HELLO EVERYONE!! (AT LAST!)

We are very sorry for the long silence on our end - you would not believe how hard (and expensive) it is to find an internet cafe in Australia! Today we have arrived back in Sydney and headed straight for Global Gossip, the cheapest internet cafe in Australia it would seem (and thats saying something).

We have just returned our trusty campervan Leonard after 2 1/2 months and 5123 Km (all driven by Tom) - and about 5.5km around a racetrack driven by me! Today was one of Toms most challenging driving days as we had to drive into Sydney which is pretty scary! We managed it fine though and are now back safe and sound in Potts Point, Sydney!

Where to begin - (we are having to use our photos to remember everything we have done). I will try to give you a brief runthrough of the second half of our trip (since we last wrote in Ayr).

After leaving Ayr and visiting the townsville sanctuary where we held Koalas and wombats, we headed for Eungella in the mountains! Eungella was absolutely THE BEST! It is the tiniest village up the highest mountain, which Tom had to drive up around some of the craziest, most cliff hanging corners we have ever seen! The road itself was amazing and had roadside waterfalls and views which were VERY distracting! The campsite we found in Eungella was amazing - and had the best view from the top of the mountain! I saw my dream house there, and we even managed to spot the elusive platypus in the river!! We shared fish and chips for dinner overlooking the magical view!

The next day we tackled the descent of the mountain (equally scary), and parked up for the night in Marlyborough. Next, we visited the city of Rockhampton and stayed for a few days by the river!

Following Rockhampton we made the bad decision to go to a Historic town called Mount Morgan. We drove up to the campsite (scary in itself due to the slightly, should we say, excentric, owner. The town itself was scary enough to star in its own horror movie. As we walked down the street everyone turned to stare at us and I was so scared of the place I made Tom drive over an hour to another town!! The forests around it were like the 'Hills Have Eyes'!!!

On the Queen's Birthday Weekend, which is a public holiday and BIG BUSINESS in Oz, we went to Cania Gorge National Park. It was very beautiful but absolutely MOBBED! Everyone and their grandma was there! We went for a walk to the 'giants chair lookout' and to see an aboriginal painting on the cliff, of a massive foot!

We stopped of breifly in Kingaroy before heading to BRISSIE! (Brisbane for all you Pommies!! HAHA). Brisbane was a very beautiful and compact city! We went window shopping in the main town centre and then went to see a 'Ron Mueck' exhibition at the modern art gallery. Ron Mueck makes sculptures of people in differing scales which look very realistic. Look up his work or just wait for our photos! (To Follow). We stayed for 3 days and managed to score a free Dominos takeaway - as they were so busy they forgot to charge us!

Following Brisbane we stopped overnight at a mountain campsite and the following day crossed the border into New South Wales! The views from the crossing were amazing though the drive itself was again pretty winding for poor Tom.

Our first stop in NSW was at Murwillumbah - (some of the names) and then we headed to the CRAZY town of Nimbin. Nimbin is the capital of alternative culture in NSW and it was pretty cool, but very over the top - almost like Disney Land. All of the shops are painted in Psychedelic colours and all of the people there are backpackers or old hippies. There are hundreds of communes scattered in the ranges surrounding the town. We decided, after exploring Nimbin, to stay in Lismore - a city a few KM's away.

Lismore was a nice city with plenty of old building and we had a lovely sheltered spot to camp. Here we made our first batch of Tom and Lucy's Fudge, which we have to say, was a success. We have kept on making fudge to refine the recipe! (It is now better than SUE'S!)

We stayed in the town of Casino for one night and then moved on to Tenterfield and then Glen Innes. Glen Innes seems to think it is in Scotland, and the weather was accordingly grim. The town itself was cute, however, their 'claim to fame', the Standing Stones, were a bit of a disappointment!! We thought they were historic (they were even called the Historic Standing Stones) but they were only put there in 2003! We had to laugh!

We were keen to escape the 'Scotland of Australia' so off we drove, onto Grafton, an old city. We stayed there for a few days because we had a bit of a drama with our fridge (the drama being IT STOPPED WORKING!!). We had to wait for a new one to be delivered to our campsite! Luckily, the campsite in Grafton was the first 5 star campsite we stayed at!

From there Armidale (with the happiest campsite owner EVER) and then onto Tamworth - the capital of country music in australia. Their claim to fame is a massive golden guitar! Tamworth wasnt too exciting so we headed off the next day to Nundle - a middle of nowhere gold mining town. We passed llamas and a huge lake on the way and in Nundle we visited the Mount Misery Gold Mine. Their prize exhibit was a dead cat! haha...

We then headed to the Hunter Valley Wine region where we went around Scone, Muswellbrook and then onto Mudgee! We both really liked Mudgee for some reason. It seemed to have a LOAD of bookshops and nice cafes and we stocked up on decent books to read! (you will be glad to know Tom had become a right bookworm since we have been away!). We stayed in Mudgee a few days before moving on to see The Wellington Caves!

The Wellington caves were very cool and their main attraction was australias largest column (a stalactite meeting a stalacmite and forming a column) which was used as an altar in Victorian times. There was a bible on the 'pulpit' that had been left untouched for 180 years - open on a certain page!!The campsite there was great because we virtually had it to ourselves!

Next stop - Dubbo! There we visited the acclaimed Western Plains Zoo which was nice but very busy. You are allowed to drive around the zoo in your car and just stop near each enclosure! We saw alsorts - ellies, rhinos (with a baby) and many others.

Leaving Dubbo we went to Peak Hill, another old gold mining town. At Peak Hill they have a massive open cut mine in the cliff which you can look down into. One is filled with water and another is dry but they really are massive!

From Dubbo to Orange, from Orange to Bathurst. Bathurst was very nice and the start of the Blue Mountains. There I drove around the old racing track, which is actually a public road. The only bit of driving I can claim to have done on our trip.

From Bathurst we drove down the most hellish road ever to the Jenolan Caves - where we actually drove THROUGH a cave! It was mobbed though (it was the school holiday!), so we drove on to Lithgow. There er stayed in a nice campsite but it was VERY cold and our car was completely frozen the next morning (including the inside!). We went on a little adventure and managed to find a cave called the Mermaid cave which was amazing! It was almost like a canyon surrounded by limestone cliffs - there was even a little waterfall!Lithgow was a really nice place as it was quite wealthy and had a brilliant bookshop!

From Lithgow, to Katoomba and then down to try to stay in the suburbs of Sydney. However, when we got there the campsite was full (the first time that has happened to us) so we had to drive on to Mittagong - a good 80 km under Sydney. We decided not to try to go back into Sydney agian until the day we returned the van so we stayed along the beaches of Shell Harbour, Wollongong, Bulli and more. We ate chips by the seaside and could see the sea from our van at night. We saw huge Pelicans and ate pizza! We just generally enjoyed being back by the seaside.

Last day in Wollongong was spent cleaning out the van (NOT MUCH FUN) and then we drove into Sydney to return the van. We returned it safe and sound, got back our full deposit and we both felt proud to have completed such a long journey! We caught a taxi back to Potts Point Sydney where we are staying now. Our hotel room seems so huge, we can stand up in it and everything! The luxury of an inside shower and TV, TV and more TV!

Today we are just relaxing and updating the blog and photos and tomorrow we may go to the Cinema to see Inception (which looks really good!).

We fly out to Auckland on Sunday at 11.30 and arrive there at 4.30pm. We have managed to get a good deal on a nice apartment so we are looking forward to that and then our second van adventure.

WELL - PHEW! That must have taken about 3 hours to read! No more to report but I promise we wont leave such a long gap between blogs again! MY FINGERS ACHE!

Have a look at our photos! Hope you are all well.

Lots of Love

Lucy and Tom xxxxx