The Sunshine Coast, my sister and pugs.

This flight to Sydney was a 7 hour flight. Unfortunately, there was a man with very bad BO. And unfortunately, I kept finding myself next to him trying to only breath through my mouth.

When we arrived there was a noticeable difference in the air, being fresh and cooler. Phew!

The Taxi driver dropped us off at the wrong entrance and so we had to walk the length of the Casino floor to find the Star Hotel entrance, only to discover that we weren’t had that hotel, but in fact in the adjacent hotel, The Darling (which always make me think of Black Adder). To top our irritated mood, Mark had left his phone in the taxi and despite finally getting hold of the taxi company, the taxi driver denied it was there.

Finally, we got to sleep in a really nice bed! Watching Australian TV is always entertaining. There was a sports programme where all the commentators were sitting with beer and an advert for constipation remedy with the tag line ‘Get the turd you deserve’

Day 7

Mark went to work early and I made my way back to the airport for a 90 minute domestic flight, with my newly packed cabin bag for a few days in the Sunshine Coast, seeing my sister after over 10 years.

The taxi ride to Sydney Airport was interesting with the taxi driver full of opinions about just about everything. ‘Sydney a wonderful place. Expensive to live here. Too many Chinese now’ says the Chinese taxi driver...

On the way I saw a bus sign about not littering saying in very large letters, ‘Don’t be a tosser’.

When the plane arrived at the tiny Sunshine Coast Airport, we walked down onto the open air tarmac via a ramp and as I walked towards the airport doors, I stopped to take a picture of the cute Sunshine Coast sign. Apparently, though I looked like a serious security risk and was accosted by a security lady smiling, but actually quite aggressively saying for me to put me phone away.

Maeve met me at the baggage which totally surprised me as I was expecting to see her at that point. She hadn’t changed a bit. It was a really lovely moment and we fell right back into our manic chatty ways. I realise how much I had missed her.

We drove to Noosa which is a beautiful village/town north of the Sunshine Coast. Apparently, the name Noosa is of Aboriginal origin and means "Shade/Shallows".

Maeve’s house is going through a major renovation so there was no-where to sit downstairs so I went to sit on her bedroom balcony with a delicious picnic and met Bullseye, Rudy and Bubba. Bullseye and Rudy are pugs and Bubba (named after Bubba Gump from Forest Gump of course) is a pug mix. They are rescue dogs and all so cute. Bullseye has paralysed back legs and has a mini wheelchair and Rudy is partially sighted and almost deaf. They are adorable and make the most funny noises. Maeve had produced some wonderful large artwork on canvas in Jackson Pollock style amongst others which were wonderful.

Maeve and I talked constantly from midday to past midnight. In the evening we walked to a lovely local Chinese restaurant.

Day 8

On Saturday we went shopping in Hastings, Noosa, which is a street running parallel to the beach there. The shops were all individual and had some lovely clothes and crafts in them.

We then got ready for the posh evening ahead, by having our hair and nails done, chatting all the time.

When we got back Chris had arrived from Sydney after being on business for the week and then Maeve and I went to get ready for our evening out.

Chris dropped us off at Hastings Street again, where there was a table set up the length of the whole street. There was gold champagne glasses and it was MOET champagne all night, I felt very spoilt. I have no idea how much I drank as the glass was being filled up constantly. The food was lovely from oysters to duck, and poke tuna ceviche. We sat near some very interesting people. The couple opposite left were telling us about their trip to Iceland and taking their children to experience eskimo life, including killing a reindeer and preparing it to be eaten. They mentioned eating blubber as well. They apparently took one of the children’s friends who they didn’t realise was a vegan. What a strange thing to want your children to experience that.

People got really very drunk and rowdy. I was great fun, even though the man opposite became rude and said he didn’t like the English – rude Aussie Vegemite loving, beer swilling, jailbird git – I thought. 😊

We hid the gold glasses under our cardigans and left quickly. We got an uber back and then talked until 2am, singing old tunes of Dad’s on YouTube. Very emotional times.

Day 9

It was the day of the Australian election. Australians have to vote or are fined.

On the TV Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison thanked voters for re-electing his conservative coalition in a shock result at the federal polls. He told supporters he had "always believed in miracles" as partial results showed the Liberal-National Coalition close to a majority.

We had breakfast overlooking the sea in Noosa Marina. I can see why Maeve and Chris moved there from Sydney. The pace of life is much slower and it really is peaceful and beautiful.

We went for lunch at Maeve’s friend’s house due to their renovations. There was Sarah(American), Pete(English), Sue(English) and Pete (Australian). All lovely people with very interesting ambitions. Both couples want to retire early and go travelling in a Winnebago. Sarah and Peter plan to travel through Europe with their dog and Sue and Peter will travel around Australia.

Their beautiful house was set on the hill overlooking sea it was breath taking. It was all white minimal design. It had a beautiful atrium ceiling with 2 storey windows. We ate overlooking roaring sea and drank champagne again.

We were telling each other animal stories and of course I told the Jasper and Daisy getting it on story ,,,,another time…

Very weirdly Sue told my cat story and said it was a friend of hers. There is no way this could have happened to 2 people!!! But it did happen to me…. What are the odds?

So… when I lived in Basingstoke and Max was around 5 and Poppy 3, I was at home looking after my friends 2 children. We were going to swap over around lunchtime and then I was going shopping. The time came for her to babysit for me and she knocked on the door saying that she’d seen my cat Tigger on the side of the road and thought she’d been knocked down. I left the kids with her and rushed out with my car and saw that Tigger had indeed been injured badly. I placed her carefully on the passenger seat and rushed to the vet talking to her with her looking up at me all the way. The vet said she wouldn’t recover so we put her down and I held her while it happened. It was very sad as you can imagine. When I returned home, I brought Tigger with me to bury in the garden. I told the children who cried and during this time Mum had called and then she had told Maeve, Timmy and Dad, who also called me. We had a sombre burying ceremony with the kids in the garden, then my friend suggested I go shopping. As I started the engine of the mini, I was remembering the happy times with Tigger, when

……………………SHOCK…………..HORROR………

Tigger jumped onto the bonnet of the car….. Well I can tell you a number of things passed through my mind…. Pet cemetery – did she dig herself up?..... Who was the other cat and what must it have been thinking when it was looking at me on the way to the vets….and I actually thought maybe if I killed her I wouldn’t have to ring and tell everyone including the kids and the vet that I buried the wrong cat….

As I type this I have just thought, I wonder if Sue knew my old friend and the story has spread as far as Australia. Of course I couldn’t then say that’s my story….but it is!

Day 10

It was sadly time to go back to Sydney and so with tears I left Maeve at the airport vowing to see her again as soon as I can.

And I managed to get picture of airport sign from plane- no one to say no😊