Hello everyone At last I have managed to find a computer, and the time, to do another blog. Actually, it's quite good that I couldn't get on line before as Ian and I were both a bit disappointed the first day we arrived in Christchurch and picked up the campervan. Our first thought when we looked at it was AAAARRRGGGHH !!! So were our second and third thoughts. It seemed rather cramped and a bit tatty. BUT after a good night's rest we worked out the best way of ...

Hello everybody On Monday I moved from Hervey Bay down to Brisbane by train - should have taken 3 hours but there was a derailment (not my train) and we all had to get on a bus a couple of stops before Brisbane as the track was blocked, so that added an hour to the journey. Never mind. I got to the hostel OK and into my room at about 11am, after which I crashed out for a while as I had had to get up at 3am (aaarrrgggghh) to get a cab to the bus station, follow...

Hello everybody I am now in sunny Hervey Bay (very, very, very sunny - even at 6 o'clock this morning!) having started the train journey yesterday at 9.15am and getting to my final station at 5.25am. Aaarrgghh ! Another long train journey, though the trains are somewhat cleaner than in China - especially the loos !!!!! - and the food is edible. Then an hour's bus journey from the station to Hervey Bay. It is massively hot and sunny here - so hot that even wit...

Hello everyone Just a "quickie" blog today as I still haven't had supper and I must also pack, again. I moved down to Cairns yesterday to a "charming" hostel (yes, I'm a REAL backpacker now) and spent some time sorting out train tickets and generally mooching about the seafront and shops, in a VERY relaxing manner, I might add. I had a lovely fish supper on the beach front, washed down by some spectacularly acidic Sauvignon Blanc - oh well,...

Hello everybody Well, I have been in Port Douglas for a couple of days now and it is VERY VERY humid here. If the term "sweating like a pig" was ladylike, I would use it, but dad always told me "horses sweat, men perspire and ladies feel the heat" !!!! So there we go. I'm feeling the heat like a pig. On Sunday afternoon I cuddled koalas and wallabies and kangaroos and had my lunch eaten by a white parrot-like bird with a big beak (I can't...