Clare writes: Well, Miami beach wasn't on our itinerary, but here we are a minute from the surf in, alright - not THAT Miami beach, but a resort with the same name on the Gold Coast south of Brisbane. We had an okay few days in Brisbane - quite a laid back city with lots of nice places to walk along the river - floating walkways, mangrove boardwalk, botanic gardens etc. The South Bank is not dissimilar to London, with big new arts centres and their equivalent o...

Clare writes: After a couple of nice days 'the Sunshine Coast' North of Brisbane is not living up to its name - yes - it's raining again!! We had one nice day on the beach at Dickie Beach (UV danger - extreme, burn time - 6mins) but the next day the weather cracked and all we saw of the Glasshouse Mountains were wierd, spooky grey shapes rising out of wet grey forests and garlanded in whisps of cloud and the next rainstorm. We stayed last night with my old ki...

Clare writes: No, that's NOT me in the picture - these waters are scary places - we've seen big scary warning signs about box jellyfish and salt-water crocs all dow the coast - but now there are sharks too! And it looks so inviting!! We had a little diversion inland to Lake Maraboon where we helped land some red-claw (it's a crayfish, not a disease) and the gemfield country where Sheila fossicked for sapphires for about ten minutes. But now we're back on the Bru...

1 FebruarySarina:Clare writesOK. There's been a slight change of plan. Cyclone Ellie knocked our sailing trip into a cocked hat... not only that, but we heard that Airlee Beach was about to be cut off by flood water so we legged it south!! We must have been amongst the last to get away - swollen creeks churning inches below bridges, inundated fields as far as the eye could see, the waters of which were beginning to lap at the edge of the road. It was a scary driv...

2 FebruaryRockhamptonClare writes:Hurray! It barely rained today! But the cyclone hit Mission Beach where we stayed last week, and has cut off Ingham, where we also spent a night. Looks like we've had a lucky escape! All roads in and out of Airlee Beach are flooded now and Mackay has plenty of closed roads too. Well, we finally saw a cassowary today - and it was rather dissappointing! Ever since we've been in northern Queensland there have been roadsigns warning ...