Quick update:

We booked a hop-on-hop-off bus pass to take us from Sydney, all the way to Cairns. The plan was to be a simple one. A long weekend in Brisbane, then on to Rainbow Beach to allow us to visit Fraser Island, then on to Airlie Beach to visit the Whitsunday Islands, then on to Cairns for diving and the Great Barrier Reef.

It turns out that the highway north of Brisbane is closed in quite a number of places. Some bits do reopen, but close just as quickly. It is possible for us to fly up to Cairns, but at some cost.

Even if the roads do open, torrential rain is expected to remain for the next couple of weeks. We can't really see the point in fighting the weather to visit the coast, when everything we intend to do requires nice weather to really get the most out of it! The picture attached to this post shows the rain from our balcony, overlooking Brisbane. I'm told it only gets worse the further north you go.

So, we've decided to yield to Mamma Nature, and head back down to Sydney, before heading out to explore Canberra, Victoria and Tasmania. That is the current plan.