Hello....sorry for the lack of blog recently, we have been so busy and have been meaning to update. You'v e probably all lost interest by now, but here's what we got up to in the Britz campervan.

We picked it up in Brisbane, and after a quick video explaining how things work (such as the shower and the potty!), we were on the road. Jeff bravely opted to be the first one to drive it, and soon got the hang of it. It was a huge van, 6.7 metres long, and 2.8 metres tall!

Our first stop for the night was a campsite in Southport, just outside Surfers Paradise, so that we could charge up the van battery and fill up with water etc. It felt a bit odd sleeping in a van for the first time, but quite fun too. Our van had a double bed and a little kitchen, as well as a shower and toilet, so it was well equipped.

The next day we drove on to Surfers Paradise, and after navigating our way through the city centre, managed to find a place to park the van. Because the van was so big it was often a challenge to find a place big enough to park it, and we often felt like people were staring at us! We had a swim on Surfers Paradise beach and soaked up the sun for a while. It was a really hot day, and the beach was very busy. It felt great to get in the water! After heading back to the van to get changed (and to get sand all over the inside of the van) we drove up the road to Coolangatta, another popular surfing and swimming beach. We had a nice walk on the beach there, and chilled out with a milkshake. We also had a look at the state boundary line of Queensland and New South Wales, at Tweed Heads. It made us realise how far down the coast we had come since we first arrived in Cairns in November. That night we drove on to Byron Bay and found a campsite to stay the night for our first night in New South Wales. We had hoped to stay somewhere close to the beach, but everywhere in Byron had restricted parking and it wasn't as easy as we thought it would be to find a place to stop for the night. We parked up and were trying to figure out where to stay for the night and were obviously looking a bit lost, when a friendly surfer-dude came over to chat to us and see if we were ok and if we needed any help. He obviously sensed a tourist couple in need of some advice! He explained that since Byron Bay had become so popular the rangers and council had made it virtually impossible to free-camp.

Byron Bay was a really cool place, and it had a really relaxed chilled out atmosphere. It definitely felt like an easy-going place, with some interesting characters. We saw one guy who was just casually walking down the street with a parrot on his shoulder, chatting away to it (!). The beach was lovely, and was full of surfers and families. Byron Bay is known for its lighthouse, and you can see it from the beach. Byron Bay is actually the most easterly part of Australia, an the lighthouse is a good place to look out to the area around it. Whilst we were up at the lighthouse there was a thunderstorm, and we got absolutely soaked!

That night we drove further up the coast and parked up for the night at Yamba, a little seaside town with a few pretty beaches. It had a few campsites but we thought we'd risk it and try parking up for the night on the side of a quiet road to save some money, despite seeing signs everywhere that said 'No camping!'. Luckily we found a quiet road right next to the beach, and didn't get moved on or bothered. At sunset we were lucky enough to see some dolphins that swam up to the shoreline. Later that night we saw an awesome lightning storm in the distance, which went on for hours. It lit up the whole sky and we sat for ages watching it from outside our van. We woke up the next day to a lovely view outside our window, and enjoyed looking out to sea whilst we made our morning cuppa. Litle things like that made us realise how lucky we are to be on this trip and having the freedom to go where we want.

We drove to Coffs Harbour the next day, and stayed over at a campsite near Emerald Beach after a swim at Woolgoolga Beach, to charge up and do the usual potty emptying/water filling. We had quite a few problems with the drains in our van, and everything seemed to go wrong. The shower wouldnt drain properly, and the hot water ran out halfway through Katie washing her hair. Jeff had to clear the drains using Draino, and then to top it off we found a huge spider in the doorway of the drivers cabin. Seeing as it was in a place that was unable to bother us we decided to leave it alone for the night, and tackle it (literally) the next day!

We drove to a small town called Bellingen the next day, and had a look around their community markets and enjoyed wandering around and seeing the various things for sale at the market. We bought some homemade fudge and cupcakes, and watched some live music whilst eating our lunch. Bellingen was about 30 minutes inland, and had a similar feel to Byron Bay, and had quite a laidback arty vibe. Everyone seemed to know each other and the community markets are a traditional monthly occurence in the town. Just up the road from Bellingen is Dorrigo National Park, a mountainous rainforest area with rolling hills and stunning views, and we drove the campervan up there (it just about made it up the hills) and paid a visit to the Rainforest Centre, where they have a skywalk that enables you to walk up into the rainforest and admire the view from the rainforest canopy. We also had a look at Dangar Falls nearby, and then found a campsite for the night in the middle of the lovely rolling hills. We were pretty much alone in the campsite, and enjoyed some gorgeous sunset views from our campervan. Unfortunately the next day our potty broke, and we had to arrange for a replacement and meet a Britz driver in Coffs Harbour who gave us another one, The joys of campervanning!

Over the next few days we drove on down the coast and stayed at Nambucca Heads, and then Elizabeth Beach, near Myall Lake. We parked up again by the beach, and stayed the night in a carpark. The beach was lovely, and very quiet. We decided that our next stop would be the Hunter Valley, about an hour inland. The Hunter Valley is best known for being one of the wine regions of Australia, and there are lots of vineyards in a very concentrated area that you can visit and do wine tstings at. We spent a day visiting a few of the wineries (well, Jeff didn't get to do any tasting as he was driving) and sampling their goods. It was good fun! One particlar favourite was the Peterson Champagne House, which specialises in sparkling wine and champagne. We bought a bottle of their sparkling rose Pink Blush, which is their bestseller and is delicious. The wineries are pretty relaxed and you can just drive up to the cellar door and ask to try any of their wines, and they allow you to do that for free. There is no obligation to buy any of the wines, and it's very easy to get tipsy, going from one winery to the next and sampling lots of different wines! We stayed over in a campsite for a few nights and had a nice thai meal one evening with another bottle of wine we had bought from one of the wineries.

We drove on to Nelson Bay the next day, and started preparing for Christmas! We bought our food and drink, and Christmas decorations, and started plannng where we would be spending Christmas. After a lovely swim in the water, and a bit of a sunbathe we free-camped that night by the beach, and had a nightime walk at sunset.

The next day was Christmas Eve, and we drove to Lake Macquarie to check in to our campsite and start the countdown to Christmas! We decorated our van with the decorations we had bought, and chilled the champagne.

The next day it was Christmas Day! It was very weird to be waking up on Christmas Day and for the sun to be shining and to hear children playing on the campsite whilst their parents sat outside and had a beer and a BBQ! After opening our presents we had a late breakfast and went out to the beach to have a Christmas Day swim and a sunbathe session. In the evening we cooked ourselves a steak dinner with our Hunter Valley champagne, followed by a phone call home to our family back in the UK (who were just about to start their Christmas Day..). Our time in the campervan was at an end, and on Boxing Day we drove to the outskirts of Sydney to park up one final time in a campsite, and to start packing our things in preparation for leaving. We were quite sad to leave the van, despite it sometimes being a pain in the wotsit to drive. It had become like a mini-home for us. We really enjoyed seeing the lovely scenery and fantastic coastline between Brisbane and Sydney. We couldn't wait to see what Sydney itself had to offer...