Where else but Queensland will you find sunshine all year round; the Great Barrier Reef; rainforests, crocodiles; poisonous fish; Castlemaine XXXX; loads of bananas and sugar cane; cyclones (which actually destroyed all the bananas); and men with mullets and short shorts? This is what we were expecting in a State we haven't spent a lot of time in. A couple of holidays and long weekends to the Gold Coast and Sunshine Coast, is as far as we have previously ventured. The locals also call this State, God's Country so we were looking forward to discovering whether there was any truth behind this.The start of the Great Barrier Reef would also hail the end of Lindsay's surf sojourn and we were both realising that we would now have to be more wary of crocs than sharks!!

At the time of writing we have spent six weeks or so travelling north from the border and are currently questioning Queensland's claim to be the sunshine state! We are experiencing an extended wet season, which the locals keep telling us is quite unusual. Not that we are complaining - it is 27 degrees most days however the rain is usually like mist, making it quite humid at times!!

It was fun to revisit the Gold Coast, where the surf was all but legendary and the Sunshine Coast became the 3 wettest days of our trip so far. Beyond here however has been new territory for us to discover and towns like Elliot Heads; Agnes Waters and the Town of 1770 were well off the beaten track and just how we imagined Australian coastal towns and communities to be, many many years ago, before developers got their hands on them.

We then crossed the Tropic of Capricorn and are now travelling up through the tropics, which has given us white sandy beaches, palm trees, warm water, loads of marine life and a fair share of rain. It has also been interesting to see how the resources boom, which is happening in both central and coastal Queensland, is bringing wealth to regional centres outside of the state capital cities. There is a real buzz in the air and it has been interesting to see the impact the mining and agricultural industries are having on these communities.

Our plans for July and going into August are to continue travelling up through tropical north Queensland to Cairns, where we are heading off on a 14 day, four wheel drive camping safari to Cape York. In the meantime, you can have a look below at how we have been occupying ourselves over the 1700km since we crossed the border, with the outstanding highlight being our sailing holiday in the Whitsundays.

PHOTO SLIDESHOWS