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Published: January 11th 2007
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Christmas dinner
The prawns before i'd de-brained them! ...Were my exact words on christmas day, which i feel fully highlights the difference between our christmas and yours! The quote relates to our christmas dinner, which was a barbeque on the beach and also the only time that Jonny has happily cooked christmas dinner and he didn't even need to phone his mum for help! We thought we'd be proper tourists and try to 'throw a couple of shrimps on the barbie'. Now i don't even particularly like prawns but thought i'd try to get into the spirit of the day and eat one. Soon realised that this was a mistake when i tried to pull its head off and it spurted its brain all over me (now i do realise the possible innuendo here but i cannot think of any other way to phrase it!)
Although it was lovely to spend christmas lazing on the beach it kind of felt like something was missing, namely the great big tree, pile of pressies and huge roast dinner so this was one of the first times that i truely felt homesick.
The rest of christmas day involves far to much beer so all gets a little hazy, so we'll move on.
Christmas Day
How beautiful is the view from our BBQ? I should get a job working for Tooheys! After christmas we thought we would spend a quiet few days recovering before new year so went up the coast to Coolangatta, which has the biggest stretch of beach that i have ever seen. This would have been lovely had the weather been good, however it wasn't! So we deciced that the best way to spend an overcast day was to hire some surf boards and try to perfect our recently acquired surfing skills - the previous piccies on the last blog prove just how good we were! Oh how we were wrong!!!
We were advised to surf near snapper rocks because the current was so strong we would be able to surf all the way back in. This would probably have been really good advice if i had had the strength to paddle out, but i didn't and proceeded to spend the next few hours being battered by the waves and the current - by the time i eventually gave up i had very few areas of my body that didn't have bruises! Jonny faired slighty better - well he was less black and blue.
So we gave in on being water babies and decided to have a
Picnic on the beach
Fish 'n' chips on Coolangatta's never ending beach! little walk around the town - this didn't take long! We did find a memorial to Captain Cook on the site where he first landed in Australia. Also we found the state dividing line between NSW and QLD, which wouldn't be all that spectacular except for two things. Firstly, in a country the size of Oz why not divide the states around the town rather than straight down the middle of it and secondly, the states are in different time zones so it was possible to stand with your legs an hour apart (and Jill's not even from Essex - sorry Mum *Jonny*). This made remembering what time the bus left quite difficult!
We spent new year in Surfers Paradise although when we again tried our hand at surfing we decided that it was more like surfers hell. I very rapidly gave in when the waves were breaking over my head, although Jonny persevered until he had no skin left on his hands from gripping the board in what i believe was sheer terror. We have now decided that we will book ourselves onto a surf camp when we eventually go back south again and our initial heroic surfing
New Years Eve on the beach.
A lovely piccie to remind ourselves of our aussie new year - except for the comedian who joined us. efforts seem to have been pure fluke!
We spent New Years Eve itself on a pub crawl around a selection of irish bars, stopping only to watch the fireworks at midnight on the beach and to buy various slices of pizza in between pubs! Apologies to anyone i either spoke to or texted due to the wine induced rubbish that i seemed to be babbling! Surfers Paradise lived up to its tacky, neon party town reputation right down to the copy of Michaelangio's (Sorry i can't spell - we're obviously philistines) David in the shopping mall. However it was a really fun town and a great place to spend new year.
New Years day we won't talk about (ouch), moving swiftly on...
We then left the Gold coast and headed to the Sunshine coast to the sleepy town of Maroochydore for some much needed R&R. Again this would have been a fab place to laze away a few days on the beach if it hadn't rained the whole time! We stayed at the best hostel that we've been to yet - Cotton Tree Backpackers - very friendly place. Jonny fell in love with the giant dog, until he tried
Drunk?
Jonny blames the salt water for the bloodshot eyes! I think it was probably the beer, especially as we don't remember the photo being taken! to sit on my lap and i feared that i'd be squashed to death - just to clarify i am talking about the giant dog here and not Jonny!
Finally we went to Noosa which has a reputation as one of the 'must see' places on the east coast. It was beautiful - we saw koalas in the wild in the national park, also saw lots of rather large lizards which scared Jonny witless - very amusing! The beach would have been just as beautiful if we had been able to see it under the mass of people sunbathing! We managed to find some quieter little coves around the national park which were lovely although they were rocky. We are aware of the irony of leaving eastbourne's beach only to seek sanctuary on possibly the only rocky beach in Australia!
We met up with Emmy and her mum for a night as they were returning from fraser island and had a lovely evening of proper food - thankyou Angela - and a night of too much wine - cheers Emmy!
And now we are at rainbow beach killing time until we go to fraser island. And i think
Noosa
Proof that we are actually here together! i've waffled quite enough, i'm off to enjoy the sun as that seems to be quite a rarity in an Australian summer! This place has more rain than england! Ok you can all stop laughing now.
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Emmy
non-member comment
Jonny is truely a girl
Hi guys. Sorry Bob but I have to do it, I will burst otherwise... Jonny owns a rather fetching PURPLE SARONG. Hee hee hee. He thinks that it is a manly sarong, but it isn't. David Beckham eat your heart out!!! I think we should all campaign, by popular demand to have a photo of him wearing it, so come on guys, all together now... Emmy xxx