Thursday 13th Sepember 2007

We ordered the fridge today, paid out $1100, thats about 500 pounds, for a little fridge, I can get 2 big kitchen fridges for that! But I'd have no where to put them in our campervan tho. But at least we'll have a fridge in 30-40'C heat now.
Its Thursday night and we went to the "Mindle Markets", they are famous for live busking, lots of world food stalls, crafts and other produce. Its set on the beach and everyone comes to Mindle markets for the great vibes and the sunsets, drinking a nice cold beer. So thats exactly what we did. We enjoyed the sunset with a beer and listened to the live band playing behind us with a drummer and digeridoo playing up beat sounds. I had a curry and Hannah a Chinese. We watched a performer and a singer on the a grassed area while eating dinner. Great fun!

No fridge day, Wednesday 12th Sepmeber 2007

Better get our fridge sorted sooner rather than later. So off we went to the fridge shop. One shop had only 2 models and they would not fit correctly, we went to another shop and found one that would fit, but it was lots more money. So we had to think about what we were going to do. After that we checked the Internet for deals and emailed, blogged and general stuff on the net, then headed home, without a fridge!

Look around Darwin, Tuesday 11th Sepember 2007

In Darwin we were going to the tourist information center and Hannah heard here name being shouted, she ignored it as who would now us here in Darwin. Again "Hannah!", we turned round and saw Peter again(not PK). We sat with him and chatted while he finished his coffee, then we all went to the the tourist information together. We got a few things to start our exploring of Darwin and said good bye to Peter. Might not see him again, who knows? Had an lazy afternoon on the net, food shopping and back to the campsite that night.

Exploring Litchfield National Park, Monday 10th Sepember 2007

Litchfield National Park is said to be the little brother of the big brother Kakadu National Park. We have been told not to miss this one. So we drove to the furtherest point of the park to work our way back to the entrance of the park over the next couple of days. We got to Wangi falls, after nearly driving over a snake in the road,it survived! We walked around the top of the falls and down to th swimming area near the carpark. The best thing about this park compared to Kakadu is that you can swim here, as in Kakadu they have salt water croc's (the ones that eat you!). The walk wasn't much to look at other than the dryness of the trees and surrounding bush. It was not as good as yesterdays walk. Though the swimming area was bigger with 2 bigger water falls, one at each end. I swam over to one of them and found a little area to sit in, which was a bit like a jacuzzi from the water falling into it. In the shallows Hannah saw a few fish swimming around her and got out to video me on the other side of the water.We missed out Green ant creek as it was getting hotter and it said it was a 3-5 km walk. We got Florence falls and from the top it was all tropical and Hannah said it looked lovely. we walked down the 137 steps and found a spot for our towels. We swam to a rock in the middle of the swimming area and I swam under the falls while Hannah took a photo. I got a good one of Hannah sat on the rock with the waterfalls behind her. As Hannah said guess what? yes we saw the naked Germans again here! To finish off our day, we only had Buley rock holes left to see, so we were ahead of our schedule. We only needed one day not two.The rock holes are holes made by the river currents and they were about 5-7 foot wide and some were 7 foot deep holes in the rock river bed. We sat the relaxing and sunning ourselves when I saw a huge lizard about 1 meter long just walking down the bank of the rock holes. He was after some food in a girls backpack. He the walked off looking for more food.That afternoon after leaving the park Hannah fell asleep and I drove in to Darwin. We stayed at a campsite close to Darwin. Not wanting to cook tonight and to celebrate getting to Darwin we went out for beer and a pizza in the center of Darwin. We had a little drive around to see what Darwin was like then headed home for the night.

Edith Falls walk, 9th Sepember 2007

We got up early before it got too hot and we did the walk up to Edith falls, even at 9am the temp was starting to rise up to 30'C. When we got up to the top of the walk(which was well worth every drop of sweat) the view was beautiful. The water cascading down the rocks to the swimming area below. It was a bit tricky for Hannah to get in the water, as the rocks under the water level were really slippery. So I got in first, then Hannah started to walk into the water slipped and we both fell straight in to the water with a big splash!
Once in Hannah didn't really like it away from the edge, as you couldn't see what was below you in the merky water, there might have been Freshies in there with us. We swam over to the waterfall and climbed the rocks up the waterfall (The Bounty adverts, should now come to mind). At the top we found another pool with no one in it. I dived in for a swim and Hannah explored around the edge.
By mid afternoon we arrived at Litchfield National Park. We stayed just outside the park in Batchelor and watched the sun setting and Hannah got lots of photos capturing all the colour changes from start to finish. That night was the hottest we've had and the bugs just kept getting in the van with all the doors and windows closed.

Canoeing on Katherine River, 8th Sepember 2007

Packed our lunch, drinks, camera and off we went back to Katherine Gorge. We got there and the couple in front of us were the couple with the kangaroo thief last night. We got our canoe and packed our things in to a water proof container.Then off we went, it was great fun trying to paddle together (in rhythm). We were not the best at first, but we were not the worst either. A couple of Japanese girls were paddling in circles and from one side to the other. We got the end of the first gorge really quickly. We had to put our canoe on the sandy banks and walk to the next gorge and pick up our second canoe. This was more light weight, as we were going to carry it from the 2nd gorge to the 3rd, its about 100 meters. Just before we got to the sandy banks, we saw a man in his 20's sat on a rock, he then stood up and walk away, totally nude. We found out later from another couple their was a girl there too and they were of course "German".
In the second gorge we found our rhythm and started having some real fun. Exploring the gorge and the sights. We took lots of photos of us two and the canoe. We had a little trouble carrying the canoe over the 100 meter stretch, as it was a bit heavier than we thought, but we did it and I helped a couple of women with theirs too. Now this gorge only had about 5 canoe in it as most people only do the 1st and 2nd, so it was really great and peaceful here. We stopped and walked up to a place called the lilly pond falls, but it was dry, as it was the dry season.It was a nice walk though.We just cruised along until we reached the end of gorge 3. We had our lunch on the rocks next to the water and explored the way to the next gorge. It looked over 500 meters of rocks and we decided not to go any further and got back into our canoe and let the wind blow us back down the gorge. All along the gorge the are signs telling you not to bank some sandy areas as this is the nesting grounds for the fresh water croc's (Freshies). We never saw a croc and didn't go to the sand banks with sighs. I climbed up a rock face while Hannah waited in the canoe for me. At the top I found some Aboriginal rock art of snakes and crocs. We canoed into a swallows cave and saw the nesting birds. The scenery was fantastic. At the 1st gorge we walked back to our first canoe, had a swim as it was really hot and we started talking to the couple with the kangaroo thief. The were from NZ and have a hostel their. We took their names and the hostel name and may be we'll see them again!
After we got back we drove to Edith falls for the night and bumped in to Peter, our friend from WA (not Peter Kay the storker). We chatted about our day with him and called it a night after dinner. Feeling really tired and happy from our day canoeing Katherine Gorge!

Thief on the campsite, 7th September 2007

Got up early and drove to Katherine Gorge for our day of canoeing. After finding the hut, they told us that we needed to go to the Information Centre to book. When we got there, they said they had no full days left. So we booked a full day for the following day and also a night in the national parks campsite. After that we drove in to Katherine for a better look around. Visited the information centre in town and then drove to Katherine springs. We had our lunch then went for a swim.
Back at the campsite we sat and relaxed, had dinner and looked forward to tomorrow. The couple behind us were having some problems, Hannah heard them saying someone had stolen some food. I got back after washing the pots and Hannah told me, then the man behind us started shouting and banging his hands together. We turned around to see a kangeroo jumping out of their tent. It turned out the kangeroo was stealing their food!

Caught in a bush fire, 6th September 2007

Set off about 8am, heading for our next land mark, Larrimah. The guide book says to stop there for sandwiches from a lady's house. They are supposed to be the best in the area. When we got there the house is on the main road and has boards all out the front advertising different things to eat and drink. The lady had a special on today, roast pork and lamb sandwiches on freshly baked bread.
So after one of each to share (which were really nice) we started driving again. A short way ahead we could see lots of smoke. Hannah was driving and around a corner the road was covered in smoke and as we got closer the trees and grass at both sides of the road we on fire. The smoke got thicker and Hannah had to drive quickly in the middle of the road to be able to see anything. The fire was that close I could feel the heat. It last ed for a few seconds and then we were out the other side. It was a bit like that scene in Days of Thunder with Tom Cruise, driving through the smoke on the race track and not knowing what was on the other side. A bit scary.
After that we got to Mataranka, hot springs. It was mid-afternoon so we stop for a swim. After that we decided that we were so close to Katherine we should just drive on. We found a campsite just outside of town, on the road to Katherine gorge, the place we were going to canoe tomorrow. The campsite was nice and as soon as we were booked i, we saw a man we had meet in Alice Springs. His name is Peter, but not Peter Kay our storker. We got the site next to him and had a drink and a chat with him after dinner. We found out he was going to the gorge tomorrow too but he was going on a boat. It was getting late, so we said good night and we headed for bed.

Devil's Marbles, 5th Sepember 2007

The car seems fine this morning, so we drove to the Devil's Marbles 200km to the north. These are rock formations that are rounded stones balancing on top of each other. A sacred site for the Aboriginals. They believed that the rocks had secret people that if a child was left there to play on their own the people would come out of the rocks and pull the child in to the ground under the rocks. The rocks are various sizes from small stones to 3-4 meters wide. We walked around the rocks and took some great photos. We had a cup of tea and did some more walking across the road to see more of them. After that we had a big drive north, about 270km to Rinner Springs roadhouse. Its is just a service station with a camp ground. We got there to find it a bit disappointing to find a rubbish site and toilets that looked like they were going to fall down. Couldn't go further as its about other 150km. About 2 hours driving! And they charged us more than most sites we've stayed at. So we're telling everyone we meet heading that way, not to stop as there are better sites before and after Renner Springs. We got chatting to a younger couple, one English and the other German. They had been working in Alice for about 4 months and glad to be moving again.

Van service 4th September 2007

Took the van for its service early this morning. The mechanic was really funny about it this morning and said I'd not booked it in. After talking to him I found out he had book ed it in for the previous Tuesday. He fitted us in and we walked into town. Our first stop was at ANZAC hill. A memorial for WW1 and 2. It looked out over the whole town and towards the MacDonald ranges. Then went on the Internet and emailed, blogged and other things. About 10:30 the guy rang and said the van was ready, so we picked it up and did some shopping, then drove to Stanley chasm. A rock formation the locals told us not to miss. It was a nice walk along a try riverbed to the chasm. We took some pictures, did some climbing over some of the rocks in the chasm, then coz it was hot I sprayed Hannah with water so it looked like she had wet herself and then she took the water and emptied it on me. No one could see the water on Hannah's white shorts but the no dark red wee looking patch on my shorts, everyone could see. Its all fun and games today.
After the chasm we were off, we drove north towards Katherine and Darwin, only about 800 miles.
We got about 200km to a road house and campsite when the van started playing up. Its too far to turn back, the van was over rev'ing and when we turned the engine off, it stayed running for about 3-4 seconds. So we decided not to drive any further. We booked in to the campsite, a little disheartened and worried about he van. Rang Dad "the mechanic on the phone" to pick his brains. What he said put our minds at rest, so off north tomorrow. Keep your fingers crossed!

Back to Alice Springs, Monday 3rd September 2007

Hannah watched the sun rise over Kings Canyon from our bed in the camper as I was in the shower. We are driving back to Alice today as the camper is having a service tomorrow. It took a while to get back, but on our way back we saw 8 wild horses crossing the dessert roads, 7 camels and a dingo. We went back to the fridge repair people and told them about the fridge, they didn't do anything, so we decided not to waste any more money on it. But we'll buy the fridge somewhere else. We don't want to give them any more of our money either.
We went back to the campsite we were at before and relaxed from the day of driving. We drove about 600km again today.

Kings Canyon, 2nd September 2007

We watched the sun rising over Uluru again this morning, but today we're very stiff and our bodies are sore from the walk yesterday. We sat there with our tea in hand and planned what we were going to do. After deciding to drive on to another local natural attraction, Kings Canyon, just north, about 300km, we packed up and set off.
We got to Kings Canyon mid morning and booked into our campsite. After lunch with stiff legs we decided to do the 6km up hill and across cliff edges walk of Kings Canyon. The 1st part of the walk as up a steep, nearly vertical staircase, got so video footage and we had to stop every so often to rest as the temperature was rising again. We we're carrying about 1.5 litres of water and started drinking after about 2minutes of walking. We walked through amazing rock features and looked over cliff edges that fell away to the ground about 300 meters below. It got to about 34'C and with no clouds in the sky it was real hot. We found some shade in a valley called the valley of Eden. There were not plants or trees on the cliffs but in the valley the temperature lowered and there was water in the bottom for loads of plants and trees to grow. Near the end of the walk about 1km from the end was the best views of the whole walk. It was from the highest point and looked down over the valley below.
Back at the campsite we treated ourselves to a nice cold drink and an ice cream.We walked to the lookout point of the campsite, to watch the sun set over Kings Canyon. We decided to go back to our camper and found we had a better view from there so we just sat in our chairs outside our camper and chatted to the neighbours watching another amazing sunset.

Walked around Uluru, 1st September 2007

We woke up at 05:30 this morning, its still dark. We wanted to see the sun rise over Uluru. We had arranged to meet Sophie in the car park and drive over together. It was dark, no street lights and we only had a small torch and an idea of were Sophie was sleeping. We drove around looking for her, for about 30minutes and we had probably woken up lots of campers, as we drove around, shinning our torch at them. We were just about to leave without her, when we saw her walking around with her sleeping bag and pillow. She jumped into the van and told us she had slept outside the campsite on a sandy area which was the lookout. She could only find 1 flip flop and we told her that's there are lots of Dingo's around and we have heard stories from other campers that Dingos have stolen there footwear before. So of we went to Uluru, there were lots of people already there from coach trips, but we found a nice place and made breakfast and had a cup of tea watching the sun rise and the shadows of Uluru change to the yellows and orange colours that we all know and have seen. It was really peaceful and nice just to seat there and watch. The coach tripper's left and we were then nearly on our own. After a while we went to the visitors centre and found a free talk from a range starting a 10am so we joined him.It was a interpretation walk of about 3-5km, he explained all about the way the Anangu (aboriginal) people have used in for celebrations, events and even just living around it. In respect for the Anangu people we had decided not to climb Uluru, but were going to walk around the base, 10km (about 6 miles). It was starting to get hot so we took some water and started walking around. It got to about 30'C and the flies were everywhere. I counted the flies on Hannah's back and there must have been around 50 on her upper back and shoulders. We enjoyed the walk and the different views of Uluru and by the time we had finished the walk we really, really hated the flies. Going to buy a fly head net from the net shop we see them.
It was getting closer to when Sophie's bus was leaving, to take her back to Alice Springs, so we decided to go back to the campsite, shower and chilled out a little after our walk. We swapped emails and said our good byes to Sophie and then Hannah and I drove back to Uluru for this evening sun set, just the two of us and a beer. After it had got dark we drove back the campsite and had dinner and watched lots of wild rabbits running around the camp grounds, just playing and eating what ever food they found.

The Olgas and sunset over Uluru 31st August 2007

Started early and got stuck at the railway line into town. A massive train was just sat on the road. So great start we were late to pick up Sophie! Picked Sophie up and we were on our way at 7:30am. On are way down to Uluru, we saw Tom about 90km out of town. He set off at 3am hoping to break his record of cycling 200km in 1 day. We stopped and gave him a cold drink and a biscuit, we took some photo's and waved him off. We drove passed him, beeping, shouting and waving to him. Go Tom Go!!!

We arrived at Uluru about 3pm, we drove to the Olgas (these are another rock formation next to Uluru) and did the gorge walk, which was beautiful, so got some great photos. We then drove tot he sunset lookout for the Olgas. We saw a little bit of the sun setting but decided to chance driving to Uluru to see the world famous sunset. We got there just in time, opened a beer, sat and watched Uluru change colour as the sun down.

We were the last one's to leave and got some of the best images of the rock. Back at the campsite,we found that the fridge we just fixed 3 days ago was now not working at all. Yes another great piece of news, not!

Sophie went of to sleep under the stars in her sleeping bag, we thought she was mad, we offered her the bunk in the van, but see declined (there was signs saying Dingo's around, wild dogs).We arranged to meet her for sunrise at 6am. So we told her to be careful.

As we put the lights out to go to sleep, we watched rabbits jumping around the van and an amazing full moon rise up from behind the camper van. Off we went into Zzzzzzzzzz

Sore heads coz of Alice 28th,29th and 30th August 2007

We had a lie in this morning, due to us both having sore heads from a great night. We planned to met Tom and Sophie, but cancelled as we had to get the fridge. We waited 2 hours in the shop until it was finally ready. Did some shopping, relaxed and went to watch "I now pronounce you Chuck and Larry", coz it was cheap Tuesday. Really good and funny film, you should all see it!

The next day we walked into town, checked emails and chilled out in the evening with a few beers and cards.

Thursday: we dropped the van off and walked into town. We walked up to "Anzac Hill" which looked out over the whole of Alice Springs. We walked into the centre and bumped into Sophie, and told her the van was in and we should be ready to go to Uluru tomorrow at 7am. It got to about 4pm and the van was still not ready so we walked to the garage. When we arrived the woman said they had just finished and said she had only charged us for 4hours not the 7hours they said they had worked to fix the alternator. Then gave us a bill and Hannah nearly fell on the floor as the bill was 550$ that's about 220 pounds for an alternator, and they fixed the old one not replaced it.....Robbing $$$$$$$$'s

Drinking with Alice 27th August 2007

Rang a few places about the van, booked the van into an auto electricians and also for a service. We found a place that dealt with fridges, they should it would cost about 450$ to repair or 1000$ for a new one. As we went to leave they said they could try and put it back together but couldn't promise anything, so we left it with them! We went back to the campsite and relaxed until we got ready to go out. We rang the fridge place they said they would give us a call tomorrow. We went to meet Tom and went to Annie's place, ordered a cheap meal for 5$ and got a jug of beer for 10$, bargain! We sat and talked all night. Tom introduced us to a girl called Sophie, she was also French and really nice, we ended up offering her a lift to Uluru. We drank more and more beer and chatted, until the bar shut and they through us out!

First day in Alice Springs 26th August 2007

We woke up this morning and went for a run, that's me and Hannah! When we got back a couple of our neighbours had a look at our van. We met a guy called Peter from Perth travelling on his own and loving it. They said we should take it to get looked at and maybe a service too. We left the van at the campsite and wondered into town to have a look around the market. We checked our emails and bumped into Tom and arranged to met him the following evening at a a backpackers called Annie's.
Chilled out in the sunshine at the campsite, made dinner and watched the stars.

Crazy French Man "Tom" 25th August 2007

We had a 500km drive to Alice Springs today and half way at a place called Ti tree, we were approached by a guy in his 20's, spoke with a French accent and asking for a lift to Alice Springs. His push bike was having problems, he had a broken spoke in his rear wheel and could not cycle any further. I asked Hannah if we could take him and we decided to take him the 200km south. On the way we found his name was Tom and yes he was from France, he was cycling from Darwin in the far north of Oz to Adelaide and then on to Melbourne its about 4000km that's about 2500 miles. We named him "The Crazy Frenchman". We chatted all the way to Alice and he was very disappointed when we approached Alice because this was his first big land mark and he couldn't cycle into it. Hannah said to Tom , that we could drop him off at the city limits and let him walk the rest but he declined and we all laughed.
When we arrived we went to tourist info, found our campsite and a cycle repair shop for Tom. His friend of a friend in Alice was a work so he chilled out with us at our campsite until she had finished work and we dropped him in town and said we would meet up later in the week for a drink.
That night we went to what the Simpson's movie, after the film we started the van to find out the ignition lights were lighting up the dashboard. Great another problem, we'll worry about it tomorrow.

Storker in Tennant Creek 24th August 2007

Yesterday we had bought a new battery for the fridge to find out it the battery needed to be replaced and the fridge is now broken and only works when its plugged in to the mains. We left Camooweal early to get into NT. at the border we noticed that one of the back wheels looked funny and we changed it for the spare. We drove for what feels like days and days alone the Barkly Highway. There is a lot of nothingness alone this stretch of road. At Tennant Creek Hannah couldn't believe her eyes. As we were parked at the entrance to the campsite Peter Kay walked out. I walked out of the reception to see Hannah hiding in the foot wells of the camper and she then told me about PK. We bought a new tyre and hid from PK again and went to the library and booked our flights back to Melbourne for Xmas. We arrive in Melbourne on the 17th December.

Nice day to be in the mines 23rd August 2007

We met our guide, Bill and he took us to get our overalls, belts, helmets and wellies. We went outside and seen some of the old machinery. Then we got our helmet torches and battery packs and got in the lift. Down the shaft we went and were greeted with a mine train about 20 meters under the ground. We signed in tags and off we went to work for the day. We were guided around the tunnels and we had a go at using the old mining drills. We were shown the big trucks and Bill drove a massive truck and we had to wear ear muffs coz of the sound. We went to the "crib" for tea, biscuits and stories of the old days as Bill had worked in this mine for over 30 years. He told us about a big bloke and how someone had hid his lunch box and made him miss his lift to the surface. So he asked everyone about it and no one wanted to admit they had done it, so to get even he put a 6 inch nail in to everyones lunch boxes and nailed them to the roof of the "crib" room and made everyone miss there lift the following day. Bill was a brilliant guide and bloke.
That night we drove to Camooweal a small place on the border of the Northern Territory.

Mount Isa 22nd August 2007

We set off early to Mount Isa, a big mining city in the middle of the Outback. Didn't take long to get there, we realised the fridge wasn't working. Our first point of call was Tourist info, where we bumped it Peter Kay, we couldn't believe it.

We booked on to an underground mining tour for the following day, we found a nice campsite and went to do some shopping. We had a look around the museum about the mines, Mount Isa and how it all started to were it is today. It was really interesting and were learnt a lot about Isa. That evening we had a BBQ and relaxed.

Stuck in the Outback 9th - 21st August 2007

We set off on the 9th towards Mount Isa, we got 80km out of town and we had to turn around as we new there was something wrong with the engine. We got about 5km and steam was pooring out of the engine. We were in the middle of nowhere, no houses, cars, just fields and shrubs as far as the eye could see. We tried to get a lift back, the 1st man looked a bit odd, the 2nd didn't have any room. After 45mins of seeing nobody a couple stopped to help us, he was an ex-machanic. They helped us all the way back to Normanton, 75km. We were the luckest people alive and we were very grateful.
We went to the garage to find out what was wrong ,he said it was the head, the bad news was the parts will take a week to get to us, as they were coming from Brisbaine, then Cairns and finally to Normanton. That wasn't the worst bit it was going to cost us $2000, about 800-900 pounds.
We booked ourselves in to a campsite and the time passed,talking to different people everyday, swimming in the pool or just reading. It was about 30'C. We found an internet to spend a few hours there, it had aircon. Friday came and the machanic said the parts had arrived but he couldn't do it until Monday now. Monday arrived and then the afternoon, but then, he wouldn't be finished until tomorrow. We then tried to kill some more time and went to have our photo taken with the replica of the largest croc caught in the area. He was about 8 metres long and a husband and wife combo killed it a few years back. Hannah was sat on it, while I had the camera ready to take the photo when all of sudden a big black and white bird flew out of a tree and tries to land on her head. It scratched her head and flew off, Hannah was really surprised and jumped down. I got up on the croc's back and the bird flew back towards Hannah again for another try, she got rid of it and we went back to the campsite to hide. Back at the campsite we met a guy who was looking for a lift to Mount Isa, he seem nice enough, but we have read all the bad stories and know not to pick anyone up. He looked like Peter Kay, so this is now his name to us.
The couple next door lent us there tent for the night, while the van was in the garage. The next afternoon the van was ready and we were off south towards Cloncurry our next destination before Mount Isa. A proper place with more than 100 people in it!

Arrived in Normanton 8th August 2007

We started our journey along the Savanna highway, west. We did a bit more driving than planned, as we wanted to get to Mount Isa Rodeo. We stopped in a few places for petrol and to stretch our legs. We had been told the roads were good along this stretch, but watch out for "Road Trains". They are big lorry's, but also have 3 more trailers on them. This means they are about 100meters long, hard to stop and they don't like to slow down. The rules are they have priority and you must get off the road for them to pass you. We have seen lots of these, but the road's we were on sometimes become single track tarmac, so we were getting off the road loads. We arrived at Normanton at 5pm and planned our next day.

Innott hot springs 7th August 2007

From Misson beach we drove to Innsfail were we stocked up at the supermarket, filled up with petrol and then drove off in to the mountains. We stopped along the way at different waterfalls, Millaa Millaa, Zillie falls and Millsteam falls. We also stopped in Ravenshoe and spoke with tourist info about our journey to the Northern Territory. We spent the night at Innott springs, we parked the van and walked down to the river. You could see the steam rising from the water. We put our feet in and jumped right out again. The water was about 60'C, the campsite had their own pools, so we took a dip. They had 6 pools at different temp's, cold to 50'C. Real nice! They did smell pretty nasty, but its all natural.

Sore bodies 6th August 2007

Not feeling up to doing much, as our bodies were killing us, we drove down to misson beach info. We were going to try and go over to Dunk Island, but we had missed the ferry of the day. We had a lazy day just relaxing, Hannah was talking to the neighbours and found they were born in Dronfield, were Hannah used to live (such a small world).

Tully River rafting 5th August 2007

At the Tully river we were given our life jackets, helmet, paddles and split into 6 people teams. We meet Rod our guide for the day, in the raft he told us some safety things and off we went. We were the first raft down, Rod has rafted these water for 8 years now. He's one of the best. Our raft had 2girls and 4 guys, plus Rod. We had the power and skill to go faster and into more challenging waters. Rod tricked us a few time and flipped the raft, filled it with water to cool us down. Then steered our raft under a waterfall but only got us lot wet, keeping himself dry. There was some banter amongst us all and we were throwing Rod in as he kept saying he had a water phobia. We got some great photo shots of us in the back of the raft with the front end sticking up out of the water as we went down a waterfall(only small fall).
We paddled down a small set of rapids and waited for the others to catch up. As we were sat there Rod said he needed to get closer to the rapids to help the other rafts(safety precaution). So he said to paddle hard and fast. We quickly got going and as we got to the rapids the front of the raft were Hannah and the other girl were, quickly flipped and sent the two girls flying into the water. The rest of held on for dear life, the raft settled and we dragged the girls back in, they were still wondering what had happened, with Rod laughing his head off. Hannah had a few sore spots on her leg, arm and chin. We think my paddle hit it on her way into the water. We had a brilliant day and we can't wait to do it again in NZ.

To Misson Beach 4th August 2007

We detoured to find the largest single drop water fall in Australia. We found it, in the middle of nowhere a car park with a path leading to the falls. It was amazing, the sun light hit the falling water and caused a rainbow of colours in the middle of the falls. Brilliant!! Well worth the 1 hour 30 minutes detour.
Arrived in to Misson beach in the late afternoon and it had taken longer that expected. We booked a white water rafting day for tomorrow. We walked along the beach and found jellies everywhere. We went on the Internet that evening and discovered that someone had robbed Hannah's bank account. It had all gone. All our money for our trip! Hannah felt sick, but remained calm. She rang the bank, rang her mum and finally with lots of messing about got through to the fraud dept. The lady took the details and opened case file. She said not to worry and the money should be back in her account by Wednesday if she had been defrauded. So cross those fingers.

Townsville night market 3rd August 2007

We drove in to the centre and found it a lot bigger that expected. We went up to Castle Hill (but no castle). The views at the top were very picturesque, you could see for miles, looking over to Magnetic Island and the city.
We found our new campsite and relaxed round the pool. Later that day we drove to the city night markets. As we walked around there was a cool breeze and festival feel. We bought some homemade fudge, looked at all the stalls and Hannah got a really nice necklace.

A Sad day 2nd August 2007

We got up at 630am and took Emma down to the harbour for her ferry. We waited until her boat came in, we gave her a hug and waved her off, as she sailed out of the harbour. Hannah felt really sad that Emma had gone and there was now a empty seat in our camper. We'd all gotten on so well considering we were all in the little camper, Hannah said it was a sad day, but the journey must go on.It was the first time Hannah and I had been in the camper as just the two of us. We said our good bye's to Jason and Sheridon and started driving north to Misson Beach.
On the way up we stopped for lunch and decided to stay in Townsville for the night. In Townsville that night we planned to stay another night so we could have a good look around and go to the night market the following night.

Emma''s Last day 1st August 2007

A sad day as it was Emma's last day. We had our brekkie and sat outside. We drove down to the harbour for Emma to pay for her ferry. We went on a walk that the guide book said was good. It said a short walk up to see the best views of the Whitsunday Island. We had lunch before we started and started the 2.4km walk up. We strolled along, through the forest hoping no croc's, snakes or spiders would jump out. It was a long winding walk up the hill. As we walked my foot hit a rock and Hannah nearly jumped out of her skin, as she thought it was a frog of something. Which also scared Emma.
We got to the top and the views were great. On our way down we went a different way, following a road. We found out down the road it was a private road for the local tele communications people. We carried on and found the main road to the harbour. We then walked back along the road for another 2km in the heat. It was getting to everyone, but the camper had a nice cold drink waiting for us. `
We drove to get some things and had a beautiful BBQ for Emma's last night, we text Ali and Jess to see if they wanted to go for a drink and twisted Emma's arm saying we wouldn't be late in and we invited Jason. At the pub we chatted and drank for a while then said our goodbye's and had to go home early start tomorrow. Jason came back to the camper and we had a few more beers and chatted til 2am.

No falls in Creek falls 31st July 2007

Today we decided to have a lie in and later go shopping for bits for the camper. We got 2 chairs, some food and we drove to Creek Falls, which didn't have any falls. We have some lunch and drove on to Conway Beach. The tide was out so we didn't stay long, plus a sign said there were croc's about. We saw some strange letter boxes, some made from old microwaves.
We drove back and went to the lagoon, were we relaxed and had ice cream. Back at camp, Emma decided it would be easier to fly locally, instead of driving back to Cairns. Plus she got an extra day in Airlie Beach, which she really wanted, as she didn't want to go home.
That night we went out for something to eat and went for a drink. We didn't feel the love tonight so we went home and had a beer instead.

This is the Twelve Apostles on The Great Ocean Road.

Hangover from Hell 30th July 2007

Hannah woke up wondering why Emma was next to her.............she awoke again to find her gone and found a huge headache in her place. I opened the back of the camper, while Hannah was still in bed.
There Emma was with a bottle water in one hand, looking a little rough, but we all were. Hannah laughed as she told Emma the stories of last night, trying to get her out of the bar, getting home, as she didn't remember very much. Emma laughed and said she'd had a great night. We sat around the campsite for most of the day, our plan was to drive to Misson beach today, but plans changed and we booked in for another night. To help Emma feel a little better she opened a beer (freak). We laughed most of the day, mostly about nothing, but what ever nothing was it was funny. I think we were all, still a bit drunk.
We went to KFC for lunch at 3pm, then walked around the shops and sat by the lagoon, sunbathing. That night we ordered in pizza, Emma did the ordering for some reason in an American accent. Emma couldn't stop laughing, Jason heard them and asked what they were doing. He thought they were drunk again. They invited him around for a drink and we played "ludo" and "snakes and ladders" and went to bed about midnight.

Turtle eating a jelly at the Great barrier Reef. 29th July 2007

The generator started at 5:30am, and with the smell of toast we went up on to the deck. The sun had just started to rise from the dark ocean to revel all the beautiful colours of the blues in the ocean and the reds, yellow and blues in the sky. The fisherman's boat had gone from the night before, Brent said it left about 4am. After having breakfast we moved to a different spot on the reef, were Brent it was his favorite place to snorkel This was because the water above the reef was only about a meter deep, so we'd be able to see lots of different fish, turtles and only last week he said 3 girls were diving and a hump back whale swam straight over their heads (Wow). So we jumped in to the dingy, excited and ready to snorkel. Brent dropped us off near the reef,Hannah and Emma held hands while snorkeling. The coral was amazing, lots of different types, different to yesterday. more plate coral and brain corals. All the corals are named after the things they look like. e.g. plate coz it looks like a dinner plate. Hannah and Emma spotted lots of big fish , 2 followed them along the edge of the coral, they saw a huge blue sea star and just had a brilliant time. I saw a little shark in the reef hiding and then I head some noise coming from over near the girls. I popped my head out of the water and saw Hannah with her snorkel still in her mouth shouting me over to them and pointing down. I swam over and they were both looking down so I had a look. They were both watching a massive turtle, only 1 meters from them, he had a jelly fish in it mouth and was bashing it against the coral wall and with its legs. Hannah was using the hand signals from her diving yesterday to show Emma and talk to me, I heard the that noise again and found it was Emma laughing underwater. She was laughing that hard she had to surface for air (as in Finding Nemo " it was so cool dude!!" ).
We heard the whales songs again and it was great to hear them again, then it was time to get out of the water and back on the boat. We started back to Airlie, chatted to Brent and Andy. Did some sun bathing on the deck and just relaxed. We all felt a little sad that it was going to finish soon. so we tried to bride Brent to take us out again, but we didn't have enough money between us. As we got back to the harbour we gathered our things and said or thanks. We know its something that we will never forget. One of those things that will be talked about forever. They crew had booked a table at the Beaches bar in town for a drink tonight. We decided to go and rang Jason from the campsite as he said he would come get s after our trip.
We got chatting to him and arranged to meet him and Sheridon (his sister) at 7:30pm. We got ready, had some beers and vodka and went to meet them. We got a cab into town and went into Beaches. There was a table reserved in the name of Kiana, but nobody else had turned up, as we had expected. We sat down and had a few jugs of beer and then went to another bar up the road. There was nobody else in but the staff. About ten minutes later we got chatted to an English couple, Ali and Jess and they were both in the Navy.
They ended up coming with s to the next bar and we all started chatting and getting drunk. Jason got us all a pint of something that got us all on our way. We all ended up really drunk at about 3am. We exchanged numbers, emails and they said for us to stay with them in Portsmouth.
Emma ended up with Jason and was so drunk she didn't want to go home. It took Hannah 30 minutes to get Emma out of the bar, by this time the staff were cleaning the bar and ready to home. Hannah sent me to the pie shop, while she and Jason pulled Emma out of the bar. We all got a taxi back to Flametree, Emma fell asleep in the taxi and fell out when we got there. We went back to the camper and fell asleep.

Under the sea 28th July 2007

The generator started at 5:30, which woke the whole boat. The three of us got up and went up on deck. Andy was preparing breakfast, we could smell the toast. We had cereal, fruit and toast for breakfast. Then everyone started to prepare themselves for their dive. The first was at 7am, which was the Belgium, then 4 French, 3 Canadians and then Hannah and Emma around 9am. Hannah was glad it was just her and Emma, as Emma was pooing her pants a little (Hannah a little too).
I went out snorkeling before the girls as they prepared themselves. Brent picked the girls up in the dingy and dropped them off near me for a bit of snorkeling before their dive. At first the girls didn't want to get in. Brent kept a check on us to make sure we were OK. Then in, we saw lots of different corals: marsh mellow, brain and fan, a blue spotted lagoon ray and lots of different coloured fish. No Nemo yet!
Brent came back to collect us after about 20 minutes. The girls put on their tanks and stuff and off they went after a few tests. They got off the dingy in shallow waters but Hannah said she didn't want to roll off backwards. She was told to breath slow and then back she went. Her mask came off. she swallowed loads of water, a bit of a bad start. They did some tests in the shallow water and she went under water and said she started to panic. They were on there knees with Dave and one of the tests was to take their regulators out of their mouths, fill their mouth with water and then put the regulators back in and blow the water out. While under water Emma went to the surface to get water out of her mask as she had let water fill it. Hannah surfaced as she was a little scared. They were both having a few problem with the breathing through a regulator. Dave was really good and talked the m through what they had to do. He talked to them about what to do if they had problems and off they went for a scuba-snorkel. He held their hands as he took them, they saw lots of coral and fish. When it was time to surface Hannah didn't want to as she was having too much fun. Brent through them a line then had to hold as he dragged them back to the boat, the girls swallowed yet more sea.
The girls said it was good to be back on the boat and said they would stick to snorkeling, as they preferred that. But they did say they had a fantastic time and with a little more time would try it again.
After some cake and a cup of tea we sailed out to the Outer Reef, our land mark "Bait Reef". It was a beautiful day, the sun was out and the sea was still. After lunch we were all talking and Hannah saw a whale. She shouted out as Brent had told us to if we saw one, but when everyone looked it had gone. Then two hump back whales swam right in front of the boat ( about 15meters away). You could see them really well, but by the time we all had cameras out the photo didn't do it justice. We saw loads of whales during the day, we arrived at the reef and got ready for a snorkel. As we were just about to jump in the water, Albert a great tully fish swam around the back of the boat. It was about 1 meter long, blue with big blue eyes. Andy told us to stroke it as he liked it, but the girls were too scared. The girls got in to the water and held hands as they swam, I joined them, we saw a trumpet fish, like the one in Finding Nemo. I saw a turtle. We all got back to the boat and Hannah and I went out again in the dingy. Brent dropped us off and we let the current take us back to the boat. We saw some really bright big fish, a blue sea star, huge clams about a meter wide and lots of different coral. The most amazing bit was listening to the whales talking under the water. As we got back to the boat we could see Albert swimming around the boat. Hannah said she saw a shark and Brent told her it was a "white tip" not a shark, but there was two of them.
We chilled out and had beer, with spag bol and garlic bread for dinner. After dinner we watched the sun set over the water. As the sun was on the horizon, two whales were splashing around and swam just in front of the sunset (beautiful) Brent said it looked like mum and baby. It was amazing to watch as they swam along the rim of the reef in front of us. That night we watched more photos of the day. Then we saw a boat pull up in the darkness. Brent went over to investigate in the dingy and it looked like they were fishing. This is not allowed in this area of the reef. Brent said he was going to keep a check on them all night and report them if it carried on. We sat and had a few beers, talked about the stars, had a chat with Andy and Brent, then went to bed for an early start tomorrow.

Start of the Whitsundays 27th July 2007

Jason took us to the harbour and showed us where to wait for our crew for our 3 day and 2 nights at sea. We were met by Diver Dave and taken to the boat. Then met our captain, Brent and our chef, Andy. Then we met the owners of the boat, who told us a few things about their boat. Things to do and not to do. After the safety briefing and shown to our dunks, we set sail.
The weather wasn't the best for sailing, but it was warm and the sun kept peeking through the clouds. We went through a few things for our free dive, which we were doing the next morning. I spoke with Dave about diving and again found due to my asthma i couldn't dive, but i new this already. So the girls would do it for me and let me know how it was. I planned on doing a lot of snorkeling over the next couple of days anyway.
We sat and relaxed and had a great lunch on the boat, before stopping at Whitsunday island. We got in the dingy and we taken to WhiteHaven Beach. The was beautiful, the water was crystal clear and the sand was the softest we ever felt, anywhere. It was like paradise, in every way, shape and form. The sun came out as we relaxed on the beach. Dave started getting us all up for photos and taking some funny ones, for a CD of our trip. We walked up to the look out called Hill Inlet, which had great views looking over the bay. We walked back down to a different beach (this one had pebbles and rocks) and waited for the dingy to collect us and take us back to the boat. When we got back there was a big plate of nibbles waiting for us and a barrel which was steaming a special surprise for dinner.
We sailed around to a place called Caterang Bay this is where we moored the boat and will be snorkeling tomorrow. We sorted out our wetsuits, stinger suits and snorkeling gear.
We had a great dinner with lots of veg that had been steamed with a huge amount of Lamb. The boat should have had 14 people but there was only 12 of us but with enough food for a full house. After dinner we watched a slide show of all the photo's that had been taken that day. We had a few beers, but when it got to 9pm everyone was getting ready for bed. We didn't feel ready to go to bed but felt we had to. We shared the back of the boat with a French couple and Emma.

Arrival in Airlie Beach 26th July 2007

We talked last night about our plans and decided we would come back to Mission Beach to to the Tully river rafting. So off to Airlie beach. We were all looking forward to Sailing the Whitsundays, just as we were about to set off, Hannah and I smelt burn. In the back of the camper the light was smoking so we ran and turned of the power and the light switch. We found that the bulb had cracked and caused a small fire in the light ( Fantastic!).
We played games along the way, like the name game (we spent over 3 hours playing it). We topped for beers along the way and arrived in Airlie Beach at about 6pm, where meet Jason and Dad at Flametree Camp site (they were the owners). We talked to them about sailing around the islands and they asked us what we were looking for. After ages of um's and r's we picked the Kiana, which had a free drive, sailed the island and out to the outer reef. It was a smaller boat with only 14 people, which is why we chose this one.
After dinner and a beer we were all excited about the morning and went to bed, as we had to be up at 6:15am. We had to be on the boat for 7:30am.

Collect our camper 25th July 2007

We got up early to take the car back for 08:30. When we got there we had forgot to fill up the tank. So off we went in search of a petrol station. When we got back it was a different guy, not the owner. We told him about the crack and he had a look. We told him that it wasn't our fault and the chip was there when we picked the car up, even though it wasn't. Our excess was 500$, but with our magic we ended up only paying 100$. Fantastic!!
We checked out of the backpackers and rang about picking up our camper. They said it wouldn't be ready until about 2pm. so we had to hang out at the backpackers pool and TV area. We rang and sorted out our insurance, which we think was pretty cheap compared with the UK. We collected the camper and went food shopping. Spent over 150$ on the things we needed and off we went on our first big drive.
Our plan was to reach Airlie Beach, but because of the late start, we only got to Mission Beach. We arrived after 6pm and most of the camp sites were closed. We found one in South mission and hooked up the power for our first night. We got chatting to our neighbours that were really nice and maybe a little drunk. We tried to cook our first meal and the man who had sold the camper didn't tell us we had no gas. So our neighbours told us about the camp kitchen with all the things we needed. So Hannah cooked her special Hannah surprise ( a really nice Thai style curry).

Lazy day 24th July 2007

We walked into Cairns and got rained on and went in search of UGG boats for Emma. We had some lunch and then went back to the hostel. Hannah had a little sleep, Emma did some sunbathing and I went f or a swim in the pool. We got dressed and went out for some cheap food, as the hostel was having a Christmas party (how strange in the middle of July) we didn't feel very festive so went into Cairns and had Chinese and a stroll around the night market. We had all eaten too much but could just fit a a little ice cream or sorbet. It was yummy!!! We called it a night and went to bed.

Pivate beach and Kuranda 23rd July 2007

We drove from Port Douglas a little way and found a stretch of empty beach. We decided to get some colour and parked the car. The beach stretched for miles and with the sun shining, it was perfect. The girls sunbathed and I went for a walk. The girls got smaller and smaller as I walked. I found some cliffs and caves on the beach. Got some shells and walked back to the girls. Later on I found out they had been a bit worried at one point because they couldn't see me and I 'd been gone ages. As I got to the spot where they were sunbathing the weather changed in a split of a second and rain hammered down, sand blew into our faces and stuck to us everywhere. We ran to the car and when we reached it, the rain stopped and the sun came back out (that's the tropics for you).
We drove up to Kuranda in search of pie (guide book says this is the best place in Queensland for pies). We arrived late in the afternoon and ran to the pie shop because we were starving. We had a look around the shops, they were like market stalls with loads of different stuff. Then we drove a little further along through a small rain forest and walked along to a lookout of Barron Gorge. The view was amazing the river was crashing down to the bottom, it was a real wow factor thing. We watched as the train came in and saw millions of Japanese run off with the cameras to get the photo of the gorge before the train left with them again. As this happened it started to rain again, so we moved back to the car. The crack in the windscreen had grown some more, it was about 15cm long. No need to worry we have a plan. Drove back to Cairns and ended up staying in the same backpackers as before.

Tree top rain forest walk and Mossman Gorge 22nd July 2007

Had breakfast on the balcony this morning, nice and relaxing in the forest. We got to the Tree top rain forest walk soon after. This is where you walk and follow a board walk path on the ground and climb steps and walk above the tree. There are information points and guide books to tell you, everything you were looking at and how old they are or what kind of animals are round. We learnt about Cassowaries, Crocs, Spiders and snakes(those to stay away from). We started to play in the forest winding each other up. I was throwing stones into the bushes in front of the girls and saying its an animal or something. Then Hannah and Emma joined in by making one another jump.
We stopped at Mossman gorge, had an ice cream and walked to the swimming area were there was a lot of families swimming. We walked to the suspension bridge and into the forest. We climbed rocks next to the river and took some good and funny photos of each other.

The afternoon we spent in Port Douglas and had a late lunch before finding somewhere to stay. We stayed in a backpackers called the "ParrotFish", walked round town and looked at the beach. In our room were 2 bunks and bathroom. One bed was already taken, their stuff was there but they weren't. We wanted to know who it was, it could have been a crazy person or a weirdo or something. So Emma decided to look at the tags on the luggage to give us an idea. It said Tamoko, we decided they were male and from Japan.
We had a beer at the backpackers and decided to go out on the town. It was a public holiday but only in Port Douglas and nowhere else in Oz (really strange that). Port Douglas was busy we stopped at a bar with a musician/singer. Which was really good. Then on to an Irish bar. In there I got a beer and the girls got a bottle of wine. We sat at a table and we started playing board games that we next to us. Feeling a little drunk we started home. By the pool we had a few more beers. The girls found a hamac and climbed in. Hannah first then Emma. Got some nice photos and we chatted about anything and everything, then went to the room still no room mate. Emma didn't want to go to bed as she thought there were 300 people downstairs in the bar (More like 3 people). See sat on Hannah bed, after wanting to stay up partying and within minutes she was asleep.

Middle of the morning: Hannah wakes me up and said "he's having a shower". It turned out that Tamoko had got back woke Hannah up coming back. Then he decided to have a shower, its about 4am(how rude is this guy). Emma didn't hear a thing. We got our own back the next morning as we got up and got ready to leave. We woke him up and he didn't look too happy as it was 8am. (ha ha)

To Daintree and Cape Tribulation 21st July 2007

We got up, got ready and had some breakfast and headed out towards the Daintree. We we're all excited and the car was full of stuff. About 2 hours into our journey we heard a loud bang on the windscreen as a camper van coming the other way had thrown a stone up from its wheels. When we stopped Hannah saw a crack in the windscreen about 4cm in legth. So a good start to our adventures in to the rainforest. We got a ferry over a river to get to Cape Tribulation, its was exciting and took about 5 minutes and then there we were in the oldest rainforest in the world. It was spectacular and we spent the afternoon looking aroiund and trying to find somewhere to stay.
One looked like shed in the forest and you shared the showers with bugs and anything else out there. We decided to get out of there as soon possible. We found a place called Deep Forest Lodge and its looked great. We had our own balcony, BBQ and porch swing. It was a self contained cottage type place in the middle of the rain forest. So we decided to have a BBQ for our dinner that night and of course a few beers.
We went for a walk along the beach, where the forest meets the sea, we started looking for coconuts, but couldn't find any.
At our lodge we put the BBQ on and drank some beers and the girls chilled out on the porch swing. We sat there all night chatting, eating and drinking. The barbie was good and later when it was dark the neighbours came home and Emma saw a black and white possum in the bushes in front of us!! A little later the neighbours puppy escape and came to say hello and Emma thought it was the possum, but Hannah said it was a puppy and we laugh coz that must have been what Emma saw earlier. (the puppy was small and black and white). We planned to going walking in the forest after a few beers, but when we turned the lights off, it was pitch black. The blackest we ever seen, we couldn't even see each other. So we decided not to go and had another beer.

First few days in Cairns 18th to 20th July

We've just looked at camper vans. Spoke to a few people about whats best to buy and how much different ones would be. We spoke to the hire company we had just used to get from Melbourne and he showed us one he had for sale. It was 9 year old Toyota Hiace hitop camper, white and he was getting it ready for it MOT. We said we'd have a chat and call back later.
We started to get thing ready for when Emma, Hannah's friend was arriving on the 21st. We looked at other accommodation for us as the hostel we were in was noisy. Hannah had not got a good first nights sleep as there was a large group of Irish yobs drinking, cheering and singing all night. We found out later that they are a team over here playing Gaelic football.
On the 20th we got a txt from Emma to say she had arrived in Cairns airport a day early. Hannah was excited to see her. Emma arrived and said she didn't want to stay in Sydney for the night as planned, coz it was grey, cold and raining. So we got her a room in the hostel with us and had a beer to celebrate her arrival. We got a car for the next couple of days to visit the Daintree and Cape Tribulation (oldest rain forest in the world). Also we have decided to buy our camper van, we pick it up on Wednesday.

Drivin to Cairns

So after Sidney bridge we drove to Gosford about an hour out. It was getting late in the day and the light had gone. It was about 6pm. Tourist info was closed with no help we stopped in a motel the night as we could find a camp site. We had pizza and relaxed from the drive. We spent the next few days driving about 6 to 7 hours a day doing about 650-700km. We stopped off in campsites in Tenterfield, which was up in the hills/mountains and we awoke to -5 temperatures. There was frost on the grass outside and the windscreen was covered in ice. Then stopped in Childers and nice small place. Then Mackay we found a nice beach side camp site for only $20. We were out walking around the campsite that night and found 2 possums following us around. our last night was at a really small place called Cardwell about 2 hours from Cairns. This village had a shop, petrol station, a few more shops and about 30 houses all along one street. It was really close to the beach and the camp site owners had just bought it last week. We arrived in to Cairns for lunch time and found a hostel with a pool as its now 20 degrees with the sun shinning. The things well take from our journey are we drove the length of the east coast of Australia in under 7 days, covering over 4000km and visited the states of Victoria, New South Wales and Queensland. We saw the change of lush area to freezing mountains and then dry light brown fields. plus all the campers we meet along the way were really really friendly. Had a great time driving up.

Journey from Melbourne to Sydney, on the way to Cairns

So since our last blog, we had got our camper van from Melbourne and started driving to Cairns. We had only 7 days to make and we did. We drove from Melbourne up the Hyme highway towards Canberra. We left a sunny day in Melbourne after several days of rain( nothing like the rain you lot have been having). We drove to a place about 1hour and a half from Canberra to camp for the night. We arrived after dark and the only other camp site had closed, its was 06:10. So we parked the van, hooked up the electricity and decided to go to KFC for dinner, but couldn't find it so we settled for McDonald's. Our reasons for eating there was 1. we found we only had 1 gas burner for cooking and we had driven for about 7 hours.
The next morning we were woken by the cockatoos and other noisy birds. It was about 6ish and still dark. At 7 we got up a bit cold this morning, we had a shower, got some brekky and set off to Canberra. We arrived about 10ish and visited Parliament, well we drove passed it and to a photo. Its a nice place to see but there is nothing other than nice building and gardens to see. So we carried on to Sydney. We got to Sydney just in time for rush hour on a Friday. Fantastic! We navigated through the heart of Sydney, coz we took the wrong turn and then found our selves on Sydney Harbour bridge. It was great to see and we had a peek at what we'll see when we visit Sydney properly after Xmas.

Just booked a campervan to drive to Cairns 11th July 2007

So since Thursday we have Scott and Joanna back with us. They have started to unpack and get back to real life for them. We have not done that much. Its now Wednesday and we have just chilled out and planned our next adventure to Cairns.
Emma, Hannah's friend from repping is flying over to meet us for a Holiday in Cairns. So there will be the three of us doing:the great barrier reef (I really want to try some diving and Hannah's wanting to snorkel), we are wanting to sail around the Whitsundays island and if we have time with Emma here go to the further north point of Australia.
Sorry we have been a little behind but we are going to try and keep it as up to date as we can. WE are having a great time in Melbourne but we are really excited to be starting our trip to Cairns tomorrow. We have booked a camper van to drive to Cairns, its about 3200km around 40 hours in 7 days. This is going to be great. Its part of a relocation programme for the camper companies. They need it in Cairns and we get it for $1 per day fee and $200 fuel allowance to help us. We only decided today to drive tomorrow rather than flying. Just winging it.

Pixar exhibition 5th July 2007

We went to see the Pixar exhibition in Melbourne today. Its a gallery and moving image presentation of all the things they have done. We saw lots of drawings and clay models of characters from Toy Story, Bugs Life, Cars, The Incredible and Finding Nemo. We saw what come of them might have looked like such as Sully from Monsters Inc. We just had a fun day being a kid.
Then to finish our day we went to watch "Knocked up" at the cinema. Its really funny and well worth going to see.

Hobart to Melbourne 3rd July 2007

We had breakfast and drove to the airport. Checked in and went through security. We had for got to pack a bread knife that we'd used for making our pack up, so we through it away. The security guard was a really nice bloke he asked us what we'd been up to and where we had visited in Tasmania. Then talked with us for about 20 minutes about places we need to come back and see. Where he had been in England and Europe, but then said we better go before missing our flight. Nice bloke.
Got back to Melbourne about 2pm, so we had luch out and decided not to do much for the rest of the day.

Straham to Hobart 2nd July 2007

So we started to headed back to Hobart in the south. We are going to pass Queenstown and Franklin river. As we drove towards Queenstown we mountain vegetation started to disappear as people had told us it will. This is because the area was a huge area for mining. Something about the sulphur rising up through the ground a killing everything. The town itself was a little village with old tin roofed shed like houses. Didn't stop long, we just drove around to see the area and filled up with petrol. We stopped at Nelsons falls next which was a short walk down a forest path. Before we reached the falls we could hear it. It was massive, with the spray of thousands of litres of water crashing onto the rocks near us. Took some pitcures and watched it for a while before going to our next stop, Frenchmans cap.
Here is a 5 day hike through forests, over rivers and fields of mud. So we decided without the right equipment we will just do the 20minute walk to the suspension bridge over Franklin River. This river is famous for the best and most dangerous water rafting in the world. We got the bridge and found a wire suspension bridge a bit like the 1 on "I'm a celebrity, get me out of here" challenges. So I filmed Hannah as she walked to the other side then joined her. She was a bit scared at the time but after she said she was glad she had done it. As a reward we drove to and stopped for ice cream in Hamilton.
Back in Hobart we found a nice 1920's family run hotel for the night. It was very nice and clean with a lot of the original fixtures and fitting. We watched the Diana concert on TV and went to bed. I heard a few strange noises in the night but didn't want to wake Hannah. In the morning in day light we chatted about the hotel might have a few ghosts, as Hannah had heard noisy floor boards and doors throughout the night too.

From Cradle Mountain to Straham 1st July 2007

Woke up this morning with about an inch of snow on the ground and decided to build a snowman before leaving the cabin. Hannah wanted to scrape the ice from the car windows and we went to check out. I spoke to a man we meet last night about a young couple in a green car. He said that the car had just done a 360 spin into the reception car park. I told Hannah and she said that the car had sped off, out of the car park. As we drove down the drive we saw the young couple walking back up the drive. As we got around the corner we saw their car in the ditch at the side of the road and the skid marks showing how it had skidded of sideways. Proper idiots. Hannah wouldn't let me take a photo, so we drove on to Lake Dove and did a few short walks around the area. We spotted 2 wallabies eating in the field as we walked around and I think I saw a wombat running for cover.
After the walks in the snow we drove on to Straham passing through a place called Rosebury. As we pulled up for supplies we saw on the general stores windows with posters saying"Do be ill in our town we can not look after you" so we thought its not to inviting here and the locals in the pie didn't say too much either. So we drove on to Straham. We found a nice place, cheap and warm in a static caravan for the night.

Birthday Boy 30th June 2007

Woke up with sore heads but that's OK its my birthday. Cos its the end of June I never had a bad weather on this day. Always sunny and BBQ weather. So we woke up to a frosty and misty morning. Got in the car and drove west towards Cradle Mountain. We drove down a road that changed into a track until we got to Liffey falls. We walked through the rain forest to where we saw a large cliff face with a nice waterfall. As its my birthday I climbed over a fence and on to the rocks near the falls for a photo. On our way down to the falls we saw a wallaby just standing on the path. Hannah was surprised to see it and jumped which scared the wallaby sending it jumping as fast as it could into the forest.
We then drove on to Mole creek, home of the Solomons caves and Marakoopa caves. Large stalagmite and stalactite caves. Which we also home to the glow worms. Before we ventured in to the caves we stopped at a honey farm to taste the honey but it was closed because its Saturday. So we took funny pictures of Hannah and I with those boards you stick your face through a hole. So we were the queen bee, but with our faces. A bit of a laugh for us.
Inside the caves we saw loads of stuff, but the best thing was when we stopped in a chamber and the guide turned the lights off and the next thing we could see was thousands of green flashing lights about 5 meters above us, which were the glow worms. Really cool to see them.
The weather changed from the morning mist to glorious sun shine as we drove from Mole Creek to Cradle mountain. We had the window open until we reach the border of the mountains when it started to rain and then sleet.
We visited the tourist information for a place for the night and they gave us 3 places. The first was full and the second was really nice but cost about 80-120 pounds a night. Way out of our price range, but then we found a really nice place with cabins. They let was have a family cabin for the price of a normal one, as this was all they had left. We got inside to a freezing place, because all the windows were open and its started to snow. I've never had snow for my birthday before and loved it. We stuck on all the heaters and the cooking rings to warm up the cabin and then headed out to the local tavern for some food. Had a really nice meal with a massive log fire burning in the middle of the tavern to keep everyone warm.
After the meal we decided to drive back to the cabin as the snow was getting thicker and we had a reasonably steep driveway to get up without snow tyres on the car. We videoed the view from the car as we drove along the white road and as we tried to get up the drive. We got about half way up and we saw skid marks from other cars and decided to keep going but go get more grip we jumped up and down in our seats to make the car bounce. We got up no problem and stopped off at the reception's bar to get a few beers and a bottle of vine to take back to our cabin in the snow.

Beer tour and walking in Cataract Gorge 29th June 2007

We were in the James Boag's brewery this morning at 10am. You my think it's a little early to start drinking, but our guide said its the best time to sample beer. We shown the production areas and what they use to produce there flavours. Then taken to the production line and shown the canning. We saw a bar in the centre of the brewery where the workers take their breaks. The guide said about 20 years ago the workers had morning, lunch, afternoon tea and late afternoon breaks, were they could drink as many beers as they liked. This was until work health and safety regulations came in and stopped all that.
We enjoyed all these parts of the tour, but the best bit was at the tour bar. The guide poured 4 different types of Boag's beers 1. Premium 2. St George 3. Boag Draught and 4. an English Ale(which was like a really fizzy bitter, but nice). Our favour ate is Premium, which is in London now. So we'll have to wait and see if its in pub at home when we're back.
We left the brewery a bit tipsy and went to a walk around the city park. This is where we saw Japanese monkey in the centre of the park. They were playing and some were cleaning one another. Some of them were really funny play chase me, chase me.

We left the park and went to Cataract Gorge just outside the city. This is a walk along cliff top walks following the river. We had a picnic next to a lake with the Alexandra suspension bridge just in front of us. After lunch we walked over the bridge and followed the zigzag walk back to the car. This is a walk for a hiker rather than us. It was really work and we started to sweat a little so for the first time since leaving Dubai we walked around in our T shirts.
At night we went for a curry and some beers to celebrate my birthday early as we were going to Cradle Mountain tomorrow and we thought there might not be anything other than cabins and walking available. So we had an OK curry and lots to drink then headed to a Irish bar for some more beer and watch a live band. Fell in to bed later. Great fun.

Heritage Highway to Launceston, 28 June 2007

The heritage highway is follows the old coach road from Hobart ( the capital to the second largest city) Launceston. We followed the road through Oatlands, Ross, Campbell Town, Evandale and finally go to Launceston. Along the way we saw Georgian building built around the 1840's They were really small villages and Hannah said they looked like the model villages you see in theme parks. We also saw convict built things like the Ross Red brick bridge, built in 1836 and one convict was giving his freedom for his work.

We found a nice modern backpackers place in Launceston and decided to stay here for 2 nights as we wanted to do the Cataract Gorge, a brewery tour and see the city. So we spent the night planning our next couple of days before getting our diner and a few beers.

Port Arthur and the Convict trail 27th June 2007

Today we drove to the south - east of Tasmania to a place called Port Arthur. This is were the first of the convicts on second time offence's were sent to serve there time. It was a prison for second time males. They were treated like slaves for a industry of timber and later ship building. It started off with a total of just 300, of which were prisoners, the army and their families. The settlement was started by Lieutenant Collins in 1830 and was the British empires major penal settlement.

We took a guided walk around the ground that was really interesting and some of the places were eirey. After that we got a tour of the port area which showed us the island of the dead, the island for the graves of the convicts. As well as the island for the first British boys prison. It was the first time the British were to ever separate the boys from the men. They thought that the men were teaching the young boys their bad ways.

We then got of the boat and walked the old mill that was converted into a prison building for the best and worst behaved. The best behaved got the top floor with hamac type beds while the worst got a cell on the ground floor that was only big enough for a 1 bed and 1 shelf. We visited the army's area and the commodore's house. Then went on to the hospital and separate prison that was built later. The separate prison was built to house all the bad offenders that kept on re offending inside the prison. They stopped whipping these people and put then in solitary confinement from 3months to anything like 20 years. They decided that whipping didn't work so they started working on their minds. Which sent some crazy and they had to build an asylum from all this inmates then.

We found out that the Rev. house was the most haunted of all the building still standing. Hannah didn't want to go inside, but I thought come on. So I followed a woman in and it was a bit eirey as I could hear what sounded like monks singing. I walked around the house loosing the woman. I found a room that was playing the music and also telling a story of the Rev. and how he treated all the inmates badly and beating them. After leaving the room feeling as though someone was watching me I headed for the back door. As I got to the doorway that woman I followed in stepped into the door frame and scared the crap out of me. I told Hannah and she laugh at me and we then visited the church that has not been consecrated, because the commodore wanted a place for all inmate no matter what religion to pray.

After a really great day we went back the motel with pizza and relaxed eating watch TV. Planning on going up to Launceston tomorrow in the north of Taz. Going up the Heritage highway.

Landing in Hobart, Tasmania 26th June 2007

We got to the airport with no problems, I was asleep within 2 minutes on getting on the plane, Hannah said. She said she went to sleep too as we were up at 5am. That's the earliest we have been up since being home in the UK.
We landed in Hobart on time and the airport is tiny. With only 1 carousel for the baggage and a policeman and his sniffer dog check all the passengers as we waited for our bags.

Got our car from AVIS, some directions for the city centre and tourist info. Then drove off in our bright yellow compact Hyundai Gets car. We got the tourist info with no problems and went inside. The girl behind the desk was not too helpful but gave us a little information for our trip around Tasmania. She gave us a few hostel names and numbers so we thought we'd get our accommodation sorted for tonight before anything else.

The first place we saw was nice overall, but the bed looked old and its slumped in the middle. So we said we would get back to her and ran out of there. We drove around looking at the others from the outside and decided to leave it until later and go have some fun. So we drove to the Putter's mini golf course and spent a few hours playing. Hannah won the first, an indoor course with crazy holes that once you pottered the ball it went was sucked into a tube an sent to the next hole. Really good fun. I won the second game but only because I fluked 2 holes in 1.

We tried the YHA around the corner to the golf, for a room. When we got there the reception was closed but the woman running it saw us and came over. She looked pretty ill and seemed nice enough. We told her we were looking for a room for the night and could we see it(as we have done in the past). She then started saying "I'm not wasting my time showing you the room, inthis cold, bad weather. I've been ill for three weeks. Its a YHA, you either want it or you don't). So thinking have rude is she we said no thank you and walked straight out. We found a nice motel around the corner from that and stayed there for about 12 dollars more a night.We went out from some food that night and had a really nice curry, just down the street. Then went to bed, ready for the convict trail tomorrow.

Getting ready for Tasmania 25th June 2007

Started packing for tomorrow and headed into the city to change my running trainers. I've already been for a run in them, but they are a little small. So going to see if they will change. They did and we went to get our airport bus ticket for the morning. We fly at 08:30, so going to get there for 7am.
At home finished packing and got an early night, as we are up at 5am.

Over the weekend

Saturday we didn't do that much due to the late night and celebrations. We just watched a bit of TV. Al the TV over here is either like watching a shopping channel with loads of product placement in the programmes or sales pitches and the rest is US channels.

Sunday we didn't do anything as we are saving our money for Tasmania on Tuesday.

Aussie rules footy

Spent most of the day doing odd jobs such as washing clothes for Tasmania, going for a jog and getting ready to head into the city to meet Scott's friends. We meet them as we were going to watch our first footy match at the MCG stadium. There were about 46,000 people there to watch Richmond V Melbourne. As we were going with Lucy, she's a Richmond fan we became Richmond supporter's. They are at the bottom of the league and not won a game for ages. So we looked forward to a thrashing. I had one of Scott's other friend next to me, teaching me the rules and telling me Richmond are rubbish. We drank some beer's, eat some footy food a "fourNtwenty" pie and chips and watched as Richmond won 124 to 98. Had a really great time. Both sets of fans, all sit next to each other and its nice and friendly, with everyone giving each other a bit of banter.
After the match we all thought we better celibrate with a few drinks. We left the pub at about 2ish we think. We have a McDonald's about 200 meters from our house, so as we passed it on our way home, we saw it still open and tried to going inside. The doors were locked and they told us to go throught the drive thu. So me and Hannah are standing between a car and a van to get served a milk shake, to only get there and they are cleaning the machine. So we got burgers and fries. Not very healthly but really tasty at 3am.

Back in Melbourne

Thursday 21/06/07. All we did was chill out after our trip and look at some of the photos on scott's computer. There's too many to put on the blog so we are looking at getting a few for you lot to look at. We are a bit behind with the blog, but once we are up to date will through a few photo on it too.

Visited the Victoria Market today. Its the largest market with fruit, veg, clothes, shoes and anything else they can get away with selling. Started planning our trip to Tazmania as we go on Tuesday.

End of the Great Ocean Road

After a great day yesterday we had a good nights sleep and headed for Port Fairy, our last spot off the Ocean road. This was a little town and we only visted the main walk way next to the water because of the pictures in our tour guides. The weathe was a little bad, a spot or two of rain. It was nice and peiaceful in the village. Only a few fishermen were out and about, fixing their boats and stuff.
We started home back to Melbourne, but stopped first at Tower Hill. A active volcano and nature reserve. We spotted some wild Emus and Kangaroos.

So now started to drove home.

The Great Ocean Road Form Port Campbell to Warrnambool

Back tracked down the road to Gibson Steps on the Ocean Road. We walked down the step to the beach which gave us our first brilliant views of the Twelve Apostles. With the morning lighting them up from behind. Hannah loved the beach and she watched the waves crashing on to the beach. The sea was starting to move inland. So we got our first pictures of the Twelve Apostles and made our way to the back. The Twelve Apostles are line stone stacks standing upright in the sea. They were once part of the mainland but sea, time and the weather have eroded from the land. Both of us are fascinated by them. At our next stop was the Twelve Apostles visitors centre. We got some really good pictures and spent a lot of time looking at the Apostles, at where some had fallen down and just at the land scape.
We got to Loch Ard Gorge. This is where 1 of the many ship wreaks happened along the coast. Its the most famous because there were 52 people on board by only 2 survived, Tom Pearce and Eva Carmichael, both aged 18. The locals at the time wanted them to marry. But Eva left to go home back to Ireland. I really enjoyed Loch Ard Gorge. I really got in to the local history. The story says that the compass was faulty an d the ship hit a small island off the coast and the 2 survivors washed up in the gorge. Tom climbed out to get help for Eva and had to walk about 5 miles bare foot. We walked around the area of the gorge, went to the cemetery. But only 4 other bodies were found from the wreak. They now lay in the cemetery with a remembrance area for all lost on that day. We saw where the boat may have hit the island just off shore.
Then we looked at all the different rock formations and the cliffs. The locals have named a few such as the Blow hole, Razor back and Thunder cave all for the right reasons. Water blows out the blow hole, the weather has made a sharp looking razor on the rocks and the waves wash into Thunder cave on a stormy day and the locals say its like thunder.

In the afternoon we saw rock formations called The Arch, London Bridge and the Grotto. All were spectacular to see. Then drove to the bay of Martyrs and the bay of Islands. At the bay of Islands we got a few pictures that once home we are going to get produced and framed. So you'll have to wait and see those.

We had a really great day today, but to finish off the day we went to a night-time show of the ship wreak Loch Ard. Its called "Shipwrecked". Its all about the experience of being on the ship and they play part of the scenes on a movie screen. But the best bit as that we were taken outside, to a model village called Flagstaff. Then seated in front of a lake. The next bit was to experience the stormy seas and the wreak itself. The water from the lake is sprayed into the air and the movie is played on the water spray in front of us. An EXCELLENT night. We both really loved it.

The Great Ocean Road going through Otway National Park
This morning was stormy, windy and cold. We headed into the great Otway national park. We walked up to Marriners Lookout which had great views looking down over Apolloy Bay. We spotted a fox at the top of the hill looking at us, wondering what those two stupid people are up to on top of a hill in bad weather. Later we missed the turning for Marriners Falls (sorry Sue we missed it, but is was raining anyway).
Our next stop was Cape Otway Lightstation built in 1848. Just as we got to the top of the light house up the 78 steps the sun came out and showed us the breath taking views. Hannah said she could have stayed all day, just looking out to sea. We chatted to the man at the top of the light house, asked him loads of questions and found out he was the light house keeper. His great grandfather just clean the light house without any ropes or anything to stop him falling off.
Then we stopped at Johanna Beach, where the Rip Curl Pro comp. is held when Bells Beach is too small. It was raining so no surfers today. We decided to have lunch here before going into the forest, inland.
In the forest we saw Hopetown falls got a picture of it but didn't walk down to it. We saw the great Redwoods were the trees are like giants. Our next stop was a walk through the rain forest to Triplet Falls. It was sheltered from the rain with an eirey feel. The trees parted to show us a three tier waterfall. Got some fantastic photos of Hannah and I in front of the falls. Decided to miss out the Otway Fly Tree Top walk as it was late in the afternoon and it was raining again.
We tried to find "Wreak beach" in search of an anchor in the sands, but gave in as the road started to disappear.
It was starting to go dark and we decided to stop at "the Twele Apostles" centre. We walked out to the look out and watched the little penguins coming out of the sea for the night. The poor things.....the sea was so rough it kept taking them back out to sea as they were trying to get out. Some were just playing in the sea or waiting for there mates.
It was getting really cold so we drove it to town and ended up in a hostel dorm room for 6 people, but there was only the 2 of us in the room. It was cold so we got the duvets from the other beds to keep us warm. The town was so quiet, when we went out for a pizza and the pub closed at 8pm.

The Great Ocean Road from Lorne to Apollo Bay
Hannah didn't sleep very well last night because 1. she kept thinking about the spider 2. the bed sheets smelt of TCP 3. Neil was snoring and 4. she needed a wee in the middle of the night and was too scared to go until she woke me up to tell me she was going to the toilet (which is located outside and round the corner).
We were both woken to squawking but this time really loud at 7am (it was raining). Later we went to the shops for supplies and saw about 15-20 cockatoo's on someone's balcony. We think they must have been feeding them.
Made our pack up for the day and went in seach of waterfalls in Lorne. Found Erskine falls, it was a rainy day so we wrapped up and walked down to the waterfall which was beautiful. Got some photos and the hard part was walking back up all the steps. We started to make our way on to Teddy's Lookout, as we both needed the loo we stopped at Blanket Leaf picnic area. Found the toliets and Hannah said remmber to lookout for spiders. Then inside I heard Hannah say she could'nt see the bottom of the toilet (we were only in a cublical style wooden hut toliet in the forest) and it really smelt. Next time Hannah needs the loo in the rain forest she's said shes going behind a bush. We found out later that the toliets in the forest are called drop toliets. They are pits in the ground with a toliet over the top.....a drop toliet.
At Teddy's lookout the views were great looking out to the forest with steam rising out of them and to the otherside the Ocean.
We had some lunch in Lorne and watched the surfers ride the waves. Then went to Kennett River in search of Koalas. We were dissapointed on the way up the road as we only saw 2. So we turned around and started to see more and more. In fact we saw over 40 Koalas, sleeping, eating and just chilling in the trees. Koalas sleep for over 20 hours a day and eat the other 4 hours. We could have sat there all day watching them. The last Koala we saw was about 2 meters away from us and Hannah said she was soooooo cute. We named it "Cutey" and it posed for lots of photos.
We carried along the Great Ocean Road, the views were amazing and the waves crashed against the beach. We arrived in to Apollo Bay were we visted the tourist infomation to find some where cheap to stay. As we drove around one of the places looked like a garden shed so we didn't stay there. We ended up at "the Surfside" backpackers right on the beach. It was cheap and clean and as far as we're aware there's no cockatoo's to wake us up.

The Great Ocean Road

We packed our bags as well as the car and off we went to the Great Ocean Road. Our first stop was surf mad Torquay. Here we visited "SurfWorld" the surf museum with all the history of the boards over the years. Also we saw the best surfers over the ages and watched the Billabong movie on riding the biggest wave ever. Really cool.
We headed to danger point for a spot of lunch and then headed to the famous Bells Beach, where all the cool surfers go to catch the best waves. Its also where the Rip Curl Pro surfing competition is held every year.
We drove through Anglesea and made our next stop at Aireys Inlet where we walked around split point Light house. This is the light house from the children's TV show Around the Twist. (Aussie show). We drove to Lorne to spend the night, as it was starting to dark.
Got a room in our first backpackers hostel. It looked really nice set with the forest all around us. We got our room key and tried to find our room. Hannah was scared to death by a huge what we thought was a parrot but found our later its a cockatoo. It came flying out of the trees, landing outside our room and started squawking at us, that is until I said "where's Polly" and it flew away. The room was nice and clean, until we came back from having dinner. We found a huge spider in our room. So as a team Hannah and I caught it and through it out the door.

Boring jobs/admin day

Today we headed into the city with a long list of boring things that needed to be done. So we went to our second home the Melbourne tourist info office to find out where the places were. We started off by sorting out our medical card. Then went to immigration to get our passports stamped for our visas (my god the queue was long, had to wait for about an hour watching the flying doctors on the TV provided).
We bought our sim cards to set us up. (If you have not got the numbers yet email us and we'll email the back. Can't put them on this blog). Set up our Aussie bank account, our bank adviser was from Chesterfield. Moved 7 years ago, small world.
We then went for a hot choc and decided to share a bit of cake. Glad we were sharing, as the lady cut a huge piece(half the cake) and had handed to me.
At home dried our washing and after the long day, put our feet up in preparation for tomorrow.

Healesville Sanctuary

Headed out of Melbourne to the Healesville Sanctuary north of Melbourne. It took 1 1/2 hour to get there. We followed the road through lots of Vineyards along the way. When we got there we saw lots of Koalas, Kangaroo's, Dingo's, Emus, Wallabies, Wombats and snakes.

We went to the sanctuary's hospital a saw a wombat having a check up for his broken leg. Poor little mite. He was hit by a car, but hes well on his way to recovery.

The high of the day was, by far, watching cute Koala's sitting in the trees only meters away and getting to stroke one at feeding time. Got loads of photos and a bit of video. Had a great time.