Christmas Week in Sydney

Our extended sojourn in Byron Bay left us a little short of time when it came to driving down to Sydney and we decided we sadly didn't really have time to detour via the Blue Mountains. We decided instead to drive through Hunter Valley (wine country) as it was practically on the way.

Arriving in town around 11am we called into the tourist information office at Cessnock, in the heart of wine country, and twenty minutes later we had parked up the van in a campsite and departed on a wine tasting tour - so we certainly made the most of our last day before Sydney!

The tour called at five different vineyards (out of a total of 140 in the area) and we did wine tastings at all of them. That left us a little bit tipsy by the end of the day so we were glad not to have to do any of the driving.
We discovered the delights of a nice oaked, buttery Chardonnay and learned that the best Australian Shiraz (as we know and love it) is produced in southern Australia, where it's cooler, as opposed to the Hunter Valley.

We were met in Sydney by glorious sunshine, which would remain until we left Australia - some fine weather at last! Glad to be dropping off the camper van and checking into our swanky hotel, our arrival in Sydney was a happy one. The drive down through the city was tough though, somewhat similar to driving in London, with three lanes of traffic, one-way systems and a generally fast pace, making navigating and driving a bit of a challenge, but we got there in the end.

After checking in to the hotel we set out on a walk around Sydney taking in the famous Harbour Bridge and Opera House as the sun set. It was every bit as stunning as I imagined and very exciting to be in Sydney at last! After a stroll up through the 'The Rocks' we stopped for a couple of pints of particularly fine pale ale in the Lord Nelson and had a spot of dinner.

On day two Kev was booked into a recording studio to record some strings parts for his latest project, so I took the opportunity to do some shopping for Christmas presents and a bit more of a wander around the city, visiting Paddy's Markets and Darling Harbour, plus a swim in the pool.

With the weather still stunning (despite the rain forecast) we made for the beach and did the pretty coastal walk between Bondi Beach and Bronte Beach, stopping for swims along the way. Then we took the ferry out to Manly the following day, affording us amazing views across Sydney Harbour. At Manly we spent some time at the beach before getting some delicious fish and chips whilst watching the sun go down.

On Christmas day we first celebrated our first summer Christmas with a dip in the pool on the roof of the hotel and a bottle of nice Chardonnay over lunch, that with picked up in the Hunter Valley. It was very odd not having a family do to go to, and odder still not celebrating with roast turkey and all the trimmings. Instead we enjoyed a cold buffet lunch, followed by a Chinese in China Town in the evening, as it was the only place open for dinner! It was lovely, however, to catch up with the family on the phone in the evening, making us feel a little bit closer than the other side of the world.

So tomorrow we're off to New Zealand - and once again I can't believe it's come around so soon! Still, we're looking forward to the change of scenery (and the delicious New Zealand wine, of course!)

Speak to you all soon, hopefully.

Love, Sarah & Kev xx

Brisbane and Byron Bay

We arrived in Brisbane in the blistering sunshine, not a cloud to be seen in the blue sky and headed straight into the city centre on the scenic route by catching a ferry along the river. Alighting at the South Bank we stopped for a swim in the open air pool, followed by lunch and a cold glass of wine in a pub.
Still not fully convinced that we had outrun the weather, despite today's heatwave (and with storms forecast for the whole of Queensland for the following day) we strolled along the riverside through the market stalls and paid a brief visit to the Gallery of Modern Art, which was unfortunately between exhibitions.

We then met up with my former housemate, Stacey and spent a couple of days with her at her apartment in Brisbane, enjoying good company, nice food a few beers and (when the rain eventually came) an afternoon at the cinema.

The next stop on our itinerary was Byron Bay, which we instantly fell in love with. It's a pretty small town with some fantastic beaches and a thriving arts scene, populated mostly by hippies, artists and backpackers. Our first day was another of glorious sunshine, so we headed straight for the beach for a couple of hours. The sea had some lovely surf, though the temperature feels somewhat more refreshing after spending so much time in the tropics. Still, it was perfect for cooling off and a real relief from the hot sun.

I was very excited to learn that Byron Bay has its very own circus school, offering amongst other things flying trapeze lessons to the general public, so I immediately booked in for a couple of classes. I also did my first ever catch! - I'll try and upload the videos at some point. It's great to be back in the swing of things (pun intended) as my circus classes are one of the things I've missed most about London.

On our second night in Byron Bay I spilled beer all over Kev's laptop keyboard, accidentally of course, but it meant we had to stay on a couple of extra days to try and get it fixed - and lucky for us we couldn't really have picked a nicer area to be stuck in. Fortunately for us both it was just a case of replacing the keyboard and not writing off the cost of the whole computer and all of its expensive music software, or I might have been coming home sooner than intended!

After a relaxing five days and nights and much delicious homemade ice cream we hit the road again bound for Sydney. We'll make a few stops along the way at Coffs Harbour and Port Macquarie as we travel down the coast.

Since entering New South Wales state there has been a definite improvement in the weather but there still seems to be a lot of rain about. There have been some predictions already of a wet Christmas so we're hoping to prove them wrong!

Speak to you all soon,
Sarah & Kev xx

Great Keppel Island and Fraser Island

Well time really is flying - I can't believe it's December already. It's really odd being in a hot country at this time of year, seeing Christmas trees and hearing Christmas music in shopping malls doesn't feel remotely festive! I actually feel a bit jealous of all this snow that's been falling over in the UK, though I certainly don't miss feeling cold.
The weather here has been consistently hot, but also persistently rainy - and the weather I mentioned in the last blog post hasn't let up. It's such a shame as the rain really doesn't do justice to the beautiful beaches we have been passing on our way.

For Kev's birthday we caught the ferry out to the stunning Great Keppel Island and spent a night there, where we stayed in a safari style tent. The rain even held off until the evening, giving us a beautiful sunny day on the beach. Unfortunately we discovered a hole in the roof of our tent and we woke up with wet feet (though fortunately the rain wasn't dripping on our heads in the night!)

Whilst camping in the van and waking up early, we've got to know some of the local bird calls: the screaming curlews and the laughing kookaburras. We also saw a pelican on the beach in Yeppoon, which was absolutely enormous. There are funny big birds with curly beaks that look a bit like skeksis from the dark crystal! Once again our interest in ornithology has caught us by surprise! Ha ha.

In a bid to escape the rain we decided to head as far south as possible, as the rain will surely diminish once we leave the tropics. Our next stop was Hervey Bay - and yes, the sun came out! We hired bikes and enjoyed a leisurely 14km cycle ride along the bay, stopping along the way to swim, which we can now do safely and without the threat of the box jellyfish as the water is too cold for them.

From Hervey Bay we went on a two day tour to wild Fraser Island and had a fantastic time. We not only had no rain, but two days of sunshine (according to our guide: something Fraser Island hasn't seen in weeks!)
On arrival we boarded a four wheel drive bus and our guide took us out to see the famous sights that Fraser Island has to offer, including the swimming in the stunning clear turquoise waters of lake Mackenzie and the fizzing 'Champagne Pools', a natural jacuzzi created by the waves crashing over the rocks and bubbling into the rockpools on the shore. We also had great fun leaping off sand dunes and walking through the rainforest, taking in the Moheno shipwreck on 'Seventy Five Mile Beach' and watching the turtles and dolphins from the clifftop lookout at 'Indian Head'.

We enjoyed cocktails on the beach as the sun set and kept our eyes peeled for dingoes but we didn't see one, which was a bit disappointing, but I suppose they're only wild dogs so we didn't miss much really!

The beaches on Fraser Island are absolutely stunning - and the closest we've come to finding any that rival Cornwall's beaches. Look out for photos on the blog soon and see if you agree!

Well it's back on the road for us, next stop Brisbane and the Gold Coast.

Sarah and Kev xx

A funny song about Australia...

'Come to Austraia' by 'The Scared Weird Little Guys'

Our tour guide in Fraser Island played us this tune on the bus - have a listen, it really tickled us!

The Gili Islands Photos

Campervan Adventures

We finally picked up our campervan in Cairns and ventured tentatively out on to the highway... Fortunately for us the Australians drive on the same side of the road as we do in the UK, which makes life easier - the only main difference in a car being that the lever for the indicators is where the lever for the windscreen wipers is - and vice versa. We got used to this remarkably quickly, however and found driving relatively straight forward. The roads are wide, long and straight (well, until we got up north towards Cape Tribulation anyway) and even when twisty there's enough room for two cars to pass comfortably.

The campervan is well equipped with everything we might need (fridge, gas stove, water tank, cooking utensils and bedding*) but is really, really small. It's quite a challenge fitting us and all our stuff inside, but it was the cheapest option so it suits us fine given the current economic conditions.

Out on the open road, north of Cairns, we started noticing the road signs, warning us about kangaroos, cassowarras, emus - and then there are the cane toads, literally hundreds of them sat in the middle of the road as we drove along. It's impossible not to squash them, but apparently they are a bit if a nuisance and even get culled on a regular basis, so we didn't feel so bad as we ran over them!
We have also seen lots of roadsigns telling us, 'don't spread electric ants'! We have no idea what this is supposed to mean - and I certainly hope we don't encounter any if these 'electric ants', let alone spread them!

Camping - even in a van, as opposed to a tent - does make you that little bit closer to nature and with that comes a realisation that, 'yes we are in Australia - and there are a lot of poisonous things here (that can kill you)!' In the campsite toilets at Noah Beach, near Cape Tribulation there were so many spiders I'd actually rather not go to the toilet - holding it in or finding a quiet spot out in the open is far preferable. It would be bad enough back home where the spiders don't bite, but as far as I'm concerned here a quick loo break could end in hospital!

After spending one night up towards Cape Tribulation the weather took a turn for the worse. Three days and nights of heavy rain later and the roads had flooded and we were unable to leave. With nothing to do but find a campsite and wait for the torrential rain to stop, we hoped we wouldn't be delayed too long. I don't think I've seen rain like it before - so heavy and persistent, and just when you think it's stopped and can't possibly rain anymore, down it comes again! Even in a van (as opposed to a tent) everything seems to get wet when it rains - that is certainly true of camping on the whole, so we're looking forward to moving on down the coast and out of the area appropriately dubbed 'the wet tropics'.

We picked up a copy of a brilliant book (which would become our bible) detailing all the free camping and rest areas in Australia, so we haven't constantly got to pay for campsites. Some maybe little more than a glorified hard shoulder on the side of the motorway, but there are some lovely spots too, right on the beach with showers, barbecue areas and running water, so they're worth seeking out.

After a week in the van we caught the ferry out to Magnetic Island and treated ourselves to a night in a hostel and a meal out - a welcome relief after sleeping and cooking in the van, I can assure you! The beaches on Magnetic Island are lovely: golden sand and turquoise water. However if you heed the warnings about jellyfish (a risk even when enclosures with 'stinger nets' have been rigged up) then swimming doesn't seem like such an attractive option. I think we're going to give swimming in the sea a miss until we're a bit further down the coast and the risk is no longer there!

We also made a visit inland and up to the mountainous Eungella, in the clouds. This national park is rainforest and home to the platypus - we were lucky enough to see a couple of them too.

We also saw our first kangaroos this week - a gathering (sorry, I don't know the collective noun) of nine or ten of them at the side of the road - much bigger than I expected too. As we approached with the camera they looked up at us inquisitively and watched without moving until they realised we weren't a threat. Once established they hopped off about their business.
We've been advised not to drive at night as our hoppy, marsupial friends aren't the brightest bunch and like to bounce across the roads infront of cars - we've certainly seen more dead kangaroos on the side of the road than we have live ones! More worrying is the damage they would do to the van, so we're sticking to driving during daylight hours only.

A week on and driving further still down the east coast the rain is still really persistent - locals are saying it's the wettest it's been in years and it's not even wet season yet! We're hoping it brightens up when we get out of the tropics, through Queensland and into New South Wales. Fingers crossed, as camping in the rain is a pretty miserable affair, wherever you are in the world!

So our journey continues down towards Rockhampton and then on to Brisbane in a week or so. I'll blog again then.

Love,
Sarah and Kev xx

*On a completely unrelated and somewhat random note, in supermarkets the section with the bed linen and towels is entitled 'Manchester' - not sure why it's called this but it tickled me, hence its inclusion in the blog!

Diving the Great Barrier Reef

Shortly after arriving in Cairns we trawled the various tourist information and travel booking offices in pursuit of the best diving package on the Great Barrier Reef - something within our budget whilst still being run by a reputable company and looking to be the most fun!
When we dived in Gili our dive master warned us not to dive the reefs closest to Cairns on a day trip as they've already been somewhat damaged by the volume of tourists snorkeling and diving the site - from where they've accidentally kicked the coral with their fins. In the end we settled on a two day/one night trip, living aboard a sailing boat and with five dives included in the price - so if I have any remaining fear of scuba diving, it's sure to be gone by the end of the trip!

The night before our diving trip, however, we ended up in the local Irish pub - which was both a blessing and a curse:
It was fortunate we spent the evening there as we realised our clocks were half an hour slow (due to there being a time difference between Darwin and Cairns that we didn't know about). It was as we queued at the bar to take advantage of the buy-one-get-one-free offer that the barmaids told us that happy hour was over. We checked the time and no, it was definitely still happy hour according to our watches, so we asked other patrons sat at the bar what time they made it - and then made fools of ourselves when we discovered that we were indeed wrong. Still, if we hadn't found out the correct time we would have missed the dive boat the following morning!

The downside however was the inevitable hangover that we accrued from socialising in the bar all evening. When you do your dive training you are told that alcohol is a BAD THING (this is however is a paradox as all the divers I've met love a good drink. In fact, after our first day's diving the Great Barrier Reef our dive master cracked open a can of beer and then started on a bottle of rum, which incidentally was half empty the following morning!)

Getting up at 6am to climb aboard a boat to embark upon a three hour journey and then do three dives certainly wasn't what we fancied doing when we awoke the following morning, but we threw ourselves into it, determined to enjoy ourselves. On board the boat we took to our bunks when the motion of the boat threatened to make us seasick. It was too late for poor Kev though, who was also still suffering from an upset stomach from a few days previously and who threw up before making it to the first dive site. We did manage to complete and enjoy the three dives though, so it all worked out ok in the end.

The diving conditions were not great, sadly. Day one was largely overcast and rainy - not necessarily a problem when you're underwater, but the visibility was also poor. Our dive master said it was the worst diving he's experienced on the Great Barrier Reef in all the years he's been doing his job - what a shame!
By our final dive of day one visibility was down to just five metres - the lack of sunshine didn't help, but this was mostly due to the coral 'spores' getting ready to 'reproduce' so the water was really murky. We saw some amazing coral though, along with a stingray, clown fish, giant clams and sea cucumbers (which our dive master picked up and gave to us to hold!) I can only imagine how amazing the reef would look with a bit of sunshine and 25m+ visibility!

We also hired a digital underwater camera to document some of our dives but the majority of the pictures we took look like the kind of photos you get when you give a five year old child it's first camera! The murky conditions didn't help much either but we did manage to get a few good shots of each other in the water - look out for them on the blog soon!

By day two Kev was fully recovered and up bright and early, ready for our pre-breakfast dive. Conditions had improved quite a bit since the previous day and visibility underwater was up to 20 metres, though it was still a bit murky.Back on board we enjoyed breakfast in the sunshine up on deck before taking the plunge one final time before the three hour journey back to Cairns.

I have to admit that in terms of marine fauna, we saw a lot more in Borneo, but the coral in the Great Barrier Reef is truely spectacular and like nothing I have seen before (albeit in my limit experience of diving). Some of the other guys on the boat reported having seen a reef shark but I'm not sure if I'm disappointed or glad we didn't encounter that under the water! We did, however, see an enormous trigger fish (which can be really territorial and agressive), so that was pretty exciting for us.

The next chapter of our trip begins with us picking up our camper van and starting our massive 2000 km drive from Cairns to Sydney. We have five weeks to do it in though so we can be really leisurely and do plenty of sightseeing along the way.

I'll blog again soon when there's more to report.

Sarah & Kev xx