The journey from the ouback and the start of Noosa week

Hi everyone,

Well we made it to Noosa - although it wasn't the most straight forward of journeys! We left Braidwwod at 5.15am and headed along the road via Longreach, Barcaldine, Alph and then stopping outside Emerald for lunch. We were doing well with our timing and so carried on via Springsure, Bauhinia, Moura, Biloela, Monto and then the problems started. By this time it was about 6.30pm. I was driving at this point and when we left Monot there was Lightening all round about us. IT was dry on the road though so we kept going, we had to get as far as we could before it got dark about 7.30pm. About 20-30km from Eidsvold the rain hit us. Within about 5mins I could not see the lines at the side or the middle of the road and so I pulled over at the side of the road. At this point I looked at the map and saw that Gayndah (the place we were aiming for) was about 80km from Eidsvold. Tom had been reading the map since I started driving at Moura and had missed the fact that we were to stop at both Biloela and Monto for fuel. He had said that when we left Monto we only had 80km to go and therefore enough fuel. Whereas we actually had 187km to travel from Moura to Gayndah. With only 1/3 a tank of fuel left at this point and stuck at the side of the road in torrential rain, high winds and thunder and lightening, I started to panic a bit. Another ute drove past and so we went to follow it. I was now just able to bake out the road markings but as we drove along we heard a huge bang - 'oh dear a burst tyre' was our first thought. Thankfully it was just a huge branch and part of it had stuck to the car! We made it to Eidsvold and the rain had stopped but we were too late for the fuel station. Also it didn't open until Monday morning. Tom then went to use the spare fuel we had in the boot but found out that the jerry can was empty - no use there. After a phone call to Chris we worked out that we just had enough fuel to get us to Mundubbera - the next town along the road. Although the rain has passed it was still a scary drive as it was starting to get dark and there were trees on the road. We made it to Mundubbera and found that the garage opened at 6am and so we checked in to the motel there. We then went to the pub and got pizza for tea. I was so glad to get a comfy bed as we had been on the road for 14 hours.

On Sunday morning we filled up with fuel and also noticed we had been sleeping across the road from the Big Mandarin - 2nd Big Thing I've seen now!! Impressed John?

Well, we then drove through Gayndah and saw a Big Orange!

Tom drove the first half of the journey and then I took over for the last half. When we passed through Cooroy there were trees, branches and leaves all over the road. Also a number of cars looked damaged. We made it to Noosa and arrived just before 10am. Our apartment wasn't ready and so we went down to the shops. It was when I was trying on bikinis that I heard on the radio that the storm was the worst that the area has experienced and the strongest winds on Australian record for Cooroy and Noosa. Thank goodness we did not travel any further on Sat night.

The rest of Sunday we spent shopping - I bought a bikini at last! - then we headed down to the beach.

While the kids have been with their mum I have visited a number of places. On Monday I headed to Maroochydore. On the way I passed the Big Pineapple. By the looks of things there are 2 big pineapples - the one I saw in Gympie and this one. The one I saw on Monday though is the main one apparently.

Maroochydore was really nice. I spend the day on the beach getting a tan - and slightly burning the skin that hasn't yet seen sun! After picking up the kids we went back the beach at Noosa and they built some sand castles.

Yesterday, I went back to the big pineapple and had a look around. I had missed some of the tours round the plantations and so I had a look at the display in the big pineapple which showed how pineapples are produced. I then went onto Mooloolaba and had a look round the shops on the beach front. I preferred here to Maroochydore but I think that was because I walked around and there was a good atmosphere. I then spent an hour on the beach before heading back to Nambour to get the kids.

Mooloolaba beach:

In the evening the kids wanted to go to the beach again. This time we went to Sunshine Beach and there were great waves there so we had great fun on body boards. Lets just say that it is just as well I kept my shorts on over my bikini!!

Today I came back to Noosa and on the way I went in past the Eumundie Markets. It was really good and I am glad that I did not have any cash on me or I would have bought so much!

Really looking forward to heading to Newcastle for Christmas. Will speak to you all again when I get there.

Miss you all

xxxxx