The last day in Cairns was sad especially as Lindsay spent all of it in bed sick after one last sample of the free backpackers meal in Rhino bar. It tasted ok at the time but made her very ill, so Ian packed up the campervan - our mode of transport down the East coast, and shoved Lindsay and her sick bowl into the van for an 11 hour road trip to the Whitsunday Isles. Lindsay perked up a bit after reading in the Lonely Planet that the islands are the Australian ve...

After accidentally blagging $2 discount on the airport shuttle bus (we just told the driver we were told it was $10 not $12 and he went "ok"), we arrived at Base Backpackers in Sydney. The most noticeable thing in Sydney was that with Christmas 1 week away, there was virtually no Xmas atmosphere, no Xmas music in shops or on the radio and few decorations - the complete opposite to any British city. Many shops in Sydney close for 2-4 weeks over the perio...