We have had a few really lovely days! after Maryborough we drove through Gympie where apparently they all have two heads and on to Noosa. After all the terrible weather we have had we were beginning to think we had never seen sun and would be the only people to visit the sunshine coast and not have sun. But, someone heard our pleas and spookily as soon as we passed the sign to say welcome to the sunshine coast, the clouds parted and blue sky and the sun appeared!! And no it was not a hallucination. We have decided that so far if we had to live here, Noosa would be the place. It has a really laid back holiday vibe and alot of the houses back onto the water and have jettys that their boats are attached to. We went straight to Noosa Heads the main hub and had a little wander. This is the first place you can swim without a stinger net and everybody owns a surf board. I don't know why but the sand squeaked. Why is that? We did a really long walk that afternoon in the national park, finding secluded beaches and clifftop views. We were also told we would see koalas but we didnt. After the walk we were shattered and so went to find a campsite. All quite expensive in this area. The next day, again we did some mooching and managed to find myself a bikini in a sale! yey!! So we went down and did some window shopping in all the designer shops and went to the beach. We didnt swim but we sunbathed and people watched. From here we drove to Maroochydore and Maloolaba where we found a campsite for the night. Yesterday was however the best day. We went to the Australia Zoo. Quite expensive to get in but well worth it.

The zoo has every animal you could possibly want to see and an abundance of koalas. We saw crocs and tasmanian devils and elephants and birds (yuk) tortoises etc. The enclosures are so spacious and well maintained so it doesnt feel like a zoo it feels like a conservation project. The keepers walk around with various animals like snakes for people to hold and touch and take pics of. Our favourite parts were where you could walk through a huge enclosure where kangaroos roam free, it was huge. You could walk up to them pet them etc and feed them special roo food. We were lucky enough to see a mum with a joey in her pouch. We saw the joey get out and we stroked it and then fold right up and get back in, so cute. They are very soft. My favourite part was the koala bears, which arent actually bears, they are marsupials, because their joeys grow in the pouch. They look like little old men and they fall asleep in the wierdest positions and are just so cute. They also eat really funny. I think i was a koala in a previous life. We also got to stroke a koala a few times and we could have had a picture holding one but it was really expensive and i think there are other places you can do it cheaper and even free.

We also went to a show in the crocoseun a huge auditorium where they put on a showcase of various animals. The best bit was with a crocdile where they fed him in ways that show how fast they move. It is an amazing zoo as the keepers are so hands on, even with the crocs they were right in the enclosure, teaching people how crocs behave and how not to aggravate them. We also watched a tiger show. 3 very rare tigers that had been bred in the zoo. The keepers treat them like domestic cats as they have grown up with the tigers so we got to see them play in the water and with toys etc. It was an amazing day. And also quite educational. After the zoo we came straight into Brisbne and found a campsite where we ate chilli. Yum. So today we are just exploring the city etc.

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