YANDINA AND THEN A COASTAL DRIVE....

 Are friends are staying an extra day so today we decided to take a drive back out to the Ginger Factory at Yandina.  My third visit in four months... Previously it has been over 20 years since I have been here, so it is now one of my favourite spots to bring visitors.

Ian and Kathy haven't been here for quite a few years also, so they were happy enough to pay another visit here.  We didn't bother packing morning tea this morning as our plan was to try out the very yummy ginger scones at the Factory for morning tea.  I think their morning tea menu is a lot nicer than their lunch menu...

Another visit it the Ginger Factory...

Yummy morning tea at the Ginger Factory..

Ginger scones with ginger marmalade and cream

 

We didn't spend as much time in the gift shops this visit but rather, we wandered around the gardens to check out all the beautiful ginger plants.  We didn't want to spend too much time here as we wanted to visit Eumundi and the Noosaville area...

At this time of year the gardens are just stunning with so many of the ginger plants flowering.  They are really a beautiful and unique sort of plant and I love them all. 

The fern below is one of my favourites and I would love to know what it is.  It is one I wouldn't mind planting in my own garden.  The patterning of the leaves are so vibrant and the underside of the leaf so purple....

Abolutely love this fern...

These ginger flowers are just stunning...

Absolutely love these bee hive flowers also...

The lagoon area was also lovely to wander around,  there are so many large fish and turtles in the water here and it was quite relaxing to just sit and watch them all at play.

 

This visit, Steve spent some time checking out the honey side of the Factory.  They did shows daily to how you the production side of keeping bees and collecting the honey, but we were not that interested in paying to see it as Steve pretty much knows most things about keeping bees as he has kept them now for over 40 years.

He was interested however, in all the different sorts and flavours of honey they had in stock along with a  lot of the bee products they were selling...

They had lots of other ginger products and sweets on sale in the shop there also.    We were pretty good this visit and didn't really indulge as we had spent a bit on our last visit there...

Buckets of fairy floss

Lovely ginger gift packs

Bee magnets..

They had lots of small souvenirs also,  We thought Max would have loved the cockatoo key-rings since he is obsessed with the jolly cockatoo.

We left the Ginger Factory some time after 11.30am to head towards Noosaville where we planned to have a picnic lunch on the river bank.  

I have been wanting to check out Eumundie as I have read about the large amount of street art that is around this small community.  Even the famous John Murray has some of his impressive works there.

The plan was to park in town and take a good walk around town to check it all out, but we had forgotten about the mid week markets that are held in Eumundi and when we arrived, there wasn't a car park to be found for miles and the markets were in full swing.    There was no way we wanted to out amongst so many people, so rather than walk around town we drove around and spotted some of the art works.  The rest we will just have to revisit at some other time.  Next time though, we will make sure that we visit on non market day...

 

Eumundi is really like no other place on earth, nestled in amongst the Noosa Hinterland, the town boasts beautiful natural scenery of trees, rolling hills, historical charm, community spirit and a focus on meaningful experiences that become part of who the town is...

 

The town thrives each week with unique destinations shopping experiences, live music, performing arts, mesmerising bush walks, farmgate tours and most importantly the people who live and work there, their stories, their sense of humour and a fierce community pride. 

The town is situated roughly around 20 minutes from Noosa and 30 minutes from Mooloolaba, so really not that far away for us to visit again sometime soon.

 

Some of the impressive art work around town.... this one was done by John Murray...

The Eumundi Markets are pretty famous markets around here and we will visit again one day but not at the moment when COVID is rife in Queensland...

 

The Eumundi Markets is one of the largest and most popular markets on the Sunshine Coast and possibly in the whole of Australia.  They have a large range of products from talented local creatives, as well as a diverse range of food and drinks, massage stalls and live music and entertainment....

It's humble beginnings began back in the late 1970's.  In the 1970s Eumundi was home to a plethora of artisans and crafts people and in 1979, a local ceramic artist named Christa Barton, along with her friend Gail Perry-Somers had the excellent idea to hold a European-style "artisans and farmers" market.  They hoped to create a retail base for local farmers and locally crafted items, which could also help young people who were out of work to develop skills in food preparation and handicrafts.  

The first Eumundi Market took place on 24th March in 1979 at the CWA Hall. Whilst today the Eumundi Market hosts 600 stallholders and thousands of guests, the first market had just three stalls plus refreshments, and eight guests, making a turnover of $30.

Over time the markets grew, and in it's first year of operation, it gained a reputation as a source of freshness, variety, energy and friendliness, that it is still known for today.  Furthermore, the ‘locally made’ policy that is still in place today was created by the original founders and the market’s supporting body, the Eumundi Historical Foundation.

By 1985, the market had progressed from just three stalls to 97, and it had become extremely popular amongst the locals, with attendance estimated at 143,000 visitors per year. Fast forward to 1990, and it had grown to host 203 stalls welcoming 260,000 annual visitors. During the late 1980s and early 1990s, the market began to gain more interest from tourists, and those living further afield, as well as the locals who had loved it from the outset. Many city-dwellers began to enjoy the day trip from Brisbane for the sole purpose of indulging in retail therapy at the Eumundi Markets.

When the year 2000 rolled around, the market had 350 stalls, and due to increasing popularity, it was expanded to run on Wednesdays as well as Saturdays in 2002. Over the years, two more markets emerged on Wednesdays and Saturdays adjacent to the Original Eumundi Markets. This made the Eumundi Markets Australia’s largest arts and craft market, with over 600 stalls and 1.6 million annual visitors from the Sunshine Coast, the rest of Australia, and around the world.

From Eumundi, we headed down to Tewantin to have a good look around... and then we drive around to Noosaville where we found a fish and chip shop (Holy Mackerel) on the Esplanade.  We ordered our lunch from there and then headed across the road into the parkland on the river bank to find a picnic table to have our lunch.

Ian found us a nice spot under a shady tree and we had a good view of the river and the boating craft that we enjoying being out on the water on such a beautiful day.

Great service from this local shop...

We shared our lunch on the river bank...

Views from our picnic table

Us...

Kathy and Ian...

After our lunch we went for a stroll along the path along the river bank and came across the Big Pelican..

 

The Big Pelican is one of Australia's big things and is a popular tourist attraction on the Sunshine Coast.  It is located on the foreshore right amidst shady parklands along the Noosa River in Noosaville  and is a favourite haunt of many real pelicans.  It is also a popular spot for families to visit and take photos just as we did and also enjoy the surrounds and atmosphere along the river bank...

The Big Pelican was first built back in 1977 as a float for the Festival of the Waters Parade.  The Noosa Council selected the pelican bird structure because it was the emblem of the council.  The pelican float could flap it's wings, turn it's head, move it's beaks and blink it's eyes.  The movements were controlled by two people operating pulleys, cables and levers located inside the oversized pelican sculpture.

Initialy, the big pelican was constructed with materials that were not so durable and water-resistant.  It's body was made of a metal frame and a box trailer.  The frame on the other hand was covered in chicken mesh and paper mache. 

The pelican float's reconstruction included a steel frame and fiberglass covering, restoring the bird's shine and mobility.  The structure now sits in a small, enclosed garden donated by Rotary Noosa Heads Club.  After the refurbishing, the Big Pelican was re-opened on October 13, 2007, under the Pelican Boat Hire's management and help from the Rotary Club.

With the Noosa River winding through its heart, Noosaville is a laidback holiday spot with gorgeous water views, shady trees and picnic spots which stretches for a good 2kms along grassy foreshore.  There is a hive of activity happening here, with lots, of tour operations, picnic tables and children's playgrounds and we even came across a boat library where you could help yourself to books for the local community.

Restaurants, boutiques and cafes along Gympie Terrace overlook the river and are close to a great range of family-friendly holiday accommodation and river hire businesses. 

Noosa River

We had a lovely wander along the riverbank as we headed back to the car.  We could have spent a lot longer here but as it was already after 3pm, decided that it was time to move on as we really wanted to take a drive through Noosa itself....

We headed off towards Noosa, but the traffic was so bottle necked there that in the end, we decided to abandon our plans to drive down Hasting Streets, and just try and get back onto the coastal road to head home.  

We had to go the long way round to get back onto the coastal road, but it was worth the drive as we covered some pretty scenic territory which we hadn't seen before...

 

As we came into Sunshine Beach, we decided to show Ian and Kathy where we had our family holiday at Breezes.  It was such a special holiday for us all that it will forever hold lots of happy memories...

 

From drove them down part the shops we used to frequent and onto the beach at Sunshine Beach.  It was such a beautiful day that we got out of the car and decided to take a walk down onto the beach....

 

This beautiful village is set beneath a canopy og freen trees and pandanus palms.  The beach starts on the souther side of the Noosa National Park Headland, about a five minute drive from Noosa Heads.  There is a two an a half hour walk around the headland from Noosa Heads to Sunshine Beach for the energetic and from those that have done it, the word is the views are stunning.

Stairs leading down onto Sunshine Beach...

Stunning views of Sunshine Beach...

There are an awful lots of stairs leading down onto the beach...

Sunshine Beach forms the northern end of a 15 km long stretch of open beaches with surf breaks and plenty of white sand that runs almost due south to Sunrise, Marcus and Peregian Beaches and on to Coolum Beach at the southern end.  It really is the ideal beach for long walks and even bike rides...

Enjoying the views at Sunshine Beach...

Steve down on the beach at Sunshine Beach...

Windswept Trees at Sunshine Beach..

Steve got some pretty interesting shots of  a storm drain half way up the hill that was delivering water back to the ocean.  The area around it was covered in moss and was quite pretty.  There were also some pretty interesting houses perched up on the sides of the cliff...

After leaving Sunshine Beach, we drove on through to Perrigian Beach.  Steve decided to stop off here for a few minutes to see if he could find the Garreth Kelly's shop.  One of his colleagues at The Grammar School's has recently relocated down to this area and his son owns a shop at the Perrigian Village and Steve though he would try and find it and see if he could get Arthur's contact details....

Although he went into several stops, no one seemed to know of Garreth and so we were unable to locate him.  It was unfortunate but Steve did manage to look up his details when we got home  so we will revisit again in the not to distant future...

 

From here it was on through to Coolum where we had a bit of an incident driving into town.  There was a big cherry picker traveling in front of us that kept knocking the branches of the trees overhead.  Steve  didn't want to follow to closely behind it as he was concerned that it would knock one of those large branches off one of the trees and it might fall on our car.  It is a good thing that he pulled back as the next thing we know, a HUGE branch breaks off one of the trees and fell onto the road in front of us.  We would hate to think of what damage it would have done to our car if it had hit it.  

 

We arrived back home after 5pm.  It's been a huge day out but a great one.  We have really enjoyed having Ian and Kathy come to visit.  We always have a great time when we all get together...