Up at 07:30 and straight into the surf at Seven Mile Beach for an hour of boogie boarding. The surf looked a bit flat on arrival and had intermittent flat spells throughout our time in the ocean. The temperature felt significantly cooler than last evening, which I estimated to be about 23 degrees, but I soon led the way and submerged myself in the water. From that point on the water felt warm. I must have been enthused by yesterdays efforts as I took to it straight away today. Many a good wave did I catch and surfed right into shore, beaching myself on plenty of occasions. We had a right laugh messing about in the surf. One wave, actually a dual wave, caught me out. Some pretty big waves were travelling across the beach, one of which I caught hold of and surfed, then another big wave immediately picked me up further from behind and they crashed together, throwing me, tossing me about a bit, pushing me under to the point that I was upside downm the board over my head and I got pushed, dragged into the shore and landed with a thud on my buttock, which hurt. But it wasn't my head so I was pleased and went straight back out again. There were many times when Ian took me by surprise too, chasing me on the same wave, surfing across the beach having taken an alternative wave running across the beach, and standing astride as I surfed between his legs. It was highly amusing and terrific fun. While we were waiting for waves two enormous pelicans soared past us on the edge of the water looking for food. They are absolutely stunning birds. They flew together, barely having to flap their wings, flying only inches from the ground.
The boogie boarding reminded me of whitewater rafting as it took me under with the force of the waves. Actually, when I knew I'd been submerged I thought back to the briefing instructions we had at Victoria Falls prior to the great descent to the Zambezi gorge. I knew it wouldn't be longer than 10 seconds before surfacing...
Byron Bay didn't offer us much except for a hot chocolate and yet another opportunity to wonder what on earth these casual lay about surfer types did for a living, other than the obvious surfing, what did they do to earn money?
Beyond Byron Bay we didn't stop until Surfers Paradise and subsequent Brisbane and that was only due to traffic. Surfers Paradise didn't seem to be anything but a lot of tower block apartments without an obvious beach. Brisbane was easy enough to navigate through without really touching on the city and appeared to be very modern and clean. When we crossed the state line into Queensland we gained an extra hour making us 10 hours ahead of GMT.
After Brisbane we moved on to Noosa Heads where we stopped for lunch. Noosa Heads would not be accommodating us tonight, despite my attempts on the way to find us a room for the night. It is a lovely little seaside resort with the absence of young surfer types due to the absence of decent surf. However, there are a few beginners about carrying their short boards and this is an ideal place to learn to surf given the predictable, reliable, gentle waves. The town is mostly full of young families and middle aged people. I had a fabulous salad at Cafe le Monde which gave me another reason to return to Noosa Heads.
We arrived in Hervey Bay, some 537 kilometres from Lennox Head, at the point at which we were about to run out of fuel. It took some time and a lot of guesswork to navigate through small but irritating Maryborough which appeared to enjoy confusing tourists by leading them off in one direction only to then place them at a T junction without any further directions. As we arrived in Hervey Bay Ian spotted another two giant pelicans floating on the water. I really admire these fascinating birds, they are so adorable. At Noosa Heads a pelican was flying above the road as we left, soaring in circles, his head and huge bill tucked into his chest. They are wonderful creatures, truly wonderful. In Hervey Bay we tried to drive aroundthe headland but reached a hostile no entry so checked in to the horredously stuffy YHA then tried to drive around the headland from the other direction, with the intention to approach the no entry sign from behind. As we left the YHA Ian commented on us missing out on the two for one cocktail offer in the bar at the YHA which would run for a further 1 hour 30 minutes. I joked suggesting we may be back in 10 minutes.
5 minutes later we were back at the YHA having driven along the front which was a wall, a restaurant, some motels and a pier which resembled something more like a disused jetty. We laughed about it, made accommodation arrangements for tomorrow night and made our way to the bar for cheap cocktails. There was another small lizard running across the path on the way to the bar at the YHA. Ian ordered a jug of bitter for AUD 8. He decided that the jug was just less than two pints and was then disgusted at the price. An hour later it became happy hour during which he could have bought the same jug of bitter for AUD 6.50! Oh well...the cocktails are naff too and dinner wasn't much either!
I've developed a nasty heat rash on my right arm and hand, concentrated around my knuckles which is resembling a cluster of mosquito bites. I hadn't considered the recent temperatures to be particularly warm although I have spent most of my time in air conditioning luxury in the car, but are such medical conditions aptly named of have I indeed suffered a mosquito attack? It is itching like mad, like the sandfly bites I received in New Zealand!
Copyright 2003 Helen Fuller. All rights reserved.