My life is so exciting!!

Err, what can I say.... I failed to update my blog within a week - it's now 2 weeks!  Arghhh  But hopefully there's not too much to say coz some of it we've been just lazing about near the pool tanning ourselves!

We stayed in Airlie Beach until Sunday 16th as on Saturday there was a beachside market and a Reef Festival going on which included having a firework display on in the evening.  In the afternoon we lazed around the pool and later on I had yet another upset belly - I really should stop eating food from cafes etc! 

Sunday we left Airlie Beach and headed to Bowen which is one of the locations used in the new Baz Luhrmann film 'Australia' (just released over here).  It took a little while to get there and we eventually found a site and became acquainted with their permanent residents; turkeys and peacocks.  Had a spot of lunch and then as nothing was open due to it being Sunday we entertained ourselves by playing noughts and crosses and hangman... little things please little minds and all that!

Monday we woke up to the sound of very loud peacocks squawking at 5am - how lovely we thought (hmm where's my gun?!) lol  Managed to get back to sleep and finally left the site and headed back into Bowen town centre to the information centre so we could find out exactly what buildings they used etc.  Drove to the sites and took some photos and as there was nothing much else to do we made our way to our next destination of Ayr.  Found a site and lazed by the pool then we were naughty and ate KFC for dinner but it was a special occasion for us 

There really was nothing much to see in Ayr and so we drove to Townsville on Tuesday where we also discovered there wasn't much to do there either!  We found an internet cafe and attempted to burn a photo CD for Ria so that I could use the spare XD card for my new camera but we found a virus on it and weren't 100% sure of how to make a photo cd but we figured it out in the end.  Afterwards we found a site and went back into town to find out some information about the boat times to Magentic Island.

On Wednesday we woke up to a very overcast sky so after umming and erring we decided we'd forget about Magnetic Island as we weren't fussed about doing it.  From there we drove to Mission Beach and finally found a campsite (we checked it out an hour earlier but decided we'd go back there as it seemed the better one of the lot).  We did a bit of food shopping and went on the net so Ria could email her uncle and later on had a delicious chicken and veg meal.  Although whilst we were cooking it Ria saw a rat go past and we saw a massive mutated cockroach (well, it seemed like it was anyway!)

Thursday we discovered what little there is to do in Mission Beach so we headed for Port Douglas and stopped at Jospehine Falls and took some piccies and as it was lunchtime we stopped at the Hogs Breath Cafe in Cairns and had a chicken burger each (no upset belly - yey!).  Drove some more and found a site and then headed into the town of Port Douglas to have a look around.

Thursday evening/Friday morning was so humid we didn't sleep too well but we decided to go even further North and head up to Cape Tribulation, however we ended up in Daintree Village which is nearly as north as you can get (besides Cooktown) where we got some information about Cape Trib and the ferry crossing and where we also picked up a sandwich each as it was getting close to lunchtime.  Found the car ferry and went over in our little campervan and headed deep into the dense rainforest - it was bloomin' hot!  Drove all around and went to the lookout point and took the usual photos etc!  Got a homemade ice-cream on the way back and then got the car ferry back over and decided we'd stay at Wonga Beach for the night.  As it had a pool and we were baking hot we played about in there.  Also at the site was a family of peacocks and 3 very cute baby chicks.

On Saturday we booked another two nights as we thought we'd take it easy for the next couple of days before heading back into Cairns.  So basically all we did was sunbathe and play in the pool.  Although we did get quite excited when Ria spotted a tree snake which was very cute.  Over the days we spent there we encountered a woman with her two grandkids battering cane toads with their golf clubs (as you do!), we also saw bandicoots, massive bugs and beetles, a big goanna (3ft lizard which I tried to run after to get a photo - quite hilarious thinking about it now!) and a 'golden orb' spider - very scary big spider!  Oh and I had also been reading Harry Potter number 4 and finally finished it so am now reading an alien abduction book...not as good though

Monday we headed nearer to Cairns but stopped at Mossman Gorge on the way and went for a swim - it was bloody cold but it was refreshing.  Went via Port Douglas and stopped to take some pictures at the lookout etc and had a spot of lunch.  We ended up at Lake Placid which is just outside of Cairns and as per usual decided to cool off in the pool, unfortunately the pool was like a hot bath and then two very odd immature foreign male 'things' jumped in and so we decided to get out!

For the past few days we'd noticed that the temperature had been increasing somewhat and later found out that it was a mini-heatwave and temps had peaked at over 100 so being in the van just made it worse.  Tuesday I managed to get a well-needed haircut - feels so much better.  We then went into Cairns and booked a Great Barrier Reef trip for the following day and then we checked into our hostel which was a dive then finally we unpacked our van and took it to the depot and said a sad goodbye to it...it might have been hot in there (we had air-con in the cabin bit) but it was still sad - we'd spent 5 weeks together for us to just abandon it

Wednesday we were up at the crack of dawn (ok, not exactly but it was early) and got the minibus to the wharf and boarded our yacht at 8.  We got to a reef a couple of hours later and did some snorkelling and used our new underwater camera only for it to let in water - arghhh.  After debating for ages we bought another one on the boat just in case we saw a turtle (which we didn't) and then we decided to do a 'free' introductory dive - basically they showed us how to breathe and deal with the pressure etc...we had a whole 3 minutes in the water and whilst I was down there I saw a jellyfish just float right past my face - soon as I saw it I put my little mitts over my hands.  Apparently it's the jellyfish that you can't see that are the dangerous ones!  Had some lunch and then we sailed over to Michaelmas Cay and did some more snorkelling which was a better site.  We got back to the wharf about 5ish so we had about 4 hours on the Outer Barrier Reef.  An excellent day though.

Thursday we left the dodgy hostel (no air-con and a little way out of the CBD) and went to a more central hostel with air-con!  Sold some books at a nearby shop (we picked em up for free....but we did read them!)  Looked around some souvenir shops and then decided we'd finally go and see the new Bond movie - I thought it was brilliant - so did Ria!  Had a nap back at the hostel and then went out for some dinner.

Today we had a big lie-in - 9am!  Did loads of shopping and then spent a load more money sending it back home - that's about it really!

And tomorrow we are flying out to Alice Springs for our next adventure where we've booked a car so we can do sunset and sunrise at Uluru and we can't wait .....

Hi all, can you believe it?.... I'm actually doing my next blog and it hasn't even been a week yet but this way it won't be so long and hopefully you won't lose interest!  hee hee

But anyway, on Saturday we left Hervey Bay after nearly experience cardiac arrest thinking that someone had been into our accounts and stoeln what precious money we have left.  Luckily it was just one stupid bank that got it wrong - we checked another ATM straight away and found that our money was still safe and sound (touch wood).  Because of such a scare to the old ticker (mine, not Ria's) that the only way we could repair the damage was having a crepe each for lunch!  It wasn't the nicest of crepes though - very slimy and only cooked on one side.... I think it's a sign that we shouldn't eat out! Anyhow.... moving on we headed for the Town of 1770 and found a site 'in the bush' unfortunately it wasn't the site we'd originally wanted but we never booked ahead so we got stuck with this on.  Needless to say we sprayed lots of DEET on ourselves and hoped for the best we weren't gonna wake up with loads of mozzie bites (which we didn't!).  That evening we had a takeaway; prawns in loads of breadcrumbs, chips and a greek salad.  As I said before I think it's a sign that we shouldn't eat out as it was really greasy and made us feel pretty yukky afterwards!  And then after that I called home just to say we're still alive ... only just, after that takeaway though!

Sunday we woke up early - 7.30am!  Ria got to call her folks and say hi and then we made our way into the village and passed a market.  We stopped off and had a nose about and ended up buying 3 books between us - I'm glad we have our little van coz the books are big!  One of those books was about an alien abduction and the man who was selling it was entertaining us by telling us that he'd seen hundreds of UFO's and also about the 10 million kids that go missing in America each year.  Our reaction was just to stay quiet and nod, then luckily he got interrupted by another customer and we made a quick run for it!  After our escape we made our way further into the village up to the lookout which was the start of the Southern Great Barrier Reef and took a couple of photos.  Not much else to do so we made our way to Rockhampton and found a nice site right near the town centre and had some lunch.  As it was Sunday everything was closed so not much for us to see or do so we bought some food for dinner and later on had a very delicious tuna pasta salad.  That evening we did our laundry (we leave it til the last minute) and somehow got talking to this nice aussie bloke who was only 21 and seemed to take a liking to me - , he was always looking at me whilst talking, gave me a far longer handshake than what Ria got and said he thought my name was lovely....  very odd but amusing!

Monday we were up and showered early again as it gets humid so early and the nights are even worse.  We got talking to an Australian lady we'd met a couple of weeks ago in Port Macquarie who was also heading our way but she was stopping in Rockhampton.  We talked for a bit and then said our goodbyes.  So our plan to leave early was a little delayed but we still left at 9.30am which is a first for us!  Drove to Mackay which was quite a long distance, found a site but thought it didn't look too nice so we went to look for another one, found that one but decided we'd go back to the first one so all in all we arrived at about 3pm.  Had lunch, did some shopping and had a cooked chicken again with loads of veggies.

As there was nothing to actually do around Mackay we left the site at 9.30 (seems to be becoming a habit).  We shared the driving to Airlie Beach (only about 2 hours worth) and parked up in town looking for travel shops so we could book a day trip around the Whitsunday Islands.  We didn't book anything straight away so we then looked for a site and the one we found is just about a km out of town.  Had some lunch and headed back into town where we booked a trip.  We also looked around a couple of shops and then made our way to a shopping centre which is way cheaper for goods... we were on a mission you see - my camera was dying very slowly (it kept saying there was a lens fault which I later found out was because very fine sand from Fraser Island had gotten into the nooks and crannies).  But anyway, we found a camera shop where I bought a lovely Olympus FE-320 for about 80 quid - looks exactly like Ria's so we now have hers and hers cameras.... except mine is newer and a lovely shade of blue! hee hee.  Later on we had some tasty chicken fajitas for dinner which we cooked on our little portable stove.

Wednesday we planned to have a cheap day (especially after yesterday).  Therefore, we went to the lagoon in Airlie Beach and sunbathed for most of the morning and early afternoon.  Went back to the campsite for lunch then headed back into town as my bikini top has now become almost see-through around the stomach area and if you've seen me poor belly it's not a good site!  Again the prices are somewhat inflated so we drove back to the shopping centre and found a couple of tops but they didn't look too good.  Back at site we had a delicious chicken tonight creamy tandoori sauce with chicken, rice and naan bread.

Yesterday we were up at 6.30 as we had to be ready by 7.45 for our pick-up for the day trip around The Whitsundays.  We left the marina and sailed straight to Whitsunday Island, then got a dinghy to the shore where we walked up to the Hill Inlet to see the beach from above and how the sands sweep across to show the different shades of the ocean.  Took a few pictures and walked down to Whitehaven Beach (one of the 10 most beautiful in the world, apparently) where we spent a while lazing around on the beach - the sand is so fine (about 99% pure silica...whatever that means!).  We went back to the boat and had a buffet lunch - unfortunately no prawns :-(  and then made our way over to Mantaray Bay where we did some snorkelling.  We had to wear 'stinger' suits as there could be some nasty little blighters out there.  Ria and I had bought ourselves a waterproof camera so we tried to take some pictures of the colourful fishes - there were some tiny little fish and then there were some ruddy great big ones .... up to about 3-4ft in fact!  From the surface they looked like sharks but were pretty harmless.  We haven't developed the pictures as yet but hopefully we've got a good few.  The reefs were also very pretty too.  We had some afternoon tea (chocolate cake and tea) where I had less than one piece of cake whereas Ria had 3 plus my leftover piece!  We got back to our site about 5.30ish and had a shower and then some beans on toast for dindins and did some laundry.  Oh and I forgot to say we also met an English couple (female) and talked to them most of the day.

And today, well it didn't start off to well for me - woke up with an awful migraine and was sick a little bit from the apple juice I had recently consumed with some pills - love the detail?! lol  I tried to sleep it off but only managed to doze for a little while but Ria was being sweet and was playing nursie (no outfit though - we didn't have enough space in our backpacks for it!) hee hee.  Anyway.... it started subsiding around 11.30ish so I had a little bit of brekkie and then showered.  We then drove to some shops looking for a tankini/bikini top for me and luckily found one - I got a whole swimsuit as they didn't do singles but it was still way cheaper than they are in Airlie Beach and that's for just a single item.  Ria also bought a pair of cute shorts as she's been surviving on like 2 pairs!  We then did some food shopping and headed back to the site for lunch and then waited for 4 o'clock where we took part in the daily lorikeet feeding session on-site.  The man feeding the birds offered everyone a handful of the bird food - not for us to eat but so the birdies would eat out of our hands, silly!  They certainly did, they were very pretty birds and some of them landed on our heads...we've decided we want one as a pet, but only if they do the same thing! lol

So that's about it.... I really didn't think it'd be that long!  They're having a reef festival here this weekend so we're staying til Sunday as we want to see some fireworks they're going to let off tomorrow night.  We're not 100% sure where we're off to next, maybe Ayr or maybe just straight to Townsville - who knows! 

But for now, that's it...... bye  

G'day again!  Sorry my plan didn't work - I did say I was gonna update my blog on a weekly basis but we had more exciting things to do! Hee hee.... but also getting internet access and time etc was partly to blame.

But going on from my last update we were in Byron Bay at the time.  Well we stayed there until Wednesday.  In that time we relaxed pretty much every day - well the weather was just so nice and it is a holiday afterall!  We visited the lighthouse there and saw humpback whales in the bay having a 'splashing' time in the sea and also a big pod of dolphins.  On the Tuesday we booked ourselves onto a surfing lesson where we paid a slightly cheaper rate than everyone else (hee hee) and went to a beach around Byron Bay and had to warm up - stretches and running on a beach .... I don't like running nowadays coz eveything bumps up and down a lot more than they used to 10 years ago!   We got into the cold water (in our cool wetsuits - Ria said I looked quite good!) and got pushed along the wave so that we learn what we were taught about managing to stand up on the surfboard.  Well as much as I tried I just didn't have the balance to stand plus I had awful pain in both of my big toes (through trying to do the technique on dry land).  Ria however managed to stand up a couple of times which I'm glad she did but was also a little envious of her.

Wednesday we left Byron Bay after having a nice walk on the beach itself as we hadn't done that since we'd been there. We then headed for the Gold Coast where we found a nice site just 3km from Surfers Paradise.  That afternoon we lazed around the pool then headed into S.P. for dinner - we couldn't be bothered to cook!  Unfortunately we had the most awful seafood dinners - I had seafood carbonara and Ria has seafood risotto - both yuk - the sauce used was so flavourless and watery. 

Thursday we did some more sunbathing - this time on the beach and saw some surfers doing their 'thing.'  Also ria was asked by some beefy man to put some suncream on his back - she asked me to do it and I was like 'oh go on, just do it' so she did.  She was just relieved that he didn't have a hairy back..... also that day Ria went topless - naughty Ria!  She said it was liberating - I was about to do it but the sun went in.... I reckon the sun knew what was about to happen!  That evening we went back into S.P. for some dinner (again couldn't be bothered to cook) and had a 'medium' madras - it was weird because you could have any dish then ask for it mild, medium or spicy.  But bl**dy hell mine was hot and I tasted Ria's and hers tasted 10 times hotter.  but I take my hat off to her - she ate it all!  And for me no upset tummy which is always a bonus!  Afterwards we went back to the site and found out a trailer tent had caught fire and some kids were taken to hospital.  I thought something might happen the night before because stupidly they had candles around their awning and one in it (possibly to keep the mosquito's away). 

Friday we went to Warner Bros. movie world where we went on a few excellent rides like Batwing which shoots you up 60ft in the sky and back down again, then the Superman Escapes ride which is 4.2 + g-force.  That was excellent and got to go on it a second time at the end of the day where we sat at the front - sooooo much better!  We also did the scooby-doo ghost train ride in the dark which made us laugh a lot  - I think coz it was so jolty.  We also did the Leathel Weapon one which is a bit like the Nemesis at Alton Towers but my head just banged side-to-side and hurt me lugholes!  Needless to say we didn't go on that one again.  We also went on a very scary kids carousel ride - have you seen the photos on facebook?!  And also a waterlog ride where we got frenched.  It was a great day out but not that many thrill rides - we partly wished we'd gone to Dreamworld.

Saturday we sunbathed some more and had a Hungry Jacks (Burger King).... again couldn't be bothered to cook!  Whoops!

Sunday we left the Gold Coast and made our way to Brisbane which was pretty easy to find - one road.  Unfortunately it tooks us about 2 hours to find our way out to find a site for the night.  We were looking for the information centre in the city to locate a campsite for the night which is why it took us so long!  luckily we found the centre and a site and pulled up there for the night.  It wasn't the nicest site.  As the kitchen was virtually non-existent and all we had was a can of soup in the van we decided to eat out (yes, again) and had Nando's.  Our first ever Nando's but it was bl**dy good!

Monday we did some much needed food shopping then headed to Lone Pine Koala Sanctuary (the biggest in Oz) where we saw lots of native animals.... including the kinda cute but smelly Koala - we both got to hold one and have our pictures taken with them.  We also hand-fed some wallabies and kangaroos which was amazing - some are darn-right greedy and others hopped away from you!   We also saw lixards, wombats, dingoes and kookaburra's.  It was a good day out though and it wasn't really hot either which helped.  After that we headed to a site in the Glass Mountains (near Beerwah for Australia Zoo).  It was getting a little late too so we found the one we were looking for but it wasn't very nice but it had a tv - always a bonus!

Tuesday we got up and were delayed by some man cleaning the ladies toilets at 9am!  Stupid bloke!  We made some sarnies and then stopped off at a lookout but by the time we'd found our way back to the 'Steve Irwin Highway' it was nearly midday.  Luckily it was only a couple more minutes down the road so we did an afternoon tour of Australia Zoo.  it was fantastic to be there and they still very much celebrate Steve which is quite touching.  We handfed roo's and wallabies again, saw a tiger, Asian elephants, Macaw's, turtles, tasmanian devils and snakes.  We saw a 'croc feeding' at the 'crocoseum,' stroked a very cute and smooth wombat and also saw some otters being fed - man they were cute!  We bought some souvenirs as you do then headed off to Noosa. We got to our preferred site  and then had our delicious speciality; pasta and bolognaise sauce with mushrooms and peppers.  We also met a very friendly big grey tabby cat there - he was most probably after our food but he came and saw us later aswell so maybe it's our animal magnetism!  hee hee

Tuesday evening it rained nearly all night and most of the morning so we ate our breakfast in the van.  After that we left the site and headed for Hervey Bay but stopping en-route at an information centre in Tiaro.  Just before we got to H.B. we also stopped at Maryborough which is the birthplace of P.L. Travers who wrote Mary Poppins and it's also the setting for The Delinquents movie which starred Kylie Minogue.  But anyway, we managed to find the Mary Poppins statue for a quick photo with the famous lady and as there was nothing much else to see there we went straight to Hervey Bay.  We got there quite early in the afternoon so we took a walk down to the beach where we had a paddle in the warm water.  We then came back and drove right down the Esplanade which had little shops scattered all along there and then did a bit of shopping where we bought half a cooked chicken and a bag of veg and had that for dinner - very tasty indeed - we both miss our veggies!

Thursday we were up very early - 6am in fact as we had to get the coach for our day trip to Fraser Island.  Although it started off quite overcast, humid though it soon was sunny.  We got the ferry over to the island which is the biggest sandy island in the world and a world heritage site.  We got on another coach the other side but this time it was a very expensive specially designed 4WD coach.  We endured very, very bumpy sand roads and drove some way down '75-mile beach' until we got to Eli Creek where we had a little paddle, then we spotted a wild dingo when we got back on the coach and then headed down to the Mehano shipwreck which got washed ashore in the 1930's or something.  We drove a little further to The Pinnacles which is a big sandstone rock where there are apparently 72 different coloured sands and then back to a resort for a big buffet lunch.  Afterwards we headed to Central Station via one of the bumpiest roads I've ever been on (whilst trying to keep our lunches down) which is where they used to have a little village for all of the workers who did tree felling there.  And then onto Lake Mackenzie which is like a massive oasis in the middle of the island.  It was like a man-made beach as all of the lake was surrounded by a beach - very odd but pretty.  We took a swim there and then got on the coach and headed back to the ferry - it was almost like a whistle-stop tour but we saw some of the island and the trips weren't exactly cheap!  We got back to the site about 6-ish and made ourselves hotdogs using the tiniest of frankfurter sausages with some mustard and ketchup.  Watched some tv and met another English couple who were a year into their travelling and possibly sticking around until maybe at least 2010! 

Yesterday, we had an exceptionally relaxed day (which are also the cheapest days!) and lazed around the pool topping up our tans whilst listening to some music.  Unfortunately I forgot to put suncream on my belly so it's now a little sore!  We sweated buckets as the temperature was at least 34/35 degrees and then went back to the van for some lunch.  Relaxed a little more around the van, then chatted to our neighbours before having a shower and going out to find an internet cafe and some food.  We treated ourselves to a very yummy Thai - quite authentic and also quite reasonable in price!

Today we woke up to a little cloud so it was nice not to have that intense heat first thing in the morning.  We've checked out of our site and we're now thinking of heading to a little place called 'Town of 1770'.... obviously the only name they could think of at the time?!  (It's to do with a Lieutenant james Cook as he wasn't a Captain at the time he landed there.  But enough of the history, I think I'm about done..... ooh except for a discovery which I made the other day and a rather interesting one at that......  I found Milky Way's but not any Milky Way - it's the original ones that we had with the chocolate whip centre and not the foul white centre ones that we now have.  Some of you may remember them and others might not but this is a wonderful discovery and I'm giving it my fullest attention - I'm even thinking about sending loads home for when I get back! 

OK, i better leave it there coz all this talk of chocolate is making me hungry!  So, I'll try and leave another blog in the not so distant future.  Hope everyone is enjoying the cold, wet weather in the UK - I'm not missing that one bit!  Until next time folks......