Maleny 18 – 22 September 2011

After a very step and slow drive, we finally got up to Maleny, a pleasant little town we had visited 3 years ago and settled into the showground for a few days. Maleny is nestled into a lee of a ridge that runs along the hinterland of the Sunshine coast. It is a friendly town, with a thriving co-op that runs a general store and cafe. They had a blackboard concert in the cafe on Monday night and Laura sang a few of the songs she composed. We had an enjoyable time and heard some great music. On Tuesday we had a look around the town and went for a walk in a rainforest. There were some beautiful large trees still there and we thought it was amazing that this area was spared the clear felling that occurred in surrounding areas. On Wednesday went for a long drive around the district and visited a number of the surrounding villages. At Crystal Waters, we stopped to have morning tea at Mary River and had a look at an eco-village and then went onto Kenilworth for lunch. Laura is still looking for a job and checked out some likely positions on the internet – nothing exciting, but she is still applying.