It is only a short drive north from Bribane to the Sunshine Coast. There are numerous small towns along the coast that are vacation destinations for many Australians as well as tourists from all over the world. The weather is very warm, in the 90's, and the ocean is so warm you can stay in the water a long time.
Our home exchange is in the town of Maroochydore and the house is situated on a canal that goes all the way to the ocean about a mile away. We had been invited to come a day early to meet Kerri and Jan and to share a BBQ with them. They also wanted to show us around the area so that we would feel more comfortable when they left. Actually, they were going to their daughter's farm for several days to do some work there and then they were moving back to a camper park in town for the remainder of our stay in their house. They love to camp and the park is a pretty nice place. The weather was not always sunny as rain showers would pass by often, not sprinkles but real downpours. It was a nice change to have some weather even if it didn't cool the temperature very much. The country around here is green, wooded and has many tall hills surrounded by flatter planes. There are many very scenic drives with view points in the area. We took a drive to a park that is a small piece of virgin rainforest; the country was all like that before the settlers came who were amazed at the beauty of the plant life, moths, butterflies, birds, and even snakes that this type of land once nutured. The strangler fig trees are amazing as they spout from seeds dropped high up in another tree and grow roots that decend to the ground and then the host tree dies and disappears from the center of the fig tree so that there is a void in the middle of the network of huge roots.
There was an ironman competition on the beach last Saturday. It had three skills - a surf board paddle , a kayak segment and a swimming leg. The competition was held on a day when there was a large surf and there were many of the contestants who crashed in the surf. There are areas of the beach that are protected by lifeguards. There is a tradition here that local life saving clubs are established along the beaches and they train youngsters how to handle the ocean rips and emergencies that come up. The life saving towers are manned daily during the summer and are a great source of pride for the town. This is a volunteer service and the club will have frequent practices and even lifesaving competitions with other clubs during the year. The clubs put flags on the beach to keep swimmers in the safe areas that the lifeguards can patrol but there are many drownings because people swim outside those flagged areas.
Several of the first days here the ocean was very rough and there were alot of jelly fish washed up on the shore. These were called "stingers" and were like little plastic bags about the size of a 50 cent piece with a long thread attached. The thread would get in contact with your body and leave a painful welt which vinagar would take care of. We only heard this as we had no personal contact with the jelly fish.
We will be away from a computer for awhile so stay in good health and we will be on line again soon. Rose and Russ
Thursday, February 11, 2010
Tuesday, February 2, 2010
Still from the Sunshine Coast
As we left Sydney behind, we didn't really have a clear picture of how long a drive it was to Brisbane. It took a long 2 days driving to get there. When the kids are out of school in the month of January, the families pack up and go the beaches, National Parks and camping anywhere in the outback. We found that beach campgrounds were full; this was the first time we had a problem staying where we wanted to.
The map to Brisbane was good and the navigators skills were sharp so we drove directly into Brisbane just about rush hour on a Friday night without a single problem. The freeways there are truely a work of art. They sit over the edge of the river with graceful lines and are truly beautiful. The Brisbane River takes several bends as it flows through the city which is arranged around these bends. As in all of the larger cities, there is a great transportation system and with a day rider ticket costing 5.90 AUD one can travel all day on every form of transport available; we rode up and down and across the river often - it was particularly impressive at night. One side of the river is all park with a huge sandy lagoon called City Beach to swim in and great prominades with flower gardens and museums.
We have been very fortunate to have good friends, Greg and Karen in Melbourne, who had an apartment in downtown Brisbane which they allowed us to use during our 5 days in town. Centrally located, we could walk to anything we wanted to see or we could easily catch a ferry anywhere. It also came with underground parking which is truely valuable in a big city; parking is always a problem. The apartment was on the 15th floor so we had an impressive view of the city reaching to the river. In our wanderings around the city center we came upon a real Irish pub. There was a large crowd of people all singing as loud as possible and drinking beer or whiskey in between verses. The fellow playing the guitar sang for a very long time, one song after another; it was great. Russ enjoyed the Irish Stew, Rosie the fish and chips.
January 26th is Australia Day here, and it is celebrated much the same as we would celebrate July 4th with parties, BBQs, and fireworks at night. There's a tradition in Brisbane of the world famous cockroach races that are held most of the day in a large yard behind an old hotel. People collect or purchase cockroaches and enter them in a race from the center of a circle to the finish line. The entrance fee is $5 which goes to a charity. There's a circle mat where they drop the roaches which then run to the edges. They are all numbered so with the help of many referees they catch the first several who cross the outside boundaries and declare the winners and runners up. There was a very large crowd, it was hot, hot, hot so there were beer sales of course; everyone was in great humour and it was a great time. The fireworks later that evening were set off on a barge in the river where we could walk to a bridge and have a great view of the spectacle. Brisbane is a beautiful city with lots of attractions and really great weather. Now we are headed farther north where we have a home exchange set up for the coming 2 weeks. Cheers once again from Rose and Russ on the Sunshine Coast.
The map to Brisbane was good and the navigators skills were sharp so we drove directly into Brisbane just about rush hour on a Friday night without a single problem. The freeways there are truely a work of art. They sit over the edge of the river with graceful lines and are truly beautiful. The Brisbane River takes several bends as it flows through the city which is arranged around these bends. As in all of the larger cities, there is a great transportation system and with a day rider ticket costing 5.90 AUD one can travel all day on every form of transport available; we rode up and down and across the river often - it was particularly impressive at night. One side of the river is all park with a huge sandy lagoon called City Beach to swim in and great prominades with flower gardens and museums.
We have been very fortunate to have good friends, Greg and Karen in Melbourne, who had an apartment in downtown Brisbane which they allowed us to use during our 5 days in town. Centrally located, we could walk to anything we wanted to see or we could easily catch a ferry anywhere. It also came with underground parking which is truely valuable in a big city; parking is always a problem. The apartment was on the 15th floor so we had an impressive view of the city reaching to the river. In our wanderings around the city center we came upon a real Irish pub. There was a large crowd of people all singing as loud as possible and drinking beer or whiskey in between verses. The fellow playing the guitar sang for a very long time, one song after another; it was great. Russ enjoyed the Irish Stew, Rosie the fish and chips.
January 26th is Australia Day here, and it is celebrated much the same as we would celebrate July 4th with parties, BBQs, and fireworks at night. There's a tradition in Brisbane of the world famous cockroach races that are held most of the day in a large yard behind an old hotel. People collect or purchase cockroaches and enter them in a race from the center of a circle to the finish line. The entrance fee is $5 which goes to a charity. There's a circle mat where they drop the roaches which then run to the edges. They are all numbered so with the help of many referees they catch the first several who cross the outside boundaries and declare the winners and runners up. There was a very large crowd, it was hot, hot, hot so there were beer sales of course; everyone was in great humour and it was a great time. The fireworks later that evening were set off on a barge in the river where we could walk to a bridge and have a great view of the spectacle. Brisbane is a beautiful city with lots of attractions and really great weather. Now we are headed farther north where we have a home exchange set up for the coming 2 weeks. Cheers once again from Rose and Russ on the Sunshine Coast.
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