Pottsville/Tweed Coast & Hastings Point

Here are some pictures from the trip to the tweed coast - a nine mile stretch of beach! As well as Hastings Point, where I found some great shells to add to my collection!

 

 

 

 

 

 

This is Hastings Point

So many shells, so little time!  These shells were trapped in the rocks that I'm standing on in the picture above.  the waves would wash in, and the shells would get trapped in amongst the rocks, so you would have a few minutes to pick out some shells, before a wave would rush in and fill up the crevices where the shells were!

 

 

 

 

Glass House Mountain, Eumundi Market & Coolum beach!!

Here are some pictures from a road trip that Abby took me on to the Eumundi Markets in Noosa, which is one of the largest markets in Queensland.  It had a great mix of homemade arts & crafts, food, and live entertainment!  On the way there, we saw the Glass Mountains.  Then afterwards we went to Coolum beach and got some great pictures of the surfers!

Behind me is the Glass House Mountains (about an hour north of Brisbane).  They're supposed to have some amazing panoramic views!

Saw this at a Christmas store in Eumundi; you know you're in Australia when!!!

Plants for sale at the Eumundi Market - the ones hanging attract bugs in the pods hanging down and then eat them! Yikes!

 

 

Lots of homemade goodies

This man was outside another part of the market, trying to attract customers!!

Surfers at Coolum Beach. Abby let me use her zoom lens which helped me get these shots!

 

The entrance to this beach reminded James and I of Sandbanks

Bugs and Other Stuff

Large beatle I found in a plant pot at work!

The famous "cane toad"

Condensed milk in a tube, never thought of that type of packaging!

Not sure, but I think this might be a huntsman spider, supposed to be harmless!!

The shopping centre near us

Golden orb spider.  Don't get me wrong, I'm morbidly afraid of spiders, but I seem to have an obsessive part of me that wants to document them when I have my camera handy!

The infamous gumtree, very common here, but I can't get used to how massive they are!

A trail near our apartment!

Springbrook & Fingal Heads

During the first week of March, Abby kindly invited me on a road trip.  We ended up at Springbook National park, and then later at Fingal Heads (which is across the state border in the state of New South Wales and also an hour ahead, because they have daylight savings time!)  It was great fun, and it was definitely the beginning of my appreciation for the beauty and vastness of Australia.  Here are some pictures from our trip!  I have to say, they don’t really do it justice!

Springbrook National Park

One of the many waterfalls at Springbrook park

 

 

Same waterfall from the other side!

 

 

Some of the trees were so enormous!!

Not quite sure what this is exactly, my best guess is a "skink" or a "land mullet" (no I didn't make up that name ha ha!)

 

Taking down the sign for the local cafe to get a shot of me beside the kangaroo sign!

 

I've seen my share of spider webs here, and let me tell you they are much stronger here than our wimpy Canadian webs - when you walk through them they don't break they stretch!

Abby and I at one of the lookouts

 

Fingal Heads

Fingal Heads facing north - the Gold Coast is behind me!

This is facing out - a cool island!

This is facing south

Facing south once again - the beach was basically empty except for us!

Like a postcard!

Poor James had to stay home and study!