Packing up early, we finished up at Binna Burra with a 'bush brekkie BBQ' and a trip on the flying fox, then headed into Brisbane for the final car preparation work for our Cape York and Kimberley trips. Once finished there, we decided to see what the Gold Coast is all about, and stayed in Surfer's Paradise for the night.

The bush breakfast was OK... Barry did all the cooking, and I saw how billy tea is made. Billy tea is simple: boil the water in the billy, throw in a handful of tea, take the billy off the fire …

Around Binna Burra

Byron Bay and SE Queensland

To Border Ranges National Park

Rafting on the Nymboida River

Just uploading my rather lengthy journal from our New Caledonia trip. A few pictures for now.

Departure board, Noumea airport

Arrival board, Noumea Airport

See ya, NC

Noumea Airport

Iain at the Medina Hotel

Having a moment at Darling Harbour

Very Steep Decent gave us giggles

Odometer 95000km, 40km northwest of Lithgow, New South Wales

Wellington Caves, NSW

Me and Diprotodon

Chris pets the wombat at the Western Plains Zoo in Dubbo.

Albino kangaroo

Little duffer

Warrumbungles NP, NSW

Sunset, Mt Kaputar NP, NSW

Standing Stones, Glen Innes NSW

Pulling the sword

Glen Innes, NSW

Dumaresq St, Armidale, NSW

Odometer …

Our last day on the island, which we spent having a much better time than expected at the Amadée lighthouse snorkeling.

I had booked a tour to the Amadée lighthouse earlier in the week from the tour operator in the hotel... Chris and I had a little argument; he said I paid twice as much as I should have since we had vouchers for A$60 each and I had paid 10200XPF. Hm. Grrrr... maybe those were the 'Japanese prices' that Andre warned us about. Chris then thought some more, and it looks like I only paid US$10 more …

Around Le Grand Sud of New Caledonia

Day of wandering about central Nouméa... with actual decisiveness towards the end! We rent a 4WD!

Noumeas first McDonalds

American Memorial, Noumea

American Memorial, Noumea

Noumea

10:00am

One of the frustrating things I'm finding here in New Caledonia is that there are interesting things to see here on this island, but finding out where they are and how to get to them is very difficult. I've been trying to find more information about the strange plant life and landscapes here--but to no avail. The ranger at the Parc Provincal de la Rivière Bleue didn't have information, the botanic gardens …

In New Caledonia. A very strange island. Half French, as in France French, with butter from Normandy shipped halfway around the world and Bordeaux wine. Nevermind that Australia and New Zealand are less than a three hour flight away... and the closest big city is Brisbane.

Getting irritated that I can't find any local information about interesting plants. It's not on most tourist's agendas... we're not the right kind of tourist, though. With prices so high here (an hour of Internet access at a cafe is US$10, a rental car is US$70 a day from a cheap place …

A long driving tour around New Caledonia

OK. A day around town. And with a rental car too!

After a lazy morning, we met Andre for lunch and spent the afternoon snorkeling with the fishes and relaxing.

A long day--flying to New Caledonia from Sydney, then getting to the hotel took up most of the day.

Early wakeup--6am. Got dressed, put the stuff in bags in the car (parked in an underground car park at the Stamford Plaza Airport), then a quick breakfast. Looking out the window, we could see the airport covered in fog, but we didn't worry.

Hopped on the 8am shuttle to the international terminal--which took forever as we also stopped by the Ibis and the Holiday Inn. Arrived at the airport at 8:45 and checked in for our 10:25 flight. The …

Spend a wonderfully pleasant day in Canberra. Mailed off a box of books back home; for the record, it's A$60 to mail a 16kg box of printed material to the US.

Parliament

Parliament Chamber

Canberra

Odometer 94000km, Canberra

National Museum of Australia

Australian War Memorial, Canberra

Australian War Memorial, Canberra

National Museum of Australia

National Museum of Australia

National Museum of Australia

National Museum of Australia

Mt Ainslie Lookout, Canberra

Marmot, causarina pod

Bus stop, Canberra

Bus stop, Canberra

Clonakilla Winery

Hume Highway to Sydney

Then a bit of more shopping at the clearance racks at Katmandhu, a block …

One heard three times today: "Australia is a young nation, so... [insert some whinging here]."

Well, yesterday (Sunday) we had one thing to do: go to the Buchan Caves in eastern Victoria. It's one of the few nature thingies you can do regardless of the weather--and good for that, as it has just been pissing down rain on Saturday since we left the Prom. Fields were all flooded, rivers were surging, and potholes were sprouting.

Buchan Caves were fairly interesting; we did the Royal Cave tour. With six inches of rain in the past few days, they were wet as well--the water had percolated the 30m or so into the cave system, with dripping water …

Yes, that's what I think I did to my modem when I plugged it into the lovely phone line at the St George Motor Inn in north Melbourne last week.

But all is better now; an quasi-cheapo PCMCIA modem now does the work. Still, I still think the old modem could be OK, and perhaps it's the phone system here in the past three hotels. They all emit an odd warbling tone for the dial tone--and then just go silent while you dial. Even now, I can't dial my very national ISP, Telstra BigPond, on this particular phone line. So …

Wonderful day hiking around at the Prom (Wilson's Promotory NP).

We rented a cabin in the park for tomorrow night, at the very southern tip of the park--and the Australian mainland! Should be fun, though it is a 19km hike in.

Parrot

Yet another Strange Wildlife Sighting today: while waiting in the parking lot, Chris got a jump from a rosella that landed on the radio aerial! The rosella--a kind of parrot--then hopped onto the rear view mirror on my door. I snapped a few pics, then it flew off. It wasn't more than two feet away.

That's one thing …

A few pictures from the last few days: a visit to the Dandenongs east of Melbourne, fitting a snorkel to the Landcruiser for deep water crossings, and general random pictures.

Dandenong Ranges NP

Dandenong Ranges NP

Parliament Gardens, Melbourne

Birrarung Marr

Birrarung Marr

Birrarung Marr

Birrarung Marr

Southbank, Melbourne

Wombat, Healesville Wildlife Sanctuary

Healesville Wildlife Sanctuary

Snorkel fitted

Snorkel fitted

I bought books

Anything goes

I tease a swan.

Not enough boy flowers at the Melbourne Flower Show for you, Dan?

A great day in Melbourne: Garden Show and Melbourne Museum

We took a day trip down the Great Ocean Road southwest of Melbourne.