Back in Brissy

It's sunny!!!

Back down south now, we are enjoying clear blue skies today.  We want to post quickly to update from  this week our travel from Noosa to Brisbane.  It was nice to take things at a slower pace and enjoy the beach when we found a sunny patch at a moment's notice.

As we have already said, Noosa was beautiful!  We spent our first time on the beach since we were in Cairns and enjoyed the sun immensely.

From Noosa we travelled about a half hour to our campsite outside of Yandina where we were positioned nicely for Wednesday's tour of the Blackall Range.  First thing Wednesday morning, we went to the Eumundi markets, a small rural town that transforms to a sprawling center for hundreds and hundreds of stall-owners to set up shop.  It was unbelievable to walk through row after row of artisans, food vendors, clothing distributors and designers as well as people selling knick-knacks, jewellery and many other random products.  I was in my element!!  Sadly, I did not purchase anything other than food because there wasn't a lot selling that I was willing to pay money for at that point.  Jon and I are keeping in mind that once we drop off the van on Monday, we'll have to be way more conscious of how much "stuff" we have cause we'll be carrying it with us everywhere!  So I'm hoping to find other markets further south towards the end of our trip if we are going to be doing some purchasing.

After Eumundi, we went to the Australia Zoo because the weather was crummy.  We had been debating whether we'd actually do it, but the grey weather helped us decide to embrace being tourists.  :)  I personally really wanted to see a cassowary since we'd been all over cassowary territory up north and never once saw them.  And so we did.  Not much to report about the zoo, other than we finally saw our cassowaries and all the venomous snakes that live in Australia.  We have yet to see a platypus.  Did I mention that we saw a koala in the wild up in Noosa?  Yes, so that one had been checked off before the zoo.

This is Jon impersonating a Kangaroo.  The animal is not impressed.

This is me impersonating a wombat.  Weird creature.  Its rear end looks like it needs to pull up its pants.  

That evening we decided not to push things in the rain and just settle into a movie theatre for Spiderman 4.  :)

Yesterday morning we woke up early and got in Mapleton and Kondalilla Falls before noon.  Kondalilla was spectacular.  We swam in the rock pool - frigid but worth it.  Then we headed off to the Maroochy area in search of a beach.

The walk through the rainforest at Mapleton Falls.

  The view at Mapleton of the Blackall Range and the Sunshine Coast.

The rock pool at Kondalilla falls.  

The view of Kondalilla Falls from partway down the mountain.  Breath-taking.

We found it!  It was amazing - and we spent the whole afternoon on the beach in Mooloolaba.  We tried some body surfing, played some frisbee, I went for a run, we played sudoku... it was wonderful.

And then we both took cold public showers (with shampoo in hand) and jumped back into the van to make it to dinner at 6:30 with some of our new friends from Brisbane.  Our lovely hosts were Debbie and Carl Gustafson, who generously offered their place for a night of reconnection with some of our friends from Beth and Luke's wedding.  It was a lot of fun to see them again and we enjoyed being in good community.

After a night in a real bed at Beth and Luke's (they aren't yet back from their European honeymoon!!), we are off to get as close to Coff's Harbour as we can.  It's another sunny day and practically cloudless, so may get sidetracked and go to a beach on the way.  But we're now in the homestretch with the van and will be in Sydney on Monday.  Will update you then.  Thanks everyone!