Sunshine V Unshine

As Taylah said as she was getting on the plane home..."I'll bet the weather is great tomorrow!"

And it was.  It was cracking.

Coolum rocks...no really it does!!

So we made a hasty beeline back up the M1 to the  Sunny Coast to take advantage of the blue skies and warm weather.  We booked into the Coolum Caravan Park where the sand starts at your van's side door and the noise of the ocean is a constant reminder of just how close you are to the beach.

The van was literally 5mts from here!

At this stage cabin fever had well and truly kicked in - and so then did our energy levels.  Bikes were dusted off, flippers and goggles were found as was the path to new us!  We quickly found the local 25m pool and with further proof that karma exists we found out if was heated when we dived in. We were also going from beautiful home cooked meals (consisting of roast pork and potatoes, curries, stews, bread and rice as well as enough cocktails and alcohol to make David Boon blush) back to simple and nutritious meals and a lot less liquid. For the next four days we hit the pool, the beach and the bike tracks and ate wisely.

Then the rain started on the Thursday night.  The van leaks. Jamie was rudely awoken at 4.30 in the morning to drip,...drip,.....drip on her forehead and the grabbing of towels to stop the leak.  The leak was stopped but the rain and the wind didn't.  A text from Mrs Bell telling us to come "home" was inviting but a quick meeting decided that we needed to harden up and deal with the wetness.  We know that we can't just run back to comforts of home at the first sign of precipitation!

The Sunny Coast had 250mm of rain on Friday night which meant Saturday morning we had more chance of surfing the flood water than the ocean!  We've now learnt that if the weather looks like rain during the night we have to rearrange the inside of the van and pull the pop-top down before sleeping. If there's any chance of high wind we have to take down clothes lines, clothes and towels and anything else that isn't concreted into the ground. The ladies camping next to us found this out when they returned to their tents and found all their belongings blown from asshole to breakfast, then trying to dry out pillows, books and all their smalls.

Say no more....

There's not much to do in shit weather, so we decided to stock up on the essentials for when the the sun does shine. A good boogie board and surf board were top of the shopping list, so heading to all the surf shops from Sunshine Beach to Perigian and Noosaville to Coolum Beaches only just made the urge to get back in the ocean so much stronger!  Chatting to the old dudes in the surf shops are awesome - they really do have a massive love for the ocean and so happy to tell you what you need without selling you anything in their own shops!!  We picked up a boogie board and were told that the surfboard we were searching for are rarer than rocking horse shit.  On Saturday we were the proud owners of a sweet second hand 7'6 mini mal that had been traded in just half an hour before we got there.

Our new addition!

Back at Le Hotel Bell for what we thought would be only a day or two before we could get back on the road but alas the weather gods weren't playing the game!!  Fear not - we stood tall, raised our glasses,  played cards and by eating fabulously home cooked meals made lovingly by Ramon!!  I've found a new BFF - the outdoor gas heater.  While everyone is getting burnt from the searing heat, I can be found sidled up right next to it - complete bliss when the Sunny Coast feels more like Tasmania.

The bad weather allowed us to catch up with some old mates.  A trip to Caloundra was on the cards to crash at the fabulous Reynolds Family at Little Mountain for a few days.  Liz & Peter & Phred's (the crazy poodle!) gorgeous home is in a super quiet and leafy suburb just near Caloundra.  Liz's garden is full of lavender plants and home grown cherry tomatoes amongst pretty flowers - I'm still in awe at the different types of flowers that grow down here that would never survive up home due to the hot climate!! No amount of cool weather could make up for my lack of gardening skills though.  So more wine, more great food and more great company and a tonne of laughs got the better of us and we knew if we didn't get a move on our livers were going to go on strike...again!  We said our goodbye's to the crazy Reynolds household to catch up with an old mate of Ramon's.  A quick coffee and chat in the morning with Hamish that lead to Ramon taking me out to lunch on the Caloundra beachside.  More (great) food but most surprisingly the best coffee I've had that wasn't made by me or Ray!

Ramon surfing...ahh gammin!

The weather actually started to come good again but we're suckers for punishment...

And it was back to Le Hotel Bell to the 'family' and a very pregnant BooBoo...