So much experienced and a reunion
Before we drove away from Hervey Bay I went jogging at the Beach in the morning, it was before 6 AM. I was very surprised to see that the beach was already so alive, some people had their morning walk, went jogging, took the dog for a walk, canoeing, etc. The Aussies seems to be early riser, most of the shops close at 5 PM and the whole town looks very lonesome, almost no people in the streets, but in the morning it´s pretty alive.
We continued our journey to the south and stayed for one night at Noosa. There we went for a hike to the Noosa National Park at the North Bay and the lake Weyba. The circular track at the bay was really beautiful, first we walked along the bay and then through the forest back. In both parks we saw wild Koalas and some colourful birds. We also went to the beach at Coolum, there is a surf school where we saw some kids learning how to surf.
On the way to Brisbane we visited the local market at Eumundi. This market offers a lot of handcraft products which the people from this are make. It´s a lovely market, manifold and varied, really nice to see but for us not possible to buy anything due to our continuous travelling. We also made a short stop at Maroochydore, there was an event of the coastguard lifesaving organisation where boys and girls at different ages and in different disciplines competed against each other. We were impressed to see how already the small kids swam against the waves and the current, respect!
In Mooloolaba we made a further stop to have lunch before we drove towards Brisbane. In Brisbane we stayed at the Youth Hostel in the city. Later that day I drove to Peter’s house in Tingalpa to have a chat. We met Peter during our travelling in Vladivostok at the hotel. When we met in Vladivostok he also travelled across Russia and took the Trans-Siberian train. Peter is meanwhile retired and loves to travel. We had a long talk about the different places we travelled and other topics until late in the evening, he kindly made a pizza for us, it was a great evening, and he really is a nice person. The next morning Peter picked us up at the Youth Hostel and showed us his city. We went to Mt Coot Tha, drove through the different television stations, to Kangaroo Point, Cliffs Park, Chinatown and West end. He showed us so many different places, it was a lovely relaxed day for us because we did not need to drive on our own and we had the perfect tour guide :-)
The next day Mery and I went to Lone Pine Koala Sanctuary. This facility is famous for the Koala care and rehabilitation, but they also have other animals from Australia you can experience very close. They have round about 150 Koalas there, most of the visitors like to take a picture with the Koalas. We enjoyed being there, they offer different programs, among others the shepherd show, very interesting to see how the shepherd dog leads the sheep through the different barriers.
On the day of departure we went to Peter´s house and he showed us the surroundings of his place and we had lunch together at the yacht club. We were very happy to meet Peter and thank him for his lovely guide through Brisbane and hope to meet him again one day, maybe in Switzerland or Germany.
From Brisbane we drove to the Gold Coast and stayed at Surfers Paradise. This place is famous amongst the young people for its party scene. Every year there is the “Schoolies” event where all of Australia’s high-school graduates celebrate their last school time. The whole city is under exceptional circumstances, it’s a big party location. We were there during this event and it was really crowded in the evening…but there were also lots of policemen…it was somehow funny to see this event.
In Coolangatta we made a short stopover. At this place you can see the Gold Coast from the distance, there is Captain Cook’s memorial and a lots of surfers. We also stopped at Byron Bay and went for a short walking tour to see the lighthouse. Byron Bay is also the most easterly point of the Australian mainland.
