New Years Eve...

Your heart is a river that flows from your chest through every organ in your body towards your destiny,
Your brain is the only dam that can possibly stop this flow...
So don’t be dammed next year!

A brilliant new year to us all...

Love & New Year hugs.
Jeff & Janet

Sydney...

So this is where modern Australia began, where the first convict convoy landed & the first convict colony developed. At the time Britain was sending its convicts to the Americas & i guess following the Americas move for independence Britain had to find some other place to export its criminal class to. It was getting over crowded in Britain’s jails. When I say criminals these were people who committed crimes as despicable as stealing a loaf of bread or a hair brush & some knives!! Some clever politician came up with shipping Britain’s criminals here. Like shipping our rubbish to Brazil or shipping our nuclear waste to outer space. Now what if that creates a radio-active Australia in space, wow! A planet with mutant aliens that can hop between planets, kill you & drink all your beer & beat us at every national sport! We should think about that.

Mark Twain described Australia’s early history as “such a rip-roaring & colourful affair that it could have been entirely made-up.” Well, the fire alarm farce early this morning could have been made up, but it wasn’t.

When you come here, spend a day on The Rocks, some of the oldest buildings of Australia’s history, interesting markets, bars & restaurants, great views & fascinating tales. The Lowenbrau bar is a must for some traditional German beer & the Hero of Waterloo & the Nelson Hotel a must for some Aussie beer & history. Convicts have left their mark on the walls of the Hero of Waterloo & many a seaman got drunk at the Nelson hotel & awoke later on a ship sailing for god knows where! The Dockers terraced houses could have easily come direct from Liverpool, London or Belfast. A real glimpse of a previous time, as are the alleys & narrow lanes; Nurses Walk & Suez Canal.

The Rocks, a fun, lively place.

love & Rock hugs,

Jeff & Janet

Sun 27 Dec 2.50am

There’s an alarm ringing somewhere and through the fog of partial sleep I can’t quite decide whether its outside or not; however it continues and gets louder so I decide it must be in the building, so I shake J awake and suggest it’s a fire alarm and we should evacuate the building. At this point the volume and tone intensifies confirming that this is to be taken seriously. As we hastily throw on clothes the alarm within the apartment starts to sound as well and we join the flow of people down the stairs to the street. At this point there is still the question – is it a false alarm, practical joke or serious. Everyone leaves the building in a calm but hurried manner congregating in the rain outside. Fortunately the access road to the neighbouring car park has a large canopy which we all take refuge under.

This is our first glimpse of our neighbours in the apartments; various states of dress and undress and an amusing array of nightwear are on display. Some people in their pj’s and no shoes, others fully clothed and one couple even have their cases with them.

The couple next to me have two small girls who are both bewildered by the rude awakening in the middle of the night and quickly snuggle up to dad to go back to sleep.

Two fire engines arrive at the front of the building so we wait to see what happens. After a time people get restless and start to wander around to the front of the building to see if they can find out what is going on. The mum comes back, one of the firemen has told her that a fire sensor went off on the 13th floor but as there is no sign of fire they now have to check all the rooms before anyone is allowed back in. As there are 13th floors with approx 60 rooms per floor we are in for a bit of a wait.

Most people are at the front of the building now but a man comes round the back with his young son and says the firemen have said we can return to the building. The mum and I are reluctant without the word of someone in authority to re-enter the building, possibly putting our loved ones and us at risk. Eventually we get the all clear, the firemen go back and we start back into the building. There is quite a crowd waiting for the lifts so we start back up the stairs, thankfully we are only on the sixth floor.. However, fire doors are only supposed to be opened from the inside to let you out of the building, so getting back in is a challenge, fortunately for us a very kind Australian lady opens the door for us.

There seems to be an air of excitement in the building and people take a long time to return to their apartments and settle back down. It is nearly 4am by the time we get back to sleep.
We never saw a member of staff or anyone in authority at the time of the alarm going off nor has there been any explanation as to what happened; so it could have been a false alarm, practical joke or genuine – we may never know.

Still, we came to Aus for new experiences and that is our first hotel evacuation. Not quite the experience we had been planning!

love & the cats pyjama hugs,

Janet & Jeff

Boxing Day

Up & exploring Sydney we go to the information centre on cockle bay, just behind the imax theatre. A very helpful guy answers all our questions & gives good advice. We have an idea on where to watch the fireworks from; some 400,000 people come into the city for New Years Eve!! Some of the more popular areas are full by lunchtime & with no ‘pass-out’ or byo alcohol it seems a bit severe! We will look at some quieter areas over the next few days. We buy our bus/train/ferry ticket for the week; $46 for unlimited travel seems good value. We book our bridge walk for New Years day, take a ferry to Mossman bay & explore ‘The Rocks’ area, the young Asian girls are queuing to get into the Gucci shop for the sale. It is sad, sterile & sadly understandable.

The weather is not great, light rain, but we continue to explore. Later we visit the Sydney Opera house & enjoy a guided tour. It is truly an amazing building & an icon, similar to Uluru, but for vastly different reasons. If you simply look at each & see the outside, you may think “so what, it’s just a building/a rock.” Maybe to do that is missing something; the trick might be to look at the inside, to see its soul. That may sound a bit deep & hairy fairy, but each has a story, a history, a reason for existing & both in their own right are truly fascinating.

Sydney is going to be fun & we look forward to doing some of the touristy things & also seeing some of the ‘real’ Sydney.

We wish you all a happy boxing day...

Love & boxing day hugs...
Jeff & Janet

25 Dec Hey Hey Hey its xmas day

Merry xmas everyone, hope Santa managed to visit you all.
A very lazy start to the day and then off out to explore and get our bearings. We are staying at the Oaks Goldsbrough apartments (a massive converted wool shed) on Darling Bay. We visit Darling Harbour and are surprised at the number of people out and about and the number of coffee shops, restaurants and cruises that are open for business. Christmas lunch out is obviously a big event with locals and tourists alike.
The botanical gardens are our next stop. Everywhere groups of people are picnicking; sadly the weather does not match their enthusiasm and it starts to rain. We walk around Sydney harbour, opera house, circular quay, ferry terminal and finally the shopping precinct which is quiet and ready for the boxing day sales madness which apparently starts at 5.30am.
After dinner back at the apartment we venture out into the rain to a bar on the harbour, for beer and cocktails and put together a list of all the things we want to see and do – will we have enough time?
Merry xmas hugs,
Janet & Jeff

Xmas Eve

Sunrise tour & travel to Sydney
So finally Cyclone Lawrence arrives, about 16 hours late but nonetheless with the ferocity that keeps us awake most of the night. However, by the time our alarm goes off for our Uluru sunrise tour at 3.45am, the only sign of the cyclone was a few puddles and a lot of damaged trees. The trip is not cancelled but sadly the climb is closed as it becomes very slippery after rain. Once we get close to the rock and see the steep exposed climb first hand we understand why there is a high level of safety. Our tour guide tells us that it is windy once over the ridge on the climb and climbers have been known to lose their hats in the wind and chase after them and off the side of the rock – deaths have occurred.
We are taken on a couple of walks and learn more about the Aboriginal way of life. The water hole at the bottom of the rock is full of water – a rare occurrence and the frogs are in full song.
Back at the hotel we are informed that our flight to Sydney has also been affected by the cyclone and we have a two hour delay - Im going off this place....
We finally arrive at our apartment in Sydney at 8.45pm, just enough time to whizz to the supermarket and get some supplies as we have no idea what, if anything, will be open on xmas day.
Love & santa hugs,
Janet & Jeff

Scientific research...

I have been doing some scientific research into jelly fish, stingers et al. I have discovered that one does not have to wear a purpose made stinger suit. It appears that any material, a cotton t-shirt, even women’s tights, will prevent the swimmer from getting stung.





So, I have, as is my nature, come up a cheaper option, my xmas stinger suit made from red ladies tights. Simply purchase a pair of ladies red tights 7 denier or higher. Voila, you are safe from the stingers & bound to be the focus of everyone’s attention even on the quietest of beaches. For those of you on even tighter budgets, try wrapping yourself in cling film. But please do remember, unlike me, to put your costume on first & that in this heat the cling film will contract somewhat, possibly achieving unwanted attention from the Derek & Mikey’s of our colourful world.

I think Ian is right, i'm working out too much.....

Love & xmas hugs,



Jeff & Janet

23rd December

Our Kings canyon tour has been cancelled due to risk of flooding boo hoo. Still, we mooch around resort taking it all in & it still feels unreal. There is a very good visitor’s centre here with lots of information. Later in the day, our evening meal under the stars is also cancelled; there is an unwanted theme here. We have had some rain today, not the 100mm threatened but a splash.

The smell after rain is amazing, it’s like all the plants come alive & the scents vivid. Also, fly activity ceases whilst it rains which is a pleasant respite. Just had some thunder, so tonight & tomorrow may be interesting. We are waiting to hear if our trip tomorrow morning is still on or not.

Btw thanks for all the birthday wishes, i wish you were all here with me...

Love & valid hugs
Jeff & Janet

22nd December

Two amazing happenings today – Jeff’s birthday and Uluru.....

Happy birthday Jeff, lots of love...

Happy birthday to me, happy birthday to me....another birthday but in a very surreal place. Uluru or Ayers rock is a strange place. Very hot, unusually humid due to an advancing cyclone, millions of flies that try to get up our nose & in our ears & sparse vegetation on red sand for as far as the eye can see. With, of course, Uluru & the Olgas popping out of the landscape with amazing colour & majesty. This place is just is so different from anyplace I or we have ever been that it feels unreal, like a film set or a dream. There is a definite magical air about the place, maybe even mystical. This feeling is recognised before we read & are told of its Aboriginal significance or how harsh this landscape is. 36 people have died on Uluru, it’s only some 400 metres high but in 35-40 degrees it is a serious walk. There is much advice & guidance about how to behave here like drink a litre of water an hour when walking during the day!
Sadly, the advancing cyclone will have an effect on our stay, several trips & tours & events are cancelled due to the risk of flooding, 100mm is threatened! Oh well!
I have told myself that the flies are simply wishing me happy birthday & that seems to work for me. We visit the Olga’s, 36 mounds jutting out from a red desert & we complete a couple of walks.

It is so funny, we get back to the coach after each walk & all the different nationalities take their revenge on the annoying flies. The Italians flap harmlessly but vigorously about & miss all their targets, the Germans efficiently take out 6 or more flies with a single strike, the French sit next to the Germans, the Spanish squash 1 fly then go to sleep, the Koreans sit with their mouths open & eat those that venture inside & the Americans use fly spray killing many flies & several tourists. “Hey,” they say, “its war, you have to expect casualties!”

We finally see a live kangaroo in the wild, hopping down an incline on the Olga’s at sunset.
We sit in 38 degrees, under a cloudy night sky & eat barbecued kangaroo, quite delightful....

Love & red sandy birthday hugs

Jeff & Janet

Sunday 20 and Monday 21

Return of the van and two nights in a real bed

In high 20s heat and 78% humidity we cleaned the van from top to toe – it was cleaner when we gave it back than when we received it. Handing the campervan over to the camp man at Apollo was straightforward – no charges for damage and surprisingly no speeding fines.

Having already deposited our luggage at the hotel before returning the van, we headed off into town for a mooch around the marina, lagoon and shops. Cairns is a small town, with its main activity being a base from which to take the many 100s of tours on offer to the Great Barrier Reef, Rainforest, Table Lands etc. As we had already done most of these, we chose to spend the days relaxing. Cairns beachfront is now mainly mud flats once the tide goes out and home to many different species of sea birds and waders. Before the 2nd world war the beach was soft sand and sand dunes but the constant dredging to keep the shipping channels open changed the environment for ever.

Cairns has a wonderful lagoon which is like a massive open air swimming pool near to the beach. Many families were starting their xmas celebrations with big family gatherings around the public bbq areas, which they had decorated with tinsel – very amusing for us.
We enjoyed learning more about the aboriginal art work at the many galleries along the front.
The night life around the marina was very lively, with many xmas parties in full swing. Cairns is a vibrant town, with many street entertainers – we enjoyed watching an orb juggler and a fire show. The town seems to come alive once the heat of the day has dissipated.

On Monday evening we enjoyed some more scrummy fish at the Raw Prawn restaurant and at dusk watched as thousands of massive bats took off across the bay to the island opposite.

love & xmas hugs

jeff & janet

The Glasshouse Mountains, an Aboriginal tale.

Speaking with an elder of the yininginga tribe a local Aboriginal tribe of this area, we learned that the local tribes had a different name & tale that explains the geographical range we call the Glasshouse Mountains. These are in fact 7 redundant volcanic plugs left over from the Bezzantine erogeny a long time ago. The volcanoes have long since gone but even before Europeans landed here the Aboriginals saw these hills as ancient long forgotten failed gods and they knew these hills lay on a song line that they named ‘Yntercrapp’ ( the ‘Y’ is pronounced as an ‘i’ sound, the ‘c’ is a ‘g’ sound & the ‘pp’ is a ‘ff’ sound). Amazingly the Aboriginal name is very close to the modern scientific name for this fault line ‘The Intergraph fault line, the fault line that goes nowhere’. Unusually, this fault line starts life near Swindon in Wiltshire, UK, but unlike other fault lines, has no known ending, hence its title.

The Aboriginal names for the 7 hills are ‘Derek’ – the god of gaiety, the gay point, ‘Mike’ – the god of grief, the squat red hill with nothing growing on top, ‘Hans’ – the god of absent-mindedness, the vacant looking hill, ‘Helmut’ – the god of friends in high places, the hill that looks like a helmet, ‘Bob’ – the god of comfort, the hill that looks like an armchair, ‘Dave’ – the god of self-importance, the white topped hill & ‘Gibbo’ – the god of illusion, the hill that looks like a valley.

Of course these hills have been weathered with time & now look significantly different from Aboriginal times. There are however, ancient Aboriginal cave drawings that depict the ‘Yntercrapp’ hills as they looked back then.

Uncanny! & merry xmas to you all.....

Saturday 19th December

Today is going to be cooler – 29 degrees – we heard that there had been snow in the UK with up to 4 inches in parts down the east side – impossible to imagine.

Just outside of Cairns there is a sky rail which runs over the rain forest to the village of Kerunda – 7.5km in length. It is an amazing feat of engineering and took only 1 year to build after 7.5 years trying to obtain permission. The towers were built in a way to cause minimum disturbance to the forest, any plants moved were numbered and replaced after the towers were complete. All work was done by hand, and helicopters transported large structures in so no roads were created. The carriages ride just above the canopy of the forest giving fantastic views over the coast, hills and forest canopy. The ride is in three stages. At the first stage you disembark and take a guided walk through the forest; stage two offers viewing stations over Barron falls and the final stage takes you to Kerunda village. On route are views of Barron river, gorge and falls.

Kerunda village has a large number of shops and traditional craft market stalls with some fascinating gifts – the kangaroo stall was particularly amusing as they had leather coin pouches made of kangaroo scrotum. We purchased a small gift at this stall for Debbie to help her deal with the cold weather – can’t say what it is as it will spoil the surprise but once she has received it we will tell all – keep an eye out for the postman in about two weeks Debs.

Our final night’s camp is based at the foot of the rain forest close to the Barron River. Delightful.

Friday 18th December/Saturday 19th December night time

Although the storm passed by Port Douglas the air was cooler and we both looked forward to a better night’s sleep. All got off to a good start, both sound asleep, when suddenly Jeff leapt out of bed and threw on the light. “what are you doing?” I said (I didn’t say that but what I said is not printable). “There’s a bug in here” he replied. And yep there it was and once Jeff had splattered it across the ceiling we went back to bed. Unusually for me I went back to sleep, only to be woken again a while later with Jeff repeating his leaping out of bed and throwing on the light. “what the heck is it now?” “There’s another bug”. So we looked, listened and waited. No bug. Jeff shook curtains, bedclothes, waved a towel around, turned off the fridge and made me sit in silence so he could hear the buzz –nothing. After a while of this I lost my patience and insisted that we go back to sleep which he reluctantly agreed t o do – it was 3.15am

Today is our last day in the bus for this leg of the journey. Jeff is getting cabin fever – the small space and the bugs are making him look forward to the hotel in Cairns. I am sad that this part of the journey is coming to an end, however, I will not miss banging my head on the low cupboards.

Friday 18th December

Happy 55th anniversary mum and dad – good on yer!

Today was to be a rest day; it was very hot so the leisurely start was welcomed. We took a walk down to the marina. Apparently this is now the rainy season in this part of Queensland and with the stingers in the sea it is not very popular with the locals, their busy time is from May onwards. The rains are late this year – fortunately for us. As a result the marina was full of boats but very little activity. Jeff headed off towards the shopping mall – I thought for the air con – but found him watching Father Christmas. Off round the bay and then back to Macrossan Street – the main shopping street – to continue mooching and my hunt for some swimmers – these are shorts made of a light material for swimming in but also are smart enough to wear away from the beach. Jeff has now been dragged into every beachwear and sportswear shop in Port Douglas.

We visited an Aboriginal art shop (Jeff has become quite a knowledge on the subject) and was admiring the work of Jean Currie Nilingu when the said artist called the shop to discuss a forthcoming exhibition; the gallery assistant promptly handed the phone to Jeff where he engaged Jean in conversation for several minutes; sadly he didn’t manage to get any discount on any of her works.

Later we walked along the beach and up the steps to a viewing platform looking back over 4 mile beach. In the distance over the hills a massive rainstorm was evident. After a swim and an hour on the beach we headed back.

The many restaurant menus read during the afternoon’s shopping expedition tempted us to eat out and we ate at 2 Fish and shared a massive fish platter which was loaded with oysters, tiger prawns, scallops, squid, cuttle fish, tempura fish, soft shelled crabs, and Moreton bay bugs – a delicious pile of seafood. A live band was playing along the road and somehow Jeff engaged the singer in conversation about Jeff’s shirt.

A golf story...

Port Douglas has a very fine golf course & the club pro very proudly told us of some of celebrities & professionals that had visited & played the course. Whilst showing us some photographs we came across this picture. Apparently Tiger Woods played around with these 3 in the fall of 2005.

He seems to have been playing around for some time now...

Just past the S**t creek paddle store is Gingerbeer creek, so we pull over to change drivers by a sign that says Gingerbeer Creek.

From nowhere appear 2 men. Derek, a very tall, thin emaciated looking man with clumsy arms that appear too long for even his lengthy body, dressed in long Eric Morcambe style comedy shorts & a string vest, introduces himself.

A charming man that you find yourself believing less the more he speaks. The first 3 or 4 words you totally believe, the next 4 or 5 words you begin to doubt, the next 5 o 6 words you suspect are false & the last few words you recognise as being total dunny fodder. Somehow his charm wins you over & you find yourself against your better judgement wishing what he said to be true. Alas it is not.

For a while Derek or del boy as his mucker calls him does all the talking. After a while he introduces his mucker, Mikey. Mickey is a completely different shape, short, barrel shaped, red stressed faced & quite obviously wearing a ginger toupee, dressed in very tight speedo’s & a blue leather (unfortunately for us, open) waistcoat. Del boy laughingly calls Mickey an Ocker. We have no idea what this means but Mikey quite obviously does not like this & fixes Del boy with a glare that says “i’ll sort you out beyond the black stump!”. They explain that they are businessmen & sell software. Del boy launches into his sales patter & pretty soon we are all totally confused. The more he says the less idea we have of what they are selling. Del boy finishes his sales pitch with a cute image of winnie the pooh arm wrestling a Koala & it goes quiet. I can’t remember if Janet or i asked the question but one of us said “But what exactly is it?”. A few seconds silence & Mikey pops up with “its internet isn’t it.”

Somewhat dumbfounded we make our escape, wish them well & leave them to their business. As we drove off i wondered to myself what happens when too many fake people congregate in one location. Does that location become unreal or vanish from sight like a mirage. I wonder.

Real love & real hugs,

Jeff & Janet

Thursday 17th December

Cape Tribulation...

Today we drive as far north as we can to Cape Tribulation, so named by the great sea captain Cook, who crashed his boat just a bit further north & had to stay in what is now Cooktown for 6 weeks to repair it! Are we not the best sailing nation? How on earth we won all those sea battles is beyond me!

The drive involves a small drive on/off ferry. Wow, once we cross on the ferry it’s like you enter another world. The rainforest is deep, more dense & more lush. You really do feel like you’ve gone to a different place. It is a lovely drive, about an hour, to cape trib. We stop at the bat sanctuary & see young fruit bats & stroke them. Well worth the 4 dollars entry fee. We lunch at cape trib & return later in the afternoon to Port Douglas.

If any of you get out here & i sincerely hope you all do, please visit this part. If we are lucky to return we will definitely hire a FWD vehicle & go further north to Cape York with lots of insect repellent. As wonderful as it is the insects are rampant now & i’ve given up brushing them off as there cannot be much blood left.

Love & bite free hugs,
Jeff & Janet

Wednesday 16th December

Crocodiles & Koala’s, i am the one on the left!! The Koala is saying "clear off buddy, find your own niche, slow & grey is my thing, ok?"

Another trip today, a rainforest trip to see crocodiles & koalas. Jane, our tour guide for the day is excellent, knowledgeable & attentive & she has a large Tupperware box of cake, lamington cake so she scored big marks from me!! We did discover a lot today, crocodiles are amazing creatures, scary but amazing. The further north you go the more chance you have of coming into contact with them in the wild. There have been 4 deaths this year by crocodile & they are talking of culling them. It’s a bit unfair on the crocodiles as this is their territory. I mean if you swim in a creek with signs that say don’t swim there are crocodiles around then what do you expect!

The size that a crocodile can grow to is incredible, some of the pictures & life size models of captured crocodiles look so unreal!

At last we get to see Koalas!! And it’s up close & personal! The handler was very knowledgeable & answered all our questions & yes, they look even cuter up close. I have a lot in common with Koalas, i could be a koala. They are mild mannered & non aggressive, they don't make much noise & they like climbing trees, they sleep a lot, they have a small brain, lots of grey hair & a vacant mid distance stare that says “what am i doing here?”, much like me at work or at any time really!! And Janet says i can be cute & cuddly, sometimes, not often enough apparently!!

I have to admit i adore koalas! Funny, at infant school my nickname was coogee bear! For those that are old enough you may remember, for the rest of you google it, hint = Rolf Harris! and he should have known better as they are not bears!!!

Love & vacant grey haired hugs,
Jeff & Janet

a favourite pastime

I love beaches, i can spend hours just looking for stones with holes or 'interesting' stuff. But those that know me know my major favourite pastime is stone stacking. If i ever get the opportunity to make a stone pile i will. I first saw a guy do this in San Francisco & was instantly hooked. Its quite easy once you find the stones centre of gravity & very relaxing.

Give it a go the next time you are on the beach!

love & stoned hugs

jeff & Janet

Tuesday 15th December

Michaelmas cay, snorkel & sail

Up early again & we’re not getting paid to do this! It’s crazy!!
Sailing to the Great Barrier Reef today on ocean spirit II. We will be visiting Michaelmas cay a small sand ‘island’ with little vegetation & 20,000 nesting Terns! We will snorkel on the reef & Janet will complete her first official public snorkel!!

Janet successfully snorkels, the anxious crowd go crazy as she walks from the sea like a bond girl covered in seaweed & crustaceans. Yes thats another one of Janets nicknames for me!! We see lots of different corals & sea life. The coral is in very good condition & the snorkelling was great fun. We even got to see a small Ray, green turtles, huge clams & a white tipped shark. These are apparently completely harmless but the shark did freak me out a little!

The onboard marine expert gave us a talk & it is very sad. They are committed & recognise that they will have to accept a rise in sea levels due to climate change. A rise in sea levels will result in more extreme tides. This will both expose the coral to the sun for longer on low tides & shade it from the sun for longer on high tides. The coral has only a narrow band of sun exposure ie. Depth in water & temperature range that it can exist in. Some suggest that the Great Barrier Reef will be all gone in 50 years! That said, over 1.5 million people visit the Great Barrier Reef every year. There is a contradiction there that i struggle to justify.

Love & salty hugs,
Jeff & Janet

The hair saga continues...

Day 57 - surf board wax still holding strong, hair not moved now for 57 days, great as a fly catcher or for grating cheese...



Good news is the sun is not aging me...


jeff

More on the naming of creeks...

I am simply fascinated by these creek names & how they got them & what they all are.

Bless em, we passed Christmas creek yesterday & it was fully decorated, tree, tinsel, crackers, mince pies & bells, the works!

I am now frantically searching for chocolate creek & beer creek.....Janet is looking for a Wallis creek??

I am now imagining a whole raft of people & the creeks they would search!!

jeff

Monday 14 December

Today we motored up the highway north past Cairns & into North Queensland, pitching up at Ellis beach. I wondered if this is THE Ellis Smiths beach. I can easily imagine Ellis owning a beach, he is one cool dude!

The drive was uneventful; the countryside is like a bigger, hotter lake district! Very lush & green, field after field of sugar cane growing, occasional rest stops, mango sellers & cafes but thankfully no major hold ups.

We are camped the closest to the beach yet, a girl stone throw from the sea. This is a picture taken from the back of the camper van. It is truly idyllic & the sand is perfect for yoga. I’ve not settled into a yoga routine yet, having to take yoga’ing opportunities when they arise. I have promised myself that i will rise early & give my best sun salutation attempt to the dawning sun tomorrow.

The insects are persistent & bites increasing. I have now overtaken Janet with regards number of bites, i obviously, as I’ve long suspected got far too many female hormones as apparently that’s what attracts the nasty bitey things!

Off to snorkel on the great barrier reef tomorrow, then Daintree national park the day after to feed crocodiles & koala’s & cassowaries!!

Take care all,
Jeff & Janet

Nautical signage

This means = If you are over 6 years of age you don’t have to wash!

he he....i stink, i stink, i stink, i'm lily the pink the pink the pink....

Jeff aged 11....

Public statement #1

I would just like to take this opportunity to publicly state that i have never ever slept with Tiger Woods.

We did meet once on the crazy golf course on Hunstanton seafront & Tiger, bless him, was very persistent. However, flattered as I was, I explained to him my born disposition & after a few more lame attempts at trying to score a ‘jeff’ he left me & went off to hassle Anna, the young Thai lady boy working the ice cream stall next to the bingo hall.

I refuse to comment on Tiger’s recent behaviour but in my experience its par for the course with respect to golfers. I mean, really, 4 hours to hit a tiny ball into 18 holes! They don’t fool me & they should not be trusted.

Honestly,
Jeff

Sunday 13th December

Coonanglebah (Dunk island) remained undiscovered by Europeans until 1770 when Lieutenant James Cook passed by during his exploration of the East coast. Cook named the island after Lord Montague Dunk, the Earl of Sandwich and the first Lord of the British Admiralty.
Today we are visiting Dunk Island by sea taxi, which you board from the beach. The wind was up and the waves were crashing on the beach. The taxi driver got the boat up as far as he could but then we had to time our boarding as each wave hit, not only was the taxi bucking but the waves made you lose balance. Being quite short I didn’t need much of a wave before my shorts were soaked, thank goodness for the warm water. The taxi kicked and bucked its way over to Dunk Island, riding the crest of the waves and slamming down in the low, better than any Alton Tower’s ride. The sea calmed as we approached Dunk Island – but we realised that its called Dunk because you get wet.

Mount Kootaloo was our first challenge of the day, 271m above sea level and about 11km distance. The guide book recommended a clockwise approach but we couldn’t remember this so set of and in the opposite direction. After the walk we realised that to walk clockwise means only one third of the walk is up hill. However it also meant we were the first on Coconut Beach that day. Jeff decided to be our tour guide, Bruce Highway, for the day and spotted butterflies, frogs, bush turkeys and a ginormous spider which had bright yellow markings on its underbelly. The viewing platform was worth the effort as the views out over the neighbouring islands were stunning.

After a bucket of tiger prawns and a couple of beers it was off to Muggy Muggy beach, where Jeff exchanged his tour guide persona for the snorkelling instructor and assisted me in my first snorkelling experience. It was a good experience and I saw fish, crabs, coral and shells.
All too soon it was time to catch the last water taxi of the day and even though the waves were more calm on our return to Mission Beach my shorts got soaked again.
The evening was spent supping ice cold beers at Scotty’s bar listening live music by Ben Matthews – who had a very good voice and did some good tunes.
Dunk is a lovely island and definitely worth a visit.

love & gnat bites to you all,

jeff & Janet

Magnetic Island

Friday 11 December

Magnetic island is a granite rock island, with only 3000 permanent residents. Much of the island is inaccessible other than by foot.

The twenty minute ferry crossing from Townsville to Magnetic island gives good views both back to the port and docks and forwards to the island.

On arriving we hired a purple mini moke and Jeff turned in to a boy racer. "the vehicle is old so drive it like it is old" said the sales guy - this meant loose gear stick, weak stearing and virtually none existent break pads - but as it was difficult to get it to go more than 60kmph it didnt really matter.

First stop Horseshoe bay, walk along the beach and over the rocks to Balding bay, a very strenuous walk which seemed more up than down in the 33 degrees of heat. But worth it as a beautiful beach awaited us. Back over the rocks and then on to Radical bay. First sight a beach of flowers. The beach was not as pretty but offered more shade. Back to Horseshoe, several lbs lighter we threw ourselves into the sea which seemed to be warmer than yesterday. After lunch we drove to Picnic Bay, walked out on the pier and Jeff did some more swimming while Janet sunbathed.

Then another walk, The Forts going up to an old army lookout post, very high up with fantastic 360 degree views and a lovely breeze.

Koalas live here - or do they? We were informed that taking this walk at the cooler time of day would increase our chances of spotting a koala. Jeff searched the canopy with the binoculars and spotted a grey mass in a tree in the distance. The binoculars were not strong enough to confirm our sighting but we were convinced we had finally seen a koala and not a carrier bag caught in the branches.

A quick spin around in the mote and then it was back on the ferry and back to camp.

Following his visit to Magnetic island Jeff is now writing a trilogy - the first will be called "what attracted me to Magnetic island" the second "opposites attract on Magnetic island" and the third "poles apart" - the age old story of boy looks for girld, boy finds girl, boy loses girl.

Trucking to Townsville

Thurs 10 December

After refuelling both the van and the fridge we hit road with Janet behind the wheel and headed for Townsville. - Queensland's second largest city. 3.5 hours, stopping only at the road works, means we arrive in time for lunch and spend the afternoon sussing out ferry times for our trip tomorrow to Magnetic Island.

Went swimming in a stinger safe pool in the sea with sea temperatures of 29 degrees and took a walk along the strand.

Campsite in lovely location overlooking the sea but a bit noisy as it is located next to the beach road.

Love and hugs
Janet and Jeff

All because the lady loves Milk Tray

Wednesday 9th December – Whitsunday islands cruise, Hook island, snorkel, stinger suits, Whitehaven beach, Daydream island...

7.45 am pick up for our Whitsunday island tour – another early start, a bit like being at work without all the dull and boring stuff during the day.

On board we are met by a very friendly crew, tea and Lamington cake. Captain Clay explains the itinerary for the day and we set sail. First stop Hook island for snorkelling, sunbathing and walking. Stingers (evil stinging jelly fish creatures, which can kill) are in abundance in this region at this time of year so it is not safe to swim without a stinger suit. This is a bit like a baby’s romper suit in lycra, only attractive if slim......

Snorkelling, sunbathing, walking, underwater coral observatory, feeding fish and then back on board for an all you can eat wonderful buffet.

Second stop Whitehaven beach for sunbathing and swimming. The boat had a photographer, who thought that everyone should pose on the beach, in Father Christmas hats – not funny, and no there is one of Janet and Jeff.

Then off to Daydream Island which is a purpose built resort for day trippers – pool, water sports, golf, shops and oddly New Zealand ice cream bar.

The day was over far too quickly but it gave us an excellent taster of the islands.

Too tired to cook we went to Fish D’Vine for dinner, and boy was it divine – a definite recommendation for anyone,

Love & hugs
Janet and Jeff

Early Beach

Tuesday 8th December – Airlie beach...

This should really be called Early beach - what chance of any sleep – none. The van is too hot for sleep, even with the windows open, then just as the temperature starts to drop the bats return home from their fruit foraging and squabble in the trees until each has found it own place, and then just as you start to nod off the dawn chorus sets off – screeching parakeets, hissing curlews and lord knows what else. Still its a beautiful day, set to be 30 degrees so an early start is agreeable.
Today we needed a bank to cash some travellers cheques and on the advice of the camp receptionist (that’s a person who works on reception at the camp – not a gay receptionist) we park the van at the end of Airlie beach and take the boardwalk into town. Nearly an hour and a half later we were still walking and no sign of any bank; a local assured us that we were nearly there. Thankfully the bank had air con. First stop with our money was to purchase a long cold drink and then bus tickets back to the van – we couldn’t face a return walk.
The afternoon was spent lazing in the shade of the palm trees on the beach. Janet’s newly purchased hat blew into the sea and was rescued by a very nice young man ....
We had hoped to fit in a two day trip out to the Whitsunday islands with an overnight stay onboard; unfortunately all the trips within our timescale were fully booked so we settled for a day trip to visit three of the islands the next day. There are so many options to choose from but booking ahead is necessary for specific requirements.

Love & hugs
Janet and Jeff

Monday 7th December

Long drive to Airlie beach, over 700 kilometres, lunch at Clairview, lots of kangaroos along ‘Dead kangaroo pass’........

We are up early again, breakfast & we’re off! A quick stop for some provisions. There is a fish shop on the way out of town that sells all types of fish & chips & also sells wet fish. The mackerel is unbelievably huge. They are at least 10 times as large & delicious as those you can get in the UK. The owner tells us that the mackerel catch is up & fish sizes have also increased. I love mackerel so that’s ok with me. Although I would not wish to meet 1 in the water, they have far too many sharp teeth for my liking.

We buy more fuel (diesel is $1.25 here, that’s about 80p) & check the oil & water & tyres. All is ok so off we drive.

Not much to report, drive takes us about 3 hours. 2 things interest us. This stretch of road is littered with the rotting, smelling carcasses of run over kangaroos. We have to drive with the windows closed. At first there were so many & they were well rotted that i thought they were vegetation blown onto the road. Some of the dead kangaroos are enormous & they must do a lot of damage to the vehicle that hits them.

The second point of note is the number of creeks one crosses when driving here. Creeks are anything from a ditch to a stream or massive river! And they are all named. The man who named them all must have either had little imagination or I imagine he just got bored with it all. Perhaps he wanted to change his career but did not have the courage? Who knows. Anyway, we drive along & cross 1 mile creek, then 2 mile creek, 3, 4 5, 6 follow, then after a bit 7 mile creek, this continues, 12 mile creek. Then bam! From way out of nowhere, ‘one tree creek’. It continues much the same elsewhere. He gets a theme, for example 1 tree creek, 2 tree creek, 3 tree creek, etc etc to 17 tree creek, then bam! ‘wet tee-shirt creek’.

One set of creeks must have been named near lunchtime & his mind must have been on food for we get, cheese sandwich creek, ham sandwich creek, scrambled eggs & bacon creek, then his wife calls him & we get savage crocodile creek. Fascinating insight to the workings of this mans mind!

We did stop at a gorgeous location for lunch Clairview, right on the coast, turquoise sea, sun, sand, palm trees, it was idyllic. We would recommend the very small detour to get here. It does make us think of Clare back in Impington & we do hope she is well.
We arrive in good time & Airlie beach looks fun, much livelier, the temperature has definitely increased as we have travelled North & the sea has changed colour, it was green/gray down on the gold coast it is turquoise now & very inviting, shame its stinger season!

Love & hugs,
Jeff & Janet

The true Dolphin feeding experience...

Dolphin feeding at Tin Can bay, drive North towards Gladstone, camp at Tannum beach caravan village....

Today we woke early, it’s difficult not to when the sun rises so early & squeezes light through the gaps in the curtains & heats the van up like an oven. The temperature is definitely warming up as we head north. We have decided to pack things up, head off early to Tin Can bay, watch dolphins being fed at Norman point, breakfast there, then drive north, ultimately heading for Mackay & the Whitsunday islands. That is too much to do in 1 drive so we will camp somewhere near Gladstone for 1 night then complete the drive to Mackay tomorrow, Monday.

Several locals have told us of the Dolphin feeding at Tin Can bay. An easy 15 minute drive & we are there, we find Normans point & park up. There is a large crowd of people outside Paulie’s Water Safari, Dolphin feeding experience & coffee shop. Paulie is covering all bases, this looks interesting.

After a few minutes, from somewhere inside the crowd of people, Paulie broadcasts to the waiting throng with a speaker system. “fw fw is this on, fw fw, testing 1,2,3, can you hear me? Oh good, Hi everyone & welcome to Paulie’s Water Safari & Dolphin feeding experience.” He continues with a history of how the dolphins came to feed at his jetty. An injured dolphin, they suspect wounded by a shark, turns up alongside the jetty one day. It is fed & cared for by locals who man a 24/7 watch & for several days the dolphin does nothing but eat & rest. Eventually the dolphin recovers & heads off back to the open seas. Since then that dolphin & others, as many as 4 in total, return at around 8.30am & get fed. It’s funny as he constantly reminds us that they cannot guarantee that they turn up as these are wild creatures that come & go as they please, then in the next breath, tells us the names they have given them! Still, they genuinely seem to care for the dolphins & Paulie informs us of the rules, no touching, no petting, no flash photography, only 3kgs of fish fed to each dolphin, mobile phones off, anyone with any type of virus to keep away. And still we wait. Paulie comes back on the microphone & goes through it all again. These are wild animals, they come & go as they please. It’s 9am now & some of the crowd are looking like wild animals, they prowl, grumble & the children get restless & the parents do nothing. Paulie is back on the microphone, the tide is low so they won’t come till there is sufficient water covering the sand bar to the inlet. A German tourists complains that this is not good enough & he has a schedule to keep & this is going to make him late & he will have to update his spreadsheet. Bless.

Time passes, Paulie comes out & announces that to please the children, one of his workers, Lanky Lee Jackson, will dress in Dolphin costume & that the children can feed him fish shaped potato chips while we wait for the real dolphins to arrive. Lanky Lee Jackson, is introduced to the crowd, he is not tall but squat & barrel shaped & of Asian origin. Paulie holds Lanky Lee’s hand up & tells us that he is the best pot washer & table cleaner this side of the Capricorn line. I’m not sure Lanky Lee fully understands English.

Lanky Lee is led back into the coffee shop. Paulie tells the crowd that the rules are different. Still no touching, but there is no 3kg food limit with Lanky Lee, as he loves potato chips.
Lanky Lee appears from behind the coffee shop, his squat body squeezed into a dolphin suit that is at least 2 sizes too small. His foam dolphin tail dragging sadly along the pebbly beach. Before Paulie can say anything the children rush forward & start to stuff potato chips into Lanky’s dolphin mouth opening.

At first, Lanky Lee happily copes with the copious amounts of potato fish shapes stuffed into his mouth, his eyes are smiling at least they appear to be smiling. Some of the smaller children cannot reach Lanky Lee’s mouth opening & Lanky appears to notice this. The suit restricts his short legs, so he cannot squat, but he somehow lowers his torso in an effort to allow the smaller children a shot at feeding him, the dolphin. This was his mistake, seconds later an older child kicks the backs of Lanky Lees legs & they crumble. He is on his knees now & there is no way up. The children, as one, like a pack of dingo’s with blood in their nostrils rush forward. The feeding is now frenzied, potato fish shape after potato fish shape is forced into Lanky Lees mouth. His eyes are no longer smiling; there is fear in his eyes. He has no escape, Paulie & the parents are looking out to sea for the real dolphins. We become aware that we are about to witness a tragic accident. An angel is sent to Lanky Lee’s aid. A small sickly looking child who stayed out of the dolphin suit feeding farce, points out to sea & says “Dolfin, Dolfin.” The feeding stops & the crowd rush to the jetty edge, leaving Lanky Lee to collapse to the floor. I go & help Lanky Lee to his feet & unzip the Dolphin costume, Lanky pops out along with his own weight in potato fish shapes. God knows how many he ate. He grabs my arm, tightly, looks into my eyes, & says “help me, I not treated nice here.” I hesitate, look into his eyes & reply “icht german, nien sprekenzy English.” He understands. “icht schedulen to keepen. Aufwiedesen!” I walk away, leaving Lanky Lee to his fate & he sings “The devil inside, the devil inside, every single one of us the devil inside, oooo.”

Life is a series of choices; sometimes we make them sometimes others make them for us. I figure life is also like the internet, you cannot believe everything you hear or read. This choice will not keep me awake tonite.....

Love & hugs,
Jeff & Janet

Adventure before Dementia

So, on the advice of many we set off early to Tin Can Bay where apparently the dolphins would arrive promptly each morning at 8am to feed. Well if the start of this trip is anything to go by - we have yet to see koalas, kangaroos or dingos - what were the chances of seeing dolphins. Anyway we arrived and there was quite a crowd at the quayside so we felt a bit more optimistic. At 8am we were given a welcome and some history of the dolphins, and rules and regulations about how to behave when you are in the water with them, i.e. no sunscreen, dont touch, dont go in the water if you have a cold or open sore - apparently they can catch human germs. We were also informed that there was a chance that they would not visit today as the tide was very low over the sand bank into the bay and if there was not enough depth of water they would not cross. Here we go I thought, another Austalian myth. So we waited, and waited, and waited. We watched the fisherman go out, families kyaking, the sea rescue crew practice - and seriously mess up - many attempts at docking the rescue boat, we watched a crew of locals go out on a dragon boat but still no dolphins. Janet, having no patience, decided it was time to go - 10 more mins suggested Jeff, and lo and behold after 9 more mins they turned up. Not a shoal or a feeding frenzy as expected but just two very sweet dolphins gently floating in the water awaiting their breakfast. A couple of photos and it was all over. Still pretty amazing though.

We stopped at Tin Can Bay spit for breakfast and chatted to a local who was originally from Birmingham and still had his brummy accent mixed in with his Aussie twang - quite amusing. You can take the brummy out of Birmingham but you can never take Birmingham out of the brummy - eh mum?!

Most of today was spnt driving North, stopping to buy a tray of mangoes - only $10 and delicious.

We followed a caravan which had a wheel cover slogan "Adventure before Dementia" that should have been our slogan too!

We managed to have an hour on the beach before setting up camp. The beach was quite different to the ones we had seen so far, the sand was very grainy, made up of thousands of crushed shells, I guess because we were now in line with the Great Barrier reef.

Saturday 5th December

Fraser Island, Woody, Yankee Jack Piggot, Abo Jeff & Brumbies.....

Our first island trip today, to Fraser island, the world’s largest sand island! It has a beach that is 75 miles long! We wake early, again, (i could never wake early when I had a job, funny that), a relaxed start, Janet posts a card to her mum & dad & we wait at the pickup point. A small bus turns up & our driver greets us & introduces himself, Woody is his name. He reminds me of my uncle Bill, hard features with a ‘don’t mess with me’ kind of look in his eyes, but you can sense that underneath there is an honest caring heart beating. True enough, over the course of the day it becomes apparent Woody loves Fraser Island & all the flora & fauna & creatures & sights that comprise Fraser Island. We could not have asked for a better guide.

We drive to the barge, board & within 10 minutes arrive on Fraser Island. Woody talks all the time, telling us of the history, statistics, creatures, trees, aborigines, the English, shipwrecks, features of Fraser Island. We now feel like we know all there is to know about Fraser Island. What is impressive is that Woody is sharing his knowledge, casually, whilst man-handling a four wheel drive bus with 22 passengers on board along deep rutted sand tracks. Talk about multi-tasking, it was very impressive.

We heard about the English discovery & what happened to Mr & Mrs Fraser. It seems to me that at home we espouse our sea faring skills. The more I travel the closer i am coming to the conclusion that we (as an exploring nation) simply sailed around the world crashing our ships into rocks & sand banks & ship wrecking her majesty’s vessels but hiding the ‘bad news’ with a discovery! “I am extremely sorry your majesty, we seemed to have lost HMS Aveva & most of her crew, but on the upside we did discover the isle of dogs!”

Woody talked of the mining of the minerals from the sand that were used in NASA space flights, the enormous fresh water deposit that exists under the Island, the different types of lakes that are on the island, the fresh water creeks that empty millions of gallons of fresh water into the sea, the logging & types of wood & uses. On & on, his knowledge flowed forth like the fresh water creeks. We heard of ‘One Hand Yankee Jack Piggot’, a legend who apparently could fell a tree quicker & better than anyone else. Of loggers who having been bit by snakes would chop parts of their bodies off to save their lives.

We stopped for a swim at Lake McKenzie, a ‘perched’ lake of fresh water & white sandy beaches.

We chatted with Woody & he nicknamed me ‘Abo Jeff’. Was it because of my oneness with nature, my intuitive skills, my ability to quickly pickup bushman skills. “No” said Woody, “its cos you smell like an Abo! Take a bath when you get back, will yer! & what is that muck in yer hair? You slept in a gum tree?”

Woody told us of the ‘Brumbies’, a fascinating insight into early controlled breeding practised by Victorian Britain. With the Aborigines’ removed from the island, labour had to be introduced from somewhere to help with the logging. Britain exported working class labourers from the midlands & interbred them with local Aborigines. 2 or 3 generations later a hard working, broad shouldered large footed labourer was developed. For many years these large ‘work horses’ did the work of twenty hauling trees up & down the beach. Their large feet proving very beneficial on the soft sand of the island. Then came steam & electricity & petrol engines & the ‘Brumbies’ were no longer required. They were all removed from the island & repatriated back to the mainland. They struggled to fit in, their broad shoulders no longer of any use & their enormous feet being ridiculed. Some went into the police force, others into circus’s, most went into the carpet/tile laying profession. But they were never as happy again as they were hauling timber on the golden 75 miles of sand that is Fraser Island.

On our return we took an opportunity to fly over the island, this gave a better understanding of Fraser Island’s size & content. We viewed its lakes & shores, getting sights of sharks & rays in the sea, taking off & landing on the beach. All in all a wonderful experience that is a must if ever you visit this area.

Love & hugs
Jeff & Janet

Friday 4th December

Rainbow beach, a day catching up....

Today was a day for relaxing, so after doing some essential washing – otherwise Jeff’s pants would have found their own way round Aus - we headed off for the beach. An hour was enough as the sun was fierce and we couldn’t risk getting burnt. Back to the beach for another couple of hours late afternoon finished the day off nicely – that and another bottle of wine.......

love & hugs

Janet & Jeff

Thursday 3rd December

Noosa Head national park, no koala’s in woods but a bare on the beach, wrong turn & Rainbow beach...

Janet is back behind the wheel today and the driving is improving, even if she did bump up a kerb or two... Noosa Head national park was the destination and wow what a lovely place. An open forest growing on the edge of the beach. The signs informed us that Koala’s lived there but we have decided there are no such creatures as we have yet to see one and the only kangaroo spotted so far was a road kill, we hesitated briefly thinking it could make bbq tucker but the haze of flies deterred us.

Anyway, back to Noosa Head, we had a lovely walk, although the constant canopy gazing in search of the grey furry creatures is not the best form of walking. (Note – do not call them Koala bears – they are not bears and the locals don’t like it). One part of the walk brings you out at Hells Hole, high up looking down the rocks with the waves crashing against them - reminded us of some parts of Cornwall – but with hot weather. The walk then went along the beach where we saw a form of bare – definitely male but not very attractive!

We then headed off for Rainbow Beach which was a very scenic trip through the pine forests and over the mountains. Jeff decided to take a short cut but unfortunately we ran out of tarmac and had to turn round – the van was not fit for off roading. After what appeared to be an eternity of pine forest we finally arrived at Rainbow Beach and the campsite was located at the top of the dunes overlooking the sea. The beach was stunning – are you getting a theme here?

love & hugs

Janet & Jeff

Wednesday 2nd December

Bribie island, new shorts & a haircut, the Glass House Mountains, the hinterland, Mooloolaba & Ken & Marcie from Calgary....
Martin and family were heading home to Denmark later that day and insisted on us taking their surplus supplies – Jeff was delighted with the Farleys rusks & the hair wax.

Martin was a lovely guy & told us he & his family regularly holiday in Australia. In his experience the best way is to buy your own vehicle then sell it on. This cuts out the campervan hire costs. On one occasion they arrived in Perth, bought a van, kitted it out, put a sign in the van that it was for sale & set off on their vacation. As they were driving out of Perth they were pulled over & the guy wanted to buy the van, less than 5 hours after putting the sign up. He was even prepared to wait for them to holiday in it & buy it later. So, buy you own wheels.

Bribie island is another national park & in stark contrast to places like surfers paradise, small, relatively undeveloped & charming. The campsite was good & the beach, as we are beginning to expect, perfect.

I have decided to get a haircut, as in a bar recently the barman said “what can i get you ladies?” Considering i have not shaved since we arrived i can only assume his bar was quite low. Anyway, i have enough baggage without worrying about others interpretation of my gender, so off to the hairdressers for me. On the way i picked up a second hand pair of shorts in a charity shop & was feeling pleased with myself, a double delight, a bargain & I’ve helped a charity. I walk in & the lady hairdresser shows me to my chair. I tell her how i would like my hair cut & she begins work. Shortly after starting she says “what have you put in your hair? It’s very difficult to comb.” I explain that a fellow camper gave us his unwanted provisions & amongst them was a tub of ‘ROK wax, extra hard control’, she laughs the scissors out of her hand & has to be helped laughing to a chair. Apparently ROK wax is for surf boards! I’d put surf board wax on my hair! She washed my hair 3 times to no avail. She, giggling cut my hair as best she could, but apparently i will have to go into the sea at least for the next week for the ‘hold’ to subside. ;-)

Janet was still laughing far too much to drive so I took the wheel. We drove though the Glass House Mountains, 7 upturned volcanic plugs, quite amazing. Onward we drove thru the Hinterland, Maleny to Mapleton, a bit like the Cotswolds or Lake District, quaint coffee shops, deli’s & craft shops & beautiful scenery.

We arrived at Mooloobaba quite late, had a walk, cooked dinner on the communal barbecue & met with & chatted to Ken & Marcie from Calgary, Canada. A lovely couple who are doing a similar tour to us, maybe we will meet again. We sat on the beach later & watched the moon glistening on the sea & my hair! It may be surf boarders wax but it sure holds the hair in place....

Love & hugs,
Jeff & Janet

Tuesday 1st December

Janet drives, Surfers Paradise, Southport, Brighton, Margate, Scarborough, Jacobs well, Martin & his family from Denmark & Bribie Island......

The main challenge to driving the mobile home is, that unlike boats and caravans, nothing is secured so each sharp bend or slightly strong braking or acceleration sends the home contents flying around the van - picnic table, water container, walking boots, crockery – its amazing anything is in one piece at the end of any trip. Still, we found the Australian motorists to be patient and friendly on the highways, tolerant of my gear crashing and roll backs on the uphill traffic light starts. Wish we had ordered an automatic.

Jeff navigated and pointed out landmarks which included Surfers Paradise, Southport, Brighton, Margate, Scarborough, Jacobs Well. There appeared to be no industry but mile upon mile of water inlets where people lived with their gardens going down to the water and boats bigger than our house. Nice lifestyle, we wondered how they made their money, they can’t all be aveva directors.

Lunch at Kangaroo island, completely alone, until we sat at a picnic table and were joined by about 30 gulls, much better mannered than the English ones, these waited patiently for scraps rather than helping themselves to our lunch. Then past Deception Bay – any aveva directors there we wondered – then on to Bribie Island. At Bribie Island we met Martin, his wife and 16 month old son from Denmark. They were travelling in the smallest size campervan, and even had a pushchair in there; I soon stopped commenting on the lack of space in our jalopy.

love & hugs

Janet & Jeff

Monday 30th November

15 mile rainforest walk, Wolfgang & Heidi’s record broken, numerous waterfalls, more Pademelons, a brown snake, lizards, amazing trees, Neil & a camp fire....

This is a first, to sleep in a rainforest, the peace & ambience is total chill, like a sloth on tranquilizers. We fail to see how anyone could be tense or worried about anything surrounded by ancient rainforest. This is what the world needs, more rainforest.....oops. Just an idea, why don’t we string up all the loggers & stop buying things made from wood that’s come from a rainforest?
It’s a strange contradiction; the rainforest is so peaceful yet at times so noisy. Come sunrise & sunset the creatures go berserk. It’s as though at sunrise they are so happy that they have been gifted another day they sing their hearts out & at sunset they freak out as they fear their world is ending. What a rollercoaster life, ecstasy & joy followed by fear & distress. Bit like working for a living.

Don’t you just love technology, even in a rainforest i can read that the gunners took one hell of a beating by the pensioners..ha ha..i can just picture the gooners screaming like cicadas at sunset!

So we woke refreshed, showered in natural spring water & lightly dusted with talcum powder ready for our 15 mile Coomera circuit of the rainforest. We signed out at the lodge indicating our start time, walk, party size & expected return time, all sensible behaviour in a dangerous rainforest. Now I must confess it was never our intention to break any records this day. But when you put 2 very competitive retired athletes in a challenging situation, well what’s the cliché?

The walk was a delight, sight after sight, waterfall after waterfall. We must have seen every possible waterfall configuration. Janet has excellent eyes & spotted creature after creature & tree after tree, jeff stumbled blindly behind, treading on creature after creature & bumping into tree after tree. Jeff decided he was built for the open plains, not crowded forests. Janet pointed out lizards, pademelons in the under growth, birds in the canopy, lizards under leaves & a brown snake in the root of a huge tree, boy can those snakes move fast! But not as fast as us, we had no idea that upon returning & signing back in the trek record book that we had beaten Wolfgang & Heidi Hikermeister’s 26 year old record for that Coomera circuit walk. What a celebration took place that evening, we were feted by all staff & guests at the Binna Burra lodge alike. All wanting to hear how we beat their record by a staggering 17 minutes! They could not believe us when we explained that we had not prepared for this walk or that unlike Wolfgang & Heidi in 1983, that we had not used Ethiopian pace setters for the first half of the circuit or spent 3 months training at altitude. Over & over again we retold our walk, we ate & drank & the lodge was merry that the retired British couple of Jeff & Janet had broken the much younger & fitter & less interesting German couple’s record.

To relax & wind down from the excitement of the day we spent a very pleasant hour or two with Neil chatting around his camp fire.

We were told the next day upon departing, that Wolfgang & Heidi sent a telegram almost congratulating us and going into great length how they would return next year to regain their record. Good luck to them!

The staff & guests lined the driveway out of the park & cheered us on our way. How can we possibly top that? I’m not sure we can but we will try, on the coast road now to Bribie island...

Love & hugs,
Jeff & Janet

Sunday 29th November

An excellent day, a day of beautiful beaches, surfers, the best fish shop ever, rainforest, parrots, Land Mullets, Silver backed Pademelons, a misunderstanding, 4 Binna Burra members, multi-coloured parrots & a cat bird ....!!!
We woke early & agreed on a plan. This does not happen often so this must have been a good plan. We were to drive up the gold coast taking in Byrons Bay, Kingscliff, Tweed Heads, Palm beach, Burleigh Heads, Broadbeach, Surfers Paradise. Then, if Binna Burra had vacancies, drive inland to Lamington national park, stay there for 2 days & walk in the rainforest.

Byrons Bay is the most easterly point in Australia, and very much like the west coast of the USA, chilled, relaxed, a bit Glastonbury and very cosmopolitan. It has a really nice atmosphere, very hippy, very alternative & much focused on having a good time, which explains the huge numbers of young people milling around. I was reminded of Glastonbury on a warm day. We parked up, walked along the beautiful beach back towards Byrons Bay which is set in a huge bay with a soft sandy beach that seems to go on forever, then we moseyed into the town. First stop, a bar with a stage & a couple of hundred people, doing a ‘heal the planet’ ceremony. Music, chanting, painted faces, 60’s dressed people dancing in a psychedelic fashion, the sweet smell of smoked weed. If we’d been high on drugs or had a few drinks inside us, well, maybe we would have joined in, but stone cold sober at 10am on a Sunday morning....no thanks. But they did not seem to mind 2 tourists watching as they healed the planet. I heard afterwards that the ceremony was a success & the planet was healed but unfortunately later that day the planet was involved in an accident with some American tourists driving a Ford galaxy. All are ok but I think the planet had no insurance & may pay a heavy price.

We left Byrons bay & drove along the coast road taking in Kingscliff, Tweed Heads, Palm beach, Burleigh Heads where we stumbled upon a fish co-operative. This was a wonderful (for fish eaters) establishment that sold wet & cooked fish. We purchased some salmon & barramundi, but there was so much to choose from, we were like kids in a sweetshop. They had all manner of fish & molluscs & crustaceans ready to cook for you with chips!...mmmmmm..
Back in the van, a phone call to Binna Burra....success..they had vacancies, this was turning out to be a great day. After about an hour and a half we arrived at Binna Burra. This is a rainforest resort at over 1000m above sea level in Lamington national park. It is so peaceful & tranquil there; if you ever get the opportunity please visit. We parked up, settled ourselves then went up to the lodge for pre-dinner nibbles on the patio watching the sunset. It was the day of the Binna Burra members AGM. Edwina was the first member we met, a wonderful lady of 84 years of age who delighted us with tales of her life & the early days of Binna Burra. Then we met Patsy, a retired bush nurse who originated from Dublin also 84 years of age who again was a lovely lady who shared some of her life with us. Next for us to meet was Keith an expert on Australian bird life & finally Jeff another very lovely gentle man who also obviously loved bird life and the natural world. We chatted & learnt so much, it was a huge privilege to share that moment with them & they were so kind & helpful. We learned about land mullets, although at first I did think they were mocking my haircut & rather foolishly grabbed Keith by the scruff of his collar & pinned Jeff to a gum tree before Edwina intervened & convinced me that a land mullet is a fish/lizard like creature with legs & not a derogatory critic of my hair! (which has still not been cut).

Note to self, I must do more yoga to help relax me.

My apologies all round were graciously accepted & we quickly laughed the matter away & returned to the local wildlife. They then told us of silver backed Pademelons & once again my insecurities took over & I thought they were mocking me but this time thankfully refrained from any man-handling. Apparently these are a small kangaroo like mammal that we later watched feeding on the lawn in front of the lodge. Then they explained in great detail the birdlife that we may see while staying there. This included the cat bird, which Keith explained has a call much like a baby or child lost in the forest calling ‘where are you, where are you, here I am’. So like a human cry is this that several visitors have told the parks rangers that a child must be lost in the forest & they must go and rescue immediately. We, later on that evening, heard the Cat bird’s call & it is remarkably like a small child calling out & if we had not met Edwina, Patsy, Keith & Jeff earlier that evening & if they had not shared their knowledge & time with us, we too would have raised the alarm with the parks rangers that a small child was lost......

An excellent day indeed....
Love & hugs,
Jeff & Janet