HAPPY NEW YEAR FOR 2007!!!

Can you believe it, the start of another year has begun. Hope everyone had a brilliant festive season and celebrations and didn’t get too drunken!

Was really lucky as Alison and I had a brilliant time away in Queensland. It was totally action packed and I ended up diving 6 times. Started our vacation on Friday 22nd night when I finished work. It was hectic, a day of death. Had a few poor sick animals to put to sleep. Then it was time to head to Sydney. Managed to fit in a manicure and pedicure, which was a hilarious experience as one of the ‘beauticians’ was a transvestite in a hot pink dress and heels! Flew to Airlie beach the next day in the Whitsundays where we stayed for a couple of days. Arrived to realise Alison and I were booked into a daggy backpackers with sheets as old as your granny which were a delicious beige colour! So managed to swap accommodation by harassing the local tourist info guy for help in finding new accommodation, not an easy task the day before xmas eve!

Hired a car and took a atrip to Bowen where we relaxed on the beach and had lunch in a little restaurant. Starting to get used to having fine food, and going out at night with our santa hats on! Christmas day was a relaxing affair after a very funny night out dancing in a club til the wee small hours. Relaxed by a man-made lagoon in Airlie in the scorchio sun. Such a different experience and no roast turkey for me (actually had seafood)! Queensland is a very hot place and because of this you would think having a nice dip in the sea would be great to cool down but no. That’s because when the sun comes out so do all the stingers! (jellyfish), oh did I mention sharks, stingrays, sea snakes and lion fish too??? So if you want to swim you need life insurance! Apparently the salt water crocs that live in the rivers of Queensland, have been found swimming up to 200km out to sea! Yep so that’s yet another hazard and potential experience you could come across.

Boxing day started early as we were preparing to board the catamaran “Powerplay” for 3 days cruising round the Whitsundays. Absolutely brilliant there were 18 of us plus 3 crew. Everyone was so lovely and we had a great time. Alison and I were the only certified divers so literally had the dive instructor to ourselves. Lovely diving especially all the coloured fishes and coral. Also saw some sting rays and the water temperature was 28c!! It really was a brilliant time, everyone was such a laugh on the boat and we took some crazy pics on the most beautiful beach ever called “Whitehaven”- where we even saw a baby shark.

After the trip we hired a car and drove to Townsville, where we stayed overnight and dined in a seafood restaurant on the sea front. Townsville is a really cute town on the coast which has this huge hill (Red Rock Castle Hill) where you get amazing panoramic views for miles. There’s also Magnetic Island which can be seen from the coast. Unfortunately not enough time to visit! Then the next day continued our adventure by driving 300km to Cairns, popping to Mission beach for lunch. Unfortunately the heavens decided to open as we ventured north into a much more tropical climate. Alison’s Canadian friend Bella joined us and she was totally fab. We went to the Daintree which is north of Cairns and is the oldest rainforest in the world, older than the Amazon. Totally amazing with so many species of flora and fauna. Its also home to a large turkey called a CASSOWARY. Yet another bizarre creature from down under.

New Years Eve was fab, and a great end to a very crazy year, where so much has happened. Bella, Alison and I decided to go diving again on a day trip and where better than the Great Barrier reef. We headed out to a few different reefs and had an amazing experience seeing Hawksbill Turtles! One actually swam towards us and under us literally a hands touch away, brilliant for such a shy animal. We were pretty tired from our 6am start but headed out to dinner and of course to party for the New Year in Cairns, which involved great fireworks an outdoor band and then on to a club.

One thing I’ve learnt its getting harder to keep up with the young things!!!

So here’s to a fabtastic New Year and an amazing 2007!!!!

Take care and I hope to catch up with you soon

Loads a love from

Kt n the kangaroos! xxxxxxxxxxx