That time of year

It's that time of year when the summer heat has gone, but the sunshine's still here. Temperatures are ranging from mid-teens overnight to mid-twenties by day. That's pretty well perfect. 

And most of the tourists have gone home!

 

Here's what it looked like on Mooloolaba Beach today.

Line of duty

 

 

 

Mooloolaba beach the other afternoon

Mooloolaba's triathletes

I watched some  of the Mooloolaba Triathlon events last Sunday. In the main one, competitors start with a 1.5km ocean swim. Then it's a 20km cycle ride, and they finish with a 10km run. There's people coming and going from all directions, so as ever I wasn't sure what was going on, but these were some of the leaders.

 

The fastest of the men did it all in 1hr, 46min, 45sec. The fastest woman did 2hr, 3 min, 6 sec. 

 

I'm thinking I'll let all these people race against each other for another year or two, before I launch myself into this sport, and thus take them by surprise!

 

A few action videos:

Evening beach scenes

 

 

The view to the west from Mooloolaba Spit beach this evening.

State Surf Lifesaving championships

 

The seniors events were held right here in Mooloolaba this last weekend. And what a spectacle!

I was rarely quite sure what was going on, but it was energetic, exciting, and clearly a big deal!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

A few action videos below!

Mooloolah River from Point Cartright walkway

 

 

 

 

 

Evening low tide, looking through the heads towards Maroochydore.

And a real rescue!

 

I watched a real surf rescue at Mooloolaba beach. A swimmer had been swept out further than she was comfortable with. 

 

None of that historic rope ceremony stuff at all, of course. A very fast surf rescue boat, a surfboard and lots of loudspeaker announcements all featured though.

Mooloolaba sunset

 

Choice Coastal Cafes #4: Medinah Lebanese Street Food

 

 

This was quite a surprise. It's in the (surprisingly pleasant) shopping strip of Brisbane Rd, Mooloolaba, ie the non-touristy part of Mooloolaba. As well as very drinkable coffee, they were serving, as advertised, delicious Lebanese ...... street food!

La Balsa - a park with a story

On the Buddina side of the Mooloolah River is a lovely little park whose name commemorates a great adventure.

In 1970 a crew of Ecuadorian expeditioners landed near here, after completing the then world's longest raft journey. They had sailed 13,700km on their balsa wood vessel, La Balsa, to highlight the likelihood of such journeys across the Pacific taking place also many centuries ago. They arrived here after 161 days, and thereby doubled the distance covered by Thor Heyerdahl's Kon Tiki in 1947.

More here, courtesy the Sunshine Coast Council: La Balsa arrival story

Loo with a view

 

 

The loo is actually down below the viewing deck.

Here's the view:  Mooloolaba Beach, and perfect weather again at last.

Mooloolaba's amphibious Aquaduck!

We were exploring the Mooloolaba Wharf area yesterday, enjoying the beaches, the cafes, the general ambience.

One of our members was hankering after a boat ride, and when not dwelling on that, she was talking bus rides. What to do to entertain her?

What indeed! Along came this amphibious boat/bus thing, going by the name of 'Reggie' for some reason. Problem solved.

Reggie drove us around Mooloolaba for a while, and then plunged straight into the river, and the associated artificial canal system.

He/she took us on a tour of the canal side multimillion dollar mansions of some of the rich and famous who call Minyama Island home, like Australia Zoo's Irwin family, for example, and their 'Crocs Rule' research ship.