Noosatimes

Well the first word that crops up in the LP section on Noosa is 'Gorgeous'. I have to say it lives up to the rep. Much more than seedy overloaded Byron and beautifully situated but slightly soulless Coff's. Gotta see the contrast tho to recognise the good stuff I guess, and so while mum is up on the Great Barrier Reef fulfilling a lifelong dream to visit which she only just remembered about the other day while we watched a hefty flying fox swoop back and forward across the pool in Brisbane, Helen and I have decided to visit this little slice of holiday heaven.

I think we missed the serious crowds and so althoug there is life here its all pretty accessible. Went kayaking again today, off Noosa Heads National Park. Watched the surfers cruising on the easy right hand point and reef breaks. There's small but regular surf here at the moment and the water is crrry-stal clear. We saw a friendly loggerhead turtle breach right in front of the kayak. That's two in total this visit to Aussie.

We have identified the best place for fish and chips - that's gonna be tomorrow, and we've got some more water activities for Saturday. Helen is going to have a private bodyboard lesson and I'll try surfing (again..!) to see if my attempts are any better than any of the previous times I have had a bash. I kind of hope the yoga will help. Surely the old shoulders and arms have a bit more strength after all the thousands of vinyasas of the last 2 1/2 years. They'd better or I want a refund!

This morning while waiting in line for the espresso we reckoned Noosa is like Hampstead in N London but in a subtrop setting and a lot more laidback. Yep, the shops are all staffed by anorexic looking sales assistants who are all good to hang bikinis upon on their days off but don't offer much of anything to grab onto for the rest of life's marrow. Pandanis trees pop up everywhere to lend that essential spiky tropical look to every eye scoop and the temperature is a constant 28C. Best of all though is the way that Noosa manages to present itself in a tidy, clean and sculpted manner, as if the organic slap, suck and mulch of the mangrove swamp was a little detour on the evolutionary path to this, the fully finessed destination.

As always, whenever a new destination is ticked off nowadays I make sure to track down the ashtanga connection thereabouts. Off to Peregian beach this evening for Mysore practise with these guys. They operate at Peregian Beach Bowls Club apparently and Stacey, one half of the couple, was very helpful when I called in the middle of what was a family bbq last sunday.

Noosa Noosa Noosa.....