Hi everyone!!

We're back in Coogee…again!! Prepare yourselves because this will be a long blog!!!

Where do we start?

Sun 7th Mar - we went to the beach for quite a while and totally chilled out as we had a busy few weeks ahead of us. We booked our campervan and flights to Melbourne and in the evening we had our Tour's farewell dinner up in Sydney tower! The view was amazing, it was really high up in the sky and the restaurant rotated so we got a 360 degree view of Sydney. The food however…..was poop! It was a buffet with quite a bit of choice but the quality was poor! We both tried Kangaroo steak which I didn't like but Greg did….no surprise there, I'm yet to find something he doesn't like! We packed our bags when we got back and said our farewells to the Oz intro gang!

Mon 8th Mar - Greg, Ben, Sam & me got a cab at 5am to the airport, we only had to check in half hour before the flight so it went relatively smoothly apart from when the security guard stopped me and said he was going to check me for explosives!!!! I bricked it! I was like why me? What have I done? I'm not a terrorist….honest!! But he claimed it was just a random check! So he rubbed my clothes and bags with some paper and done some little tests on the paper. I passed with flying colors and he let me walk free! Phew!! The flight was good and just over an hour long, when we got to Melbourne we booked into a family room at the Melbourne metro YHA! It was a very nice hostel! The sun was shining so we took a walk into the city! At first we were a little scared because it was the middle of the day and there was no one around! We thought it was a ghost town! But as we got into the city centre we found everyone! It was a bank holiday to celebrate Moomba (which is aboriginal for 'everyone get together and have fun!') there was a massive parade and a big funfair going on! So we watched the parade for a bit and looked around the funfair. There was a little farm for the kids but we went in as well! I held a rabbit and Greg held a piglet (especially for you Babs!) On the way back to the hostel out of nowhere it chucked it down! We got drenched! Then as soon as we got back to the hostel the sun came out again! Melbourne was a really nice city, much nicer then Sydney! It's very arty and modern! That night we were in the hostel living room and met the world's oldest traveler! She was about 80! But she kept bragging about where she has been and was quite rude!!

Tue 9th Mar - we picked up the camper! It's really cool, you'll see the pics! We started in Torquay, which is the surfing capital!! We stopped at a surf shopping village which was all quicksilver, reef, roxy, billabong etc and Greg bought some boardies and I bought some flip flops! After that we did a big food shop! Then we hit The Famous Great Ocean Road! Our first stop was Bells Beach which is where the pro's do there surf competitions! The waves were massive and we sat and watched the surfers for a bit!! Our next stop was Airleys Inlet where we saw a light house! Does anyone remember the kids program 'Around the twist' because this was the lighthouse it was filmed in!! We parked up for the night at Lorne Foreshore caravan park in Lorne!It was nice there, Greg hand fed the wild birds! We cooked dinner and chilled out with beers and wine! Heaven!

Wed 10th Mar - In the morning we went up to Erskine falls a 10 min detour off the Great Ocean Road in Lorne! It was a really nice waterfall but it was raining so the pics aren't that great! We carried on driving along the GOR the views were incredible! The nicest drive I've ever had!!We stopped and got out on part of the road and walked along and saw lots of wild koalas! Which was really cool... they look like old men! We stopped again just before the 12 apostles to get petrol in a redneck town which was a bit creepy! There was no one around, just a shop and a pub! there was 1 petrol pump which was pad locked! We had to find the lady to fill up the tank!! From there we moved on to the 12 Apostles! The view was beautiful! It was quite cloudy which patches of blue sky so we wanted to come back to see if we could get a good sunset pic! So we booked into the campsite 5 mins down the road and came back and waited for sunset! Unfortunately there were too many clouds to get a great pic but I got few alright ones just before the sunset!!

Thu 11th Mar - we were nearly at the end of our trip by now, we only had 2 more stops to make! So we went to the London bridge which was a rock formation that you used to be able to walk on before it collapsed! And then we went to the Loch Ard & Gorge which has a bit of history behind it! The Loch ard was an irish ship transporting an irish family and a few others to Oz when it crashed! Everyone on board died except 2 Elizabeth and Tom! Tom made it to the Gorge and heard Elizabeth shouting for help! So he saved her and carried her into a cave and climbed up the cliff and went for help! He got help and they got Elizabeth out! We went down into the cave! It was an interesting little story! We had now finished the Great Ocean Road! We took a short cut back to Melbourne and stopped off at a cheese factory and did some free cheese tasting and then stopped off at the chocolate factory and did some free chocolate tasting as well! That was fun!

We was planning to get the ferry to Tasmania and tour around the island in our van but when we checked the prices it would have cost us over $1500 to get there! So we scrapped that idea and phoned the Harvest line and got ourselves a job olive picking in Kangaroo Valley! We drove through the night to Canberra. It was a long drive!

Fri 12th Mar - our job didn't start until Monday so we decided to spend a couple of days in Batemans Bay! We spent the morning in Canberra and then drove to Batemans Bay! It was really nice there! Everyone was really friendly! Its was a big holiday destination for the Auzzies! So we were the only Pommies there!! All the old boys kept coming up to us chatting about England and where we're going and where we've been! They loved it!! We couldn't go 5mins without someone approaching us!!

Sat 13th Mar - we pretty much just sunbathed and jumped in and out of the pool all day as well as chatting with every oz in the campsite!!

Sun 14th Mar we chilled out in the morning then headed up to Kangaroo Valley in the evening! Kangaroo valley is about 2 hours outside of Sydney! It was really beautiful there! A nice small quaint little town! We found a nice campsite, had dinner and went to bed early in preparation for our week of Olive picking ahead!!

Mon 15th Mar - we got up nice and early and were at the Olive grove for 8am! The valley in the mornings was full of dew and mist and was nice and cool! So we started work and it was as easy as picking some olives putting them in our pouches and filling the tubs!! It was really easy and not as bad as people make it out! My ankles were aching by the end of the day as the grove was on a steep hill! And in the afternoon it gets really hot!! Iv'e never looked forward to a shower more in my life!! We managed 8hrs work with no lunch hour it was just eat and go!! After work we went into Nowra which is about half an hours drive from the valley to get our weekly shop! By the time we got back, showered and fed we were exhausted!!

Tue 16th Mar - we did another 8hrs picking today! Its amazing how much crap you can talk about in 1 day!! It didn't seem as hard this day! The day goes quite quickly until the last 2 hours of the day when it is unbelievably hot, you've run out of things to chat about and you're just plain bored of olives!!!

Wed 17th Mar - we did 7hrs picking today! We couldn't be bothered for the last hour! After work we went to the Friendly Inn for a drink! It was so refreshing! After the pub we had dinner and then played mini golf! It was a close game but Greg won! I blame the quality of the course!! It was a good laugh though!

Thu 18th Mar - we did another 7hrs picking today! There wasn't many olives left by this point so the day dragged a bit more! I don't think fruit picking is the profession for Greg! By the 1st hour of tuesday he had pretty much given up!! Lol it was an ongoing joke that every 5mins he had a break or moved onto the next tree after looking at just 2 branches! But by the end of today I think me and Sam had caught his lazyiness! There was virtually no olives in the trees, it was getting hotter by the day and we were just bored! When there's loads of olives its quite good but when there's none its so hard to get motivated!! On the way home our bumper fell off the van so we bought some superglue, glued it back on and hoped for the best!! It did last until we took it back as well!!

Fri 19th Mar - amazingly we managed 8hrs fruit picking today!! Even after Greg tried unsuccessfully to get everyone to stop after only 4! It was tempting but the money tempted us more!! We was going to stop after 6 or 7 but annoyingly we had to wait for the lady to come and give us our cheques! All week for lunch we just had sandwiches but as a treat today we had, what was advertised as, the worlds best pies…..and they were!!! I had a lamb and veg one it was delish! But after we had home made apple pies! Which I can quite easily say were the worlds best apples pies!! They were amazing!!

Sat 20th Mar (today) - this morning we left kangaroo valley at 7am. We had breakfast in Berry which was a lovely little town and then traveled back to Coogee! We didn't want to come back here but its free internet for us and we are getting picked up here on Monday for our surf tour!! We have literally spent the last couple of hours in the internet café updating the blog! Not sure what we are doing today or tomorrow but as I said, on Monday we are starting our surf tour from Sydney to Byron bay on Monday so we're all looking forward to that!! at last you don't have to read any more!!! I think im just about done! We hope everyone is well and happy! Keep on messaging us and we will update the blog at every chance we get!!

Miss you all!

Lauren & Greg x x x

p.s. we only managed to get a few pic on the pc today so we will do our best to get the rest on asap!!