QLD - Final Stretch

When back in Bris, John mentioned that Sasha had given up booze for lent, so we got chatting and decided that as this is not something we normally do, Marc would give up any kind of fried potato such as chips and crisps and Ev gave up chocolate and cola. Although it has to be said that Marc lasted just a few hours as we had KFC for dinner and Ev lasted 3 weeks. However after some more chatting, John and Sasha came clean with the real truth. Sasha had to give up booze for another reason - they were expecting their 1st baby!! – so happy for them!

Our last week in Oz went by quite quickly. John and Sasha were away for a bit at a wedding so we went shopping at the markets before heading to Indroo (philly) for dinner at the Pig & Whistle and cinema to see Ghost Rider. Next day we headed to the Sunday markets and bumped into some people we met and Janelle’s birthday bowls – we’re beginning to feel like locals now!

Most of the week was spent planning for Asia and catching up on some blogging with the highlights of the week being another trip to the gold class cinema, dinner at a lovely Thai restaurant with Matty, Caroline and the kids and another popping round to Dave’s house to celebrate his birthday with some cake – yum.

mmm Gold Class
 

Our last weekend in Oz we were invited to spend with Charles and Debi (Ev’s 2nd cousin). They had arranged everything for us, but wouldn’t tell us what was planned or where we were going. Charles asked us to meet him Friday lunchtime in Brisbane centre, where he picked us up and we headed back to his house to meet up with Debi. We had a quick tour of their super nice house, making us jealous of their cinema room :) before heading off to our secret location – Coolibah - one of the beach resorts along the sunshine coast. They had arranged a self-catering apartment and Debi put on a nice spread in the evening whilst we sat around drinking and chatting.

On Saturday, they took us out to Eumundi as we were keen to go to the big market they had on Saturdays to pick up some local arts and crafts as souvenirs and presents. Marc had a mini-scare when he went to draw cash as the machine took his card. With only 5 days to go before leaving Oz, a lost card now would be unlikely to be replaced before getting back to the UK, and more importantly, Ev would be holding the purse strings. Luckily the post office was open (it was about 5 minutes before it shut for lunch) and whilst they said they couldn’t access the cash point the women called some people and managed to get the card back – phew!

We met Charles and Debi’s friends for lunch before heading out to Martaville, which is in the mountains, for a look around the local craft shops and had a drink taking in the breathtaking views. We then headed back to the Coolibah, for a stroll along the esplanade and watched the kite surfers do their stunts in the bay, before heading to the hotel for a swim, take away and DVD.

On Sunday we headed out to Noosa and caught a ferry over to the North Shore. Charles took us for a beach drive, which was good fun – a shame we can’t do this kind of thing in the UK, but the pebbles and groynes would ruin your car! We parked up and had a beer, looked at the jellyfish being washed up and enjoyed the sunshine.

the best way to drive

Marc, Charles and Debi

the best place for a ice cold beer
 

After the ferry back, we had to wash the salt off the car, it’s a pretty clever setup as there is a stop off were there is a pay machine to use the spray hoses to wash your car. We then stopped for lunch at the harbour where we found a cute Broncho’s baby grow for Johnny Junior. We had a great time with Charles and Debi and this was a fantastic way to spend our last weekend in Australia.

They dropped us off in Brisbane centre, where we spent the rest of the afternoon looking around the shops. We checked out some of the SLR cameras Charles recommended but we need to decide if we want to get it here or risk being able to find it cheaper in Asia but without any of the guarantees. John and Sasha picked us up and we went to Michelle and Pete’s for dinner – Pete is a top chef and cooked us up a lovely lamb spit roast.

We leave Oz on Tuesday, so spent Monday sorting out some boxes to send home. This was a major hassle as our boxes were too big and the post office wouldn’t accept them, so we had to unpack and repack into smaller boxes that we had to buy from the post office. We’ve enjoyed every minute in Oz (except the parcels) and hope to come back one day….