Day 74 - 25th June

Point Cleveland to Coolangatta

Distance Travelled - 110 km

Woke early after a not terribly comfortable night sleeping in the car and was somewhat disappointed to discover a very cloudy sky eliminating the possibility of morning sunrise photography. Took another shot of the lighthouse and then spent time reading while I waited for the car to dry out from the condensation developed during the night.

The drive to Coolangatta was leisurely, although not particularly stunning, and relatively straight forward. I listened to a very interesting talk on the ABC radio about nature play and discovered that there is a nature play symposium happening here on the gold coast this weekend.

Found the university where Keri works and went in and found her to let her know Ihad arrived. She came and met me and we had a quick talk before she had to be off but she would be finished by half two and we organised for me to be back by then. I drove off just down the road to one of the nearby beaches and sat overlooking the surf as I listened to another hour of nature play related talks on the ABC. After that spent some time reading before going back to the uni.

Keri came out and we went back to her flat which has an amazing view over the beaches and around over the mountains. We chatted for a while before going and doing some shopping for tea. Came back and had a drink on the veranda watching a very nice sunset before having having a delicious roast chicken dinner. During that time I researched the nature play symposium and decided to go to the Friday session.

After tea we sat and chatted for a while about a whole range of things and then it was time for me to crash in bed, very grateful for the luxury of a real bed tonight. Tomorrow I will go to the symposium and then see what else leads on from there.

                                               Point Cleaveland lighthouse, morning shot

Day 75 - 26th June

Coolangatta

Distance Travelled 23 km

Woke up to the sound of steady rain falling and was very glad to be inside the house, not outside in my tent. Rolled over and went back to sleep for another 2 hours before waking again at 6.30 am. Stayed in bed until just after 7 am and got up to a cooked breakfast. Thank you Keri! Ate breakfast and left for the Natureplay symposium.

Spent the day listening to various speakers and engaging in meaningful dialogue with other Natureplay advocates which was good to do. Learnt a bit and was reaffirmed that the play based education model and nature play experience is not dead in the water and stills holds a lot of educational value.

Left the conference just before 5 pm with a fantastic full rainbow on display with light drizzle falling as it had for most of the day and headed back to Keri's. Chatted about the day's activities, had tea and then we headed off in search of some nearby lighthouses. Found 2, one here in Qld the other just over the border in NSW. Lucky the border is only like 5 km away from where Keri lives. It was a bit too dark and rainy to do too much so we decided to head back home and go looking again another time over the weekend.

Back home settled into the couch and lounge chairs and watched Robin Hood, starring Kevin Costner before it was time for Keri to go to bed. I stayed up and typed up my notes from the conference, wrote my blog and sorted photos. Tomorrow will be a relaxing day, pottering and seeing what comes up. 

                                 Rainbow from the car park at the Natureplay symposium