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After returning the van to Brisbane, we traveled via Greyhound bus ~ 2 hours up the Sunshine Coast to the Noosa area to stay with a friend of Dave's named Ray. Three years ago in October, Dave traveled to Australia to play lacrosse in a tournament run by Ray. The Noosa area is well-known for its beautiful beaches, surf, and Noosa Heads National Park. Fortunately, Ray lives walking distance to the beach. We've been walking his two huge Golden Retrievers (HORSES!) as often as possible on the beach. Next week Ray will be hosting his yearly tournament in Surfers Paradise, a town on the Gold Coast, south of Brisbane. We will be helping Ray out with the tournament -- selling T-shirts, taking pics, keeping score, Dave may ref, etc... Should be fun. Ray has been EXTREMELY hospitable, allowing us to stay with him while using his extra car for touring.
Guess what we did???? Yup, we went to the horse track with Ray. He happens to be in a partnership that owns a race horse. What an incredible experience...we've both never been to the races!! It was exhilerating and the horses were magnificently powerful. No, we didn't lose a fortune... But, we did get to hang out in the fancy owner's lounge and hospitality area---cha, cha, cha!!! Aren't we special. Not really. You should see what Dave had to wear to get into the fancy area (tie, hiking boots/pants)... REAL SHARP!
Apart from hanging on the beach, helping Ray with a few tournament-related things, and chilling out, we did manage to take a trip to the hinterlands west of the Sunshine Coast. We spent the day driving through the Glasshouse Mountains and hung out in an artsy fartsy town for lunch called Montville. The town was OK, but the drive was incredible as it followed the spine of the mountain range allowing us to see the ocean to the east and the continuing mountain range to the west. Also, we did stop to check out some koalas. They are weird.. Stoned on Eucalyptus leaves, sitting around hanging off of branches half asleep all day.
We are off to Fraser Island tomorrow and look forward to seeing some dingos, crystal clear fresh-water lakes, more rainforest, maybe more whales, and the fun of 4wd'ing around the beaches and trails throughout the island.
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