Author: Mr A
Location: Noosaville, Queensland
Sunday is market day in Noosa, so off we set on the bikes, a great level ride on cycle paths for 10 minutes and we were in the middle of one of the best best farmer’s market we have been to in Australia, outside of Sydney and the Margaret River. Every stall had such gorgeous looking fruit and veg, local artisan breads, meats, olives, cheeses and everything else that was yummy!
It was sensory overload, and bike panniers were filled at a rate of knots. We tore ourselves away and cycled back, to find Ray and Wendy cooking up a storm of a breaky with their friends Sue and Chris who were house sitting in the apartment downstairs. The nitrate free bacon was definitely the tastiest I can ever remember.
Catherine and I then jumped on the bikes again to explore around town, finding ourselves on a network of shared paths and ending up at the stunning main beach at the river mouth.
We headed back through a packed out Hastings Street. Sunday would be a day to avoid coming down here, especially with a car, but we cruised past the traffic jams on our bikes of course.
No sooner had we arrived back than we were heading off again out on the boat, this time with a full load of folk, and a dog!
Ray negotiated the sandbanks today very carefully, and pulled us up on the other side of the river mouth where the water was rapidly draining out, making for some fun fast floats with the current. We watched kite surfers racing across the water in the stiffening breeze, what amazing skill – it looked exhilarating.
Sea eagles again soared overhead. What a place.
On the way back, a boat stopped in the channel called out to let us know they had engine trouble, so Captain Ray came to the rescue and we towed them back to the boat ramp.
Yet another fabulous dinner ended the day, with 8 of us demolishing plates of nachos covered in fresh veggies, a broccoli salad that was so tasty, roast potatoes and some really lean, tender lamb, all from the local market that morning. Wine flowed, laughter followed. What a night!
The walk continued along the coast, with a lookout at Dolphin Point (but no dolphins this morning), giving us a view up the coast towards Fraser Island.
We were rewarded with fabulous views as we went, our walk concluding at Hell’s Gates, which promised Ospreys but failed to deliver!
We strolled back along the coast to Main Beach, where Wendy and I threw ourselves into the water for a refreshing dip and jump in the waves, a fabulous treat after our warm walk. Mr A declined, and instead joined Ray for a coffee at his favourite café.
Back at the ranch, we enjoyed a delicious scrambled egg breakfast outside on the balcony. We could definitely get used to this life, and Miss Tassie quite enjoys it too – she’s so adaptable!
A relaxed afternoon followed and the day concluded with a delicious meal, for which we were joined by Chris and Sue. The goal of this meal was to use up all the food left in the fridge, in preparation for the farmer’s market tomorrow morning. The fun is never ending!
We love having this view of the river, it changes frequently and is always seductive.
Tassie also enjoyed the attention from Charlotte.when we got back:
In the evening we went to Sum Yung Guys restaurant at Sunshine Beach, a 10 minute drive that gave us one of the best dinners we have ever eaten. Thai food cooked with the freshest local ingredients, served by knowledgeable young folk clearly passionate about providing a first rate experience for their customers.
Below: Charlie (Charlotte) took this of Wendy and I
Below: Chris and Sue
We sped across the water, enjoying the fresh breeze that came with it.
Charlie even helped skipper the boat, with the help of Ray of course.
Reaching the other side of the river, we set off for a short walk across the dunes, watching jet skiers leaping over waves on the incoming tide at the river mouth. Ray and Charlie jumped in for a dip in the water. The rest of us stayed relatively dry, not quite feeling the need to swim and enjoying a glass of chilled Chardonnay as we watched them and the gradually setting sun.
As we headed back to the apartment we diverted alongside the river bank where a beautiful White Bellied Sea-Eagle kindly posed for a few photos.
Mr A and Ray returned the boat to its dock…I don’t think Mr A actually skippered, unless Ray hasn’t heard the stories yet…
Following showers, a lovely evening ensued with a delicious chicken meal which had been cooking while we were out…wine was drunk, laughs were had, and geckos hunted (by Tassie, not us, though we did try to encourage them down off the ceiling so Tas could chase them!). Fabulous fun.
And what an end to the day, Mrs A produced for dinner the most amazing Thai basil chilli stir-fry. It was just so delicious. She knows just how much heat we like, all the ingredients are made up from scratch, and there’s been many a Thai restaurant I’ve been to over the years that have turned out a lot less tastier food. Mmmm
Late afternoon and we were back at Zone with all the jobs having been ticked off.
It was almost dark though as we headed off to find our camp for the night on a property north of Noosa. We pulled into the farmyard and there’s another Zone! Fellow Sydneysiders as well from the northern beaches enjoying their “gap year” travelling around Australia. We are looking forward to hearing their stories in the morning!
We left our bikes, sprayed copiously with deet (the mosquitoes were out in their millions and feeling hungry), and explored the boardwalks. 
Mosquitoes aside, it was a great area to explore, a rare chance to walk amongst the mangroves, spotting the Orange-clawed Fiddler Crabs on the mud flats, and birds flitting around catching flies.
Above – Mr & Mrs A, behind us looking out to Yaroomba and south to Maroochydore.
And here looking all the way south to Mooloolaba…
Looking northwards to Noosa Heads in the far distance…
And inland, to Coolum Creek Conservation Park and beyond. Stunning scenery. The climb down was probably harder on the legs than the way up!
Our afternoon was far less interesting, consisting of a visit to the local car wash, downloading some Netflix at the local library and picking up some supplies at Woolworths!
We retreated and headed back and headed off through town on the bikes to the next ride. This thankfully was a lot drier and we had a great ride round part of the reservoir.
The bikes have been so well used on this trip already, I couldn’t imagine doing a trip without them. We love walking, but cycling the bush is just a very different experience. You can cover so much more distance, and there’s the thrill of the ride when its a bit bumpy :). The downside is that we don’t see as much wildlife, especially when I am in front, the big old Surly crashing through. When we are walking I’m not allowed in front as I block the view! We did see a large lace monitor today though – can you spot it up the paperbark gum? Not the best disguise…!
This hinterland is really stunning. I can see the attraction in living up here, a little cooler in the evening, plenty of big blocks.
After checking out the views, we followed a walking trail through the rainforest. Many of the trees are centuries old, with ancient creepers climbing up to the canopy. The birdlife is prolific but very hard to see – mostly up high consuming the rainforest’s riches in fruits and seeds. The scenery is so rich in new sights, with rare trees on every corner, and twisting undergrowth. This rainforest is home to many furry creatures too – we saw flying foxes (fruit bats), and hidden away there are also pademelons (little wallabies), sugar gliders (flying possums), snakes, lizards and more.
Finally our walk came to an end, so we returned to the Maleny Showgrounds, hitched up the caravan and moved just 17 minutes drive down the road to Landsborough. We’d booked this site a while ago, when we noticed it would be Easter holidays when we were in the area. We pulled in realising the campsite is actually nowhere near the actual village of Landsborough, and at the top of a very steep and busy road. Ah – so no cycling from camp down to the local pub from here then. Ah well. In its favour, we are fairly centrally located, and it was just a 20 minute drive from another walk we were keen to do, down in the Glass House Mountains themselves.
This was the circuit walk around Mount Tibrogargan, one of the hikes recommended by our friend Karel, who’s house we stayed at last weekend. It’s not a challenging walk, with some great views around the way and only some short climbing. We tacked on another trail, the Trachyte Circuit onto our walk at the end to extend the distance and experience.
The walk took us through casuarina groves, past giant eucalypts and through melaleuca forest. Dwarf and yellow candle banksia flowers accompanied our journey, along with the odd frog brought out by the wet weather.
Back at the mobile apartment, showers were definitely welcomed, before cooking up a fasting-day Friday dinner of vegetarian red curry followed by fruit, with some more Netflix to entertain us – a couple of episodes of Jack Taylor this evening (thanks Mr Ward for the recommendation!).
We were planning a longer stay down by the Glasshouse Mountains, but the only camping option was this rather squelchy field.
So we moved on, climbing up through misty rainforest into this beautiful hinterland behind the Sunshine Coast.
We were thankful for the V8 of the Cruiser pulling the Zone up these steep hills. We picked a spot at the local showground, power, water and clean toilets for $20 a night – suits us. We wandered up into town through a pretty walkway, and headed for that wonderful cheese shop.
Lunch was very civilised, vegan burgers, and a first for me trying a turmeric latte to wash it down. It’s that sort of place. Some locally made fudge was dessert, and then we wandered past this little brewery. We just had to didn’t we.
Back to the Zone then for a quiet afternoon cosied up with Tassie and Netflix downloads, with the rain justifying this lazy behaviour by lashing down every time we contemplated going for a walk.
It was round the corner then for a curry. Sadly we were very disappointed with the food and service. Ah well can’t win them all. Time to move on tomorrow.
We unhitched the mobile apartment and headed off, camping cat and all, to kill time while we waited for the mechanics to do their magic.
And then on to a spot overlooking the Boondall Wetlands where we shared a small portion of chips to take away the taste of our nasty lunches!
Shortly after 4pm we got the call from Kieran at Vehicle Components to say that the Zone was ready for collection. There had been a lot of work done, thankfully mostly under the 2 year warranty. They had done an extremely thorough job and replaced all our shock absorbers, our brakes and the piping and panel for our troublesome airbag suspension. They also gave us advice on the right towing height for the car rear suspension airbags and the distance we needed to measure from the bump stops on the caravan.
We feel confident we did the right thing by bringing it back here to the source, they clearly know their products inside out and were able to do a really thorough job.
We drove west out of the city, heading towards the Glasshouse mountains, the setting sun together with April showers providing us with a spectacular evening sky show as we travelled.
We pulled up in a muddy field in pitch darkness at around 6.30pm, hoping we were in the right place, but not really caring. Once settled safely into our mobile apartment it didn’t really matter where we were, a glass of wine and a Netflix movie with an exhausted warm cat on the lap, all was good in our Zone.