Monday Feb 8
Up early to pack up and head off to Noosa, a 3 hour drive away. We stopped at Coles in Noosa Heads then arrive at Picture Point Terraces (PPT) around 1:30pm - we checked-in and had a quick sambo before unpacking and settling in. Around 4pm we did a “lap of the oval” - up and down Hasting St checking out shops and restaurants then stopping at the surf club for happy hour - it looks like it had been very nicely renovated since we were last here - around 8 years ago (with Ernst and Hilde).
We came home for showers and dinner at home - rack of lamb with some left over ravioli and salad.
Tuesday Feb 9
H&G arrived today - after our standard holiday brekkie on the terrace followed by relaxing until we needed to leave to collect H&G at MCY airport - 30 minutes drive away. Dieter very diplomatically cancelled a planned dinner out with Mike and Sonia for which Mike seemed relieved.
We collected H&G then had a cold cuts lunch on the terrace. We had done a big shop on the way home. We took a walk around Noosa before heading home for showers and BBQ steak for dinner. In between time we watched bits of the Australian Open (AO) - unfortunately Melbourne has had an outbreak of the UK strain of the virus escaped from hotel quarantine so everyone is on tenterhooks.
Wednesday Feb 10
A leisurely start to the day - brekkie on the terrace - then a brisk morning walk to Dolphin Point along the foreshore and through the national park. Garry stayed home to do his physio exercises for his bum knee. He then met Helen at the end of our walk for some beach time - Dieter and I went home. We has lunch on the terrace.
We had a lazy afternoon with some AO and drive along the river and a short walk. We went to Miss Moneypenny (Noosa version) for dinner - very nice but somehow it did not quite hit the high of the Broadbeach venue.
Thursday Feb 11
After a repeat of Wednesday morning we went to Mike and Sonia’s for lunch - it had been many years since we had all seen each other but it was just like old times. We had a long and leisurely lunch - we arrived home around 4pm. Even after a 3 course lunch we still managed some cold cuts for dinner.
Friday Feb 12
After our usual brekkie / walk / swim (for H&G) we went to Season’s for a “farewell” lunch for H&G. Lunch was excellent - prawn pizza, crab spagantini, fish & chips and duck breast - all 10 out of 10. We then drove H&G back to the airport and we headed back to PPT.
We walked down to the surf club (at the bottom of those 141 steps) for a short happy hour - then had sambos for dinner. We had a thrilling evening watch the AO - Kyrgios lost in 5 sets to Thiem - kind of sad but a great match. Poor old Victoria - Andrews announced that the whole state would go into stage 4 lockdown at midnight - they even chased the spectators out of the AO at 11:30pm (we had gone to bed by then) - the next 5 days of the AO will be played without any spectators.
Saturday Feb 13 - last full day 😎
We had our usual start to the morning. We did a big walk to Hell’s Gate in the National Park (9+ k’s) then had lunch at the Sailing Club. For a last dinner we went to a pizzeria (the only place we could get a booking) - it was about a 4 out of 10.
Subday Feb 14 - last day - back home
We packed up and drove to Brisbane airport (about 2 hours away) and dropped our hire car at the offsite location - all very smooth. We arrived at BNE about 2 hours before our flight so we hit the Virgin lounge - all a bit mean and lean - our lunch consisted of a drink and chips. We arrived home around 5:30pm - time to do some unpacking and go to the Lord Nelson (pub area) for dinner - being Valintine’s Day any “real” restaurant was out of the question.