Australia : Noosa, Brisbane and The Glasshouse Mountains

Stu : (29th Dec – 6th Jan)

Once we had recovered from the ridiculous amount of food over Christmas we had a further few days to chill out in Surfer’s Paradise. Claire and Terry travelled down from their family to spend a day which was cracking. Not least because we had a whole bagful of Christmas pressies to open as they had kindly brought our families gifts over to Oz with them. Here’s hoping the excess baggage costs didn’t amount to too much.

From Surfers we headed up to Noosa which is beach resort 150kms North of Brisbane. So after Surfer’s Paradise in the Gold Coast it was up to the Sunshine Coast ! They certainly like their flamboyant coastal names over here in Oz. Noosa is quite an exclusive resort and I’m guessing anything less than $500k would not get you much more than a hut. Suffice it to say the yachts and buildings all about Noosa were amazing. With that in mind our budget just about covered the hobbit-sized bunk-bed that we were allotted in the backpackers. Still……the cockroaches kept quiet after 3am so musn’t grumble

After settling into our salubrious surroundings we ventured out for a stroll into town. Unfortunately the “schoolies” were out celebrating their end of year as loudly and as drunkenly as they could from Mummy and Daddys summer retreats. We were literally stepping over pissed up teenagers as we made our way into town. Ah……fer the Glasgae banter. Was funny the next morning as we recognised a few groups down at the beach nursing their hangovers. We made sure we pointed and laughed at them as obviously as possible to induce the post-alcohol blitz induced “fear”. Ne-he-he. Oh……also spotted another Koala having a bit of a munch on a tree in the beach car park which was nice.

After Noosa we headed back down the coast to Brisbane where we had arranged to spend a few days so we could see New Years Eve in with Claire and Terry. Unfortunately from the day we arrived (31st Dec) through to the day we left (6th Jan) it did not stop raining. So needless to say the NYE celebrations were a damp affair but the 4 of us put on our best of British act and stood in the pissing rain at midnight to watch the fireworks (which I have to be honest were pretty spectacular). After that the only sensible thing to do was to dry out in alcoholic surroundings until 6am the next morning…..which funnily enough was exactly what we decided to do. Predictably enough after a cracking start to 2008 the next day was a quiet affair ! Once the hangover subsided we had a couple of days to chill out and make the most of our apartment before picking up the campervan that we had booked from the 6th Jan.

We picked up the van and headed North to the Glasshouse Mountains. Now we had appreciated that after our luxurious campervan we rented with Jon and Lucy in NZ the cheap budget van we hired was not going to be up to scratch but hey ho. However, nothing quite prepared us for how hot a van with a 15yr old Air conditioning system would be when travelling through 35+ degrees in tropical Oz. Suffice it to say the driving cab is a “pants only” area. I just hope to buggery I don’t get caught speeding (which in itself is highly unlikely given the fact that the van starts to whine and rattle if I get above 90kmph). “Step out of the car please Sir”……..”I’d really rather not Thank You !”. Anyway – back to The Glasshouse Mountains…..This is a national park that has to be the most spectacular scenery that we have seen in Oz so far. The mountains are pretty crazy to be honest. They’re made up of crazy sharp volcanic “plugs” that just randomly shoot out and upwards. All hard to explain but perhaps the photos on our Flickr site might give you some idea.

So pants on and it’s back to the Batmobile…….(well, slightly crap, smelly, old, badly painted, campervan). Oh how we love it