Brisbane – Coolum – Brisbane – Noosa

And so we have a new van. Good-oh!  This one is newer, quieter and actually starts in the morning (although maybe I should say that with crossed fingers!).

We had a good time at Coolum despite the fact that the Sunshine Coast was more a Cloudy coast.

After collecting the van yesterday, a five hour round trip with lunch while we were waiting for it to be ready, we headed back the way we came an ended up here at Noosa.

We had a long walk along the riverside choosing a restaurant for supper and back in time to catch a wonderful sunset…

… and watch the parakeets, lorikeets, cockatoos and cockatiels going off to roost – that is a very noisy experience – and hundreds of seagulls dancing before bed.

We wandered off to have a tapas supper – just delicious food – on a riverside restaurant in Noosa, just a magical end to what had been a slightly iffy day.

 

Oh, and by the way, the Sunshine Coast is now living up to it’s name – the day has dawned warm and sunny and all is right with the world once more!

Manly to Sydney

Sunday promised to be the hottest day yet (more to come on that!).  It was the day we were to leave Avalon and head back to Deb and Alan’s city house as they had to go to work, poor things, the next day.

Alan drove us down to Manly to catch the ferry across the harbour into the city.

Manly is packed on a Sunday, we’ll come back on a weekday sometime.

We boarded the ferry and crossed the harbour enjoying the views on the way

We then took a stroll around Circular Quay to the Opera house

The bridge is a lot smaller than I thought it was – however, I’m still not tempted to climb it!  We may walk over it when we are back in Sydney in a few weeks time.

We stopped to rest for a couple of minutes by the Opera House, at which point a gust of wind snatched the very nice hat I was wearing and threw it into Sydney Harbour.  I was gutted, not only because it was a great hat and suited me, but also because I’d been debating with Deb about buying it from her!  Anyway, we loved the Opera House and it isn’t quite as white as you would expect, more a cream colour actually.

Famous landmark!

Nice hat, mate!

We then went to The Rocks, an area of old Sydney with lots of craft type shops and a weekend market.  Unfortunately it was already 5pm and things were beginning to close down (another one to add when we are back, perhaps).  So we wandered through and resisted the temptation to buy for now(!) and then went and found ourselves a cold tea and milkshake at The Rocks Cafe opposite the old Police Station.

'Allo, 'allo, 'allo - what's this 'ere then?

and then waited for Alan and Debs to come and pick us up so that we could take them out for supper.  We waited opposite ‘Sydney’s Oldest  Pub, where a jazz band was playing to entertain us for 10 minutes or so

We had supper at the most fantastic Thai Restaurant called Longrain – there are two branches, one in Melbourne and the other in Sydney.  Served ‘communal style’ at long tables, this is a very modern take on Thai cuisine.  We had eggnets with pork, prawns, peanuts and beanspouts and cucumber salad, followed by stir fried squid and smoked speck with ginger, snow peas, blackbean and chilli, and beef with snake beans with chilli jam and tamarind.  Three dishes between four of us, with a little rice, was more than plenty and the only niggle I had with the place was the waiter’s lack of knowledge about wine – ‘No, this wine isn’t oaked’.  Would he please check before he opened it? ‘Actually, this wine has had 14 months in French oak casks. ‘Do you have one that isn’t oaked?’ ‘Yes.  This one. … Oh, well, it does have some oak.’  ’OK, then I’ll have a Cotes du Rhone’.  ’Well that really will be oaked’.

A bog standard (if rather over priced, but then you have to factor in the airfare) Cotes du Rhone that I could buy for under €3 in France wouldn’t have had the luxury of being afforded a whiff of oak.  Never mind.  Weary of arguing, I settled for a very nice NZ rose instead.

Anyone visiting Sydney, I would certainly recommend this restaurant for the cheery ambiance, the most wonderful food and  (wine knowledge aside) excellent service.

All in all, an excellent day.

We’re taking a day off today, Monday, and cooking paella for the workers and their two lovely sons.  We collect the camper tomorrow and the fun will start up again!