The Wandering Tops: Gold & Sunshine Coast

We've basically spent the last 4 weeks on either the Gold Coast or Sunshine Coast. On the Gold Coast we stayed at Burleigh Beach Tourist Park while Todd was home from work and on the Sunshine Coast at Alex Beach Tourist Park for a couple of nights and the remaining at Noosa Caravan Park, Tewantin. The weather has been a real mixture with some great days and a couple of really wet days - generally though the days have consisted of cool mornings with the sun coming out during the day.

Burleigh Beach Tourist Park, we swapped gum trees for the concrete jungle

The first week on the Gold Coast with Todd was a bit of a shock getting caught up in the daily bustle of the GC as we had been inland for a while where things were a bit quieter. Was nice to have walks along the beach and pathways, even venturing up to Burleigh hill for walks in the National Park and of course sunset drinks with Todd. Great to end the day watching the sun set with a couple of coldies!

Having sundowners at Burleigh on the hill

Curlew birds in the caravan park, normally hard to find in the bush.

We moved from Burleigh after a week as Todd was called back to work so headed for Bribie Island to visit Heather and John. The timing of this visit coincided with the replacement of their carpet so was able to lend a hand removing and replacing some of their furniture. We also checked out the museum which certainly is worth a visit detailing some of Bribie's history . Aboriginal presence in the area spans thousands of years. The island was formed when seas broke through the northern end of a long sandy peninsula between 1822-1839; free settlement following the end of convict transportation in 1839; by 1920's Bribie Island had become a great destination for mass tourism - the steamship ' Koopa' began regular trips carrying 1200 passengers daily. The bridge was built and opened in 1963 with a $1 toll lasting 12 years. We drove over to Woorim Beach (eastern side of Bribie Island) for a walk on the beach & visited the southern Gun Emplacement built in WW11 as part of the defense of Morton Bay

Inside the Bribie Island museum

Bribie jetty, just across from the park

After leaving Bribie we travelled to the Sunshine Coast to Alexandra Beach for a couple of days, stopping on the way for a coffee at the Ettamogah Pub (too early for a beer). From here we took in the sites of the southern section of the Sunshine Coast - Buderim and Maroochydore. A day drive up to Mapleton, Montville and Maleny in the hinterland, included a visit to Mapleton Falls, Kondalilla Falls NP and McCarthy's lookout to see what we could of the Glass House mountains. From the photos you'll see that there was not a lot of sunshine around so was pleasant to do the "scenic" drive in the comfort of the car and the short walks between showers of rain.

No caption required, only check out my new friend Ace the guard dog.

Alexandra Head beach looking south towards Mooloolaba

View over Obi Obi valley from Kondalilla NP

Walking track in Kondalilla NP

Not the best veiw of the Glass House Mountains, should also be a rainbow in there somewhere!

SUNNY!! coast in a traffic jam

To explore the northern section of the sunshine coast we moved to Tewantin, a nice distance from Noosa to avoid the bustling social activities of Noosa itself. Made a day trip to the Eumundi markets (well worth a visit) and the Ginger factory then back through Coolum returning to Tewantin along the coast road. We also made another day drive around to Tin Can Bay and Rainbow Beach returning via Great Sandy NP and along Teewah Beach, Coloured Sands to Tewantin. At the end of the day we treated the 'Tojo' to a car spa after coming off the beach - 3 minutes of high pressure jets from all angles to wash the sand out of all those crevasses.

Eumundi markets

Double Island point from eastern beach

Double Island point from Wide Bay (Rainbow Beach)

Sun sets on the surfers at Wide Bay

Fishing off Noosa Spit, gotta be keen!

By this time we had spent 2 weeks on the sunshine coast so returned to Burleigh for more "Todd time" which included more sunset drinks on the hill at Burleigh, a morning trying stand-up boarding which resulted in me bruising or fracturing a rib, not as young and flexible as I use to be!! Even coordinated our visit with the Broadbeach Blues festival which we attended for an afternoon. Also watched the first State of Origin match at Nobby's Surf Club which was not the result the Qld crowd wanted - atmosphere was great with plenty of noise although think we were the oldest ones there!