We hadn't seen Kevin and Michelle for nearly two years and Aoife was just ten months old when they emigrated, so it was an exciting moment when we arrived at their house in Minyama. We were met at the door by Aoife, who without a trace of shyness welcomed us and went to fetch Kevin - It was immediately like arriving home and it felt like we had never been apart. Kevin and Michelle had settled comfortably into the Australian lifestyle with a great house complete ...

Friends gone, we left Sydney in our hire car heading north up the east coast for four days. On the first day we noticed smoke to our left, then a bit later smoke to our right - vaguely concerning. When Heather saw flames ahead of us and a number of vehicles making rapid u-turns our concern level increased and after weighing the options, Heather suggested that we turn around before we die in a sea of flames. We took an 80 kilometre detour before arriving in Forst...

The next stage our Australian tour was flying to Cairns, where we picked up another hire car and drove to our respective accommodation in Cairns. The next day was our big event; we boarded a catamaran and set sail for the "Great Barrier Reef". The day was beautiful and sunny and by the time we had reached Michaelmas Cay, we were in a very chilled frame of mind; MC was picture postcard perfect (except for a huge bird colony that were initially reluctant to share...