Day 149 Today it rained for about 12 of the 14 hours we were awake! This however did not put a hold on the days activities that we had planned. Oh yeah, sleeping by the beach last night did not work out for us in the end. Not after 5:30 or so in the morning anyway as worker crews showed up and started to make some noise reworking the nearby boardwalk.
We learned about a market 20 minutes away in Eumundi and were quick to enter it into our schedule, which already included ginger and nut factories. We didn't even brew up a coffee and were on the road to the market. We arrived and were pleased to find the rain did not dampen the market spirit. The vendors seemed to be out in full force. We grabbed a couple of coffees and some Poffertjes topped with strawberries and powdered sugar. Poffertjes are a traditional Dutch treat that look like tiny pancakes. We then cruised the market, seen some awesome local art, photography etc.
The drive to the Ginger Factory in Yandina was only 15 minutes. It was a pretty big place with a nature walk, stores, a train, a boat ride for kids and of course the ginger factory tour. We were a little disappointed to find that only the entry was free. The tour and train ride were not nor were they even reasonable. So we took in the small nature walk which compared to our recent mountain outings was more of a garden, and checked out the on site stores. We also waved to the little kids riding around on the train.
The nut factory was right across the street so needless to say travel time was minimal. This turned out to be a lot more fun only because I think we got high on sugar. We could watch the people working, making chocolate covered Macadamia nuts and boxing plain ones. It was actually really weird, they must have felt like animals as we stood there watching them work through the window. I kind of felt bad too cause at one point we were laughing so hard we had tears in our eyes. It wasn't even at their expense but they didn't know that.
Once we calmed down we realized that because we were up so early it was only lunch time. We drove back to the market for a good selection. We decided on sharing Falafels and Arancini Balls. The Falafels came with some of the best hummus we've ever had. The Arancini Balls were good too, they were 3 different balls of risotto mixed with the days fillings and coated with breadcrumbs. Pesto, Spinach and Feta, Tomato and Oregano were the days flavours.
After the market we drove south to Coolum Beach our next stop on the coast. We stopped at the info center and were told that there were whale sightings earlier in the day. We are hoping to see some this trip as they are starting to migrate north. We found a very sweet place to sleep for the night. High above the ocean right on the cliff seconds from a beautiful lookout.