Woodgate Beach

David on the Banksia walk into Burrum Coast National Park, Woodgate Section
Interesting disturbance in the trunk of this tree

Faye taking a photo of herself in the reflection of the clear water beside the boardwalk. We met a ranger on the walk and he told us it is rare to see water here, it is a result of the heavy rains earlier this year and further rainfalls a couple of weeks ago.

The boardwalk through the paperbark forest

Staying with Doug & Rosemary

We spent two very enjoyable days staying with Doug & Rosemary on their beautiful property. The weather was beautiful as we wandered around their garden.
View looking up hill from the dam

Looking across the back yard below the sunroom

The eagles that sit on the posts at the entrance to the front garden


David looking at birds near the banana tree


View of the dam

The garden pond

Red browed finches, double-barred finches and one lone chestnut breasted mannikin feeding on the ground

Some of the tropical plants growing in their garden

Eumundi Market

This popular market near Noosa is enormous and we spent a couple of hours looking at many unusual stalls before sampling some of the delicious food.

A whole potato pierced with a skewer, sliced with a utensil similar to an apple slicer/corer, then stretched along the skewer, dipped into a very thin batter and deep fried, evolves into a Potato Slinky.
Faye with a potato slinky

David waiting patiently for a Japanese pancake.
YUM, worth the wait.

Faye had a serving of banana tapioca with sesame seed & palm sugar at this great food stall, but with regret, had to forgo other scrumptious dishes.

SES were there showing their skills in tree climbing and rescue.

Lowering an unconscious patient (dummy) from a tree.

NOOSA

We stayed at Noosa Riverside Caravan Park for a couple of days in order to visit David's friend Doug (best man at our wedding) and his wife Rosemary who live in nearby Woombye. After seeing Doug and Rosemary we promised to return and stay with them on their property for a couple of days.

We spent a day replenishing supplies and riding beside Noosa River to main beach and the retail shopping strip.
Noosa Beach
Boardwalk on beachfront, Noosa
Blue faced Honeyeater (its interesting that the colour on the face of these birds in this part of Queensland is more like sea green than the vivid blue I have seen elsewhere.
A beautiful grevillea beside the cycle path in Noosa.

Teewah Beach, Great Sandy National Park - Cooloola Section

WOW What an exhilarating but fearsome 4x4 adventure. We read about camping at Teewah beach and decided that's where we would camp whilst looking around Noosa. Naively we thought access to our camp site would be similar to those on the Rosebud foreshore. After obtaining a camping permit and taking a ferry across the Noosa River, we drove over a rise of sand to find a ramp leading onto the beach. It was then we discovered we had to drive along the high tide mark beside the surf for 30kms to reach our campsite. My heart was in my mouth as we slid on the wet sand and bounced our way through deep sand, avoiding the hundreds to other 4x4's returning from their weekend escape, until we finally spotted our site on the other side of a sand dune. Alas the sand was just too deep for the Musso to drag the Ultimate camper up and over the rise and we bogged. As we were digging ourselves out, one of the returning weekenders seeing 2 geriatrics in dire straits offered his assistance and hitched on to the front of the Musso and with both vehicles roaring their engines, the Ultimate was gradually pulled into place. Our rescuer made a hasty retreat, amid our thanks, as daylight was fading and he had a way to go to get off the beach himself. Thankful we were safely located we set up camp, had a light dinner, and went to bed.

Next morning we were having breakfast when we saw a vehicle approach us - would you believe he was delivering supplies! There are two vehicles that service beach campers (we're told there are 2000 sites along the 35kms set aside of camping). We bought some bread and firewood for our three day stay, it was like going back in time to have a "home delivery service". We thoroughly enjoyed the next three days. We watched dolphins and whales frolicking in the ocean, watched fishermen fishing in the surf, saw many 4x4s and one motorbike go by, and rode our bikes along the waters edge. A lone dingo approached our camp one night but moved on after having a good look and finding nothing.

At the end of our stay it was with some trepidation that we set off for our drive back to civilisation. Our worries were fruitless as although the drive back was not an easy one David did a great job of keeping the vehicle on track and we finally arrived at the exit off the beach. I then jumped out of the vehicle (too afraid to stay in it) to watch from the sideline, as David drove through the deep churned up sand. Thankfully he pulled the Ultimate to safety without a hitch. Believe me, after three days of dreading the return trip I cried with relief when we were back on bitumen. That was enough beach driving to last me a lifetime. We then went through an UNDER CAR wash to remove all the sand and salt we had accumulated on the vehicles.

Following are a few of the photos taken during the three days we spent at this camp.





We were lucky to see whales whilst we were here. It was wonderful watching them spurting, rolling around flapping their fins and rising out of the water in a high dive. One rose straight up out of the water nose in air exposing most of his mammoth body before sinking back out of sight - amazing.
David enjoying a quite moment.
David taking on 4x4's

Faye cycling on the beach
Enjoying the evening beside the open fire

Curtis Falls - Take 2

The roots of this enormous tree have created a circular hollow at the base of the tree.












Interesting steps and side wall leading down to the waterfall. What a lot of effort has gone into providing easy access to the falls.












David walking beside one of the giants of the forest giving an indication of the size of these beautiful trees.












We spent a few minutes watching this tree creeper feasting on insects as it made its way up the trunk of the tree.












Walking past a group of trunks. the base of Palm trees.












An amazing example of a huge buttress tree trunk

Curtis Falls, Tamborine Mountain

Our final bushwalk on Tamborine Mountain was to Curtis Falls, another stunning walk with many giant trees and points of interest along the way.
Faye returning from Curtis Falls.

Strangler Fig encompassing tree trunk
Close up showing a little of the trunk still visible behind the strangler fig.
This tree separated into two trunks approx. 1 metre from ground level and then rejoined near the top of the tree.
The path to Curtis Falls had places to rest along the way.