BIRTHDAY AT THE BEACH WITH A GOLDEN BEAR

For my birthday this year, with my friends and Birthday Bear, we went to Noosa Heads for a few days.  I like going to the beach in winter. It's not too hot and there are less crowds. We booked into Sun Lagoon Resort over looking a lagoon (of course), and Noosa River. We explored a little and had a delicious dinner at Rock Salt Restaurant.

View from our apartment

 We explored Noosa Heads where the river enters the Pacific Ocean.

The Birthday Bear Group

 I forgot to take photos of the delicious food except when dessert came with a birthday sparkler and the whole restaurant joined in singing Happy Birthday. By the time that was over the sparkler was finished. The dessert was Eton Mess, with berries, meringue and white chocolate mousse.

 Birthday Bear was waiting for me when we returned to our apartments after dinner. Chris dressed bear this time to reflect our golden anniversary last month. She was dressed in gold with gold shoes and balloon. Golden chocolate coins and table decoration were at her feet as well as a gorgeous photo of Bill and me with golden sequins inside the picture frame.

 This morning, Mary and I went for a walk along Noosa River to Hastings Street the main hub of the bustling tourist town. I didn't realise Mary had never been to Noosa before so I enjoyed showing her around.

The beach was empty this morning with the cool winter temperatures but it was crowded yesterday being a Sunday.

BEAUTIFUL BEACHES

 Just before Christmas, it was a dull day when we had promised to take our Swiss visitors to the beach. So we set off for the Sunshine Coast just north of Brisbane.

 There is a ribbon of beaches stretching for miles. Our first stop was Mooloolaba Beach.

There is a famous toilet block built right on the beach with a great view.

This is the view from the loo (which is my header at the moment but I had wrongly labelled it Noosa)

 After coffee at Mooloolaba we drove further north to Noosa Beach where we had.........

 lunch overlooking he beach. Our young visitors went for a surf while we watched .........

 a sand sculptor at work. 

Too soon it was time to head back to the car for the trip home. The next day our visitors hired a campervan and headed off to Sydney, Melbourne and Adelaide. They are in Melbourne at the moment. Unfortunately there is a heat wave down there and the temperatures are in the 40's C/105+F.
Even further south Tasmania has had dreadful bushfires. One whole small town was burnt out.

NOOSA

Day 2 of trip to Sunshine Coast

Breakfast on the balcony with Carol and David, which doesn't happen very often. The children went to their other family to celebrate a birthday, so we entertained ourselves in Noosa a top tourist destination on the Sunshine Coast.

Noosa is a sheltered beach and the waves are not big, but recently storms have washed away much of the sand and beach.

The life savers are patrolling in their boat.

Rather than swim we preferred to find a restaurant for lunch. This one had a great view and good food......

.......and good service, the waiter insisted on taking a photo of us.

Bill had salmon on a veggie salad

I had a pear and blue cheese salad on brazil nut polenta and roast pumpkin. (Yum,Yum)

After lunch we strolled along the boardwalk......

....into the forest.....

...with the bush turkeys.....

......and back onto the main street (Hastings)......

......where there are restaurants and.....

...tourist shops and....

...ugly resorts and....

...expensive jewellery and dress shops and......

nice coffee shops and...

...Real Estate Agents selling apartments for 2.2 million dollars.

Adventure on the Sunshine Coast (without the sun)

Day 1. 31 January

We have just spent 3 days on the Sunshine Coast (0ne and a half hours north of Brisbane) with our Carol and David, who have hired a beach villa for 3 weeks holiday before they return to London. We arrived in time for lunch on the balcony.

Happy to be with our kids. The ocean is just behind the trees.

In the late afternoon when it is not too hot we venture out for a walk along the beach. It is about 200 metres to the beach through the trees.

David leads the way over the dunes.....

... and down to the water..

"Lets go this way."

Castaway Beach, lovely and natural, not many buildings or people.

Even though it was overcast it was still very pleasant walking and the surf looked dramatic.

We found hundreds of these blue bottles (stinging jellyfish) washed up onto the sand.

This is a nasty stinger. That blue mess at the back is actually hundreds of very fine tentacles The blue bottles float on the water with the tentacles spread out for a long way around them.They can give an excruciating sting and welts. So no swimming today. Instead we stepped on them to hear the loud popping sound they make when squashed.

What has David found?

A coconut covered in tiny shellfish. Maybe it has come from far away lands.

Time to turn back and head for home. Bill leads the way as usual on the home run.

We brush off the sand and get ready for tea.