Rick and Rae's Travels: Mon, 7th to Sun, 13th Nov

On Monday we drove 100kms to a park at Noosa. We decided we didn't like the location of the park and found Noosa to be very busy. We continued on a bit further to Coolum and found a park right on the beach and across the road from restaurants and shops. The beach here has nice sand and lovely clean waves so we booked in for a week. We found out pretty quickly that this park was pretty noisy during the night. A couple of the shops across the road were being refurbished and the workmen started at 6:30am! Plus the McDonalds restaurant across the road is open 24 hours a day and it seemed that the supply trucks arrived early hours of the morning and left their motors idling for hours.

Next morning we went for a drive around Noosa Heads and Noosaville and couldn't get over how many high-rise apartments there are. We had a nice lunch overlooking the water at Sunshine Beach, just a short distance out of Noosa and on our way back to the van. When we got back to Coolum we drove around the hills just behind the beach area and looked at the beautiful (and very expensive) homes. There is a lot real estate for sale, but this area is very exclusive. In the afternoon I walked the beach and Rick washed the Navara.

On Wednesday we went for a drive further south through Maroochydore and on to Caloundra. We had a nice lunch while we were out and on our return I wandered through the shops. Later in the day Rick had another swim while I walked along the beach. In the evening we went out for a very enjoyable Italian meal just up the street. On Thursday we drove around the Hinterland and visited both the Ginger Factory and the Nut Factory at Yandina. We couldn't help ourselves and bought some macadamias and had ginger scones for lunch. Several places along the drive, we stopped at lookouts from which we could see for miles.

Friday was a quiet day. I had a hair appointment in the morning, so Rick took the opportunity to drive to Maroochydore looking around the car dealerships. Rick swam again in the afternoon after we had lunch at the local bakery. In the evening we went down the street again for a nice Thai meal. Saturday was quite hot so we both had a swim in the morning. We had a quiet afternoon while Rick watched the car races on TV.

Sunday was our family catch-up day. We drove to Maloolaba and had an enjoyable lunch overlooking the water with close members of the family.