The C Side: Caloundra and Currimundi to Coolum

We cobbled together enough food for breakfast, despite the lack of plates, then lugged our bags back up those fourteen steps. This made us later than we planned, as the first op shop in Maleny opened at 8.30 and we didn't leave Tranquil Park till 9am.  We fluked a park right in front of the Red Cross. If you know how busy Maleny is, you would realise just how special this was.  It was actually becoming the theme of the trip, as Jan seemed to be able to summon up parking spaces close to our destinations whenever we needed one.

The Red Cross turned out to be the most expensive store of the whole trip, although I did buy a few things there.  We decided to cut our losses and head down the range to Landsborough, only to discover that the lovely little Vinnies there had vanished.  No problem: Caloundra was close by.

Caloundra has lots of oppies and we couldn't do them all, so we started at the two that are virtually side by side, the Salvation Army and Neighbours Aid. Somewhere along the way, we had learned that Salvation Army shops and Salvos stores are different. Salvos are the retail arm, and actually act as a business, with the profits supporting Army works. The other shops sort of cut out the middleman. 

In the SA shop, which is a cracker, I must say, I saw a woman wearing the same shirt as me, one I had purchased the previous day. I started chatting to her and she said hers was oppy-bought as well.

Our next stop was the interestingly named Bardo's Bazaar, which it turned out I had visited some years before with my friend Shelley.  It is on the edge of the hospital grounds and is divided into two sections.  The shed part contains all the bric-a-brac and mens' clothing, and what a fine collection it was. Also dirt cheap.  

You then walk up a ramp to a separate building which contains the women's clothing and accessories, and is very nicely set up.  I found a bra larger than size 20 there, so it was "Bingo!" for me. We then
asked a staff member to photograph us as this was Mad Hatters Day.  

There is a sign on the wall there explaining that "bardo" is a Buddhist term meaning the transition between life and death, something they know a lot about at the Health Service. 

We really liked the place, and, how convenient, it is directly over the road from the RSL. Guess where we had lunch?  The food was nice, but the spelling on the menu wasn't. The view out the window included a helicopter on a pole, which was a little different.

That was all we had time for at Caloundra; next stop Currimundi, where the Beautiful You Cancer Charity runs the Funky Op Shop.  Their car park was full, but guess who found a park right out the front?  It is quite a funky shop, but there was nothing there for me, except a dozen free-range eggs which came in handy later for breakfasts.

Next was the small but interesting Kidney Support shop in the middle of suburbia, where I had been before but Jo actually hadn't. A miracle! The prices were very cheap to start with, but when I went to pay for a pair of PJs for Michael, they turned out to be half the marked price. $2 in fact.

Then we visited good old Lifeline at Bokarina, such a huge shop, followed by the new CAYAC store at Kawana.  Nothing terribly inspiring here, and they need to sort their novels into alphabetical order.  Jan was flagging, but made it through our last shop for the day, Neighbours Aid at Mooloolaba, where I found my earrings for next day's outfit.

Coolum was home for the next two nights, on the second floor, but we knew about these steps in advance.  We had difficulty getting the keys out of the key safe - again - this happened at Bilinga last year, but eventually found ourselves in a spacious unit with a sea view from the balcony; and promptly collapsed. After we revived ourselves with a glass of wine, we entertained ourselves by watching the traffic lights change.