I will be going home today...sob! but of course will be excited about going home and seeing David and the boys again.

Papa made a whopping AUS $721 last night at Texas Hold 'Em. Had good cards the whole night including four 7's one round. Of course all of us took a small share of his winnings for being so supportive ;-)

Will be taking the 2pm Quantas flight QF51 home and should reach about 8pm

Guess that's the end of my holiday!

We collected Amy's Graduation gown today...YES she's finally made it. Went round the school taking photos. We still can't believe she made it ;-)

We FOUND some DISTANT's in Toowoomba!!!!!!!!!!! There are in total 5 known Distant's and we went to each and every address that was listed in the white pages of Australia. We drew a blank at the first four houses and were ready to give up hope.

When we reached the fifth house, we saw cars parked in the garage but no signs of people. We were going to drive off when I saw three people walking to the backyard so I ran in and asked if there was a Distant living there. The young guy said...yes I am Troy Distant and that's my dad, Dennis Distant!!!

We were of course elated as FINALLY we found more Distant's in the world. We started talking about our fathers and grandfathers. Dennis Distant even knew about the Botanist William Lucas Distant who wrote the butterfly book so definitely there was some connection. He mentioned that the Distant's came from England. Later Dennis suggested we hope over to his brother, Stan's place, as he would know more about our heritage. Sadly we forgot to take photos of our Distant relatives.

We drove back to the first house on our list. We discovered that all the Distant's in Toowoomba are related. There where we met Margaret his wife and talked about our family. It was the BEST part of the whole day. His father was William Lucas Distant (not the botanist)who worked on the railway and his Grandfather was John Distant who fought in WWI and WWII and received medals of bravery. We believe that William and Grandpa are cousins. Stan and Margaret have one son and two daughters. Their son, Steven, wrote an e-mail to Papa before and in fact in the 1970s when Stan was based in Singapore (he was a cook in the Navy) he actually met Uncle Denis at the bank when he looked up Distant in the phone book and found our names!

We mentioned that the coat of arms we bought at the South Bank market said the Distant's originated from Italy and Stan mentioned that his father looked exactly like an Italian so he wouldn't be surprised if it was a fact!

So after a while we said our Goodbyes but not before leaving our address and contact numbers. This was truely one of the best parts of this trip. Went to Picnic point on top of hill for lunch before heading home on our 2hr drive.

Today was markets...markets...and more markets!! We took a nice long drive to the Eummandi markets which had row and rows of stalls of knick knacks and food and all kinds of stuff. It has a nice hippy feel about the place and it was a good day. Bought a clock for the house which I couldn't resist and had more daily corn on the cob which I also couldn't resist. Lunch consisted of German Bratwurst sausages which was YUMMY!!! Nana bought tons of stuff AGAIN...I fancy she loves these old markets.

After the markets it was a drive up the mountain to this quaint little place called Montville. Up the winding road I drove quite bravely. It was raining when we reached so I bought ponchos for the parents and we had our daily steak pie and coffee while we waited for the rain to stop. The small cottages were actually little shops with unique items like lamp shades, frog figurines, cuckoo clocks etc etc...window shopped for a bit and Nana bought tons of stuff AGAIN

After heading home (including a stop at South Bank for the Coat of Arms stall which was closed)
we had laksa for dinner and then headed to the Treasury Casino to earn back what we spent. Tried my luck at Roulette but no smell. Pokies didn't give much returns as well. Signed Papa up for Texas Hold-up and I think that was the highlight of the night. Managed to get a seat for him at the AUS $5/$10 table and he sat down like a pro. He was off to a shaky start at first trying to learn the rules of the game but after an hour, he was placing his bets like he'd been playing all his life. He made AUS$ 75 and we all went home happy.

Preparing for our Toowomba trip today (Sunday), Papa showed me that there were at least 11 Distant's living in Toowomba and in the Queensland area!! Now this is really interesting news and today we are going Distant watching!! I am really really excited and hope we can finally find our roots ....will keep you posted

We spent the whole morning of Friday packing Amy's room for her return to Singapore....the clock showed 8:00am but it was actually 10:30am (old batteries) so we wasted 2hrs just hanging around in her room. The good news is that we managed to pack most of her stuff with only pillows and comforters left so our job is nearly done. After lunch at a nice Dim Sum place, Mummy and I proceeded to Queen Street mall where more shopping was to be done at Target, Meyer, Supre etc etc. Happy again!

In the evening it was a trip to South Bank markets were we browsed the shops for knick knacks. The highlight was the place were you could trace back your family's Coat of Arms. We keyed in Distant and lo and behold our family's coat of arms appeared. We're ITALIANS!!!!!!!!!!! Anyway we considered buying the print out for AUS$35 but later decided against it (Papa couldn't accept that we may be from the land of pasta and pizza).....but ever since then, he's been talking about it and wants to return to the market which btw is only opened on Friday night, Saturday and Sunday morning....so we're going to have to fit it into our busy schedule this weekend

Today was a day of shopping!!! We went to Harbour Town for outlet shopping and spent a lot of money :-) . It is about an hour's drive from Brisbane city and a relatively smooth journey. The weather was super cold so I spent most of the time taking shelter from the cold in the shops. We ate lunch at this place called Nando's which had grilled chicked and it was yummy! One of my best meals ever. After outlet shopping, we drove a couple of km south to Gold Coast (surfer's paradise) where we managed to catch some fabulous waves before the sunset. Dinner was at Pacific Mall which is the largest mall in Gold Coast. By then we were just too tired to walk anymore. Ate a spud which was once again very delicious. Our day would not be complete without a trip to the Casino. Welcome to Jupiter Casino at the Conrad. Recently renovated, it was clean and bright but without lady luck on our side the outing was just not satisfying. We did come across a new game called Texas Hold 'em which looked really promising. However there was a 2hr waiting list to get to the table so back to the roulette table it was for us. Bets were placed again on 19, 12 and 26 and as usual it was goodbye to the monies and a sad one hour drive back to Brisbane.....

Today was Movie World and it was FANTASTIC!!! The rides were really great...the best being Superman Escape and Lethal Weapon. The adrenalin rush was terrific...we could see the whole of Movie World carpark at the very top of the roller coaster just before falling ninety degrees downwards...Aunty Amy was screaming her lungs out and I just laughed throughout the entire ride..it was really good fun.

We also managed to catch the Street Parade and there were cartoon characters like Shrek , Scooby Doo, Batman and Catwoman, Justice League etc ....took lots of photos

We are back in Brisbane!! Cairns was really great. The best part was the Great Barrier Reef where we went scuba diving and snorkelling. Ames and I went for the Introductory Diving course and the next thing you knew, we were down 12m and checking out the corals and fishes...we even saw a small shark. We went out to sea via the Osprey V which was filled with bikini babes and sufer dudes from all over the world.



We also went to Kuranda via the Railtrain and came back on the Skyrail which is actually a cable car. The view was magnificant...

Weatherwise it wasn't too great. Rain most days with some sunshine in between. Rented a car on the fourth day and drove to Port Douglas, Mossman Gorge and Daintree Village. Nothing to rave about but a good day out with the family.

There's a Casino here in Cairns called Reef Casino. My favourite game was the $5 Reef Routine which is similar to 5 card poker only you don't get a chance to change your cards. Good fun though no money was won.

All in all, the best part of Cairns was by far the GREAT BARRIER REEF. It was certainly an eye opener.

I
am now in Brisbane with the Parents and Amy!!! The plane ride was tough..7hours and stuck in the middle seat...my butt was killing me.

Weather here is really good. Not too cold which suits me just fine. Rented a car from Hertz for today. It's a Ford Falcon.

It was great seeing Amy again. She drove us around the city and brought us to a Vietnamese place for Beef Noodles. Parents bought 4D as usual .

We're all...as in parents, Amy and me, staying in Amy's little room at Unilodge. We literally have to walk over each other to get to the bed or bathroom. It's worst than backpacking but we'll survive

Did some shopping though didn't find much stuff. Waiting to go for dinner at some Chinese restaurant called Jackpot Noodles which doesn't look very promising but it's nearby

We're off to Cairns tomorrow morning ...can't wait