Heathrow and home

After 32 hours we finally left Heathrow. The snow made all the English
confused, and there were thousands of people in line to reebook their
flights. I hope British Airways will stand for trial in Haag for
letting people in a queue for 11 hours!

Besides that, our trip home went well, and there is no place like home
- though The Great Barrier Reef gets close :)

Jetlag works fine, I started work 06:00 today...

Great Barrier Reef

Diving and snorkeling on the reef was absolutely awesome! Saw a lot of fish and some sharks, plus heaps of corals :)

Magnetic

Marianne is very happy after seeing koala bears in the wild, hence the medium beer.
Luckily we had a grey day and not the frying sun while walking the tracks on the island, but humidity could have been less...
A quiet place with lots of animals; parrots, possums, wallabies, flying foxes, koalas and all imaginable creeping creatures.
And now we drive to Cairns, the final destination.

Magnetic Island

A few hours drive north to Townsville, then the ferry to this beautiful and quiet island.

Fraser & Whitsunday Islands

We've been to the largest sand island in the world with a 4 wheel drive and tent for 3 days, and have sand more than between our toes! It was really nice, fun people on our car (11 all together) and some good kodak moments. Unfortunately no pictures right now but will try to get them sent over. Found out that Internet on my phone was really not a smart move - big bill!

Tomorrow morning we'll go on a 3 days sailing in the Whitsunday Islands, close to the Great Barrier Reef, where snorkelling and relaxing will be the main tasks :) We stay on a sail boat with 13 people, eat, drink and sleep - all on deck I guess since it's around 30 degrees all the time.

Bye Bye Newcastle

It was nice, fun and surreal to be back in Newcastle after 6.5 years, the city had changed but my friends there were still the same good company. Club Damo had been upgraded, and is the best place to stay! Thanks Damien!
We got through a few of all the fun things to do in Newy; dolphin watching, stepping on sand dunes, kangaroo eating, vinyards, beach, bar, beer & bbq.
Lisa and Wade were our excellent guides to Hunter Valley and the vinyards, thank you so much!
Today we started the serious driving towards Cairns that most Australians think is too long a drive, but it's only about 2500km.
Marianne is very happy after the first sight of kangaroos and can't wait for the koalas!
Tomorrow we'll head for Byron Bay :)

Sydney

Two days in Sydney, and we've done the Opera, aquarium, Darling Harbour, the Rocks, Manly and a lot of shops. We arrived in the morning, 32 hours since Oslo, and started off meeting some Norwegian friends. Hege made us feel really pale... The first night we fought to stay awake, nearly fell over at the restaurant in China town.
Picked up a car today, and drove through the Blue Mountains before heading for good old Newcastle!