Wednesday last week we went back to coolangatta hoping to catch the last of the surf competition but they were packing up. We found a nice quiet spot on the beach and watched the local surf inbeteeen swimming in the sea and snoozing. Such strong currents over here, it's crazy you can really feel the force pulling you along the shoreline and you have to be careful of rips going out to sea. It's good that all beaches are manned with lifeguards.
Thursday we drove up to Noosa to start our little mini holiday for 3 nights. We left in the morning and it was about 3 hrs to get to our hostel. With the hour difference in QLD we got there in good time after a little road rage at the drivers here- all they do is sit in the outside lanes so it ends up that everyone undertakes! We parked up and went to check in to Flashpackers, a really nice and new hostel, but they'd made an error and got our dates wrong so they made us a booking for Halse Lodge. It was good for a night and was 2 mins walk from main beach and the nice restaurants. So after the mix up we headed down the beach for the rest of the day. Really nice little place with a great atmosphere. We really felt like we were on holiday after watching the sun set on the beach, grabbing a quick shower and deciding to treat ourselves to a nice meal out so walking down the strip of restaurants checking out the menu. I had a nice king prawn linguini with a glass of wine (not goon for a change- the name of the nasty cheap boxed wine backpackers drink here!) We even went a bit further to spoil ourselves with a dessert, a lovely Mars bar parfait! We decided to leave it there and come back for a cocktail the next night. Was pretty reasonably priced, 25 each for 2 courses and nice glass I wine. The next day we got up early but just missed the free brekkie at our original hostel, oops! Back to our little restaurant for again a great meal. We shared tomato, avocado and goats cheese bruschetta and mango/ coconut pancakes, yum! When we checked into our hostel we used the kitchen to cook up some tuna pasta we'd brought with us and packed this up to head down to the beach. We hired our free body boards from them too and loaded up the car... For it to start hammering down!!! This didn't stop for a good hour/ 2 hours, so... We decided our only option was to sit it out with an unplanned hot Chocolate back at Cafe Le Monde. Yes we were becoming well known now by the staff! Luckily the weather did clear and we got down the beach finally after toughing it out through a few drizzle patches. We read for a good few hours and then grabbed our body boards and had great fun trying to catch the big waves. Felt like a kid again it was great. Although bikinis were not ideal wear for this activity! After a good few waves, being flipped more than once, a bikini full of sand and a few bystanders probably seeing more than we both wanted them too we retired up the beach to dry off as the sun set. We had a few more mouthfuls of the pasta and came back down for a cocktail to finish off our few nights in Noosa. A very tasty tasty concoction. We headed back to the hostel and chilled out on the comfy sofas watching Mulan 2 with a few others still up and around. Was nice to be back in a hostel environment.
Saturday morning we left to see our friend Rachel in Brisbane, we met her originally in Africa so was great to catch up with her again after 4/5 months. It was very hot day so after a supermarket run we sat and chatted under her house, a lot of houses are sort of up on stilts, so it was a nice shady open area they'd decked out with TV, music, table and comfy chairs. This with a jug of pimms and some barbied sangers made for a very good Saturday! Rachel had an awesome dog, called Saph, an Australian Shepard. Amy kept her distance but I made a friend! Did make me miss Elles though.
In the evening we went to watch the sunset with a great view of the city at kangaroo point. A great spot! We hopped over the barriers and sat on the rocks over looking the river (don't worry not on the edge, quite safe!) That night we went into the Valleys, the nightlife part of the city. We went to CloudLand which was a very extravagant club, decked out with waterfalls, trees and plants hanging everywhere, butterflies in the banisters, chandeliers and a lot of mirrors which made navigating the toilets a challenge. They had a live band playing which were actually very good so we spent quite a bit of time here. Then we went to Kurbside, a smaller bar set up in a garage with graffiti, good music and comfy sofas and armchairs, great to sit down and people watch! We were pretty tired so we called it a night about 1.30, grabbed some food and waited for a little bit in the taxi line.
Sunday morning we grabbed a $4 brekkie from Fat Boys a great little breakfast cafe, a bargain for a good fry up! We spent the day driving about doing some touristy bits with Rachel showing us the sights. Headed to mount coottha which has a panoramic view over Brisbane and the suburbs. Then we drove through the city seeing the sites with our tour guide. We came up against a protest march blocking the traffic. Thousands and thousands of people protesting against the goverment, particularly Tony Abbott, who has discriminated against refugees, cut down large forest areas in Tasmania and various other things involving gay rights etc which a lot of people aren't happy about. Was quite cool to see go past anyway. After the delay we headed back to Rachel's and said our goodbyes for now. Hopefully well catch her in the UK at some point! After a hot and sticky dive back to Tweed we dived in the pool with Krystal to cool off!
Yesterday we had a lazy morning and then headed to the shopping centre to do a few bits, and stopped as Max Branners chocolate cafe as it's been recommended to us more than once and it was something we just had to do!
Today we had a nice relaxed day down at the beach catching some rays at Coolangatta, got a better parking spot this time not up the hill but closer to the beach.