Well, we have finally begun our journey!
After a VERY late start out of Maryborough (6:20 pm) following numerous visitors over the last three days, we got in to Dot’s place in Brisbane just after 9:00 pm where a very excited David (who had bought our car) arrived shortly after.
We sat up chatting with Dot, David and Catherine until well after 11 pm. May as well have sat up all night as I didn’t sleep at all – too excited, methinks!

Anyway, an uneventful taxi ride to the Airport next morning and seats in the emergency row giving us more leg room meant that we had a very pleasant trip up to Hamilton Island. Our flight landed 5 minutes early, hot on the tail of the Mum’s flight from Sydney. The pilot announced that it was a murky 31 degrees just before we disembarked – ha ha I thought, we’ve just left 38 degrees in Maryborough – but no – it may as well have been 100 degrees – the humidity was unbelievable! You had to suck in hard to draw what oxygen you could out of the air. Michael’s 86 year old mum felt it the worst.

Wasn’t too long and we were on the boat from Hamilton to Long Island via South Molle Island. We sat inside in the airconditioning as all the outdoor areas were in the sun. James met us on the jetty along with Antony, Amanda and Izabella who had arrived a couple of hours before. It was great to greet them all.

Over to our rooms next. We have rooms, 201,202 and 203 all alongside each other and literally a few steps from the beach out of the room door! Gen is sharing with her grandmothers and Antony and Amanda have a portacot in their room for Bella.
We look out across the Whitsunday Passage from our rooms – across water so blue and calm. A short stroll to the public facilities of the Bar (most important) and pool, the restaurant and the facilities areas.
Yesterday we took a sunset cruise on a beautiful catarmaran hosted by the vivacious and very friendly Amanda and captained by the spunky Bart. The sunset was sedate but O so beautiful. A number of times we sailed past James’ fellow chef, Laurence, in his small yacht. I now know why he chooses to spend his off-duty hours on his yacht – it is so peaceful.

James took Michael, Antony, Amanda and Gen fishing off the pier last night – to no avail. Despite all the earlier sms’ed photos of huge catches sent to us all by James, they managed only 2 undersized fish last night that were thrown back. Michael and I had Izabella overnight. She is such a delight – happy as a lark, sociable as a butterfly and as gregarious as, well, me! Chats to all, watches everything and loves to walk holding your fingers.
This morning, Michal and Gen and Antony and Amanda are tandem jet-skiing. James is off taking a few pics for me to upload. Michael and I are taking a Whitsunday helicopter flight at 12. Then later today, James and Antony are taking a boat out fishing, Gen and Amanda are going tubing (Michael will spot for them) and I will be taking solace in the airconditioning!
Food is pretty ordinary – maybe because James is not in the kitchen! Plenty of it though – no one is going hungry.

Off to Sydney for a day about lunchtime tomorrow. Then we depart for Beijing at 9:30 pm Saturday night. Today there maxima and minima were 1 and -1 respectively. BRING IT ON – I have had enough of summer already!

OMG - We still haven't packed

For those of you who note that there are 7 days left before we leave, please note that this is our ex-Australia departure.

However, we leave home for the last time in 2 days, travelling to Long Island with all the family for some much needed together time. AND STILL WE HAVEN'T PACKED!

Oh for sure, the suitcases are out, the new clothing (and old) all laundered and in the same room as the suitcase now, the Christmas presents for the Germans all wrapped, BUT WE STILL HAVEN'T PACKED!
Not sure why we are putting it off - - - maybe something to do with the realisation that when we finally do, there is no more time for all the parties (and those blessed goodbyes).

We collected our foreign cash yesterday. Lots of travellers comment on how colourful and beautiful the Australian bank notes are - but really, the only one that exhibits any sort of sameness is the US dollar. British Pounds, Euros and Chinese Renimbi are all beautiful. (We are trying very hard not to think about the terrible exchange rate from the AUD). Also collected our business cards. They turned out really nice. Michael is insisting that we take all 1,000! Wow - I guess we are going to meet LOTS of people cos that is an average of almost 3 cards per day to give out!

Today I am off to get my hair cut - I am finally succumbing. Too bad if we are travelling into the dead of the European winter - so what! I will wear the beanie with the ear covers (that my work colleagues gave me as a bit of a joke) and a scarf or two. Goodness knows - I can no longer bear the length or weight (yeah right) in this heat!

So this will be my last post for a little while. I'll try to upload some Long Island family photos before we leave OZ.
See you all in cyberspace from here and thanks for all the good wishes. Oh, and just to let you know - we have about 683 official bag carriers travelling with us (at least in spirit) :D

The things we do . . .

Well it is getting down to the nitty gritty now.

We have started to pack (well, at least Michael has brought the suitcases upstairs!) and earlier in the week we posted a 17kg box of travel books, souvenirs and associated paraphernalia to Germany ahead of us. For those who might need to know - if you leave it so late that you need to post it airmail, it only costs an extra $5 to post it Express with a delivery time to Germany of 3 days!

Yesterday, we went to the doctors and engaged in that favourite pastime of mine - having a needle! After much discussion re our plans, proposed routing, checking the net etc, it was decided that we really only need to have a tetanus booster (phew). As we are no longer in our teens and want to take the riskiest options, we figured that this added to a good dose of common sense would prevail!

We also finally booked our tickets to New York - so it is now official - we will spend New Years Eve with Michael in Times Square - hopefully where we can see the ball drop!! With the Australian dollar plunging against the greenback, we were not sure that we would commit to this - but figured it might be our one and only chance to do this, so off we go travelling from Stuttgart on the 30th December to New York through Atlanta and returning to Stuttgart on 5th January.

We hosted our first couchsurfers this week with Inge and Fabi (from Cologne, Germany) arriving last Sunday and staying until after lunch on Tuesday. They had consulted the Lonely Planet guide to Eastern Australia that recommended a visit to Wharf Street. So we dropped them down there where they spent almost 2 hours at the Maryborough Military & Colonial Museum (talking with Noel we think!) then went over to the Bond Store Port of Maryborough Museum before they took a walk through the Mary River Parklands (where Inge marvelled at the Strelitzia reginae [Bird of Paradise] flowers) and then went through Queens Park into the CBD.
We are expecting John from England here this Sunday coming - and are hoping that he will arrive in time to join the local campanologists who are bell-ringing at 5pm so they don't drown out the Christmas concert in front of the City Hall.

VERY exciting now with only 11 days until we leave for Long Island from where we fly direct to Sydney and then off . . . .

Australians - our easy going nature precedes us!

Interestingly, it is very easy for Australians to travel to most countries.

Researching the need for visas as we are looking to go a little further into the Middle East, I was very surprised to not only find that Australians have no difficulty in getting visas into places like Albania (at the border) and even Iran (at the airport), but also that the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade has no warnings - even for Iran! In fact, Australians seem to be warmly welcomed almost everywhere we look.

So into the cradle of civilisation we go further. Persepolis dates back to 500 BC - almost incomprehensible for us Aussies whose built structures date back a mere 200 odd years.

How the year turns

Well, the countdown has finally hit one month.
As I sit here typing, there is a distinct feeling of butterflies in my stomach as I REALLY realize that we are going to do this - and like really soon!

Our planning continues and this week we hit the task of getting things ready for our leaving party next week. The guest list has already hit the 50+ mark and could get as high as 100! At this point, we will be joined by our first Couchsurfing guest this night - a young German couple - Fabi and Inga, so if you are here, be sure to meet and welcome them.

It looks like Couchsurfing is going to be a wonderful experience for us.
We have offers of accommodation in Bruges (Belgium), Milan (Italy), Berne (Switzerland) and Palmyra (Syria) that we have pencilled in. We will continue to explore this option as a way to extend our $. Although the exchange rate has rallied slightly, it slipped again last night.

Our passports are back with the Chinese visa affixed to them. Quite a nice one. Still have to arrange a Syrian visa and convince someone that we need a Schengen Visa so we are not limited in our travels through much of Europe - trouble is, most of the consulates keep telling us we don't need one as we will not be spending more than 90 in THEIR country. Will sort this one next week. And we could even be looking for an Iranian visa yet ;).
Michael also hopes to get to the Crimean battlefields (in the modern day Ukraine) with some local people in June or July next year.

We managed to get our hands on a reasonable supply of Australian souvenirs this week - albeit most of them manufactured in China! Got keyrings, coasters, stickers and tattoos, stubbie holders, pencils, clip on koalas, purses, and small toy kangaroos, koalas, echidnas, koalas plus a heap of postcards. These will be used to spread the Aussie cheer. Would love to take small pats of vegemite with us, but based on the reactions of all the international visitors who have graced our doors over the years, it would be wasted - 99% of them HATE it! Now, Tim Tams are another matter - but too bulky to carry (and Michael would eat them all anyway!!!)