Redhead Beach the girls old surf club beach. Middle of winter and still in shorts, building sandcastles and dipping their toes in the ocean. Good to see the coal ships out to sea - we know we're back in Newcastle.
Sunset over Lake Macquarie from our last camp spot at Belmont. A very pretty part of the world.
Ellie's 8th birthday shared with an old school friend. We held a joint party the week prior for both Fleur and Ellie to catch up with their old school friends.
Friday 1st August a sad day, the day we sold and said good bye to Carrie the Caravan and Larry the Landcruiser our home and trusty car for the last eight months. They did us proud and hopefully the next owners will have as much fun as we did.
Sydney - the Harbour Bridge, Opera House and fireworks for our arrival.
Fleur's 10th Birthday in our apartment in Sydney. Fleur completed the Harbour Bridge Climb as a special 10th birthday treat the following day.
Coffs Harbour - 'The Big Banana'. Australia's first big thing and the last big thing on our lap. Built in 1964 for 1200 pounds and based upon the best looking banana they could find, which was then cut into 40 pieces in order to develop the plans from which the builders could construct the worlds largest banana. 
Taylors Arm - 'The Pub With No Beer' named after the song of the same name by Gordon Parsons, aka the Yodelling Bushman, written at this Pub, and sung by his mate Slim Dusty. The song relates to the time the pub was cut off by a flooding Kempsey river and no beer could get through. Luckily there was beer when we turned up.
Harrington - Fleur and Ellie mucking around on the go carts. This was a return to the site of our very first caravan trip, before our big lap, where we were evacuated due to a bush fire. No such problem this time.
Crowdy Head Lighthouse on the Mid North Coast was built in 1879. Looking north you can see beyond Diamond Head and the Three Brothers mountains (south, middle and north) which were named by Captain Cook in 1770 as he sailed up the East Coast. To the south you can see as far as Seal Rocks. A cold but clear day.
Diamond Head in the Crowdy Bay National Park overlooking the empty beach, another cold but clear day, Fleur and Ellie rugged up against the chill wind.
The red line on the caravan map tells the story - back to where we started from. The big lap is nearly complete, only Sydney left to go..JPG)
At SeaWorld Fleur and Ellie with Sponge Bob Square Pants and his side kick (not sure of her name).
Crossing the boarder from Queensland into New South Wales. The boarder runs down the middle of Dixon Street and separates Tweed Heads in NSW on the left with it's twin town of Coolangatta in Queensland on the right. Due to the fact that NSW observes daylight savings and Queensland does not you can change time zones – even celebrate New Year twice within an hour – simply by crossing the street, a north south move and not as you may suspect an east west move. Only in Australia? 
Bryon Bay Lighthouse at Point Byron which was named by Captain Cook after his navigator who happened to be the grandfather of the poet Lord Byron. It is the most easterly point on the Australian mainland. We were invited to go to the top of the lighthouse for a viewing, why they choose us and no one else not sure, but there was a very good view of the bay and out to sea. We have now been to the most Easterly town in Australia and the most westerly town, Denham, only 5000km between the two places on the shortest route although our route was a bit longer. 
The town of Bexhill in the hills behind Ballina, not much to see here other than the open air cathedral on the hill over looking the town. The main reason for the visit was to see how it compared to my home town of Bexhill on Sea in England, and we can report its nothing like it, there were no old people walking along the sea front in the Australian version.
Ballina - The Big Prawn' is another of Australia's iconic big things. Built in 1989, but without a tail, the Big Prawn underwent a major makeover and was reopened in July 2013. It stands 9m high and weighs 35 tonne. The restoration cost to add a tail and give the prawn a much needed make over cost Bunnings (a shop just like B&Q) $400,000 and it now sits proudly in their car park..JPG)
The 'Big Ned Kelly' standing outside of the Ned Kelly Motel in Maryborough. We were unsure as to why he was here and after extensive investigation we were unable to find out the link as Ned Kelly never went to Queensland. Apparently local folk lore has it that perhaps he had some relatives in the area.
A winters day on the beach at The Great Sandy National Park north of Noosa. A long bike ride and short ferry crossing from Noosa to a deserted beach on a lovely warm day.
The 'Big Pelican' at Noosa. Noosa encompasses three zones: Noosa Heads, Noosaville and Noosa Junction and has an amazing number of roundabouts. Noosa proved to be a very nice place to stay and hang out for a while.
The Taste of Ginger Tour at the Buderim Ginger Factory which has been around for 40 years. The tour shows the full ginger story from planting through processing to final use. It is the world's largest operating ginger factory within a themed tourist park that promotes ginger and associated products.
The Big Pineapple at Woombye. It is 16 metres high and is claimed to be the world's largest pineapple, gaining this title after a large pineapple-shaped water tower in Hawaii was dismantled in 1993. This leg of the trip has had the highest number of big things running at a rather impressive 1 big things per 50km travelled. 
"Crikey" Fleur and Ellie at Steve Irwin's Australian Zoo. More than just a zoo with many hands-on, close up animal experiences and entertaining shows. No sight of Bindi, she must have been away at school. Nice in the day but this was, however, one of our coldest night time camping experiences so far, but then it is winter! 
Aussie World - the only theme park on the Sunshine Coast and a warm up for the bigger more extreme theme parks to come on the Gold Coast. Fleur and Ellie happy to be here for the day.
Redcliffe - The place where the Bee Gees started out on their musical careers in the late 1950s signing their first record on the kitchen table before moving to America to conker the world. Fleur and Ellie on the Bee Gees wall of fame on Bee Gees Way which was opened by Barry in February 2013.
Rockhampton - on the Tropic of Capricorn and aside Queensland largest river the Fitzroy. Fleur and Ellie in the Great Western Hotel, only one of two pubs in the world with their own rodeo ring in the back room. Great Friday night entertainment. 
Caving in the Capricorn Caves crawling around in bat poo and owl spew and trying not to get stuck in the 'wedge' or 'whales blowhole'. Helps to be small and young.
Emu Park - The Singing Ship Monument which is dedicated to James Cook who sailed past this point in 1770 and named the area Keppel Bay and some of the offshore Islands. The sculpture is suppose to sing almost constantly because of the on-shore breezes but we couldn't hear it, perhaps the wind was in the wrong direction. Built to commemorate the 200th Anniversary of Cook's discovery of Australia. 
Yeppoon - A relaxing afternoon walking around the marina and deciding which boat we all liked best, perhaps when we win the lottery...
Sunset at the Town of Seventeen Seventy, the Birthplace of Queensland. So called because on the 24th May 1770 James Cook stepped ashore on only his second landing on the Australian continent after Botany Bay. 
Bundaberg and the big bottle of rum outside of the Bundaberg Factory Rum Tour. An Australian Icon born out of the Queensland cane fields in 1888 the distillery still stands on its original site and produces 6 million litres of Rum each year of which nearly all is drunk in Australia. Only 4% gets exported out of the country.
The Bert Hinkler Museum. Bert was a pioneering Australian aviator and inventor born in Bundaberg. He designed and built early aircraft before being the first person to fly solo from England to Australia in 1928, and the first person to fly solo across the Southern Atlantic Ocean. 
Mission Beach - Penny taking it easy and being careful to avoid the failing coconuts as the water is still too dangerous to go in (stingers and crocodiles). A rare break in the rain along this stretch of the trip.
The Cassowary Coast - just because swimming in the sea is not dangerous enough the birds on the land can pick on you just when you think you may be safe in the car. We never actually saw a cassowary in the wild, there may be more road signs warning of these birds crossing the road than there are birds.
Tully - The Big Golden Gum Boot. The height of the gumboot represents the amount of rainfall recorded in Tully in the year of 1950 - 7.9 metres which is the Australian record. As the sign says "Tully - A pretty wet place". Some rainfall facts about Tully; average yearly rainfall 4490mm; average number of days per year rain falls 150; highest daily rainfall 1140mm in March 1967. No wonder it rained on us, although ironically not actually whilst we were in the gumboot in Tully. 
Townsville - On top of Castle Hill a 286m high pink granite monolith standing in the heart of the city overlooking the town and Magnetic Island. We went to the Aquarium and wandered along the foreshore as well as meeting up with some of Fleur and Ellie's school friends who are also doing the big lap but in the opposite direction.
Bowen - the latest in the series of big things The Big Mango. 10 metres high and made of fibreglass. Built in 2002 at the cost of $90,000 some $60,000 over budget, no mention of why they got it so wrong. It was stolen in February2014 but quickly recovered.
On top of Mount Rooper overlooking the Whitsunday Islands, white sands, crystal blue waters though none of which we saw due to the weather. We had plans to hire a yacht and spend 3 nights cruising the island but the 40 knot winds, driving rain and 5 metre seas where perhaps wisely decided to be beyond our sailing ability.
June 11th our 6 month anniversary since leaving home so we celebrated with a meal out at the Rockhampton Leagues Club. All you could eat roast carvary and ice creams. 
Cooktown - the Northernmost town on the east coast of Australia at the mouth of the Endeavour River. Named after Captain James Cook who beached his ship the Endeavour here in 1770 after sustaining serious damage to its wooden hull on the Endeavour Reef, south of Cooktown whilst heading north from Sydney. 
Fleur in front of 'The Big Barramundi' at Daintree Village. The Daintree Rainforest has the most complete record in the world of the evolution of plant life dating back to the beginning of life on Earth, some 3.5 billion years ago. 
Searching for saltwater crocodiles on the Daintree Rive one of the longest rivers on the East coast. After spotting a few crocs on the banks and in the river we went back and enjoyed a crocodile burger which if you are wondering tastes very similar to pork.
Cairns the regional city in far north Queensland a popular centre for visiting the Great Barrier Reef. Here Fleur and Ellie are at water park on the foreshore.
Snorkelling on the Great Barrier Reef the World Heritage listed Marine structure stretching 2300km along the coast and considered the largest living organism on Earth. Magic Reef home to Wally the wrass a giant fish who was happy to be patted and stroked.
Kuranda Scenic Railway between Cairns and the Village of Kuranda situated 300m above Cairns in the World Heritage listed rainforest.
Kurrimine Beach or rather the swimming pool in the caravan Park at Kurrimine Beach which Fleur and Ellie think was rather good. 
Mount Isa town established in the 1924's to support the Mount Isa Mine which mines one of the worlds largest deposits of lead, zinc, silver and copper. Fleur and Ellie are posing with the miners statue erected to acknowledge the fact that without mining there would be no town. We stayed 6 nights in Mount Isa whilst the brains at Toyota worked out what was wrong with and then fixed Larry. 
Normanton established on the Norman River by William Landsborough as a port for the Croydon gold rush. Home to the largest ever recorded salt water crocodile in the world named Krys who measured 8.63m when he was shot dead in 1957. This is a life size replica in the main street. The locals believe there is currently a bigger one alive in the river. 
Croydon a Historic Gold rush town in the Gulf Savannah. Established in 1885 following the discovery of gold. At the height of the rush there were 36 hotels and 122 liquor licences issued to the town. The gold soon ran out now the town has a number of interesting sculptures and a heritage area showing the buildings of the time.
Mount Surprise and what a surprised we only stopped for coffee and ice cream and ended up close and personnel with Clancy a 19 year old, 2m long black headed python. Turns out the guy running the café has a collecting of snakes which he was extremely keen to show us.
Millstream Falls - Plunging over the edge of a columnar basalt lava flow, Big Millstream Falls is reputedly the widest single-drop waterfall in Australia. It started to rain here...
Ravenshoe, Queensland highest town at 920m high and the highest point in the Misty Mountains. The place was extremely green after all the different shades of brown we have been seeing for the last 100+ days up to now. It carried on raining here....
At Australia's largest grower and producer of tea, Nerada, where over 1,000 acres of tea is grown on the Atherton Tablelands. Here we are doing what we do best, taking tea and scones. It was still raining.....
Artherton the regional centre of the tablelands - Fleur and Ellie inside the Worlds biggest Amethyst which came from Uruguay called the 'Empress of Uruguay'. Standing 3.5m tall and weighing 2.7t, it is in side a shop made to look like a cave in the high street of Artherton, for some reason. Still raining