Day 6 & 7- Sunshine Coast

March 17, 2010

Day 6 & 7- Sunshine Coast

Day 6
Early the next morning, Karen and I hopped aboard our 4th flight of the trip (of 10) to Brisbane, where we took buses to Caloundra, on the Sunshine Coast of Australia. My niece Colleen lives there with her Aussie hubby Alex and I was finally able to see her place and where she has lived for the past four years. Apart from the beauty of the beaches and laid back feel to the area, I was happy to see where my niece lived so that I could picture her in that setting in the future when we talked or emailed.

Colleen and Alex, ever the best hosts, met us at Karen's hotel with bags of brochures and souvenirs. We then took a walk down the beach to their condo, which is just a short walk down to the ocean. We got to enjoy the sun setting as we walked along the beach and then went to dinner. One of the most interesting things Colleen pointed out to me was tree of very brightly colored birds, like parrots. She told us that the birds mate for life and fly in pairs to these trees around twilight. The pictures of this just don't do it justice, because it was just getting dark, so you can't see the beautiful colors of the birds. The tree leaves also masked how many there were- I would say dozens if not hundreds of pretty birds flying around this group of trees, making a racket! :) We had a leisurly, delicious dinner at an Italian place, where Karen and I shared Rissoto (which I belive had pumpkin in it- a popular vegetable over there) and Chicken Cordon Blue. It was also here that Karen had her first "flat white," a coffee drink in Australia and New Zealand that is similar to a latte, but has more milk. So, although Aussies and Kiwis have many coffee drinks, there was no regular cup of coffee to be found! Karen got used to ordering a flat white and they were pretty, too (pic below).

Day 7
This day was a whirlwind where we packed in seeing all the sights into one day because Karen and I had to leave very early the next morning to catch our buses and flight to New Zealand.

First stop, Eumundi Markets: This was a market similar to what I think of with summer fairs in Chicago, but they have them year round on the weekends here. There were so many items from jewelry to children's toys, from clothing to fresh fruit. My nice souvenir from Australia was a cutting board, shaped like the country and made of Australian wood. The cheese board came with a magnetic cheese knife with a little kangaroo on the end- cute! :) I'll include a picture of it below. After being deluged in rain, we sampled some chicken satay sticks and a delicious chocolate and banana crepe (And authentic, too! Similar to those I had in France next to the Eiffel Tower).

Next stop, Noosa National Park and Noosa Beach: What a pretty place! :) I wish I could just soak up that sun right now, back in the chilly Chicago weather (even though it's getting warmer here now, it's not quite beach weather yet ;). We took a short hike through the park, trying to sight koalas in the trees, but without any luck. Coming out of the trees, the rocky shoreline gave way to a beautiful sand beach where I swam in the ocean with Colleen beyond the wave breaks. After relaxing here for an hour or so, we realized that time was getting away from us and we had more places to visit! :)

Montville, Poet's Cafe: We stopped by a quaint little town with shops and cafes. One in particular that we stopped at had the best tea and scones! I've never had the equal of those scones and have sworn to find a scone recipe to try and replicate them at some point. Our chauffer dropped us off in each place and went to find a parking spot and then picked us up on our way out- thanks Alex!! :)

Maleny's Cheese shop & Maleny Mountain Wines: we got to the cheese store just before closing and picked up some yummy local cheesees. Onto the winery, we had a sampling of different wines and then picked one out to take home. On our way back to Colleen and Alex's, we stopped for some views of the mountains in the area, including the Glasshouse Mountain (the tall skinny one). Our evening wrapped up with a pleasant evening at Colleen and Alex's, relaxing on the balcony at their condo with cheese, fruit and wine- couldn't have had a better ending to a fun-filled day!

As usual, MORE pics on my photo website at http://bex.no-ip.com/PhotoAlbums/PhotoAlbums.htm. Click here for the next post in this journey :)