Sydney Sapiential travels north - and is no more!

 

It's been nearly 24 years now of getting to know and love (not always, but often) this town of Sydney. But all good things must come to an end some day. Sydney Sapiential has upped and left. Gone to Queensland droving, so to speak.

 

I've sold up and moved house four times now. Each was prolonged and painful, but this one was probably the worst. So much stress, so much to do. I never want to do it again. (That's what I've said on the previous occasions too, of course.)

There's so much to throw out, so much to pack and take with you....

There's removalists to co-ordinate.

 

And of course you have to actually find a buyer for the house. All came good in the end.

Perhaps the biggest hurdle was the Queensland border. They opened it just in time, a week and a half before Christmas, but they imposed a near-impossible permit system, requiring vaccination documentation and a Covid test both 72 hours before and 5 days after entry.

We broke our journey at Tea Gardens and at Evans Head. Both are scenic and slightly off the highway.

 

Then it was time to brave that Queensland border. See if you can work out the system being used by the border policeman to sort the wheat from the chaff. (And note the pesky passenger coughing on cue!!)

 

 

And it's on then to the Sunshine Coast and Maroochydore, with its fine beaches. (And its oversized shopping centres, innumerable homemaker centres and a Los Angeles style tangle of motorways to nowhere!)

Maroochy beach scenes

Saturday morning on Maroochydore beach

Maroochy sunset

Jelly wobble

Came across several of these on the beach at Maroochydore. They look like enormous fried eggs at first. I've been studying alleged jellyfish identification websites, but so far haven't quite got there. They look different when they're not stranded on a beach.

These sorts of jellyfish are often called 'snotties', I gather. But there's been some excitement in recent times among jellyfishologists, with new and rediscovered species turning up. Could it in fact be the Cambione Cookii - the so called 'Cookie Monster' jellyfish, recently rediscovered after 100 years?

Life's a beach on the Sunny Coast

While on the Sunshine Coast we based ourselves in Alexandra Headland. Here's the local beach, looking south towards Mooloolaba.

Walking north towards Maroochydore.

Between the flags, Maroochydore.

Our favourite swimming spot was in the river, at Cotton Tree.

Here's the beach at Noosa. Very crowded these days. Hard to get to, expensive to park near.










Snakes alive at Peregian Beach. (I think they're alive everywhere, but the Peregians are more open about it than most.)


The kitesurfers launched themselves from Sunshine beach, and within minutes were kilometers away at Coolum.












The view south from Caloundra - Glasshouse Mountains and all.