After Brisbane

Tues 25 August… The temperature didn’t drop below 23 C last night, but we slept well in Marion’s spare bedroom. We got away early to start our journey north again, on the Bruce Highway, a road we are getting to know very well! When we came down the highway the other day we saw some hills in the distance that we hadn’t noticed before, so we struck off on a detour to have a look. They turned out to be a fascinating group called the Glass House Mountains, a series of conical mountains which were the plugs of volcanoes 25 million years ago, which have now been eroded away. They were named by Captain Cook who thought they looked like glass kilns in his native Yorkshire. We found a lookout at the top of a very steep hill and took loads of photos, not sure how they will come out as there was quite a heat haze. We followed the tourist route through some very nice countryside with smaller type farms growing a bit of everything. This is still sugar cane country but around this area they grow a lot of strawberries, pineapples, mangoes, avocados and most anything else you can think of. A little further on we pass Australia Zoo but resisted the temptation to stop for another visit.
This morning we phoned a van site near Noosa Heads to make a reservation, so that is where we are tonight, but to get here we did a bit of wandering about, calling in at a couple of deserted beaches just for a paddle in the surf. All day whilst driving Peter checked his rear view mirror to make sure Vanessa and the boys were still with us in the “Noddy van” as he has been doing for the last 6 weeks, course she wasn’t there and it did feel strange. Tonight whilst preparing and eating our evening meal it was very quiet and it also felt strange.