An extremely early start with the alarm going off at 4.30am. Our flight to Sydney leaves at 6.45am and it is still dark with a light drizzle as we arrive at Christchurch airport.

There are a couple of low cost airlines serving N.Z & Oz, namely Jetstar, a subsidiary of Qantas and Virgin Blue. It's a 3 hour flight to Sydney and we are not sad to leave the cold and rain behind us again.

As we land the sun is shining and we get our first glimpse of the harbour bridge and Opera house through the window. After another round of Bio scans at customs, we are soon collected by the hotel that we have booked via a leaflet information centre in the arrivals lounge.

The hotel is in Surry hills (No 'e' in Surrey over here) and is not quite as good as it looks in the brochure. In fact it's pretty run down and the promised free WI-FI internet is only at dial up speed as they have used their broadband quota for the month. The owner is actually Spanish and is very friendly and helpful, but we decide to stay just one night.

All this and it's still only 9am, Sydney being 2 hours behind New Zealand. We walk up to the centre of town, through Hyde Park and past Liverpool St and Oxford St to the Harbour and there standing majestically side by side are the Sydney Harbour bridge and the Opera House.

In a nearby square at the Circular Quay is a chap with a Somerset twang, who is busy juggling chainsaws. He then scampers up a pole and balances on a bicycle perched at the top, while swallowing a sword, in reality a long pink balloon. Looking over I can see various maniacs hanging off of the top of the Harbour Bridge (hmm, must have a go myself). Evidently this lot are even madder than the New Zealander's. I still think the Icelandic people are the maddest though. In what other country would you find a reporter conducting an interview, while his subject, a cabinet minister was busy reclining in a Jacuzzi with several, mostly undressed models. Beats having to sit in a radio 4, radio car with John Humphries sticking a microphone in your face.

This harbour area is called the Rocks and is steeped in history, well recent history anyway. The nearby Lord Nelson, the oldest pub in Sydney, is up a hill near the Observatory and just after a sign offering daily, well nightly, ghost tours of a local building where they used to lock up people with infectious diseases.

One of the guide books I picked up has lots of different tours, together with price, mode of transport, duration, etc. Most are fairly normal, but the ghost trip lists the transportation as a 'hearse' and the pub tour lists the duration as 'until you collapse!'

We walked across the Harbour bridge and past the Pylon lookout, which is reached by climbing 200 steps inside one of the enormous supporting pillars. We're a bit tired for that today and after a brief Lebanese meal, (which was rubbish) near our hotel, we had an early night.

Day 229 - Friday 26th May 2006 - Sam's Account

We moved into our new posh hotel today; Hotel Stellar, which is just opposite Hyde Park. The receptionist decided to upgrade us for the same money to their deluxe suite which is just fantastic having spent a few weeks in a little camper. She evidently thought we looked as though we needed a little luxury. That was perfectly alright with me.

We did some shopping to fill our little fridge and then set off to Manly by ferry. Manly is a little town just 30 minutes ferry ride away from central Sydney and is positioned on a peninsula with the harbour and sailing boats moored on one side and a beautiful beach with sun seekers and surfers on the other. We had our packed lunch on the beach watching the surfers taking the waves and strolled past the shops, sea food restaurants, bars and ice cream parlours before hopping back on the ferry to the Rocks. I had my hair cut in a hairdressers for the first time in over 10 months. God it was good. My DIY hair cut jobs had definitely left the hairdresser with a tough job especially trying to disguise my top-knot which is the remnants of a snipped-off hair braid from Bangkok.

We had an early night curled up in front of the movie channel in our room. The first bit of TV. we had watched in English for months too. Sheer luxury.
 

Day 230 - Saturday 27th May 2006 - Colin's Account

Lots of walking today and after a visit to a travel agents regarding some trips to Ayres Rock and the Outback, we headed for the Paddington district. Paddington is largely centred around Oxford street, yes I know their geography got a bit muddled on the long voyage over here and it is a pretty, bohemian sort of place. Lots of designer shops, bars and an interesting market selling art, trinkets, clothes , jewellery and the odd didgeridoo.

After passing a shop which proudly proclaimed that they were 'closing down and pissing off' we headed towards Kings Cross which fulfils much the same function as it's namesake. I.e., seedy shops, unusual people and various extra-curricular activities on offer. Having seen another shop called Boozery, which did indeed sell booze, I was quite excited to see a sign in the distance saying Witchery. I imagined it would be full of broomsticks, pointed hats and toads and was mildly disappointed to find it was a plain old clothes shop, never mind.

As the sun started to set we headed for the Opera bar, which sits right in front of Sydney Opera house, overlooking the bridge and Harbour. A Jazz band was playing and most of the tables were full with either tourists or couples dressed in their finery having a drink before a night at the Opera.

Day 231 - Sunday 28th May 2006 - Sam's Account

I love this city, it is the D.B's! To sum it up in a few words; sun, sea, beaches, stunning scenery, dynamic, friendly, civilised, educated, modern, proud, active, sporty, clean, beautiful, good food, fine wines, entertainment galore and thankfully English Speaking...

Colin inadvertently wrote today's day so instead of wasting his quilled work here it is:-

.......Sydney Opera house really is stunning. There are five 'theatres', two large ones and three smaller ones, all with fantastic views over the harbour from their foyers.

The original architect, a chap called Jorn Utzon, fell out with the newly elected Australian government back in 1966 (my birth year) and left, never to return. Happily he was, eventually, recognised for his work and is now helping redesign some of the interior from his home in Europe. Now in his 80's, the chance that he will ever make the trip to see how his project turned out is, sadly, slim.
In any case it's well worth a visit if you're ever over here. After a stroll through the main shopping area, full of all the usual suspects, we ended up in Darling harbour to the west side of the city centre and stopped for some refreshment at a sea front bar, where they had a live Jazz band. Overlooking the maritime museum, which has a navy frigate and submarine parked side by side, we soaked up the atmosphere.
A final trip was the monorail, which makes a 15 minute tour of the central city, stopping half a dozen times on the way. The raised rail snakes in and around buildings, over water and keeps up a low key commentary on each area it visits.

Our hotel room is so good that we spent the evening in, making dinner and relaxing..........


I would just like to add the harbour bars are a real MUST in Sydney. The Opera bar is, of course, just outside the Opera house over looking Sydney harbour and bridge. Live Jazz music is played in this outdoors bar whilst everyone soaks up the sun, drinking champagne or Australian wine, watching the boats busy themselves in the harbour. Another, less touristy option, and therefore slightly cheaper is Darling Harbour. I honestly think that live music, sun, sea and wine were just MEANT to go together, This is where you get it and it's wonderful. Colin is going to have to drag me away from this place!

P.S. Dinner was a new invention. Colin, not to be beaten by the fact we didn't have a cooker or ant pots or pans, managed to rustle up our dinner by cooking it in a plastic bag in the microwave. It wasn't bad either - chicken with tomatoes, mushrooms and herbs. Clever ol' thing.

Day 232 - Monday 29th May 2006 - Colin's Account

A fairly hectic day of trying to sort out our agenda for Oz, where to go next, do we fly, hire a car or take the train? The answer, by the way, is that we are flying to Ayres Rock (Uluru) on Tuesday morning. A flight of 3 hours 5 minutes and it only takes us as far as the centre of the country. To give you an idea of how big Australia is, we were wondering whether to fly in to Alice Springs or Ayres Rock, because they are right 'next' to each other in Aussie terms. In fact Alice Springs is about as close to Ayres Rock as Newcastle is to London and yet they are close neighbours. In reality, they are each other's only neighbours and it's very easy to consider them as one destination, from a travelling point of view.

Apart from all this, we managed to fit in a visit to the Sky Tower and it's Oz trek, picking up our visa's from the Thai consulate on the way, saving us a 'visa run' when we go over there for the summer.

The Oz trek is a virtual reality ride through the geography and history of Australia. The first part is a 3D holographic show in four 3 minute sections. There are 4 screens and 4 separate seating areas all joined together and each as a quarter of a circle. As each new section starts your seats spin round to the next quarter.

The tour finished with a 10 minute ride through the different regions of Australia in a separate cinema with moving seats. A bit like a virtual reality roller coaster.

The top of the tower, which is the 2nd tallest building in the Southern hemisphere is fairly run down. The lifts are painfully slow and basic and the observation platform has stained and in places threadbare, carpets. The North Tower in Seoul is, in contrast, a masterpiece of technology. At the end of the day though, you are there for the view and on this score Sydney wins hands down.

A pub lunch, rather than sandwiches, beckoned and we again visited the oldest pub in Sydney which is beside the Observatory for Sausages, onion gravy and colcannon, great.

Finally we strolled up to the Sydney Observatory, which no longer carries out any research, for a look around their museum. In fact there was a tour together with a short movie about going to Mars and Black Holes. They used to drop a giant ball every day at 1pm from a pole on the roof, so that ships in the harbour could set their chronometers to the correct time. Nowadays the Harbour Bridge & Opera house would get in the way of the line of sight, although they still occasionally do drop the ball.

A final look through a telescope at Alpha Centauri during daylight was spoiled by some high clouds, but I did get to close up the Observatory dome using the same old hand wheel that the Astronomer Royal would have once used.

Day 233 - Tuesday 30th May 2006 - Sam's Account

Up early to fly to Ayres Rock with Qantas. Our in-flight lunch was a lettuce leaf packed in an un-open able plastic box and the drinks had to be purchased in addition to the exorbitant flight price. Hmmm...

Usual safety announcements took place which included the life jacket cinema. I wonder if anyone would actually put them on if we were going to crash into the outback? Double hmmm...

Free bus into town. Well, I say town I mean the 5 hotels, supermarket and newsagents. Our hotel is exceptionally naff and our dormitory looks rather sad after our luxurious suite in Sydney. I told you Colin would have to drag me away from Sydney.

Having said this we did get our first glimpse of Ayres Rock from the plane as we came into land. It looks big and orangey/red. I will report more when we've had a closer inspection.

No harbour jazz bars here, rats.

Day 234 - Wednesday 31st May 2006 - Colin's Account

Fortified by my Kangaroo sandwich and after watching a beautiful sunset over Ayres rock last night, I got chatting to one of the off duty security guards who gave me a lot of information about the Ayres Rock resort and the Northern Territory.

They have quite a problem with the Aboriginals here, many of them are alcoholics and/or petrol sniffers. To try and combat this the Northern Territory is a 'dry' state and you have to be a resort resident to buy any booze whatsoever. This by the way was at the request of the Aboriginal community. The government has also just passed legislation, allowing an additive called Opal to be added to petrol which removes the 'high' from sniffing it.

Apparently the government are also going to stop the unemployment benefit or 'sit down money' as some call it, to these people. We've come at the right time, because they expect a big increase in theft at the resort as a result.

As for the resort here at Yulara, overlooking Ayres Rock, it is a total monopoly. The resort, which is actually a small town with shopping centre, supermarket, 6 different hotels and car hire firms etc is owned by one company. Needless to say the prices here are sky high for most things.

There is no accommodation not owned by 'the company' so if you were unlucky enough to lose your job, you'd have 48 hours to get out of town! There is another resort nearby called Longitude 131. It is very well hidden away and at $3800AS per night, caters only to celebrities and the super rich.

In one direction there is no petrol station for 815km and the main highways here have no speed limits. The car rental companies ask that you don't drive outside of the town at night as you might well hit a Kangaroo, in which case your insurance wouldn't cover you. The main damage comes from people standing on their car roofs and bonnets to get the best photo and there are some great ones to be snapped.

We drove the 20km from the resort to the base of Ayres rock, or Uluru if you prefer, which despite the distance still looks like it's 'on your doorstep' even from 20km away. Nine kilometres around the base and over 300m high, it is huge and a wonderful sight. It changes colour as the suns hits it, from red to brown to orange and gold and it's estimated that there is another 6km of Ayres Rock, underground.

We decided to make the climb to the stop, which is at times very steep with regular strong gusts of wind and is not for the faint-hearted. The first part of the climb has a rope chain that you can hold onto, but the second part is a case of hold onto your hat and go for it. After about 45 minutes hard climb we reached the top and the views are amazing. A plaque on the summit tells you what you can see, in which direction and how far away it is. Looking at the horizon we could see Mt Cook 89km away and also Mt Everard at an astounding 144km away. 

We had lunch on the summit enjoying the views and the peace before heading back down. On the steep sections, we passed several people shuffling along on their bottoms clinging on to the rope chain for dear life.

Still up for more punishment, we decided to do the 9km walk around the base of the rock, so we could see it from every angle. Sam went into photo mode, so expect a few pictures when we next upload them to the site.

After the walk we drove to a sunset viewing point about 4 km from the rock to watch the sun go down over Uluru. There were other people there with the same idea, including one group who had set up a table and chairs and were busily quaffing wine and eating cheese and biscuits.

The sunset really is beautiful, the way it strikes the rocks and changes colour, almost looking like it's on fire or sparkling like a huge gemstone and I know our photo's won't do it justice, but at least they will remind us.

Day 235 - Thursday 1st June 2006 - Sam's Account

Having made brekkie in the hectic yet clinical communal kitchen, which is supplied by the hotel for the backpacking fraternity, we packed all our belongings into the little white Toyota Corolla we have hired and whizzed off to the Olgas within the National Park.

We were determined to make the most of our expensive National park entrance fee of 25$AUS per person for 3 days.

The Olgas, also known as Kata Tjuta, are enormous stone domes, which rise out of the outback scrubland similarly to Ayres Rock. The Olgas means "many heads" and having been weathered for millions of years, they have now taken a peaked dome formation. The Olgas are undeservedly eclipsed by Ayres Rock due to their proximity to the most renowned image of Australia. In fact, The Olgas are arguably more fascinating and more beautiful than Ayres Rock. This is, of course, totally subjective, but the Valley of the Winds walk should definitely not be missed at any price if you find yourself in the vicinity.

We set off on the Valley of the Winds walk at around 11.30am and it took us 2 hours with a fair few photo/pee stops en route. It is quite a demanding walk, although nothing like the climb onto THE rock we had completed the previous day. The scenery at the Olgas is awesome. As you walk through the peaked domes, the tallest of which is more than 200 metres higher than Ayres Rock, the scrub land of the outback dissipates to an Oasis of wild flowers, green trees, grass and a myriad of birds all singing and swooping around the trees to their hearts content. I have never seen such a startling variation of natural colours before. Classical deep dark reds and oranges, bright blue sky, huge black shadows, bright evergreen trees, mauve and lilac wild flowers, silver bark wood, yellow flowers, colourful birds, burnt black tree skeletons and of course the incessant brightness of the beating sun. Not your average stroll I can assure you.

Hot, tired and thirsty from out hike we sank a few litres of water and devoured our cheese and pickle sandwiches at a rate of knots and then set off on the long outback roads to Kings Canyon, a mere 300 kilometres away.

The journey took 2.5 hours with Colin's toe stuck firmly to the floor. We passed a couple of dead Kangaroos which were evidently breakfast, lunch and dinner for the local crows. Sadly we didn't see any live Kangaroos. The only other sign of life was the odd car and campervan we overtook. Hectic, not.

I had not just been cooked in the car this afternoon, but roasted to a turn in the afternoon sun and was very pleased to arrive at Kings Canyon.

Our dorm beds are great compared to last night and we have our room to ourselves. Hooray! We have a plastic table and chairs to sit outside and watch the sun go down as well as a TV and fridge in our room. We even have been supplied a towel and bar of soap each as well as sheets, a quilt and pillow on the beds. Oooh!

An early night tonight as we have another hefty 3 hour trek tomorrow morning and the drive to Alice Springs.

Day 236 - Friday 2nd June 2006 - Colin's Account

I returned the kitchen utensils provided by the resort, for a $50 deposit, and advised them how abysmal they were. Chipped and cracked tin plates, dirty mismatched cutlery and useless saucepans. Even the box they came in was cracked and dirty inside. Shame as the room was good.

Never mind we are off to do the 6.5km Canyon rim walk at nearby Kings Canyon in the Watarrka National Park. The ascent at the start is very steep, but soon levels out. The views are brilliant from the walk, especially the 'garden of Eden' an oasis inside the canyon full of plants, trees, water and birds. There are also Kangaroo's and wallabies, but we didn't see any. There is one type of bush here called a Cycad that hasn't changed since dinosaurs ruled the earth. They take many years to grow and one I saw was already 400 years old.

We ate lunch on top of the canyon, before heading off to Alice Springs 500km away. Luckily the Stuart highway has no speed limits, so we were able to do they journey in under 3 hours. Even so I really wished I'd had my own car to see if it really can do the 240kmh the manufacturer claims. There is a short cut, which saves nearly 200km, but it's an unsurfaced road 100km long and not recommended for 2 wheel drive vehicles, so we didn't take it.

At a petrol stop we saw some Emu's, otherwise it was just hundreds of miles of desert and a straight, shimmering highway stretching into the horizon.

Alice Springs is not bad at all. It's quite lively with a lot of shops, bars and restaurants and the indigenous people are much in evidence here. We found a friendly little hostel and treated ourselves to a meal at an Indian restaurant, which was quite good although a bit minimalist on the portions.

Day 237 - Saturday 3rd June 2006 - Sam's Account

Drove from Alice Springs to Tennant Creek on a relocation hired campervan. Total cost from Alice Springs to Darwin = 4$AUS, but we have to do the 1500Km distance in 4 days. Not a problem as 500+ done today. We left at 1.30pm and arrived at the North end of Tennant Creek at 5.30pm. Not a bad day's driving. Was knackered when we eventually parked up as I had at last got my hands on the wheel!

We did stop once, however to see the Devils Marbles at. I don't really know what is quite so devilish about them, but they were impressive large boulders of red rock nonetheless.

All these rocks here in the Red Centre, as it is called here in Oz, have a special feel to them. Ayres Rock in particular exudes a very mystical feeling to it. Odd really as they are only rocks. I think the enchantment must have something to do with their age. Hundreds of millions of years old.

We really feel as though we are hardened bush travellers now, camping in the most remote places. In all honesty there are shed loads of Australians doing the same thing on holiday, but we still feel the Bushman inside of us coming out!
 

Day 238 - Sunday 4th June 2006 - Colin's Account

More driving and it's my turn today, I feel like we're in a road movie. Still its only 1000km to Darwin after Sam's good efforts yesterday. One of the locals at Tenant Creek, where we stayed last night, reckoned we'd only get to the historic township of Daly Water (370 km) today, but we'd passed that by 1.30pm. He obviously drives at 10 miles per hour. Our only break today, apart from a petrol stop which boasted the Pink Panther pub, complete with huge Pink Panther lounging in an armchair, was at Manaraka.

We are now in crocodile country and have already seen one, admittedly behind bars. The weather is noticeably warmer and the shorts have been unpacked again. The creeks and rivers that we pass are no longer dried up and it's getting greener and greener as we leave the red centre behind.

Manaraka is famous for its thermal springs and you can swim in them free of charge. The pools are surrounded by tropical rainforest and we saw some pretty big spiders, suspended on their webs, but no Funnel web ones. The water is about 34°C and although there is the occasional fresh water crocodile about, they are not dangerous to humans. The salt water Crocodiles don't come this far upstream, thankfully. We wanted to stop in Cutta Cutta to see the 5 million year old calcium caves, but they were shut.

Back on the road for a last push, we headed for the town of Katherine only 300km short of Darwin and 700km from where we left this morning. We saw a sign saying Low Level campsite and I was just wondering whether our campervan was going to be too high, when I spotted a sign post saying Low Level 5.4km. Weird names they have over here.

Day 239 - Monday 5th June 2006 - Sam's Account

We are now in the heart of the Northern Territory. Having camped to the north of Katherine last night we surfaced a little too late and ended up having to pack a day's activities into one afternoon.

Arriving at the Nitmiluk National Park which houses Katherine Gorge, we immediately bought tickets for the 1pm two hour river cruise and hurriedly made some sandwiches to take aboard for the trip.

The cruise was very relaxing and the rangers made it as fun and as informative as possible. There are a total of 13 gorges along the Katherine river, which are 1650 million years old. We only saw the first two gorges but the second is apparently one of the most impressive. It certainly seemed it to us.

The highlight was definitely seeing a fresh water crocodile. It was basking on the river side beach in the afternoon sun to warm up and as we approached in our boat we evidently got a little too close for comfort for this croc as she suddenly leaped and lashed around in the water making it perfectly obvious she REALLY didn't want us invading her chill out time. That was fine with me, the further away from Crocs the better; even if the fresh water variety don't apparently attack humans.

We were invited to go swimming after our cruise. Sod that! They apparently had just found a man eating salt water croc in the gorge only a couple of weeks ago. Only the 3rd in 15 years, but that was 3 too many for me.

After our safe return to dry land we donned the boots once more and set off on a 3.5 hour trek taking in the top of the gorge and the views down into the river below. Phew, it is hot here. The sun was relentless and we ended up having a skinny dip in a rock pool before heading back. We managed to complete the circuit within a couple of hours. Must be getting fit even if we are overcompensating for this exercise with copious amounts of food and drink.

On the way back to our camp we saw a Wallaby (little Kangaroo) just feet from us which made our evening. Colin then saw another hop across the camp just a few feet from our campervan later that evening whilst I was in the shower block. They look so cute, although they are probably flea ridden.

The evening was spent chilling out in our little campervan, Colin made a spicy chilli-con-carne which we both devoured with relish and then soon turned into bed feeling tired from the fresh air and exercise.

The scenery here is so much more varied and in true Australian style very dramatic.

A good day had by all in beautiful surroundings.
 

Day 240 - Tuesday 6th June 2006 - Colin's Account

Last day on the road for a while. Having spent the night in the Nitmiluk National Park, near Katherine, we have just a final 300km to go until we reach Darwin. Nitmiluk, by the way is an Aboriginal word and replaced the former Australian name of Katherine Gorge, when the land was handed back to the indigenous people.

The scenery now is completely different and we could almost be driving along a highway in southern Spain.

Darwin is very spread out, not surprising as they have almost unlimited land, although the actual centre is quite small. The sun is extremely hot here even though the locals think it's cold at the moment. They have two seasons, wet and dry. It's the dry season at the moment i.e. winter, so the roads are all in good shape and there are clear blue skies every day.

Our campervan battery has failed, but fortunately we were parked at the our chosen hotel in Darwin, prior to running it back the depot. This was GOOD news, had it happened in the outback we would have had a day's wait for the breakdown truck. As it was it took 30 minutes and saved us having to refill the LPG tank, because of the inconvenience to us. Our bond and petrol costs were soon refunded and after a totting up, the total cost of our 1515km journey from Alice Springs to Darwin cost us only $240AS (£100).

Darwin is a bit of a party town, to say the least. One waitress told us you are either into sports or booze and drugs. That's a bit of an exaggeration I think, but it only really applies to the young residents anyway.

I tried some crocodile tonight to add to the Kangaroo I had the other day. My youngest daughter thought Crocodile was Ok to eat as they bite you, but it was mean eating a 'cute' Kangaroo.

Day 241 - Wednesday 7th June 2006 - Sam's Account

I Stayed in bed all day today. Knackered from the last months non-stop action and a might hung-over too if I was being truthful!

TV. was rubbish, but it was fabulous doing absolutely nothing for a change.
 

Day 242 - Thursday 8th June 2006 - Colin's Account

Sam has managed to prise herself out of bed, even though it will only be mainly a 'jobs' day.

As it is the Queens birthday long weekend, there are very few campervans available for hire. Surprisingly a large number of Australians also hire campers and take the roads and I thought it was only us tourists who were that naff.

We eventually found two with different companies at the same price, but one had a much lower insurance excess. The van is not as good, but funds are dropping ever lower so the cheaper option it has to be.

It's amazing how many miles these Toyota campervans do without falling apart. This one has already passed 320,000km. We booked some flights to Cairns, because at 2850km from Darwin it is too far to drive, especially on top of the 2000km we have just done and also yet to do.

I did some work on a new movie section for this website (coming very soon) and then we headed for the cinema not once, but twice. There really isn't much to do in Darwin except eat, drink and go on tours.

Day 243 - Friday 9th June 2006 - Sam's Account

We have hired yet another campervan for 5 days to visit Lichfield and Kakadu National Parks in the vicinity. Although it is peak season here, it is still the most economical way of paying for both accommodation and transportation in one fell swoop. Petrol prices are reasonably high though, for the Aussies, who are regularly complaining at paying about 1.50$AUS per litre.

We both take pleasure in reminding people on our travels just how lucky they are compared to UK residents; highlighting of course the disgusting stealth taxes Labour have brought in and in particular the huge percentage of tax on fuel as it tends to be a topical subject with everyone.

How stupid does Labour think we are? Unfortunately thanks to them most people are that stupid, or so it appears. Ah ha, that must have been part of their cunning plan; under educate everyone, bring them all down to the lowest common denominator and then screw them all as much as possible as they'll all be too "nannied" and stupid to realise it anyway. Hmm... who else does this remind you of in modern history? They'll get their come-up-ance and from what we have been hearing it seems as though they already are. Come on you Conservative wusses, stop being so bloody polite and go for the jugular. What are you waiting for Cameron? An invitation, perhaps, so you can hop on your bike and pop over to tell Tony how naughty he's been? GET ON WITH IT, it makes my blood boil. No wonder so many decent British citizens no longer wish to live in the UK anymore.

Since we have been travelling we have noticed just how proud local people are of their country. It is quite a nasty shock to realise how totally unpatriotic we have become in the UK. This blame could easily be laid at the feet of governments past of present, most people like to blame them. I, however, totally disagree. It's our fault. Each and every one of us is to blame.

We don't appreciate what we have and therefore we don't look after it. The younger generations have never known any hardship so they in particular think it is fun to trash our country and see the emergency services and council officials clear up the mess. We should bring back some sort of National Service for both boys and girls and give them a few options:- Army, Navy, Air force or working for one of the UK charities for 1 year. Also, I think that a solo voyage for one month to one of the 3rd world countries should be enforced on children before they are 18 so that they start to understand that the world does not revolve around alcohol and dossing, but families and communities. And no, I don't think travelling on your own before 18 is a shocker, far from it. If young people can have sex and babies at 16 then they should be able to travel round the world on their own; I know which task I would find easier to get right!

(Whew and I thought I was the politician ! - Colin)

Anyway, deep breath. I must get back to the blog.

By the time we had done all the necessary jobs and driven to Lichfield park it was 2pm. I'm still feeling rough, so I collapsed and slept all afternoon in our hot and sweaty little camper.

Colin busied himself with reading his book and going for a 3.5 hour hike. I thought I'd sit this one out to re-charge the batteries a little more. I hope he gets back before it is dark.
 

Day 244 - Saturday 10th June 2006 - Colin's Account

Our spot at Lichfield's Florence falls is really good and we have decided to stay another day before heading on to Kakadu National Park.

There are a couple of safe swimming spots within walking distance, where the possibility of becoming a Crocodiles' lunch is miniscule. The first is a Buley rock hole an almost circular pool sandwiched between two small waterfalls. There are a few small fish, but nothing else and the cascades give a great back massage. There is another lower pool, which is apparently also safe, but one end of it disappears into a billabong lined with dark Mangroves and who knows what might be lurking in there.

The second and nearer spot is at Florence falls itself and is much larger. The falls are also much higher and there is quite a current in places. Again no Crocodiles, but there are some largish fish one of whom bit Sam's toe.

We got chatting to a man named Doug, who is 71, although he looks much younger. Of Scottish decent he has lived in Melbourne all his life and plans to climb Ayres rock next week having never even seen it before in all the time he's lived here. It was a bit strange to be able to give a 'local' the inside info on the area.

Our banger of a camper has a dodgy fridge and I have had to throw away most of our meat as it has gone off, not that I expect that to cut much ice with the hire company. I expect I will have a great deal more luck by telling him we weren't able to chill our beers. To an Australian this is only marginally more acceptable than a violent and painful death at the hands of one of their numerous dangerous creatures.

Talking about creatures, we were advised by one man in Darwin that within ten years much of the wildlife in Kakadu will be gone, courtesy of the extremely poisonous Crane Toad which was introduced to control a separate pest, but escaped the control area. 

Day 245 - Sunday 11th June 2006 - Sam's Account

We drove from Litchfield Park to Kakadu National Park today. Although they would seem to be just next door to each other on our map of the "Top End" we managed to eat up 250kms. Comme meme!

My first reaction to Kakadu was one of disappointment due to the never ending flat bush land. Oh well, we resigned to just nip and see a couple of things and then head back early to Darwin.

Doug, a 71 year old Aussie gent we had met camping at Litchfield park, had strongly suggested the Yellow River in Kakadu. So, we found yellow river. We paid what seemed to be the extortionate price of 50$AUS per person for a 2 hour boat cruise and as per Doug's instructions we opted for the dawn cruise, which meant a 6am start the following morning.

The rest of the day was spent hanging out in the camper, cooking our dinner on the little stove and being bitten from head to toe by mosquitoes.

I am now just one huge mozzie meal and boy do they feast.

Day 246 - Monday 12th June 2006 - Colin's Account

We camped in Cooinda last night in the heart of the Kakadu national park and I'm pretty sure I saw a Dingo skulking around. Pets are banned, so it can't have been someone else's dog.  We are making a long day of it today as we have booked a sunrise cruise out into Yellow water billabong and the South Alligator river.

The amount of wildlife here is amazing. There are wild horses, left by miners when they abandoned the area and they have continued to breed. There are crocodiles aplenty and we can see quite a few lazing in the shallows as they wait for the sun to get stronger before they crawl onto the banks to sun themselves. We watched one trying to stalk a couple of birds, but they just kept hopping out of its reach.

This is a bird watchers paradise and although we're not much into that, it was interesting seeing all the different types, from Eagles and Whistling Kites to Kingfishers and Jabirus, a tall stork like bird. Giant nests balanced precariously on treetops and huge flocks of geese and grey ducks.

Next stop was Nourlangie rock where you can climb to a lookout point for the view and we then moved on to Jabiru, the only town in Kakadu although town is an exaggeration by several orders of magnitude. The shops, sorry shop, is on half day closing as it's the Queens birthday public holiday. Everyone we've met seems fine with this and apart from a banknote I was given in Sydney, which had had the queens face crossed out, we haven't heard or seen any republican sentiment.

Next up was Ubirr, a famous outcrop of rocks with many Aboriginal cave paintings. There is a pleasant walk around the area, but there are a great many creeks and rivers around and just as many signs warning you of extreme danger from crocodiles. As the walk runs along and between rivers at times you have to be constantly vigilant. Crocodiles can only do a maximum of about 10kmh on land and get tired very quickly so it's not difficult to outrun them, so long as you see them first. There is another lookout point here and you can see for miles over the floodplains and forests, quite a sight.

I don't want to give the impression that they stroll around the countryside looking for people to eat, they don't and generally are happy with fish, but they are aggressive and opportunistic. Unbelievably we saw a family playing in the water and picnicking on a patch of sand at the waters edge, absolute lunatics.

Booked yet another camper, over the phone, for the Cairns to Sydney part of our journey and that done headed back up the Arnhem highway towards Darwin passing such places as Annabangbang and Humptydoo on the way. They do have phone boxes out here in the 'sticks', but they are often solar powered, especially in the remotest areas.

Something else I didn't realise is that The Northern Territory is not really an Australian state and has a fair degree of autonomy, hence the lack of speed limits. They also have their own Police, but people I've spoken to say the government is pushing hard and at some point they will have to capitulate and become an ordinary state with the standard national laws.

Day 247 - Tuesday 13th June 2006 - Sam's Account

Our campervan broke less than 1 km after leaving last nights Corroboree Tavern Camp ground along the Arnhem highway. We were 85km from Darwin. Rats.

All the warning lights came on and the engine over heated so we had to roll the campervan back to the Tavern and call the recovery service. This was at about 10.30am. After 2 hours a mechanic arrived and deduced our fan belt had broken. He couldn't fix it as he only carried fuel and spare batteries, so he called the recovery truck and left. We waited another 2 hours and then eventually got back on the road, but this time we were sat in the recovery truck with the Aussie truck driver. Like all the other Aussie blokes we have met since leaving Sydney he was wearing shorts, t-shirt, huge ankle high boffer boots, sunnies and THE hat. He seemed a good guy and we soon started chatting away. I asked him how well integrated Aussie's are with the Aboriginals as we hadn't really seen many aboriginals since our arrival in Oz, let alone meet any. He told us that they prefer to keep themselves to themselves and that they still lead a fairly nomadic existence. The government has apparently bent over backwards trying to help the Aboriginal communities to the extent whereby our truck driver said that they are guilty of blatant positive discrimination. It was quite a shocker to hear this chap list reams and reams of reasons why he thought the Aboriginals have their cake and eat it leaving all the crumbs for everyone else to clean up. Here are just a few of the comments he made.

- The Aboriginals did not become interested in reclaiming their land until they noticed an in flux of tourism and therefore only asked for the Ayres Rock and Kakadu land to be given back to them. It was.
- They do not look after the land, they litter and wreck the houses the government gives them so now the government gives them concrete slabs to live on so they can have their fires and live all together. Apparently they prefer that.
- Many Aboriginals either have a drink or petrol sniffing addiction.
- They don't stay in school and apparently many go to jail for crimes at a young age.
- When they do go to school if they haven't any food to eat the state provides a pack lunch for them. If the same happens to a white Australian child he or she is told they will go hungry as their parents should have remembered their lunch.
- They are given 1% loans to buy cars. The white Australians are not offered this preferential finance no matter what their circumstances.
- They are given too much money by the state which they don't know how to spend. They also receive royalties for the land they now own.
- The blue collar white Aussie family has less money than an equivalent Aboriginal family and yet the white's will be working and paying taxes and the Aboriginals will be living off the state.

I am now anxious to hear the other side of the story.

The truck driver dropped us and our campervan at the designated garage and waived us goodbye.

Ron, or "Rooster" as he prefers to be called, the mechanic was pissed on Castlemain XXXX lager and said "G'day mate, can't do anything for 'yous' today as I'm off home in half an hour". Perfect. The campervan office in Darwin was also closed and having managed to get through to someone they simply told us to leave the camper there. Very useful.

We had planned to drop our luggage at the airport and then drop the van off in Darwin to then order a late taxi back to the airport where we intended to catch some sleep for a few hours before our early morning flight to Cairns the following morning. These plans were now scuppered, but Ron suggested we sleep in the camper FOC and book a taxi from his place to the airport. Not a bad idea, especially as we were closer to the airport from Roosters Garage. Having agreed this we had a beer with him and started to wind down.

He pointed us in the direction of the local pub and we followed his instructions walking down the Stuart Highway and finding the pub behind a bottle shop. The pub, was the most unusual watering hole I have ever seen. Bright lights, high ceilings with motorbikes and rally cars hanging off of the walls. A large stage was in the centre which I initially thought was for a band but later found out they had regular strip shows which explained the large sign "Keep 1 metre distance from stage". The high chrome tables and stools were similar to those you find at exhibitions. Shiver. BUT, the place had a great atmosphere and considering it was a weekday evening it was considerably busy.

We were soon invited to join the beer appreciation evening which is a weekly event and explained the number of people there. We were given 4 handles (half a pint) of beer, each one different, which we had to guess. If we guess the last one correctly we could win a case of beer. The total cost including pizza to eat was 5$AUS per person. Excellent value.

The evening turned out to be the best we have had here in Oz so far. It was unashamedly raucous and fun. All the other people in the bar were "appreciating beer" as well and they were all locals and knew each other so the banter was electric. We were the centre of attention for the evening and were given a fair few questions during the quiz. i.e. Q: What is an "Esky" A: An insulated ice chest to keep your 'tinnies' before transferring them to the tinny holder.

A great evening was had by all and we were made to feel so welcome and we met some really lovely people. Colin was even one of the three joint winners for the case of beer, which he gave away to one of the other contestants as we couldn't carry it. The last mystery beer was Tooheys Premium Extra Dry.

Day 248 - Wednesday 14th June 2006 - Colin's Account

Up very early for our flight to Cairns. The taxi turned up early and even drove into the yard where we were parked to save us carrying our usual load of luggage to the end of the road.

The flight was 2.20 hours with a 30minute time zone change.

The weather and scenery here in northern Queensland is very different to Darwin. It's cloudy and rainy for a start and it's much greener and more tropical.

After our early start we didn't fancy doing much, so after picking up our camper - yes yet another one - we headed for a campsite near the northern beaches and Crystal cascades and just relaxed.

Free WI-FI internet at this site, so we made the most of it and uploaded the new movie section, hope you like it!

As I don't have much to write today here's a typical Aussie joke that I saw on a pub wall.

Only an Aussie could pull this off!

From the state where drink driving is a considered a sport comes a true story from the sunshine coast. Recently a Police patrol parked outside a local neighbourhood tavern. Late in the evening a police officer noticed a man leaving the bar, so intoxicated that he could barely walk. The man stumbled around the car park for a few minutes, with the officer quietly observing. After what seemed an eternity and trying his keys in five different vehicles, he eventually found his car and fell into it. He was there for a few minutes while other patrons of the bar left and drove off.

Finally he started the car, switched the wipers on and off (it was a dry night), flicked the indicators on and then off, tooted the horn and then switched on the lights. He moved the vehicle forwards a few cm, reversed a little and then remained stationary again as a few other vehicles left.

At last he left the car park and started to drive slowly down the road. The Police officer, having waited patiently all this time, started up the patrol car, put on his flashing lights and promptly pulled the man over and carried out a breathalyser test. To his amazement the breathalyser indicated no evidence of the man having consumed any alcohol at all. Dumbfounded the Officer said "I will have to ask you to accompany me to the station, this breathalyser kit must be broken".

"I doubt it" said the man "Tonight I'm the designated decoy"!

A true story.

Day 249 - Thursday 15th June 2006 - Sam's Account

Our 4th wedding anniversary today. Even though we spend virtually every minute of each day together we had both managed to sneak off unsuspectingly to buy each other a sufficiently smoochy card.

Breaky in bed. We usually have champagne, smoked salmon and scrambled eggs for breakfast on our wedding anniversary. Today however we had a large vat of Tetley's extra strong tea and a couple of slices of toast with marg. Not quite the same but it didn't matter a jot.

We actually have internet access for our laptops for the first time in 10 days. Hooray! So the first job was to catch up on our e-mails and update the web-site. Colin has been doing some funky high tech stuff to get our videos onto a movie page on the site. You must have a look and make sure you have the speakers turned up to hear my favourite music on the skydive videos. It was the Hong Kong Sevens Rugby anthem and it is totally groovy!!

Queensland is a welcome change of scenery compared to the Red Centre and the Top End. Cairns is lush green and tropical with the hills on one side and the beautiful beaches and sea on the other. It is humid here and the weather is less predictable with intermittent showers, but it is great to see green grass again.

Having driven the couple kilometres from our camp site to Crystal Cascades we walked along the river taking in the waterfalls and then soon pushed on to Mission Beach.

The weather is very windy and in Mission Beach it is overcast with rain clouds. This weather is apparently the remainder of a number of cyclones which recently hit the East coast. The cyclones took out banana plantations and bananas are now either extortionately expensive or non existent throughout Oz. Some poor chap had his crop stolen from his trees, such is the demand for them. Anyway, the main reason for us being in this neck of the woods is to dive out on the Great Barrier Reef, however, it is looking rather doubtful due to these weather conditions if we'll actually be able to do it.

We found a great camping spot virtually on the beach at Mission beach and even though the wind was howling and the rain was pelting down it added a certain majesty to the whole experience.

Determined not to let the weather get the better of us, We set off into the village to find somewhere to celebrate our day. Colin had evidently done his homework and we ended up in a great little restaurant/wine bar called The Shrubbery. Of course loads of Monty Python quotes ensued! We had a few glasses of good vino and a very tasty dinner.
 

Day 250 - Friday 16th June 2006 - Colin's Account

Still no sun here at Mission beach and apparently there hasn't been since cyclone Larry, two weeks ago.

Still the Shrubbery last night was good, unlike Yakkaburra, but it's still almost 3000km to Sydney so we must be off. There are signs all along the road warning of Cassowaries, large birds that can be quite vicious.

A couple of hours through Sugar Cane fields and little railway tracks that criss cross Bruce highway, saw us arrive in Townsville, Queensland's 3rd largest city. It's very sprawling, but modern and not bad.

We are going to spend a couple of days on Magnetic Island, so called as it used to 'throw out' Captain Cook's compass. It is 8km by car ferry from Townsville and it was dark when we arrived. The only campsite was full so we parked up on a road overlooking the sea at Horseshoe bay. It's not allowed, but we didn't exactly have much choice. There are a few good bars and restaurants along the bay, but they stop serving food at a ridiculously early time, 8pm. Luckily we found one that stays open later as we didn't fancy cooking tonight. They have a starter that includes six oysters all done in different styles. One even came suspended in a Bloody Mary, which Sam quickly claimed. 

Day 251 - Saturday 17th June 2006 - Sam's Account

We woke up to glorious sunshine, Hooray! Having enquired about the Reef trips we have been told that they are still cancelled at the moment due to the blustery weather so we set off on a walk around the island instead.

We spent the day discovering Magnetic Island and searching for Koala's. We found their pooh which, as we have been told, is a good start, but unfortunately could not find them up any of the Eucalyptus trees.

Magnetic Island is beautiful, it reminds me of Koh Tao except it has an exceptional infrastructure. The roads are excellent as is the postal service; they even have a bowls club!

It gets dark so early here in Oz, especially here in the North and so by 6.30pm we are fumbling around in the dark with our useless torch.

I suppose from a health standpoint it's a good thing as we have dinner earlier. Darkness somehow means dinner time to me no matter what time it gets dark! Anyway, the evenings are whiled away in the campsites, reading, writing, watching movies or chatting.

God it's a tough life!

Day 252 - Sunday 18th June 2006 - Colin's Account

A day of driving today. I have realised that although four days in to our trip down the east coast we have only covered 350km out of 3000km.

So catching the early morning ferry back to the mainland, I hit the Bruce highway for the 748km drive to Rockhampton, just north of the tropic of Capricorn.

That's about it really, just miles of road with a quick stop for lunch. The final section was 328km of total wilderness with nothing to see and no shops or worse petrol stations, luckily we made it, just. I hate to think how few litres were left in the tank when we arrived, but there was no warning whatsoever, unlike in the Northern Territory, about the distance to the next bowser (as they sometimes say over here).

Stopping at a shop and asking about supermarkets, internet cafe's etc, a girl advised us that the people from Gladstone, a 100km down the road, think the shopping is better in Rockhampton and vice versa. In her opinion shopping in either was total s**t compared to the Gold coast where she comes from.

Day 253 - Monday  19th June 2006 - Sam's Account

The weather is rotten again. Cold, windy and rainy. Such a shame. We spend the morning in Rockhampton and find a pub we had looked up in the Lonely Planet to have a steak lunch. Rockhampton is THE place to eat beef here in Oz as this is where all the cattle are farmed.
The steak was excellent quality, but the kitchen was evidently run by short order cooks. Colin's steak was over cooked  and dripping with sauce Diane, which he hadn't ordered so he justly and politely sent it back. Two minutes later he gets it thrown back at him by the kitchen, saying T bone steaks are always cooked like that. Hmm... the guy was totally rude and evidently was not a chef in the real sense of the word. Oh well, after Colin's cuttingly curt yet polite answer we finished our dinners and left. So steer clear of the Bush Inn Bar & Grill which is part of the Criterion Hotel, if you ever find yourself in Rockhampton. In fact Rockhampton itself is not wonderful anyway.

Pressing on we drove the 150km's to Gladstone and checked into yup, you've guessed it A CAMPERVAN site. Oooh! How exciting! The weather is still awful and people are still telling us to steer clear of the Reef.

We went for a wander along the beach and then soon enough it was dark. Read, did a cross word, watched a movie had some salad for dinner and then bed.

We are both getting fed up with the camper and the weather now.

Hey ho!

Day 254 - Tuesday 20th June 2006 - Colin's Account

Wow, a bit of sunshine! Oh it's gone again. On the road again and heading for the town of Bundaberg, which is famous for it's Ginger Beer and sugar.

We are staying the night at Bargara, a beach 16km east of Bundaberg. The beach itself is quite pretty and the village a bustling little community.

Got chatting to a guy in a bar who had been to London and loved it, apart from the prices!

We have now pretty much passed the southern end of the Great Barrier Reef and our last chance to go diving there. The weather has just not been good enough. The winds are high, which has reduced underwater visibility and makes the sea choppy for the boat ride out. The water is rather cold at 19°C as well.

Day 255 - Wednesday  21st June 2006 - Sam's Account

We are still in Bargara. The weather is slightly better today, but unfortunately we are no longer in reach of the reef for a dive or two. We weigh up the option of diving a fake reef, which consists of sunken boats and planes placed strategically at the bottom of the sea, and decide against spending our money on that. So, downhearted that we never managed to dive the Great Barrier Reef, our main reason for hitting the East Coast, we decide to have lunch out before heading onto Brisbane directly.

On arrival in Brisbane we tried to call a campsite to get booked in and couldn't get through so in the meantime contacted Mike. Mike is a family friend who we had caught up with in Hong Kong for the Sevens Rugby. We were immediately instructed to stay at his house and with his address scribbled on the back of a lowly scrap of paper we headed off to Kenmore. The bright lights of Brisbane are fantastic at night.

It was after 8pm by the time we arrived and having had a good chat with some Ozzy tinnies and a tasty dinner made from pretty much everything left in the cupboards we headed to bed.

Great to see the ol' mucker!

Day 256 - Thursday  22nd June 2006 - Colin's Account

The rain is still falling, which is good news for the locals as apparently there are children at school in parts of Queensland who have never even seen rain.

For our part it's pretty grim and so we went to a shopping centre in Indooroopilly, a western suburb of Brisbane for Sam to get some shoes. They have a traditional English pub called the Pig & Whistle, with Old Speckled Hen and Abbot ale, which killed another couple of hours and then we went to the cinema.

Mike has organised an evening out with a good friend of his, also called Mike. He is a real character, originally from South East England he has lived in Bali, Australia and elsewhere and organises International Aid to places like East Timor. Often sent in to places where others fear to tread, he has quite a lot of interaction with the Australian political establishment and is quite disparaging of all of them. His father used to run Orpington Hospital, where I once stayed to have my appendix out. Truly it's a small world!

The two Mike's politics and nearly everything else are diametrically opposed, which made for some highly amusing conversations and a great deal of finger waggling.

Missing out on a Chinese meal, because of all the talking, we had a Subway sandwich, of all things, for dinner and then headed to see the final set of a blues band.

We finished up the evening drinking wine and playing pool back at the house. 

Day 257 - Friday  23rd June 2006 - Sam's Account

Feeling rather hung-over from the night before I got up very late. Midday to be precise by which time I slunk guiltily into the kitchen for a cup of coffee. Everyone else in the house had been up since 7am.

We hang out at the shopping centre again and caught another movie, this time "Cars" by Pixar. It was a bit of fun and seriously lazy. Great!

Mike cooked a bar-b-q for dinner which was fantastic. We ate with all the kids and we had a really great evening chatting, laughing and joking, playing pool and listening to music. A fabulous evening.

Day 258 - Saturday  24th June 2006 - Colin's Account

After the farewells to Mike & his family we headed down to the Gold Coast. Our first stop was at a town called Surfers Paradise, honest! Is a very busy town, with long perfect beaches and, of course, lots of surfers. As we sat having lunch overlooking the sea, it was amusing to see people wearing just swimming costumes strolling down the streets with a surfboard tucked under one arm.

Ever onwards we headed for Byron Bay, a famous - infamous to some - town on the coast. Dynamic wouldn't be the most apt description, more like so laid back it's horizontal. Chock full of hippies and other assorted types, there were more than a few glazed eyes and a certain whiff in the air.

We watched a fabulous sunset on the beach as little groups around us played guitars, spun streamers around or just watched. One woman, about mid-thirties, was riding one of those little metal push scooters round and round in a circle for ages. She was wearing trainers, long red socks, a sort of green net for a skirt, a multi-coloured top and a pink woolly hat, cool man!!

Day 259 - Sunday  25th June 2006 - Sam's Account

We spent the morning in Byron Bay, the weather was glorious, so we decided to go on a 6km walk to at last stretch the legs. The course took in the coast line and the lighthouse all of which proved to be very beautiful. The incredible bonus was that we saw Humpback whales off of the coast. The walk takes you past the most Easterly point of Australia and looking out to sea we saw the water spurting out of blow holes, vast tail fins and the acrobatic back flips of the almighty Humpback whales. Quite simply, wow!

Having eventually returned to the campervan we decided to go to Bangalow where a large Sunday market was taking place. It was full of hippies, food and drink stalls, art in every shape and form, reflexologists and a live band dedicating their songs to the environmentally friendly Greens and Aborigines.

We ate a home made Aussie outback sausage, which was really good, as we sat on the bank watching the hippy band singing and playing. The art exhibition was worth a quick perusal even if some of the items were rather odd. For example a picture showing a washing line and clothes hung on it and then real knickers and socks nailed or stapled onto the painting too. Quite fun.

The rest of the day was spent in the campervan again travelling to Port Macquarie where we checked into a scenic campsite right on the river front.

Day 260 - Monday  26th June 2006 - Colin's Account

Leaving our luxury campsite, we headed down the road to a Koala Sanctuary, which also has Kangaroo's, Crocodiles, Emu's and a few of the deadliest snakes in the world, including the inland Taipan.

We fed the baby kangaroo's saw some very pretty ugly Cassowaries. The Koala's are amazingly cute, but rather stupid. Apparently their food doesn't deliver very much energy and as the brain takes a lot of energy their evolutionary solution was to have smaller brains.

We don't really know where to stay tonight, so decided on a village called Tea Gardens, named after a settler who tried to grow, yep you've guessed it, tea in his garden.  Right next to it is Hawkes Nest and there we found Jimmy's Campsite. Set just back from the beach it was a real throwback to the 60's and obviously hadn't been decorated since then. The walls in the shower and loo's were all brown and white tiles with ancient style cisterns and showers.

Don't get me wrong, it was all very clean and well looked after, just long overdue a makeover.

Prior to settling down for the evening we asked where there was a pub, to be told that a really nice place to go was the golf club. Turning up there a few minutes later we were granted an honorary membership for the evening and ushered in to the club. Hmm, The Celtic Manor it isn't. More like a factory canteen meets betting shop and after a quick beer we headed back to Jimmy's.

It's our last night in the campervan, possibly our last ever night in a campervan. Sydney at only 216km is beckoning and we can't wait to get back there.

Day 261 - Tuesday  27th June 2006 - Sam's Account

We drove to Sydney today from Tea Gardens and Hawks Nest. Thank god the driving is over. Colin took back the van whilst I settled us into our hotel. We decided to opt for a couple of nights of luxury again after the camper and checked into the Hotel Stellar.

The afternoon was spent organising the next leg of our journey. We need to obtain Indian visa's and book flights. Colin is spending a lot of time ensuring the girls arrive safely here in Thailand for the hols without a hitch. There is a lot to organise.

Day 262 - Wednesday  28th June 2006 - Colin's Account

I had the chance to see Botany Bay yesterday, the original penal colony, when I took the campervan back and it appears to be a fairly run down suburb of Sydney. My plan is to do nothing, especially not any driving and to that end after some travel organising, we walked around Sydney and later found a local bar which was showing the Wimbledon tennis. Quite happy with that I spent the afternoon watching and looking forward to leaving for Bangkok tomorrow where I will see my daughters in a few days time.

Sydney, by the way, is a fabulous city. Lively, fun, dynamic and interesting. I hope one day that we will come back here.

Day 263 - Thursday  29th June 2006 - Sam's Account

What a long day. We spent the morning taking our last walk around Sydney's harbour. The sun was out and this city is just as superb now as it as a few weeks ago. I'm sorry to leave Sydney and Oz, but I am really looking forward to Thailand again, seeing my little bro and Deyna and Danika for their hols. We are both like excited kids waiting for Christmas!

We left for the airport at 1.30pm and by 1am Thai time (4am Aussie time) we eventually walked into the D & D Inn on Koh San road to check in. Phew!

The highlight of today was watching the recent Pink Panther movie with Steve Martin and Jean Reno. I laughed my socks off and woke the whole Boeing 747 with screams of laughter, while wiping away tears from my eyes. If you haven't seen it and you like very basic slap stick humour you must see it.

The Australia journal is now finished and moves to the Thailand 2 journal

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