Sunshine Coast and Beyond

Heading off late Monday afternoon we decide to make our first stop at Noosa at the top of the sunshine coast. Noosa is supposedly a rich persons playground and it is certainly very picturesque. A close-up of some pelicans feeding is the highlight of our evening but we soon turn in with the prospect of an early start and some serious mile munching to do the next day.

Travelling up the Bruce Highway, aka HWY1, its easy to forget that this is the main “motorway” in Australia. The majority of it is single carriageway with barely any traffic coming in either direction, except for the colossal trucks that can come thundering up behind you and in some instances try to intimidate you off the road by driving up close behind and sounding their horns. Undeterred we pootled along in our little camper and by late afternoon we were up at Gladstone. According to the lonely planet guide most of the scenic places to camp in the area were over at the coast which would mean a 60 mile round trip out of the way so we settle for a campsite on the edge of one of the small towns that we are passing though. Described as basic in the guide we’re pleasantly surprised to find it equipped with clean modern washrooms, a swimming pool and communal bbq area, just the job and it gives us the headstart we need to get on to Airlie beach in the morning.