Day 11: Thursday, August 18 Noosa Heads
A three hour bus ride brought me from Brisbane to Noosa Heads. I dozed on and off for the first half of the trip but there really wasn't much to see anyway because the route was on a major highway and, like most major highways, it follows an inland route. I got a brief look at a small city called Moochydore when we stopped for five minutes for the driver to do some administrative work at the station there.
When I arrived at the bus station in Noosa Heads I asked where I could get a taxi and how far the hotel was. Turns out that the hotel really wasn't very far and too close to the taxi stand for even me to take one form there so I walked, stopping every time I came across a place to sit and rest. My back paid the price for carrying the bags that far and was quite sore last night. WOW was all I could say when I checked into my room. They didn't have a single room available when I checked in so they gave me a two bedroom, two bathroom suite that is larger than some apartments. It has a fully equipped kitchen, a large living/dining room area with a table for six, a laundry room and a huge balcony. The whole wall of the living room opens on to the balcony as do both bedrooms. The only somewhat negative feature is that because it is on the ground floor there is no view except of parts of the pool seen through the trees. One of the bathrooms has a stand up shower and the master bedroom has a jacuzzi and a shower.
After getting settled in and having lunch (leftover pizza) I went out for a short walk around the area. Found a book store and got some reading material only to discover later that the hotel has books left by guests in the reception lobby and people are free to trade or just to take one or two. I will leave at least one there before I depart. I took a taxi to a fish market a kilometer or two away and got some fresh king prawns and some flathead fillets. I wanted to try the flathead because those were the fish that the guys caught when I went fishing in Cairns. On the way back I said to the driver that it was strange they hadn't built the fish market in town and he advised me that it was in town and where the hotel and shops are is only the tourist area and not really part of town. Put me in my place in a hurry! Finally I went to a small super market to pick up some butter, mushrooms and an onion for cooking the fish. I wasn't overly impressed with the fish at least cooked that way and think it would have been much better battered. Unfortunately that would have required buying a lot of things that I wouldn't possibly use up in two nights here.
I was falling asleep reading around seven last night but forced myself to stay up until eight. When I got to bed I couldn't get to sleep and was up and down several times until midnight and then twice after that.
Today it is all day at the zoo. I can't go later or leave earlier because the transportation only goes once a day. If I read the schedule right it is about two hours either way (back toward Brisbane I believe).