Maroochydore

It's our last day in Maroochydore.  Arrived on Monday, leave here in the morning at 6:00 to drive back to Brisbane to catch the plane.  The direct flight from Wellington makes it all easier, although Virgin Australia;s planes are a bit older and don't have the fancy entertainment systems.  Those of us who paid the all-inclusive fare were handed portable media players instead.  The Chateau Royale Beach Resort is a block of apartments beside the beach in the Cotton Tree area of Maroochydore, with a fantastic view out to the town centre, the mountains, Noosa Heads in the north, the beach, and the Pacific Ocean.  The weather has been near-perfect, reaching about 26 degrees each day and always sunny.

Today we drove down to Maloolaba for lunch and a visit to the aquarium there.  The waterfront there is a solid line of eateries looking out over the water, backed by a wall of apartment blocks.  The beach looked nice too.

It's just over an hour's drive back to Brisbane Airport, almost all on the motorway.  On the way up we saw the Glass House Mountains to the west, which I remembered from when Sue and I came this way about 30 years ago.