Sunshine Coast Volunteering!

The last two weeks have been a very valuable experience. Firstly, a big thanks to Deb and Ian (and Isabella and Udaya) for hosting us for over 2 weeks, letting us experience both living in Australia and the ins and outs of what it takes to run a holiday resort.

In our time here, we have learnt a lot! Not just about cleaning pools, apartments and grounds maintenance but also about the permaculture movement, raw & organic food, and healthy living in general that Deb and Ian are passionate about.

We have also had a great opportunity to blog for their website sundeckgardens.com. This gave us a great excuse to get out and about in the local area!

The Australia Zoo was a favourite, along with the Eumundi Markets, Surfing and (watching) the crazy Kitesurfing!

Australia Zoo is a great day out! If hand feeding kangaroos is your thing, you can spend all day doing that! Or else, you can marvel at the exciting crocodile and tiger shows! If your still non plussed, there are an infinite number of possibilities. The new Africa section is a must, and for me the giant tortoises too! Giant is no understatement...you could hitch a ride on those things!

The Eumuni Markets are pretty well renowned over here, and I believe internationally, too! Eumundi comes to life 2 days a week with three major markets spread across the town. Again, there is something for everyone here. Emma could be found at the local book exchange, or test-trying lychees, Isabella (2) could be found having her face painted and I invested my time into the local paella!

Now for surfing. This was comedy gold! Deb and Ian very kindly let us borrow a couple of boards. I had only surfed once, and Emma not at all. The waves were huge and the lessons expensive. Having watched a couple of (free) YouTube tutorials we were pretty confident though...

Luckily, the beach we were on you either surfed or drowned so we picked it rather quickly. 'It' being how to get bashed around by waves and not so gracefully stumble to your feet! We call it surfing, everyone else on the beach probably called it entertainment...

I am scribbling this down in the camper, on the esplanade. We are now departing for Brisbane where we will be couch surfing until we fly to Singapore!! Boo yeah!