Coast Trip

Up again just after 6am for a Facetime with Kris. He had a chance to see up close, the house they bought in North Saanich. They are very happy so we are very happy!   

He will send his inspection report later today for a look see.... 

While Kelly worked on getting Kris an appointment for a tetanus shot, I went down and visited with our host, Fiona to arrange “compensation” over the fact we did not get the unit promised. She said it was her mistake so she initially offered free beach towels and the ability for late checkout. Kelly already had the beach towels and the late checkout was of no value to us, I told her.  Then she offered us a discount on our next stay and perhaps a free night...mmm..  I countered with a one night refund on the existing booking and so she took my cc details… but she would need to discuss this with her manager... discuss away I said. 

 

Our location on the spit....

 

 I went for a walk out to the end of the spit breakwater as Kelly showered and prepared for the day.  It was very calm at that end of the beach and thought that this would be a good spot for us to come later.

I stopped at the Osprey nest that was constructed along the spit and took some pictures. Definitely saw a large feathered chick in there so probably not long before it fledges.  A link is here 

 

We headed off in search of the post office which is right beside Cole’s grocery.  A couple special cards off to the grandchildren in Canada!  (We will beat them home I think lol) 

We grabbed some bread next door at Cole’s and had a look at the beef & lamb. Very reasonably priced actually. Our unit is self contained but lacks the subtle things for cooking. Olive oil, spices etc. … the gears are turning though. 

A stop at De Je Vue Cafe for breakfast. Kelly had a breakfast bun and I had Pancakes & bacon... very tasty. We enjoyed the ocean views as well.

We came back and took the car north up the coast. Initially on State Route 6 then HWY 70 and eventually back on 6 after a few “guidance issues”. All good though.  We went up as far as Peragian Beach and after cruising through some suburbs, rejoined SR 6 and headed south along the coast through Coolum, Marcoola and then past the Sunshine Coast Airport. 

 

Kelly needed a sun hat for the beach so after programming in "Kmart' at the huge shopping center in Maroochydore, we proceed via direct…. Well sort of… back onto HWY 70, over the bridge and off onto Bradman Ave. 

A relatively short stop as the bucket of M&M’s and the hat were soon in hand. :-) 

Back at the unit, we applied liberal amounts of sunscreen, loaded drinks and other items in the cooler bag and, with me “Sherpa Dave” loaded with a backpack and two chairs, set off for the beach. 

 

Pathway in front of our unit.... very nice setup.

 

We went to the same spot as yesterday as the lifeguard station is handy for those that actually go in the water. It was very refreshing but the large waves proved too much of an obstacle for Kelly. She enjoyed the water closer to shore. 

 

Talk turned to doing a lamb dinner on Saturday with minimal ingredients.. spices, lemon, rack of lamb, roast potatoes & salad. Maybe even a shrimp or two on the Barbie. We will see.

 

The clouds rolled in so it was time to head back to shower and prepare for dinner.

All cleaned and ready we decided it was too early for dinner so I let Kelly crush me at Five Crowns. :-(

We headed for Sakana Sushi near the end of the spit. A nice dinner and I was again full. We wandered back down the lit pathway to #187 (this is the beach position in case of emergency) and our unit's path to the beach.

 

Our pathway exit/beach position.

 

Pedometer says I did 16,068 steps today... and I feel like it :-) We will add a bunch more tomorrow as we plan to hit the Australian Zoo.

A little TV and some blogging and I am off to the rack shortly.

 

 

Staying Local

 

Once again we enjoyed our coffee on the upper deck and came up with a plan… finish coffee then go for walk to the esplanade and find a breakfast place so we can eat and people watch.  We will attempt to visit the zoo later this week (Friday?)

There is also a geocache across from our unit that we will grab at some point

A nice walk along the boardwalk by the life guard facility and out to the lookout. We wandered through several of the eateries before deciding on "Entice" for breakfast. Kelly had an Açaí Bowl and I enjoyed Eggs Benedict.

I finished my coffee while simultaneously people watching... as Kelly perused the nearby shops. She did buy some clothes for some small people back home and a pair of Burkenstocks for herself.

 

Back at the unit we grabbed some towels, chairs and beverages and headed for the beach. A nice swim in the ocean (Dave) and a "slightly higher than knee high" entry (and wave crash!!) by Kelly while enjoying the sunny, sandy beach. We only stayed for a little while as the sun was blazing and we needed to get some sunscreen. 

 A quick shower and clean up and we were off to grab the nearby geocache. It was considered a QEF or “quick easy find” and we continued on to some “small child shops” at the Wharf. :-) 

 

There were some amazing houses across the way... not sure who parked their boat at my dock!!

 

Several different type rv 's were parked around the back by the geocache. 

 

 

Kelly bought a few items for Rory and then we walked along the esplanade and stopped at the pharmacy for supplies. 50spf Sun Screen should do!  We also spotted an Earth Cache (similar to a regular geocache, these are a unique spot in the world that has archaeological, architectural or some other major significance on the planet Earth). Ours was a marble sculpture of Steve Irwin and his kids. We answered the skill testing questions and logged it.  

This marble statue is an Earth cache!

 

Next stop was 4 Pines Brewing for a cold pint… geocaching can be hard!  The server was from Cork, Ireland and was very pleasant. We ended up having the burger special ($15) and it was very good. The skies darkened and you could see a major weather event was about to take place.  Heavy rain (with hail) followed by lightning and thunder echoing off the buildings.  We hunkered down with additional fluids as a walk back to the unit would be rather wet. 

 

 

The rain eased a bit so off we went... wishing we had the umbrella that was back at the unit! Oh well it wasn't too bad.  TV, Blogging and I was starting to fade. Off to the rack.

 

Tomorrow ????

Noosa Heads

 Up early at 6:30 to make coffee..  yes the usual routine. We took coffee on the upper deck and came up with a plan… go for more coffee and walk to the beach! Hey it's a plan.  We will attempt to visit Noosa Heads today… at some point. 

We went back to the Wharf area that we eat at last night and grabbed a flat white coffee. Some very nice homes are located along the waterway.

$$$

We then proceeded to walk along the main front street past the Surf Club (x). Gorgeous views with lots of shops and eateries. 

This area by the downtown is very rocky.

We hoped over to the beach and walked back towards the unit.  Great kids area with jungle gym and slides!

Now that's a jungle gym!!

A couple shots of the vegetation and flowers at our building.... all nicely manicured.

 

Back at the unit we grabbed some towels from reception (free for us) and then took the car down towards Kimz Sewing and Patchwork Center. A quick stop at the Big W for a new charge chord as Kelly’s has failed and a pair of swim shorts for me. Forgot mine. 

We continued south on State Route 6 to the quilt shop. Kelly wanted a special ruler thingy that they have here.  These items are similar to the servo thingy and prop thingy that I buy:-)  Kelly left her donation to the Australian economy and we headed north.

Off to Noosa Head via State Route 6 to Hwy 70 then back off to 6 via the coast.  Hope to meet up with Kevin & Sally Caton. 

 

 A quick drive up and then the hardest part… finding parking! We cruised around and finally found one. 

We walked the row of shops on Hastings St then went to the surf club for lunch. Very efficient service and we were full once again.  Texting with Kevin, we arranged a meet up later on (they were on a ferry cruise of some sort through the inlet) so off went to do more exploring. We found a gelato shop and enjoyed a small cup each. Tasty!

We walked along the boardwalk and enjoyed the view as well as all the different birds . 

We eventually met up with Kevin & Sally and enjoyed a good catch-up on family, RC flying and the "worlds" of course.  We headed home and, after a quick stop at Cole’s for supplies, arrived safe & sound. 

We decided one last walk on the beach as sunset was soon upon us... the sand feels like talcum powder under your feet! Makes a bird like sound every time you step.

A quick shower before dinner and we were off to the Wharf area again... what to have tonight? The burning question!!  Dinner was at Sea Restaurant on the far side of the Wharf complex. A seafood platter for two... and yes it was very good. The martini's didn't hurt either :-)

 

A busy day all around as we managed to put in 15,200 steps on the health app...so our bodies are ready for a rest.  A wind down back at the unit with some tv and blogging. 

 

 Maybe a beach day tomorrow... not sure.

Going East to Mooloolaba

 Kelly was up at 06:30 and had some coffee going very quickly. She clearly has the process down pat! A little trip planning with Google Maps and we decided to take an alternate route to our destination. Having driven Highway 15 into Warwick we choose a more northerly route to Mooloolaba. Pronounced "Mo-lou-lou-ba"

She is off to the shower now so I had better get moving.... Today's trip will take a little long but we will get a different perspective as there is more farming etc along the way. 

After several trips down the stairs, the car was finally loaded!

 

We departed the motel at 09:30 and headed north through Allora via the A3 then hung a right onto 80... this left the flatter farming lands behind as we started winding our way through Ma Ma Creek, Gratton, then the Gratton -Esk road to... yep Esk.  We decided to take a right turn and head down the Atkinson Dam Road to see the RV park. We just wanted to compare their setups with the ones back home in BC etc. Not the same.

It was an earth dam and the water was quite low.

A shot of Kelly at the lake.

We retraced our route and returned to the Gratton -Esk road towards Esk. Kelly did some quick sleuthing and found a nice place to stop for lunch. It was the Nash Gallery & Cafe and it had significant history in the area. The food was very good and we would highly recommend this to anyone traveling in the area. I had the smoked salmon croissant and a vanilla slice. The local birds also enjoy a snack before the table was cleared.

It tasted as good as it looked.. best meal by far on this trip!

Mark will tell me what bird this is and I will put the name here :-)

 We joined Highway 85 and headed through Stony Creek, Stanmore, Commissioners Flat and out to Beerwah. A very windy but fun trip through the rural parts of the country. We went by the zoo (which we will get to at some point) and onto Hwy 6, M1 and finally Hwy 70, back to 6 and into Mooloolaba. 

We easily found our rental accommodation we booked through Booking.com. called "Beachcomber On The Spit". We had been in touch with the property owner and had the keys in hand shortly after our arrival at 14:35. The key was for #15 but we had booked #14 (The one I originally wanted!) so we tried to confirm with her in case she had been mistaken with the keys as several groups would be checking in today. Nada.. no contact so no joy. The text thread confirmed the unit was #14... oh well #15 is still very nice. We will see how this plays out later.  

 Numerous trips to the underground garage and we had our luggage all upstairs. It was very convenient as the elevator was 1) close to the car and 2) very close to our room! Bonus! The unit is well appointed and a huge step up from the "work" accommodation in Warwick.  I'll take some pictures in the coming days an give everyone a tour.

We went for a walk down to the end of the spit and enjoyed the great views. It was a beautiful park and even had a well hidden geocache placed in it. (Found it) 

 

 On the walk back, we checked numerous restaurants in the area.... we will not have any difficulty with nourishment! Back at #15 we did a short search and I decided that we would go to "The Dock" for dinner tonight. It was a short walk from our place to the Wharf area that had many restaurants, bars and kids clothing stores within it's footprint. Plenty to see and do right here.   

Dinner was excellent as Kelly feasted on Prawns and Roasted Duck Breast while I suffered through some lamb ribs and a Rib Eye steak.  Even Kelly didn't have room for desert... and that is saying something!

After dinner we headed back but made a quick detoured through the RV park just opposite the restaurants. It's always interesting to see the different rigs they have here. Most all are smaller in size and have pop up tops. They are jammed in pretty tight but everyone was enjoying the camping atmosphere... and it was very clean and quiet as well. We could do it :-)

Back at #15, we settled in and I finished today's blog update while Kelly watched some TV.... and cruised the internet for quilting shops close by.  

Not 100% sure what's happening tomorrow as we have friends staying in Noosa Head just up the road about 35 minutes... might pop up there. ??

 

We are back!!!

 Yes our job is now complete with the Canadian F3A Team and we are continuing on with the next part of our journey. The team has all split up with Kelly and myself staying on in Warwick one more night.

After a final breakfast together, Kelly and I headed off to Stanthorpe to check out some places of interest.  Kelly had a plan so we are going off on an adventure… “I have a route all planned out” she said and we are going to the Stanthorpe Heritage Museum.  "We are taking the back route. " Off we go and I am following the CarPlay map….. ah it’s not the back route. Kelly is mad that the GPS is not taking her the route she wanted.... I'm just following the map. 

We did eventually get to the Museum and has a couple hour tour of the place. Mostly early 1900's leaning to the 1960's. Lots of neat items like sewing machines, tools and old clothes as well as farm machinery. 

Heritage Museum

Clocks

 

Just like G&G Lee

Traps

 

Saws

 

Press

Sewing machine paradise... almost!

Steam Tractor

 

Kelly was fading fast so we decided to head back to Warwick. She needed something to keep her going so we stopped at the Sutton Juice factory.  She had some pie while I drank some apple juice.. very good!

With the week of early mornings and long days, we headed back to Warwick. I dropped her off and went and topped up on gas.  I got caught up on the team blog and we had a facetime with Kris at home. All good.

Dinner tonight was fish & chips. Easy! We walked back and Kelly started sorting out her bags and purchases... so many! Is the car big enough?

We chilled in the room and watched a bit of TV... all very relaxed after a busy week.

Off to the Sunshine Coast tomorrow!