I was up at 6, Ali had been up for hours worrying that we'd sleep in and miss our flight to Alice. Funny thing being, we made it just in the nick of time 30 minutes before (internal flights here are as easy as catching a train). I'd asked ali how much stuff she was taking, as i wasn't sure what to pack. I asked if we were taking carry on baggage instead of check in. 'no way' she said ' you only allowed 5kg in carry on and I'll have that in make up alone' ha ha! We had breakfast on the Qantas flight ( I think I may add Qantas to my Christmas card list, the amount of time I've spent with them recently!) and chatted to pass the the 2 hours it ... read more

Ali  was at work today, so after I waved her off this morning, I thought I'd go for a run having not done so for weeks! The extra wobble I could feel at the rear, confirmed my lack of recent effort on the sport front, and I couldn't help but think of the song 'I like big butts' as I commenced my first attempt at running down under. I thought I'd get lost but was ok and was familiar with where Ali and I had walked on my first day here. It was hot, but bearable, and the air smells so lovely from the frangipani flowers, ( the meaning of such flower apparently being shelter and protection ) that it was quite a nice experience as far as phys goes, especially running along the path ... read more

Woke up at about 6am and after Ali had taken Sam to school, and some breakfast, we had a walk around the place she lives- Bay View. It is a lovely area (unsurprisingly with a bay view) with loads of absolutely beautiful houses. No two seem to be the same, but all look really funky with a splash of colour here and there. Really really nice and many that I wouldn't mind living in myself. (we can dream) We walked by the lock, by the mangroves and saw some lovely colourful birds flying about which I later found out were bee eaters.  We made our way into town and to the Darwin museum. It was really quite interesting, with loads of different sections on things in and about Darwin. I quite liked all the wildlife exhibits ... read more

I was awake quite early, and felt fine and dandy, but it seems the skank had spanked the boys out and they didn't get up for ages. I tided the kitchen and made the most of the sun in the back garden, slapped on the factor 30 and read a book for a while. When the hangovers finally emerged, we drove up to another nice viewing point on Mount Cootha that overlooked Brisbane city. After taking some photos (and crying with laughing at the ones from the night before) we dropped the camper van off with it's co-owner Sarah, who lived in a fab place overlooking the river. It's no wonder everyone has so much fun out on the balconies and porches over here, it's a great place to gather with friends and chill out in ... read more

Had a lovely sleep and luckily seem to be on Oz time now. I managed to stay awake last night and we went out for drinks into West End. I stuck to lager- well, Pale Ale which seems to be quite a popular drink over here. We got in at around midnight and I fell asleep as soon as my head hit the pillow. Charlie woke me up  with a brew- Tetley tea- home from home! And made some poached eggs on toast (he's well trained) We had leisurely stroll to get the bus into the city of Brisbane, but not before missing one as Charlie had forgotten to bring his injection so had to go back ( he's diabetic ) I keep asking him how he manages to get through life with his lack of ... read more