Hello to friends and family. I think this blog is really going to please my beloved mother due to the fact it contains minimal reference to alcholol. Last time I placed an entry we were about to climb the Sydney harbour bridge. That was absolutely fantastic! Took about two hours overall, lots of banter between us and the tour leader. The views were incredible, we have two good pics and was very knowledgeable. Would definately recommend it! After the climb we went to the Syndey fish market and picked up some Sushi, then just shopped around and headed back to the hostel.

We picked up our campervan from wickedcampers the next morning, after going to buy some CD's. Pat drove us out of the city and we got to a rest stop just before the Blue Mountains, set up camp and had our Bangers and Mash dinner. Our van has Snoopy sprayed on the side and says "I bet you'd like to see my Charlie Brown," written on the back. We have definately gotten a mix review from the locals, some big smiles and waves, some shouting "Get a Job!" The next day we reached the Blue Mountains with me at the helm. Saw the Three sisters which was great and me and Pierre did a railtrack down to the jungle level and did a sort of bushwalk and then a cablecar back up. That nite we camped in the town and had Pasta.

The next day we did a walk to Wentworth Falls which was nice bit of exercise, the falls were average but you gotta love that fresh moutain air. That day Pat drove us down to Canberra where we camped up under the main town bridge. The next day in Canberra we checked out the Public libary and went to the Olympic pool and did some swimming and had a fantastic shower! In the evening we drove to Pat's uncle house. Pat's uncle John put us up for 3 nites which was really nice of him, also cooked up two fry-up's, more importantly, lol. It is really cold as well now so when we walked in and he passed us a beer each and we sat by the open fire, it was heaven! With Pat's uncle we did a list of things in Canberra, went to the War Musuem, the City look-out, Questacon (Science musuem,) went to watch the new Indiana Jones and went to the Canberra Musuem. After the weekend we finished with a big curry night and then set off for the Goldfields the next day.

Our first stop off was Beechworth where we spent the night, all day was spent driving. The only highlight was the world famous Beechworth Bakery. We each had a little treat and then went to make base for the night. The next night we went to Rutherglen, Victoria wine capital! Went to Campbells Winery for a tour and tasting. Many of you may struggle to imagine us in our trackie b's, smelling of our campervan and commenting on the Merlot, however we pulled it off. We tried lots of wine, some was incredible, their 2002 Merlot Amelie (limited edition) was immense. However we choose to buy a bottle of Gewurz and then went on our way. We arrived next in Echuca, checked out the river ferry's and played football in the park. Then settled down with our Gewurz and Pat's Madras he cooked up by the river and watched the sunset, very nice.

Next day we got to Ballarat very late, its decpetive but all these places are bloody miles apart. Ballarat we stuggled to find anywhere to park, did some internet stuff in the Libary and had a walk around the town. The next day however we went to Sovereign Hill and the Gold Musuem. Im sick off learning about Aus now but we stuck it out as long as we could, we also got to pan gold and see a goldrush in the Blacksmiths, was basically a 18th century goldmining village. We headed off to Port Fairy that day and made good time and managed to do the walk out to Griffith island where we saw the lighthouse and our first Kangaroo, alive. We have seen plenty of roadkill Roo's but we saw a couple live ones on our bushwalk.

Today we got up real early and drove the Great Ocean Road, saw the very famous 12 Apostles, Bay of Islands and Apollo bay. Was some very beautuful scenery, we took it in turns to drive today. We are now in Melbourne, we got majorly lost earlier and plans for this evening involve eating and sleeping, tomorrow we are watching an Aussie rules match at the famous MCG and doing the Melbourne nightlife which is supposed to be immense. I will stick some photos up now so check them out if you have time. Hope everyone is well, Spk Soon, Ryan!