{"id":3966,"date":"2022-12-31T11:56:02","date_gmt":"2022-12-31T11:56:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/tappstravels.co.uk\/?p=3966"},"modified":"2025-12-24T22:27:47","modified_gmt":"2025-12-24T22:27:47","slug":"7-sunshine-coast","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/tappstravels.co.uk\/?p=3966","title":{"rendered":"7. SUNSHINE COAST"},"content":{"rendered":"

Jack took us for a swim one afternoon.\u00a0 Well, more accurately,\u00a0 we took him to a swimming gala at Perigian 25 km north of base.\u00a0 All the schools round here appear to have Olympic-sized pools!<\/p>\n

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Jack was, for everyone’s convenience, racing in events 5, 9 and 427.\u00a0 Well, a big number anyway (3 from the end) which meant we couldn’t skive off early.\u00a0 His relay team came in a creditable 3rd out of six.<\/p>\n

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Meanwhile Phroggy snaffled a coffee and icecream in the attached restaurant.<\/p>\n

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Hot chips for Jack on the way home!<\/p>\n

Then it was Christmas assembly, with the boys in their festively decorated shirts.<\/p>\n

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Australian schools are very inclusive of parents, grandparents and general hangers-on!\u00a0 We’ve noticed this huge difference between schools here and at home.\u00a0 They are so open here.\u00a0 It’s like it was 40 years ago in Britain!<\/p>\n

On previous trips we had found that the Baked Poetry Cafe at Perigian Beach does fabulous vanilla slices.\u00a0 So we went one Tuesday only to discover that, post-Covid, the place is shut Mondays to Wednesdays!\u00a0 Drat, I was committed to eating one with my morning coffee.\u00a0 Never mind.\u00a0 On to Noosa for a walk along the river as the ferry sailed past taking tourists to the posh shops in Hastings Street.<\/p>\n

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I was hoping to avoid the shops… but…<\/p>\n

Anyway the beach is immediately adjacent!<\/p>\n

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We tried for vanilla slices again a few days later.\u00a0 But this time, while navigating by guesswork through the country roads of Diddillibah, Petrie Creek and Bli Bli (they do have some great names around here), I took a.wrong turning.\u00a0 It’s remarkable how subconciously confusing it is with the sun moving in the wrong direction.\u00a0 I mean, shadows should point north at lunchtime – everyone knows that!\u00a0 Anyway, as we drove under the Bruce Highway it was clear we were heading inland, not towards the coast.\u00a0 A quick change of plans took us for coffee (and no vanilla slice!) to Yandina via Nambour.\u00a0 The Gun Cotton Roasters is now marked down as a great place for breakfast.<\/p>\n

Just to complete the vanilla slice saga, on the third attempt, we were running so late that we rang ahead and booked one of the elusive pastries in case they ran out!\u00a0 It lived up to all expectations and we rate it number one in the whole of Australia, just ahead of the version served at the historic telegraph station in Alice Springs!\u00a0 And let’s face it, Perigian is a hell of a lot closer, Alice being 3021 kms away by road!<\/p>\n

Actually, the saga continued…\u00a0 The other day, on our fourth attempt, as our coffees were being delivered, the waitress spilt Glenda’s cup all over her.\u00a0 She was so surprised that she followed it up with my coffee.\u00a0 ALL over Glenda’s bran new pale pink dress and, more significantly, all over her right forearm.\u00a0 We spent the next half hour in the cafe’s kitchen with an arm under cold running water.\u00a0 I rushed off and came back with a new dress.\u00a0 The guy sitting next to us was very impressed that I could buy a new dress which fitted perfectly from the local shops.\u00a0 I don’t think we ever told him that we had a spare dress in the car!\u00a0 Luckily, although it was very painful for a few days, the arm didn’t blister and the dress appears to have survived.\u00a0 We now have a lot of credit at the Baked Poetry cafe!<\/p>\n

One evening Petra, one of Linda’s friends, came for tea with her two boys.\u00a0 She is one of the only people (over 11 years old) who is actually shorter than Linda.\u00a0 Petra was cooking one of her favourite puddings (cream puffs) by torchlight – I’m guessing the oven light doesn’t work!<\/p>\n

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While this was happening the four boys disappeared to the lounge. All of them on their i-pads.<\/p>\n

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“Why don’t you put those tablets away and play a game with each other?”\u00a0 “We ARE all playing together!\u00a0 We are playing Minecraft.”\u00a0 These games have something to answer for!<\/p>\n

There has been a fair bit of shopping, for the house and for Christmas!\u00a0 But Jack and Phroggy are starting to respond to this activity in a sensible and mature way!<\/p>\n

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With Robin and me in charge, they don’t stand a chance of reacting favourably!<\/p>\n

Anyway, moving on …\u00a0 We have been very busy.\u00a0 We’ve visited the old caravan park on the beach at Mooloolaba to discover it had been transmogrified into a childrens’ play park.\u00a0 And, even as keen caravanners, we both thought this was a major improvement.\u00a0 To be fair, the park is fairly high-tech for a playground.\u00a0 Super-soft flooring.\u00a0 Exciting climbing structures and good shaded areas.<\/p>\n

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While we have had some beautiful weather, it does rain here on the Sunshine Coast.\u00a0 And by rain, I do mean RAIN.\u00a0 It can really deluge!\u00a0 (And as I write this, rain has just started!)\u00a0 The highest total rainfall in a 24 hour period in Australia, was recorded at Crowhamhurst Observatory.\u00a0 907 mm!\u00a0 In one day!\u00a0 It is true to say that this record has stood for a while now.\u00a0 It was established in 1893!\u00a0 We passed within five kms of the Observatory yesterday, and we can confirm that all flooding caused by that storm has now subsided!<\/p>\n

In the UK, we would consider 10 mm of rain an hour as heavy rain.\u00a0 Here 200 mm per hour is not unheard of.\u00a0 On the highway driving to Caloundra for a Frisbee game, the heavens opened…<\/p>\n

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And that picture was taken with the wipers on full speed!\u00a0 But Robin still got his game 30 minutes later with the storm clouds moving slowly off over the ocean towards Fiji!<\/p>\n

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The Sunshine Coast has been renamed, at least temporarily!<\/p>\n

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I’m now so far behind!\u00a0 We’ve done so much!<\/p>\n

We visited Steve and Marie in their new luxury house in Samford Grove Retirement Village.<\/p>\n

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… and what an excellent place it is.\u00a0 Less than ten km from the outskirts of Brisbane, but separated from the city by a swathe of National Forest.\u00a0 There are great views of the surrounding mountains and it’s only five minutes walk from the village of Samford with it’s pubs and coffee shops.\u00a0 Like a lot of similar developments in this country, the community has a super exercise suite with pool, a well stocked library, meeting and dining rooms and a private small screen cinema.\u00a0 They do it so well here!\u00a0 We want one in Torbay instead of hundreds of new homes on green fields for people with limited access to employment.\u00a0 But don’t get me started on that!<\/p>\n

… but before I end this episode, I have a comment on Australian number plates.\u00a0 If you recall, Norway has a dazzling array of colour combinations.\u00a0 I now discover that Australia has a total of 54 designated numberplate colour schemes for domestic vehicles!\u00a0 However, a lot look the same (blue on white).\u00a0 This still leaves fourteen different colour combos if you include the black on blue of diplomatic plates.\u00a0 I had no idea these things were so complicated.\u00a0 And if you think that’s bad enough, personalised plates can be ordered in 125 different colour combinations.\u00a0 And in different sizes and fonts!\u00a0 Well, it is a big country!<\/p>\n

And there’s more to follow – when I have time.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Jack took us for a swim one afternoon.\u00a0 Well, more accurately,\u00a0 we took him to a swimming gala at Perigian 25 km north of base.\u00a0 All the schools round here appear to have Olympic-sized pools! Jack was, for everyone’s convenience,… <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[34],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3966","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-australia"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/tappstravels.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3966","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/tappstravels.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/tappstravels.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tappstravels.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tappstravels.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=3966"}],"version-history":[{"count":8,"href":"https:\/\/tappstravels.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3966\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4054,"href":"https:\/\/tappstravels.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3966\/revisions\/4054"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/tappstravels.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=3966"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tappstravels.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=3966"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tappstravels.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=3966"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}