Rowan House Garden Lodges Maleny

... to break camp here, however appealing the thought of a shower with no thongs on! Our next stop was Noosa where old mates Ross & Gabs were going to put us up.

And that is about where our camping trip ended. The rest, as they say, is history. Happy endings all around though. Our first weeks back in the Sunshine Coast/Brisbane area were made easy, with our friends in Noosa opening their home to usand our feral children, and also M ...

Day 29 Monday 3rd August
Travelled from North Brisbane to Beerwah in the Glasshouse Mountain region. This is the location of Steve Irwins Australia Zoo. While we are not enthusiastic about the zoo concept this turned out to be an interesting 5 hours where we were able to see a great range of Australian animals and reptiles as well as Asian elephants ...

... Mary Poppin's author, PL Travers was born here, so there is a statue of Mary Poppins outside his old house & a plethora of Mary Poppins souvenirs on sale everywhere. If your name is Mary (or some derivative of Mary) you can join the world-wide "Proud Mary Association" at the Visitors Info Centre & even view their list of famous "Marys" throughout history - big deal ! Hervey Bay Hervey Bay is another pleasant coastal town. We stayed at one of ...

... dressed in fancy dress. There were angels, cave women, leprechauns (the place was overrun with irish), lots of variations on santa costumes and even a gorilla! The beach was alcohol free for the day but there was a bar selling bottles just on the prom. Needless to say - the queue was ridiculous.. They even shut the bar at one point just to let it run down! A large group of hari Krishnas came dancing and chanting along the front and ended up doing their routine in full ...

... admit, this country has more beaches than the US, I think. The whole East Coast of the continent is an unending parade of sandy beaches, separated by huge cliffs rising out of the Pacific. We flew up to Maroochydore Airport (silly Aussies with their made up names) on a Friday, rented a car, and drove the half hour north to Noosa. We stayed at a charming little apartment-style hotel for 2 nights, and spent most of the weekend on ...

... with a strong conservation theme and had all the kids (young and old) dancing in the aisles and singing along. It was quite entertaining. Even Terri and Bindi's brother Robert joined in with the crowd. For someone so young she's certainly not afraid of the spotlight and it is clear to see she thoroughly enjoys performing and passing on Steve's message. Beaut!! Back on the wildlife trail we also saw a couple of cassowaries (one of the world's most ...

... hawker market Indonesian-style food, browsed the Bukis Village flea market, strolled down to look at Raffles but decided the drinks were far too expensive! and opted for coffee, gelati and beer at an Italian-style place nearby. Then a swim at the hotel, change of clothes, and walked down to Clarke Quay for dinner. It's a very pretty area, on the water, with a large number of restaurants, cafes, bars and nightclubs. We cruised around for a while, then choose Lotus Grill for the ...

... doing nothing. We were in a supermarket there when a old hippy bloke told us that it weas a rip off and to go down the road where it is cheaper, but then continued to do his weekly shop there! The place itself is pretty touristy but the beach was really nice and i founbd my love of plkaying in the waves. The sea is really good here (probably cos of the ****** weather) as it has loads of massive waves so when you go in the sea you can play in them. Hayley hates it but ...

... nice with chocolate and cream! Sunday 28th Well we went to the famous Eumundi Markets and Noosa Heads. Now these markets are worth going to, there are actually lots of different things that we hadnt seen at other markets, but get there early, its very popular! We were also told that Saturday is the best day to go. www.eumundimarkets.com.au As for Noosa Heads, well if your in to that sort of thing ...

... for Ev and Dave could have done with a masssage after the surfing - it was knackering . Thankfully the waves were not too large and perfect for learning on and he even managed to stand up fairly regularly by the end. Still he needs to grow some muscles and hair before he cuts it as a true surfer. That afternoon we were again on our way to Brisbane, un-favourably nicknamed "Brisvegas" by the locals surrounding the city.