We arrived in Australia at 6am and were expecting for it to take a few hours to get through customs. But luckily, we picked our bags up and were just about to put them on when a guy came over and asked where we were from etc.... He was part of customs and after giving us a few tips on where to go, he signed our customs forms and pointed us through a different door where we walked straight out the other side! Result, total of 15 minutes!!

We couldn't pick the van up till 10am, so we just chilled around the airport trying to stay awake till 9.30, when we got a taxi to the van depot. The van was pretty cool and has everything we'd need to get through a few months. Its a high top, so we can stand up and cook and has space for two adults and a child (which of course we don't have) so more room for us! In our open plan kitchen area we have a microwave, fridge/ freezer (more like slush than ice), a sink and double gas stove and grill. Theres plenty of room for sleeping too, so it's not been uncomfortable.

We drove straight to the nearest campsite we could find, Lane Cove Tourist Park and settled in for the night. The next morning we did our first shop in a while and stocked up for a few weeks. My uncle and his family live in a town called Gosford, just north of Sydney so we decided we'd head that way up the coast as we weren't sure exactly how far it would be. After less than an hour, we arrived in Gosford so called my Uncle Mark. He came straight round to meet us and took us to his house, where we parked for the rest of the week and slept in his lovely warm house.

They drove us round for the afternoon and we stopped for a couple of drinks before going home for dinner. On sunday they took us to the Hunter Valley for some wine tasting, which was ace! Out of the hundreds of different places down there I think we went to about ten and both myself and Ant were 'slightly ticking' by the end of the day! We stopped for lunch during the afternoon and had a gorgeous picnic of cheese, wine and biscuits! Hmmmmmmmm.....! Bottle of wine $20, Blue cheese $5, being in the Hunter valley with your family, getting pissed for free - priceless!

We went off for a couple of days on our own and attempted to go for a nice walk. The signs for the path kind of pointed us up some lane so we just continued hoping for the best. Then, what comes out of the bushes but a flaming dog, growling, barking and circling us. Ant managed to bark back at the dog and get it to leave us alone whilst we quickly walked away. We had only walked a few minutes before we realised it was a deadend, and had to face the dog again! As we walked closer, we saw the dog run into the bushes but then it didn't come back out. So we knew it was somewhere about to jump out and I swear everything went in slow motion as we walked on further and finally saw the thing waiting to pounce out! It danced around us again and came a bit too close for comfort but finally its owner called it in. Just brought back memories of the dog in India, where Ant told me to 'kick it in the face!'. lol In the end we gave up on the walk and decided to sit in our van and chill for the afternoon.

The following day we got a ferry to Palm Beach where they film Home and Away. We had a sausage roll down at Joshua's Juice Bar (Surf club) and watched them film Alf Stuart (I swear hes still wearing the same clothes as when we were at school! ha) and some kids that are in it, but we're not hip enough to know any of the them anymore. Then we took a stroll to the lighthouse for a stunning view of the bay and wondered round the corner for a spot of lunch.

Unfortunately for my Uncle and his family we arrived at a not so great time for them, as they were moving house the following weekend. So we decided to stay and help them move and in return they took us out for a lovely meal on Thursday to Iguanas, as well as having let us stay at their house for the week. We really enjoyed meeting my Uncle, his wife Mandy and their three kids Bethany 13, Imogan 7 and Ewan 3 and we're hoping they'll get a chance to come to Jersey so we can return the favour one day. We fly out of Sydney so we are hoping to get another chance to see them all on the way back round.