up to sydney at last...

Finally we arrived in Melbourne. Had a brilliant few days, catching up with old mates and being amazed at how nice their houses were! Stayed at Tim's in Fitzroy, also caught up with Claire, Sharon and a few other people who I'd known before. Visited my old work, e55 too, and a good few places I used to go to. HAd a lovely few days. It really is a cool city!

Only a few days chilling out there, before hitting the roasd for Sydney. On the way we took the (almost) coastal route- the slow way as always! Bairnsdale, with pretty lakes, then into NSW again, to Eden, to Ben Boyd national park- a beautiful national park campsiter, though nealry wrecked the poor car tryin got get there- about 15k on unsealed road- ouch!
anyway, we were rewarded with rock wallabies, a nice fire, and views like this at Disaster Bay-
From there we travelled through Bega (another famous cheese place) but no time to stop this time, and Tilba Tilba- a lovely little place, up in the hills, which looked like it should be in Switzerland rather than Australia!
we stopped in Narooma for the night, then headed on northwards and spent the night in Kiama.
We managed to get there a bit early and even though it was packed with sydneysider weekenders, we got a spot with a sea view. A very pretty spot in a little bay. we sat and ate a nice platter of cheese, ham etc, and drank fizzy wine in the sunshine. Last night before Sydney!
Next moring we were up early to go and see the famous kiama blowhole

ooh!
Then a gorgeous drive via this stunning road over the sea:

then it was up through Royal National Park - the 2nd to be founded in the world after Yellowstone. So beautiful- Wattamolla beach was stunnning, in a secluded bay, with a lake behind and a little waterfall

The Grampians and Great Ocean Road

so spent a lovely few days in Barossa again, sampling the many varieties of wine that the region is famous for! was beautiful- rolling hills, vines and lovely weather. we hired bikes and cycling around lots though was bit hills, so pretty exhausting!

after that we headed out of SA, and into Victoria to the Grampians. More lovely scenery, and we met up with Claire Mulligan there. Did quite a strenuous walk, saw some Aboriginal rock paintings, and enjoyed a couple of big fires! A lovely few days and great to catch up with old Mullers again!!! Really nice, and the nights were actually warm...

That didn't last though- the next night we drove a short distance to Port Fairy, on the south coast and it was freezing! Rain and wind- yuck! Anyway, the next day we got up and were very happy to find that the weather was at least dry!


First stop was koala spotting at Tower Hill...amazing- there were loads and actually moving around, eating and just generally looking a bit vacant, as they do! So cute. Then we went to a cheese factory which made Marc's day, followed by whale spottting which made mine! These were Southern right whales and there were 2 right by the beach at Warrnambool. Just beautiful. After that we headed on down the Great Ocean road- lots of stops at lookouts. Very windy but stunning. Somehow we managed to miss the most famous one- the 12 Apostles, but they were all fantastic and along the same lines! We had another cold night in Apollo Bay, but the next morning we woke up and it was gorgeous. We were so lucky to have sun for this part of the road- all winding by the cliffs- totally fantastic. Also had another koala stop at Kennett River campsite. Again the koalas were pretty active- a few had little babies. aw! Also managed to get a couple if metres away from one. Its was amazing- it didn't even flinch. And of course when we went to take a picture the film had just ran out. Unbelievable!

But here's a picture of me getting blown around on the Great Ocean Rd...


http://www.warrnambool.nu/whales/http://
www.warrnamboolcam.com/whales.htm

happy birthday bay-beeeee

justine joins us 30 somethings tomorrow, as she will be hitting the big 3-0 on the 24th october

so all together now,

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO YOU
HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO YOU
HAPPY BIRTHDAY DEAR JUSTINE
HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO YOU

xxx

and on to Victoria and South Australia

The next morning, we woke up and it was raining and freezing! We packed up our tents in record time and headed into Armidale, which I willremember as being the coldest I’ve been in Australia 4 C, apparently. Not good when you’re camping and have no warm clothes whatsoever! Weird to see people with red and streaming faces..brrr.

Anyway, we were up high so as we headed on down the hills it started warming up again. Seriously- camping in the cold is just not fun any more! We went through Tamworth, country music capital of Australia, Dubbo, where they seem to be having breakfast wars, then getting Coonabarabran for that night. Everywhere has some claim to fame in Oz- here it was the ‘Astronomy capital of Australia’! Actually we did go to a little observatory, which was brilliant. We saw the bands on Jupiter, its moons, clouds of clusters of stars, the craters on the moon, and lots more that I’ve forgotten. Really great, though…Freezing again but the town had a lovely old pub with a fire which was really cosy. A very nice stop off…

The nest day we drove through the Warrumbungles, full of spectacular rock formations and cliffs, emus and kangaroos! Will put a pic on in a day or 2

On we went, next stops Parkes and Forbes, where the first pictures were sent to the giant satellite dish from the moon landings in 1969. Impressive- there’s a film about it called ‘the Dish’, which we watched a couple of weeks ago

From there, we travelled on through more outback type country, into Victoria, briefly, then into South Australia. We stopped overnight in the Barossa Valley, then it was off to Adelaide. Its also a really nice city, and we spent a few days just wandering around enjoying it, and also doing some things to get my visa extended. Anyway…been talking far too long now, so I’ll go and continue next time xx

just a few random pics while i'm here!

a bit of a detour and evil possums!

We left Byron in the rain., and oh my God did it rain…for the next 4 days or so, and it was then we discovered that our car leaks. So the floor was soaking and every time marc would hit the brakes or something, a big bucket of water landed on his feet. It was hard! Driving’s no fun in that weather. But then, neither is camping, so you kind of get at a bit of a loss. Also works out quite expensive as you have to sit in the pub all night just to keep warm and dry!

So the towns we saw, were probably very nice but all seemed a bit drab- Ballina, Yamba, Maclean. Finally, we got to Brooms Head and it started showing signs of clearing up. This is quite a strange town. It actually consists of the caravan park which stretches out 2k along the coast, and the town Bowls club, where everybody was. Anyway, it was a lovely spot. We camped right down in front of a big hill and just on the shore of the beach. We were well happy when the next day was gorgeous. We went for a walk along the beaches and generally appreciated the return of the sunshine!

Then we went to Redcliff in nearby Yaraygir national park. One of the contenders for best camp spot ever, we were on the top of cliffs, with views of the ocean all below us and red cliffs beside us. Plus there were kangaroos absolutely everywhere, and we could even have a fire- pretty cold at nights in these parts. It was just beautiful.

After that, we headed on down to Coff’s Harbour. After a few days in the national parks its always nice to get to a campsite, for a proper shower! The campsite was quite nice, even though quite a few permanent residents were having drinks at 10am! Still we played some tennis and had a nice spot.

From there we kind of took a bit of a detour…we’d been going pretty slowly stopping at everything for a while. The plan was to get to Sydney (a couple of hundreds km away) for a music festival but this was another 3 weeks away, so we decided to try and do something completely different and go via Adelaide and Melbourne….as you do!

So off we went along the Waterfall way, in the area known as New England. As the name suggests there’s lots of waterfalls, winding roads, national parks and stunning scenery along the way- and does indeed look quite English with the trees, fields and cows. The first night we spent in Dorrigo, a lovely town up in the hills- man that was cold! Along the way, we stopped off at Ebor Falls







and wollomombi falls

we camped nearby here that night in Oxley Wild Rivers national park. it was a gorgeous woodland campsite, but teh possums were so aggressive. One in particular was particularly cheeky, it just wouldn't go away., to the point were i was actually poking the thing with a stick and it was just looking at me as if to say 'What?', It didn't even budge. Nightmare!... I actually thought it was going to jump on me. After a while we kind of figured it out and put every tiny little bit of food and dishes away, and finally got some peace. And to think I thought they were cute....

main st nimbin


nimbin museum

into New South Wales

After a heavy weekend in Straddie, we said goodbye to the others for now, and went a little bit north again to Caloundra. Spent a nice few days relaxing there, then headed back down to Brisbane- seemed like such a big city after everywhere else we’d been in Australia. Really pretty as well. Met up with a couple of marc’s friends there-, pete and jane on the thursday then sarah church on Friday.. Lots of fun again.

From there we went on southwards, stopping at Surfer’s Paradise. This isn’t the idyllic beach town that you might imagine…kind of more like an Australian version of Las Vegas- bright lights, high rise hotels, etc.



One of marc’s friends’ brother lives in Byron bay, so we were able to rent a room for a week. This was great, to have a roof and 4 walls after so long in the tent!!! Wasn’t too relaxing tho, as paul brought us round everywhere on a whirlwind tour. Was fantastic though- met lots of people (including Michael hutchence’s brother!) and did lots of things, inclusing going to Nimbin- an old hippy town and has to be seen to be believed- its hilarious. It was a great week. Byron is brilliant fun, and is in a lovely location in a bay surrounded by deep blue seas, and more whales!

Byron Bay

Byron Bay
Originally uploaded by Rossalath.

happy birthday to becky!

We managed to meet up with Becky, Chris and Tim to go to Stradbroke Island, just off the coast off Brisbane for the weekend, celebrate Becky’s 30th birthday. Our campsite was beautiful, just beside the beach, and the weather was lovely. Becky’s present was a ride in a tiger moth plane, loop the loops and all. It was so so so scary (and I was on the ground!). Poor Becky could hardly walk after she came off but luckily she forgave us a little bit later! Had such a great weekend, and so nice to catch up...

Here's a few photos of the weekend

all kinds of cool animals!

After the Whitsunday’s, we headed on south, stopping at a couple of lovely national parks- cape Hillsborough, where we camped by the beach- lovely! and to Eungella where we saw lots of cute busy little platypuses (platypi?)


Stayed a couple of days at Mackay- where we bought a new lantern! Its actually amazing compared to the candles we’d been using up till then. It’s a gas one and gives off so much light, and even a little bit of heat! Fantastic purchase, makes so much difference to camping life! Also saw lots of lorikeets in Mackay…


From there, we covered a bit of mileage, crossed the tropic of Capricorn around Rockhampton, and stopped at Agnes Water, and the town of 1770…where Captain Cook first came ashore in that year! It’s a lovely sleepy little place with a lovely beach, nice and relaxing for a few days after being on the road.

Next stop- Hervey Bay for one of my best days ever!!! The humpback whales come and stop in the bay there, for a little holiday from their big migration down the coast. They hang out there for a while and basically spend their time relaxing and playing around. So the whale watching trips they run are great, you can get right up beside them, and they are just the most amazing animals….so curious. The crew on the boat get you to wave around and generally allow you to act how excited you feel so you can get their attention! Then they come right over to the boat- you can see them looking up at you under the water, and swimming around, probably what these weird creatures are! We saw a few breaches right by our boat, flipper waving, and all that malarkey. So so so amazing! Love em!!!!



Actually, from there on down the coast, we saw lots of whales off the coast…it’s a great hobby and such a joy when you spot the blow out on the water!

From there, we travelled on down to the Sunshine Coast to Noosa, very pretty- saw dolphins swimming with surfers by the beach! spent a few days there and head ed off to Brisbane!
Actually, from there on down the coast, we saw lots of whales off the coast…it’s a great hobby and such a joy when you spot the blow out on the water!

From there, we travelled on down to the Sunshine Coast to Noosa, very pretty- saw dolphins swimming with surfers by the beach! spent a few days there and head ed off to Brisbane!

a few pics of the whitsundays...

at sea

hey again!

so our trip ut to the whitsundays was awesome- beuutiful boat, nice people, and stunning scenery! we did a 3 day/3 night trip, on a sailing boat called Madison- all wooden fittings, and sleeping on the boat in very narrow beds! visited several islands, including whitehaven beach which is unbelievable:


also went out to the Great Barrier Reef, and stayed there overnight. thats pretty special- its a realy rough journey out there, and then all of a sudden, hours out in the ocean, you get to the reef and its calm! we saw whales near the boat on the way out there, and they were around the reef as well. an amazing sight to see over breakfast...it was really cool to spend the night way out at sea like that too. did a bit of snorkelling and its lovely, but so so cold!

all in all great fun- one of the best in oz!