Quest Ipswich

... Rock Guitar: fairly big. This also gave us an opportunity to see the famous Surfers’ Paradise. This is a rather sprawling, rather tacky town, kind of like Blackpool but with less character…. yes it’s true. The town has built up around the site of the original Surfer’s Paradise Hotel, built in the 1930’s but now demolished. There are a lot of tat shops, cheap clothes, bars etc, but not a lot in its favour if you don‘t want to surf or get ******. We ...

... playgroup, etc etc. We are very lucky and are so glad that we travelled before 'settling down' but also that we have settled in so well in another country.<br><br>Anyway, enough of my gloating. For anyone that is still reading our blog thanks for tuning in and hope at least some of what we have written in the last few years has helped in your travels - we are leaving the adventurous travelling to you for the moment!<br><br>Enjoy!<br>

... I felt nothing but a sense of relief. Relief that I was actually leaving Brisbane and not just talking about it with my head in the sand hoping it would magically come to fruition.<br> Much to the disappointment of my older sister I didn't really produce<br>much emotion or try extend the goodbye to ensure that all best wishes and<br>good luck sentiments had been appropriately exchanged to the letter of social etiquette.<br> No doubt she would later sit and obsess over her speculative ...

One of the major questions of our times - how do these twittering, blogging celebs have time to blog, twitter whatever everyday? Okay maybe this question isn't of much concern to most, but I'm finding it hard to keep up to date on a weekly basis, let alone on a more regular frequency! So Traveller 09 is now rain maker 09. I arrive in Melbourne and within 24 hours it rains (really rains) for the first time in weeks a complete contrast to Black Saturday 5 ...

... T-shirts and stopped myself going overboard. I was thinking more of how long I had on my trip and would need to ditch some of the more worn things I had. Sam actually out-shopped me as she bought shoes, bra the lot. I put it down to the fact that I couldn't move with enough speed to get round the shops quick enough cos I was wearing flip flops. I still haven't mastered walking in them and I'm convinced I have a dodgy left foot as I can flop but I ...

... normal. Changed the last of the Singapore dollars and Thai Baht to Aussie dollars in the airport currency exchange but the *******s took about 20% commision which was completely unadvertised. This was a worse deal than any of the black-market-no-other-choice-got-you-ov er-a-barrel-exchanges we made in the lawless backwaters of SE Asia. Got the train to Brisbane and checked into Chill backpackers hostel. It's new and clean but boxy ...

... Day: It's like the 4th of July, except instead of throwing burgers or brats or whatever on the grill, you put some snags on the barbie. And you're supposed to kick back and have a lot of beer with your friends, all while listening to the Triple J Top 100 Hottest Songs of the Year (it's a radio show/countdown thing http://www.abc.net.au/triplej/hottest10 0/ ). This year the number one song was "Sex on Fire" by Kings of Leon ...

... We spent our first day wandering around the centre, along South BAnk (which looks EXACTLY like South Bank in London, it even has a wheel and a suspicious replica of the festival hall). Our great discovery of the day, along with the whole of Brisbane, was the city beach. This is a series of manmade pools with imported sand with a backdrop of office blocks. It's strange being in the middle of the city but was very relaxing. We spent the first evening in ...

... so I guess she's worked out something's up. In a couple of hours I'll be on my way to the airport and on my way to begin the trip I've been waiting for all year. At this point I just want to BE there and get beyond all this messing about. Next stop Singapore!

... few if any get to see. In a way, that's because Emily isn't an international visitor at all, and this trip is partly just a call on relatives. For these reasons, this trip has already far exceeded our expectations. Anyway, on to the day at hand. Phillip and Rhonda's farm in Fernvale is not their sole income, but I think it is their passion. Phillip is a tree expert, and has done a lot of work reintroducing the native forest in the area. He says ...