Koala Cuddling and Surfing!

We head to Noosa and I have the first of two surf lessons. It begins well, with our coach explaining about the sea and rips and getting us to practise standing up on the board. It sounds pretty straight forward - he even pushes us off when the wave comes but it certainly wasn't easy!

We had a two hour lesson and I'm managed to crouch by the end of it (being shown up by two girls (7 and 9 year old) who are able to stand by the end of the lesson! It was thoroughly enjoyable though!

We head down the coast to Brisbane, where we are staying with Kate's uni friend Lisa and her boyfriend Mick. We head off to the Lone Pine Koala Sanctuary to cuddle a Koala - mine was called Neon and as I moved my hand to stroke him, he got scared and the handler had to take him back. So, take two, and I keep my hands still!

We wandered around the Sanctuary (which has other native Australian animals) and went and fed the Kangaroos (who slobbered all over your hands!)

That night, we went out in The Valley to experience the Brisbane night life - was quite a good night!

The next day we took a ferry down the river and went and saw 'the beach' - a fake beach with its own set of lifeguards (I think the deepest the 'sea' was 2 metres). We also wandered around the craft market before going to the Gallery of Modern Art (GOMA). That evening, we had dinner at the Bowls Club before going to see Pirates of the Caribbean 3.

Thanks to Lisa and Mick for your hospitality - had a great time!

We had a brief stop over in Surfers Paradise and strolled along the beach in the morning (before the skyscrapers cast a shadow over it). We wandered around the town and the hundreds of souvenir and surf shops - some of the stuff was a bit tacky!!!

The next day we carried on down the coast to Byron Bay - where I had my second surf lesson. This one was far better as there were only 4 of us and we were given lots of time to practise. Our coach James had the patience of a saint as he watched me to try and figure out where I was going wrong (besides not being able to stand up)!! With a lot of encouragement and guidance from him, I finally managed it! But I was shattered at the end of it - 4 hours trying to jump up on a board is very tiring!

The next day we walked up to the lighthouse and passed the most easterly point in Australia and see some pods of dolphins and a whale!

That evening, we board the Greyhound Bus for our overnight trip back to Sydney. Its a shame that we don't have more time here!