I remember writing down a list of things/goals/experiences/whatever you'd like to call it, at the beginning of this year, kinda like a manifestation-putting-it-out-there type thing, of a bunch of things I wanted more of during 2011. One of them went like this - "I will enjoy a few short inexpensive holidays".
Well, a retreat away in April, a week in Cairns to visit my sister, a Queensland Ferrari trip in August, trips to Melbourne for Botanical Cuisine tours, art gallery visits and delicious food, road trips out to Bowral... I've been doing pretty good I think! But the year is not quite over yet as last week I flew up to Maroochydore to meet my man for 5 days of sun, surf and of course, good food!
Whenever I travel food is usually one of the highlights. Be it at amazing cafes, making scrumptious at-home dinners with friends, or (my favourite) chowing into a box of local organic mangoes (or whatever else may be in season). And last week was no exception.
Day 1 -
I flew into Maroochydore Sunday morning and was greeted with big hugs from my man, and a raw bliss ball from a friend of ours. Thankyou! Great start to my day :) Then after we managed to pack my gear into the already full car, we headed off and away into the fresh mountain air for some grounding, connection and walking with each other and Mother Nature.
And from there we drove out to Maleny which was probably another 20minutes. There is a vegan cafe there which does a good lot of raw food and I've wanted to get there ever since I first heard about it. It's the Kind Living Cafe. And I'm gonna keep you all hanging on that until my next post coz trust me - I'm gonna need the space for my photos :)
Winding back down to the coast, admiring any and all views, fresh air, and simply being in the company of my man, we later arrived where we were staying for the next 3 nights. Friends of Brock's; Faith and Troy greeted us with open arms before we whipped up some dinner, had tea, long chit chats on the deck and then I was ready for bed - yep I crashed before everyone else.
Day 2 -
Morning swim. Oranges for brekkie. Then adventuring!
Brock, Faith and I drove up to Noosa for a look-around, a coastal walk, and a day out in the sun. We wandered along the coast for about an hour or so, and then spotted a whale off shore having fun throwing himself about for us to see.
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| Walking the Noosa Coast |
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| Noosa Coast |
Once we had worked up quite an appetite we decided to head to Raw Energy!! A new-found favourite of mine (see more mouth watering pics from my August trip here) we relaxed sipping on smoothies and raw balls (of which I am obsessed!). A real hippy, colourful, healthy vibe, it's definitely my kind of a place!
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| Just chillin' |
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| Raw NRG and Jungle Juice Smoothies with The balls |
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| Goji Chocolate Ball |
Then back home again, put our feet up for about half an hour before the 4 of us walked up the beach, around the lighthouse and home via suburbia. Then Faith and I were in the kitchen again!! I demonstrated how to make a raw lasagna and raw balls (using limited ingredients last minute), and Faith made an incredible salad using mango, cherry tomatoes, red onion, fresh herbs... a recipe I am lucky enough to use for my recipe book coming out soon!
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| Nice big piece of lasagna |
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| Faith's amazing salad |
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| Our mish-mash creation tasted really good! |
And the following night when Brock and I were out for dinner, Faith managed to re-create her own lasagna and come up with her own raw balls recipe. How cool is that?!?!
Day 3-
A cruisey day to ourselves, Brock and I hit the road and let the winds take us to wherever we ended up! Brock wanted to head into the hills a bit more so we ventured along, stopping at fruit stalls for delicious cheap Qld bananas and avocadoes, and NT mangoes. Drove past The Big Mower (yep, only in Australia right?), along outback roads, and ended up back in Maleny late afternoon for a cup of tea, some black sapotes (yep I was yelling OMG too!), and a little raw choccie :)
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| Papaya trees |
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| View from the top |
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| Cameraman Brock |
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| One of my favourites! Found at the co-op in Maleny |
Then we drove as quick as we could to meet other friends for dinner up in Noosa. Brock and I munched on organic carrots and avocado (a favourite combo of ours) whilst Bridget and Brad had their fish and chips, fruit salad and thai vegies.
Day 4 -
After a bike ride and a beach run, Brock and I left Buddina and headed north. Our destination was Bargara, on the coast east of Bundaberg, and where we wanted to stay that night. It's about a 3hr drive from Buddina if you go straight up but we managed to do it 6hrs! First stop - Raw Energy! Yeh baby! We had to get our daily juice fix (even though it's not exactly a 'daily' thing all the time) - and raw ball. Then we were off and away again! Just driving and turning off wherever looked nice really.
First detour - a scenic tourist drive that was appearing to take us into the middle of nowhere and further away from where we wanted to end up! Of course I'm getting a little antsy and thinking "great, we'll be so far from the main road now", while Brock hadn't a care in the world. But when a bend in the road turned into this ...
...all my worries disappeared and I was in total bliss. We were in fact at the end of the road with the only way out being from the way we came in. Part of it looked like a scene from a James Bond movie as there was a big concrete wall of a dam, but away from that, it looked like a postcard from somewhere in Europe (it reminded me of a little place in Switzerland called Interlaken). And it was as peaceful as you could imagine.
We decided to crack open our fruit box and dig into some bananas, mangoes, and a little left over kale, tomatoes and mushies we had from the previous day, before a stretch and reinvigoration to get back on the road again.
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| Kale sandwich |
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| Local bananas - so good |
We got into Bargara after dark, munched down on a truck load of oranges, then found a little piece of grass to sleep on with our sleeping bags, under the stars... until the rain started to sprinkle down on us. Luckily we had sorted out our "if rain comes plan" earlier and simply got up and walked a few metres over to a balcony of a holiday home not being used! Sneaky but we hit the jackpot waking up to this at dawn -
Day 5 -
Palm trees above our heads, ocean views, the sweet scent of salt air, delicious morning breezes, and the warm embrace of your loved one. Awww :) I didn't want to move. I'd be quite happy still sitting right there actually!
Brock and I got up and went for a run/walk before a swim, and then I prepared a birthday breakfast for my man (ie. pulled the box out of the car). Papaya, mangoes and bananas were on this menu!
Along with his recent favourite concoction of Sun Warrior protein, chia seeds, goji berries, and raw honey.
Served by the beach. Eaten with ones hands. You can't get any better than that!
Best morning ever! I honestly can't think of a more beautiful awakening I've had - ever!
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| Me and my man :) |
My final day road tripping (this time round), we packed up and headed north again to Rockhampton. I was flying out at 615pm (not 7pm like I had thought, which made the mad dash to the airport a rather stressful one) so we slowly made our way up, got a juice, said our "see you soon's" and that was it!
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| Is that not the best packing you've ever seen?!?! |
I had the best time ever on those 5 days and cannot wait to continue travelling next February! In the meantime, the incredible dishes we ate at the Kind Living Cafe will be up in a few days so be sure to check back soon.
Until then...
Stay fruity xx
