When we first got there, Mark & Jo were out for dinner. So we parked our campervan in front of their place and decided to have chocolate milk from our fridge. As we were enjoying the chocolate milk, I saw their car pulling up and both Gin & I felt very embarrassed to have been camped out in front of their place drinking chocolate milk. It didn't phase them a bit. Soon we noticed two more passengers in the back of their car and we thought they were just friends or family members. And they were. It was Jo's dad Dave and his partner Jan.
They all were very impressed by our campervan and were intrigued by it. Mark had a very good way of putting what our campervan was, "A glorified tent." Anyways, we gave them a tour of our campervan and we all went in their house.
Soon we figured out that Dave and Jan were going to stay there as well. Gin & I didn't know how to respond to that because we didn't know if we were intruding their company. They were totally cool about us being there. We all hungout for some time and it was fun chatting with Mark & Jo and Dave & Jan. They're just good people and when you're in company with good people, you know you'll have the best of time.
Since Dave & Jan beat us to the spare bedroom, we had a chance to experience sleeping in "the
swags." It's what I would call a "glorified sleeping bag." It was fun sleeping in them as Mark & Jo normally do during their kayaking trips. Gin loved it so much, she wanted us to buy one before we left the country. Needless to say both of us slept really well in them.Next morning all of us had breakfast together and hungout. Since both Mark & Jo had work to do, Gin & I decided to go explore around the area and check out Noosa and Coolum. First we went to Coolum and had lunch there and then we went to Noosa. The driver, Paul, from Agnes Waters/1770, told us that Noosa was too commercialised and he was totally right about it. Gin definitely didn't like Noosa at all. It was overrun by tourists and there were just too many shopping centers and malls around. Needless to say, things were super overpriced because of that. Internet was $10/hour, just goes to say how expensive it was there. We laid on the beach there for a few hours before heading back to Alexandra Headlands. I wanted to play a joke on them by buying them a boxed wine (cheap wine that comes in a 4 liter cardboard box), but Gin was mortified with the idea. Since we don't know anything about wines, we had to rely on the guy who worked at the store. We got a bottle and didn't have any clue if they liked the kind.
After we reached there and gave them the bottle, turned out that it was the kind that Jo liked. Score! Dave & Jan soon arrived and we all decided to go out for food. I had no idea that Mark was really big on Indian cooking and Indian food. He had several books on Indian recipes. So we decided to go for Indian food. Of course, they made the Indian guy in charge of ordering the food.
I took the liberty of ordering enough food so that they could try different dishes. I also showed them how people eat in India, with their hands and not with the cutlery. I ordered medium spicy food, but when the food arrived, it was pretty darn spicy. Everyone was sweating including me. I apologised for the food being so spicy, but they all seem to be enjoying it very much. They also tried Mango Lassi for the first time and they liked it. I say what's not to like ;)...Everyone was done eat, but as always I was still eating and embarrasing my wife. Luckily, Mark had a good appetite as well. We were the last ones holding the fort. We were just having such a splendid time that the food just complemented the experience. I remember telling Mark that Gin & I don't often go to restaurants, especially since we're traveling but when we have good company, it just makes it worthwhile to splurge. And good company it was indeed. Mark was like a ninja in paying for the food. I didn't even realize when he went up and paid, until Gin told me about it. I tried to convince him to at least split the bill, but he was just too nice about it. Come to think of it, not even my very good friends back home do that and here is Mark, who we barely know, picks up the entire tab. It wasn't about the money, it was the gesture of hospitality and kindness that lifted our hearts. Quality company and quality people accompanied by quality food made the experience all too good.We went back to Mark's place and hungout for more time. Everyone seemed tired, so we decided to call it a night after having a couple of hours of conversation. Dave & Jan were so sweet to let us have the bedroom they were staying in and they went to sleep at Jo's place. It was a very nice gesture from their behalf and we appreciated it very much. Everyone went to sleep and I was online doing research on buying a laptop and a lens for my Nikon D50. After doing research for a couple of hours, I was ready for bed.
Unfortunately, the bedroom we were suppose to sleep in was right next to Mark & Jo's and since Gin had already gone to bed, I had no idea which bedroom was ours. I had 50% probability of getting the room right. I stood there for a few minutes thinking which door to open, then I took my chance and opened one door and called out "Gin". No one responded so I thought it was the wrong room. Then I opened the other room and I saw Jo jump out of the bed like the girl from the movie "The Excorcist" and scared the bejesus out of me. I apologised and closed the door within seconds. Of course, now I knew which room was the one we were sleeping in.Next morning, I apologised at the breakfast table for barging in their bedroom in the middle of the night. They were totally ok, but I was still too embarrased. Everyone was laughing at the breakfast table before I got there and I didn't know what they were laughing about. I found out later that when I had opened their bedroom door last night, Mark was sleeping buck naked. But since I was so embarrased about getting in their bedroom, that I hadn't even noticed that he was buck naked. THANK GOD, I didn't notice, or I would've been embarrased even more. Anyways, we all laughed about it and talked about it the entire day.
After breakfast, we headed out for kayaking. Soon we were in the sea with our kayaks.
It reminded me of when Gin & I went to Abel Tasman National Park for her birthday. After a few minutes we saw a turtle emerge on the surface for some air. But what we were looking around for was, whales. We kept looking for them for a while until we kayaked far enough. The sea was pretty rough and I got sick. I started throwing up badly. I had no breakfast in the morning because I was having a sore throat and I didn't want to drink milk. Anyways, my stomach was already empty and I was throwing up. It was getting harder and harder for me to paddle and not seeing the whales made all the effort worthless. Soon as we were about to head back, Jo said she saw something. No on believed her until a couple of minutes later when Mark confirmed her suspicion of seeing a whale. It was so far, that I couldn't see anything. Mark & Jo paddled their way fast to investigate, but returned with bad news that the whales were going in opposite direction and there was no way to catch up to them. Luckily, the whales weren't going in the opposite direction, they were actually heading in our direction. We started paddling towards them. 
I was rejuvinated by the thought of seeing whales up close. We paddled until we got close to them. There were 4 humpback whales. 3 adults and 1 baby. The adults were huge. I had never seen whales so close before. It was like watching a documentary on humpback whales, except we were in the documentary with the whales. I was still sick and throwing up, but I was having a time of my life. I couldn't believe that we were seeing the whales so close. The only bad part about getting close to them is that you can't tell where they are when they submerge. Well, that's exactly what happened. We got so close and we had no idea where they were until Jo turned around towards our kayak and said, "Gin & Jigar look out, the whale is coming under you." For a split second I thought we were going to go under if the whales surface at that moment. We could see the giant whale directly under our kayak and it was emerging to the surface rapidly. I held the kayak tightly and had one hand on the emergency strap. The whales passed under our kayak flicking it's tail in front of our kayak and barely missing Gin by a foot. That was close! We took that as a warning and stopped persuing the whales. After playing around us for about 15 minutes or so, they decided to continue along their path and we decided to leave them alone. It was an incredible experience. I can feel the adrenaline pumping through my veins just thinking about it. We were heading back when I started vomiting again. I felt so sick that I could hardly paddle. Seeing us in distress, Mark & Jo turned their kayaks back in our direction and asked us if we wanted to be pulled back to the shore. I felt too guilty of not being able to pull my weight and I rejected their offer. They did slow down and kayaked alongside us just to make sure I was ok. Soon we reached the shore and I had barely any energy to keep myself standing. I couldn't help them load the kayaks back on the racks, but I did manage to make their life more difficult by forgetting my slipper in the kayaks. Jo had to fiddle around to get to my slippers and it was all too embarrasing for me. First barging into their bedroom in the middle of the night, then getting sea sick and then leaving my slippers in the kayaks. But they were too sweet not to get bothered by any of those events. I don't know if I would've been so sweet about it myself, but I'm glad that they were.I had to get something in my stomach, and everyone wanted some hot drinks to warm them up. We hungout at an organic coffee shop. Again I couldn't pay for the drinks because Dave went ahead and paid for it. He stopped me from paying by saying, "you are a guest in our country." Wow, what a beautiful way to put it. I was just blown away by their hospitality and generosity. While we were sipping our beverages, Mark made a very good point, "what are the chances of meeting them at the Whitehaven beach and going to Alexandra Headlands and encountering humpback whales while kayaking." He was absolutely right about that. We felt the same way. It was just incredible. The entire experience of meeting them at Whitehaven beach, then going to their place, followed by kayaking with them and seeing the whales. It was all too good and we enjoyed it to the fullest. The hot beverages were so good that we all went for another round. Before Mark or Dave could get up and pay I ran to the register and paid for the beverages. I couldn't let them do it again and they knew how I felt about it. There was no need to exchange words.
Jan & Dave were heading out soon, so before they left we told them about our scuba diving experience at the great barrier reef and showed them the DVD. They absolutely loved it. Before they left, they invited us to go and stay with them in Sydney. We also took pictures before they left. It's what they call a "human todem pole". I felt bad for Mark since he was the one carrying all the weight. I laughed so much that I thought I was going to get sick all over again. Soon thereafter, Dave & Jan left.Since I was still a little weak from throwing up my intestines, we decided to rest and not do
anything for the rest of the day. We had no idea that Jo was flying out to Sydney to see her friends until she started packing up her stuff. We all hungout for sometime before Mark had to drop her off at the airport. When Mark returned from the airport, we hungout for a few hours talking about our experiences from our lives. It was just fun sitting on the couch and having a good conversation.We asked Mark if we could stay for one more night so that we could go to Australia zoo the following morning and his response was, "stay as long as you like." That again was a very sweet gesture. We stayed one more night and got up in the morning to visit Australia zoo. Before we left, we invited Mark & Jo to come to India and give us a chance to show them Indian hospitality. It would be a difficult task after the high standards they had set. It reminded us of Poppy & Jamie from Wellington, NZ.
Some people you come across in your journey that you connect so well with, it's remarkable how anything you do with them is fun. And that's exactly how our experience was with Mark & Jo and Dave & Jan in Alexandra Headlands. It was Aussie hospitality at its best!
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