Glass House Mountains National Park - 10th Jan

Today we were saying goodbye to Mike and Lyn to head south towards Brisbane via the Glass House Mountains National Park where we'd booked a night in an Ecolodge.

The usual route we'd have taken to the highway was blocked by rain so we had to do a detour via Eumundi. Eumundi is reputed to have some of the best markets in Australia however unfortunately it wasn't on today. We decide to stop for our daily latte and flat white before taking a detour to see the 'Giant Pineapple.' The pineapple was built to promote a plantation which you can visit and you can even climb it. Unfortunately it was closed so we missed out on that climbing opportunity.

Looking at the map we decided to head next to Mooloolaba to have a look round as my sister had said it was worth a visit. When we got there we could really see the potential as there were nice beaches, bars and restaurants along the front but it was raining and not really time for lunch so we drove on.

We headed further south to the seaside town of Caloundra where there were a number of different beaches to visit. The first one we went to was Moffat Beach where we stopped to watch some people body boarding. They didn't appear to be having a great deal of success as the waves although large were breaking very quickly.

The next beach a bit further south was Kings Beach where we stopped for lunch. On the way back to the car we saw loads of kite surfers and a windsurfer. They were really skilled and some were using the waves and strong winds to perform acrobatics metres in the air.

Look how high he's jumped

After this we headed to the Glass House Mountains Tourist Drive. Australia Zoo was along this road and upon his death the road had also been named the Steve Irwin Highway. We drove through the Glass House Mountains township heading for the Lookout Point where we could get a good view of the mountains however part of the road was flooded so we had to turn back to the highway and approach using a different route.

The Glass House Mountains contain 9 pinnacles jutting out of a flat plain. They were named by Captain Cook in 1770 who thought their shape and elevation reminded him of the glass furnaces back in Yorkshire. I couldn't quite see it myself. Unfortunately due to the abysmal weather we didn't get a brilliant view but at least we did get to see the mountains. On the way back I suggested going to look at a town called Beerburrum so we followed the signs to it but there was more flooding on the road and rather than risk it we turned back the way we'd come.

The Ecolodge was self-catering and there didn't seem to be many places to eat out so we decided to cook for ourselves. We drove to the supermarket at Beerwah and brought some soup and bread. We were going to Australia Zoo the next day and decided we'd buy breakfast on route.

The lodge offered free wifi in the upstairs lobby so we spent a bit of time catching up on emails. Unfortunately the lobby was an open space and there were a lot of biting mosquitoes about which got a bit annoying but we persevered before heading to bed. 

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