Family, Friends, and Frivolities

We left off our last blog post half way through our first big holiday in Australia. From the Whitsundays we sped back to Brisbane to trade in our fancy, 'awesome' camper for a super economy Nissan Micra in a beautiful bright blue.  The air-con worked! 

First stop was with cousin Sarah and her adorable family.  Lucy, Emma and Sophie keep their daddy Mark on his toes and fill his arms with cuddles.  Sarah was such a great hostess that we didn't want to leave.

Family fun at the park which was followed by a much anticipated Sunday ice cream!

After a few days with the Lawson's, it was time to visit Uncle Charles and Aunty Sharon in Currumbin on the Gold Coast.  Uncle Charles was able to take a day to show us the Tweed River Art Gallery that has instilled a tribute to Margret Olley, Australia's most celebrated painter for still life and interiors.  I could not take photos inside, however this is the view from the cafe at the gallery.

From the gallery we went to a stunning view point at Byron Bay and Australia's most easterly point.

We saw our first Eastern Brown snake! This was not to be taken lightly.  The conservation officer was keeping a very close eye on it and anyone trying to get by.  It's Australia's most deadly snake, apparently 2nd most deadly in the world.

Even with the snakes, I fell in love with this part of Australia.

And so did Brad, which was the inspiration for this panoramic shot.

We said good-bye to Charles and Sharon and headed south to Lennox Head.  Deanna and Lex were our hosts for what would become the craziest weekend we have had in a very long time.  It was the icing on the cake, the cherry on top of what was already an epic vacation. 

First stop was the Blue Festival in Byron Bay to watch a dozen different artists perform live, including India Arie and Jack Johnson.  For those that don't know, Jack Johnson's song 'Better Together' is our wedding song...and he ended the night with it.

We met Lex's brother Nick and his charming girlfriend Jess.

The next two days were spent on a couple different beaches, with cold beers, beer darts, surf boards, and fish and chips.  There is a funny story about needing to call Lex's boss to pull the truck out of the sand after we were unsuccessful at digging it out...but we're saving those details for us.

We got up much too early on our last day...mainly because we needed to go look for a few lost articles at the beach before catching our flight home...but we got to see a beautiful sunrise.