Hey All,

Well, you'll be pleased to know that we are still playing hard and spending lots of dollars! Luckily we're managing to stay out of the red with the help of the tax man would you believe..... but that's another story .....

So we had a three day two night sailing trip on the Whitsunday Islands which are off of Airlie Beach on the East Coast. There were around 20 of us on Hammer (a 65ft ex-racing maxi yacht) with 3 crew to sail us, feed us and generally look after us. After having to do everything ourselves (would you believe?) in Fraser Island it was lovely to be looked after for a few days and we were generally quite lazy!! All went really well and we had an amazing time. The first day the weather was terrible and we wondered what we had let ourselves in for. We were sailing with big yellow coats on in the rain, with the boat at a 40 degree angle from the sea, hanging on for dear life, apparently amazing sailing!! The coats did not keep us dry at all, especially Rich who wondered why he was getting wet hair and realised his hood had a massive tear down the back!! Didn't sleep much that night as we were rocking around as the boat swayed from side to side. Not a particularly nice feeling after a few cans of beer! Still the seasickness tablets worked a treat and not a bout of nausea in sight. Next morning we went to Whitehaven Beach which is absolutely gorgeous (see the photos if you don't believe me), white sands and crystal clear water. The sun blessed us with it's presence and we donned the old factor 30. We could see loads of little fish as we walked along the beach and we even spotted a sand shark. We went snorkelling a couple of times and spotted more fish in the coral and a turtle too! The coral was amazing in places. We had to wear stinger suits in case of jelly fish. Think giant baby grows and you're about there with the look!! Add a snorkel and mask and you have a look to die for!! Our second night was much calmer and we managed to get a lot more sleep, luckily we managed not to dream of the hammerhead sharks as we slept in their breeding ground! (Yes these ones would likely eat your leg!) On the last day we had a two hour sail home. The weather was ok again, a little overcast, but no rain thankfully. Rich had a go at steering the boat and we did notice when he took over!! The guy said that he was concerned he might get breathalised after the zig zagging back to the marina!! You can't win 'em all i guess!

On the way to our next stop, Townsville, we stopped at a wildlife sanctuary where we were able to get our hands on a few of the yocals. Have a look at the pictures and see what you think. There's a koala, a snake and a wombat for those without animal instincts (Dad!). We had a trip over to Magnetic Island. It was gorgeous there too. We did lots of bush walking and sat on a beach for a while. It was really hot; 27 degrees, so we were sticky sticky by the end of the day. Can't wait to think of the heat the summer will bring, we're only in the 2nd week of spring!

Next interesting stop was Undara National Park which is inland a bit and the site of lava tubes from the volcanic years. We went on a little tour of the tubes and it was really interesting. They are amazing great big caves right in the middle of nowhere. On the way back from there we found heaven in a pool at Innot Hot Springs where we lazed for hours in the thermal pools from the nearby springs. Lush! The hottest was 44 degrees, so you can imagine we slept well that night.

We are now in tropical north Queensland where the weather is getting hotter. We took a day trip up to Cooktown which is as far north as you can go in a non-4WD car. Tiny little place and although we're glad we went, the 500km round trip was long and boring!! Thank Paul for the MP3 players!

So that's us. We have a few days left of the road trip and still lots to do. So better head off and keep travelling. Hope all is well at home as always and keep in touch people.

Kate and Rich xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Thats right folks we've made it up into Queensland, the Sunshine State. As we've done lots of Km's and it's been a couple of weeks since the last update make sure you settle in comfortably ......

Since we last wrote it's rained constantly! Well not really but it did for the whole time we were in BrisVegas (Brisbane to those not in the know!). Its a really cool city, with a good vibe and there is loads to do even in the rain. A big thanks goes to Jo and Steve (some friends we met in Borneo) for putting us up and feeding us too. Thanks Guys!

After Brissie we headed up the Sunshine Coast through Caloundra, Mooloolaba and other places I can't spell to Noosa Heads. The whole coast is great with endless white sandy beaches and a laid back atmosphere. We did spend some quality beach time here with me getting some nice red legs to show for it!

From Noosa we headed up to Hervey Bay and from there to Fraser Island for a 4 Wheel drive safari. Eleven of us piled into this tiny little (well tiny for 11) 4x4 for 3 days of fun and frolics. Although we had a bit of an itinerary it all went out the window on the first day when we decided we liked Lake MacKenzie so much we'd stick around for a bit. The freshwater was crystal clear and the cloudy skies and slightly chilly water didn't stop us going for a dip. A few more stops on day one at beaches, creeks and lakes before we set up camp and tried our best not to attract Dingoes. We didn't. With the onset of nightfall came the opening of the 'Goon' (fake wine type stuff that has fish eggs and who knows what else in!) and that's when the bunch of us all came alive. A group trip to the 'Welcome Hookers' bar that a few Aussie Guys had set up next door was entertaining as well.

We woke early and set off for our first stop of the morning - Indian Head; its a big cliff where you can look down into the ocean below and see wildlife like, Turtles, Tiger Sharks, Dolphins, Fish and even Whales in the distance. With over 200 freshwater lakes on Fraser it was time to visit some more, some nice, some not so nice, some with Turtles, some with Goannas and some deserted. The tracks to get there were always interesting though, at some points (mainly while I was driving!) I did think that the truck was going to topple over thankfully getting everyone to lean to the right meant we kept it upright. We settled in again for the night just off the beach front for our second nights camping and had a big old BBQ. More beer and goon was drank, drinking games played and much fun was had by one and all. For our last day we headed back to Lake MacKenzie for some more swimming and spotted a dingo or two scurrying along the beach. Fraser's a place not to be missed with spectacular scenery and great adventures to be had. It being the biggest sand island in the world and (apparently) having more sand than the Sahara (thanks for that one Val!) helps. Lastly, they say the people you meet make a place, and we had a great bunch so it was even more fun.

After goodbyes in Hervey Bay we were on our way to ease off the booze for a few days so we headed to Bundaberg and the Rum Distillery. Hmmmmm Bundy, Australia's No 1 spirit and it tastes great. We did a tour of the distillery which was interesting and saw a warehouse full of sticky molasses the size of a football pitch and 3 metres deep, imagine! Got a few free tasters too, some of which are only available there like the liqueur. All really nice, wish we could carry some around with us though!

The town of 1770 was the next stop (I kid you not there is a town called 1770). Its a really pretty little place, the town itself has 80 residents and 110 houses (figure that one out!), although Agnes Waters next door has a few more. We spent time on the beach here but still haven't got very brown (apart from the red legs), damn the factor 30! We also went Sea Kayaking around the headland which was fun, we did some kayak surfing, a walk up to a lookout and tried snorkelling but between four of us saw one fish! I really enjoyed it but it'd be fair to say Kate didn't feel the same paddling against a strong wind on the way back. Just as well we've got that 3 day Kayak trip booked in New Zealand then eh! One more highlight of 1770 is that it was the place where we saw our first Australian snake! We don't know what type but we're going to find out! Kate will tell you that my heart skipped a beat (and truth be told she's probably right but don't tell her she'll only get a big head). They say this place is going to be the next Byron Bay or Noosa (anyone thats been to Oz will know what I'm talking about) but hopefully it won't get as commercialised as that because it's great as it is.

From 1770 we headed to Rockhampton, Beef Capital of Australia - should be renamed, 'Most Horrible Mid Sized Town in Australia', it's just grimey, we found a free zoo in the botanic gardens where WWF instincts took over and we wanted to let all the animals go free, they were so sad. In a nutshell, Rocky - if you can avoid it do, enough said!

Thankfully the night in Rocky was just to break up the drive to Mackay which is a lot nicer and has hundreds of lorikeets in the city. We found a Sugar Mill to visit here and had a tour around the minature mill they have to find out how they make sugar from cane. The surrounding area is just full with cane fields of all sorts of shapes and sizes. And to think they all used to be cut down by hand! A drive through the cane fields took us to Eungulla National Park where we pulled up in the pitch black after a steep drive up a cliff through rain, fog and darkness! We settled up in the car park and got up early to go Platypus spotting! We spotted two swimming along and ducking under the water every so often to go fishing. Seeing wildlife in the wild beats the zoos by a mile I reckon. We also did a couple of bush walks and saw turtles, loads of bird species, skinks, spiders, cockatoos and wallabys. Amazing what you can see in a couple of hours in the Aussie Bush.

So now we're in Airlie Beach ready to sail the Whitsundays tommorrow until Sunday, Kate's praying the sea sickness won't return, but (un)luckily for her the wind has got up meaning bigger waves ......... however we do have a hundred weight of sea sickness tablets to take with us.

Ok my arms are going to drop off from writing so much, if you're still reading this far congratulations and be sure to look out for some more pics soon.

Tare care

Rich and Kate