Noosa

The Noosa Council is very accessible aware which means most newer premises are accessible etc.  But some things don’t quite ‘right’, like the lack of footpaths, the lack of accessible accommodation. 

The accommodation issue is possibly due to a lot of the apartments and units are privately owned so there is no requirement to have a percentage of accessible rooms.  And like NZ accommodation providers don’t always advertise their accessible rooms.

In 2005 we stayed at Tingirana http://ebility.com/accessnoosa/tingirana.php  or http://www.tingirana.com.au/ .  They are located on Hastings Street, the up-market strip of accommodation, shops and restaurants.   We stayed in a Street frontage Studio which was like a large hotel room fully accessible.  It was very nice and a reasonable price back then AUD $140 per night. To have a beachfront apartment was considerably more, even for a couple.  To have a two bedroom apartment (the Street Front apartments are duel key) is around the $400 plus per night.  It is worthwhile if you want to splurge.

My cousin Meg and husband Paul has a little trouble finding accessible accommodation and have booked at Breakfree South Pacific, where my sister Gillian and husband Brian are staying when they arrive on Wednesday.

Covered carparks

Most shops and restaurants are accessible if they are relatively new.  Some older places do have steps.   Shopping centre’s such as Noosa Civic Centre and the local supermarket have shading over a number of the car parks, which includes the accessible parks.  Great in the rain and sun.  

There are roundabouts at every turn which takes a bit getting use to and the signage is a bit different.    You expect something to be either left, straight through or right, when in reality you need to look for the first, second or third exit.    One observation is that there is much more greenery around the intersections and roundabout which makes getting your bearings a bit more difficult.

Saturday 8th October

Having gone to bed so early we woke at this morning at 4.30am and finally just after 5am we got up!

So we showered and had breakfast - and that was over and done by 6.30am!!!  Wonder how we will ever cope with a real long haul flight and destination?

Cue to starting the Blog writing.   TV is bad here.  Even with numerous analogue and digital channels finding something worth watching is hard.  We did however work out what channel Bathurst and the Rugby was to be shown.

The weather forecast was for rain and thunderstorms.

We decided to head south about 9am to Sunshine Plaza at Maroochydore.  As we got in the car there was a few drops of rain.    On the way out we did a quick reckie to Jack and Anita’s to refresh Pete’s memory of the route.     We noticed the paper on the driveway, so Pete retrieved that and put by the front door in the shelter.  The rain drop were big and far apart, but by the time we got to Sunshine Beach shops it was pouring and the trip down the coast was in torrential rain!    Then there was lightening, and it just kept raining.  

Of course when we got to the Plaza the place was swarming with people, being Saturday and wet.   Once we sorted out how to get in we scored a disabled car park on the ground floor right by Myers, first pop. 

Tip - Bring your NZ Mobility Card - they are accepted here.   Actually you will find in general where ever you travel they are recognized.    The disabled parks have a white wheelchair symbol on a blue background in the centre of the park.  There seems to be plenty everywhere.  Down the coast from Noosa they have Red or Blue disability parks, but we have never found out what the difference is.

It was actually quite cold out of the car and windy.   We headed into Myers straight into the lingerie department, perfect as I wanted two camisoles.  The Staff were all over us - completely different to our previous experiences in Myers, where we couldn’t get help!     With that sorted we headed into the main Plaza to find shoe shops as Pete needed sandals.  First shop we found a pair of Colorado sandals on sale for $49 - perfect.  We did a quick wonder around and decided we were over the crowd and went back to the car after ¾ hr!   It was still raining so went back to Noosa.

The return trip was on the Sunshine Coast Motorway, as the coast road down was very slow.  We decided to call into Noosa Civic Centre - the largest shopping complex in Noosa to go to Woolworths for some lunch supplies.  Much nicer and although busy it wasn’t manic.    Might go there with Julie and Dave rather than going down to Maroochydore as it is more pleasant.

Back to the unit for lunch and for Pete to put his feet up to watch the Saturday coverage of Bathurst and the Top 10 Shootout.   It was great - Murph ended up on Pole!  What a great result.  I won’t go into the details as it will all be history by the time this is published.

With the racing coverage over we watched the Ireland V Wales quarter final of the Rugby World Cup.   Wales were so strong and Ireland could not get through their defense which we were disappointed with, as we hoped they would meet the winner of the France V England clash.   

By this time the rain had gone and the sun was out, and of course with the recent rain it became a bit humid.   Not too uncomfortable thank goodness, more tolerable than what we get in Auckland mid summer.

When the game was over we headed to Jack and Anita’s to see if they had returned from Yeppoon where they had been for four days with Bill and Gwen.    They were home, so Pete hid around the corner to put All Black flags on the car as a wind up for the Uncles!!!!    We spent about 1½ hours having a quick catch up only as they had been up since 5am also, to get the train back from up the coast.

We called into Bertoni’s Pizza & Pasta in

Thomas Street

to get takeaway Pizza for dinner.   By the time we did eat we only managed a couple of slices each as we were once again pooped!!!   After eating we tried to stay up a bit later, but by 8.30pm we were dead on our feet so headed for bed!