First of all, an apology.  I haven’t posted for a while.  I’ve been having such a busy, busy time of things recently and I haven’t had the time / energy to post! lol  BUT I have soo much to catch up on.. So… get comfy my pals and read along

The last, rather brief, mostly video, post I wrote was an announcement that Mini and Ad were in Australia and were engaged!  All jolly good news Since then I have been busy entertaining them.  They left me on Monday morning to go on an adventure down the Ocean Road; they should be flying somewhere over Pakistan by now as they are going to land Friday evening (UK time).

The funniest thing about having people to stay is you’re never quite sure what kind of activities they’ll want to take part in or at what pace they will want to do them.  Whilst they were here I learnt that it is best not to expect to do very much at all until about 11:30 at which point they will have managed to get up and dressed and will be ready to step out and do something interesting.  Nothing wrong with that at all – after all they’re on their holidays.  It gave me the morning to check emails and do work related things  anyway

Koala spotting at Morialta

So, what did we get up to in those afternoons? Well on the Saturday after their arrival we all trundled off to Morialta conservation park to do a bit of koala spotting.  We saw at least 5 before we made it to the waterfall at the centre of the park.  There was some debate over which walk we would endeavour to complete.  You see Adam and Matt had consumed a little bit too much beer the night before and I had a cold… then it started to pour down… proper, torrential CAPITAL R Rain!

Rain at the Waterfall - Morialta

So that was that!  5 Koalas and a short sprint back to the safety and shelter of  the car!  Adam, upon feeling the rain falling down the back of his neck,  immediately recovered from his hangover – Miracle cure!

Sand Whale Building

During the week, whilst Matt was at work, Mini had to visit the beach. It was sunny and lovely and after a cuppa at the Jetty Cafe she set to work on collecting “special shells” (still not sure what that means) and then making a sand castle.  When Adam put his foot in the middle of it, it turned into a whale.. Not sure how… Not sure why a whale has a large hole in it either but it kept Mini entertained enough.. She even dragged Matt back that evening to have his picture taken with it.  I think she was concerned that the sea, a dog, or a happy child may come along and get rid of him.  Rather over protective of that “soap dish” style whale she was!

Whale Watching at Sunset

Garden Time

In the afternoon, whilst waiting for Mr W to return home from work I put Adam to work on the garden… MOAH HA HA!  No really, I was going to do it and he insisted. Possibly because it was an excuse to just put his Ipod headphones in and get some Me time!! Lol.  He did a very nice job too, whilst Mini found one of those fluffy caterpillars from previous posts and made it  a house out of a leaf……. lol I’m sure it was very comfortable and very happy when it realized it could eat it’s house…

During the next day we stayed in.  Adam wasn’t feeling very well so we just ended up chilling in the house.  When Matt got home we headed off to Glenelg though and visited the chocolate cafe and the pier. I think Adam was particularly impressed with Glenelg and all it’s cafes and bars

Aboriginal art Adam

The following day meant a visit to Adelaide’s city center in search of a large koala pencil case for Mum, amongst other things.  We also visited the SA museum.  Do you think Adam chose his “life” circle T-shirt on purpose?

Cleelands park was the order of the next day.  That place where you can cuddle a koala and feed the kangaroos.  Unfortunately, that was all we managed to do.  It began pelting it down with rain and we had to retreat to the cafe and home again!

Koala group shot!

Adam and his new Kangaroo mate

Wii boys

Several evenings were taken up playing games on the Wii. I attempted to convince Matt that we NEED Wii Guitar Hero but it’s not happening yet.  Need Pete to work on him a bit more! lol He and Adam played a lot of the real thing (as in actual guitars) all week anyway so I guess that’s ok..!

The final weekend was very busy too.  Pancakes at the port, dolphin tours, tennis, dinner at Redpoles (It was Matt and I’s 2 year wedding anniversary!) It was all going on!  Finally, we had to go and pick up the hire car for Mini and Adam’s trip down the Ocean Road.

It was a very busy, action packed week and a bit   I think they had fun.  We certainly kept them very busy I hear that they have met Carl Kennedy on the set of neighbours though.  I’m pretty sure that that would top anything else they have done the entire time they’ve been here!!

Here are some more piccies…. just in case you haven’t seen enough yet!

On the Dolphin Tour

At the Warrawong Sanctuary doing the night walk

Tennis Anyone?

Snogging on the beaches- EURGHHHH!

Beach Posers 2

Sea Side Piccies

Beach Posers 1

On a serious note.  I loved every minute of having Mini and Adam around and it was so hard when they left.  It made me remember how difficult it can be to be on the other side.  It’s not the wrong side of the world but I miss my lil’ sis when she’d not around.  I’m really glad she made it over for the “summer” … Hope she can make it again for the actual Summer one day. Then she can have her beach holiday!

They’re here and they’re running a muck!

and getting engaged!  — OOOOhhhh!

The ring!

The Location - Day Dream Island's Jetty

When we picked him up from the airport 10 days ago he walked straight past us in a daze. His eyes were hazy and he looked like he hadn’t slept for days. He hadn’t! After trying to stay awake and failing by lunchtime, and after having 10 days to finally get used to the time difference and sleep through the night he’s just got back onto the plane to jet back off towards England again; poor bugger!

We’ve had a busy 10 days and have sailed, driven and walked all over the place in order to get a real sense of Australia. lol You’ve already seen the extensive photo collection from Kangaroo Island and have suffered the 20min commentary on the pictures that goes along with it. Needless to say we did have a good time. However, it was FREEZING! No one told me that the island was so cold! It must be about 5/6 degrees lower. I only took my flipflops and I seriously regretted it! I did get to see some cool penquins at last and it was good fun

Mr Bogus and Lof really enjoyed their random ‘conversations’ which meant absolutly nothing to me – or anyone else for that matter. For example, If one of them said “Captain” it would make the other burst into fits of hysterical giggles for ages… mmmm crazy.

Apart from Kangaroo Island Mr Bogus also got to visit Cleelands Wildlife Park where we made sure that he got up close and personal to a Koala and some Kangas. A visit to Australia isn’t complete without looking at the wildlife which Mr Bogus proclaimed to be “strange”.

We also took him to Harndorf where, of course, it is OCKTOBER FEST! This led to all sorts of hilarious consequences as the gents hit the pub before lunch and began sampling the beers. I almost convinced Bogus to by a Digeridoo for Dunk but didn’t quite manage it Was really funny though. I am certain that LOM will be itching to visit and sample some of the Schnitzle (How ever that’s spelt)

After drinking the beer and visiting the knife shop – I know… why?
We then decided to go and visit the local chocolate factory. I was told it was really exciting.. Perhaps I’ve been spoilt by cadbury’s world but a large warhouse full of sweets on sale with rooms to the side where someone might be making something but weren’t on that day isn’t anywhere near what any of us expected to find. I was amused by their signature chocolates though. For example, the chocolate cowpat – one of which Bogus devoured in the car on the way home. There was even a “Hereford”
cowpat. It was milk chocolate with a dollop of white chocolate ontop lol.

He also got to experience Australian cinema and “frozen coke” and a “spider” when we went to the SA museum to see the live redback. A spider of course is also a drink…
Here’s a yummy one I ate. Lemonade, lime syrup and a dollop of icecream

We got some really ace pictures on our travels. Especially of the spring animals and babies. You can check out the kangaroo Island ones here and the others from Ants visit here

There’s a reason why Photostory should be kept away from people with beer…

Whilst up in the Northern regions of Queensland we also had the pleasure of catching up with some people that LOF and I talk to all the time on WOW.

So here’s Faraday and Darkaos in all their fabulous glory!

Thanks for driving up to meet us! It was good fun

So we got as far as the story of LOF, a whip and a toad.
We went to a local bar where, for a small sum of money, you can watch Cane Toad racing. You are given a ticket on the door with a number on it. We didn’t realise until later that that Cane toads needed jokeys to kiss and cajoul them into participating. It was with even more glee that we smiled when Dad’s number was pulled out of the hat. Surprisingly, Dad refused to take part!! SHOCKING! so LOF, being the brave and wonderful man he is, kindly stepped up.

The first thing that had to happen was that he had to have toad assigned to him. He ended up with the only lady toad. Then he had to kiss her before he put her into a pot to start the race.

All jockeys were equipt with a whip (a party style pokey whistle thingy)and were told to get ready. Now the following video has a bit of a blank moment. That’s when I had to look down because one of the toads had raced off and was hopping around my feet!!!

Yes, they are real and yes they are poking them with loud paper things to make them move. The idea is that you get them to hop off the table into your hands and then you place them, gently, into a bucket. You can see that the lady toad did not like her male jokey! and LOF came last… Poor thing!

LMAO

First of all you need to know that Port Douglas is lovely. It’s sunny, and beautiful with long beaches with sand so fine it’s like talc. The beaches are lined with coconut trees and the sea is turquoise and inviting. We stayed at the Central Plaza, which was lovely. A three bedroom apartment with a shared pool and everything you need to cook a jacket potato and salad (much to mum’s relief)

We managed to squeeze so much into the 7 days we were there that I think the Clarke’s have decided that they may need to take a further rest to recuperate from their holiday. Well, what’s the point in flying all that way to just sit on a beach the whole time? Having said that, the messages the lifeguards left on the chalk board which every Aussie is taught to read before entering the sea – having the need to know whether there are any marine stingers about, whether there were any dangerous rips and where the nearest life guard were – were highly amusing. I was informed on one bright sunny day that today’s lifeguard was Pamela Anderson – i think several of the men were disappointed when they couldn’t locate the busty blonde bouncing towards them in slow motion, phallic, orange object in hand.

Once we managed to get Mini C out of her cave each morning, the holiday entailed several interesting activities.
- Taking the SKY RAIL over the rain forest
- Visiting a butterfly park at the other end (in Karanda)
- Going to the Great Barrier Reef
- Taking long walks down 4 Mile beach
- Visiting a Crocodile Park (Which turned out to be a farm, they even took mum to visit the Crocs destined to be hand bags – she was of course appalled)
- Going to the local markets
- Having BBqs and
- visiting the city of Cairns

There is much to say on each of these delightful activities so sit back relax and try to stay awake!

The Sky rail takes you up over the mountains and the rainforest and along the way you stop off at various locations. Mother amused herself by spotting Cockateils in trees and by repeatedly stating that she was sure that there had to be an undiscovered dinosaur or other such beasty in that rainforest! ” Well you just couldn’t know could you! Look at it! I bet there is!”.

It was a lovely day and we got to see lots of things, the most fun but I guess was the butterfly park. One actually decided to sit on my hand (Disney princess style) and everything.

The highlight of the whole of our trip to the North was the Barrier Reef. I’ve always wanted to dive there. I’ve dived in Europe 3 times before and really enjoyed it but there have never been as many interesting fish as you would like! lol I signed up for the dive and then was prompty told I could not go because I had had ashma in the past 10 years!! Apparently they don’t care about this in Greece! lol Instead Matt and I went on an underwater Ocean Walk with helmets on. We thought that the Ocean walk would entail more than simply walking down some stairs but Hey ho! it was nice to be down there amongst the fishie, even if the scubba diving instructors were a but mean with their sense of humour.
Whilst standing down there, surrounded by fishies (not little ones either!) we were passed various objects that the scuba instructors thought were of interest. He handed us a Sea Cucumber and start putting his finger inside it’s mouth to show us how it worked, sucking up the debris from the bottom of the sea. He then passed it to LOF and showed him the same thing. LOF, I am certain, put his little finger in it’s MOUTH, so, when it came to my turn I did the same thing. It was then that the scuba diver laughed pointed at his posterior, made a gesture to indicated sniffing his finger, waved his hand to suggest his finger stank and then pointed at me and the sea cucumber! Mortified, I quickly passed the creature to the next in line whilst trying not to laugh myself stupid and shouting NO! NO! even though i know the scuba man can not hear me.

I then went snorkeling with my underwater camera whilst LOF went on a semi submersible in search of a sea turtle. We never did see one Although the others did not opt to dive I think they had fun too. Mum swears blind she saw 3 sea turtles on her trip on the semi-submersible boat. Lunch was lovely anyway! and they suggested that anyone who was going in the water wear lycra skin tight suits to protect against the sun’s rays and the stingers which were completely non existent due to the cold. it was worth hiring one though so that you didn’t feel out of place with the other blue, Pentium 4 men on board. The suits, were not very forgiving though! lol

Four Mile beach was the nearest beach to where we were staying and, as the name suggests, is a very long stretch of sand. One morning, after breakfast at the delightful beaches cafe, we decided to go for a short walk along said beach. It was a cloudy day so conditions seemed ideal for a nice walk. LOF, Mini and I were amused as we paddled by what appeared to be worms made of sand. We mused for several miles over what might have been creating them. The major clue came when Mini had to jump around screaming after having discovered the many tiny – large crabs that were pushing up the sand from their little burrows on the beach.

The walk was long, however, and in my opinion there is only soo much beach that you can look at before you go stir crazy – even if Mother was convinced that the beach was paradise and the ideal location for a film. We chose to leave the beach about 3/4 along and instead began to trek the road back into Port Douglas. We grabbed a bottle of water from a local video shop – marathon run style. Then decided that it was a very long road and so we might be better served walking along the beach in any case. Lof then decided that it would be an even greater idea to jog the rest of the way – proof if ever you needed it that he is completely insane. He jogged off into the distance, leaving me with his stinky flip flops and forgetting completely to separate house keys and expensive sunglasses into different pockets. By the time we had got back to the apartments he’d been in the pool and was lying on the sun deck relaxing!
Once we had all joined him and cooled down a little we realised just how foolish it had been to assume that cloud cover meant sun screen. We had all gone a lovely shade of red! ooops.

Now.. what else was there?
Oh yeah… Crocs…

We went to Hartley’s Crocodile Adventures. We enjoyed looking at the many Crocologs, and laughed at “Paul” who was an enormous, sleepy ol’ croc who lived in his own private pool with his tiny tiny girlfriend croc. This of course gave mum the excuse to call Dad an old croc for the remainder of the day.

The day included a tour on a little boat around a lake full of crocodiles. During this tour the crocs were fed from large poles and we were reminded of the film “Rogue” which is about to be released out here soon.
LMAO

All was going swimmingly until we decided to visit “the farm” at this point faces were being pulled and only the Koalas in the trees made the mood happy again lol. Then we had to go an watch “crocodiles ATTACK!” in which we were shown a rather sleepy croc and told how to not get eaten by him or his mates…. A little late i think… we’d already done the boat thing!

All in all the North Queensland is lovely and is well worth a visit. There’s plenty to see and there’s a beach on which you can lie and ignore it all if you wish! lol
They will even do you a bowl of vegetables and mash if you ask won’t they mum? She was so impressed that she announced that every restaurant should serve such meals! LOL.

1,500 words! oh dear! I think it’s time for a rest Plus, Neighbours is on! woo hoo! I’ll be back with more soon including the tale of LOF, a whip and a Cane Toad. In the meantime… don’t forget that all the piccies are on FLICKR.