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So here we are, The North of Australia, Darwin. We arrived here last night to warm temperatures at 10pm, its great!
Before that though we had to finish our road trip! Last time I wrote we were in Hervey Bay, apparantly, home of the first "Raging Homosexual, documented in English Literature" we were well informed by our hostel receptionist! After Hervey Bay was two days of Long drives, to Rockhampton for the night then on to Airlie (no) Beach! Again we arrived in their coldest weather, the rain was pouring and it was blooming freezing! Whilst there we visited some fantastic waterfalls, Cooper's Falls. We went swimming and boy was it nipply! This did provide us with a very funny moment however when emma was trying to cross a flooded bridge a car decided to drive past and soaked her head to toe!
We also visited the lovely town of Bowen, or Bowenwood as it had become known. Not satisfied with being home to the Big Mango! Baz Lurhman chose Bowen to shoot part of his upcoming epic, Australia, starring Hugh Jackman and Nicole Kidman! sadly they had finished filming the night before we got there but the
sets were all there and boy does it look good! We spent the afternoon sunning ourselves on the beach as the weather finally picked up! Emma and Katie were also lucky to see an echidna in the wild, possibly the coolest marsupial ever!!!
Thankfully the weather picked up as the next day we decided to go out to the Whitsunday Islands! a beautiful collection of islands off the Australian Coat. We went out on the Maxi Ragamuffin. A very famous racing ship that has one the Sydney Hobart race a fair few times! A great day was had aboard for many different reasons! Katie and I went diving, it was gorgeous, loads of fish, including a huge Maori Wrasse and a Gigantic Giant Clam!!! It was Katies first dive and she has definately caught the diving bug!!! Gillian almost had to be dragged out the water she was snorkelling so much and Emma thouroughly enjoyed the fantastic buffet lunch provided (as well as the snorkelling! The weather was perfect and we all stepped off the boat a darker shade than when we stepped on board!
We then got straight into the car and headed up to Townsville where we
visited Magnetic Island, spending the day on the beach! The weather was now well and truely on our side!!! After Townsville we stopped off at Mission Beach just to break the journey and we were all glad we did, our hostel was a fantastic place called 'the treehouse' hammocks galore and a really chilled out vibe meant all of us wished to stay on however we had to meet Amy in Cairns the next day so we had to move on!
Our final day on the road was spent going to waterfalls as we cruised the Atherton Tablelands! our first stop were the Babinda Boulders, a very cool set of rock formations that over the years have been formed into wonderful pools and waterfalls! We then headed to Josephine Falls where we went swimming and could slide down the rock face! it was a bit chilly in the water but great fun! then it was onto the crater lakes national park where we swam in the crater of an actual volcano, still kept warm by the gases creeping out from the earth below the lake!
It was then into cairns on a great twisting road down the mountain
side! i loved driving down it and look forward to doing it a lot next year in France!!!
Cairns was great, a really chilled out atmosphere in a big city! Our first day was spent not doing much, we went to the Cairns Tropical Zoo which was great fun the snake and croc shows were great fun and Katie got to cuddle a koala! We spent the afternoon chilling in the town! the next day was also spent in the town, we all went shopping then swimming in the lagoon at cairns which was nice! Then in the evening we went to see Transformers! i have been waiting years to see this film and boy was it good! funny yet full of action and great special effects, i was pleased!
The next day was spent on the "turtle tour" a new tour operated by this great guy 'stu' it was only $29 as opposed to the near $100 for the other tours and it was amazing, we went to the crystal creek falls above cairns and went for a swim, we also saw a 2m long scrub python and 2 small eyed snakes (a venomous snake that can
be deadly) in an amourous encounter! if that isnt worth the price alone what is! We also went to Barron Gorge and Lake Placid! it was a great day and the guide was brilliant! he really knew what he was talking about and gave a real locals view on Cairns and its surroundings!
The next day we were out on the reef, on the old pearling ship Falla, this was a good day as we went diving and snorkelling and saw loads of really interesting fish and a turtle, Katie and Gill also saw a shark on their Dive! Very Cool!
Our last day in cairns was spent at their saturday markets, then playing Uno in the park there! we then headed out to Cairns airport to get our flight to Darwin, which leads me to here!
We havnt planned much yet although we will definately head out to Kakadu national Park, and we may have got our tickets for the Harry Potter film on friday...
So thats it for now! i hope all is well and will update a bit more regularly from now on!!!
PS this might let you see a few more pics im
not sure!!!
http://rhbncac.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2042213&l=5c545&id=200900753
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mum chris janine and david
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Glad all is well.....still jealous although the sun is out today!
All sounds great. Was the echidna as cute as the one on my fridge!! Sunny today, but forecast for next week is.......wet! We are back in our bedroom - bare plaster and boards but better than the summer house! Kitchen wall comes down tomorrow (Mon) so we are moving the sink today! I've been doing some research on the family tree and discovered that one of your ancestors was born near Staines and one in Richmond so you and Jen have obviously just 'gone home to your roots!' Take care up in the wilds of the Northern territory Some photos would be great, and travel tips for when we go! Lots of love from mum Chris David and Janine XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX