My life is so exciting!!

Don't worry it's not going to be an in-depth look at my life or being philosophical at all - phew I bet you're saying!

Unfortunately I'm still unemployed and it's getting extremely painfull - the job market has never been so bad.  I remember when you went for maybe two interviews and at least one of them gave you the job but now it's like 10 interviews and you're still waiting.  The interviews that irritate me are the competency based ones - i swat up on the competencies they set out in the job description and then they ask you completely random questions!  Also, many moons ago it was about who you knew - networking etc but nowadays it just ain't so!   I've enjoyed unemployment - it's not the worst thing in life... but I'm ready now....

Ria started work last week at her new school - she's an unqualified teacher and has been stressing about her class prep - she's certainly taking it seriously as it's a great opportunity to see if this is really what she wants - so far, so good.  I admire her courage and determination

Also, in my 'spare' time I've been seeing my little niece grow up - it's hard to remember how she looked and acted at the start of the year.  She is a very intelligent little girl - her vocabulary is quite extensive, words such as 'people', 'sit here' and 'i love you' plus she can tell you where her eyes, ears, nose and hair are.  She is such a cutie 

As I said in my last update (err back in July) we planned on going to Minehead to see Ria's grandma, well we decided to go away for a few days and visit her.  There we drove around Exmoor National Park, visited Lynmouth in Devon and walked around Minehead itself...amongst other tourist things like seaside amusements!  It was a lovely break and from there we drove to Glastonbury which is one of my favourite places in England - it's unbelievably tranquil.  We walked up to the Tor and looked around and then went into the town and had cream teas - well, we were on holiday!  Unfortunately there were way too many visitors - plenty of Europeans.  After that (same day) we drove over to Stonehenge as Ria had never seen the place even though her family live about an hour away!  We parked up alongside it and walked around, outside of course and took a few photos - it's not worth paying to get in when you're just as close from the road, plus we could always go back at summer or winter solstice when it's free - just how it should be!  But anyway, we enjoyed it and finished the week off in Fareham staying with her family.

Then Bank Holiday weekend mum, dad, Ria and I went to Guildford to meet up with Ria's mum, dad and sister as it's halfway between us.  Had a nice pub meal, walked around the town centre along the cobbled streets and then drove just out of the city centre to a leisure facility where we played tenpin bowling.  It was a nice day out and has given Ria and me ideas about Guildford - a lovely place with a bit of character and a perfect position between here and Fareham!  Also, Guildford Cathedral was the church used in 'The Omen' film - the original movie.

It's mad to think that this time last year we were having the time of our lives in San Francisco - the start of our travels.  It's funny because we remember it all so vividly and still both have the travel bug - it's contagious - Ria caught it from me!  Time definitely heals old wounds because we were adamant that we'd never do backpacking again but if we had the opportunity we'd both be back out there having more adventures in the blink of an eye!

But finally, I'm pleased to report that my awful belly holes have now healed, unfortunately the scars left behind are almost as bad as before.  I think in hindsight I still would've gone through with it, however I would have gone against dissolving stitches as none of them actually dissolved - hence my scarring.  The hospital have said that I need to give it at least 12 months before they look at doing anything more.

Anyway, I'm off now as Ria will be home soon and I can play housewife - I used to joke about her going to work and me being the homemaker.  Ria would always reply "err, I don't think so - you can work like me" however she has enjoyed coming home over the past few days to a cup of tea when she walks in the door and a yummy meal to look forward to for dinner.... ironic don't you think?!

It's strange how some things take priority and others don't - take my blog for instance, I haven't updated it since April!  Maybe it's laziness or due to the fact my life has become excruciatingly boring...who knows?!

This time two years ago I was with a group of people I'd never met before travelling around Japan having the most amazing time and then last year Ria and I were getting our itinerary in order for our round the world travels so obviously compared with the previous two years it's very dull.  But, that doesn't mean to say that nothing's happened - we've been back and forth to Fareham, applied for jobs left, right and centre with a few interviews along the way and then at the beginning of June I had a small operation - I like to call it 'the redistribution of fat'!  Well, I thought it was going to be a small one, as in a day in hospital for the procedure and next day out - almost went according to plan.  Unfortunately, I didn't realise I wouldn't be able to drive for a month, be almost bed bound for a few days and have a couple of infections with three holes bigger than my belly button appear above and below my belly button!  And now, nearly two months on I still have tiny little holes that have almost healed - so much for a small op!

Of course there are a few upsides of being unemployed - I've met up with friends, improved my culinary skills and enjoyed spending nearly 24/7 with Ria - you'd think that after 10 months of doing that we'd be bored with each other, or have just the odd conversation but we know almost everything about each other and know what one-another think - mad or even sad I hear you say but for us it's perfect - all we need know are jobs and a house we can call our own.

Ria has been contemplating what she wants to do as a career and has concluded that teaching is it - it makes sense really.  Me, well as per usual I've never known what I've wanted to do - way too many ideas and the odd epiphany but still have not committed to one career.  Even if I did know I still wouldn't say it too loudly coz I'd feel pressured to do it.  If all goes according to plan then who knows.  I know I'm being somewhat elusive but that's just too bad!

Other than that we go to see Sister Act The Musical next week and hopefully Minehead within the next month.  So in a nutshell all is well, family are healthy...ish and life is treating me well (there are worse things in life than unemployment!).

Til next time folks xx

It certainly has – nearly 4 months since I last did a blog and my only feeble excuse is that I’m still dealing with the fact that I’m back in England and no holiday or travelling to look forward to in the foreseeable future!

The last blog I did was the last segment of Australia, where at the time we were a little disappointed about how friendly (or lack of) the Aussies were and how we probably would never go back there.  However, time heals etc and I would love to go back and maybe see Darwin and possibly even Perth and would definitely do the East Coast all over again (minus the mini heatwave we experienced).  We came across some lovely towns such as Airlie Beach, Byron Bay, Bowen and Cairns and would do it all in our little motorhome again!

As for South East Asia, well it was second time round for me and so it was my duty to show Ria the sights and sounds.  So in a nutshell we took a boat ride around Clarke Quay, ate a curry in Little India and visited Changi Prison in Singapore.   Saw the Petronas Towers and got seriously drunk in Chinatown for Ria’s Birthday in Kuala Lumpur.  Celebrated Christmas, did some jet skiing and walked along the ‘Beach’ beach in Phuket.  Visited the Grand Palace and celebrated New Year in Bangkok and got seriously bored in Hong Kong although we did see the light show from the other side of the water this time and also saw Bruce Lee’s old house!  By the end of it we were sick of local Asian food (and Pizza Hut!) and the pungent smells so we were more than ready to come home.

Arrived at a very cold, wintry Heathrow on 8^th January and met mum and dad at 6am (bless them) and that day saw the rest of the family and had a delayed Christmas Dinner courtesy of mum .  That weekend we went down to Fareham to see Ria’s family and saw a couple of her friends too.

But since then not a lot has happened.  We celebrated Valentine’s Day by having a curry at our regular Indian Restaurant, then ate at Nando’s with the family for my Birthday, celebrated Dad’s 65^th Birthday by having a small party, saw Oliver! The musical and last but not least we had a 1^st Birthday party for my little niece Daisy-May .  I’ve also met up with friends a couple of times and we make it down to Fareham at least every other weekend to see Ria’s friends and family.

At the moment we’re both job hunting - we’re both very low on funds and want to get our own place but for me, on the other hand, I’d be happy to go back out into the big wide world and travel some more.  I realise we told people we couldn’t deal with any more hostels or living out of a rucksack but to be honest if I could then I would!  We reminisce about our travels often and if I could I’d do it all over again (except Asia).  We absolutely loved San Francisco, Hollywood, Hawai’i, New Zealand and even Australia – even if some of the Aussies were a little rude!

Some people have even said “Do it and enjoy yourselves” and yes I have some savings but I also know it’d take a long while to save that money again – plus Ria has put her foot down and said that we should just have holidays from now on and they should be no more than maybe two weeks at a time.

I still have places that I wanna go see, like Machu Picchu and the Amazon rainforests in Peru, Rio de Janeiro and take a motorhome across America from East to West Coast but I suppose that there’s always time for things like that.  Saying that I still have a little voice inside my head saying “do it, do it” because I’m fully aware that we’re not here forever!  So at the moment I’m having an internal struggle but at least I’ll win this argument whatever happens!

For now though, we’ve decided our holiday destinations will be a little bit closer to home such as Spain, Rome and maybe even Turkey – I very much doubt we’ll make all three of them this year though but at least we have aspirations for the future.

And last but not least if you know anyone that has a well paid job going then please give me a call – I’m getting desperate!!

Monday 8th December (just to let you know where I was at!).... never again on an overnight greyhound bus - sleeper buses I can handle but not ones where you have to try and remain upright!  In the end I went down the back of the bus and stretched right out leaving Ria somewhere in the middle of the bus!  Luckily we managed to get a few hours sleep, albeit broken.  We arrived in Canberra feeling very much shattered but within 5 minutes of walking out of the station we found our hostel which was a nice YHA one.  We checked-in but couldn't go to our rooms as it was too early so we had a shower and then went out to buy some food for breakfast.  Anyway later on we decided that today would be our only day for sightseeing so we hopped on a sightseeing bus and saw all of the sights... mainly just political stuff like Old and New Parliament House and a very informative museum.  Came back and had a chicken burger at the Hogs Breath and then basically just chilled back at the hostel as we were almost comatose...that was until Ria decided to slip over in the kitchen and pour hot coffee on herself - bless her, she came back into the dorm and started crying and she couldn't get out what she'd done (I thought she'd had another type of accident!).  But I helped calm her down and luckily she wasn't scalded.  It was more of a shock than the heat of the coffee that upset her.

Tuesday we checked-out and later got on another greyhound bus but this one was only going to be for 3 hours - phew!  We arrived in Sydney with nowhere to stay as we were hoping that Ria's uncle might offer us a room but he was very distant with her so it was a no-go there.  But just a few feet away from the station we saw a YHA and managed to book ourselves in there for the night.  As we were starving we decided to go and explore the area which was near Chinatown and found a Nando's (?!) there so we stuffed ourselves silly!

Wednesday we had to check-out as they didn't have any space for tonight so we previously booked 3 nights at Base which was even more central.  Fair enough it was central but it was the worst hostel we'd ever stayed at (we're starting to despise them!).  The kitchen was that dirty I wouldn't even let a rat eat from the countertops let alone the floor!  Needless to say we only cooked once there and that was using just the microwave.  But anyway, we found a nice sandwich place and had some sarnies there before heading off to the Sydney Opera House where we went on a tour.  Some of the theatres/stages were impressive and the way it was designed and the thought that went into it right down to the type of wood used for the seating was really interesting.  On the way back to the hostel we bumped into a couple we'd met on our Fiji Experience tour and chatted to them for a while (of all the places!).

Thursday we had a lie-in and then walked down to the aquarium where we saw playful platypus, pretty colourful jellyfish, big turtles, cute sharks (only one species were cute), nemo's and dory's.  Afterwards we walked around Darling Harbour and had a subway for lunch, then walked a bit further and went around Paddy's Market - which isn't very Irish at all - should be renamed Jimmie Chan's market!  That evening we went back to Kings Cross where we stayed when we first arrived in Oz and had a very authentic mexican; Burrito for me and Quesidilla for Ria and it didn't even upset me   We then went back to the hostel and went to the adjoining bar, the Scary Canary and watched Mark Furze (Rick Dalby from Home & Away) sing and play his guitar with some other bloke - we even got a photo with him!

Friday the weather was awful - rained and rained.  So what else can you do on a day like that but to walk around a museum - but not any museum.... the Powerhouse Museum which just happened to have a Star Wars exhibition on at the moment!  Even Ria enjoyed it and now wants to watch all of the movies -  my plan worked!  We saw models of the Millenium Falcon, costumes, lightsabers, droids etc all used in the films and as the exhibition was based around science-fiction and fact there was also explanations and information on how scientists are trying to replicate some of the technology used or at least use the theories (or the force!).... if you know what I mean?!  After that we walked around Paddy's again, then later we ate at the bar downstairs in the hostel.  And that evening we read our books and I finished my UFO book which was a little too real!

Saturday we were looking forward to as it meant we were getting out of that hell-hole!  We took a bus back over to the YHA where we'd stayed earlier and checked-in...ahhh such bliss compared with Base!  As the sun was trying to breakthrough the cloud we thought we really should go and visit the infamous Bondi Beach but we went unprepared and didn't take our bikinis so we didn't stay long.  And so we decided to go on a ferry (cheap one) around Sydney Harbour and take some pictures etc then we walked around 'The Rocks' and ended up buying a very tiny slice of Guylian chocolate cake and share it (hey - you would share it too if you knew how expensive it was!).  That evening we'd planned to meet Ria's uncle (we weren't gonna hold a grudge and we'd come all this way) but either he stood us up or we got there too late (15 mins in fact) as there was no sign of him.  Apparently he was waiting for like 45 minutes but we never saw him.  So in the end we had a drink at the bar and got bought a drink (!) and then had a cheap meal at Yishinoya.

Sunday we decided to visit Paddy's Markets again where we bought a few goodies this time.  Then after lunch we went on another ferry but this time from Darling Harbour to Sydney Harbour/Circular Quay, walked around and then came back again but stopped off this time at a Lindt cafe and bought a take-away mini piece of 'velour' which was just a cheesecake.  We protected the cake (which came in an expensive-looking box) until we got back to the hostel and devoured it; a little cheesy we thought but it turned out to be delicious - an acquired taste one would say!  Unfortunately after a little nap it decided it didn't want to be 'one' with me and ended up departing very swiftly  - if you know what I mean?!    We finally went out after my belly settled and we had a meal at a cafe down the road.

Monday we had the biggest lie-in ever and finally got out and went down to Circular Quay and then walked over to 'The Rocks' and found the steps to get on the Sydney Harbour Bridge.  We walked from one side to the other which was quite a relaxing easy walk and ended up getting the ferry back from Luna Park (they also have one in Melbourne).  Ria was feeling naughty (again) and wanted KFC so we had that for lunch.  Had a rest which turned into a powernap back at the hostel then went out to Bondi Beach.  It was getting a little late so we didn't sunbathe on the beach but at least we walked along some of it - it's a very vain beach so to speak.  Later on we went back down to Circular Quay and took some photos of the Opera House and Bridge lit up and then came back and had a light dinner consisting of cereal for me and toast for Ria!

Tuesday I woke up with an awful headache so after checking out Ria went on the net and updated her blog while I just laid on a sofa trying to have a nap.  Even though we never actually went anywhere it felt so rushed - even leaving the hostel and making our way to the airport... and that bloody airport was a nightmare coz the travel ticket we'd bought to get us around the city didn't actually give us access into the airport - just the station.  Because we refused to pay $12 each we went a train stop further and got off at Wolli Creek and finally found a taxi which cost half the price and that took us right to the door - so ha ha Sydney Airport!  We checked-in our baggage, wrote out a couple of postcards each and before we knew it, it was boarding time.  We were flying Qantas and it was quite a nice flight except for some woman next to me who we chatted to for a bit - she didn't just put her elbow on the middle armrest (I was in the middle) but she hogged it big time....the bitch!  lol   Anyway, I watched Dark Knight again so it wasn't all bad plus the food was quite tasty!  10pm we finally arrived in Singapore and as we were still on Oz time (1am) we decided that we'd be lazy and get a taxi to the hostel so we arrived about 11pm.... zzzzzzzzz

40 days and 40 nights left of our travels on the day we arrived in Alice Springs... it seems such a long time ago that we started our trip but we've enjoyed all of it - both the good and bad bits!  (Not that there's been many bad bits unless you count the number of times I've had a dodgy belly!)

We left Cairns behind and caught our flight to Alice Springs which was a little bumpy and arrived there around lunchtime.  As soon as we landed we caught our free shuttle bus to our hostel and checked-in to our 'double room',  we ended up with an air-conditioned caravan which was actually quite nice - kind of carrying on the whole camping theme!  As we were melting from the intense dry heat we greased up and sunbathed whilst we read and then took a dip in the pool to cool ourselves down.  We then showered and decided we'd try to find a phone outside of the hostel and we came across one down the road, unfortunately whilst figuring out the phone wasn't working an aboriginal lady came up to us and asked for some money but we flatly refused her plus we only had a few coins ourselves!  We then walked back to the hostel and used the one their (lack of privacy) to call my parents and Ria call her Grandma as it was her birthday.  After that we had a chuck in the oven pizza for dinner with some baked beans which was just as well coz it was flavourless so we scooped the beans on the pizza for more flavour!  Just after we'd finished eating some man offered us a shot of sambuca so we took it so as not to insult the poor guy - what good citizens we are!

A good nights sleep was had in our little caravan and after brekkie etc I took a shuttle bus back to the airport so I could pick our hire car up (left Ria at the hostel as it was cheaper!).  We got upgraded to an automatic white Hyundai Elantra which was very lush inside - only 30,000km on the clock!  Drove back to the hostel and picked the bags up (Ria included....only joking) and we started our 5 hour trip into the outback on the road to Adelaide - there's a turn-off for Uluru! 461km later (so the signs say) we arrived at Ayers Rock resort and checked ourselves into the hostel there.  Quickly discovered that it's pretty damn expensive there so we agreed we'd buy something for dinner and cook it in the camp kitchen.  We then drove into the Uluru-Kata Tjuta National Park for $25 fee and drove up to the sunset viewing area where we stayed and took thousands of photos before and after the sunset!  It was an amazing experience to see the rock in all it's glory and the changing colours around sunset, the only downside was the millions of flies about.  We finally left there and decided it was time to eat so Ria got herself a salad and I had some noodles which tasted awful so ended up having some very yummy cornflakes for dinner!  We got an early-ish night as we were gonna be up before the crack of dawn!

4.35 I woke up (without the alarm as it didn't go off) - I don't know how I did it, but I did!  We didn't shower then we only brushed our teeth and then drove back into the National Park.  We drove past the rock and managed to get a silhouette photo of it, then parked up at the sunrise viewing area - a few cars but plenty of coaches and we all just stood there waiting for the sun to come up.  Again we saw the changing colours of the rock and just as the sun was emerging the eerie silence (apart from the odd few people) turned into some dingoes howling from somewhere in the distance.  It was quite a surreal experience (especially the dingoes).  We were really tired at this point so we decided to drive back to the resort and catch a couple more hours sleep, en route we saw some people climbing the rock using the Maya trail (the only way to get up there) but we didn't do it then and there as we didn't have much water and no breakfast in us!  Back at the hostel we managed to have a little bit of sleep then checked out and headed back there and went to the Maya trail contemplating climbing it, fortunately/unfortunately depending on how you look at it the climb was closed.  It closes at 8am due to the hot summer temperature; today was no exception as it was about 40C.  Therefore, we walked down to a part of the rock and got to touch it and stand on it in an alcove so that was good enough for us, plus the Aboriginee's don't like people climbing it anyway in case someone dies - 30 deaths over the years apparently.

We did that and then visited the centre and looked around, then bought some postcards.  We then drove another 50km to Kata Tjuta (The Olgas) and took some piccies and thought we really should think about heading back as it was getting on but beforehand we scribbled on those postcards and posted them to everybody!  Another 461km journey back to Alice Springs on that same road seemed like forever - although Ria wasn't technically insured to drive she still did - who would know out there?!  Plus she wanted to just experience it.  We also stopped at Jim's Place where the famous Dinky the singing Dingo lives so we were entertained by him howling for about 10 seconds!  Those two days we had driven over 1100km!  We checked back into the hostel we'd stayed at previously and were given a real room this time where we had a very long nap coz we were shattered.  That evening Ria cooked us a lovely meal...well it was a nice meal at the time, unfortunately it gave me the worst upset belly I'd had in a long time - I'm wondering whether she's trying to kill me!

After a night of broken sleep for me (wondering whether Ria was trying to kill me - not really - just due to my belly) we got the shuttle back to the airport and caught the flight to Melbourne.  Fair enough it was a budget flight but they even weighed our hand-luggage.  Luckily all of our bags were well within their limits - phew!  We foudn out beforehand that we weren't going to get any meal so we bought sandwiches beforehand.  We read mostly on the flight - I'm getting into this alien abduction book although I managed to pick up a free copy of Harry Potter number 5 at the hostel!  Anyway, we arrived in a much colder area of Australia and boy did we notice it.  We figured out we had to get the skybus to the city and get a train to a suburb called Windsor.  We were successful and arrived at the Back of Chapel hostel but it seemed like a dive.  Our 6-bed dorm smelt and it was really untidy - we're not looking forward to this we both thought (and later admitted).  We made a quick exit (only for food as we were starving) and ended up having a very delicious veggie pizza together.

Up a little later Wednesday - about 8.20ish.  We decided the night before this isn't the hostel for us and were all set to leave but after talking to the guy at reception he said it's quite a good area and only 4 stops to the city centre - of course he's gonna say that but he did make sense so we booked another 2 nights but this time into a 4-bed dorm - ahhhh much nicer!  We found out there was a cinema down the road and so our plan for the afternoon was to go and see the newBaz Lurhmann film 'Australia'.   Apparently it didn't go down too well with the critics but we really enjoyed it.  We stopped at a supermarket where I bought some cheese and crackerbread and ate that for lunch, Ria wasn't feeling too hungry as she'd stuffed herself dull of salty popcorn - yuk!  We kinda just had a really lazy afternoon also and just watched some rubbish tv back at the hostel and then went out for some kfc for dinner.

Thursday - "Neighbours, everybody needs good neighbours" we sang throughout the morning!  Yes,we managed to book ourselves onto the infamous 'Neighbours' tour for the afternoon!  As we were going to be in the city for that we decided we'd have a whole day here.  We didn't do much before the tour - plenty of walking and then grabbed some lunch.  We got on the minibus and started our tour.  Firstly we drove past Erinsborough High, then onto Channel 7's studios which funnily enough was also used as the prison in 'Prisoner Cell Block H' so took a couple of piccies!  Then inside the grounds we saw the Grease Monkeys cafe, Carpenters Cars and also the famous bus stop where everybody leaves from in Neighbours!  We then drove for a while and ended up at Pin Oak Court a.k.a. Ramsay Street and there we could take plenty of photos.  After that we were taken to St Kilda and met Janelle Timmins and got her autograph!  It was a nice tour and it also meant we saw a bit more of suburbia Melbourne.  After the tour we did yet some more walking and ended up in Chinatown and ate some good chinese tukka!  Back at the hostel we were naughty and has a krispy kreme donut each whilst watching 'The Beach'... kind of an introduction to Thailand for Ria!

Friday we did yet another road trip and hired a car to drive out to The Great Ocean Road.  We made our way out of the city quite easily and didn't get lost once!  We started at Torquay (the start of the GOR) and stopped off at Bells Beach (famous surf beach) and then had lunch at Anglesea.  We drove (slowly) in total for about 4 hours and ended up at our destination of Apollo Bay and checked-in to a very lovely hostel which was previously a motel.  We had originally booked a 4-bed dorm but ended up in a 2-bed!  We then had a lovely cup of tea in front of a tv without much reception and then watched another tv waiting for Home and Away to come on but for some odd reason it didn't!  Feeling rather hungry now we went out and found an Italian restaurant and got takeaway pasta and rice for dinner and it was belissimo!

Yesterday we left the hostel later than planned but still only 9.40ish.  We talked to the man at reception who advised us to stop at certain places along the way.  Firstly we took a road down to Cape Otway and there we discovered wild koalas sitting and sleeping in the trees - way better than seeing them in the zoo!  After that we got back on the GOR and visited the famous 12 apostles, bought sandwiches in port Campbell, then drove further on to Bay of Martyrs and Bay of islands before heading back inland via Port Campbell and back ito Melbourne, via Colac (where Janelle Timmins in Neighbours comes from!).  Unfortunately as the car hire place was shut our next option was to drive to our hostel we'd stayed in before and find a parking place - easy enough if we'd had a map of the city!  Luckily I seem to have an in-built GPS system (Aman-Aman - not Tom-Tom!)  and found it without getting lost!  Parked up and then went out to buy a cooked chicken and some veg and also we were naughty yet again but this time we bought a chocolate bavarian cheesecake! 

Today we checked-out of the hostel and returned the car, an almost new white manual Toyota Corolla.  From there we walked quite a way to a train station and put our backpacks into lockers for the day then looked around Bourke Street area and decided we'd get a tram into St. Kilda and visit Luna Park (a seaside amusement park).  Nothing much there, we then came across an English entertainer just about to start is act so we stayed for that - quite amusing; comedy and juggling.  As there was nothing much else to do we headed back into the city and so here we are...... waiting for our 9pm coach to Canberra which is an overnight one.  We're spending tomorrow there and then leaving on Tuesday for our final destination of Australia - Sydney! 

Can't wait..... til next time!

Friday

Err, what can I say.... I failed to update my blog within a week - it's now 2 weeks!  Arghhh  But hopefully there's not too much to say coz some of it we've been just lazing about near the pool tanning ourselves!

We stayed in Airlie Beach until Sunday 16th as on Saturday there was a beachside market and a Reef Festival going on which included having a firework display on in the evening.  In the afternoon we lazed around the pool and later on I had yet another upset belly - I really should stop eating food from cafes etc! 

Sunday we left Airlie Beach and headed to Bowen which is one of the locations used in the new Baz Luhrmann film 'Australia' (just released over here).  It took a little while to get there and we eventually found a site and became acquainted with their permanent residents; turkeys and peacocks.  Had a spot of lunch and then as nothing was open due to it being Sunday we entertained ourselves by playing noughts and crosses and hangman... little things please little minds and all that!

Monday we woke up to the sound of very loud peacocks squawking at 5am - how lovely we thought (hmm where's my gun?!) lol  Managed to get back to sleep and finally left the site and headed back into Bowen town centre to the information centre so we could find out exactly what buildings they used etc.  Drove to the sites and took some photos and as there was nothing much else to do we made our way to our next destination of Ayr.  Found a site and lazed by the pool then we were naughty and ate KFC for dinner but it was a special occasion for us 

There really was nothing much to see in Ayr and so we drove to Townsville on Tuesday where we also discovered there wasn't much to do there either!  We found an internet cafe and attempted to burn a photo CD for Ria so that I could use the spare XD card for my new camera but we found a virus on it and weren't 100% sure of how to make a photo cd but we figured it out in the end.  Afterwards we found a site and went back into town to find out some information about the boat times to Magentic Island.

On Wednesday we woke up to a very overcast sky so after umming and erring we decided we'd forget about Magnetic Island as we weren't fussed about doing it.  From there we drove to Mission Beach and finally found a campsite (we checked it out an hour earlier but decided we'd go back there as it seemed the better one of the lot).  We did a bit of food shopping and went on the net so Ria could email her uncle and later on had a delicious chicken and veg meal.  Although whilst we were cooking it Ria saw a rat go past and we saw a massive mutated cockroach (well, it seemed like it was anyway!)

Thursday we discovered what little there is to do in Mission Beach so we headed for Port Douglas and stopped at Jospehine Falls and took some piccies and as it was lunchtime we stopped at the Hogs Breath Cafe in Cairns and had a chicken burger each (no upset belly - yey!).  Drove some more and found a site and then headed into the town of Port Douglas to have a look around.

Thursday evening/Friday morning was so humid we didn't sleep too well but we decided to go even further North and head up to Cape Tribulation, however we ended up in Daintree Village which is nearly as north as you can get (besides Cooktown) where we got some information about Cape Trib and the ferry crossing and where we also picked up a sandwich each as it was getting close to lunchtime.  Found the car ferry and went over in our little campervan and headed deep into the dense rainforest - it was bloomin' hot!  Drove all around and went to the lookout point and took the usual photos etc!  Got a homemade ice-cream on the way back and then got the car ferry back over and decided we'd stay at Wonga Beach for the night.  As it had a pool and we were baking hot we played about in there.  Also at the site was a family of peacocks and 3 very cute baby chicks.

On Saturday we booked another two nights as we thought we'd take it easy for the next couple of days before heading back into Cairns.  So basically all we did was sunbathe and play in the pool.  Although we did get quite excited when Ria spotted a tree snake which was very cute.  Over the days we spent there we encountered a woman with her two grandkids battering cane toads with their golf clubs (as you do!), we also saw bandicoots, massive bugs and beetles, a big goanna (3ft lizard which I tried to run after to get a photo - quite hilarious thinking about it now!) and a 'golden orb' spider - very scary big spider!  Oh and I had also been reading Harry Potter number 4 and finally finished it so am now reading an alien abduction book...not as good though

Monday we headed nearer to Cairns but stopped at Mossman Gorge on the way and went for a swim - it was bloody cold but it was refreshing.  Went via Port Douglas and stopped to take some pictures at the lookout etc and had a spot of lunch.  We ended up at Lake Placid which is just outside of Cairns and as per usual decided to cool off in the pool, unfortunately the pool was like a hot bath and then two very odd immature foreign male 'things' jumped in and so we decided to get out!

For the past few days we'd noticed that the temperature had been increasing somewhat and later found out that it was a mini-heatwave and temps had peaked at over 100 so being in the van just made it worse.  Tuesday I managed to get a well-needed haircut - feels so much better.  We then went into Cairns and booked a Great Barrier Reef trip for the following day and then we checked into our hostel which was a dive then finally we unpacked our van and took it to the depot and said a sad goodbye to it...it might have been hot in there (we had air-con in the cabin bit) but it was still sad - we'd spent 5 weeks together for us to just abandon it

Wednesday we were up at the crack of dawn (ok, not exactly but it was early) and got the minibus to the wharf and boarded our yacht at 8.  We got to a reef a couple of hours later and did some snorkelling and used our new underwater camera only for it to let in water - arghhh.  After debating for ages we bought another one on the boat just in case we saw a turtle (which we didn't) and then we decided to do a 'free' introductory dive - basically they showed us how to breathe and deal with the pressure etc...we had a whole 3 minutes in the water and whilst I was down there I saw a jellyfish just float right past my face - soon as I saw it I put my little mitts over my hands.  Apparently it's the jellyfish that you can't see that are the dangerous ones!  Had some lunch and then we sailed over to Michaelmas Cay and did some more snorkelling which was a better site.  We got back to the wharf about 5ish so we had about 4 hours on the Outer Barrier Reef.  An excellent day though.

Thursday we left the dodgy hostel (no air-con and a little way out of the CBD) and went to a more central hostel with air-con!  Sold some books at a nearby shop (we picked em up for free....but we did read them!)  Looked around some souvenir shops and then decided we'd finally go and see the new Bond movie - I thought it was brilliant - so did Ria!  Had a nap back at the hostel and then went out for some dinner.

Today we had a big lie-in - 9am!  Did loads of shopping and then spent a load more money sending it back home - that's about it really!

And tomorrow we are flying out to Alice Springs for our next adventure where we've booked a car so we can do sunset and sunrise at Uluru and we can't wait .....

Hi all, can you believe it?.... I'm actually doing my next blog and it hasn't even been a week yet but this way it won't be so long and hopefully you won't lose interest!  hee hee

But anyway, on Saturday we left Hervey Bay after nearly experience cardiac arrest thinking that someone had been into our accounts and stoeln what precious money we have left.  Luckily it was just one stupid bank that got it wrong - we checked another ATM straight away and found that our money was still safe and sound (touch wood).  Because of such a scare to the old ticker (mine, not Ria's) that the only way we could repair the damage was having a crepe each for lunch!  It wasn't the nicest of crepes though - very slimy and only cooked on one side.... I think it's a sign that we shouldn't eat out! Anyhow.... moving on we headed for the Town of 1770 and found a site 'in the bush' unfortunately it wasn't the site we'd originally wanted but we never booked ahead so we got stuck with this on.  Needless to say we sprayed lots of DEET on ourselves and hoped for the best we weren't gonna wake up with loads of mozzie bites (which we didn't!).  That evening we had a takeaway; prawns in loads of breadcrumbs, chips and a greek salad.  As I said before I think it's a sign that we shouldn't eat out as it was really greasy and made us feel pretty yukky afterwards!  And then after that I called home just to say we're still alive ... only just, after that takeaway though!

Sunday we woke up early - 7.30am!  Ria got to call her folks and say hi and then we made our way into the village and passed a market.  We stopped off and had a nose about and ended up buying 3 books between us - I'm glad we have our little van coz the books are big!  One of those books was about an alien abduction and the man who was selling it was entertaining us by telling us that he'd seen hundreds of UFO's and also about the 10 million kids that go missing in America each year.  Our reaction was just to stay quiet and nod, then luckily he got interrupted by another customer and we made a quick run for it!  After our escape we made our way further into the village up to the lookout which was the start of the Southern Great Barrier Reef and took a couple of photos.  Not much else to do so we made our way to Rockhampton and found a nice site right near the town centre and had some lunch.  As it was Sunday everything was closed so not much for us to see or do so we bought some food for dinner and later on had a very delicious tuna pasta salad.  That evening we did our laundry (we leave it til the last minute) and somehow got talking to this nice aussie bloke who was only 21 and seemed to take a liking to me - , he was always looking at me whilst talking, gave me a far longer handshake than what Ria got and said he thought my name was lovely....  very odd but amusing!

Monday we were up and showered early again as it gets humid so early and the nights are even worse.  We got talking to an Australian lady we'd met a couple of weeks ago in Port Macquarie who was also heading our way but she was stopping in Rockhampton.  We talked for a bit and then said our goodbyes.  So our plan to leave early was a little delayed but we still left at 9.30am which is a first for us!  Drove to Mackay which was quite a long distance, found a site but thought it didn't look too nice so we went to look for another one, found that one but decided we'd go back to the first one so all in all we arrived at about 3pm.  Had lunch, did some shopping and had a cooked chicken again with loads of veggies.

As there was nothing to actually do around Mackay we left the site at 9.30 (seems to be becoming a habit).  We shared the driving to Airlie Beach (only about 2 hours worth) and parked up in town looking for travel shops so we could book a day trip around the Whitsunday Islands.  We didn't book anything straight away so we then looked for a site and the one we found is just about a km out of town.  Had some lunch and headed back into town where we booked a trip.  We also looked around a couple of shops and then made our way to a shopping centre which is way cheaper for goods... we were on a mission you see - my camera was dying very slowly (it kept saying there was a lens fault which I later found out was because very fine sand from Fraser Island had gotten into the nooks and crannies).  But anyway, we found a camera shop where I bought a lovely Olympus FE-320 for about 80 quid - looks exactly like Ria's so we now have hers and hers cameras.... except mine is newer and a lovely shade of blue! hee hee.  Later on we had some tasty chicken fajitas for dinner which we cooked on our little portable stove.

Wednesday we planned to have a cheap day (especially after yesterday).  Therefore, we went to the lagoon in Airlie Beach and sunbathed for most of the morning and early afternoon.  Went back to the campsite for lunch then headed back into town as my bikini top has now become almost see-through around the stomach area and if you've seen me poor belly it's not a good site!  Again the prices are somewhat inflated so we drove back to the shopping centre and found a couple of tops but they didn't look too good.  Back at site we had a delicious chicken tonight creamy tandoori sauce with chicken, rice and naan bread.

Yesterday we were up at 6.30 as we had to be ready by 7.45 for our pick-up for the day trip around The Whitsundays.  We left the marina and sailed straight to Whitsunday Island, then got a dinghy to the shore where we walked up to the Hill Inlet to see the beach from above and how the sands sweep across to show the different shades of the ocean.  Took a few pictures and walked down to Whitehaven Beach (one of the 10 most beautiful in the world, apparently) where we spent a while lazing around on the beach - the sand is so fine (about 99% pure silica...whatever that means!).  We went back to the boat and had a buffet lunch - unfortunately no prawns :-(  and then made our way over to Mantaray Bay where we did some snorkelling.  We had to wear 'stinger' suits as there could be some nasty little blighters out there.  Ria and I had bought ourselves a waterproof camera so we tried to take some pictures of the colourful fishes - there were some tiny little fish and then there were some ruddy great big ones .... up to about 3-4ft in fact!  From the surface they looked like sharks but were pretty harmless.  We haven't developed the pictures as yet but hopefully we've got a good few.  The reefs were also very pretty too.  We had some afternoon tea (chocolate cake and tea) where I had less than one piece of cake whereas Ria had 3 plus my leftover piece!  We got back to our site about 5.30ish and had a shower and then some beans on toast for dindins and did some laundry.  Oh and I forgot to say we also met an English couple (female) and talked to them most of the day.

And today, well it didn't start off to well for me - woke up with an awful migraine and was sick a little bit from the apple juice I had recently consumed with some pills - love the detail?! lol  I tried to sleep it off but only managed to doze for a little while but Ria was being sweet and was playing nursie (no outfit though - we didn't have enough space in our backpacks for it!) hee hee.  Anyway.... it started subsiding around 11.30ish so I had a little bit of brekkie and then showered.  We then drove to some shops looking for a tankini/bikini top for me and luckily found one - I got a whole swimsuit as they didn't do singles but it was still way cheaper than they are in Airlie Beach and that's for just a single item.  Ria also bought a pair of cute shorts as she's been surviving on like 2 pairs!  We then did some food shopping and headed back to the site for lunch and then waited for 4 o'clock where we took part in the daily lorikeet feeding session on-site.  The man feeding the birds offered everyone a handful of the bird food - not for us to eat but so the birdies would eat out of our hands, silly!  They certainly did, they were very pretty birds and some of them landed on our heads...we've decided we want one as a pet, but only if they do the same thing! lol

So that's about it.... I really didn't think it'd be that long!  They're having a reef festival here this weekend so we're staying til Sunday as we want to see some fireworks they're going to let off tomorrow night.  We're not 100% sure where we're off to next, maybe Ayr or maybe just straight to Townsville - who knows! 

But for now, that's it...... bye  

G'day again!  Sorry my plan didn't work - I did say I was gonna update my blog on a weekly basis but we had more exciting things to do! Hee hee.... but also getting internet access and time etc was partly to blame.

But going on from my last update we were in Byron Bay at the time.  Well we stayed there until Wednesday.  In that time we relaxed pretty much every day - well the weather was just so nice and it is a holiday afterall!  We visited the lighthouse there and saw humpback whales in the bay having a 'splashing' time in the sea and also a big pod of dolphins.  On the Tuesday we booked ourselves onto a surfing lesson where we paid a slightly cheaper rate than everyone else (hee hee) and went to a beach around Byron Bay and had to warm up - stretches and running on a beach .... I don't like running nowadays coz eveything bumps up and down a lot more than they used to 10 years ago!   We got into the cold water (in our cool wetsuits - Ria said I looked quite good!) and got pushed along the wave so that we learn what we were taught about managing to stand up on the surfboard.  Well as much as I tried I just didn't have the balance to stand plus I had awful pain in both of my big toes (through trying to do the technique on dry land).  Ria however managed to stand up a couple of times which I'm glad she did but was also a little envious of her.

Wednesday we left Byron Bay after having a nice walk on the beach itself as we hadn't done that since we'd been there. We then headed for the Gold Coast where we found a nice site just 3km from Surfers Paradise.  That afternoon we lazed around the pool then headed into S.P. for dinner - we couldn't be bothered to cook!  Unfortunately we had the most awful seafood dinners - I had seafood carbonara and Ria has seafood risotto - both yuk - the sauce used was so flavourless and watery. 

Thursday we did some more sunbathing - this time on the beach and saw some surfers doing their 'thing.'  Also ria was asked by some beefy man to put some suncream on his back - she asked me to do it and I was like 'oh go on, just do it' so she did.  She was just relieved that he didn't have a hairy back..... also that day Ria went topless - naughty Ria!  She said it was liberating - I was about to do it but the sun went in.... I reckon the sun knew what was about to happen!  That evening we went back into S.P. for some dinner (again couldn't be bothered to cook) and had a 'medium' madras - it was weird because you could have any dish then ask for it mild, medium or spicy.  But bl**dy hell mine was hot and I tasted Ria's and hers tasted 10 times hotter.  but I take my hat off to her - she ate it all!  And for me no upset tummy which is always a bonus!  Afterwards we went back to the site and found out a trailer tent had caught fire and some kids were taken to hospital.  I thought something might happen the night before because stupidly they had candles around their awning and one in it (possibly to keep the mosquito's away). 

Friday we went to Warner Bros. movie world where we went on a few excellent rides like Batwing which shoots you up 60ft in the sky and back down again, then the Superman Escapes ride which is 4.2 + g-force.  That was excellent and got to go on it a second time at the end of the day where we sat at the front - sooooo much better!  We also did the scooby-doo ghost train ride in the dark which made us laugh a lot  - I think coz it was so jolty.  We also did the Leathel Weapon one which is a bit like the Nemesis at Alton Towers but my head just banged side-to-side and hurt me lugholes!  Needless to say we didn't go on that one again.  We also went on a very scary kids carousel ride - have you seen the photos on facebook?!  And also a waterlog ride where we got frenched.  It was a great day out but not that many thrill rides - we partly wished we'd gone to Dreamworld.

Saturday we sunbathed some more and had a Hungry Jacks (Burger King).... again couldn't be bothered to cook!  Whoops!

Sunday we left the Gold Coast and made our way to Brisbane which was pretty easy to find - one road.  Unfortunately it tooks us about 2 hours to find our way out to find a site for the night.  We were looking for the information centre in the city to locate a campsite for the night which is why it took us so long!  luckily we found the centre and a site and pulled up there for the night.  It wasn't the nicest site.  As the kitchen was virtually non-existent and all we had was a can of soup in the van we decided to eat out (yes, again) and had Nando's.  Our first ever Nando's but it was bl**dy good!

Monday we did some much needed food shopping then headed to Lone Pine Koala Sanctuary (the biggest in Oz) where we saw lots of native animals.... including the kinda cute but smelly Koala - we both got to hold one and have our pictures taken with them.  We also hand-fed some wallabies and kangaroos which was amazing - some are darn-right greedy and others hopped away from you!   We also saw lixards, wombats, dingoes and kookaburra's.  It was a good day out though and it wasn't really hot either which helped.  After that we headed to a site in the Glass Mountains (near Beerwah for Australia Zoo).  It was getting a little late too so we found the one we were looking for but it wasn't very nice but it had a tv - always a bonus!

Tuesday we got up and were delayed by some man cleaning the ladies toilets at 9am!  Stupid bloke!  We made some sarnies and then stopped off at a lookout but by the time we'd found our way back to the 'Steve Irwin Highway' it was nearly midday.  Luckily it was only a couple more minutes down the road so we did an afternoon tour of Australia Zoo.  it was fantastic to be there and they still very much celebrate Steve which is quite touching.  We handfed roo's and wallabies again, saw a tiger, Asian elephants, Macaw's, turtles, tasmanian devils and snakes.  We saw a 'croc feeding' at the 'crocoseum,' stroked a very cute and smooth wombat and also saw some otters being fed - man they were cute!  We bought some souvenirs as you do then headed off to Noosa. We got to our preferred site  and then had our delicious speciality; pasta and bolognaise sauce with mushrooms and peppers.  We also met a very friendly big grey tabby cat there - he was most probably after our food but he came and saw us later aswell so maybe it's our animal magnetism!  hee hee

Tuesday evening it rained nearly all night and most of the morning so we ate our breakfast in the van.  After that we left the site and headed for Hervey Bay but stopping en-route at an information centre in Tiaro.  Just before we got to H.B. we also stopped at Maryborough which is the birthplace of P.L. Travers who wrote Mary Poppins and it's also the setting for The Delinquents movie which starred Kylie Minogue.  But anyway, we managed to find the Mary Poppins statue for a quick photo with the famous lady and as there was nothing much else to see there we went straight to Hervey Bay.  We got there quite early in the afternoon so we took a walk down to the beach where we had a paddle in the warm water.  We then came back and drove right down the Esplanade which had little shops scattered all along there and then did a bit of shopping where we bought half a cooked chicken and a bag of veg and had that for dinner - very tasty indeed - we both miss our veggies!

Thursday we were up very early - 6am in fact as we had to get the coach for our day trip to Fraser Island.  Although it started off quite overcast, humid though it soon was sunny.  We got the ferry over to the island which is the biggest sandy island in the world and a world heritage site.  We got on another coach the other side but this time it was a very expensive specially designed 4WD coach.  We endured very, very bumpy sand roads and drove some way down '75-mile beach' until we got to Eli Creek where we had a little paddle, then we spotted a wild dingo when we got back on the coach and then headed down to the Mehano shipwreck which got washed ashore in the 1930's or something.  We drove a little further to The Pinnacles which is a big sandstone rock where there are apparently 72 different coloured sands and then back to a resort for a big buffet lunch.  Afterwards we headed to Central Station via one of the bumpiest roads I've ever been on (whilst trying to keep our lunches down) which is where they used to have a little village for all of the workers who did tree felling there.  And then onto Lake Mackenzie which is like a massive oasis in the middle of the island.  It was like a man-made beach as all of the lake was surrounded by a beach - very odd but pretty.  We took a swim there and then got on the coach and headed back to the ferry - it was almost like a whistle-stop tour but we saw some of the island and the trips weren't exactly cheap!  We got back to the site about 6-ish and made ourselves hotdogs using the tiniest of frankfurter sausages with some mustard and ketchup.  Watched some tv and met another English couple who were a year into their travelling and possibly sticking around until maybe at least 2010! 

Yesterday, we had an exceptionally relaxed day (which are also the cheapest days!) and lazed around the pool topping up our tans whilst listening to some music.  Unfortunately I forgot to put suncream on my belly so it's now a little sore!  We sweated buckets as the temperature was at least 34/35 degrees and then went back to the van for some lunch.  Relaxed a little more around the van, then chatted to our neighbours before having a shower and going out to find an internet cafe and some food.  We treated ourselves to a very yummy Thai - quite authentic and also quite reasonable in price!

Today we woke up to a little cloud so it was nice not to have that intense heat first thing in the morning.  We've checked out of our site and we're now thinking of heading to a little place called 'Town of 1770'.... obviously the only name they could think of at the time?!  (It's to do with a Lieutenant james Cook as he wasn't a Captain at the time he landed there.  But enough of the history, I think I'm about done..... ooh except for a discovery which I made the other day and a rather interesting one at that......  I found Milky Way's but not any Milky Way - it's the original ones that we had with the chocolate whip centre and not the foul white centre ones that we now have.  Some of you may remember them and others might not but this is a wonderful discovery and I'm giving it my fullest attention - I'm even thinking about sending loads home for when I get back! 

OK, i better leave it there coz all this talk of chocolate is making me hungry!  So, I'll try and leave another blog in the not so distant future.  Hope everyone is enjoying the cold, wet weather in the UK - I'm not missing that one bit!  Until next time folks......

G'DAY

Sorry for the tiny font in my last blog - this website has changed it's appearance :-(

Well, it's only been a short time since my last update but I'm going to try and update it at least on a weekly basis so I don't get too far behind.

Basically we spent a couple of days in Christchurch where there was hardly anything to do - souvenir shopping and that was it.  But I can say we had a lovely roast dinner at a pub and it was only 4 quid - yum yum!  Other than that no real highlight there.

Tuesday we made our way to the airport and left for Sydney that afternoon - a pleasant flight and got rather excited when I saw the Sydney Opera House in the distance from the plane!  We got a shuttle to our pre-booked hostel and it turned out to be quite a dive!  Plus we both had to climb up over some bars to get onto our bunk beds - not good when you have to do it in the middle of the night to go for a wee!  But luckily it was only one night and then we made our way back near the airport by train to the campervan hire place where we picked up our little 'Hippie Campervan' - not as little as the last one though.  It's actually a converted transit van, unleaded petrol (cheap) and manual.  I drove it out of the depot, got on the highway and we thought we were lost but found out we were on the right road where we drove straight over the Sydney Harbour Bridge which was quite exciting for our second day in Australia!

So we made our way up to Palm Beach - the place where they film Home & Away and saw them filming!  OMG!  Let me just give you some background on me - for some reason I'm hooked on H&A!  So this was major stuff for me!  So we parked up - outside the surfclub and saw two takes filmed of Leah and Colleen.  It then rained quite hard, went round the corner and saw Martha just about to do a 'take.'  Once they'd finished shooting I remembered her real name 'Jodi' and asked for a photo - big cheesy grin from me but no teeth from her! hee hee.  Ria also had her picture taken  Then after getting excited about that we went to a tralier and saw Jack outside and we had our pics taken with him and I said to him "my sister loves you" and he responded with "oh, hello sister" (sorry Aaron!)  Also got a picture with Jai - a newcomer to the show.  We got some fan pics from a bloke and then thought we really should make our way onto our first stop, Lake Macquarie and found 3 campsites - all offices were shut though as it was past 6pm!!!  We were imagining having to sleep in some rest area for the night - pretty creepy but luckily we went to campsite number four and it was open - we even had a 'drive thru en-suite'  - yes it really is that! 

Thursday, Ria was feeling unwell - she's got a nasty cold - which as I type this I'm now starting to get....thanks Ria!  We made our way to Newcastle (Australia!) where we got some brochures from the Information Centre and then afterwards got lost trying to find our way out of the town - we seem to do that alot here!  They need decent signposts and the roads aren't very good either - bumpy and lots of pot holes!  But anyway, we finally got out of there and made our way along the Pacific Highway to Port Macquarie and thought that as it was like 5pm we should start thinking about finding a site as we realised that most campsites shut early!  So we found a nice one and got a discount card which entitles us off to 10%.  The good thing about the campsites here are the prices - something like $25 a night on average between us - about 10 quid!  But anyway, we parked up and then decided we'd go back out and find a food shop.  Got some grub and went back to cook it - pasta, bolognaise sauce with mushrooms and peppers - our speciality!  

Friday, we left quite early and drove onto Coffs Harbour and parked up there for lunch where we ate prawns in breadcrumbs with some chips - naughty but very tasty!  The weather is improving as we're heading North too so we decided to find a campsite and enjoy it.  A few km's further we came across Moonee Beach which was a lovely little cove and we had a pitch right next to the beach.  We then read about the possibility of seeing some kangaroos so we headed off to Woolgooga and stayed there for about an hour and a half waiting for dusk but then dusk came and no sign, but we had a lovely view of the waves breaking.  That evening we just had some toast and jam for dinner as we'd had our main meal earlier that day.

Saturday we left there and made our way to Grafton which I'd read about in one of our brochures to see some 'Jacaranda' trees - hey, they looked pretty in one of the pictures.  So we got there and saw these little colonnial buildings - more like an old country & western town and found the stunning bright purple trees - the leaves anyway!  We went into the Info Centre and they gave us a route to follow of where we could view them all - they only bloom like this in October.  So we drove along the route and Ria took some pictures for us - very pretty.  After that we got back onto the Pacific Highway and headed for Byron Bay.  En-route we stopped at a lookout and saw some dudes surfing and then all of a sudden caught a glimpse of a whale that was really close to shore.  Every now and then we'd see it's blowhole and a bit of it's body stick out of the water where it was making it's way further out to sea - we couldn't believe how close it came to the surfers!  We then drove a little further and made it to Byron Bay and found a campsite for the night - not the best we've stayed at but we're gonna try another one tonight.

So today, we're taking it easy and going to see what's around the town.  We're looking to stay here for about another 3/4 days and then we'll head further north.  We've made good time as we've done 1000km's already and we have 2000 more to do in like 4 weeks.  We're hoping to have a surf lesson here and by the end of it they guarantee that you'll be riding waves!  Woo hoo

Anyway, I reckon that's about it.  The sun is shining and it's lovely and hot here so I'm gonna go get me a tan coz it's already faded since Fiji!  G'day  

Afternoon!  It's been a busy 13 days in our little campervan - we've travelled virtually all over NZ and done 2600km's which is quite a bit for a small country!

I left my last blog telling you that we were in Wellington and on the Friday we were departing there to go on the Interislander Ferry to Picton, South Island.  Well, just to let you know we managed to get there - in case you were wondering!  Not much to report on the actual ferry crossing as it was extremely boring - so much so I had a nap!  As soon as we arrived in Picton we made our way via the scenic route to Nelson where we arrived about 8.30 that evening.

Saturday we checked out and went to the information desk in Nelson where we booked ourselves onto a 13,000ft skydive!  It was quite spontaneous as we had talked about trying to do it in Queenstown but the weather was so nice that we thought we'd do it then and there.  We got picked up in the town centre and went on a 45 minute drive into the Abel Tasman National Park and had our introduction and then got kitted up - before having 2 wee's of course!  We were introduced to our tandem skydiver buddy - mine was called Mike and he came from England of all places.  He explained everything to me, what I should do and when - quite simple really but when you're nervous about jumping out of a perfectly functional plane it doesn't quite sink in!  I got in the plane first with 'my bloke' and sat right on his crotch - we got very close indeed!  Then two other pairs came in and then Ria got in with her 'buddy.'  She had the best view but on the downside she was first out!  We climbed and climbed altitude and after about 20 minutes we got to 13,000ft where the door was opened and the next thing I know Ria is dangling out of the plane waving at the camera and then all of a sudden - gone!  Bye Riaaaaaaaaa    Then the two other pairs went and then finally it was my turn - the nerves had kicked in - not as bad as I thought they would have though!  We shuffled to the opening - me still on top of his legs (poor bloke!) and then all of a sudden I was actually dangling out of the plane trying to catch my breath while attempting to smile for the camera - let me tell you it wasn't easy!  A few seconds of smiling and waving at the camera then away we went!  It was absolutely amazing - just like flying (falling, but flying) and the views were fantastic - the only massive downside was the extreme pain I felt in my ears - like I'd burst my ear drums or something.  Apparently some people experience it with all the air pressure - it was painful but then he pulled his cord and we shot up in the air a good few feet and the parachute was released.  He kept putting his thumb up to check I was ok - I'd put my thumb up and told him I was in pain with my ears and he said just keep trying to clear your ears by blowing etc.  The screeching coming from clearing my ears was quite disturbing but after a little time it got soooo much better and I could actually enjoy the rest of the descent.  Mike was pointing at the landscape and telling me what was where and I was just smiling, enjoying the ride and then he said lift your legs right up and then we landed - I then put my feet firmly on the ground - ahhh I'm safe!  Ria came over to me and hugged me - we were both smiling and just in a state of 'whoa' .... it's hard to explain!  We then took off our jumpsuits, bought a t-shirt and got whisked away back to the town.  What an adventure that was, we were talking about it for ages - Ria had the ear pain too and we both said we wanted to do it again but we'd make sure we had ear plugs next time!  Looking back now it just seems unreal.

After that we drove for about 2 1/2 hours until we got into Westport and stopped there for the night.  Sunday we drove to a place called Cape Foulwind (nice name!) but what was really nice about the place was it has a seal colony - not just any seals but the cute furry ones!  We took some photos naturally and then made out way to Hokitika.  En route we stopped at some little goldmining museum and paid $5 to look around at a big fat boring nothing - plus we seemed to be the only people there so we made our exit fast - I blame Ria coz she wanted to go there - she knows it too!  So we arrived in Hokitika and that evening we went to ta glow worm dell and saw these tiny little bright lights in the trees but as we get spooked easily we didn't stay too long - hey we were the only ones there and it was pitch black!

After a very cold night in the van we bought some souvenirs in the town centre and then went onto Franz Josef.  We had a look round the town and then made our way up to the huge glacier - quite extraordinary really.  After a few pics we came back to town and found a site for the night.  Unfortunately that evening I had a dodgy delhi belly - yuk!

I woke up the next day feeling unwell still but we made our way to Fox Glacier and again took some more pics - looks just like Franz Josef!  We would have liked to have hiked on one of them but the tours were incredibly expensive.  So we drove and drove - for about 5 1/2 hours in total taking turns and arrived in Queenstown.  As we'd had such a long day driving we decided we'd eat out so I had a delicious rump steak with chips and Ria had a very yukky looking Prawn Satay with noodles dish.  And then we had a chocolate , peanut & banana dessert thing.

Queenstown is a lot smaller than I imagined it to be - more like a big ski resort.  The next day, Wednesday we decided that we should do a bungee jump so we opted for Kawarau bridge - the original birthplace of the bungy jump.  We were driven there and made our way to the bridge and because Ria is so small she made it straight to the front of the queue - so she was harnessed up and ready to go.  They counted down 3,2,1 twice and then on the third time she jumped - I was so proud of her - she enjoyed it.  We both think that a bungy jump is more scary than a skydive.  With a bungy jump you have to jump off it yourself but with a tandem skydive someone is kind of doing it for you.  About 8 jumps later it was my turn to go and I was back in the position I was in about a year ago.  He counted down 3,2,1 and then I just jumped.  I'd asked beforehand if I could at least touch the water with my hands but he said I might go deeper btu I said I was ok with it.  I ended up getting most of my upper body wet - it was a very big dip and it was very cold too.  But I enjoyed it just as much as the first one I did!

Afterwards we got our free t-shirt and certificate and were driven back to town where we had some lunch and then had a look around.  Thursday morning we left the site and decided last minute to go on the gondola (a cable car) so we parked up and took a cable car to the top of a very high mountain - had a good look over Queenstown and took some pics.  We came back down and then basically drove for about 10 hours with stops and in turns right up to Kaikoura - a last minute decision to go that far but what the heck!  En ruote we came across two beautiful lakes, Pukaki and Tekapo - we've never seen anything like it.  The views were breathtaking and I don't even think the pictures will do it justice.  We arrived in Kaikoura about 9pm and parked up on a site. 

We came to Kaikoura in the hope of going on a whale watch tour so yesterday (Friday) we went into town and debated over whether we should spend 60 quid looking for whales and we thought 'what the hell.'  So we wrapped up warm and went out on a small catamaran searching for big sperm whales!  And we sure did see them - we saw about 4 in total which is a good tour.  We saw their blowholes from quite a distance and sailed up quite near to them for good views.  Unfortunately as they live in water you don't really get amazing views or pictures or even tell exactly how massive they really are.  Then just when you're getting a bit bored they take one last breath of air and dive and that's the best bit of all as their tail fin flips into the air and you get a view of a lifetime.  It was really quite something to see.  I got a fantastic picture of two whales taking a dive side by side (which is rare) but unfortunately Ria was trying to get a picture through her low battery camera and missed it.  Although I only really saw it through the camera lens.  After that we saw some albatross and also some very cute acrobatic dusky dolphins so it was a worthwhile trip.

We left Kaikoura this morning and made our way to Christchurch where we checked-in to a hostel and then returned our little campervan which we had actually grown very fond of.  So tomorrow and Monday we'll be having a look around the city and then Tuesday it's off to Australia - oh well....that's life I suppose!