Noosa back to Brisbane

Lovely Noosa.  We had a superb couple of days with the sun shining.  It is a very relaxed place.  The campsite was the busiest we had been staying on, but was so quiet you wouldn’t have known it.

The largest contingent by far on the site were the Grey Nomads.  Retired Aussies who travel continuously with their super-duper caravans and obviously meet up here and there.  Groups of them would meet on the river bank at 5pm for a sundowner and a chat.  A far cry from the yobbish youngsters who gather in the pubs of England !  We did smile at the chap who wrapped his car up every time he went out and returned again.

Just to prove that we don’t only stay by the sea, here are some photos from Boreen Point – it’s on a lake!!!

I’ve not been terribly satisfied with the maps I’ve been using on this trip.  I’m a bit of a mapaholic and the more detail the better as far as I’m concerned, but I found a road that would take us from Boreen to Rainbow Coast a bit further north.  Unfortunately after about 10 kilometres the road ran out and turned into a gravel track.  As we aren’t insured to drive off road we had to turn around and go back the way we came.  The alternative route would have taken an hour so we gave up and Boreen Point is the furthest north we have travelled.

Now heading back towards Brisbane for another weekend with the family, we took an inland road.  There are many tourist routes signposted from the main highways and we took this one unaware of the terrific views we would see.

We stopped a while in a village called Montville which was full of shops selling all those things I had forgotten I needed.  Fortunately we controlled ourselves and just bought a few little souvenirs and gifts and stopped for lunch in a delightful little courtyard.

… we also spotted some interesting plants at Montville

Yukka

Bee hive ginger

We then turned the van back to the depot!   The fridge isn’t working so we thought we’d see if there was anything to be done.

There was.  We now are the proud loaners of an Esky – a cool box to us Europeans!  Nothing to be done about the fridge itself which probably needs regassing, so we will have to be very careful with our food and buy ice at each campsite down to Sydney.

I do so feel a letter of complaint coming on!!

Brisbane – Coolum – Brisbane – Noosa

And so we have a new van. Good-oh!  This one is newer, quieter and actually starts in the morning (although maybe I should say that with crossed fingers!).

We had a good time at Coolum despite the fact that the Sunshine Coast was more a Cloudy coast.

After collecting the van yesterday, a five hour round trip with lunch while we were waiting for it to be ready, we headed back the way we came an ended up here at Noosa.

We had a long walk along the riverside choosing a restaurant for supper and back in time to catch a wonderful sunset…

… and watch the parakeets, lorikeets, cockatoos and cockatiels going off to roost – that is a very noisy experience – and hundreds of seagulls dancing before bed.

We wandered off to have a tapas supper – just delicious food – on a riverside restaurant in Noosa, just a magical end to what had been a slightly iffy day.

 

Oh, and by the way, the Sunshine Coast is now living up to it’s name – the day has dawned warm and sunny and all is right with the world once more!

A weekend in Manly and the Sunshine Coast

Time is passing so quickly, although it seems like months since we were in Sydney (a week ago) and Hong Kong is already a distant thought.

We spent a super weekend with the Aussie rellies – an excellent BBQ on Saturday at Hannah and Andrew’s house catching up with Hannah and Pippa, who we haven’t seen in almost 20 years, and meeting the new babies in the family, Aiden and Finlay.  As my camera battery was completely flat, I didn’t get any photos, but will amend that next weekend, I hope if we catch up with them again.

On Sunday morning we wandered into Manly  – a different Manly from last weekend , this one being in Queensland.  There was a craft and food market on which we gave full attention to before enjoying a barramundi lunch in a small cafe.

It was stiflingly hot, but not as hot as Sydney the day before, where the temperature had been 33 degrees C at midnight, and the lowest it got to before dawn was 26 degrees.  Ouch!  The humidity was the worst problem so we relaxed and spent the afternoon enjoying the air-conditioning.

Monday woke us with a heavy rain shower which had stopped by the time anyone sensible got out of bed!  We packed up the van and headed north to the Sunshine Coast.  This time the name was completely wrong as it was overcast all day long, which took the edge of the heat and humidity even though the average temperature for the day was still 27 degrees.

We turned off the main highway onto the newly named ‘Steve Irwin Highway’.  Steve Irwin was the owner of the Australia Zoo which is along this road, before he was killed by a stingray a few years back.

From here we could see the strange Glass Mountains, ancient volcanic plugs which tower over the landscape as if dumped there from outer space. We drove up to the Glass Mountain Lookout for a better look.

We were thinking it was lunch time and needed to restock the tiny fridge, so we stopped at the next town for provisions and then down to the coast again.

The wind was very strong and popular with the kite surfers who were taking full advantage.  After our picnic lunch and a stroll around Caloundra we decided to head further north to find a campground for the night.  We found a delightful little place called Coolum Beach which had a small campsite and lots of shops and restaurants and here we have settled for a day or two.