The Barefoot Times Tour

Part 2 - Queensland Coast

'What happened to Part 1?' you ask. By rights that should be the Narrabri district, to keep things in chronological order, but I haven't gone there yet so maybe next year...

Coolum Beach, on Queensland's Sunshine Coast, features frequently in both Barefoot Times and Call of the Delphinidae. The birthplace of Billy's wife Julia and her brother Todd, it becomes the natural holiday destination for the Collins family and, after the traumatic events of Part Five, the location of their new business venture.
    In Part Eight it gains new significance when Tom reveals that Billy and Peter were conceived there, and later, in Call of the Delphinidae, so were Aaron and Chris. Billy received Mark's heart-shaped shell from the Coolum dolphins, and at the end of the first two books, Lorina and Mark established Earth's Delphinidae college there.
    I gleaned my descriptions from poring over maps, travel guides and websites, and while I'd planned my retrospective research tour right from the beginning, it wasn't until five years after publication that it finally happened.

The magical Coolum Beach itself.

The rocks at the southern end of the beach where Chris was washed up after his encounter with the Dolphins in Part Seven of Barefoot Times, and retold in Part Four of Call of the Delphinidae.

Just north of the Coolum Beach township is Noosa National Park, whose highest point is spookily named Emu Mountain (I couldn't find a twin Dodo Mountain though!). Mark and Sean went searching for Chris in this park the time he went missing.

Looking up to the summit of Emu Mountain from the northern access road.

The view south over Coolum Beach from the summit.

Castro's restaurant where I had dinner, but look at the street sign - was it named after Frank Halliday?

Another example of life imitating fiction. Is there any connection between my Eridanian character Norrie Harrish and this Coolum Beach park?

Further south, in Brisbane, are several locations also mentioned in Barefoot Times.

In Part Four of Barefoot Times, Jennifer lived her childhood in Eatons Hill, described as a leafy suburb on the northern side of Brisbane. Indeed it is!

Later in that chapter, Jenny's car plunges into South Pine River after being forced off by a vehicle drifting onto the wrong side of the road. Unfortunately the real bridge is dual carriageway so it couldn't have happened that way, but then again I did call my fictitious crossing Pinewood Bridge whereas the real one is Cash's Crossing, so maybe it was somewhere else.

Again in Part Four, after arriving in Brisbane, Jason wanders down to the riverside park and sits on a bench where he's mobbed by school children all wanting his autograph. This isn't quite the park bench I'd imagined, but it's the closest thing I could find there.

In Part Eight of Barefoot Times, Tom Collins describes his high school years living at Mount Gravatt and his happy times racing his friends barefoot through the forest up to the summit.

The picnic area at the summit of Mount Gravatt with the surrounding forest behind.