Pool in Noosa

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On Easter day i got itchy feet and decided to go North to Noosa, a town a bit like Byron Bay, but more of a playground for the rich and famous. I got there and was picked up by the hostel van, given a mini tour of the place, and got taken to Koala hostel - great little place with a pool and bar. I didnt have much daylight left, so took a walk up a nearby hill to 'laguna lookout' - quite a steep hill, it turned out. Numerous cars drove past at speed, the occupants smiling serenely out as i huffed and puffed my way to the top, cursing them. And in the end, the panoramic view out across the sea and estuaries and the town was lovely, if a little obscured by bloody trees, but the sun was in a perfect position to render all my pictures a bit crap. I took my time strolling back down. Although I was on a road, the 'bush' of the Noosa national park pressed in on either side - i could hear strange calls and sounds, like the distinctive kookaburra laugh. Unfortunately there were no koala sightings, but i did see a shed snake skin: highly venemous no doubt, i consoled myself.

That night i ventured into the bar fairly early, and met Poppy and Amy, two young girls from Cambridge, plus a guy called John and a nice older guy called Mick. We drank together, had some bbq, then when a killer pool competition was announced, decided that 'yes! we want to enter!'. It was basically if you hit a ball, you get through to the next round. Astoundingly, I got through the first round (cue smug looks at men who didnt). The second round was a different matter. Any fouls (balls off the table, potting the white, not hitting any balls) were punishable by men taking down their trousers and doing a lap of the table, women taking their top off and doing the same (which is hardly the same degree of punishment if you ask me) Anyway, the second round involved spinning round a pool cue, then trying to hit something as the table veered in and out of sight and everything was swimming, blurred, all over the shop. Needless to say, with my endless honed skills at pool, I was the first girl to parade around the table topless. Oh the shame. It was a raucous night, but i still had loads of fun dancing like there was no tomorrow. I called it a night around midnight, sneaking off and leaving the others to it.

The next morning i looked around the shops. I bought a D H Lawrence, having waded through a Bill Bryson and Gabriel Garcia Marquez' '100 years of Solitude'. I read it on the beach, then strolled through the national park, on a route hugging the coast. The smells were glorious, wafts of eucalyptus mingled with pine, and the sea crashed noisily below. I stopped regularly to watch surfers. On the way back, I joined a group of tourists avidly looking up into a tree at a real life wild koala!! We gazed up, entranced, until a passing surfer, in typical Aussie bloke style said (and you have to put the accent on for this) 'So that's what the smell is - dont stay there, it'll piss on ya'. The smiles faltered on our faces and we reluctantly moved on. I got my photos put on cd, the memory was utterly full, and went back to the hostel, where I had a quiet night talking about boys with the girls in my dorm. Next day I had another wee wander round the shops in a different part of town before catching my bus to meet Phil in Hervey Bay.

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