Sunshine Coast and Fraser Island June 2009
After the cool but mainly dry days in Victoria, we were to have almost constant rainfall and our guides were frequently frustrated by taking us to viewpoints that should have provided panoramic vistas only to gaze into inpenetrable cloud. Just goes to show, we Brits can take our own weather wherever we go!
We stayed in Noosa for a couple of nights and on the day in between toured the hinterland, visiting beautiful quaint villages in the hinterland: Maleny and Montville, and Eumundi for the amazing market there, and calling at some great cellar doors and restaurants. This area is renowned for its food, drink, arts and culture and all within a short drive from the coast.
Noosa itself has a fabulous beach and some great walks through its own National Park from the beach. At Noosaville, just a couple of miles away, you can take river cruises and excursions into the mangroves and across to Fraser Island via Rainbow Beach. Even without your own transport, you can get some very diverse experiences here.
We next travelled to Fraser Island: the largest sand island in the world, which has some amazing tropical forests, wildlife and terrain. Only 4WD vehicles are allowed on the Island and a favourite sport for the locals and savvy tourists is watching self-drive visitors get bogged down in the sand! It’s definitely best to leave it to the experts and get a driver – either for a private tour or on one of the 4WD bus tours. It’s also well worth taking one of the sightseeing flights over the island - it's hard to imagine the size of the place until you’ve seen it from the air.
Our bus tour took us all over the Island, including Lake Mackenzie which has lovely clear water plus the finest sand beaches – perfect for putting a shine on jewellery! They do say that a swim in its waters takes 10 years off your age – ha!
After a fabulous stay on Fraser Island at Kingfisher Bay Resort, we watched the beautiful sunset whilst waiting for the ferry.
The following day we travelled back to Brisbane to fly home to the UK and en route stopped at Australia Zoo. It was started by Steve Irwin and is now run by his family and hordes of enthusiastic wildlife warriors. Quite apart from the shows and visitor attractions, they do a huge amount of conservation work and run an animal hospital on-site, from small beginnings you really do now need a full day to get the most out of your visit.
So, that was the Sunshine Coast – not much sunshine but lots of great experiences and so many more that we couldn’t fit into the few days we had.