Caravaning

Drive to Nambour really pretty. Staying in a caravan park in Yandina, just outside of town. We were going to stay in the area for 3 days but enjoyed it so much that we stayed for a week. It is really beautiful around here. We explored the Moreton Bay region spending time at Bribie Island which has canals and new homes - expensive. The Community Arts Centre is great with local artists providing paintings, photos, pottery, glass etc at very reasonable prices.

We also called in to the Big Pineapple and were disappointed to find that the tourist shop has closed down. All that is left of it is a Sunday morning market. But no matter, we called in to the Ginger Factory at Yandina. Very touristy, but nevertheless a lovely place to visit. Gorgeous gardens and quirky shops as well as a lovely gift shop and cafe. We did find it quite expensive though. Over the road is Nutworks, the macadamia factory. They have samples of the different flavours of nuts and we bought a packet of our favourite - roasted onion flavour. Delicious.

We drove out to a small town called Eumundi on Wednesday and were lucky to find the markets were open that day. They are fabulous - really good quality and plenty of local crafts at very reasonable prices. Oh girls, you would have had such fun....I even bought myself a lovely skirt. There's also plenty of stalls to eat at as well with lots of choices. We walked till we dropped. Definately one of the best markets I have ever been to - I think even better than South Bank in Brisbane !

Thursday was a really wet, grey day so rather than stay in, we drove out to Maroochydore and decided to check out the shopping area. The city centre part is farly average for a country town. We walked over the road to the shopping centre and were nicely surprised. It's built on a canal with boardwalks on either side with eateries with the main shopping centre at the end. It didn't matter that it rained, we were high and dry inside. Also checked out Noosa Heads...too big for our liking. Too many people even on such a wet day.

Friday we woke to a beautiful sunny day and decided to do the Blackall Range Tourist Drive and went to a lovel botanic garden at Maleny. It's privately owned and is really beautiful with great views of the Glasshouse Mountains. The fellow who designed it is expanding it all the time with walks through the park and around water features all surrounded by magnificent rain forest. Wow. The town is pretty too, but so very busy that it was difficult getting parking.

What a fabulous area to explore.

Easy drive to Brisbane and staying at a caravan park close to bus and train - 15km out off the city. Shops are close by too, so grocery shopping is walking distance. Caught up with David and Jenny at Cedar Creek. What a beautiful place to live. It's like home but on a grander scale. They took us out for a drive to Mount Glorious, and it really is glorious. Fabulous rainforest with huge ficus trees, ferns, palms. We took a walk along one of the trails. A lot of huge trees had fallen due to heavy rains and storms over recent weeks. Such a shame, but that's the nature of things. They surprised us with a sausage sizzle BBQ lunch at the park. We ended the day at a quirky little cafe called 'The Flying Nun' in Samford. It is a converted church and really cute - great coffee too. A really great day.

Did all of the usual touristy things - Tamborine Mountain, Mt Coot-tha Botanic Gardens and Planetarium, toured the river by 'cat', explored South Bank, had a great seafood lunch with David & Jenny at South Bank, had great coffee at Jimmy's in Queen Street Mall, etc etc etc. Walked our feet off. Weather has been pretty overcast most of the time though the sun has been out from time to time too. Lovely and cool too. It's sprinkled and rained the past couple of days. A pleasant change.

Lovely mid sized country town and the caravan park is basic but really nice. Everyone keeps much to themselves, though they are friendly. The queenslander style houses are prevalent here and the appearance of sugar cane and banana plantations are beginning. Really pretty once again with fabulous national parks. Lovely drives and cute, tiny villages. Fruit and veg are really cheap at the roadside shops. Lovely.

Tomorrow we will be crossing the border into Queensland. We will have at least a couple of weeks in Brisbane. Don't know exactly how long yet, we will take it as it comes LOL.

Very picturesque again. Drove through some really tiny 'villages'. Really, they are just a general store with bowser, and a few houses. Not even a pub. We had a look around Casino, some 30km from Lismore. Lovely. The Richmond valley is lovely with hinterland hills, views of heritage listed national parks and glimpses of the Pacific Ocean.

Went for drives out to Ballina and the Bangalow Markets - very hippy. Had one of our favourite coffees in a cafe in the town of Bangalow.

A really nice town though our stay was spoiled by the caravan park. The facilities were OK - it was the people in the cabins behind us that were a worry. We were quite happy to leave.

Drive along New England Highway beautiful once again. Pastoral country with the back drop of the hills. A really pleasant 1 km walk into town from the caravan park and autumn colours of the oaks, liquid ambers, chinese tallow etc are in their glory. The national parks are fabulous too - Bald Rock NP, Boonoo Boonoo (pron. Bunna Bunoo) NP. Went for great walks through them and had our picnic lunches. Fan-bloody-tastic!!!
Really pretty historical buildings too. Weather fantastic with chilly mornings - simply perfect.