Feeling down? Saddle up!

On the last morning in Noosa we went horse riding on the beach. I'd only been on a horse once before in the High Country of Victoria. That time I really loved it, we did trotting and canter too. This time we were only allowed to walk, which was a bit disappointing. Especially for Sabrina who loves her horses. They gave me the laziest horse, I had to kick its butt all the way, otherwise we would still be there. Horse riding is so relaxing. There is this sense of freedom to it. And what is a better place to go riding than an endless sandy beach. The best therapy. Ditch your shrink, go horse riding. I know I will. 

After horse riding we jumped in the Jucy and arrived in Rainbow beach after sunset. We spent at least an hour trying to find a safe place to camp. Very frustrating. 

Crikey!

Stine and me woke up early in a massive hangover to go to Australia Zoo. Remember that crazy guy from the Crocodile Hunter, Steve Irwin, who did all those insane stunts with dangerous animals, and in the end died wrestling a stingray a few years ago? Anyway, Australia Zoo is owned by his family. 

I wasn't that excited about going to the zoo. I always prefer seeing animals in the wild. But Australia Zoo was a really pleasant surprise. Conservation was a big element in the zoo and there was lots of information of how the zoo works to protect the species, and even how anybody can help. I thought maybe I should adopt a koala or a little monkey. We saw many animals we had never seen before. We also went to see this show where some crazy guy imitating Steve Irwin jumped in the pool with a big crocodile. Crikey!

Too much eucalyptus leaves?

A wombat

The animals aren't held in cages, instead they have big areas where they can roam free. There were for instance these lizards everywhere in the park, happily running around free. We couldn't help but wonder how it works, why don't the monkeys and such just run away or go and say hi to the kangaroos for example.  They just stay in their own little area with no cages.

The world's most venomous snake. One bite can kill 10 men.

Talking about snakes, I remember before leaving to Australia how everybody was warning me about all the snakes. I've been here for 18 months and I've seen only ONE small pathetic snake in the wild!

We also got to touch many of the animals at the zoo. If you paid a little extra you got to hold a crocodile, a koala, a snake or other animals. I held a koala!!!! it was one of my must-dos on this trip. It was so cute and cuddly that I didn't want to hand it back to the ranger. Holding a snake on the other hand was so disgusting that I didn't breathe the whole time and just wanted the photographer to take the snap quickly so I could get rid of the slithery thing.

Australia Zoo was huge and we spent the whole day there. It was quite expensive but worth every cent, considering that most of it if not all goes into conservation.

Soaking up the sun in the Sunshine Coast

Stine and me had a morning run along the beach with the prettiest scenery once again. On the way we found this big swimming lagoon where we spent the morning splashing. 

Is this the life or what?

Next we were heading to the Glasshouse Mountains. In 1770 Captain James Cook wrote in his journal: 'These hills lie but a little way inland, and not far from each other: they are remarkable for the singular form of their elevation, which very much resembles a glass house, and for this reason I called them Glass Houses.' The Glasshouse Mountains are in fact volcanic crags. 

We had lunch at the car park and ran into a little friend:

And not so little either, about a metre long!

It would have been nice to go for a walk in the mountains and get to know the Aboriginal history of the place, too. The majority of Jucy, however, was in a hurry to go and burn some flesh on the beaches of Noosa, since the Sunshine Coast was living up to its name and the weather was perfect.

The Sunshine Coast, north from Brisbane, is a big holiday resort but less developed and intense than the Gold Coast, and therefore a bit more relaxed. Noosa Heads is the trendy, sophisticated centre of Sunshine Coast with its five-star hotels. The first thing we got there, we hit the beach. We had a look around the town and had drinks, the second best pina colada of my life.

We parked on Sunshine Beach a short drive from Noosa. Stine and me went out and had a fun night. 

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