Part 2 – Gold Coast – Sunshine Coast
Mermaid Beach – Woke up to rain! It rained all day. Managed to pop out when the sky cleared early afternoon and walked along the beach, however we got caught in a downpour. Headed back, so spent the afternoon planning our Vietnam trip. Next day mixed weather again, however managed to have a walk around Burleigh Heads and spent a while sat on the rocks watching the surfers. It started to rain, so we headed back for some lunch. During the afternoon, the rain cleared, so we drove down to Surfers Paradise. Not much surfing going on as huge black clouds were looming in the distance. Saw the tallest building in Australia and had a browse in the local shops around Cavill Avenue. Once again the rain caught up with us, so we drove back to dry off. The pool was quiet, so we spent an hour there, a little too cold to sit around but the pool must have been heated as it was like a warm bath.
Brisbane – We headed straight up to Brissy, we couldn’t book parking at the accommodation so wanted to get there early to get parked up. Success, too early to check in, we had an initial wander round. Originally we were going to drive straight past it, but two things changed our mind! It was where we landed, in transit to Fiji. So our first step on Aussie soil was in Brisbane (we didn’t get out of the airport but we had a decent breakfast there and a snooze on their extra big couches in the departure area) When we were on the Doubtful Sound cruise in NZ, we met Lisa and Rob, an English couple who have lived in Brisbane for sixteen years. We swopped numbers and they said, if you are passing through, stop off and we’ll have a few drinks and some food! That’s what we did. We met on the Skydeck for sunset drinks, then caught the harbour ferry to a brewery down the river for some food. A great evening and nice to see them. The next day we went to the botanical gardens, had a walk along the South Bank, the museum and we also managed to book tickets for a trip up the clock tower at the City Hall. Wandered out in the evening and found an Irish bar with live music. A great end to our stay in this compact but perfectly formed city. Only 1,094 miles to Port Douglas – around 20 hours of driving time.
Australia Zoo – A couple of hours up the road to the Australia Zoo, made famous by Steve Irwin and always on the list to visit in Aus. By the time we arrived the temperature was heading up beyond 35 degrees. Lots of the animals were sheltering from the extreme heat, but we still had a great day and saw lots of animals and reptiles. Adorable koalas that we were able to get close to and take photo’s of and we even managed to see a Quokka (it didn’t smile at us though). The star of the show was Graham a saltwater crocodile, rescued by Steve Irwin in the late 80’s. He lived in Townsville and was causing problems for the locals, he was off to be made in to shoes and handbags until caught and transported to the zoo to live out his life.
Sunshine Coast Hinterland – We stayed not far from the zoo, in a reasonable priced motel that was a retro dream. The bed was clean, shower hot, air conditioning and the lady that ran it was really nice. The next morning we head off to take a look at the Glasshouse Mountains and then two local towns, Maleny and Monteville. An absolute shame that the weather was the complete opposite to the previous day, it was cloudy and raining with poor visibility. The weather hampered the views! We went for a browse in an antique shop that was full to the rafters with stock and not somewhere we would usually go in to. Enjoyed just browsing all the cabinets filled with treasures from peoples homes. A very short hop back to the coast and we arrived in Coolum Beach.
Coolum Beach – Woke up to glorious weather, so we just stayed local and took a walk down to the main beach and town of Coolum. Walking along the path that runs parallel to the beach, when G shouts and grabs M by the arm and pulls her! A few feet in from of us, sunbathing on the path was an Eastern brown snake. The second most venomous in Australia. In equal measure we we terrified and curious. Watched it for a while, then gave it a wide berth. Not many tourists get to see them, so not sure if we were lucky or unlucky. The next day we headed off to Noosa/Noosa Heads, it was so busy and we couldn’t park anywhere. We hadn’t realised when booking it was a bank holiday weekend – Australia Day – on the Monday and the last weekend before the kids returned to school after their six week summer holiday. In the end we gave up, hot and bothered we went back to the apartment and spent a quiet afternoon by the pool. A walk on the beach and an Indian takeaway that evening to end our stay on the Sunshine Coast.
