Noosa, Australia

December 23rd - December 26th 2011

With only a couple of days till Christmas we decided to head down to Noosa. It was the next major stop on our journey and also sounded nice in the Lonely Planet so we thought we'd pay a little more and stay there for a few days to relax over the festive season. We were preparing to pay a lot to stay in a nice campsite over Christmas and were slightly worried about availability too as we hadn't pre-booked anywhere. Luckily we found a Top Tourist Resort which we get discount at and paid $58.55 each for three nights.

On Christmas Eve we had a relaxing morning at the site which features a big pool and TV/Games room. We drove to Coles and got some goodies for Christmas day, a chocolate yule log as well as bits and pieces for a picnic on the beach. We went into central Noosa and looked around for a nice restaurant so that we could go out for dinner on Christmas day.

View from the National Park walk

We woke up on Christmas morning and luckily the weather had finally brightened up as since Fraser Island a few days before it had been uncharacteristically drizzly. We couldn't afford to get each other presents so there was no present opening on Christmas morning however we knew that we would be spending over the budget to treat ourselves to a lovely dinner out, our first dinner out in Australia. We drove to Noosa and walked along the beach watching surfers, sunbathers and people frolicking in the waves, such an unusual Christmas day! We walked along some paths and got to the National Park where we saw a kookaburra and kept our eyes peeled for a koala but unfortunately we didn't see one.

Kookaburra

With emotions running high as we were both missing family and home Craig and I had a little falling out over something trivial which dampened the Christmas spirit but we soon got over it and enjoyed our picnic on the beach. After our picnic we relaxed in the late afternoon sun and listened to some Ricky Gervais podcasts which gave us a laugh. We managed to find a pay phone to call home so I spoke to Mum for a few minutes. I really wanted to be able to have a long chat as I was missing home so much but the pay phone was so expensive and a short call cost about $10. Unfortunately we couldn't find an internet cafe to call on Skype and typically the computer at our campsite was broken. We felt a lot better after hearing loved ones voices, travelling makes you realise that Christmas is all about family and not at all about presents and spending money.

We went to Cafe La Monde for our meal out. I had pizza and a yummy 'Blue Lagoon' fruit juice while Craig had fish and chips, something he was really looking forward to and loved. We strolled on the beach as the sun was setting on our Australian Christmas day together.

Christmas evening

We booked another night at our campsite and spent Boxing day by the swimming pool relaxing in the sun.