Elanda Point

My female owner just came back from her 4th camping trip of her recent life. This time, she went to Elanda Point at Sunshine Coast with Fated Guy and his landlord (plus family – wife and two daughters aged 10 and 13). Not surprising, she found the experience different and refreshing.

Random photos of their pets: Elvis, the Bird of Paradise and Dizmo, young-at-heart dog (I think my female owner misses us!)

A little information of their camping site
My female owner thought this was cute

For one, camping with an almost local family (they are New Zealanders) gave her insight into the familial culture of a western family. The way the members interacted with one another, the space (psychological and emotional included) given to these kids to explore their world, the kinds of activities that the family did together, all helped her to understand why Aussies turn out so different from Asians.

A small perk was that she didn’t have to think about food or logistical preparation. The family was kind enough to feed her from coffee all the way to main meals and snacks. Fated Guy provided logistical support, as all she had was a sleeping bag and some clothes (which was not even enough). Like Doraemon, he pulled out stuff she needed, stuff like a 2-person tent for her sole use , a jacket (coz she was cold, as usual), a long-sleeve shirt for canoeing, torchlight, etc, and even his quilt to act as a camping mattress for her (she thought it was a real camping mattress and only found out that it was his quilt after sleeping on it for a night, how oblivious!).

This is 5-star camping! Two wings for sleeping, with a pantry set-up inside and a patio
In contrast, the humble Asian-style of camping

Activities were markedly different from her previous camping trips (no nice crystal-clear ocean or sun-tanning). Situated in a National Park and near a few lakes, the main activities were canoeing (or rowing, since they ended up with boats) and hiking. Good fun, she said. Except that she couldn’t really row properly and hence, must have stressed Fated Guy big time with her inaptness… and they actually capsized once. Entirely her fault she said, coz she was sitting at the back and hence, responsible for navigating the boat.

See how different from the sea a lake looks

Her Alice-in-Wonderland backyard, with mysteries lying beneath the woods

Enroute the hike
Some long-surviving artifact of the past

She also came very close to nature – a family of ducks (mama duck leading a pack of 9ducklings followed by papa duck quite far behind), kangaroos in her backyard, kookaburras, eagles, mynahs, guanas and yes, troops of mozzies that attacked her face relentlessly (my female owner was convinced that they were drawn to this "exotic" Asian meal).

Mama duck leading her ducklings for their morning exercise. They were scurrying through the grass. My female owner saw them swimming in the lake the day before. They woke up at 6am, just to see this

Happily, she saw her first shooting star on Saturday night. However, because it happened so fast and she was just turning her head when she saw it, my female owner started to doubt if it was real. And on Sunday night, FG and her spotted a shooting star together, confirming that she was not hallucinating the night before. Her best takeaway, she says, as she has been wanting to see a shooting star for years.