The Gorgeous Gorge

                                                                                     Oh, my gosh.                                                                The flowers...they are happy in the Columbia River Gorge...purple Lupine and yellow Balsamroot, mostly.  If you can, go in late April or early May to see the flowers at their peak.  You won't be disappointed.                                                                                  

I maybe went a little crazy on the barn.

'BrisVegas' (Brisbane) and Gladstone

The first photo (above) was the view from my window at Kara's parents' house...lovely.  The photo directly above is the view from a little mountain village we visited.   The photo below is a close-up of a clay pot in the little mountain village.

                                                   Just another tourist relaxing by the pool.

Brisbane downtown




                 
Eggs with faces...totally adorable.

Kara's sister, Abby, and her brother, Ryan.






Below:  Ryan, Toby (the dog), Jenna (Kara's sister), Jenna's boyfriend, Lucas, Abby, Russell (Kara's dad), Kara, Kipp, Grandma, Kym (Kara's mom) and Nana.

                                                                                                                               Kipp's house

                                        This plant looks like it could be related to the poinsettia.





 Beach art

Tannum Sands is a town about 25 miles south of Gladstone with a very nice beach.  I spent a couple of mornings there beachcombing and soaking up the last of my Australian sunshine.  The End

Airlie Beach...

Airlie Beach is a small-ish resort town with shopping and restaurants and tour companies to serve Great Barrier Reef tourists.  We spent 5 lovely days exploring, eating and shopping there.  I was waking up at about 4 or 5 am so I saw the sunrise every morning.

                                             

The clouds were wonderful; different every day, but always light and fluffy and generous.

Blue on Blue

 We took a boat ride out to a couple of islands in the reef area.  Our first stop was a spot with a trail to the top of a hill.  This was the view.  Stinkin' beautiful.

                                              

Our next stop was Whitehaven Beach.  It's a national park and only accessible by boat or sea plane.  We had 2 lovely hours there which I happily spent wandering and taking pictures.

Our little beach home.

                                            Footprints in the sand.

Does anyone know what this is?

                                                                     Tour boat