Well, ages have passed since our last entry. I cannot believe how quickly time flies when you're having so much fun!

Before you read any further, however, I strongly suggest getting a large drink as this does go on for a bit!…well, we haven't updated this for over 4 weeks now!!

After spending the night at Dicky Beach (near Caloundra), we headed inland a bit and went to Toowoomba for a couple of nights. It's about an hour inland from Brisbane and definitely seems more like the outback you hear about. Toowoomba was nice. They had the biggest Japanese garden in Australia which was beautiful, so Pete and I took some time out to wander around, then headed off to the local Preston Peak winery where we were treated to a "Blues and Boogie" festival while tasting some wine. Once back at the campsite I unfortunately drank some tap water which turned out to be bore water, and promptly lost the contents of my stomach five times during the night. Pete was on hand to watch out for passers by, less I be embarrassed by standing next to the tent and throwing up! Looking back on it, it was quite funny, but not at the time! Apart from that episode and the mass of flies that were constantly on you, around you and trying to get in your mouth, it was a very nice place.

Anyway, once I felt a bit better and could hold some dry toast down, we moved onto Hastings Point by driving on the dodgiest roads ever! All along the road you saw signs saying that the Queensland and NSW local governments had applied to upgrade the roads - we just thought it may have been better to get on with it, instead of putting up signs! That's politics for you!!! They were full of potholes, incredibly bumpy, and just generally rubbish roads! Not so good when your belly feels a bit funny still. We made in one piece though.

Hastings Point was just another beach along the way and had way to many sand flies which enjoyed a nibble on me now and again. We did see a couple of rare birds that were resident in the park, and they had a little one with them. I can't remember what the name of the birds were, but they were very cool!

We decided to do a day of driving, as we were still behind schedule at this point, and pushed on to Nambucca Heads. On the way we stopped off in Coffs Harbour and saw the BIG knight, banana and prawn. Coffs Harbour itself was a bustling seaside city (pretty big infact!) and had we had the time, would have loved to stop there, and when we reached Nambucca Heads, wished we had stayed in Coffs! The campsite was a dive, but we were both so knackered, that we couldn't face driving any further that day, so we stuck the tent up, had a bit of dinner, went to bed early and drove out of there at 7.30am!!!

We drove round to South West Rocks about an hour south and stopped at the Trial Bay Gaol. It was organically built to house convicts that Sydney was considered too cushy for! It only lasted for around 50 years as a prison, and just before World War 1 started they changed it into a detainee camp for German citizens in Australia, as they were considered "potential spies". They were housed in the cells and were allowed out during the day to fish, swim, sunbathe or even have classes, but had to be back inside the prison walls by 6pm every evening. It was fascinating, and now the place is just a prison ruins, but you can really get the idea of how it would have looked, and even get locked up for a little while in a cell!! That wasn't much fun - see my picture. We walked up to the lighthouse after that, and were treated to a spectacular display by a pod of whales going by. They had a calf with them and were breaching happily out of the water attracting a huge crowd of spectators! It was the flies that made us leave in the end. Have I mentioned how annoying they are? Pesky little b*****s!! We also stopped off very briefly at Port Macquarie as they had a display of sculptures by the sea, and also had the break wall painted by numerous people which was really impressive. We had a quick nosey around the camp site at Port Macquarie, then decided to push onto Forster-Tuncurry for the evening. We spent one night there. The area was lovely, but the weather was awful, so it doesn't make you want to hang around then.

The following day we drove round and stayed in Port Stephens area in a tiny place called "Lemon Tree Passage". It's a small peninsula (one of many) around the Port Stephens area. We had a huge electric storm in the afternoon which started just as we finished pitching the tent. Lucky us!! Intending on going for a leisurely swim, as we were hot and sweaty from the drive, we were forced indoors and ended up watching Nancy Drew - the movie - which was horrendous! Later the rain cleared up early evening, and the weather people promised much sunshine the following day, so we decided to try our hand at sand boarding the local dunes! I remember doing sand boarding in NZ about 11 years ago, and how much fun it was. However, when I first saw the dunes, I thought "Oh my!", they were so incredibly steep, and so much bigger than those I had tackled years ago. Anyway, in for a penny, in for a pound, and I happened to be feeling pretty brave that day, and went first. It was sooooooo much fun! We were allowed to stay for as long as we wanted (more like, as long as our legs could keep taking us back to the top of the dunes) and we were there for well over two hours! It was great fun, especially as we had a huge dune all to ourselves. The guides came along and checked on us from time to time to make sure we were still alive without any broken limbs, and at the end when we'd had enough, we had sand everywhere! And I mean everywhere!

In the afternoon we pushed onto the outskirts of Sydney, and set up camp in a beautiful campsite about an hours train trip out of the city. We were extremely proud of ourselves for having navigated our way round all the toll roads! Yippee, saved some bucks there! The campsite had a huge bird aviary which I was allowed into as the lady was cleaning it out when I walked up there. Its was about 3 storeys tall with beautiful parrots, Australian peacocks (they are orange coloured) and loads of others. There was even a resident turtle which they fed mince meat to, but he apparently only ate lamb mince, and didn't like beef mince. How funny is that - a lamb mince eating turtle! What next?

During the day on Sunday, we caught a train into Sydney itself and did a whistle-stop tour on foot around all the touristy bits we wanted to see. We caught the train right into Circular Quay station, saw the opera house, - had a wee in their toilets and an ice-cream on the steps - Sydney Harbour Bridge (walked over and back again) and The Rocks (there was a cool market on that day - so made sure we tasted all the freebies on offer!). Then we caught a ferry out to Manly through the harbour and sat on the beach eating our cheese and tomato sandwiches (on a tight budget, so can't really afford fish and chips). We got the ferry back again and went round to central station, walked around a bit in the city part and then found Emma and Frog (Pete's sister and brother in-law who are over here on holiday) in a pub. They are over here on a holiday at the moment and we are travelling down from Sydney to Melbourne with them. It was very cool and almost surreal meeting up with them in Oz. We had a couple of beers in the pub, then went to a cheap student bar for dinner. I had fish and chips, Pete had chicken schnitzel with mash and both meals together came to $10! Oh, how I love those bargains. Without realising how the hours had slipped away, and not wanting to risk our car being locked overnight in a car park, we headed off back to the campsite.

We spent the following day lazing by the pool for half the day, and the rest of the day window shopping around the local area. We also saw our first huntsman spider. It was huge! It had an injured leg and was dragging itself up a wall - usually they are incredibly fast - so we were lucky enough (or not) to get a picture. Most of you will be very surprised at how well I cope with spiders now! I think being stuck in the bush in New Zealand helped with that! They were everywhere out there. Funny enough we expected to see loads in Oz too, but in the five months we've been here only seen about 4 biggish ones. Touch wood!!

Moving on, we headed down to Bateman's Bay. We spent about 4 hours driving down the beautiful coastal road past Wollongong, Jervis Bay, Kiama and lots of other places. We met up with Emma and Frog at the campsite later and cooked them a feast of garlic prawns for starters, Kangaroo steaks, sausages, sweet corn, mushrooms and salad for mains. Both courses we wine matched with a Chardonnay, and a Shiraz - both from the Hunter Valley. It was yummy and we ended sitting up chatting until 1.30am! Couldn't believe the time.

The following day we headed off in convey towards Tathra. I noticed how along the southern NSW coast they liked to name their towns not once, but twice. We encountered Tilba Tilba, Wagga Wagga, Jellat Jellat, Walla Walla etc. They kept us amused along the way! We stopped in Tilba Tilba to have a look around. It was such a quaint little village, you could almost be in the Peak District in the UK! We found a lovely little cheese shop which had been recommended and proceeded to try every single type they had on offer. They had all sorts of yummy cheeses, and in the end we bought a vintage matured cheddar and a pesto cheese. Together with a French stick from the local bakery and some "Bum Hummer" pickled onions which apparently have 1000 farts in a bottle! Hee hee! That was our ploughman's dinner for the evening and it was lovely. We pitched our tent up while Emma and Frog settled into their cabin then met round the camp kitchen. Realising we had run out of wine we headed off into the local town to source some. On the way we spotted a lookout and hoping to spot some whales we stopped there. We took a walk out past the lookout onto some rocks and got chatting to a lovely couple. They left and then promptly came back shouting and waving at us to follow them as they had spotted some whales around the other side of the bay. So off we trotted, and we were once again treated with a display of three whales getting really close to the shore. It was great to watch, and the first time E & F had seen whales in Oz too which made it extra cool! We went back to the camp site and enjoyed our dinner managing to not stay up quite as late as the night before!

In the morning, we packed all our stuff up and once again headed off in a convey towards the Snowy Mountains. Stopping off in Bega to get three days worth of food shopping and petrol at $1.37 a litre. The price of petrol has increased dramatically since leaving Queensland. It was $1.15 at the most expensive there and seems the cheapest petrol in NSW is around the $1.30 mark. Well there goes our petrol budget for sure! We drove on the Snowy mountains highway which had masses of dry, arid rolling hills with loads of road kill along the way, and then all of a sudden you came over a hill and there was a town in the middle of no-where. We stopped off at "Fred Piper Lookout" for lunch and a wee in a horrible long drop toilet. I made Pete stand at the door at watch out for spiders and snakes that might fancy a bite at my bum! We all had some cheese rolls for lunch in a really beautiful spot, then drove onto Jindabyne. It's the closest town at the bottom of the Snowies to the ski fields. As ski season is finished now, the town seems really sleepy, but I imagine that in the height of the season it is packed and full of atmosphere! Its pretty cold up here, so we opted for sharing a cabin instead of freezing our bits off in the tent. We got a nice ensuite cabin with a double bed for the oldies, and two bunks for Pete and I. It comes with its own kitchen and dining area, and two resident ducks that sit on the porch tapping their beaks on the window in the hopes that some bread will come their way!

We enjoyed a couple of games of pool and a beer down the local pub this arvo (afternoon), and then had a reef and beef bbq for dinner with steak and garlic prawns, and the rest of the cheese from Tilba Tilba. That seems our staple diet at the moment and is yummy! We'll save the dieting to when we settle in Melbourne again.

Anyway, we thought of hiring a boat and some fishing rods in the morning and trying our luck at trout fishing. Unfortunately the weather took a turn for the worst and was pissing down with rain! So that was that, and we decided to push on to Ruther glen area and do some wine tasting down there instead. So off in convoy once again over the mount Koseeosko (not sure how you spell that) which was 1552 metres above sea level. We stopped at a place called Dead Horses Gap and once out the car to take some photos quickly realised just how absolutely freezing it was, and promptly got back in the car to switch the heater on! WOW…never thought Oz could get that cold! On the way down the mountain we stopped off at a recommended site called 'Tom Groggins', as we had been told there would be loads of wild emus, kangaroos and birds. We were not disappointed whilst doing a mini oz-safari saw hundreds of grey kangaroos (one had a Joey in her pouch - so cute), emus and even a few other birds. Stopped off in Kahncoban for lunch then drove on towards Cowara in Ruther glen area where we once again shared a cabin for two nights, and booked ourselves 4 bikes to ride around the cellar doors.

……..hooray!! I have just high-jacked the lap top!! Just when you thought it was safe for a bit of shut eye! Well think again! Frog and I are keen to muscle in on this journal to say 'hi!' (similar to small children jumping up and down behind the local TV reporter!) we are having a cracking visit! Our first night together after Sydney was a fantastic dinner engagement! By the time we met, Pam and Peter had shopped and cooked up a feast! We had the BEST garlic prawns for starters with complimentary white wine followed by an enormous assortment of sweet corn, mushies, kangaroo and snatches. The table was beautifully laid and the wine waiters were positively charming! J
We have had several splendid days out and matching evenings reminiscing ! Cheers! to the following days ahead !

Ok, as I was saying before the laptop was whipped away from under my nose...!! We got round 3 cellar doors. My favourite was called 'Drinkmoor Wines', and I even got the t-shirt! They make a superb wine called a soft cabernet which you drink once chilled. Its slightly sweet like a rose wine would be, but so incredibly yummy! We back the following day with the car to get a couple of bottles. E & F were really excited to try a wine called durif which they found back in the UK. We had never heard of it before. It's a really heavy red, but full of flavour. We stopped for lunch at the All Saints winery, which also did cheese platters. MMMMMM!!!!! All I can say is that we slept well that night!!

The following day we pushed on all the way down to Phillip Island. Not realising that the Melbourne Cup was infact so big out here, big enough that the whole of Victoria state declare it as a public holiday, accommodation was few and far between. E & F got one of the last motel rooms for premium rate, and we pitched our tent as the bucks we had didn't really extend that far. It was mighty cold, but we consoled ourselves by having a yummy dinner of pizza which warmed our cockles a little. Phillip Island is famous for its Fairy Penguins (and its grand prix circuit) that come back to shore once the sun goes down. We thought it would be a great idea to go and see them the following night, so checked it out in the morning. Turns out you have to pay $90 per person to get anywhere near them. Otherwise you can pay $18 each and see them from about 500 metres away - needless to say you'll need binoculars. Choosing to give that a miss as we have seen penguins in South Africa before, we headed off to see Emma and Frog racing round the Phillip Island Grand Prix track on a super bike. I have never been to a racing day before, and they were lucky enough to get the last bike for hire that day, so were really happy. We watched Emma go round first, then jump off so Frog could have his turn. They were both really good and it was awesome to see them doing something they love! Thanks for that guys! We even managed to get into the race track free cause we knew people on the inside…hee hee!!

Phillip Island is also famous because its twinned with the Isle of Wight back in England. Its main town is called Cowes, and it also has some iconic outcrops of rocks (like the needles on IOW) called the Nobbies. We took a drive down there in the afternoon, and saw what seemed like millions of seagulls nesting. Some had their chicks already, and others were still sitting on eggs. The little chicks were so cute. Unfortunately it was bitterly cold as the wind just went through you, so we didn't stay very long. Meeting up in the afternoon with E & F in a pub called the Isle of Wight, and talking about what a cool day we had all had was a great way to finish the day.

After Phillip Island we headed into Melbourne, as this is the part where our lengthy road trip comes to an end, and we have to give our lovely hire car back. Thinking Melbourne would be a good place to pick up work, we took a train into the city, had a look around, then as Emma & Frog were flying out to Singapore the following day, we met up with them for a drink - which I hasten to say ended up being a few more than just one! Thanks for a really awesome time guys! We thoroughly enjoyed travelling round with you and will really look forward to doing it again one day! It was the perfect end to what has been an amazing road trip for us! We are a bit sad that it's all over, but look forward to the next part of our exciting adventures! Need to top up the funds a bit now...

Anyway, must love you all and leave you now, if you haven't already gone to sleep with the sheer length of this entry!

P.S. just to let you know we decided Melbourne wasn't for us, so went on Frog's suggestion to try Geelong at the start of the Great Ocean Road (nice one that man!). We have now set up camp, sent out some CV's and are looking for a flat to move into. So will keep you updated on how our search goes!