The WORLDs Part 2

 Sea World....

 

 There is something there for everyone....

For the SpongeBob lovers,
you get to see SpongeBob and his friends...

 you even get to see him in 3D

For the bird lovers....
you find penguins and pelicans here.

 

For the dinosaur lovers...

You find a good display of them on Dinosaur Island

 

 Check out the name of this particular dinosaur!

He even has a chinese name! Must be from China...

For the adrenaline lovers...

You have thrill rides and jet-ski stunt displays

 

 For the wildlife lovers,
you have polar bear, sea lions, dolphins etc...

You also find sharks and stingrays in their aquarium, along with a hundred other species of fish.

For the food-loves,
Sea World has its own Fish & Chips.

I wonder where they got all their fish meat from? haha

Noosa Heads

I chanced upon this website ( http://www.noosaevergladesdiscovery.com.au/) when I was checking out some info about my next destination - Noosa Head beach. This website features another side of Noosa - the "nature" side at Noosa Everglades. The pictures on the site are really beautiful..

Anyway, back to my own agenda....
Went to the beach town at Noosa Head. Like any other beaches around this region, its beautiful and lots of tourists...

 From left to right: me, PK, SS and AK

 Kids playing with sand:

  Adults playing with stones:

A nice trekking trail stretches across the coast, linking a few beaches together

As usual, I'm curious how much a luxury apartments in this touristy beach town will cost:

For this 7-bedroom, 4 toilets, 4-car garage and personal swimming pool apartment facing the sea, its abt AUD2.3mil.

At night..

Coolum Boardwalk

Nearby Mt Coolum....

 This boardwalk links the main road to the beach.

 

Mt Coolum in the backdrop...

Mt Coolum

Facts:
A laccolith (a dome-shaped body of igneous rock between two layers of older sedimentary rock), 
208 metres (700ft) high
800m long walking track to the summit on the eastern side of the hill

 Nice rock steps most of the way up, easy to climb...

View at 100m (halfway mark)

View from the summit. You can even see the whole Sunshine Coast airport in the middle - thats where I work.

4 guys acting cool...

 

Back at the foot of the hill, this sign says "Experienced climbers only - 2 hours return"
Too exaggerating, I did it up and down in less than an hour, in slippers!!!
Its really an easy hill to climb.

Chillax at Mudjimba Beach

After a hard day's work, I took a stroll along Mudjimba beach (only 1.5km from my place)


This deserted beach is mainly patronized by the few locals staying around this area - I have yet to see any other Asian along this coast.


The small rock island 200m offshore is called Mudjimba Island(aka Old Woman Island).

There are two Aboriginal tales about Mudjimba Island.
The name Mudjimba refers to an Aboriginal legend in which a woman became stranded on the island, where she lived into old age.
The other story is about the creation of Mudjimba Island. There were two men: Coolum and Ninderry, who fought over a woman called Maroochy. Ninderry knocked Coolum’s head off and it landed in the sea to become Mudjimba Island.

 "sand-art"

The Big Pineapple

"The Big Things of Australia are a loosely related set of large structures or sculptures. There are estimated to be over 150 such objects around the country....Most Big Things began as tourist traps found along major roads between destinations....
They have become something of a cult phenomenon, and are sometimes used as an excuse for a road trip, where many or all Big Things are visited and used as a backdrop to a group photograph."

 -   http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Australia's_Big_Things

Today, I decided to visit the 16m tall Big Pineapple (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Big_Pineapple) located at Sunshine coast, near where I live.

Me in front of the Pineapple:

Me on top of the Pineapple:

And... as what wikipedia mentioned, these big things are often "used as a backdrop to a group photograph"

SS, PK and me

The Spit @ Mooloolaba

A SPIT [ http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spit_(landform)  ]   is a landform formed by sand deopsits found off a coast.
Its caused by a process of longshore drift  (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Longshore_drift)

On this famous spit off Mooloolaba,

there lies a popular stretch of restaurants serving great Fish&Chips and fresh seafood

 
 Relaxing stroll on the beach after lunch....