A Slice of Maroochydore, Sunshine Coast – Qld

I decide to take a chance and cancel the booking for my ride on the courtesy bus. I let the receptionist know my change of plans and step out into a world of metal and rubber. I’d booked my car in for its service and this meant a trip to Maroochydore; an all day event.

I maneuvered my way around waiting cars parked in the receiving area. Efficient service attendants, preoccupied with providing their services to patient customers pay me little regard, so I make my way up the inclined driveway that leads to Sugar Road.

I snap open my iPhone’s case and activate my Google Maps App. I don’t use it often and it reacts sleepily, surprised, I think, it’s been called into action.

I sense my own rustiness at operating the App. I rely on my car’s GPS when driving and when I walk to keep fit, I track myself on my Map My Walk App, but I can’t say I use my GPS much.

Orienteering is not one of my strong points – I learned this fact a long time ago at my Year 11 trip to the snow; my first and only trip to the snow fields. I didn’t get lost on the snow, but I did manage to have a difference opinion with a fellow peer I’d been teamed with for an orienteering session.

At almost every station, we argued, possibly too strong a word, so let’s just settle for disagreed, about which direction to take next. Luckily for me his strong personality won out and I gave in at every station – and his sense of direction proved right on every account. And each time, my face blushed a deeper shade of rose. Talk about embarrassing. Who knows what he thought, but what seventeen year old cares about the ego of a guy from another school, who quite possibly, I will never clap eyes on again. Still haven’t to date, or if I have, I would be hard pressed to recognise him with the passage of time. I can’t even remember his name, or if I ever knew his name. How sad, when you think about it. He played a fairly significant role in helping me understand my weakness in this area of special awareness and my sense of direction, or lack of it to be precise.

The App fires up and after I check the address of the beach on Safari, I tap the information into the phone. Immediately the App shows my destination and a woman’s voice begins to tell me where I’m to go – north-west. Great! That’s really helpful to me; me who has no concept of direction. I feel a dilemma coming on. Do I go right, or left?

I crack open the Compass App and puzzle at whether I’ve actually ever used this App before? I have no recollection of it, if I have, but there’s always a first time. Surprise! Surprise! I manage to work out what direction to take. I should have known it would point me the complete opposite way to the direction I felt drawn to. The story of my life; I could almost bet on this, if I was a betting girl.

So, off I head and trust the compass knows where it is taking me. Reading and following along with the map proved interesting, too. For whatever reason, I couldn’t expand the map so I could get an overall picture of where I was situated and where I was headed. I had to keep exiting the App and returning to it to make the arrow point in the right direction. It is obvious to me, and it will become obvious to anyone reading this, that I know little about what I’m doing – I know it’s not the Apps fault, it definitely is the operator’s lack of knowledge in this case.

However, today’s challenge is just what I need, it seems; plain as the nose on my face and I’m thinking now that I need to explore new areas more often because today’s adventure proved to be a lot of fun.

I discover local leafy avenues I’ve never walked before and the whole experience gave me a taste of local life around this neck of the woods. The pathways I trod led me to a major road called Alexandra Drive. I continue in the direction of some high-risers and turn down Sixth Avenue, heading toward Cottontree.

I took a path leading to what looked very much like a beach access and my eyes were rewarded with a stunning sight of sparkling crystal waves gently frolicking across the wide sandy shoreline; the tide bowing down and receding back into the depths of its mother’s belly. White water bubbling and bumping onto the beach’s creamy, blonde sand happy as a glass full of champagne bubbles.

Maroochydore Beach, Qld                                              photo credit: Deb Smith

Surfing action at Maroochy                                         photo credit: Deb Smith

Life Savers on duty at Maroochy Beach                            photo credit: Deb Smith

I snap a couple of photos to capture my morning’s expedition and decide to explore further. At this point I felt a good coffee fix was warranted and well deserved.

Rock pools – Maroochy Beach        photo credit: Deb Smith

I continue my walk along an esplanade running alongside the beach until I stumble upon a quaint little breakfast bar called, The Beach Street Deli Café.

The Beach St Deli                         photo credit: Deb Smith

This looks just like the perfect spot to stop in and order a coffee, a light breakfast and do a spot of writing. I wander in and order freshly squeezed orange juice, a flat white and a serving of their free-range egg and bacon Panini with cheddar, red onion pickle and homemade smokey bacon sauce.

And here I am. Breakfast is finished, my coffee drained and quite a number of words are accumulating in my notebook. Yes, all handwritten with care and devotion.

I sit at a beach-styled window bench table on a timber stool in a private corner of the café. I gaze out through slatted white colonial louvres and allow my thoughts to mull and stir around in my head, dreaming across the waves of the Pacific Ocean I see peeking through the palm trees across the road.

I head off after a couple of hours pass and explore the Cottontree area and manage to use the GPS to find my way, eventually, to the Sunshine Plaza, where later on I will be picked up by the service department’s courtesy bus driver.

Exploring Cottontree – along the Maroochy River – photo credit: Deb Smith

I’ve really enjoyed this morning and I think that if I only challenged myself more often to do these little expeditions, I’d improve immensely in my navigation skills.

Well, we’ll see.

Until next time,

Happy hiking…