Max in Mudjimba

While Ryan and his boss, Howard, were back in Melbourne at a trade show, Marg (Howard's wife ~ and my friend) took a trip to the beach in Mudjimba on the Sunshine Coast. Brisbane (the city I live in) stands on the banks of the winding Brisbane River just inland from Moreton Bay. However, the best beaches are not directly East from the city, rather they are found along the coast both North and South of Brisbane. The area to the North is called "The Sunshine Coast" and the area to the South is called "The Gold Coast". Mudjimba is about an hour and a half North of Brisbane on the Sunshine Coast. Marg and her dog, Max, picked me up early for our road trip to the beach.

path to the beach


We went to a beach called North Beach in Mudjimba. There is a river that seperates Mudjimba on the North from Maroochydore on the south. We parked on the North side of the river in Mudjimba and walked along the river to where the river meets the ocean.

The River seperating the two towns


Max ready to play fetch in the river


Marg walking up the river toward the ocean


Ryan and I had a beach day on my 7th day here. I wrote about it in an earlier blog. He and I were in Maroochydore on the south side of the river. So, when Marg and I got to where the river meets the ocean, I recognized that he and I had spent a day directly across the river from where I was standing.

Looking across to where Ryan and I had our beach day


Where the river meets the Pacific Ocean


Once we reached the ocean, Marg and I walked along the beach while Max chased after one of her flip flops that she kept throwing for him. Max is a social dog and loves attention. There were only a few other people on the beach, but he appreciated the attention that each of them gave.

Max waiting to fetch a flip flop



After walking along the beach for an hour with our feet in the water, we decided to head to Maloolooba across the river and south of Maroochydore along the coast for lunch. We browsed a few shops on the concourse before settling into an outdoor cafe overlooking another beach. We split a vanilla chicken green salad and it was delicious. Max was thankful to take a break, too, and he layed down peacefully next to our table. He was very well-behaved and for this was admired by a lot of people.

View as we walked up the coast


Max enjoying the beach



Our beach day with Max was just what I needed. Living in Paradise is not entirely stress free. I know, it must sound ridiculous. But, I am in the process of filling out documents,visiting doctors for chest xrays, printing out pictures of the two of us together, writing up a personal statement of our relationship etc... all so that I am allowed to be attached to Ryan's work sponsored visa. This is not a stress free process. If I'm not approved, I have 26 more days here before I need to leave the country and when I do return for another approved 3 month visit on my visitor's visa, I still won't be able to work. So, walking through the surf and watching Max happily chasing a flip flop helped me to forget about everything I've been stressing about, and it was just what I needed.

Stress Free!