8/01/09

Brisbane to Noosa

After spending about a week in Brisbane and meeting our friend and new addition to the travelling clan we felt it was time to move on further up the east coast.

We have booked a hop on hop off bus pass to take us all the way up to Cairns with Premier. They were far cheaper than the Greyhound service although there are fewer daily services but this doesnt really matter.

The bus journey took only a couple of hours and compared to some of our trips, this was nothing! We checked into Koala Backpackers in Noosa after getting free transport from the bus stop to the hostel. The hostel was pretty desperate for help with cleaning duties and so we decided to sign up to it in return for free accommodation and evening meals with drinks.

The first morning I was responsible for checking that people had checked out and stripping the beds followed by washing the sheets. The next morning I was in the kitchen cleaning the place and being told not to clean so well and thoroughly!! No wonder hostels get into the state they are in when the cleaners are told things like that! There were definately some sights I would not like to see again. One morning as i entered an empty room i was faced with toilet roll all over the carpet and one hanging from the spinning ceiling fan, with what looked like brown marks all over it, hhhmmm some people??!!

I have started to run regularly again in the mornings and the first morning I had a quick look at the map then set off for the Laguna Lookout point. Wow it was some steep run and very hard work but by the time I got to the top it was well worth it. There were views of the main beach to the right and the lake to the left. I ran back down through the national park along a wooden footpath and came out at Hastings street which runs parallel to the main beach. I temporarily got lost as I was looking out for the christmas tree I had seen the night before and then realised after several minutes that it had been taken down! That'll teach me to use such landmarks!

Noosa beach is really nice and particularly at this time of year, the surf is very good and many people seem to come from all over to ride it! I would really like to have a surfing lesson, perhaps further up the east coast.

After staying several nights however we were ready to move on. Noosa seems to be a very upmarket tourist town and retirement area. Although there looked to be some nice restaurants, there was a lack of choice of bars. We spent our last night in the hostel itself, Koala backpackers which is supposed to be one of the best bars in the town!