We are now heading on towards Sydney, after a great few days with Helen and David in Nambucca Heads.

We arrived in Nambucca after seven hours of driving from the farm through several small towns in the area, including Armidale - the home of Australian Country music! After a quick stop at the bottle shop to get a few essentials (a crate of Gold and a bottle of Jack) we were soon knocking on the door, and lo and behold.......nobody was in!!! Despite our suspicion that our would-be hosts had left us high and dry, a quick phone call revealed that they had just gone for a quick drink instead (maybe the Dutch courage to put up with us for the next few days!?) and would come back to collect us. A few minutes later and we were all sitting by the river at the local golf course, beer in hand, watching the sun setting in the distance and enjoying our first evening in far too long away from the yokels in Texas.

After several hours of chatting and catching up with each other we were exhausted as it had reached 9:00pm and we hadn't been up this late for weeks!! Helen and David were nice enough to let us stay in their son's room (he wasn't there just to clarify) and our first real bed in ages meant we were asleep before the first sheep had even reached the fence!

The next day was everything that working on the farm hadn't been! We were still in work mode, so by 7:00am we were both wide awake and decided to get up to see what lay ahead for the day. It was a perfect start as breakfast was down by the beach and we switched between sitting reading the newspapers and splashing around in the water. As the morning drifted slowly away we headed back to the house, where we both investigated the bus that was parked in the driveway (imagine Otto's school bus from The Simpsons) that Helen and David had turned into a giant campervan! Inside they have a double bed, a full kitchen with sink and stove tops, a couple of chairs and a table (that can be turned into a single bed) and a big fridge freezer. This, coupled with a stereo system and some really cool decorating inside, meant that we both wanted one straight away, so that's something else for us to save for when we eventually get back to Blighty.

During the afternoon, we were taken to a nice lakeside spot where we met some of Helen and David's friends while we snacked on some cheese and biscuits (we've become very sophisticated you know). Then it was off to the Cinema with their daughter Lauren to watch one of the most depressing films of all time, 'Little Fish' before arriving back at the house to a delicious roast dinner! It was definitely the best day we had had in some weeks and the next couple of days continued in much the same way.

On our second full day while Helen and David went to work, we spent the morning down at the beach lying in the sun, swimming around in the sea or using the boogie boards that they said we could take with us. Then in the afternoon we went back and tried to make ourselves useful so that we didn't feel that we were sponging off of them completely, but most of the time we were told just to relax! We did manage to cook a lasagne one night, but even that was a struggle as Helen and David seemed determined that we should do as little as possible.

The next day we took a road trip down to South West Rocks and Trial Bay Goal (we think that's jail out here and whoever named the places all those years ago must have been dyslexic) to have a look around. The jail was right on the edge of the hill and the views out over the ocean were pretty cool, and we spent a fair bit of time looking around the area. In the afternoon we headed back to Nambucca and went snorkelling in the inlet where the river meets the sea, before heading back to the house to meet Helen and David after they had finished work. That evening we went down to the river and took out the canoes and the two person kayak and headed off up towards the 'V wall' with the dogs in the kayak with Helen and David, and despite our whistling, they managed to stay in the kayak the whole way. By the time we got to the end of our little jaunt we were knackered as we seemed to be going against the current for the entire journey, which was odd as we had moved around in an arc!!

Our last day was spent down by the beach again doing very little and the evening was a fair bit more relaxing than the last, as we sat on the front veranda while the sun faded away. We tried to take in as much information as possible about various stops along the coast that Helen and David had been to and recommended to us, while we chatted away until it was time to finally retire to bed.

Nambucca is a great little place with some stunning views, great places to relax next to the water, and some really nice beaches and waves to play about in, but for now we are on our way again as we head down the coast on our way to Myall Lakes, where we are spending the night, before getting to Sydney tomorrow.