Hope you all had a very Merry Christmas, and are planning a fun New Year! We had a lovely time in Sydney getting to know the locals as well as doing the usual sightseeing - The Rocks, The Opera House, Bridge Climb and of course exploring the beautiful beaches which surround Sydney. Christmas and Debbie's birthday in the summer were wonderful but rather surreal, santa surfs in in Oz rather than dropping down non-existant chimneys!

We are now driving along the Great Ocean Road and will be looping back to Melbourne for New Years.

The GOR is stunning, we saw 6 koalas en route today at Cape Ottway, where we also visited Australia's oldest lighthouse (an ancient 1848 building!). We've also visited the Twelve Apostles today, a terrific natural wonder, but lots of tourists spoiling the views. Our youth hostel for the stopover tonight is called The Thirteenth Apostle and is in Princetown which consists of two shops/pub, this place and a few houses set in some beautiful countryside which we had a good ramble across this afternoon.

Hope all is well with you all.

Love from Debbie and Alex xxx