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.

That time of year

 

It's the time when it's still rather warm during the day, but lovely and cool in the evening.

 

Perfect for evening strolls (or runs) along the beaches. This was Maroochydore Beach, near the Surf Lifesaving Club yesterday.

Evening beach scenes

 

 

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

Rainbow (or is that 'Reddish & Brownish'?) Beach

 

We checked out the coastal settlement of Rainbow Beach the other day. It's named for the alleged rainbow coloured sand dunes in the area, and it's a popular tourist draw. 

 

You turn right at Gympie, and then turn right again somewhere before Tin Can Bay.

I must admit, I found the colours a little underwhelming. Reddish Brownish Beach might be more accurate. There's interesting scenery to explore though.

 

Many of the visitors are here for the for me inexplicable attraction of driving on the beaches. There's a lot of that goes on around here. And a lot of them come to grief doing it, I'm pleased to report!

Crowded Coolum

 

 

 

 

It's New Year's Day, and it's a very crowded Coolum Beach. These tent things, 'beach cabanas' have been making inroads lately. And that's not helping.

Yaroomba: beautiful boardwalks and scary snakes!

 

Yaroomba is the suburb between Mt Coolum and Coolum Beach. It's got a great network of bush tracks through beachside forest, often involving fabulously engineered boardwalks. It's got Clive Palmer's amazing resort too, with fine golf course but no longer with dinosaurs. Enough of Clive though.

 

 

It's also got the Yaroomba Bushland Park, with a lovely little circuit walk through a fine patch of bush. There's a surprise lurking though. Look  at this fellow I came across! It's clearly a Jungle Carpet Python! Could probably swallow me whole!

 

There again, a closer inspection reveals the cracks on his face. He's a wooden Jungle Carpet Python! How disappointing.

Here's Mount Coolum, from one of the Yaroomba boardwalks.

 

And here's the beach

Kite stalking

 

I was stalking this Brahminy Kite today on Warana Beach. In turn, it was stalking a chap who was fishing on the beach. Must be easier than catching your own fish!

Must be school holidays again

 

 

 

The beaches are crowded again. It must be school holidays! This was Cotton Tree at sunset today.

Three more beaches

 

 

The weather's come good this week, and I've explored three more beaches.

 

 

This is Bokarina, or 'Bok' Beach.

A bit further south is Dicky Beach

 

 

 

And way up north, there's Sunshine Beach, with views across four or five other beaches, to Mt Coolum.

The foam that ate Alex!

The usually scenic Alexandra Headland beach has taken on a new look. I think it's to do with the yet-again enormous rainfalls in the hinterland bringing down organic matter, and the wild weather patterns causing it all to get churned up.

Something's up when there's three one-in-a-hundred year weather events in about that many months!

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.

Marcoola twilight market

 

 

 

 

Every Friday evening. And yesterday we even had the full moon rising over the ocean!

Circumnavigating Currimundi Lake

 

I didn't think it was possible when I set out this morning. On previous visits it had looked like the outlet to the sea was going to be permanently under water. But no, today the sea was lower, and the beach was continuous. 

 

 

It's then a pleasant six kilometre stroll around the lake.

 

 

 

I didn't encounter any unexploded ammunition.

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Pincushion Island

 

I went to explore Pincushion Island this morning. It's the pincushion-shaped lump at the mouth of the Maroochy River.

The river used to flow out to sea to its north, but a few years ago it all got rearranged, and now the river flows to the south, and you can usually walk across the sand from the northern dog beach, accessed via Mudjimba.

 

 

Don't know why so many of the area's very best beaches are dog beaches. But they are. Dogs can usually make do with any old beach. They're only interested in each other after all. I was the only person out there today without a dog. It was a bit like being on a nude beach and not being nude!

 

Surf's up again at Alex

 

I often encounter obstacles during my morning beach walks, often in the form of groups of Nippers doing their surf training. This was on a much bigger scale though. The Maroochy Surf Classic was on at Alex Beach. I was run over by a competitive group of lifesavers charging into the water around me. I then gave them a wider berth.

Broken Bribie

The northern end of Bribie Island is long and thin, but provided continuous shelter for the beaches south from Caloundra. 

Until a week or two ago it did anyway. The fierce weather caused by the wayward tropical cyclone Seth punched a hole through the island, presumably permanent, and now there are two Bribie Islands! This is the view of the opening, from Golden Beach, just south of Caloundra.

 

 

 

These people are walking on the sand bank which I take to be the remnants of the broken bit of Bribie.