Australia & a bit of Singapore

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Well, update so far as follows: We've been eating stacks of seafood, kicking off with a plateau fruits de mer in Singapore with Mum. We made it to Raffles during our Singapore stopover and to Sentosa where Mum tasted her first 'Subway' can't imagine how she's lived without it up until now...

We parted ways at Singapore airport, John and I heading to Cairns, Mum to Brisbane where we met up again for Xmas. We made it to Misson Beach Eco Village which was fantastic, a great meal at 'The Shrubbery' set us up for a day on Dunk Island, where I was attacked by a rabid branch in the middle of the rain forest there. No real harm done, nothing savlon couldn't cope with anyway.

Next stop was Townsville, where we ended up having supper next to a couple of the Australian Cowboys, which is a big deal over here by all accounts. On the way we passed through a town that had a giant model snake hanging out at the end, I think Lara would have struggled to get past it. We also headed to Wallaman Falls in the middle of nowhere, saw our first Kangaroos, Wallabies and a giant lizard thing with fanlike cheeks, not very pretty.

Arrived Airlie Beach & made the mistake of having 'Big Mamma's Pizza' for supper, quite possibly one of the most disgusting pizzas I've ever had, not to be recommended. Then we were on the yacht 'Illusions' soaking up the sunshine of the Whitsundays, which was fantastic, lots of parrot fish, scuba diving and getting stung by something in the water. Luckily Malcolm the crew man was on hand with the vinegar and I lived to tell the tale. We moved on to visit Henderson Park cattle ranch near Rockhampton to help/or hinder some local farmers which was really lovely. We met Champ the calf, see photos included here. We also ate some of the best steaks we've ever tasted, a really great stop over, thanks to David and Marie.

Last stop before Brisbane was Fraser Island, we went out on a 4WD tour with Wayne the Ranger who was a wealth of knowledge and really made the trip, we learnt about the history of Fraser Island, including how it got its name, and how Fraser's wife made her fortune when she returned to England with tales of cannibalism and torture, as you can imagine it didn't do the locals much good image-wise...We visited the wreck of the Maheno a top class cruiser beached by the Japanese back in the 30s, they were taking it for scrap but it ended up hosting the wedding of a Customs Officer prior to it being used for target practice by the RAAF during the war.

Next day there was time for a quick swim at the hotel, then onto the boat back to the mainland next stop Brisbane! Got to Brisbane at 3.30 dropped off the car at Hertz and were fleeced at 2.90 dollars for them to fill up the half tank of petrol we had not realised we had to replace, don't do it! Then off to Colin and Carol's for a lovely Xmas which has included wonderful food, a visit to Surfer's Paradise and an unforgettable visit to Currumbin Wildlife Sanctuary where we met koalas, kangaroos and lots of Lorikeets (see the pictures and video of John!). Sailing out near Cleveland has also been a highlight, got seriously windburnt despite being covered in suncream, silly Poms eh!

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