We had a very uneventful Air Asia flight, thank goodness, from Kuala Lumpur and a smooth touchdown at Gold Coast Airport at Coolangata in Queensland a little bit later than scheduled.As we were arriving in that neck of the woods we had contacted Kath and Col whom we, and Tam, had met six months ago in Alice Springs. We'd suggested a quick cup of coffee as we passed by Pottsville, but they insisted we should stay the night.It was very generous of them and we were very grateful for their hospitality. It was really good to see them again. They met us on the main road to lead to their house where we realised that, it now being NSW, it was actually an hour later and by now 11.30 pm!But Kath and Col are 'live life as it comes' people and they were more than happy to sit and have a blether over a cuppa. Although this was only a brief visit Kath cooked up a storm of a breakfast while we exchanged news of our respective adventures over the last few months. We then headed south to one of our favourite haunting grounds - Byron Bay - where we checked in to a comfortable little apartment for a couple of nights. Soon we were off to the beach for bit of sunbathing, but only managed to open the book at the first page when the rain came on.This area, and much of the east coast of Australia, has been hit by very heavy rainfall over the summer. In fact the weather seemed to change about the time we passed through this in October 2007. However , except for serious flooding this is much needed rain following a ten year drought. As we came to Byron Bay for the first time in November 1997, when the drought started, we wonder whether we are responsible for the start and end of the drought - just as well we came back then!

E+M xxxxx