Jan 2008

IN FRONT OF OUR CONDO IN NOOSA
After leaving Noosa (which turned out to be our favorite spot in Australia along with Manly Beach), we headed South about 3 hours in our rental car to Coolongatta. Coolongatta is on the South end of the Gold Coast (which is similar to Miami Beach with tons of high rises and oodles of people)and it is definitely more commercialized than Noosa but friends recommended a nice hotel that was a real treat. We woke up to beautiful skies, crystal blue water and a clean point break. We got in a morning run and surf and then the boys got into their studies. Turns out this would be the last day of incredible weather we’d have for just over 2 weeks. After 2 days there we made the one hour drive South to our destination for the next 2 weeks – Lennox Head. After stopping in the bustling tourist/artisan/Bohemian town of Byron Bay (3rd place on our list of places to return to in Australia) we headed to our very “Beachy” home in the town of Lennox (population 1400) which is really just a couple blocks of homes adjacent to the beach with a famous point break, some neat shops, restaurants etc.

VIEW OF BEACH AT BYRON BAY
This is where we spent Christmas and New Year’s Eve. It’s hard to get into the traditional Christmas spirit when you’re at the beach, the temperature is in the 80’s and there are very few decorated houses. But the Aussies do love their “Chrissy”, it’s just a bit less commercialized than in the US.

A GREAT DINNER WITH OUR FRIENDS THE IRVINGS ON CHRISTMAS DAY
After leaving Lennox Head and surviving the Monsoon like conditions of 2-3 days of virtually constant rain and 40 to 80 knot winds, we drove to Brisbane to spend the night, drop off the car and get on the plane to Auckland the next day. We were expecting clear skies in Auckland. It turns out Brisbane was much nicer than we expected. After 2 weeks in a cozy but musty, damp beach house we stayed at a Marriott which was very posh and right on the river. Not really a city dweller this was great for me because it’s a business hub and we arrived on the weekend in the middle of their summer holiday so there was very little activity during the day but after a nice meal on the river front that evening we found the pedestrian mall and encountered a very diverse group on night dwellers. We really enjoyed all our interactions with the Aussies…they’re such wonderful people.
After a late Sunday night arrival in Auckland and a stay at an airport hotel we got in the car and headed to North to Ahipara. A small, small town at the North end of the North Island at the start of a ninety mile beach. Problem, no waves, windy and overcast. Then rain began so after a couple of days we packed up and headed South to Whangamatta. We’re so impressed with this area. The natural beauty, the beaches, it’s really incredible. The people have been fabulously friendly. We met a gal on the beach today who was trying to surf next to the boys and it turns out she’s from the US, graduated from Cal Poly and her brother is a realtor in SLO who I know!!! Then we met some other people on the beach who are from Auckland but vacation here…like 90% of the visitors here…and we started talking so they invited us to their home for dinner. People are just so friendly.

We had some great surf conditions and most of the time the surf was actually too big. Check out our photo album at
http://picasaweb.google.com/hsweasey
After being in Australia where there are about 2,600 species of animals that are deadly it was nice to get to New Zealand where there are no deadly animals. In fact, we had a penguin swim right next to Nate, Kyle and me when we were out waiting for waves. That was quite a treat and a surprise.

[b]MARIA'S BOTTOM TURN AT WHANGAMATA BEACH....WHAT A DAY![b]
So after a little over 2 weeks we head to Melbourne for about 36 hours but….we have tickets to the men’s semifinals of the Australian Open. It should be incredible!! Then it’s 6 days in Bali before we head to Milan. New Zealand is incredible!!!!