The Sunshine Coast June 2007

Whilst we are staying on the Sunshine Coast we have visited a few other areas. Not had a lot of time as we've been busy cleaning and sorting out our vehicles.

Here is the Maroochy River in Maroochydore. Maroochydore is the main town near our unit.



The bridge over the Maroochy river to Chambers Island.



Overlooking Chambers Island with the Hinterland in the background.



David in Maroochydore. This was the coldest day on record for June and it was freezing.



The swimming pool at Caloundra.



How the other half lives. A waterfront house in Mooloolaba.

Diddillibah 12/6 onwards

We completed our circuit around Australia and decided to base ourselves on the Sunshine Coast. We have decided to sell everything and return back to the UK.

We found a holiday unit in Diddillibah (or Diddlydiddlybah as David pronounced it)between Maroochydore and Bli Bli.



Here's the unit we are renting whilst we sell our vehicles.



We are not used to having so much space after living in a caravan for 8 months. Now we've got two bedrooms, a lounge, a kitchen and bathroom to run around. The only downside is that it's very cold at night and they don't have central heating over here.

We are still breaking records - just experienced the coldest June day on record on the Sunshine Coast. Daytime temperature of 7 degrees plus a cold wind chill. Average is 22 for this time of year.



And we have a little balcony to sit out in the winter sun (what little there is).



We spent a few days cleaning the caravan at the boatyard. We sold it within a couple of days of it going online. Now we just need to sell the car.

Noosa 7/6 to 11/6

We arrived at Tewantin on the outskirts of Noosa for the final stay in our caravan. When we arrived it was wet and muddy, but over the course of the weekend the sun came out again.



Noosa is quite an exclusive place with lots of expensive waterfront properties.



Here is the main beach at Noosa.



We were still seeing things we've never seen before. Here's someone paddling a surfboard.



Noosa and its surrounds are built on a number of rivers and waterways.





We took time out to visit Eumundi and its famous markets.

Maryborough 6/6

Well we have done it again, the 'Drought Busters' have arrived ! This area of Queensland has just had the heaviest rainfall in 2 years and their reservoirs are filling up, all thanks to us we guess.

We visited Maryborough. Here is Jayne with a life sized bronze statue of Mary Poppins in front of the heritage listed building where her author P.L. Travers was born in 1899. As you can tell from the attire it was pretty cold and wet, even Mary had her brolly at the ready !







Maryborough was a very pretty town with a large number of original buildings. There was an area called Portside which felt like you had taken a step back in time to the late 1800's early 1900's.








Maryborough is a place we would recommend visiting just try and get a bit sunnier, drier day to do it.

Fraser Island 5/6

It looked so appealing in the brochure and a place we had always wished to see. Blue skies, golden sands and clear blue lakes... However the day started well as we were drenched to the skin just waiting to be collected by our little bus.

On arrival we travelled via a large 4 wheel drive coach along the sand tracks to Central Station a former forestry camp in the middle of the rainforest next to Wanggoolba Creek. The Creek was crystal clear and full of fresh water.

Here's David on the rainforest boardwalk taking in the scenery as it was just beginning to rain again.

Next we drove along 75 Mile Beach which is actually only 63 miles long, so they say it must have been named by a fisherman as they love to exagerate on the size of things. Luckily for us we were fortunate enough to see one of the biggest icons of Fraser Island - the wild Dingoes on the beach.

As we travelled along 75 Mile Beach the weather got worse and the rains became quite heavy.

We reached the coloured sands of the Pinnacles and managed to jump out between rain showers to take a couple of photos.

We travelled back down the beach to see the Maheno shipwreck which came ashore in 1935. By this time the rain was pretty torrential and everyone waited on the bus, but we decided that as you do not visit Fraser Island every day of your life (unless you are one of the lucky coach drivers) then we had to get off and take some pictures. We got absolutely drowned and here's a very rare picture of David running through the pouring rain. Take a good look at it again as you are not very likely to ever see him running again !

We drove to Eli Creek, which was due to be a swim stop in the fresh waters but due to the heavy rain and cold no-one wished to get off the bus never mind going for a swim, so we all opted to go for lunch instead at Eurong Beach Resort.

After lunch we headed off towards Lake McKenzie, the most beautiful fresh water lake on Fraser Island with clear blue water and white silica sands. But trust us, the coach broke a fan belt on the way and we had to go back to Eurong to have it checked out, before getting the all clear to continue with our trip.

On our arrival at Lake McKenzie the skies cleared slightly. We had a paddle but the weather was far too cold to take a dip which is what we had been looking forward to as there are no dangers in the lake such as sharks and jellyfish which there are in the coastal seas.

At the end of the day we travelled back to Hervey Bay via barge.

Hervey Bay 4/6 - 6/6

We travelled a short distance down the coast to our next stop Hervey Bay, in order to take a trip to Fraser Island. The weather was fine on the first day at Hervey Bay and we visited the various resorts along the bay. This is the historic Urangan pier.





We also visited Torquay and Scarness (below).




Here is the coral viewed through the clear waters from Scarness pier.

Bundaberg 1/6 to 3/6

Next stop was Bundaberg home of the famous rum with its iconic polar bear logo.



We visited the Bundaberg Rum distillery where as it was Jayne's turn to drive, David had to sample the rum. And not just samples but full measures were on offer and David had to drink Jayne's share as well.

After having a few glasses of rum and the rare liquor, David tried to take this bottle home. However he is still puzzled as to why 'Bundy Rum' isn't sold in the UK.



The following day we visited some of the local beaches like Burnett Heads, Bargara and Elliott Heads below.

1770 30/5 - 31/5

Our journey took us further South onto Queensland's Discovery Coast to 1770. That's the Town of 1770, thankfully not the year.

The Town is called 1770 in honour of the first landing of Captain James Cook (or Lieutenant as he was then) in Queensland in May 1770. This was Cook's 3rd landing in Australia following his 1st discovery in Botany Bay. This cairn is the monument to his landing here.



1770 is a very small place reliant upon the nearby town of Agnes Waters for it's services. The beach in 1770 is very sheltered with a calm inlet thanks to the sand banks in the water, whereas the beach in Agnes Waters is vast and a good surfers beach so you can get the best of both worlds when you visit here.



There were a number of private leisure cruisers in the bay of 1770 taking advantage of the calm water for fishing.



The occupants of one larger boat had anchored out in the sea and come ashore in their dinghy, tied here to the mangroves.



1770 is one of only 3 areas on the East Coast of Australia where you can see the sunset over the sea.



And what a beautiful sunset that was !

Rockhampton 28/5 - 29/5

We travelled to Rockhampton for a couple of days on the Capricorn Coast, so called because it lies on the Tropic of Capricorn. We visited the Botanical Gardens Zoo and saw this giant lizard there.



As we are back in Queensland we are also back in Koala country and Jayne couldn't resist taking more photos of the cute cuddly creatures.



This is a Cassowary, the fierce bird we were looking for in the rainforests in Daintree and Mission Beach. Luckily this one seemed very friendly and was behind a secure fence.



Rockhampton had a street of old colonial buildings along the riverside which were very impressive.



We took a scenic drive from Rockhampton to the Capricorn Beaches nearby. It felt like we had either stepped back in time or gone to another country. The countryside was scattered with large ranch style farms as Rockhampton is the Beef capital of Australia. We came across this open outdoor Chapel in amongst the farms.



Here's Jayne at Emu Park. That's a town, not a bird sanctuary !



At Emu Park there is a monument to Captain James Cook called The Singing Ship. The masts of the ship are made of tubular bells so it sings in the wind.



Here's David at Yeppoon almost feeling beached out after seeing so many lately.