Coolangatta Airport Hotel

Hi All,<br>Wishing everyone well.<br>It's been a long time since an update. Sorry for the delay - we've been busy.<br>16/5<br>After our reef adventure the weather deteriorated back to showers and cool air so we decided to move on. Leaving Port Douglas we drove 30 miles north to check out Mossman and Daintree village. <br>Daintree was very quaint and could have been a riverside village in Devon, such were its similarities, except for the crocodile warning signs along the ...

... there was one woman who hadn't confirmed her booking and there were no seats left on the bus. She was pretty angry and delayed us another 20 mins. I'd be angry too if I was stuck in Coolangatta! The driver did get her onto the next bus so she eventually let us be on our way. That was our last stop in Queensland as we were making our way back into the top of New South Wales. Ballina is our destination for Christmas celebrations!

... my way over to the right side. If you forget somehow you aren't in Kansas anymore, Hertz even provides a friendly reminder sticker in the windshield to "Drive Left" complete with arrow. They haven't found a way though to keep me from constantly going to the wrong side to get in. And if that's not enough to remind you that you are somewhere far away from home, you pass signs for Kangaroo crossings along the roads. Again ...

... him of Missouri, with the obvious exception of the unusual trees. We finally saw kangaroos in the wild!!!!! It took only 6 months, but there they were. I have a picture of them in a field, but there were also heaps of them on a golf range nearby. We were amazed at how big some of them were. It was very cool. By the end of the trip, we had seen them from time to time, but it still was fun to look for them and we learned that dusk is ...

... the youth hostel is always a barrell of laughs and theres always someone to party with. we live accross the road from the beach so ive gotten in to a routine of doing early morning runs on the beach and chilling out there in the evenings with a few beers. theres a few good bars and clubs in town which are always good fun, been up to surfers paradise for the day, which was nice but im soo glad im not staying there, its like a mini vegas, far too much ...

... couple of nights out. On one of which Andy got so drunk that he spent 2hours trying to chat up a man with long blonde hair, it was absolutely hilarious. Luckily the guy found it funny so Andy didn't get beat up. We also went to a water park called WET and Wild, thankfully we picked a really sunny day and had a great time, especially because it was quiet which meant there were really small qeues for the rides. We also ...

... is happy and there is a quiet room for people who want to read and keep out of the partying. I cancelled the other hostel and stayed put - and I'm so glad I did. One of the best things about backpacking is the people you meet on the way. People from back home, and people travelling with other people have often asked me, 'Don't you get lonely, travelling alone?' I always say something along the lines of, 'sometimes, just now and then ...

... about three hours and by the end I was good and worked out. My calves are still a little sore now. That same day we did a tour of the Opera house and went into the main Concert hall. Very cool. After that we walked around to Mrs macquarie's chair, a chair carved into a sand stone wall for this lady to watch the ships sailing out of the harbour, she was dying to get out as she didn't like Australia very much. Then we checked out the Archibald Prize ...

... clean room in the UK with 2 free beers for 14 quid, I think not. Gib asked about diving at reception and a very helpful Claire at reception rang the dive company and Gib was booked in the next day. Here is a picture of us on Coffs Beach on the way to the dive place. Hoey Moeys is a proper rocking place with live Music, and we met a Kiwi guy called shane and German girls called Stefanie and Katrin and had a real good night. We were up early (7ish ...

... the best views in Fiordland! T he track to Dumpling Hut drops steadily down over rocky, uneven terrain with spectacular views of towering rock cliffs, glacial streams, moss covered forest, a cascading waterfall section and have your first view of Sutherland Falls. T he side trip ( 1.5 hour round trip) to the mighty Sutherland Falls is well worth the effort. From the turn off the Dumpling Hut is about 20 minutes along the track. DAY 5 ...