Hi Everyone! Sorry I've been a bit rubbish about keeping this up to date recently! Ok so this is a round up of Noosa.... 12.08 We arrived into Noosa in the afternoon and were picked up by the whole family which was great. We dumped the bags and headed for a walk along the beach...and what a nice beach it is! Both of us were looking forward to getting on it and catching a few rays! We then went into the surf club and had a glass of wine - all very civilised, could certainly get used to this life style! That evening we went out for a meal which was lovely. It was such a nice feeling knowing that we were heading back to a house, with nice beds and bathrooms, and not a hostal!! 13.08 Today we were going to visit several places around noosa. We took a walk through the rainforest much to Shannon's disapointment (she had visited it once or twice with school and it was getting a little repetitive for her!) We also stopped for lunch overlooking the glass house mountains which are amazing. Stops were made along the coast - thankfully noosa hasnt become built up like other surrounding places. It's definately a great holiday destination. 14.08 Today myself and Tash headed to Hervey Bay for whale watching. I'll be honest and say that I wasn't expecting to see many and those that we did see, i expected them to be fairly far away....so that theory was completely blown out of the water. We had two pods of whales come right up to the boat - swimming beside it and underneath it! It was awsome!!! I got loads of photos (its one of those situations that you know you've taken plenty of photos, and most of them are the same, but you just keep taking in case you get that really special one....in my case i wanted to get them jumping out of the water...it didnt happen) It was such a great day, really recomend it to everyone!! 15.08 Today was classified as 'beach day'. we headed to Noosa Heads to chill out on the beach there. I was quite suprised at the number of people there - lots of Brits and Germans...as always. It was so nice to finally be a beach and have hot weather. Havent experienced that since Brasil...oh so only 3.5 months then! we also had a little walk around the shops (it would be rude not to!) I think that Noosa is one of the few places so far that I would actually be happy moving to - it has good beaches, shops, restaurants etc. It sounds like an easy and common combination but you'd be suprised how rare that seems to be! 16.08 Well we thought that it would be ridiculous to come to Oz and not go surfing...so we booked ourselves in for a lesson. Once we were donning the glorious wetsuits and attempting to carry the boards down to the beach (quite a challenge when you have small arms - you cant quite fit them round the board) we were taught the basics of surfing. First lesson = just staying on the board. its all about the balance. Second lesson = standing up on the board while catching a wave. Much easier said than done. Nevertheless Tash stood up on her first attempt (obviously done it in a previous life) I managed it on my 3rd attempt. Still wasnt overly graceful at getting off the board. It was such a great afternoon!! Definately recommend it if you have a few spare hours. You will laugh throughout the lesson. Oh I forgot to mention, we continued our extreme ways by surfing during a cyclone storm. Nothing stops us!! That was our final day in Noosa and it has to be said that it is definately one of my favourite places in Oz. If you are heading up the coast, make sure you stop there! A big thank you has to go out to Ciaran, Margaret, Shannon and Danielle for allowing us to stay for so long, as well as showing us the sites and making us feel very at home. I must admit that it was overly enjoyable heading back to hostel life! Thank you again! x x