The Read World Tour

So, got off the plane and walked to the terminal building down a covered walkway. No point in covering the walkway really as in Cairns you're either wet with rain or sweat and it really doesn't matter which!

Our apartment for the 8 days in Cairns was great. Very big, very cheap, good aircon and piped movies on two channels for lazy evenings and days where it's just too wet to consider stepping accross the front door! Found ourselves needing to hire a car. As nice as Cairns is there's not a lot to do there and the day trip prices are very steep indeed!

Pretty lucky with the car really, got a free upgrade to the next size up so Corrolla for the price of a Micra! Not bad at all....

Cairns is all about two things, the reef and the rain forest. We went into the rainforest several times. Firstly we ventured to Kurunda (a mountain town spoilt by tourism). The journey to and from Kurunda were the highlights on an old train there and the Southern hemisphere's biggest cable car back!! Whilst we were there we went to Barron Falls (Huge waterfalls in the rainforest) which were spewing tones of mud out into the ocean especially for our reef trip it seemed. Back into the rainforest to visit Atherton (capital of the Tableland region) and to Rainforestation (An Adventure Park in the rainforest where you can learn to play didgereedoo and throw boomerangs as well as see traditional dances and wildlife up close and personal). This was pretty good and saw loads more Koalas.

We also used the car to get to Mossman, Cape Tribulation and Port Douglas although it rained pretty much all day spoiling the scenery somewhat.

The highlight of the trip was undoubtedly the boat trip to the Great Barrier Reef where Karen snorkelled and I tried my hand at scuba diving. I actually swam with a Reef Shark and about a million other fish on two fantastic dives!!! I found the experience very scary at first but once I was under I took to it well. As long as you don't think to hard about what you're doing and the trouble you could get yourself into It's great!!!

All in all a really good week. Picked up the Campervan on time and met some Irish couples with whom we'd spend most of the next 3 weeks together on our way back to Sydney! Pity Cairns has horrible weather and is all about the tourist buck as it's actually a nice place with generally friendly people and some good watering holes (pity the budget didn't cater for it!).....

Well that's Manly and Sydney well and truly done and dusted.

Karen and I spent 3 weeks at Lorna and Neal's apartment in Manly and it was a superb base for the Christmas and New Year periods. 2 of those weeks were in the company of my good friend Julian with whom we shared many laps of the Andrew "Boy" Charlton swimming pool in Manly.

We managed a round of Golf in 'the Hills' with Julian and his friend Chris which was great (and free). We also squeezed in the Blue Mountains which were a little less spectacular than I'd hoped.

A quick catch up with my Cousin Michael and his family brought out the fisherman in Karen. Two cast off's into the harbour and one Bream and a Snapper later and Karen was crowned champion angler!!! A fantastic BBQ brought the Aussie way of life into sharp focus and made me wonder what it would be like to live here for the first time during the trip.

New Year was an experience! Like many big city New Years there was a lot of waiting around and millions of people. After our boat on the harbour dream fell through we took to the Opera House. Karen, Julian, Cousins Jonny and Ian and I all outlasted the sunshine to see in 2005 with a bang which was pretty special to be together on the other side of the world even if the celebrations were a little muted in light of the Tsunami disaster. Only 2 cans of beer drank by me. A DRY NEW YEAR....must make up for that next year (my only resolution).

After handing the apartment back Karen and I moved back in with Gail and Ian in Manly and did all of the other Sydney attractions such as Darling Harbour, The Skydeck Observation Tower, Sydney Aquarium, the Southern Beaches (Bondi, Coogee, Cronulla, Botany Bay) and the relatively timid sleaze of Kings Cross and Darlinghurst.

We then slipped off for 3 days in the Hunter Valley which was beautiful. I became a bit of a wine addict, we spent a fortune and found a grape we can happilly share into old age now providing we can get it back home (Verdhelo). Our return to Sydney was via Newcastle which was a bit of a laugh although I can see why we haven't been twinned with our antipodean namesake as it's a bit of a dump!

Our Sydney experience was completed with an open air picnic / jazz festival in the Domain (park) which was a cool and drunken affair. The very next day saw us aboard HMAS Newcastle, an Australian Navy Frigate moored in Wooloomooloo, as the personal guests of Commander Brian (Gails new beau) which was a frank and interesting tour of the gubbins of a war ship.

All in all a splendid 4 weeks with 2 trips to Ribs and Rump's (my third favourite restaurant in the world behind Egg Harbour, Vernon Hills, IL and El Torerro, Newcastle Upon Tyne)....

I thought that it might be of interest to see how I've been wasting long journeys apart from the iPod.

Fiction
Dan Brown - Angels and Demons (5/5)
Dan Brown - The Da Vinci Code (5/5)
Dan Brown - Deception Point (4/5)
Dan Bronw - Digital Fortress (4/5)
Craig Thomas - A Different War (1/5)
Tom Clancy - Rainbow Six (5/5)

Non-Fiction
Paul Smitz - Lonely Planet - Australia (2/5)
Various - Rough Guide - Australia (4/5)
Various - Rough Guide - New Zealand (3/5)
Jim DuFresne - Lonely Planet - Tramping in New Zealand (2/5)
Various - Rough Guide - Fiji(3/5)
Various - Rough Guide - USA (5/5)