Celebrating 4 Years of Togetherness - Sunshine Coast

We boarded the ferry at Horshoe Bay after work on Friday and was headed towards Gibsons for the weekend. We stayed at a fabulous little Bed & Breakfast last year and we decided that we would return to the Deer Fern B&B.

When we arrived, it was relatively late, and were asked to let ourselves in as per the email. Upon our arrival last year, they had a little sign that greeted at the door that showed us the entrance to our accommodations. As this was our second year, there was no signage, but we did find this note.

It was just a greeting to welcome us, and it told us that she will serving Will's most anticipated breakfast at 9am. So sweet of her! We retired to bed early as we knew the next day was going to be filled with excitment!

Day 2

Bright and early, the sun shone through and we were greeted by Kathi (the inn keeper), and her little cart full of breakfast for us. Breakfast was enjoyed with a wonderful view.

Kathi's cooking is absolutely wonderful! She prepared fresh squeezed orange juice, coffee and tea along with a breakfast burrito (hash browns, sun-dried tomatoes and eggs) and a hot out of the oven apple crumble!

After devouring that much needed breakfast, we were off on our adventure. Our plan was to ride in to Gibson's landing, have lunch and explore what is an and around there. As soon as we left the steps of our house, we were met with grueling hills. For a newb rider like myself, I was not ready for it. I'm not going to lie, I have to admit I did have to walk up some of them. They seemed never ending!! However, the ride into the landing was rewarding as there were some nice views of the ocean.

 I'm not sure how long the ride was, but it seemed forever due to riding so much incline. The weather was quite hot out as well. I think it reached about 25 degrees. When we arrived to Gibson's Landing, it was time for a beer.

 

We had some bevies at Molly's Reach. This place is supposed to be famous. It was featured on the show "The Beachcombers." It must have been before our time because it didn't ring a bell for us at all.

Fish tacos and a side salad was shared. It was an alright meal. I didn't have much expectations for this place as I read that they're actually famous for their pies? Don't remember where I read it from, but I should have may be stuck to their "famous fish and chips." Refueled, it was time to continuing exploring. Not much exploring was actually done this day, I was defeated by yet another giant hill and could not wait to return to the inn. I had to take a break, I thought I was going to get sun stroke while conquering that giant hill by bike and feet. On the way home, there was a bike store called Spin Cycles. We stopped in there to ask about good routes to ride around. Unfortunately, there are more mountain bike trails then ones meant for road bikes.

Will still had it in him, so he continued to explore. When he came back, he convinced me to take a ride down to the beach with him. There were still hills, but the ride was much easier in comparison to what we had done earlier in the day.

 

The beach was quite nice and relaxing. We sat there for a bit, and enjoyed the slow paced life there before we rode home to prepare to go out for dinner.  

I have to make note that B&B we stayed at is really wonderful. It's kept immaculately clean. It's nestled in the forest with a view (as you can see from above). There are woodpeckers that live up in their trees. You know Woody, the Woodpecker? His type of species! We actually saw him, but Woody was too fast and we could not snap a pic. Overall, the place is just beautiful and very welcoming. When we came back from our adventures we had a quick chat with Kathi. We found out that she used to cycle as well, she did mountain biking. She was a plethora of information! What a surprise. It's so nice to chat with her, in fact, she is so warm and welcoming, it almost feels as if we were just staying over at friend's house!

For dinner, we wanted simple dining, we went to Gramma's Pub back in the landing. We ate here last year and we remember the view is nice and the food is priced well, so that's why we chose this place. Will can never say no to calamari when he sees that on the menu, consequently that was our chosen starter.

The starter was pretty mediocre, you can't really go wrong with frying them up and serving it with tzatziki. I was determined to have fish tacos, as the ones we had for lunch just didn't cut it for me. 

These fish tacos were great!! It was beer battered halibut, served on a soft shell tortilla with sweet chilli sauce, mangoes and crushed cashews. The mangoes really complimented the fish well and it was certainly different that the other types of fish tacos I've had. 

One word to describe this other than good would be "innovative." The side salad was alright, nothing out of the ordinary, but I have to give them props for their house made honey vinaigrette. It was a good flavor for those types of vegetables. 

Will had the special of the night. He is a quantity type of person, so this suited him perfectly. His dinner included steak and prawns, served with fries and salad. As you can see, there is so much fries, that you can't even see where the steak is hiding. No complaints from him.

Day 3

When we woke up this Sunday morning, the sun wasn't with us. The weather called for rain. It was cloudy outside, but we figured we'll have breakfast first then see where the day takes us. Once again at 9, Kathi came with the goodies.

She actually gave us some options the day before. We went with the french toast over the pear pancakes. Now this isn't just any french toast! It's topped with blueberry sauce, and there are fine sprinkles of chocolate underneath so it just melts into the sauce as you eat it! We had a quick chat with her when she came to take the cart away. She figured the rain may not come, taking her word we decided to head northwestwards on our bikes. We wanted to see what's in Robert's Creek. The ride took about an hour before we reached our destination. The ride along the highway was hilly again! I successfully made it there without walking my bike at all! There was one particular hill, which neither Will nor I thought I could make, but with a bit of motivation and telling myself that I could do it (literally, because I had to say it to myself out loud) I made it!! I think most of it is because disembarking my bike on the side of the highway would be a bit embarrassing. 

 

In Robert's Creek, we ate at the Gumboot Restaurant. Looking around us, everyone looked like they were outdoorsy people or hippies. You could definitely tell that we were not locals. Browsing through their menu, nothing really popped up at me. I don't know why I ordered the Portabello Mushroom Quesadilla.  For those who know me, I need my meat. In the end, I did not regret ordering this because it was so full of flavor and it is by far the best vegetarian dish I've ever had. They had pesto in there, I think pesto makes EVERYTHING good. This tasted so good that I'm going to attempt and try to make this at home. I think Will had a burger? I don't remember. 

There was a farmer's market when we were there. We saw some pretty interesting things. As I mentioned before, this place was filled with hippies, so the services and products that were being offered were quite interesting to say the least. There were people getting massages, people learning yoga, some whole foods place and of course a lot of fresh produce. I bought a bag of edible flowers for $2. Not usually something part of my diet, but when I went to eat at Fraiche, there was this tiny blue flower that tasted like oyster. I asked the seller if his blue flowers were similar to those. He flashed me a look of confusion. I guess he didn't know what I was talking about. His flowers though, were equally interesting. The giant red orange one, when you bite in to them, they taste like starfruit, then after your mouth is overcome by this peppery spiciness! It was so weird. The other little small blue and purple flowers had a slight tint of sweetness to them. The yellow petals tasted like nothing. 

We then saw a lady with a full table of little packets. I found the one in the picture above to be most intriguing. It's a protein shake made with all raw, vegan ingredients such as cacoa powder, hemp seeds, carob root and etc. Some of the things on the ingredients list had us scratching our head, but the most funny part is that if you read close enough, it says this small packet is "infused and resonating with the highest intention and frequencies of 7 quartz crystal singing bowls, medicine flutes and song for the nourishing and healing of all your chakra systems." This was pretty hilarious to us, all we could imagine was that while making this, they must have been dancing around like fairies who were singing and dancing to the mix of this. I will let you guys know if my chakra gets centered after consumption. In the picture, you see the Drosera complex? I got that at the health store, also bought from another fairy (lol), she told me that this homeopathic remedy can help me with my cough. I've had this annoying cough for over seven weeks, so I'm pretty open to trying anything. I got this little container of 80 white little pellets for $7.99... may be it will work.. may be it won't. We shall see. 

After visiting that interesting little town of Robert's Creek, we rode back towards the B&B before the rain came. We went to the Blackfish Pub for some craft beers then it was time to shower and get ready for dinner. I will write about the dinner experience in the next blog....

To be continued....