Last morning in Mooloolaba and Andy was up enjoying his final 10k run on a busy Saturday at 6.30am – only in Australia!!

After four very enjoyable days, we are moving down the coast to stay in Kawana, close to Caloundra.

In the interim we decided to return to the Glass House Mountain region for breakfast, followed by a hike.

First up was a visit to The Lookout Cafe facing out to Mount Beerwah, where kangaroos were munching on the grass – such an idyllic spot. We spent an enjoyable half an hour indulging in a pineapple cake and coffee combo.

We then drove on to Glass House Mountains Lookout, where we had stunning views of a number of these magnificent intrusive magma plugs. These were formed following a string of volcanoes forming 30 million years ago which as they became inactive, the remaining magna was pushed up into the old vents. As the surrounding land eroded over the millions of years, the plugs were left.

Lieutenant James Cook sailed along the coastline and observed ‘the hills lay but a little way inland, and not far from each other, they are very remarkable on account of there singlar form of elivation which very much resemble glass houses which occasioned my giving them that name .’

We took a short track around the bush from the Glass House Mountains Lookout, and became fully immersed in the landscape and natural beauty.

Our main hike, started a short distance away, from Mount Ngungun a 5km round trip from top to bottom.

It was a steep climb and the humidity levels made it a hot and sweaty affair but offering some magnificent aerial views across the bush and the other Glass Mountains in the park.

We then moved on to Montville, for a spot of lunch and also an opportunity to watch paragliding from the summit of Maleny Montville Road, close to the Balmoral Ridge.

The paragliding was amazing to watch and got us thinking we might give it a go before we leave Australia……

Late afternoon we checked into our new apartment in the inland lake area of Birtinya.

As it was Saturday night, we decided to go out for a meal and visited Mets on Kings, a great Surf Club sitting in front of Kings Beach. It was a return visit for us, having previously visited the restaurant some 17years ago with our daughter Amelia, when she was just 3 years old with our friends Paul and Naomi in Brisbane.

The food on offer was fantastic and Michelle tucked into a lamb shank, mashed potatoes and vegetables. Andy went for the more exotic Mexican fish tacos.

Following dinner at the surf club, we went for a relaxing walk along the Esplanade Headland and followed it to Bulcock Beach where the place was packed with Saturday night picnickers and bar revellers.

It was so good to be back in Caloundra after so long, and we plan to return again first thing tomorrow, both for breakfast and a day on the beach swimming, sunbathing and catching up with our reading. Happy days.