Happy Fourth of July to all our friends in the USA!  Hope you have had a fun, relaxing day celebrating!  Since the 4th of July arrived here while it was still July 3rd in the States, it was a little hard to get festive.  We rented a car for a week and took to the road heading north to the Sunshine Coast of Australia (also known as the Sunny Coast)!  The Sunshine Coast reminds us in many ways of home on 30a in Florida!  There are many beautiful, pristine beaches here.  Since we are missing our usual 30a 4th of July celebration, it seemed only right to spend it on the Sunny Coast here!

Check out Caloundra Beach below!

And here Lawson and Eve are at Mooloolaba Beach!

We began our coastal exploration earlier in the week by heading south to the Gold Coast of Australia.  The Gold Coast is where the famous Surfer’s Paradise is located.  We visited there last year and found it a bit too crowded for our taste, so we went a bit further south to Burleigh Heads which has a cool California vibe.  One of our favorite things about Australia is how there seems to be an underlying commitment to preserve the beaches for all to use not just a wealthy few.  There are no beach umbrella companies staking out territory here nor homeowners saying this is our beach.  The beaches here remind me of the beach trips I experienced as a child and love that our children are getting that experience as well.
 

       
We next ventured up the Sunshine Coast to Eumundi Markets which is the biggest art and craft market in Australia and boasts an annual attendance of 1.6 million people!  There was absolutely no way to see all the market had to offer so we will be back first chance we get!

    
The next day we headed up to Bribie Island to the Greek Food Festival!  It was a fun day full of Greek food and exploring lovely Bribie Island!  The very best part of our Sunshine Coast road trips was meeting up with our friend Rhonda at each of our destinations!  We first met her on Facebook a year ago and have since become dear friends!  A love of both 30a and Australia binds us!

     
Here are a few of our Bribie Island photos!
    
On Monday, we met Rhonda at the Australia Zoo!  Once again, there is simply too much to see in one visit and the zoo deserves it’s on post so Sophie and Eve will have one coming soon!

As Eve mentioned in our last post, she is on winter school holidays for three weeks!  In addition to exploring the Gold Coast and the Sunshine Coast, we are also exploring all that Brisbane has to offer during this nice break!  More on Brisbane in a future post…for now we leave you with our slice of Americana that we found to celebrate America’s Independence Day from afar!  Happy 4th of July from our family to you!!