We hope everyone at home are enjoying the school hols! We are on the Gold Coast now and there are plenty of kiwi accents around, that's for sure!
This time next week we'll be home. Finn can't wait to get to the skate park, Johnny!
I think it is fair to say that 3/4 of the Caddie Cruisers are looking forward to being home, but we are having a great week with Gordy's Mum and Dad and sister Barbara and brother-in-law Chris here. We are all staying in Mermaid Beach - they have a unit together and we are in a camping ground close by. We are living the high life in a cabin...and were upgraded when we arrived to one with a bathroom! and sheets! and towells! and flat screen telly! We have never been upgraded before and there was a little dance of victory when it happened!
We had a lovely day at Seaworld yesterday. Finn and Rosa are now planning to open the Caddie Dolphin Training School as they think that looks like a cool job. Rosa is allergic to cats, so obviously dolphins are the next step.
Finn went out on a fishing trip this morning with Ray and Chris. Lucky boy, they had a whale encounter (5m from the boat) and dolphins came to visit them too. He caught a fish, so all in all a great adventure.
Rosa came to Harbour Town with the rest of us - she bought a few bits and bobs and chewed k-bars so she was happy too. Gordy even managed to select, try on, and buy a very nice shirt for himself. We've all learnt new skills on this trip, you see. Rosa doesn't approve of the shirt, it's pink. She thought black would be more suitable.
Since our last post from Airlie Beach we headed south through the Eungella National Park, staying at the rustic Platypus Camping Ground. Actual Platypus remained elusive to us, but the area was beautiful. We stayed a night in the (not so) fragrant sugar mill town of Sarina (wonderful campground made the place). We returned to Rockhampton and had a meal at Lee Kernaghan's (yes, him again) pub and revisited our koala and wombat friends at the zoo. We stopped for three nights at Agnes Waters (STOP PRESS! What a gorgeous place! Campground on the beach! Go there!) where we hummed, haed and heehawwed before deciding to retry our reef experience that was a little rough in Cairns. We are sooooo glad we did. We went out to Lady Musgrave Island (the southern most tip of the GBR), snorkelled, went in the semi-sub boat and glass bottomed boat, and the day was beautiful. (Just like the brochures, Mum!) Even taking into account the motor malfunction, and taking 3 1/2 hours to return to land (it had only taken 1 1/2 to get out there) it was fantastic!
We then spent a night at Hervey Bay and returned to Boreen Point and another visit to the gorgeous spot of Eumundi (where I nearly bought some $35 undies, just so I could call them my Eumundi-undies, but came to my senses just in time).
During all this time we had been weaving and dodging rain, the wee tent was falling apart (cheap tent/30 campgrounds? I am sure you get the picture!), and the gear in the car was getting a bit ferral, so although we had another night still up our sleeves before meeting the family here on the G.C. we decided to head here on Saturday anyway.
Well! Fate and friendship had another plan! We put a Brisbane address into Tomtom, thinking we would pop in and say hello to friends Lisa and Bruce (new arrivals to Aus) if they were home. They were home alright! We were in the door, the jug went on...the roast went in the oven...the beer came out...Jacob, Ellie and Nick took Rosa and Finn under their wings...the beds were arranged, and we were set! We were unprepared and very grateful! Cheers to the Keenans! We got a real buzz from being with mates after weeks of self sufficiency. We were given something we didn't know we needed. Now that
is hospitality!
After a great Saturday night and a visit to the local market, we headed off on the final short leg of our journey which brought us here.
I have plans for a couple more posts - I'd like to record some of the statistics of the trip, for example we have travelled 7500km in the Spaceship so far, which could have taken us 2/3 of the way to London, Gordon tells me ( I think he's forgotten about the small matter of water).
If anyone is still out there and has a question about the trip...go ahead, ask!
Keep warm, southern hemispherers...dance madly in the sun, northern dwellers xxx
Watching the hang gliders near Port Douglas. 
Coconut munching at Cape Tribulation. 
More nuts at beautiful Cape Tribulation, where the rainforest meets the sea. 
If we had a favourite bat, then Sammy would be the one. 
Swim at Port Douglas - if you dare! 
On the beach at Port Douglas 
Carrying 'home' the pineapple, the watermelon, the marshmallows... Chillagoe 
The hottest winter's day of our lives - Chillagoe. 
Inside 'The Great Western Hotel' at Rockhampton. 
On Lady Musgrave Island - 'just like the brochures, Mum!' 
On the semi-sub, Lady Musgrave cruises. 
With the family at Mermaid Beach, Gold Coast. 
8,500km later we leave Nostromo behind.
