"Come to the Sunshine Coast," they said, "lay on the beach..."

And we did come across last Saturday to Brisbane then drove another hour north to Mooloolaba. That night we met up and had dinner with Lawrence from This Life in Lead blog fame who I hadn't seen since the late-1980s (apart from a brief coffee stop about five years ago). 

The last time we came to the Sunshine Coast was back in 1998 and there is much change. Sunday was a quiet enough day, spent around Mooloolaba, at the aquarium, along the waterfront shops and along the beach.

The surf breaking on the rocks midway along the beach

But Monday, as we headed for Australia Zoo, the heavy rain showers came, but we made it around the zoo without too much discomfort. The zoo was much bigger and far more commercialised than when we were here last time, when Steve Irwin ran the crocodile show himself. The new show in the 'Crocoseum' - a vast auditorium that seats probably 4,000 - was rather corny for me, but the park itself is beautifully laid out with large enclosures for a wide variety of animals. 

By the time we went out for evening drinks the rain had settled in and the wind had really picked up. By Tuesday morning the wind had the palm trees and Norfolk Pines leaning twice as far as the Leaning Tower of Pisa. Undeterred by the weather we headed for the Maleny Botanic Gardens and Bird Park, climbing up through the mist in the costal highlands. It was way too wet to walk through the gardens, but in our ponchos it was perfectly fine to make our way through the four large aviaries that made up the bird park (the fifth one was inaccessible because of flooding). The aviaries contained hundreds of birds of all kinds, a large number of them are rescue birds, and happy to sit on your arm, shoulder or head...the urge to say "aaarrr, me hearty...," was strong.

Lunch at Montville followed, although sadly the whole area was shrouded in mist so the fabulous views we remembered across the hills from our last visit were not to be seen. By the time we made it back to Mooloolaba the rain was heavy and the winds very strong. The sea was whipped up, although the image below does not show just how rough it was.

Wednesday saw us head to the Eumundi Markets, which were rather constrained by the wet weather. We spent about an hour there then headed to Maroochydore for a bit of shopping, then back to the apartment for lunch. The rain had stopped as we head out to the waterfront for an afternoon drink, although the wind is still strong. 

Tomorrow we leave Mooloolaba for a few day in Brisbane. The weather is set to improve next few days.