Hello!

Sorry we haven’t been in touch sooner - a LOT has happened since we last wrote! Rob and I are in Melbourne just now, loving it here - great city!! Lots of great little lanes full of cafes and bars, the weather has been crazy too - over 40 degrees this last weekend! And I’ve finally caught up with Kate! It’s all very exciting!

Well we left WA at the end of January when Rob quit his job at the bar and I finished at the caravan park. Had a fantastic leaving BBQ on the seafront one night - everyone came along and the drinks were flowing! Good banter! We then left to spend a few days in Perth to celebrate Australia Day with Michelle and Kent’s family, was a great day - 400,000 people all chilling out in the sun down by the Swan River and then a huge firework display in the evening, crazy heat though, reached 41 ° at one point! We then spent the rest of that week with Michelle and Grant and their kids, had such a great time with them - went to Fremantle for the day, visited several beaches and jumped off Hilary’s harbour, also seen some of the shops in their suburb oh and was introduced to an ACE aussie film - Pricilla (spelling?!) Queen of the Desert! A must see!

Had to go back to Yallingup to visit Vicki and Pete one last time, was so sad, going to miss them both so much! They have been so good to us over the last couple of months, so welcoming and a great laugh! I might even miss Choko a bit, ‘Hey Bert!’. Won’t be long til they’re over in Scotland…….! Not forgot Lizul and Fred - miss you both too! This was going to be the first time we started travelling properly - now on our own without family, and then we were off on our journey to the East side….

Stopped off at Albany first, beautiful place with great beaches. It’s an old whaling village so we visited the whaling station, looked around the shops etc. Headed off to Esperance after the 2nd day, van decided to play up (in the middle of nowhere!) was worried that we were going to have to stop some random for help but Rob finally got it going! Esperance was pretty dull which was disappointing so after 2 nights we headed off to cross the Nullarbor - 4500km of absolutely NOTHING!!. Just one straight road through desert, apparently it's the world's largest, fllattest piece of limestone. As our van hadn't been running the greatest, i was a nervous wreck the entire time - kept thinking we were going to break down (shouldn‘t have watched Wolfs Creek before we left!), we did have a tyre blow out at one point but a german couple stopped to help us and we bumped into them later along the Nullabor and had a few drinkies with them! Also made sure that we left each place before them so that they were always behind us if anything happened! The Nullabor is definitely an experience but not as bad as I thought it would be - a surprising amount of people travel it, there are loads of roadhouses and we were lucky the weather was overcast, even managed to avoid the spear throwing abos and their $1000 road tolls! J

After the Nullabor we eventually made it to Adelaide, stayed a couple of nights but there wasn’t much to do so left for Mt Gambier, a small town further south built on the slopes of an extinct volcano. The crater - Blue Lake - is a stunning sight in an almost unbelievable shade of sapphire! There was also a huge limestone sinkhole to visit. After Mt Gambier we left for one of the highlights of my trip so far - the Great Ocean Road! It is the most spectacular coastal drive I’ve ever seen! Lots of limestone scenery - 12 apostles probably the most famous, long stretches of ocean beaches and loads of laid-back surf towns with great places to eat and chill!

And now we’re in Melbourne! Been here a week now, probably going to stay here until the end of the month before driving up to Sydney to meet me sis. First day here I met Kate, hadn’t seen her since I was 12 so it was very strange!! It’s been great catching up with her though, had such a nice week - she showed us round the city and St Kilda and also took us to her beautiful family home for the weekend - very relaxing! On the Sunday we managed to see a Shane Warne charity cricket match at the MCG which was pretty exciting! The turnout was a bit disappointing though. Staying in Melbourne we obviously had to go visit Ramsay Street! First thing you notice is how small it is, it’s tiny!! Also drove past Erinsborough High and met Darcy! Remember him??!! He lived with Susan I think and turned evil….? Was a bit disappointed - was hoping to meet some proper neighbours legend like Karl, Harold or Lou! We’ll just have to head down to a St Kilda where Karl’s band plays at one of the bars!

Anyway, think I’ve go on enough! I’ve been trying to upload some pics but having a little difficulty. Hope all is well with yourselves and keep in touch with any interesting news!

Lots of Love

Nik and Rob xx