Its great being back on the road again, after staying in Melbourne in a really nice house, thanks to Jan. Our first stop Phillip Island only 2 hours from the big smoke made a refreshing change breathing oceanic air instead of fried dagwood dogs and other peoples smoke. Staying in the van driving and staying exactly where and when you want to is a great feeling or am I turning into an old hippie... no comments please. The trouble is everywhere we went we encountered signs saying that they would issue a 200 dollar fine on the spot for sleeping in your vehicle. So on this occasion we bit the bullet and payed against our wishes 20 dollars to stay the night in the local campsite. If you have heard of Phillip Island you might have heard of the heavily promoted "Smallest Penguins in the world" combo, but we were not going to get sucked into that one for 40 dollars each just to watch them wobble up the beach into their home, call me a tight ass if you want. We happened to drive past the penguin center at sunset and you wouldn't believe the amount of tourists, Japs included piling out of the buses to see the little creatures just going about their daily routine, unbelievable!! The day after we tracked down some great surf spots and awesome setups all along the south coast of the island, we just needed some surf and swell for it all to come together nicely. However we just didn't have the time to hang around waiting, it would have been nice but time is money as they say.
Next stop Sydney, but a little matter of 1000km to travel and praying that the Van would make the journey. But the sleepless nights and the biting of finger nails  need not have taken place as Nissy did us proud and cruised all the way, all 80k per hour of her. She doesn't like hills or being in traffic much or hot weather but she is thirty years old and probably in human terms, similar to cats, probably 110 years old.
I was hoping to surf all along the coast up until Sydney, but to no avail. The surf gods didnt really shine on the traveler's, so after meeting up with our Cornish friends Alex and Radar we did manage to find some small but punchy waves on the south coast of Sydney. Now as i write this we are in Manly on the Northern beaches of Sydney, in the hostel that we stayed in in May this year. We had a word with the owner and are still sleeping in the van in his carpark, so we get all the benefits of the hostel, including the shower, kitchen and free Internet but not the 90 dollars a night, we managed to get a rate of 25 dollars, a bargain if i do say so myself. We also hooked up with Aaron and Becky again, and rearranged for them to stay in the same hostel. So its all been happy campers and surfing with our buddies again just like old times. They are here for the week watching the pro surfing contest on Manly beach and visiting the Sydney slights, then flying back up to Brisbane to continue their journey.
We are probably here for a few more days then making our way slowly up the coast to Brisbane, stopping on the way to sample some of the finest surfing beaches in Australia..wish us luck
Mark