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Mike250 – Travel, Family, Tech & Sport Blog

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    • Another stunning little waterfall well up in the Fairy Pools, Isle of Skye

      The Fairy Pools: Cold Water, Midges & Why to Get In - ...

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    • Highland Coos, Loch Ness & Urquhart Castle - Day 5

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Home›Travel›Category: "Queensland"

Queensland

  • Adventure, Holidays, Queensland, Travel
    January 7, 2025

    Gold Coast Fun: VR Battles & Movie World Magic

    No trip to the Gold Coast is complete without a little action—and we made the most of it with a couple of unforgettable family outings. First up: Zero Latency VR, ...
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  • Family, Holidays, Queensland, Travel

    A Dog Friendly Gold Coast Getaway at Broadbeach

    We’ve just returned from an incredible Gold Coast holiday, and ...
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  • Family, Holidays, Queensland, Travel

    Townsville & Cairns: Family, Heatwaves, and Holiday Chaos

    We’ve just wrapped up an unforgettable family holiday in Townsville ...
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  • Yeppoon, Neurum Creek & Our Queensland Road Trip Home

    Family, Holidays, Queensland, Travel
    December 31, 2015
    by Mike250
    As the new year approaches, it’s time to say goodbye to Townsville—always bittersweet after such a full and lively stay. We hitch up the caravan once more and begin the ...
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  • Christmas at Mercure, Boxing Day BBQ & Dad’s 60th

    Family, Queensland, Travel
    December 27, 2015
    by Mike250
    Our time in Townsville aligns perfectly with the holiday season, turning this tropical getaway into something truly special. Christmas Day is spent at the Mercure Townsville, where we enjoy a ...
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  • Townsville Adventures: Crystal Creek & Castle Hill Fun

    Family, Holidays, Queensland, Travel
    December 22, 2015
    by Mike250
    Arriving in Townsville, we settle in quickly. There’s an ease to returning somewhere familiar, and our kids waste no time reconnecting with cousins over a spirited game of 10pm street ...
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  • Wollongong to Townsville: Road Trip via Gold Coast & Rocky

    Adventure, Camping, Queensland, Travel
    December 18, 2015
    by Mike250
    Our summer holidays begin with a bold ambition: road-tripping from Wollongong all the way to Townsville, towing our caravan on its first proper outing. The plan? Take our time, enjoy ...
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  • Michael & Liam Doig boarding to fly to Brisbane

    Liam Turns 13 - Surprise Trip to Brisbane

    Birthday, Family, Queensland, Rugby League, Travel
    April 25, 2015
    by Mike250
    This young man becomes a teenager tomorrow. Liam is whole hearted, intelligent and has a beautiful soul. We're heading up to Brisbane for the ANZAC Day match between Parramatta Eels ...
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  • Gold Coast Holiday

    Gold Coast Movie World Family Holiday for a 30th Birthday

    Family, Holidays, Queensland, Travel
    May 19, 2009
    by Mike250
    As a somewhat delayed but very welcome 30th birthday celebration, our two families came together for a Movie World holiday on the Gold Coast in May. It was the perfect ...
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Latest Reviews

  • Carnasserie Castle: A Peaceful Ruin in Argyll’s Highlands
    8.6

    Carnasserie Castle: A Peaceful Ruin in Argyll’s Highlands

    Adventure, My Reviews, Scotland, Travel
    August 31, 2017
  • Louise Connolly stands before the cinematic Eilean Donan Castle, Scotland
    9.1

    Eilean Donan Castle – Scotland’s Most Iconic Fortress

    Adventure, Featured, My Reviews, Scotland, Travel
    August 26, 2017
  • The atmospheric ruins of Urquhart Castle on the banks of Loch Ness, Scotland
    9

    Urquhart Castle on Loch Ness: History and Highland Views

    Adventure, My Reviews, Scotland, Travel
    August 23, 2017

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Latest Posts

  • Another stunning little waterfall well up in the Fairy Pools, Isle of Skye

    The Fairy Pools: Cold Water, Midges & Why to Get In - Day 9

    Adventure, Holidays, Roadtrips, Scotland, Scottish Road Trip, Travel
    July 26, 2026

  • Dunvegan Castle, Seal Pups & Neist Point - Day 8

    Adventure, Holidays, Roadtrips, Scotland, Scottish Road Trip, Travel
    July 25, 2026

  • Old Man of Storr, Kilt Rock & Fairy Glen - Day 7

    Adventure, Holidays, Roadtrips, Scotland, Scottish Road Trip, Travel
    July 24, 2026

  • The A87 to Skye and Settling into Portree - Day 6

    Adventure, Holidays, Roadtrips, Scotland, Scottish Road Trip, Travel
    July 23, 2026

  • Highland Coos, Loch Ness & Urquhart Castle - Day 5

    Adventure, Holidays, Roadtrips, Scotland, Scottish Road Trip, Travel
    July 22, 2026

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Harry Potter Studio Tour, Watford. We took the the Harry Potter Studio Tour, Watford. We took the themed coach from Victoria, which was air conditioned. In a heatwave, that alone was worth the money. Watching a somewhat pixelated Philosophers Stone onboard was... okay. Then you walk through the doors of the Great Hall and it lands. This is not a theme park. This is the actual set. The actual flagstones, the actual long tables, the actual Gryffindor banners hanging four storeys up. They built it, they filmed ten years of movies in it, and then they just left it standing. Highlights, and there were plenty: Ollivanders. Thousands of wand boxes stacked to the ceiling, every single one hand labelled with the name of someone who worked on the films. Crew credits hiding in plain sight. Gringotts. Marble columns, chandeliers, and the goblin tellers at their desks. Then you walk through into the vault chamber after the dragon has torn the place apart, still smoking. Mirin stood dead centre of that mosaic floor and just looked up. The wizard chess set, and here's the bit nobody expects: the pieces actually move. They're animatronic, and the demo has them shifting across the board, slow and heavy and strangely menacing. The greenhouse, and the mandrakes. You get to grab hold and pull, and the thing shrieks at you. Mirin did all of them - it was a school day so it was a bit quieter. Honestly better fun than the broomstick green screen demo, which is clever but you watch it. The mandrakes you get your hands on. Aragog and the acromantulas in the Forbidden Forest, which was sufficiently spooky. Number 4 Privet Drive, out in the open, in full sun by the Night Bus. And Platform 9¾, obviously. Trolley half into the wall which is compulsory. The finale is the Hogwarts castle model. It fills an entire room, it took eighty six people to build, and you circle it slowly while the light shifts from day to night. Best six hours of the trip so far. #HarryPotter #WarnerBrosStudioTour #StudioTourLondon #Hogwarts #GreatHall #Gringotts #Ollivanders #PrivetDrive #Watford #London #FamilyTravel #LondonWithKids #TravelWithKids #Potterhead #VisitLondon #WizardingWorld
Top deck of the Original Tour, no roof, no shade, Top deck of the Original Tour, no roof, no shade, and 35 degrees in the sun. It was a bold choice. The tour is a proper way to see the shape of London. You roll down the Strand past the theatres, under the dragon marking the old boundary of the City, past the Royal Courts of Justice, and then Fleet Street opens up and there it is. St Paul's. That dome sitting exactly where Christopher Wren put it after the Great Fire. Three hundred and fifty years on and it still stops the traffic. Then east, and across Tower Bridge, up through those blue suspension chains with the Tower of London off to one side. The heat, though. There is no shade on an open top deck. Passing the Shipwrights Arms, I reckon we caught London in the sun at its best. People spilling onto the footpath, lads downing pints, everyone out. Not a tourist attraction. Just real. England does not do air conditioning the way Australia does. You feel every degree of it. But a hot blue sky over Tower Bridge is not the worst problem to have. #London #OriginalTour #HopOnHopOff #StPaulsCathedral #TowerBridge #LondonEye #LondonBus #LondonHeatwave #FamilyTravel #LondonWithKids #TravelWithKids #VisitLondon #LondonLife #Sightseeing #Thames #Westminster
Butlers Wharf Chop House - highly recommended. We Butlers Wharf Chop House - highly recommended. We had an outside table right on the river, with Tower Bridge filling the whole view in front of us. We sat down around 6:45pm, by which time the London heat wave had finally let go a little. The food more than held up its end of things. Steaks, veggie pie, roast potato, proper triple cooked chips, tenderstem broccoli, and a chicken schnitzel for Mirin. Cold beer, spritz, plates everywhere, and the bridge sitting there behind it all like it was part of the decor. Half the fun was the passing traffic, because there's a walkway running right beside the tables, so you get a steady stream of Londoners and tourists strolling past, and you can watch them clock what's on your plate as they go by. Sorry, not sorry. Mirin coloured in the Tower Bridge on the kids menu, then carried it outside and held it up in front of the real thing for a photo. Her version has more realistic London clouds. We finished up with a family photo on the riverside as the sun went down gold behind the bridge, and it was one of those nights we'll still be talking about in ten years. #ButlersWharfChopHouse #ButlersWharf #TowerBridge #London #LondonRestaurants #LondonEats #ThamesSide #RiversideDining #LondonFood #SteakNight #FamilyTravel #LondonWithKids #TravelWithKids #VisitLondon #LondonLife #DinnerWithAView
Eight hundred years of art in one building, and Ka Eight hundred years of art in one building, and Katherine walked in like she'd been waiting her whole life for it. She had a list. Michelangelo. Da Vinci. Monet. Rembrandt. Van Gogh. One by one, the National Gallery delivered. The Manchester Madonna, unfinished, the underpainting still showing. The Burlington House Cartoon glowing in its darkened room. Van Gogh's wheatfield up close, where you can see every ridge of paint he laid down. Monet's snow scenes hanging three deep on one wall. Then Delaroche's Execution of Lady Jane Grey, which stops you dead. Got to tell Katherine the story standing right in front of it. Jane was queen of England for nine days, then arrested, then beheaded at the Tower at sixteen years old. Not much older than Katherine is now. The bonus of the day: a wonderful staff member leaned in and said "go and find the Russell." Turns out John Russell was an Australian, a mate of Van Gogh, painted alongside Monet, and taught Matisse about colour. A little piece of home hanging quietly among the giants. The best part wasn't the paintings though. It was watching the girls take it in. Katherine with her phone up, framing every brushstroke. Our five year old beside her with her own little pink camera, doing exactly the same thing. Two sets of eyes, seven years apart, both completely lost in it. And a nod to the room with the giant horse (Stubbs' Whistlejacket, 1762): that's Room 34, where Bond met Q in Skyfall. "A bloody big ship." Free entry. What a place. #NationalGallery #London #Art #ArtLovers #VanGogh #Monet #Michelangelo #DaVinci #JohnRussell #AustralianArtist #Impressionism #Skyfall #JamesBond #TrafalgarSquare #FamilyTravel #TravellingWithKids #ArtGallery #MuseumVisit #LondonWithKids #VisitLondon
Woke up in London and went on the hunt for somewhe Woke up in London and went on the hunt for somewhere to watch the decider. The city delivered: Aussie flags in the windows, blue and maroon easily spotted, expats packing the bars before lunch. We planted ourselves at St Christopher's Inn (the Belushi's Origin party was adults only). And what a game to be up for. The Blues stormed home 30-12 at Suncorp, Cleary running the show with two tries; cheers, groans and full-throated chants echoing round a London boozer before midday. Surreal and brilliant. Up the Blues. 💙 #StateOfOrigin #Origin2026 #NSWBlues #UpTheBlues #Cleary #Origin #AussiesInLondon #LondonPubs #TheGeorgeInn #BoroughHighStreet #London #TravelLondon #FamilyTravel
Time for Terry's. Tucked just off Borough High St Time for Terry's. Tucked just off Borough High Street on Great Suffolk Street, this is the real deal, a proper old-school London caff serving up honest, home-cooked British grub since 1982. Union Jacks on the walls, black-and-white photos everywhere, Monmouth coffee on the go, and full Englishes that'll set you up for the whole day. Meats from Smithfield, veg from Borough Market, zero pretension. Grab a mug of proper tea and settle in, just come hungry and come early, because the locals know. #TerrysCafe #FullEnglishBreakfast #FullEnglish #LondonEats #BoroughLondon #LondonBreakfast #LondonCafe #BritishFood #EatLondon #LondonBridge #SouthwarkEats #BoroughMarket #FryUp #VisitLondon #LondonFood #TimeOutLondon
Hayden's 18th! 🎉 We started planning this one a f Hayden's 18th! 🎉 We started planning this one a few months out; the day, the evening, the night, and the all-important cleaning of his hotel room and vacating before check-out the following morning! We built an app, recorded all the questionable "victories" throughout the night, scored free laser tag games against the staff, and total randoms were buying him rounds of shots before they headed off to the hotel that Hayden booked and paid for himself. That was my devious plan: if he's the one paying, he's far more likely to keep his mates in line on the mess-making front. And it worked. A thoroughly enjoyable day celebrating Haydos officially joining the adults. Hope you had a blast, mate! #hayden18 #strikebowling #holeymoley #finally18 #18thbirthday #legaladult #nightout #bestmates #birthdayvibes
A beautiful day on the South Coast of NSW with my A beautiful day on the South Coast of NSW with my son, daughter-in-law and grandson. The water was an incredible shade of blue and the white sand was absolutely pristine. So grateful for family time and this stunning corner of Australia right on our doorstep! #SouthCoastNSW #HyamsBeach #VisitNSW #NSW #Australia #BeachLife #FamilyTime #BeachDay #ExploreAustralia #SeeAustralia #TravelNSW #PhotoOfTheDay #BeachVibes #OutdoorAustralia #WeekendGetaway #AussieLife
Merry Christmas ya filthy animals #christmas #ti Merry Christmas ya filthy animals #christmas #tistheseason #matchymatchy
Violet Beauregard, Veruca Salt and an Oompa Loompa Violet Beauregard, Veruca Salt and an Oompa Loompa visited Bonnet Bay Halloween this year! As always, what a spectacularly ghoulish and grandiose party it was. #Halloween #BonnetBay #Wonka #OompaLoompa
An Outlandish weekend in every sense! We had the An Outlandish weekend in every sense! We had the absolute pleasure of meeting Jamie Fraser (Sam Heughan) and Lord John Grey (David Berry) at Supanova Comic Con in Sydney, Australia. As VIP guests, we attended both of their Q&A panels - each packed with charm, humour, and heartfelt insight into Outlander’s beloved characters. A pleasant addition was Charles Vandervaart (William) who made a late appearance, joining David Berry on stage and adding to the magic. I was lucky enough to be selected to ask David a question during the panel. I said (paraphrased): "When we first met your character, we wanted to hate him. But over time, we grew to like him—and eventually love him. Lord John Grey is so complex, so emotional… I’m getting emotional just saying this. We were really barracking for him. What did Lord John teach you, either as an actor or as a person?" David’s response was incredible. He shared how, as an actor, he often felt frustration reading what John was about to face - wanting to get angry for him; but the character was written to consistently respond with kindness and love. That lesson, he said, stayed with him well beyond the show. Photos, conversations, and a signature (or two!) rounded out what was truly a dream weekend for these two Outlander fans. #Outlander #SamHeughan #DavidBerry #CharlesVandervaart #JamieFraser #LordJohnGrey #WilliamRansom #Supanova #SupanovaComicCon #OutlanderFans #OutlanderCast #OutlanderAustralia #ComicConSydney #OutlanderQandA #TimeTravelWeekend #FraserClan #Sydney #Australia
Melbourne and Phillip Island ❤️ #melbourne #melb Melbourne and Phillip Island ❤️ #melbourne #melbournecafe #melbournefoodie #visitmelbourne #igersmelbourne #phillipisland #visitphillipisland #travelgram #wanderlust #australia
A tiny house stay in Willow Tree, NSW. Glorious A tiny house stay in Willow Tree, NSW. Glorious sunsets (and sunrises) with wine, cheese and a BBQ on the deck, all whilst watching kangaroos 🦘 go about their business. If you haven't tried a tiny house stay, I highly recommend it! #tinyhouse #airbnb #willowtree #nsw #australia #visitnsw #instagram #photooftheday #travel #instapic #exploreaustralia #familytravel
Kicked off Australia Day fun on Gweagal land in Bo Kicked off Australia Day fun on Gweagal land in Bonnet Bay, joining the housewarming BBQ of our buddies, Brett and Abigail. Stacks of beef & lamb, drinks flowing, pool splashes, stories flying, and laughter echoing – what a ripper of a day! To top it off, Happy Birthday to their little man, Max! #AustraliaDay #Gweagal #BonnetBay #Sydney #BBQ #InstaDaily #PhotoOfTheDay #EverydayMoments #MemoriesMade #VisitNSW
Basking in the breathtaking beauty of Ubud's rice Basking in the breathtaking beauty of Ubud's rice terraces! 🌾 Don't be deceived, it feels like a thousand degrees. 😅 Did you know these terraces use the traditional 'subak' irrigation system, showcasing Bali's ancient farming wisdom? Developed in the 9th century and ecologically sustainable. Incredible. #UbudRiceTerraces #SizzlingViews #BaliMagic #GreenParadise #NatureWonder #ExploreUbud #RiceFields #TravelLaughs #TropicalEscape #BucketListAdventures #UbudVibes #IslandLife #Wanderlust

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Michael

@marksmanwaugh ·
6 Aug

Why do the Cowboys look like Titans and the Titans look like Cowboys?!

#nrl #nrltitanscowboys

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Michael

@marksmanwaugh ·
1 Aug

#London in a heatwave even impacts these Australians! You really think "she'll be right" but there's nowhere to hide. Everything is a sauna! 😜

#TowerBridge is pretty special though.

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