'We're Baaack...'

Wow - 3 glorious days sailing around the Whitsunday Islands. 74 Islands off the coast of Northern Queensland - in and around the Great Barrier Reef. Can't begin to describe it other than to say that if you ever do take the plunge and tour Australia, we well recommend it.

We ended up on the ship called 'Whitsunday Magic'. It is considered the deluxe cruise ship around the Islands and we can certainly attest that the efforts made in the meals and to make us comfortable certainly took it into the 'deluxe' category.

Our cabin was small, but perfectly formed. Karen graciously took the upper bunk - and allowed Lei the comfort of the lower berth. We did a couple of bush walks, one was a 2 1/2 mile hike up to the top of the South Molle Island so that we could look around and see almost everything the world had to offer. Another was to a lookout over the amazing white sands of Whitehaven beach. This sand is so fine that you can use it to exfoliate or clean your jewelry and because it is so white, it reflects the heat and you can walk on it in the middle of the day in comfort barefoot.

We also managed some snorkelling in and around the reef. It's Jellyfish season, so you need to wear stinger suits to go into the water which we can attest to are very flattering and OHHH so much fun to put on. Imagine 100 degree heat with 95% humidity and you are trying to put on a skin tight RUBBER SUIT - Oh yes - it was fun.

The only downer for the trip was the fact that 1 day into the cruise, Lei started to experience the discomfort of an abscess tooth that just went from bad to worse. By the last night, her face was swollen the size of a basketball, and agony doesn't even begin to cover how she felt. We were lucky in that on our return to where we had parked the caravan, we noticed a large advertisement - DENTIST - and his phone number. Karen called them immediately and after some serious pleading managed to get Lei an appointment that instant. So believe it or not, we got off the boat at 1pm and by 2, we were stocked up on antibiotics and pain killers and on our way to Cairns. We needed to make the 650 Km trip and turn in the Van by 4pm on Saturday - so that meant Karen had to step up to the task and take over the driving - which she did like a trooper -

So here we are - in Cairns, minus the Van and staying at a great B&B - tucked quietly away in a small rainforest, overlooking a waterfall. We're going to take tomorrow to check out Cairns and then Monday morning we are off again - this time for the centre of Australia. We'll keep you posted...

Got our 'Sea legs' on...

Well - three days of relaxing at Cape Hillsborough leading up to 3 days of relaxing on a Tall Ship - sailing around the Whitsunday Islands. Could be worse...

We enjoyed our time at Cape Hillsborough. Definitely we can recommend the campsite to any who are travelling around Queesland. We have been here during the Australian national election where the ruling party (the Coalition) have been tossed out of power after 11 years and the Labour party has come to power. Since our TV reception is definitely limited - we have only been able to watch election reports for the past few days - so its a good things that the campsite had so much more to offer so we weren't dependant on the TV for entertainment.

Now we are at Arlie Beach, waiting on being picked up this afternoon where we will board the ship and begin the cruise. Not due to be back till Friday afternoon - so we shall not be blogging anything till then.

Hiding out in Queensland...

After two days of road weariness we have found an absolute corker of a campsite - it is part of a national park - called Cape Hillsborough. The site is occupied by wallabies, kangaroos, bird species a plenty and people in simple harmony.

We discovered this this morning when we got up to take a walk on the beach and came back to find a small family of wallaby's checking out the campsite to see if we had accidently left anything lying around (we hadn't) then over to our neighbors' spot for a similar scrounge around.

The site is lovely, pool refreshing and the Ocean so close that we have decided to stay another day and not risk driving on a Sunday with the van even though is has been perfect for over a week. We still have bad memories of being stranded on a Sunday and don't want to go through that again.

Since we won't be doing much but relaxing the next few days - we probably won't have much to add until next week unless we get some great photo's to share....

Queens of the Road...

We have put over 1000 Km behind us (that's 600 miles to the less metric friendly) over the past few days. Mainly because there isn't much to see or do over that large expanse. We left Noosa in the morning - drove to the coastal town of Bundaberg - which was well worth it - an absolutely corker of a town - picturesque wide streets and lovely little shops. Very homey feeling.

Then back on the road and off to Emu Park - a coastal village off Rockhampton. We found a great caravan park - got in so late that the owners felt sorry for us and begged some dinner for us from our fellow campers. The sausage tasted great.

This morning - a quick effort at the laundry, then back on the road to MacKay - We have booked a sailing holiday of 3 days and 3 nights around the Whitsunday Islands - so we have been trying to get here. Now that we are here - we actually don't need to be here till next Tuesday - so we are going to work out what to do over the next few days tonight. We shall keep you posted...

Why God gave us 4Wheel drives

We now know the reason 4 wheel drives were invented. It is so people in Queensland can get around their state...What a day.

It started at 6:30am when we were picked up outside our campgrounds. From there, a short drive to a ferry across the Noosa river. We then took the shortcut (since we would end up doing about 300Km today) and drove down the 40 mile beach - avoiding the surf where possible. It is quite an amazing experience to be driving around 50 m/h through the sands and surf of this amazing beach. We ended up having to leave the beach and go over some old logging roads to get to our next ferry ride over to Fraser Island.

After we got to Fraser Island, we stopped for Champagne and Orange juice on this hugh expanse of beach, then off again - finally going into the interior of the Island. This was once primarily a logging area, and is the largest sand island in the world. It is covered with a large rain forest, and although it is over 125 Km long and 80 wide, only has about 50 permanent residents on it. It is also a listed World Heritage area - and as such protected for future visitors to see.

The roads are just sand tracks and how they get these vehicles up and down is a mystery to us. After a very rough ride through the forest, we ended up stopping for a short walk through a section of the forest - then back in the Land Rovers, and on to an amazing fresh water lake with the whitest sands we have ever seen. We spent some time in the water and on the beach, had a class A lunch and then back on the road again. By the time we got out of the forest and back to the beach - the tide was only a couple of hours away from high tide - so we had to hurry along to get back to the ferry point without getting washed out to sea (just kidding - we are sure that they had a back up plan).

We ended up stopping for tea next to a river in the state forest on the mainland, and then home. An absolutely brilliant day.

Queensland - here we come...

We have left NSW and entered Queensland. There is a small town on the border of the two states (think it's called Twin Towns or Twin Heads), which has a street that separates them. Since Queensland doesn't go onto Daylight Savings Time (remember - it is spring over here...) we have gone back an hour so now it is only 10 hours ahead of England and 15 hours ahead of Michigan.

Spent the day travelling up the Gold Coast (lots of high rises, looks alot like Spain's coast), then through the mountains standing at a lookout which we can see the ocean from about 25 miles away, finally to Noosa Heads - a very quirky spread out town - with no town centre that we can find.

Tomorrow, we intend to take a day tour overland in a 4x4 on Fraser Island. Should be a blast, and we shall tell you all about it when we get back.

We were wrong - Flower Power has been truly found...

When we said that Byron Bay was a throw back to the 60's - we were wrong. It is nothing but a false front. We left Suffolk Bay on Monday morning having had a relaxing 2 days and decided to drive north via a very convoluted path through the hinterlands of the North Rivers area. We first stopped in Lismore - a pleasant community inland from the coast about 30 Km. After spending some time in an internet cafe - and doing some guitar shopping - (yes Chris - I did get one!!!) we were off again through the hills into the Nimbin Valley.

We arrived in Nimbin an hour later to find the true exiles of Berkley - living peacefully in this small community. Throw back doesn't quite cover it. All you childen of the 60's would feel at home here.

After a wander through the town (it is quite small) - back on the road through the Tweed Valley on some lovely twisty/windy roads till we came back to the coast and ended up in Tweed Heads for the evening. Now we are sitting on the border of NSW and Queensland - ready to cross over state lines, change time zones (Queensland has chosen not to participate in the Daylight Savings Scheme) and begin the final leg of this part of our journey.

Reliving the 60's...

Today we have left South West Rocks, driven to a small village called Nambucca which has such a lovely feel about it, and investigated small town life in New South Wales. Nambucca has many things going for it - but one of them is this fantastic Mosiac Wall that really draws your eye to it.

From there, up the coastline stopping for lunch at Yamba - and taking a well deserved walk on the beach enjoying the kite surfers and their antics. Even managed to do a self portrait of the two of us. We then continued northwards till we got to Lennox Head where we watched someone being taught to Hang Glide - must be an amazing experience.

Finally, we have arrived in Byron Bay - home of some real 'alternate' living and some people who looked like they simply moved from Berkley, Ca. in 1969 straight to Byron Bay and have hidden here ever since. The good news is we can break out all of our old outfits from our University days and they would be right in style. The bad news is - they no longer fit us - life just isn't fair.

We decided since it was Saturday that we would spend Sunday as a relax day - not drive anywhere and not tempt fate with the Van since if it were to break down again we would be without any assistance until the Monday - so we have had a lovely day - sitting and reading on the beach, window shopping in Byron Bay and just taking in the atmosphere. Due to Karen's son Chris' constant nagging - Lei has also decided that if fate takes a hand and we see a decent Guitar for a reasonable price - we are going to buy it so that we have some music for the beach in the evening. Wish us luck on that...

Back on the Road Again...

Well - we managed over 350 km yesterday without an incident - will try again today - but first - a short delay to take a whale watch cruise. It is at the end of the migration season - so we only had a small chance of seeing some stragglers - but the day is lovely - the cruise fun and we did see some dolphins and stringrays - so it wasn't a total loss.

Then - up the highway - taking short stops to look at some lovely coastline. We decide to go off road a bit and visit a small town called South West Rocks where we stay for the night. On the way to check out a couple of campsites - we see a herd (assuming that is how it is referred to) of wild wallabys. Managed to get a video as well as pictures as they seems as interested in us as we were in them.

We are over 500 km past our visit to Penrith - so God willing and a fair wind - maybe it is behind us.

Less we forget - NEVER TEMPT FATE...

Well - here we are on Thursday morning - only 10 miles down the road when our Van reminded us once again - to never tempt fate. The van stalls in the middle of the motorway in the beginnings of Sydney traffic - and we have to return to our original point of departure to see the service people again.

This time - a happy ending to our story (we think). Met up with a transplanted Scotsman who has a brother living in Ann Arbor, Michigan - and has taken a liking to us. He is the service manager for the dealership and after much discussion - believes that the Van's problem is due to a service issue by the rental company - not something that is our fault - hence works with us to solve the problems and gets the rental company to start admitting some culpability. What a break to what has been a fairly stressful time. His name is Brian and if anyone ever ends up stuck in Penrith, Australia - we highly recommend contacting. HE IS A DREAM.

So, after some further tender loving care and some time to visit with some local wildlife - we are back on the road at 2pm - looking to make up time. After a shaky start worrying if it going to happen again - we start getting back into the holiday - by 6pm - we are at a lovely place called Forster.

We are beginning to get some confidence back with the Van - and realising that we really do love the freedom of the road...