The last word...

Things came to a nerve racking end in Australia as time and time again people viewed the car, sometimes on several occasions, and then gave us the run around. We really started trying to consider our options for getting rid of it if it didn't sell. It then came down to the penultimate day of our stay, and the worst possible happened, it broke down (yes, again!). Luck was shining on us in some sort of way that day though, as we had broken down outside a hostel, opposite a Toyota dealership, who took a look for us, and confirmed it wasn't a flat battery (it wouldn't start) but the air conditioning condenser had seized. Easy, just drop the alternator down and remove the belt and try and start it. Well it would be easy if I had some tools, again luck was on our side and next to the Toyota dealership was a backpacker van rental, complete with workshop, they were kind enough to let me use whatever I needed. A couple of 12mm spanners later and a new alternator belt from the Toyota garage (the one they use for Camry's that don't have A/C) and she was alive again! Not only that but the annoying whining sound that had been putting people off had disappeared. We had a viewing that evening and then an offer in the night, he would buy the car on our LAST DAY for the same money we had paid 2 months earlier (which still left us out of pocket due to the amount of repairs we had done but at least we got some money back!).

A couple of days later we found ourselves in Chennai, celebrating my birthday over a cheap vegetarian curry. On the flight there Fran had organised a surprise birthday cake with champers to celebrate - aaah! We enjoyed visiting a film studio, some bazaars, a small town called Mamallapuram which had lots of interesting rock carvings, and generally just getting back into Asia mode, enjoying the local flavours. We only had a couple of days before flying to Delhi, where we went to a tailors and were measured for suits. Delhi is an interesting place which in parts is a lot cleaner and less congested than I had imagined, but other parts more than make up for it with horn beeping rickshaws and piles of rubbish lining the streets. We had a week to fill so booked train tickets to do the loop known as the Golden Triangle, first stop Agra and the Taj Mahal. The Taj really is one of the most beautiful buildings in the world, built by the Raj as a monument for his wife who had passed away, a testament to their love. We really enjoyed walking around the grounds and seeing it up close, its simplicity one of the keys to its magnificent aura.

Next stop was Jaipur, in Rajistan, an old capital with ancient city walls and old city centre, all painted pink by a previous ruler as it was a colour of prosperity. Things are slightly more chilled out here, and the food is good. Our favourite was a local Indian Thali house, with no menu choice, but vegetarian Thali, all you can eat (they bring round more Chapati's, Naans, Rice and Dal), for only 50 Rupees (£0.70 in our currency!). We still wanted to visit small town India, so made the journey to Pushkar, and things got really laid back with hippies and dreadlocks hanging out everywhere. The town has a nice (but touristy) market, which we wandered around, and a lake which is a pilgrimage destination for Hindus (although it wasn't too pretty given the fact they were cleaning it on a grand scale).

Back in Delhi we had just enough time to pick up our suits after final alterations and enjoy a couple more meals out, our year was almost up. We were feeling good about going home, living out of a backpack and in hostels / hotels / a tent / an RV really takes its toll, the excitement of seeing all our family and friends after such a long time really cheered us up. For the time being we will be staying at my folks house and letting our tenant continue to rent our house, until we can get jobs and pay off some of the debt we have accrued (we went sightly over budget - I blame the Holden Apollo!).

And I guess that's about it really, if we met you when we were travelling then hope to see you again sometime soon, if we knew you before we went then hope to see you real soon! If you gave us a roof for a night or more, then a huge thank you for your hospitality, feel free to visit us in Bromley when we have our house back and I'm sure we'll be able to find you somewhere to sleep! Take care everyone, thanks for reading!

Into the West with an old friend

Would you give the keys to your house to someone you barely knew and had only hung around with for a couple of days?! Well in true Aussie hospitality Matt and Teree who we met a few months previously in Ko Chang (Thailand) did just that and were the most hospitable of hosts! We had great fun catching up on our travels since we parted after spending a few hungover days and drunken nights together in Thailand. Thanks again to you both we had such a lovely time! It was great spending a few days in a house (the sofa was sooooo comfy!) and we also met a very unusual character who literally dropped in on M & T's balcony from his own one upstairs by shimmying down a tree! A few beers later and all the boys climbed up the tree back to his flat for a few more beers, apparently it was easier than climbing the stairs but Teree and I didn't quite manage it! Turns out Aaron is a arboculturalist (tree surgeon I believe) which would explain his monkey tendencies.

More fun was on it's way too as we picked up Ruth to start our road trip over to the great wild west. After finding a camping shop so that Ruth could purchase some supplies so she was all set to "get back to basics" and rough it with us, we were off! We were soon on the Great Ocean Road, reportedly the most scenic drive in Oz, and what a beautiful drive it was too! We stopped at many lookouts along the way taking a zillion pictures and also managed to fit in a short walk to a waterfall, dry of course, but which did look very magical in the photos. We ate wild blackberries and marvelled at the crazy rock formations carved out by the wind and rain.

The Great Ocean Road is spectacular, there is no question about it. The sandstone cliffs which make up this part of the coast line are threaded through with other harder materials. After a few thousand years of erosion, the result is awe inspiring as you see face like formations protruding from the water and all manner of other things with only a bit of imagination. The more popular sights such as the 12 apostles are bustling with people taking the perfect shot for their photo album, this is the most photographed place in Oz. Personally I love The Grotto, which you climb down steps to get to, then view the sea beyond and a green tide pool, framed by a hole in the rocks, just gorgeous and we had it to ourselves!

We moved practically every night for the next few weeks, which is very tiring considering we are all sleeping on thin mats in tents and being massacred by the wind along the coast! We went Wine tasting in the Barossa valley and found Jenke's Winery to have the best Merlot in the whole world, we loved it! The famous Jacob's Creek is also made in this region and we were pleasantly surprised at how friendly they were even though they were so famous, we ended up taking root and sampling almost the entire list and the staff jokingly said the thought we were becoming permanent fixtures!

The first National Park we went to with Ruth was the Grampians and we were plagued by flies landing in our eyes, mouths and sausages! How very dare they?! Then we began the long journey along the 1400km Nullabor Plain. Literally translated means "No trees" and they're not kidding! Although not all of it is barren desert there is a huge section in the middle that is and there is nothing to stop the wind from battering you. It took all three of us to hold the tent down and Ruth "slept over" as we couldn't summon the energy to put her tent up too!

We arrived at night and so the full impact of the "nothingness" didn't hit us until we crawled out of the tent in the morning, disheveled and exhausted by a restless night of sleep. Imagine not a desert with undulating sand dunes but instead small fragments of rock strewn in a reddish dusty dry landscape stretching out as far as the horizon, so flat and so barren that nothing breaks up your line of vision as you gaze in wonder around 360 degrees. I think I was particularly struck by how beautiful it was, it made me feel like an insignificant speck on this beautiful planet of ours.

Following our two solid days driving, we thought it would be rude not to indulge ourselves and go and visit THE most beautiful beach in Oz. FACT. Cape Le Grand National Park, on the South West Coast of WA is home to the stunning Lucky Bay. Turquoise waters and sand like sifted flour awaited us and we spent a lovely few days just soaking up some sun and frolicking in the sand and sea.

Next stop Albany where we arranged to meet up with a guy called Darren Aggiss, a distant relative of Ruth's (also an Aggiss). Facebook is a great medium for stuff like this! We met up in the local pub where everyone is super friendly and even before he showed up we made friends with some of the locals. It turns out Darren is a great guy and we went out with him and some of his other friends to "The only and the worst nightclub in Albany" and had an absolute ball dancing until the small hours and cementing our friendships with our new friends. I nearly got kicked out for being too drunk, but we were leaving anyway so I'm not sure it counts!

The next morning dawned rainy and hungover for all of us and Darren & Ev (his flatmate) invited us to their house for a BBQ. There we met Carmen, a really lovely friend of theirs and Michael, Darren's Dad (another Aggiss) to join our little group. After a fab lunch Darren unfortunately had to go to work but we were privy to the best local guides showing us the tourist sights of Albany such as the wind farm where we took a beautiful stroll to the wind swept cliffs and Carmen told us all about some of the native plants. We also saw The Gap, a collapsed natural bridge made of grey chunks of rocks by the ocean where a terrific noise and whooshing spray greets the visitors. We ended the evening with Fish and Chips & a beer back at Ev's house, all in all a wonderful weekend made possible by people we only just met but by now our friends.

OK so now imagine a 65 metre tall tree, lots of spokes drilled into it in a kind of spiral,a platform at the top and one nimble man and two terrified girls climbing up there, you have Karl, Ruth and I climbing up the Gloucester Tree, formerly a bush fire lookout from the 1930's. They have 4 of these tree top lookouts so that a bushfire could be spotted and dealt with as quickly as possible to avoid the towns around getting damaged. The view from the top is brilliant and you get an inkling of how cool it would be to be a bird! More nature awaited us as we explored the Karri trees on an elevated walk and then more huge trees which have been hollowed out by fire and disease but now make great photo opportunities for unabashed tourists like us! The Margaret River Wine Region is amongst all this nature so of course we did the sensible thing and went wine tasting at a winery call Random Valley (how could we not!) and a few other places. It didn't really compare to the Barossa Valley though, we are so spoiled now!

We spent a few days in Freemantle which is a quaint little town with buildings dating back to the 1920's, cool little shops, bars and restaurants. After frequenting a fair few of these we moved on and visited the Pinnacles Desert which is just north of Perth. Oz has so many wondrous natural sights and The Pinnacles do not fail to delight. We went there in the evening as the sun was setting and got up before the crack of dawn again because they were so cool. These "rocks" have been formed by fossil and limestone deposits and some are up to 5m tall. The light on them at dawn was so fresh and the colours were so rich we again took loads of photos and stared in wonder at such natural beauty.

Back on the road then for 7 hours to get to a place called Hyden which not only has Wave Rock which I am sure the reader can guess what it is, but also had a convention of Aggiss' and James' waiting to meet and greet Ruth, the distant Pohmy relative and her two friends! Again such a great welcome as we met up with Darren & his dad Michael and the rest of the rellies. We stayed at Darren's brothers house (thank you Phil & Belinda) and went out for dinner at the local pub to get to know everyone. We all had a great time, the family tree's came out on both sides and Ruth was excited to confirm that they most definitely had links dating way back and we sat drinking beer and chatting to everyone else. I tell you what the Aggiss's are a bad influence, whenever we get together with them a hangover in the morning seems to be the norm.

Back in the real world we are now in Perth / Freemantle trying to sell our car. We had to say goodbye to Ruth the other day as she was off to Melbourne and then back home whilst waiting for her Sri Lankan Visa to come through for her new job. It was so lovely being able to share our experiences with someone other than just each other and we can't wait to meet up with Ruth again really soon so we can talk about them all over again!

In less than a week we fly to India for a whirlwind tour.

South down the East coast

We set off from Cairns with a slightly uneasy feeling about the car after all the problems we had been having with it, but after the money we had spent, it should all be ok, but only time and KM's would tell!

We were still in rainy season being in the tropics so it rained pretty much every night for 2 weeks in the tent, not to mention a bit in the day at times, but as its hot you don't really mind so much. We followed the coast Southwards, occasionally turning inland to go to a National Park or scenic drive. We saw lots of awesome beaches, but were unable to swim in the sea as there are an abundance of deadly jellyfish called Irikanji and a fair few Great Whites, not to mention the Saltwater crocs! So we stuck to creeks and lakes. Fortunately as we headed out of the tropics it becomes safe to take to the sea again, so we were happy to reach Bowen and have a swim and snorkel.

Of course we stopped by all the major tourist spots, but generally only for a night to see what the fuss was all about. We much prefer the quieter less known spots with pristine beaches and only a handful of Aussies enjoying them. We had made it as far as Hervey Bay, which is the jumping off spot for Fraser Island, the worlds largest sand island, so of course we had to rent a 4x4 and go exploring. We got lucky with the deal we booked as no one else booked on so we had a Suzuki Jimny all to ourselves and could go wherever we wanted. The next 3 days were spent tearing across sand dunes, through rainforest tracks and along a 90km beach to explore the incredible island. We enjoyed swimming in a few of the islands 18 inland freshwater lakes and had a brilliant time!

Back on the road and it wasn't long until we reached Coolangatta, on the Gold Coast, where our friends Leigh and Emma live with their baby boy Banjo. We stopped by for a few days and caught up on happenings over the last 5 years (Fran met them on her last visit to Oz). Leigh took me for a surf on an awesome break where the waves come in at 45 degrees to the beach (Mark you would love it!) where we had seen dolphins surfing from the headland the day before, and Fran caught up with Emma and got to know Banjo (she possibly left even broodier then when she arrived!).

We then had a spate of catching up with old friends as we met up with Ruth in Byron and enjoyed a dinner out and some sunbathing, then planned to meet up again in Melbourne. We stopped by Dave-o's again and cooked dinner for Ken, Meg and Dave as a thank you (and kept Dave up way too late on a school night - sorry dude!). A day later we met Nan Brand in West Sydney (another friend Fran made 5 years ago) who insisted we stay for the night and was very accommodating as she cooked us dinner and we all swapped stories of our travels and people we had met, when we left Nan gave us a wonderful piece of Aboriginal art, from Barrow Creek painted by an artist she knows, which will enjoy a prime spot on our wall upon our return. As we stopped in Canberra we spent the afternoon catching up with an old school friend, Mark Usherwood, who moved here 6 years ago and hasn't been back home since, it was great to see him again.

We then had a long drive through bush fire country (they are mostly out now, and we didn't go ANYWHERE near any that were still alight) at which point you really see just how dry this part of the country is, we saw some areas that had burnt close up which really makes you realise just how scary it must be to be near a fire. We are now in Melbourne and looking forward to catching up with some other friends that we made in Thailand, Matt and Teree.

Post Dave-o's

It was great spending time with Dave-o and post Xmas & NY we went to see day 4 of the test match (Karl went to day 5 too whilst I went to the Zoo!) between Oz and The Saffers where we met and got a picture taken with Shane Warne, a proud moment:). We then spent 3 days camping with some more of his good buddies at a lovely spot called Point Plomer, where all we did all day was drink beer, swim and play beach cricket!! I've always wanted to have a fire on the beach so on the last night we took the esky full of beer to a nice spot near the water and put the world to rights until the wee hours. The moon was in full swing and it was a gorgeous night full of stars, one we will always remember.

So after a great time relaxing at Dave's house (3 weeks, the longest time we have spent in one place for the whole of our travels!) it was time to hit the road again and see Australia.

We flew up to Cairns with the intention of buying a car and driving back down the East coast, past Brisbane and Sydney, then heading West past Melbourne and Adelaide, finishing in Perth and trying to sell the car on. The first problem was the lack of cars for sale, but we eventually found one that looked pretty straight from a local and did a deal, little did we know...

Once we had taken delivery of the car and got it registered the trouble began, to cut a long story short (I'm sure you'll get the full version when we get home!) the car was a lemon, it had to go to the mechanics 3 times before it was good to go.

In the meantime we had found the time to go diving on the Great Barrier Reef. We decided on a small sailing ship called the Vagabond with a crew of only 3 and a maximum of 11 passengers. We set off on our 2 day adventure and found that there was only 1 other passenger booked on for our sailing - private charter baby! The reef was fantastic, we did 5 dives over the 2 days including a night dive! We saw loads of different corals and all kinds of sea life including 4 turtles, some white tipped reef sharks and lots of little Nemo's!

Back on dry land our car was almost ready, having spent over a week and most of our remaining budget on it. We were both so happy to be back on the road, we got straight back to nature visiting waterfalls, national parks, lakes, beaches and anything else that wasn't a city. We had bought some camping equipment from a Danish couple who were leaving so the great outdoors was ours to explore!

Arriving in Oz

First things first we hope everyone had a FANTASTIC CHRISTMAS and JOY FILLED NEW YEAR! I know we did!

And on to our latest adventures: Our last full day in New Zealand we managed to sell the van on to a nice Swiss couple, may it serve them as well as it has served us. It was a relief to see it go but we did have a 'Plan B' which in the end was not needed.

So on the 20th we arrived in Oz, Dave picked us up at the airport and drove us through Sydney, over the Habour Bridge, to sunny Gosford, his home town. The next few days were filled with lots of catching up, we told Dave of all our adventures and he showed us his life up until now, which seeing as I've known him for most of that time was really cool to see and hear! He does make a great tour guide (we've seen lots of beaches so far!!) and host.

Christmas day was spent with the Pashleys, but not before taking time out in the morning to get some beach time in, lovely hot weather and a refreshing sea! Back at Dave's crib Fran and Dave teamed up to bring us a turkey dinner feast (with prawns to start!) which fed the 5 of us with loads to spare. It was so nice to catch up with Ken and Meg too and it really made Christmas away from home seem special and memorable.

Most of the days in between were spent soaking up the sun on various beachs along the Central Coast. They've all been beautiful, with golden sand, sea with great waves and strong currents. I've been surprised so far as to how green it is here North of Sydney, anywhere that hasn't been developed (which is most of it) is lush green forest and stretches as far as the eye can see. Its also got a lot more hills than you'd think!

For New Years Eve Fran and I decided we wanted to be in the thick of things, so at midday took the train into Sydney and joined the queue to get to the vantage point at Mrs Macquaries Point, little did we know it did laps of the park, 4 and a half hours later we had finally got in and bagged a reasonable spot with views of the bridge and opera house. We relaxed into the evening with the crowd (mostly non-Aussies!) and at 9:00 got our first taste of Sydney fireworks - the family show. By midnight the sparkling wine was flowing and we moved forward to get a better view of the fireworks - and they didn't disappoint! Seeing them on TV only gives you a small insight into just how big these guys do it!

In a couple of days we are going to watch Australia take on the South Africans in the cricket at the Sydney Cricket Ground, it should be a great day and we're all looking forward to it. After that we are going on a long weekend camping with Dave and some of his friends, then we head to Cairns and hopefully buy a car.