Down Under

Hi everyone and apologies for the lack of communication recently. You'd think of all of our destinations on this trip, that it would be easy to get online in Oz…but not so! Most of the hotels/B&B's didn't have wifi or wanted to charge stupid money for the privilege. Anyway..here's what you've missed…

We arrived in Oz on the 13th December, having flown Cambodia to Bangkok, Bangkok to Melbourne, Melbourne to Sydney and finally Sydney to Cairns. It all went well apart from getting hot and flustered in Melbourne where we had just 1hr to collect bags and check back in for our connecting flight and get through Australia's tight quarantine and customs!

So after about 36 hours of flights and sitting around in various airports, we arrived in Cairns at about 6pm local time, collected our Mitsubishi Pajero (Shogun at home) and drove 2 hours north to the Daintree National Park. We were very pleased to have arrived on firm ground and to be back in civilization, although Andy didn't have much fun on the last leg of the journey and we had to stop several times for roadside comfort breaks…in the dark!!

So feeling tired and a bit poorly we arrived in the dark at Daintree Rainforest Bungalows, basically a shed on stilts…needless to say Andy was very excited! After a good nights sleep close to nature (meaning bugs and strange noises!) we ventured further north to investigate Daintree NP and Cape Tribulation (about as far north on the Oz East Coast you can get without a 4WD…yes we did have a 4WD but the boring hire company said we couldn't use it…well that was like a challenge to Andy!). It was very hot and extremely humid, we were very grateful for the nighttime storm which cleared the air a little…and discovered that it was the rainy season and therefore the reason for it being so quiet! Feeling sorry for ourselves and our poorly tummy's (bought a bug from Cambodia we think) we still managed to make the most of our time and went off exploring the humid and mosquito ridden rainforests and the stunning and almost deserted beaches - no swimming though due to the killer jellyfish - no fun! What a beautiful place.

We could quite happily have stayed a bit longer, but with only 10 days to get 1700 miles (direct) south to Brisbane, we had to move on! So day 3 we drove to Mossman Gorge where we had a nice walk around the rainforest and along the river, and then down to Mission Beach via the beautiful but slightly hick Atherton Tablelands. At Mission Beach we stayed in the forest again, this time at the Sanctuary which has fantastic views out to the ocean. It felt a little isolated as all guests have to be collected from the car park in a 4wd, the walk back to the car park was steep, hot and through the forest which was home to lots of frogs and Cassowary's, large birds like emu's which can attack people!! Again we could have stayed longer, especially after a brief visit to the stunning golden North Mission beach just a short walk away.

Day 4 was a long one in the car, with a crap radio and long straight almost empty roads but with strict speed limits…doh! Thankfully when we reached Airlie Beach we were stopping for 2 nights and got booked onto a sailing boat trip out to the Whitsunday Islands and the Great Barrier Reef. We had a fantastic day on a beautiful ex-racing sailing boat, with a fun crew and small group of other tourists. The weather was amazing and we had great visibility for snorkeling and scuba diving on the reef…we spotted loads of fish, including nemo and friends!

We stopped at various beaches on our way down the coast, including Yeppoon and Emu Park, near Rockhampton, where we also had a day walking and getting very wet at Byfield National Park. We were very lucky to avoid the floods in this area, as by-the-time we reached Sydney, Rockhampton and around was suffering from severe floods and cyclone warnings (and still is).

At Mon Repos near Bundaberg we were extremely lucky to experience Loggerhead Turtles laying eggs and we were even involved in helping the Rangers to relocate the nest and all 163 eggs to a safer location away from the risk of high tides and storms.

The last stop on our tour of the Queensland coast was at the Glass House Mountains, about 80km northwest of Brisbane. We didn't have very good weather here, but it didn't stop us getting the walking shoes and jackets on and heading out for a good walk to Kondalilla Falls and around.

On the 23rd December we flew from Brisbane to Sydney and got the train to Gymea, one of the southern suburbs to stay with Ali and Tony. Lauren and Paul were already there and we bumped into them on the platform as they were heading off to the beach. We had a fantastic although surreal Christmas with Lol and Paul, it was certainly different to being at home as it was about 35ºC! We started off at Kate, Chris and Evie's for pressie opening and then headed over to Chris' parents house for a delicious Christmas lunch and much needed cooling off in the pool. We finished off the day with a light dinner and plenty of drinks with Ali, Tony, Chris, Ellie, Steve, Carly, Bev, Frances and Normy. It was amazing to be so far from home and our friends and family and yet be so welcomed in by another family (or two!).

Before we left Sydney we managed to squeeze in Christmas drinks in the sun at the Opera House and a yummy lunch at The Rocks with Lol and Paul; fabulous walks in the Blue Mountains, west of Sydney and a horrendous spider scenario (I swear it was the size of my hand…Andy came to my rescue and gave it the flip flop treatment, we found out the next day it was harmless…but hairy and ugly!); delicious 6 course dinner with bubbles and welcoming in the new year on the beach at Cronulla; revisiting some of my old haunts at Coogee (Pip and Kate should recognise the piccies to follow); and a bit of Aussie-Pommie banter over the cricket! Brill!

Unfortunately our time in Australia had to come to an end, we were very sad to say goodbye to the Gorman's and Price's, but the time has come to move on. We have just arrived in Auckland, New Zealand for the last leg of our journey. It feels like we are now heading home although we still have 4 fab weeks left. Tomorrow we collect our tiny campervan and begin the adventure of touring the north and south island. We will let you know how it goes…

Love to you all and happy new year

G&A xxx