A day + 6 - 6 December - Noosa beach and National Park

The day started with me and Dominik droping Derek at the Gold Coast Airport since it was time for him to get back to Singapore and then back home. We changed the car rental to a smaller car, and went back home to decide what to do for the day. After some consideration we decided to take a 3 hours drive up North to Noosa Beach. While in Portugal a 3 hours car drive seems an eternity, in Australia is simpky around the corner. I have to admit that I wasn't to keen to spend a total 6 hours in a car for visiting something for around 3 hours only, but I'm glad the rest of the group convinced me to go.

On the way to Noosa we stoped at Caloundra to have lunch as we (or at least me and Filipa) were starving. We were in mood for nachos and used maps app in iPad to found the nearest Mexican restaurant. But when we got there it was closed and we ended up having lunch at Nando's. This chain of restaurants is what passes for portuguese food in Commonwealth countries : Chargrilled barbeque chicken woth piri-piri ( which they call Peri-peri by the way...)




And yes Filipa is holding a "galo de Barcelos" that also has the table number...




The chicken was actually nice but we have much better in any "Churrascaria" in Portugal ( and much much cheaper...)

After lunch we hit the road again and went straight go Noosa beach



Like the Lonely planet guide says if Byron Bay is the hippiest spot on Gold Coast , Noose is the hippest. The downtown is full of haute couture stores and exquisite looking restaurants and bars. But the beaches there are another surfers mecca.

At the beach enjoying the few sunny moments that managed to escape the constant showers through the day were people playing cricket



Passing the main Noosa beach we went to the Noosa National Park to take another walk and watch the surfers. We saw surfers of literally all ages, from 9 to 60! And the older ones (over 50 yo) were a significant number!



And here are some of the photos we took from the surfers














These are just a few of the many photos we took from the surf and we will share more when we will be able to upload them to Picasa Web Albuns.
The day light started to wane and a strong rain had us on the run back to Noosa as the day drawn to an end.



Before the 3h drive back home we dryed ourselves while having some coffee and desserts at an Aroma's restaurant/cafe in downtown Noosa. There me and Filipa had a Mississipi Mud Cake ( dark chocolate ) and a Banana Cheesecake that were one of the best cakes we ever had!

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