Up early again at 5.30 as off whale watching at 6.30. I must admit it was not easy getting up all I wanted to do was turn over and go back to sleep - but Mike made me a cup of rosie lee and that was it I was ready to take on the world- well go whale watching. So we get on the bus that picks us up from our digs and the first stop is to pick another couple up. Well I have never known a couple who only talked doom and gloom. Everything has gone wrong for them and they were not satisfied with anything about their holiday. So I tried to lighten the mood by saying well at least you would have had a good sleep and now you are going to ... read more

Well we have checked our of our cell in the youth hostel in Airlie Beach to be honest we did get a good nights sleep so not all bad. Whilst waiting to board the catamaran we have been doing quite a bit of admin work. We now have booked our Greyhound Bus from Hervey Bay to Brisbane Airport where we will be picking up a hire car - then we will be staying with Mike’s daughter Jenni for a few days before flying off to Sydney. We have also got a studio apartment in Sydney which is very central - anyone looking for reasonable accommodation should check out Airbnb website - we seem to get some really reasonable accommodation at reasonable prices through them. It is really hot in Airlie Beach today so I think there ... read more

Well arrived in Magnetic Island after getting the Greyhound bus and a ferry across. We are staying in a tent for a few nights bit different from the cottage in Port Douglas but great all the same. The tents have a wooden like shack over with a metal roof to stop the coconuts falling off the trees landing straight on the tent - not sure what is best coconut on tin in the middle of the night or direct on to the tent, ha ha Well the island is small but very beautiful is all I can say and there is one road going around it for all of 10k - so you can see the island in a day and we are here for 3 nights. So after 2nd night we decided to rent a ... read more

Well been in the Australian rain forest on a tour using Daintree Safari. The tour was great but honestly is this a rain forest - I do not think so - maybe we have been travelling so long that are we being de-sensitized to some amazing things due to our seeing so many wonders around the world - I think we are so ignore my previous comments. Tour guide Nick was amazing and if you know anyone who is coming here and needs a guide Nick is your man. So picked up at 7.30am, yes I said AM! OMG we are in a chilling mode getting up this early is not on. So off in the 4x4 we go with another couple from San Francisco. We drive through a sleepy town called Mossman where on the ... read more

I am writing this from the airport lounge in Alice Springs with a small rucksack and a bleeding large tube with the paintings I bought!!! Well we have now joined the Australian Youth Hostel Association as it gives you a discount when you book the Greyhound Bus which we have booked now from Cairns through to Sydney. The Greyhound bus is a lot more reasonable than flying and you can hop on hop off which is great as we seem to have a plan on the places we are going to stay. Whilst flying we reflected on the Anangu (aborigines - to us Poms) people Everyone we saw from this tribe seemed to look sad and living at the lower of the economic scale - it really touched us and really brought home to us the ... read more