Lifelogs

my day mmm

2011-04-19T00:50:00.001-07:00

daifvni;

srthrthaa

hba

aerth
a
t

aefnviefv
fbfbefgbergr

test 5

2011-04-19T00:00:00.001-07:00

test 5 with photo

2011-04-18T23:59:00.001-07:00

test 4 no photo

2011-04-18T23:51:00.001-07:00

test

FINALLY - THE TRIP ENDS

2007-11-14T12:57:00.000-08:00

Now back at Macandrew Bay for a month and it's been all go - catching up on the garden, cutting down a massive beech tree that was dying and starting a new life in small book production..... I love Macandrew Bay, but would like to be on this chair at times - have to go back again !

Click on the images to enlarge them - I hope you've enjoyed the trip as much as we did ! cheers Brian

WINDMILLS AND A SHOCK

2007-10-03T19:59:00.000-07:00

As we passed through the Stirling ranges heading north I stopped for a photo of the yellow canola - climbed through a fence ( middle strands ) - then came back through the fence again to get a polarising filter - WHAM - next minute i was lying in a ditch yelling in a fetal position with my precious Nikon D70 wrapped against my stomach - The top was electrified and came through my back and down both arms to the ground - biggest jolt I'd had from a fence since I was 12 ( when as most boys do they test ( once ) the theory of what happens when you pee on an electric fence.)

Anyway I gingerly climbed back over the fence post with polariser and got the shot. Then we meet a 16th century replica Dutch windmill in the middle of nowhere with 24 ton rotating head ( which I still had as well from the electric fence ) ... - the woman walking in water was in Kings Park Perth - with the amount of money coming out of the ground in WA it's a wonder everyone is not walking on gold....

MONKEY ROCK

2007-10-03T19:38:00.001-07:00

Near Denmark is a rock called Monkey rock - and after a bit of a walk had a great view back to the coast - with Len & Rose as guides and the camera once again glued to my eye !

THAT BOAT AGAIN

2007-10-03T19:12:00.001-07:00

Sorry just a couple more of the boat !and one of the landing where whales were cut up....

BOAT A WHALE AND A BIRD

2007-10-03T19:09:00.000-07:00

Could not stop photographing the boat ... !

WHALE WORLD

2007-10-03T19:06:00.000-07:00

Albany was one of the pargest whaling stations around and whale killing only stopped in the 1970's so now the base has been turned into a fascinating museum - lots of exhibits but I was captured by the shapes and colours of the restored whale boat.

ALBANY

2007-10-03T18:59:00.000-07:00

Albany is the main town in the area but the surprise was the size of the harbour - where ships met in large numbers before embarking with troops to europe in WW1 & WW2 - one the way home we met a timy orchard about 1 cemntimetre across called the duck orchid -

WILLIAM'S BAY

2007-10-03T18:31:00.001-07:00

Len & Rose live near Williams Bay ( Just outside Denmark Village ) - Much of SW Australia is made of granite rock -amongst the oldest of any rocks in the world - formed a hundreds of millions of yearas before the first life forn developed on earth - and along the coastline they form shaped lke beached whales - could have spent the whole day at this one beach -

The last photo is a little island you can wander across to at low tide - fortunately it was hig tide - why ? because a little notice nearby warned that the bush in this tiny island is full of snakes - once again I was very busy behind the telephoto lens !

DENMARK

2007-10-03T18:13:00.000-07:00

We spent a fantastic few days with Len & Rose van der Waag - more friends from PNG days - they have a house with glass walls on 5 acres of bush - a favourite kangaroo who comes for breakfast - many more kangaroos grazing in their 5 acres against the national park - a fabulous vegetable garden ( fenced off from the kangaroos ) and frogs that croak at volume 10 all night long in the swampy bit under the house..... The first time I have lived in a Noah's ark - it was really special... and that's not mentioning the birds everywhere - the thngs that crawl everywhere and the pet magpie couple that drop in each morming for breakfast with the kangaroo. - and the overweight goldfish that live on slugs from the garden .....

TREETOP WALK

2007-10-03T18:06:00.000-07:00

Near Walpole there is a walk which takes you through the tree tops on a metal platform wqhich climbs to 90 metres - not often you can look down on the tops of gum trees - or hug tree trunks near their top ! the platform moves a bit as you walk which adds to the drama. - even found a couple of Kiwis under one of the trees... or were they hobbits ?

CAVES

2007-10-03T17:52:00.000-07:00

Not only are there fantastic granite coastlines - but also several caves in recent Limestone - we went into the massive Jewel Cave - wound the camera up to 1600 iso and held it very steady - another surprise in this SW corner of Australia.

TREES

2007-10-03T17:47:00.000-07:00

The bottom SW corner of Australia is famous for its trees - of all kinds - the Ghostly white tall Karri trees impressed me the most - but then there were trees growing happily in swamps and estuaries...

REDGATE BEACH

2007-10-01T17:00:00.000-07:00

One of the fun things on holiday is finding surprises - we went down the wrong roaad and instead of finding another spot full of other tourists - found a totally wild beach. The weather has been cold and rainy for days which adds to the drama and the beach is made of exrtemely old granites which weather down to strange shapes - we spent a couple of hours wandering this wild headland where in sailing ship days 80 ships were lost in only 10 years !

MARGARET RIVER

2007-10-01T16:57:00.000-07:00

On the way we found an adult toy - a massive circular piece of granite that spun around supported only by gushing water - I'd love one in my garden.

We have heard people talk of Margaret River so headed there - for a couple of days - It is a bit like Nelson with art - crafts - wine - a few old buildings.... little shops - bookshops ( where we spent ages of course _) and Diane got stuck in an old fashioned lolly shop....Margaret River is famous for it s surfing beaches

FREEMANTLE TO BRUSSELTON

2007-10-01T16:54:00.000-07:00

Spent an hour wandering the tiny streets of Freemantle - beautiful buildings - good coffee - Diane lost the rental car for half an hour in the tiny maze of streets..

...then headed south but were shocked at the Gold Coast style development going on along the beaches Harvey Normans built in sand dunes ahead of the development waiting for the houses to arrive....it's true This is a big time consumer country .

Brussleton is known for the longest wooden jetty in Australia - but it was so cold that rather than walk along it I decided to take a few dramatic photos instead...

A FEW MORE ORCHIDS

2007-10-01T16:49:00.000-07:00

I don't have a macro lenses - however thatl didn't stop me from shooting heaps of photos - Mostly using Dianes's little compact camera which can get up close . Remember - most of these heads are barely a centimetre across . We met another orchid hunter lying on the ground but he didn't have a camera - only a long tongue - but every time he stuck it out my finger was too slow to click....

MORE ORCHIDS

2007-10-01T16:47:00.000-07:00

Graham is rather tall but spends a great deal of time in yoga postiions with his camera - one of these orchids is called donkey ears - not hard to pick which one,,,,

ORCHIDS AND PEOPLE

2007-10-01T16:41:00.000-07:00

One of the highlights of getting to Perth has been meeting up with several people I haven'tt. seen for many decades - Graham & Margaret Bowden lived in Goroka in the 1970's and now spend a great deal of time in Perth searching for orchids. It was really special to spend a day with them - being taken to some special hidden spots where they knew rare orchids grew,,,, they are mostly very tiny - miniature orchids - just a centimetre or so across and each one has a delicate head with countless variations from flower to flower......

WILDFLOWERS

2007-10-01T16:36:00.000-07:00

What did amaze me was the hundreds of km of green country and bush around Perth though they have had more rain than usual - in fact we have been wearing a jersy almost all week in overcast weather.
The reason for visiting at ths time of year is the wildflowers which come out during Sept / Oct / Nov
I was expecting masses of them on sandy deserts - but it's not like that - they are very delicate flowers that just appear here and there along roadsides and in light bush,,,, so people go around seeing what they can find...it;s like the whole state is on a search for a month or two.

As we travel I've been buying Geology books on Australia and trying to get my heasd around the rock history overall - and one book last night explained why Wesdtern Australia has such a diverse range of wildflowers..... it's because the rocks are so ancient and so weathered the soil is nutrient poor - and that is when species fight for survival and you get more diversity. - simple !

PERTH

2007-10-01T16:30:00.000-07:00

The one thing that I have always heard about Perth is that it's a beautiful city - and it's true ! They have developed the city around the river and kept the green edge everywhere for the pubic...... My cousin Vicki and her husband Bruce live on the edge of a park full of wildflowers called Wireless
Hill Park - It contains both modern day and ancient aboriginal cellphone towers ! However once you step outside Australian cities it's like going back in time - we spent Sunday at an old time festival at a town called Toojay - the photo here is Vicki, me and one of the locals - hopefully you can tell which is which.

Remember if you click on the photos you can see larger versions of them....

STANLEY CHASM

2007-10-01T16:26:00.000-07:00

About 40 km west of Alice Springs there is a massive vertical chasm where the sun pours in for a short time at mid-day and makes the walls glow red. We arrived just as the sun was leaving one side and had to wait an hour as it moved from one side to the other - so I found a model and did a photo shoot for a while in the shade with a red background..... though the model discovered the movie setting on the compact camera and started shoting back.!

ON THE FLAT

2007-10-01T16:21:00.000-07:00

The range of desert vegetation is amazing except where cattle have been introduced and then it turns to real desert..... why anyone would try and farm western style on the fringe areas is beyond me,,,,,every few hundred km there is a road house - a kind of a store / pub/ petrols station combined.... this one had a trained emu as a petrol attendant.

GARDEN OF PARADISE

2007-10-01T16:18:00.000-07:00

Halfway around the canyon you look into a valley called the Garden of Paradise, then climb down endless wooden stairs into plant vegetation - some of it from the dinosaur era.... by the way if you look at the broken bit of rock you will see it's almost white inside.... King's Canyon - Ayer's Rock and the Olgas are not red at all - they are all a light colour and it is only the outside weathered layer that's red !

KING'S CANYON EDGE

2007-09-27T19:02:00.001-07:00

The edge is not place if you don't like heights - there is a complete vertical drop of thousands of feet....a few german tourists found a novel way of looking over the edge - but as a geologist looking at the vertical joints I prefered to stay back a bit with a long lens.

KING'S CANYON

2007-09-27T18:55:00.000-07:00

Henny & Joan's son Hank works at King's Canyon as a chef and we had a great catch up in the evening with front seats to an Aussie roadshow run by a couple who were a kind of a mix between Dame Edna, Elvis Presley and Bazza Mackenzie - though I thought their wind up kangaroo had the best voice.

Knig's Canyon is a massive canyon incised into sedimentary rocks hundreds of years old. You climb up the side of the rocks making perfect steps everywhere then walk around the rim of the canyon...weather was almost 40 degrees and if you wandered out the back off the track it was easy to see how you could get lost and die in a short time without water.... I'd prefer to be lost in NZ mountains where at least there is wet moss and no thirst !

BIRDS AND LIZARDS

2007-09-23T14:10:00.000-07:00

We spent time in the fabulous Museum of Central Australia - not large but well done and contains one of the worlds most famous dinosaur bird fossils.... I've photographed another bird alongside for scale - hopefully you can work out which is the oldest..... there are a few clues if you're stuck - one has more feathers..... and a more delicate bone structure -

We then went to the reptile park - Had a demo about snakes which was a relief - only 1 - 3 people a year die in Aust from snake bites and I discovered that most Aust snakes attack the lymphatic system not the blood - so you pressure bandage the entire limb - with the end of your fingers or toes sticking out in case they go purple andf drop off ( in which case you redo the bandage a bit more loosely - ( before they drop off ) _) all of which is good to know when in Aust - bur or no use to Kiwis back home.

I felt sorry for all the reptiles, lizards and snakes stuck in cages and wanted to let them all out - but the manager said they did not have enough pressure bandages in stock, They offered to let anyone wrap snakes around their neck . but I was busy behind my camera at the time - Finally Diane held an old lizard - not for long - then passed one on to me and grabbed the camera.... not being the greatest of animal handlers, I looked for a nearby backpacker and offered a free lizard fairly quickly.....

JUST A FEW MORE OLGAS

2007-09-21T01:12:00.000-07:00

Managed to squeeze a few more Olga shots in.....plus an emu we met at the petrol station - and a view of a typical road - I've discovered cruise control on the rental car - it's great set a figure and go for it - especially since the speed limit on the main road is 130km...... the locals are moaning because up until recently there was no speed limit at all....

THE OLGS - ( KATA TJUA )

2007-09-21T01:08:00.001-07:00

About 40 km west of Uluru are the Olga mountains - dozens of massive domes quite different from Uluru - the rocks here are in their normal horizontal layers - and made of massive conglomerate rocks - from fast moving mountains - like the rocks you see in West Coast NZ rivers,.... piled up in layers hundreds of million years ago -then weathered into strange domes... This website is supposed to send an automtic email to people wth the website to click on - but in case you get an email and no click - just enter www.lifelogsnz.blogspot.com

By the way - most males find shopping exremely difficult - so I've just found the ultimate solution - Diane browses shops - and I can spend a few minute or several more in an internet cafe ! - woops she has just come in I better close down - will send more from Perth.... cheers Brian

A Last look at ULRU

2007-09-21T01:06:00.001-07:00

Here is one more shot.......try double clicking to see it bit larger.....

MORE AYER'S ROCK ( Uluru )

2007-09-21T01:00:00.000-07:00

A few more photos of Uluru - There are hundreds of Australians who come to see Uluru at least once ion a lifetime - So along wit the tourists are carloads of parents showing their children the great Australian Mecca - sitting on tops of 4 wheel drives at sunset - many of whom have driven across the desert from all sides of Australia. I love the challenge of Z mountains and weather - and have just discovered that for Australians their challenge is to beat the desert heat and try and travel across it - loaded up with heaps of spare fuel and water bottles...... for me I'll stick with the NZ alps as my challenge...

Ayers Rock - ( Uluru )

2007-09-20T17:49:00.000-07:00

Uluru rock is a coarse sedimentary sandstone several hundred milion years old, which has been folded so it now sits vertical.... extremely magical and worth driving around several times and spending hours looking at it..... Here are several photos.....could spend a week capturing it if we had the time..... However the first flat top montain is not Ayers Rock it's Connors Mt and is seen on the way to Ayers.....

THE DESERT

2007-09-20T17:40:00.000-07:00

A few shots along the way - We drove off the main road for 30km om a desert track ( uninsured ) - to see a meteorite crater - this road if you kept going would eventually take you to Perth after several days and I' m sure a lot more pot holes and empty creek beds - Red dust everywhere - Lucky I cut my toenails for this shot..... the lizard is called a Thorny Devil.... Every several hundred km is a roadside stop with petrol etc.... and shops with red dust floors.

ALICE SPRINGS

2007-09-20T17:37:00.000-07:00

Spent the last 3 days driving around the desert - between Alice Springs - Ayers Rock the Olgas and Kings Canyon..... not like kiwi distances - almost 2000 km driving in 3 days ! Accomodation costs a fortune here as the tourists are a captured market - so I solved that by hiring a tent. The tent is great - all campling gear for $15 a night instead of $150 a night - just a couple of little problems... Australia is made of rock ( not soft Kiwi grass ) and the sleeping mats they gave us are about 3mm thick ! So don't mention the sleeping mats to Diane when we get home.... ...

everywhere you go the land is covered in thick red dust .......
This place is a geologists dream - here is a photo of one geologist and also a photo of Alice walking along the rim of on old meteorite crater. and sunset at Alice

The Blogsite

2007-09-16T05:06:00.000-07:00

Hi a final note - while on holiday I've been trying to learn how to upload photos on the run - not that easy and some of you may have got several unwanted emails..... the email is supposed to give a direct link to the web - but not sure if that;s happening - so just incase you can find this blogsite with holiday photos by clicking www.lifelogsnz.blogspot.com cheers Brian

Leaving the Beaches

2007-09-16T04:51:00.000-07:00

Hi - after a weekend in Cairns we leave for Ayers Rock - tomorrow - here a a few parting shots - the coast up here is full of sugar cane plantations - thought we would show you how talll they are - cheers Brian

Relaxing at Cairns

2007-09-16T01:39:00.000-07:00

Just had 2 days at Henny & Joan's place in Cairns. I was ladt here when they were living at Machan's Beach - then 20 years ago they bought a 2 acre paddock - built a pole house and now it is the most beautiful placve surrounded by trees and wildlife. I finally got my head around how blogs work and tomorrow we head to Alice springs Ayers Rock area - a few thousand km to travel around the area in a tent..... so you may hear nothing for a while till we get to Perth - unless the flying doctor service has broadband available....

Mission Beach & Dunk Island

2007-09-15T17:12:00.000-07:00

We stopped at Mission beach - an amazing old world costline that the developers have not yet destroyed.... We popped over to Dunk Island for a visit - If you ever drive this coast - Mission beach is a must.......

Waterworld

2007-09-15T17:09:00.000-07:00

Townsvillw has the worlds only salt water reed aquarium - don't miss it if you go there,,,,,,.

Townsville

2007-09-15T16:55:00.000-07:00

Townsville was a real suprise - a beautiful place with so much to do - we needed several; days. First off we spent a hour or 2 talking about geology with Prof Bob Carter whoi used to lecture at Otago Uni many decades ago. I wanted to find out about the Quensland geology and why there are no information booklets on rocks in Aust - like we have at say Moraki Boulders and Mt Cook in NZ.... he explained the reason - rocks in Aust mean money and nobody is interested in educating the public..... and when he did try to get an educative bdy going - he was blocked by 27 regulatory bodies,,,, the country is covered in signs regulations - we have one government they have a couple for every state !

Magnetic Island lies off the town and we spent time in a rock museum on hte way to townsville - but although the museum had been there 60 years they do not sell a single geology map or pamphlet about the rock history of the area.....

A word about the locals - minutes after arriving in Townsvile we puled the map out and a local jogger stopped and gave us not only directions - but where to find a cheap pub and meal - and others stopped to help - (do we look old or are they ust helpful - one guy asked for our camera so he could take a photo for us in a cafe - which another local had said not to miss for its food. The cheap hotel was another story..... it was certainly cheap - bt we had an absolutely faulty towers experience -

Blocks and Crocs

2007-09-15T15:46:00.000-07:00

Nigel sugested we head up the river in his tinny ( Aust for small aluminium dinghy ) and go loking for saltwater crocs. My camera was more keen to go than I was - as Salt water crocs are the natiest breed and large.... However Diane and I headed off and 10 minutes from his block we were in the river . Roger and Charlotte also headed up there recently and have a srory to tell me about what bungs in boats are for !

The Proserpine river is wide slow moving with slippery mudy banks and we saw several large crocs suning themsleves,,,, they tend to head into the water wen you go past - and the thing to do is to have one eye on the camera and they other focused on Nigel to make sure he has the outboard accelerator in his grasp..... Diane looked like the African Queen going up the river, Nigel gets lots of large crabs and fish up here - I prefer to fish for photos !

Near the Block

2007-09-15T13:58:00.000-07:00

The block of land sits in Conway valley with heaps of things nearby - Conway beach is 10 minutes away at the end of the valey - a wide safe sand beach great for walking the dog and kids ( when they can). 5 minutes from the house is a tourist spot called Crustal Falls a massive waterfall with a great plunge pool ( though unlike NZ Ausyt waterfalls dont always have water actualy flowing all the time, There is great bush nearby - Airlie Beach is a little ( very fast growing tourist town ) with a beautiful; lagoon area for kids and big kids to swim and laze around. And last but not least the Proserpine river is 5 minuts down the road - great for fishing - getting mud crabs and is full of the deadly salt water crocs ! Luckly crocs have not been found on blocks !

Nigel & Gabbie's block

2007-09-15T13:55:00.001-07:00

Nigel & Gabbie have a 5 acre block 2o minutes from the coast at Airlie beach - 8 km down a valley called Conway. The land runs from the raod side across a couple of acres of flat paddock with a couple of sheds ( with their caravan inside ) then across a creek full of trees - then it gently slopes for 3 acres past their own dam and backs onto National Park bush at the base of the mountain. It's a beautiful block...... and has its own unlimited water bore from the rainwater seping off the mountian. The challenger now is to build a house on it before Kobi get to the running around stage.

In the Water near Whitsunday Island

2007-09-15T06:23:00.000-07:00

Some guys went diving - we went snorkling - and someone's hair got blown a bit on th eway back - and as a bonus we also saw a whale playing around for 10 minutes - but I don't have a whale of a telephoto lens so could not capture it for you.

Mrs Spike Milligan was also on the beach

2007-09-15T06:19:00.000-07:00

A classic pose gazing out to sea as your mind unwinds !

By the way I've had to spend some time learning to work this blog site and also catching up for a day before we hit the road again on Monday so you may have had a few extra test emails and they also have Nigel & Gabbie’s name on them but I can't figure out yet how th change that........anyway this beach is a place to put on your list of things to do. A few years ago Roger worked here taking backpackers out to this beach everyday for 6 months.

Whitehaven Beach

2007-09-15T06:10:00.000-07:00

The Whitsundays are a group of 74 islands halfway between Btisbane & Cairns. Th colours are magical and the most famous beach is Whitehaven - pure white sand the has been ground as fine is salt. We took a boat trip over and lay down for a while - in betwen wandering..... the skipper explained that no one knows where the sand comes from as it's nothing like any rocks in the area and thousands of tourists are told the same info each year. The sand is simply a weathering product from the intrusive granites of the islands and the accumulated silica sand has been ground extrememly fin e over time by wave action,

The skipper was acrtually a neat guy and so gave him a little geology lesson on the way back and he said he would use it on future tourists. Spike Miligan (as white as the sand )was found lying on the beach and the sand sea colours are absolutely true. - But Spike now hS a wee bit more colour!

Dingle Beach area

2007-09-15T00:05:00.000-07:00

Dingle Beach area is a few km north of Airlie Beach - a laid back beach area. The guy at the local pub had a longer beard, but mine is older Noel was having his own shoe catching competition on hte beach.

A wet start

2007-09-14T23:41:00.000-07:00

The Whitsunday Islands are absoutly beautiful as you will see shortly - however the first day it rained - just our luck ( thoughit's been pure sunshine ever since). We decided to spend the day on South Molle a resort island with Noel & Catherine who were over with us from Auckland , The plan was to walk across the island and back - only a few km in bush but we ended up in a tropical downpour for most of that time and were soaked tio the skin, Fortunately I had my trusty Macpac day pack whgich kept the cameras dry - but I was scared to even take them out of the bag.... the day ended back at the resort with a laundry party, We stripped off put $3 and most of our clothes in the dryer and waited 45 minutes,,,, fortunately I had a larg sunumbrella to hide behind at the right moment - a few tourists came into the laundry and had obviously never seen a kiwi laundry party before - so went away bemnused,,,, Catherine was not all that impressed when her jacket came out several sizes too small - but the 3 of us and the penguin finally spent some time at the bar a little dryer begore the ferry arrived, !

Gabbie

2007-09-14T23:36:00.000-07:00

Gabie is the proud mother - just a pity we only had 10 days there - all to short - but we will be back before long somehow - by the way if you double click the photos you can see then a little larger,,,

Bathtime & family

2007-09-14T23:31:00.000-07:00

A few splashing photos and more.

Kobi at last !

2007-09-14T23:17:00.000-07:00

The big event when the plane touched down in the Whitsunday Islands of course was to meet Kobi and it didn't take long before a few photos emerged...... I he certainly is special - with beautiful olive skin from his Italian greatgrandmother.....

Brisbane again

2007-09-14T22:18:00.001-07:00

Still learning this blogger thing - seems like it will only take 5 photos a page - so here are the rest of the Brisbane photos

2007-09-14T22:12:00.000-07:00

After some more uninsured mapreading in the dark we found my cousin Rob's house on the outskirts of Brisbane and had a great time with our feet up on the verandah - Everything in Australia moves crawls screeches and sscreams - waking up on Rob's hill is like living in a zoo - there is so much wildlife around,,,, The house is about the last on in Brisbane and the views from the deck looking west are stunning. Helen used to work for a Hot Air ballooninst and we are thinking of doing that over Alice Springs - hence our concentrated studying - like Jack doing his Homewrok. Kristin spent a night there with us and one shot shows her walking along the breezeway,,,,,Unfortunately -( or fortunately ) I didn't get a phot of the large resident python and also I missed a photos of Rob's massive newfoundland dog giving Kristin a slurp on her thight with a halsfmetere long dripping tongue ( I was standing well back) a few mrore photos..... one of a kiwi meeting an Aussie - one Aussie with a missing tooth - a Flower called a Bird of Paradise and another photo of my PNG mate Brian Deutrom.....After a great weekend we left in monday morning rush hour traffic for 1.5 hours of totally unrelaxing uninsured mappreading across the width of Brisbane - arrived at the airport on time and still married !

First stop Brisbane

2007-09-11T00:05:00.000-07:00

After a long tropical brunch at Brian Deutrom's we grabbed a rental to head for the Gold Coast - The online rentals are a scam -after offering you a cheap rental they then explain that the insurance will cost more than the rental !!! - I told then to stick their insurance as I don't have prangs.... though I have to say driving in Brisbane was more than a little tense at times,,,, Brisbane has a meandering river which cows used to walk along and all roads follow the river bends and contours -

However after a bit if uninsured map reading we made it to the Gold Coast and had a great catch up with Kristin and Shaun - who tried to teach Kristin what to do with chopsticks - The only way of takibng an attractive photo of the Goldcoast is at night as we were shocked at how people could buid high rise right along a famous beach !

2007-09-10T23:50:00.000-07:00

HI - This might be bit of a mixed bag - 2 weeks into our holiday and finally taken a break from beaches to ad some photos - not as easy as I thought to add stuff on the road - not everyone has broadband either....

Diane and I rushed to the airport Aug 29th only to find nobody there !!! - after weeks of late nights passing over all the bookshop details - I thought I must have the wrong day - Horrors - anyway turned out that the plane was a little delayed - like 5 hours so rather than rush home again we spent the first 5 hours of our holiday relaxing at Momona airport - along with several friends from Macandrew Bay - who had also lost 5 hours of sunshine.

23 years ago I left Papua New Giunea and best friend there took me to the airport and my last vision of PNG was him waving goodbye as the doors closed. - We have kept in touch and so after 23 years of bookselling it was like a time machine to see Brian Deutrom , my mate at the airport when the doors opened. We have kept intouch with emails and phone calls but never met in all that time...... needless to say it was 3:30 am our time when we finished the last coffee and story....
Here we are !

2007-09-10T05:16:00.000-07:00

Finally found out how to work my laptop on line in Australia - so should be some ohotos coming soon..

2007-09-09T22:54:00.000-07:00

Australian photos

2007-08-28T05:53:00.000-07:00

Hopefully some Aussie photos will appear here soon - once we have had a chance to relax !

2007-08-21T15:51:00.001-07:00

Here is a photo from bush in Dusky Sound Fiordland NZ