We chose "Noosa on the River" for our accommodation, as it is a central location to explore the vibrancy of Noosa. We are within walking distance of Hastings Street and the attractions on the Noosa River from our selected accommodation, the Nautilus Resort.	TIP Visit www.noosaon theriver.com.au
Our selected car hire was through Noosa Car Rentals who provide great personal service from an established local business. The quoted price includes a child car seat at no cost for our youngest grandchild, and minimum insurance excess. We were met personally at the Maroochydore Airport and assisted with luggage to the car.

Our travelogue commences with the first dispatch from "Noosa on the River" after breakfast Thursday 23 February 2006.

The week's word content will be documented with the assistance of the Voice Recognition program
Dragon Naturally Speaking.

This is the commencement of our travelogue and we hope you enjoy some of the news and views, and that our occasional hints are helpful to anybody planning traveling north.
Wednesday 22nd of February 2006. Our trip to the sunshine coast and in particular Noosa this year is a special family celebration to celebrate my wife Margaret's father Monty’s 90th birthday. This year we have chosen to return to the Nautilus Resort, which is, about 20 minutes easy walk to Hastings Street. On our previous visits we have been able to establish good relationships with quite a number of local traders and businesses. Last year we stayed at Peregian Beach a great little village some 10 Minutes Drive south of Noosa proper. We departed home at a reasonably early hour for our 10.15 a.m. Jetstar flight direct to Maroochydore. (Tip) from the Eastern suburbs the best rout to City link is via Brunswick St or Bell St to miss the city traffic blocks. (Tip) There were no problems with my golf clubs as I carried a minimal set in a lightweight bag and my total luggage was well under the 20 kg allowance. You don’t need many clothes up North in February. As our trip was to celebrate a very important occasion, our whole family was also traveling on the same flight. I guess the main disadvantage of economy flight is the inability to have allocated seating, but we all enjoyed the trip leaving on time and arriving at Maroochydore, which is a short drive of some 30 minutes to Noosa. We had chosen a local family run car hire company Noosa Car Rentals, who offered to personally meet us at the terminal and assist with luggage to the car, which was waiting at the terminal door. I must say the service was excellent and nothing was a trouble. We arrived at the Nautilus Resort. to a warm welcome from Gabrielle and Henry. We have two townhouse style units both with comfortable appointments and in excellent condition. (Tip) As February can be a time of extremely high humidity we had insisted on conditioned units.Late afternoon we enjoyed the resort pool and finished the evening with a barbecue meal prepared on the poolside BBQ. Thursday the 23rd. The day started with the obligatory early-morning walk to Hastings Street where we revisited our favorite curbside breakfast spot, the Sierra Café for early-morning breakfast and several coffees as we read the papers and watched the beautiful ones strut by. Today's major event was the family celebration of Monty's 90th birthday with a lunch at Noosaville. Monty had suggested the Boathouse Restaurant, which is a floating restaurant on the Noosa River. This is a reasonably new establishment, and I guess fairly unique to the area. The service was extremely friendly and efficient, the food excellent and the view ever changing with watercraft, birds and fish. Management had suggested we could feed the fish from our table. For our grandchildren this was a wonderful experience and kept them amused for quite some time. They must have been fifty or so fish having a feeding frenzy in competition with 20 or 30 seagulls. (Tip) As our first restaurant experience on this trip we would recommend it to any visitors to the Noosa region. After a relaxing afternoon by the pool we had a simple meal prepared in the unit, as no one was particularly hungry after a fine lunch. I plan an early game of golf, dawn being around 5:30 a.m. Tomorrow's report will tell you if I had the conviction to undertake such an early start. Friday the 23rd .At the crack of dawn I headed out to the Noosa Valley golf course to enjoy a quick nine before breakfast. The Noosa Valley course is privately owned, and unfortunately I was unaware it did not happen until 7 a.m. the course is beautifully maintained with pockets of rainforest, manicured tropical gardens and some nice water challenges. I enjoyed the walk and the wildlife including wild ducks and kangaroos that were happy to be approached to a couple of metres. On returning to Noosa I headed straight to Hastings Street and caught up with the family enjoying early breakfast. Our five-year-old Grandson Cooper was the photographer, and was very proud of some revealing news for Nathan our host. He had his first "baby chino" at his Café at 18months of age. The remainder of Friday was spent poolside with the grandchildren enjoying their family and surroundings. Yours truly set up a small web site upgrade contract, and backed a couple of winners at the local TAB. Noosa Wharf was at destination for the evening meal which we enjoyed at the Rock Salt Café. This was typical Noosa dining as we ate outside and enjoyed the balmy evening and excellent food. Noosa Wharf is located on the Noosa Sound just 10 minutes walk from Hastings Street. Saturday the 24th. I was dropped at Tewantin at 7.00am for an early-morning consultation on the Pro-Ski website, and the family traveled to Peregian Beach to enjoy a breakfast. This was a nostalgic visit to the Baked Poetry Café where all members of our family had enjoyed the unique surroundings and great food on previous trips North. My usual Saturday morning study of the form produced several winners, but not a substantial profit. Sunday the 25th. The day started quietly with our daughter Melanie and grandchildren Cooper and Iona packing to return on a midday flight into Melbourne. Melanie was due to fly to the UK for 10 days work the following day. (On our arrival home later in the week we will resume grand-parenting duties). We found an hour or so to visit the Noosa Farmers Market located at the Noosaville Sports Reserve. This was a very vibrant market with large numbers of people purchasing a wide range of local produce and products. The remainder of the day included two trips to the Maroochydore airport as our other daughter Jacinta and husband Mark had decided to grab the extra hours poolside and a last game of tennis before the 5 p.m. Jetstar flight to Melbourne. Having had a very busy four days we had a quiet evening for Darby and Joan at our unit and cooked a simple evening meal. Monday the 26th. A brisk walk to Gympie Terrace for breakfast started our day. How time flies when having fun, as we only have two more days before it's back to reality and Melbourne. I spent several hours on Web work and we decided to take in a movie in the afternoon. We chose to see "Walk the Line" and thouroughly enjoyed the music and the story of the great Johnnie Cash. The performance of Reece Witherspoon was definatley worth the recently awarded recogntion at the Acadamy Awards. We then met Monty at his favorite watering hole, the Noosa Bowling Club and enjoyed a great evening meal at reasonable prices in pleasent surroundings. Tuesday the 27 th. Our last full day started with an at-home breakfast, followed by a web site search engine optimization consultation aimed at reestablishing a rebuilt web site on the Google Search Engine. This was followed by a morning stroll in the Noosaville Shopping area. After lunch it was networking with several businesses in the Noosa Wharf precinct. The remainder of the afternoon was spent relaxing. Our final evening meal was enjoyed at the Saltwater Café overlooking the Noosa River. It was a very pleasant evening and the seafood was to die for! The Grenville Duckworth the owner/chef has operated the Seawater Café for 10 years, and previously operated a restaurant in Hastings Street for 10 years. He certainly understands how to cook and present seafood to be enjoyed by visitors such as us from the South. It was then early to home time and packing. We planned a last breakfast on the strip before returning to Maroochydore midmorning and our flight back to Melbourne. Wednesday the 28th. Unfortunately our time had come to an end, so it was a final pack, saying goodbye to Gabriel and Henry our hosts at the Nautilus, catching up with Monty to say Cherrie-o. Then it was a final breakfast at the Sierra Café, where we seem to have become regulars over the years. Tip > Defiantly the spot to start the day when staying in the Noosa region. The weather was on the change under a cyclonic influence, and by the time we reached Maroochydore it was raining quite heavily. The flight from Melbourne which was our flight home was delayed from landing for approximately 40 minuets due to the weather. We finally left approximately 45 minutes late, getting quite damp as we scuttled from the departure lounge across the tarmac to the waiting plane. Our trip home, although delayed slightly, was enjoyable and we can recommend the service, on-board food and wines available on Jetstar. As always it was good get back home and we look forward to collecting our Morgy the Corgi from his 5 star holiday at the Alpha Boarding Kennels, Macclesfield. Tip > This is a great holiday home for dogs when their Melbourne owners are out of town. Check out www.alpaboardingkennels.com.au In summary, once again it has been a most enjoyable break, and we recommend the Sunshine Coast to anybody considering going north. The food, the beaches, the water sports the hinterland attractions, and of course the hospitality of the locals, make for memorable times and setting the scene for another return visit!
	www.boathouserestaurant.com.au
	Dining with the view
	Three ladies enjoying breaky on Gympie Terrace Noosaville.
	Margaret with the King on Gympie Terrace
	The gang from Melbourne with MONTY (in the noosa yellow shirt)
	There are great eateries in " Noosa on the River"
	The gang at the Noosa Farmers Market on Sunday
	A Seawater Cafe platter
	Nathan serves a Sierra Cafe morning coffee.
	Jet skiing Lagoona Bay
	Lagoona Bay and Noosa Heads