The signs say it's less than 400km to Brisbane, so we should make it back this afternoon, which is good, because the music in the car is repeating, and is beginning to get on my nerves. Politeness and smiles is slowly being replaced with cravings for personal space. Having slept in a diferent bed every night for two weeks, I'd be glad to see some consistancy again. And I don't think I can eat any more museli.

Our Cabin in Nabucca River

Murky Flood Water

Nambucca River

Canoes for Hire

We saw some stuff on the way. It all began looking the same. At one rest stop I saw an odd black cylinder on the front of a van. Joel explained that it was the bush method for heating up water to take a hot shower with later. It's made from PCV and painted black.

More Trees	First Blue Sky in Three Days	Bridge	Sugar Cane Fields
Cactus	Dr. Who Pinball Machine	Hot Water Heater

The blue sky lasted only briefly, and then these dark clouds overtook us.

Storm Over Sugar Cane

Storm Clouds Overtaking Blue Sky

We passed "The Big Banana" but the picture didn't come out. Just imagine a 400 foot long steel and vinyl banana on the side of the road that would get King Kong's attention. Instead, here's "The Big Prawn."

The Big Prawn

We decided that the monotony was too monotonous to end a great road trip on, so we split off from Percy and Rose. Less than 100km to Brisbane, we veered off to see Surfers Paradise, a tourist town with higher skyrises than Brisbane has. Unfortunately, the roads were completely blocked off, all the available parking was roped off, and pedestrians filled the remaining streets to see the Indy race about to start. We sat in bumper to bumper NY style traffic trying to escape Surfers Paradise (in search of the nearest toilet) and could see the main straightaway and bleachers just to our right.

So we forged on ahead, determined to see a nice beach before Brisbane, pulling into Southport, just north of Surfers Paradise. There were massive waves crashing against the jetty, and insane surfers riding them. The waves crahed against the rocks sending spray high into the air in front of where we stood on the jetty watching them, only about 50 feet away. We also watched a crazy guy on a jet ski lurch himself straight up over the top of the breaking waves, turn over, and plunge straight down into the water, head first. He did it three times before he had to drag himself onto the shore, limping. Matt and Marnie could not resist the urge to jump in to the churning water and attempt body surfing. We waved at them to come in because it was starting to rain, but they thought we were just cheering them on!

Hills South of Brisbane	Surfers Paradise from Burleigh Heads	Tree at Burleigh Heads Beach	A Sign for the Blind
Bleachers Set Up Along Main Straightaway	Wading at Southport	Wide and Empty Beach	Surfers Paradise from Southport
Sand Pumps	Walking Surfer	Father and Son Playing Soccer	Waves Breaking Against Jetty
Surfing	Another Surfer	Crashing Surf at Jetty's End	Matt and Marnie Jumped In
Waiting for a Big Wave

We've just finished dinner at the Gosden's home, everyone is kind of in limbo. We were going to pick up their niece, Tina and her husband (eldest daughter of Peter and Sharon) from the airport tonight, but their flights got mixed up and they wont be coming until next weekend. So, I may not get to meet them, because I've only got about 8 more days left.

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