YOU KNOW YOU'RE IN TROPICAL QUEENSLAND WHEN ............

(A) This is the view from your caravan! Bucasia Beach, about 10 kms. out of Mackay.

(B) a family of ducks lives at the Caravan Park and just wanders around like it owns the place.

(C). Your husband catches (and cooks) your tea, and

(D) You catch a decent fish, at last!! Rex Hunt, eat your heart out!

(E) You can camp for 24 hours at riverside campsites for free! (and we did)! and

(F) you can camp for free for 24 hours behind the pub at Marlborough. Hey, that IS Marlborough, just a pub! Talk about out in the sticks. We had tea at the pub, there were 6 men and a dog (Literally) there. I said to Warren, do you think they realise we're not locals ....... ha ha.

(G) Following on from my "signs you don't see every day" collection, I bet you've never seen a sign like this before!

(H) - Yep, we're in tropical Queensland alright!

We are now at Mackay, and will be here for the next two weeks. Weather during the day is great - blue skies and around 23-24 degrees. The nights are cooler, and all the locals are wearing winter clothes and saying how it's the coldest winter they've had for ages! We're wearing shorts and tee-shirts and sun-baking, pretty obvious we're mexicans! The annual sugarcane crush has just started, you have to watch out for cane trains crossing the roads.

Hope all my school friends have a great holiday, the kids up here get three weeks, they are already on their break. Love to all!

Fraser Island - a great day out

Last Thursday we took the barge out to Fraser Island for a day long tour of the island. We had a wonderful day. Photo above shows us nearing Fraser Island, the little truck you can see in the distance has the mail for the barge to bring back to the mainland.

In the background you can see the four wheel drive buses which take people around the island. It is the only way to get around, there are no roads, just sandy tracks. The bus we went on took 15 people. We were advised before we went to NOT sit in the back, and after ten minutes we knew why! talk about bumpy! Our tour guide's name was Franz, originally from Austria he was fluent in three languages, and had to tell us everything in English, then, for the german tourists, repeat everything in German. He seemed to talk the entire day! (which of course he did). But he cooked us a mean lunch! We had fish or steak, salads, fruit, soup, it was great, sitting under the trees. Beer and wine were provided as well. And then afternoon tea was at one of the "resorts" on the island, at a place called Happy Valley, where you can buy a new apartment for yourself for the small price of $640,000. any takers??? They have built them right opposite the pub, we wondered (a) how on earth they had got permits to build them when the island is a national park and (b) why would you build them right opposite the pub? if your intention is isolation and solitude. Each to his own of course!

Another shipwreck! This time the Mahina, originally built for the New Zealand steamship company. Originally built as a sumptuous ocean liner, it ran aground after the second world war, after being used as a hospital ship. The photo only shows about a third of it - it was massive.

And of course on Fraser Island there are dingoes. We were fortunate (?) if that's the right word, to see two during the day. They were heavily culled after 2001 following the death of a child, this one was checking out people fishing on the beach and then wandered over to their fourwheel drive looking for food. There are signs EVERYWHERE saying don't feed the dingoes, for obvious reasons.

These are the Pinnacles, coloured sandstone formations, very pretty, but getting heavily eroded by wind and sand and time.

My first snake sighting! 20 years in Oz and this is the first snake I have seen in the wild. We actually walked past it twice, before another lady spotted it. It's a carpet python and was extremely docile and quiet (luckily) as it is just too cold at the moment. How's this for great camoflague.

We were pretty late leaving the island, and as sun sets around 5.30pm up here, one minute it's daylight, the next it's dark. But another great photo opportunity! This was sunset from the back of the barge. We got back to the caravan park at around 6.30 and were in bed an hour later, totally had it! One big day, but really worth it.

Warren wants to know - if this bouy wasn't here, where would these birds sit? (and I am stuck in a caravan with him 24 hours a day ....................!!!!)

We have been fishing the last two nights off the Pier and have caughts heaps of fish, sadly they are all Toad fish, totally useless and poisonous. They make this croaking sound as you pull them out of the water, and puff up their throats just like a toad - just revolting.

Four more days at Hervey Bay, which we are really enjoying, then we head for Mackay. We stay with friends at Howard on Friday night, then hit the trail. should take us a couple of days so we will camp overnight roadside. Talk to you next from Mackay!

A LITTLE BIT FURTHER NORTH ......

This was the beach at Maroochydore last week, covered in this foamy gunk from one end to the other. the sand underneath was really unstable, needless to say we didn't venture out too far. We had one nice day, Wednesday, then it just clouded over again. Never mind! We went for a drive up to Noosa on Thursday, saw all the beautiful people! Just so wet, it was a shame, as we certainly didn't get to enjoy the area as much as we could have.

And here we have beautiful Hervey Bay. we packed up and hit the road Friday morning, and were here around 11.00am. Set up camp, then off to the beach to enjoy the sunshine. Here's me trying out my 'scenery shots' again! Being a bay of course there is no surf, and it is weird to stand in an ocean that's as flat as a pancake, with no waves crashing around you. The sight I like the best is the shark net further out in the bay!!!!! We had a lovely day Friday, then woke up to THIS ......................................

and the rains came! It poured and poured once more. No need to take the car to the carwash, that's for sure. We have booked ourselves in for two weeks, so it HAS to get better. (doesn't it???) Actually it's not too bad today (Sunday). we are just about to head off and walk the jetty which extends one kilometre out into the Bay, overlooking Fraser Island which we are going out for a day trip to as soon as the weather settles. Should get some wonderful photos over there.

We went to the local markets this morning, and picked our way through the mud, puddles and slush! Got some really cheap vegies though. And so to the last photo .......................

When it's raining and the washing's wet, just keep on smiling!

THE NEWSPAPER HEADLINES SAY IT ALL!!!

And it has, and it DID! Unbelievable rain, Melbourne would have loved it. It was cloudy last Wednesday so we took the chance to zip up to Eumundi Markets (best ones in Oz I reckon, not that I've seen them all!). Had a lovely time, and were really pleased we had chosen that day to go, as next day - mmmm, the showers started, and then the wind started to blow, and we looked at each other, knowing we were leaving for Alexandra Headland on Friday, and said let's pack up everything today while it's not raining. Good idea number 402! Because that night the storm came through, and rain - I haven't seen anything like it for years, it poured and poured. We were pretty lucky, and also extremely organised. The moment the rain eased off Friday morning, we hitched up the van and set out to Alex Beach. It was a slow trip as the weather was just atrocious, but we managed to get everything done without getting drowned. Warren's old RACV raincoat came in extremely handy! So nice of them to donate it to him, ha ha. We got to Alex Beach half an hour later, and had such a great level site that Warren was able to back the van in without me getting out of the car, a huge bonus for me! Again, the rain eased just enough for us to unhitch the car, and it bucketed down just as Warren finished. Someone was looking after us! And then it rained, and rained, and rained .............just unbelievable. We didn't bother putting up the awning, and guess what, it's still not up! It's just too windy, hence too dangerous. So we have played lots of cards, read lots, had quick walks when the rain stops, plenty of retail therapy ............. so much for swimming and fishing! The beaches are all closed, they are covered in gunky foamy stuff so you wouldn't want to swim anyway, but the waves are just ferocious, the para-surfers ( I think that's what they are called) are loving it! Guys on a surfboard with a parachute thingy??? With the winds as wild as they are, they are just skimming over the waves. good luck to 'em, I say! I'll keep my feet firmly on firm ground thanks! The joys of caravanning! and it wasn't even worth us moving on, as this weather apparently starts around the Gold Coast and extends up to Mackay, so we'll just ride this out, supposed to clear around Tuesday/Wednesday. This is such a beautiful region usually, but hey! can't do a thing about the weather. We will just appreciate the sun more when it comes out. Love to all!