Mooloolaba Harbor

Anchored Mooloolaba Harbor,
Queensland, Australia
26'41.1S/153'07.2E

Mooloolaba, Sunshine Coast, Australia, another of my favorite stops. I've decided, and I'm not looking for a fight here, but I'm a big fan of Queensland over New South Whales. I mean with names like "Gold Coast" and "Sunshine Coast" how could you not love a place like that?

We arrived in Mooloolaba on Wednesday, the 4th of April, early in the morning, actually ahead of schedule. We left the Gold Coast Tuesday afternoon. We were expecting a twelve hour sail against a current. Instead, there was no current, and were able to sail the whole way, making 7 knots most of the time. And, we had a beautiful full moon to boot.

We dropped the anchor in front of several million-dollar homes. I'm sure they don't appreciate us showering in the cockpit of Sandpiper in their backyards. We were hoping someone might invite us to Easter lunch, but no such luck.

Since here, we've boogie boarded the surf a few times. But it seems most of our time has been spent on the bus system. You see, Tom remembered, from last time we were here, that there is a large BWS (Beer, Wine and Spirits) store where they have our favorite wine for only $2 a bottle. Our big plan was to stock up the Sandpiper with lots of cheap wine.

When we finally arrived at the store location, all that we found was a giant hole in the earth where the store used to be. It seems it was recently torn down, and the nearest large BWS store was going to be a bus ride away into the suburb of Buderim. So we tried the bus to Buderim, but the one we got on went to the opposite end of town from where we needed to be.

After an hour and half on the bus with no wine, I had enough, and it was time to end the search for the day. We tried our luck again this Saturday, finally made it to the right part of town, found the store, and bought 5 cases of cheap Chardonnay. Once we made it back to the boat Tom found space for all that wine while I went to the store for dinner fixings. The kicker to this story is that right next to the grocery store, which is walking distance from the boat, is a BWS with more than enough $2 wine. It was all like an episode of 'Seinfeld'.

Today, Easter Sunday, we again took to the buses and ventured to the town of Noosa. Noosa reminded us a lot of Carmel (California), a real cute, small, upscale beach community. We had a lovely Easter lunch, walked the beach, and bought a rare shell at the market.

We plan on leaving tomorrow afternoon for a ten hour sail to the Sandy Straights. We are hoping to ride the flood tide of Wide Bay Bar, and an overnight stop in the middle of the Straights.

Hope all have a happy Easter!

Cheers,
Amy and Tom