Wanting a couple of days away from the grind it was decided to take a drive to a little place called Poona.   About 2 hours drive from Maleny.    To get to Poona just turn off the Bruce Highway just south of Gympie to find this paradise of colour and natural beauty.

Poona is the kind of hideaway that makes you feel relaxed just thinking about it. It is a little community on the beach right next to the Great Sandy Strait and opposite the southern part of Fraser Island, is the perfect place to get away from the city bustle and let the pace ease back a few notches.    Poona peak hour is when the ressies come on their bikes and walk to get the daily paper - what a change of pace.

The Great Sandy Strait is a great place if you are interested in boating.    With reasonable care the area is a very safe boating area.

As the toenship of Poona is surrounded by National Park of Forestry Reserve it will be protected to a large extent from the growing population expansion that many coastal towns are presently experiencing.

View from the Boatramp	Poona Beach - Gt Sandy Strait	View of the Foreshore

A short stay at Poona can make a huge difference to frazzled nerves.   It is like a step backwards in time. Time is not measured by the clock as much as by the sun.     The biggest challenge of the day might be catching your dinner!    And even that's not hard.    The area is known for its excellent fishing, whether it's from the shore or from a dinghy.    Try out the creeks for whiting, flathead, bream, cod, mangrove jack and mud crabs or the deep holes out in the strait.    A variety of reef fish, trevally, mackeral and tailor can also be caught and in season.   Unfortunately we are only here for a couple of days.

The Great Sandy Strait itself is a wonderfully unspoiled waterway ? great for boating, quite sheltered by Fraser Island, and a marine wonderland with its turtles, dolphins, dugongs mudcrabs and many varieties of fish.   Fraser Island is just 9km from Poona.

Paperbark forests and woodlands, mangroves, and banksia and blue gum woodlands also grow in the park.    Rare and threatened plants include Boronia keysii and Macrozamia pauli-guilielimi.    The park contains one of the most southerly stands of the broad-leafed paperbark Melaleuca viridiflora.

Poona National Park is an important wildlife refuge.   The endangered ground parrot lives in the park's wallum heath.

The park also protects part of the Kalah Creek catchment.   Poona National Park is the traditional country of the Butchulla people who also lived on nearby Fraser Island.

On land, just a short ambling walk along the foreshore will  show you  just what nature has to offer, from wildflowers to birdlife.

Oh so quickly it is time to pack the car and head back to Maleny and back to the grind  -  Next time a week or more.