Golden Beach (Caloundra) – Day 7 (Round 2)

Our last full day in Queensland…

Chris enjoying the morning view

We went for an early morning stroll along the esplanade, looking for a geocache (and finding it) and enjoying the beautiful weather. It was only 6 a.m. but there were lots of people out. One of the groups we saw were volunteers who were cleaning up the beach and the parks.

Volunteer cleaning up the beach

One of our plans while here had been to drive south to some of the National Parks but the huge storm at the end of last week ended that idea as too many of the roads were still closed due to flash flood damage. We decided, instead, to drive out into the hinterland (the land away from the coast) near Caloundra. You could see the damage that the flooding had caused but all the roads seemed to be open (didn’t see any signs saying they were closed). We also found another BIG thing –

The Big wine barrel

There are some gorgeous views up there – we couldn’t stop where we could see the ocean (did I mention the speed limit on these roads? 100 km/hr on roads we would do 60 km/hr at most) because we would have had to cross the traffic. We did stop where we could see out to the mountains though.

View in the hinterlands

Once we got to Eumundi, we started south again but made a detour into a town called Yandina to stop at the Nutworks Factory – a small factory that processes macadamia nuts. Of course we couldn’t leave without buying some.

Chris is a nut

We headed back to the condo after that – time to clean up, do laundry and repack the bags. We leave for Sydney on Tuesday morning and then fly to Canada on Wednesday. This is probably the last post as I don’t imagine there will be a lot to write about while travelling to Sydney (but I could be wrong).

Thanks for reading 🙂

Pelicans at sunrise

Golden Beach (Caloundra) – Day 5 and 6 (Round 2)

Saturday, May 2

A beautiful sunrise

What a complete turnabout with the weather – we woke to a beautiful sunrise and a clear day. Since it was so nice, we decided to head to the Australia Zoo for the day. We weren’t sure how busy it would be but were pleasantly surprised by the low numbers of people there in the morning.

On the way to the zoo, John found another “big” thing – a Big Mower!

We were talking with one of the keepers, and he said that a lot of the zoo had been flooded the night before and some of the staff was there until 3 a.m. and then back for opening. That’s dedication! We also heard that a lot of the roads further out in the back country were flooded and some aren’t expected to be open for 3 to 4 days.

Chris and the koala who was greeting visitors to the zoo

The zoo was so much fun – of course, I couldn’t resist the koalas any time I saw them – there was one right inside the entrance waiting to greet visitors and I headed straight for her. The zoo photographer snapped my photo but the photo John took was better. Our first stop was at the cassowary enclosure and we were rewarded by some great views of them. However, one was hiding in the foliage (laying down) and it was extremely difficult to spot – no wonder we didn’t see one in the Daintree. If they don’t want to be seen, they won’t be.

Cassowary

We wandered around until almost time for the Wildlife Warrior show at the Crocoseum. The show is big on conservation but not in a beat you over the head with it way. They started the show with some birds and then moved on to the croc show. It’s always fascinating to watch the crocs. The show involved showing how crocs move through the water and on land and what attracts them to their prey. It was good info (even if we are now out of the croc area).

Wildlife Warriors show

After the show, we went to the koala talk – did you know that koala in the aboriginal language means no drink? There was a lot of great and heartbreaking info about the status of koalas and why they are so endangered. After the talk (which took place in the enclosure where some of the younger koalas who have just recently been weaned are kept. They have more energy than older ones and were moving around almost all the time the talk was on.

Juvenile koalas

We took the shuttle around the park, but didn’t stop in “Asia” and “Africa” as we were running low on time and still had more of the Aussie animals to see. We did find the wombats, the kangaroos and the echidna enclosure but the echidnas were hiding in logs. I guess they were tired after the previous night’s storm.

When we finished at the zoo, we had a sneak peek at the Australia Zoo Wildlife Hospital. It was quite impressive but we only saw the facilities, not the patients or the staff.

The lorikeets have decided that the trees outside the condo make a good spot for the night – they are extremely loud from about 1/2 hour before sunset to 1/2 hour after.

Lorikeets

Sunday, May 3

There was a market in Caloundra today. Unfortunately, it was most of the stuff we had by-passed at the Eumundi Markets. Sinc a lookout we were already out, we drove south to the Wild Horse Lookout – a spot we tried to visit on our first visit to the area, only it wBaas closed due to a controlled burn. It was open today and was a steep 700 m climb.

Glasshouse Mountains

The views were worth it though (even though we couldn’t find the supposed easy geocache that was hidden there). It was a busy spot by the time we were heading back down. The mountains are the Glasshouse Mountains and there is a legend about how they were created.

John with the Glasshouse Mountains (from Wild Horse Lookout)

Back to the condo to make a picnic lunch and then off to the north. There was a castle in the town of Bli Bli – the Sunshine Castle. It sounded kind of intriguing so that was our destination. It wasn’t that large of a castle, but they had some nice old weapons and a huge doll collection. Apparently, the person who started the castle did it to house his wife’s doll collection.

Sunshine Castle at Bli Bli

We made our way back to the condo, by way of the back roads and looked for a beach to eat our lunch. We found Dicky Beach which was a nice spot and were entertained by a fellow on a bicycle who was exercising his dog and his goat! Unfortunately, I didn’t grab the camera quickly enough.

After a quick stop to pick up some prawns for dinner, we came back to the condo for some relaxation.

John in the stocks at Sunshine Castle

Skink at Wild Horse Lookout

Golden Beach (Caloundra) – Day 3 and 4 (Round 2)

Thursday, April 30

Got up at 4 a.m. to make it to the meeting place in Tewantin (near Noosa) by 6 a.m. – we were amazed at the intensity of the rain and wind and kind of groaned because we were going to be outdoors in it. Oh well, no help for it so we packed our rain gear, started up our GPS (affectionately named TimTam) and set off in the dark, pouring rain to find the meeting spot. It wasn’t a pleasant drive but with the help of TimTam, we made it. Of course we were early, so we sat in the car hoping we were in the right spot.

Chris on the bus on the barge

Just a few minutes after 6 (when I had pulled out my phone and the phone number of the company), the bus from Fraser Island Adventure Tours arrived. Our driver was Andrew and there were only 10 passengers – a nice number for a rainy day. Once at Fraser Island, we couldn’t travel around the point on the beach because the tide was too high so we took a “corrugated” road (think heavy washboard!) for 11 km until we could safely drive on the beach. The speed limit on the beach is 80 km an hour although Andrew said it depended on the conditions if you could actually do that speed.

John wading in Eli Creek

Our first stop was Eli Creek for morning tea and a restroom break.

Morning tea being prepared at the bus

There was a nice boardwalk at the creek so we took advantage of it and stretched our legs. The water was quite warm but we decided not to wade back to the bus (it was a little deep at the top end). Once back at the bus, tea was served and then it was off to see what was left of the Maheno wreck.

Maheno wreckage

Apparently there was an Anzac Day ceremony held at the site of the wreck, as the ship had been used as a medical transport in WW1.

Wreath on the Maheno wreckage

Next on to the Pinnacles (hmmmm I think everywhere in Australia must have some placed named the Pinnacles). These were beautiful and I think the rain had made the colours more noticeable.

The Pinnacles Coloured Sands

John was riding up front with the driver at this time and he has some awesome video of the beach and the sand roads that are inland. We headed through the bush to go to Lake Mckenzie for a swim and our bbq lunch. John and one other fellow decided to swim – the rest of us just enjoyed the view *s* Lake Mckenzie is a beautiful – so clear because it is filled with rainwater and filtered by the sand.

John swimming in Lake McKenzie

The picnic area has been moved a little further away from the lake than when we were there 7 years ago – the picnic area has an improved dingo fence and more picnic tables. There is also a neat set up where a tarp can be hung over the provided posts to protect from sun or rain. The picnic area also features a laughing kookaburra (how many of you sang the kookaburra song to yourselves?) who likes to steal the grilled steaks right off plates. He didn’t get any of my steak though!

Laughing Kookaburra at the picnic site

Once we had finished lunch, we were back on the bus to head to Central Station and Wanggoolba Creek. This creek is so clean and clear that you have to really look to see the water in it. In the river bed are King ferns that are similar to ones that grew 300 million years ago. Pretty impressive.

King Fern at Wanggoolba Creek

Wanggoolba Creek

That was our last stop – we were pretty lucky with the rain – it didn’t completely stop everytime the bus stopped but it did slow down a lot (as Andrew said – his wipers were on intermittent instead of full out). As before, it was a fantastic day and we really enjoyed seeing the island again – in fact the rain just made things look cleaner. Unfortunately, we didn’t see any dingoes on this trip.

We went back to the barge by way of the beach – the tide was coming in again and there were a few spots that looked like we might not make it but Andrew was a great driver and had no problems.

Back to the meeting spot about 5:45 and I started up the GPS to find our way home in the dark night complete with more heavy rain and traffic. We were ready for sleep by the time we got to the condo but managed to stay awake long enough to have a snack.

Friday, May 1

Another windy, rainy day today so what to do? How about an aquarium – there is one just up the advertised as the largest aquarium in Queensland. So off we went to Underwater World Sea Life. We didn’t find the turn off at first so we had a scenic drive (through driving rain, light rain and no rain) down the coast – looking at the large waves and the blowing trees. On our way we went past the Arnold Palmer designed golf course that features the Palmersauraus (a T-rex that is on the golf course – John says that when a pro golf tournament was played there, the T-rex had to be turned off because the players were playing badly whenever he roared). There is an automobile museum at the golf course too but it wasn’t open at 9:30 a.m.).

Sign for the Palmersaurus

Eventually we found the aquarium and went inside. There were some really cool exhibits and a walk-through tunnel but it wasn’t really very large. It seemed like it was designed more for children as there were activities everywhere for the kids to do (one of the interactive exhibits involved finding out what a seal’s breath smells like – ummmm, no thanks!)

Sea Dragon

Sea horse

Freshwater Croc

It was pouring again when we got out of the aquarium so we puttered our way back, popping in and looking at beaches until we were back in Caloundra. John stopped at a fish market to get something for dinner and, instead, came out with steaming hot order of fish and chips. They were so good (and filling). Food is expensive here but seafood is fairly reasonably priced.

The rain didn’t give up and the wind picked up so we spent the rest of the day relaxing and watching the trees outside our apartment blowing. We were going to drive down toward Brisbane away from the coast tomorrow but there is a weather alert for that area warning of flash floods so that probably isn’t the best idea.

Windy view from our apartment

Golden Beach (Caloundra) – Day 1 and 2 (Round 2)

Tuesday, April 28

We travelled from Cairns to Brisbane today – our flight left Cairns at 10 a.m. and we were served tea on the plane. It was a good flight, some cloud but I did get a picture of a small part of the Great Barrier Reef from the plane.

Great Barrier Reef

We landed at noon and then it took quite a while to pick up the rental car. Finally, we had the keys in hand and were off for Caloundra and our condo at Worldmark Golden Beach. We stopped for lunch at Macca’s (McDonald’s) and I noticed that they have a number of computer stations where you can order your food the way you want it – not sure if it’s going to happen elsewhere but you certainly wouldn’t need as much staff if it catches on (and what about the kids looking for minimum wage positions?).

A quick stop for groceries and we were at the condo. I love it here – the unit is pretty small (and the kitchen is miniscule) but all the units have a water view and a deck.

Our view from Golden Beach WorldMark

We went for a wander down the road and found a geocache along the Costigan Mangrove Boardwalk.

Costigan Mangrove Boardwalk

Not much more to report – we weren’t feeling too energetic. Oh, the wifi here (and in Sydney) connects through the tv. It’s a neat system – and the internet is cheaper than the first trip here (but definitely not as cheap as at home).

Golden Beach Living Room area

Golden Beach Kitchen and Dining Area

Golden Beach Bedroom

Golden Beach Bathroom

Wednesday, April 29

We must be in relaxation mode *s* The main entertainment today was heading to the Eumundi Markets, about 40 minutes north of Golden Beach. It’s advertised as Australia’s Premier Artisan Market – Make it, Bake it, Sew it, Grow it but we saw a lot of imported crafts. We did find a wonderful local artist, Michelle Pike, who was selling her quirky Australian artwork. She was very interesting to talk to and we spent a lot of time in her shop – in our opinion, it was the best one there *s*

Eumundi Markets sign

Once we finished browsing the market, we saw the signs for The Big Pineapple – who can resist a giant pineapple? (Not John!).
It wasn’t very busy there so we pulled in and took photos before we decided to find the Ettamogah Pub as we had seen lots of photos of it and it seemed like an interesting place. We were very disappointed to discover that, while the building is still there, the character has gone. It is now a no name pub with no interesting writing on the outside walls. It’s too bad since it was so well known.

Former Etamogah Pub

We drove around sight-seeing for a while and then found a great parking spot at King’s Beach where we could eat our picnic lunch and watch an awesome kite-boarder – he was getting big air time. We drove around a bit more (and tried to find an elusive geocache) before we came back to the condo to enjoy our view. It’s quite windy today and we’ve had a few short rain showers but none of the thunderstorms that were forecast.

John at King’s Beach

Tomorrow we are heading to Fraser Island for the day – we have an hour’s drive north to the pickup location (and have to be there at 6 a.m.). Lucky for us that we are still waking up early.

Sign at Aussie World pub

Caloundra – 7 / Kirra Beach – 1

SATURDAY, MAY 17

Lazy day today. We checked out a “garage sale” (don’t fall over Karen!) at the Caloundra refuse site – kind of like the “free store” at our landfill. This one was run by the air cadet association and had everything you might possibly be looking for. No, we didn’t buy anything *s*

Then it was off to the Holden car dealership (the same as GM in Canada and the States) to find out what the car-type truck we see everywhere down here was.

This is a Holden Ute – and John wants one. Apparently, they’re starting production of these in the States soon.

Next stop was the mall – we hadn’t done any shopping other than for groceries so we wanted to see if there was anything we desperately needed (there wasn’t). While we were there, we saw a shop called “Baaz, Mooz and Oinkz” – would you believe it was a butcher shop?

That was about it for the day – we went back to enjoy the balcony and some good-sized beers.

John after a few too many of these beer

Temperature: 23 C – sunny but windy

SUNDAY, MAY 18

The first thing we heard this morning was the sound of a helicopter very close to the condo. Turned out that it was a search and rescue team and they were searching Pumicestone Passage before moving off. There was a terrific windstorm last night – and when we went to bed at 10:30, there were still pleasure boats fishing out in the passage. We didn’t hear what the team was searching for but hopefully they found their target safe and sound.

Since we were up so early, we finished packing up and then headed south. On the way, there were more wild kangaroos – only I didn’t realize that was what they were at first (thinking it was cows grazing) so I didn’t mention them to John in time to stop for a photo. Oops….. Our first stop was

Iceworld at Boondall.

This is the rink that Justin used to play at (and where the Brisbane Blue Tongues played last year) so of course we had to stop. There was a figure skating competition taking place and no hockey scheduled until late in the afternoon. We were surprised at how small the seating area was but the rink was nice and bright. They have netting that is pulled around during hockey games and this sign

was on the end boards

Off south again, we found ourselves on the Gateway Toll Bridge – luckily the toll was only $2.60 which we had in our pockets. Soon we were at our next stop

Iceland at Bundall.

This is where the Blue Tongues are playing this season – if we thought the rink at Boondall was small this one is tiny. There are only 3 rows of seating (on benches that make the old ones at the Cowichan rink look wonderful) and the seating is only on one side and it doesn’t go all the way down. The seating stops at the player benches (at least as far as I could tell – there wasn’t anyone sitting further down and I think they’d have to walk through the player benches to get there).

It was public skate when we arrived ($15 for adults/$14 for students – with ID/$12 for children. Of course, these prices do include the skate rental). We discovered that there was a Divison III hockey game on at 5 before the Blue Tongues scrimmage at 6:50 so we headed for Kirra Beach to check into the condo. Of course it was too early to do that, so we decided to

explore the coast a bit and find some lunch (which ended up being Pizza Hut). We came back to the timeshare and spent some time sitting in the pool area until our room was ready. John had noticed the number 125 as our room number and we were disappointed that we wouldn’t have an ocean view – to our surprise, 125 means apartment 5 on the 12th floor.

We have a fantastic view.

Once checked in, it was back to the ice rink at Bundall to watch some hockey. What better way to celebrate an anniversary than to do something you both love, right? We arrived at 4:45 and the players arrived just after us! Guess they don’t get to the rink 2 hours early – the game started at about 5:10 and was quickly a blowout for the visiting team. There were only a handful of people watching – parents, grandparents and a few friends. The home team had only 6 players dressed so no one got a rest and the time between periods is only 1 minute (no ice cleaning until the game is over) so they were pretty exhausted when the game finished.

Then it was time for the

Blue Tongues scrimmage game. It was a pretty good game (although you could tell it was not as intense as a game against a rival team would be). The blue team dominated the game – guess they were making up for losing the week before. There weren’t many fans (or curious people) there and it was a pretty quiet crowd. The periods were 15 minutes long with 1 minute between periods (again, ice clean only after the game was over – if then!). After the game, we met up with Wendy (secretary of the Blue Tongues booster club) and her husband, Sam. They are hockey nuts and we really enjoyed meeting them and their friends (sorry can’t remember the names). All too soon, it was time to head back to the condo as Wendy and Sam had a 90 minute drive back home. See, I told you they were hockey nuts!

I can’t imagine how a professional team can make ends meet playing in such small rinks. The rinks we saw today make Fullers Lake and Lake Cowichan Arenas look huge.

Kirra Beach kitchen

Kirra Beach living room

Kirra Beach master bedroom

Kirra Beach second bedroom

MONDAY, MAY 19

John was up early and went for a walk on the beach – he got some wonderful pictures of the sunrise and saw about 50 people doing this:

Looks like a great place to use walking poles. When he was on his way back, he spotted me on the balcony of our apartment.

It’s the 3rd from the top on the left hand side of the front section.

Weren’t sure what we wanted to do today so we spent the morning on the deck soaking up some wonderful sun. Unlike yesterday, there was no wind at all. We’ve kind of planned a couple of trips we want to do in the next few days – one of the things we were hoping to do was to go into Brisbane but we really are not fond of driving in cities (especially since it’s difficult to find a road “map” – most of the ones you can find are either very basic or they are in huge books like a telephone directory). We looked at the brochures in the lobby and found a day trip to Brisbane that covers what we wanted to do – so the tour is booked for tomorrow (Tuesday) and we get picked up at 6:45 here at the condo.

We drove to Tweed Heads and found a grocery store and

a Big W (better known to us as a Walmart). We spotted a few other signs that made us think we’re in an area that drinks a lot – there was a Liquor Barn, a Liquor Warehouse and this:

After leaving the groceries at the condo, we drove up the Gold Coast Highway in the opposite direction (from Tweed Heads) and found a surfing beach where we could watch the surfers. There were quite a few surfers as well as two kayakers and a jet ski. They all seemed to be having fun.

Temperature: 25 C – sunny

Surfer’s Paradise at night

Surfer’s Paradise at dusk

Sunrise

Caloundra – 6 (Fraser Island)

No glitches this time. We were up at 4:45 and were picked up at the condo at 5:30 in a passenger vehicle. While we were waiting in the lobby the only living thing around was

– I think this is the Worldmark, Golden Beach mascot *lol*

The driver explained that we were the only pickups on the south end of the run – we felt bad until she said that she lives in Caloundra and has to go up each morning anyway. We met up with the tour bus

at Noosa. The bus holds 18 passengers and there were only 10 people on the tour so there was lots of room to spread out. Another really neat thing was that there are two seats beside the driver and everyone got a chance to sit in the front.

We started out by crossing the Noosa River on a small cable ferry that only took a few minutes to cross and then we were driving up the Teewah Beach.

The sun was just coming up when we started up the beach. The dunes were very exposed and the driver explained that there had been a huge cyclone in January and a lot of the sand was swept away leaving large rock exposed. The sand is coming back now but will take a while longer before the dunes are softened again.

There is a large camping area along the beach – you just need a permit to camp there (and to be self-contained). Ken, the driver (who reminded us of Gordon Nikirk – without the cowboy hat and with an Aussie accent) told us that at Christmas and New Years there can be up to 6,000 people camped along the beach. We had a quick stop at

the Teewah Coloured Sands

and then continued up the beach. We couldn’t go all the way to Rainbow Beach on the beach road because the tide was in too far to go around Double Island Point so we headed inland on the Freshwater Road – a 4 wheel drive track. We weren’t far along it when we spotted a road construction sign – no photo as it was hard to take photos on the bumpy road *lol* We were going to have morning tea on the beach at Rainbow Beach but Ken took a look at the sky and predicted a shower so we went to a picnic shelter at the park.

Not sure if you can see from this photo, but the spots are heavy rain.

The crossing to Fraser Island is via a barge which loads from the sand (like a double ended landing craft).

There is no set schedule – it just goes back and forth as required. The crossing only takes about 12 minutes and then we were off on the beach road. It was funny to see speed limit signs on the beach – and signs warning that you were sharing the road with a runway.

We left the beach at Eurong (a resort area) and travelled through the rainforest. Ken explained what the trees were and what they were used for as well as the history of the island. We stopped for a lunch break at

Lake McKenzie where we had the opportunity to go swimming. John made it in all the way but I chickened out at the tops of my legs. Lunch was fantastic – when we booked we were given a choice of steak, fish or vegetarian and we both chose steak. Ken bar-b-q’d while everyone else was relaxing and when we got back to the picnic area (fenced to keep dingoes out), the meat was ready, there were about 5 different salads out, and we were offered either beer, wine or soft drink. For dessert, we had fresh cantaloupe and pineapple. It was great to be able to eat what was offered (the second tour that has happened on).

Once back in the bus, it was time for John and I to ride up front. It was a good time to be there – we saw rainforest and the beach. On the beach road, the tide was starting to come in which made it interesting in spots – especially when other vehicles didn’t want to move over so that we were driving in the surf. We saw a dingo – who wasn’t interested in us at all – and a sea eagle who didn’t want to move and then reluctantly took off right in front of the bus.

Once back on the mainland, we took a short trip down Rainbow Beach (on the beach) and had our afternoon tea at some of the coloured sands there. Apparently it’s a good area for paragliders too – we saw one guy packing his parachute and another one playing in the thermals above us (we thought he might be checking out what we were having for tea and deciding whether to come and join us). We couldn’t stay too long as there was one spot the bus wouldn’t be able to manouevre over if the tide came in too far. The trip back to Noosa was interesting – we had a scenic tour past and through Queensland’s largest pine forest (planted) – the good thing was that John and I saw real, live wild kangaroos – they were in the distance but they were definitely kangaroos.

Ken dropped everyone else off and then took us for a tour of Noosa before we met up with another bus that was coming back towards Caloundra. It was filled with school kids who had been on Fraser Island on a field trip. We rode part way down on the bus and then transferred to the same vehicle that took us up.

I can’t say enough about Fraser Island Adventure Tours – they were very safety conscious, eco-friendly (not one piece of anything we took with us was left behind on the island or the beaches), knowledgeable and friendly. We had a really good day – just wish we could have got out and looked around more often but the roads really weren’t wide enough (even though the signs kept saying 2-way traffic) for Ken to stop safely. We did have a walk at Wanggoolba Creek that was really neat – it’s at Central Station which used to be a forestry camp. The information centre there is an old forestry worker’s home.

Temperature: 23 C – sunny with heavy rainshower in morning

King Fern

Chris and John at Lake McKenzie

4-wheel drive road

Wanggoolba Creek – there is water there, it’s just so clear that you can’t see it!

Caloundra – 5

While having breakfast this morning, we looked outside and discovered that it was raining quite heavily. We still weren’t sure what we were going to do today so we took our time with breakfast and when we were done, the rain had stopped.

We were debating between a 1 1/2 hour “cruise” along the Pumicestone Passage and driving down toward Brisbane and going to Bribie Island (the island you can see from our apartment). The drive won out and we hopped in the car to head south. First thing, though, was to fill the gas tank – at the first gas station we saw, the price had jumped 10 cents a litre overnight. We drove up the street a little further (two more roundabouts) and saw a station that still had $1.35 on their sign so we filled up there. That was the only place we saw at yesterday’s price so I guess they just hadn’t put their price up yet. Gas costs here are like in the United States – instead of all the prices in town being the same, they can vary up to 7 or 8 cents a litre.

On the way to Bribie Island, we saw the Glasshouse Mountains and they were so clear. We thought we would take a side trip to a lookout on Wild Horse Mountain and get views of the island and the mountains. Once we got to the parking lot, we realized that wasn’t an option – there had been a fire (turns out it was a controlled burn) and the hiking trail is closed until Monday.

Once on Bribie Island, we drove around to the beach area –

we had a nice view of Brisbane (across the water) from Red Beach (no idea why it’s called that – the sand is white) and then we drove to the east coast – the weather was beautiful, not even much wind; however, there isn’t much to see on the island as most of the area is a national park accessible by water.

We came back to Caloundra and went to Kings Beach for a picnic lunch and then walked along the rock shelves looking in

tidal pools. There were a few big ones that held some fish and crabs.

We also found an area full of crushed shells and small rocks and spent some time sifting through the shells looking for interesting pieces.

Then it was back to the condo to relax before our long day (and early morning) tomorrow. I probably won’t post until Saturday since I’m pretty sure we’ll be tired when we get back and there’ll be too many photos to sort through.

Temperature: 25 C – sunny with heavy rainshower in morning and some cloudy periods

John at King’s Beach

Flower

Blowhole

Caloundra – 4 (Australia Zoo)

The Australia Zoo is an amazing place. The employees are very helpful and obviously enjoy their jobs – the main message of the zoo is conservation. There’s a lot of opportunities to get close to the animals with showtimes, photo sessions, wandering wildlife (with a keeper), and the main show at the Crocoseum.

We arrived at the zoo at 9 (when they opened) and spent the whole day wandering around until we left at 4:15 p.m. (they close at 4:30)

Our first goal was to get my photo with a koala, so we went to the wildlife photo area after checking out the croc pens. I got to cuddle “Ash” – a 2 year old male koala and he was so soft and cuddly. Can you tell I really enjoyed the experience? I wanted to smuggle him home but the keepers were watching too carefully.

While we were waiting for the photo session to start, we spotted this

reticulated python in a pen nearby – she’s 7 metres long and weighs 150 kg. and she hasn’t finished growing yet.

After the photo, we checked out a few more of the enclosures and then headed to the Crocoseum for a fun-filled, informative show called the Wildlife Warriors Show. There were birds (flying and swimming), snakes, elephants and,

of course, a crocodile. John got too close to one of the crocs

– luckily he managed to escape. Actually we did get close to one croc – it was a baby that was being shown around by the staff – we had a photo taken but it’s in print form so you’ll have to wait to see it.

We finally found the wombats – one of the keepers was “exercising” one of them by playing tag.

He was so cute (the wombat in case you’re wondering which he I was talking about). The next animal we really wanted to see were the echidnas – and they didn’t disappoint. They kind of waddle when they walk (I took a lot of video with my camera but can’t post them because they’re too big).

Just before we left, we headed for the Cassowary enclosure again – they had been hiding in the back when we were there at the beginning of the day. We could spot one of them moving around so we waited (along with another couple who were from Sudbury, Ontario) and our patience was rewarded.

He came right up to the feeding bucket in front of us.

It was a great day and definitely a place to visit if you’re in the area.

Temperature: 21 C – sunny with cloudy periods

Wallaby

Tucker, a 4 year old koala

Sleepy kangaroo

The Irwin Family Statue

Caloundra – 3

Okay, I know no one was expecting a post today but….

The day started off beautifully – yeah I had to get up and going early but the sunrise was beautiful and made up for the early rising. We were on the road to Noosa at 7 a.m. and arrived there at 7:50. We had 1 hour and 10 minutes to wait for the Fraser Island pickup so we walked along the streets and window shopped and met these fellow window shoppers (there was more than one of them):

Bush Turkey

At 9 a.m. we spotted a 4-wheel drive multi-passenger vehicle and gathered up all our stuff. The driver asked for our names and then said – “oh you’re the ones booked for a 2-day camping tour. They had to cancel it but you can come on the 3-day tour for the same price.” That would have been fun except for the problem of my food allergies for 3 days – we had prepared for 2. When we asked why we hadn’t been notified of the cancellation, the driver just shrugged and said he didn’t know but that he could give us a full cash refund if we didn’t want to do the 3-day camping trip. (The company was Sunrover and I wouldn’t recommend them to anyone – they had our email address so it should have been easy to get in touch for a cancellation. Also, I had re-confirmed the trip (with the owner) on Sunday and he didn’t ask for a phone number or mention that there was a chance of it being cancelled.)

I guess that we couldn’t expect the whole trip to go by without any glitches but we’d really wanted to go camping on Fraser Island overnight.

We took the refund and decided to drive down through the “Hinterland” (in Queensland, it means the land away from the coast). Our first stop was Nutworks – a Macadamia Nut factory. You can watch them cracking and sorting the nuts through an observation window and then browse through the shop. I didn’t know they flavoured macadamias with so many different seasonings – there was honey roasted, sour cream and onion, wasabi and more. They also had macadamia fudge, chocolate coated macadamias, and other candies. It was mind boggling – but John settled on some honey-roasted and some dark chocolate coated nuts.

After that, we headed on the Blackall Range Tourist Drive – through some small villages on the way to the viewing area for the Glasshouse Mountains. There is a really neat legend of how the mountains were formed.

This is Coonowrin, the son who disobeyed his father and

Beerwah, his mother.

When we got back to the condo, we decided that we still wanted to see Fraser Island but not with the same tour company so we have booked a 1 day tour with pickup right at our condo (at 5:25 a.m.!) with Fraser Island Adventure Tours for Friday. The tour was booked through the condo so there shouldn’t be any problems this time.

Tomorrow, we are going to spend the day (or most of it) at the Australia Zoo where I hope to get the chance to cuddle a koala.

Temperature: 22 C – sunny

The Glasshouse Mountains

Sign

Pumicestone Passage at low tide

Caloundra – 2

I slept in today – well, if you can call 7 a.m. sleeping in *lol* After that, we had breakfast (with me sitting on the balcony in the sunshine) and then made a picnic and started to Noosa Heads. We timed the trip – and found that it takes 55 minutes to get there from the condo. So now we know we need to leave between 7 and 7:30 to be sure to be at the pickup location at 9. There is a parking lot right near where we’re being picked up so we’re leaving the car there (and keeping our fingers crossed that it will still be there when we get back on Wednesday.)

We walked around Noosa for a bit – and found that it’s a really busy town. This weekend they are having their Mayfiesta – a food and wine festival, a boat race and a marathon swim challenge. Sounds like a good place to avoid – considering it was hard enough to find a parking spot today. Actually we just got an email today from the Blue Tongues Booster Club and there is an intersquad hockey game on Sunday, May 18 – and the rink is on the way to our next condo. So guess where we’re going to be on Sunday..

We drove back along the coast – and were a little disappointed that for most of it you can’t really see the beaches. But it was still a pretty drive and there

were some scenic views.

Once back at the condo, we packed our bags for our Fraser Island camping trip and made sure there’s no food left lying around the apartment. I’ve already killed a bunch of tiny ants and would rather not leave them a feast while we’re gone.

Next post will be after we get back from Fraser Island

Temperature: 24 C – sunny

Lifeguard stand at Coolum Beach

Very large pelican

Interesting root system on these trees

Travels with John and Chris

A diary of our travels

Caloundra (Golden Beach)