Our Australian Adventure 2016

Yes, it's another clear, sunny, warm day here. I wonder what website I clicked on to get all this glorious weather?

We were woken early by the sound sounds of the grandstands being set up across the street from us, and then the garbage truck really made sure that we wouldn't sleep in. We had a long, leisurely breakfast on the lanai and watched lots of athletes out for one last jog or bike ride. This 5-day sport festival has slogans such as ‘Swim, Bike, Run, PARTY!’ and ‘It’s all good.’ It's easy to see why. There are several races on today, but the premier event is tomorrow with the running of the Noosa Triathlon - it is the largest triathlon event in the world, drawing hundreds of competitors from all over the world, many of them of Olympic calibre. The organizers must be giddy with excitement - the weather is perfect. Tomorrow's event will comprise a 1500 meter open-ocean swim, followed by a 40-km bike ride and finish with a 10-km run. The start and finish points are right across from us. Not sure what stars had to be aligned for this bit of sweet luck. Mind you, the race starts at 6:15 a.m. so there will definitely be no sleeping in tomorrow. The elite athletes will finish in just under 2 hours. The also-rans will likely take 4-5 hours. The music is blaring right now in preparation for this afternoon's races at 2:30, 3:30 and 4:30. I guess we won't be squeezing in naps this afternoon.

After breakfast, we headed to Noosa Junction which is a couple of kilometres away to get some groceries at the Coles supermarket. We stocked up and headed back to the hotel. We talked with the front desk people and found out that the road was going to be closed off shortly after noon, so we went back where we had just come from and parked the car in a spot where we could retrieve it tomorrow. We hiked back to Noosa - fortunately, most of the 3 km is downhill to sea level. We then found the beach and went for a long walk along the coast. This would be a geologist's dream world with all the rock formations and inlets created by the crashing waves. We looked for dolphins, but the critters continue to elude us.

We came back into town and had lunch on the lanai. The street in front of us is a beehive of activity as the workers prepare for the 2:30 p.m. race. We just had a phone call saying that the front desk has secured a parking space for us just down the street which we can access after 6:00 p.m. tonight. It will allow us to scoot out of town tomorrow morning in time to get to our next destination which is River Heads from where we will take the 3:30 p.m. ferry over to Fraser Island, a World Heritage Site. We will be there for two nights. We will be leaving the car at the shopping centre in River Heads.

The first race on this "Super Saturday" afternoon was the SUBARU Australian Open Criterium for Women. I had to Google "criterium". It means a bicycle race run around a 1-2 km loop. This race was 30 minutes plus 3 laps. It featured Olympic racers, World Championship racers and many of Australia's best professional racers. The crowd is estimated at 20,000 spectators. Those in the VIP seats are getting fried in the sun. Not us!

The second race was the Legends race. This is a fun race with teams of three racers, all of whom have completed the Noosa Triathlon at least 10 times. The first racer does the swimming leg and then tags the second racer who does four laps of the bike route. That racer then tags the third racer who runs two laps of the circuit. It was not rigorous, that's for sure. There were some pretty sketchy (or non-existent) tags, a lot of barrier jumping and people running with Go Pro cameras. Good for grins.

The third race is a 5 km running race sponsored by ASICS who make fabulously-comfortable running shoes. I've worn and worn out ASICS shoes. The race is for under-20 men and women. Excellent races to watch with some really nice, smooth running styles.

The last race of the afternoon was the SUBARU Australian Open Criterium for Men. This one was 5 minutes plus 3 laps. Great finish.

After the last race, we walked back to get the car and brought it near to the hotel. Our designated spot is in the parking lot of the police station! I took a picture of where we parked and showed it to the people at Reception. They said we were fine. Let's hope so.

We had dinner and are now doing laundry. When you get free, in-suite laundry, you do laundry.

We are going to be brave or perhaps crazy and get up to watch the start of the race at 6:15 a.m. That means we have to be at the waterfront which is just a few minutes walk by 6:00 a.m. We'd better go to bed right now!Read more