Finally a kangaroo (or was it a wallaby?)

Since the campsite was rather rudimentary and so near the motorway (i.e. nothing to stick around for) we had a very early start today. The site was right next to the tourist drive to the Glass House Mountains so we drove to the Glass House Mountains Outlook and admired the panorama of these strange things that just seem to erupt out of the landscape. We were not very far north of Brisbane but had agreed a long time previously not to bother with it (we will see Sydney and Melbourne after all) so we just headed south on the M1 (hurray, the roads are actually excellent down here!) and stopped in the late morning at the Daisy Hill Koala Centre in a southern suburb of Brisbane. Unfortunately the centre was closed for renovation and no koalas obligingly revealed themselves in the wild, but we did finally get to see a live kangaroo. Until now we have only seen them dead by, or in the middle of, the road. They seemed very willing to pose for photos and a joey even briefly popped its head out of its mother's pouch.

Saskia spotted a giant IKEA nearby and we thought it would be fun to test the authenticity of their Swedish meatballs. Interestingly the suburb turned out to be Logan. Inside we were met by the disturbing message that Småland was full. What's been happening in our absence? Have elk-loving Germans flooded the whole region? Have American descendants of "Kristina från Duvemåla" decided to return en masse? No, it's the kids' fault. The meatballs were excellent, by the way. Better than the ones they serve in Sweden. The lady at the checkout turned out to be from Scotland, to cap it all. There was also a small bookshop stocked with (only) Swedish books and a food store on the ground floor where you could (unfortunately?) even purchase Kopparbergs Cider. Saskia just had to have a packet of Ballerinakex.

We originally intended to stop a Byron Bay, but there were 25 000 extra inhabitants to contend with there due to the "Splendour in the Grass" festival, so we had to continue to Ballina and a small campsite right down by the sea. It turned out to be an excellent place right at the river mouth and next to a walkway out to the entrance to the bay.

(Derek)