We drove down from Cairns to Mission Beach, where we hoped to lie back and enjoy the sunshine. We did have a nice sunny half day when we walked along the coastline to a secluded beach, but we also saw lots of drizzle. It's supposed to be the Dry season up here in the tropics, but you wouldn't have been able to tell recently. The locals tell us that the weather has been unseasonal, but that's probably what they tell all the tourists.

Next stop heading south was Townsville. We really planned only to use this port city as a gateway to Magnetic Island (so called because Captain Cook thought his compass went squiffy as he sailed past), but it was unexpectedly pleasant in its own right. Nice beaches, and Castle Hill provided some fab views over the town and islands.

We hired bikes at Magnetic Island before discovering just how many hills there were. Much panting later we arrived at a walk around the Forts area -- a WW2 lookout and gun emplacement. Apparently the guns were only every used to fire at an American ship which arrived unannounced. They didn't tell us whether it was hit.

From Townsville we headed down to Airlie Beach, where we are now. We stopped briefly on the way at the Billabong Sanctuary to get some Kodak moments with Koalas, which we failed to see in the wild at Magnetic Island. Photos will probably appear here sometime this week.

For the past three days we've been out sailing around the Whitsundays aboard the tall ship Solway Lass. There was some mixed weather and it was a little choppy in places. We can't complain because our afternoon on the beautifully white sands of Whitehaven beach was perfect (the sand is so fine it squeaks when you walk on it), and sailing back for home yesterday we had some gorgeous sunshine and enjoyed every moment of it. We also managed to fit in some diving and snorkelling around the fringing reefs, as well as helping out with the hoisting of sails.

I've spent too long writing this because it's just started raining again. We've missed the best bit of the day. Sigh. We are heading off imminently to Eungella National Park in the hope of spotting platypus.

We spent a very rainy week travelling around Cape Tribulation and the Atherton Tablelands. We first visited Port Douglas where the sun came out for a while and we relaxed on Four Mile Beach. Cape Tribulation was beautiful with the rainforest coming right down to the beach. We managed to fit in some walks between the heavy rainfalls and spotted the endangered cassowary while driving. In the tablelands we saw lots of impressive waterfalls, probably more impressive because of the constant rain! We also saw a giant volcanic crater and had fun feeding the wallabies at Granite Gorge.

We're now back in Cairns and spent yesterday visiting a village in the mountains called Kuranda - getting there on a scenic railway and travelling back by cablecar. The views of the rainforests were amazing especially from Skyrail.

Here is a selection of our photos from Tropical Queensland.

Today we are about to head south with our first stop at Mission Beach. We've booked a sailing trip round the Whitsunday Islands for Saturday on the tallship Solway Lass. Thanks for the recommendation Barnaby.

We've just got back from a nice (but slightly too choppy) day out on the Great Barrier Reef. Fi went snorkelling, and I've been diving, seeing a giant turtle and lots of colourful coral and fishes.

Fi's bought me the latest Harry Potter book for my birthday, and after some tea and cake she'll be taking me out for dinner too. Aren't I lucky? :-)

After nearly a week in Cairns we've finally managed to buy a second hand car. She's a huge bright yellow 1987 Ford Falcon Station Wagon called Big Bird. She's been a fair distance, but we think she's solid enough to take us a few more thousand kilometres. We'll be heading north on Friday to Cape Tribulation and the rainforest.