Last Thursday, Rachelle picked me up straight from work and we drove 2 hours north to Noosa on the northern end of the Sunshine Coast. I had booked an apartment for us at the Noosa Tropicana.

Noosa is beautiful, and includes beautiful white sand beaches; a large national park complete with spectacular coastal scenery, wildlife (including Koalas) and waterfalls; and the Noosa river which winds its way north for 85 km and continues past Lakes Cooroibah and Cootharaba to unspoilt Everglades.

Thankfully, Friday was hot and sunny so we were able to spend some quality time at the beach and make up for the crap weather we've had ever since Steph and Lucy arrived. The conditions were perfect - perfect for swimming but also with the occasional large wave to jump through/over/under. I wasn't as sensible with the sun cream as I usually am and ended up burning my back - it's still soar today!


Friday night we made use of our penthouse facilities. Having a penthouse apartment meant we had our own private rooftop with BBQ, so we chucked a few steaks on the barbie and cracked open a couple of bottles of wine.

On Saturday Rach took Steph and the kids to Eumundi markets while I went for a walk and explored the local area. When they returned Steph wasn't feeling too well so she stayed in the apartment while me, Rach and the kids went down to the Noosa river and hired a boat. We hired a 6-seater Bowrider and went exploring for two hours up the Noosa river. The boat we hired wouldn't do any more than 10 knots so there was no way we was going to make it anywhere near the Everglades. Lauren and Lucy loved it, they both had a go at steering. Lauren even took an interest when Rach taught her how to read the charts (of course we're experts now we've completed the 1 day boat course!).


On Saturday night we went to a Thai Restaurant. I drank far too much wine and woke up feeling like I was going to die on Sunday morning.

We had planned to go exploring in Noosa National Park on Sunday but it was absolutely pissing it down so we checked out and drove back home Sunday morning.

All in all it was a really good weekend, although I was a bit disappointed by the Noosa Tropicana. It's supposedly a 4 1/2 star apartment but it was in desperate need of a refurbishment.

More photo's on Flickr.