New Year the other side of the world.

Maybe we're getting complacent after four months of travel so I'll make my excuses for the photos now before we start. Firstly Sydney Opera House is just very photogenic (if a building can be??) and secondly it really is very hot so lots of pictures of water.....

OK..we landed in Australia early in the morning(0800) found a suitable bus to take us into the city and fortunately the hotel were happy to look after our bags until we could check in. One thing we have learned is the importance of timing the travel to coincide with check in times. It didn't seem so important when booking all those months ago but can get quite tiring if you don't get it right.

It must have been a 'comfortable' 28 degrees as we strolled around Sydney Harbour and had a lunchtime siesta in the park just above the Opera house until check in. We were situated in the historic and arty quarter 'The Rocks' so little shops, boutiques and cafés. Very pleased with the room and the view of The Opera House but just couldn't bend enough to see the bridge as well but the first thing was a dip in the pool.......

Compared with Christmas, New Year is a really big event and the activities to prepare were in full swing. What we couldn't get our heads around was ticketed and non ticketed areas and the no return rule. This became fully apparent on the day as we found that the ticketed areas could sell alcohol and the non- ticketed areas, where we sat, had a total alcohol ban!!! As we were only 5 minutes from the front we went down about 4pm after a lovely fish lunch but were just in time to be able to lay a towel down at a suitable viewing point we had checked out earlier. Then the crowds really arrived an estimated 1.5 million of them.....once an area was full they closed it off and if you left you couldn't come back....so from 4 till 12 in the sun and limited refreshments....it was a test of character and aching limbs....should have done it when we were younger. However the air display, children's fireworks at 9 and the main event were as spectacular as advertised....and very shortly after we enjoyed some fizzy stuff and chocolates in the hotel room watching the parties below. I have some video but if you want pictures just look on the Internet, it was really worth the wait.

The hop on hop off bus was a great way to get around and plan some visits and allowed us to spend a few hours on Bondi beach. I have never had so much fun in the waves especially so close to shore as no one apart from surfers really goes more than 10 m out as it really is dangerous. We visited the aquarium which was very good and took boat trip to Watson's Bay at the tip of the sea. This bit of the adventure is supposed to be the holiday part so hopefully more relaxing....hmmm we'll see.

Nice quick flight and as an internal flight it was really strange to just collect bags and walk out with no passports or customs... into Brisbane.

Probably adopted a bit too much of the 'laid back' Australian style as upon arrival in Brisbane at 10pm we're still to arrange the 'Greyhound' bus and hotels for our journey up the coast to Cairns. Still, thankful for free WiFi that actually works, we managed to book up our week and set off for Hervey Bay the following day where we had a overnight stop and rather hectic day trip to Fraser Island. It's all sand and single track paths so a bit of off roading and digging other people out. After that we made stops at Mackay where we had a great day with Michelle, from 'Wild China' who is definitely our favourite Aussie. She took us to a rainforest looking for platypus (no luck today), bathed in the river under a waterfall, drank in the first pub I have ever seen with a launch pad for hang gliders in the garden and a real Aussie barby with her parents. Thanks for a great evening. Airlie Beach was next (sadly, our lack of planning meant we couldn't get a trip to the Whitsunday islands) and then Townsville before reaching Cairns. 1940kms in 7 days .......coach travel wasn't actually as boring as expected....And they supply free WiFi (getting to be as important as good toilets in China) so we managed to catch up with the blog, probably the worst part was the 40min drivers mealstop at services with no air-con ......sweaty....and we were all queuing to get back on the bus ASAP...

Our week in Cairns actually turned out to be at Palm Cove 25km North of the city but a really lovely seaside town and very spacious & comfortable apartment looking out onto a golf course. The briefing from reception was look out for the cane toads, brown snakes, big spiders and kangaroos on the walk to the accommodation in the dark. Fortunately we saw none of these but several cat sized shapes ran alongside us and when they issued a very shrill skreeching I turned to reassure Catherine only to find her 10m further up the track and going fast....on questioning her later she replied "I thought you were right behind me"..... From the balcony we could see all kinds of exotic birds, toads when it rained plus, to our excitement, a couple of kangaroos occasionally hopping across the 18th green.........so far we have been too slow to get a photo!

Apart from resting, writing the blog and planning the remainder of our adventure we managed a great day out to the Great Barrier Reef and snorkelling. This was an adventure as the Agincourt reef is 75km off shore and the sea was rough ( the crew issued free sea sick pills before leaving harbour) and jumping off the boat so far out to sea, with strong winds and current was a little bit scary. You had to keep an eye on where the boat was and not get carried too far away...and this was the other feature of Australia that is not apparent at home. They may have miles and miles of beautiful beaches and the weather to enjoy them but you can't go in the water except in a few select places due to sharks, crocodiles, large and more problematic the small jellyfish as well as rip tides etc. You may notice the stinger suits we wore for snorkling. To make up for all this they do have large swimming pools and gas barbecues sites set up along the sea shore...all free. We're sitting at one right now in Cairns writing the blog as the view and the breeze from the sea is great.

Right....off to book the India part of the trip as we know prior preparation prevents poor performance.....