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.