The Sunshine Coast

Travelling is such a busy form of employment, we left on Sunday, it is now Thursday and this is the first chance to add to the blog.
It was a rather mundane drive up the coast, lots of roadworks going on and large sections of road have opened since driving up at Christmas. There was a large pall of smoke over the Newcastle expressway, due to all the backburning, but we soon left it all behind.
Our first stop was at Urunga - one of those little towns you normally breeze through on the way to somewhere else.  Great little town, situated on the Kalang River and almost on the Bellinger River.  The park was actually great, very clean, good sized blocks and amenities and right on the river front.  Anne and Lars it would be perfect for you. There is a long walkway that runs along the river right out to the bar (no not that sort of bar), it is about 1 klm long and when at the end there are expansive views up and down the coast.
As my phone decided to die on our first full day we headed into Coffs Harbour to get a replacement for me.  Still learning it's complexities. We explored the delights of Sawtell and some of the other small coastal villages. Next day we headed down to Hungry Head and Valla Beach, then drove up the hill to Bellinger.  Great little town with some terrific looking cafes and eateries, but as it was not quite time for lunch we decided to head up the hill to Dorrigo to feed our faces.  Big mistake.  There are two cafes, both belong back in the 50's, so we suffered a so so pie and an **** awful coffee. Have made a note to myself never to sample the delights of Dorrigo again.
So that was the Urunga experience.  Great little town if you just want to do nothing in quiet surroundings.
Next morning we took off and headed up the coast and with a big hurrah we crossed over into Queensland and are now based at Buderim. This is a rather strange park, huge trees, lots of parkland and big sites, but it took 3 tries before we could find one to suit.  The first site was about 100 m from the power socket, similar for the second, third try we ended up on a good site with our own en-suite for only $5 extra per night, I think the lady in the office got sick of me saying we were not happy.
We went to Australia Zoo today.  After 40 years of visiting the Sunshine Coast this was my first visit, Mikes too, and we were very pleasantly surprised.  Very well laid out, great exhibits, beautifully maintained gardens, even the food was good.  It is quite a big place, which took us about 5 hours to wander and we still did not see everything.
Tomorrow we will head down to Maroochydore and generally poke around before taking off on Saturday morning for the drive to Yeppoon to celebrate birthday week for Fabrizio, Tommaso, Sienna and Mike.
The weather up here is beautiful, by the way.