Sunday 22nd
Today has been fairly lazy due to the fact it is boiling hot and super humid. We took a stroll up to macdonalds to do some online job/flight research as we still have yet to decide whether to head to NZ or Perth or both before flying home. After a frustrating hour of poor connection and shitty ice cream we walked back and had a long chat with Darren the manager of the park which ended up with some free ice pops, a list of the local hotels, bars, and who runs them, and an offer of free rent at the campsite in exchange for doing a bit of gardening every day. A successful conversation! I've found that with aussies, once you get them chatting it can be hours before they can be stopped. Its awesome.
Monday 23rd
Today we found jobs! Got up early (for us. It was more like 8.45) to go into town and follow Darrens advice to look for work in the hotels and bars in town. Turns out they are not at all busy or only open at 10am, so we ended up at the library looking on Gumtree for jobs. Great shout as it turns out - after about 5 emails to various people we got a reply from a vinyard that is handily located between Sydney and Tamworth (which is where we will be rocking out with The Hillbilly Goats for 11 days woohoo!)
We are now relaxing in the kitchen, joined by some serious germans who have just cooked themselves a delicious meal of rice, fried ham and fried bananas. Mmmm?
Christmas Day!
We had a roast! In a tiny oven! And it rained all day, it felt just like home. Don't be fooled by those pictures of people having fun on bondi beach, because it was raining there, too.
It was nice to Skype our families today though, even if Dad did tell my my hair looked like a train crash. cheers.
26th
It's boxing day!
What does Baba want to do when we have not much money? Why, go to the nearest large shopping centre for the sales, of course!
We did stop off at the beach near Woollongong to make a sandsnowman though.
And a bar/brewery to have some beer of course, so my day was not a complete bust.
27th, 28th
We have mostly been hanging around the campsite, trimming bushes occasionally and also going down to the library to take advantage of the wifi that they leave switched on 24/7.
We have made big plans for new years (watch the fireworks, go to a party on NYD) so we are just realaxing right now, as we go north straight after that to pick grapes and then be professional roadies for the one and only Hillbilly Goats, then who knows what will happen after that. The end of January is where our plans have come to a grinding halt. Something will probably come up..
Monday, 30 December 2013
Saturday, 28 December 2013
Sydney!
Sunday 15th
Sydney Baby!
After parking the van outside the train station in Campbelltown we got the train into the city, where we immediately found the closest tourist info stand and loaded up on maps, before walking to the hotel Annie was staying at (and, most kindly, letting us also crash in). We then walked around a bit (ie; we immediately went in search of the gay quarter) and found an awesome bar called the Beresford Hotel, where we started drinking and didnt stop until rather late. I dont remember what time we got back to the hotel, or any of the journey. Needless to say, we all felt rather delicate the next morning
Monday 16th
More of Sydney! Today we decided to do the tourist thing, and went to the Barracks Museum, Botanical Gardens, the Opera House and looked at the Sydney Harbour Bridge.
We also met up with some friends of Annie who forced us to go out drinking again... hard life we lead.
Tuesday 17th
Faffed in the morning, finally left the hotel for breakfast around 1030, then walked up to the ferry to Manly (where a shark was spotted about 3 days after we were there. eek!). Got a great view of the opera house and harbour bridge before reaching our destination, where we immediately headed for the nicest beach and caught some rays for the next hour or so, then met up with an old friend (The Lady, The Legend, Ella Kenny) who Annie and I (mostly Annie; my time spent playing at county level was limited) played hockey with about 10 years ago which meant we spent about 4 hours talking about hockey (much to barbaras delight). We stayed in Manly till about midnight then took the ferry back to circular harbour; going past the opera house and the bridge all lit up and pretty; got some excellent pictures which will eventually be posted on FB.
Wednesday 18th
Today was supposed to be alcohol free. That lasted until about 2pm, when we went to Ella's place of work to say hi (The Bavarian Bier Cafe) where she shouted us a couple of free drinks which was super nice of her! We also spent a large portion of our time staring at the very attractive and muscular Argentinian man working at the bar we were sat at. We've found that Sydney is just full of very good looking people. We obviously felt right at home.
We went back to the hotel after that to get ready for a trip to Newtown; this is where we ended up drinking a lot more beer (happy hour!), meeting some lovely people, watching some serious jelly wrestling and then barbara seemed to be suddenly very tired* and we had to escort her home. The Zanzibar club was pretty amazing. The bars and clubs in this place are all so so much better than Ipswich.
*drunk
Thursday 19th
With Annies time here coming to an end, it was up to her what we did today,and she chose to spend most of it at Darling Harbour, chilling out in the sun, chatting about everything and watching life go past.
Annie had booked a hotel near the airport so it would be easier the next day. We had to get a taxi to get there, and it ended up being the weirdest taxi ride I have ever taken. It started off pretty normal, until we got into a tunnel and the driver asked annie to hold her phone for her and dial some numbers then started making weird phonecalls to the Fiji police about how her sister-in-law had murdered her nephew. After 20mins of that she turned into a normal taxi driver again and told Annie that the hotel she had booked into was awful. Brilliant.
Turns out the room wasnt so bad, if you dont mind having no separate bathroom and a toilet and shower within touching distance from the bed. We immediately got ready to go out and took a train back into the city.
That evening we followed advice given to us by Ella and found some nice bars to have a few drinks in. We ended up going down creepy alleys and through unmarked doors down into a cellar where we found an awesome bar called Baxters, and on the other side of the block The Barber Shop which is an actual barber shop by day and pub by night. It was interesting enough to not be all the way pretentious, and they sold actual Aspall Cyder, from actual Suffolk. Awesome!
Friday 20th
Annies last day! :(
Tearful goodbyes etc.
We took the train back to Campbelltown and went to the nearest library to commence the jobsearch...
...a few hours later...
*ringring*
"Hello?"
"Hi, its Annie. Um. I havent left yet. I'm actually in the hospital?"
One dodgy sandwich and 6 hours later, Annie is still in Sydney, now in a fancy pants hotel paid for by the airline and a flight rescheduled for the next day. So she called one of the new friends she made when we went out on thursday night.
What happened in the next 24 hours is an adventure that you should really ask Annie about, but needless to say, her last day in Australia sounds like it shaped up quite well.
The next day she finally got on a plane. We had a fantastic 3 weeks together, and though good times always come to an end, it will live on in our memories... and more importantly, on facebook.
Sydney Baby!
After parking the van outside the train station in Campbelltown we got the train into the city, where we immediately found the closest tourist info stand and loaded up on maps, before walking to the hotel Annie was staying at (and, most kindly, letting us also crash in). We then walked around a bit (ie; we immediately went in search of the gay quarter) and found an awesome bar called the Beresford Hotel, where we started drinking and didnt stop until rather late. I dont remember what time we got back to the hotel, or any of the journey. Needless to say, we all felt rather delicate the next morning
Monday 16th
More of Sydney! Today we decided to do the tourist thing, and went to the Barracks Museum, Botanical Gardens, the Opera House and looked at the Sydney Harbour Bridge.
We also met up with some friends of Annie who forced us to go out drinking again... hard life we lead.
Tuesday 17th
Faffed in the morning, finally left the hotel for breakfast around 1030, then walked up to the ferry to Manly (where a shark was spotted about 3 days after we were there. eek!). Got a great view of the opera house and harbour bridge before reaching our destination, where we immediately headed for the nicest beach and caught some rays for the next hour or so, then met up with an old friend (The Lady, The Legend, Ella Kenny) who Annie and I (mostly Annie; my time spent playing at county level was limited) played hockey with about 10 years ago which meant we spent about 4 hours talking about hockey (much to barbaras delight). We stayed in Manly till about midnight then took the ferry back to circular harbour; going past the opera house and the bridge all lit up and pretty; got some excellent pictures which will eventually be posted on FB.
Wednesday 18th
Today was supposed to be alcohol free. That lasted until about 2pm, when we went to Ella's place of work to say hi (The Bavarian Bier Cafe) where she shouted us a couple of free drinks which was super nice of her! We also spent a large portion of our time staring at the very attractive and muscular Argentinian man working at the bar we were sat at. We've found that Sydney is just full of very good looking people. We obviously felt right at home.
We went back to the hotel after that to get ready for a trip to Newtown; this is where we ended up drinking a lot more beer (happy hour!), meeting some lovely people, watching some serious jelly wrestling and then barbara seemed to be suddenly very tired* and we had to escort her home. The Zanzibar club was pretty amazing. The bars and clubs in this place are all so so much better than Ipswich.
*drunk
Thursday 19th
With Annies time here coming to an end, it was up to her what we did today,and she chose to spend most of it at Darling Harbour, chilling out in the sun, chatting about everything and watching life go past.
Annie had booked a hotel near the airport so it would be easier the next day. We had to get a taxi to get there, and it ended up being the weirdest taxi ride I have ever taken. It started off pretty normal, until we got into a tunnel and the driver asked annie to hold her phone for her and dial some numbers then started making weird phonecalls to the Fiji police about how her sister-in-law had murdered her nephew. After 20mins of that she turned into a normal taxi driver again and told Annie that the hotel she had booked into was awful. Brilliant.
Turns out the room wasnt so bad, if you dont mind having no separate bathroom and a toilet and shower within touching distance from the bed. We immediately got ready to go out and took a train back into the city.
That evening we followed advice given to us by Ella and found some nice bars to have a few drinks in. We ended up going down creepy alleys and through unmarked doors down into a cellar where we found an awesome bar called Baxters, and on the other side of the block The Barber Shop which is an actual barber shop by day and pub by night. It was interesting enough to not be all the way pretentious, and they sold actual Aspall Cyder, from actual Suffolk. Awesome!
Friday 20th
Annies last day! :(
Tearful goodbyes etc.
We took the train back to Campbelltown and went to the nearest library to commence the jobsearch...
...a few hours later...
*ringring*
"Hello?"
"Hi, its Annie. Um. I havent left yet. I'm actually in the hospital?"
One dodgy sandwich and 6 hours later, Annie is still in Sydney, now in a fancy pants hotel paid for by the airline and a flight rescheduled for the next day. So she called one of the new friends she made when we went out on thursday night.
What happened in the next 24 hours is an adventure that you should really ask Annie about, but needless to say, her last day in Australia sounds like it shaped up quite well.
The next day she finally got on a plane. We had a fantastic 3 weeks together, and though good times always come to an end, it will live on in our memories... and more importantly, on facebook.
Sunday, 22 December 2013
New South Wales Coast!
I've terrible blogger for the last couple of weeks, please accept my apologies! Its probably a good thing we are halfway through now, just another 6 months to go, it seems to have gone by so bloody quickly. So my last update appears to be Byron Bay, which is all the way up at the top of NSW... right now I'm in Camden, a small town just south of Sydney, so I have a lot of catching up to do. We'll do it in stages - byron to Newcastle first... I'm sure you have better things to do than read about our travels in this stupidly hot country.
Tuesday 10th
We had planned to take a detour off the main coastal route to drive along The Waterfall Way, but after a closer look at the map we realised a 6hr detour for a couple of waterfalls and big hills might not be worth it, so we stayed the night near a golf course in Urunga. We were then rudely awoken in the morning by a ranger who told us to move, as we were camping in a no camping area.
Driving to Port Macquarie, too late to go to zoo so we stayed at campsite. Pretty shitty day, mostly it rained.
Wednesday 11th
Billabong Zoo in Port Macquarie!
Stroked a koala, fed kangaroos and wallabies, saw snakes, wombats, meercats, snow leopard, red panda, lots of birds and a couple of spider monkeys. Barbara LOVED IT. We also saw an enourmous Estuarine Crocodile which looked large enough to eat a person whole. It had very big teeth.
Thursday 12th
Nelson Bay!
Sand Dunes! Lakes! Views! Home of the largest moving sand dunes in the southern Hemisphere! We considered going sandboarding, but it was decided that we'd had enough of sand, and inviting it into even more of our clothing would be uncomfortable to say the least. We did climb up to a lighthouse to get some exercise and admire the spectacular views though.
Friday 13th
Went to Newcastle!
Newcastle is a bit bigger than all the other towns we've been stopping at along the way, and its actually nice towalk around and has the added bonusof a nice beach.
There is a fairly old pool next to the sea that was made in the 40's or something, a bit like Broomhill in Ipswich, except its bigger, full of seawater, has a dramatic view of sea bashing against the nearby rocks and sandy beaches, and its full of fit young australians. So really, its nothing like Broomhill.
Watched some people getting ready for the ironman/woman competition the next day. We were interested purely for scientific and professional reasons of course.
After a few hours of science based people observation, we went back to the campsite in Stockton to get ready before hitching a ride on the ferry backto the City for a night out in a place that actually has a gay club! Unfortunately Friday is not a busy night in the city of Newcastle but we still had a good time - Barbara and Annie tried a number of interesting dance moves that ended up on the floor, and we somehow didnt get kicked out after they nearly took out a number of bystanders. (this was entirely the fault ofsome slightly pervy men who insisted on trying to get us to do the 'dirty dancing lift' repeatedly, with varying degrees of success) A fairly good night!
Saturday 14th
This morning, annie learned how to put the tent away without help! And on a hangover! We all felt pretty awful this morning so it was a quiet drive down to Sydney. We are currently staying at a campsite on the southern side of the city, as the sites in the actual city are super expensive. Its only a $6 train ride into the city from here so much easier than wrestling the van through the busy streets of Sydney and then paying $40 for parking all day.
Sydney is pretty amazing, I'll finish writing all about it in a couple of days and post it later on.
Peace out!
Tuesday 10th
We had planned to take a detour off the main coastal route to drive along The Waterfall Way, but after a closer look at the map we realised a 6hr detour for a couple of waterfalls and big hills might not be worth it, so we stayed the night near a golf course in Urunga. We were then rudely awoken in the morning by a ranger who told us to move, as we were camping in a no camping area.
Driving to Port Macquarie, too late to go to zoo so we stayed at campsite. Pretty shitty day, mostly it rained.
Wednesday 11th
Billabong Zoo in Port Macquarie!
Stroked a koala, fed kangaroos and wallabies, saw snakes, wombats, meercats, snow leopard, red panda, lots of birds and a couple of spider monkeys. Barbara LOVED IT. We also saw an enourmous Estuarine Crocodile which looked large enough to eat a person whole. It had very big teeth.
Thursday 12th
Nelson Bay!
Sand Dunes! Lakes! Views! Home of the largest moving sand dunes in the southern Hemisphere! We considered going sandboarding, but it was decided that we'd had enough of sand, and inviting it into even more of our clothing would be uncomfortable to say the least. We did climb up to a lighthouse to get some exercise and admire the spectacular views though.
Friday 13th
Went to Newcastle!
Newcastle is a bit bigger than all the other towns we've been stopping at along the way, and its actually nice towalk around and has the added bonusof a nice beach.
There is a fairly old pool next to the sea that was made in the 40's or something, a bit like Broomhill in Ipswich, except its bigger, full of seawater, has a dramatic view of sea bashing against the nearby rocks and sandy beaches, and its full of fit young australians. So really, its nothing like Broomhill.
Watched some people getting ready for the ironman/woman competition the next day. We were interested purely for scientific and professional reasons of course.
After a few hours of science based people observation, we went back to the campsite in Stockton to get ready before hitching a ride on the ferry backto the City for a night out in a place that actually has a gay club! Unfortunately Friday is not a busy night in the city of Newcastle but we still had a good time - Barbara and Annie tried a number of interesting dance moves that ended up on the floor, and we somehow didnt get kicked out after they nearly took out a number of bystanders. (this was entirely the fault ofsome slightly pervy men who insisted on trying to get us to do the 'dirty dancing lift' repeatedly, with varying degrees of success) A fairly good night!
Saturday 14th
This morning, annie learned how to put the tent away without help! And on a hangover! We all felt pretty awful this morning so it was a quiet drive down to Sydney. We are currently staying at a campsite on the southern side of the city, as the sites in the actual city are super expensive. Its only a $6 train ride into the city from here so much easier than wrestling the van through the busy streets of Sydney and then paying $40 for parking all day.
Sydney is pretty amazing, I'll finish writing all about it in a couple of days and post it later on.
Peace out!
Sunday, 8 December 2013
Byron Bay!
Its been a bit longer than I intended since I last updated this due to us being super busy having the time of our bloody lives. So right now at this very minute I am sat having breakfast at The Arts Factory backpackers hostel in Byron Bay, reflecting on the last few amazing days here and trying to remember what we did last week.
Tuesday 3rd - We did some walks around Mount Tambourine; which, incidentally, is not at all shaped like a tambourine. We visited some glowworm caves, which was super weird, glowworms arent even actual worms they are fly larvae. Who knew?
We also walked to top of a huge waterfall (cameron falls) and looked over the edge of the cliff in a very responsible and not at all risky manner. After some more time spent looking at things we then drove to surfers paradise, realised it was a lot bigger than we anticipated and spent a stressful 45mins driving in circles, arguing about parking and finally locating and checking into a campsite.
Wednesday 4th - Today was the day we would learn to surf! It turns out (shockingly) that surfing is harder than it looks. Quote of the day goes to our world champion surf instructer: "Stop fucking the waves Annie!"
After an afternoon spent battling with the undertow and trying not to drown whilst also trying to stand up on a large bit of foambaord, Annie decided it was a great idea for us to go for a run, as well as do some press ups and pull ups in front of japanese tourists. As far as ideas go, I've heard better ones, especially since I cant remember the last time I ran for longer than 10 minutes. As expected, my body felt spectaluar the next day.
Thursday 5th
We walked around Surfers Paradise for a bit, got a bit sick and tired of the commercialism and sheer number of people, then drove to Springbrook National Park. It was great drive along the super high, super steep cliff edges; there were amazing panoramic views that Annie completely missed as she nestled in Barbara's bosom like a scared baby Koala.
We eventually found the campsite, and later that night got visited by some possums creeping around the van and tent, making enough noise to freak Annie out completely.
Friday 6th
Woke up fairly early, and found the easiest walk with the best views (the twin falls circuit - 4km and 5 waterfalls); it was a great walk actually - the waterfalls were enormous and the walk was just long enough to feel like we were getting good exercise, but not so long we collapsed from heat exhaustion. You would expect a place like that to be peaceful and quiet,and some of it was, but as soon as we got to a heavily wooded area we were assaulted by the noise of a thousand angry birds. It was deafening.
After a brief stop at the 'Best of All Lookout' where we could see all the way into New South Wales and Byron Bay we continued on to Nimbin, a small hippy town where you can see what happens to people when they smoke copious amounts of drugs everyday. We had a coffee in a cafe full of extremely chilled out people then we swiftly moved on, going towards....
BYRON BAY!!!!!!!!!!
...Where we have spent the last two days, and we all love it here. We surfed, sat on the beach, bumped into some Fraser Island friends, Annie bumped into someone she went to uni with, I got stalked by a chef who gave me his number (he actually left it under our windscreen wiper, in a bold, romantic and slightly creepy way, bless him), we've had a couple of really good nights out, and also had the best nachos I've ever tasted at the mexican cantina. We have also spent a good portion of our time people-watching, as Byron Bay is full of beautiful weirdos. We dont really want to leave, but there is still a lot to see. Later today we will head down the coast again, and see where we end up.
Tuesday 3rd - We did some walks around Mount Tambourine; which, incidentally, is not at all shaped like a tambourine. We visited some glowworm caves, which was super weird, glowworms arent even actual worms they are fly larvae. Who knew?
We also walked to top of a huge waterfall (cameron falls) and looked over the edge of the cliff in a very responsible and not at all risky manner. After some more time spent looking at things we then drove to surfers paradise, realised it was a lot bigger than we anticipated and spent a stressful 45mins driving in circles, arguing about parking and finally locating and checking into a campsite.
Wednesday 4th - Today was the day we would learn to surf! It turns out (shockingly) that surfing is harder than it looks. Quote of the day goes to our world champion surf instructer: "Stop fucking the waves Annie!"
After an afternoon spent battling with the undertow and trying not to drown whilst also trying to stand up on a large bit of foambaord, Annie decided it was a great idea for us to go for a run, as well as do some press ups and pull ups in front of japanese tourists. As far as ideas go, I've heard better ones, especially since I cant remember the last time I ran for longer than 10 minutes. As expected, my body felt spectaluar the next day.
Thursday 5th
We walked around Surfers Paradise for a bit, got a bit sick and tired of the commercialism and sheer number of people, then drove to Springbrook National Park. It was great drive along the super high, super steep cliff edges; there were amazing panoramic views that Annie completely missed as she nestled in Barbara's bosom like a scared baby Koala.
We eventually found the campsite, and later that night got visited by some possums creeping around the van and tent, making enough noise to freak Annie out completely.
Friday 6th
Woke up fairly early, and found the easiest walk with the best views (the twin falls circuit - 4km and 5 waterfalls); it was a great walk actually - the waterfalls were enormous and the walk was just long enough to feel like we were getting good exercise, but not so long we collapsed from heat exhaustion. You would expect a place like that to be peaceful and quiet,and some of it was, but as soon as we got to a heavily wooded area we were assaulted by the noise of a thousand angry birds. It was deafening.
After a brief stop at the 'Best of All Lookout' where we could see all the way into New South Wales and Byron Bay we continued on to Nimbin, a small hippy town where you can see what happens to people when they smoke copious amounts of drugs everyday. We had a coffee in a cafe full of extremely chilled out people then we swiftly moved on, going towards....
BYRON BAY!!!!!!!!!!
...Where we have spent the last two days, and we all love it here. We surfed, sat on the beach, bumped into some Fraser Island friends, Annie bumped into someone she went to uni with, I got stalked by a chef who gave me his number (he actually left it under our windscreen wiper, in a bold, romantic and slightly creepy way, bless him), we've had a couple of really good nights out, and also had the best nachos I've ever tasted at the mexican cantina. We have also spent a good portion of our time people-watching, as Byron Bay is full of beautiful weirdos. We dont really want to leave, but there is still a lot to see. Later today we will head down the coast again, and see where we end up.
Tuesday, 3 December 2013
Annie!
ANNIE HAS ARRIVED! For anyone reading this who doesnt know me personally or is not friends with me on facebok (in which case, who are you, and why the hell are you reading this??) Annie is one of my oldest and bestest friends and she once drank a pint of snakebite out of my sweaty just-used hockey trainer when we were on hockey tour.
We picked her up from the airport at 1am Sunday morning, which was actually pretty convenient for us as it meant there were not many cars on the road to witness or get in the way of our navigational difficulties. We've totally forgotten how to drive in cities, and the satnav on Babas phone is a bit slow. Needless to say, there have been some tense moments in the van. ("You were supposed to turn there!" "Well you didnt fucking tell me soon enough! Fuck!")
We managed to pick up a tent for free along the way (its one of those pop up ones, which meant it took about half an hour and 4 people to figure out how to put it away), which is Annies home for the next 3 weeks, and even though the zip is a bit broken, as long as it doesnt rain she will be fine. Hope shes ok with large spiders!
So far we have been staying in campsites which has made it fairly easy, when we start travelling down the coast and sleeping on the side of the road we may have to have all three of us in the van. Mmm, nice and sweaty.
So since the last blog, here is a tedious day by day update of what we have been doing for the benefit of my mother, who is the only one who cares.
Thurs - Met up with Perri, took free ferry across river, walked around, looked at big ugly bridge. Perris mum took us on brief driving tour of brisbane (turns out *all* aussies have a very aggressive driving technique) and took us up to a mountain for a romantic veiw of city before taking us all out for a meal that was super nice despite continually being referred to as 'the young man' by the waiter during the meal.
Friday - Met up with Kirstin ("I'll meet you at the beer garden!" "What beer garden, there's like a thousand of them?!" "<no reply>") , had a few drinks
Sat - woke up outside Perri's house, (not like in the garden or anything, we were sleeping in the van outside the house) walked around city again, next day was raining so went to DFO (huge shopping centre) with everyone else sheltering from the rain, found a campsite to stay at that was super close to middle of the city then picked up annie from airport, went to bed around 3ish
Sunday - Went into town showed a slightly delerius and jet-lagged Annie the markets etc then home where we hung out with Perri's mum and had dinner and a couple of beers then went to bed
Monday - Last day in Brissy :( Said goodbye to Kirstin and Perri and her mum then left the city to head towards Tambourine Mountain! Camped out - we have finally figured out how to get the tent up and down without spending 30mins wrestling with it, bonus!
We picked her up from the airport at 1am Sunday morning, which was actually pretty convenient for us as it meant there were not many cars on the road to witness or get in the way of our navigational difficulties. We've totally forgotten how to drive in cities, and the satnav on Babas phone is a bit slow. Needless to say, there have been some tense moments in the van. ("You were supposed to turn there!" "Well you didnt fucking tell me soon enough! Fuck!")
We managed to pick up a tent for free along the way (its one of those pop up ones, which meant it took about half an hour and 4 people to figure out how to put it away), which is Annies home for the next 3 weeks, and even though the zip is a bit broken, as long as it doesnt rain she will be fine. Hope shes ok with large spiders!
So far we have been staying in campsites which has made it fairly easy, when we start travelling down the coast and sleeping on the side of the road we may have to have all three of us in the van. Mmm, nice and sweaty.
So since the last blog, here is a tedious day by day update of what we have been doing for the benefit of my mother, who is the only one who cares.
Thurs - Met up with Perri, took free ferry across river, walked around, looked at big ugly bridge. Perris mum took us on brief driving tour of brisbane (turns out *all* aussies have a very aggressive driving technique) and took us up to a mountain for a romantic veiw of city before taking us all out for a meal that was super nice despite continually being referred to as 'the young man' by the waiter during the meal.
Friday - Met up with Kirstin ("I'll meet you at the beer garden!" "What beer garden, there's like a thousand of them?!" "<no reply>") , had a few drinks
Sat - woke up outside Perri's house, (not like in the garden or anything, we were sleeping in the van outside the house) walked around city again, next day was raining so went to DFO (huge shopping centre) with everyone else sheltering from the rain, found a campsite to stay at that was super close to middle of the city then picked up annie from airport, went to bed around 3ish
Sunday - Went into town showed a slightly delerius and jet-lagged Annie the markets etc then home where we hung out with Perri's mum and had dinner and a couple of beers then went to bed
Monday - Last day in Brissy :( Said goodbye to Kirstin and Perri and her mum then left the city to head towards Tambourine Mountain! Camped out - we have finally figured out how to get the tent up and down without spending 30mins wrestling with it, bonus!
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