Intrepid loyal and non rewarded readers, sorry for the non activity of this so called blog over the past few months.

Between dodgy internet connections and just plain couldn't be bothered we haven't been keeping it updated. The last time we updated we were in Glenn Innes which was a long long time ago so we shall update now with the rest of Australia and add a couple more blogs to let you know what we have been getting up to in New Zealand.

Well after leaving Glenn Innes we headed back to the coast and some much needed warmer weather via Bald Rock. It is similar to Uluru (Ayers Rock) but made of granite and is not quite as big. We did however a steep walk up the rock with some truly stunning views and also some great pictures of us at the summit. Unfortunately you will have to take our word for it as the pictures are no longer available. However if anybody does want to confirm we climbed it there is a visitor book on the top and you will see we both signed it!!!

Back on the coast we went to Ballina as we still had a few days to kill before the festival at Byron Bay finished. This was a great place set on a massive lake and we even managed to catch a F1 Grand Prix on the TV thanks to the management who gave us the key to the TV room which had been locked up for the night. We also tried our luck in one of the local mazes, which to our surprise was excellent and also served some Devon cream teas which we did partake in. Ballina is also home to Australia's tea tree industry and as Andrew D was now minus eczema cream we took a chance that some natural products would work and fingers crossed they seem to.

From here it was on to Byron Bay. You will remember from our last update that this is also known locally as the promised land. A little difference of opinion here but Andrew B thought Byron Bay was definitely the promised land and Andrew D though it was so so.

Our campsite was right at the foot of the rainforest with a stunning beach just across. Pure heaven. Byron Bay town its self is a friendly and laid back town with wannabe hippies young and old with looks of freedom on their faces. We couldn't be sure if they were just happy to be in Byron or if it was the massive amount of drugs the locals take as if you want it, this is the place to get it.

Near our campsite there was a walking track over the headland with views straight down to the clear blue water. Our absolute highlight was looking down and watching a pod of about 30 dolphins rounding up a big shoal of fish for their dinner. We took loads of photos of these and even some short movie footage but unfortunately these have been taken when the van was broken into. You will have to take our word that the sight was stunning and it was magical. We walked down the headland to the shore line to get a close up view of the dolphins and then returned up to watch them for about an hour.

Andrew D is badgering me to tell you all what a trek it was from our camping site to the toilet and to be fair it was a walk but that does not take away from the beauty of our campsite

The East Coast of Australia was very much divided into before the break in and after the break in. Before the break in we really did think this is the good life and just before getting to the dreaded Gold Coast we stayed in the best campsite in the world. The facilities were truly like a great hotel.

First of all we had our very own bathroom which was heaven. Obviously I (Andrew B) took advantage and made sure I had about three baths a day. There was also a separate Adults section to the campsite which had the best spa, sauna, gym and swimming pool. Obviously the spa and sauna got a lot of use. The gym not so much! The kitchen facilities were top of the range and the BBQ areas all looked brand new. They also had a really big library for guests to use. So for these reasons we both vote the Big 4 at Hastings Point to truly have been our number one campsite.

To us the Gold Coast is old news and I'm sure everybody knows what happened. For the week after the break in and having our passports and driving licences stolen we honestly weren't sure if we could carry on with the trip. The British Embassy helped a bit but basically we still had to apply for brand new passports. One concession was that we could use copies of documents and counter sign each others photographs for the application, if we couldn't of done this then we really would've been coming home.

Luckily getting a new driving licence was surprisingly easy. You just need to fill in a form online and they post one out. This rule only applies if you have a photo license and not one of the paper ones, so if your heading of abroad it is worth while getting the newer ones.

So first of all we got in contact with a campsite in Cairns where we were catching our next flight from and they allowed us to use their address for things to be sent out so we could collect our passports and driving licence when we got there.

We then arranged with Andrew B's parents to fax over the documents we needed to make a passport application.

We then had to make an appointment to go see the British Consulate and also the Australian Post Office. With all these things done we caught a train to take us to Brisbane!

At the consulate we filled out the application forms and then made our way to the Australian Post Office. As the consulate was not sure that our Passport photographs would come up to scratch we made them take our pictures again as they took the originals and we didn't want any problems. With that done the applications were sent off and now all we could do was hope they turned up in Cairns. We did make one last effort whilst at the Gold Coast and we had an evening out watching the outback spectacular show, which was good fun and served great food, but could and would have been better if our hearts had been in it which I'm sure you will all understand why they weren't.

Leaving the Gold Coast we made our way to the Sunshine Coast. Things were certainly not improving as our campsite there was rubbish, it was like sleeping in a car park that had been built on a hillside with no thought to making anything level. To add insult to injury the staff needed a good lesson in customer service. We were as you can imagine struggling to get back into enjoying our trip without the constant worry of our passports not turning up.

Anyway we carried on and got to Hervey Bay to go over to Fraser Island which had been something we had both looked forward to since leaving home. Basically Fraser Island is one massive pile of sand in the sea. Everything is sand. The beach is the highway and you can only get around in 4wd. It was awesome and you can't believe how much rainforest grows directly out of sand. It also has massive freshwater lakes with clear water and the whitest sand. These are of course great fun. They even use the sand highway which they say can have 5 lanes of traffic in either direction at anyone time depending on if it is high tide or not to land planes on, that's one landing where you would need your eyes closed.

We were also lucky enough to see a couple of very healthy dingoes and they looked gorgeous. Unfortunately the authorities have been culling these with a view to getting rid (which incidentally is illegal in a World Heritage Area) because a child got attacked. The thing is this is their habitat and not ours and as long as you don't approach them and stay away there is no reason why they shouldn't be able to live. Our guide is of the opinion that it is not the dingoes that should be shot but the parents who let their children go where they want and annoy the dingoes.

After Fraser Island and Hervey Bay we headed onwards up the coast. Our next major destination was Airlie Beach which is a launch pad for the Whitsunday Islands. We spent a week here in a great campground with loads to do. Including a great BBQ evening and fantastic mini crazy golf and pool area. The campsite here was the Adventure Whitsunday resort and they had made everything so perfect you had no reason to leave the park, so we didn't.

After Airlie beach we made our way up to Cairns basically stopping at various beaches and campsites. Leaving one such place (Mission Beach) and heading for the next (Kurrimine Beach) our hired campervan started rattling and groaning when it was in fifth gear. We phoned the hire company and got put through to RACQ breakdown who said they would send a guy out to have a look.

Well the breakdown truck arrived and told us there was no point in looking at it now and he would transport us with van to the nearest biggish town for the garage to have a look.

And so began a comedy of errors…… The breakdown man transported us to the garage and the garage informed us that they had no time to look at the vehicle and couldn't understand why we had been transported there. So Andrew D got back onto the phone to the hire company and they wondered why we had spoken to the breakdown line and not the customer service office. After Andrew D having to explain that we spoke to the breakdown line because in fact it was a breakdown the customer service office advised us to keep driving the vehicle in fourth and take it into their Cairns depot for repair. Great we thought, we've been towed here for nothing when we could've been sunbathing.

So we thought whatever lets just get back to the beach! No, not that simple! Unfortunately the man who originally brought us had put the wrong key into the ignition of our vehicle and broke the key in the ignition. As thoughts of sunbathing that afternoon faded and the dumb moronic looks of the mechanics surrounding us made me want to just punch them all I calmly informed them that they would need to somehow retrieve broken shard from ignition.

Furious running around and some bright spark mechanic trying to retrieve said shard by poking wire down wasn't getting anywhere. Eventually they got the ignition barrel out and sent it off to a locksmith for them to fix.

Five hours more of sitting around, being told little, trying to walk around the town and drinking copious amounts of coffee we left but still with our fifth gear non operational.

The next day was a definite improvement. A massive pool with only us two there meant a day of splashing around and sunbathing and trying to remind each other why we had come away. This pool had also been kindly filled with the best toys, massive balls and noodles, mini surf boards and it really was a massive pool. Topping off this perfect day of sun and fun we treated ourselves to a great big takeaway. This certainly is the life.

Arriving at Cairns we were relieved to have one passport (Andrew D's) and driving licence waiting for us. This was a big relief as we now only had one more to wait for and we figured if one has turned up the other will only be a day away.

Whilst waiting for the van to be fixed in Cairns we went to Australian Immigration to get Andrew D's visa transferred to his new passport. This was surprisingly simple and we both thought the young lady who did all the work was very efficient……..

After the van got fixed, Andrew B received his passport and visited Australian Immigration (who was seen by a much slower man) we headed North to the remote area of Cape Tribulation.

The next few weeks we spent exploring virgin rainforest, dodging snakes and getting bitten by any number of flying things.

We even went to a place called Coffee World which guaranteed to give you the ultimate coffee experience. Basically you could eat as much chocolate as you like and drink as much coffee as you want. They also had a museum on coffee making products. Andrew B being the anorak he is was fascinated by the 1000's of coffee machines and water boilers on display. However the weirdest thing was the display on coffee pots…..

It was a sort of theatre presentation done in the style of Miss America with a coffee pot representing each state. So with Tom Jones belting out "Sex Bomb" it was time to judge the sex pots and have the sexiest coffee pot crowned Miss America. Weird weird weird……. That with the combination of tripping on gallons of coffee and chocolate made us feel drunk.

Knowing we now had our passports we made plans for the rest of our trip. We really wanted to make sure we had accommodation booked for Fiji and over Christmas in America (Vegas baby). So we spent a day booking all kinds of stuff and watching the money disappear. It has to be said at this point Cairns and the Cairns Coconut resort is not a bad place to stay put and try to not spend any money. The resort had 2 pool areas, TV room, free cinema, mini golf and they did the best takeaway chips we had eaten since leaving home.

So we at last got to departure day for New Zealand and got to the airport in Cairns. Unfortunately Andrew D's passport would not be accepted by Qantas and it had to take a supervisor to over ride what ever message was coming up to say Andrew D was some kind of terror threat or illegal alien.

We had to change flights in Sydney and this is where we had to go through Australian Immigration. You guessed it Andrew D's passport had a problem. Of course immigration people aren't usually as easy to smile and look innocent at so we had to sit about whilst they whisked Andrew D's passport off. Eventually it came to pass that the very efficient woman at Australian Immigration had not changed over the visa details to his new passport. What she had in fact been doing was playing solitaire or something and just made it look like she was doing something.

With seconds to spare we made our flight and at last left Australia after a very busy, fun, stressful, mind blowing, awe inspiring, sight seeing, been on the Neighbours set, seen the Sydney Opera house and the harbour bridge etc etc good time. With hope in our heart that surely New Zealand would be smoother…….