Sunny Coast

Brisbane is sandwiched between two areas, Sunshine Coast to the north and Gold Coast to the south.  I don't really quite "get" what these areas are, since they are not cities, but are treated as such.

Australians wouldn't dare say a full word without butchering it, so naturally the Sunshine Coast is known as the Sunny Coast.  Pay no heed to the fact that the words Sunny and Sunshine contain the same number of syllables, making the nickname no great saver of time.  It's just how the English language is slaughtered here day in and day out.

We went up to the Sunny Coast one fine summer day for a day of beaching for some, laying in the shade reading for others (points finger to self).  As you can tell from the weather this was a while ago, as it is now smack in the middle of winter and it is freezing.  Well, "freezing" in the way that 65 degrees during the daytime could be considered cold.

Our day in Noosa, Queensland resulted in our very first sighting of a wild koala:

They're so cute and lazy.  They sleep 23 hours a day and rarely ever leave their home tree.  An animal of my own heart.

We enjoyed some beautiful natural scenery:

And some really not beautiful natural scenery:

In the northern hemisphere we have nicknamed this fine swimwear garment a 'banana hammock', but down here they're called 'budgie smugglers'.  A budgie being this cute little bird:

I will leave you with a fun fact: Speedos are an Australian invention.  I didn't know this until I moved here.  I can't believe any country would actually brag about this, the way the inventors of zippers and penicillin are proud of their contribution to the world.