The weather in Australia has been incredibly dry this year and many of the farmers are suffering great hardship, having to buy in feed when usually their cattle and sheep would be able to graze in their fields. We witnessed this on our most recent trip, many places we passed through had signs out saying 'Livestock on Road' and the cows were roaming about the roadside eating the last bits of dry grass left. It has not been as bad for us but the long dry period has meant that, even a wet few days at the beginning of June, did not have much impact on the dryness of the bush leaving us vulnerable to fire.
Everyone's worst nightmares were realised two weeks ago when a fire a few kms from us quickly got out of control and engulfed a large percentage of our peninsula. I am not going to include pictures of the fire because they are too depressing but have included a map to give an idea how large it was.  

We were very lucky in Lemon Tree Passage because the firefighters managed to stop the blaze on the edge of our township. We had our bags packed and the caravan hooked up ready to leave and it was very scary standing on our deck watching the orange glow get ever nearer and bigger, but it was a great deal more frightening for some residents in Salt Ash and Tanilba Bay who had the flames licking their back fences. The firefighters performed an astonishing feat, not a single property was lost and nobody was hurt, you can imagine how grateful we all are. 

Instead of fire pictures I have included some shots of the wildlife who came through it, including a flock of Musk Lorikeets who moved into a tree in our garden. We get Rainbow Lorikeets all the time but not these so I am guessing they have relocated to get away from the fire.
Onto happier topics. My blogging about our recent trip was 
rather interrupted by the fire so I will try to pick up where I
left off.
After Brisbane, we carried on north as we were enjoying being a bit warmer than at home so we took the Steve Irwin Highway up into quite mountainous terrain. The scenery was stunning, gulleys and gorges galore! Our route took us past Glasshouse Mountain which is a real mountain (most Australian mountains are just hills by European standards). The road then followed a ridge with glorious views on either side and took us into Maleny.

 Maleny was a pretty little town full of vegan and gluten free restaurants (where does all the gluten go?). The town was gearing up for its forthcoming Knitfest with knitted bunting strung across the roads and woolly jumpers on the trees. 

Appealing as Knitfest looked, the town was very busy so we decided to press on and we were very glad we did because about 45 minutes later we came to Kenilworth which was a splendid place to stop. The showground was 
excellent and the town was very pleasant but much quieter than Maleny.
I spoke too soon because we woke the next morning to find quiet little Kenilworth packed with bikers. They were soon off though as the ridge road we came in on was a bit like a rollercoaster so perfect for motorbikes and they had only stopped in Kenilworth for breakfast. I could see why they had because the breakfast options were excellent. There was a cheese factory across the street from the showground with very generous free tastings of cheeses and yogurts but we had heard good things about the bakery on the high street and decided to give it a go.
 The bakery ran a 1kg Donut Challenge. If a customer managed to conquer the beast they got to sign their name on a plate to be hung on the wall of fame. We decided to decline but a young couple were taking up the challenge, it looked quite easy to begin with but they soon slowed down and took so long we couldn't make our coffee last long enough to see if they were successful.  
One of our reasons for staying in Kenilworth was to be within striking distance of Buderim, the home of ginger. We drove along the winding ridge and passed the Big Pineapple as we came to the Buderim Ginger Factory. It was fantastic for a ginger lover like me, a bit like Cadbury World in England with a couple of rides and a little train but, most importantly all kinds of goodies all made from ginger. 
Having had my ginger fix we decided to move on and go to have a look at Noosa, a smart, go to resort in Queensland. My sister Gill was there earlier in the year and told us it was often pretty rainy there. Well it won't be rainy now, we thought , because nowhere is. I am afraid she was right. Noosa was so wet  we will have to go back another time to get a decent look at it.