Noosa

From Byron we continued up the east coast to Noosa.  We stayed in a great hostel creatively named Noosa Backpackers.  We got a 4 bed room with a double bed which Kate and Lizzie kindly allowed us to have.  Noosa is a gorgeous beach town with lots of things to do.  It has some great beaches, a huge river and bay, and a National Park, all of which were very close to where we were staying. 

The hostel offered a variety of things for free including surf boards, body boards, and kayaks.  Kate and Lizzie decided to take the kayaks out as soon as we arrived and had quite an adventure.  They went out on the river and headed into the bay.  They had no problems on the way out but getting back was apparently a bit challenging.  The current was fairly strong as was the wind so they weren't able to make it back to the jetty.  After floundering for some time they flagged down a boat whose owners offered to tow them back to shore.  The girls gladly accepted grabbed on to either side of the boat.  Just as they were getting comfortble the boat sped up slightly and Kate's kayak started to veer from the boat.  She ended up hanging on for dear life on the side of the boat and screaming before a couple of guys were able to drag her up into the boat.  During all the commotion, Lizzie lost her paddle and the boat was forced to double back and pick it up.  They eventually made it back to dry land safely. 

Lee decided to get up early the next morning (ended up being earlier than he thought as we discovered later in the day that Queensland is an hour behind New South Wales as they don't do daylight savings in these parts) and take a kayak out himself (Courtney decided to pass after hearing Kate and Lizzie's story!)  The bay is awesome with lots of activity including fishing, boating, kayaking and jetskiing.  Lee even saw a couple of big stingrays while out in the kayak.  Very cool.

Tea Tree Bay

We spent the afternoon at Tea Tree Bay, an awesome beach in the National Park.  Steep hills covered in trees, bush and rocks provide the backdrop for the narrow beach which is pretty popular with local sufers.  Apparently the park is home to a lot of Koalas but despite our best efforts we didn't see any.