Noosa, Queensland, Australia

Saturday, January 3, 2015

The weather is not stellar today, but it's not going to slow us down.  Kylie met us at the hotel early this morning and we were off to hike the Noosa National Park.  

Hiking Noosa National Park Trail

There is a 6 mile hike along the shoreline that meanders through forests of Eucalyptus trees, giant ferns and amazing views of the Pacific.  We sighted a Koala munching on Eucalyptus leaves enjoying the same view.  What a great way and a great place for a workout!  

Afterwards, Darcy and the girls met us in Eumundi at a huge outdoor market featuring local merchants selling crafts and  foods.  We had "breaky" (Assie for breakfast) at Chuckles, where Jess was introduced to Fruit Toast, a delicious alternative to French Toast and then we were off to shop.  The rain began about 30 minutes into our exploration of the market, so we cut our shopping short.  

Kailani enjoys her ice cream.

The morning shower didn't last long and although it was cloudy, we enjoyed an afternoon at the Noosa Beach.  What beach day would be complete without a stop for ice cream?  We went to the children's favorite gelato shop for ice cream.  Everyone got their favorite flavor, but nobody enjoyed it more than Kailani.

Kylie made dinner reservations for the four of us at a fabulous restaurant in Noosa called Bernardo's.   Everything in the restaurant was white.  

Dinner at Bernardo's

White fabric chairs, white linens, white dishes, white floors and walls, even a white piano, where a pianist, dressed in white, played  beautifully the entire evening without taking a single break.   We added plenty of color to the otherwise sterile setting.  The wine was cold, the food was great, the company was even better.  

Darcy, Kylie, Kaitlyn, Kiralee, Kailani at Noosa Beach

The next morning, Darcy, Kylie and the girls met us for breaky at Cafe Le Monde followed by one last stroll along the beautiful beach in Noosa.  We've had a wonderful visit and hate to leave.  I think I could be quite happy here for an extended period of time next year, but only if I get to spend lots of that time with Kiralee, Kaitlyn and Kialani.  

Kiralee & Kaitlyn at Cafe le Monde

Such a joy to spend time with, those little darlings have lovely manners, are respectful towards each other and seemingly always happy.  I look forward to their visit to the states this June.  

Darcy and Kylie took us to the airport for a proper send off only to discover that our flight to Auckland had been cancelled.  This has been the trip of flight delays and cancellations.  Unbelievable.  We were re-booked on a later flight back to Sydney with a very tight connection with our international flight to Auckland.  If all went well, we were scheduled to arrive in Sydney and would have just enough time to gather our bags and re-check them on the international flight.  Well, that didn't happen.  After we were finally  on board at Sunshine Coast, takeoff was delayed because a woman got on board who was 30 weeks pregnant and JetStar's regulations required a letter from her doctor clearing her to fly.  On a Sunday afternoon of a holiday weekend, it was difficult for her to get in touch with her doctor to fax over the necessary documents and we all got to wait while those arrangements were made.  We had no chance of making our international flight, but when we arrived in Sydney, we decided to divide and conquer and at least give it a shot.  

Girls sporting their Aspen tee-shirts

Jess gathered our bags at the domestic terminal, while I sprinted to the international terminal to check in for our flight.  However, we were past the cut off time of 1 hour to check in and had to be re-booked on a later flight.  We finally arrived in Auckland around 12:30 a.m., made it to our hotel around 2:30 a.m. and had to turn around and go back to the airport at 7:00 a.m. for our golf trip to KeriKeri to play golf at Kauri Cliffs.  It would have made more sense to sleep on a bench at the terminal!   But hey, three hours of sleep can work.