Entry 16 – 2023 – August
– Sunshine Coast, Queensland.
Leaving Inskip Peninsula our target destination
was an area located about 75 kilometres north of the Queensland capital city,
Brisbane. Our next camp location was at the “Sunshine Coast,” an area of about
3,127 square kilometres.
We had booked a week stay at a caravan park
located in the suburb of Caloundra. The booking had been made around two months
prior which turned out to be a good decision as there were no vacant sites
during our stay.
Our drive distance for the day from Inskip
Peninsula was about 185 kilometres. Around the 50-kilometre mark there was a
marked difference in the volume of traffic about requiring an elevated level of
concentration. We were reliant on our vehicle GPS to direct us down different
busy roads. Mary drove for around the first 100 kilometres and was happy for
Steve to perform the rest of the day’s driving duties to our destination. As
often happens the GPS was directing us away from the displayed road signage
directions. Mary reverted to using google maps via our tablet to help keep us
on the simplest route and after a few hissy fits our GPS would return to the
same route as provided by google maps. It was nice to have a backup guide option
when travelling through congested unfamiliar regions.
We were in a crowded city environment with a nearby
ocean frontage. There were some nice walking trails along the ocean frontage
but as soon as you moved your eyes away from the ocean views the landscape
turned into a cement jungle. The below picture indicating our camp location at
the caravan park.
We were in the “Sunshine Coast,” to spend time
with a couple we met at a random camp in outback central Queensland 2011. Over
the following 9 years we crossed paths with this couple several times at
various locations in Australia. Each time we met up, the conversation flowed
hour after hour. Mike and Bev had since sold their caravan and set up residence
in New Zealand.
Bev and Mike had made contact with us to see if
we could catch up whilst they were taking a break from home duties, holidaying
in the Sunshine Coast. Ironically, we had planned for some time in the Sunshine
Coast during 2023. There was only a slight tweak to our time lines to include
our Sunshine Coast experience catching up with Mike and Bev.
Day 1 meeting up turned into a day, devoted to chatter,
catching up with one another’s lives. The conversation flowed nonstop for 9
hours.
Day 2 involved a bit more activity, accompanied
by more good conversation. We visited the Chenrezig Institute, a Buddhist Retreat.
We started out with an enjoyable guided tour around the centre. Our guide
(Grace) seemed to enjoy the interaction with us, extending the tour format with
some extra areas for exploration. The allocated 1 hour was extended to 2 hours before
our interaction was unable to be extended any further due to other commitments.
We enjoyed a Buddhist vegetarian meal, further enhancing
our Buddhist Retreat experience.
The following 3 days we utilised day light time,
exploring some of the highlights of the Sunshine Coast. There was time spent,
wandering about the Caloundra Market, a beautiful scenic walk along a coastal
path from Moffat Beach to Currimundi, (about a 10-kilometre return walk,) a
very enjoyable walkabout around Montville, more walking at the beautiful Mary
Cairncross Rainforest Park and some further walking in the Glass House
Mountains.
The daily walks, mixed with extended
conversation = early to bed, providing a good night’s sleep.
We waved bye to Bev and Mike with our thoughts
focusing on our planned new caravan layout. We had arranged to base ourselves
for a couple of days up the road a bit at fellow Bushtracker Caravan owners Ian
and Kathy. There was an inspection of their caravan with a few tips for what
they liked and would have liked with their layout.
We spent 6 ½ hours at the Bushtracker Factory.
Our brains felt like they were in overload. There was a lot of information to
analyse what best suited our needs. As with the ever-constant normal life
hic-ups there was also some non-planned maintenance repairs conducted at the
factory on our caravan whilst we focused on a design for our future caravan. By
the end of the day, we felt exhausted. There was so much going on we didn’t give
a thought for any photographs during the day for future reference.
It was time to get some kilometres happening
under our wheels. The following four days we made our way south. There was a
day spent at the Toogoolawah Showgrounds where we came across a couple, we met
in 2019 at Collinsville Queensland. There was more chatting catching up with
one another’s news.
For us, it seemed like we were having quite a
good social time over the last couple of weeks. You do meet some nice people
when partaking in a travel lifestyle. It is even nicer when you cross paths
again. Trish and Michael were another genuine, nice couple.
Toogoolawah Showground was located next to a
parachute jumping club. It just happened to be a Saturday and Sunday and we
were provided with a constant setting of colourful parachutes floating in the
sky about us.
