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.