23rd November. Taree to Byron Bay.

Nearly 600 clicks today. Easy driving, and 2 nice detours. First at Urunga, and then at Yamba. Yamba in particular was spectacular. The waves and the tombstoners combined.

Finally ended up in Byron Bay, and the rain which had threatened all day finally arrived. Hope it's gone by tomorrow.

21st November. A short road trip. Day 1. Canberra to Katoomba.

We set off from Gough's Gables this morning, and drove up into the Blue mountains. The scenery is beautiful. I hope these photos do it justice.

17th November. A boat trip in Hervey Bay

Gaz has done us proud. He has acquired his Australian boat licence, so was able to hire a boat for a day trip. We had a fantastic day on the water, catching five species of fish, unfortunately all small, so had to go back. Here's a little video of the trip.

15th November. A day on the beach.

We spent most of the morning sorting out car hire and accommodation for our drive from Canberra to Brisbane via the Internet. We had square eyes by the end, so we decided to treat ourselves to a swim in the sea.
Unfortunately the tide was out, so after a long walk we ended up splashing about in knee deep water. However the other attractions of the beach more than made up for our disappointment.

Later on we decided to have another BBQ.

Now relaxing with a chilled glass of Chardonnay.

12 th and 13 th November a night at Tangalooma Beach Resort.

Again organised by Vicky as part of the weekend. We had a marvellous overnight stay. The highlight was the dolphin feeding on Saturday evening.

Friday 11th November. A day at the koala bear sanctuary

Today we visited the Koala bear sanctuary in Brisbane. Gaz and Vicky drove us down.

The Koalas were very cute, but didn't do much, except eat and cling to the branches.


We also saw these guys, just like being back at home.

A great day out.

Thursday 10th November

Today we visited a reptile park, going by the catchy name of Snakes Down Under. We passed a very pleasant couple of hours here. The highlights were the demonstration of venomous snakes where we saw the 5 most poisonous snakes in Australia, and also the feeding of the salt water crocodiles, Mac and Mango.

Wednesday 9th.

Only a very short post to ask the question " why is it is so difficult to get a mobile SIM card to work? ". 3 visits to the Telstra shop, 2 long phone calls to a call centre, and finally up and running!

4th - 6th November. A weekend on Fraser Island.

Ever since Gaz and Huw visited Australia, they have raved about Fraser Island, so Elvie and I had to pay a visit. V was good enough to make the arrangements, and we duly set off at early o'clock in our hire Landrover to gat the barge to the Island. Less than 1 hour later we were driving down very rough sandy tracks exploring the south of the island.

These guys were stuck in the sand on the beach at Dilli Village. They soon got going after dropping the tyre pressure.



Fortunately we weren't camping. The fence is to keep dingos out.



Here we are swimming in lake Benaroon, after a picnic in the woods.



This was a magnificent walk at Central Station where the centre of the logging industry was based years ago.



This is where we were based for our stay. Eurong Holiday Village. Gosh it was hard. Swimming pool, surf beach, bar, and restaurant, but as I said, someone's got to do it, so it might as well be us.

Next day we drove up the beach, which is classed as a highway, with a speed limit, enforced by police with radar guns!! Great fun driving the 40 or so clicks up to Indian Head, where legend has it Captain Cook was observed by Aborigines sat on the headland gazing out to sea.






After the obligatory photographs we headed south and stopped off at the wreck of the Maheno.




Before heading inland off the beach to Lake Allom, where we saw the turtles, before heading back to the beach and Elli Creek.



Finally back to Eurong for a well earned rest by the pool.
This is sunrise at Eurong.

On Sunday we took a long scenic drive via 2 wonderful lakes.
This is lake Wabby. What you can't see is the lush tropical rainforest on the other side of the lake.


From here we went to Lake Mckenzie one of the most popular spots on the island.



We also saw a dingo in the car park.

It was a short drive from here to the landing stage where we caught the barge back to the mainland. A great weekend.

Safe and sound in Australia

After 24 hours travelling we're safely in Australia at Chez Gaz and Vicky. The flights went well. Singapore Airlines looked after us well. Attentive cabin staff, good food, and excellent in flight entertainment. Gaz met us at Brisbane airport and drove us to up Hervey Bay. Their house is modern, stylish easy to manage, and ideally placed both for Vicky's work, and for the beach. They made an excellent choice when taking this house. It's good to see them getting on so well together in their first house together.
Now after a good night sleep I'm ready for all that Hervey Bay can throw at me!!