Lazy Saturday at Dicky's!

Another lovely morning, missed the sunrise, but went for a long walk along Dicky Beach mid morning, while the Brig was setting up his satelite dish, so that we could not only continue to get "garbage" on the free to air channels, but since we are paying for it, extra "garbage" on the Pay TV Channels, all worth it now that he could watch his beloved Wallabies play Italy tonight (sans adverts) and of course we now have access to many news channels from across the world, and "Law and Order", series 1,2, 3 and so on.

Such a big beach, and so few people!

But the Flags are out and the lifeguards on duty! S.S. Dicky and her reflections in the wet sand!

Board rider - and the shipping lane!

Yesterday, Friday we walked to Moffatt Beach, then drove to King Beach - super place, all part of Caloundra, what impressed us was the town's swimming pool and of course its situation, (photo below), entry is free, and the facilities surrounding it are very "family friendly". Not a place to be in school holidays for yours truly - me thinks!!! However really impressive.

Mountain Villages

Montville is a small village, that sits up high in the hinterland, approx 30 minute drive from Caloundra, we went there over the long weekend, far too many touristas, so after sharing an antipasta platter at the Penefathings Inn, we left, vowing to return during the week. This we did on Thursday. Lovely day again, bit nippy, but it was well worth the return. Such a pretty place, beautiful gardens, and super views back to the coast. There are other lovely villages in the same area such as Maleny and Mapleton. This area is a favourite for Weddings.

Many Galleries and shops in Montville

Husbands are catered for at the Montville Inn!! The bees were very busy in the flowering gums that line the streets

Lots of restaurants and cafes

And incredible views back to the Coast

Winter's Sunset and Moonrise

I didn't take these 2 photos, they were taken on Wednesday for the local newspaper by the Sunshine Coast Daily's photographer, Warren Lynam - think they are outstanding, so have borrowed them.

Colours at Sunset at Maroochydore Beach

The photo above was taken at 5.30 p.m. also at Maroochydore Beach when the full moon was emerged over the shipping lane. - just amazing!!

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Maroochydore is a few kilometres north of Dicky Beach, we went for a drive up there on Wednesday to check it out, lovely long beach, still suffering some scarp damage from the recent cyclone, but the councils here seem to be moving quickly to redistribute the sand.

Queensland turns 150!

We did a 30 kilometre run to the coast on Monday, a public holiday here in OZ, parked and walked around Caloundra, and wandered along the boardwalk of Shelley Beach. It's Park was full of happy groups of people picnicking/barbequeing and celebrating Queensland's 150th birthday - gorgeous sunny temps again.

There is a pretty busy shipping lane up this part of the coast!

The Glass House Mountains can be seen in the background from the coast. It must be near here where they caught Capt. Cook's eye in 1770!

We wanted to spend more time in the area so packed up this morning and drove to Dicky Beach - where we will stay for a week or so, our park backs onto the beach. We will catch up with our friends, Lois and Colin, who we first met in 2004 when we were touring around Australia. They have since immigrated from Auckland to Caloundra - for the wintersun!. Above - Dicky Beach - looking south towards Caloundra, named after the steamship (S.S. Dicky) which was shipwrecked here in 1893 during a gale, when the Captain made a decision to head towards land, thus saving all lives on board, but the build up of sand around the beached ship prevented it from being refloated - not much of it left now (below). Note the number of ships out in the shipping lane. Took a walk along Dicky Beach around 5.15 pm, gorgeous sky colours, and apparently it gets better than this.-

Roamin' around the Glass Houses

As Queenslanders celebrate the 150th anniversary of their separation from the colony of NSW (in 1859) we toured the remnant cores of volcanoes (active about 25 million years ago), these mountains/hills were formed as molten rock was forced out of vents from within the earth. In May 1770, Capt. James Cook, while sailing up the coast of Terra Australis, named "these hills" as the Glass Houses, (the reflections and shape of these hills reminded him of the glass manufacturing houses back in England).

Capt. Cook, his botanist Joseph Banks and others on board are recorded as the first British people to come ashore in Queensland - on May 18th 1770!

There is a total of 15 mountains, covering an area of over 600,000 hectares They range in height from 100 to 556 metres.

Surrounded by fertile plains

We stopped for coffee at the Glass House Cafe, and relaxed for some time enjoying the view (below). There were a few kangaroos putting on a show for us as well.

Many different crops are grown around the Glass Houses

Including fields of pineapples (below) - (One third of Queensland's pineapples are grown in the Glass House region)

A visit to Steve's Zoo

We left the Gold Coast on Friday morning and headed to the hinterland of the Sunshine Coast. It is a long weekend (celebrating the Queen's birthday) and is also Queensland's 150th birthday. Every ounce of accommodation is fully booked, but we managed to get a spot right in the Glass House Mountains, on the Steve Irwin Way. As his Zoo is only 4 klms north of us, we decided to go and see what all the hype was about. After spending two "half" days there we now know what it is all about, and this facility deserves every accolade it receives. There are 200 staff and 500 volunteers of all ages, all very enthusiastic and passionate about their animals and work. The place is spotless, ALL the creatures and animals are in incredible condition, and their facilities are 5 star - with conservation always at the forefront of every presentation.

Loved these giant Aldabran Land Tortoise (only found on an atoll near Madagascar)

They really stepped on it when they woke up and found their handlers had an array of fresh vegies for them.

We spent quite a bit of time at the Tiger Temple - there are 9 tigers (Bengals and Sumatran) at the zoo at present, all have been hand reared, which means they can all interact and play together, which in the wild would not be possible, they would have to be siblings and of the same type, then of course the males are territorial.

What magnificent beasts

We really enjoyed watching them as they played with the large toys made by their carers - diving into their big pool, and swimming to the toy, and literally annihilating it, then out would come another totally different thing to play with.

Conservation of these magnificent creatures was the major thrust - it is unbelievable to hear that without major intervention these cats could be extinct in the wild in the next decade. This zoo plays a big part in raising awareness and sending funds to assist with their conservation.

Time to rest now

The Red Panda has been on the Endangered Species list for a long time, but because of successful breeding in Zoos all over the world, including Mogo Zoo at Batemans Bay, it is about to be moved to "Vulnerable" status.

The Elephant Goddess watches over the 3 asian elephants In their fabulous facility

Then of course there are these creatures. This young man took this snake for a swim. And this enthusiastic carer brought this one far too close to moi! Crocs Rule! So many crocs at this zoo, each with its own personal facility (they are territorial), large pool to swim in, grass to laze on and trees for shade. ******

Another highlight for us was the "flyby" in the Crocoseum of so many different breeds of birds, cockatoos of all sizes, colours and types, water birds (heron and cormorants), macaws, and of course a variety of Birds of Prey.