We are now starting to experience the increase of population that the Sunshine Coast and it's close proximity to Brisbane brings to bear as you drive the vans down the Bruce Highway.

We found a fantastic farmstay in Cooroy that enabled us to do day trips to Noosa and Eumundi. Our first stop, to Fran's and my delight, was a market with over 500 stalls in it. What fun we had checking out all the stalls..... even the boys got into the swing of things even though Tony did his disappearing act as he is known to do in marketplaces.

The Sunshine Coast is extremely busy but disappointing in so much as the beach is not as accessible as we would have liked. We are still to find beaches like we have in the west. However, the weather in early September is much more beachlike than at home and there were many in the water taking advantage of the 25 degree days.

We then headed to the hills....well mountains! and the trip to our next stop, Maleny, took us through Mapleton and Montville. Wow the views from the top of the mountains down to the Sunshine Coast are amazing! There are lookouts up here that enable you to see the Glasshouse Mountains. (The photo above was not a good as we would have liked as the weather turned bad while we were here).

We camped at the Showgrounds in Maleny and we were able to do lots of tours down the mountain. One was to Buderim to visit friends Tony and I met on our trip 10 years ago. Bert and Fran toured the coast between Coolum and Caloundra which included Marouchidore. They also visited Australia Zoo on Father's Day. Tony and I took a trip back into Montville to look at all the little shops and then carried on over to Kenilworth to the cheese factory before heading back to Maleny.

Our next entry will be further into the mountains to Toowoomba. Stay tuned!