After getting up at 5.45 we checked out of the hotel and got on the luxury coach (it had a toilet on it so Steph was very happy). Also as it was half empty it was very comfortable. Our first stop after about an hour was Stuart Well, where myself and Steph had our first camel ride. Sophie was lovely though she did let out a groan when I got on her back (naughty!). There were also two baby kangaroos that were barely 2 foot high (very cute) and an Emu. It was great...

Today we visited the barrier reef. We had been keeping our fingers crossed regarding the weather as rain would have spoilt it. Another early start, up at 6.30, thought we'd left all that behind with work! Anyway, we dragged ourselves out of bed and headed for the boat. Clearly we have been spoilt on previous boat trips in Turkey as we were expecting a small catamaran taking perhaps 10-15 people to the reef. Sadly it turned out to be a huge boat which we had to s...

Early start today, the alarm goes off at 6.30 and we are ready for collection for the day trip at 7.20. Today we are going north of Cairns to Daintree rainforest, Cape Tribulation and Mossman gorge. (Steph continues)... After being picked up our guide drove us North along the Coastal road towered Daintree. We passed some lovely beaches, waterfalls caused by the recent torrential rain, banana and sugar cane plantations and acre after acre of rain forest. The su...

Well a bit of a catch up now that I have wrestled the iPad from Steph.... On the sunniest day in Hong Kong we packed our bags and had one last trip up the peak before heading to the airport... We were flying to Cairns via Brisbane, and while waiting for the internal flight we soon discovered that there were two flights to Cairns... Fortunately we were queuing for the earlier flight before being turned down at the entrance to the plane and running along the airpo...

(steph's musings continued) Today we woke early to catch the ferry to Lamma Island. Stephen had wanted to go to Macau for some gambling but I managed to convince him that hiking would be a better option given the glorious weather so off we went. Lamma is only 30 minutes away from the island by ferry and is actually HK's 3rd largest island with a population of around 2,000 people. It is largely undeveloped save for an unsightly power station which appears over t...