Gold Coast

Day 22
The sun is out and so we are off to do the second leg of our bike ride.
From main beach (where we finished the first leg) we rode by the sea through Narrowkneck, Surfers Paradise, Broad Beach where we stopped and met Dad (Carmens dad that is, its a bit far for my dad to come for coffee), continued through Mermaid Beach, Nobby('s?) Beach and finished up in Miami where we had lunch.

Then we had to turn around and do all that in reverse to get back to Polly, a 20KM round trip (Carmen is learning to love her bike now).

Day 23
No cycling today, instead off to Burleigh Heads and a short stroll around possibly the smallest National park in Australia. walked round it in an hour. Got a good view of the rest of our bike ride (as far as you can see).

Did some Polly housework in preparation for a couple of days in the mountains and then headed to the pub, eager to continue one of our other side quests, the $10 steak challenge.Arrived at the local pub (Ashmore  Tavern) and grabbed the menus but saw that even the cheapest steak was double the challenge budget!
Since we left we have been struggling to find even one offer of a $10 steak and should have done a 'meat pie' challenge instead as we would have had loads to write about!

Day 24
Having now had a week in a proper bed in a warm house it was time to get back into Polly and head upwards.
Binna Burra in the Lamington national Park is only 45 mins from the coast and you are in another world (45 mins up a winding and steep and narrow road that is!).

Parked up in the rainforest campsite and headed off for a warm up walk through the forest (5KM).

Had an open fire but had forgotten the marshmallows so instead drank too much red wine and retired to a freezing cold bed.

Day 25
Up with the larks and pack the bag for a full days walking along the Ships Stern circuit (20KM should be a breeze).

We chose this walk because it seemed to offer everything from huge trees (Biggest tree in NSW lookout!) waterfalls and dense rainforest to eucalypt forest to clifftop lookouts.
What we hadnt really figured was that to get from dense rainforest to clifftop lookouts actually involved us walking there.

Lunchtime timecheck 1.30pm, walking for 4 hours and roughly halfway there. It gets dark about 5ish and so... well you do the maths.

Made it back to camp, 4.30pm almost exactly 7 hours since we left. Feeling tired and sore we sit down in front of the fire again and didn't move too much after that.

Day 26
After a good nights sleep and a hot shower we set off to the Bellbird Lookout, just 1KM away (Nothing us now, seasoned professionals). Nice to stretch the legs again and a good lookout as well.

 A big tree.

 Bellbird lookout

Some wildlife.

Head back to civilisation and popped into the family home for lunch and to show off Polly to Carmens mum who is now home from hospital and walking around already.
Back to Tonia's (and Yogi's) for the night and off into Surfers Paradise to live it up on a Friday night.