Hervey bay has a moderate climate year round, but it can get hot mid summer as we experienced some years back. So, on hot days the Botanical Gardens always give a very pleasant cool and shady spot to enjoy. There are ponds with fountains, a quaint Bush Chapel, a Japanese Water Garden, a variety of birds to spot in and around the water ways, and many flowering trees and shrubs to enjoy. Probably, from our perspective, the best feature is the orchid display. On any day, you will see maybe 200 varieties of plants making this a very worthwhile spot to spend an hour or so. To keep this display fully up to scratch, it is backed up by green houses holding around 20,000 plants. Interspersed with the orchids are many unusual foliage plants, and we ... read more

We have stayed at Lemontree Passage previously as it is reasonably close to our family near Newcastle, and because the park is quiet, located on the waterfront and being a little dollar wise, cheap off peak fees bought through Travelauction.com. Once again, Marg drove the van and car, but it seems that lessons towards Towing 101R are some way off. This was a relatively easy concrete site to back up onto, and pretty level as well. The facilities here are good, but at peak periods like Christmas and Easter, they would be pushed to the limit. The afternoon we arrived here, it was over 40c outside, so the set up was a little exhausting, but not much longer than had we driven the motorhome onto the same site. It seemed we only needed to add washing ... read more

Our first 5 day stop was to one of our popular camps, Brooms Head which is located about 20ks south of Yamba which is a more developed town and fishing port. We love this spot because it is undeveloped with just one shop that sells a little of everything, and of course, the view over the bay from the camping ground,. However, the wind can spoil the outdoor living when it blows, and blow it did. With CC set up on site, all we had to do was enjoy this beautiful beach and the surrounding towns, Yamba and McLean. We made day trips to these towns. Unfortunately some of our photos disappeared so there is little new we can show from these picturesque towns. I had the opportunity to visit the McLean ER after my own ... read more

Some holidays should never end, and Cruising P & O is one of those. Rooms made up daily, lots of activities every day, places to discover, new people to meet, not to mention a chocolate on the pillow in the evening, all made up to a great 10 day cruise. The journey from Doini Island PNG back to Brisbane has two days at sea before arriving early Saturday morning in Morton Bay and then on up the Brisbane River to the Portside Terminal. So what do you do for a couple of days at sea? Once again, there are many activities each day both educational and physical as advertised in the daily news. I had won a Titanic Experience in a competition to have photos taken on the bow sprite the first day on the way ... read more

In many ways it is great that not many people know of Kiriwina Island because it stands as a largely unspoiled undeveloped community in the Trobriand Island Group. If you want to see how these people have lived for many hundreds of years, this is a great destination on the P & O Papua New Guinea discovery cruises. Once again we see some commonality with other island communities, and some unique things as well. This is the largest of the Trobriand Islands and supports a local population of around 12,000 people. We have returned to a Matriarchal society with some interesting values. (Rabaul with the groups we spoke to were community custodians of land) Possessions are passed mother to daughter, pigs are an indicator of wealth and are highly treasured, and we as visitors are known ... read more