Friday, 9 October 2026
With only a 45-minute drive to Maroochydore Airport to meet the 10.05am flight from Auckland, we were able to sleep until a bit later this morning. After re-packing the truck we drove down the hill (in a long line of traffic behind a very nervous driver) to Landsborough. Nearing the coast, we picked up Steve Irwin Way before turning onto the Bruce Highway (M1). At Sippy Downs we connected with the Sunshine Motorway (Route 70) for our final approach onto Queensland’s Sunshine Coast. We even had time to pull in to a BP Servo for some diesel, with driveway service no less. That was a surprise.
We were parking at the airport about four minutes later right on 10.00am with Flight Radar indicating that the flight arrived a little early. I was a bit concerned that we would not be at the gate before Robin and Sandra. First we had to find the gate though! With expansion works currently underway, the Arrivals Gate is not where the inbound travellers arrive at the moment. Very confusingly, the inbound passengers arrive through the Departures Gate. Fortunately they had lots of helpers on hand to direct passengers and picker upperers, and we were in position to meet and greet before the New Zealand team came through the gate.
Robin and Sandra towed their suitcases out and it was hugs all round, before we made our way back to the truck. Not being able to access our accommodation in Coolum Beach until 3.00pm this afternoon we offered a few options for filling a few hours. One, we could visit the Queensland Air Museum – Aviation Museum at Caloundra, two, we could visit the SEA LIFE Sunshine Coast Aquarium (swiftly voted down by Sandra) or, three, we could drive up the coast to Noosa. It was decided that we would drive up the coast to Noosa.
It did not take long to drive to Noosa Heads BUT THEN we drove around for an age looking for somewhere to park the truck so that we could take a stroll around the shops and cafés. OMG, it was so overrun with tourists. After driving into a few parking areas ,and striking out each time, we eventually gave up and drove back out of Noosa without setting foot on the ground! We drove south along the coast road to Peregian Beach.
It was so much quieter in Peregian Beach and we managed to find somewhere to park the truck in the first parking area we drove into. Such a relief to have the truck parked so that we could actually have a wander around. After a circuit around the Peregian Shopping Centre we found a table at the Salty Mermaid Café and ordered some lunch.
After a walk over to the beach front to check out the surf, we found we had managed to fill in a couple of hours. We decided to drive down to Coolum Beach and see if we could access the keys a little before the stated 3.00pm arrival time. Success, the cleaners were done and the keys had been placed in the letter box. Using the code supplied for the padlock, Bernie was able to obtain two sets of keys and electronic fobs that will provide access to our apartment, the parking garage and the pool areas. Bernie drove the truck down into the basement where access was, thankfully, not too squeezy.
We lugged our gear up to the apartment and worked out the room allocation amicably. We have the bedroom with walk-in robe and ensuite, Robin and Sandra have the other two bedrooms and bathroom. We each have a little bit of privacy with the kitchen and living area located between the bedroom ‘wings’.
A Coles Supermarket is conveniently situated across the street so we headed over there to purchase some supplies. Totally should have walked BUT we wanted to buy a box of water, a block of Coke and a slab of beer (from Dan’s next to the Coles) so we thought that would all be too much to carry … even over such a short distance. When we arrived back at the apartment we encountered a supermarket trolley in one of the breezeways. Ahem, that’s probably what we should have done, although I’m sure we would have been good enough to take it back to Coles when we were finished with it!!?
With the afternoon getting away, Bernie and I ventured over to the beach for a walk. Today we turned left to walk north along the beach into a stiff breeze. After about 15 minutes into the headwind we reached Stumers Creek and decided to turn around for a wind assisted walk back to Beach Access 72 at the Lions and Norrie Job Park.
We had planned to have dinner at the Coolum Beach Hotel but, unfortunately, it is undergoing a refurbishment and only has its Beach Bar open at the moment, which was not serving meals. We continued walking along David Low Way, soon arriving at Coolum Thai Spice. Thai food for dinner then!
After our Thai meal we walked back to the apartment where it was Game On. I had said to Sandra during the afternoon that we could delay the start until tomorrow night, given that they had been awake since 3.30am NZDST. We wouldn’t want it to be claimed later that we had taken advantage of their jet-lagged state??! Like troopers though, they were keen to start the 2026 Trans-Tasman Bolivia Ashes Tournament tonight. Tcht, so much for the jet lag with the first game going to Robin and Sandra. By a VERY narrow margin I might add. We were both over 15,000 points at the end, so it had to go to the count with NZ just 205 points ahead of Australia. Groan. Bernie took the first win in Jo.
Saturday, 10 October 2026
We had a leisurely start this morning before Bernie drove us up to Eumundi for the Saturday market. We found some street parking with very ambiguous signage. I was concerned that the Saturday half hour restriction might apply to the spot we had pulled into BUT three out of four people agreed that we were to the left of the sign and the ‘2P’ applied. The problem was that the sign was not ON the right hand side of the parking bay, it was sort of in the middle of the parking spot (but more towards the right?), making it very unclear quite where it was that the half our restriction started from?? I hate that.
We spent a pleasant couple of hours strolling around the market stalls. If possible, the market may be even bigger than it was five years ago when we visited in February 2020? We had barely set foot into the market when I was convinced to buy some Hegs Pegs. Apparently they are quite famous having secured backing from one of the entrepreneurs on Shark Tank about eight years ago. I’d never heard of them but the stall holder convinced me to buy three packs for $25.00.
So much jewelry. I resisted all of it! So much pottery and wooden chopping boards. I also managed to resist those offerings. I did, however, buy a couple of linen tops from a stall that I purchased a dress from in 2020. I love the dress so was happy to buy a couple more pieces from that particular stall holder. The only other things we purchased were some berries for breakfast to alternate with the pineapple and kiwis that we bought yesterday.
With the morning warming up, Bernie drove us back down to Coolum Beach to rest and prepare for the next round of the tournament tonight, ha, ha. We headed out to the SG Bakery where we found some bánh mi rolls for lunch. We then walked along the shops on the beach front finding scrumptious ice-creams at Yum Gelato to finish off our lunch.
The rest of the afternoon was spent checking out the pool, reading, napping and catching up on the travel diary. Bernie and I did manage to take ourselves over to the beach for a walk about 5.00pm – this time walking south down past the Surf Club – before we returned to the apartment to enjoy the prawns we purchased on Friday for dinner with some salad.
Tonight we started with a game of Jo, which Bernie won … again. Looking back at last year’s tournament, Bernie did not win a single game of Jo all week, so he’s off to a flying start this year. Moving onto the main event, Bernie and I won the first game of Bolivia to even the scores BUT THEN Robin and Sandra won the next game to take the tally to NZ 2 : OZ 1.
Sunday, 11 October 2026
With rain forecast for later in the week, we decided to head to Australia Zoo today. Bernie drove us to Beerwah where we were able to use our Seniors Cards for a (slightly) discounted entry fee to Australia Zoo. We made our way anti-clockwise around the park starting in the Pink zone where we saw, lizards, otters, tortoises/turtles, crocodiles, dingoes, koalas and a cheeky sulphur-crested cockatoo.
We walked through the Crocoseum and into the Yellow zone featuring Australian birds and animals: grey kangaroos and wallabies, quokkas, echidnas, black-necked storks (jabirus) and the emu enclosure where the emus were invisible/elusive. From the Australian part of Australia Zoo, we passed into the Orange zone featuring Asian and African animals including: elephants, red pandas, tigers, lemurs, cheetahs, zebras, giraffes and rhinos.
From ‘Africa’ we took the shuttle bus back to the Entry/Exit. With the weather looking threatening – so much for rain LATER on the week – we took the chance of walking through the Purple zone featuring wombats, birds of prey (well, ONE wedge-tailed eagle), Grace’s Bird Garden and more kangaroos, wallabies and koalas.
Approaching the Crocoseum we could hear that the Wildlife Warriors Show had started. And … with thunder rumbling, it had also started to spit. Phew, we just made it to the cover of the Crocoseum as the heavens opened. We saw the show when we visited in 2020 so we weren’t all that fussed about seeing it again. While everyone else was occupied at the show, we made our way upstairs where we did not have to queue for food in the Crikey Café. There were tables aplenty to eat at too!
The show was still going when we finished eating, so we headed to the side of the café overlooking the arena where they perform the Wildlife Warrior Show to catch the end. When we arrived I said to Bernie, is that actually Terri and Robert? … or just good lookalikes? Oh, my goodness. It was ACTUALLY Terri, Robert, Bindi and Chandler Powell.
I’m sure there were no Irwins present when we watched the show in 2020 but, perhaps, it was a weekday? I think Terri, Bindi and Chandler are based at the zoo and I guess Robert is around when his television commitments allow him to return to his roots?? Anyway, we did not expect to see the Irwins so that was a surprise. We might have made more effort to get seats in the Crocoseum if we’d known the show was going to feature the park’s owners?
With the worst of the rain past, we took the most direct route to the exit (via the Gift Shop, of course) and then to the truck, to take the drive back down to Coolum Beach. We found the roads near the coast were dry, so the rain was mainly confined to the hills of the Sunshine Coast hinterland.
It was hot this morning while we were ambling around the zoo and there was much talk of swimming when we returned to the apartment. Although it was still dry in Coolum Beach, it had cooled down and, with a breeze blowing, it was now deemed too cool to swim. The rest of afternoon was spent reading, snoozing, photo processing and catching up on the travel diary.
At dinner time we walked along to the Coolum Surf Club at the other end of the main drag (David Low Way). It was unexpectedly busy on a Sunday night when we thought people would have headed home to Brisbane after their seaside weekend! Fortunately we were able to find a table on the verandah on the ocean side of the building and it was mild enough to be seated outdoors this evening.
Back at the apartment it was time to break out the cards. We did not have a good night tonight. Robin won at Jo and NZ won both games of Bolivia giving them a 4:1 lead. I hope our luck turns tomorrow night as we really need to catch up if we are to be competitive. Fingers crossed. Heck, EVERYTHING crossed!
