7th JuneTime to leave Hervey Bay, and head down to the sunshine coast.Ummm sunshine it wasn't, we had hard rain as we drove down through Gympie heading on to Caloundra on the coast.On route we stopped at the ginger factory, and also a Macadamia nut place.We got to sample nuts coated in everything from wasabi to chocolate (guess which were favourite!), and also tried ginger icecream, which was lovely.We found our apartment which Rich & Sue had pre-booked.It has a lovely sea view which would be more lovely if the clouds went away!We took a walk along the sea front and watched the local fishermen trying their luck.There is a small island called Bribie island and the bay between is called Pumicestone channel, we are hoping if we walk into it our feet will be smoothed!Sunday 8th -Australia Zoo.We had an earlish start and headed off to The Australia Zoo - the home of the late Steve Irwin and family.We had a great day out, it was a bit cloudy to start with but the sun shone in the afternoon.We saw and were able to pat/touch/stroke various species of kangaroos, wombats and the lovely koala bears.We saw lots of snakes, monitor lizards, Komodo dragons, turtles, Tasmanian devils, dingoes, wombats and elephants along with the crocs and some alligators.The zoo promotes conservation and pushes the message at every opportunity.They have a huge memorial by way of signed khaki shirts, paintings, scarves, and football shirts sent by fans to Steve Irwin who was killed by a sting ray barb back in 2006.It was a great day out we all had lots of fun.Monday we headed up the Sunshine coast road stopping at Mooloolaba, this is a resort town much more built up and commercialised than our usual stops.They had the usual range of expensive clothes shops for the rich and famous, cheap souvenir shops for the tourists and lots of ice cream parlours and coffee shops.The weather continued to be cloudy, with a few showers on and off.We stopped at Sunshine Beach for lunch (and the sunshine did appear), then went on up to Noosa Heads which was really pretty.Tuesday 10th we were back on the road again heading to Brisbane for our last 5 nights in Australia - that is sooo scary, only 5 nights left here!On route we took the scenic road and went to visit the Glass Mountains, the area was named by Capt Cook as he thought the mountains reminded him of glass furnaces from home!!We had a walk through the bush looking for koalas and other wildlife (but we didn't see any!).Brisbane was really busy and very expensive to park, but we needed to visit the good old Tourist Information office to find some accommodation.Whoops - tomorrow evening is the second 'State of origin' Rugby football match New South Wales V Queensland being played in Brisbane hence no room at the Inn!!!After calling lists of places to stay we went away homeless and headed towards the coastal suburbs.Eventually we found two rooms at Manly but in different places, but the sun is shining, Rob and I are staying at the marina in a really nice motel, apparently a crew are here filming and it has international film stars in the locality - Rob is out on a Kylie hunt in a bit!