SYDNEY

How weird is this? We arrived at Sydney Airport, I looked at the sign outside one of the buildings and it took me a few moments to realise what it said which was simply 'Emergency Fire Services' .... seems bizarre but I think that we had both become so conditioned to actually not understanding all that much that it took me a while to switch back to 'English' brain mode!

It seemed so weird to arrive at the airport and actually understand people and to be able to communicate ... took us a few hours to stop saying gracias or por favor though!

Took the shuttle to our Ibis hotel in the centre where we had to leave the bags before checking in (we arrived at 08:30am) and went for a quick explore. First impressions were that Sydney is a beautifully set city with clean streets, great modern architecture and some amazing sculptures. Also got the strong sense that Australians are very proud of their history and work hard to ensure that the buildings are preserved for future generations. The other outstanding impression we got is that the food is GREAT ...... variety and quality is excellent.

Spent the first 5 days that we were in Sydney organise ourselves and running around .... me buying a shirt and belt and Emma doing all her girlie spa things in preparation for the wedding. Also spent a few days organising our Indian Visa which took a little longer as we are not Australian citizens.

Also took the time to meet up with a couple ( Jason and Ritsa ) who are friends of friends back home. Had an excellent evening in one of their favourite curry places .... again, great food!

Prepared all of our stuff for the flight to Fiji and took a taxi to Sydney airport around 11am.

SYDNEY (again)

Bit strange coming back to Sydney from Fiji ... everything seemed so fast! Good to meet up with some friends of friends (thanks Jason and Ritsa) and experiencing what life is like for those who live and work in Sydney.

BLUE MOUNTAINS

Our first long drive with the campervan - great fun! We had stunning weather and the views over the mountains was beautiful. Only downside was that we had to sleep in our clothes as it hit -1 degree overnight! Brrrr......

HUNTER VALLEY WINE REGION

Headed somewhere warmer and went north to the wine region in the Hunter Valley region. Tony was a very very nice husband and he drove me around on a wine tasting spree... Would have been rude to leave a cellar without buying something - so glad we had a bit of spare storage space in the van to stock a few bottles!

PORT MACQUERIE

Now this was the heat we'd been looking for! Found a camp site right next to the sea front and then went off to visit a koala hospital! Fell in love with them and ended up adopting a koala called " Kathy Kitty"...

POINT PLOMER

Bounced along an unpaved road for 17kms and came to the Point Plomer campsite. Beautiful spot by the coast and topped off by the fact we saw the plume of a humpback whale off the headland. Got started on the Hunter Valley wines around our little campfire!

COFFS HARBOUR

Found a beautiful, beautiful campsite next to the beach complete with Kangaroos on the golfcourse and Parakeets above our heads. The Parakeets were a little too friendly as 2 landed on Emma, proceeded to poop and then one bit me as I attempted to remove it from Emmas head! Enjoyed a nice meal at the side of our campervan under the stars.

HASTINGS POINT

Only here for one night..but found a great campsite just over the road from a beautiful sandy beach. Perfect for watching the sun go down (until it started to rain - doh!). On the way stopped at Byron Bay and visited Australias most easterly point and watched, mesmerised, as schools of dolphins played in the surf .... yopu could actually watch them surfing in on the waves and then returning out to sea to do it all again ..... a truly amazing sight.

BRISBANE

Stayed a bus ride out of the city and spent 3 days touring round the city (plus finally sorting out our Chinese visas). Brisbane itself has a slightly 'small town' feel to it which made it feel a lot more laid back than Sydney. On the last day we took our positions in a pub with a balcony overlooking the street and demolished a few bottles of wine whilst watching the world go by. One thing that struck us is how nice the schoolkids uniforms are .......

1770

The name of the town says it all...in 1770 Captain Cook landed here and took his first steps on Australian soil. Found one of our best campsites and we had a pitch right next to the beach - beautiful.

MACKAY

A lovely spot near the beach..with some great wildlife! Two possums decided to join us at dinner and rather than just watching..one came over to Tony and put his little feet on Tony's chair...of all the times not to have the camera at the ready!

BOWEN

This wasnt an overnight spot - but we had to go and take a look at the film set for the Baz Lurhman film 'Australia' which is due out next year. The locals were all very excited that Nicole Kidman was in town and even the bakery was getting into the swing of things with Nicole fairy cakes and Baz cream buns!!!!

TOWNSVILLE

A quiet town - but we did head to a great museum with an exhibition on HMS Pandora which sank off the Queensland coast in the 1770's. They also had a hands on science section - see the photo!

PORT DOUGLAS

Spent 5 days here at a great campsite. Had a day out at the Great Barrier reef which was beautiful. Not the best weather (put it this way, we were asked if we were prone to sea sickness before we boarded the boat), but Tony did two accompanied dives and I had a great time snorkelling.

COOKTOWN

One of those times when we arrive somewhere at the right time by accident! Headed to Cooktown for the annual Cook's landing re-enactment - complete with costumes and guns!
The whole town was making a weekend of it and had loads of things going on - even the police got involved to use their speed cameras to time those in the billy cart races!

ENDEVOUR FALLS

We stayed 30kms outside Cooktown at Endeavour Falls campsite - very quiet and beautiful sunsets.

ALICE SPRINGS

Flew from Cairns to Alice Springs and could immediately see why its known as the 'red centre'. Interesting town and the first place that we have seen more than one Aboriginal person..but very sad to see their current predicament and lifestyle. Enjoyed walking to the Old Telegraph station out of town and getting a taste of just how vast the desert actually is.

KINGS CANYON

Hit the road in the humungous 4x4 jeep and headed to Kings Canyon. For the first 50km on an unsealed road, Tony had great fun....but the next 50km of red sandy road was a bit more tiring! Saw the sun rise as we hiked the canyon which was beautiful.

AYRES ROCK

Had 3 nights at the Lost Camel Hotel at Ayres Rock - or Uluru as it is known. Made sure we saw both the sunrise and sunset over this amazing place and heeded the Aboriginal request to stay off the rock. So we hiked the 9km trail around the base instead on a gloriously sunny day.

PERTH

Flew from Ayres Rock to Perth. As we had enjoyed the campervan so much on the east coast, thought we'd try it on the west coast as well! Best thing was that they gave us an upgrade! Our super dooper 2 person van also had - get this - a shower and toilet on board! No more running across a darkened campsite at 2am! Had a couple of days in Perth following the tourist trail before hitting the road to Freemantle.

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