Headed for my dental appointment at Upper Coomera and of course there had been an accident on the M1 which clogged up all the traffic around my area. Had to take the back way by going out through Tallebudgera and then back onto the M1. Made it to the appointment with a couple of min to spare. The local Facebook page said someone had fallen out of their car, seems improbable but who knows. Then a quick clean and check of my teeth and of course some mild nagging about flossing more. That nice clean teeth feeling helped somewhat ease the pain in my wallet, at least for awhile. Then headed north and traffic was flowing nicely only really slowing down at the road works. Had a quick lunch at Hungry Jacks at Wild Horse Mountain and continued north. Turned off at Cooroy and drove down to Tewantin and the car ferry across the Noosa river. Pulled up at the third cutting and let the tyre pressures down to 18 psi and proceeded to drive out onto the beach. Of course I made the rookie mistake of forgetting to engage 4WD but once that was engaged I reversed a few meters and drove out of the soft sand easily. It was about 1:30 pm and high tide was about 3:20 pm but it was a low high tide of only about 1.4 m. It was an easy drive up the beach with not many other cars or people about. Found a nice spot near the north end of Zone 3 that was a little protected from the northerly wind which was basically blowing straight down the beach. Got camp setup with the new gazebo which is the same as the old gazebo but not twisted.
When I was out of the wind the March flies were at their bitey best, so I put up the cheap screen room I got from Aldi awhile ago. It clips to the inside of the gazebo and although it's not actually designed for my gazebo I made it fit with a bit of brute force and ignorance. It was very pleasant to sit down with a cold drink and relax with the horrible bitey things stuck on the outside. Went for a walk down along the beach and then had a swim when I got back to cool off.
The March flies were still around and biting so I stayed in the screened room while my chicken curry heated up in the 12 V oven. A perfect meal for the first night of a trip, no cooking involved just reheating and then the foil tray it was in went straight in the rubbish no washing up required. The March flies went to bed at around seven pm so it was much nicer when they had gone. I always enjoy going to sleep with the sound of the ocean just outside.
