Before we start on these Aussie postings, I'll just put something in perspective (because we didn't util we got here!) The drive we are on down the cost is roughly equal to driving from the north of Scotland to the bottom of Greece. In a month. So you can imagine it is pretty full on and action-packed, so I apologise for the monster posts.

The flight overnight to Brisbane was unremarkable apart form the fact for once Brett did not sleep and the fact that there was cheese. A crappy thumb of cheddar each but it was cheese!!! Could youy imagine going 7 months with no cheese (apart from the odd processed thing or paneer)? Hell I tell you.

After our transfer to Cairns and picking up our Hippie Camper (AKA s***ty Camper) we mainlined it to the supermarket to do what had to be done...stock up and have a BBQ!! (Which included purchasing a huge block of cheese too of course.) We got to site and met up with our buddies Mel and Graeme (see Bali) and had ourselves a good feed of burgers, sausages and some chicken I think and washed id down with (part of) a box of wine. Aussie dining at its finest, I assure you!

The weather was poor in Cairns, so we delayed our Great Barrier Reef trip for a week until we got down to the Whitsundays. The four of us opted instead to go off up to Port Douglas (via Mossman Boulders/river). And we got a taste of the good life for North Queenslanders. Beautiful little town and got a great sunset along with a dose of wildlife with tropical birds and huge bats everywhere. We we'ren''t too sure what our Aussie trip was about, but we soon realised wildlife and natural beauty was exceptional here.

The 2 day trip down to the Whitsundays was broken up with a big detour to the Milla Milla waterfall circuit of three of 4 waterfalls in the space of 10kms which was spectacular even if the rain cut our stops at them pretty short! The following day was full driving day with nothing but a pitstop for lunch in Townsville and a stole along The Strand on th seafront.

Meeting up with Mel and Graeme again the The Whitsundays that night, we had our first Aussie mammal encounter with a friendly possum picking bread out of our hands (although the German bloke who introduced us insited it was a wombat). We went out on a boat trip the following day to the Whithaven beach and out snorkeling on the GB Reef in a couple of spots. As well as awesome corals and some BIG tropical fish we got to see a huge turtle and a stingray too! The beach really was paradise. We have become "beach snobs" a bit on this trip but this place really beats them all. Photos won't really do it justice, but we'll stick a few up anyway. It runs for something like 12-15kms and is wide too so there was no overcrowding while we stopped for lunch and really enjoyed cooling off in the shallows. All in all an awesome day that will go down as one of the highlights.

Our wildlife adventure continued the next day as we stopped at Eungella NP to camp and "hunt" for the elusive platypus (or platy-pooose as Stacey says). We ot lucky and spotted a little fella in the evening and then a smaller one again the next morning. Smaller than you'd think and less than 2ft long. (On the way the car broke down as a metal plate on the underside ripped back and was dragging. Brett managed to get a small adjustable spanner off a local guy who looked like an Australian Yosemite Sam character and save the day by stealing a bolt off something else and forcing it to hold the plate. Man job for the day....DONE!)

Another big drive ahead that day, to get to Town of 1770/Agnes Water where Captain Cook apparently first stepped ashore. We broke up that long run with a pitstop in Rockhampton, home of the best Aussie steak apparently, and picked up a couple of nice cuts from the local butcher to cook up later. Brett hours of watching Malcolm cook steak to perfection had finally rubbed off it seemed as it was a fine effort that night with mushrooms and mash. :)

Not since Debs & Chris' birthday about 10 years ago had Brett been on a surfboard and Stace had never been, so you can guess how crap we were when we got our lesson! The waves really take it out of you and we got a proper workout for a few hours. Brett managed to get twice, even if the water was only 2ft deep!

Getting to the Fraser Coast the next day we camped "rough" at a National Park overnight. It turns out that Fraser Island requires 4x4 vehicle (which we don't have) and it is generally only recommended that experienced drivers do it as the going is rough and so many people get stuck! With Stacey's hips and legs giving her a bit of jip on long walks since Nepal, the 3-4 hours foot hike to site was not really an option either. So we opted to camp 'rough' again in a National Park right by the spit that links Fraser Isaland to the mainland. Again, another beautiful streatch of sand and postcard-sunset. Brett unfortunately though was pre-occupied helping a French bloke search for his keys. They found them and the couple had to rely on the criminal expertise of a local Aussie to break into their car for them. There's a historical joke there I'm sure, but I'm not judging. They have a bad record with judges.

We rose early and stopped at Rainbow beach for breakfast, only for Stace to get caught in a torrential downpour while Brett was in the loo! Stace didn't even get to see the beach!

Just outside of Brisbane is Australia Zoo (Steve Irwin's place). We couldn't resist so stumped up the $60 each to go and it was totally worth it although there was not as wide a range of animals as you might think. Highlights: feeding Kangaroos and petting snoozy koalas (See pictures).

Final stop in Queensland was Brisbane. We stayed in what can only be described as a crappy trailer park, but we did meet a lovely old boy called Gilly from Newcastle who had moved to Oz many many years ago. He gave a us bit of a life history over coffee one day and it sounded like something out of a movie. Really nice chap.

Brisbane itself is a bit of an odd city with highrise tower blocks interupted periodically with dwarfed churches and historical buildings. The main square was a throwback to Nottingham's "Slab Square" complete with town house and 2 lions guarding it out front. We got a bit of culture on the history of the River City and a free tour up the clock tower in the oldest lift in Australia (tedious claim to fame, I know.) A strole though the Botanical Gardens, over the footbridge to the esplanade and markets was topped off with our first PINT of beer in 7 months. Thanks Carlton Mid for quenching our thirst!

The morning we went to leave Brisbane our side door to our crappy campervan jammed, even the RAC man couldn't fix it and ended up jamming it shut - better than jammed open I guess. Anyway, point being it was a Sunday and meant that we had to hang around until Monday morning to get the van swapped and get on our way New South Wales!

(Wow. that was a monster post. Only a week behind now!)