Road trip to Sunshine Coast. On the left is Steve Irwin's Australia Zoo, which I didn't actually go in but simply rubber-necked at the line of mourners. On the left is part of the Glasshouse Mountains.

Nice to know that the pix aren't coming across too badly, and good to hear from folks! I'm a little behind in the chronology of the trip, I realize, but speaking briefly about the present, I'm well and have just finished surfing (badly) twelve days straight. More about that later. Plans are in the works for switching my flight around in order to see Thailand, and my current thinking is if I have to go through the effort and cost, I might as well go full guns. Also on the table are Cambodia and Bali, and have also been recommended Laos and Vietnam. I'm thinking that a seven week extension of the trip is a good ballpark, bringing me back to Canada early January. Although I have been doing a bit of research, I've got a bit of quiet time coming up in which I'm going to sort all this out, as I should make some definite decisions soon. More about that later.

Lost my metronome, and another timepiece is going down the tubes. More about that later.

Back to the 29th of September, when Sab, Jeff, and I hopped in his company car (the fude-and-drinc-mobile) and headed about 90 minutes north of Brisbane to the Sunshine Coast Hinterland. We were visiting Sab and Jeff's friends Mark and Jen, whom they know from Toronto. Mark and Jen live on a 1.5 acre property in a little settlement called Mooloolah Valley, about 20 minutes from the coastal town of Maroochydore. It was seemingly a little country suburb, but many of the houses had paddocks in which horses ran around like the family dog. A pretty idyllic setting, and since the weather was gorgeous, we lazed around the pool and watched all the different tropical birds playing in the bushes. They moved here from Canada about a year or so ago, and have spent a lot of time improving the property, especially with repect to comfortable outdoor areas protected from the beating sun. Looks great, nice little veranda! This busyness was marred a bit recently, since Jen ripped her Achilles and is laid up in a cast, poor girl. Speaking of ripping, they also have a great little dog named Buddy, who loves nothing more than Tug-O-War, and tearing the heads off stuffed animals. I think we went through two a day while I was there, and often the lawn looked like some sort of kindergarten carnage with tufts of stuffing and the odd plush ear or nose.

One afternoon, we took a little road trip into the mountains to check a series of little ridge-top towns (one of which was Montville, but all I remember from the other two is that they begin with "M".... in fact, all the places around here seem to, which gets a bit confusing), and take a look at the Glasshouse Mountains, huge monoliths jutting up out of the surrounding wooded landscape. That night, we ate at a little place called Graze (located in another little M-Town), and ate the best pizza I have ever tasted: the Taj Tandoori. Chicken, banana, coriander, and lots of other good stuff.

Upon meeting Mark, I learned he was a part time dive instructor, and he asked me if I wanted to get in on a dive, which I immediately took him up on. Turns out that another part time gig is hopping in a tank and feeding sharks.... So we were up early on Sunday, and drove to the coast to dive the HMAS Brisbane. Located about 5 km offshore and 27m underwater, the Brisbane was a battleship scuttled about 15 months ago in order to start an artificial reef and provide some recreation for divers. Unlike the Yongala, which can't be entered due to it being a grave site, the Brisbane wreck is intended for diving. The ship was skeletonized, and holes were cut in the side to allow easy access for divers. Regardless of where you are in the wreck, you can always see sunlight, and there are lots of things to explore - all the rooms, smokestacks, little narrow crew tunnels. Pretty cool. I had to wear a hood and gloves, since headbumps are common (its steel construction makes it a bit unforgiving), and the ship is covered with sharp barnacles. The ship hasn't been down there that long, so not a lot of sealife has built up here, but there were a few exceptions, like spiky lionfish and big batfish. The highlight for me was the engine, a big 3 storey space with the engine and pipes running from floor to ceiling, surrounded all the way up by a swirling school of baitfish glistening in the shafts of light. Mark was my guide for my first dive, which lasted about 40 minutes, but he was forced to pack it in as he was feeling a bit sick. The trip out was quite choppy, and we were only in this little Zodiac that just bashed through the huge waves - they're tough little boats. Not good for tender stomachs though. One of the other instructors, Simon, was thus my buddy, and took me on a little personal tour all through the wreck.

Alas, the weekend had to come to an end, and we were all a little groggy from the lounging and the sun, not to mention that I'd been up at 5:30 and out in the water. We made our way back to Brisbane, as Jeff and Sab had to work, and me... well, I had another little adventure booked: Moreton Island.