This week we leave Hervey Bay to explore some fancy houses on a sunset cruise around Noosaville. We stretch our legs with longer hikes and Botanical gardens and unexpectedly found a squeaky beach at Byron Bay! A few big things such as a Pineapple and a Prawn give us photo opportunities, as well as a miniature Holland! Finally, we make it to Laurieton where we manage to dodge some hungry pelicans on a run to the break wall.
Cruising the Mansions
On our way out of Hervey Bay we visited an outdoor art gallery with all sorts of colorful sea creatures, murals, and this giant whale sculpture, mid breech! There was another whale tail at a roundabout.
On our way we finally saw a few new questions for the trivia. We missed getting pictures of a few of the questions so maybe you can try and figure out the questions for a few of these answers!
Most of the drive was uneventful but we were ready for lunch when we got into the edge of Noosaville. Mr. Wander found a brewery that had delicious burgers and a fun way to present cheese sticks! They had an amazing ginger beer we both loved and had talked about taking some with us to go but decided we might come back later.
There was a cool summit walk on the edge of the city that said it was a 45 minute hike but I think it only took us about 20 minutes round trip from the parking lot. It was common to see these trail times overestimated, but perhaps it’s best people are prepared with enough water or it takes shorter, compared to the other way around.
That evening we were staying at the Royal Mail Hotel, which had some fun pictures showing what it looked like “back in the day”, but it had been nicely renovated, if the rooms were quite small. There also was a restaurant and a few beer gardens. The first night we decided to go get some Thai for takeout and picked up groceries for the breakfast the following morning.
The following morning we wanted to hike in the National Park but we could not find any parking! People were circling (along with us) for awhile so we instead decided to visit the Botanical Gardens instead.
There were some fun flowers and a unique pillar with stairs chiseled through it, reminding of us Escher’s Relativity (aka Crazy Stairs), except it wasn’t an illusion. We went back to the hotel to stay cool during the heat of the day until it was time to get ready for our sunset cruise. Of course we had to pick up some ginger beer since it was BYOB.
We were able to walk to the pier from our hotel and explored the surrounding shops until we saw our boat arrive. Only a few couples boarded here and we had a quiet 20 or so minutes until the next few stops to pick up the rest of the group. There was even a bachelorette party (or hen night in Australia) aboard, but they stayed on the roof which kept it quieter below.
Our captain and guide shared a few stories and even how they moved the river “as one does” for the sake of having very expensive real estate! he took us into the canals along these fancy homes, most of which sit empty all but a few weeks a year as the owners live in places like Melbourne or Sydney most of the time and just come for the holidays.
After we reversed course, dropped everyone off and returned to the pier, it was a lovely cool walk in the dark to our hotel. We opted to have dinner there and were able to catch some of the Olympics. As we were halfway through the meal, these two girls walked by our table and was so sweet and complimented me on my dress and how it brought out my eyes. Then they started nearly reprimanding Mr. Wander making sure he was giving me compliments. They were really sweet, and such a funny interaction, but I’d be wrong if it didn’t make me feel good. I have noticed in general Australians are so nice, I had never hiked anywhere and found so many people that go out of their way to say hello to you, I assume now that any who didn’t say hi were probably not locals.
A Sneaky Squeaky Beach
The following morning we realized we had a short window to be able to check into the next hotel and it was a 3 hour drive away with a few sights along the way. The first of which is another big fruit, a Pineapple! This one was a bit commercialized as you could pay to go up inside, tour the pineapple farm, or ride a mini train mostly meant for kids. We just stopped for a quick photo and bathroom break and continued on our way.
Our next stop was Botanical Gardens on the west side of Brisbane, another of Australia’s largest cities (third if you’re curious). When Mr. Wander found some suggested road trips many have you stop in this area between Sunshine Coast, Gold Coast, and Brisbane but we’re not that big into cities or just hanging out on beaches so we decided to skip that section, but I am a sucker for a good botanical gardens. We even managed to find one critter, thankfully this is the only time we saw a spider like this, it was on a web stretching across the trail more than 7 feet in the air. A bit unnerving, glad I saw it both before and after I walked under the web! Warning for any not liking spiders, it’s halfway down this gallery and it’s a mostly blue photo.
This gardens even had a bonsai section which was really fun. These have really started to interest me, perhaps I will try to grow my own someday.
We said farewell to the bonsais and drove up the hill to a summit overlook, where there was a fancy restaurant tempting me with ice cream. We resisted the treat but were still rewarded with a lovely view overlooking Brisbane.
Byron bay was another two hours away so we made the rest of the way directly to make sure we could check in on time. The last picture above is this giant lighted sign that spells out “Gold Coast” in lights, a bit hard to make out during the day and still not the easiest for those driving by as it runs parallel to the motorway. Once situated we headed into the town on our way to dinner by foot, taking a bit of the scenic route. Walking on Byron Beach we were surprised to find this was a squeaky beach! There was nothing on maps to let you know this beach squeaked, but as we skipped that other named squeaky beach down near Melbourne, I am glad we found this one! Turn on your sound for this next video:
Crazy right? Sounds like wearing sneakers on a freshly mopped floor, but this works even barefoot! For this to work the sand must be rich in quartz, nicely rounded into very small pieces, and quite dry for the pressure and friction from walking to make the sand “squeak”. When trying to learn how this works I learned this is common in western Michigan on Lake Michigan.
A mile later and we made it to the Treehouse for dinner, which had a fun vibe. I’m glad we came early though as it was getting busy and many had reservations or had to wait. We were a bit outside where a Turkey started to come close once our delicious pizza arrived, but don’t worry, we didn’t let him get any. In the morning we headed out for a 5 mile hike around Byron Bay Lighthouse.
You could park closer but we decided to leave right from our hotel instead of finding additional parking. There was plenty of up and down but once we got to the north side of the peninsula we could watch several surfers enjoying the waves. Near one of the parking lots for the loop trail there was a little cafe where we could refuel with iced caffeinated beverages, pastries, and an amazing fruit and yogurt parfait! It had passion fruit, berries, melons, papaya, and an amazing granola.
We spent the rest of the day hiding from the hot weather and resting from the long hike. For dinner we picked up some food from the downtown area just from a local fast food chain, but I enjoyed the unique tiled mosaics in the sidewalk of colorful shells.
Dodging Pelicans
Another long drive awaited us to get from Byron Bay to Laurieton, but we didn’t have quite the same checkin restrictions so we were able to make a few stops to stretch the legs. About an hour in Mr. Wander had us stop at this headlands coastal walk for a short hike that was anything but flat.
While driving we often saw different warnings for animals that cross the road in the form of yellow signs like we’d see for deer in Minnesota. There must be a larger population of koalas in this one region since they not only had a bunch of signs but paint on the road warning you it was the “koala zone”. Mr. Wander tried to see them in the trees but they can camouflage fairly well.
In a town on our way we took a slight detour so we could take a selfie with the Worlds Largest Artificial Prawn that was located next to a Bunnings parking lot – which is their home renovation warehouse stores.
Some people seemed amused we were taking a picture with it but as usual with Australians is they were all so nice. There was another quick hike to stretch the legs and we actually saw dolphins!
Mr. Wander found a surprise for me, Holland Down Under! It is a little miniature recreation of different cities around the Netherlands and they even had one train and a few other automated features. It was fun to see places we’ve been to in our trips there over the last few years but we need to check out more of the cities.
A sign in the gift shop explained that the models were built on-site from fibreglass and every brick and tile moulded, trimmed, and glued by hand – individually! The larger models can take 50,000 pieces and up to 9 months, and the craziest part was there wasn’t a required payment for visiting, just donations! Five hours and several stops into our day we finally made it to our resting point, Laurieton. Creamy pesto with Gnocchi was calling our name for dinner and then we turned in for the night. In the morning since we had another day without driving, Mr. Wander walked with his camera and I decided to run to the end of the breakwall just across from Camden Head.
Partway back we found a little cafe to get some smoothies, ham and cheese toasties, and scones with cream and jam for dessert. Yum! We found more pelicans on the way back and Mr. Wander shared that when he was coming through before, they had congregated as a fishing boat returned, hoping to get some of the parts after the fish were cleaned. It’s easy to forget just how big these creatures are until you get close. In the wooded area that must regularly fill with water on one side of the trail when the tide comes in, had many little holes. Mr. Wander caught some movement and we realized there were crabs in those holes! He got a few of their legs sticking out of the holes.
This time we had completed six miles of running and walking and were ready for a shower and to relax in some A/C!
Next Time
The following morning we head into the Hunter Valley, one of the well known wine regions of Australia and do a little detective work to identify the varietal and vintage! Then we cool off in the Blue mountains with the three sisters and play a game of city-wide hide and seek across Sydney. How long will it take for me to find Mr. Wander? Check back next time to find out! Cheers!
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