The Sunshine Coast

The first of our three school vacations this year took us to Queensland's Sunshine Coast. First, we celebrated the end of Term 1 by NOT having report cards to do and by attending the local theatre to see a song and dance production called Sweet Charity. We were grateful for a night out, especially when it was courtesy of one of Jodi's colleagues who volunteers as an usher at the theatre. The next day, we drove two and a half hours to get to Mooloolaba, about 100 km north of Brisbane. Mooloolaba is everything Surfers is not. It has the beautiful beaches but is more family oriented. There are not many highrise buildings and the shoreline is all restaurants, cafes, and shops. Once again, we stayed in an apartment and were literally a few paces from the beach, which we visited every day. From our balcony, we enjoyed views of sailing regattas, yachts moored in the bay, kayakers, and surfers.










Hannah got her first body board and learned to surf with it. If timed right, you could catch some waves right into shore. The surf got pretty wild some days, so we had to hang on tightly to Hannah or she would have been carried by the rip. There are lifeguards everywhere but they're auxilliary members on weeknds and holidays who complement a couple lifesavers in a tower all other times. They can't possibly see everyone at all times, especially with those big swells, and I 'm not referring to the human kind! In fact, so much beach-going has gotten us motivated to run several times a week in an effort to get back into some semblance of shape!





















After a morning at the beach, things were usually getting too hot, so we headed poolside at our apartment and had lunch in the shade. Then we usually swam in the pool or lazed in the hot tub for a few hours. It wasn't until Good Friday that things got really busy, so we had the run of the place pretty much all week.


One of our day trips took us to the Australia Zoo, and it is here that we witnessed the Crocodile Hunter's entrepreneurship in full force! Immediately upon entering the zoo, we rushed to the 5000-seat Crocoseum to watch Steve Irwin's daughter, Bindi (named after a croc), and four singing and dancing Aussies called the Crocmen, do a live show before that crazy Crocodile Hunter came out and did his thing with one of the largest crocs at the zoo, Shaka. At one point, he actually jumped into the water to get the croc to follow him back into its pen. Crikey! The highlight for Hannah was the birds swooping in from every direction, right over our heads, and getting to feed the kangaroos and elephants.

Another day trip took us to Eumundi and the markets, some 200 stalls and many small shops with all manner of wares for sale. It's much like the crowds of the night markets in Taipei, only more artisans have goods for sale. You could purchase homemade soaps, be on the receiving end of a massage, or get your hair braided (note Hannah's new locks). Driving home, we made the obligatory stops at a couple tourist traps, one a ginger factory and another a macademia nut factory. The Ginger Factory did have beautiful gardens and delicious fudge, and we pretty much lunched on samples at Nutworks, the macademia nut factory. Australia now leads the world in macademia nut products, has even overtaken Hawaii. We left a little more cash poor than when we went in and a few kilos heavier, too!

After eight days on the Sunshine Coast, we took the scenic route home, over the Blackall Range and through a quaint town called Montville. The views of the Glasshouse Mountains and out to the coast were spectacular. A stop for tea and scones and, of course, more ice cream, in Montville allowed for some time to explore the many shops and artisans' studios of this little town so reminiscent of those on the Gulf Islands. The architecture is Victorian and French Provincial all mixed together, the streets are tree-lined, and the gardens beautiful. Each little alleyway or twist in the road brought enticing new sights, sounds and smells.

Just before arriving home, we made one last stop. About a month ago, one of my colleagues took Hannah and I to his sister-in-law's place in a community called Esk. Esk is about 45 minutes from us and could best be described as rural. Here, his sister-in-law, Monica Allen, nurtures, raises and rehabilitates injured and orphaned pouch animals, birds, and other mammals. Monica is one of only about 25 people in the entire state of Queensland licensed to care for koalas. Her work requires the patience, love and devotion of a saint as she must dropper-feed some babies as small as 35-40 grams that have been cut from the killed mother's pouch. Just like infants, these babies require feedings every 1 to 1 1/2 hours and others are even put in an incubator. This humidicrib was donated to Monica by the Head of Surgery at Sydney Hospital. He and his wife accidentally killed a kangaroo (many are killed by cars) and when they checked her pouch, found a joey inside. A local vet told them about Monica's and so he drove the joey to her and, finding out about her work, donated the crib after returning to Sydney.

Hannah met a resident kangaroo there, one of her namesake, actually. She is like a German Shepherd dog, lazes around on the grass and hangs out by the back door. She will always live at Monica's as her leg was badly broken and she would not survive in the wild. Two joeys we saw last time, Bart and Alfie, who were hanging in fabric pouches in the living room, are now in outdoor pens and will soon be released into the wild. Hannah especially loved one of the wallaby babies, though, as it boxed and played with her after she tried to get it to stop chewing on her shoelaces! This visit, Hannah was completely taken by another wallaby joey named Tom. Hannah affectionately named him Angel because he is, in her words, as cute as one, and he licked her fingers like a puppy. The newest arrival, a tiny pink joey, has arrived after a long ferry and car ride to be nursed back to health by Monica.