Sideline Sid Motoring correspondent www.sunlive.co.nz

Riding in a couple of completely different cars since arriving in Queensland six weeks ago has shown Sideline Sid how much motor vehicles have developed in the last couple of decades.

We had the use of our son's 1996 Ford Festiva for about 10 days. Compared to the bangers of the 1960s-1970s, the Festiva has power steering and automatic transmission.

But it's light years away from the latest Toyota Hybrid I also got to sit and ride in.

The almost brand new hybrid had my brother-in-law well and truly flummoxed when he got behind the wheel.

The lack of any noise provided by the electric motor content of the hybrid is hard to get use to and can be unnerving to a new chum in the driver's seat.

While there has been plenty of debate in New Zealand about the new requirement to have a Warrant of Fitness test annually, instead of every six months, it's a completely different scenario in the Sunshine State.

The only requirement is a certificate of road worthiness when the vehicle is sold.

The reality is the likes of my son's vehicle, which has number of small issues – such as the passenger door having to be unlocked from inside and a driver's window that can't be wound down – gets away without having to be rectified, as it would in a Kiwi Warrant of Fitness check.

However, it was a real bonus to have a car for a short period. It's not until you are without a vehicle you realise how much you take a car for granted.

Grocery shopping becomes an exercise in logistics and we've had to buy a portable shopping trolley to take our weekly provisions home from the supermarket.

For longer journeys to the bigger shopping malls we've utilised buses, which requires a degree of patience while waiting for the right bus to come along.

We made good use of our son's car while we had it, visiting many of the tourist attractions on the Sunshine Coast.

One of the off-beaten track places we utilised the Festiva to visit was the Glass House Mountains National Park headquarters.

The Glass House Mountains were formed by volcanic eruptions some 25 million years ago and the resulting peaks can be seen from numerous vantage points throughout the Sunshine Coast.

While the major arterial highways and roads around the Sunshine Coast are made for fast-paced motoring, you don't have to get too far from civilisation to find roads similar to what the Tauranga to Rotorua direct route was like before it being upgraded.

I would highly recommend any Western Bay visitors to the Sunshine Coast take the time to get up close and personal with the Glass House Mountains.

The National Park lookout is slap bang in the middle of the numerous peaks, with information boards outlining the mythology of the various peaks.

There are 14 mountains in the area with the highest being Mount Meerwah at 556 metres.

For the history-minded, the Glass House Mountains were named by James Cook in his voyage of discovery of the Pacific in 1770.

He named them the ‘Glass Houses' after the shape of the glass kilns in the North of England.