Crikey, mate! We're in Queensland

I know I've been keeping everyone in suspense for the last month. Maybe you think we've disappeared off the face of the Earth or gone native. Unfortunately (or fortunately depending on your perspective) none of this is true. Ma, Pa and I have just been busy putting miles on the tires and wind in our hair (this is because the air conditioner in my car has crapped out). With work fast approaching (I start back tomorrow), I'm going to try and get as many updates done as I can. As there is a lot to write about, here we gooooooo.

After ringing in the New Year in Sydney, it was off to the airport and boarded an airplaned for Brisbane. The plane was taking off as the sun was coming up and we landed in Brisbane at 6:30 am. Instead of hanging out in Brisbane, we headed north to the Australia Zoo home of Steve Irwin and his crocodiles. The zoo didn't open until 9, so we had some time to go on a little bit of scenic drive to find the Glass House Mountains. These landforms were named because they looked like the glass factories back in England to James Cook as he sailed down the coast. These mountains are actually left overs of volcanoes. They are what a lava core has left behind as the rest of the volcano eroded away.

It was then off the zoo, zoo zoo, how about you, you you. We saw Tassie Devils, dingoes, kookaburras, elephants, zebras, rhinos, giant tortoises, wombats, koalas, cassowaries and of course, crocodiles. One of our first stops was the Crocosseum where they have a show the highlights various animals at the zoo and ends with them 'playing' with a Saltwater Croc. This day was special however because the entire Irwin family (Terri, Bindi and Robert) were there to help out. Bindi even held out bait for the croc a couple of times. Robert and Terri spent most of the time cracking jokes. Mom and Dad were very impressed by the animals and their enclosures. Mom especially liked getting to pet a koala.

The very endangered Cassowary. Only 1500 left.

Bindi, Terri and Robert Irwin

With only 5 hours of sleep and a big day at the zoo, we gave up on our previous destination of Bundaberg and stopped in one of favorite places in Australia -- Rainbow Beach. This beach is named after the 75-ish different hues of color of its sand along the coastline. It is also a favorite beach for 4WDers as they can drive around the point to Tin Can Bay when the tide is out. The beach also ruined all other beaches for Mom as the sand was soft, but hard packed at the same time. Every beach we came to afterwards allI heard Mom say was "Rainbow Beach is so much better." This included Bondi by the way. We also made our way up to Carlos' Sandblow, a tremendous sand dune up on the cliffs of Rainbow Beach. It was a fantastic day with a fantastic room to go back to afterwards. We stayed at Debbie's Place in Rainbow Beach.  She made me coffee when we arrived and was one of the friendliest people we dealt with on our trip. I highly recommend it.

The next day we continued on our way. The next stop was Rockhampton, the centre of the beef industry in Australia. This is also where we crossed into the tropics. It was a very exciting moment. Who would have thought we'd cross the Tropic of Capricorn before the Tropic of Cancer. The evening was uneventful, but Dad enjoyed trying to get various pictures of Brahmas as we drove through the countryside. The coast of Queensland is full of Big Things (just like Alberta) and one of them was in Rockhampton. That's right folks, a giant cow. There were actually about 7 of them throughout the town.

The next stop on our whirlwind tour was Townsville. This is a beautiful coastside city. We stayed in a motel right on the Esplanade. This meant we were able to take a walk along the beach to find our supper. The difference between this beach and the others before were signs warning of stingers. The first one I read about warned of dying. There was no way that I was setting foot in that water. In order for people to swim here, they set up stinger nets, so there are only certain places where you can swim. The town also built a 'lagoon'. Really this is just a big public pool, but right beside the ocean. It's actually open 24 hours a day. Mom and I finally got to eat some Thai food while Dad had McDonald's. Before dinner we took a drive up to the Castle Mountain lookout. All the way up the narrow, winding pathway I was dodging walkers and runners. No, I wasn't trying to drive up a footpath. There was some sort of challenge to walk right up to the top of the mountain. It made for a really nervous drive both up and down the mountain.

A great view of Townsville Harbor. The town was actually bombed by the Japanese during WWII we learned later.

We left Townsville the next morning and started upon our way to Cairns.  Along the way we made some very interesting stops. The first stop was at the Big Boot in Tully. It is 7.2 m high because that is how much rain the recorded in one year in Tully.  It is one of the wettest cities in Australia. It is also the heart of the sugar cane industry because of the amount of moisture.

 We continued along the meandering highways, lined with pineapple, banana, mango and lychee orchards. The highway brought us to Innisfail, Queensland. I wanted to get a pin, or something so we stopped at the Shire Cassowary Regional Council to ask.  When I said that I was from Innisfail, Canada, they called the mayor's office to see if they had anything. The next thing I knew, I was being escorted into the mayor's office to meet him and have a chat. He asked me questions about Innisfail (which I probably didn't answer effectively) and told me about the Innisfail area in Queensland. He also gave me a book about the area which I will be donating to the library at the school when I get home. Who knew that I would be an actual ambassodor between the two countries? Isn't that a scary thought?

With that excitement done and over with. It was off to Cairns and the Great Barrier Reef.

Will Mom and Dad go snorkelling? Will we almost get left on the reef? Will we find Nemo? 

These questions and more to be answered in the next posting.

Good night all!

P.S. Go Nadal. No, go Djokovic. No... oh, I'm going to bed.