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Day 80 - Hervey Bay to Noosa
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We were woken rather earlier than we would have liked by a combination of a very noisy parrot and a lawn strimmer, which was surely a bit naughty at 7:30am ?!
We packed up all our stuff again (it does get very monotonous after 80 days of packing every day !!!), grabbed some quick brekkie and headed off to the rental place.
The tyre cost marginally less than they suggested last night, but they then added on a charge for "balancing" (right...) and a charge for straightening the wheel rim. The total was about A$300, which was a real kick in the guts, but just stone cold bad luck, nothing we could do about it.
The thing that kept us smiling was our next destination, the jewel of the Sunshine Coast, Noosa Heads.
Noosa was absolutely one of my favourite spots from my Oz/NZ trip 6 years ago, I was able to hook up with my friend Andrew "H" who lived in Brisbane, and he drove us out to the beach, and then to a place where we walked up to some cliffs and just sat there taking in the amazing views. I'll never forget that, and I couldn't wait to show Katie.
The drive was just under 2 hours, and we'd reserved our room earlier this morning, so all we had to do was find the hostel.
We came into Noosaville on the esplanade, and it was gorgeous. Another cracking day, and I didn't remember the street being this nice, it was a knockout.
Noosaville is a lovely town, and cheaper than Noosa Heads, which is ultra-premium and therefore very expensive.
We found the hostel easily, parked up, shoved all our stuff in the room, applied some sun cream and set off for a walk down the esplanade, which was mostly full of pelicans !
The first place that took our eye was a boat rental office, so we reserved a little 2 man motor boat for 2pm and went off to find the "excellent" fish & chip shop recommended by our guidebook...
As usual the map in the guidebook was a load of garbage but we were able to track it down, it was called Holy Mackerel, and it was next door to this Thai restaurant, with the most desparate punning yet ! Check this out:
I have NEVER seen as many puns used to name companies before, it's like Les Dennis is the minister for new businesses or something...
We ordered our usual of barramundi & chips, battered in beer with tartare sauce (you can always choose between breaded or battered, and this place also offered 'grilled').
Fair play to the guidebook, the fish & chips here were absolutely first class. I'll spare you the details ;)
After that we went back to the room, got ready for our boat trip and off we set !
Our boat was a bit of a midget, but it was quite cute I guess. The guy assured me that it was lighter than the other boats they had, and with the same engine, so it was actually quicker.
I think this was probably the same guy that convinced George W about the Iraqi stockpile of chemical weapons...
Whatever, it wasn't the most powerful boat in the world, but it was fine for us, so Captain Al set sail for a 2 hour cruise around Noosaville, avast me hearties !!!!
We started off with a self-guided tour of the luxury beach front properties, which seemed to thoroughly depress my wife, who was hard at work sunning herself at the front of our enormous vessel...
and then we set off to the main beach, via a few precarious sandbanks, and parked-up in one of the stunning little bays.
We got onto the beach with no dramas, and then swanned around basking in the sun, it was simply tremendous.
Our 2 hours flew by, so in no time at all we were taking our little boat back to the office, land ahoy ya scurvy land lubbers !
As we got within 100 metres, a bunch of jetskiers zoomed past, which looked like great fun...
After regaling the boat owner with tales of our epic journey, we walked back to the hostel, jumped in the car and headed for the Noosa National Park.
The park is where H & I walked up to the cliffs last time. It is located right on the headland, and contains miles and miles of walking trails, and loads of koalas up in the trees !!
I convinced Katie to do the coast walk (she wasn't convinced as no koalas had been seen on it today), and it was really spectacular. Even better, we soon saw a very lazy and very cute koala right above us !
The track itself was pretty easy, and very scenic.
The sun was coming down, giving us some great views of the various coves & bays as we made our way out to the Devil's Horns, two slithers of rock which shoot out at the most northernly point, giving a great view back towards the main beach in the park, called Alexandria Beach.
We carefully made our way out to the rocks at the end (not the very end, don't panic parents !!), and sat there taking in the view and admiring its romantic properties !
We could have sat there all day, but eventually started the walk back, after deciding to hike to the beach tomorrow morning. There is no road access through the park, so it's hike or nothing !
On our way back the sun was now very low on the horizon, giving us some very bright views back over the rocks...
...and as we passed the best bay we could clearly make out the local surfers strutting their stuff, they were indeed most bogus and radical, dude.
After getting into the car, we made a quick stop at the main beach in Noosa itself, but sadly the sun had just dipped behind the trees.
By the time we got back to Noosaville the sun was setting, giving one of those beautiful Aussie sunsets.
Not that I expect much/any sympathy, but unfortunately we've not really been able to relax much here, we've been moving on nearly every day in Australia, I think she'd like to just relax somewhere. We'll find a way to do that as we get south, we have a few days in Sydney, a couple in Melbourne, and then some time with Marie in the Barossa (wine) valley before we fly to New Zealand.
Australia is stunning when the sun shines, but it's also SO much more expensive than Asia, so we are getting through a ton of money, it's a bit of a worry. We don't have much choice, so we need to just do what we need to, and pay it off when we get home.
We're so lucky to be over here seeing all these amazing sights, we just need to really remind ourselves of that, and we can sort the money out later. Money really can't buy what we're experiencing on this trip, we mustn't lose sight of that even when the costs get us down.
I also know that Katie is tired of the driving, and I wish I could help with that, it really makes me feel awful. Will definitely get that sorted when we get home, it was just so manic before we left...
Despite our money issues we'll go somewhere nice for dinner, I think Katie is sick to death of making sandwiches, having fish & chips or pizza because they're cheap, and making our own dinners in shitty kitchens.
Hopefully some nice food will put a smile back on her face ;)
It's a short drive to Brisbane tomorrow, I can't wait to introduce Katie to H and Simone, although Brissy won't be quite the same without Blakey (Kieren) who is now in Melbourne !
Lots of love to you all,
Al & Katie xx
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