We stole a couple of days recently and headed off in our campervan - we didn't go far - there are so many terrific places in our little corner of the world, we could happily explore it for years. This time, we stopped at a caravan park right on the mouth of the Maroochy River, an hour or so north of where we live (I told you we didn't go far).  

Even though it's still officially winter here, the days were warm enough to spend on the beach - so we took our blanket, cushions, books and lunch each day, set ourselves up right on the corner of the inlet so we could see the beach and the river, and sat and watched the surf rolling in through the heads, the foolhardy boaties trying to get in and out through the turbulence, the surfers, the beach-combers, the fishermen (and women) fishing on the shore of the river and the pelicans following expectantly behind them.

Aah ... it's a tough life. We also took a drive up into the mountains (our trip the week before whet our appetite for a dose of mountain air). The Blackall Ranges have become very trendy over the past few years and are now scattered with tiny villages that sport antique shops, tea houses and B & Bs.

It's easy to understand why the area is so popular - it's only a short drive from the coast but it's always much cooler - and it's very lush and green. (That's Montville in the photo below.)

Friends of ours bought a hundred acres in this area about 20 years ago, and have proceeded to sell off an acre here, and an acre there ... to fund their trips around the globe - it's become that sort of place! Ginger Factory Yandina One of the major crops of the coastal region here (apart from sugar cane) is ginger - so we spent a happy couple of hours going through the Ginger Factory at Yandina.    "Factory" is a bit of a misnomer - since it conjures up images of smoking chimneys, desolate landscapes etc - and nothing could be further from the truth here. The Buderim Ginger Factory is set in the midst of about 30 acres of rainforest and tropical gardens. You can buy ginger plants (with their divine perfume), all sorts of ginger products, and there's a viewing area where you can watch the entire production process - at any time.

I don't know about you, but I like to know that there's nothing to hide in food-producing places like this.

Ginger Factory Buderim

Needless to say, we had to buy some ginger chutney, ginger-chilli sauce, ginger and mango conserve, ginger Anzac biscuits, one of those ducky little ginger jars filled with crystallised ginger ... and some macadamia nuts ... yum! 

The area has only been producing commercial quantities of ginger since the 1940s, when a couple of farmers met in a blacksmith's shop in Buderim and decided to pool their resources to form the Buderim Ginger Growers' Co-Operative. 

They had 25 pounds, two wooden vats and 14 tons of raw ginger between them - but it was enough. Apparently, ginger had been grown in the rich volcanic soil of the Sunshine Coast for the previous 20 years, but at that time (the 20s and 30s) production costs were prohibitively high, and exporting was difficult and expensive.

Buderim was the centre of ginger production until 1979 (when rising land values made it more profitable to subdivide farms for housing estates than to grow crops), and the factory moved to its present location at Yandina.

There are plenty of great places to stop and eat, or to stay for a very relaxed couple of days.