We were both up early this morning, so at 7.00 we showered, and then walked to the bakery nearby, for a devonshire tea breakfast. I had a hot chocolate with my scone, and Kaoru had a coffee. So maybe we just had scones for breakfast. The jam was delicious! And what better way to start the day than with whipped cream! We went back to the motel to pack our bags, and had checked out by 8.20 to start the day. We drove to Mount Ngungun, which was about 5 minutes, and got our hearts pumping with a 40 minute hike.

We sat down and enjoyed the view for a while, before descending back to the carpark. Then it was time to start our return journey. The traffic was much better than on Friday, and we were flying down the freeway for most of the way. We went to the cemetary to visit Donna and Nanna, and then off to have a cuppa with Donna and Molly, who had just gotten back from the BMX world championships.

We returned to Aunty Linda and Uncle Owens, and had some lunch, and then Aunty Linda took us to the airport. We dropped off our bag, got to the gate, and then were informed there was a 20 minute delay. So we were later getting home than expected. A great few days getaway, but now it’s back to work.

We slept a lot better without rain overnight. We got up and went to the Glasshouse Mountains station side for breakfast, where we found a little cafe. We walked out quite full. The sun was shining, so it was a lovely day – ~17 degrees at 8.30. After breakfast we went back and had a shower, ready to see what the day would bring us.

Our first destination was the Glasshouse Mountains Lookout. It was about a 20 minute drive, but took us a bit longer as we were on a roadworks area, so I missed a turn off. The GPS recalculated a route for us, but after 5 minutes of driving it turned in to a dirt road. So we turned back, and eventually made it to the lookout – it was worth the effort!

We did a summit walk at the lookout, which was supposed to be 45 minutes / 800m. We had finished it in about 25 minutes, but it was lovely being in the fresh air. It was warm in the sun, but cool in the shade.

We got back in the car, and stopped at the cafe at “Glass on Glasshouse” for a ginger beer (we were still too full to eat anything), and just sat and relaxed for a while. Then back in the car and off to Mount Beerwah. It seemed like that was more of an experienced climbers hike, but we walked a bit of the way. We stopped, had a rest, and turned back, just before the “Do Not Stop” zone – the reason there was a “Do Not Stop” zone? Because it’s the high risk “rock fall” area. It was an easy enough trail to follow, but quite steep in areas, so we were getting warm and tired.

After we got back to the car, we drove around to Mount Tibberoowuccum, but missed the car park, so we followed the road all the way back to the Steve Irwin highway, and then in to Beerwah. We went to a bakery for a spot of lunch – just a “fully loaded Ham sub”, and a drink. By now I was getting tired, so we went back to the motel and had a snooze, while Kaoru did some reading. There was a lot more traffic on the road!

Once I was rested we walked a few hundred metres up the road from the motel, to look in the “antiques” store nearby. We also bought a milk shake on the way back for 3sies, and sat out in the sun at the motel for a while. We just passed away the rest of the afternoon.

For dinner we drove in to the Glasshouse Tavern. Kaoru had a Prawn Laksa, and I had their rump steak, which was cooked perfectly! Washed down with a CC and dry, it was a great last meal. We returned to the hotel to watch the last few episodes of Rikuou, and enjoyed the chocolate mousse from Melany Cheese. It was delicious!

It was a loud night – almost constant rain. And it was heavy. I reckon I woke up a couple of times every hour. We got up a bit before 8, got dressed, and drove the 5 minutes back to Beerwah for breakfast. We found a cafe that was quite nice. I had a benny with salmon, on hash browns, which was great! I also had a hot macha latte.

We returned to the hotel to do teeth, have a shower and a cup of tea, and plan our day a bit. We hit the road about 11.00, with a very loose plan. We didn’t get very far before making our first photo stop…

We then drove for about 25 minutes for the next stop – according to one page I read, there was supposed to be a big kookaburra at Mons. But we couldn’t find anything there, so continued on to the Big Pineapple instead.

Back on the road, we drove through the Hinterland, stopping to enjoy the scenery where we could.

We had a great lunch at The Barn on Flaxton. Just something small, but it was all we wanted. I had a breakfast quiche (basically egg and bacon pie), and Kaoru had a mini burger. The hot chocolate and coffee with that filled us nicely. The place ran really well, considering the number of people there. Plenty of staff, and all so friendly. Then back on the road, and after another 20 minutes or so of driving, we found our next stop…

We decided on a small tasting platter, but it was too big! So we ended up asking for a takeaway container and took it home with us. Luckily since the weather was so cool, it was all fine! We continued and drove through the town of Maleny, enjoying the scenery around. We turned around and headed back to the hotel, making a turn off to Gardeners Falls. From the carpark it was just a 5 minute stroll to the small falls, which were pretty.

One other scenic stop on the way, where we were able to get a fairly nice view,

and then we finally got back to the motel about 4.30. We enjoyed some cheese and a bit of relax time, before going out to dinner. Despite all the rain today, we have actually been quite lucky. The worst downpours were when we were in the restaurant eating lunch, just after we got in to the car at the big pineapple, and a bit after we got back from driving (before going to dinner). So we haven’t been outside in it at all.

We drove the opposite direction for dinner, and went near the “Glasshouse Mountains Station”, to “Club Glasshouse”. It was the bowls club. A CC and dry for me, and champagne for Kaoru, and a simple counter meal – I had the carbonara, and Kaoru had a curry. $5 off each meal for members (and I’m not sure the savings for drinks), and membership was $5.50. I couldn’t be bothered with it, as I had already paid for the drinks before seeing what the saving was.

After dinner we went back to the hotel and watched a few more episodes of Rikuou. We were too full (probably from all the cheese before dinner) to eat the mousse we had bought – so that will be tomorrow nights dessert.

I hate mornings. Alarms at 5.30 are even worse. After a dinner with Paul and Lyn at the RSL the night before, the early start was not nice. But it had to be done. I decided against driving to the airport though, so we caught an Uber to the airport.

Once we had checked our (small) suitcase in, we went through security. Kaoru had a coffee, but I couldn’t go past a breakfast beer – especially as it was from Warrandyte! So we killed the 45 or so minutes we had, and boarded the plane. Pushed off bang on time – 8.20.

We arrived in Brisbane, got our bags, and then Lachlan picked us up from the airport. Aunty Linda was at Mahjong, and Uncle Owen was at his art class – it was just lucky Lachlan had the week off work and was able to get us. Uncle Owen got home not long after we arrived, and Aunty Linda was another 15 minutes behind. We chatted for a bit, and then it was off to the sushi train for lunch.

We returned to the house, and it started to rain. After a quick check of the air pressure in the tyres, we loaded up, said goodbye and hit the road about 2.30, hoping to be ahead of the traffic. It was a good thought, but no. There were parts of the freeway that we were just crawling on. The 85km drive took us about 2 hours – although we did have a brief toilet stop, and also bought a donut. We found our hotel in the Glasshouse Mountains easily enough, although we didn’t really have views of anything because of all the cloud around. The hotel wasn’t anything flash – especially given we were at Crown Metropol last Friday! But it was roomy enough.

After unpacking a few things, and killing some time, we decided to go for dinner in Beerwah, so drove in to the Beerway Hotel. We hadn’t made a booking, and they put us outside. Luckily there was a heater there, but it was still quite cold. Certainly not what the Sunshine Coast is meant to be! I also had left my jumper in the car, so was able to run out and grab that. We ordered dinner (pizza, and a parma) – pretty average. But at least we were eating – we didn’t really know what we were going to do, or even what there was nearby. We had a chat about house plans.

Back at the hotel, we watched a few episodes of Rikuoh in bed.