After being stranded in Cairns for a week, we were glad to be able to get a flight south, over the floods, down to Brisbane. We wandered around the city for a few hours while we waited for our chauffeurs to arrive. Before we knew it we saw a white estate roll up and Luke, Ramon and Danielle got out and we were reunited with some friends for the first time in a couple of months.

After a quick lunch we all piled in the car and started heading north towards Noosa. However, disaster struck just north of Brisbane as the brakes in the car began to fail and we had to stop driving. Being Sunday, the rental company was closed and although the roadside assistance came to our aid, they couldn't provide us with a new car. We were stranded. We managed to nurse the car to a nearby car park where we illegally camped for the night. With tents hidden behind bushes, we settled down for the night on a nearby picnic table for a few games of cards and a few catch up drinks.

We woke up and called out the tow truck to come and get us. After a few hours of waiting around, we were given a new car and carried on north to Noosa. We arrived late in the day and only had time for a few more games of cards and a few more drinks before bed.

We went walking the next morning around the Noosa National Park. Here we were told you could see koalas if you were lucky. Fortunately, Sarah went into the information centre and asked if there had been any recent sightings. The lady smiled and walked outside with us and pointed at the first tree we reached. We were in luck that a couple of koalas had decided to settle into that particular tree and were in plain sight. We also saw a python and a monitor lizard within 50 feet of the information centre.

We completed the coastal walk after seeing all this wildlife (we didn't see anything else) and then headed down to the beach to see out the rest of the afternoon. We didn't know that the Noosa Festival of Surfing was on while we were there so we were able to sunbathe, swim and watch surfing to wile away the day. Definitely a nice change of pace after worrying about the car for a day!

The next day was equally lazy as we spent the whole day on the beach. The boys were happy being knocked over by waves, while Sarah enjoyed sunbathing and paddling her way through the day.

We had been lucky to get excellent weather in Noosa, the first sign of Australia's sunshine we have really seen on this trip. We really enjoyed the change of pace for a couple of days and it was really nice to be travelling as a group again. It was just like we hadn't been apart at all and we had a great time catching up on each others new travelling stories.