After leaving Hervey Bay, we headed back down to Brisbane so that we could start our Camper Van trip!! The day after we arrived in Brisbane, we headed over to the 'Wicked Camper' place to pick up the van. Well....just our luck that the vans name was 'Bad Luck'. Ha. We took one look inside the thing and cringed. There was no way on earth that four of us were fitting in this thing to sleep at night. And in case you wondered who the other two are....Jade's husband Ryan and his friend Danny who we'd spent time with in Sydney, flew up to Brisbane to meet us. we picked them both up from the airport and they took one look and cringed aswell. But its all part of the fun.

For our first night, we tried to find somewhere to park but in a city, its hard. So....we ended up parking in a multi-storey car park of a shopping centre. The one perk that this had was that there was a Fitness First gym there and as the boys are members, we got to get showered and redy for our night out in a nice hot shower. Sometimes a rare luxury. We got started on the goon (very cheap boxed Australian 'wine') and after some fun and games in the car park, we headed out. Dont really remember too much of what happened the rest of the night but was probably a good job we were a bit tipsy (!) as i dont think we would've been able to sleep otherwise. It was so hot that we had to sleep with the camper van door open and mine and Danny's legs were hanging out. Quite funny but no when we sweat about 4litres between us thoughout the night. Think we needed abit mroe alcohol to be fair.

The next day as designated driver for the week....(me and Jade were the only ones insured and I got voted to do the most driving) we headed down to a place called Byron Bay where we had tried to go when we headed up the coast. this time it didnt matter about accomodation, we had or very own camper van...which we parked in yet another car park....Woolworths supermarket car park. very amusing but funnily enough, there were about 5 other vans doing the exact same thing. Another town, another night out and another box of goon. By the end of that night (which wasnt very late for me as i was back in the van by 1am being sick) i realised that goon is not good for me. it sends me on 'suicide watch' and that was made into a bit of a joke by the end of the trip. I just got abit emotional one night and things got taken a bit too far from there and I was the butt of every joke from then on.

Spent the next day in the rain walking around trying to find things to do that didnt involve being in the camper van coz was quite easy to get cabin fever in that thing. Was no room to do anything. Then as it was now evident that we NEEDED a drink or tow to sleep in that thing, we of course had to go out. Only a little bit of goon was consumed that night (its really cheap and we were on a budget) and by midnight, we were at the 24 hour bakery stocking up on pasties and pies...oh dear.

Our final day in Byron Bay was boiling hot and so of course was spent down at the beach relaxing and getting all thoughts of another night in the van as far out of our minds as possible. Then we had a picnic besides a lighthouse and got back on board for the next leg of the trip. Finally it was Jades turn to drive. We were heading to Port Macquarie. After a couple of hours driving, we realised that we didnt have much petrol left and every petrol station we drive past was shut...it was a sunday. Was another case o the rive from Melbourne to Sydney. After a lot of panicking...from the boys...we found a station and filled right up to the brim. It was gettin alte at this poin but we were in the middle of nowhere so had to carry on driving, my turn now. So whilst Jade and Ryan slept in the back, Danny kept me entertained up front. We didnt make it as far as Port Macquarie as it was too far so we stopped at a little palce called South West Rocks. And in another ramdom car park by the sea, we slept.

Next morning we woke and got showered and headed straight off to Port Macquarie. If your wondering where we'd been showerin so far, it was pretty much anywhere we could find. We'd either sneak into a hostel... stand in our bikini's and us the public ones by the beach or find a campsite and use theirs. All part of the fun.

Port Macquarie was really nice and after another day on the main beach, we found a secluded area on a quieter beach and had a BBQ and then got back in the camper van and had a civilised evening in playing cards...and of course some more goon which I was allowed but only in small doses.

After a nice breakfast down by the beach, we packed up our things and we were back on the road once more to our next destination...Newcastle. I was in the drivers seat and was wishing more than ever that I wasn't. The heat was absolutely unbearable and as we didnt have air con, I ended up stripping down to my bikini just to stop me from passng out whilst driving! Made it to Newcastle by lunchtime and got some noodles and then got back in the van to leave Newcastle. It was like a ghost town. Was absolutely nothing of any interest to us there so the Lonely Planet guide came out and we did an ip-dip-doo on where to go. We decided on Palm Beach but that seemed abit too far away and we wanted somewhere that was as nice and close as possible to avoid overheating in the van. So The Entrance it was. A nice enough place with a proper campsite that we decided to splash out on so that we could pitch the tent we had originally bought so that all four of us didnt have to sleep in the van. After setting up camp, we went for a spot of fishing. Danny bought a rod, tackle and bait and off we went to the sea (the Entrance is the entrance to the sea so is a really shallow area of water surrounded by sand and you can almost wade out from one side o the other). After only a couple of casts, the hook got stuck on something at the bottom of the sea. And apparenly it was up to me to go fish it back out. Dont know why, but I did. So the shorts and t-shirt came off and I was wading out as far as my little legs would take me without letting the water swallow me up. I couldnt reach down to the bottom withou going under so had to untangle it with my toes. After initially panicking that the hook might slip up through my toes, I got down to work and retrieved it. My good deed for the day.

After that, we (Danny) caught a couple of little fish and then the heavens opened so we went back to the campsite and had another BBQ and surprisingly....a small amount of goon. That night was the best nights sleep coz there was only two of us in the van and I could stretch out without worrying about getting my legs tangled up with someone elses!

Bright and early the next morning, we set off to Sydney where our journey in the camper van came to an end.

Having trouble putting photos up at the minute so use your imagination.....

Hope you are all well, speak soon xxxx