Wednesday 4th Jan Checked out the lookout over Fairbairn Dam - fantastic view - then onto Emerald - visited the largest painting in the world on an easel with the Emeralds giant Van Gogh Sunflower painting. Visited the lovely original 1900 Emerald railway Station which is still in use - just beautiful. Sunflowers were a staple crop in Emerald until the land was needed for the fast growing population for the mining industry. There are still Sunflower crops in the outer areas of Emerald where the land is dryer as Sunflowers need very little water to survive. Emerald was very badly effected by the Jan 2011 floods and we saw the water mark up to the top of the counter in the Coles shopping centre. It is hard for us to imagine how high these floods ... read more

Monday 2nd Jan 2012 Started off on our new adventure leaving Mackay and staying our first night in Clermont. Nice little mining town - lots of coal mines around this area. Saw a replica piano in a tree similar to one which was found in a tree (32 feet up) after the 1916 flood in Clermont when Sandy Creek flooded. The original town was destroyed and the town now has been relocated to higher ground. The photo of the tree with the water mark of the flood at a lovely lake were the geese were very friendly especially when they were being fed. There was also a lovely walk with tributes to fallen soldiers from the area. We had our little butcher bird come to visit us before we left Mackay and hopped up into the ... read more

Sunday 11th December Had Tania and Ray over to the caravan for a BBQ and of course we had to have the biggest downfall of rain since we have been here. It rained non stop for a couple of hours and when it stopped the road in front of us was flooded (the 1 drain at the end of the road could not cope). We were sloshing around in it like a couple of kids - if it had kept on raining any longer I think we would have had the water running under the caravan and right through the annexe - as it was just the rain water was running through the annexe while we were having tea. To get in the Xmas spirit we put up our couple of strands of Xmas lights around ... read more

Saturday 12 Nov Today we went to Conway Beach (just out of Airlie Beach) with Paulette and Barry (neighbours at Airlie Cove caravan park) to have a look at a vintage car show. Some great old vintage cars on show - the day was quite hot though - the car show was held at the caravan park and is a very nice park with some interesting paint colours used around the park - all the different colours give the park a very happy feel to it. The different coloured doors are in the ladies toilet but the whole park is painted in these different colours including all the park cabins. In the evening we all went into Airlie Beach town to have a meal and caught the bus in - it has been quite a while ... read more

John is still working in Airlie Beach and we are coping with the humid weather as it is not too bad yet, everyone says it gets worse after Xmas so am not sure how long we will stay but life is good at the moment. Sunday 30th October Went for a cruise to the Whitsunday Islands on the one of the world's fastest Catamarans - the mauve "Camira". After being picked up from the caravan park, we sailed out of Abel Point Marina and out through the Mole Islands, then called into Daydream Island to pick up more passengers before heading to Hook Island for some snorkelling - the water was a bit cloudy because the change of tides so it was a little dissapointing but the water was warm and there were plenty of tropical ... read more