And more driving...with a little off road twist

We’re still cruising up the coast… The water is getting warmer, days are getting longer and the bugs are getting bigger! The off-roading is still fantastic. My motorcycle friend informed me that Russell Crowe chose to spend his honeymoon driving up the Queensland coast too…seems great minds think alike! Sarah and I have done quite a few miles the last few days and we’ve learned a few things about Australia: 1. There is a TON of space out here. Today we drove 200 miles on the ONLY major highway on the populated eastern coast and saw next to nothing. Lots of agricultural lands (sugar cane as far as you can see), lots of dead ‘roos and a lonely road house here and there. PLUS, were not in the outback. I have a hard time thinking of a comparable stretch of road in the US that I have been on, possibly in the desert SW or maybe Montana... 2. Motel + bottle shop + pub + fuel = roadhouse (bottle shop not always available) 3. Wine in a box does not = bad wine. There seems to be a surplus of wine in this country and it comes in any type of packaging you want. You can even get individual servings in Capri Sun style bags. Plus, it’s WAY cheaper than beer. You can purchase a $2.50 AUD bottle of table wine. 4. “Hello” (g’day) in passing seems to be obligatory… 5. Everyone is your “mate” 6. “no worries” (your welcome) is used all the time 7. Men are manly men here….I said “yes ma’am” to a lady at the campground and she said “you must not be from around here!” 8. They can’t tell the difference between Americans and Canadians. In fact we were told “it’s just a line, AY?” We also heard that the Canadians were disgusted when someone asked if they were Americans. (probably from Quebec…) 9. The Aussies may be significantly lacking in their internet connection speed and access but they have digital radio. (Every radio commercial sounds like an Outback steakhouse commercial) 10. They LOVE the controlled burn here (forest underbrush management). There are black burned fields all over the place here and we have seen some fires/smoke. Heading to the Whitsundays today....will post some more soon. View of Coral Sea from point @ Cape Palmerston Sarah reading our million guidebooks/pamphlets and deciding what to do next "Crab Art" on a beach - little balls of sand made by lots of little crabbies