After seven months on the road the day had come to catch up Jonathan, Triona, Diarmuid and beautiful little Nara. They too have taken time out and are living on the outskirts of Brisbane for a year.  Jonathan’s extended family, Denise, Jenny, Tim, Sadie-May and Lillian also came to meet us.

We spent a few hours playing ball games on the beach and generally just relaxing.  I picked up my new surf board just minutes before and having had a few hints from Jonathan I was ready for the off.  That great action shot taken by Sam was the first time I stood on the board, but just for a nano second.

In the evening we went went out for a lovely meal, had some wine and laughed lots – it was really great to catch up.  We agreed we would stay with them for a few days in Brisbane.

Sorry for the lack of photographs, we spent too much time chatting and playing and the day was over before we knew it.

This place rocks! With crystalline waters, Noosa delivers fine surf, fine sun, fine food (Sam’s) and awesome accommodation. Recommended by my brother Jonathan, we headed to Noosa for a few days and planned to meet up with him and his extended family for some quality relaxation time.  Before we met up we had a day to ourselves and too full advantage.

The sun was cracking the stones, the first time we’d seen this intensity in over two weeks – well over 30 degrees.  We spent most of our time on Main Beach, a real surfers’ paradise with waves over 12ft, went shopping and caught up on some chores.

We stayed at Noosa River Caravan Park – the best yet – the facilities were awesome and we tied up our hammock for the first time in months and just relaxed. Oh, and had a few tinnies!

The pink inflatable was my training for the real surf!

Dates and places are a little vague on this route since we didn’t take notes or upload any posts, so pictures and a brief description will have to suffice.

Once we crossed the Rockhampton border and headed for Agnes Waters it was like a switch being flicked; the clouds cleared, the sun shone on the sand and there was no mention of box jellyfish so the beach was an all go area. We camped in Agnes Waters for a couple of nights chilling while watching the surfers – wow, for the first time we felt like we were actually in Oz and on the east coast.

We were expecting the whole of East Coast route to be close to the beaches – which is not the case (so far) – you are on average between 17 to 35km inland, so taking a quick look en route is out of the question.

Having watched the surfers I had convinced myself that the whole process was mere child’s play and set about getting a board – watch this space.

Apologies for the lack of updates in recent days (or even weeks), on the road in the van it’s difficult to get a connection without having to visit the internet cafes – no free wifi like Asia – and neither of us can muster the enthusiasm to fight the town or city traffic.

We are able to upload a few posts today as the campsite we are staying on has a connection.

All the best from the Gold Coast of Australia.