Sun Seekers

We scooted our way up north a little quicker than originally planned in anticipation of HEAT. We couldn’t go tooo far too fast though because by June 27th we were scheduled to be back down to the Gold Coast to meet LANCE & NAT (our kiwi buds) for one whole divine week of fun before shooting straight up to Cairns.

Our search for heat has been a largely failed mission, but we can’t complain. Between rain bursts we've had plenty of sun...just none of the hot stuff.

The Sunshine Coast was our next stop. We went for long walks along three different beaches and enjoyed the sand between our toes and the pleasant views.

One of the beaches was another “clothing optional” beach.

Me thinking, “WHERE ARE ALL THE NAKED PEOPLE?!” heh heh.

On Sunday we went to Coolum Beach Baptist Church where we were given an ENORMOUSLY warm welcome and met some fine Australian folks. This was definitely a highlight. As I’ve mentioned before, the best part about traveling in NZ was getting to know the PEOPLE. It was nice to hunker down for more than 5 minutes and get to know some great Aussies. (PS- Mom & Dad, we invited people to stay at your house… Mom & my dream of running a B&B just for Kiwis and Aussies could come true!)

After church, we fled further north to Rainbow Beach in hope of experiencing some of that famous Australian SUN. The HOT sun.

We didn’t.

It was nice on the afternoon that we arrived, so we visited the sand blow. That was a LOT of sand… not as much as Fraser Island has though!

Fraser Island can be seen from Rainbow Beach. It’s the world’s largest sand island. It is said that eventually all of Australia’s sand will end up on Fraser Island. Well, surprise surprise, the weather turned gross, so we snapped a soggy picture of the island then fled further north as fast as Lucy could take us.

And guess what? WE FOUND HEAT! We had less than 2 days to enjoy it before we had to head back south to Brisbane & the Gold Coast, but WE FELT THE HOT SUN! And we sooooaaaaaaked it uuuuuuup.

We also ate BEEF because Rockhampton is famous for it, and has giant bull and cow statues sprinkled throughout the city.

We clothed ourselves in our summery duds and perused the Botanic Gardens.

These (FREE) gardens included a zoo, so we got a glimpse at some more kiwi animals. We plan on taking a gooood gander at Steve Irwin’s “Australia Zoo” next week, so I’m SURE we’ll have plenty more pictures of some authentically adorable Australian creatures. But here y'are for now...

Crocs...


Dingos...

("I think a dingo ate my baby")

Wallabies...


Koalas (sleepy koalas)...

The gardens included a section of tropical fruits which we were free to try. Not many were in season, but we tasted a couple.

Lowell reached high and proudly grabbed a "purple star apple"(which were neither purple nor star-like)...

Perhaps it wasn't ready for human consumption yet, but it was grooossssss...

It looked like it had been injected with curdled milk... and it tasted worse.

The candlestick-like fruit was also fairly odd...

It wasn't gross or anything though. It had the texture of celery, and tasted like a cross between a banana and a pineapple... with some weirdness tossed in.

Lowell was rather delighted when he spotted the cacti section of the gardens...

...and he felt like it was time to do another jumping shot.

He avoided the jumping shots in Thailand because we didn't trust the health care.

Before we sign off for the day, here's a shot we took special for Julie Anne who loves old buildings. We took this photo as we cruised south-bound to the Gold Coast to meet up with Lance & Natty! We were only sorry that JAJ wasn't there to see it with us in person;)