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Surf & Home Turf
Hello from Port Macquarie on the East Coast, about halfway between Sydney and Brisbane.
After the excitement of Caroline’s birthday, we stayed another night at the campsite just to relax and then got back on the road, taking Mario into Sydney over the bridge and stopping for some photo ops. We then shot off to Bondi Beach, which was beautiful, but very busy and commercialised, so we didn’t stay long - just had a paddle (our first in the South Pacific) and bought a new beach bag. We drove up to Manly but had a bit of a nightmare finding a parking spot which wasn’t a ridiculous hourly rate, so didn’t stay long there either! Our original plan of perhaps spending at day at each resort turned into a couple of hours at each and then back on the road.
We wound up at the Berowa Valley Regional Park, camping next to the river. It was so nice and quiet (and free) after the hustle and bustle of Sydney, we spent a couple of days there just walking the bush tracks along the river. The wildlife was amazing, just hanging out on the river banks were loads of water dragons, lizards and 6 foot long monitors – as we walked by some would jump in the water or scurry up the nearest tree, but some just stared at us, quite menacingly! The best were the birds though. All sorts of parrots, parakeets, white and black cockatoos, which we’re getting used to – but we weren’t expecting to see - or hear - the lyre birds. Such incredible sounds from them as they scurried around between the trees, seemingly oblivious to us. Their song was unreal, if you haven’t heard one, check out the YouTube footage below to hear how they copy sounds around them. And the pair that were near the car park did sometimes sound like the “blip blip” of a car alarm!
Still no wombats though! We’ve even bought mossie nets that go over our hats so we can go on night walks without being bitten to death – but we are yet to see a live wombat in the wild. We’re getting to the northern limit of the common wombat’s habitat too, but there’s another type further north, so hopefully we’ll have better luck with them. We did see a huge bat/flying fox in Sydney, just hanging in the tree, looking at us, waiting for us to get our camera out before flying off!
We’ve seen loads of different types of koalas. We’ve seen the 3 legged, one eyed koala, the no-eyed koala, the humpback koala, the no clawed koala that can’t climb trees and loads of koalas with chlamydia that gives them conjunctivitis and then eventually no bladder control (technically called “wet bottom”). Yes, we visited a koala hospital for a walk-and-talk with one of the volunteers, seeing their patients that had been injured on the roads, in bushfires, or orphaned or just diseased. It was an emotional and heart-rending visit, but best of all it was free. (Relax, we made a donation – even though they couldn’t tell us where all the freaking wombats are at!)
We took a bit of a pootle around Lake Macquarie, Australia’s largest shoreline lake – it’ either 2, 3 or 4 times bigger than Sydney Harbour, they can’t seem to decide. This was very nice indeed. A huge, calm beautiful lake with charming little towns dotted along the pebbly shore of crystal clear waters. The perfect antidote if you’ve had too much of crashing waves, sand and ocean wind. It was like the world’s biggest boating lake / swimming pool / fish pond all in one. Here we visited another Swansea, but not much to report other than this is where the lake joins the sea. Toronto was very nice, but unfortunately this one didn’t contain either our good friend Jeannie or Caroline’s Aunty Jean – we’ll just have to wait till next year!!
So last weekend we were in the city of Newcastle, which is very aptly named as not only is it the world’s biggest coal exporting port, but it was also raining. To be fair it wasn’t raining all the time, when we got there it was 36 degrees and really sunny. It only started raining when we put some washing out. And when we went to the beach. Oh yeah, and when we wanted to have dinner sat outside. And just for the three hours we choose to walk around the city the next morning.
None of this really mattered though as the only reason we were in Newcastle was to go to NitroCircus, and for those 2 hours it didn’t rain. If you don’t know what NitroCircus is, then you’re probably not a pre-pubescent male, which we’ll guess is most of you. So, it’s basically a motorcycle / BMX / skateboard stunt show which tours the world every couple of years and stars the best riders doing crazy stuff over huge jumps. Then they throw in quad bikes, snow mobiles and some JackAss style stuff like armchairs, bathtubs, kiddies toys, you get the idea. Google it, you’ll love it! Anyhow, we had a blast. We were trackside and just seeing these loons soaring through the air above us was “awesome” and “totally rad, dude”. We have no idea if such people still speak like that, but we’d like to think so.
Talking of being “awesome”, we bought ourselves some boogie boards (you know, the short surf boards you just lie or kneel on). We decided we had to give some sort of surf thing a go and when we saw some boards for $20 each in an end-of-summer sale, we had nothing to lose. Except our dignity and possibly our swimsuits, but hopefully a few pounds at the same time as it’s a proper workout. It’s early days, but we’re getting the hang of it and having a great laugh – neither of us are that happy to just lie on the beach, so the boards are a great way to enjoy the beach culture and then when we get tired, we feel like we deserve a little lie down in the sand. And the beach really is part of the culture, it’s not a stereotype or just a fashion thing – it appears that everyone, all ages and sizes, tries to get on or in the water as often as possible. Today we saw people on their lunch-breaks stopping for a quick swim/surf then shower, before heading back to it. Just about every vehicle you see has some sort of watersport/fishing equipment attached to it. Even some motorbikes and pushbikes have surfboard carriers on the side!
Between Newcastle and here, we headed a little bit inland towards the “New England” area, specifically to visit Gloucester (Bry’s hometown in the UK). The countryside here was the greenest we’ve seen since being in Australia. Everywhere was just so green and lush, with all the hills, valleys, rivers and cows it really was like being back at home. We drove past a “Welcome to Gloucestershire” sign, just like we were on the M5 at home. We then drove through Stroud and in to Gloucester, all through this beautiful, green scenery. We both got quite emotional and homesick – we really could have been making the journey back to our friends and family. Sad to say, we got so choked that we just drove on and found somewhere to sleep about 10 miles away.
The next day, feeling more composed and with it, we returned to Gloucester and had a good walk about, talking to some locals who noticed Bry’s Gloucester Rugby top. We learnt the city and surrounding towns were named exactly because they looked like the originals and the area was meant to be used for sheep farming, but they changed that to cows because of the local flooding – just like home! We chatted to one old dear, must have been in here sixties at least, who was most impressed with our journey, making us feel like the big adventurers. She then goes on to explain that she’s off to Namibia next month, she’s been to all the other African countries bar two, most of the Middle East and all of South America. She explained “I want to see all the dodgy places while I’m still young, plenty of time for the more civilised countries when I’m older!” She was brilliant, could have talked for hours, but she had to go shopping – probably to catch her own crocodile for dinner!
So we’re now in Port Macquarie, another old convict settlement, which is surrounded by lovely beaches. We hope to stay here a few days and do some rough planning head. We’ve been back on the road proper for a few weeks now, so have a good idea of what distances and costs we should be looking at in the future. We’ll look at the long term weather forecasts and try to decide a definite route and timescale. Currently, for the first time ever, we have nothing booked, planned, scheduled or whatever. It’s a weird feeling. It’s good to be so free, but you lose any sense of purpose or accomplishment. We think we’re happier with some sort of plan, even if it’s just “We’ll be at Suchandsuch by next weekend”.
So until next time, when we’ll apparently be in Suchandsuch, Hoo Roo!
Planes, Trains and Automobiles
Hello from Sydney, where we’re both a little tired after celebrating a certain young lady’s birthday!
Our week started in Canberra, in Australian Capital Territory. We weren’t expecting huge things from this rather sterile planned capital city, so we weren’t too disappointed with what we found. We started by driving up Mount Ainslie to look down on the city along its main axis that runs to Capital Hill and the Parliament House. This kind of reminded us of Bucharest with the boulevards radiating from Ceausescu’s Palace, reminding everyone who’s in charge. We then moved on to what we were most looking forward to, and what we were told was the only thing worth visiting, the Australian War Memorial.
Australia takes its war memorials seriously - it apparently has more than any other country – and the AWM is the jewel in the crown being part memorial, part museum and part educational. The centre is what we would consider the memorial part, with a Roll of Honour listing those lost and a Hall of Memory which contains the tomb of their own Unknown Soldier, with mosaics and stained glass for the different military services. The outer halls contain museums detailing each conflict they have been involved in, through the World Wars, Korea, Vietnam, Gulf, Iraq/Afghanistan with incredible exhibits, models, dioramas, re-enactments and witness accounts. Then there’s the ANZAC Hall which has light and sound shows recreating World War I dog fights, WWII Lancaster bombing runs and Japanese submarine attacks on Sydney Harbour, all around displays of the actual machinery involved.
Other areas are for education, where school kids are brought in by the bus load and made to realise not just how many people died by looking at names on plaques, but why and how they died, to make it very real and bring it home. Then there’s the immaculate grounds with various machinery, sculptures and memorials too. It is a fascinating and moving place all done in a typical Aussie “matter of fact” way, not too sensational, not too sombre and not too nationalistic, unlike others we have seen.
Then we set off to have a look at the Parliamentary Zone, which in comparison was very disappointing. It was just so soulless and quiet. It probably didn’t help that parliament wasn’t sitting that day, but even so, you’d expect something to be going on! We parked at the National Library (which by law contains a copy of every book ever published in Australia, although you’d think that was the idea, without them having to pass a law) and walked to the artificial lake and then up to Capital Hill (no marks for originality, but at least they spelt it right). Everywhere was deserted. The only real traffic we saw were Federal Police cars cruising about and empty buses. Even the Aboriginal Tent Embassy (a protest camp claiming political rights) was empty. We had a wander around the Parliamentary House, going into the House of Representatives and the Senate and then up to the roof to stand under the huge flag pole and look back on the AWM and Mount Ainslie.
The next day it was back on the road and towards Sydney. The main highway between the two cities is another war memorial, The Remembrance Driveway, what they call a “living memorial”, a British Government idea that didn’t take off in the UK. Every rest stop on the route is named after an Australian Victoria Cross recipient. At the Canberra end there is also the RAAF Memorial Grove, which has on display a propeller from a Hawker Siddeley HS748, a propeller which was made by Dowty Rotol, so that too had come all the way from Gloucestershire, UK.
Our journey took us through more varied landscapes of hills, valleys and great plains. We passed Lake George, which is currently dried-up, but comes and goes with the rains. The area is so flat, that although the lake can be 25km long, it will only be an average depth of 1 metre. We then stopped off at Goulbourn to see the Big Merino, a 50ft high concrete ram celebrating the local wool industry and containing the ubiquitous gift shop.
In Sydney we decided to stay at a proper campsite and found one not far out of town, near a train station for easy access. Unfortunately it is also on the airport flight path. But it has full facilities, a pool and is set in a National Park – so it’s very quiet, between flights! On our way to the site, we stopped off at the Olympic Park and managed to get Mario in front of the main stadium, where Caroline believes England may have won a rugby game in 2003, but Bry denies any knowledge of it.
So Friday was Caroline’s birthday and we were set for a long weekend in Sydney, one of the World’s great cities. We had booked to do the Sydney Harbour Bridge Climb on the Saturday morning, which looked best weatherwise, so on Friday we just went for a wander around the city, taking in the sights, the old streets of The Rocks, brunch at a patisserie, the bridge, the city centre, Martins Place, Hyde Park, lunch at a new very trendy Westfield shopping centre below the Sydney Tower, more wandering about, rubbed a bronze boar’s nose for luck, then drinks and dinner at the Opera Bar followed by puds at the Guylian Cafe. It was a very relaxed birthday to remember, in complete contrast to Bry’s birthday that was spent fighting Russian customs and then a night at a truck stop!
We were up bright and early on Saturday for our BridgeClimb – a truly once in a lifetime experience. It took about an hour to get kitted up and run through all the safety briefings, then it was out clambering over girders and gantries, making our way along the arch to the very top of the bridge, over the middle section and back down the other side. The views were amazing, the weather was perfect, it was just incredible – particularly just standing on top of one of the World’s iconic structures – if you get the chance, you’ve got to do it. There were some hairy bits – on the way up you climb a ladder that actually goes between 2 lanes of traffic, just inches away, and on the way down, you go between two railway tracks – the whole thing shakes and groans as they thunder past you! A few of the gantries are just hanging there, you can see through the grilled floorway straight down to the water or road below, all a bit nerve-racking, but very exciting!
The afternoon was a bit more sedate, we got a ferry to Manly and had a wander around there, along the beach with all the beautiful people. It’s a lovely place and we hope to get back there for a day or so and of course we want to get to Bondi as well. We need to be up the coast in Newcastle next weekend for Nitro Circus (lots of stunts on motorbikes and stuff!), but it’s only a couple of hours away, so we will have a lazy week killing time before then.
Hoo Roo!
Red Back & Bare Back
G’day from Canberra - yes we have made it to the Australian Capital. Actually it’s night time and we’re parked in a roadside rest stop, so we can’t tell you what it’s like yet but we will be exploring tomorrow.
So what have we been up to this week?? Well, luckily the ferry crossing back to Melbourne was uneventful, other than us buying some souvenir ‘Spirit of Tasmania’ stubby holders which are ridiculously awful, but they’re the biggest, thickest ones we’ve found so far.
Monday found us back at Simon and Danielle’s to see the much loved Auntie Chris and Roy, who had flown in the day before. We had a lovely meal and a very entertaining evening, it was great to see them and we wish them a fantastic stay in Australia.
So then it was off to the “High Country” in North East Victoria, the hilly bit before New South Wales, which is all ski resorts in the Winter and cycling/mountain biking the rest of the year. We stayed in Smoko and spent a few days cycling, driving and walking The Great Alpine Road, exploring the countryside and historic towns.
In Bright there was a fantastic chocolate factory and delightful art-deco style 60-seater cinema (although it only opened 4 months ago), riverside parks and lots of cafes – we even enjoyed a proper cream tea. We drove up to Mount Beauty and walked along the Kiewa River gorge which leads to a beautiful canyon. We say beautiful, we don’t know for sure as we couldn’t see it. If we had read the tourist pamphlet properly, we would have known you have to get into the river and wade waist deep the last 400 metres to see it – needless to say we were not dressed appropriately for such activities! The walk was nice though, and we got to see lots more wombat poo, but still no live, wild wombats!
Perhaps we should talk about the wombat poo. You may have seen from the photo that this is cuboid, this is so they can stack it in little piles (no pun intended) to mark their territory. Very clever, but what isn’t so clear is how they actually managed to “produce” it in such neat little bricks.
We’ve seen our first Red Back spider (not deadly, but a bite requires hospital treatment) which was sharing a public loo with Caroline. She was so excited, she called Bry in to see it, and then a passing couple joined us too! All four of us stood around a public loo looking at a spider (honest officer). We also saw some sort of snake on the road, but didn’t stop to talk, and we found a pretty mean looking spider climbing out from behind the fridge in the van, who was dispatched without identification. We’re now in funnel web country, which is the deadly one, so we must remind ourselves what that one looks like.
Today (Monday) was the Labour Day Public Holiday in Victoria, or “March Long Weekend”, which a lot of towns celebrate with music and arts festivals, most of which seemed to be on Saturday. So Saturday morning we left Smoko and drove back up The Great Alpine Road, stopping along the way to see what was going on at various towns – live music, dancing, arts & crafts, food stores, bike and car rallies – all good family fun. We carried on towards the area around Beechworth, made famous by gold rushes and infamous by the outlaw (and folk hero) Ned Kelly. It is said that Kelly’s last words before being hung were “Such is life” – a quote that we have seen on many “utes” and trucks around here. Beechworth looks just like a frontier town from a Hollywood Western, but with a load of sandstone buildings too, that look very English. So much of this area is a real mix between English and American – or is it English and colonial, we just think of it as American thanks to Hollywood?
On the English/American mixed theme, Sunday found us in Chiltern, but watching their annual Pro-Rodeo. Cowboys and cowgirls had come from all over Australia to compete in bare-back-bucking-bronco, bull-riding, steer wrestling, roping and barrel racing (which is Caroline’s favourite as her Aunty Pat was a big name on the American barrel racing circuit). It was a great day (and night) drinking beer, eating corn dogs and mixing with the locals – they even let us camp on site with the competitors.
To date, we haven’t yet had to pay any actual camping fees, which is great as this was one of our concerns as the campsites here are quite expensive. The most we have had to pay is entrance to National Parks which then provide camping. The rest of the time has been free-sites, most of which have some sort of facilities. OK, sometimes like tonight, these are just roadside stops, but they’re relatively clean and feel very safe – we’ve never been alone, right now there’s a couple sleeping in a tent on the verge next to us, another camper and a couple sleeping in a car. The sites are provided by the councils or community groups and are a great way to get a bit of tourist dollar to the local shop / cafe / petrol station. We find them on the WikiCamps Australia ‘phone app, which so far has been brilliant, loads of other info too.
Another way we have found to save money is buying wine in boxes. Not a new concept we appreciate, but here they do some very cheap – and quite palatable – wine by 5 litre box. Alcohol in general is quite expensive. Initially, it’s not sold in supermarkets, but in dedicated “bottle-shops”, like US and Canadian liquor stores. They also have the drive-thru variety here too. This means the supermarkets don’t do the “sell it cheap to get them in the doors” thing like the UK. A bog standard Aussie wine that may be £4 in UK Tesco may be more like £7 here, and that’s Aussie wine, in Oz. Beer pretty much the same, OK but not UK cheap, and the foreign stuff is cheaper than the local brew.
But then there’s the boxes of “goon”. We’re currently enjoying 5 litres of red and 5 litres of white for the grand sum of $22, about £11. That’s 83p a bottle. We’re sure the fact they have no need for antifreeze here is a pure coincidence. If we come home blind and not just blindo, you’ll know why.
So we are now in Canberra, which also has a Public Holiday today, but here it’s Canberra Day. En route from Victoria we drove through New South Wales, which didn’t have a Public Holiday. We pretty much thought of Australia as one big country split into different regions, we weren’t expecting them to have different laws, holidays and what-not. We also thought we were over the whole quarantine thing once we got Mario in here, but no, they have more quarantine rules between each state. Some you can’t take fresh fruit and veg over, some only certain types of fruit, some salad leaves are OK, some fresh meat is not and honey seems to be a problem everywhere. Then there’s the various “Fruit Fly Exclusion Zones” which protect the fruit growing areas and have similar, but different rules. This is what we have been told and what we have prepared for (eating, cooking or donating various items along the way) but as yet we have seen no evidence of how they actually enforce these rules. No doubt time will tell, and no doubt just when we’re least expecting it!
So tomorrow we’re off to explore Canberra and then it’s Sydney for the weekend. We’ll let you know how we get on!
Hoo roo.
Ta-ta Tassie!
Hello from the high seas – we’re now on board the Spirit of Tasmania, crossing the Bass Strait back to Melbourne and hoping this crossing will be less “lumpy” than our original. Last time it was a night crossing, so we booked a nice little cabin to lie down in, which helped prevent any real sea-sickness from the constant rolling. This time it’s a day crossing, so we haven’t wasted money on a cabin – hopefully they’ll be fine with us lying like starfish on the floor of the main lounge!
We’ve had a great last week in “Tassie”. On Sunday we had a farewell BBQ hosted by Martin & Charlotte’s friends, Brett & Annette, which was great, not least as Bry got to eat his favourite dessert - pavlova. Mind you, he needed the calories as he had spent the morning kayaking about 14KM down the Huon River and was a bit knackered!
On Tuesday it was a sad farewell to M&C and the girls. Every time since, when we have seen a sign to Hobart, we have had a pang of sadness not to be heading back there – you really made us feel at home – thanks again guys!!
So back on the road, we bumbled along the East Coast, stopping at Richmond (in honour of Caroline’s family, quaint almost Cotswold style town, oldest bridge in Australia, 1825), Swansea (for Bry’s family, lunch on the beach) and then into the Freycinet National Park, camping at Friendly Beaches. Here the sand is squeaky clean – literally, you walk on it and it squeaks – very bizarre. Next day was off to Wineglass Bay, apparently one of the top 10 beaches in the world, but you can’t drive there. It was a great half-hour hike to the lookout with stunning views of the perfectly curved bay. It was then an hour’s return hike to the bay itself, which was a bit disappointing up close, leading Caroline to surmise that the Wineglass name must be because it looks inviting to start with, but disappointing once you get to the bottom! Then it was off to Bicheno (pretty fishing village and a blowhole) and another campsite next to white, squeaky sand at Lagoon Beach.
We had hoped to carry-on up to the North East corner and also do a treetop adventure, zip-wire thing, but time was running away from us and we needed to get over West to Cradle Mountain, the main National Park in the state. So we headed inland, leaving the rugged coast for green rolling hills, then open moorland, then some more hills, a few rivers, then some mountains, you get the idea – it’s a varied landscape. We ended up on a campsite next to a pub at Mole Creek that has a resident platypus. Unfortunately, we didn’t see the platypus, we spent our time in the restaurant, he must have been in the bar.
Cradle Mountain is iconic in Tasmania. It’s not the tallest mountain, but its shape makes it the most recognisable and the surrounding lakes make it so photogenic. The national park is huge and merges with other parks which mean most of the west of the island is unspoilt wilderness. We spent a good few hours doing different walks around lakes and along rivers, enjoying the sunshine – we were lucky to be there on a clear-ish day and could actually see the summit. We were promised wombat spotting, but they all eluded us – again. We still haven’t seen a live one in the wild, yet they’re meant to be everywhere! We did see a Tasmanian Devil, dead in the road, like most of our wildlife spotting has been here. Road-kill is everywhere, we spotted 12 dead wallabies in our first morning on the island and countless other piles of fur. We went for a bike ride the other day and in places it was hard to breathe due to the stench of dismembered marsupials. It was a nice ride though and we bumped into a German couple who had shipped their vehicle from Thailand – they also had their rear number plate stolen, just like us! They weren’t carrying a spare though – Ha! Now who’s the most organised?!
Just to explain some of the photos, there’s a bit of a “thing” in Australia for building “big things”. So far we have seen a big penguin (in a town called Penguin), big cricket wickets, big cherries, a big apple, a big platypus. Some are to advertise a business, or commemorate a famous resident and some just seem to be random. Anyway, we like them and hope to find more, so stay tuned for more photos of us awkwardly standing next to stuff.
So it’s back to the mainland (or “The North Island”) where we will be paying another visit to Cousin Simon to see Auntie Chris who is over from the Isle of Wight. Just a one night stand this time, before we’re off towards Sydney, via Canberra.
Finally, Happy Anniversary to Bry’s sister Michelle and hubby Nick, and Happy St David’s Day to all our followers in Wales (that’ll be you Uncle Frank!)
Hoo Roo!
Tassie Shores, Tours & Chores!
Just a quick update to let you know that we’re doing okay.
We’re still in Tasmania with Martin and Charlotte and their daughters Katie and Emma. Tasmania is just like one big National Park with loads of wilderness, mountains and rugged coastline. It’s a very relaxed place and even the capital Hobart is chilled. It’s quite old fashioned, in a good way, with small traditional shops, very little traffic and a strong sense of community. We’ve seen a lot of (relatively) older architecture here, giving it more a sense history and culture. However the weather has been even more changeable than Victoria. Due to its positioning the island seems to be alternately affected between warm weather coming from the mainland and cold weather coming from Antarctica. For our first week here it was wet pretty much every day but since we’ve had nice bright days but varying from 17 to 35 degrees!
We’ve had some good little excursions, including trips to an old penal colony in Port Arthur, an olde worldy antiques town of New Norfolk and a trip to Launceston where we rode a chair lift with the longest single span in the world of 308 metres, across the Cataract Gorge. One of the best days was the National Holiday of Regatta Day when we went to the Hobart Wooden Boats Festival. Loads of traditionally made boats of all shapes and sizes along with displays of how they’re made. May not sound that fun, but it was really interesting with some amazing crafts (in both senses of the word) on display. We especially liked the remote controlled models on show, particularly the mini HMS Victory with opening flanks showing all the rooms inside.
While we’ve been here Bry’s spent most of his time doing jobs on Mario. If you’re interested, these have included an oil and filter change, brake calliper overhaul, brake pad and fluid change, emptied and flushed the fuel system, cooling fans fitted for the battery box and fridge, new leisure batteries, upgraded cupboard and door catches, stripped and rebuilt slider door and new toilet seals. We have swapped our huge generator with a smaller one Martin had, which has allowed us to reconfigure the garage area to give us more room and a more user friendly layout.
Over here they have recycling centres like at home, but here they have shops attached which sell off the best stuff that comes in. Not surprisingly these are called Tip Shops and you can pick up all sorts for next to nothing. One thing Bry wanted for the van was a “roo-bar”, like a bull bar. Not a fashion accessory, but a real necessity when driving out of town. We managed to pick one up from a tip shop for £12! It was for a VW camper, so Bry needed to get the angle grinder and welder out to make it wider. It’s still not as wide as Mario, but it should do the job. We also managed to buy some parts to make a roof-rack for less than £2 - proper job! Why a roof-rack? Well, we decided to get ourselves a couple of pushbikes, with the hope of using them to explore if we decide to stay somewhere more than one night.
So we’ve got bikes on the roof and we now look like a right couple of hippies. Gone is the incognito-stealth look we wanted for Central Asia – we’ve gone full blown “look at us, we live in our van”! The great thing is, camping and RVing is a national pastime here, so we get waves and thumbs-ups as we bumble along. We’ve even got a map drawn on our back door to show what route we’ve taken from home, which has earned us “much respect” at campsites! Quite amusing parking next to “Bruce” and his full-on Land Cruiser “ute” with off-road camping trailer and massive knobbly tyres, who’s just driven up from the city for the weekend – and we’re there in our 6 tonne rear wheel drive van, designed to move boxes up and down European motorways. Of course, we don’t brag, we’re far too British. Just a causal “Oh yeah, we drove here from England”.
Since cleaning Mario in Malaysia, Caroline has been struggling with tendonitis in her elbow, which was aggravated by hay baling in Victoria. It wasn’t getting any better, so she was forced to wear a sling for a week or so to give it some proper rest and remind her not to use it. Although frustrating for her, it seems to have helped.
We’ve been helping out around the house where we can and entertaining the lovely girls, Katie and Emma, who are a real delight to be around. We’ve also been helping Martin build an all singing, all dancing spa/steam room thing that’s got 3 showers, foot massager, whirlpool, LEDs that change colour with the temperature of the water, radio, phone, Bluetooth and God knows what else! This is in addition to their existing 2 baths. Our old house had 3 bathrooms, but only one bath. This place has got 3 baths in one bathroom!
We’ve booked the ferry back to the mainland for the 1st March and will then be slowly heading towards Sydney. We will be very sad to leave our good friends, they’ve provided a real home from home for us and have looked after us well, for which we’re really grateful. However, we cannot deny we’re looking forward to getting back on the road, doing what we do best – winging it and seeing where the road takes us!
Hoo roo.