Like the Gold and Sunshine coasts, Noosa appears to be something of a retirement community, albeit an incredibly premium one. If the Sunshine Coast is like Florida, then Noosa would be the Florida Keys. It also appears to be a popular holiday destination, judging by the numbers of people we saw enjoying week-long breaks. Filled with gourmet restaurants and boutique clothing stores, we could definitely understand why.

We only had time for an overnight stop before it was time to head on up the coast, but we made the most of it by booking in for another surf lesson. On recommendation, we'd booked with Merrick's Surf School – Merrick being an ex-Aussie champion surfer, who now runs a surf school from the back of a van in a car park. We were a little concerned, especially with 5 of us in the class, and a slightly delayed start, that our second lesson wouldn't match up to the first. However, there was no need to fear – if anything, this lesson was even better. Our instructor was a laid-back surfer dude from Newquay called Tim, and although we were given a little bit more free reign to catch our own waves, he gave us great feedback about how to improve after each ride.

I also discovered my surfing skills weren't in fact a fluke, but that I am actually a fairly competent novice surfer. As well as standing up to catch a few waves, I even managed a pretty impressive-looking 'backside run along a long right-hander' (or so I'm told), which prompted compliments not only from a couple of silver-haired female boogie boarders, but also from James, who I think was a little bit jealous. A surfing holiday could definitely be on the cards in the near future.......