Fraser Island

We'd hired a 4 wheel drive truck for Fraser Island, and were going camping for 5 nights. The truck was an 11 seater, and we filled it to the brim with our stuff, needed a lot of stuff for the 6 of us for 5 nights as there are a limited number of shops on Fraser and those there are very expensive, so we had to take 6 days worth of food and beer, as well as tents and fishing rods and cooking equipment etc etc. We were pretty cramped in the back with all the stuff, but it was fun!!

We drove up north and took a short ferry ride over to Fraser Island which is the largest sand island in the world, and found a suitable spot to set up our camp. As the Italian boys had not been camping before Brett had tried to make it as comfortable as possible by bringing a camping shower and a camping toilet!!! He did a great job of making ours an en-suite site, we had the shower hanging from a tree in a quiet spot with a lamp and some tarpaulin for privacy, and for the bathroom he'd dug a big hole and placed over it a camping seat with a hole in it, also with a bit of tarp for privacy, Brilliant!!!!

We had a brilliant time there, days were spent fishing, driving along in the sand dunes (a very hairy and bumpy ride!!) swimming in beautiful lakes, floating along Ely creek, checking out the interesting sites such as the red canyon and the mohino wreck. We walked in the bush and chilled out on the beach and also did some 'sand dune surfing' which resulted in one or two sand related injuries as well as us flying down sand dunes on a bit of plywood straight into the lake, great fun!!! We had great food (plenty of fish thanks to Rich and Michelle) Brett made sure our days were full and made us get up early every day to make the most of our time, he's a real slave driver!! But without all his planning and energy we wouldn't have done half as much, we had such a great time there. The boys seemed to really enjoy their first camping experience, Michelle loved the fishing and as they were only in Oz for a couple of weeks were desperate to go home with a tan, Michelle took every opportunity to strip to his little shorts, so in nearly every picture of him he is half naked!!! They cooked us a yummy pasta dish and got involved with everything, and they learnt more English and we leart some italian, and we all managed to communicate with signs and facial expressions and the like, it was fun!!!

After Fraser Island we visited Australia Zoo, home of Steve Irwin! That was OK as far as zoos go. The boys headed off to Noosa for a few days of partying on thier own and we went back to sunny Brisbane as Brett and Kerrie were going to New Zealand for their honeymoon!

So, we returned home and 2 days later we were saying TTFN to Brett and Kerrie at the airport, to finally get some rest and relaxation on their honeymoon.

Now, Brett and Kerrie are away for 4 weeks and we are house sitting for 2 of those weeks. Then our plan is to make our way up north and meet up with Brett and Kerrie again in Townsville on the weekend of 12 June, where we'll go over to Bretts sisters (Rayline, husband Brian and baby daughter Phoebe) for the weekend. Rayline and Brian live on a farm and that weekend they'll be burning the sugar canes, which apparantly is a great thing to witness, so that's what we'll be doing!

So, after all the early mornings and hecticness of the past few weeks, Rich and I lazed about for a couple of days and planned out our next few weeks
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Brisbane, Part deux - the Wedding!

The next couple of weeks in Brisbane flew by what with Brett and Kerries wedding coming up and all the last minute preparations they were doing. Brett's brother Ross was building a shelter for the outdoor BBQ area and so Rich and Brett spent a few days here and there helping with that, Kerrie and I painted it and so we did our bit! Whilst Brett and Kerrie were out at work we did a lot of dossing about (getting really good at that!). I did a bit of wedding outfit shopping and we had a very nice evening at the drive in movies, liked that a lot!!

Brett broke up from work at Easter (about a week before the wedding) and he pretty much spent that week entertaining us! He took us to a place called Canungra where we camped and saw some of the local sites, a tree top walk and a place called Natural Arch, where we went for a swim in a very cold little river, brrrr!! He also took us out sailing on his little boat. We sailed out to South Stradbroke Island and camped in a nice little beachy part, and did some more sailing out and about there, all very pleasant until Brett made the mistake of leaving us in charge! We'd both had a go at the sailing bit under his supervision and all was well, until he went for a lie down, when, 3 seconds later, while Rich was doing something to one of the sails, I got totally confused with which way to steer and which way the wind was blowing and it all went wrong!! The boom bar swung round, narrowly missing Rich who just happened to duck in time, but got caught by the ropes, these flung him to the side and he was halfway overboard kissing the water, the boat was almost over as all the weight was on one side!!! Man it was hairy and I thought we were going over, but Brett managed to jump in and save the day in the nick of time, well done Brett!!!!

We both had nice new shiny haircuts ready for the wedding and I treated myself (and my very battered feet) to a pedicure. A couple of days before the wedding Kerries cousin Rachael arrived from Melbourne, she was also staying at Brett and Kerries, so we had a couple of days getting to know her, which was much fun!!

And so the big day arrived for Brett and Kerrie and all appeared to go without a hitch, Rich looked very smart in his suit and nicely straightened ponytail (although when his hair was down and straight he looked like Jennifer Anniston with a beard, very funny, although he didn't think so!!) The wedding venue was a vineyard up in the hills about an hours drive from the city. It was a beautiful spot. When Kerrie arrived she looked stunning and the service they had was really nice. As is usual at these things there were many speeches, Bretts dad's being very amusing! We had a lot of fun at the wedding with my special glasses, we took them to make Brett and Kerrie smile for photos after they'd had enough of smiling, cos one look at Rich with them on never fails to make people chuckle!!! We ended up getting pictures of a lot of guests (and a waitress!) wearing them! So, a great day and night was had. Brett and Kerrie left early and by the time we left we had a call from Ross (Bretts brother) seeing if we fancied a pint in town with the newlyweds, which of course we did! So there were Brett and Kerrie, freshly married, Kerrie in here wedding make up and hair, wearing jeans and drinking a pint in an Irish Bar......nice....reminded me of Angie!! They were staying at the Hilton, but got supper at McDonalds!! Go figure!

The next couple of days were spent having BBQ's and social gatherings at Bretts, and then Kerries parents, never been kissed by so many strangers!!!! Brett and Kerrie had anouther couple of international guests at the wedding. Gaetano and Michelle, from Sicily. They met them in Sicily and have been friends ever since. They were staying at Kerries parents (Kerries dad is Scicilian) Gaetano speaks fairly broken english and Michelle doesn't speak any, so was a bit strained the first time we met, but we managed to get by, with a couple of phrase books and an english / italian dictionary and Kerries family to interpret!!

So, after a fairly hectic few days, it was time to go camping on Fraser Island with Brett and Kerrie and Geatano and Michelle........