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Published: October 17th 2006
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Koalas!
Cute little Koalas at Oz Zoo Onward to Noosa From Rainbow Beach to Noosa was just a short-ish drive and we had a passenger: Liz from Warrington, who we just about managed to squeeze in to the wreck despite the mounting clutter.
Noosa’s reputation had preceded it, and it was just as nice as we’d expected it to be. Despite being on the pricey side there are plenty of hostels, so backpackers get to enjoy the great beaches, coastal national park and laid-back atmosphere. While we were there, we seemed to bump in to just about everyone we’d met further up the coast.
Our Noosa hostel had one of the better kitchens we’ve used, so Rod cooked up a storm which, as usual, provoked food envy from everyone else in the kitchen. “Did you
make that?!” is what they usually ask as they look at their instant noodles in depression.
We spent 4 days in Noosa and for the first three days the weather was perfect. Rod tried more surfing (but struggled with Noosa’s gentle waves) while I lazed on the beach, and we spent an afternoon walking around the National Park coastal paths. On day four it all went slightly pear-shaped and
the heavens opened….
all day. By mid-afternoon Rod had bought a second hand mini-malibu surfboard plus wetsuit, I’d splurged in a clothes shop and we’d stocked up on six bottles of wine. Lesson for the day: bad weather b*gg*rs the budget.
Farewell to Stevo After Noosa we headed down towards Brisbane and visited Australia Zoo en route. It was less than a week since Steve Irwin died and the entrance to the Zoo was swamped with flowers and messages of sympathy. It was very sad but the Zoo staff kept the mood upbeat, and we all yelled a big ‘Crikey!’ for Stevo in the Crocoseum before we got on with enjoying our day. The rain was still falling, but we were kitted out in head-to-foot waterproofs (sexy), so it didn’t spoil our day. We saw tigers, cheetahs, elephants, wombats, tazmanian devils, cassowaries, emus and lots of Australia’s seriously scary snakes.
The really memorable bits were seeing a crocodile jump vertically out of the water for food, feeding kangaroos and watching them stalk Rod after he’d run out of food (bit unnerving!!), and stroking koalas. The koalas were very cute…and very dopey: they sleep for up to 22 hours
Noosa National Park
Photo stop on the coastal walk a day (lucky things!), despite being wedged between gum-tree branches, which can’t be too comfy. We were also lucky enough to see teeny-weeny baby koalas just peeping out of their mum’s pouches. Ahhhhhh!
Slackers and the city It was so long since we’d been in a city that Brisbane felt like the big smoke, although it’s only the third largest city in Australia and it’s probably smaller than Manchester. We wandered around Brisbane for an afternoon and enjoyed its river setting, but - like most cities - it’s difficult to get the most out of it without money to spend eating out and shopping. Still, it looked like it must be a nice place to live and it definitely deserves more attention than it gets.
Gold Coast Hinterland - avoiding the tack We skipped the reputedly over-developed Gold Coast and drove inland to Queensland’s mountainous hinterland, where we got fantastic views across the mountains towards New South Wales and back towards the high-rise buildings of Surfers Paradise on the coast. We spent a day walking in Springbrook National Park and when we drove back to our hostel high on the Springbrook Plateau - the first time
Surfs up
At Noosa - with new board and wetsuit (and some waves at last) we’d driven at dusk - we had to dodge kamikaze wallabies that hurtled across the road! We were the only guests in 70’s-ski lodge style hostel and we spent the night freezing and wishing we were back on the balmy coast.
The next day we drove South from Queensland in to New South Wales stopping along the way at Natural Arch (another National Park ares) and a NSW hinterland town called Murwillumbah. We had a lunchtime pie at Murwillumbah (pies are big in Australia, maybe even more so than in Wigan)….we asked if they had any veggie pies and were told: “ah yeah, we’ve got chicken” !?*!!
The Byron Bay experience First stop in NSW was Byron Bay - a mecca for surfers, backpackers, and just about everyone else in summertime. Even though it was the “off season”, the place was still bustling. Unfortunately our lack of stamina (which seems to be worse than ever despite not working!) meant we didn’t really sample the famed nightlife other than sitting in a busy local bar so Rod could watch the rugby league play offs, and meeting up with Liz a few times for drinks.
Rod got out
See you later
Baby alligator at Australia Zoo (not a croc) on the surfboard most days - by the third day he’d had a bit of a “breakthrough” though it seems to have been pretty short-lived! Most of the time it’s been rather entertaining watching him from the beach….except for the day at Byron that I spotted a fin in the water just a short distance away from him - if my heart wasn’t in my mouth I’d have started screaming Jaws-stylee, but it didn’t take long to realise it was only a dolphin. Doh.
The next day we walked the popular coastal path, past stunning Watego Bay (and lots of al fresco weddings) and up to the lighthouse at Cape Byron, which is Australia’s eastern-most point. The route back down to Byron Bay took us past a handgliding launch area and through a bit of bush, where we saw more of the bush turkeys that we’d seen further north.
We also drove up to the little town of Nimbin in the hinterland. Nimbin is famous for its hardcore crusty hippy locals who sit around smoking comedy-sized joints, selling pot and cakes and various related products. None of this is legal, but it seems to get ignored in the
Holding hands
Elephants at Oz Zoo interests of tourism.
Nimbin’s in a pretty setting of rolling green hills and we found a nice café, where we bought scrummy (strictly legal) cakes, but half an hour is all Nimbin really requires, so we decided to take a look at another hinterland town, highly recommended by Lonely Planet. According to LP the “hip and happening” of Byron Bay are making their way to Mullimbimby - but after a rather long detour (much of it by dirt road), all we found was a very dull little town with nothing to recommend it at all. We can only assume that the LP-writer had enjoyed some Nimbin hospitality before they wrote that.
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Amanda
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Actually somewhere I've been!
Finally somewhere you've been that I can comment on. I spent my best week in Oz in Noosa and I absolutely loved it. However, I can do one better than Rod's shark/dolphin sighting, I saw Merv Hughes in the sea (believe me, with that moustache it was nearly as scary). I've also been to "best of all" lookout in Springbrook. Soooo jealous, was ace xxx