Today was, by all accounts, a bit of a lazy one. Didn't start off too hopefully; I fiddled with my camcorder and noted that the auto-focus wasn't reacting quite as quickly as normal, so the image was blurred for the first few seconds; this isn't good!

Checked my emails; a couple of people were desperately seeking me - in this case that's a good sign lol! I believe I can get regular net access at Kylie's house too so I won't miss out on anything, and nor will the folks at work - sometimes I may be a day late but I'm sending my travel diary entries to work, as I travel, so they can get up-to-date information as to how I'm doing and saves lots of questions when I get back. Am sending them only to Melissa; she'll redistribute them to the others (I hope); she's a sweetie anyway and I hope she doesn't mind being Miss Postman!

Didn't do a lot else in the morning; in fact we left home around 1pm! Our first port of call was Nambour town centre; while it does look slightly better in the daylight, with people milling around, it isn't really that great a place even so. I think the word is "functional". Still, it's more useful than Oldbury. [Having said which a chocolate teapot would have more going for it than Oldbury!]

Lisa had to go to the bank, while she did so I went to a travel agent to try to get my flight time/date to Melbourne changed. Unfortunately it seemed that the only flights still available with seats on both left ridiculously early in the morning - everything else was full! The only explanation anyone could come up with was that it was the school holidays and everyone was flying around the country! I had a bit of a chat with the travel assistant, she said that recently, because of one thing and another, while Europe was still popular (because of family etc), the most popular destinations for Aussies to go on holiday to were New Zealand, the Pacific Islands, and America. Travel to Asia was right down, as were the numbers of Asians holidaying in Australia!

Anyway. I got my ticket changed to fly out from Brisbane at 8:10am on Sunday morning, and I promised to buy Lisa a pizza to apologise for the fact that yet again she was having to get up at a ridiculously early time ("sparrows fart", an expression I have heard back in England - Helen's used it).

We left Nambour and headed to the coast. First we called in at Kelly's house, cos Lisa's camera had ended up there yesterday, before reaching Maroochydore. This time however we didn't stop there but instead passed right through to the seaside resort of Mooloolaba, just a couple of miles down the coast. We were going to go to an Italian pizzeria called Augello's, which keeps winning awards for being the best pizza place in Australia (every year since 1999). Unfortunately, when we got there, it was closed; reopen at 5:30pm!

Lisa was hungry (as always), and I hadn't had breakfast (let alone lunch), so we decided to go to KFC in Maroochydore for some snack food. Lisa also needed to get a photo copied (the one with me and her with a python), so we went back to Maroochydore, to the shopping centre we went to on Monday (Sunshine Plaza). She tried to get her photo copied in one place but their printing machine had broken so we went to the Kodak shop in Kmart instead. In between time we ate in a KFC, located beyond the food court in an area of cafes and shops overlooking (and crossing) a small waterway, I suppose like a very small version of Brindleyplace.

Part of the shopping complex. I'm sure it's stable.

After eating, and copying the photo, we went to a coffee shop, and then to a popcorn store. I retrieved the photos from where I'd left them when I'd bought two postcards before the coffee shop (!), and eventually headed back to the car.

Lisa's parents had decided to join us for evening meal but they wouldn't be there till 6:30pm. We had a drive around the far end of Mooloolaba then stayed in the car a bit. Mooloolaba is a seaside resort; it seems to be the sort of place to come and show off. Flash cars, flash bodies, flash seafront buildings. It's a bit like how I'd imagine Miami to be (but obviously on a much smaller scale).

Upon reaching Augello's, we found it was full and the next free table for four would be in about an hour, so we booked it and had a wander up and down the sea. Along the seafront there is something that just simply wouldn't work in Britain. Public barbecues. People bring their stuff and find a seat to sit in. Just off the promenade are a series of tables with frying grilles embedded in them; the idea being is that you use them to have your own barbecue, without having to bring one!

Also on the seafront is the "Loo with a View", a slightly bizarre iron structure (with an even more bizarre piece of modern art in front of it made of metal and trampolines (?) that wouldn't look out of place in several English cities) that functions as both a look-out station over the sea, and public toilets. The toilets themselves don't have much of a view (in fact they're pretty naff), but they're convenient for the beach I suppose.

Wandered onto the beach. Rather peaceful, dark, and odd to think that in a direct straight line the next major land of any significance is Chile in South America!! Was wearing my walking sandals and they got somewhat wet and sandy, not good; I was squelching for the rest of the evening LOL! Despite the fact that it was dark, there were still a number of people playing with balls on the beach.

We then walked up and down the shops on the promenade (what the difference is between a promenade and an esplanade I don't actually know!), to pass the rest of the time before going to eat. It was mainly cafés that lined the route but there were a few clothes shops as well. Eventually we ended up back at Augello's just at the right time - which was convenient!

It was still quite crowded and our table didn't have too much legroom but otherwise it was pretty cool; you're going to have to expect that in a place that's so popular! We only had a pizza each, and a jug of water (no other drinks or starters or anything - I did notice they had a fine selection of liqueurs and I was tempted to ask to see if they had a lemonella but couldn't be mythered in the end. Lemonella is this really strange drink, best served chilled, that tastes exactly like alcoholic lemon meringue pie); I went for the Moroccan Chicken pizza - I was tempted with the Mount Vesuvius, with all its chilli and hot salami - but the Moroccan Chicken won over because of the lime chutney topping. Which was fab, by the way! The staff themselves were busy taking turns reading the back of my T-shirt - I was wearing one bought in Rome (ironically enough) with a humorous diatribe on European citizens on the back (a photo of which will follow shortly).

After the pizza we wandered up and down the promenade again, eventually settling in a Starbucks café for a post-pizza drink (and, in some cases (Lisa), a post-pizza snack!). I had a chocolate frappuchino, an iced creamy drink which Lisa took one sip of and wanted desperately to know what it was. I don't like coffee but places like Starbucks cater for that, cheaper than the ones in the UK too (maybe I just live in an expensive country!).

We headed back home, and arrived just in time to catch the end of the MTV movie awards on TV, which Lisa had been keen on watching, meh. We flaked in front of the TV for a bit eating our popcorn before resettling for a long session in front of the computer. Went to bed ridiculously late, given we were to have a rather early start in the morning. Whoops!