The Emerald Resort Noosa

... Backpackern wegen seines schoenen Strandes, guter Surfwellen und vieler Cafes beliebt. Nach unserer Reise abseits des Tourismus sind wir den Trubel der Ostkueste jedoch nicht mehr gewohnt. Es gibt zwar ein paar Wellen, aber auch jede Menge Leute, ein Jazz-Festival und wenig Parkplaetze. Wir belassen es bei einem kurzen Spaziergang entlang des goldenen Strandes und fahren weiter. Wir sind verwoehnt...

... in their office. We had our car packed up by the time they were home. We stayed for some lunch but soon it was time to leave. Since Angus was in bed and Abi was at a sleep over we gave their presents to Anna. We got Lachlan a book to thank him for giving up his room for the weekend. It was sad to say goodbye but we have to keep moving if we are going to see everything we want to see. Noosa has been the highlight of the east coast trip so far. Its beautiful there.

... all i had to do was open my mouth and it was obvious i was North American. (on a funny sidenote, apparently Canadians do not like it when they are asked if they are American and get quite huffy about it, so i was frequently asked if i was from Canada instead.) since novemeber 4th however, i have witnessed a visible change in attitude towards America. most i talk to still feel that we have a lot to absolve for but that we made ...

... of tributes to him from around the world and details of all his achievements which is a nice touch. The enclosures aren't all that great but the shows that they put on are worth the entry fee. There's a bird show where they let out various exotic birds and they fly around a stadium. They also bring out crocodiles for feeding which is very cool. Staff members walk around with various snakes and reptiles that you can hold and ask questions about. We ...

... honest, they do) and swimming in the crystal clear (and bloody cold) waters of Lake Mackenzie on the island. Don't worry, I kept up my European credentials by inching my way in to the cold water and stopping any time a ripple got anywhere near my knackers! At least I stayed in for longer than 20 seconds eh Deb! p.s. I'm doing lots of short entries as I want the pins in the map to reflect everywhere I've been.

... form of lizards sunning themselves on tree trunks, kingfishers, a huge goanna that was very interested in our sandwiches and the biggest toad ever (like something straight out of Harry Potter!). In the evening we made a campfire, enjoyed our spaghetti carbonara made from scratch (can you believe we managed to bring eggs without breaking them in the canoe?) and stayed up late with some Irish guys that warned us about the walk we were about to do the next day - one of them had ...

... And I am not just referring to round abouts like you would think that are like intersections. I am referring to a split in the road that happens to be round with a big plot of plants in the middle of it. A lot of the road in this part will have the traffic split by having a huge plot of plants in the middle of the road so it would almost be like going on a one way. Sun care is the biggest issue here. There are commercials upon commercials by the ...

... the accelerator in low 4 wheel drive. Fine we thought and got andrew to drive through it with our car screaming in protest at the speed! So we then headed for the champagne pools which were at the end of this next beach where we had to walk along a boardwalk from the car park, to these massive rock pools where the waves crash into them on a regular basis. Unfortunately, just as we got there, a girl from one of the other cars in our group came past us crying ...

... blast as we surfed back in on the kayaks. The evenings in Byron were so legendary too...a backpackers nightclub known as 'Cheeky monkeys' is where many a good night was spent. Byron bay really is a special place, the environment itself was just really relaxed and it was a shame to say goodbye when we left after a week there...but alas the travels must continue so we left heading towards Surfers Paradise. Our first impression of surfers paradise was...'Why the hell have we come here ...

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