Heron Island Resort

... celebrations. This was a great night as we were able to sit right on the harbour with our legs dangling into the water and watch as jetskis ripped around the harbour setting off incredible fireworks from the water. Also in sydney, we went for a cruise around the harbour which included a two course dinner and sparkling wine. Sounds beautiful, and it was in parts - particularly heading out to the decking and watching all the lights of the city flicker on ...

... headed home where I proceeded to fill my dad's old army duffel bag with togs/thongs/sunscreen/towels, you name it. Around 11:30pm Matt dropped me off at the bus stop on campus where a coach bus was waiting to drive all 50+ of us up to the Gladstone marina where we eventually boarded our ferry. So basically we drove all night, crammed into tiny seats (smaller than the ones on the buses in the US, I swear!) stopping every few hours and getting next to no sleep ...

... its essentialness. The most exciting part of stage one so far has been finding PINK MOOS!!! I am well aware that most of you won't know what a moo is but for those of us that do know......I found PINK ones. The greatest ice-cream in the world now comes in pink strawberry flavour! Stoked! So stoked that I took some photos so that you can all see how stoked I am. Even better news ...

Had a quick trip over the Tasman Sea from Christchurch to Brisbane, arriving almost an hour early due to strong tail winds. It was 0610hrs when we arrived and already 24 degrees!! We have also gained 3 hours as Brisbane is only 10 hours ahead of the UK. Caught a train from the airport into Brisbane Transit Centre, which is a short walk from our hotel. Luckily we were able to check into our room as soon as we arrived. We opted to do the hop on hop off bus, which ...

... baseball cap. His talk was thoroughly Australian, from his "G'Day Mate" to his description of his life in the brush country of Australia. He lived a bit west of Brisbane in the middle of the continent. He worked at a cattle station. When he found that several of us were from America, he would sign the chorus of "Born in the USA". He was leaving Brisbane the following day to go back to his station in the brush. He said he loved the freedom that the Brush gave him. We ...

... sprachlich) und auch ein sehr großer Anteil Asiaten, die leider meistens so in einer Gruppe zusammen stecken und nur ihre Sprache sprechen. Schade... Aber das ist eines der Probleme die East-West mit diesen Sprachaustauschs beseitigen will. Das bedeutet Domestic Students und Internationals können sich dort anmelden und sagen, welche Sprache sie lernen wollen und dann werden die Studenten "zugeordnet" und beide k ...

... and colourful underwater world. Unfortunatly we were really unlucky and the weather turned out really bad. We had the two worst, stormiest and wettest days in 6 years on Heron. :-( Still we were determined to enjoy our time and went snorkeling in the rain, did forest walks and birdwatching.

... and Steve some diving but hit another patch of rainy weather so the visibility wasn't great except at low tide. At night we would walk around the island and see stingrays, sharks, and turtles right at the waters edge. There wasn't much to do for the kids so we played lots of games, read books and listened to Hannah perfect her "Aussie" accent. I have to say ...

... continue to do so for our visit in QLD, Oz is having the wettest summer in many years - bugger! The 2 hour boat trip made me very ill, it was quite rough and several of my fellow passengers were also enjoying the view of the inside of a paper bag - I wished I was back on the 28 hour trip from Cambodia. The small island is part of a national park which attracts sea turtles to lay their eggs on its beaches - this and the ...

... the zoo. The next day we drove to the Warrumbungle National Park. Wes had just finished a science project on the Warrumbungle's so he was anxious to see the rock formations there. We hiked to the top of Macha Tor so we could get a good view of the Breadknife formation. The Breadknife is a 90m high rock wall that is a remnant of a volcano that was active 13 million years ago. There was no metal grate walkway on this walk so it was a bit more strenuous but well worth it for ...