We are so very excited. We arrived in hot, humid, tropical Queensland two days ago and we have two trips booked to take us out to the Whitsunday Islands and out to the reef. Thursday was somewhat challenging, as we had to be up at 3.30am in order to get going by 4am and get to the airport for our 6am flight. The cycle there wasn't too bad, as traffic was minimal, but once we got to the airport and relaxed a little, it was difficult to get going again. It was a s...

It was a day of firsts today, as we took our first intrepid steps into the Adelaide Hills, saw our first wild snake (an Eastern Brown) and I cuddled (yes, cuddled) a real, live koala. We got up early and cycled into the city to catch one of the few buses going up to Mount Lofty on a Sunday. It was already a scorcher of a day, at 24 degress at 9am. The sun was shining, the sky was blue, and the dream I'd had the night before that we'd overslept and had to go to V...

So it's now 2011 in the Land of Oz and what a year it's been thus far. New Year's Eve was a typically confusing affair, with Howie wanting to do one thing and me wanting to do another. In the end, we watched the Glenelg fireworks on the beach, and at midnight we had tried to get into every bar in Henley Beach without paying, but had ended up in Copenhagen ice-cream parlour eating a slice of mars cheesecake(with free ice-cream that Howie blagged for us). All in a...

G'day all, we're back in Oz again after our awesome trip to the Land of the Long White Cloud and it's 40 degrees here at Henley Beach. It was a very long, very tiring journey home from New Zealand; on our last evening, we met up woth some of Howie's friends who were living in and visiting Christchurch. Needless to say, the ale did flow, and it meant that we missed the last bus to the airport and had to get a taxi there instead. After bindling Howie into the taxi...

Farewell to the Icebreaker! The beautiful, hefty mean-machine has taken us all over the South Island and we are at pains to give it back... Still give it back, we have after a long loooong drive up from Shag Point this morning. After our fantastic Christmas in Wanaka, we spent Boxing Day hiking up to the Rob Roy Glacier in the Mount Aspiring National Park. It is a spectacular day hike, passing by huge waterfalls and finally getting a great view of the Rob Roy Gla...