So, due to laziness last time we just put up some photos. Now our creative juices have been restored (we basically lay in til 10.30 this morning and feel much better now), here's some info on what we have actually done.

Fraser Island
As we mentioned, world's largest sand dune island, with a rainforest on top of it. Apparently, this isn't meant to happen but hey, it has. You can't swim in the sea off Fraser Island but you can swim in the lovely lakes and creeks (as featured in our photos). We did a 2 day tour here and met some really cool people. Oh, and a bunch of teenagers we didn't speak to (they were in to young people things, like flirting and terrible music) and some Germans who just wanted to speak German. Very loudly.

Rockhampton
Staying firmly on the backpacker trail we headed to Rockhampton. This is steak and rodeo country. So, being traditionalists at heart, we ate steak and watched a rodeo. Shhh. Don't tell the Aussies. Argentinian steak is a lot better.

The rodeo was a junior competition, the eldest being 20 and the youngest 5. There's something quite amusing about watching a 5 year old boy, in a cowboy hat, glittery chaps, and with his own rope, sitting on a tiny bullock that's trying to buck him off.

The really impressive thing about the rodeo wasn't so much the guys trying to stay on these mental, bucking horses and bulls (there were some BIG bulls), but the chaps whose job it was to get the rodeo rider safely out the way once he was thrown and then get the animal back into its stall.

For those of you who think rodeo means men in jeans, checked shirts, cowboy hats, drinking beer, with women wearing the same but with long hair and chirpy smiles, with an undercurrent of red neck going on, don't change your views. Some stereotypes are there for a reason. Yes, we did stand out. But not as much as the Malaysian tourists, with the women wearing headscarfs.

Bundaberg
So, we wanted to see logger head turtles hatch. This means you go to Mon Repos, which means you stay in Bundaberg. Many people come to Bundaberg to try the rum and ginger beer. We ended up trying what it's really like to backpack in Australia.

Our hostel was clean. The owner was very pleased to have some adult conversation. It turns out you stay in hostels in Bundaberg to pick fruit, when you have caned all your money away on beer in Sydney. Sometimes a one word description is best and the word we'll use here is: functional. It was so designed for 18 year olds on a gap year. The air con came on automatically. So did the light in the morning. You were given a bag of crockery and only got your deposit back if you returned it. There were surveillance cameras in the kitchen to check you washed up.

Anyway, it was clean and safe, so that's what counts.

We went to the beach at dusk to see the turtles. The magic of watching little turtles push their way up the sand to see the world for the first time was awesome. Slightly dimmed by sharing it with a school class on a trip. But hey, we got the best view of it all as they felt sorry for us.

Bundaberg made us realise: we are now flashpacking.

Airlie Beach
So, why break a good thing... still on the backpacker trail, we headed to Airlie Beach, where you can access the lovely Whitsunday Islands. Our guide book mentioned not to get too excited about the accommodation. It was right. Still in a hostel, we paid our highest price yet for a semi-clean room. The best you could say about the air conditioning was at least it drowned out the noise of the disco opposite. And the torrential rain one night (Martin didn't even hear this).

So, most people go to Airlie Beach to sail the Whitsundays or scuba dive or get drunk and laid. Given our limitations (Kara gets sea sick, the cyclone had stirred the sea up too much to see anything, we're really spending too much money to waste it on beer and we're married), we did the best we could. Which was a pretty cool boat trip on a BIG (ie stable) catamaran to see 3 of the Islands. The nice thing about this trip was you GOT OFF THE BOAT at each island. Perfect for Sea Legs Stanford.

We did some snorkelling. So much better than last time. We thought of you Nicky – you'd have enjoyed this one. First, we actually had some tuition on how to snorkel and where to go. The new snorkellers were given life jackets or floating tubes to help them out. Then we walked off the beach, into the sea to the reef which was only at 2 metres depth. Then there was the dude in the dinghy, putting around keeping an eye on us all. Unfortunately, the visibility was poor but the dinghy dude cheated and threw food in so the fishes came to the surface for us to look at. We dived down a bit and saw some of the reef. Basically, to see anything we have to wait til we hit Cairns, where the sea wasn't stirred up.

Townsville.
Getting sick of overpriced, do a tour, backpacker trail, we made a detour to Townsville. This is a really sweet city. Fantastic beach side pathway to stroll, run, or potter along, stopping off for a cheeky smoothie. It's clean and full of pretty, old buildings that sparkle in the tropical sun. We've a few chores to do and have spent the day sorting them out.

The big excitement is that for the first time since we've left the UK we are going to the cinema tonight to watch Alice in Wonderland, in 3D. We even managed to pay student prices.

Heading on tomorrow, we're staying off the beaten track, going to a national park and staying at an eco-lodge. The next few days are going to be full of walking and chilling out, before we meet Sarah in Port Douglas, ready to do more activities.

Photo book

Insectiverous road kill behind our car grill. Delicate eco-systems mean nothing to us!










Baby loggerhead turtle, Mon Repos. It had jsut squirmed its way up out of it egg and through the sand. Very special to watch. Slightly ruined by the 25 school kids we "shared" the experience with.



Fraser Island

Lake McKenzie, Fraser Island.








Cheryl and Mike, folks we met, at Lake Wobby.











Wild dingo on the beach, Fraser Island. We got up at 5.45 to see this sunrise.







View of 70 mile Beach, Fraser Island










And the oil tanker displeased Martin, so he cast it upon the rocks and walked away...








Monitor Lizard. It had just caught a cricket before this photo was taken.










Giantest (we're sure that's a word) fern in the world, on Fraser Island's rainforest. Well, giantest species. Not this actual fern.

Brisbane

Martin and Vince, our couch surfing host.

Beyond Brisbane



Maroochydore Beach. When you can't surf due to cyclonic activity, all there is left to do is pose.






Kendrick the cute puppy.












First pint of proper bitter in 7 months. Happiness looks a lot like this.









Those crazy caterpillar things.









Just before we saw the snake.

Australia Zoo

Wombat asleep on pink blanket (just put in its den for bedtime as we walked past). As another English tourist commented "well, they aren't going to be releasing him back into the wild anytime soon".







Kara stroking her 2nd koala of the day.









Kara feeding the first of the 3 elephants.










Big croc + Small man = caution. This was another Martin feels like a soft city boy moment.

So here we go...

Folks, it's a long 'un! Grab your glass of wine / cuppa and sit back and enjoy...or tell your partner/a mate to read it and give you the highlights. Maybe you'd all like to get together over a dinner party and discuss your favourite part... Just a thought.

Brisbane
When we booked the cheapest bus service Australia has to offer to get from Sydney to Brisbane, we weren't expecting much. We were still a bit shocked to find ourselves going from 5am to 1pm with no toilet or food stops, in the blazing sun. If anyone from the Oz travel industry is reading this, go to Argentina. Those guys know how to run a bus service. They don't speak English and still show better English speaking films.

Brisbane. Nice city. Nice Botanic Gardens. Good museum ( we liked the bits on Queensland, it's nice to know about the state we're now it). It also seems to be a common feature of museums worldwide to have one large dinosaur skeleton in the entrance and then no more. This is possibly the museum equivalent of advertising computer magazines using a scantily clad woman. There's also a growing cafe and bar scene in Brisbane, which we sampled. They also have a South Bank, not massively dissimilar to another South Bank, closer to home.

Couchsurfing
Following the instructions of "get a boat down the river, then walk to the Arts Centre and I'll be in the car park", we went to meet our couchsurfing host, Vince. We got chatting over a few beers near the river while we waited for his 17 year old son to finish his circus lesson. It's nice to be somewhere having a beer, while the sun goes down,watching large bats fly over head. Very cool.

Vince is a primary school teacher, living and working in the suburbs. Very laid back and easy to talk to. We also enjoyed seeing a teenager up close (crazy driving, loads of energy, endless appetite, communicates using names of bands we've not heard of). Riley was a top lad.

Beyond Brisbane
Let's be honest. Kara is a huge Steve Irwin fan. There was no way we weren't going to Australia Zoo, which he founded. We almost cried at the price, but these are the cool things we did and saw there:

• met our first koalas and petted their speckly, furry bottoms. Very cute.
• Fed elephants. Dribbly.
• Saw a giant crocodile (about 3 metres) at the live show. The guy doing the feeding was either a very good actor or genuinely worried. And he does this everyday. They were so cautious round this bad boy. We'll be taking extra care near water from now on!
• we saw a Komodo Dragon. Massive!
• petted a possum.
  
• Reticulated python - about 5 metres long. This thing can take on deer.

A note on the zoo. Most zoos have a policy of look and be quiet but this place is all about interact with the animals, learn to love them, then save them in the wild.


To the hills
We spent a night in the hills beyond Brisbane, visiting twee villages. The next morning we went for a walk to some waterfalls.

So, we're ambling along, unusually with Kara at the front. Then she saw a snake. She screamed like a girl and leapt back, while Martin tired to push forwards for a better view. It should be noted this better than our last wild animal spotting, where Kara pushed Martin towards the danger. It was a pretty snake - blue then bright green. Sarah Chambers helped us identify it as an Australian Tree Snake. You can google it for a picture. It is non-venemous so we weren't as near death as we thought.

Then we ambled on and saw a cluster of caterpillars squiggling down the path. Very weird.

Then we went to eat fudge.

The Alleged Sunshine coast
So, we reach the Sunshine coast at the same time as a cyclone. As is often the case with excitable weather men, when they say "Stay indoors, batten down the hatches or die" it turns out to be a few days of slightly crap weather. Though to be fair, they got it worse further up the coast. This meant no swimming in the sea, thick grey cloud, and showers.

Martin also tried wake boarding (water skiing on a snow board). This has now been added to the list of sports Martin is crap at.

Kara stayed at the hostel petting the 14 week old puppy - an Irish wolfhound/Staffy cross. The wolf hound was the dad. His knees must have hurt.

We also headed up to Noosa to watch a surf competition and instead engaged in Clifton style driving round to find a parking space, before going to watch some fun.

Hot and Wet
"Today's weather is hot and shitty with a pissy weather front moving in and continued shitty until the evening." *
Robin Williams, Good Morning Vietnam

We got an upgrade at the Hervey Bay YHA to our own villa! We also went out this morning at 8.50 to take advantage of the free tennis courts. By 9.30 we were dying from heat exhaustion as it is so hot and humid. We reached 4-4 and gave up.

Tomorrow we're off for a 2 day tour of Fraser Island - the world's largest sand dune. Lots of swimming in lagoons - but not the sea. Home to Tiger Sharks! This country is crazy!

*Mama - it's not swearing if you are quoting a film. x

Some Photos

Cheeky cockatoo peering into the cafe we were in









The Chambers family









Scene from the Blue Mountains









3 sisters in the Blue Mountains









Brisbane skyline

Lorakeets feeding in the Chambers' garden

Blue Mountains

So for the last time, team Chambers and Stanford headed off on an Aussie adventure, with Little Chambers in tow too (Sarah, Kit's sister).

The Blue Mountains are spectacular.They aren't really mountains but more a series of gorges with incredible views and rock formations. Four of us (guess which 4) did a great 5 hour walk. We then relaxed in our rather swish self catering cottage - complete with DVDs and log burning fire.

We discovered a new system of rating the quality of DVDs which is "Is this more interesting than watching a fire burn?". We also learnt that Kara's time at the fire service wasn't a waste, as she turned out to be a dab hand at getting the fire going.

So this afternoon we say ciao to Kit and Nicky who have a long journey home (13 hour stop over at Singapore airport - ouch!) and to Pat and Ray, Kit's parents who have been fantastic hosts. We can't seem to totally shake the Chambers though as hopefully Sarah is coming to meet us when we do the Great Barrier Reef and Tropical Rainforest.

Jervis Bay

Once again the Stanfords and the Chambers' abandoned Wollongong to go see a bit more of the country. In this case... Jervis Bay, a pleasant area of beaches, parks and general bucolicness about 2 hours south of Wollongong.

We stayed at an upmarket Butlins, in our own cabin, 2 mins from a white sandy beach. Kara had a real fright when Martin was swimming one evening. She saw a fin out to sea... followed by the rest of the dolphin's body as it leapt into the water!! Dolphins! We saw some everyday - very very special.

Highlights and stuff we did include:

• swimming off Hyams Beach, of the purest white sand
• snorkelling and seeing puffer fish, wobbegong sharks, various rays, and lots of cute fish
• chilling out in our cabin
• going to Berry, the town that consists only of cafes and craft shops and gift shops. We ate ice cream.
• walking in the Booderee National Park (Martin and Kit only) and seeing kangaroos and joeys and possibly a wombat

Not so great stuff:

• the snorkelling was off a boat which was skippered by the rudest man in the world (didn't speak to anyone). Who took us to a really rough spot. Kara felt sea sick IN the sea it was so rough. Nicky hated it too.
• Kara then felt sea sick even when we were back on land :-( not good

Stuff we have learnt about Australia:

• we have now twice gone to the "best fish and chip shop in Australia" to two different locations. Apparently, we'll go to many more as every Aussie is convinced they know the best one! Hey, we're happy to give it a go!
• the whitest beach in the world we swam off is not the whitest beach in the world if you talk to a Western Aussie, who will tell you they have the best beaches...!
• Aussies are alarmist, liking to worry tourists with tales of sharks, stingers (jelly fish) and so on. More people die out here from drink-drive accidents in a week than from animals in a year. In fact no-one has died from a snake or spider bite out here since the 1970s
• Aussies can NOT drive. It is vaguely amusing while slightly worrying. Thankfully, their roads are pretty empty.
• The weather isn't all you think it will be. We've had rain, winds, cold spells... and of course, ozone thin sunshine. Which is pretty damned strong. We are using sunscreen so panic ye not!
• If you want to run and swim in one go it's best to do it in that order. Swimming in salt water then running leads to chafing. Ouch.

On that note, the Chambers/Stanford combo are now off to the Blue Mountains (we've booked what looks like a lovely cottage) for walking/reading/chocolate afternoon teas, then back to Wollongong on Sunday for the final goodbye to Kit's family...who we owe several delicious meals to when they next hit the UK.

Chambers' time

Iconic international landmark, massively improved by placing us four in front of it







Harbour bridge + Kara








Dunno if you can read it in the photo, but the lifeguards trunks say "MANLY" across the back. That I think is reason enough to become a lifeguard.






Manly Beach. Lovely, but very crowded








Again with the Opera House









Surfing was hard work. We were knackered at this stage.

Big spider. In the university car park.

The mighty Gong.

A bearded dragon we saw on our walk.

Bats. Lots of bats. In daylight. Every tree for about two miles square was like this.

HIts from Da Gong

Wollongong means "between the mountains and the sea".

So, we went to see both. This is a city with not one but 2 lovely sandy beaches. It is a bit strange to see nice beaches with a city behind them...and the beach littered with blue-bottles - a poisonous jelly fish that looks like a small blue plastic bag.

Sydney sprawls for miles in all directions and subsumes towns and villages. Wollongong is saved from this by having the Royal National Park between it and this mega city. We spent two days going up to the park.

On the first day, Nicky and Kara sat on the shore watching hot surfers ride the waves and tame Poseidon. Meanwhile, further down the beach, Kit and Martin were doing their best not to be concussed by their own surf boards or drown in the savage sea. There was a bit of excitement for them when they saw a dark shape swimming in the sea. After a hasty retreat and some observation, the shape revealed itself to be a seal. So concussions could continue.

On the second day, with Kit's lil sis Sarah, we went for a coastal walk on an "easy" route. It was made much harder by the high levels of humidity which meant we were all sweating profusely and barely able to breathe - like walking through a hot damp sponge. Poor Nicky. This walk killed off any desire she had to see the great outdoors close up. It was a killer for what should have been pretty pleasant. To top it all off, for the last 30 mins we were walking through the rain which while vaguely refreshing, just actually made it more humid...Australian weather ain't what we thought it would be.

So, to Sydney. Kit's sister thought she was going to get to have a hip and happening time with us - we desperately tried to explain we were old and dull, but alas, the optimism of youth. We all spent a night there and during the day explored. We got a ferry to the surfing town of Manly and had fish and chips and ice-cream (at Kit's favourite childhood ice-cream store). Disappointingly no-one got eaten by a shark while we were there but we did get to see lifeguards doing their thing (shouting at people over a PA system).

The opera house and the bridge are as impressive as they look, made even more so by their stunning location on the harbour. We took zillions of photos of them both. Desperate for some shade, we went to the botanical gardens. Bats! Millions of them! In trees! Big spiders! Ibis (birds with big beaks)! And some rare plants. We don't know which ones. We're not really plant people.

We then let the Chambers wander homewards and went to the aquarium. Awesome!! Loads to see. Here is some of the cool stuff we saw:

• crocodile
• sea snake
• bright blue star fish
• all the characters from Finding Nemo
• sea turtles (massive!)
• octopus sucking a prawn out of a plastic tube (part of its brain training)
• dugongs (or sea cows) eating lettuce and swimming above us in the tunnels
• sharks! with big teeth! swimming above us! Soooo cool!
• Sting ray the size of a double bed. Amazing!
• massive crabs and lobsters
• and loads of others we can't remember the name of

We did spend ages in front of the platypus tank. Even when they are provided in captivity we still didn't see them. Little duck billed b*stards. These are starting to turn into the Kiwi.

Then back to the Gong on the world's slowest train....sooo sloooow. We've been enjoying the evening meals at Kit's parents, where we all sit round chatting and eating. Great food and great company - what more could you want? Kara is even sharpening up her word skills, taking on the daily quest to figure out the 9 letter word before Kit's dad does...

So, after lunch we head to Jervis Bay.Beaches. Snorkelling. Walking for some of us. Maybe even some kayaking if we're feeling energetic...

Tasmanian road trip

Cheeky possum on Glen's car










cute little padamelon blending into the bushes









Liffey falls








First night dinner











Kit.

Possums, Padamelons, and Pandemonium (but no Platypi)

With the lesser furry Kit safely in our arms, we began part 2 of our Tasmanian adventure. Being kind souls, we got him off to an easy start in Launceston, on a litte gorge walk (only 4 miles) including picinic lunch by the river and an ice-cream on the way home.

We were lucky to have met Glen and Masumi in S.America, who are currently living in Hobart (Tasmania's main city). They offered to do a mini road trip with us, camping and so on...

So, Kit's 2nd night after 48 hours of travelling and 4 airplanes was spent with Team Stanford in a tent, on the banks of a river, in the sleepy town of Deloraine (murder capital of Tasmania - one murder). We enjoyed a camping meal, getting to know each other, and fielding off the over large ducks.

When two Aussies (Glen and Kit) get together, they make up LIES for vulnerable English folk who are scared they are going to die at the paws/fangs of Australian wildlife. Here are some of them:

• hoop snakes. This is a snake that puts its tail in its mouth and rolls down hill to catch you
• you can also catch a kangaroo by tying a hoop snake to some rope and using it as a lassoo
• drop bears - 5 Australians a year are killed by koalas that have eaten rocks and then jump on people
• the Tasmanian Shit Snake that lives down drop toliets in national parks
• when at the side of a lake, Kit shouted "There's a Tasmanian Porpoise!" Kara fell for this one and then killed him afterwards
• when in the tent one night we heard all kinds of screeching. Kara asked "what's that noise?" Kit: "Koala bears feasting"
• Any random large stone is designated an Aboriginal Standing Stone

These are just the ones we can remember.

So, with this mental torture we explored the West side of Tasmania. This is the mountainous side, with some alpine areas, where only stunted trees grow. Lots of mountains, nice forest, and beautiful lakes. We went on a great 20km walk one day, up into an alpine region to see some lakes. Tasmania also has a cooler climate than the rest of Australia - we did actually get snowed on one day!!(we were at over 1000m at the time).

Glen also booked us into a cabin for two nights. Think 16km away from anything. Think up a mountain. Think drop loos, outside. Woodburning fire. Pile of logs with an axe. Full moon. Up a mountain. Can you think of any better setting for a horror film? We loved our little basic cabin (one tap with running water from the local streams, no electricity, no showers) and luckily Glen was a master at getting the wood burning stove going, so we were never cold.

The other cool thing about camping was the mental wildlife we saw. These included:

• padamelons - we'd never heard of these either. They are like stunted wallabies, a bit plumper, more mouse like, and very cute. Little beggars were hopping around everywhere at night time.
• possums - cheeky little things. Their eyes glow red in the dark, which is a bit disconcerting when you pop out to the loo in the horror film setting and just see red eyes staring at you. They have no fear and even got in the car in the search for food.
• wallabies - bouncy bouncy
• cockatoos - noisy, pretty, everywhere
• platypus - conspicuous by their absence. Not for lack of trying though.

Big thanks to Glen and Masumi for organising everything, doing the driving, lending us camping gear and all round being fun and fantastic hosts.

So then to Wollongong, city south of Sydney, and the nesting place of the Chambers family. Luckily Kit's parents were waiting for us at the airport to take us to their lovely home. Ahhh. Carpet. Ahhh. Not fearing needing the loo in the night. Ahhh. A house with wifi. Ahhhh. It got even better, as not only are Kit's parents friendly and nice, but Kit's sister has offered to show us some local nightlife, and also we have acquired Nicky! Hooray! We're going easy on her today as she has just done a 24hr flight yesterday but are looking forwards to exploring and doing stuff together.l