Family visits and a trip being planned ... now updated with some photos!

Another month has passed by since I updated. Whoops.
The temperature has continued to drop, it was just 10 degrees C this morning as I passed the thermometer on my way to work. By the afternoon of course it's up to 25, but it drops again in the evening - we are without daylight saving time in Queensland so it is dark by 5:30pm. It's actually a nice change to be cooler, and lends a semblance of seasonality to the year.

Mum and Julian have been in the area for the last week and a half. After a couple of weeks in NZ they stopped with us for a few days, and we had a nice time - primarily wandering around Brisbane, but we also went for a walk and a Barbeque in the forest.

Here's me standing next to a spooky Fig Tree on the edge of the Botanical Gardens ... as you can see, the tree has enveloped the iron railings!

It's nice to have some 'outsiders' here to show around: The added perspectives of those who aren't used to the area reminds me of the good and bad aspects of living in Brisbane. The cleanliness, climate, and greenness of the city are what come across most strongly, I think. Mum and Julian disappeared up the Sunshine Coast last Wednesday afternoon, and from the reports I have heard they've had a lovely time. I'll be seeing them again when they get back tomorrow (Thursday), for a couple of days before heading back to Blighty.

Ella and myself, meanwhile, have been planning a trip of our own. We have to take advantage of the break she gets from teacher training so we've opted to fly to Tasmania for a week at the end of June. We're both pretty excited, as it's supposed to be a beautiful island, and there should be some real winter weather there. Yes, I admit I do miss it a little bit. It should satisfy my interest in historical things, too, as it's full of Georgian architecture and played an important early part in Australia's European history. Plus, there's an interesting link between the Louth area and Tassie. The explorer Sir John Franklin (attended the same school as I and was from Spilsby near Louth) was once governor of the colony (during the period where it changed names from Van Diemen's Land to Tasmania. I'd love to go in the Triumph, but it would mean a minimum 1,000km drive to a ferry which would take up too much of the holiday, so we booked cheap flights.

Bye for now.

Another Easter in Oz

So, I've been here over a year now, and another Autumn approaches. Temperatures are beginning to drop, although it's all relative. I pass a public thermometer on a hotel sign on my walk to work at about 7am. I've noticed over the last couple of weeks that the temperature has been dropping; it was in the mid-20s, and it's now down to 16 Celsius.

Talking of changing temperatures, we took a trip south-west for the Easter weekend. Stanthorpe always appears on the TV weather reports as having cooler temperatures than we have in Brisbane. It's only two and a half hours drive away, but on nights when the temperature doesn't drop below 20 in Brissy it can be 10 in Stanthorpe. Ella's parents organised a pleasant weekend for us and Ella's family near to Stanthorpe. I drove Ella, Jana and Ingrid down on Good Friday in a decidingly full Triumph (we were loaded to the gunnels with provisions for the weekend).

The accomodation was spot on. "Escape on Tully" (Mt Tully was the name of the area we stayed in) was well kitted out with gas BBQ, kitchen, two bathrooms, etc. There was even an outdoor bath on the veranda!!!


We were well placed to investigate Giraween National Park (I should probably keep count of all these Parks I'm visiting), so on Saturday we did a great walk. The area's known as 'The Granite Belt', and there are incredible rocks and peaks, bolders, and so on. We did a good long walk up over Mt. Norman and back. Here's the troops enjoying a well deserved lunch:



Well-deserved because we'd just walked up a granite slope like this (photo shows Ingrid and Ella):


A short drive home after a long walk was nice and we got to enjoy a lovely sunset from the veranda:


We all took it in turns cooking over the three nights, which was a lot of fun and certainly spread the workload. On Easter Sunday we took it a bit easier, back at Giraween doing a short walk before lunch, along the river in an almost surreal granite river bed. We all had a splash around in the waterhole and then back home for lunch and a relaxing afternoon.



We headed home on Monday morning taking a less direct route, along dirt tracks (called the Mount Lindsay Highway!) between some other beautiful National Parks.
This photo shows Mount Linsay in the distance (I think):


Altogether a very nice weekend indeed. It provided a suitable send-off for Ingrid, too, as she left to join her boyfriend in Frankfurt on the Tuesday. Good luck Ingrid!
Many thanks to Helen and Jacques for the excellent food and accommodation.

I'm currently experiencing one of those "I wish I had a camera on me" moments.
Looking out of my sixth floor office window I can see two abseilers cleaning the opposite building's windows. It would make a great photo! I can't find the office camera, either. Let's hope the storm we had yesterday doesn't come back soon.

Meanwhile life plods on ...

Work hasn't been exactly thrilling. I don't feel particularly challenged, or even very busy. I'm taking a long hard look at what it is that I would like to do, though, and expect this will mean a significant change... maybe even re-training.

Ella's been working really hard on her teacher training as well as lecturing undergraduate students, so she's pushed to find any leisure time at the moment. We have managed to get out to Brisbane Forest Park at the weekends, however. The forest is massive and covers much of the West of Brisbane and we can get there in 15 minutes drive from our house. It used to be logged, but seems to be protected now.

This photo from the edge of the forest shows how close the city is.

The walking trails aren't signposted, but can be followed on a map... at first we thought this was unusual and a bit stingy, but now realise that it could be because of the difficult terrain! There are many extremely steep sections. I tried to get photos to prove it, but it's not easy to show the gradient using photos. The forest is great, with rainforest and dry forest intermingling, ruined only by the electricity pylons. Our plan is to try and walk all of the accessible tracks.

The Border Ranges

I've been working as an Analyst for Brisbane City Council Economic Development for 6 weeks now ... time flies! One of the best things about my new employer is their flexible nature. I've had two days of flextime already. The first was spent doing car stuff - which you can see on Greeksinoz - and the second enabled Ella and I to get away. It's a couple of weekends ago now but I'm just finding time to type it up.

We've had the loan of the in-laws 4wd so we wanted to go somewhere we could use it for a weekend. The Border Ranges National Park was decided upon. Approx. 80 miles south of Brisbane it is a lot cooler thank goodness due to the altitude and rainforest vegetation.
Evident in this picture here!


We got there on the Friday night and immediately got into the routine from the Christmas trip - pitching the tent and getting the fire going. The drive in was fun and fairly rough road, and I inadvertantly drove over a monster python ... the sign of things to come!

On the Saturday we spent a large part of the day walking about 25km through the rainforest. It was absolutely beautiful, and very rainforesty! We seemed to be walking in clouds for most of the day. The down side was that we saw 9 snakes altogether although most were small (there was a big red-bellied black though)

Here I am at the half-way point on the walk.



On Sunday morning we headed through the park in the 4wd, about 45km of rough dirt track - great fun! We're pretty much sold on getting a similar beast in the future.

Here's the Toyota Hilux with some views of New South Wales border country:



Back to work on Monday wasn't exciting, but I livened things up a little by catching my thumb on a 10mm drill bit last Thursday which meant a trip to the hospital for stitches and no football for me for a while! I have a photo of the injury I can post here if you like ... if I get e-mail repuests then I'll put it up!

Now have a look at this website please, and help my aunty help my nephew ... confused? : Click this

The rest of the road trip

Here's a few snaps from the first week - a couple of shots of Sydney and our camp at Deua

The Rocks - Sydney


Sydney Harbour at night


Deua NP



From Melbourne we went back on ourselves, south to Phillip Island and then east to Wilson’s Promontory National Park were we stayed for three nights. It’s a spectacular park and we did a couple of excellent walks, including a monster 36km trek to the lighthouse and back. A fire swept through a large part of the park back in April so we got to see the forest in recovery mode. We also spotted a Wombat wandering around the campground.

Lighthouse at Wilson's Prom NP


After Wilson’s Prom. we drove west again to Mornington Peninsula and caught a ferry across to Queenscliff and began the drive along The Great Ocean Road. We stopped at Cape Otway National Park for the night and then carried along the coast the next day stopping in to look at the famous 12 Apostles, and other coastal formations. We then drove north to the Grampians National Park.

Some of the 12 Apostles


Going inland to the Grampians meant a significant change in scenery. We had a great campground up in the hills with good fireplaces and not too many people, although pesky Crows. A couple of days were spent walking, and we saw what we think was a Marsupial ‘Mouse’ – a tiny little thing that was hopping around despite looking like a mouse! On the last night we camped down on the flat near Hall’s Gap (a small town) to treat ourselves to showers, etc. Unfortunately we had to endure noisy middle-age campers who sat up late drinking and talking loudly … and even chopping wood at 11pm! They no longer have an axe to annoy other people with anymore. I heard on the news that bushfires have been raging in the area around the Grampians, so we timed our trip well.

Mount Rosea walk


Rain in the Grampians


A long day driving from the Grampians to Mount Buffalo meant we got to see lots of inland Victoria, including Bendigo, and Glenrowan, where Ned Kelly was captured. Mount Buffalo had another fantastic campground reached after a steep twisting drive. We did a couple of great walks here, too, one involving a 1000 metre climb in 9km of walking. Bushfires from a couple of years’ back meant the vegetation was damaged here too. Snow falls in the winter here, and there are some ski runs.

Mt Buffalo burnt bush


The campground was fully booked as of the 23rd of December, so we had to move on, continuing east via the pretty little town of Bright to the Alpine National Park. We were told by a park Ranger in Bright that there was a total fire ban on so we wouldn’t be able to cook on a fire or stove that night, but he recommended that we camped high up on a plain next to an old cattle grazers hut (preserved for heritage and shelter in bad weather) in which we could cook. A 60km drive up really tight mountain roads got us just past Mount Hoffham ski resort to the hut. Wonderful, and no fees! Unfortunately after a blazing hot day the weather got stormy overnight and we didn’t sleep too well, there was hail in the morning and the temperature was down to about 3 degrees. So on Christmas Eve we did a great and very windy walk along the ‘Razorback’ to the top of Mount Feathertop. The scenery was fantastic – very, um, Alpine, unsurprisingly. Not fancying another night in the wind we chickened out and drove back down to Bright and the sanctity of a caravan park. We spent Christmas day loafing around and drinking beer and port.

The Hut


Alpine NP Razorback walk


Mount Feathertop - Alpine NP 1900 metres


After Christmas we decided to start heading home by going north inland on the Newell Highway, and stopping at a couple more National Parks en route. Endless miles of parched land and near destitute little towns passed in a blur on Boxing Day and we made it to Dubbo and another well-equipped caravan park. The next day we made it to the Warrambungle National Park, apparently a very popular park judging by the facilities. We did a decent walk up to the Grand High Tops. I saw my first wild Emus next to the campground where they mingled with Kangaroos in the evening.

Warrambungle NP


The next day we drove on to Mount Kaputar National Park, part of the same range as the Warrambungles. Having done about 200km of walking on our trip we thought we’d do a short walk for a change, and took it easy in the afternoon in preparation for the big drive back to Brisbane the next day.

Mt Kaputar NP


We got home on Thursday 29th having clocked up a total of 6,040km, 12 National Parks, 22 nights camping in the tent … and lots of great Barbeques. We saw hundreds of Kangaroos and Wallabies, Lorikeets, Pink and White Cockatoos, three types of snake, a Skink, Dolphins, a Lyrebird, Camels, Possums, Wombats, Emus, and a Marsupial ‘mouse’. It was a really great trip, and we’re both so glad we took the opportunity to go.

The Road Trip ... the first week

Well we've been on the road for a week now, at a pretty leisurely pace. Setting off last Friday we drove down to Sydney via Byron Bay, and a night in the tent at Nambucca Heads. Ingrid and Phil (Ella's sister and her boyfriend) put us up for a couple of nights in Sydney - thanks guys! We had a lovely time there, based in Kirribilli which is very central and almost underneath the famous bridge and opposite the Opera House. We took a ferry trip out to Manley and had a nice walk up on the North Heads National Park. Great fun and lovely weather. There'll be some photos to follow when we get home.

After Sydney we continued down the coast, spending a coupl of nights camping in Deua National Park - 40km down a dirt track in beautiful forest with a pristine river by the camp site.

The roads opened up the further south we drove - nothing particularly twisty but curvy enough to be interesting, which is an improvement on the desolate straight roads of Queensland!
The landscape has changed surprisingly often as well to add to the fun.

Cape Conran was the next two nights' resting place. Right next to the beach with good facilities and BBQ ... so we're eating very well!

Now we're in Melbourne staying with Vanessa and her Mum. Again we're near the city centre. Today Nessy has been great, she took us into the city for coffee, then we went to see the Archibald exhibition (the national portrait prize) and on to St Kilda for a wander. Now we're enjoying a beer before heading out to dinner.

Monday morning we'll be heading off to look around the Parks of Victoria. The climate's great down here, a lot cooler even in bright sunshine.

All our new camping equipment has proven to be fantastic, waterproof and hard wearing!

Recent movements

I am getting a bit slack with this blog aren't I?

Since our trip to Fraser Island there's been a fair bit going on. A few trips out of course. I'll tell you a bit about that in the moment, but first I want to take the time to write a little about my beautiful nephew Ocean and the disease that he has. I shamelessly admit that I have pinched most of this text from another blog, but it is for a good cause:

Ocean has Cystic Fibrosis - a genetic condition which affects many organs of the body, but mainly the lungs and the digestive system. In the lungs, a thick, sticky mucus builds up which can cause breathing difficulties and lung damage if not treated. In the digestive system, the condition makes it difficult for sufferers to absorb the adequate nutrients from food, which can result in poor nutrition and growth. The mucus blocks the pancreatic ducts, which means that the body cannot produce the enzymes that are required to digest food. Therefore, vast quantities of pills have to be taken daily to ensure that the correct nutrients are taken in.

In the UK, it is currently one of the most common life-threatening conditions, which affects around 7,500 people. In the States, 1,000 babies a year are born with this condition. In Canada, approximately 3,400 people live with Cystic Fibrosis.

People with Cystic Fibrosis have to undergo a daily ritual of physiotherapy in order to clear out the mucus from the lungs. If it is not done, they run the risk of constant chest infections or lung damage. Physiotherapy is hard and demanding. It involves vigourous clapping on the back and chest in order to clear the airways. Ocean has to go through this twice a day. It cannot be pleasant for him - or for his mum (my sister, Shadow) who administers the physio - yet he is such a happy little boy, you'd find it hard to believe that this is part of his life.

The bad news is that as of yet, there is no cure.

The good news is that the gene responsible for the condition has been found. The next step is to figure out how to repair that faulty gene. Cystic Fibrosis charities work tirelessly to raise money and awareness to try and bring this next step a little bit closer.

Cystic Fibrosis is not a 'high profile' condition like AIDS or cancer, but it is just as devastating. Yet as it is not high profile, charities struggle to raise these funds that are so badly needed. So, here's your chance to help. The Cystic Fibrosis Trust have produced a 2006 calendar. For the bargain price of £6.49, not only will you be helping to fund a very worthy cause, you'll also get to smile every day at the beautiful, happy faces that adorn each month. You can buy it by going to the Barnes' Boys website and ordering it either online or by post. You can even order it from eBay!

Pay particular attention to April (I think) ... it features Ocean!


As I said earlier, Ella and I have been out and about a bit. Twice we've been up to stay for a week with Helen and Jacques in Bundaberg. I did some work for them whilst we were there. In the weeks between I've been writing as many applications for jobs as I can possibly fit in. I finally had an interview yesterday - at Brisbane City Council - which went well, we await the outcome!

I've also been doing some volunteer work for Conseravation Volunteers Australia. This involved a lot of weeding and reed and tree planting along river banks.

We went north to a place called Kenilworth the weekend before last and met Helen, Jacques and Jana to do a walk - our first since Fraser. It turned out to be pretty steep, but was worth the effort with a splendid view from the top of a fire tower half way through.

After the walk Ella, Jana and I went back out towards the coast to camp by a lake in preparation for the next day's activities. The Noosa Hillclimb (old car racing, basically) was great fun - there were some excellent cars there, including lots of my favourite Triumphs, like this V8 TR7:


Once we'd seen enough nutters throwing their cars around corners and up hills we drove up to Bundaberg. I spent a fair amount of last week driving Jacques' tractor around their property, slashing firebreaks and spraying weeds. It was an excellent way to get to see the whole property, and see how much wildlife accumulates when the conditions are right for it. The best moment was probably when a family of four Wallabies (largest at the front and smallest at the back) hopped alongisde me at a distance of about 20 metres.

Our plans now are to head off for a few weeks in the car with the tent and see a bit more of Australia. So it may be a while before I update this site, but when I do, hopefully there will be some pictures from other parts of Oz!

Cheers for now.

FRASER ISLAND 28TH September to 1st October

Ella told me lots about Fraser Island before I came to Queensland, and since I’ve been here I’ve heard even more from other people. Here’s my brief summary:
It’s the largest sand island in the world (120km x 15km), and was formed by sand from the coast and estuaries that has been swept north by the wind and waves. It forms the northern part of the Great Sandy National Park. It’s only just an island rather than connected to the mainland – in fact Captain Cook and his cronies didn’t notice that it wasn’t and mapped it as a headland. Despite the fact that it’s sand Fraser has some remarkable forest, with surprising variety, and impressive wildlife, including the purest Dingoes (pure because they haven’t bred with domestic dogs) in Australia.

We set off from Brisbane on the Wednesday morning on a four-hour drive north to catch a ferry for a half hour hop to Fraser. It’s strictly 4WD territory so we left the car and travelled by foot. Arriving at Kingfisher resort with our packs we headed south down the coast to McKenzie’s Jetty (see photo). This is where the loggers of the early twentieth century used to send the timber back to the mainland. It’s been left to the elements for 70 years.



Having arrived rather later than planned at Fraser we had to make tracks to get to our campsite at Lake McKenzie before dark (it’s not so easy to see snakes in the dark!). 14km from Kingfisher with heavy packs was a good start to the week. Approaching the campsite parallel to the lake gave us a twilight glimpse of a truly fantastic place. The camping ground is for walkers only and therefore deserted of the “Terrourists” who frequent the lake by day coming from the resort at Kingfisher by 4x4. In the morning we had a swim before breakfast and had the entire place to ourselves! The freshwater in the lake is held in by the impermeable soil beneath the sand (it’s called a perched lake, and almost all of the world’s perched lakes are found on Fraser).



We then did the biggest walk of the week – 28km return to Lake Wabby. This took us over to the eastern side of the island, past loads of Goannas. When they see/hear you coming they scuttle up a tree … like this one:



Lake Wabby is another amazing lake. Seen from above it looks like the ‘sandblow’ is level with the lake, but the freshwater is actually held in place by the sand ‘barrage’- look at the second picture and you can see Ella standing on the sand slope.





We were thoroughly tired by the days walk in the heat, and had a final swim of the day when we got back to our campsite – 3 swims in total for the day!

The next morning we had our breakfast down at the lake on our own again. Paradise!
This day’s walk was a little less strenuous, across to Central Station (where the loggers and their families used to live) via amazing forest, 40 metre trees, and the clearest stream I’ve ever seen – Wangoolba Creek. The water is actually so clear because the sand is leached of all its nutrients by rain and vegetation.



We saw a rare Kingfisher on the creek, just as we neared Central Station. There was a good display of the history of the island, and we had our lunch before heading back down the track to our camp. The route back took us via another superb and deserted lake – inspirationally called Basin Lake.



After the previous day’s walk 18km was fairly restful, and we had loads of spare time in the evening to hang around the camp … unfortunately in the daytime there are lots of people at the lake beach though, making lots of noise. After having the tracks almost exclusively to ourselves this was very strange.

We saw a Dingo that paid a visit to the beach and wandered around looking for food. People are warned not to feed them, as they are wild animals, and giving food encourages them to approach humans. In 2001 a nine year old was killed by a pack of Dingoes. The campsites have Dingo-proof fencing to keep them out now.

On the final day we had a farewell breakfast on the lakeside and tramped the 14km back to Kingfisher to get our ferry back to the mainland. Ella had a nasty cold by this time, unfortunately, but having walked 75km in four days means we’re feeling quite fit now!

Here we are waiting for the ferry … exhausted but very happy.

The Latest Goings On of the Reekses in Oz!

We've been fairly busy the past few weeks ... which is an excellent excuse for not posting any entries to my blog!

It is now spring in Queensland, temperatures are creeping up slowly and I'm getting slightly aprehensive about the summer. The swimming pool next door has opened and I had my first swim there this morning. It was built in the 1860s I think, and claims to be the oldest pool in Australia. It's wonderful. It has the changing cubicles around the outside - Mens on one side and Women's on the others - and there are signs about not spitting or smoking or diving off the spectators balcony! Reopening was delayed by damage to the heating system. black tubes run across the roof to warm the water, and when they turned them on a couple of weeks ago water spurted high into the air where the hailstorms from winter had severed the tubes.

I'll try and get a photo from inside the pool when I remember.

This was sunrise from our window the other morning:



Last Sunday we cashed in our wedding present from our friends in England. A group of them (you know who you are) combined to buy us a seaplane trip, which proved to be absolutely great!
We drove down to the Marina near Southport on the Gold Coast early in the morning, and then were taken for a flight up the coast to South Stradbroke Island. The views were stunning - a completely new perspective on the area. You can see for yourself in the following photos:







Once there we were dropped off by the pilot with a table chairs and hamper and left for the morning and early afternoon. Yes, of course the weather was good - this is Queensland, after all! We went for a decent half hour run on the sand, and then came back to eat a magnificent seafood platter. Huge tasty prawns, Moreton Bay Bugs (don't ask me what they are), Crab, then a fruit platter and a bottle of sparkling wine.



Tomorrow we are going to Fraser Island for a few days - again off the Queensland Coast - the largest sand island in the world. I'll put some photos up when we get back!

Bye for now.

The 'Funny'Moon

Sorry for the long delay again between posts!

The wedding was fantastic fun as I probably mentioned before. Many thanks to all involved!

Then the honeymoon ... or 'Funnymoon' as we called it was great too. We dashed around the country trying to alternate between time alone and time enjoying the company of family and friends. We consequently managed to fit in an incredible amount in 10 days!

However this Blog is supposed to be about life in Oz really, so I'll get on with a little write-up about what we've been up to since we got back.

STOP PRESS: We're Married!

Just time before jetting off to England to put a little picture up from our wedding.
It went absolutely brilliantly, thanks to the hard work and support of friends and family - especially Helen and Jacques.
I never thought that getting married could be such fun!

Here we are saying our vows, watched on by Vanessa, one of Ella's close friends.

More little trips

A couple of Sundays ago we went north of Brisbane and inland a little to have a look around the area. We had a little picnic with great views of the Glasshouse Moutains before heading on to do a short walk to some waterfalls.

Glasshouse Mountains photo:


Above Kondalilla Falls:


At the foot of the falls:
We couldn't really get a good shot of the falls due to the failing light, but this shot shows Ella at the foot of the falls anyway.


Last weekend we went up to Bundaberg again to see Ella's family. It's fun having a swim in the outdoor pool before breakfast every morning!
Oddly enough it is starting to feel a bit chilly in the evenings and mornings now. It isn't really so cold, but being a predominantly hot country there isn't carpet on the floor, etc to keep the warmth in.

Bank Holidays and the Cooloola Way!

One of the best things I've discovered about Australia is the number of public holidays ... 14 in a year! (now get your diary out and count the number you have in the UK). The last two consecutive Mondays have been bank holidays, which means nice short four-day weeks for me. The first was Anzac Day (25th May), to remember all the ANZAC Gallipoli soldiers that us "Pommie Bastards" sent to their deaths (I made a bit of an effort not to wind anyone up about this!), and we've just had Labour Day last week (2nd May).

We didn't do a great deal for Anzac weekend. Ella worked on her PhD and I did some exam marking for a local University on the Saturday, but by the Monday we were going a bit stir crazy and felt like a trip to the beach, so we went an hour to Currumbin beach.
Here's a picture of Ella at Currumbin beach on ANZAC day. Currumbin's on the Gold Coast, which is south of Brisbane, and very popular with surfers, and seasidey people. I mean it's hardly Skeggy, but I guess they don't have such luxuries here!!!


For the May Day Bank Holiday Weekend we drove up to Coolum, an hour and a half north of Brisbane on the Sunshine Coast. We met Helen and Jacques who had won a weekend at an apartment at Coolum and invited us along. A fun weekend ensued, with lots of dirt-track driving (and a Monday morning exhaust repair on the Brumby to follow as a result), and a brilliant "bush-walk" on the Sunday on the Cooloola Way.

Here's Jacques, Helen and Ella yomping through the bush.




The lunchtime stop was at the very impressive Wadi Waterhole, this shot doesn't really do it justice ... but you'll just have to settle for this unless you a pay a visit yourself!



So I've had two four-day weeks in a row, which have been pretty hard work, actually. Football is going well at Kangaroo Point Rovers (you can have a look at their website if you can find it through Google) and I play my first game for them this afternoon. I hope the weather stays fairly cool!

Overdue Update

I haven't uploaded anything new to this blog since the Easter weekend have I? Bad form!
Well, lots has happened, but no photos have been taken I'm afraid.

The Sunday after Easter we took a trip inland, West of Brisbane and up into the mountains (not really mountainous mountains as such, but pretty and hilly in a more-spectacular-than-Lincolnshire-Wolds way). We had a lovely walk in Mt Mee National Park. http://http://www.epa.qld.gov.au/projects/park/index.cgi?parkid=63
The total length was about 13km, and it was predominantly in forest, varying from rainforest to plantation. To be frank the scenery got a bit boring after a while, as you can't see past the trees. The shade was most welcome, though! At the half way point along the walk was a truly fantastic escarpment, and we had lunch overlooking spectacular views across huge lakes, forests and tree-covered hills stretching to the horizon. Very impressive, and certainly worth the walk. Unfortunately somebody forgot the camera, though (no prizes for guessing who that was!)

After the walk we drove further into the park along dirt tracks to find a waterhole to go for a dip after our exercise. Unfortunately the one we chose was green with algae and showing the effects of a dry summer (summer is the wet season in the sub-tropics). We did sit and watch the turtles for a while, though who didn't seem too bothered by the algae at all. The route back down from the hills to Brisbane was superb, with good views and nice twisty roads, lots of people were out in their sports cars using the more interesting roads for a bit of fun, and we were saw an E-type, AC Cobra, and loads of motorbikes.

I'm becoming more accustomed to the 'natural' environment in Australia, or the mind-set that determines what it is. As usual it is a tension between environmentalists and the majority, but it seems to be an argument about different issues than in Europe. In England, at least, it seems that farm land and forest exist side by side, with little comment on suitability or 'naturalness'. I suppose with the enclosure acts of the 18 & 19th Centuries and the 'Dig For Victory' campaigns the British psyche adopts farmland as natural. Our dearth of seriously varied and interesting flora and fauna means that there aren't many concerns about the suitability of the environment or the fragility of the ecosystem. Over here, on the other hand, it seems that the adoption of European farming practices and the stubborn attempts to make them work have caused real problems. In a country which is largely desert, forest clearance just leads eventually to even more desert, and therefore less space for all the indigenous species. I've noticed a fair few anti-clearance (and pro-immigration) bumper stickers on cars. Ella's family, for example are proud of their land, that they have laregely converted from a Pineapple farm back to native species.

On the Sunday after Mt Mee we went north along the coast to Cooloola http://www.epa.qld.gov.au/projects/park/index.cgi?parkid=66, which is the southern section of the Great Sandy National Park. Altogether different scenery here, as it's close to the sea it's very flat. Unfortunately for us it also turned out to be home to the biggest swarms of mosquitos ever encountered by a Reeks (I was absolutely covered), and the 6.1km walk to the halfway point turned into a 4km walk and 2km run to try and get away from them! After a dip in the lake to cool down and some lunch we ran back the way we had come for 3km, until we were satisfied we were out of the mossies radar and walked the rest. So a 12km walk turned into a 5km run and 7km walk! With all the running and biting the camera wasn't even taken out of the case.

Otherwise life in Australia is continuing very nicely. I worked for a few days in telesales before getting a temporary job working for Adshel, the bus shelter advertising company. The Brisbane office is only 5 strong so it's a friendly and fun environment. I've also been asked to help mark some Geography exam papers for Queensland University of Technology.

Am I forgetting something? Oh yes, of course, there is a little matter of a marriage. In a typically laid-back but unromantic style (whilst ironing a shirt for work one morning) I asked Ella if she would marry me. We've been discussing the idea for a while as we're both very happy with each other, so I asked "shall we formalise it, then?"
All well and good, then, we're getting married, but as I've pointed out to people, we've never done this sort of thing before so it's taking us a while to figure everything out. Neither of us want a long engagement, or a great big fuss - something simple, just like us, that's what we're after.

So far, choosing a continent to get married in is proving tricky enough, so I won't reveal anything until we're sorted out completely, but stay tuned and check back regularly

Easter Weekend - The Queensland 'Bush'

Last weekend was great. Ella and I 'went bush' for the weekend. Jana (who you've seen in a previous post) was down in Brisbane for a Cello lesson on the Thursday, and Ingrid (Ella's other sister) flew into Brisbane from work in Sydney for the weekend. Early Friday morning we drove north for about 4 hours (it wouldn't have taken as long if I hadn't been booked for speeding ... Police are the same all over!) and met the Ella's parents and Unle Art in Biggenden (what a great name!). We then convoyed, with Ella's Dad (Jacque) on motorbike and the rest of us in two cars, down a really rough but great fun 4x4 track for about 10km into the bush. When the track eventually petered out we stopped and set up the picnic Ella's Mum brought along. After lunch and a swim at the nearby waterhole the rest of the family headed back home to Bundaberg, and Ella and I set up our tent for the night in this totally desolate spot.

On Saturday morning Ella and I climbed up Coongara Rock. It's very different to England - not only is it seriously dry, even at the end of the wet season, and hot, but there were no other people around. In fact much of the path was tricky as we had to avoid webs with spiders like this on it!


Saturday afternoon was my first experience of a serious Aussie storm. I was amazed at the biggest hailstones I've ever seen! Check this one out that Ella's modelling:



The storm passed quickly but we got thoroughly soaked ... and it was tricky to get a fire lit that night.

The next day we drove back up the track, hindered briefly by a large herd of cows, and then went round the other side of Biggenden to Mount Walsh. By the time we got there it was getting pretty hot, and there didn't look to be too much shelter as you can see from the photo:

We decided to climb it anyway. This was a bit trickier, very steep and the heat sucks the energy right away. Still after an hour of walking, climbing and scrambling (and Ella waiting for me!) we got to the top. Fortunately there were a lot less spiders around on this route. At the top there was a surprising amount of shelter and scrub, and as Ella's Dad has suggested it would be fun to camp up there, after a spot of lunch whilst sheltering between some boulders we traipsed back down.

As there's little else to do in the area, and it would have been a pain to drive back to the camping ground we were at the night before we drove the hour to Bundaberg to surprise Ella's family again, and enjoy a great barbequed steak! Here's a picture of their house, and the BBQ area out the back.