Fairshore Noosa

I had e-mailed a company called Pelican Boat Hire many months ago after seeing a feature online from the Australian programme Getaway. Brad from Pelican had e-mailed back assuring me that no special qualifications were needed, and believe it or not he remembered about that when we mentioned it.

So we three had a two hour jaunt up and down the Noosa River in our little ...

... as the "most unused" trail my dark mood began to lift. The forest was quiet except for the ocean in the distance and the birds rustling in the leaves. The more I walked, the more my attitude changed and by the time the trail joined the coastline I was feeling content. I sat and watched the ocean pound into the rocky cliffs and allowed my negativity to dissapate before I made my way back down the beach.

this past week the annual Noosa Festival of Surfing, sponsored by Global Surfing Industries, was once again held at Noosa Heads. Though traditionally a longboard contest, the festival celebrates all kinds of surfing including the classic standup paddle surfing, a technique invented by Waikiki locals in the 1940's. all the local papers have been talking up the event for the past month so i was determined to get up for a day and check it out. since mary had the day off she decided ...

... and headed off, and it never rained on us again the rest of the day. We got to hold a Koala, baby crocodile, wombat , and a python). And got to see a huge crocodile they fed. We pretty much followed a guide that explained about each animal, and got to get up close, (except for the big croc of course). The kids weren't the least bit scared, and Sienna was so taken with the kangaroos, they followed her everywhere, and we got to see a ...

... it's such a high! And addictive! There were a couple of days when the conditions weren't really ideal, there weren't really any waves at all and the tide was in really tight (that's cuz there was a half moon). But we didn't fret none, the other days made up for it totally. The one day we went to a different cove called Teatree, the waves were killer, so easy to catch and ride, not too big either. I got some of my best ...

... but definitely the cheapest and very social! Back in Noosa we decided to stay for one more day to visit Australia Zoo that we had missed on our way up. In the zoo we made friends with lots of kangaroos, cute echidnas (like a hedgehog but with longer spikes), koalas, crocs and all the other weird and wonderful creatures. Steve "Crocodile Hunter" Irwin (the guy that got killed by a sting ray a couple of years ago) is a huge celebrity here and Australia Zoo is his big project. It ...

... you hear about all the time. The animal habitats were all impressive and seemed to be well-kept. The place could've used more educational signage. It was interesting to see all the Australian wildlife up close, but I really didn't learn very much. I did learn that emus make a noise in their long throats that sounds like a bongo drum. This was very surprising the first time I heard it.

... all the gear going into the lake. I, in my infinite wisdom, jumped in after the gear to try and get it back in the canoe but by the time I had swam to get the barrels the cannoe was a good distance from me heading for the shore. It was at this point I remembered that there was supposidly sharks in the water so I quickly let go of the gear and swam after the cannoe. The wind was that strong that there was not a chance of getting it but luckily ...

... part of town (where we hired the boat last time) being this nice, it was a knockout.





Noosaville is a lovely town and cheaper than Noosa Heads, which is a premium destination and therefore much more expensive.

We ...

... was wicked - we had our own 3 bed house with kitchen TV & DVD player. We were gutted we were only staying 2 nights. We also got some free beers out of it! The manager wanted to move us after the 1st night but we said we were fine where we were!!! When we woke up though we realised we weren't alone - in the hallway was a massive spider! we were so worried it was poisonous we hardly slept! The ...