Alans Brief Visit to the Sunshine Coast.
After a lovely bus tour of New Zealand my friend Alan Holmes spent a week with me on the coast.
I drove to Brisbane Airport to collect him, it was a scary trip there, what should have taken an hour was doubled with a huge truck and trailer overturned, then meeting up with all the work traffic which travelled like cut cats to get there first. Anyway I still arrived in time because Alan’s plane arrived along with six others, he was quite easy to place him after hundreds of Asians came through to the arrival lounge.
Back on the Sunshine coast by mid-morning I did a quick drive around the beaches to show Alan some of the beauty that I have to live with. The weather could be nicer but we hadn’t had any rain here for months, it looks like some storms are coming. We took a walk to the Esplanade and enjoyed some lovely beach views and the well-known icon,“Loo with a View”, (toilet and change rooms right on the sand) also the many eating-places in front of huge resort apartment buildings. For our evenings entertainment I booked the courtesy bus for the Alex. Surf Club, it picked us up quite early; we enjoyed a longer happy hour before a nice meal. The club is built on the beach, with lovely views to the sea; another bonus is you can enjoy the scantily clad young ladies sunbathing.
Next morning I had my writer’s class to go to so I trusted Alan to behave himself if he took a long walk along the beaches, I think he enjoyed viewing all the bare flesh. He also enjoyed a one-hour boat cruise around the canals, which has some quite impressive mansions along the waterways. It also takes you out to the harbour entrance; maybe he put a deposit on one of the huge houses, most of which have their own private jetty for their luxury cruisers. We took a trip south a little to Caloundra to another beach resort; the old town centre is unspoilt with older type shops sheltered under an umbrella of huge fig trees. We called into Point Cartwright to take a walk to the lighthouse; also there is a magnificent view back along the Mooloolaba beach. Black clouds were increasing and we were caught in a heavy shower before reaching the car, not too bad, it was still a very warm day of around 30 degs. C. Our evening was spent in the Mooloolaba bowling club which is just a short walk from my place, Friday nights there are meat raffle, eighteen draws but they were not meant for us. There is a happy hour from 5.30 to 6.30 so one needs to enjoy your beers at an increased rate. Roast dinner is the special two courses for $8.95, a real good value for money.
We had planned to go north a little for the Saturday Eumundi markets, it had been raining most of the night and knowing the parking there I decided we would only get the car stuck in the grassed paddocks, was I wrong, it turned out a brilliant day, made me feel a right Joe, We took a drive to Buderim, just five klms. on the hill above my place, this is a lovely small settlement, great views to the sea, which is very popular to the retired folk. My sister and brother-in-law were going to the Alex club for lunch and asked us, picked us up and once again we enjoyed the lovely scenery of rolling waves and, yes lots of bathers. It was still early when we returned so a nice walk along the beach was the right thing to work off the lunch and make room for our dinner. I was very thirsty so a suggestion was for a drink at the Wharf tavern, built out over the canal, yes this was the life. We hardly had time for a shower and change of clothes and were off to the Mooloolaba Surf club, again situated right on the beach, I like the Alex best, but there was nothing wrong with the beer and food.
Next morning the weather was behaving so I decided on a drive into the hinterland, our first stop was to view the glorious “Glasshouse Mountains” Alan should have some good photos. There is an aboriginal story of how Captain Cook fished them out of the sea, a light mist seem to be always hanging around them to add a little mystery. We drove on through some lovely high country, the coastline still in the far distance, we came to the delightful craft town of Montville, just nice to wonder around the shops as most of the goods sold is local art. On the top of the main street there is a lovely lookout over rolling hill country and again the coastline in the distance. Alan purchased a genuine leather wallet here, guess he still has a few dollars to fill it. Moving on we stopped at the lovely old Queenslander hotel at Mapleton for lunch, nice food, dam I was driving but I’m sure Alan enjoyed the beer, once again there is still a nice view of the coast. On the road again, headed for Noosa resort town, we followed the coastline a little north, lots of nice beaches, it is often referred to as the Yuppie town of the coast, firstly it is always impossible to find parking, must by the pommy luck, we found one, took a walk along to street of designer shops, richly dressed ladies and just as rich looking younger folk. The beach is just behind the line of resort apartments which dominate the shoreline, not as nice as my beloved Mooloolaba beach but I guess okay if you can afford to party with the high flyers. I took the winding coastal road back home, lots of small resort towns with equally nice beaches. I was a bit knackered so once more I trusted Alan to take off to where the action was, he found a nice Irish pub which made him feel at home, I was just happy for a leisurely drink and a sandwich at home.
Time to hit the big town, we left early next morning and drove to Landsborough, a small town that has a rail station. I parked the car there and we caught the 7. 30 am express train to Brisbane, I think it cost Alan about $16, me being an old pensioner I qualified for an $8 ticket, these are returns and can also be used for free travel on the city bus, rail and river cat, a real good deal, far better that trying to find a car park in this mainly one way street city. We enjoyed a long walk along the riverbanks, through a nice park, decided on a trip on the river. We caught the north bound river cat which took about an hour stopping at many wharves, the city sure looks nice from the river, I think Alan went a bit crazy with his camera, I guess trying to outdo the Asians. He did some tourist shopping, we also checked out the huge Big W. shop, c.d’s on special $5. I noticed while walking on the Queen Street Mall a T.V. crew were videoing up the street and directed their camera to Alan’s white legs, I guess they were a novelty around these parts, maybe his legs were on the 6 pm news?
Some more rain, dam it, I took Alan to the Kawana Shopping centre to post a parcel back to England, he forgot his passport for I.D., no problem I dropped him off at the Mooloolaba post office, I went home to catch up on my story writing for the next class, Alan took a huge walk along the beaches, I guess he needed some liquid refreshments along the way, maybe he was doing quite a lot of bird watching also. Once again Alan enjoyed a nice evening exploring the Esplanade and the variety of drinking holes, I think the Irish pub had the pleasure of his company again.
As it was a work day for me at the tourist centre, I booked Alan on the free bus to the Australian Zoo, not a very nice day for outside activities, but he did manage to see the live show of crocodiles, snakes, birds and tigers that perform daily. When I arrived back from work Alan was all showered up and ready to go again, (must be all the sea air), our last night out was another visit to the bowls club, in time for happy hour, no luck with the meat raffles but I did win the draw with my membership card, I needed to spin the wheel for a prize, it stopped on $10 pokey money, either side was a carton of beer and $200, oh well I guess one can’t be greedy.
Early next morning I took Alan to catch the Airport bus, so ends a short but very pleasant visit to the Lovely Sunshine Coast, it would have been nice to show him further up north and south, hopefully we may meet up again some day in another part of this vast country to explore some more wonderful scenery.
I have only been living here for four years and already made many wonderful trips by train, plane and car, but there are still lots to see.
I have been fortunate to be able to join my sister and brother-in-law on two big Australian safaris, in their four wheel drive and caravan, we travelled in a convoy with friends, first one was from Mount Isa, north to the Gulf of Carpentry, then across to Darwin and south to Alice Springs and Ayres Rock, an unforgettable experience, next was from Darwin south to Broome, lots of interesting unspoilt scenery along the way. There are a few more train trips I want to take and next February three kiwi friends are joining me on a holiday to Tasmania, really look forward to that.
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Well, Alan you must be home now to read this, hope spring won’t be too far away, you can pass wind whenever you like, (nothing has changed) as for walking around the house naked??? Maybe a bit cool? Enjoy your little break before returning to work. Take care and keep up the travel, some of us has to keep the tourist business going.
Till next time.
Your old Kiwi/Aust. friend.
JIM
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