On The Sunshine Coast

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