Well, I barely know where

Well, I barely know where to start with the Holiday updates! This will be a big entry. All pics are clickable, but most are pretty big! I should also warn you now that there is a little knitting and yarn content, but near the end, and there isn't much.
We left at 5am on Thursday December 23, and headed up the coast. We stopped for coffee a few times and stopped for lunch in Coffs Harbour. At this point I should mention that Australia is developing an unhealthy obsession with "big" things. There are "big" tourist attractions popping up all over the place. Coffs Harbour is the home of the Big Banana, which I think was the the first "big" built. We decided to stop and see as many of these "Big's" as we came across.

That's Em and I at the Big Banana. We then headed up to Ballina where we intended to spend the night. There they had the Big Prawn. No pictures with it, as it was on the roof of the shopping centre.

We had the intention of stopping in Ballina, but we decided that the traffic was great, DH felt well enough to drive on, so we drove all the way to Brisbane. 16 or 17 hours total travelling time, and extremely cramped up we arrived. Did I mention that we own a tiny little Mazda 121 bubble? We had no trouble with her mechanically, but a larger car would have been nice! I had intended to work on my beaded sock when I wasn't driving, but discovered that a DPNS had been broken, so that put paid to the car knitting for the first day, as all my spare needles were buried under stuff in the boot of the car.
We stayed at a Formule 1 the first night in Brisbane, which was an experience in itself. I don't know if you have them overseas, but they are definitely budget accomodation. The bed was the worst I have ever slept in, and due to the large amount of crap I had eaten in the car, I felt nauseous most of the night. The next morning, Christmas Eve, we met up with some of DH's family in Brisbane before we drove to Nambour, where we met up with DH's sister at the Big Pineapple!

On the same plantation they have the Big Macadamia, but it was hard to get a good picture.

We then went on to Bundaberg, where the vast majority of DH's family live. It was lovely to catch up with them, and it was the first time I had been to Bundaberg, and the first time I had met many members of the family. It was extremely hot and muggy, so Em barely got in the door before she hopped into their pool!

We had breakfast with the extended family on Christmas morning, and these people really know how to do breakfast! We had a lovely outdoor barbeque, with steak, bacon, sausages, eggs and the rest. Let me tell you, I ate more on this holiday than any one person has a right too. And yes, I gained back some of those precious lost kilos! For dinner that night, we had a smaller dinner with ham, chicken, salad, the works :)
On boxing day, DH took me around Bundaberg to show me some of the sights. Bundaberg is of course where they make the famous Bundaberg Rum. And of course, there is a Big Rum Bottle.

We went to the beach then visited some family friends who told us about a friendly possum locally. So we took Em down to where the possum lives, and she had a wonderful time hand feeding the possum some grapes :)

We left Bundaberg on the morning of December 27. We were happily driving down the Bruce Highway, when I spotted a billboard advertising yarn. So I followed the directions, driving down a country road till we came to a farm with a sign advertising "Wagtail Yarns" out the front. We drove int he farm, and a gentleman came out to greet us and invited us in. Handspun, hand dyed yarns for $AU80 for 1kg 40%wool, 60% mohair and $AU90 for 1kg for 100% mohair. At least, thats what I scrawled on the scrap of paper here, it just doesn't seem right now, although I remember being amazed at the time. I bought around 500g of the wool/mohair blend. I got plain undyed yarn so I can dye it myself. He also had rovings, and I'm kicking myself for not buying some of those too. However, I was not expecting to find a yarn supply out there, and was alittle flustered when I did find it. Pity it's so far away and I can't go back for more! The lovely gentleman took us out the back and let us meet the goats who supplied the mohair. Em was very impressed, until they tried to nibble on her! :)

Later in the afternoon we ended up back in Brisbane where we went to dinner with more members of DH's family, who fed us a gigantic, delicious pasta and salad meal. These people really are the most hospitable and generous people you could ever hope to meet.
Then we had another night in another Formule 1 before heading off to Sea World!!!! First off ws Polar Bear Shores.

This was the absolute high point of the trip for me. They have recently adopted twin orphaned Polar Bear cubs, Hudson and Nelson from Canada. They have only recently been put on public display, and they were absolutely gorgeous!

Sea World in Australia apparently has one of the world's foremost Polar Bear exhibits. It is modeled after an Arctic Tundra environment and they have the ability to change the weather and things. There is a huge swimming pool, and smaller freshwater pools, a waterfall, rocks and logs and plenty of toys. I just love it. I could happily have spent the whole day watching the Bears, but the family insisted on seeing the rest of the park. They have some great shows with the seals and dolphins, and an awesome shark exhibit. There is also a brand bew dugong exhibit which is a cousin of the Manatee. The dugong at Sea World is named Pig, and was very cute :)
Later in the day we went back to Polar Bear Shores, and the two older Polar Bears were out, Lia and Lutik. Lia and Lutik are also twins, adopted three years or so ago from St Petersburg zoo. We saw them 3 years ago on our last trip to the Gold Coast. They are the most beautiful animals! Lutik is huge now, and Lia is adorable. She has taught herself a trick involving back flips. She climbs a little way up the wall, then throws herslef back into the pool, floating across a little way before checking to make sure everyone is watching her :)
They were saying that she seems to have taught herself the trick as a result of the crowds reaction to it. She only does it when the crowds are about and cheering her on. After the trick she stops, looks around, wipes the water out of her eyes, makes sure everyone is still looking, then goes back and does it again.

Mid Back Flip.

Wiping her eyes.

Looking around :)
Lutik was very impressive, but didn't seem too impressed by his sister's antics. He enjoyed diving off the big rock.

And he liked the floating ball.

There are many more Sea World pictures, but I'll get to that later.
The next day, we started to head home, via Tamworth and Nundle. Nundle is a historic country town near Tamworth. It has a working Wool Mill which was what attracted us (me ;). Unfortunately, we didn't get there until 3.45pm, and they closed at 4pm. If we had got there earlier, we could have seen the mill in action, but we barely had time to make it through the shop. But I managed :)
Lots of mill ends and misdyed lots, but I managed to limit myself to a big cone of wool, a sweater kit and some roving. No pics yet, but I'll work on that for tomorrow.

That's my goody bag I'm clutching :) There are more pics of the mill, too.
We spent the night in Tamworth, where they have a big Country Music Festival every year, and they also have the Big Guitar!

After this pic we headed toward home. We did stop to take Emily to visit her other grandparents, my ex in-laws, and arrived home yesterday afternoon. I probably left out some important events of the vacation too!

The only knitting I managed on the trip was a little of one Pink Beads sock, and I did most of the increase section of Clapotis. No pics of that yet either.
I will endeavour to get pics of the knitting I accomplised and the stash I acquired tomorrow.
In the meantime, DH is working on a gallery of the 241 pictures we took on the holiday, and I will give you all a link tomorrow when it will hopefully be done.
Phew. Who made it all the way to the end? ;)