In normal times I would have done a blog on our trip to the Woodford Folk Festival in Queensland.  This year has not been normal times.  That trip started on 22 December 2022 after we celebrated an early family Christmas on the 20th of December.

This blog is a condensed version of that trip, which was our fifth trip to Queensland in 12 months, and a summary of all travels during 2023.

Our trip to Woodford was a social drive up the coast, coffee with Sue, Grae and Logan at Scotts Head amd a nice visit with Lesley and family at Moololaba before a night of beach camping at Teewah Beach, north of Noosa.

Arriving at the Woodford Folk Festival on Xmas Day at 3:40pm, we thought we were getting in early. Ha! Queued for 2 1/2 hours to get in and then looked for ages for a camp spot, which we found by 6:40pm.  It was wet and muddy.  Boxing Day was a rest day as the festival started on the 27th December.  I started to feel bad and got worse when the festival started so only left Belle to visit the loo. I managed to visit the Festival on Day 2 and took in 8 shows including the Prime Minister, Anthony Albanese (Albo) speaking amidst a crew of Climate protesters, Linda Burney and Noel Pearson speaking on constitutional recognition for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders and some interesting music acts.

Dick’s birthday on the 29th of December was eventful. I woke to a worsening cough moving into my chest so we left the Festival to find a doctor, who said I had a virus and my chest was ok,  Then on the way back to the Festival, we stopped at the Caboolture Showground to get water, dump the toilet cassette and shower.

THIS IS THE SHORT VERSION – Dick collapsed in the shower, hit his head which caused a bleed on the brain and a laceration in his head, and dislocated his collarbone.  He ended up in the Caboolture Hospital for 8 days where initially they focussed on his heart (why did he collapse?) and then identified the bleed on his brain.  It was an intensive time – lots of tests were done, monitoring, scans, lots of doctors, occupational therapists, physiotherapists etc; and lots of waiting ie for neurology reports from the Royal Brisbane Hospital to see what was going on in his brain. Throughout this time I was well supported with visits from many friends (especially Steve & Denise who visited at the hospital often and then looked after me in Brisbane, and Lesley who visited in hospital and on Bribie Island).

Eventually on the 6th of January Dick was discharged but not well.  We had the weekend on Bribie Island but Dick was getting worse so I drove us to Brisbane where another brain scan showed that the bleed on the brain was expanding. We got him into Royal Brisbane Hospital before noon, he saw a neurosurgeon at 5pm and was in surgery by 7pm. That went well and three days later I drive us both home.

FINAL RESULT – Dick saw a host of specialist doctors in Sydney and was eventually cleared by all at the end of August.  It appears he had a vasovagul syncopy (passed out due to low blood pressure) due to dehydration, stress and a hot shower.  He now knows the triggers to watch out for.

We did manage various other activities this year.

PLUS we did a trip to Queensland in June/July.

Then we had four nights in a caravan park in Brisbane, close to the playing fields where Amy and Neil were playing an Ultimate frisbee tournament and we were looking after Ruby in Belle, our motorhome, while they played.

A round of Sunshine coast visits followed for the next three nights – we saw Roz and Don in Caloundra, stayed over at Allan’s in Mooloolaba, then stayed at Pamela’s in Noosa, then with Gordon and Joanne in Tewantin.  In addition we fitted in a trip to the Eye Hospital in Caloundra for Dick, before we returned to camp at Teewah Beach for 2 nights.

From there we stopped at Rainbow Beach and the markets before driving on to Hervey Bay for retail therapy and laundry facilities.

Got as far north as Bargara, where we visited the Mon Repos Turtle Centre.  The area supports the largest concentration of nesting turtles on the eastern Australian mainland and has the most significant loggerhead turtle nesting population in the South Pacific region.  They lay their eggs from Nov-Mar and 8 weeks later they hatch, so unfortunately we missed seeing any turtles.

Had some nice walks at a place called Poona before dropping Belle off at the Explorer factory for a floor repair.  Spent two nights at an AirBNB on Bribie Island – more retail therapy and R&R.  After we picked up Belle we had another visit with Steve and Denise, James and Bertie, before heading south.  Again we had lovely beach camps and more beach walks down the NSW coast.  Finished up with a night in Anna Bay with Kevin and Jenny, and got home 31 days after we left.

Just in case it might be necessary at some stage, we had Seb and Jake over for a sleepover at our place – it was quite a change watching the sun come up well before 7am.

To round off our travels for 2023, we attended a couple of music festivals and an Explorer Motorhome Meetup.

Just a week later we drove north to Dorrigo and attended the Folk and Bluegrass Festival.

After a civilized overnight stop in a caravan park on the beach (as opposed to staying in showgrounds), we went to Wauchope for an Explorer Motorhome Meetup, where 100 vehicles that look like us all got together.

A final stop with Kevin and Jenny at Slippery Boards finished off our trip, before we got home to check in with the grandchildren.