Today was a memorable day in so much as I unpacked the last box from the second shipment and flattened all the empty boxes ready for collection by the removal company to recycle. Our Queenslander style house, No 45 Gillan Street is beginning to look abit more homely now with all our furniture and pictures around the place. It was not exactly the style of house I had imagined we would be living in, I will have to wait to find the ultra modern streamlined house for the future. So for now we have settled for a wooden structured building 'improved' [View Full Entry]

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For those who have not been introduced to Scotty he is our travelling furry friend companion who was given to Hilary as a leaving gift at Priors Court School. He has had the good fortune to visit and experience many exciting and different places as we have travelled along the way to Australia and has insisted that his adventure is documented and shared with everyone on the Travel Blog. he is a well travelled bear and has caused many a raised eyebrow as he has had his photo taken along the way, not many bears can have that acclaim to fame!!! [View Full Entry]

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Travelling through Japan we experienced many different things and have many memories these are just a few of the best ones! [View Full Entry]

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There were so many wonderful sights and experiences we enjoyed whilst travelling through China but after a family discussion (sitting in a Starbucks Coffee Shop enjoying a warm drink whilst it poured with rain outside!) we chose the following highlights. They are not in any particular order, we thought we would share them with you. [View Full Entry]

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Having recently bought a book on venomous snakes and spiders we decided to go in search of the live species at the zoo so we could help identify them if necessary! There are ten of the most poisonous snakes in Australia some of them in Queensland so where best to go than Australia Zoo! The drive north took about an hour and a half on the Steve Irwin Highway and took us pass the beautiful Table Glass Mountains surrounded by pineapple fields and vines growing on nearby slopes. The huge signs with Steve grappling with a crocodile directed us to the [View Full Entry]

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The two hour flight seemed to whiz by as we followed the coast line down to Brisbane in the brighteset of blu skies, not a cloud in the way so we enjoyed looking at the changing landscape below as we headed for our final destination. Getting through customs is an achievemnet in its self, so many questions and forms to fill in and bag searches and scans along with sniffer dog! After the Spanish Inquistion about our 457 visas and passport control we finally made it out drapped in our union jack and english flag finery to meet up with Alex [View Full Entry]

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Driving down from Port Douglas it soon came very apparent that we had left it too late to book in to a camp site for the night, everywhere seems to close at 6-30 and there was nowhere for us to stop. So having driven along three coastal paths and been unable to park the camper van due to parking restrictions we found ourselves driving into a new housing estate that was till under construction and pulled up on an unfinished road next to some very nice show houses!!! Kevin even had the cheek to fill the water tank up on the [View Full Entry]

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By the end of the week the weather had improved a bit so we were able to go on our trip out to the reef leaving from Port Douglas Marina. We went with the same company, Haba, Alex and Anne recommended and found ourselves on board an 80’ catamaran with 30 other would-be divers. Unfortunately Seb discovered that as he had used an inhaler in the past 15 years he was unable to scuba dive with Tristan and Dominic. He was very disappointed as he had been looking forward to the experience all through the trip. They have very strict [View Full Entry]

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We watched with excitement as the plane flew along the coast line from the north and flew over dense rainforest mountains and yellow sand fringed beaches everywhere seemed so vast in some areas there was just a single straight road leading out into the empty openness. How strange to think we are now on Australian soil at long last, we landed amid palm trees and sugar plantations and the blue sky beckoned us as we stepped off the plane. Getting through customs and immigration was a mission and seemed to take forever, what with the sniffer dog and the endless [View Full Entry]

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The overnight thunderstorms left us with an even more diminished view than we had seen from our hotel window the previous morning and it was obvious we would not be taking a tram to The Peak on this visit which was a real disappointment. After another good breakfast, we checked out of our hotel and headed to a street Market where the traders peddled everything from clothes and tacky souvenirs to bamboo plants, fake designer watches to ‘100 year old eggs’ (real eggs caked in black soil) and cuts of meat. From here, we took a taxi (for the first time [View Full Entry]

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