Queensland!

Friday 26th July

Drove out from Narrambi to Mt. Kaputar National Park see the Sawn Rocks. Which looked really cool. We hiked (walked over rocks. Not a real hike) upstream a bitand sat on some rocks for a while, letting our lilly white, delecate british skin get burnt in the winter sun.

Sawn Rocks

Carried on driving up the Newell Hwy after that, to Moree, where we spent a relaxing few hours at the Artesian Hot Baths, which helped the muscle ache and burnt skin. Barbaras legs really cant cope with the strain of pulling her bum up a mountain it seems. Shes still complaining.

Saturday 27th
Went straight up to Goonwindie, right on the border of Queensland and NSW, had lunch ad buggered straight off to St.George, stopping off at the Nindigully pub, a bush pub where they filmed some paperback thing with Hugh Jackman a few years ago. Pub was awesome, full of cool stuff and nice beer. Carried on up to Surat, where we stayed at a free campsite and made friends with some more elderly ozzies with massive caravans. These things arelike mobile palaces, for reals.

Sunday 28th
On the Carnavorn Highway, stopped at a town called Roma at middayish, we're relaxing here for a while then plan to getup early tomorrow and drive up to the Carnavorn Gorge for some more touristing. We were going to camp up there but its $46 for a patch of grass to park on so screw that. We're spending this afternoon catching up on relaxing and napping.

The Newell Highway

Thursday 25th July

Yesterday we woke up next to a main road after a bad nights sleep next to a refridgerated lorry. Lesson learned; no more highway lay-bys. We stopped off at the Parkes radio telescope (theres a film about it called The Dish) and got some awesome pictures of it in the fog. We then carried on up the newell highway through Peak Hill and Dubbo, and spent last night in a campsite at the Warrumbungle National park; where barbara spent at least 45mins trying to light a fire while i cooked some amazing chicken and rice.

We woke up pretty early (like - 8.30) and then went for a hike - a few hours all the way to the top of a split peak. Barbara only complained a little bit, but stopped after we passed two couples who were over the age of 50 on the same trail. Awesome views, ill put some pictures on facebook. We left after midday and drove up our first unsealed road in the van (a little bumpy,nothing horrendous) to Pillaga, where we chilled out in a natural heated spring pool with some more elderly people. (We are defnitely on the retirement holiday route through Australia.) We're now stopped for the night at a campsite in Narrabri, where we can (finally) shower and do some laundry, and get rid of the rotten egg smell from the hot spring.

new south wales

23rd July.

Change of plan. Theres no work to be found and the weather is shit. It's like camping in the north of england during a particularly shitty Easter holiday. I have a delightful cold that is preventing me from sleeping well, and Barbara has to cope withe me snoring and drooling and sneezing and snorting my way through Oz.
She still loves me though. I checked.

We decided to skip the farm areas and just get to Townsville/Cairns, where we will use our feminine wiles and land a couple of bar jobs. Or threaten people until they employ us.

But depite the above complaints, we are still having a really good time. I love the long roads; the scenery keeps changing, wild animals over the place and really pretty birds. Also the occasional weird sight and odd town that we have taken pictures of. The long roads give me and babs the chance to have deep and meaningful conversations; like how our vegetable diet has mutually affected our gastrointestinal system. Sharing is caring...

leaving adelaide

21st July

Our last night in Adelaide was spent dancing with our awesome couchsurfing hosts in a tiny underground nightclub that was full of hipsters who were the worst dancers ive ever seen (we felt right at home). We eventually got on the road on Saturday around half 12, and did a solid 6hr drive all the way out of the state to Broken Hill in New South Wales.

This morning we did a load of touristy things ('big bench', mining memorial, living desert, rock sculptures) and went out to Silverton, a really weird little ghost town where theyfilmed Mad Max 2. There was a look out point where you could see the curvature of the earth. Pretty cool, if a little bleak. We're now back on the road, heading down to Mildurawhich sits on the River Murray, so hopefully there might be some citrus fruit picking work.

koalas LOVE eucalyptus

Couchsurfing update; new hosts are not psychopaths! Hooray! They are actually super cool and we are getting along really well. They cooked vegan curry for us on the first night and we managed to return the favour with a vegan lasagne which blew their minds. We've also met some more locals who are awesome.

So here are some specifics about Adelaide for anyone who plans to visit. In winter.

Places to go....
Central Market in chinatown - Awesome. Huge. Lots of fresh fruit and veg thats pretty cheap, loads of places to get really nice food, and plenty of stuff to look at.

Henley Beach; Its pretty. You might see some seagulls fighting pelicans.

Pier at Henley Beach

 

 

Barossa Valley; Bit of a drive out, but its where ALL OF THE WINE is from. And they let you taste it for free.

Grove Wildlife Park; Great drive out, you wind your way through a load of pretty scenery and its beautiful. $15 to get in and theres a load of animals and koalas waiting to be hugged.

Fluerieu peninsula; Rapid Bay and Victor Harbour are really nice, you can camp on the beach for $6 and do some whale watching. If you have time and money you can get a ferry to Kangaroo Island. We didnt bother.

Campsite. Beach. One and the same.

 

 

Bars and stuff;
Adelaidians are pretty serious about having good food and drink. The city is full of nice places to eat that are relatively inexpensive (and plenty of places that are really expensive). The Deli, opposite The Wheatsheaf Hotel has the best pizza I have ever consumed, and the Wheatsheaf itself is an awesome place for a drink - lots of beers and a super nice atmosphere. There are loads of thai and chinese places throughout the city, and also burrito vans that make tasty food too. For cheap beers, The Crown and Anchor (Cranchor) is the best with $2 beers. Yum.

Speaking of beer, there is no Fosters.

So we are now making plans to travel north. We want to skip right past Victoria, and go through New South Wales looking for farm jobs and visiting places that are inland, away from the coast. We will take our time going up to Cairns, then once we've earned some more cash up there working for a while; drive all the way back down the east coast in the summer season and go to all the amazing beaches and learn to surf, come back to the south, sell the van, then go to either New Zealand or Perth. Thats the plan anyway.

I joined the RAA

The van is called Doris. Its now fully loaded (courtesy of K-mart) and we are in the middle of a camping trip to the Fleurieu Peninsula. Last night we were at Rapid Bay, at a no frills campsite that was basically on the beach; and tonight we are at Victor Harbor, in a fancier campsite with hot water, showers, wifi and loads of other stuff. We are mostly surrounded by families and and old people, we have yet to meet any other backpackers. Apparently they all head to Alice Springs around this time of year.

Australians are so cute in the 'winter'. Today they were walking around in coats and scarves while Barbara and I were sat on a terrace in the sunshine probably getting sunburn. We went looking for Whales today from the top of the Bluff (Rosetta Head) but couldnt see any. We did get a great view of the bay and Granite Island though, there might be some pictures on fb at some point. We also had our first Aussie BBQ, consisting of chicken and an alarming amount of vegetables.

still jet-lagged. need sleep.

After a rocky start yesterday with lack of sleep and a breakfast that reallyonly consisted of meat we headed out to the city on Monday. We went around a load of hostels looking on their notice boards for vans, then we ended up going to The Campervan Man and fell in love with a Toyota Hiace that looks as though it has a fairly good chance of coping with travelling to Cairns and back. It doesnt have a ton of camping gear like some of the ones other backpackers are selling, but its been checked by a mechanic we can trust (hes also supercute and reminds Barbara of Maarten her pet boy who fixes her car back home). We got the price down from 5500 to 5000, and we're going back today to pick it up and sort out the registration papers etc.

So its been pretty busy! Adelaide is a nice city, actual centre part is quite small, but the suburbs are fucking immense because everyone has a huge amount ofland around their houses. We're looking forward to seeing a bit more of the surrounding areas once we get more mobile, like the beaches and mountains and pretty shit like that. Also, wineries.

Things we have learned so far #1

Tea quality varies greatly from place to place.

It turns out that a shitty cup of tea combined with a 12hr flight and a 5hr wait in a sub tropical airport makes me a bit grumpy.

Sorry Barbara.

In other news, MalaysiaAirlines LOVE their fish based snacks, and the processed dried fish fillet strips that Babs dared me to eat was surprisingly good; a combination of crab sticks and shoe insoles (mmm my favourite).

We made a new friend on the flight, (Amir from Cardiff) who was lovely, but in true british style we only started talking to him about 30mins before landing so it was a brief, albeit beautiful friendship.

Next flight is in 2hrs. Then we meet our new friend Bob!

the weigh-in

3 days to go

We've finally had a go at packing our bags. Barbara's is still twice the height and weight of mine, but is still insisting that everything is fine and knows that I will NOT be carrying any of her stuff when she eventually collapses, sweating, in a puddle of belgian flesh outside some rural bus station with no hostel in sight.

The house is mostly packed now, the only thing im really nervous about is getting to Heathrow on time, making sure I havent forgotten anything VITALLY IMPORTANT, hoping my money has transferred ok, whether or not we'll be murdered in our sleep... so everything really.

I'll try to keep this updated on the regular, but who knows how that will end.

Sam