Today I decided to explore the South Bank, Brisbane. In 1988 the EXPO exhibition was held on this site. Today there are a few relics from that time also some refurbishment of the area which took place after the exhibition. The South Bank is where most of the cultural centres lie, Queensland Performing Arts Centre, The Lyric and other theatres etc. As you cross Victoria Bridge from CBD there is a parkland area which stretches along the side of the river. As you begin the walk past the theatres the first thing you see is the Ferris Wheel, not sure if this was there during the EXPO exhibition or whether it was a later addition. Further along are cafes, a concert hall, pleasant walks through a small rainforest area and pathways with metals structures supporting bougainvillea ... read more

Decided to spend the last day of my stay in Cairns at Kuranda. The first stop was the aboriginal village of Djapukai where we were entertained by dancers acting out stories from dreamtime, their story telling history which is sacred to them. This was followed by a dance theatres and music, which included making fire from rubbing sticks. Afterwards we had a talk on herbal medicines which are still used today although some of the fruits and berries are toxic until treated. That was really interesting. We were showed how spears and shields were used in the past and now for hunting. Following on we swerve showed how to throw spears and boomerangs. I tried the boomerang throwing and first couple of throws were rubbish but the third one came spinning back to me. Result!! After ... read more

Today I visited the rainforest at Daintree which is about a two hour drive from Cairns. En-route our driver Lisa pointed out a roundabout on the duel carriageway. She said that a couple of years ago when they had quite bad floods the road flooded quite badly. The water was quite deep but everyone continued to drive through in good Aussie fashion. When the water subsided there left on the roundabout was a fifteen foot crocodile!!!! Good job no one broke down!!! First stop was tea near the Daintree river where they actually grow the tea, a very nice tea it was too. This was followed by a river trip looking for crocodiles. Apparently there are some quite big ones however we didn't see those only a very small one on the river bank. The guy ... read more

Well folks arrived in Cairns a couple of days ago, got a taxi from the airport to my accommodation which is a ten minute bus ride to the centre of town. The first day it was a full on tropical storm, the rain was relentless so just got on the bike and cycled into town and although soaking wet for the whole day it was warn rain so it didn't really matter too much. Wondered around the town to get my bearings, found a man made lagoon for swimming, all the shops and information centres etc. rode back along the sea front and got wet again. Day two guess what raining again, decided to catch the bus into town rather than get soaked again. Decided as it was raining I may as well get wet so ... read more

Decided to visit Sydney Zoo today as I am not sure how many of their animals I might see in the wild so thought I ought to take a look. Don't think I have been to a zoo for about twenty years. Walked across the bridge and started talking to a girl who had lived here for ten years. She was from China originally but elect because of the pollution and the weather. She taught IT at the college. We had a discussion on the English monarchy, the weather in the UK, the fact that she wanted more time to do the things she wanted, and what I would be doing on my travels. She said she had never been out of Sydney. Arrived at the ferry in the overseas dock was the Cunard liner the ... read more