sunny spring

a big welcome to the first day of spring !

the daffodils are out - I've been watching these little bulbs in the park across from my house - its so nice to finally see their pretty little faces :)

but mother nature certainly let us know it was the last day of winter yesterday with a little bit of snow !

that settled for quite a while on the hills ...

but at least it was a nice sunny day today and I'm really hoping it will stay that way :)

touring the sunshine coast

my cousin Susan and her husband Ross arrived on Saturday to spend a week with us and today we went for a tour into the sunshine coast hinterland visiting nambour, mapleton, montville, and maleny which are all located on the Blackall Ranges.

it was a little bit overcast but a nice day for being in the car.

we had lunch at maleny and then visited the Mary Cairncross Scenic Reserve not far from Malney which is a 55 hectare National Estate listed subtropical rainforest overlooking the Glasshouse Mountains.

it was raining over the Glasshouse Mountains when we got there but by the time we'd walked through the rainforest it had cleared so I could get a good shot !

the rainforest is home to the red legged pademelon and we were lucky enough to see quite a few ...

there are also birds - like this cute little yellow-throated scrubwren ...

and some amazing trees with fabulous root systems ...

and some with elkhorns and tree ferns growing on them ...

I also just happened to see a perfect heart shaped leaf !

tomorrow we're off to the Australia Zoo and although its forecast to rain hope we see some amazing animals :)