Towards the Great Barrier Reef

Noosa
24 - 26 January 2009

Next to Gold Coast the other famous coast is called Sunshine Coast. It's more exclusive and expensive too. But we must admit it did look a lot better than the busy Gold Coast. We rented an apartment instead of a hotel and we decided this was the way to go from now on. We had a huge 2-bedroom apartment (that's all that was available because it was a long weekend with Australia Day on Monday and all Australians had holidays). We even had and our own washing machine!

It was a cloudy day but we did have a few moments of sun and enjoyed the beach of Noosa Heads. What we didn't know at that time was that this was about to be the last time we were to see sun for a (very) long time! We were waiving the sun goodbye in this picture.. :-(


Airlie Beach
26 - 29 January 2009

We were on our way to our most longed-for destination of the Australia: Airlie Beach: the passage to the Whitsunday Islands and the Great Barrier Reef. We were wondering why the Aussies abided by the speed-limits. In the middle of nowhere, with not a radar in sight, we were driving 115 km/hour and almost immediately got pulled over by oncoming police!! We got a fine of 200 AUD (approx. 105 Euro) for speeding 15 km/hr.



We arrived at Airlie Beach at our apartment with a great view. However the great view got cloudier and cloudier for 3 days. So this is the best shot we can show you. It became even worse for us when all boat trips to the reef were canceled due to heavy winds and rains. So in order to do at least something we booked a boat trip to Daydream Island. It was cloudy all day and we had to make do with a man-made lagoon with corals and fish, including real sharks.



But rest assured we did also have some great moments. It was the first time we did what every Australian does: a real Aussie barbecue. Airlie Beach has a lagoon, a sort of outdoor pool close to the sea open for the public. This pool is surrounded by a park with tables and barbecues for everyone to use. The reason they built such a pool is that the East coast of Australia is known for its deadly jellyfish (kwallen). Hence all the beaches are deserted as you are unable to swim without getting stung, unless you wear a stinger suit. But then all the fun of the sea is gone so nobody does it.

Anyway, we had a great time doing our first Aussie barbecue. This was one of the best steaks we ever had, hmmm....





Oh we almost forgot. Although Marcel's blackberry is off Ansell seems to be capable of reminding us about them all the time. We are in the homeland of Ansell and the most sold condom brand here is Ansell. As we could experience during our barbecue when we looked under the table: