July 2013

A nice sunny day at Dicky Beach today with a temperature of 13 to 22 degrees. While we were packing up this morning Frosty and Marg came by to say goodbye on their way to Bingo at the Dicky Beach Surf Club. They are staying on at Dicky Beach until Saturday before coming down to Southport - so we will catch up again when they arrive at our caravan park, the Broadwater Tourist Park at Southport.

After completing our pack-up routine we headed for the dump point and were on the road by 9:30 am for our relatively short trip of 169 kms to Southport. As you approach Brisbane the M1 changes from two lanes to 3 lanes to 4 lanes, before 2 lanes peel off to go over the Gateway Bridge which effectively by-passes Brisbane. Then it is on to the Gold Coast Freeway, which is four lanes all the way to Southport. The traffic generally flows along at about 100 kph, even though the speed limit for most of the trip is 110 kph, the easiest way to negotiate the trip is to sit on 95 -100 kph, which generally matches the speed done by the heavy trucks and B-Doubles.

We arrived at the Broadwater Tourist Park at about 11:30 am and checked in for 10 nights. We were allocated a slab site, number 255 which is at the northern end of the park. Not exactly the best end of the park as we are surrounded by permanent sites, near the noisy road, and under a large Norfolk Pine tree that will drop rubbish on our van all day and night. We also have a tree nearby full of noisy corellas. Last time we were here we ended up on a premium site (without asking for one) near the water - so next time we know what to ask for.

After completing our full set-up we headed for Australia Fair, which is only a couple of kms up the road, looking for lunch. Di had salmon and avocado on toasted fingers, while David had a three egg omelette - while very nice they were over-priced for what we got. After a wander around the shopping centre we went back to the car and drove down to Pacific Fair but as we were unsure of our vehicle height we did not brave the covered parking. As it turns out we would have been safely under the 2.3 height limit, so we will be back tomorrow. The road from Southport to Pacific Fair is one continuous road-works shambles - they appear to be building a light rail system that will be great when it is finished.

There has been much excitement in Southport this afternoon with sirens rushing about everywhere. Apparently a gas explosion destroyed a town house at about 12:30 pm, resulting from a leaking 9 kg gas cylinder stored in a 2nd floor bed-room. As any caravan owner would know not the best place to keep a gas cylinder.

No photos today!

Forecast for today was 13 to 21 degrees with intermittent clouds, and that is generally how it turned out - thankfully no rain. After breakfast David drove over to Maroochydore Camping to pick up some Bio-Magic that they had ordered in for us last week. While he was there he got one of our gas bottles filled. Back at camp we did a few odd jobs until lunch. We also booked a powered site at Ashley Gardens Caravan Park in Melbourne from 10 to 14 September 2013, as the end of September gets quite busy in Melbourne. We are booked on the ferry for 14 September.

After lunch we decided to go for a drive up to Mooloolaba for a walk around and a coffee, then we drove to Caloundra for another walkabout. Not a great deal of activity at Mooloolaba, and even less at Caloundra although the fishermen were out trying to catch black fish (otherwise known as luderick) - but why any self-respecting fish would take a hook with seaweed on it is beyond me.

View of the Spit from Mooloolaba Esplanade

Steve Irwin on Mooloolaba Esplanade

Wharf Marina at Mooloolaba

View from the Esplanade at Mooloolaba

River-mouth at Caloundra

George Pell looking for friends

The view up Pumice Stone Passage at Caloundra

Fishermen on the Caloundra Boardwalk

Back at camp we walked over to our Club for a final Happy Hour as tomorrow we are on our way to Southport. Back at camp we packed away the awning and all the shade cloths while it was still fine. Dinner tonight was rolled beef olives cooked in the slow cooker with potatoes, carrots and peas - as usual very nice.

Forecast for today was 13 to 21 degrees with showers - but we got more than showers, with frequent very heavy downpours that went on for most of the day. We decided after breakfast that we would go to nearby Kwinana Waters Shopping Centre - we needed a data cable for Di's phone and some groceries from Woollies. The car park at Kwinana Waters was a bit of a shambles as they are apparently working on an upgrade of the Centre - but we managed to find a spot without too much trouble. The data cable allows Di to connect her computer to her Samsung 4G phone and use its high speed data allowance (1 GB that is otherwise not used) for internet access. It should also improve Skype access, but we have not yet tested that facility.

Back at camp David decided to simplify the wiring for our electronic boxes (Vast Satellite Decoder, PVR and Blu-Ray player) by installing an HDMI switch to reduce the number of cables going to the TV. After finishing the re-cabling David tested all the boxes to make sure that they were all working, but Di's not sure about this as now we have another remote - TV, PVR, Blu-Ray, Vast Box, and HDMI Switch! We spent the afternoon watching a Blu-Ray disc of Mumford and Sons' 2012 concert at Red Rocks in Colorado.

Dinner tonight was steak and onions with grilled tomatoes cooked on the BabyQ - very nice it was too!

No photos today.

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

Its a beautiful sunny day today with a forecast temperature range of 14 to 22 degrees, although by 4:00 pm it was 24 degrees.

Today we drove to Eumundi for the Saturday Market (they have a market on Wednesday and Saturday), and it seemed that every-one else had the same idea as all the car-parks were full and we had to find a park on a back road about a kilometre away. Why is it that the girls can always find something to buy at a market? - Di bought some earrings and a ring, while David bought a bratwurst sausage on bread with sauce. After a snack lunch at the Railway Station Café, Di had vegie burgers and David had chicken curry, we drove back to Dicky Beach for a relax with the papers.

Eumundi Markets

More Eumundi Markets

Entrance to the Eumundi Pavilion Markets

I think that they are all going to the Pub

Joe's Waterhole

Tonight we decided to go to the Dicky Beach Surf Club (our club) for a few drinks and a meal - we started with garlic bread with melted cheese then Di had barramundi fillets and David had flathead fillets. A Wolf Blass Gold Label Shiraz helped it all go down. Our meals were excellent and we have only been to the Club twice and we have already recovered our three-year membership twice over.