thribble

After the flight to get here, you'd think everything would be plain sailing, wouldn't you?! Oh no. As we arrived at 11pm to the hotel the first time we ventured out was the next morning. We went for a bike ride for about an hour, then into town to pick up some essentials. By this time, number one essential was sunblock. We'd gone out at 9am and it had been cloudy, so we hadn't even thought about it. By the time we got back to drop the bikes off my arms and knees were lobster. We stocked up on the factor 3o, and thankfully I'm staying brown rather than red now. It's a shame the same can't be said for paj who, despite liberal slappings of the stuff, failed to get it completely round his ankles, and is now suffering from a pink tinge in said area.

Still, it could all be a lot worse. Our hostess for the last few days, am, was nearly bitten by a red back whilst gardening on Christmas Eve. Thankfully I haven't yet seen anything poisonous (although I did feel grateful that however polluted the River Tees gets, there's never been a sign next to it saying "DO NOT SWIM. RISK OF AMOEBIC MENINGITIS." The only aussie wildlife I've seen so far was a dead kangaroo by the side of the road. Hopefully I'll see a live one soon which will cancel that out.

Surviving Oz so far seems to be a combination of sunscreen, water and not going near the sand dunes where the venomous snakes live. I can handle that!