We left Bendigo around lunchtime and set off to Albury. Nikki was driving to start with. We stopped about halfway for petrol and I took over the driving. We arrived in Albury about 5:30pm and just managed to buy a few bargains in the sales before the shops shut. We went into a British pub where it was steak night and had our dinner. We had to find somewhee to park our van overnight. We drove around for a bit and found a nice looking park with a BBQ area and toilet block. We were very happy with our choice until a local told us the park gets very noisey at night with drunken youths! He recommended another park just up the road as it would be quieter. So we moved. This time we parked near a lake and got ready for our first night in the campervan. The back of the van had wooden storage boxes for our bags and then we had four mattresses to lay on top to ,ake our bed. We then got in our sleeping bags and slept longways in the van. I was first in, Nat was in the middle and Nikki was nearest the door. We drew the curtains on the windows and it was quite cosy. It was the perfect amount of space for 3 people and it wasnt too cold either. We were awake quite early as it became quite hot in the van when the sun came up. Nat wanted to drive so off we went. We were driving through a National Park to Thredbo where we would stop for lunch and see the highest mountain in Australia before continueing to Canberra for the night. The drive through the National Park was very windy and bumpy as we were making our way through woods and mountains. We eventually made our way to Thredbo. It is a skiing village but as it was summer there was no snow. The mountains were covered in trees but you could see lanes of flat grass where the ski slopes would be. The mountain in the middle was the tallest one. We ad lunch in a cafe before setting off again. When we got back to the van we had a notice on the window saying we had not displayed our National Park ticket and had so many days to prove we had one. Then when we were driving we were stopped by the police doing routine checks. They breathalised Nat and obviously she was fine but because she didnt have her driving licience on her she got a $88 fine!! It seemed it wasnt our day! We made it to Canberra and stopped off at the supemarket to buy some food. We then had to find somewhere to park again. We drove to a lookout point at the top of a hill where you could see the whole city from and decided to stay there for the night. We got our gas stove out and heated up the pumpkin soup we had just bought and enjoyed it with some crusty bread. We also had a cup of tea as we had bought teabags, milk and sugar. We were proper little campers. The sun set over the city and it became dark so we got ready for bed. We were halfway through watching a movie when we heard a car come playing loud music playing. It parked opposite us and three girls got out and started dancing in the carpark. They were really going for it, it was quite funny to watch. They obviously didnt know we were watching as we were peeping through a gap in the curtains. When another car came the girls looked embarrased and drove off quickly. That was the end of our entertainment so we went back to watching the film.
The next morning we had our cornflakes and a cup of tea before driving back into the city to explore. First of all we went to the parliament building. It was at the end of a very long road similar to the "Mall" in London. Inside we saw the banquet hall and both the green and red parliament rooms, the house of representatives and senate. We went to the roof where there was an amazing view. You could definitely tell that Canberra had been designed as a capital city as the layout was spectacular. We then went to the war museum and had a quick look around. It was at the opposite end of the long road to the parliament building. We had a picnic on the grass for lunch. It was then time to head off again. It was Nikki's turn to drive again and we were heading to the seaside town of Wollongong. We arrived quite late in the evening and couldnt find a supermarket so we decided to find somewhere to eat instead. We came across a foodhall in the shopping centre where there are lots of different food stalls around the edge with chairs and tables in the middle. Nikki and Nat went for Thai food where as I spotted a jacket potato stall and it actually had cheese and beans as an option. We had dinner and then once again had the job of finding somewhere to park for the night. This was quite hard in Wollongong as all the parks had notices up saying "No Parking 9pm-7am." We saw another Wicked Campervan so we asked them where they were going to park. We ended up parked on a normal street outside someones house.
In the morning we drove back to the park to use the toilet facilities and had our cornflakes and cup of tea. It was my turn to drive and my destination was Sydney. I couldnt believe I was about to be driving in Sydney!