Townsville to Brisbane, Australia

We were rewarded for having survived the long, slow day in Tennant Creek (sanity intact!) by the most spectacular sunset - truly, it was the highlight of the day, that and the sausage sandwiches we had for lunch, made out of leftovers from Alice Springs! We spent the following day on the sweltering coach (broken air-con) and reached Townsville in the evening, greeted by another uni friend of Jess's, Chris, who's stydying a Masters there at the moment.

We spent a few days in Townsville hanging out with Chris, indulging in the largest banana butterscotch pancakes ever, escaping the rain and drizzle by going to see the new Pirates of the Caribbean film, and visiting Magnetic Island once the sun made a reapperance. We made a day of it on Maggie, catching the ferry over and doing lots of walks, including up to Hawkings Lookout which had great views of Townsville and the surrounding turquoise water, and topping it off by a brief swim in the sea. We liked Townsville, a lot of people complain about it being 'dead' and by-pass it on their way to more exciting things along the coast but we thought that for a university town there was enough to do. Not a hive of activity but a nice enough place to live and stay (maybe Jess will end up living here one day...?)

Off to Cairns: gateway to the Great Barrier Reef. For the first time in ages it was sunny and warm and our legs saw the sun again as we donned the shorts! We did a snorkelling trip for the day out on the GBR, where we saw a vivid array of fish and corals and even got to snorkel with turtles. It was BRILLIANT, something we'd been looking forward to for ages. Cairns was a vibrant yet relaxed place, geared towards tourists, with lots of smart restaraunts and nightlife. We spent a couple of enjoyable afternoons sitting by the open-air swimming lagoon, people watching and soaking up the sun, and browsing a couple of weekend markets. Jess livened up the pace and went to do something she's always wanted to do - bungy jumping! It was 50m drop over water up in the jungle, and was a massive adrenalin thrill - fantastic! She loved it and surprised herself by her lack of nerves beforehand - to be honest Sara was more anxious and shaky about it all as she watched!

Before heading back down south, we did a 2-day, 1-night tour to Cape Tribulation, the heart of the lush tropical rainforest. We saw lots of wildlife such as cassowaries, gliding squirrels, saltwater crocs, the most gorgeous joeys; drove through the Daintree forest; tried Aboriginal bushtucker berries that turned our tongues blue; and took a cruise up the river, spotting crocodiles. Cape Trib was gorgeous, even in the rain, which didn't stop us going for walks and a bit of a jungle trek. In fact, it just added too the atmosphere as we took a quick swim in a waterhole in the dense rainforest in the rain.

Back in Cairns, we hopped straight onto an overnight coach to Airlie Beach, the gateway to the Whitsunday Islands. Unfortunately, because the weather was unpredictable (we seemed to have been followed by rain since getting to the coast) and our time was limited we decided against using our one full day at Airlie Beach aboard a booze-fueled cruise of the islands and instead enjoyed a relaxed day at the local craft and produce market, and cooking ourselves a barbie by the outdoor lagoon. A much more enjoyable day for us! That night we went out for a drink at a local bar, drinking a toast to our friend back home, Dan, to celebrate him getting a First Class degree, which we'd learnt about in an e-mail that day.

Mackay was our next stop on our Greyhound journey, a small quiet town mid-way down the Queensland coast. Our main reason for going there was so that we could hire a care and drive to the nearby Eungella National Park where, accordong to the guidebooks, you're guaranteed to see a platypus. We arrived raring to swing into action organising getting a car; unfortunately, being a Sunday, EVERYTHING was closed, even the supermarket, which is something we'd never encountered before, even in the small outback townships we'd visited on our travels! At a loss as to what to do, we occupied ourselves with wandering around until it began raining (MORE rain!) and chilling out at our hostel, which was quite cool, being in a converted shopping arcade. The following day we got our car as planned and set out for our mini-roadtrip to Eungella, determined not to let the torrential rain ruin our fun. We enjoyed walking in the rainforest, visiting stunning waterfall cascades, and to our delight did actually see platypus in the river. We'd planned to camp, but not wanting to put our tent up in the rain we spent the night in the car, and were revived in the morning by a brisk 5 km walk and a swim in the spectacular Wheel of Fire waterfall. It was cold, but nothing beats the experience of an icy plunge in a pool in the middle of the rainforest at 7AM with no-one else around you except the sounds of calling lorikeets and other wildlife.

Our last overnight Greyhound trip took us down to Rainbow Beach, home to some gorgeous sand-dunes and multicoloured sands along a seemingly endless stretch of wave-beaten beach. Despite being the coldest day on record in 80 years we braved the wind and had a fantastic early morning couple of hours sea-kayaking. It was meant to be kayaking with dolphins, but unfortunately the weather conditions meant it was too dangerous to go to the usual spot where they're found so we had to content ourselves with paddling along closer to shore. It was still great fun despite the wet and cold.

Ever since hanging out with Lenore when we first got to Brisbane we'd been looking forward to meeting up with her again and going to stay on her family's property in the Sunshine Coast's hinterland.The property is huge, incorporating steep rainforest-clad hills and rolling fields, neighboured by Forestry Reserves and dairy farms. We had a wicked time there and were spoilt rotten over the few days we stayed, and we really enjoyed being included in the family (including a charismatic parrot named Bill) and made to feel at home. A highlight for us was going for walks to explore the rainforest, scrambling up dry rock creek beds and oushing our way through the bush, not following any paths or trails - real bush-walking stuff! We also got to help out one day when we were put to work cutting the creeping weed vine called Cat's Claw that tends to smother native tree species in the forest. It was fiddly work, using secateurs and weedkiller droppers, and was quite daunting given the hanging curtains of the stuff, but we like to think that we helped save a few trees that day. Jess and Sara the eco-warriors!. We ate some delicious home-cooked meals over those few days, including celebrating a couple of belated birthdays with cake, and had a great time in fantastic company.

Before heading back to Brisbane we spent a couple of days camping in Noosa so that Sara could refine her surfing skills with another lesson. Yet again, the rain caught up with us and we spent two very wet days there as it rained solidly. Literally, it didn't stop for 48 hours and our tent and belongings got a bit damp... Camping when it's so wet and cold and there's no chance of drying out completely isn't much fun and we were glad we were only staying a couple of nights and had the prospect of Lenore's dry, comfortable house in Brisbane to look forward to! Having said that, we stayed in good spirits and got to do a few things: hiking in the National Park, window-shopping in the fancy boutiques, and Sara got to go kayaking on the river during a brief moment of sunshine!

After more than 10,000 km, our last-ever Greyhound ride completed our circuit as it took us back to Brisbane. It was good to be back, it's one of favourite places in Australia, but it was scary how quickly our time here has flown by. We kindly got put up by Ash and Lenore again and have spent our last few days here seeing a few things and tying up loose ends as we've hung out with them and their friends. We walked up Mt Coot-tha for it's panoramic views of the city and the surrounding area, ate kangaroo steaks and were taught how to eat Tim Tams the 'proper' way, indulged in Baileys hot chocolates to ward off the cold, and went for a night out in the Valley. Today, our last day in Brissie, we've wandered the Saturday market in Southbank and had a relaxing lunch at a riverside cafe as we prepared ourselves to say farewell to Australia. Amongst all the preparations for our flight to new Zealand, we did manage to find time for one last Aussie tradition, and have just had a barbie for dinner - a fitting way to conclude our time in Australia!

Tomorrow it's going to be hard to say goodbye to our friends and Australia - we've become attached to the place! We arrived thinking we had masses of time ahead of us for our adventures, but it's been a whirlwind of fun, excitement and experiences and has passed all too quickly. We really have loved it and, once again, have to say we WILL be back. In the meantime, New Zealand awaits.....