No tags yet.
We left Lismore with the intention of visiting Byron Bay on the way to the Sunshine Coast. We set the GPS for Byron Bay to ensure the GPS didn't skirt around it to take us to Beerwah. We drove into Byron and headed for the lighthouse thinking we could visit here with the van on the back and have room to turn around, however, when we approached the road we needed to take it was one way and we were a bit concerned we would not be able to turn around at the top so we very carefully backed up and turned around and drove out. We then decided to drive directly to Beerwah where we planned to stay at the sports ground. When we arrived we found they could not supply power at the grounds any longer because of complaints from one of the caravan parks. We pulled over and started phoning around to see where we could find accommodation in the area. We found a caravan park at Landsborough that had a spot so we booked a spot here at Ocean Views Caravan park. The owner gave us directions on how to find it and it was only 10 minutes down the road so we followed the directions and were soon driving into the park. We filled out the Covid information and then drove down to the site where the husband met us and helped us back in. It was late in the day so after setting up we sat outside and enjoyed the evening air for a short time. We had not had time for lunch to we had an early dinner.
Two things we wanted to do while here was to revisit the Glasshouse Mountains and revisit the Australia Zoo, as today is Sunday we thought we would visit the mountains and leave the zoo until tomorrow when it may not be as busy. We drove directly to the mountains and stopped at the Information Centre in the village of Glasshouse Mountains to pick up brochures and to see if there is anything else we should do while we are here. Cliff at the centre directed us to the Glasshouse Mountains Lookout and suggested we stop at the cafe on the way down, we said we were going to the zoo tomorrow so he outlined a drive into the hinterland that he thought we might like to do today. We took the map where he had highlighted points of interest and then returned to the car to drive to the lookout. Last time we had visited here was 20 years ago and it hasn't changed that much but the views are magnificent and very extensive, we took photos from lots of different angles and wandered down to have a look at the very well set up and equipped picnic area before returning to our car and driving back. We stopped at the Lookout Cafe on the way back, this is a small cafe on a farm where they are growing coffee and manufacturing their own beans, they are still a very young business but hoping to grow. They also supply local produce items so we picked up a pack of Macadamias to take home for snacks, we couldn't have a coffee because we only have one a day and we had already had that. From here we thought we would drive into Caloundra to have a look around because it was still quite early. Caloundra has grown such a lot from when we were last here, I thought I would be able to find the resort we stayed at but I had no idea where it would have been. We took a drive around the beaches and managed to find a parking spot where we parked and then walked down onto the beaches and we were amazed at how many people were there and in the water but it is school holidays so there are probably a lot of people here for holidays. It is a very friendly looking beach and was reminiscent of when we used to holiday in Coolangatta when I was a child, we stayed here for a little while, the weather is beautiful and I would have liked to taken a walk into the water but we didn't have towels with us.
We drove back from here intending to visit the Ewen Maddock Dam and found this easily but unfortunately there is lots of construction work happening and we were not able to access the dam. We found ourselves on the road to do the hinterland circuit and thought we may as well continue around here where at one stage we came to the most magnificent views across the valley to Caloundra, this was at the Lookout Bus Stop so we pulled over and took a few photos. Following the road we came to Maleny Dairy so drove down to have a look here, I thought there would be a produce shop we could look through but there didn't seem to be one. Back on the road following the loop and we came to The Cloud Brewery and Winery where we pulled in and walked inside to see if we could get a table to have a drink. We were allocated a table and I went up to order our drinks, we decided to have a beer tasting paddle and a wine tasting paddle. I took these back to the table with the notes and we started working our way through the beer first and then the wines. There really wasn't much in the beer we liked except for the ginger beer and in the wines we really only liked the merlot and shiraz but they weren't really anything special to us. Anyway we sat here for a little while enjoying the ambience before driving on to our next stop which was Maleny Cheese which had a cafe and a shop selling cheese and ice cream. We love our cheeses so stood in line with the other dozen people until we reached the display cabinet to see what there was on offer. We loved the fact that they had prepacked little and large servings of each variety of cheese. We chose a small Gorgonzola a large Wasabi and about another 8 small different varieties of cheese, this is a great way to purchase tasting packs and will do us one night when we have been out for lunch and just want a simple dinner. We drove on to Maleny from here to have a quick look before driving back to our site. We are having a curry for dinner using the fresh noodles we purchased in McLean NSW. I did all the prep I needed for this meal and then tried to load up all my photos so that I could write my blog, the internet is not fantastic here and I am trying to catch up with my blog, social media and researching out next stop so we have left dinner until a bit later.
Today is our big day, we are going to the Australia Zoo, we chose today rather than yesterday because we thought there may not be as many people there but as it turned out it was one of their busiest days, probably everyone was like us waiting until the weekend was over. The zoo is only 10 minutes away so we didn't hurry but when we arrived and saw how many people were already there we were a bit concerned about parking but we managed to get a spot in the closest car park. I had purchased our tickets on line this morning to save a bit of time so we walked into the facility and up to the pre paid ticket section before we realised we would need our masks for some of the indoor exhibits so I walked back to our car to get them while Robb waited inside. We took the shuttle to 'Africa' which is the furthermost exhibit and from here we were to walk back to the exit. We visited the Giraffe, Zebra and Rhino exhibit in 'Africa' and then we walked around to Bindi's Island which was quite a long walk and then after visiting Bindi's island we had to walk back the way we had come. We followed the map to the next exhibit which was the kangaroos and koalas and then walked to the bird aviary but unfortunately the entry was closed and there was a detour to the aviary, we followed the detours but never ever found the entry. We arrived at the Crocoseum and enquired what time the show was on, we had one and a half hours so thought we would walk to the wetlands to have a look first but on our way we noticed that everyone was heading to the Crocoseum so thought we should head back too and secure seats for the show. We found seats and then I went to the food court to buy lunch for the two of us and took it back to our seats. We still had three quarters of an hour to wait but that was fine we sat and had lunch and by the time we were finished the show was just starting. We loved the show which was a display of our native birds, quite a few of which are rescue birds, and then of course we met Murray the crocodile. Terry Irwin and Robert her son have taken over the reigns from Steve Irwin in working with the crocs and we felt that if you didn't see anything else at the zoo this show would make it all worthwhile. However, we did feel there were a few improvements they could make to make the zoo more accessible to families and older couples like us. There was a lot of walking backwards and forwards with nothing to see and the signage was not really adequate. They would do better to have a few hop on hop off buses running between exhibits to save a lot of leg work, nearly every family we passed with young children we heard the same complaints - 'I can't walk any further', 'I'm tired, will you carry me', and I felt the same way. Apart from all this though we had a good day and I would thoroughly recommend a visit here.
Today is our last day in Landsborough, we did think about visiting the Botanic Gardens but then because we had a couple of big days previously looking around here we thought we would have an easy day at home. I thought this would be good opportunity to catch up on a few jobs that would be good out of the way before moving on, so of course it ended up a bigger day than I first thought. I managed to strip the beds and wash the bedding and replace it and do a clothes wash and iron everything so I won't have much to do when we arrive at our next destination. Our next stop will be Hervey Bay and we have made a tentative booking at a farmstay, we decided after the problems we had this time to have a couple of alternatives for each stop. It turned a bit cool as the day progressed so we went inside before dark. I am cooking dinner on the weber but it is an easy chicken tray bake so I should be able to put it on and leave it to cook. Internet is a bit better tonight so we will try to watch Netflix before bedtime.
Commenti