Gold Coast, Sunshine Coast and Holy Coast

Why do I also leave it so long to update this thing so that it turns into an epic every time? Sorry folks.

Days 33 to 35 - Byron Bay

Naomi had said that she was really keen, so long as she got a nice thoroughbred horse and "not one that looked like a cow". The brown and white spotted horse that she was actually given when we arrived would probably have answered to the name of Daisy!

Well, we made the short trip up to Byron from Ballina. Byron has definitely spruced itself up a bit since the last time I was here in 2000. Less crusty dudes hanging around in combie vans on the seafront smoking weed and a few more fancy apartments and well-known franchises.

We stayed at the Belongil beach house which was about 30 minutes walk from the centre of Byron. It was nice enough, although the rooms were more cabin-style and a bit gloomy. We were just over the road from the beach and the surf could just about sustain a bit of bodyboarding, although the waves were crashing a bit too near shore which made things a bit painful!

We walked all the way along the beach to the lighthouse at Cape Byron. Six years ago I (James) had watched them hangliding from that spot and they were at it again. I casually asked how much it was to have a go and was told that I could have a go there and then. I didn't take much persuading. Great fun! Hopefully the photos will do it justice!

Days 36-37 - The unpronouncable Murwillumbah

You can say it any way you like but you can guarantee that the next person you say it to will correct you, even if you say it exactly the same as the person before. M_ is a small town between Byron and Surfers. We went there because there was said to be a nice hostel on the river (and there was - give or take a few overfriendly waterdragons) and so that we could canoe down the river and climb Mount Warning. Unfortunately it rained pretty much the whole time we were there so we didn't get to do either, but I guess that's life.

Days 38 to 42 - Surfers (and Naomi's) Paradise

We had planned to stay in Byron a bit longer but seeing as I'd spent nearly a week there before and Naomi liked it but wasn't over-whelmed, we thought we'd head on up to Surfers Paradise (via Murwillumbah), particularly after finding a cheap rate on the internet for the 4 star Radisson Resort. To say Naomi was keen would be something of an understatement! Without doubt the greatest display of excitement so far on the trip. We booked 5 nights there. We'd been paying $85 a night for the hostel in Byron and the Radisson was only $109 so we justified the cost to ourselves fairly easily.

The hotel itself was really nice. We used the gym a few times, although the jacuzzi and the pool got more use it has to be said. The hotel was a 20 minute ride out of the centre of Surfers in a golfing resort, but the regular shuttle buses made things easy. I resisted the temptation to hire some clubs. It was great to unpack the bags, hang up some crumpled clothes and generally feel like holidaymakers rather than backpackers.

Surfers Paradise is one of those places which every traveller  you meet will tell you is "horribly commercial" and roll their eyes when you say you are going there. In short, its the sort of place that you can take the family to for a week and not run out of things to do. There's a nice white sandy beach, pretty good waves, nice restaurants, shopping malls, skyscrapers (think Miami rather than Barton Hill) theme parks and waterslide parks. You get the picture.

We spent a day at Wet 'n Wild waterslide park. First up, we headed to the park's flagship ride, the Tornado. I've spent the last 5 minutes trying to write a description and failed miserably. It is basically a 4 person ride on an inflatable ring, and is a bit different to anything else we've seen. The queue was fairly long, which was a bit of a problem as Naomi changed her mind about 14 times on the way up to the top. Eventually, I offered free beer to all of the people in the queue below us to stop her from running back down the stairs and a helpful Aussie lady (who must have been a sheepdog in her former life) shepherded her up to the top. It worked and we got there eventually and of course she loved it and wanted to go on the ride again. A very proud moment for Naomi (I'm gradually working her up to the skydiving...... I think it may take a while).

We also hired a car for a day and went up the mountains behind Surfers at Springbrook to walk through the rainforests (smiling sweetly at the big lizards on the way and desperately trying not to look for snakes... or spiders) and see some of the waterfalls and look out points. We also made a trip to the Currumbin Wildlife Sanctuary and had our photo taken with Tamar, a 2 year old koala and saw hairy nosed wombats (my personal favourite), kangaroos, crocs, etc. Needless to say I checked Naomi's bag for stolen baby koalas on the way out.

Day 43 to 44 - Brizzie

We spent a couple of days in Brizzie (or Brisbane) with our very generous hosts Jenny and her husband Barry. (Jenny is the Mum of Andy, a guy I shared an office with at work for many months). They very kindly agreed to put us up at very short notice and we enjoyed some home cooking and got to play with their 2 golden retrievers and on-loan golden labrador. They were happy to be "Ralphie substitutes" for a couple of days. We got loads of holiday admin sorted, inicluding our yellow fever jabs and added a few flights to our S. America trip to make things a bit easier to get from Lima to Rio.

Days 45-46 Noosa

We travelled on up to Noosa, which took about 4 hours on the bus and checked into Noosa Backpackers Resort where I stayed one night in 2000. It was really nice and even better than I'd remembered. We went on a 2 hour horse riding trip with Clip Clop Treks.  Naomi had said that she was really keen, so long as she got a nice thoroughbred horse and "not one that looked like a cow". The brown and white spotted horse that she was actually given when we arrived would probably have answered to the name of Daisy! Very funny. She enjoyed it though and within minutes was trotting beautifully through the shallow lake (Lake Weyba) so I think she forgave Jack his bovine appearance. For the record, mine also "looked a bit like a cow" and every other horse on the farm was a "thoroughbred".

The following day (and the next 3 days) we were very grateful that we'd only done the 2 hour trip and not the full day trip. We are finally sitting, standing and walking comfortably again.

Noosa itself is a beautiful place, and our hostel in neighbouring Noosaville was surrounded by fantastic houses overlooking the river. Fans of Lou and Andy on Little Britain will be familiar with the phrase "want that one" The residents of Noosaville are now also familiar with it thanks to Naomi's verbal house shopping list.

Days 47 to 48 - Fraser Island

Stayed at a great spanking new hostel in Hervey Bay called Next Backpackers. Big thumbs up. We did a 2 day Fraser Explorer trip with the Eurong Resort to Fraser Island, the largest sand island in the world (about 70 miles long and 8 miles wide). The trip itself was excellent and our guide Warren was able to fill in a lot of the knowledge gaps which were left after my 3 day camping (and drinking) trip there in 2000. The weather was pretty kind to us and we spent the days swimming in the crystal clear creeks (Eli) and lakes (Wabby and McKenzie) and walking through forests. The accommodation at Eurong was pretty good too.

We didn't see any dingos (wild dogs) which was a bit disappointing. Apparently they culled loads just after my last trip when a small boy was killed by a pack of them. The guide thought that all of the dingos would be culled if there was another incident. On our return we saw a headline on the front page of the local paper which said "Toddler Attacked by Dingo" so it could be curtains for the dingos unfortunately!

Off to Arlie Beach next for our Whitsundays trip. Very excited, although I'm possibly even more excited about the Ashes starting tomorrow!