We arrived at the transit centre in the middle of Brisbane and were soon picked up by Sophie and Haidee. Haidee however was fast asleep having spent the journey in trying to understand why Uncle Andrew wasn't a girl?! Not sure we ever really got to the bottom of that confusion but it was ultimately blamed on my hair! As is standard practice, within seconds of arriving home Jeff had placed a XXXX Gold in my hand and we spent the evening catching up over dinner,...

We headed off back up the coast in Sophie's 4WD, hoping that the weather had improved and the storms hadn't eroded away too much of the sand island Fraser Island, which is apparently beautiful - as long as the sun is out! We were really lucky with nice days and the rain saving itself for over night. Fortunately our tent didn't leak although the wind was strong enough one night to snap a tent pole! For our second two nights we camped right on the beach, with no on...

Our bus didn't depart Airlie Beach until midnight, so after saying goodbye to the rest of the family at lunchtime, we headed into town to see what it looked like when the sun was out! It was a big improvement and we spent the rest of the day by the lagoon and watching the activity on the water. Our bus arrived late, and as we boarded we heard the now familiar story that flooding was expected en route so we may not make it to Bundaberg. We were lucky to pass thr...

Guest Writer: Elizabeth Fillmore The Whitsunday Islands 15th to 24th February 2008 About 12 months ago Alex announced she had had a good idea! Rather ominous! 'While we are in Australia we want to sail round the Whitsundays but rather than go on a cruise boat, why don't you come out and we could charter a boat and all sail round together?' So the seed was set and we duly organised a four and a half week trip to the Southern Hemisphere including an 8 day bar...

Cairns 14/2/08 Luckily the rain had subsided to showers, and our first day in Cairns was spent looking around town and organising what we wanted to do before heading down to the Whitsundays. Slightly worried by how much all the local tours would cost us, we rented a budget car for the next day, and drove up to Cape Tribulation, where rainforest meets the sea. We saw all the sights that a tour included, but for less than half the price! There were some great ...