Bribie Island, Caloundra, Ilkley and Mooloolaba

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Bribie Island is a cool little place where you really feel like you’re on an island, but everything you need is there. We stayed in the township of Woorim on the east coast. I wasn’t feeling so well so had a day of chilling out in the van. When I was ready to get active again the next day, it started pouring and didn’t stop for a couple of days. Much to my annoyance I pulled a muscle in my back (not sure how since we didn’t do anything!) so we spent lots of time in the van, reading and chilling. Before leaving Bribie Island, we went for a drive around the island.Sadly most of the terrain is accessible for 4WD vehicles only, so our explorations were a bit limited.

On Sunday we headed to Caloundra, a pretty laid back town with lots of medium-rise holiday apartments and a nice surf beach. Dean had his first go on his new surf board and he loves it. The waves weren’t that great so we are now in search of the surfing conditions. We also went to the cinema to watch ‘Dark Shadows’. Neither of us is a Tim Burton fan and I was apprehensive because I had read a bad review, but it was actually quite good! Very weird and random, but then you’d expect that. Unfortunately the couple that was seated behind us didn’t share our approval – they left halfway through the movie!

On Monday evening, we drove inland to Ilkley to visit Chris and Sarah who were on Dean’s bus tour around Africa about eight years ago. They have an amazing house in the middle of the rainforest with a separate cottage, a swimming pool, their very own rainforest walk, palms, bush turkeys, snakes (one of their ducks was eaten by a python!) and lots of peace and beauty (I’m not jealous at all!). It was lovely catching up with them over a yummy BBQ, playing with the kids and meeting all their animals. By the time we left, the goat had worked out how to open the door to the cottage! Thanks so much, guys, for having us over and to stay in your lovely house; we really enjoyed it.

Our next stop was Mooloolaba which, as it turns out, I had been pronouncing incorrectly for some time. I had thought it was ‘moo-loo-LAba’ but apparently it’s ‘moo-LOO-laba’. Either way, it’s a lovely holiday spot with heaps of nice shops and eateries all along the beach esplanade. After a tasty lunch we drove out to Mount Coolum to go for hike, but unfortunately the reserve was closed off for track maintenance. Instead, we went for a power walk around the area and by the beach. There sure seemed to be lots of new developments being built here.

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