Around the world with Gary & Tracy

A huge thanks to Graeme and Mandy for their kindness & generosity this week - we've had a marvellous time.

Love T & G x

G'dday mates

Well we have been pretty busy since we left Airlie Beach, we stopped off for a few days at Mission Beach where Tracy was hoping to do a sky dive but the weather was so poor we had to abandon that idea. We were in search of cassowaries at Mission beach - alas did not see one but did see a Skippy lookalike.

From Mission Beach it was off to Cairns and more rain -our first week it rained nearly the whole time. It has stopped over the past few days so we have been very busy going upto Daintree, seeing crocs and tree snakes and pythons, doing a Turtle Tour with bushman Stewy and snorkelling on the Great Barrier Reef in some rather challenging weather conditions!

We are staying with our friends Mandy & Graeme for this week at a lovely place calle Waterfront Terraces and they are being extremely hospitable and running us about all over the place and looking after us. We are going with them to see some of Mandy's relatives on Saturday in Tolga, about an hour and a half away, back Sunday for Easter eggs! BBQ tomorrow night by the pool with fresh fish and lobster (veggie sausages for Tracy).

On Tuesday we fly to Alice Springs for our final week in Oz - we are doing a 3 day tour to Uluru with adventure tours - should be good but very, very hot.
We fly out of Melbourne on April 1 for Shanghai and a totally different adventure awaits us there.

We hope you are all well and surviving the cold weather, thinking of you all and realising we will see you all before too long - how soon a year goes - we could do it all again!

Lots of love to everyone.

Tracy & Gary xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Hi all

Greetings from Airlie Beach. We have just returned from a 3 day sailing adventure aboard the beautiful tall ship, the Alexander Stewart. We had a great time despite the very variable weather, rough waters and strong winds for most of the time, so it was not picture postcard perfect. What made it brilliant was the group and the crew. Everyone got on really well and we had loads of fun. We were soaked by rain and waves most of the time and got to wear sexy yellow raincoats (as modelled by the group in various pictures). The highlight was snorkelling -when we saw some wonderful coral and fish - and mooring at night, enjoying good food and wine and great company. The crew were amazing and made it a very special experience for everyone. Our last day, the sun actually shone and we got to sunbathe on the deck which of course meant that everyone got burnt! Most of the group were able to get together last night for a farewell meal whilst others had to head off a little earlier. Its always hard to say goodbye to new friends after sharing such a magical time.

Back on land, the ground still keeps rolling and we are sooooo tired, I think from the effort of keeping upright in rough seas. Today it has poured down with rain for most of the day and the road north past Townsville is currently closed due to flooding. Rather worrying for us as we have to be in Cairns by 11 March. We had intended to go to Mission Beach on route for a few days but may have to develop plan B (C, D, E etc). We are due to stay in Cairns for 2 weeks, the first week we have booked an apartment and the second week we are very kindly being hosted by Graeme and Mandy which we are really looking forward to.

So, that's it for now, we hope you are all well and happy and we are thinking of you all as ever.

Lots of love
Gary & Tracy xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Hi all

Well, as we said, we have been very busy and very lucky to get to Mon Repos conservation beach near Bundaberg to see some baby loggerhead turtles being born and crawling down the beach into the sea. What a fantastic experience, 136 baby turtles born and we got to see them close up and to feel their tiny flippers on our hands. We watched them go down the beach and into the sea then we went back to watch the guide dig the nest out and count the shells. The hole was 61cms deep - it was astonishing to think these tiny creatures had dug up and out of the hole. Even more amazing was a second small batch of hatchlings appearing under the guide's knees. There were about 20 in the second batch so it was a grand total of 156 babies. Only 1 in 1000 makes it back to lay eggs so everything possible is done to try to give them every chance of survival. The guides were great and struck the right balance between ensuring the safety and care of the turtles whilst ensuring everyone got to share the magical moment of their birth. Just wonderful.

We spent a pleasant couple of days in Bundy and went to the Bundaberg rum distillery for a tour and tasting - yummy. We then drove to Rockhampton for one night and went to the Great Western Hotel to see an indoor rodeo - alas - the contractor who should have supplied the bulls didn't turn up so we had to watch some videos from previous weeks rodeo escapades and then made friends with the locals in the pool bar (Gary lost!).

We have now arrived at Airlie Beach and are staying in a lovely little place called Sunlit Waters with great views over the harbour. Tomorrow we go sailing for 3 days with www.ozsailing.com.au on a tall ship called the Alexander Stewart. Lets hope the weather settles (its very windy today). Expect some photos of us snorkelling in our sexy stinger suits.

Hope you are all well, Happy Mothers Day to all you mothers.

Thinking of you.

Lots of love
Gary & Tracy xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Hi all

Well, we have been very busy over the last few days. We took an overnight trip to Fraser Island a few days ago. What a strange place; its a sand island and has no roads and a 74 mile beach which is full of 4WDs hurtling up an down like a sandy M1. It is famous for its dingos and we certainly saw plenty of them! It has beautiful lakes and white sands and is stunning. Unfortunately, in the place we stayed, Tracy had a close (on the mouth!) experience with coackroaches in the middle of the night which took the edge off the enjoyment as you can imagine. It was a long wait until reception opened at 7am to deal with the problem. Fortunately, we resolved things in a satisfactory manner so it didn't spoil things too much.

In addition to the lakes and beaches there are also numerous rain forests - it really is a wild place and we were really pleased we made the effort to go; highly reccomended (apart from the cockroaches).

Love
Tracy & Gary xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Hi all

well, no photos of Koalas yet as we had to abandon our trip due to RAIN. Hopefully we will see some at some point during our trip. We are now in Noosa which is lovely, a really pretty place and yes, the sun is shining at last. What a difference. Last night we went on a sunset ferry cruise and saw this perfect sunset followed by a wonderful full moon over the river. magical. Noosa is probably the nicest place we have been to so far.

On Sunday we head off to Hervey Bay and we have booked an overnight trip on Fraser Island with www.fraserexperience.com Lets hope the weather stays sweet. Shortly after that we will be going on our sailing trip - Gary is praying for calm seas! Before that we have booked to see the baby turtles at Mon Repos near Bundaberg. Its all happening!

Hope you are all well.

Bye for now from the happy travellers

Lots of love

Gary & Tracy xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Hi all

Well, the weather remains a challenge. There is a monsoon over the the East Coast which has created the worst flooding in many coastal towns for about a century. The highway has disappeared from view in many places. We have changed our plans about a million times already but currently plan to go to Noosa on Tuesday for a few days before picking up a car and driving up to Airlie beach to go on a sailing trip for 3 days. A few days ago, some tourists on a sailing boat in the Whitsundays (where we are going sailing) had to be airlifted to safety as the boat got stranded on some rocks and was sinking! That was the day after we had booked our trip. Ho hum. We are hoping there might be some improvement in the weather by the time we get there. On the way we hope to stay overnight on Fraser Island and see some baby turtles making a break for the sea on Mon Repos beach.

In the meantime we have consoled ourselves by going on the Castlemaine xxxx brewery tour and tomorrow, weather permistting we are going tothe Koala bear sanctuary near Brisbane. Expect to see some photos of there small furry sweeties.

We hope you are all well and happy. Think of us in the downpours - not quite the image of the Sunshine Coast.

Lots of love

Tracy & Gary xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Hi All

Well, its been a few days since our last blog - lots to cath up on. We left Sydney for Newcastle where we stayed a few days with Mandy who was incredibly generous and a fantastic hostess, showing us the delights of the wonderful surf at Newcastle beach and a great Aussie BBQ. Thanks also to Barry & Bronwyn for giving us an Aussie hat and towel!

A very big thanks Mandy for everything, we really enjoyed it and look forward to seeing you and Graeme in Cairns.

So then it was onwards to Coffs Harbour where we had booked a nice little place with a lovely pool and we were looking forward to a few relaxing days on the sunbeds. Alas, it was not to be as we have had 5 days of torrential rain. The most rain anyone here has seen for years with spectacular thunderstorms and power cuts. Luckily we had Sky TV so have seen LOTS of films! We are leaving today and the weather is beautiful. As we are going to Byron Bay, all is not lost as its another seaside resort.

After Byron Bay we are going to Brisbane and then deciding whether or not to hire a car for the remainder of the trip up to Cairns - 1700 KMS! - or continue with public transport.

Aside from being a bit damp, we are fine and enjoying Oz, it was a joy to stay with Mandy and get more of an insight into Australia and meet her friends all of whom were extremely friendly.

We hope you are all well and surviving winter - Spring around the corner.

Lots of love and thoughts to you all.

Tracy & Gary xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Hi All

Well, here we are back in Sydney, we spent last night at Darling Harbour watching some amazing fireworks as there were great Australia Day celebrations. We also met up with Gary's nephew Nick who is living here at the moment. We had a lovely lunch together then met up again at Darling Harbour for the pyrotechnics. We have had a busy few days here, we took a ferry to Watsons Bay, saw a couple of great photographic exhibitions at the Australia Museum and got burnt at Bondi beach (and pounded by surf!).

Today is our last day, we go to Newcastle tomorrow to stay with Mandy who we met with Graeme on Easter Island and who has very kindly offered to put us up for a couple of days, then its off to Coffs Harbour, Byron Bay and Brisbane. We hope to hire a car between Brisbane and Cairns but as ever it takes ages to work through all the options and check all the small print. Amazingly, there are very few days when we do nothing, in fact, none! There is always something to organise. Still, we will be at Coffs Harbour for a week so we are looking forward to a bit of chillout time.

We hope you are all well and looking forward to Spring.

Lots of get well wishes to Nick who has had to endure 3 operations and will be in hospital for some time yet. We are thinking about you.

Lots of love to you all, miss you.

Tracy & Gary

Hi All

We have been in the Blue mountains for 4 lovely days, staying at a fantastic B & B - if you ever go to katoomba, stay at this place as it is outstanding. The little touches and magnificent breakfast are wonderful. The best place we have stayed in over the last year! www.lurlinehouse.com.au

The variety of birds in the Blue Mountains is mind blowing, we were glued to the binoculars. its a lovely, lovely place and only 2 hours from Sydney. We did a couple of monster walks, the first one involved descending 900 steps, we knew about it the next day and the day after! We had mixed weather but we were lucky to have enough time to take advantage of the dry days and watch tennis when it rained!

Love
Tracy & Gary xxxx