Noosa Tropicana

... spot to surf. Most people go a little south if they're serious about it. The **** waves are great for beginners however and by the end of the 2hr lesson I had managed to stand on my board quite a few times. I was completely exhausted by the end of it though. We had a small group, only 3 of us in total, which was great because you got lots of practice but bad because we got worked so much harder than you normally would. It was tons of fun though and I'm definitely glad I gave it a go.

... phenomenales! Des gens qui marchaient avec de l'eau jusqu'a la taille et les routes bloquees, des voitures qui flottaient, le deluge. Mais nous en sommes sortis vivants et avons passe une nuit plus ou moins seche dans la voiture... Le reste de la route s'est passe sans encombre, un court arret a Byron Bay pour profiter de la temperature qui semblait vouloir change pour le mieux. C'est que la grosse depression athmospherique nous aimait tant qu'elle ...

... while the sun went down, and the Brisbane skyline at night from on high was really something. And the food wasn't bad either. The Gold Coast is famous for its theme parks, and there were two I really wanted to visit. Unfortunately, I didn't have time for Dreamworld, which is a shame, because they had some pretty cool rides, but I did manage to get to Warner Bros Movie World instead. As the name suggests, all the rides are movie-themed, with an ...

... really. We've all seen fireworks but they had spent 5 million dollars on these and combined with the atmosphere - well, it was pretty amazing to say the least! Back at the bar I stayed until I thought I was about to fall asleep on my feet, then headed for my bed. Thursday 1st January 2009 Sydney Woke late and missed breakfast for the first time! No cold coffee though!! Lazed around and went out at about3ish for some food. Surprise surprise I ended up in the Osbourne! Food ...

Our flight from Melbourne to The Sunshine Coast was "rather" surreal. We were lucky enough to be stationed next to an emaciated blonde in her fifties, on "the housewives cocktail" (at least we assume that) of Diazepam/Valium and Alcohol. This she had to top up during the flight! Our first clue was the dazed way she got up to let us in, and then stopped all traffic for five minutes while she waited for that bloke to put his bag away (Mike ...

... a Ramsar site with 40km of lakes, beaches, sand dunes and a dramatic finale at the Sugarloaf Point lighthouse at Seal Rocks where we met the laidback surfing custodian of the lighthouse, complete with Bafana Bafana beanie who had lived and romanced in Durban way back in the 70's. Then it was a short swing down the Pacific Highway to the Wilsons in Newcastle and south over the Hawkesbury River and Joanna and daryl's home in Neutral Bay on Sydney's north shore.

... styling down the lines at the point break in town. Contented with the free show I drove back down the coast towards Brisbane. Brisbane was great, becuase I met up with Kelly Ching in ..you guessed it...Chinatown. Our paths seem to cross quite often. We hung out for the day which happened to be St. Pat's. In the process of chatting her up, I found out she used to be a Coors Lite promo girl, so naturally I made fun ...

... music festival called a Muster is held over a week every year in august. We looked round the site then drove away and saw pineapples, mangos and passion fruits growing on trees. Then FINALLY we saw something we had all been dying to see. Wild kangaroos hopping along in the field next to the road. We stopped to take pics and tried to get as close as possible but then after a while they got bored of staring at us and hopped off. It was great to see them ...

... than Asia, so we're getting through a shedload of money, it's a bit of a worry.

We don't have much choice really, we're hardly travelling luxuriously, and we only get one shot at this, plus I guess we have a lifetime to pay back ...

Nous sommes retournees a 5 heures et puis nous jouons au ping pong. Or something like that - ping pong this time, not a ping pong show! Again, another quiet evening in Noosa - the peeps are very friendly at the hostel though. The next day we caught the Oz bus at 11ish, heading for Brissie and somewhere a little more lively hopefully