Sunshine Coast and Maryborough

Glass House Mountains

North of Brisbane is the Sunshine Coast, which was our next destination.  We passed the Glass House Mountains on the way.

We spent 2 nights there and the one day between it rained off and on.  Oh, well.  Doug spent part of the day hiking Mt. Coolum which was cloudy but not raining.  It was rated a 4 in hiking difficulty which meant it wasn't for me so he went alone.  It is a popular hike and he certainly wasn't the only one on the trail.  He even met a person who runs it twice a day.  More power to them.  My day was restful and uneventful by comparison.  (I walked the beach and shops around the hotel.)  The views from the top of the hike were pretty expansive but you can see the trail is not for wimps (like me).

Next we went further north to Bargara which is at the southern end of the Great Barrier Reef.  We decided not to take a boat trip out for snorkeling at the reef.  Missed opportunity, maybe, but you make those in life sometimes.  We were also a little early for the sea turtle nesting.  Oct is mating season and Nov/Dec is when the females come up to lay their eggs.  Jan/Feb is when they hatch and the babies return to the sea.  We did tour the conservation area that protects one of the nesting beaches and does research on the turtles, Mon Repos National Park.  We startled three wallaby while we walked the woods path.

Also went to Australia's largest aviary while there.  You walk amongst the birds, which are not all in cages, and they have an outdoor area with wallabies and emus.  There were a couple baby emus and a couple baby wallabies, too.  They also had a cassowary, that odd looking prehistoric looking bird.  Like I said before, the wildlife here fascinates me.

Spent some time in the neighboring town of Bundaberg touring the Bundaberg soda distillery and the Bundaberg rum distillery.  Had samples at each place.  Bundaberg soda's claim to fame is that it is naturally distilled, not like Coke and such which is forced and done in a matter of minutes.  Bundaberg soda takes a couple to several days, depending on the flavor, and they were very good.  They ship it to over 50 countries worldwide and the US is one of them.  I will have to look for it when we get home.  Hope Colorado is one of the states because it is quite good and much more natural than Coke and Pepsi.  Flavors are more along the fruit and ginger beer line.  As to the rum, I am not a rum fan but the process was interesting.  Tasted choc/coffee and banana/toffee flavors and they weren't bad.  Not becoming a rum drinker, though.

From there we headed back south and stopped at Maryborough, the hometown of P L Travers and the Mary Poppins series.  There are actually 6 books in the series although most of us are only familiar with the Disney movie.

The town has a very nice park there and a little steam train that runs during the spring/summer.

Saw an interesting tree called the sausage tree and this is why.  This is the fruit of the tree.