On Vacation

I have been on vacation for over a week now with just a day left. We have been vacationing in Australia, in the state of Queensland. We spent 2 days in the city of Brisbane before heading 2 hours north to our vacation destination Noosa to spend a week there. Our week is almost over and I thought I would post some of the things we did.

Brisbane [Thur - Fri, Jan 17 & 18, 2008]
In Brisbane we explored the South bank area which is much nicer than Melbourne's South bank. There is small rain forest walk, a man-made beach and a lovely walk way along the river. As well an arts precinct featuring the Queensland Art Gallery, Museum, Performing Arts Centre, Theater Company and the State Library.

We also took a Cat Ferry and traveled the length of the river. The ferry service offers cheap and fast service along the river. We were able to see the the downtown city line and all the apartments and houses along the river.

On Friday night we had Lebanese dinner, where there was a Belly Dancer entertaining. The woman asked both Lauren and myself to get up and dance with her. It's quite a workout to belly dance.

Noosa [Sat Jan 19 - Sat Jan 26]
We drove to Noosa late Saturday morning and made a stop just 10km outside of Noosa at Eumundi to stop at the local market. We got there towards the end of the market and wondered around and enjoyed a German Sausage and listened to the music of Oka. We purchased one of their CDs which is very mellow/calming/chill music featuring a didgeridoo. We listed to the CD in our hire car as we headed to Noosa.

When we got to Noosa we checked into our Townhouse accommodation. That evening we went for a walk to Hastings Street which is the main strip for restaurants and shops. The otherside of the Hastings street features the main beach of Noosa.

On Sunday, the people we stayed with in Brisbane came for a visit to Noosa along with their kayak. We went to the beach where we swam and kayaked. I didn't give the kayak a go, but did give the boogey board a try, with not much success. I also got flipped a couple of times with high waves and one time hit my head on the bottom on the beach. I was alright, but the next day my head was a bit sore.

On Monday we layed low in the morning in our Townhouse and then in the afternoon went for a massive walk along Noosa National Park. We did the coastal track walk, which takes us to the otherside of town and to a beach - Sunshine Beach. The 5.7KM walk was good and made us eager to jump into the beach at the end of the walk.

On Tuesday it was overcast and we didn't to do much on this day. We wondered up to the local town area and had qucik lunch of meat pies. Then a relaxing coffee and hot chocolate at a Coffee shop where we sat and read the paper and also browsed the Internet for free.

On Wednesday we hired a car and drove back to Eumundi to visit the market again. This time we explored the market more throughly and this time had foods we wanted to try last time but were to late to do so.

We had a plate of 10 small pancakes with icing sugar and maple syrup(fake). It was sure yummy, then Lauren had gourmet Calamri and I had 2 slices of pizza. We then listed to Oka again and purchased some more of their CDs.

We then headed to Landsborough to visit the Big Kart Race track, we had had 15mins on the track. The cart I had was fast and I was able to zoom around the track quickly. The closest thing I will come to being a race track driver.

The we headed to Coloundra and visited the beach their before heading back to Noosa.

On Thursday we went on a day drip to visit Fraser Island. This was through a tour, we were on a big 4x4 truck which seated 15 people. It took us about 4 hours to get to the island on the beach. Which is a lake, Lake Mckenzie. It is the most beautiful lake/beach in the world. The swallow water has this light blue colour and is so clear and clean. The sand has this white haze to it, almost blinding. It was a great way to cool of after our trip, which involved an 18kM bumpy ride through the sand island.

I will write more about Fraser Island in the future.

That's about it for now. I will write more about our vacation when we return to Melbourne which is tomorrow afternoon. It also happens to be Australia day.