When entering an Australian port, we are reminded each time that no food, plants, animals, meats, etc. may be brought ashore (they call it a quarantine). To ensure that this law is not broken a professsionally trained sniffing beagle dog, affectionately known as the beagle brigade, checks each disembarking passenger's bags and there is a big fine for offenders. The sign reads: "we find, We fine."

We finally saw some kangaroos when we visited the Billabong Sanctuary, also crocodiles, koala bears, cassowary birds which have one big middle toe with which they can kick and kill you. We learned that koalas sleep 23 out of 24 hours a day because they are continuosly stoned from eating the eucalyptus leaves that they thrive on.

This area of Queensland was badly damaged by cyclone Yasi and they are still recovering. The damage was mostly flooding and major tree uprooting. The Billabong animal Sanctuary was badly damaged and was closed to the public until mid-April, but they opened it for us for a few hours. A lot of the animal cages were still destroyed by high winds and falling trees.