Finally got to Maroochydore today - yay! Got there a bit late, but am so glad that I passed through Nambour very quickly as I really wouldn't have liked to have stayed there. Seemed like a real backwater type of town....and I got completely perved at by one of the train station guys. This station guy suddenly said to me, just as I walked into the station, that a lady had been looking for me. I had a nano-second think, knowing that no one would be looking for me there, and said that I didn't think they were looking for me. He said, yes, she's just gone out there to get the car, and that she was looking for a Korean lady and then sort of nodded in my direction. I said that I wasn't Korean and so she can't have been looking for me.
Then he asked me where I was going or where I needed to go. All the time he was talking to me, he was looking me up and down as though he'd never seen a girl before. Man, that was creepy!! He wasn't particularly good looking and his eyes were just roving ~shudder~. I've never been so glad to trundle out of a train station before and was just really glad that he didn't follow me!

Interesting drunk people on the bus too, and it was only about 7:15pm....I had originally thought about staying in Nambour but couldn't find a hostel there and so chose Maroochydore instead - thank god! Maroochydore is right on the coast so I thought that would be really convenient for surf lessons and general beachy-ness :D

The YHA hostel here is super nice too! Really open and airy and no stairs to the rooms - yay! I got picked up at the bus station too, even though it was after office hours so that was really cool. Justin picked me up, and we had a nice chat in the bus. I was pretty glad to be off that local bus though - got a few stares from the locals - small person with large suitcase obviously not seen that often on local bus! I mentioned the general bogun-ness of the locals too, and the YHA manager - Justin - confirmed that it's not the greatest town to be in! Phew, not just me being a snob then! Oh, unless he was a snob too....

Last day in Brisbane was quite nice, though I guess much of it was spent hanging about. I went to the opticians first, and thankfully my prescription by fax had got there - yay! I did call them before leaving Marion and Ian's as I wanted to make sure, so when Jennifer said that it had arrived, I was much more relaxed. The new specs are costing me just over $500 which is not that bad I guess as it comes to around £230 or so which is what I'd be paying for a new pair of specs at home. I'm not getting the super thin lenses or a really expensive pair of frames, but they'll do for me! If I had got the super thin lenses, it would have been $631 which is a bit too much really! Let's hope that these don't break before I get home otherwise I'll be really mad!! They should be ready by Tuesday at the earliest, and I'll probably be in Townsville by that time so I hope they are ready by Tuesday!!
I'm spending three nights in Maroochydore, and then heading up to Hervey Bay so I can go to Fraser Island. Not sure how long I'll spend there, but maybe around four nights or so as I'll need time to do a tour and that sort of thing. Also, after Hervey Bay, the trains don't run every day so I'll have to make sure I time my journey properly as well as making sure I spend enough time in each place to make it worth stopping over!
Also was able to reserve my seat on the train, and it was actually quite busy so I'm glad I didn't just turn up and try to get on. Helpful guy on the phone gave me a window seat, and also a seat at the front of the carriage so I could keep an eye on my luggage. Very nice of him indeed.

Booked my pedicure for today too, and that was pretty good. $35 for a nice leg massage and nail coat as well as the usual stuff. How come most pedicure and manicure places seem to be run and/or staffed by ladies from the Phillipines or somewhere similar? None of them seem to speak English very well either so you just smile and nod most of the time....
In any case, my feet felt lovely afterwards though walking back to the bus station on them felt a bit counter-productive!! Ah well, never mind, I very much enjoyed the experience anyways! I'm sure it'll be completely ruined in a few days but never mind!!

Am hoping that I can get a surf lesson before I leave - am really ready to go surfing now!! I've also seen on the noticeboard that there's a hostel trip to the Blackall Region happening tomorrow afternoon, so that could be quite cool. You go and see the Glasshouse Mountains, have a nice rainforest walk and a swim in a waterfall, and also visit a fudge factory. Mmmmm, fudge. So maybe I do that tomorrow and my surfing lesson the next day? I'll figure something out!