Beaches, forests, mountains and happy hour with the Caravan Club. Crikey!

It turns out Australia has motorways. Proper ones, with more than two lanes of traffic. They get you places. In a few days, we've buzzed up through New South Wales, dropped in for lunch at the Gold Coast and are now sitting pretty in Noosa. On the way, we've been running on beaches; walking through the rainforest at Dorrigo; were thoroughly disappointed with the 'Big Banana' (not big at all, and not open anyway); had a few great walks on and around the beaches at Byron Bay (where the dolphins surf too); had a sandwich and a cursory 'poke about' in Surfer's Paradise and decided it wasn't our town; admired from a distance and then marched up the Glass House Mountains; FINALLY found an echidna (albeit in a purpose built enclosure); and been thoroughly entertained in Steve Irwin's Crocoseum. And all that in about 48 hours.

That said, the highlight has to be our night at Emerald Beach. Not only were we given free marshmallows on arrival (for toasting on the open fire) and free wireless internet, but we were also invited to the 'just bring a glass' happy hour. Krusty's big glass tumblers were duly filled to the brim with free but surprisingly tasty wine. And before the glass was anything close to half full, the wine fairies appeared for refills. Funnily enough, most people staying that night had appeared (there's not a lot of snobbery when you're sharing a bathroom with 100 others), and with cheese and biscuits and a warming brazier smoking away (PM10 isn't my job anymore...), there was quite a festive atmosphere. We had a great time - chatting to real Australians about Australia - and feeling quite merry whilst we were at it. It was with an alarming jolt that we realised that this was probably as sociable as we'd been for about six weeks. Friday night with the Caravan Club. Yikes.

Great campsite though. I won't hear a word against it. They even had hairdriers in the bathrooms. Made a nice change from grovelling underneath the hand drier. (Why exactly I deemed there to be no space for a hairdrier, when we are now sitting in a campervan with TWO laptops, is quite beyond me.)