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Published: August 7th 2007
Sunshine Beach 1
David's back garden (almost). This is the life!Ha ha, thought that title might get your attention! Don't worry Dad, it's not my own personal nudity I'll be discussing so you can get that blood pressure back on an even keel!
After another journey with a raging hangover we arrived in Noosa last Sunday and made it to Brenda's uncle's worrying about what he was going to think of the three of us rocking up slightly green around the gills. But we needn't have worried as we were greeted warmly by him, his daughter Julie, her husband Simon and their kids Calum and Ella and each of us had a glass of wine in our hands before we'd even put our bags in our rooms! I got a bit of a fright when I met the family dog Tara - a huge rotweiler - but soon realised that she's a big slobbery softy who is as timid as anything. Brenda's other cousin Steven arrived next with a big bottle of Bundaberg rum and soon enough we were out on the deck having a great laugh getting to know our surrogate family for the week.
The following day we set out to explore Noosa and found that it's
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Throw another shrimp on the barby Sheila! a great little relaxed town with a really cool vibe about it. The area we were staying in was called Sunshine Beach, which kind of sums up the focus of the town. With several gorgeous stretches of beaches within minutes walk of the main shopping streets, the Junction and Hastings Street, Noosa is very much a surfer's paradise (no pun intended) and is full of funky wee surf shops and cafes to while the hours away in when you're not on the beach. That night me and the girls got stuck into David's kitchen and got a plate of good old mince 'n' tatties on the table for him but I think it was us who enjoyed it more, getting a much appreciated break from pasta!
The next day the girls hit the beach and since sunbathing is utterly pointless for me (yes, I know I may have come to the wrong country if I want to avoid the beach life!) I decided to take myself off on a walk through the national park. After a good 40 mins of walking uphill in the heat I was completely knackered and was delighted to spot a quiet little beach down
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Wetting the baby's head - welcome to the world Hannah Lily McKinnes! the other side of the peak that I figured I could spend a little time on to catch my breath before tackling the hill again to get back to the girls. I made my way down and started walking along the sand when I saw an elderly couple heading from the beach into the water. And there was a suspiciously dark patch on the man in a certain area that made me wonder just where I had ended up. I convinced myself that he must just have exceedingly small speedos on (after some of the sights I saw on the beaches in Asia I'd come to realise that it was entirely possible for men of all ages to convince themselves they look buff in the most horrendously revealing of swimming trunks) and continued making my way along the beach. Then just ahead of me a man pulled off his shorts to reveal his trunks and I gave a sigh of relief - that quickly turned to a shriek of horror when he pulled them off too and flashed his peely wally bum to me. Yes, I had managed to stumble across Alexandria Bay, Noosa's nudist beach. Bit of a shock
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Guy playing the didgeridoo on the beach - doesn't get much cooler than that! to the system! Horrified, I raced back along the beach and started to climb the peak at double time, nearly banging into two elderly ladies making their way in the opposite direction of me. When I stopped and warned them that it was a nudist beach they laughed at my obvious embarrassment and assured me that that was why they were heading that way and off they went - fair play I guess!
That night we headed over to Julie and Simon's for my very first authentic Aussie barby - can you believe I've been here since February and it's taken till now to have one?! I was over the moon to discover that our first course was shrimp and that I got to have a go at the classic "throwing a shrimp on the barby" though I think I messed about with it so much trying to get a photo for the blog that they ended up on there far too long and were pretty near impossible to pull apart to eat, oops!
The next day I finally got the news I'd been waiting for - my best friend Kirsty gave birth to Hannah Lily McKinnes, a
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Me and the girls get some croc action with Steve! healthy 10 pounds baby (gulp!). I was over the moon and ran about the house not entirely sure what to do with myself, I was ecstatic! We were headed over to Steven and his wife's Kylie's for another barby that night but David took us down to the surf club first so that we could all wet the baby's head and as you can see from the photo I had a huge grin on my face that didn't go away all night!
Steven and Kylie put on a fantastic spread - talk about getting spoiled! Their daughter Claudia was very much the little hostess feeding us all cups of water and felt frogs, she's adorable! The only interruption that night was a possum making a run for it across the roof leading to Brenda and Kylie getting on the kids' trampoline in an attempt to get a photo of it to no avail unfortunately.
The following day Brenda headed off to get her first surfing lesson and Susan went with her to get in some serious sunbathing. I headed down the town and wandered about for a bit and then headed over to the beach to meet them.
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Some of the tributes to Steve Brenda was on a total high after her lesson (I can see her moving to Cornwall once we get home!) since she proved to be quite a natural at it and managed to get up on her feet a few times. Okay, okay, I was a bit jealous since my own lesson in Bell's beach hadn't turned out quite as successful but it was more because she got some great pics of her on the board! Maybe I'll just nick them and superimpose my head on them to fool you all. Maybe not.
That night we had dinner with David who had kindly agreed to let us stay on for a few more days - we were having too good a time to leave! It was doubly good of him since he was heading to Sydney the following day for a week - leaving the house and Tara the dog in the hands of 3 backpackers!
The next day we were ultra excited as we were off to Steve Irwin's Australia Zoo, something that had been on my "must-do" list for Oz. The courtesy bus played videos of his early days catching crocodiles before he was famous and
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Bring on the spiders - after this big momma I'm scared of nothing! it really gave me more of an understanding of the years and years of his life he dedicated to catching crocs and re-homing them to save them from hunters and to keep the species alive in Australia. You also came to appreciate just how much he invested in conservation, not only of crocs but also of the land around Queensland and the Northern Territories. It makes it easier to see why they love him so much around this area.
I was quite surprised at how small the zoo was. It's not the usual line up of monkeys and lions either, it focuses on animals that are native to Oz and most of the crocs there were brought there by Steve himself. There's cutouts of him everywhere which makes for good photo ops and there's also a lot of effort that goes into explaining how important conservation is for each species and what everyone can do to help in the shows that go on throughout the day. There's one hall that displays a memorial to Steve with loads of paintings that people have sent in from all over the world and rows of the famous khaki shirts that Steve wore
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Us and the Roberts' clan on Susan's birthday that have been signed by his fans. It's still very much Steve's zoo and it is clear that his wife and daughter (who's only 8) are keeping his legacy going. His wife Terri was actually there on the day we went, filming for animal planet. I really enjoyed the zoo since I just loved Steve's tv shows but think that after going to the Lone Pine Koala Sanctuary and Singapore Zoo I wasn't that bothered about seeing all the animals - although I somehow ended up getting another huge snake around my neck since Brenda refused to do it on her own, wasn't even afraid this time!
Once we got back to Noosa we had a quick change and then headed off to Sunshine Beach surf club with Julie, Simon and the kids for a few drinks. The surf club was great, it's family orientated so the kids just took themselves off to play with their mates while we got stuck into the vodka and tequilas!
The next day we had been given some freedom since David had left us the keys to his car when he went to Sydney. The three of us headed out to the
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Yip, sambuca is never a good idea! Eumundi markets and had a lazy morning wandering around them. That evening we picked up a film and chilled out in the house - luxury!
The next day was Susan's 24th birthday so all of Brenda's family came round and we headed back to the surf club. Since it was a public holiday the next day the surf club was packed and a band was playing so it was a great atmosphere and a really good laugh (the sambucas helped!). We all piled back to the house and after we'd brought out the birthday cake Simon, Julie, Steven and Kylie all took the kids off home and me, Brenda and Susan gibbered on into the night and ended up "drunk dialling" some of our mates at home - it was great to speak to you Jody! (happy now you got a mention??!!!).
And that's pretty much it I think. We leave Noosa tomorrow (Wed) and head up to Rainbow Beach for a night before making our way to Fraser Island for a couple of nights camping - lets hope the spiders and dingos stay well away!
I've also booked on another wee bit of my trip. As
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Me and the girls on Susan's birthday Jase is no longer able to come out I've decided not to make my way back to Melbourne via the East Coast but to go check out some of the outback and south of Oz. So once I leave the girls in Cairns I've got a three day trip down to Alice Springs through the outback, a stay over there and then a six day trip that takes me to Adelaide via Ayers Rock and Kings Canyon. I'm really looking forward to it since it should be a completely different experience from what I've done in Oz so far. From Adelaide I fly over to Sydney to catch up with Brendan for a few days and then make my way down to Melbourne and from there over to New Zealand. I'll have three weeks in New Zealand before arriving back in Glasgow on the 19th of July - hardly any time away at all! So Carol if you could book me in for an appointment round about the 27th that'd be great - you may cry when you see the state of my hair!!!!
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Ross Johnston
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Fave Places
Hi Lindsay, I've been loving your emails and the pics, keep them coming cos it's great to read about your adventures. Been meaning to get in touch for a while and wanted to say that Fraser Island was one of the best places I went to in Oz, it's a great few days and I hope you stay at the same hostel as i did even though I can't remember what it was called; probably something obvious like Rainbow Beach backpackers! Lake Mackenzie in the middle of the island is beautiful and has the clearest water I've ever seen - even when you swim out to the middle. There's another lake at the bottom of some massive sand dunes as well, it's such a weird collection of landscapes in one area. I was gonna send some pics but you're better off discovering it yourself. I also hope you have booked yourself onto the Whitsunday Islands cruise as well cos that is a couple of great nights with great food and beautiful underwater scenery when you're snorkelling. Note of caution tho - I managed to get stung on wrist by a bluebottle jellyfish while wearing a wetsuit so be careful. Kings Canyon is awesome as are Ayers Rock and the Olgas; sleeping under the stars if just breathtaking so as you see you have plenty to look forward to! Got a text from Jason the other week saying you would be back by August. Not sure if Brenda will remember me but say hi anyway and I look forward to your next journal. No worries...