You can only have nice weather on a trip for so long. I think after 30 days of nearly perfect weather, it was time for some rain. After Brisbane, we headed up to the “Sunshine Coast”, which we found to be storming half the day.
Day 1
We met our Couchsurfing host Gary on his lunch break to drop off our stuff. From there we went to the beach for about an hour before wind started picking up and blowing sand all over our faces. So, we decided to go to the Glasshouse Mountains. The mountain range is about 20 minutes south of the Sunshine Coast. We had time to climb up to one lookout which looked over the entire rainforest area. The rest of the night was spent cooking and hanging out with our host, who couldn’t have been any better. Really solid guy.
Day 2
We woke up early morning to drive about 45 mins away to a huge market. I was very impressed, I have never seen markets like this before. They had everything! Food, artwork, palm readings, people busking everywhere, kids rides, furniture, plants, jewelry, and so much more. We spent almost two hours just browsing all the different tents. In the afternoon we met up with two other girls from Couchsurfing that Gary invited. We went to a music festival that was free and explored for a bit. I got caught up in a drum circle for a bit. We ended the night at a few pubs then going back to Gary’s house to play pool.
Day 3
We went to Mt. Collum which is the largest mountain right on a beach. We decide to have a picnic up there. The group consisted of Sandra (my Swedish fellow wanderer), Gary (our host), Riho (a guy from Estonia), Hilla (a young lady from Finland) and myself. Upon descending down the mountain, a thunderstorm hit (again). From there, despite the weather, we drove to Noosa.
Noosa was amazing! Very beautiful part of the Sunshine coast. We hiked along in the rain which ended up clearing up about half way through. Upon the hike, we saw whales jumping out of the water. This was a first time for me, as I have never seen this. At one point, about two hundred meters out we saw a whale almost completely coming out of the water. It was absolutely amazing. I’m glad Gary suggested going to Noosa then.
Overall, despite it not being so “sunshine”, I really enjoyed the Sunshine Coast. I think the major part in it was that our host was awesome. Cheers to you Gary!