Travelling through inland Australia: Days 48 and 49 Noosa

Yesterday was a bit of a day off. We didn't do much. Just some shopping and finding our way around the Tewantin Noosa area. And that was no mean feat. The roads wind about all over the place and I swear there are more roundabouts here than there are in Canberra. Which is just as well because when you realise you have gone past your street, you just go to the next roundabout and do a 180. We had the car booked in for its 30,000 km service today so we took the time yesterday to find out where the Hyundai dealership was.

We also found our way to the Noosa Yacht Club because we were going there for dinner with our good friends Jim and Helen Crennan and Sue Mahony. As it turned out it was not all that far away from where we are staying. It is a pleasant, unpretentious place overlooking the Noosa River and Goat Island. Dinner was most enjoyable and catching up with our friends was just great.

So today we dropped the car off and Jim kindly picked us up and took us back to their apartment. We planned to spend the day in Noosa Heads. However, we didn't go by car. Because of the near impossibility of finding a parking space in Noosa Heads we caught the bus! And what a great idea that was. We were there within about 10 minutes and didn't have the stress of finding a car park. Instead, we simply got off the bus and headed off to do the Hastings St thing.

This is the most fashionable street in the about the whole of the Sunshine Coast and, for a lot of people, it is the place to be seen. The ladies went their own way to check out the shops while Jim and I took a stroll up and down the street, taking it all in. When we got back to where we started we walked around the corner onto the beach. It looked superb. Yesterday's wind had abated and the sun was shining out of an almost cloudless sky. The sea was quite calm with just a gentle shore break. The beach is very wide and made up of a fine sand. There were quite a few people sun bathing on the beach but not too many swimmers. A board walk extends the whole length of the beach. Jim and I took the opportunity to walk it from start to finish enjoying the look of the beach and looking, with a little bit of envy, at the many hotels that front right onto the beach. In many other beach resorts in other countries, the beach in front of these hotels would be private property and would only be available to the hotel's guests. Thank heavens the beaches of this country are open to everyone. Privatisation of beaches is something we must resist at all costs.

After a very good coffee at the Sheraton, we caught up with the ladies and had a tasty lunch at a popular cafe on Hastings St. Bev just mentioned to me that both Helen and Sue bought some great clothes. Bev just window shopped.

We picked up the car this afternoon. We were given the news that while everything was well with the car, the tyres would not see out the return trip to Canberra. So, it is off to Tyrepower on Thursday to have some Cooper CS5's fitted. I was pleasantly surprised to discover that they would only set us back $265 per tyre. I am sure the last lot of Cooper's I bought, which was a few years ago, were over $300 each. I think this time we are benefiting from the present high dollar against the US dollar.

Hope you like these photos.