Liddy's Wild Weekend.

You have to laugh. It not only rained to begin Liddy's weekend; it thundered & stormed. It wailed & hailed. We drove north in darkness & showery wind shattered by huge sheet lightening with Liddy behind the wheel. Not the pleasantest trip I've ever taken ~ nor the one where I felt safest. I tell Liddy she makes her guardian angels work over time but we arrived safely ~ to everyone's relief!
What really struck me this visit was how well mum's garden is doing. It looks like a garden now, not like a bunch of plants trying to fill a hole! Her ''Little Joey'' pillar rose is spectacular. Not that the girls were interested in what mum's garden was doing. Liddy had us all in the car after breakfast & heading off to Kawana to shop. Least said about that the better. Ditz infuriated Liddy by taking pics on her cell phone of Liddy trying out all the really horrible things the sales lady hung over her door. What she eventually chose was very nice but it took some getting there & Ditz was majorly bored. The beach was out as it was both rainy & windy so it was off to the leisure centre to watch a completely forgettable movie then out to Noosa to have a meal out at *Rosie's*. Larry & Rosie are English, used to be my folks neighbours & run a very good little roadside restaurant. Unfortunately Larry's menu leans heavily to seafood [eeeeew!] but he does suburb stuffed mushrooms or onion tart. Mum & I opted for the mushrooms. I wanted to have them as a main & I should have as they were ginormous & I gave Liddy one of mine. Mum gave her most of her second one too so Liddy, who had not ordered an entree, actually was the only person to eat a full one. Mum & I had chicken in a mustard sauce [very yummy], Ditz who finds the menu difficult, stuck to rack of lamb & Liddy had steak. The girls & I topped the meal with desert & I don't think we recovered for the rest of the weekend. Mind you, we needed all the energy we could get to keep up with Liddy. No sitting round reading quietly for Liddy!
Friday was still rainy but showing promise of better things Mum finally got to show off her new *water feature* before we headed out to Montville. Monteville is up in the hinterland & the arts & crafts centre of the Sunshine Coast. It is chocka of small curiosity shops, terribly expensive but a delightful way to window shop. Ditz loves the cuckoo clock shop, mum enjoys the woodwork & I just love all the creative bibs & bobs. Liddy is less enthused. She can neither eat it nor wear it but by 12ish everyone was starving again so we drove out to the Mary Cairncross Scenic Reserve.

The kiosk sells a terrific BLT on Turkish & unbelievable homemade cakes. The view is spectacular looking out to the coast & the Glasshouse mountains & even though it was overcast the view was still superb. I lost the top of my sandwich to an opportunist scrub turkey without regret. It was a very substantial lunch.


We then walked the 2km rainforest track. It is one of the easiest walks we've ever done, so flat you could probably do it in a wheelchair. The girls weren't all that fussed. After the adventure of something like the Wari track at Springbrook this was very tame but we saw plenty of interesting things: pademelons [small walleby type things], a male Regent Bowerbird, a riflebird, hordes of nests, including a ringtailed possums nest & what we couldn't see we heard: catbirds [truly they go 'meow!'], rifle birds & whipbirds. One of the more interesting sites was two absolutely giant eucalyptus in the middle of this rainforest. When they go there will be no more. Eucalyptus do not grow in rainforest! They must originally have been on the border between eucalyptus forest & rainforest.
It was late when we got home & the girls were tired but they managed to drag themselves along to the centre's pool for a swim & as they walked home Liddy said regretfully,'I suppose it's too late for a walk on the beach.' Yes indeed!

True to form Saturday dawned bright & sunshiney. We got in our walk on the beach from Mudjimba north & the girls got a short swim. The surf was awful. Short dumpers & there were lifeguards everywhere although the designated areas between the flags were less than 50m & there were signs up saying SWIM WITH CAUTION. The drag was to the north & although Ditz initially tried to keep up with Liddy she was dumped seriously enough to come inside the breakers herself. I couldn't stand to watch as Liddy always gets too far out & the surf was NOT going to improve no matter how far she went so I called them in early & a good thing I think as we had to walk back & after Lunch Liddy was driving home. I didn't want her too tired before we'd started.
The cat was sooooo relieved to see us all walk back in the door again! Dearest swears he's been moping, wouldn't eat & sat outside waiting for us. I do know that despite the heat that cat's been in my lap every night just for cuddles! Liddy, who was home briefly after work says the cat was estatic to have one of us left behind & couldn't believe it when she too walked out the door with a bag! He does not like bags! However Dearest gave him plenty of attention & he seems to be getting the idea that though we may sometimes go we always come home again.