Tamar started the morning with a sewing session, repairing the whale which suffered a breached stomach. We said goodbye to the beach, then spent some time sorting the shells that the kids collected, in an attempt to keep only one or two samples of each type. This turned out to be a rather enjoyable and non-trivial task. On our way to pick up my boots from the cobbler and refill our gas tank, we passed near the Hervey Bay Botanical Gardens, and decided that I’ll drop everyone there and join them later. When we parked near the gate, Daniel saw a large bearded dragon crossing the road, then unfortunately getting run over by a car. He was somewhat traumatized by seeing a new species for the first time under such circumstances, and we spent a long time discussing how this dragon must have missed the road safety lessons of teacher monitor…
When I joined the family with my newly repaired boots, we had a chance to meet the teacher itself – a beautiful lace monitor crossed our way in the botanical gardens and was gracious enough to let me catch it. By the time we finished taking its pictures it was already early afternoon, and we hasted on our way to Brisbane. We stopped on our way at the Glasshouse Mountains National Park, where we had a short walk and a lookout on the volcanic peaks giving the park its name, allegedly named so by Captain Cook in 1770 because they reminded him of the glass furnaces in Yorkshire. We got to Brisbane after dark, and camped at the free rest stop in Wyllie Park, at the city’s suburbs.
Family Trips 