New South Wales

The weather was immediately hotter on arriving in Australia. After arriving in Sydney we drove out to Katoomba in the Blue Mountains, we stayed in a beautiful house for two nights and from there spent some time in the Blue Mountains National Park. We saw the famous Three Sisters rock formations and took the scenic railway to the valley floor, it descends on a 52 degree incline - the steepest in the world! We also drove out to the Jenolan caves and saw some spectacular limestone formations.

We returned to Sydney in time for New Year, we walked miles around the city seeing the Harbour Bridge and Opera House, we nearly walked Mum off her feet and she was hanging back by the time we got back to our apartment! We found a spot to view the fireworks on New Years Eve at Clarke's Point, Hunters Hill and got there by 3.45pm with a picnic to pass the time in the blazing sun - it was a long wait!! The family firework display was at 9pm followed by the Parade of Light, a parade of decorated boats around the harbour. The midnight fireworks from the Harbour Bridge were spectacular though, there were also barges in the harbour at different points and the fireworks from each one were synchronised. We queued for an hour to catch a bus back to the car afterwards as there were so many people there.

On leaving Sydney we spent a day at Maroota convention before continuing north to Moorland, staying in Newcastle overnight. In Moorland we stayed with the Wards for the weekend, we stayed with Owen and Rachel and their 8 month old son Jacob while Mum and Dad stayed with Owens parents Don and Rosalie. We saw our first kangaroos and wallabies there! We continued our journey north from there stopping at Nambucca Heads, Coffs Harbour, overnight in Ballina, Byron Bay and Surfers Paradise.

Queensland

First we visited the Lone Pine Koala Sanctuary in south Brisbane and saw, you've guessed it, lots of Koalas! Next we stayed with 'Step-Auntie' Philippa and her new husband Owen in Dalby north-west of Brisbane for two nights, it was lovely to see Philippa again and meet Owen for the first time. Martin went out on the farm with Owen and his Dad one day, they grow sorghum for biofuels, and mung beans. The fields are so big that they plough and plant using GPS! Philippa took the rest of us to briefly visit Owens parents and Colin and Marj Wolfenden who had visited Mum and Dad in the UK and knew the Watkins family. The ground in the Dalby area is very soft as there is 70 feet of topsoil before you reach any rock. Consequently the telegraph poles don't stay upright and all start leaning in different directions. The houses are also all built on stilts and have to be adjusted a few times a year as one side of the house starts to sink!

We spent a few hours in Toowoomba where we went to find the house Martin and Joy Thomas have just bought, before driving on to Maleney to stay with Elizabeth (Bib) and Trevor Evans, originally from Welshpool. They live very near Australia Zoo owned by the late Steve Irwin, so we went for the day. We returned to Brisbane the next day and spent a few hours in the city before going to the Outback Spectacular dinner show on the Gold Coast. It's a show set in the outback with horse riding stunts and competitions and was good fun to watch. Then we took Mum and Dad to the airport and waved them off as they left for home. Our three weeks with them over in a flash!

In Brisbane we stayed with Elton and Sarah Johnston and their sons Rohan and Lloyd, whom we met at Winchester in New Zealand. We had a wonderful time with them, Elton is also an electrician so he took Martin out for a day while I went shopping!! Elton specialises in lightening protection systems so that was something new for Martin. Monday night we met up with Danielle Blanch (who we met in the UK) and her friends Glen and Jo Mellor for a meal before taking a walk around the city at night, Martin had a go at some rock climbing afterwards and didn't do to badly considering it was his first go. We met many of Elton and Sarah's friends when they came around for a barbeque. Amongst them were Lachlan and Jane Campbell and their 10 month old daughter Leah, they took us out on their boat down the Gold Coast one day and we had a great time.

On our last day in Brisbane we met up for lunch with CJ, a work colleague on holiday here. We completed our 2700 kilometre journey, before flying to Adelaide. We had origionally intended to continue up the coast to Cairns but bad weather, flooding and also rumours of a cyclone up there persuaded us to head to South Australia instead.