Weekend roadtrip to Sunshine Coast

As I have mentioned in my previous post, I had a weekend getaway to the Sunshine Coast with 15 other friends. We started our road trip by gathering at our place at 6:30am onwards on a fresh and cold Saturday morning. We had rented 2 vans for the weekend road trip, with Rahmat and me driving, and Sa'dy, Krl, YJ and Shing being the navigators. This was our first time actually driving on the Australian roads and I have to say that it was very exciting, haha. We have lived here in Brisbane for over 2 years now, but we havent really done much exploration on our own, thus we decided to embark on the adventure which we made plans for, a month in advance. This was also my first time going to the Sunshine Coast and like my peers, we don't really know what to expect once we reached there. True that we have done our research early but you just never know, hehe..

One of the vans :)

So once the 2 vans have been loaded up with our backpacks and overnight bags, we were on our way at 7am. We stopped first at Acai's to buy some lollies and withdraw some money. Then we continue on our journey. I had to get used to drive the van, though I have to say that the van was very smooth running, hehe. Yunyun, Syimsyim, Nabnab, Sady, Hazzie, Fathmee, Farah and I were in the same van while Shing, Rahmat, YJ, Pei, Val, Krl, Fizah and Fitri in the other van. The drive was rather uneventful, we sang some songs on the way, went on the wrong road a few times (haha), but siuk lah jua. Rahmat was on the lead. We stayed mainly on the Bruce Highway to the coast, saw a few signs for wild kangaroo sightings on the side of the road, dry stretch of tall trees, bluish green rivers and passed a few towns/suburbs. Though we have to be careful since we saw a few signs indicating that speed cameras were in use in some areas. We eventually reached our first destination, which is in Eumundi at 9++ am. We parked at the designated parking area at the Eumundi Markets. As mentioned in the website, the Eumundi Markets is one of the famous tourist attractions in Queensland. There were about 600 stalls ranging from lifestyle to arts and crafts. Our first stop once we reached the Market was the toilets! More than 2 hours on the road does that on your bladder, haha. We have to be on the look out as well since we spotted a few dogs on the path between the stalls, haha, berijap kami ah, hehe. There were a lot of visitors at that time, and an elderly man was kind enough to offer to take a group photo of us in front of the Eumundi Market sign board.. Ketara kami macam tourist atu, haha.. :)

Group photo at the Eumundi Market

A small section of the market

We stayed there for an hour and a half before heading to the Strawberry Farm in Eumundi, which is not that far from the market itself. It was on a hillside area, so we have to drive up the dirt road to get to the main building. It looked like a country side barn or farm, with tractors outside, and stretched and rows and rows of strawberry and tomato fields around it. There were workers in the building and also around the fields. By this time, the weather was becoming hotter. We entered the building and was welcomed and briefed by a nice lady. We can pick our own strawberries in the farm and we have been looking forward to do that. She mentioned that the strawberries cost $12 a kilo. So it depends on how much the strawberries that we picked would weigh tah tu. So we made our way to the strawberry fields with our empty plastic containers that was provided. We are only allowed to pick the strawberries that are within the orange poles.

Drebar, haha :)

The building of the Strawberry Farm in Eumundi

Group photo! :)

The strawberry fields

Fresh, plump, juicy strawberries for picking

Rows and rows of strawberries

Yunyun, Syimsyim, Nabnab and me :)

It was a great experience. As usual, took lots of photos! I have to say it was hard to pick out which pictures I want to put here. Banyak banar, haha. After picking strawberries under the sun, we headed back to the building, to get our strawberries weighed. The strawberries that I picked costs $4.80 which is less than 500gm, haha. Juicy and sweet! After Strawberry picking, we then made our way to Noosa Heads, to find the place that we will be staying for the night. We managed to eventually find the Noosa Backpackers Resort at Noosa Heads. It was kinda like a hostel accomodation which is suitable for us students, hehe.

Checking in at the Noosa Backpackers Resort

While waiting for the keys

The rooms were dorm-like. Yunyun, Syimsyim, Nabnab and I shared a room. There were 2 bunk beds and a bathroom.

Yunyun and I shared a bunk bed :)

There was a common room, and pool room, shared kitchen, a swimming pool, internet and wireless access, and free bus rides to the beach as part of the facilities provided. After checking in, and resting for a while, we decided to head to Hastings Street and Noosa Beach, using the free bus ride provided by the hostel.

Hasting Street

Noosa Beach, beautiful clear, blue waters

Di bawah pohon bambuuu~~ hehe :p

We spent a few hours at the beach and the surrounding areas before some of us, heading back to the hostel to get some thing to eat and prayers, etc. Late afternoon, we headed back to the beach to pick up the others and then we drove to the nearby Noosa National Park, where we watched the beautiful sunset.

The beautiful sunset from the Noosa National Park

Group photo at Noosa National Park

After that, we decided to drive up to the Laguna Lookout point at 6:30pm. It was very very dark, with no street lights heading up to the look out point, so we have to be careful on our way to the top.

The view from Laguna Look out point, Noosa

From the look out point, we decided to drive around the area. Though banyak places are close by this time. It seems that not only Brisbane closes early at night. For dinner, we went to Dominos pizza to take away dinner, before heading back to the hostel to eat dinner at the common room.

Muka orang-orang ngalih dalam krita, haha :p Banar kah eksen eksen tu ah? :p

At the common room: Filling up tummies with pizza and hot chocolates

After dinner, we went back to our respective rooms to freshen up and get ready for bed. It has been a long day after all. The next day, we went down to the docks near the river not far from the hostel for breakfast of the leftover pizza the night before.

Breakfast time! :)

After breakfast, some of us walked to the beach while the rest stayed at the hostel to play pool. There was an unexpected event happening in Noosa that morning. A marathon was being held, so the roads around the hostel leading to the beach was closed, hence, the plans were delayed.

Playing pool at the hostel pool room

At 10am, we went to pick up the others at the beach, before heading to Bli Bli Castle. On the way we filled up the petrol tank. Here, filling the petrol is self service, so baik jua ada the guys to help out filling up the tank.

Sunshine Castle, Bli Bli

Entrance to the Castle

Alamak! :p

From the castle, we headed to the honey factory, but unfortunately, it was closed. It was already 1:30pm, so we decided to head back to Brisbane. There was an accident on the Bruce Highway as reported from the radio, so there was a bit of a traffic jam for a while in some parts, but other than that, not so eventful. We reached Brisbane at 3++pm, then sent everyone home. The guys then returned back the vans before 5pm. Overall, it was a relaxing weekend. Now, it's back to the hectic life in Brisbane. I will post up more pics on facebook soon.

Gd night! :)