Maroochydore - Friday 17th April 2009

So, didn't get to do my surf lesson today, but have booked one for tomorrow, yay! It's a bit of an early lesson at 8am, but I guess I have to be up early to get the good surf!
Also, the Blackall Region tour didn't go ahead today as I seemed to be the only one interested in going and they don't do the tour just for one person. So, it's going ahead tomorrow instead and so I've now got a really, really full day tomorrow. Surfing first thing at 8am for an hour and a half, and then the tour from 12noon until 6pm. I'm gonna be tired tomorrow!!

Thus, I had a bit of a relaxing day today. Quite a few people left the hostel this morning, so we got a new room mate - Eilidh. Name sounds familiar to a few people reading my blog, but I'm sure that she's just sitting across the office from you Ingrid, rather than being in Australia (as much as I'm sure she'd rather be here!!). She seemed quite nice so we basically hung out for the day. Right Scottish chatterbox as well!! We just walked into the town centre, watched a film (Monsters vs. Aliens if anyone's interested - thought it was quite good but not as many laughs as other films of that type) and then that was the day!!

Sun was shining, so I made the most of it by having a nice walk, and then having a swim in the pool. I have stayed in a few places with swimming pools and just haven't been able to make the most of them, so I thought I would today! Aired out my bikini - don't think it's seen daylight for a while....

Really looking forward to my surf lesson tomorrow - so excited!!

Maroochydore - surfing lesson and Blackall Region tour - Saturday 18th April 2009

Had a really great time on my surfing lesson - really tiring but really cool!! I came out of the lesson wishing I was staying here longer so that I could have a lesson tomorrow!! However - Dan - my instructor - said that they were expecting a 4-metre swell tonight so beginners lessons would probably be cancelled. I do also have to mooch up the the rest of the East Coast so I can get to Fraser Island.
Oh well, I guess I can have surf lessons in England somewhere - but it'd be flippin' cold!!

Managed to stand up on the board a few times and there was even a photographer there taking pictures, so I obviously bought a disc so I could have some evidence of me surfing!! I was in a lesson with a whole bunch of kids though, so I was thinking that they would put me to shame, but it seems that these kids don't listen and so aren't even that good!! Some of them have been having lessons for a year and a half, and were still expecting Dan to help them out!
When he picked me up, he did tell me that the lesson would have a few kids in it, but he thought that he'd just be helping me as they should know what they're doing. Unfortunately, I didn't get him as my own instructor as the kids needed his help as well!! He even had to take everyone out of the water in the middle of the lesson to tell them off for not knowing what to do! He just kept shaking his head and saying that they just didn't listen and was getting pretty annoyed at them!

However, I felt good having finally had my surf lesson - yay!
After the lesson, I felt so knackered that I did half wish that I hadn't booked myself on the Blackall Region tour as well, but I was told that it wasn't too strenuous and so I thought I'd be ok. In the end it was a really nice tour and so I'm glad I went.
We just got in our nice colourful YHA bus and first drove to a lookout point where we could see Mount Coolum, Mount Cooroy, and another mountain beginning with N that I now can't remember! Doh! Knew I should have written them down! I'm sure I'll be able to look it up in my book in any case.

We then went to Kondalilla Falls which was extremely pretty. We went through some nice rainforest and then saw a forked waterfall. I don't know if that was Kondalilla Falls or whether the other one that everyone was swimming in was, but they were both very nice in any case! I didn't have the energy for swimming and had already gotten a soaking in the morning, so everyone else (4 other girls, and Simon who drove the bus) had a swim.
He told us afterwards that there are eels in the water too! Glad I didn't swim in there :D

Went to the Glasshouse Mountains afterwards which were gorgeous and are named the Glasshouse Mountains because James Cook discovered themin 1770 and thought they resembled the glassmaking furnaces in Yorkshire where he lived. Photos to come at some point, when I can find an internet place that will actually let me access the hard drive or any USB drive when I plug it in! The computers at the YHA's I've stayed at seem to be particularly bad for that kind of thing, so I'll have to find some other internet place at some point!

After that, we went to a little town called Montville which was a very nice town, especially as that's where the fudge place was and there were actually two fudge places!! I got some vanilla, caramel, and chocolate fudge that was altogether - like Aquafresh stripey toothpaste but obviously fudge and not teeth cleaning stuff! It was so yummy!!

Then, we got in the bus and got back to the hostel. Not a particularly taxing afternoon, which was good for me!! A fair bit of walking though, especially through the rainforest but then I should be used to both walking and rainforest by now!! :D

Simon was arranging a night out in Moolooloba (which is a little town just over from Maroochydore and where I also had my surfing lesson) but I was just so knackered that I didn't have the energy to go. Part of me wanted to go somewhere to have a dance, but I just couldn't be bothered to go anywhere!! I also had to pack as I had booked my train to Hervey Bay for tomorrow. I had wanted to get the earlier train at 11:25 tomorrow but that was all booked out, so I've got to hang about tomorrow for the 6:20pm one. It means that I get to Hervey Bay pretty late, as I've also got to get a coach connection from Maryborough West train station, to Urangan which is where the YHA is that I'm staying at. Reception will be closed by the time I get there, but they'll leave the key in the safe for me so I can obviously get into my room. Apparently the coach will probably also go past the YHA and so I can be dropped off right there - supa!!
I'm also going to wait to book my Fraser Island trip as apparently the conditions there still aren't that great because of the cyclone that went through there a few weeks ago. Some of the beaches are still closed, and it's on a day to day basis as to whether we'll be able to get to those places or not. So, I may not be able to see all the spectacular places that everyone else has seen, but I do still want to go!

So, I'm taking myself off to bed as early as possible because I'm cream crackered!! Just chilled out in the hostel when I got back, packed, and all that sort of stuff. Not sure what to do with myself tomorrow, but I think I'll just get the YHA courtesy bus into town, dump my stuff somewhere, and then just hang out there. Find a nice spot in the sun and just read my book or something like that. Apparently they've got luggage lockers in the transit centre so I don't have to lug my stuff around with me. However, if I'm just going to be in one place for the afternoon, then I guess I can just be with my luggage anyways?! I'll see what happens tomorrow :)