There is no worse way to wake up in the morning than having Brush Turkeys falling out of the sky. I kid you not. The resident Brush Turkeys of Alligator Creek sleep in the trees. In a co-ordinated morning wake up mission, they return to earth on mass. It’s most disturbing and I, still reeling from an ignominious defeat at the hands of ‘sly hand Whittle’ in round 2 of the scrabble challenge the previous evening, was not in the best of humour to start with. Things started to improve when we mounted the ‘save the frog from the drain’ expedition. Chris personally dismantled the plumbing system of one of the sinks and was left holding the length of pipe with the frog in it. It appeared that the frog didn’t want to be rescued after ... read more

Having had a solid nights’ sleep we were up early to get on the road as we had lost some time at Fraser Island. With 420km ahead we were packed up and ready to go just after 9.00am. Today we are heading to Cape Palmerston, which lies about 50km south of Mackay. As we leave Bargara we agree that this place was a pleasant surprise. We picked up some supplies from the ubiquitous Woolworths and we replaced our gas bottle at the local servo. Bundaberg first stop. No trip to Bundaberg would be complete without a pilgrimage to the Bundaberg rum distillery. Given that we were under a bit of time pressure we made do with a photo of the giant Bundy bottle outside the distillery. I could see Chris thinking that if only someone made ... read more

I was lulled to sleep last night by the sound of the roaring surf, the cyclonic wind and the rain as it heavily massaged the outside of our tent. There was a lot of lulling time. We are of course at Fraser Island, the home of the, free to roam, Dingo. And roam they do, right into our campsite. There are signs up everywhere about what to do if confronted by this wild dog. What you shouldn’t do is run away waving your arms in the air. Every part of your brain tells you that is exactly what you should do. No, you stand your ground, look it in the eye and fold your arms. That is what I did. I wasn’t going to let this baby snatcher intimidate me. The beast in question completely ignored ... read more

Day 4. I am back in familiar and familial territory this morning as I awake in sunny Ballina at my brothers’ home, having spent the night there. I managed to offload my partner in crime at Wardell which is 15km south of the home of the Big Prawn. He spent the night with a family member there. We reconvened at a café in the main street this morning. It was clear from the outset that I would be driving as it appears that last night Chris had met all the locals at the Wardell Recreational Club over a beer or two. He seemed to have been very taken with a big hairy sugarcane farmer called Jim. At this stage I am beginning to think my night wasn’t that bad after all, sitting around a radio listening ... read more

Day 2. Having made it abundantly clear to all in the vicinity the previous evening, when we checked in, that I wasn’t in a same sex marriage with Chris by confirming loudly that “the room has two beds right!”. We settled down to a night which ironically would resemble an old married couple. Chris constantly complaining that I hadn’t turned the fan on in the bathroom after I had rid myself of the last remnants of my Thailand trip. After some further bickering we finally settled down to a nights’ sleep. I was in trouble again on awakening as I had slept in and had missed an opportunity for an early morning fish in the pouring rain. Anyway, we soon put the Rockpool Motel behind us as we continued our intrepid adventure. An adventure that had ... read more