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Published: February 1st 2010
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Noosa
A family picture at Noosa in the National Park on the way to Tea Tree Bay. It seems ages ago now when Jon phoned us to say he had found some reasonably priced air fares to Brisbane and asked if they could come over to spend Christmas with us in Australia. So with numerous phone calls and planning itineraries Jon, Lou and Issy arrived in Sydney in time to celebrate New Year and enjoy the fireworks with the Harbour Bridge and Sydney Opera House as a back drop.
So just after a short flight we met them at Brisbane airport and bought them back to the house to meet up with the rest of the family and made profuse apologies for the temporary state of the house, still awaiting its make over! It was all very cosy and all ten of us some how managed to survive with only one toilet and shower! Not exactly how we would have liked to entertain family so we deliberately planned a busy itinerary that meant we were in the house for as little time as possible.
As is the case always there is so much to see and do and so little time to fit it all in but we did manage to cram a lot in
A trip on the Brisbane River
A great way of being introduced to Brisbane is a trip along the river on the City Cat Water Ferry. It offers great views of the city and helps you to find your bearings before exploring on foot. a short period of time, hopefully not making it all too exhausting?! As with each family and friend visit we are building up quite a repertoire of must see places to see and things to do catering for all ages and interests! Perhaps we should start up a holiday touring business as a side line, hopefully with some decent accommodation too boot, eventually, so we can give visitors the best memories of their visit to Brisbane, Queensland? We better get on with digging out the pool area!!
It was wonderful seeing Jon and Lou again and especially Isabel who appeared to be taking the jet setting life style in her stride and enjoying plotting her travels around the world and recording her daily outings in a journal to show the teacher on her return. We tried to pitch the sightseeing trips on a level that Isabel could manage but also incorporate places of interest for adults too.
It was also great to be able to spend some time with my god-daughter whilst Jon and Lou had a couple of days on their own at O’Reileys, in Lamington National Park, an opportunity for them to have some quality time together. They
Cuddling a Koala at The Lone Pine Sanctuary
A must for all visitors is to have a cuddle with a Koala! loved the bird life that flew onto the balcony rail outside their window and watched Padmelon’s jump around below stamping the ground warning others of the two meter python curled up under a bush! Who needs David Attenborough when you can watch the natural drama for yourselves!
Dominic and I took Isabel to The Koala Sanctuary at Lone Pine, west of Brisbane and had a wonderful day wandering the enclosures, holding a koala, feeding kangaroos and wallabies, touching emus and feeding lorikeets. We enjoyed a Bird of Prey display, a male Peacock strut his finery to woo the peahen and we lost count of how many Water Dragons we saw! It was a fantastic day and we were all exhausted, not sure how we found the energy for a long day at Sea World at the Gold Coast the next day but we managed to see almost all the attractions and sat in awe at the Dolphin Display as the jumped and circled high in the air. The Shark enclosure was amazing with huge under water windows allowing you to watch hundreds of fish swim amongst the coral reefs and share their waters with about six different species of sharks
and rays, of all sizes, most hypnotic as they glided past you so close. Isabel and Dominic enjoyed the water area and cooled off in the pools, darting water jets and fountains.
We also managed to visit our favourite beach, Cabarita and had coffee and cakes on the sand along with a quick swim before heading off to Byron Bay, the lighthouse and then onto Clarks Beach before having fish and chips overlooking the sea. Magic!
A trip over to North Stradbroke Island followed where we explored the vast expanse of Main Beach and walked along the gorge spotting rays and turtles, followed by a trip onto Home Beach for a swim and picnic, great.
So with trips into the city for breakfast and Streets beach for a swim and a strole along the river we also managed a few bbq’s and picnics along the way. We stopped at the Glass House Mountain Look Out on our way north to Noosa for a few days at The Coral Beach Resort where we had rented a house with a shared pool offering us opportunities to visit Noosa’s Main Beach as well as Tea Tree Bay and a walk along the National
Feeding the Kangaroos
It was great to be able to get up close to these incredible animals, they were so tame. Park Trail spotting a koala on the way and a day surfing and swimming in the clearest, warmest, turquoise blue sea. A perfect end, to a great visit.
A last trip before they departed lead us to Mt Coot-ha to look down on the city of Brisbane at night and have a final drink before our farewells as they flew onto Hong Kong for a few days before returning to the snowy UK!
We had had a wonderful time and had the chance to chat and relax together sharing with them our new home and life style in Brisbane. It also gave them an opportunity to imagine how things were here and perhaps gain a better understanding of we were all up too! They was no chance of forgetting as Jon announced he had taken 980 photos of the trip, what a lot of memories?!
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