Australia until about 20 years ago had it's own unique way of talking. I loved it. We have almost lost our true identity. When something was really good " It was Magic". Now it's been replaced by cool which is an American saying which suits the American accent. "Fair Dinkum" meant truth & honesty. "True Blue" was Patriotic. "Grog" is beer. "Fruit Loop" was Silly fool. "Flat out like a lizard drinking" meant you were really busy. Everyone that came here for a holiday loved our unique way of talking. There are still quite a few people that talk with the Aussie slang but they're mainly out on the land working farms etc. Now with all the migrants from many different countries here we have lost much of that larrikin Aussie talk. I have seen such a big change in Australian ways & culture & it makes me sad to see it happening. Every country has it's own culture, & should follow it but be able to enjoy other countries cultures, without wanting to change them. Twenty years from now there'll be no Aussie slang & that will be a catastophy. Not everything is bad. We have learned many different ways of cooking  from far away places amongst  other things, but give us back our unique way of speaking. There's a site for any one interested in all the Australian slang at www.koalanet.com.au/australian-slang.html   Or go to google & type in Australian slang words & you will find an Australian Slang Dictionary. Some are very funny. Have fun.

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Leaving Townsville was sad as it was a beautiful place.  We had to keep moving if we wanted to reach home before Christmas. Because Cairns is up higher than Townsville, it meant we had to come back via Townsville from Cairns to get back on the highway.Cairns city itself was a bit disappointing as there was a lot of work going on along the beachfront to upgrade. It will be better when it's finished. It was still a nice place. The caravan park we stayed in at Edmonton, a suburb of Cairns was excellent.  Called the The Barrier Reef CARAVILLA it was almost pristine it was so clean. The bar-b-q area was so clean & neat. The bar-b-q plate itself was sparkling & even the fussiest of people would have had no worries about cooking their food on it. Kookaburras were very tame & sat on the fence each day. I got really close & took a picture. I could have got closer I think but I didn't want to scare it away. Outer areas of Cairns were very picturesque. We went to a different place almost every day, so there was plenty to see & do. KURANDA is where the Sky-Rail is. We wanted to go on the sky-rail but even for a senior it was to dear for our pockets. There was a choice of going up & back by sky-rail or up & back by train or up by sky-rail & back by rail & vice versa. We opted to drive up which was almost as good. The Kuranda Markets are excellent & I wanted to buy everything. I bought a few souvenirs for Christmas presents. We found a shop that sold only Australian made & very reasonably priced. Unfortunately it was after I'd bought what I needed for Christmas. I'll know next time we go & the sky-rail will be a definite next time too. Kuranda had a bird sanctuary called BIRDWORLD & a BUTTERFLY one too. I wanted to see the birds & hubby didn't so I went in on my own. Having absolutely no sense of direction. I paid the $14 to go in & asked the bloke to come looking for me if I'm not out when it's time to close. That's how bad I am on directions. He laughed & said its one continuos path from entry to exit so I was fine. What an amazing place. There were dozens of different species & colours I never realised or seen on any bird. I was mesmerised & the birds flew about freely except some very small & extremely colourful ones that were in cages to protect them from being attacked by the larger birds.When I got to the exit there was a Bird on a perch & you can have your photo taken with it. Seeing as I was on my own & Bob outside I thought I'd be out of luck. The bloke who owned  BIRDWORLD asked me if I wanted a photo & I said, " oh yes please". I gave him my camera & he took the  photo. The bird was a CENTRAL SOUTH AMERICAN MACAW which some of you will have heard of. It came out quite well seeing as I hate having my photo taken. (*_*). We'd both been into bird places that were not much cop. This one was well worth it. Being on a budget I couldn't go into the Butterfly place as well. Hopefully next time. DAINTREE VILLAGE was another day trip. What a beautiful unspoilt place. It was so peaceful & you could go over to the other side of the  river with your car, on a barge that was  pulled over by a  steel cable using  some sort of engine. If you like tranquility, this was the place to be. LAKE BERINE (not sure if there's 2 r's in Berine) was a trip 2 days later. A poshish restaurant was right at the edge of the lake . Sitting out on the verandah overlooking the lake, which is said to be 200 metres deep, we indulged in fresh sultana scones with jam & cream & coffee. Delicious. An old rowing boat sat at the edge of the lake with teal ducks swimming around. They're such pretty little ducks. After feeding our faces & hoping not to put any weight on with all this good living, we were going to go to MYLANDA where the cheeses are made.  They have cheese tasting there & you can taste many different cheeses. We were so busy detouring everywhere that we ran out of time. Once again it will be for another time. On the way back to the caravan park we decided to take a drive to GORDONVALE on our next outing. GORDONVALE is just outside CAIRNS. A very unusual sandpit was built in a park there for the kids to play in. All around the outside of the sandpit was a serpent which went from the head in a circle until the tail was almost back to the head. Other animals had been made & built into the sandpit as well.Very different. I think they were made of some sort of clay or stone. Two weeks in Cairns went by very quickly & we moved on to CARDWELL by -passing Townsville on the way. A very pretty little place as yet untouched by real estate developers.  CARDWELL VILLAGE BEACHCOMBER MOTEL & TOURIST PARK is right across the road from the beach & once again a lovely restaurant as part of the park. Two nights stay here. While there, we took a drive to  PORT HINCHINBROOK which is a new, very modern resort & marina for the VEEEEEEERY rich with a posh boat club & a model of a DUGONG outside,only  a few kilometres from Cardwell. The houses are huge & worth a mint. Only not my idea of cosy comfort. Not stopping to get out, we drove around the resort & had a quick look to see how the other half live & to see some of the nice gardens being made. Then Back at Cardwell, a sign saying ATTIE FALLS next turn right  sounded like a good idea. Driving into what seemed like a forest  with dirt tracks for roads we wondered what we'd got ourselves into. Eventually we started going up higher until we came to a clearing which was used as a car park. Getting out of the car, a sign said 500 metres to ATTIE FALLS. This meant  500 metres climb UP. Bob said "If you think I'm climbing up there, your mistaken" I called him a big woose" & said I'll go on my own. He decided he'd go part way with me. We were almost halfway & he had to stop. So suggesting he stay there & wait for me while I go to the top.  I would call out to him to make sure he was ok & vice versa. I was almost to the top when I yelled out to him & didn't get an answer. I yelled again & this time he answered. I didn't realise at the time he had started to climb further up & was out of breath. Breathing a sigh of relief I reached the top. It was a lot of effort to see only a trickle of water coming from the falls due to the drought we're going through. I was proud of myself for making it to the top though. Started back down calling out to Bob again & he sounded really close. Turning a bend, there was Bob waiting for me at the bottom of some roughly hewn steps. He'd almost made it to the top but was really feeling the strain. At least he tried & almost made it but for about a 100 metres.  Got back to the van & had a much needed coffee. Another good day over. Cardwell also has one of the best fish chips & salad meal in a small take-away/restaurant,right across from the beach & very reasonably priced, yummy crispy batter & crispy chips. Not dripping in fat or oil either. Looking at the map to see where to next, BOWEN sounded good. It's where the mangoes are grown. By now it was getting lighter sooner in the mornings which meant we could get an earlier start. Coming up to Bowen, there was a fruit & vegie stall on the side of the road and it was all fresh from the farm. We stopped & bought fresh mangoes & a whole watermelon etc etc. It tasted really different from what is in the supermarkets being as it was fresh. Getting to Bowen on a weekend is really strange. Unlike all the other places we'd been. It was absolutely dead. No shops open, nothing.  We  had only intended to stay 2 nights but made it 3 so that we could see what it was like when everything & every one came to life. NICOLE KIDMAN is in BOWEN now making a new movie. It's a town of large wall murals. I think there's about 30 all up on different buildings about town. A couple of nice small bays with safe swimming for children were really pretty. HORSHOE BAY  was small but very family friendly & pretty. The day we were at the bays, a group of high school students arrived by bus & were carrying canoes down to the beach. They were going to practice for some racing event. I asked them if I could take a picture of them & they said yes. Couple of real live posers among them ha ha. AIRLIE BEACH was only about a 15-20 minute drive from Bowen so we drove there by way of PROSERPINE which is sugarcane country. Airlie Beach was overpriced & extremely touristy. Catering mainly to the young, Didn't take us long to have a look around & decide to head back to Bowen. Our budget didn't stand a chance with those prices. Getting closer to home now & neither one of us wants to go home, only to see family & spend Christmas with them.  One grand-daughter was very upset we weren't there for her birthday, so I promised we'd be there for her 7th birthday in September this year 2007, then we're off again. YEPPOON was a weeks stay. Some lovely beaches & views there & plenty to see. The CAPRICORN CAVES are a must see. They go deep underground & one cave is called the cathedral. It's used for weddings. It's done out with flowers & carpet & the wedding party has to go down deep into the caves wearing their best clothes & the bride in her wedding dress. Can you imagine what a task that would be. Certainly very different. They have music & it sounded fabulous. It's a very unique idea. ROCKHAMPTON wasn't far from Yeppoon so we made that another day trip. COOL WATERS caravan park was a lovely park in KINKA BEACH - Yeppoon. It didn't take long to make friends with 3 other caravanners around us. Every evening at 5pm we all got together for HAPPY HOUR which turned into happy hours & some very happy people (*_*). Heaps of fun, an excellent time was had by all. At the time of travelling my eldest son & his family were living in BARGARA near BUNDERBERG but got transferred back to Brisbane before we got there. He's a teacher. We stopped there anyway to see where the house they were in was. Lovely little place. OH NO! Only one more stop before reaching home. Our last stop was at PALMWOODS in the SUNSHINE COAST hinterland. for 3 nights. It was close to STEVE IRWINS AUSTRALIA ZOO. We always promised ourselves we'd go there when Steve was alive but never got there. It was disappointing not to see him because he is AUSTRALIA ZOO. So many people told us what a great zoo it was so we made a point of going . It was a huge place & took us 6 hours to get around. Hubby not being a lover of zoos was most impressed. It's the cleanest zoo you will find almost anywhere in the world. Not a scrap of paper or any kind of litter to be seen on any part of the grounds. We watched the show in the CROCOSEUM & when it was over, there were employees waiting with bags in hand to pick up any litter that might have been left behind. You could say it was clinically clean  for a zoo with so many animals there & people that go through it each day. Bob & I were very impressed. A male employee was raking up falling leaves off the grass & as soon as he finished he started again picking up ones that had fallen behind him. It would be hard to find a better or cleaner zoo where the animals live in such clean conditions & are so well looked after. BOO HOO! Final stop home. Both of us are finding it hard to adjust back into the mundine routine of looking after a house. We've been home now for 7 months & both have itchy feet.. When we got home, Bob went to the doctor for a check-up & ended up going into hospital for major surgery for an ABDOMINAL AORTIC ANEURYSM which was found by accident after an x-ray. He wasn't allowed to do anything heavy for 6 months. His final check-up is August 31st when his 6 months is up & we'll be off again the next week hopefully. This time inland. That's our AROUND AUSTRALIAS BEAUTIFUL COASTLINE story. Hope whoever reads it, doesn't find it to long & boring. Please enjoy it.

Crossing over the NORTHERN TERRITORY border into QUEENSLAND, meant we were on the home straight as we live in QUEENSLAND. We stopped at MT - ISA, which is a mining town with plenty of work for backpackers & anyone else that wants to earn a $. Booking into the caravan park for a week ,to give us time to get some maintenance done on the car. We put the campervan up & settled our selves in before going for a drive to see what was what. From what we saw there wasn't a lot to see or do, after all it is a mining town. Like all the places we'd been there was a lookout but not very scenic, But we were here for a week so we were determined to make the most of it. The first night we met some people that had come into the park after us, & settled on the next site to us. They were really nice & plenty of fun. Heather was across the road opposite us in a caravan. She was travelling around getting work & stopping wherever she felt like it. Hitching up her van all by herself she moved from place to place & getting work wherever she stayed. She was in her 50's & single with no children. She had a job at the " IRISH CLUB" for a few months. She told us about how we could get an all you can eat buffet lunch for just $6 (pensioner rates ). We were surprised to find out when we arrived there, that there was a variety of foods. Bob & I had roast beef & vegies & there was about 6 different desserts & as much ice-cream as you want . Coffee, tea & soft drink was bottomless & freshly cut assortment of fruit. Needless to say we ate there every day as it was cheaper than buying food.  Plus I hate cooking lol. The IRISH CLUB had lovely furnishings. A tram that had been transported from MELBOURNE to MT ISA had been refurbished & made into a beautiful dining area for club patrons to sit & enjoy coffee & a variety of cakes. The inside was all highly polished timber & looked beautiful.   Someone told us to go to the museum there as it was very interesting, but when we arrived it had closed the day before for renovations. Not such an interesting day followed. We put the car in for a service & 2 new tyres & then walked across the road to an RSL club while we waited until the car was ready. It was a small dingy club & we only stayed 5 minutes. By the time the week was up we were well & truly ready to move on. Left Mt Isa for an overnight stay at HUGHENDEN which was about 600 kilometres away.  Then moved on to TOWNSVILLE for 2 weeks. We absolutely loved TOWNSVILLE. It was so clean & tidy. All along the beachfront is called "THE STRAND" & it's so pretty. An area for children had all sorts of kids equipment to play in & on, AND I might add a few adults looked like they were having a great time too. There was a huge bucket on top of part of this equipment  which filled up with water & then tipped over to let the water spray all over the kids & adults (*_*). It then went back to the upright position & refilled with recycled water again & repeated it's spraying of the kids. Terrific way to keep cool & free as well.On the ground under this play area was non-slip rubber matting which was inlaid into the concrete so no-one got hurt. Fantastic idea for those that want to keep cool but don't like going in the ocean. Wish i was a kid again @(*O*)@. Townsville has the oldest house in Queensland which is up in the HERVEYS RANGE. It's now a restaurant & has yummy homemade food. An old railway tunnel runs right under the house. Bus tours run on the week-end taking you through the tunnels. One tour is for 4 of the tunnels & another is for all 7 tunnels. We did the 4 as it was quite a lot cheaper. It was so interesting & the bus driver/tour guide was so full of information about the bullocks & how hard it was in days gone by to travel through the rugged country with the bullocks pulling logs up the hills. If they were halfway up the hill & the wagons tipped over, they had to go all the way back to town to get help to lift the logs up onto the wagons again. It  took them a week to walk from Townsville to Herveys Range. Can you imagine how hard life was back then? Halfway through the tour we stopped way up high & had the most spectacular view over Townsville. The scenery was stunning. The tour guide was the best one we'd heard. He knew exactly what he was talking about & he was awarded "Best tour guide for 2006:.He took us back to the restaurant where we picked up our car & went back to Townsville.Castle Hill is a lookout in Townsville with a magnificent view across the countryside. To get to the top of Castle Hill is a 3 kilometre winding drive uphill but well worth it. On another day we went for a drive to PALUMA where there's an old stone bridge built in 1930 over Crystal Creek which has the most clear running water you could wish for. It's so clean, Bob scooped some water into his hand & drank it & said it was really good. We climbed down the stone steps  to the water & walked over the rocks in the creek. It was like being in a fairytale story. Climbing back up was a bit harder than going down. Driving further up the range until we came to a house that was a quaint little restaurant. It was a house come souvenirs & sold drinks & ice-cream too.All the outside walls had murals which had been painted with an inch wide brush 20 years previously by a friend of the owners & had not faded even slightly. Says something about the quality of paint back then compared to todays paint. We had coffee there & sat outside on the verandah. Right next to us was a bird feeder that the man of the house had made.He'd put a few feeders all around the outside. He had bits of fruit stuck in different places for the birds to eat. He had actually trained the birds to sit on the verandah rail right next to where we sat & they would not attempt to try & take your food off the plate. They came to the rail & no further & waited for you to put something in one of the bird feeders. It was magic to watch. When we left there we stopped at a pottery shop further up the range but it was only small & not to much to see. PALUMA is so unspoiled it was almost like being in a different time. YES. You could definitely say Townsville was a hit with us. Next stop CAIRNS.

Darwin is the top end of Australia. It's like a country town in size with lots of things to do in & out of Darwin. Friday afternoon is usually a traffic jam in the Brisbane inner city, so we were expecting them when we arrived in Darwin at 4pm. We thought what a time to get there on a friday afternoon without knowing which way to get to the caravan park. Surprise, surprise. Where was all the traffic we expected to see? No traffic jams,no problem following the directions. Driving through the city as if it was a sunday came as quite a different experience to Brisbane City. Everywhere we went in Darwin was within a 20 minute drive. Thursday night there was a terrific market on MINDIL BEACH. A couple we befriended in the park told us we have to go to the markets on thursday night as there was food vans everywhere  & you could get a really cheap meal & a pick of dozens of different foods. We followed their advice & went. WOW! Where did all these people come from. Lucky enough to get a parking spot, we got out of the car & thought where do we start. There were people EVERYWHERE & 100's of cars. All we could smell was food. Delicious smells all around. Locking the car we headed into the markets. Once inside it was hard to decide which way to go. I think everyone who lived in Darwin was there. For some strange reason I wasn't hungry so I settled on a bowl of fresh cold fruit. Hubby took longer to decide. He's a big eater & couldn't make up his mind. Eventually settling on Mongolian Beef, which he loves, we walked around looking at all the wonderful things for sale. Oh to be rich. I could have bought so many things. Buying some vegetable soaps & a couple of Christmas presents for 2 of our grand-daughters was enough for the time being,as we knew there were Markets everywhere we were going. There was a didgeridoo player & they sound so good when played properly. It made us want to buy a didgeridoo ( A long wooden Aboriginal instrument that you blow into) to hang on the wall at home. Only thing is, we need to win lotto as their hand-crafted from a special type of wood, which the Aboriginal spend long periods of time looking for. Consequently the authentic  ones are  extremely expensive. Saturday morning had another Market at PARAP. A friend of ours that works with the aboriginals in a place called MANINGRIDA, (about a 2 hour flight from Darwin) came over to Darwin & stayed with us for the week-end. She flies over regularly to buy supplies for the people she works for. She told us about PARAP. It too was a great experience. She knows Darwin really well & has a son who lives in there.. We all went to a restaurant on the pier called "THE JETTY"where we enjoyd a lovely buffet dinner. Chris insisted on paying for everyone because she stayed with us at the c/park & didn't pay hotel accommodation. She can be very persistent LOL. Going to a butterfly farm that we saw advertised was a disappointment. It didn't come up to expectations. They were in the middle of upgrading so maybe it will look a lot better after it's finished. A trip along the ADELAIDE RIVER to see the "JUMPING CROCS" is a must for anyone travelling that area. The skipper of the boat put meat on the end of a piece of string tied to a pole & held it out over the edge of the boat. He had a name for every croc in that part of the river. He knew which croc was which. He'd call out a name & that croc would come up close to the boat ,( We were very safe in the boat) While hanging the meat in the air , he got the crocs to jump out of the water to get the meat. Sometimes it took 2 - 3 tries to reach it. One croc was big fat & lazy & couldn't jump to high. He was named "The Surfer" as he came up out of the water looking like a surfer on a surfboard. He could only jump high enough to show half his body. Glad we were in the boat though, he was biiiig. The skipper knew the temperament of each croc:& what they would do when they saw the meat. We wouldn't have missed it for anything. Getting back to the start we drove further on towards KAKADU NATIONAL PARK but didn't go to far in as we would be going through it on our way to our next stop.  COOINDA was the next  stay & had a very posh lodge & a caravan park too, We decided to stay overnight in a cabin, instead of putting up the campervan. Unfortunately all the cabins were booked out. The only other accommodation they had, were budget rooms which was just a bare room with bunk beds for $30 each bed & on top of that pay extra for linen. There was no basin or washing facilties so we put the campervan up. We only stopped here to take the YELLOW WATERS WETLANDS sunset cruise. A courtesy bus took us to the river. We boarded the boat & a very black Aboriginal lady was the tour guide.She was fantastic. Everything there was to see, she saw. She did not miss a thing & had fantastic eyesight.Things that we would not have seen she saw. Going along the river just before the sun sets  is so beautiful. The shadows on the water make it very mystical. 1000's of birds flying everywhere & in trees & sitting on the rivers edge was amazing. Saw lots of eagles & eagles nests. Brumbys ( Australian wild horses) & buffalo's were roaming around the edge of the wetlands. The guide explained how the crocs wait under the water close to the edge & when the horses or buffalo come to the water for a drink, the crocs attack them killing them for food. Left COOINDA the next morning as soon as it was light. We had to wait for daylight as kangaroos  & other animals run across in front of the vehicles on the road & cause accidents when it's dark. There are many dead animals on the roads in the North due to the big Road trains travelling at night. Other travellers had told us about a place called MATARANKA saying what a lovely place it was when they'd been there a few years earlier. Others that had been more recently said it wasn't very nice, so we thought we'd see for ourselves. A 1 night stay was to long after we'd been there. It was nowhere near as pretty as the postcards show. The warm spring were dirty & smelly. Apparently the bats had decided to make their home there & ruined them. Even the caravan park was not one to be recommended. We were glad to leave at first light the next morning. Definitely an eyesore now. As we were leaving we saw a park in MATARANKA that had statues of a man & his wife & children. The wife was an author of an Australian childrens book called "WE OF THE NEVER NEVER" & that was her home town when alive. Moving on to TENNANT CREEK where we were lucky enough to get a cabin overnight to give hubby a rest from driving & us putting up the camper for 1 night. So far all the travelling we'd done was incident free until we got up the next morning & the car battery was flat. All our clothes & toiletries had been in the van,so to put the top up to open it needs an electric winch or battery. By the time I remembered everything we needed after Hubby putting up the roof about 4 times. It caused the battery to go flat. A lovely young couple from England  touring around Australia, were in the next cabin & gave us a jump start & off we went. We crossed the border of the NORTHERN TERRITORY into QUEENSLAND our home state. Mt ISA here we come. WOO HOO.

We left Broome for Fitzroy Crossing which is a small mainly Aboriginal Community.The only good thing about this place was the gorge & the resort, which was luxurious for this area. It was full when we were there. It's  an oasislike place in the middle of nowhere. It catered for everyone. There was a large caravan park in the grounds & the resort itself was quite posh. In the evening they have an all you can eat buffet dinner which was really nice. All beautifully laid out & desserts cleverly decorated. Although the resort itself was good the town was full of drunken Aboriginals. We went into town to buy some groceries & everything was so old & stale  we only bought 1 apple for me to eat on the next leg of our travels. The day after we got there we booked to go along the GEIKE ( Sounds like geeky) GORGE at 9a.m. This was our first experience of going in a boat along a gorge. The guide was an Aboriginal & kept us laughing during the whole trip. He was an excellent guide & showed us everything it was possible to see. He told us about his experiences at the gorge when he was a boy & how he & his mates would run along the top of the rocks of the gorge (which were razor sharp) in bare feet. His parents told him he wasn't to go to the top, as most of us  know, boys will be boys. The soles of his feet became quite leathery so it didn't bother him that the rocks were so sharp. If you've never been on a boat trip up a gorge your really missing a special experience. His parents taught him all about the different plants. Which ones were healing & ones that were bad. Free healing, no medical fees. He pointed out birds that we'd never heard of before & could name them all. Travelling up the gorge at sunrise or sunset is absolutely mesmerising & extremely beautiful, also very quiet & relaxing even with all the crocodiles in the water. Halls Creek was another mainly Aboriginal town & we only stopped for fuel. We'd been warned by almost every other caravanner we met along the way, not to make it an overnight stop, as there was a problem with thieving there. So we kept going to KUNUNURRA still in WESTERN AUSTRALIA. Booking in for a week we set up the campervan & went for a drive into town.The craft markets are fantastic & we bought some very original gifts for Christmas presents. Soap that looked exactly like Rocky Road, licorice allsorts & chocolate.  We drove to LAKE ARGYLE where the ORD RIVER PROJECT was in process. Driving up to the lookout it was breathtakingly beautiful & the water was the bluest blue you can imagine. Unfortunately we didn't go on the gorge trip there, as it was a bit costly & we had to pick & choose which things we could & couldn't do. 15 kilometres from KUNNUNURRA we crossed the border into KATHERINE in the NORTHERN TERRITORY.Katherine had something very unique called JURRASSIC CYCAD GARDENS. It had only been open 6 weeks when we got there & still in it's infancy with a lot more work to be finished. We decided to go in & have a look around. Hubby came in with me under duress as he's not interested in plants. The owners had been working on this park since 1996 & opened it 10 years later in '06. What an amazing place. There were huge sacred Aboriginal rocks all through the park & we had to climb up & up & squeeze between the rocks. So much thought has gone into this project with different coloured paths to follow so that no-one got lost. There's 6 acres of ground so far. Every path had steps only 4 inches high to cater for the elderly. Even hubby who doesn't like physical exertion managed to get to the top. Seats were everywhere all the way, so it was impossible to get exhausted. Needless to say hubby took advantage of each & every one of them. (*_*). It took us 2 hours to walk all around the park. The CYCADS are so healthy & some very large ones. I didn't realise there were so many varieties.  We were also given a detailed map showing us which way to go. Getting back down to the start we were asked if we'd like a cup of coffee which was free & we sat & chatted to one of the owners. The plan is to put waterfalls in the gardens & other many future plans for the park. We'll be going back this year to see the progress. The enormous amount of work that had been put into this park got them an overseas contract to export CYCADS.The owners deserve it to be a success. Hubby walked away with a different outlook & very impressed. One of the drawbacks with Katherine was the amount of drunken Aboriginals laying in the roads, footpaths & parks. They drink all night & pass out wherever they are at night & during the day. Apparently these are Aboriginals that have been ostracized from their tribes because of their drinking, so they live in the parks. It's an experience to witness all this.

Last year 2006 My hubby & I spent 7 months travelling right around the Australian coastline. We bought a new campervan & everything we needed to equip it out. We set off on April 28th 2006. Stopping overnight at Narribri, Forbes & Albury in New South Wales. Then we detoured to Bacchus Marsh in Victoria for 3 nights to see family members, moving on to overnight stays at Mildura, then Port Augusta & Ceduna in South Australia before the long trip across the Nullabor Plains. The Nullabor lays claim to having the longest sraight stretch of road in the world. 90 miles of dead straight road & no scenery to look at except bare land & scrub. Even so it was a good experience. We had a few overnight stays as we crossed the Nullabor stopping at special lookouts along the way, (One lookout was right at the Australian Bight where we could almost touch the Dolphins), until we got to Western Australia & stayed 3 nights at Esperance which is an absolutely beautiful part of the world. We walked along the pier & there was a mother seal playing with her baby seal right below us while we were on the pier. It was a really lovely experience. We would have liked to stay longer in Esperance but we were anxious to get to see my father-in-law who was 86 at the time & we hadn't seen him since 2001. He lives in a seaside resort called Bunbury in Western Australia which is a very nice place too. Not a lot to do there but we stayed 2 months with him & his wife. After 2 months we moved on to Perth in W.A. where we did a lot of sightseeing & saw some wonderful sights. Taking a tourist bus right around Perth was the easiest way & no driving stress. For 3 nights we stayed at Scarborough beach but the weather was really wet & extremely windy so we stayed in a caravan park closer to Perth City. Perth buses impressed us greatly. If a wheelie ( someone in a wheelchair) or someone with a baby in a stroller wanted to get on the bus. The driver tilted the bus so that the wheelchairs & strollers could get on without struggling up over  a step. Very impressive as we live in Queensland & we don't have them. Once they were on the bus the driver straightened the bus again. Moving on to Geraldton still in W.A we went around the museum there which was fabulous. Not at all boring as I thought museums would be. They showed a film about the sinking of the ship BATAVIA in the 1600's. The people back then were so cruel.Almost everywhere we drove in W.A. we had an ocean view. Next stop Denham & Monkey Mia. We had to go a long way off the main highway to get to these places but it was well worth it. Denham is a pretty little place but you need to be interested in fishing. Monkey Mia was 20k's further away from Denham & there was a beautiful resort there. We had to pay $6 to get in to see the Dolphins which came right to the edge of the ocean & if you were lucky the 2 resort workers that fed them ( they also had names & appeared when called by their names), would let us feed them. Besides dolphins there were heaps of Pelicans that were so tame we stood right next to them & they just stayed put. When we drove back to Denham we had lunch in a restaurant that was bulit totally of tiny shells by an Englishman. It took 7 years to build. Very unique & apparently the only shell restaurant in the world & the food was delicious. Travelling back the 150k's to the main highway we went on to Carnarvon which was very disappointing & very dirty so we only stayed 2 nights. They had a mile long pier with a man made train made from bits & pieces by volunteers & named it the Coffee Pot. Exmouth, Bob got gout from eating prawns a couple of days before so we didn't see much of it as he couldn't walk. Serves him right for eating them LOL. YUK! Karatha  Dampier & Port Hedland is where all the iron ore is made. The trains with 200 wagons cart the iron ore to where it's going. Arriving at Broome was great & the ocean was 3 different shades of clear blue/Aqua. Cable Beach is sooooooo clean & the sand is white. Taking a tour on an open air top deck bus we were taken all around Broome ending up at Rowes Beach to see the sunset & a complimentary glass of wine. Bob had 2 as I don't drink.It was magical. We stayed in Broome for 2 weeks as there was so much to see.

To Be Continued