19/05/2023 The Caloundra Bar

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25 years ago we came to Caloundra regularly to visit grandparents, walked the boardwalk and built sandcastles on Bulcock beach. From Bulcock Beach we watched the water surge with the tide, in and out of Pumicestone passage across the Caloundra bar. On the other side of the passage lay Bribie Island, accessible only by boat.

In July 2022 the ocean broke through Bribie Island, turning it into two islands and changing the movement of water and sand such that the Caloundra bar quickly silted up and all of a sudden anyone with a working pair of legs could walk across to what was now North Bribie Island.

We had to see this for ourselves, so to Caloundra we went on a pilgrimage to personally walk across the bar to Bribie Island.

It was quite exciting to see all the sand where once there was water.

Not to mention signs that no longer applied.

Someone had gone to a great deal of trouble to drag logs out onto the sand to build a... bonfire?

Looking back towards Caloundra from N Bribie Island.  But is it really an island when it's now joined onto Caloundra?
 

While we were in Caloundra Roger, in the spirit of scientific research, sought to identify once and for all which was the best gelato shop in Australia. He had always presumed this to be Milano's in Caloundra, but his gelato experience in Geelong was such that the front runner was in dispute and testing was necessary.

Mmmm gelato... but is it the best gelato?  Have to try more, purely in the spirit of research, of course.
 

Test we did, but it was a close run thing and more taste comparisons are needed. It will be a long and difficult task but Roger is up to the task and will stick with it until he can confidently identify the best gelato in Australia.

Bars walked and gelatos tasted, we headed up the hill to the Maleny perch of the indefatigable Mrs F, she of the fantastic cooking skills, who you may remember from our first days traveling back in 2021. Mr F turned out to be every bit as good a cook as Mrs F, and we feasted on food and wine and conversation, with occasional interruptions from boisterous puppies, until late at night when we took ourselves off to another comfortable indoor bed instead of the tent.

I'll leave you with a few more Caloundra photos, just because.

Pandanus posing.

Bonfire posing.

Tidal sand ripples.

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