mike & rhonda's latest adventure: Looking for the real Sunshine Coast

Since arriving on the east coast we have had more than our fair share of rain. It has not been constant rain, but the intermittent showers which have been forecast every day have put a damper on trying any decent hiking activity or booking any snorkeling trips out to the south end of the Great Barrier Reef where the sea has been a little rough lately. The area has already suffered from early year floods and there is a lot of road work going on to repair damage caused by the overflowing rivers. The water levels have subsided but the region deserves a sunny break more than we do. Fortunately for us, we will be returning through this area again when we return south from Cairns so we will get another opportunity to visit some of the spots we have bypassed or hurried through, making good use of our time.

When we were in Brisbane we had a wonderful 2 day visit with Amy (Rhonda's niece) and Darren (who was born here). We attended their wedding in Mexico at the beginning of the year, so it was nice to spend time with them again in their habitat. Darren took us on a night driving tour of Brisbane with a stop at Mount Coot-tha which overlooks the city. The next day Amy played tour guide, taking us to a few of her favourite places north of the city......the Glass House Mountains (kiln shaped hills), a rainforest walk, and a hike and swim at Kondalilla Falls. While there Amy grilled some kangaroo steaks for us and they were done to perfection (very lean meat and slightly gamey so it needs to be lightly cooked). They were great hosts and we will see them one more time when we pass through Brisbane next month (returning a few items that they lent to us).

Driving north along the coast we moved quickly through the Sunshine Coast due to the rain. We did make a couple of stops on the Fraser Coast at Hervey Bay, Bundaberg, and Bargara where we had an informative visit to the Mon Repos Turtle Conservation Park. The nightly programs to watch the hatching sea turtles make the journey from their shore nests to the ocean, ended one week ago but a ranger told us if we hung around long enough we might see some tardy ones make their way out but we had no luck in that regard. At Tannum Beach we stumbled upon a Saturday night market at a beachfront park, several hundred metres from our Caravan Park. There was 'live' music along with many food and craft stalls so we spent the evening enjoying the festivities, arriving back at our site just before the rain started again.

We are now on the Capricorn Coast. The Tropic of Capricorn runs right through Rockhampton where we stayed last night and spent part of the evening with some Australian travellers (our age) who gave us some good tips on places to visit north of here. A bottle of port we had purchased and some dark chocolate disappeared while we talked. Today we went to the Koorana Crocodile Farm where we learned all about salt water crocodiles, the largest and most dangerous (to humans). They currently have over 4,000 of them on their farm. We witnessed a baby croc breaking out of it's eggshell, held a small 3 year old (with it's mouth taped shut) and watched some chicken carcasses being fed to the largest crocodiles (15-20 feet long) in their breeding pens. We won't be swimming in any murky river deltas as we head further north where they are more common!