Oz holiday! - Part 3

Gold Coast

We met a very happy Fran at Coolangata airport and were immediately swallowed up in a hug!Dan and his mum outside her placeA trip to the beach!Me and Fran :)Dan and some chickThe highrise skyline of Surfers Paradise is in the distanceAnd that was the last we saw of him!A big rock...I think it was called elephant rock...possibly cos it looks like big pile of dung ;)Running thru the rain from the carport to Baz's houseOn this rainy day we drove to...hmm...somewhere really nice by a river? Oh yes it could've been Tumblegum or something like that.We enjoyed a delicious pub lunch as you can see here...Fran and BazMmm the food made me sleeeeepyWe were so lucky with the weather in Adelaide...not quite so lucky here.Blaaah!Baz, Fran and Dan hanging out on Baz's balcony!I thought I'd join them

Ballina

Mid week we hired a car and drove south to visit my other brother, Matthew in BallinaWe drove along the coast and stopped at Byron so Dan could try on hatsOh yeh, and also to check out the beachand here I'm scoffing down some more oystersand here's the most easterly point of my brain!...well, maybe not :)Dan sprouted a lighthouse from his ear...and I tried out a new hairstyleThat's what it says folks! My butt is sitting on the most easterly point of the Australian Mainland...sign.We even spotted some dolphinsAnd I managed to get a photo of one!Ok, so THIS must be the most easterly point of mainland Australia (I'm getting a tired of typing that one)So after a day cruising around Byron we finally made it to my brother's house in Ballina!Mmm thai takeaway...oh how we miss this!We stayed up late playing poker. We hadn't played properly before and it was heaps of fun.Matt and me!Christian came over in his pink pants to play...he reckoned it was his washing day but well...who has pink pants anyway?This is my bro's house and car...we went out the next morning for a drive and breakfast.This beach is 150mtrs from Matthew's house...so of course he goes surfing a lot.Us with Ballina in the background.

Nimbin

After breakfast we followed Matt in our car until Lismore where he works. We said goodbye (thanks for the brief but fun stay Matt!) and then headed in the direction of Nimbin.Nimbin is a hippy community set in rainforest area about 1.5 hrs from Ballina.And we were headed there to drop in unexpectantly on some relatives I hadn't seen in 16 years!Matthew had drawn me a map on how to get there. No street names...just some lines that were roads and a circle for a clearing!I stopped and took this photo when we realised we were going the wrong way and needed to turn back.Getting closer...matthew mentioned something about a view...And we made it! This is my little second cousin Oli, who I'd never met before :)And here is my cousin Tien. I think I was 13 the last time I saw her. It was awesum to catch up again after all these years. Lucky for us they were home!Ruben and Oli...Oli loved driving this thing...well I guess driving isn't really the word to use :)The view from their looTheir place is in beautiful surroundings. My aunty and uncle's home was just down the hill so we stopped by to visit them too. Stopping for a meat pie on our drive home. The first meat pie Dan has had in the last year, and maybe for the next!

Back in the Gold Coast

The day after, Cam and Dunc'n drove down from Noosa to visit us and we spent the afternoon in Surfers Paradise.Cam and Dan enjoying a beerAs did Dunc'n and I!We found a lizard! Cam was happy :)We fit in a round of golfThat night we went to the casino for food and gambling...mmm gambling. It was a fun night and we really enjoyed catching up with these guys.On our last full day at Frans, Baz cooked us up a bbqCheers!Baz brought over the biggest and freshest tasting prawns I'd ever eatenThat afternoon the sun came out (typical!) so we returned to the beach for one last winter's stroll.I think the camera was about to fall off!Austraya! It doesn't look much like this during winter in Norway :)Days of our lives...'beach edition'!Our last relaxing evening with FranAnd the next morning we said goodbye at the airport. It was so sad to go but we had the best holiday ever! I can only hope the memories last us thru another year in Norway.Seeya everyone! We loved seeing each and every one of you and thanks for being the best family and friends a couple of scrubas like us could ask for!Back home again!It helped that we returned to a land of Summer...everything was green...the sun was warm...and it's been like that since we've been back. So, you can look forward to all our Oslo summer photos in the near future.