We survived our last long journey in 'The Beast' which took us to Cairns, the capital of the tropical far north of Queensland and the major city closest to the Great Barrier Reef. We had come here to dive and after bidding a tearful farewell to our trusty companion of the last 3 months, 'the Beast' we went out to the reef. We went to live on a boat for 4 days to do as much diving as we could. To make sure our brains could still function - its been a whi...

Our grins from seeing the turtles soon disappeared as we had to endure a 10 hour car journey in 30-40 degree heat in a car without air conditioning to Airlie beach. Being 10 hours closer to the equator brought us an increase in heat and humidity and after suffering overnight in our tent, we packed it away for the final time. Simon would have happily lay awake sweating to save a few quid but not me, I put my foot down and from that point on we were staying in air ...

Having been away from the coast for over a week, we were glad to get back in the surf at the swanky resort town of Noosa on the Sunshine Coast. As there are no decent surf beaches North of Noosa, we had our final fix of wave riding. Between spells on the beach, we explored the surrounding National park and got to see dolphins playing in the waves just off the headland where we sat watching the sunset. The only down side to being in Noosa was walking past all...

We reluctantly bid farewell to Byron Bay (seriously cool beach town full of alternative lifestyles and great surf) we headed North once more crossing into Queensland. We managed to avoid most of the theme parks along the Gold coast (Australias equivalent to Florida) but the little boy in me wouldn't allow us to miss out on the Southern Hemisphere's biggest water park. After the fun, we arrived in Brisbane, the state's capital. We stayed a while in this ...

Moving slowly north up Australia's east coast, having a couple of days here, a couple there, we crossed from Victoria into New South Wales. Deciding that the sea termperature was now not life threatening, Simon bought himself a bodyboard, supposedly to get in tune with the Ocean before he started surfing. I was quite happy on the beach working on my tan, although he didnt give me much peace as he kept wanting me to watch just in case he caught a wave. Child! I fe...