Hello from the (Somewhat) Sunshine Coast of Australia, Friends & Family!
From where we last left off, we had a splendid "family outing" day trip with Mum and Pop (Ren & Lee) to Maleny on the Sunshine Coast's hinterland. On our way, we took a brief pit stop outside the Australia Zoo to pay our respects to the late and great Crocodile Hunter Steve Erwin (CRIKEY!). Then it was onward and upward to a scenic viewpoint of the unique looking Glasshouse Mountains. Our very first stop was Maleny's Winery where we sampled some delicious champagne (or as they call it--Maleny bubbles) followed by a lovely lunch in the cute and quaint town of Maleny. We had a fab time doing a stroll/photo shoot through a nearby rainforest where we saw some Pademelons (look them up if you aren't familiar, but they are basically a hybrid of a bunny and a kangaroo). Our wildlife luck remains in full force as not many people are fortunate enough to see these unique looking animals in the wild. Not to mention how insanely difficult it was to be quiet long enough to cross paths with them.
We then toured the Maleny Cheese Factory filled with bored Oompa Loopma looking factory workers (no offense guys--but the resemblance was uncanny). We were thrilled to try 10+ so gourmet cheeses ranging from wasabi to tuscan and everything brie and blue cheese in between--SCRUMDIDDLYUMPTIOUS! We ended the day in nearby Montville, a town that we quickly realized was enduring a severe identity crisis: are we Denmark? or Ireland? or Germany? Not sure, but utterly charming nonetheless.
It was difficult to leave our precious hosts and Brisbane after 2 weeks of sheer fun, but we decided to rip off our backpacker's bandaid from SE Asia and hit the road on Sat--Noosa bound. We booked 2 nights at Noosa Flashpackers, which we assumed would be a great way to ease back into our former backpacker's lifestyle... but found the transition to be a bit challenging. This was primarily due to the fact that this particular Flashpacker's hostel had a "all ages welcomed" policy and as a result, 3 generations of kiwis checked in to the dorms next to us and the youngest generation had diffulty going "pee pee in the potty" in our communal facilities. Um... UNACCEPTABLE.
We had a smashing 2 days in Noosa regardless with an epic 5 kilometer hike along the coastline on the 4th of July in our red, white and blue apparel and a boombox in tow blaring THE BOSS--we know how to represent, yo! The half day hike included a picnic on the sands of Alexandria Bay, an incredible rainforest trek listening to birds and stellar viewpoints and ended with a real bang as we spotting our first ever koala in the wild! You won't believe this, but this koala was also chillin' HARD. So hard that it made us laugh (just picture this: a koala nestled way up in a tree, clinging to the branches and completely stoned out of his mind from overdosing on toxic eucalyptus leaves--the official Koala chronic). IT WAS EPIC!!!
We spent an evening at Noosa's Surf Club that provided an interested concoction of people: from yuppies to youngsters visiting on school holiday, a few drunk cougars getting sloppy on the dance floor and a middle-aged cheeseball DJ rockin' the casio harder than we ever could have hoped for. We felt like we were crashing a wedding and celebrating a b-day at Chuck E Cheeses simultaneously... not sure how we feel about all of that still.
We have now moved north to the town of Pervy/Scurvy/Hervey Bay (pronounced HARVEY Bay) and are about to embark on a 3 day, 2 night guided camping expedition to Frasier Island. Frasier Island boasts the largest sandy beaches, crystal clear lakes, incredible rainforests and natural hot spring Champagne Pools to dip our toes in. We can't wait to experience it all first-hand and report back with all the juicy details.
Just slappin' da Goon & chasin' da dingos!
XOXO from OZ,
Bun n' Boots
