9/4 - Gold Coast Beaches, Currumbin Sanctuary, and Dracula

09/04/2012 - We awoke to numerous bird songs at Iain & Di's.  We all decided on a drive to the beaches, have lunch, let Di get to an appointment, and we'd go with Iain to the Currumbin Wildlife Sanctuary. 

The beaches in the Southport area are very beautiful and busier than up in the Sunshine Coast.  The guys drove together in Iain's vehicle and the girls drove together in Di's car. 

Iain led the way out to Doug Jennings Park and we wandered out on the jetty.


The water was so very clear.


There were warnings along the rocks about not getting on them as they could shift..really.  These things are HUGE, but in the 'King Tides', the ocean could weaken their position on th other rocks.

People were learning to surf on the beach; the male instructor had 4 young ladies he was teaching - good for him!

Iain between the "Di's"

We left there and headed down past Surfer's Paradise and Broadbeach toward the club near Elephant Rock for lunch.  We passed fascinating beach signs & pictures; from 1930 a picture of the lifeguards, from 1964 a picture of surfers, and from the 60's and 70's a variety of bikini babes and cool guys.  It was great.

 Elephant Rock was huge (as elephant's should be) and lunch was good. 


Di left for her appointment and we headed off to Currumbin Wildlife Sanctuary where we found some fabulous creatures.
The bird show had started, but we were in perfect position for when they brought this guy out for pictures!

 We wandered by Holey's  pool - he is one huge Croc.  The little lizards were keeping a close eye on Holey and that was a good thing as Holey then went into "Stealth Mode".



Next we walked through the kangaroo area - there was lots of people petting these animals, then - in a flash, almost all got up hopped in a group up one of the hills for a bit, then came back down.  They must have knew it was time for a break.




The joey in this pouch would have had 'cold feet' if the day hadn't been quite warm.






There were numerous koalas, but this guy was ready for his nap... I snapped this yawn and then he was asleep!

T

We stopped by the lorikeet feeding area, but apparently they weren't scheduled until 4 and all the birds (who supposedly roam free) were wearing their watches and knew they weren't supposed to work overtime.

We got back to the house and met Iain & Di's son, Ashleigh (not sure of the spelling).  He gave us some tips on sights in Tassie.

We got ready and Iain & Di dropped us at Dracula's on their way to dinner.

Dracula's was quite interesting... no pictures allowed inside.   

While we waited in line, we were 'razzed' in a good natured way - darned vampires! 

After we got in the door, had some bubbly, got on the fun house / haunted house cars to ride through scary stuff, and got razzed some more we were seated for dinner and the show. 

Dinner was quite good as was the show - you never know what was coming next... apparently they take pictures of everyone's reaction on the fun house ride and show each during intermissions... some were funny (ours wasn't the best, but we got some laughs).  One vampire waitress asked us if we were married, when we said 'for almost 42 years', she remarked "oh, quite like a death sentence" and then wandered off.   Never thought of it like that... It was a fun evening.  Got a cab and got home about midnight (way past our normal bedtime) and rested up for tomorrow's adventure.

9/3 - Heading to the Gold Coast and meeting new friends

9/3/2012 - We hopped in the car mid-morning and headed down to the Gold Coast - Brisbane, Southport, and the Broadbeach area - for a hospitality stay with Iain and Di (Dianne) Morris in Southport.

The road down south was very nice. 




And the beach drive was great.

The weather is still quite fine!  The Gold Coast beaches are excellent, but a tad different from the Sunshine Coast - more pictures later.  This beach was a short walk from a shopping / restaurant center.

The Morris back porch is excellent, Di put in lettuce, basil, rocket, and a tomato one week ago (with grand-daughter Ava) and the plants are shooting up - the tomato has a flower on it already (remember it is early spring here).

We had drinks - Iain and Di wondered if we were Wowsers ( one whose sense of morality drives them to deprive others of their sinful pleasures, especially liquor) and were pleasantly surprised when they found out that we may LOOK that part, but "Hell yes!  We drink!"   

Di and Iain made a wonderful dinner and the 2 Di's (Lee called them pair-o-Di's) chatted for quite awhile before retiring.  Di and Iain both are easy to talk to and fun to be around... and this was only day 1.

9/1 thru 9/2 - Eumundi Market, the Fish Market, and a Relaxing Father's Day

09/01/2012 - Markets...

We got up early so we could get to the Eumundi Market at opening time (7 am).  It was another glorious morning and we hit the road right on time.  Noticed the warning sign and couldn't resist a shot of it.

So far, we haven't seen a Koala or a Kangaroo... I hope this doesn't turn out to be like the darned Tui's in New Zealand - still haven't gotten a good look at one of those.

Anyway we got on the M1 and arrived in Eumundi as people were setting up their stalls.

This is a large market!  We were in shorts while most people were bundled up - it is still winter, but it's like our summer (70's with a chill to the air).


We couldn't take many pictures at the market - artist do like to keep their designs to themselves, but there was a nice Bonsai shop.

We wandered around and I noted some stalls where there were items that required a second look a bit later.  We stopped at a vendor with homemade shortbread and a number of chutneys and sauces to taste.  They were very good and we snagged a couple of spicy ones and a tub of 5 shortbread pieces.

There was an excellent coffee place there, Flying West Small Batch Roasters, and we tried our shortbread with an excellent Mocha.

We picked up a few items, marveled at this tree, and stayed at the market until about 11 when we headed off toward Maroochydore and Mooloolaba to check out the fish market.

Though we weren't sure we could find the fish market recommended by both Ron & Dot and Nola & Michael, we carefully retraced our steps from 2 nights ago and - Voila! - we found it.


 There were some Australian White Ibis near the parking lot.  They were being chased by some kids, but they kept to their task of hunting for food.




The market had wonderful fish and shellfish and we picked up some gorgeous prawns and oysters to add to the pre-war sausages for dinner.

We finished shopping, got home and did a taste comparison of the Chardonnays (both are WINNERS!!).

And then we cooked the sausages and prawns and had a woonderful dinner.








09/02/2012 - Father's Day in Australia.

We did an early bike ride around the island and stopped for pictures all along the way.

Canoe with an outrigger

We had breakfast, did laundry, and relaxed the rest of the day.  Tomorrow we are off to a hospitality in Southport, a Tuesday evening Dracula Show in Broadbeach, and exploring a bit of the Gold Coast.

8/30 thru 8/31 Mooloolaba, Noosa, Maroochydore, and Caloundra

8/30/2012 - Sunrise.  
We decide to go see the sunrise at the Palkana beach and was it worth doing! 

Some young people were there, though I believe they had probably been partying all night.  We chatted with them - they were quite nice... ah, to be young whippersnappers again!   No shots of the whippersnappers, but an industrious sand crab dug a pretty good hole for himself.  And a blue jelly fish lost his battle with the tide.

After we returned to the house, we packed a lunch and headed to Noosa Headlands (via Mooloolaba to pick up some Starbucks).

Mooloolaba's beach is fascinating... lots of rocks!  Good shops across the streets, too.

On the way out of town, we passed a "Caravan Park"  - right next to the beach... Nice!






We worked our way over to Highway 70 and drove up to Noosa Headlands National Park.  We did part of the Coastal Walk - they had numerous ones to do, but this is one of the two Ron & Dot recommended.  I think we will return to do the beach walk - that one looks fabulous.

The trees were huge.  



 

The beaches were gorgeous and this one reminded us a bit of Hanauma Bay, Hawaii.

 
One of the people out for a walk told us of a Koala they spotted high in a tree, but all we saw was this Brush Turkey strolling up to where we had lunch.  He wanted to clean up (we left nothing, but he need to try) though a female got there just before him.





We drove home and prepared to meet Nola & Michael for a dinner of fish and chips at one of their favorite spots.  We met at their condo in Maroochydore - What a fabulous view!

Dinner was great - as was the company.  We ate quite close to the house so the trip home was a breeze.  Another great day in OZ!

08/31/2012 - Caloundra: Golden Beach & King's Beach with Pelicans and a Sea Eagle's nest for good measure.

We decided to go south today so we took off toward Caloundra.  We stopped at one of the shopping centers to pick up some dinner items and found... Crispy Bacon Potato Chips!!!  Woo hoo!

I don't think I can get them back home without turning them into crumbs, but I'm tempted to try.  Hmm, crushed bacon potato chip coated chicken or fish might be nice!

We headed to Golden Beach and found a lovely beach and a flock of very large pelicans by the boat ramp... They had their eye on us!










We headed over to King's beach  - popular and lovely beach.

 We found a nice parking area next to a very long view point used as memorials to veterans.  The views were great...



And then Lee noticed the nest at the top of a very large tree.  Some of the people who were at the park hadn't noticed the nest before so we created quite a stir and everyone had their binoculars out in a flash. 

The female Sea Eagle seems to be tidying up the nest  while the male sits  on the left and oversees the work.

We had lunch at the Tides and headed home.