We had a fair old drive to Perth ahead of us, we'd had a generous offer from a couple from the Yahtzee night to stay with them in the city's outskirts and we gratefully accepted. We met up with them at Geraldton to get directions to their house, they went directly home, while we took a more leisurely drive along the coastal road.
Almost immediately, the weather changed, the sky began to look a little angry and the light rain began.
As the rain intensified, we decided to skip some of the coastal stops.
At around the halfway mark, we reached the Pinnacles, an eerie desert landscape in which thousands of sandstone pillars had been carved by the wind over many thousands of years. We wandered among the obelisks and tried to soak up the atmosphere but not everyone was on the same wave length and people went tearing around screaming and shouting, it was still beautiful nonetheless.
We arrived in Perth and found our way to Rick and Trish's place, we were made to feel so welcome and while our original intention was to still sleep in the van to avoid imposition but they were never going to let that happen.
A full roast dinner ensued, and as we sat down with the 3 generations of family, a lump formed in Jan's throat as again thoughts turned to home.
The following day we had to go on a shopping trip, the South Island of NZ was experiencing their worst winter for 20 years and our warmest clothes were a thin hoodie and a fleece. Once we were kitted up, there really wasn't much time to do much else, it was already dark and our insurance forbade us to drive at night.
On our final day we said our goodbyes and dropped the van off in town, it wasn't the final few days we'd expected but it was nice to be made a bit of a fuss of. We dropped the van off at the depot, it was a solemn affair, we'd had such a great time in Tabby but it was time to hand her back and we're not very good at goodbyes.
The flight to Sydney was comfy and the clock going forward 2 hours certainly fooled our bodies into a tired stupor. We arrived at around 11pm, jumped into a cab and taken to our hotel.
The harbour side in Sydney is incredibly cool, the pedestrian area is lined with upmarket bars and restaurants and the iconic forms of the harbour bridge and opera house flank either side.
It's so strange seeing for the first time, something that's so familiar. What was also interesting was that Jan was unimpressed with the opera house and I wasn't overly fussed with the bridge until we got up close. Then the scale and intricacies became apparent and anyone who isn't impressed must be a philistine.
The area is a 50-50 mix of local workers and tourists, the locals were mostly immaculately dressed for office jobs and the tourists, us included, often looked like walking jumble sales.
We spent the day and evening wandering round the quay (taking a little extra time for lunch) and then getting lost in the surrounding back streets. When the sun goes down, the skyline lights up, very building along the waterfront is aglow in blue or red, orange or green.
The following day we took a walk around the area we were staying, literally a stone's throw from Central station. The difference was astounding. Many of the buildings were motels or b&bs and a good proportion of those were housing either drug addicts, alcoholics and people who were generally in a slump.
Like all of the major cities we've seen both at home and abroad, Sydney clearly has its problems too.
It's a modern, stylish city. We liked it but didn't love it, it was a little sterile in places, a little grimy in others and more than a little expensive, but it was fun and we could have definitely spent longer here.
Another country done, off to NZ for a tour around the freezing south.