Noosa

When I was visiting Amanda in Brisbane we drove to Noosa which is on the Sunshine Coast about 2 hours away. We were lucky that it stopped raining when we arrived for a nice beach walk. It's a very cute town, a bit hoity-toity, but nice! Mostly a vacation spot for Australians. Here are some pictures!

(Also something funny happened there. The parking was unlimited after 5pm but only 1 or 2 hours before that. After our walk it was 4:45 and we wanted to kill some time and stay near the car to make sure it didn't get a ticket. So we went into a bathing suit store right beside Amanda's rental car. We ended up in there for like an hour, but Amanda kept sticking her head out to check on the car. Finally we were finished and we left the store and the car was gone!! Amanda was freaking out. The picture below is of her pointing to a big white truck that was in her car's spot! And there was no sign or anything about what do to if you get towed. Anyways she starts running up the street, and then realises she was parked a block away and the car she was watching all that time wasn't even her car. Luckily her actual car didn't have a ticket either!)

A normal moment

Amongst all the work and sight-seeing it was nice to do some normal things while visiting my friend Amanda in Brisbane. We made a lovely steak lunch / dinner. Although we couldn't get the bbq to work so had to resort to the oven .... it was still delish! And a feast!

Ocean pools?

All along the coast there seem to be these amazing pools that are filled with ocean water....and lots of people are swimming laps in them! It looks very difficult with the ocean pouring in making huge waves all the time! I don't think I will be trying it - it seems like it would also be quite cool....

Bondi Bodies

While pausing on some of the beaches between Bondi and Coogee Lane and I had the chance to witness some Bondi Bodies in action. These two guys seem to be starting a fashion revolution. We're not fans. Work is busy. But at least these pictures make me smile!!

Busy weekend!!

It's been a very busy weekend! But now I have lots to tell you about. Lane and I took advantage of (unseasonably?) good Sydney weather to explore all of the beaches. On Saturday we took a bus out to Bondi and then did the Bondi - Coogee beach walk, which was a beautiful 6 km path along cliffs and the beaches between Bondi and Coogee. Then we did some shopping, went to the gym, went for dinner at a Japanese noodle restaurant near the hotel, and then to the Opera House bar. A full day! Today we took the ferry to Manly beach, walked along the beach, had lunch, drank a bottle of prosecco (or similar?) on the beach, and finished the day with canapes in the lounge and a hot tub. Fun fun! I will share the best of the pictures with you over the next few days!

Here are some sights from Saturday - it was a bit overcast!

Bondi Beach

Bondi Beach is one of the famous beaches in Sydney. I went there my first weekend here (20 minute busride from right outside my hotel), and was going to do a coastal walk for about 6km along several beaches....but the weather was so nice I decided to buy a towel (rip-off) and stay put with my book. It was LOVELY. I almost got a sunburn. It was also likely the last weekend warm enough to sit on the beach .... winter is coming! It's like fall here - I feel like we should be carving pumpkins! At least it's not going to snow. (It better not!) I do need to buy a coat though.

Here are some pictures from the beach!

Koalas!

Okay I'm guessing you're getting sick of cute animal pictures by now, but if it wasn't clear before....there isn't a whole lot of interesting stuff happening for me during the week, so my weekend activities must suffice for blog fodder! We got a new team member from the US today, let's call him LS, who I had worked with previously in Canada. Very excited for him to be here and I have a feeling we will have fun weekend adventures together in the future!!

Until then.....

....Here are some more mighty cute pictures of the koalas. I couldn't believe how many there were at the sanctuary or how active they were. They usually sleep all day! We were very lucky!