2nd day in Singapore

We hopped on a bus tour here to get an idea of what the city had to offer. I was surprised that the cost  was only about £12 each - A big big difference to the £30 we paid in Sydney 4 weeks ago. With a thriving economy and strong exchange rate Australia is an expensive place to visit - everything seemed to be at least 20 - 30% more expensive than the UK. Still, you can't go diving on a coral reef in England either so vive la difference!

Breakfast!

Christmas in Singapore 

Chinatown

Yes it's got one of these - where hasn't nowadays. 

And this is the Marina Bay Sands hotel - 2560 rooms in there apparently

We went to a sea food restaurant tonight and indulged in some lobster

And monster oysters - with a monster price tag!

A lovely meal in an outside restaurant by the river. Unfortunately I should have asked if the seafood was locally caught - it isn't - it's imported from Australia and judging by what they charged me for the oysters they fly them in business class....... (£8 each if you were wondering)

So we head for the airport tomorrow morning to go home.

Singapore

We are in Singapore - an 8 hour flight in what seemed to be an airplane full of screaming kids - I don't think I've every been on a flight with so many of the little beggars. No sleep possible!

As soon as we land it turns from blue sky and 32C to teeming rain and 32C - we seem to be dogged by storms where ever we show up - it only lasts for the taxi ride to the hotel

We are staying at the Peninsula Excelsior hotel - we deserve a bit of luxury after slumming it in the camper for the last couple of weeks. 

We'll take a tour of Singapore tomorrow and try a pack in as much as possible before we fly home on Friday. 

Back in Sydney

Yesterday we got down to Brisbane and dropped off the van and caught a flight to Sydney for our last night in Australia. We stayed with cousin Kay and Bruce and had a nice evening with Bruce on the BBQ and sampling his extensive range of beers. So good to sleep in a proper bed after 2 weeks in the camper - it was cool, no mosquitoes and didn't have to climb a ladder to get into bed.

We are going to Singapore later today for a couple of days to break the journey home

Day 11

Just 2 more days left in Australia. The storm carried on for a few hours yesterday and we had to wade back to the camper. Still - the rain was warm!
The beach is beautiful here and Carol, the sand does indeed squeak!

Day 10

We are parked up in a place called Mooloolaba - its just north of Brisbane. Sitting in a bar having a couple of cold Tooheys and watching the rain lash down - we are in the middle of a right old storm! It'll blow over in a little while then we are down onto the beach for a couple of hours. A lovely way to spend a Sunday afternoon.

Day 9

Had a great day out at Fraser Island today - an amazing place. It's around 160 miles long and is uniquely made up of sand - you can only go on the island in an 4x4

It has huge fresh water lakes - and the sand is so fine it's used in jewellers rouge

We drove on the beach - it's an official Queensland highway - with speed limits and police patrol.

Then we took a plane ride over the island - the beach is a runway too!

It's called 75 mile beach for a reason

Then we went to the rain forest 

And it's got a ship wreck!

Another birdy story - These are Mutton birds - 100's of them dead on the beach - they start their journey in New Zealand and fly up the Chinese and Russian Coast to the Bering Sea then they fly down the west coast of the US and when they get to about Mexico they head for Australia - they rarely land on terra firma and have the ability to bob like corks in the sea and eat fish and squid. The older ones peg it at this point hence all the dead birds that are washed up on the shore. 

A really fantastic place and a nice group of French, Dutch, German, and Ozzies to share it with on the bus.

With all the sand and 4x4 testosterone flying around I am ashamed to admit I got the big rig stuck in the sand at our camp site yesterday. We fired up the camper for an early departure and for the next few minutes we were watched by the other breakfasting campers while we tried power it out of the camp spot - all to no avail - the wheels were spinning, the clutch burning, and the diesel fumes pumping but we were going nowhere - it's nice to have an audience when you are looking like a Pommie wimp isn't it? Finally some Aussies wandered over and gave us a little push and we were out. Well in my defence it must have been at least 6 inches of sand, 2.5 ton of camper and only 2 WD -  and we got hammered in the cricket as well - the Aussies must have loved it.

We are moving on towards Brisbane tomorrow - maybe staying around Noosa Heads for a couple of days before we fly to Sydney and start to make our way home  

Day 8 c to b

We finally are in a camp site with some reliable wi-fi - it's been a bit frustrating not being able to update things - for the last few days we have been told the wi-fi isn't working at the moment ........ Grrrrr

Anyway we've traveled about 1300k in the last week and have about 400 to go before we get to Brisbane. 

It's been an interesting week - there hasn't been much change of scenery for about 1000k of that. When you've seen one sugar cane plantation you've kind of seen them all! We've found some nice beachfront camp sites to stay at and finally made it to the Barrier Reef. 

Our worst night was a couple of days ago - we stopped at a pull in next to the highway because we'd  been driving most of the day - we went to the local hotel for a drink and something to eat and hit the sack at around 9.00 - that's quite a late night for us - but we have been up and about at between 5.00 and 7.00 every day. What with the noise of the road trains on the highway and the 50 wagon trains on the railway line 50 yards away - oh and the mosquitoes - it wasn't a good nights sleep to say the least. 

We are at Hervey Bay tonight and are going out to Fraser Island tomorrow.

This is where we stayed in 1770 - that's a town.

Some pics from the Barrier Reef trip

Turtles

These are an interesting story - on the island there are basically 2 things - birds and trees - the birds are mainly Black Noddies - they eat the seeds from the trees, but trees protect themselves with a sticky gum - this gets on the birds and they get little twigs and other debris stuck to them and then they can't fly so they die - the bodies decompose and the seeds that are in their stomachs fertilise and grow into new trees - isn't nature a clever thing?

The Noddies 

A Noddie that's been at the sticky seeds

Finally - at last the kangaroos are out and about 

Day 8 c to b

A quick stop at the ginger beer factory! The fun is endless!

All this travel blog stuff is very time consuming you know. 

Day 7

We finally got out to the great barrier reef today. A 2 hour boat there and back. Most of the others on the boat were Chinese - it was amusing watching them all taking pictures of themselves posing on the boat before we left. It was a different story after an hour when they were all reaching (or is it retching) for the sick bags. Didn't see a single picture being taken then!
Had a great time out there - more to follow on this later.
We've been in a communications black hole for the last few days hence the intermittent blog. 

Day 5 c to b

We were going to do a trip out to the islands today but the weather stopped us - storms in the night and pretty rough sea. So we'll have to try to do the great barrier reef another day. We decide to push on to rockhampton - about 450k

The Sweets visit the sugar museum!

Coral drives the big rig!

Day 4 c to b

We drove 350 k today to get a bit of distance behind us. We are staying at airlie beach tonight. Bit of a party place apparently it's a hotspot for schoolies - that's graduates to me and you. They come here to kick back and have a good time. The campsite we are staying at is a bit of a dump. Nevermind will ship out tomorrow and get a bit further down the road to brisbane.
The journey down here was pretty boring. Much the same scenery all the way here - lots of creeks and dead Joeys on the side of the road. They obviously don't sign up to the green cross code.
Australian vintage car rally.

3rd day c to b

We pulled into a beach side camp a couple of hours ago. Place is just outside of townsville so we will stay here tonight and then motor down to airlie beach. That's where we want to go out to the great barrier reef. Campsite is okay - just us and a few "good old boys" staying here. Looking forward to some beans on toast for tea!

Coffee break

Where are you having your Sunday morning coffee break today?

We have about a 1000 mile drive down to Brisbane over 12 days this is day 4 and we've only done 100 miles - need to rethink..... I think.

2nd day cairns - bris

Just went down the road a bit to a camp at Etty Bay - and chilled on the beach - will stay here tonight and then make our way down towards Townsville 

A Cassowary on the beach

1st day Cairns

We picked up the camper and our first stop was the supermarket to get some supplies then we take the wrong road and end up driving up into the mountains on a windy 1 in 10 road - a few heart stopping moments as I'd only been driving this for about 10 min before we take this detour - thanks Coral!!

We stay at a camp site and go to the croc farm today - a chance to see these - 

Aaaaahhhhhh...... There're so cuuuute

And so are these - but in a different way..

Yikes!!! These are salt water and fresh water crocs - they do swim in the sea and are quite numerous this time of year - so I don't think I'll risk it - I had a swim yesterday between the safety net and it was like a luke warm bath - not a great experience but I've swum in two oceans in the last 4 days - temperature wise at opposite ends of the spectrum.

More crocs - this is the big one - about 5m - no one knows how long crocs live - the original one at this place died 10 years ago and had been at the farm from 1935 - they reckon he was about 100 years old - their teeth eventually drop out so in the wild they would not live this long - but in captivity they are fed and have health insurance so they live much longer.

The keeper almost misjudged this one - a near miss!

We are staying at an RV spot tonight - it gets dark here before 7.00 so it's prudent to off the road by then and parked up so you are not arguing with each other in the cab. 

first day in cairns

got to cairns after an early flight this morning and picked up our camper van - it's a monster - a 6 berth job with all the bells and whistles

3rd day GOR

Our last day on the Great Ocean Rd - we stayed in Port Campbell last night - a very quiet place and ate at a very busy restaurant - dinner is served between 5.30 and 8.00 - then the town is in lock down!!

This morning we take in the final bit of the GOR - it's been ok but we've seen better - what they don't tell you is that quite a lot of the road is set a long way back from the Ocean so you only catch glimpses of the coast line. 

This is the Martyrs - or is it the Apostles? - I've lost the plot a bit. 

We go for a walk in the bush at Tower Hill - it's teaming with wildlife - except for today!

A long drive back towards Melbourne - about 3 hours in mostly rain showers 

We are in an Irish pub at the moment waiting for dinner to arrive and the quiz night to start - weird.....

But we come 5th out of 9 teams - takes the wind out of the Aussies sails a bit!!

Me again, I have to add an addendum here. Dave has been smarting all day over the cost of our breakfast.  I kept telling him to let it go, but now we've just ordered dinner and his porterhouse steak is only $4 more than his scrambled egg on toast, I think I may have to agree with him! Looking forward to  getting to Cairns and the camper van. My breakfast rates will be much more reasonable.