Noosa and Noosa Nanna
A couple of weeks ago I was reunited with my wonderful friend Katherine and we went up to a place called Noosa which is just north of Brisbane on the Sunshine Coast. Katherine had a weeks annual leave so she flew over to Sydney and we borrowed her Dad’s car and drove north briefly stopping at Byron Bay, Newcastle and a place called Coffs Harbour where we camped for the night and then headed to Noosa the following day.
Noosa is absolutely beautiful. It is a little town right next to a range of gorgeous beaches and a stunning national park.
We swam, read, walked, body surfed and tried our hand at Paddle boarding where I completely embarrassed Katherine by getting told off over the loud speaker system for paddling in the swimmers area. It wasn’t my fault though…theres no steering wheel on those things!:) I also saw a Koala in the national park which made my whole day. I’ve been searching for those little guys for weeks now.
We stayed at Katherine’s Nanna’s house. Her name is Joan but I found it far more comfortable to call her Nanna. I’m not sure what she thought of this!
Nanna is 82 and has also been following my adventure on Facebook on her ipad! Yep, she super cool and all teched up!
She is is such a wonderful woman and made me feel right at home by immediately telling me how bad my moustache was!:)
I thought I’d write a blog about her because sometimes people never get told just how much the little things they do mean to other people.
I do tend to get homesick a lot. I’m not the seasoned traveller you might think I am. I miss my family a lot so when I find a place which feels like home it is the most wonderful feeling in the world. I think that’s why I have loved Australia so much as it has felt like home.
One night we went to the river for take away fish and chips. We sat down at a bench and Nanna pulls out a table cloth, homemade coleslaw, ice cold beers and cutlery. A completely different experience to when my dad used to take me down to the Fish Quay in North Shields where we’d get take away fish and chips and sit in the car eating it with our hands.
In the evenings we’d sit down and have a lovely homemade dinner which Nanna effortlessly put together. We’d then watch a bit of TV and have a cheeky mini Magnum ice cream which was a total treat.
At the end of the evening Nanna would give us both a kiss and a hug goodnight. I think it was this that made me completely fall in love with Nanna. I come from a very tactile family and being at Nanna’s really felt like being at home and I absolutely loved it.
When I first arrived she asked me what my favourite food was. I told her that I loved a good Stew. My mum makes an amazing stew and it always reminds me of home and cold wintry days. On our last night Nanna made a stew for me. I was so touched by this. Even though she said it was no bother for her it meant an awful lot to me.
So this blog is for you Nanna and how wonderful you are. I’ll see you again one day soon so get those mini magnums ready!:)
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