A real Aussie pub!

We did a bit of bimbling today. I learnt this from earthdreamer's journal the other day - it means just setting off, walking, or in this case, driving, with no particular destination. 

The weather was not too marvellous, although warm. We had a dry morning, but the afternoon was very wet. Torrential, in fact. We could only peer from the car at the wonderful beaches at Maroochydore and Currimundi, but we'll have time to come back when the weather is back to normal. It's great to be chauffeured around!

We stopped first at the Big Pineapple. JR had been there in the 70s and it has popped up in conversations as something wondrous ever since. I was aquiver with anticipation.

But it has seen better days. It has been shut for years, and has just opened again. They have a train that goes around the grounds, but there are no pineapple plantations - they are being planted again and will take two years to grow. They have a farm, but had to give the koalas and kangaroos to the Australian Zoo just down the road when they closed, so have just cows and goats now. I can see cows and goats any time. I want to see kangaroos and koalas. Most disappointing, after all that build up. They did not succeed in getting any of our money!

However, further down the road, we came to the Ettamogah Pub. We'd seen it on the way to Noosa at the weekend, but the driver didn't stop. It's a real Aussie pub! It was full of daft signs (yes, the stray apostrophe is alive and well in Oz!) and crazy objects d'art (I use the term loosely) and yes, that's a 1927 Chevy on the roof. Legend has it that it washed up there in the 1991 floods and none of the locals could be bothered to get it down.

We spent quite a while there as there were lots of their equivalent of 'tartan tat' shops. Also the best pies ever.

From there we drove towards the coast and back up through the Sunshine Coast, which did not live up to its name today. There are lots of high rise buildings there, unlike the Noosa area. 

However, I have to report a slight slipping of my rather idealised Oz image. I have had a couple of mediocre coffees, and I've seen some rubbish at the side of the motorway, and the twangy, screechy muzak is just as ubiquitous. But worst of all, they have ads on every TV channel every 5 minutes! :-( 

However, I have yet to see a young man with his trousers down round his bum and his grunds showing. It doesn't seem to have caught on here. BIG bonus!