We are now officially in ‘the Sunshine Coast’, which is the strip north of Brisbane. And this morning we woke up to blue skies and a little bit of warmth (well, actually we had woken up at 3am to close the windows because of a torrential downpour, but we’ll put that aside for the minute!). Again we decided to move on, rather than stay longer, as the site wasn’t the most homely we’ve been on (is this going to be what it’s all about – moving from place to place every day?). We drove through some back roads, along a ridgeline, with views to the left of the mountains and forests, and to the right of the ocean (and inevitable tower blocks lining the shores). From high on the hills we could appreciate just how green Queensland is at this time of the year, with lots of trees, lakes and green pastures.

We were aiming for the “Big Pineapple”, a tourist park themed around, what else but pineapples. This “BIG” theme is something that’s all the rage in Oz – as well as the Big Prawn, we’ve also driven past the ‘Big Barrel’ (winery), the ‘Big Banana’ (yes, banana-themed plantation), the ‘Big Honeypot’ (you guess!) and the ‘Big Mower’ – which was actually a Stratton Briggs lawnmower dealership getting in on the tourist game! Although it was free to get into the Big Pineapple, once you were in they charged high prices to see anything other than the gift shop and restaurant. We’d hoped for a bit of an educational experience for Charlotte, but it was disappointingly touristy, with very few people around to ask questions of (Charlotte had prepared a list of questions about pineapples in advance, and fortunately most were answered from the small display we could visit).

So then it was on, with a short, wasted, stop at the ‘Big Ginger’ (a ginger factory, where again you paid to see ginger produced). The girls were disappointed that they couldn’t buy a Gingerbread man from the shop, despite the signs for the factory featuring them. (That sums it up for them – if they’re not gripped by a place, then they end up focusing on what sweets they can buy!). And then another hour’s drive to Tin Can Bay, where we settled into another caravan site for the night.