A week with my Mother at Caloundra, Sunshine Coast, Queensland

@Now that I am semi-retired I wanted to spend more time with my 91 year old mother Edna.  

Living so far from her has meant I only have quality time with Mum once or twice a year if I am lucky and even though we keep in touch by phone it is not the same as time together. Now she is 91 I am keen to spend more time with her while she is mentally and physically able.  I decided to take her on little holidays because she doesn't get that opportunity very often now.  Last year for her 90th, I accompanied her on a cruise, a first for both of us. She really loved it and I could see that this type of holiday was very easy for her and enjoyable for me too. 

Cruising has never been the type of holiday that appealed to Peter and I as it is less about the destination than the cruising and we have always been more interested in the destination. However it is ideal for Mum and despite the fact that I suffered seasickness on the first day I found it pleasant. Mum was fine of course. I am very fortunate that she is physically very strong and steady and now with two new artificial knees ( the right knee fixed when she was 89)  she walks without pain and only needs her walking stick for support and steadiness.  Mentally Edna is still pretty sharp. Like all of us she repeats her stories and it takes her a little time to orient herself in new places but by and large she is still mentally alert and can put on a mean scrabble challenge!

We talk endlessly of course and share similar interests. Mum  is a master painter of porcelain and a fine artist in other media. She has painted and drawn all her life. On this trip to Caloundra I thought we would do some drawing together and meditations. The drawing has occurred but we talk too much to meditate!

Our apartment is at Golden Beach overlooking the Pumicestone Passage

A study in the day and at early morning. The incoming and outgoing tides are endlessly fascinating.

We have been having little excursions every second day and just enjoying our view the other days. I had to do some work which I hadn't quite completed prior to arriving but that was fine. Mum just wants my company which is lovely. Once that work was done I was free to relax myself too. 

Mum has a friend living here Lisa who we caught up with for dinner one night at her place near Kings Beach. She has an older apartment with two bedrooms and it is quite large. I felt most envious of the kitchen. It was so big. Two bathrooms and a real laundry too. I think that the apartments in the 1980s were built much larger.

We explored the Caloundra market and found it to be very good with quality products and I finally scored a stretch belt for half the price they are sold  in Melbourne. I also bought a new sun hat that travels and Mum got one too. Later we drive around to all the different beaches here.  They don't have the large stretches of sandy beaches that the Gold Coast or further north enjoy but they are quaint and interesting with rocky headlands.  Caloundra is a quiet place not particularly trendy and less a "holiday destination" for tourists. A real town. It is situated at the northern end of the Pumicestone passage between the mainland and Bribie Island and has excellent vantage points for watching the many container ships that travel up and down the coast to Brisbane. They come quite close into shore at the tip of Bribie Island before turning North-east and heading up and out to the Coral  sea.

We took a cruise up the inner waterway to the Pelican Waters Tavern on the Wednesday. The passage is really shallow so not a busy shipping lane, just lots of little tinies, aluminium flat bottomed fishing boats with dedicated fishermen. On other days it was busy with kite surfers and windsurfers scudding briskly across the surface.

We enjoyed the  commentary about the history, the  sight off Osprey flying and roosting in trees at the water edge, different types of cormorants, pelicans and gulls. The sand banks are important for water bird feeding and migration.  

  

 Pelican waters tavern. Great lunch and discount for cruise participants.