Sunday, February 26, 2006

Traveling in Nemo the Love Van

Things are going well. John is having a 60's flashback with the painted van, now called Nemo the Love Van. I've attached the link for some photos

Port Douglas and Kangaroo Island Photos 

The photos are from Port Douglas and Kangaroo Island. I even persuaded John to process some of his, so you can see the animals close up. (My camera does not get that close!) We had a lovely few days on Kangaroo Island. Checked out some lovely beaches, and saw lots of wildlife. We went up some rough roads, and were rewarded with some unspoilt views, and a lot of kangaroos grazing at dusk. After returning from Kangaroo Island we stopped for lunch with Barry and Julie, some old work friends of mine from England. Quite amazing that they were in Adelaide at the same time as us. We are now driving down the coast to Melbourne, via the Great Ocean Road which should be quite spectacular. We've been staying in local campsites, which are very nice. Weather has been a bit cool, but is hotter today. (mid 70's)

Great Ocean Road Photos

Tuesday, February 21, 2006

Off to Kangaroo Island

We've made it to Adelaide, which is down south. Much nicer weather, not as humid or hot. We had an interesting time flying from Cairns. We were way over the luggage allowance, and apparently the printout I had from JetStars web site wasn't clear about a different allowance for Qantas international customers. Very fortunately the agent after much discussion did not charge us the $500 they wanted to. The flight for both of us was only $370, so we are glad they did not charge us! Ironically, if Qantas had not delayed our luggage we would have had the same problem on the first flight to Cairns, and would have missed that flight, hauling the luggage around, so it worked out well. (Plus Qantas gave us $200 for emergency clothes, so we actually made money!!)

We are picking up our Wicked Camper van in a hour. They are all painted psychedelic, it reminds John of the 60's. We are taking the ferry to Kangaroo island for a few days, and then will drive the Great Ocean Road to Melbourne. Kangaroo island is beautiful, and has a ton of wildlife we are looking forward to seeing.

We don't know when we will get Internet access next, since we will be at campsites for a while. It is a good thing we will be at campsites, because we need to get back on budget, and stop eating so much!


Monday, February 20, 2006

Another Day in Paradise

We've finished three exciting days scuba diving on Agincourt Reefs. On the second day we had our own masks, snorkels and fins. John had not used his own mask in deep ocean waters, and unfortunately he had a pretty severe mask squeeze. This resulted in broken blood vessels in his eyes. He is OK, however he looks like Darth Maul the Seth Lord. He didn't dive the last two dives that day, but snorkeled instead.

Yesterday was our last day on the reefs. We both dove together, and went off exploring on our own without the dive master. We stayed at about 30 feet and John rented a digital camera for the day, and I used my new underwater film camera. We had a fabulous time, there were amazing amounts of fish to see, and it was slower and more relaxing on our own. We even managed to get back to the boat at the appropriate time without loosing each other!

John got some great photos, and we are going to pick up my film later today. Hopefully we will have some to send you soon.

Today we fly to Adelaide and then pickup the van and on to Kangaroo Island. We have thoroughly enjoyed Port Douglas, although it is very humid, about 98% someone said. It is a good thing we were on the boat for three days.

We have all our luggage now, and will need to sweet talk the airline into taking it all for us without an extra charge!

Thursday, February 16, 2006

G'Day from Port Douglas Australia

We finally arrived in Port Douglas yesterday afternoon. The three flights and shuttle were fairly uneventful, except Qantas did not put all our bags on the plane in LA due to weight restrictions. (Not our bags I might add, the whole plane was heavy.) Poor John did not have any clothes, and we didn't have our scuba gear. However we managed to buy some emergency clothes, and used the gear on the boat today, so all is good!

We had a fabulous day diving on barrier reef today. Our first real dives. We made three dives, and managed not to drown or get eaten! Tomorrow and Monday we go out for more diving.

The real big news for those of you that don't know, is John and Sara are grandparents. Baby Cole was born early Wednesday morning. Holly and Cole are fine. Chris and Holly are beaming brand new parents.

Port Douglas is hot humid, tropical and very laid back. A lovely relaxing way to start the trip. Tuesday we fly to Adelaide to visit Kangaroo island, and then drive the Great Ocean Road.

Hope you are all well.

Special thanks to Dr Susan for providing the Ambian CR it work great.