Hello Noosa!!

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G’day y’all
So here is our first stop in Australia…an extended stay at Noosa (northern most beach on the Sunshine Coast). The crazy thing about this area is that it has about 300 days sunshine a year (the most in Oz), which is quite different to winter in NZ I guess.
First things first, and that dreaded plane trip. We were supposed to fly out at 9.30am on Monday, so Matt took a sedative at about 9am. We got on the plane and waited for take off…..and waited. Finally they tell us to swap planes, due to an engine leak. So we have a three hour wait, with Matt taking another pill around 12.00pm, just before take off. Engine problems aside, it was an awesome flight, and flying over the Goldie put a smile on Matt’s face. It was remarkably different from our flight on our honeymoon over two years ago. Matt was able to eat, watch movies and even relaxed; giving us confidence for our future plans. It seems that all the prayers have been answered.
We are staying at Coral Beach Resort (www.coralbeachresort.com.au), which is an awesomeplace in Noosaville, just 2 minutes from the river, 5 minutes drive from the beach. We have got into a nice routine of exercise, swimming and exploring here. We have been playing tennis in bare feet (due to packing restrictions, sport shoes didn’t make the cut...) most days, and I have been running a bit. Matt has been spending most of his time in the pool at the place we are staying, competing with the local children for pool space. We have also been to the local beach, which is insanely busy even through school holidays and the fact it is autumn. The weather is great here, with daytime highs around 27C, and night time temps around 18C, with 24/7 sunshine it seems (until today!). The fact that the weather is so good and the location more beautiful than the surrounding beaches, Noosa seems to have an upper class subculture. It’s funny the differences you notice as a Kiwi, when most would think Aussie and NZ to be quite closely linked. The lifestyle here for most people (in Noosa) revolves around fashion, sun, exercise and (of course) the beach. It’s amazing the number of people who flock to the beach and river at night for their evening stroll. There are frequent signs for pedestrians to keep left, with runners, cyclists, walkers going hard! I don’t think I have seen one fat person here! And supporting this observation is the clothes sizes in the shops. Today when I walked into a shop the assistant said ‘the extra sizes are out the back just let me know if you need them’, what! Most of the sizes went up to about size 10 (which is more like size 8 here) so I found that pretty funny.
The other remarkable thing here is the birdlife. Every night at dusk when we go for a walk we can’t hear each other talk. There are rosellas, cockatoos, pelicans, seagulls, crows and they all seem to be fighting it out! You can tell all the tourists (not just because they are all white) due to their fascination with these birds. Today (Friday) we encountered our first period of rain, and decided to make the most of it by driving to a not-so-well-known waterfall near Maroochydore, called Buderim Falls. We were a few hundred metres into the walk and the rain started bucketing, and we had nowhere to hide so got completely soaked! We were watching a kookaburra tease us by flying back and forth past us. And something that made me cringe was a leech that stuck itself to Matt on the way back from the walk! Eeeew! He couldn’t get it off no matter how hard he pulled, and I wasn’t much help seeing as I was going pale and feeling pretty sick! He ended up yanking it off, with quite a lot of blood pouring out……(reminder long pants are good)! So we have some plans to do some more exploring around the Sunshine Coast, and maybe a trip to Brizzie before heading up north.

Take care everyone. And email what’s news at home,
Love Jane and Matt
Xx

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Photos

Sunshine Beach
Yah our rental car is so cool!

Comments

[Mum & Dad]

Hi 2u2
Great start! Well done Matt, so glad to hear you had a good flight, no stopping you now. Very interesting travel blog, nice layout with fabulous photos! Will never forget the crows waking us up so early in the morning when Joseph was a baby. He wouldn't go back to sleep either! Glad we didn't encounter the leeches, ughhhh! Kath says try salt. Enjoy that wonderful climate as we head into winter here. Lucky you! All our love always. xxxooo

[Alisha]

Leeches! Ewww!
That cracked me up about the leeches! Yuck! Salt is definitely a good plan. Looks like you're having a great time :) It's just turned freezing in Auckland this week - I'd trade places with you guys in the swimming pool in a second. Lindon's in Melbourne for the next few days - apparently when he arrived it was 10 degrees!