Mike and Wendy's holiday blog: Nov 22: Oz (30 Oct - 5 Nov) road trip round Brisbane

Sunday 30 October

An early get-up and a trip back to the airport on the train.

Bit of a shocker before we left - they told us we owed $971 for our stay! Soon sorted out as it had all been prepaid through Trailfinders but it frightened Mike for a minute!

Checked our bags in (getting good at this now 🙄) and went through to Departures. Got stopped for a body check then had my rucksack taken aside for a 'banned object'. He pointed on the screen and said 'you can't take that through, it has to be checked in' He seemed to be pointing at Olive's bag of cards and presents. I told him that I had nursed this through at least 5 or 6 flights and never had a problem. 'Well it has to be checked in' he said.

After a bit of a panic (me) and a bit of a rummage (him) he came out with the offending object - a tiny pair of scissors in a manicure set which I'd forgotten to put in the main luggage. It was nestling by the present bag.

So the scissors got chucked and the presents were saved 😁 Hurrah! 🎉

One short flight later (and another time zone change 😵‍💫 .. and I'm not even thinking about 'Fall Back' in the UK!) we went to find our hire car.

It was huge. And with the seat so low that it felt like I was sitting in a bucket surrounded by a sea of plastic. A bucket tank.

Day 1 Brisbane to Byron Bay.

First stop - the Yatala pie shop. Delicious smells as we walked in - and delicious pies!

They even had a drive-through!

Then on to the Crystal Cave at Mullumbimby - which it turns out shut at 4pm on Sunday - and was more a healing/spa experience rather than actual crystals - so nothing lost there then!

On to the accommodation - where we found Ben sitting in the shade at the gates! So lovely to see him.

So we dropped our stuff and headed straight back to Ben's favourite bar for drinks, food and a good catch up.

Interesting snippet of info from Ben: they have played live music in this pub every night since it opened (I think!) During lockdown this continued and someone played every night - often to no one or to one or two people standing around socially distancing!

A great evening 💕

Not sure what has happened with time zones etc - the phones changed automatically to Brisbane time when we arrived but think the UK change impacted on our devices at some point 🙄 as we were an hour out later. Luckily Mike had changed his watch manually.

Travel: 470 m

Monday 31 October

Day 2 Byron Bay to Palm Beach

Went out to see the sunrise - missed it by an hour 😂 Think we're sorted on times now 🙄 .. perhaps it wasn't so lucky that Mike had changed his watch!! 😂

The man who raked this beautiful pattern into the sand was still standing taking pics when we arrived so I was able to have a chat with him about it.

There are loads of groups who do this all over the world - knowing that it will be washed away within hours and the sand will be left clean and pristine ready for the next artist's work 💕

Still a beautiful start to the day - and explains why there were so many people out and about 🤣🤣🤣

We packed up and parked up at The Pass so that we could walk up to the lighthouse.

Absolutely beautiful! Lots of steps but well worth the effort.

We have now been to both the most easterly and southerly points in Australia!

Then a wander along the Pacific highway then the Gold Coast highway stopping where we fancied until we reached our accommodation.

Went to meet up with Nic and Olive and met Skell and Roxy. Luckily Olive was just returning from work or we might not have found their house lol.

Seemed like I'd carried this little laundry pouch full of cards, pics and presents round for ever 😁 It had been in my hand luggage for 6 flights as I didn't want to risk it being lost in a suitcase!

All worthwhile in the end!

Olive had delayed the cutting of her cake until we arrived - how special was that? 💕

Nic and Olive - such beautiful ladies.. 💕

Olive looked gorgeous - as it was Halloween she'd dressed up as a witch for work - in very dramatic and uniquely Olive style 💕

Not to be outdone Roxy made her presence known too 😁

.. luckily we didn't have to rely on Skell's photographic skills for a good pic 🤣🤣🤣

Very funny though 😂

So off we went back to our accommodation with Mike driving the huge rental bucket tank!

Another lovely day.

Tuesday 1 November

Day 3 Palm Beach to Wynnum

Mike's birthday

It rained!

We were both still really tired so we had a short walk between showers then set off down the coast. We stopped at several places but nowhere in particular as the weather was just too damp and wet to go too far.

It was the day of the Melbourne Cup that we'd heard so much about - and Mike's birthday too so he decided to have a bet and told me to pick a horse.

I decided on Gold Trip purely because we were actually on the Gold Coast on our road trip at the time. Turned out that the horse was only given an outside chance because of the wet conditions.

But despite that Gold Trip won the race! No idea how Mike placed the get but the $20 became $264 so that was good! Birthday meal and drinks paid for 😁

Mike's horse (the surefire tip from the employee at the hotel) was placed 9th.

Walk to the Mangrove boardwalk.

We left it a bit late and most of the light had gone by the time we got there but still an enjoyable walk.

Then back to the hotel for a birthday meal.

Wednesday 2 November

Day 4 Wynnum to Noosa Heads

Early morning walk - actually there for the sunrise! Went on my own while Mike had a lie in and rested his swollen arms.

Bites on both arms meant they both swelled up. So back to the antihistamines, ibuprofen and various creams and lotions until they go down again. He already went through this once with a bite on his wrist in Sydney.

Think the problem with phones/devices has been that they were confused after several time zone changes in quick succession and some apps/functions reset more quickly than others. At one time the sat nav showed one time, the car another and the phones different again.

It seems that the last app to reset was the weather one though we didn't realise at the time that it was wrong. So that was why we were an hour late for the sunrise 🙄😂

Back to the Mangrove boardwalk to see if the light was better. It was 😁

Then we drove to Eumundi to look at the markets and have some lunch.

Then on to Noosa Heads where I appeared to have booked us into a Youth Hostel by mistake 🤣🤣🤣 I'm sure that we can manage for one night.

Seemed very noisy with lots of banging of doors but it quietened down later.

Out for a walk along the coast to Noosa NP and walked as far as Dolphin lookout - but didn't see any. A lady had spotted a koala in the undergrowth but we didn't see that either.

But still a beautiful walk and a lovely sunset.

Thursday 3 November

Day 5 Noose Heads to Caloundra

(no meet up with Chris as she's in the UK!)

Early get-up for a trip to Sunrise Beach.

Then a walk along the beach front at Noosa - what a wonderful venue for a wedding.

Then finally breakfast - we'd earned it!

Then a drive up (down?) the Sunshine coast.

First stop - Castaway beach - hard to get to!

Then to Peregian beach for a board walk through to the beach. It showed the way the different areas of vegetation offer protection to the beach Very interesting!

Bugs and giant seed pods. Mike was very happy

As we went along the road I spotted a disused storage tank which had been painted. It wasn't as grand as the silos near Adelaide but what it lacked in finesse was made up in enthusiastic application of the paint. I liked it!

Onwards then to Coolum beach.

Board/bush walk outside Coolum Bay to Point Arkwright.

People had attached small plaques to this balustrade - to remember loved ones or to commemorate weddings. It seemed that it is a venue for small intimate and informal weddings - beautiful views with the sea as a backdrop.

All roads from here lead to Chris's house - but she's visiting the UK! 😁

And so to Mooloolaba.

Caloundra - staying here for the night.

Lovely sunset over the water.

Friday 4 November

Day 6 Caloundra to Brisbane

Sunrise at King's beach.

Beach cleaning - ready for another day!

First stop was the Mary Cairncross NP as recommended by Chris as the best place for views of the Glasshouse mountains.

Great reason behind their name and lovely story about the mountains and their shape.

No sunshine on the mountains today - just a mean and moody sky.

Then on to Maleny - a lovely little town with fab cafes and craft shops.

Deception Bay- the tide was out 😂

Though tbf we were right at one end of the bay so it was a bit quiet. But we gave it a miss and moved on to look at the Bee Gees way in Redcliffe - even if you weren't a huge fan it was part of our teenage years.