Hiya, I'm back, fully rested and recuperated. God I hate being ill, but being ill away from home is the pits. Rich was a star and very attentive but suffered from cabin fever after 4-5 days of either being in the cabin or walking to the supermarket, I was contemplating sending him out on the tandem but the rain put paid to that.

The cheat extraordinaire was from Brisbane to Rockhampton which was a distance of some 600 miles, slightly more than we would have covered in the days that I was ill, but hey if you are going to cheat you may as well do it properly. 'Rocky' as it is known to the locals is the self proclaimed beef capital of Oz, we did not see to much of this as we rode through the deserted town centre at 8pm but it was kind of eerie so we high tailed it out of there as soon as we could. A pub and a roadhouse were what made up our first nights resting place of Yammba, the pub garden was the campsite which suited Rich just fine.

We awoke to the gentle pitter patter of rain, rolled over and tried to go back to sleep, but try as we might we could not look past the fact that we would have to spend a day in the pub or the roadhouse and while Rich may have been happy with this I was not, so between rain spells we packed up and made a run for it. The good weather ie no rain lasted a good two hours before the inevitable happened and the heavens opened. 2-3 hours later we rolled up in Marlborough another town with not a lot to it except a pub with rooms! well I was recuperating and Rich seemed to be coming down with what I had so it was in the best interests of all concerned that we have a proper bed for the night. At Yammba we had got chatting (as is the norm) to 2 couples who are travelling around in a caravan and winnibego. Well they invited us over to their van for supper! thay had passed us on the way and had felt sorry for the drowned rats they passed! anyhow we had a great time squished in to a delux campervan which has a double bed that you put away by electrically zooming it up to the celing......I want one!!! the winnibego not just the bed.

After the boozy night and struggling to get in for breakfast (no unlocked door) we set off late the next day. If the day before was wet this day in contrast was an absolute scorcher! We were heading for St Lawerence 45 miles down the road. The road was long.........hot.........and had no roadhouse, torture. We finally arrived and fell on to the only shop with abandon! The following day was along similar lines.... hot and long although the campsite was great as it was free and on a beach, we also met up with our friends (by design) from Yammba, which was great. Although the howling of the dingos at 2.30am and 3.30am was not so great, laying there thinking I was going to be eaten alive by wild dogs ala Bridget Jones!!

The following nights accommodation in Sarina however was poles away from a beach with howling dogs. By this time Rich had suffered enough with his cold and wanted to be some where warm. We hired another cabin for two nights and spent a relaxing day looking round a mini sugar cane mill. This seemed to sort his cold and a renewed Rich and I set off towards the Whitsundays. We were having such a good time on the bike that I have concocted a charity bike ride that goes from Lands End to John O'Groats with the 3 peaks in as well, we have set ourselves the target of 10,000 pounds to raise for Maggie's centre, this all may change when we hit hills/mountains and things start to ache and the riding is not so pleasant but I don't think so!

So today has been a very relaxing day spent cruising the Whitsundays, having a beach barbie on the 2nd best beach in the world and Rich's first time snorkling alll in all a very good day, finished off by a meal cooked by some else and a few drinks....bliss.