After our inland tour, we returned to Townsville to get a couple of things done to the car. While staying there previously, we had met a lovely Irish couple called Lorcan and Aoifa (pr. Eefa). Lorcan is a mechanic and looked Ramsey over for us and identified problems with the anti-roll bars (no, I don't know really what they are, but they stop the car toppling over apparently). Ramsey also needed a service.

Lorcan had found a job with a local company called Kowari Motors and we therefore took the car along there. The boss was a nice guy and unlike all the garages we had come across in Sydney made no attempt to rip us off. He pointed out some things that needed doing in the medium term, but advised us that whether we did them depended on how long we keep the car - something we're not entirely certain about yet.

While back in Townsville, we just had to go to the rugby again because (as those who see our Facebook pages already know) "The Cowboys are our team, And it's our dream to see them at the top"! (Yes, we know that's terrible, but it's one of the official fan songs.)

This time the Cowboys were playing the Cronulla Sharks, a lowly outfit whom they were expected to beat handily. It didn't work out like that initially, however, as the Sharks pinned the home team back inside their own 20-metre line for most of the first half. But with the Cowboys' defence holding firm, the first period ended 0-0, which is almost unheard of in Rugby League.

It was particularly frustrating for the guy sat behind us, who was clearly trying to impress a young lady with his knowledge of the game. Unfortunately for him, she could see that both teams were playing poorly and all his attempts to enthuse her with his sporting knowledge fell flat. We didn't fancy his chances later!

The second half was better and the Cowboys ran out winners by 20-4. It was fascinating to watch their star player, Johnathan Thurston, who had been held completely in check before the break, step up a gear and completely destroy the Sharks' defence. We've watched him live and on TV a few times now and he seems to have the ability to see openings and act on them long before lesser players.

Lorcan and Aoifa had given us a lift to the stadium but we caught one of the supporters' buses (complete with awful team songs) back to our camp. Its primary destination was a small place just up the road from Townsville called Bushland Beach. It was clear that 90% of the passengers were regulars, so much so that the driver dropped them off individually outside their front doors.

This is a fairly random sort of blog so from sport I shall jump to… hair!

Katy took the clippers to mine and used the shortest setting all over for the first time. Let's just say that I appear to have an egg on top of my neck!

Also in our camp were three Australian girls who were working their way round the country doing casual work such as staffing burger bars at the many fairs and shows that tour around. Two of them had quite short hair and they explained that they had cut it all off recently for charity. They had raised more than $3,000 as well as their donating their tresses to make wigs for cancer victims whose hair had dropped out from the treatment. Nice one, girls. Shame my own hair wouldn't be much use for that purpose!

Katy needed a trim, not having had one since long ago in New Zealand. We asked at a few salons but even for a straightforward 3" off the bottom all round, they wanted a minimum of $55 (c. £27.50). I was gearing myself up to hack it myself, when we found a hairdressing teaching academy which only charged $15.

Ok, it's probably unfair to criticise, as the trainee who performed the cut did a good job - perfectly straight and very neat. But neither of us had realised in advance how long it would take. A quick trim in a salon would only take 15 minutes normally, 20 tops. This haircut took just over two and a half hours! That's 150 minutes! 9,000 seconds! It would have been quicker to cut each bloody strand individually!

Katy said she quite enjoyed the experience. The girl's technique was to pin up Katy's hair and cut small sections at a time. And for each section her actions were: comb, comb, comb, comb, comb, comb, pause… snip! And when I say snip, I mean about an eighth of an inch was removed. No more. Katy said she felt she was having a head massage rather than a haircut. All very well for her, but I sat there and read The Australian newspaper from cover to cover - even the business section. I even resorted to such magazines as Take A Break which normally bring me out in boils in order to stave off boredom.

To me it wasn't a case of $40 saved, it was a case of 150 minutes lost - time I will never get back. If I live for another 25 years, being awake for an average of 16 hours a day, that represents the loss of 0.0017% of the rest of my conscious life! A measurable amount!

That day, by the way, was our second wedding anniversary. We spent the evening in a pub called the Brewery drinking their own-brewed beers and playing pool. I have to mention this as I beat Katy 2-1, a pretty rare event. Admittedly, we had another game afterwards and she levelled the scores, but it didn't really count. Honest.

Oh, and thank you to Aoifa, who bought us an anniversary card which we took to the Brewery and stuck on out table for all to see.

As I said before, this blog switches from topic to topic at random. One might say it leaps about… Which brings me neatly to frogs!

On the outside of the campsite office is a notice board, behind which live a few frogs. At night, they poke their heads out and climb the walls and do whatever else frogs do. They also pose quite nicely for photos, so have a look at out latest pics when we finally get some bandwidth to get them up.

We're still frustrated by the internet situation in Australia. It's not generally available at campsites except at exorbitant rates such as $2 for 15 minutes. That's fine for checking emails if you're on holiday for a couple of weeks, but impossible to justify for a 10-month trip and an hour or two per day.

We heard from our friends Katherine and Ian who are currently in Thailand. There, broadband is either extremely cheap or free. The Australian government is starting a $43 billion broadband investment programme and the country most certainly needs it!

Speaking of money brings me finally to Monopoly. We have a travel set and played twice with Aoifa and Lorcan. The first game saw Aoifa victorious and Katy second (my own performance was less than wonderful). In the rematch, Katy just beat me, so she's now proclaiming herself world Monopoly champion!

Richard