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.