We hired a car on Sunday and left Brisbane. On the way out we went to Lone Pine Koala Sanctuary, where we saw koalas (of course), roos, wallabies and other animals. Mum really liked the koalas and took literally thousands of photos of them (not literally). We saw koalas move and even jump, which is quite a novelty, as they usually just sleep in the day. We were able to feed the kangaroos which was pretty good too.
Last time we were here (Nov, Dec 2000) Anne and I drove up Highway 1 from Brisbane to Cairns, and that's the road we took up to Noosa after leaving the koala sanctuary. We drove a couple of hours to Noosa - a posh(ish) beach resort at the top of the "Sunshine Coast". It's very pleasant here. Mum forked out for a luxurious two bedroom apartment with kitchen, laundry and two (two!) bathrooms! After exploring a little Anne and I (over)cooked some pasta and we watched Analyse That on the movie channel. It was rubbish, and it's horrible to see Robert DeNiro do comedy. Two stars.
The weather was glorious on Monday, so we sat on the beach all morning and baked ourselves. This was just as well, since the weather's been grotty today. We timed things right though and did a three hour costal and rainforest trek without getting wet. We'd been told to look out for koalas, so my mum and I did our necks in by straining to look for them up in the trees. We saw very little though, other than pretty birds and big spiders (my mum maintains they weren't as big as some she's seen in her dental surgery in Welwyn Garden City). Finally my mum spotted a big koala sitting in a gum tree and we were then happy.
We now have a couple more nights here in Noosa before moving on. Life is hard.