We arrived in Noosa, and it was raining. Shocker! We are seriously now the official drought-breaking Americans. Where we go, it rains. But, never deterred, we press on. :)

We crashed at the party hostel, Koalas, and we ended up with an entire dorm room to ourselves. The best thing was it had its own bathroom, so we had a private bath for the first time in a while. Schwing.

The next morning, it was, well, raining. But we wanted to surf, and you get wet when you surf anyway, so we went out for a surf lesson. We suited up, learned some skills on our boards on the beach with our instructor, and then we entered the water for a few hours of fun. Bev got the hang of it really quickly. It took me a lot longer, but eventually I got up on the board and rode a wave. The water was pretty choppy due to the storms, but we loved every minute of it.

The next day, we changed hostels and went to Steve Irwin's Australia Zoo. His family started it 30-odd years ago, and he took it over once he started to become a big name. It is a great zoo, although with Steve's picture everywhere, it still has a strong memorial feel to it. We saw crocodiles, cassowaries (the bird we wanted to see in Mission Beach), wombats, koala bears, kangaroos, crocodiles, snakes, and more.

The zoo was nicely done and had a strong conservation theme, which was good to see. We had the opportunity to pet several furry Australian critters such as kangaroos, koalas, and wombats, and we took advantage of all of them.

That night at our hostel we ate a cheap roast dinner (UK style) and hung out in town. The next morning, Bev went for surf lessons, but I was nursing a sore shoulder after the first day and decided to play photographer. I got some great shots of Bev getting up on the board and movies of her riding a few waves. By the end of the lesson, she was looking like a rock star.

We explored Noosa after the lesson, and that night we participated in a quiz night at the hostel with lots of other travelers. We met some guys from Ireland and formed a team. We did pretty well, but we missed winning by one question several times. Oh, the grand prize of a free pitcher of beer was so tantalizingly close! Sample questions:

1) What was the original name of the band U2?

2) What percentage of M&Ms in a package are blue? (5%, 17%, 24%, or 32%)

Anyway, we had beers and snacks and hung out at the hostel the rest of the night.

The next day we went back for a final surfing lesson. The wind had turned, so the easy spot at the beach no longer had favorable waves. Our instructor cancelled all his lessons for the day, but since we had extended an extra day in Noosa to spend time with him, he took us to a different place, Sunshine Beach. It was pretty challenging, but the waves were good and we got some fun rides in.

Getting out to the waves was another story, though, and one time Bev got repeatedly hammered while trying to make her way back in after riding a wave to the shore. She was wiped out! Our instructor, Aidy, told us we are the 3rd beginners he has taken to this spot in six years.

We hung out in Noosa the rest of that day, and on our last day, we went for a quick hike at the beautiful Noosa Heads National Park, where the cliffs meet the ocean in dramatic fashion. We saw a wild koala bear in a tree on the trail during the hike, and that was a complete thrill for me. I love wildlife sightings like that!

After our hike, we jumped on a shuttle to the airport, where we'll do a whirlwind 16 hours in Melbourne. Ta ta for now.