It just happens that our flight to Hong Kong coincided with the time that a pig decided to sneeze in Mexico and all the worlds press went into a frenzy hoping it was going to be a "pandemic of swine flu". Now since the outbreak of SARS in 2003 Hong Kong and China have been paranoid about diseases and it's not unusual to see people wearing face masks like some sort of comforter. But with the dreaded swine flu being rife worldwide (about 6 deaths out of...

Having become used to staying with people we thought we would continue in the manner we had become accustomed whilst we were in Sydney. For the first two nights we were staying with an old work colleague of Paul's, Craig, and his girlfriend, Carrie, in Woolharra, and the other two nights we were staying with Nic and Sandy who we first met in Moorea and subsequently spent some time in NZ with them. Our 16hour night bus arrived on time in central Sydney and ...

I (Katie) had kept in touch with the family I was an au pair for in Melbourne the last time I was in Australia and now they were living in Brisbane and expecting our arrival. It was the first time they would be meeting Paul which they were looking forward too and that I hadn't seen them for 7 years meant I was really excited about seeing the children again. The family picked us up from the train station and took us the 5 or so km out to their house where we s...

After arriving in Hervey Bay and checking into our excellent hostal we were on the hunt for a good trip out to Fraser Island. We chose a two day one night tour which would be leaving the following morning. Pick up was early and we were bussed down to where we were getting the barge that would take us over to the island. Fraser Island has the title as the largest sand island in the world and it's full of unique sights. Once we had landed on the island we w...

After a gruelling night bus down the coast from Cairns we arrived safe and sound in slightly less humidly in Airlie Beach. This is another popular backpackers retreat down the east coast with a glut of the accommodation vastly overpriced and in an alarming proximity to really bad club or two. We decided that we and Frank the Foetus did not need this so we opted for something a bit quieter out of town. It was another dorm share room that we thought was vastly o...