Fraser Island

The last day of our trip we spent on a 1 day tour of Fraser Island. The Island is Queensland's equivalent to the dutch islands like Texel, Schiermonnikoog, etc but then on a grander scale. The Island is 124km long and 24km wide at its widest and is covered with forest and crystal clear perched lakes. The Island is composed 99% of sand and was when it was discovered called the great sandy island. It is the largest sand island in the world and is said to have more sand than the Sahara Desert. It is also the only place in the world where rainforest grows on sand. It is home to the purest population of dingos, the australian wild dog sadly only 50 left but we were lucky enough to spot one chewing on a coconut, they have been largely wiped out in recent years as they killed a toddler a few years back which sent the wildlife service into a killing spree. There are quite a few lakes where you can swim and paddle and beautiful cool clear streams o walk along/in. The photo of our bus and german tour guide(!) with the thickest german accent we have ever heard, still he was good though and quite informative of life on the island, local issues, etc.

Mon Repos Beach and turtles

Tonight we visited a turtle beach and conservation centre at Mon Repos near Bundaberg in the centre of the cane growing region. The conservation centre allows limited number of people to see wild turtles nesting and hatching at night under supervision. We were lead along the beach in the pitch dark to find a turle nest that was hatching. It was quite miraculous to watch the little turtles emerge fromthe sand. About 100 hatchings all came out in the space of 10-15 minutes and we were given the chance to take photos and touch them. Then the crowd of about 40 people made two lines towards the surf and a line of children in the middle with torches shone light to show them the way - they head instinctively towards the light. They all dissapeared into the surf for their epic journey around the Pacific ocean. We were told they swim non-stop for 3 days like little clockwork toys to escape the predators near the coast and then are swept by the oeancurrents past New Zealand and onto Peru in S. America. They return to nest some 18yrs later. Only 1 in 1000 ever return. It was quite a magical experience to see at close quarters.

Crikey! - Crocodile Hunter

Today is the 1st day of our four day break exploring the coast north of Brisbane. We stopped at the Zoo home of the late crocodile hunter Steve Irwin. Love him or hate him you can't get away from seeing him posted all over the Zoo, the Zoo is a must see stop when visiting Queensland. We were primarily interested in visiting the Animal Hospital next to the Zoo after reading a story about it in a magazine. For $35 you can get a 2hr visit behind the scenes of what is the biggest animal hospital in the world. The hospital had only just opened in November and everything lots spick and span and had more in common with a human hospital than the usual vetinary surgery. It has 2 fulltime vets and literally hundreds of volunteers/animal carers which support it. It can cope with upto 100 sick and injured koalas and lots of other animals such as kangaroos, birds, turtles, etc. Steve Irwin's mother was a animal rescuer/carer but she died in a car accident in 2000 before she got to see the setup of the 1st animal hospital in a converted shed. Steve Irwin vowed to build a full facility in his mother's memory but also he never got to see it come to fruition. His wife Terry is putting all the stops out to expand the Zoo to twice its present size in the next five years. The Zoo is very impressive, very clean and focused on education/awareness. Its one of the best layout for a small Zoo which we have come across. A must see was the croc show in the arena, feeding the crocs at arms length...not for the faint hearted.

Tropical Garden

Today was a gardening visit day, we visited 3 tropical gardens which had open days. Two of them were based on Balinese gardens, really beautiful and lush full of plants, like a tropical jungle. The Balinese gardens are popular here not just because of the climate but because it is a favourite holiday destination and people like to have a bit of the Bali in their own back yard. Just spending some time in these gardens made you feel you were a whole world away, there was something really peaceful about being in them. The house entrance to one consists of a water feature with stepping stones to the entrance...not a good idea to come home too drunk! otherwise you could end up getting wet.

Barbeques Galore!

Barbques Galore is the name of a store near us which just sells barbeques, from the simple models for camping for 150 euros to the massive full range units costing 4000 euros (3,500 pounds). You really have to see these barbeques in real life to appreciate the size of them, they could be used to feed a mob of thousands!
They are all using gas bottles, no on uses charcoal here..simply not done.

Barbequing here is not just a pastime its an obsession and its standard that everyone has one, we dont - yet!

Queensland from the air

These are some views of the Scenic Rim Mountains from 1100m taken when I was gliding today. The photo with the brown fields also contains the gliding airstrip, can you spot it? The area has got plenty of rain and all looks very green, everyone comments about it as for 5 years they suffered a terrible drought here.

Blue Wrens

Today is rainy so we are stuck in the house, still an advantage to work from home. We got a visit in the garden of 3 blue wrens, see photos. Only the dominant male is blue, the rest were brown. It is such an intense colour blue it really catches your eye as they hop around the garden looking for food. We first saw these beautiful birds in SW Western australia but it seems you can see them over all australia as long as there is decent rainfall.

West End

Saturday I visited an exhibition of video games from the 1980's in the state library, funny to play old games like space invaders. At night we went to the West End district of Brisbane, its an area where you see lots of old timber buildings, the queenslander houses. Its an area of trendy shops, cafes, restaraunts, new age shops. We went to eat at a Greek restaraunt on the main strip, its very nice sitting outside after the sun has gone down. There was a cafe nearby which sold poffertjes so we'll have to come back again, we didn't try them as somehow eating poffertjes in 31C heat didn't seen right, we'll save it for wintertime.

Hanggliding at Beechmont

On Sunday I went with a local hangglider pilot (Neil Peterson) to Beechmont initially to get familiar with the sites and landing zones but in the end we did some flying. We were lucky to do so as the weather forecast was not very good but the weather down the road can be very different to at home so always worth going out. Neil gave me a bit of advice and I took off and flew for an hour before toplanding, unfortunately my landing wasn't perfect but luckily nothing broken. It was good to be in the air again on my hangglider after so many months, last time was in August 2008. Neil has lost his driving licence for the next 3 months (speeding) so I will be taking him out to go flying..so a aussie flying mate. I really have to watch my driving speed so I don't get too many points on my licence..the police are really strict here.