Tewantin Qld August 16 2015

Tewantin Qld August 16 2015

Tewantin is now basically a suburb of Noosa, but grew up as a nice little town up the Noosa river from Noosa itself. Noosaville was also a little town between Tewantin and Noosa, but has also been swallowed up in the urban sprawl. It has however, an exceptional waterfront given over to public use: parks, boardwalks, BBQs and the like. It runs for 2km or so and is a very pleasant walk in the late afternoon as the sun sets over the river.

Sunset. Noosaville Qld

Sunset. Noosaville Qld 

Sunset. Noosaville Qld

One thing they have here is a surfeit of 'markets'. We went to the Eumundi Markets yesterday, which is obligatory if you're here, well Judy went to the markets, I had booked myself in for a massage, and even though it was a full-on Thai, walk-up-an-down-your-back massage, it was still less painful that 'doing' the markets. Over the road from the markets there are a whole pile of cafes, bars, galleries, shops of every ilk. One of the gallery belongs to Tina Cooper, and internationally acclaimed glass-blower. Her pieces are just stunning, at least as good, if not better than those we saw in Murano in Italy. We had a very interesting chat about glass artists and the creation of the glass works in Canberra, who tout themselves as the peak body, representing all glass artists in Australia. Apparently they have never heard of her (one of only two artists to have represented Australia overseas) even though she has been a leader in her industry for thirty years. Talk about a snobbish, single minded attitude. There was an underlying tone of rancour, frustration and outrage in her voice and rightly so.

We followed the Noosa Bird Fancier's trail and took these two snaps. Striking, aren't they?

Pelican. Noosaville Qld

Pelican. Noosaville Qld

Today we went to the Farmers' market down the road a bit, at the local AFL ground. Turns out that Sunday morning is also when they play footy, needless to say, the main parking is inside the grounds and the traffic is banked up for miles (1.6kms) to turn into the grounds. So much so that we took a fairly long circuit around the lakes via Noosa and parked on the side of the road well before the markets. Lots of good look looking produce, mostly dirt cheap. We bought some veg and then Judy crumbled and bought an almond croissant and a baguette from the French Patisserie-in-a-caravan.

I am a sucker for vehicular ferries and knowing that there is one just up the road where you can cross the Noosa River and go to the North Shore and then drive up the beach to Fraser Island, was too tempting. I went down there and took some snaps. I had forgotten that there were actually two of them, one of which gets put into service at peak hour. I can't help but think about the 'good-old-days' when there were two similar ferries taking all the traffic across the Hawkesbury River at Brooklyn up until 1945, which is when the original 3 lane bridge was built. I'm sure I've at least seen these ferries running, probably when they upgraded the bridge to 4 lanes in the 70s

Vehicle Ferry. Tewantin Qld

 Now, I ask you, what is better than one vehicular ferry? Why, two course!

Vehicle Ferry. Tewantin Qld