Canungra Curiosities

I felt like a morning walk, but not one of Jo's marathons, so waited till she had gone before I crept out, hoping not to wake Jan, with whom I was sharing the chandelier room.  There are some lovely cottages for rent in the street where we were staying, plus a quirky house with a display of old telegraph pole insulators in the front yard.  The couple who lived there had also built a roadside seat completely out of recycled materials, specifically for an old woman who used to walk past every day.  Less than a week before they finished it, she moved to Bundaberg!

Not to be daunted, they turned the seat/shelter into a community library.  Beside it is little wheeled trolley where they bottle herbs from their garden, which can be paid for via an honesty box.

I passed all this, crossed the park, and was headed for the FoodWorks for a sticky beak at the fire damage, when I spied Jo on the front balcony of a coffee shop.  No marathon for her that day.  I ordered a coffee and one of a pair of high-viz blokes tried to chat us up which we were drinking, but they eventually gave up.

After the fire inspection, we headed for the still-closed op shop,which used to be such a good one, but which Jo said had gone downhill, sadly.  Around the side, and in full view of passers-by, is a huge pile of their stock, including books and magazines, all unprotected from any rainfall.  

We resolved to not wait for it to open, went back to breakfast with Jan, and headed up Tamborine Mountain, after a quick, but fruitless, visit to Canungra's wonderful little shoe shop, which was considerately open before 9am.

It rained quite heavily on our way up the Goat Track, which would have been fine, except that Jo's windscreen wipers make a shrieking noise with every pass.  I couldn't help but worry about those books and magazines back in Canungra.

All the oppies we planned to visit were at North Tamborine, and they all turned out to be good ones.  First was the Presbyterian Bargain Centre, where I finally bought two jigsaws.  I had restrained myself up to that point, but these two were too good to leave. 

Next was the RSPCA which is in an old church, with a lovely garden path leading to a back shed full of larger things. Upstairs
is the "man cave" which even has books especially selected to appeal to blokes, as well as the usual clothes and accessories.

For morning tea, Jo had arranged to meet her old friend Julie Lake who now lives on the mountain.  It didn't take long for us to discover that Julie know Jan's brother well, and she and I had had a mutual friend, whose funeral we both attended last year.  It is, indeed, a small world.

Our clothing theme was "clothes not made in China" and we had all managed to pull that off.  Julie did the honours and took the compulsory photo.

We said our goodbyes and headed for the last oppy of the trip, which was Vinnies.  I hit pay dirt there, finding two books for my granddaughter, a Harrods address book, a pair of shorts and a fork and spoon for the caravan collection. Total outlay $13.  

Jan finally got to say Bingo in that last shop, but Jo never did find that foot spa.