Crickey! Visiting Australia Zoo was something of a childhood ambition for me. I often used to watch Steve Irwin's programs on Discovery with my friends and brother. Steve Irwin is a little bit of a national joke (something to do with getting his baby son Bobby a bit too close to a saltwater croc) but I was keen to see where they'd filmed the shows, the animals he worked with and the zoo that was his life's work. I was not disappointed. The zoo is home to a wh...

Beyond Brisbane Whilst a camper van offers you the freedom of the open road, your own space and a place to store your kit, it doesn't always offer a good night's sleep. By the time we'd got north of Brisbane we'd been in the van for over 2 weeks and were feeling the effects of several disturbed nights. We spent most of the day like zombies and decided to head to the beach at Caloundra to zone out for the afternoon. Caloundra was a pleasant enough little place,...

More wine please... We drove from Canberra to a nearby roadside pull in but suffered a pretty rough night of sleep. A road-train got stuck in the camping area having pulled off the road and not realised it was only for cars. Somehow, and with an impressive series of reversing manoeuvres, he managed to escape; we watched this going on through the curtains in the van, feeling relieved we'd parked where we had. Sadly all the engine revving and reversing 'beeep be...

Canberra is a bizarre city, it's like... something out of Stepford Wives or Edward Scissor Hands. It has some parts from the early 1900's but you wouldn't know it as most of the city was built in the 60's. We drove in past green fields and were nearly at the heart of the city before we reached any buildings. We stopped at tourist info and were told that most attractions have free underground parking. I thought it would be a doddle! Canberra is an architects dre...

Great Aussie Roads 2 After passing through Melbourne we stopped for the night at Walhalla, a place chosen because it promised to be in the hills and had a free camp site. It was a brilliant find, a quirky old gold rush town in a steep, wooded valley. We had more stove problems but luckily the fire extinguisher was very effective. A storm raged as we ate tea but then cleared to leave a fiery sunset and strange marshmallow like clouds, after an unrelaxing evening ...