Today was the day we were to pick up our campervan. I was excited at the prospect since we had splashed out for the next 8 day leg and booked an 'Apollo Hitop' which has all the amenities - fridge, stove, sink. microwave and electric hook up - a total luxury after the horrible poorly designed 'Wicked' van we'd hired in New Zealand which practically had none of the above amenities and smelt horrible - and was ridiculously small! We can actually stand up in the Apo...

Recharged, up and ready for another fun packed day down under. I had the theme tune from Men At Work floating around in my head... 'do you come from a land down under'? bla bla bla bla bla. We had a leisurely start to the day. Mark kindly dropped us off in the centre of town. We walked several streets taking in the sites of the city. Ju read her guide book as usual whilst I clicked away on the camera. There was plenty for us to feast our eyes on. We saw the usual...

Today was a trip down memory lane having spent the morning going round Glen Waverley to see the house I used to live in and my old school. Seeing the house was strange - it didn't match any of my memories as it had been extended and repainted outside so it looked completely different! I took some photos and video footage to show my parents at least - I'm sure they'll be interested. The school still looked similar to my memories and the original photos from back i...

It must have been a magnetised bed that we fell into last night as we couldn't get up this morning. Ju was the first to stir. I led there a while collecting my thoughts... which country are we in now! Our guests had made us feel really welcome. We had a light breakfast before setting off with Jan to Ballarat. We were heading to Sovereign Hill, an historical gold mining town in the mountains. As we drove through Melbourne we took in the sights. I tried to imagine ...

I managed to grab a few hours sleep on the short flight from Christchurch to Melbourne. We had gained two hours due to crossing a few more time lines which was a good thing. We felt tired as you would expect but personally I was feeling pretty relaxed. It was slightly emotional for me coming back to Melbourne after all this time. The last time I was here I was 5yrs old and saying goodbye to the life I had come to know for the previous 3 years and going back to En...