Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas to all our friends and family!

We miss you all but as you can see we're fine and Tree's happy as she's found her perfect Sydney Christmas tree, no snow though!

Enjoy the festivities, lots of love

Tree and Mark x

Island adventures....a wide tree and beardless Mark

After our fantastic Barrier Reef adventure we had a couple of days on dry land before we headed back to sea for more fun. Whilst on dry land we stayed in a town called Mission Beach where we experienced a massive thunderstorm which left us without electricity for a night. We survived the ordeal(that being, missing our tea!)and were pleased to be finding our sea legs once more, a more relaxed trip this time, no diving but sailing around the Whitsunday Islands with some snorkeling thrown in.
Squeezed once again into delightfully flattering stinger suits(I think not, need to miss more teas I think) we enjoyed viewing the barrier reef at more shallow depths whilst snorkeling. Luckily there were no scary moments until......Mark appeared from our cabin looking like a Mormon. Well, I was considering our future together at this point until he revealed he planned to shave the rest of the beard off- he was just taking a break for lunch, honestly nothing gets between him and a good feed! The beard was no more-yeah! It had to go otherwise I'd be subjected to 3 days of moaning about a leaky snorkeling mask. Better sealed and even more squeezed into the suit he headed back to sea without a further mention of a leaky mask and another full tum.
The coral was fantastic, the colours really amazing and the beaches of the many Whitsunday Islands are picture-postcard perfect.
Back on dry land once more we chilled out for another day before heading out again across the waves to another Island, Fraser Island. There'd be no leaking masks this time though as we thought we pass on entering the shark infested waters around Fraser. There were going to be enough dangers on dry land, especially with us choosing to camp the 3 night trip. The Island is home to many spiders(including the deadly funnel web which we weren't expecting to worry about until Sydney), snakes, eels, mosquitoes and the purest form of the Aussie Dingo. The dingo looks like a cross between a wolf and a dog and although most are not thought to be a threat there had been a killing by a very territorial dingo some years ago. They like to creep into camp sites at night....this news had Grandad-bladder Mark a little perturbed as we tucked ourselves into our cosy tent for the night. I was all nice and relaxed after searching it from top to bottom for "creepy crawlies" knowing they'd be no need for me to pee for the next 8 hours. 3 hours later Mark's rustling around trying to locate a torch and trying to wake everyone else on the site and into the darkness he went. He was gone a while but I'd heard no girlie screams so wasn't surprised he'd survived the toilet trip but alarmed to hear he had actually come across a dingo en route. It was actually more interested in a good feed and continued it's scrounge in the bin, I wonder why a dog's a man's best friend!
Fraser Island was also beautiful, it's 124km long and the largest island in the world made entirely of sand. There are only sand tracks and the bumpy driving in the 4x4 was an experience in itself. As for our guide, he matched the Aussie stereotype perfectly. His favourite phrases being "No worries..no dramas...nice and easy...no dramas...no worries", even when no one was speaking to him these words could be heard over and over again. We swam in the lakes, trekked across the sand dunes, walked through rain forests, checked out the stars and generally had another wonderful trip.
After Fraser we headed to Brisbane where we are for a few days. I've been holding out and waiting for my first sighting of a kangaroo(can you believe in 7 weeks and all that land we've covered I've not seen a bloody roo!), well the city has delivered! I've now not only seen but fed my first kangaroo, unfortunately not roaming wild on the streets of Brisbane but nicely at home in the Lone Pine Sanctuary. Home to lots more too, I've decided I'm returning to earth as a Koala in the next life. They even have a retirement home for them here, much needed after a hard life of 20 hours of sleep per day, the rest eating and a bit of mating when they get be bothered-not bad I say. Mark's choice is an inland taipan, the most deadly snake worldwide- I had to tear him away from the cage- obsessed I say! We'll be heading to check out those funnel webs as we make our way to Sydney for Christmas, what a lovely treat!

The GREAT Barrier Reef

Just a short post to let everyone know that we are still alive after three days and nights scuba diving on the Great Barrier Reef. This was definitely one of the highlights of the trip so far. The night before we celebrated Tree's birthday in Cairns. Stayed in a swanky hotel and had a lovely meal with a bottle of champagne delivered courtesy of the girls in England. Then it was off out onto the reef for three nights. Although we both got our PADI diving qualification last year we forgot everything and didn't have a clue what we were doing. Some of the people diving with us had done over 300 dives so we were a little bit on the nervous side. Poor Tree couldn't equalize very easily and returned to the boat after each dive with blood pouring out her nose. She battled on but had to pull out of the advanced divers course. We both had some really good and really bad dives. As you'd expect the coral and sea life was amazing. Some of the highlights were feeding the giant Potato Cod, seeing lots of sea snakes (including one swimming through my legs), a night dive when you can't see anything without a torch and seeing loads of different fish in all colours, shapes and sizes. However, there were a few scary moments. On some of the dives the visibility wasn't great. Due to this and some bad communication we got split up from each other which is pretty worrying. It all turned out fine and Tree made sure for later dives that she could understand the difference between my signal for "I'm running out of air and about to die" and "Ooh...Look at the gills on that" Running low on air was a constant problem for me as I wasn't the most graceful figure through the water. That said I did pass the advanced diver course which included a 30m deep dive to highlight the problems of Nitrogen narcosis. This effects people in different ways. We did a test at 30 m to show how it takes you much longer to perform simple calculations. For some reason I did it quicker than on the surface which makes me think that if we all lived under water I might be a genius!

Mark, truly at one with nature!

plenty of danger and a bit of luck too!

So our next destination was Darwin, thankfully by air. We booked a "rainy room" deal at a nice hotel on the seafront, if the weather wasn't going to be great I at least wanted free shampoo and conditioner. The weather turned out to be great in fact and we enjoyed the city more for it. We did experience a thunderstorm and monsoon rains but with the temperature still around 30 it was just like a hot shower. The rain settled quickly in time for us to swim in the local lake(like swimming in a hot bath)and to fit another barbie in, perfect.
Darwin hosts a fantastic museum which was absolutely packed full of dangerous things native to Oz. We knew the snakes, spiders, sharks, crocs and jelly fish were scary enough but here you even have to suspect certain trees(they sting you), fruit(poisons you) and little things like caterpillars(venomous)- great! The most impressive museum find was "Sweetheart". 5m and >700kg later we learnt a little more about this stuffed croc which was killed when locals tried to rescue him from a local river in the 1970's. Just what we needed to see to relax us for our planned trip to the Adelaide river the following day!
At the river our guide suggested we were "lucky" when we boarded the boat(small) and a croc of a similar dimension to Sweetheart(huge) was already waiting for us by the boat. It was massive! We saw many more, of a "normal" size- a wee 3-4m! The crocs circled the boat but thankfully no limbs were lost as they took to jumping from the water, up to surprising 2m! We also got up close and personal with Neil, a Diamond python. This time I was pleasantly surprised to know pythons don't have venom but hey, they just constrict you to death! Mark seemed to enjoy Neil caressing his neck, I wasn't going there.
We also got to see an amazing national park called Litchfield, not too far from Darwin. We enjoyed some croc free swimming in the natural swimming holes and waterfalls, now this is what I call lucky.

From Darwin we flew to Cairns and headed straight up into northern Queensland to Port Douglas. This was a great base to explore the wet tropical rain forests and the Atherton Tablelands. This region is absolutely beautiful, there are volcanic craters where we swam, more waterfalls, creeks, gorges, amazing wildlife, forests and not to mention the fantastic beach at Port Douglas- no swimming here though thanks to the stinger season(aka the deadly box jelly fish). We loved Port Douglas and felt pretty relaxed and ready for more R+R as we headed further north to Cape Tribulation. Our expectations were now very high and they were definitely beat by the beauty here. It's where the rain forest meets the Great Barrier Reef and home to really rare, mainly endangered, wildlife and forests. We stayed in a forest hideaway with our own resident bathroom snake! I'd actually seen a brown tubular thing up in the rafters but just thought it was a pipe or something. Mark, being more snake experienced, later announced his find to me and the owner- I was pleased to hear that it was "just a tree snake"(not that pleased when it had disappeared and it was time for bed though!).
Danger was everywhere in Cape Trib. Mark, now known as Mark "Attenborough" Forshaw got the gold star when he spotted an Amethyst python on our night jungle walk(we must be mad!). The guide was very impressed, all I spotted all night were a few centipedes and a moth, spiders too but only after their webs attached to my face.

The danger didn't stop there. The following day we fancied a nice tranquil stroll along the beach but no-here we go again! It seemed Mr Croc, Mr Shark and Mr giant Lizard also wanted a piece of our tranquility and beach, they just couldn't leave us to it! We sacrificed the tranquility pretty sharpish and left some Japanese tourists to it!
We did actually come closer to death than this- "no!", I hear you scream. Whilst walking through the forest, now in daylight, we heard and saw a huge tree fall just short of where we were again enjoying a tranquil stroll! It definitely would have crushed us. We hold a Spanish tourist(a real Manuel character) responsible for this near death experience. We'd met him whilst trekking through the forest and thought he was a bit odd when he took to picking up fruit from the forest floor and suggested his girlfriend try it. When we were fortunate enough to spot a very rare Cassawary(only 1000 in Oz remain) he labelled it as a just a "big bird"- sure you're geting the picture. We got to the creek(after passing the "beware crocs" sign)and obviously gave him the privilege of getting wet first only to be alarmed to hear him screaming- not a scream of pain but his Tarzan impression! Well, I think his girlfriend was impressed, we were certainly not and quickly left him, Jane and the crocs to it and headed off back through the forest. He must of continued his party piece, shaking the poor trees to the ground.

So we've left the Cape Trib danger behind, our final memory being a sighting of a family of Cassowaries with their 2 chicks-no danger just luck again!

We hope our luck will continue tomorrow when we head for the reef and a bit more danger!

Oz - The West coast journey

Perth
We flew into Perth and were looking forward to some Australian sunshine. Instead we were greeted with the type of climate you would expect to find in Manchester - cold, wet and windy. The following day, however, the sun shined and it hasn't stopped since. Perth is a lovely city and the most isolated one in the world. As in keeping with our holiday we started off pretty actively but have now slipped into the local, laid back approach to life. We (of course) went on a tour of the local vineyards and sampled plenty of fine wines. During one of the tasting sessions the guy pouring the wine announced to the group that I had the perfect nose for sampling the wine - I have no idea what on earth he could possibly have meant! We started off with good intentions of remembering the best wines but they all blended into one for me. Tree was far more discerning and now likes 'wooded Chardonnay'. She can taste subtle hints of melon, cigar and chocolate. All I can taste is woodpecker cider - and I kept getting my nose stuck in the glass!
It was good to meet up with my relatives so far away from home. Joe, Robin, Richard and Meg took us on a tour of Perth showing us the sites and taking us for a lovely meal. Joe and Richard also took us to see the local football team, Perth Glory, play in the A league. What a treat! Bottom of the league and without a win all season. They were playing the next to the bottom team. What a thriller. Imagine Everton v. Bolton and you're nearly there. We were hoping for a high scoring classic but the Glory lost one-nil and the manager was promptly sacked the next day. Still we had a good time and it was good to get my fix of footy.
Our last few days in Perth were spent in the beautiful King's Park, biking around the lovely Rottnest Island and drinking coffee in the relaxed Freemantle. On the last day we were due to get a coach up the coast but the laid back taxi service cut that short. We ended up sprinting through the city in 'rush' hour with our fully loaded backpacks in the searing heat. Obviously we missed the coach, our connection and our three days overlooking the Ocean in Kalbarri. Stranded in Perth our relatives once again came to the rescue. They kindly provided a fantastic bed and breakfast facility, a jacuzzi, a taxi service, hot meals, wine and more expert advice. On our last night they took us to one of Perth's fine beaches for the traditional Aussie BBQ on the beach. It was great to watch the glorious sunset whilst having a cold beer and eating good food. However, it reminded us of the biggest single problem with Australia. Not the crocs, sharks, redbacks, jellyfish and snakes - but the Aussie FLY. These are the most persistent b******s you could possibly imagine. You can swot a fly away ten times and it will still come back and starting eating you face. Imagine 50 of them doing the same. It's worse spending an hour on a Saturday afternoon in Primark or Ikea.

Coral Bay
We set off from the fine city of Perth for a mere 19 hours coach journey to Coral Bay. Coral Bay is a very small town that is perfectly located next to the coral, which you can swim to from the beach. It's a beautiful place with miles of long, white sandy beaches. We went on a Quad bike tour, which involved biking over sand dunes and along beaches. We had a bike each. At first, Tree was adopting a safety first approach - at one point being overtaken by an elderly turtle. However, when the guide pointed out a long poisonous snake alongside us, she shot off like a bat out of hell. We spent the last few days relaxing on the beaches and swimming in the sea and pool.

Broome
After five days of chilling out we set off on another short 18 hour coach journey. Now it started to get really hot. Stepping off the coach at a roadhouse it was the same feeling as when you open the over door to check on how the dinner is doing. It was a wave of heat that I've never experienced before. Although Broome was also very hot (39) the breeze made it a bit more bearable. Broome is a small, laid-back place and (like everywhere on the West coast) it's hundreds of miles away from anywhere else. Broome's Cable beach is really beautiful and one of the best in Australia. Unfortunately, we were unable to swim in the sea this time of year because of the resident box jellyfish. Apparently, they can kill if you happen to swim into their tentacles and if you are stung the pain is the worst imaginable - we decided to stick to the pool. We're about to fly onto Darwin. We're both very well, tanned , just about within budget, not missing work and having a great time.

Safari with highlights!

Our final destination in South Africa was Addo, just north of Port Elizabeth. We stayed on a citrus farm in a hand built clay and timber hut(obviously, all mod cons included, together with a few insects and as many oranges you could eat). From here we planned to go on Safari, a highlight of our time in South Africa. I was actually a wee bit nervous about the whole Safari thing, Mark stating he was cool and he actually thought one on one with many a Safari park had to offer there'd be no contest. His perception and mine were slightly different and I was worried he may have a "Frank" incident, particularly after I'd witnessed him stripping off next to an orange tree after I pointed out- gently mind, that he had a beetle on his shirt collar! He later revealed he wasn't too fond of "Creepy Crawlies" (but obviously against the big 5 I'd be protected!)
At Addo we hoped just to get a taste for Safari, Addo is an elephant park and not renowned for other game. It's home to 450 elephants so we were pretty much guaranteed to spot at least one of the big 5. Addo also has lions, rhino, buffalo and the very shy leopard, this though had only ever been spotted by a handful of locals so we didn't get too excited. As well as Addo we booked on a safari at a private game reserve called Schotia which was also home to the big 5 plus plenty more. Addo was amazing, the elephants were luckily very thirsty that day so when we headed to one of the many drinking holes we were pleased with the company. The adults were huge, the family obviously led by a female, she knowing best. We weren't surprised to see the teenagers hanging out away from the elders, they were busy being all moody and hormonal- the males actually start discovering naughty business at about aged 12, still a few yrs later than the average teenage boy! The calves were busy playing- pushing one another into the water and generally misbehaving, alot of fun to watch.
So we'd spotted the first of the big 5, still alive too! In my opinion the elephants appeared the most sociable, wise and fun loving of the big 5, any others were considered a bonus. We were however, lucky enough to also see buffalo, more scary but hey, with that nice hair do can anyone take them seriously?
After lunch we continued the search in Schotia. Here we saw giraffe, hippo, zebra and 2 more of the big 5- lion and rhino. Whereas the elephants were my favourite, the lion's were Marks- not least for their hair do's, even more impressive than Mr Buffalo. I could see him watching, all green eyed and comparing high lights and wondering when he needed his roots doing!
It was actually a scary moment when the lioness decided she didn't like the look of us, she circled our vehicle numerous times and we thought we could be dinner as she appeared to get ready to pounce. Thinking it was our bright yellow ponchos rather than Mark's roots, I was considering stripping down as demonstrated by Mark earlier with the insect incident but luckily she must of had a better offer, blaming the poncho we later discovered a lion only sees in black and white!
A great end to an amazing county, 4 of the big 5 plus many more amazing animals, I guess we'll just have to return to spot the leopard- shame. It's now time for Oz......

Canoing, Rugby and a massive bungy jump...

Next we headed off to Wilderness, which is a beautiful town on the Garden Route. We had a fantastic view from our room of a lagoon surrounded by loads of trees. We hired a canoe and paddled up the river (I paddled, Tree just dipped the oar in the water occasionally). We then took a walk up to a waterfall and went swimming for about 10 seconds in the very cold water - obviously still warmer than Blackpool).
That evening was the big one - England v. South Africa. We ended up watching the match in the pub with some locals. Then about 20 oldies from what must have been a Saga holiday appeared. They stood up proudly for our national anthem. When England scored the try that never was I thought it was all going to kick-off. The hairy, mad locals against us and the geriatrics - we wouldn't have stood a chance. Fortunately South African won easily and we avoided another colonial battle (some of them were obviously there the first time). It was actually great to be in S.A. for the final. The South Africans are really passionate about their team and we've had a lot of good natured stick since Saturday.
Next we headed off to Plettenburg bay. Another lovely resort by the beach. Near here we drove to the Bloukrans River Bridge - home of the highest Bungee jump in the world at 216m. Without hesitation we both went for it. Tree went first and was very cool throughout. I too was ok. Not quite as scary as jumping out a plane. We apparently accelerated to 120kmh within 4 seconds. Those of you who know about my Frank Spencer tendancies will be relieved to hear that I avoided a comical accident on the world's highest bungee - although we are off to a snake farm shortly so who knows? Although it was all over very quickly it was an amazing feeling and would recommend it to anyone. The worst thing about the jump was that we had to get weighed first - as you can imagine it was bad news for both of us. We decided to go for a long hike the next day to get the exercise in. We walked in Robberg National Park and saw some fantastic scenery which included loads of seals along the cape. Its amazing in South Africa as we've not yet hit the safari but have already seen whales, sharks, penguins, ostriches and seals. Next stop is Addo national park, which is home to the elephants. I think we'll try and tame one and take it for a ride.

wine, whales, sharks and vomit!

After leaving cape town we headed for gourmet indulgence in Franschhoek. Literally meaning "French Corner" we weren't disappointed by the Vino and Fromage. With tastings for around a pound for 5 wines who would be? We managed 3 tastings(starting at 11 am), then 2 cellar tours, cheese platters, handmade chocs and champagne which were all washed down with a locally produced apple schapps at 43%! Walked, or possibly appeared to stagger, around the very beautiful and very sunny village. We were further spoilt by having the guest house to ourselves, pool and all!

We later left Franschhoek for Hermanus to Whale watch and Shark dive, slightly picking up the adrenaline pace! Although Hermanus has been voted the best place in the world to see the Southern Right Whale from shore we decided to try for a closer encounter out on the Indian Ocean. We were lucky enough to get pretty close to the whales and enjoyed a good few hours of watching the females protect their calves, water rise from the "blow holes", tails flap the sea and noses(calluses and all!) rise high in the air. Really incredible.

The following day we decided to greet a slightly more intimidating creature of the sea- the Great White Shark. We entrusted ourselves to Brian who'd "sailed the ocean for 50 years" (his skin certainly confirming this!) . We sailed out to Shark Alley and soon the Great Whites were as intrigued with us as we were with them. They enjoyed the bait of smelly tuna heads and from the surface we thought we were staring in Jaws, teeth and all! The time came to squeeze into the most unflattering wet suits ever followed by a nice squeeze into the "CAGE". With Mark at my side to protect me I've never felt so scared! No, we were surprisingly calm as the sharks circled the cage, looking somewhat graceful and slow moving- unlike Mark's movements after climbing out of the cage and just making the other side of the boat to vomit! What a sight-the sharks and Mark, least he did it with the wind!

So the wine, food and wildlife continue for another week here in South Africa....

Our first week in South Africa - the pictures

Our first week in South Africa

We've now been travelling for a week and have packed so much in that we need a holiday. Things didn't start to well with the flight. Tree was sat next to an extremely fat South African. He snored like a hippo for pretty much the whole flight. I was quite amused. When we arrived our sat nav decided to send us the wrong way and took us on a detour of one of the Cape Flats township. There were no problems but its a bit of a shock driving through a shanty town within an hour of arriving in the country. We stayed in a place called Camps Bay in Cape Town. This was a really nice place to stay and we were just a few minutes away from the beach. Not many people go in the water though because the currents come from Antarctica so it very cold. On our second day we climbed up Table mountain. This was a pretty hard uphill slog but the views were amazing. Next we went to the Cape of Good Hope which is the most south-westerly point on the continent of Africa. On the way back we stopped at a deserted beach and spotted a whale which was fantastic to see. We turned around and there were a couple of ostriches just 10 metres away. We've been really lucky because the weather has been really good and its only spring here. The food has been fantastic and we have been eating loads of fish, sushi, ostrich and springbok. We've also been having lots of good wine. Obviously this comes at a price so we have been running on the beach in an effort to maintain our peak fitness and should be set to run the London marathon when we get back.....

Only two weeks to go!

We probably need to start organising things soon.....