Comfort Suites Sandcastles On Beach Mooloolaba

... are much nicer than British canals - beach-lined with Stingray swimming in there!
That day Bec finished work early so we headed to her local Surf Club on the beach for wine and girly catch-ups! Nev and their friend Tony joined us... was a fun evening catching up, and Bec won wine and a hat in the raffle! And poor Nev ordered the prawns which were literally 5 little prawns on a massive plate.... mean!

On the Friday, while they were at work i went to explore Mooloolaba ...

... an hour North (thus, I'm verrrry slowly making my way up the East Coast, and savouring every moment of it). I got to meet Amy's boyfriend, Sam, and her absolutely precious 9-week-old puppy, Hendrix. The minute I got here, I strapped on my running shoes and went for a nice run on the boardwalk, which runs along the beach. As the sun set, I was watching massive waves roll in, while listening to my iPod, saluting other joggers. Talk about a dream come true ...

... no shelter inside the bommy-filled lagoon. Plus, it was cold and rainy. Basically repeat that up to the Whitsundays. We arrived about a week ago to Hamilton Island. Although the weather is sometimes good, sometimes a little unseasonably cold, we have made tons of friends and are getting the royal treatment here. We have been invited on a power boat to dive the outer Great Barrier Reef on Friday and also do a helicopter tour of the area on Saturday ...

... habe ich so einige Deutsche getroffen, die (fast) alle ein Auslandssemester an der University of the Sunshine Coast einlegen wollten. Die liegt gleich hier hinter Mooloolaba, wo ich gerade wohne. Na ja, vielleicht sieht man sich ja mal wieder. Am Flughafen angekommen, hat mich David mit einem großen Pappschild, auf dem mein Name stand, empfangen. Wir kannten uns vorher nur aus dem Internet und als ich ihn gesehen habe, dachte ich ...

Tuesday 20th: Once again MrJ and I are ready to head out, across the Wide Bay Bar and south to Brissie. Before getting away there is the little matter of getting some more diesel for AR's two fuel tanks. The usual trick is to take your boat alongside the fuel dock and fill from the marina bowsers. The lady at the chandlers office, the chandlers have the rights to the fuel dock, informs MrJ that they may not have enough fuel in their tanks and no one has dipped the tank as ...

... to blend in by adjusting their pigment cells to the light color of the house. they also make this high-pitched chirping noise...when i first heard it, i thought it was a bird! in fact, the name "Gecko" stems from the Indonesian/Javanese word gekok, imitative of its cry. all but one family of gecko have no eyelids, and instead have a transparent membrane which they lick to clean. i know--so cool, right? there are 114 ...

... af lækre arkitekttegnede luksusvillaer langs bredderne, men ikke længe efter at vi har forladt Noosa skifter turen karakter. Vi forlader de asfalterede veje og kører ind i Great Sandy National Park. Her følger vi et dusttrack, Coolooola Way. Og det bliver hurtigt klart for os, hvorfor man kun skal bevæge sig ind på denne vej, hvis man er i 4WD. Op og ned går det , løst sand, fast sand, ujævnheder og bump. Ind i mellem er det nærmest som at køre i Rutchebane. Og ...

We left Brisbane in the warm and bright sunshine and drove through the quite steady city traffic northwards. Through the extensive city suburbs until we continued on the 'Bruce Hwy M1', a mostly two lane road that was busy with Sunday travelers. The wide coastal plain had several small forests along it and hills in the inland distance. The hwy ran inland from the coast and there were hardly any glimpses of the sea but at least the fields weren't quite as brown as we had ...

... the beach. We didn't plan any tours or trips from Noosa, we just wanted to sit back and relax... and that's what we did. WE cooked a BBQ by the pool for St. Patrick's Day which was a cool way to spend it - sounds a bit different to how things were at home anyway. This morning we have just been relaxing too, and we're heading off later to Brisbane... or as they call it here 'Bris-bin'.

... saw lots of animals we'd never seen before and Carl got a new nickname: wombat! I loved the koalas... aww cute. We were sad to leave Noosa as it was the first place we really thought, yep, this is a great life and we felt healthy, doing the coast walks and drinking the juice. It's enticing. As Simon and Garfunkel sang, "the thought that life could be better is woven indelibly into our hearts and our brains" (my dad gave me that one - thanks dad!)