After our castaway adventure, we were in dire need of a hot shower and a proper bed. We got on the road bright and early destined for Yeppoon, a small seaside town around six hours away.

On the road again…

We checked into a nice b&b and made full use of the shower and laundry facilities before hitting town for fish and chips and gelato – bliss after our camping trip! After a good night’s sleep, we were back on the road again heading to our next destination, Seventeen Seventy, so called because it’s where Captain Cook made his second landing in Australia in 1770. After settling into our (third choice – blooming school holidays!) campsite, we made the short walk into town to watch the AFL (Australian Football League) final, which is apparently a big deal around here. I don’t think either of us had a clue what was going on (it’s kind of like American football but it makes less sense) but Pete pretended he understood and we enjoyed it all the same with a cold beer in hand and a beautiful view of the sea in front of us.

We stayed to watch the sunset over the ocean and headed back to our campsite for what we hoped would be an early night. However, due to some exceptionally noisy bogan neighbours that was not to be.

Sunset at Seventeen Seventy

We awoke bright an early to the sound of screeching macaws, excited for the day’s activity – surfing at the nearby town of Agnes Water. The guys who ran the surf school were super cool and completely what you would expect –  long bleached blonde hair, dark tanned skin, tattoos and some of the best chat I have ever heard! “RAD DUDE!” The surf lesson was pretty cheap and for good reason in that there were 50 other people also taking part!

After a quick lesson on the sand to go through what we should attempt to do, we were all set loose in the water. It was chaos – boards and people everywhere, falling and flipping over. On Pete’s first real wave, he managed to smack a Spanish girl in the side of the head with his board and she came back at him with a full bodied torrent of abuse! I had slightly more success (Pete says it was due to my lower centre of gravity!) and managed to stand up a few times.

By the end of it, our knees and ankles were battered and bruised from the boards and from some pretty spectacular wipe outs in two inches of water, but we were both grinning from ear to ear!

Surfing at Agnes Water

Later, we had a great walk through some rainforest scrub to Bustard Bay where Cook’s ship, The Endeavour, landed. The views were spectacular and it felt pretty special to be standing in the place where Australia was discovered by the Western world. We took in the sunset at the beach with some wine in a brown paper bag in hand – a classy end to a great day!

Bustard Bay where the Endeavour landed in 1770

The local beach bum

After another few nights at Seventeen Seventy, we were on our way again – this time we were headed for Noosa, beachside hangout for rich Brisbanites. We took this opportunity to visit the nearby Australia Zoo, founded by the late Steve Irwin. It was a fantastic day out – we got to see so many beautiful native animals and they all seemed to be really well looked after. Pete’s favourites were the giraffes.

The poor baby giraffe on the left was too short to reach the food which seemed like a bit of an oversight by the zoo keepers but never mind.

The koalas were incredible cute and cuddly (they didn’t smell so great though – all that eucalyptus, yeesh!), especially the tiny baby ones hanging on to their mothers for dear life.

I’m not sure who was more afraid… the roo or Pete!

The croc show was pretty amazing although we thought using Steve Irwin’s son as bait in order to lure the huge five metre salt water croc out of the water was slightly on the hazardous side!

Ozzie health and safety at its best

The next day we went for a walk in the stunning Noosa Heads National Park following a long trail that hugs the rugged coastline. The waves crashing against the rocks below were very dramatic and we spent a long time just watching the ocean do its thing.

Noosa National Park

On the walk back we both heard what sounded like thunder booming in the distance and stopped to look out to sea… what a sight to behold – humpback whales on their migration. They were breaching the water so that most of their bodies were out the water and then smashing back down into the waves. The sound was incredible and really emphasised the size of these incredible animals. It was a pretty overwhelming experience and a real highlight of the trip. We stayed and watched for a long time before heading back to our campsite, both utterly in awe of the spectacle we had just seen.

We’re gonna need to a bigger lens!