Blog 14; I was robbed!

What an adventure we have had today!

We took a bus out to the Noosa Everglades. There are only two everglades in the world – one in Florida, and one here, so we felt very honoured to be making the trip there.

We took a flat-bottomed boat upriver to the base camp, and we canoed from there – only about 5k, but it was glorious!

It was incredibly quiet apart from the birds chirping, and it was really pretty – I took millions of pictures as Emily paddled up front – don’t get me wrong – I paddled too but she is so good at it 😊

When we reached our destination, the guide had set out a lovely morning tea type snack for us, and we had time to relax, so Emily and I went swimming in the Everglades!!!! How many people can say that, and when will we ever get the chance to do it again?

Just to clear up

1. There were no crocs, so we were safe

2. The only fish in the river were pike – but they are big enough

3. The guide only mentioned snakes on the way back!

After our swim we hopped back on the boat for a lift back to camp, and had a little talk about what the everglades are and how they are named. Apparently the name is from ‘Ever’ which relates to always flowing, and ‘Glades’, which is a gap in the forest. The water in the everglades comes from the Pacific ocean and it is amongst the purest water in the world. It is pushed through the sand dunes that are big as mountains and surround the area. The pressure in the ocean is so great that it just forces the moisture through the sand, and the sand removes all of the salt, ions, oxidents and the like from the sea water and purifies it. It was lovely to swim in (although cold!) and left our skin really soft.

At camp is a restaurant so we ordered lunch – and that is when it happened – I was robbed!

There I was, sitting, minding my own business, relaxing in the sun, when buzzer went off to tell us that our lunch was ready and Emily dutifully went and collected two scrummy looking pizzas – mine was ham and pineapple, and I don’t care if you agree with it or not, because I did not get to eat it! Honestly, I had one tiny piece and then this cheeky bloody kookaburra swooped down over my shoulder and nicked it off my plate! ALL OF IT!! He only got about 3 feet with it and it was too heavy for him so he dropped it, right in the fire pit!

Picture the scene – I was in shock, I squarked, Emily jumped up and ran for cover with her food, and then collapsed laughing at me – she didn’t come back and share her pizza though – just saying!

Even though I was mugged (I know, a tad dramatic) we had a super day, and the canoeing up the river was sublime.

We came back to Noosa and sat in the sun by the river for a while, just watching the world, people, jetskis, canoeist, motorboats, ferry boats and lots of dogs go past.

Tonight we stayed close to home and ate in the pub next to the hotel. We finally got hold of our first Aussie money as we wanted to play pool – up to now we have paid for everything digitally. Emily has been riding high on the fact that she beat me at pool in Canada last year, so I well and truly kicked her butt tonight. Bragging rights regained we are starting to think about the adventures we will have tomorrow….