Well the last two weeks have been a very relaxing time for us both.  Not having to move and pack anything for a couple of weeks has been very nice indeed.  Maroochydore on the Sunshine Coast is certainly a nice place to kick back in and let life go by.  I can see why a lot of people from the southern states come up here to retire.  With the great beach’s and close proximity to the Hinterland behind you this certainly has a nice appeal to it.  We also like how green it is here as well, certainly leaves us way behind in the west weather wise.

The day we arrived in Maroochydore Anika also drove up from the Gold Coast to spend a few days with us.  It was good to see her and it also gave us a chance to set the annexe up and use it.  We made a comfy bed up for Anika and “wallah” the Hilton was ready for her to sleep in.

While in Maroochydore we also got the chance to catch up with Gary and Louise Lurz.  I used to work with Gary at Cape Lambert and it was good to see them doing well.  They are busy building their new house looking forward to moving in before Christmas if all goes according to plan.

We also got the bikes down and have spent a fair bit of time riding up the coast both ways having a good look around the place.  Good to know that we haven’t carted these bikes all this way and not be used.  On one of the days with Anika we went up to the hills to the Kondalilla NP and did a walk to the falls.

Kondalilla NP – one of the views

 

Kondalilla NP

 

Kondalilla NP – the lovebirds

 

Kondalilla NP – Trying to keep up with dad

 

Kondalilla NP – always there to lend a hand

 

Kondalilla NP – Kondalilla Falls

 

Kondalilla NP – Kondalilla Falls

 

After three days with us it was goodbye to Anika and back to the dynamic duo and deciding what to do next.  After a lot of thought it was easier to do nothing and just take it easy so we just went for rides and shopping.

We did a day trip to the Eumundi Markets.  These are well known markets over here and boy do they get the people in.  There would be around 250/300 stalls and probably anywhere up to 8000 plus people there.  Lots of things to buy and eat but nothing that we really wanted or would fit into a caravan.  After 5 hours of walking around and bumping into to many people we decided that it was time to head home and relax at the beach for a while.

Eumundi Markets

 

The other markets that were only a short bike ride from us were the Cotton Tree Markets.  I enjoyed these ones as they were a lot smaller and not as many people.  Nice easy pace that suits the holiday lifestyle we are becoming used to.

Cotton Tree Markets

 

Cotton Tree Markets

 

Tomorrow is travel day for us again.  After a great two weeks in Maroochydore we will say goodbye and get back on the road.  While the weather is still quite mild we are going to head north until it starts to get too hot.  Probably try and get to Bundaberg in the next few days then maybe eventually Rockhampton, though that is a bit long term for us at this stage.

Well its time for another enthralling spine tingling update that will be full of adventure and spectacular photos.  After and excellent time in Longreach and I am sure we will be back there again sometime in the future it was off on the highway to slowly make our way to Maroochydore to catch up with Anika and also have a nice two week break by the coast.  With all the travelling we have been doping it will be nice to set up for a couple of weeks and not be packing up and moving every couple of days.  Should be like a real holiday, I feel I need one as with all the spoiling that Kaye has been getting so far it will be good to see if I can get a bit of spoiling myself.

From Longreach we travelled towards Jericho for a night, passing through a small town called Barcaldine.  This is where the “Tree of Knowledge” is, apparently the birth place of the Australian Labour Party many years ago.  Maybe somebody should tell the current Labour politicians about the word knowledge and put it into practise.  We then stayed in a small town called Anikie.  The name probably is the obvious reason for the stop over.  From Anikie we went and had a look at the gem fields areas of Sapphire and Rubyvale.  If you are that way inclined you can go fossicking in these places looking for sapphires and ruby’s.  We were not that way inclined so chose instead to have a coffee and look at a few sites.

View from Anikie lookout

 

Anikie Railway Station

After Anikie it was then towards Emerald where we stayed for a week.  As it was the school holidays in Queensland we decided to hunker down in one place for the first week of the holidays.  We stayed at great park near the dam called Maraboon Caravan Park.  This is about 20k’s out of Emerald and was nice and relaxing with a very cheap happy hour and they had great Red Claw pizzas.  Red Claw are similar to our marron in WA.  We actually got the bikes off and rode them around for the first time since we left.  Good that I hadn’t carted them all this way for nothing.  It was fun though and was good exercise each day for a week. There is not a real lot to see around Emerald so the week was very quiet for us.

Getting friendly with the birds. They came around the caravan each day for a feed.

 

The dam at Maraboon van park

 

Emerald train station

 

Emerald train station

 

After Emerald it was off again towards Maroochydore with a stop over at Dingo for two nights then Dululu and Cania.

From Dingo we drove into the Blackdown Tableland NP for each of the two days.  What a great little park this was with some excellent walks that weren’t to long and the view at the end was really worth it as well.

Blackdown Tableland NP – Horseshoe Lookout

 

Blackdown Tableland NP – old stockyards made from a tree

 

Blackdown Tableland NP – Aboriginal art work

 

Blackdown Tableland NP – some of the great walks you do

 

Blackdown Tableland NP – the walk down to Rainbow Waters

 

Blackdown Tableland NP – Rainbow Waters

 

Blackdown Tableland NP – Rainbow Waters

 

Blackdown Tableland NP – Rainbow Waters picnic lunch

 

Blackdown Tableland NP – Rainbow Waters

 

Blackdown Tableland NP – Rainbow Waters

 

Blackdown Tableland NP – another great view from a lookout

 

When we got to Dululu we went for a drive to Mt Morgan which was a historical gold mining town.  This was a town that looked and felt very depressed when we were there.  Most of the houses were all looking run down with only a few having any sort of care being taken around them.  We did a tour of the old railway station, did some food shopping and then drove back to Dululu.

From Dululu we went to Cania Gorge NP and stayed in an excellent little caravan park.  From this park you can go on some very good walks that provide a bit of a challenge in some areas with some good uphill sections to caves and views.

Cania Gorge NP – Lake Cania

 

Cania Gorge NP – Fern Tree Pool

 

Cania Gorge NP – me taking a shortcut and showing my great balancing skills

 

Cania Gorge NP – Big Foot

 

Cania Gorge NP – Bloodwood Cave

 

Cania Gorge NP – Dragon Cave

We stayed in Cania for two nights then had a night each at Mundubbera, Goomeri and Gympie.  At Mundubbera and Goomeri we stayed at showgrounds in each place.  These are a great cheap way to stay in towns and for between $10/$15 a night you get power, water, toilets and showers which is pretty good and the money goes back into the town which is good to know.

The next update will be after our two weeks at Maroochydore.  If the weather is still not to hot we might head a bit further north up the coast and then as it warms up start the trek south toward eventually getting to Canberra for Christmas.  It will be good to catch up with Anika tomorrow for a few days.  Until the next update all keep well etc etc…………cheers