Dec 2008

Our last day in Noosa before heading off. We had lots planned. Our last bike ride, our last breakfast on the beach, the dogs last play in the tranquil waters of Noosa Forest, and our last dinner together.

We also went and got mum and dad an iPod for their Christmas pressie. We showed them how to put all their music on it, and how to sync etc. They were mightily impressed that they could fit their entire music collection onto something not much bigger than a credit card! They are planning to purchase the new Hyundai i30 as soon as they sell their XR6 and in the glove box comes an iPod jack and USB port to charge their iPod, so they will be all ready!

We finished the night with dinner at a magnificent Japanese restaurant in Sunshine Beach. Its called Wasabi. What a fabulous night! We enjoyed fabulous saki, Japanese plum wine, tuna tartar with fish roe and an ox tail and abalone dish to die for. Dieter, wish you were here! It was a fabulous night and we were also joined by mums friends Jill and Andi. We laughed the night away, and I think were almost the last to leave. It was a great last night in Noosa!

Today we took a drive out to Montville up into the hills behind Noosa. It’s a pretty little hillside town of quaint shops and cafes and art galleries. We had a lovely lunch and a wander. The rough weather we were promised yesterday seemed to catch up with Noosa and Montville today and we arrived to drizzle for most of the day. It did bring welcome relief from all the hot weather we’d experienced in the last few days.

Awake early again, and Delwyne was in worse shape than us, so we left her in peace to sleep it off, and headed to the beach for breaky. Came back around 11am and Delwyne was looking pretty sad for herself. So we said our goodbyes and told her to go back to bed and we started heading back to Noosa.

We went to Elliot Heads on Delwyne’s advice and enjoyed it immensely. Its got gorgeous white sandy beaches and a lovely turquoise watered entrance to the inlet. Very popular on Sunday morning. We were interested to see the whole community was up in arms about all the surrounding farmland (mostly sugarcane) had development notices out the front of their properties, with the owner or owners wishing to convert it all to a new housing development. With only one small beachfront fish and chip shop cum deli to its name, you could see the Woolworthisation would not long follow. The locals were obviously very upset.

We took the highway back through Childers and Maryborough and took the same route back as if heading to Tin Can Bay. We then took the Permona turn off via Wolvi and Kin Kin. It was just lovely rolling green hills filled with little farms, lots of bush and picturesque vistas at every turn. A thoroughly recommended route should anyone be looking for a quiet back road to enjoy. Apart from about 5kms of unsealed road, it was pure bliss. We could have gone in via Boreen Point and into the back of Tewantin, but being unfamiliar with the area we decided we wouldn’t risk the wrong turn, so headed into Cooroy and the back to Tewantin.

Mum and Dad were happy to have Midget and us back (I think it was in that order). They really missed her and I think us! :-) So we went to the Tewantin RSL for dinner to celebrate our return.

Took the back roads as much as possible and ended up in a cute little place called Howard. Being Saturday morning we found the bustling little town enjoying its local market. It was huge and looks like the whole town and many neighbouring townsfolk had come out on mass to enjoy the activities, including the country singer and the fabulous cake and plant stalls.

Finally arrived at Delwyne’s after a quick stop in Bundaberg via Childers. Delwyne had been busy working at her shopping centre as they were having their Christmas sale starting and had the local radio doing a live broadcast as well as stalls etc in the open area. She was exhausted and looking forward to lunch so we headed off to the pub and stayed most of the afternoon drinking and catching up. It was a lovely relaxing and entertaining afternoon. We all really enjoyed ourselves.

We finished the evening off by going to her next door neighbour’s house, Bec, and enjoyed a lovely BBQ and spread and met many of her friends. We had a great time but were really tired after a day and night of drinking.

Woke early again due to the humidity. Took a stroll along the beach to the North of the point and we enjoyed the fresh morning breeze and overcast cloud cover that was making it cooler for us – just a little…

While the weather is getting more and more difficult to cope with, it certainly is a little easier to handle if you're in a house, or able to access airconditioned relief from time to time. Sleeping in an unairconditioned van with not even a fan is very difficult to do in the oppressive humidity. When you go to bed at night there is a light breeze at the start but it slowly drops off to nothing duirng the night, making it really difficult to maintain any sleep.

Decided it was time to get going. We headed on through the back roads to Hervey Bay. Drove through acre after acre of bush and also unfortunately lots of pine plantations. We passed through some interesting little spots like Boonooroo and Tuan. These places would really appeal to people who really want to get away from it all. The are both located on the waterfront and also have one or two streets behind. The two towns consist in total of about 50 houses and there is one post box and one house converted to a part time shop. There is nothing else there bar the beautiful view directly over to the untouched beaches of Fraser Island. It looks so close that you can almost touch it!

We couldn’t really remember the place, but noticed a few places that reminded us of it. We met a lovely couple from the Gold Coast who were travelling back home after visiting their son. They had a 4 month old jack Russell and her and Midget romped and played in the heat of the day till they could stand no longer. Both flopping the ground they hankered for the cool breeze we were in all in search of. We drove the length of their esplanade and found there were many spots that were free camping approved sites. But most were on the busy strip and on a Friday night we didn’t want to put up with bogans and burn outs all night long, so we headed to one end of the esplanade and found a little vacant block and pulled up. It was quiet as a mouse, but so incredibly hot as it just didn’t get any air down there, so at 2am we drove back to the other end high up on a hill and pulled up under several shady trees (for the morning) and managed a few hours kip.