Peninsular Beachfront Resort Mooloolaba

Three fun packed days in Mooloolaba. A seriously cool hostel full of cool people, the sort of place you come for 2 days and stay for 6 months, I made sure to avoid that trap. It was great though, entertainment every night and loads of cheap food, pizza, BBQs etc.<br><br>Spent my days kayaking and going on sunset cruises and my nights partying. Goon pong is the funnest game ever. Sober to drunk in about 60 seconds. Met a couchsurfer for a drink in the surf club and had a generally wicked time.

... time too, I was all set to change my flights and come home, Oz is way more expensive than you think and I'd pretty much run out of cash!So since then I've just been working and trying to save a bit cash for the next part of the trip. Living in a hostel has it's ups and downs, being mostly full of people who're just on holiday it's really not designed for people that have to get up at 6:30 to go to work, but it's cool that you can go down to the living area ...

... I - so really, who could resist us?? :) So anyway, we found our way to Sharon and Graeme's palace where they proceeded to bend over backwards for us. We had tried to offer to bring dinner but Sharon had already organized a feast which, not surprisingly, was very delicious. After dinner around their huge outdoor table, we went for a dip in their pool (did I mention they have a POOL?!) and continued to sip our wine from the pool's edge. Sounds awful, doesn't it ...

... with the package I booked for the Whitsundays and Fraser and it was actually really good fun, thanks to the torrential rain and thunderstorms.....I never thought I'd say that!!! So the first night, to ease us into it gently they put us in a cabin.....which was actually worse than being in a tent if you asked me! The beds were essentially hammocks with mattresses, which were cool and comfy, but what concerned me was the gaps in the dorm framework and the fact the ...

... markets and shops. We thoroughly enjoyed that. Then we drove up to Noosa &amp; the Noosa national park. Beautiful shopping on the famous Hastings street. Quite a wealthy area but nice to see. Then we all had a picnic lunch at Marg &amp; Mal's favourite "spot" which overlooks the ocean. Absolutely breathtaking to see the ways, surfers, ships etc. A spot of a lifetime it seemed. Yes, even enjoyed a wine while taking in the sites. Saturday night we had a BBQ at home to cook ...

... the port was preferred over the Maroochy River. Pettigrew's steamers 'Tarshaw,' 'Tadorna Radjah' and 'Gneering' operated along both rivers. The steamers carried produce, passengers and timber between Mooloolaba and Brisbane. In 1891, with the opening of the North Coast Railway to Yandina river transport deteriorated. Pettigrew transferred his activities to Maroochydore, establishing a saw-mill there in 1891, led to the further declination of the depot at ...

... to do mid week before the storm arrived. Guess what - nowhere to park and this is winter. How do they cope in the busy summer months? Driving out of town we rounded the estuary and up to 'Point Cartwright', across from the harbour. Parking space and we walked along the estuary path and out to the harbour light point. Here people were sitting on the large breakwater relaxing or fishing and surfers, including canoes were playing in the waves. Occasionally a large wave ...

... 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.

... moved over the area, it was like watching a scene from the movie Independence Day. The sky turned dark grey and within minutes the wind picked up and the rain came belting down. As quickly as it arrived it drifted off to sea. Wow!! What a show. Not long after we were treated to a fantastic sunset and a distant lightning show. The next day was spent lazing on the beach and body surfing, which I must say I was ...

... Our first animal sighting as we strolled around was of three lizards, sunning themselves in perfect symmetry on top of a rock. This was amazing enough but as we began to take pictures, we noticed that directly behind them, were two giant tortoises lumbering ever so slowly to turn and face us. All we could say was Crikey! But this sort of thing was quite the norm here. Throughout the day we saw zoo attendants walking ...