Wildlife in Noosa!

I, for one, absolutely love Noosa!

Krissy already mentioned our hostel, which is quite nice, and of course
our close-encounter with a koala, but that doesn't even begin to touch on what a place this is!

So, one small example, is when we watched the Aussie Rules Football game (Footy) at a local pub, and a handful of lorikeets descended on us and decided to watch the match! They are beautiful birds, and are everywhere here!

So, some friends we met here in Oz invited us to go for a hike with them yesterday, which we gladly accepted. There is a national park here in Noosa, and the hike runs through the park along the coast for roughly 6 kilometers up over some big bluffs looking out to sea, and past several beautiful beaches which are only accessible from the trail.

We spent the morning at the beach, which is becoming a very enjoyable habit, and then back to our room to change and left for the hike.

Not very far along we ran into a St. Andrews Cross spider, which having no idea at the time what it was, was a bit scary, but very cool! Not more than a few minutes later, we spied dolphins diving along the coastline. We watched for several minutes, marveling at the size, and how black they were! Previously we had only seen gray dolphins. Continuing along our hike we then saw humpback whales way out in the distance splashing away. We ended up at a high lookout, called Hell's Gates. This is due to a crack in the cliff-face, very sheer and deep, which the waves rush into and loudly smash against the rocks. It was pretty awesome.

  

We hiked back into town and caught wine and cheese night at the hostel, and then took a bunch of people from our hostel with us to a local bar called Sogo, where they had a deal going where you could get a free burger and fries if you bought a beer! We are quickly learning to find and take advantage of such deals which seem to spring up all over the place here, as there is such a culture of backpackers

Today, we again found ourselves on the beach. Shortly before we were ready to leave, we heard a big chorus of OOOOOOhhhhh's and AAAAAAhhhhhhh's from behind us. Looking out to sea we watched for five minutes while more whales put on an INCREDIBLE show! They were breaching full out of the water, glowing in the evenings setting sun, and generally splashing about.

As I write Krissy is in the kitchen happily making us some Indian food, and chatting with a group of people. Daily someone complains about/is jealous of how good the food we make smells! Plus, by shopping smart and cooking here, we are coming in at roughly half of what our food budget for the week is!