South down the East coast

We set off from Cairns with a slightly uneasy feeling about the car after all the problems we had been having with it, but after the money we had spent, it should all be ok, but only time and KM's would tell!

We were still in rainy season being in the tropics so it rained pretty much every night for 2 weeks in the tent, not to mention a bit in the day at times, but as its hot you don't really mind so much. We followed the coast Southwards, occasionally turning inland to go to a National Park or scenic drive. We saw lots of awesome beaches, but were unable to swim in the sea as there are an abundance of deadly jellyfish called Irikanji and a fair few Great Whites, not to mention the Saltwater crocs! So we stuck to creeks and lakes. Fortunately as we headed out of the tropics it becomes safe to take to the sea again, so we were happy to reach Bowen and have a swim and snorkel.

Of course we stopped by all the major tourist spots, but generally only for a night to see what the fuss was all about. We much prefer the quieter less known spots with pristine beaches and only a handful of Aussies enjoying them. We had made it as far as Hervey Bay, which is the jumping off spot for Fraser Island, the worlds largest sand island, so of course we had to rent a 4x4 and go exploring. We got lucky with the deal we booked as no one else booked on so we had a Suzuki Jimny all to ourselves and could go wherever we wanted. The next 3 days were spent tearing across sand dunes, through rainforest tracks and along a 90km beach to explore the incredible island. We enjoyed swimming in a few of the islands 18 inland freshwater lakes and had a brilliant time!

Back on the road and it wasn't long until we reached Coolangatta, on the Gold Coast, where our friends Leigh and Emma live with their baby boy Banjo. We stopped by for a few days and caught up on happenings over the last 5 years (Fran met them on her last visit to Oz). Leigh took me for a surf on an awesome break where the waves come in at 45 degrees to the beach (Mark you would love it!) where we had seen dolphins surfing from the headland the day before, and Fran caught up with Emma and got to know Banjo (she possibly left even broodier then when she arrived!).

We then had a spate of catching up with old friends as we met up with Ruth in Byron and enjoyed a dinner out and some sunbathing, then planned to meet up again in Melbourne. We stopped by Dave-o's again and cooked dinner for Ken, Meg and Dave as a thank you (and kept Dave up way too late on a school night - sorry dude!). A day later we met Nan Brand in West Sydney (another friend Fran made 5 years ago) who insisted we stay for the night and was very accommodating as she cooked us dinner and we all swapped stories of our travels and people we had met, when we left Nan gave us a wonderful piece of Aboriginal art, from Barrow Creek painted by an artist she knows, which will enjoy a prime spot on our wall upon our return. As we stopped in Canberra we spent the afternoon catching up with an old school friend, Mark Usherwood, who moved here 6 years ago and hasn't been back home since, it was great to see him again.

We then had a long drive through bush fire country (they are mostly out now, and we didn't go ANYWHERE near any that were still alight) at which point you really see just how dry this part of the country is, we saw some areas that had burnt close up which really makes you realise just how scary it must be to be near a fire. We are now in Melbourne and looking forward to catching up with some other friends that we made in Thailand, Matt and Teree.