Nifty Noosa Nostalgia

I`ll never forget the thrill I got when Boba (my wife Marge) agreed to a suggestion of mine about a holiday in Queensland...Marge was a very contented lady - quite happy to stay home, she had just retired after we sold her Croydon boutique Jolee. For quite some time  as either she or I had never been further north than Brisbane,  I`d been saying we should have a look around the Sunshine Coast.

 

After a most pleasant uneventful couple of days we arrived in Nifty Noosa and were both extremely enchanted - soon finding a delightful apartment at Sunshine Beach just 5 minutes drive from the heart of the town, coincidentally right opposite the home of Bob Ansett who I hadn`t seen for about 50 years when I was Assistant Accountant for his father,   Reg Ansett (later Sir Reg)

 

After a few days, we happened to hear that an apartment was for sale on the next floor up which we immediately  inspected - a really roomy high-ceilinged 21sq penthouse with timber-panelled walls, originally built by a master-builder for his own use ,about the same size as our Ardoch apartment. It was now owned by a Brisbane corporation who used it for executive staff holidays and we quickly decided it was for us, being on the second floor of an 8 unit complex called Wainui with magnificent views right opposite the Pacific Ocean, just a few minutes` stroll to the beach.

 

This was the start of many valued visits over a  3 - 4 year period....when we were in Melbourne it was rented to casual, carefully-chosen tenants. Marge used to invest many happy hours on the sprawling sundeck embroidering rugs for all her grandchildren while I read to her, continuing a practice carried out all our lives together and I`d draw large landscapes for future joint -   embroidering & painting,or I enjoyed fishing from 4 am till 8am, occasionally bringing home a big fat bream after checking out the beaches in  - our little yellow Mini Moke "Boba 11" or my motor-boat "Boba 111" where you`ll see me proudly standing next to her just after I`d bought her and passed my licence test...... we were called the oldest teenagers in Noosa....

 

However I`m now paying for my happy hours standing in the ocean surf fishing by my necessary constant visits to skin specialists. One morning I forgot to lock the front door at 4am and when I returned we discovered we`d had an unwelcome univited visitor who took about $850 in cash and uninsured jewellrey...we were most grateful she didn`t awaken....

 

Nifty Noosa was extremely popular with 2 or 3 grandchildren who flew upon their own for school holidays - we`d meet them at Maroochydore Airport, about a half-hour`s drive away...we made some wonderful friends there many of whom we`re still in touch....

 

About 18 months ago my niece Geri Lazarus and husband Greg had just bought an apartment in lovely Little Cove and they kindly invited me up for a few days while they were considering plans for refurbishement and Geri & I soon flew up -  with Greg following a little later. The siting of this sprawling apartment is truly superb - very high up, naturally nestled among tall trees full of twittering beautiful birds, who, in fact we had to "Shoo" away from the sundeck where I`m initially penning these few lines on the sunny Sunday morning of our return to Melbourne.

 

We`d only arrived on Wednesday night but by the time we left, after 3 full days I`d been fortunate to catch up with 10-11 friends, rapidly exchanging highlights of the 12 years we`d been away. One lady, now 73 originally from Horsham in NW Victoria... ( we`d known her for 58 years )was a junior salesgirl Marge had employed  in her first boutique...another lady from Croydon now living in Noosa told us every time she visited us Marge was busy knitting or embroidering........

 

Another friend told me his 15 year old granddaughter wanted to know if I still did "Magic" - a game I started with my own children 60 odd years ago - hiding a little treasure, then pretending to blow away a burnt match which "disappeared" as I guided the child by saying "warmer" or "colder etc. till the hidden treasure was found. And then I had the most pleasant surprise of being reminded by quite a few fiends of their appreciation of my paintings of old sailing ships on tiny seachests I`d given them but completely forgotten........`

 

 

                                  `till next time