Sunshine Coast

We headed up to the Sunshine Coast at the weekend. Leaving home at about 7am on Saturday we headed north along the motorway, stopping briefly at a beautiful botanic garden on route and then to Mons to the home of Derek and Odette, friends of ours from South Africa. Phillip worked for Derek, who owned a Liberty franchise in Westville, until they left for Australia about seven years ago. It was wonderful to see them and catch up. They have two children, Jessica and Bevan, and the children all played really nicely together giving us time to chat!





We left around lunchtime driving into Maroochydore, one of the big holiday towns on the Sunshine Coast. We stopped to look at a caravan and camping park there. Cotton Tree park is quite nicely situated alongside the river, right as it runs into the sea so you can walk around the bend and you're on the beach. A really great spot. The campsite is run by the Sunshine Coast council and is the biggest in Queensland. It was pretty full -- lots of camper vans and caravans especially. Funny to see shelves at the office for people to get their post -- seems that there are quite a few people staying there for lengthy periods of time!

We decided to head up the coast towards Noosa and stopped at another council-owned campsite at Coolum Beach. A really nice spot, still quite busy, but a much smaller park. The park is on the beach, just on the other side of the sand dunes so you can't actually see the waves from your tent. After setting up our tent, we headed onto the beach. It was wonderful out there -- blue sky, great waves. Slade so enjoys the water and was out there with his boogy board. Kai played a bit in the waves and really enjoyed playing in the sand as well.








We also spent time at the play area, just up from the beach. Kai picked up a branch from the ground and started to sweep the stairs leading up to the little play room at the top. We wondered if that's something she learned in Africa!




We made use of the electric BBQ facilities (for 20c) at the campsite, and the jug (kettle) and hot plate which were free for anyone to use. The evening was cool, but we made hot water bottles and got into bed early. No fires were allowed in the camp and we had an unpowered site, so we had an early night and went to sleep listening to the sound of the waves.

The next morning was more of the same -- time on the beach and at the play area. I also spent time walking around looking at some of the many resorts and apartment blocks for a possible place to stay later in the year.







We had a long trip back -- lots of traffic for no apparent reason -- perhaps just other people who'd also been away for the weekend. But all in all it was a great weekend, and the kids are very keen to go camping, particulary at the beach, again soon.