OB1

A little late I know - but we've been very busy & the internet is so busy in most places we've been. Well - here we are in Airlie Beach something like 800km down the coast from Cairns. This is the jumping off point to get onto the Whitsunday Islands, a group of supposedly gorgeous islands that were pushed through the ocean by the movement of the continental plates. They include Whitehaven beach - the 5th most beautiful beach in the world apparently! In about two hours Kate and I jump on a racing yacht and spend a couple of days(and nights) sailing around them. This will be something to look forward to, especially after having had a few days of poor weather, the clouds have finally parted and we're enjoying full on aussie sunshine. Airlie is quite tropical, pretty ... read more

We got here! Arrived very early in the morning into Cairns international airport today. Got in around 5.30 after the 3650 mile journey from Tokyo which in turn was 6220 miles from London. Kate found suspicion with the quarantine people after the cutest dog in the world put its little paw on her luggage. Clearly she had some kind of illicit fruit!! Seemingly the little dog was in for a bit of a kicking after it turned out she had nothing on her at all (though later we did discover an empty KitKat wrapper so maybe it was on to something!) and we walked out into a very dark Friday morning in Cairns. In due time, we arrived at the Calypso Inn, to be our home for the next few days. In their own words they ... read more

...til we leave the country. Only a few 12hr+ shifts, moving out of my London house, shopping, packing, oh and a quick dash home to do before we go away - ahhhhh so little time. Luckily the thought of this trip is softening the blow of last night's defeat at the hands of France, the lucky froggy b***ards. We've got to do better in the coming games as most of them will be in the middle of the night when we get to Oz and I've got to get more wear out of my England shirt than it merely being a marker for Aussie jibes! It's all coming together quite well in reality. At last, the fantastic Carl at STA Travel has managed to find us a nice posh hotel in Tokyo at massively discounted rates. ... read more

Just a couple of weeks work of work now left before we jet out to Oz, currently sitting in work at the ICA having finished a shift! A well earned beer in hand. Today we found out that the hotel we had reservations for in Tokyo is booked up. We've put a hold on another hotel, but it will be Wednesday before we know if we've got it, and furthermore Kate has discovered that that weekend is a national festival: 'Marine Week' or something!!  The Tokyo thing is looking a little tentative. Still we're both very excited and buying lots of travel gadgets to make the whole thing nice and comfortable!! Keep reading, it will get more interesting! Chris... read more