Never heard of it. Where is that you might say. This is a quick guide of what we found in a short five day stay.
It is an area just north of Brisbane, Australia. The first thing to realise is that it is a big area, with motorways and country roads all over the place.
Our stay was in two places, first in Caloundra, the second in Marcoola Beach.
The first was a hotel in a place called Golden Beach, which is strange because the sand was white, not yellow. A yellow sand Aussie beach is a wonderful thing.
Golden Beach is on a tidal inlet with a sheltering island, with sandy mudflats showing most of the time. We were lucky to stay in a nice hotel right on the beach, with a view from the third floor.
All along the beach front is a pedestrian walkway with trees and so on. Beautifully kept and well used by everyone, who seemed upbeat and friendly, with lots of toy dogs.
If you come here, rent a car, as there are buses, but you would never get a bus to the places we went to.
Our car was a small one, a Hyundai i30. What a great little car.
Our first outing was a day trip to the Glass House Mountains. Apparently millions of years ago, magma bulged up through weaknesses in the earth's crust, then as years went by the uplifted ground eroded away, leaving spiky outcrops, looking vaguely like glass houses.
Some spectacular views from a lookout, coffee at a cafe overlooking Mango trees, with a butcher bird coming to the window edge to thieve some chips someone left behind.
We were told the small towns were nice and so headed for Maleny and Mapleton.
On the way got quite high up, and got some really nice views. The towns were ok, but did not look that old, but there was the odd old building.
Back in Caloundra we did a drive around the sea front, which is quite a built up area with apartments. Seems a popular retirement area. Nice oceanside beaches there too.
On our way to Marcoola, about 30k north, we visited the local air museum, no government funding, just a volunteer run thing. Then off to the main shopping area to a second hand book shop for some books. We came back to our car to find a traffic warden about to write us a ticket. Oops, looks like the sign said 2P in big letters and in smaller writing "meter".
He was good though and said, well you are here now so no problem. We got chatting. It turns out he was a kiwi. As was the man at the air museum. As was the girl on the desk at the hotel. So this is where they all are!
Wednesday we decided to check out Noosa and the farmers market at Eumundi.
We had heard Noosa was a posh area, and had in mind that there would be lots of big mansions, but while the houses were nice, they not that ostentatious.
The main shopping street is nicely done up, we went up and down both sides and had coffee in a nice cafe on the beach front. A beautiful beach with nice pedestrian paths around the hills at the beach end.
We thought the markets at Eumundi might be big, but were surprised at just how big.
Not a chance of seeing all the stalls, so had an ice cream and a German sausage for lunch on the hoof.
So here we are, last day. About to go check out the mall at nearby Maroochydore, which will no doubt be the same as malls everywhere, but you never know.
My swims at Golden Beach were not cold exactly, but not warm. At Marcoola there was a wind blowing, so even with the sun shining it was not a lot of fun. The hotel pool was tepid, but again, not warm enough to encourage you to stay a while.
