Dicky Beach - Day 7

Forecast for today was 13 to 23 degrees with a few morning showers.

Today we drove into the hills behind the Sunshine Coast visiting Mapleton and Montville. We arrived at Mapleton at about 11:45 am and wandered around the village looking into a couple of craft shops while we waited for Rob and Donna to arrive. They arrived about 15 minutes later and we drove up to the Mapleton Falls Lookout.

Mapleton Lily Pond

View to the coast from Mapleton

Mapleton Falls

View from the Mapleton Falls Lookout

Di and Donna at the Mapleton Falls Lookout

Back in the car we headed for the Kondalilla Falls near Montville. The sign said 4.6 kms for the Kondalilla Falls circuit, so off we went hoping we would still be able to get lunch in Montville when we had finished. The track was quite easy at first then it was down, down, down with lots of steps, not helped by the knowledge that we would have to climb back up later. The track took us past the Picnic Creek Falls, then down to the top of the Kondalilla Falls. From here it was down, down, down to get a view of the Falls from the bottom. Once we got to a viewpoint for the falls we bailed out without doing the last 100 metres or so of steps to the bottom, as we would have to come back up again.

Picnic Creek Falls

View from the Kondalilla Falls track

View from the top of the Kondalilla Falls

Kondalilla Falls near Montville - 80 metres high

The round trip for the falls circuit took us just under an hour. We drove out from the Falls to Montville, but it seemed that there must be crowds about because parking was at a premium. We squeezed into a couple of parking spots on the side of the road, and headed for the Edge Restaurant and got a table on the deck with a magnificent view to the coast, stretching from Noosa in the north to Caloundra in the south.

View from the Edge Restaurant at Montville

Caloundra from the Edge Restaurant at Montville

After a magnificent lunch we wandered in and out of a few shops while the girls tried to find some bargains. Not sure where all the tourists were, but they were not in the shops, so perhaps the music from the Pub was a clue. After our walk around we parted company with Rob and Donna heading back to Alexandra Headland, while we headed to Dicky Beach. On the way we stopped at the Gerrard Lookout on the Montville to Maleny Road for a few more photos. At the lookout there were three people flying radio controlled gliders in the stiff breeze that was coming up the hill from the coast.

View from the Gerrard Lookout on the Montville to Maleny Road

Radio Controlled Glider in flight

Dad collecting crashed gliders