The end of the road - at last!

Here we are sitting in the most beautiful, luxurious apartment overlooking Lavendar Bay and the Sydney Harbour Bridge. Oh bliss! We were so excited when we walked in to our top floor corner apartment with wrap-around windows of a view which, in our opinion, is one of the best anywhere.








The excitement wasn't just because of the view, it was many things:
- our own private bathroom
- a big bed with crisp white sheets
- a separate kitchen
I could go on but really it boils down to three words - it's not camping!

Turning the clock back a few days to last Thursday and Friday Hervey Bay was gorgeous, the fish and chips for Thursday tea were rubbish though! It has a pier which is 1 whole km long, from the end you can watch humpback whales, dolphins and brilliant shoals of fish. After walking along it we made our way to the marina for lunch and spent a lazy afternoon on the beach. We left there on Saturday morning rejuvenated and ready to drive again.





Another long drive ahead, we had decided to drive inland past Brisbane on the New England Highway rather than down the Gold Coast, which we visited last year, and although it has some pretty parts, there is a lot which is tacky. The countryside was beginning to change to more contoured land, interspersed with huge plains.

We were heading for Warwick, but found when we got there that our campsite was on the south side of town and we couldn't face getting back into the camper to go and explore. It was freezing! The nice lady at the campsite suggested we might want to add a jumper and 'ditch the shorts mate.' She informed us Warwick is renowned for being the coldest town in Queensland! A short stroll through a housing estate was our only exercise, we got back to the van just before it rained. Oh the joys of going for a shower in a freezing cold shower block and running back in the pitch black through the rain. This was our darkest moment!! We went to bed - early, wrapped in two duvets wondering what we were doing.

Sunday was a good day, it was still cold but there was a beautiful blue sky and the sun was bright. Before very long we past the state line into New South Wales. It was interesting to see that we had left all the tropical climate behind and arrived in an Aussie winter/spring. There were daffodils flowering, blossom on the trees and fat buds everywhere. Our first stop was Glen Innes, a pretty town with Victorian architecture where we had a lovely warming, cooked breakfast then walked up to the standing stones, a miniature Stonehenge which was constructed to celebrate the influence of the Celtic people on shaping Australia, or something like that!








Back in the van we eventually arrived in Tamworth, the 'country music capital of Australia.' We had a lovely site right next to the river, but I have to regretfully report that the novelty of camping was somewhat wearing thin. Any conversation with other campers was terminated somewhat swiftly on the grounds that its really, really boring and you lose the will to live.

We know that Aussies do their best to market their towns with big things, sheep, bulls and bananas come to mind, and Tamworth is no exception, it proudly presents a golden guitar. Lovely.


We woke up on Monday in quite a different frame of mind, the end of the road was in sight. Music cranked up, sun shining, we set off for Cessnock in the Hunter Valley, a wine growing area. It was a good day, rounded off with yummy lamb steaks cooked on the barbie. Mind you we still declined the invitation from a couple in a caravan to 'join us in the camp kitchen.' I wasn't sure if that was a euphemism for something else. Probably meant they wanted to discuss the best water pump or some other piece of scintillating camping equipment.

And here we are. Gorgeous sunny Sydney. We hadn't planned on rocking up in Sydney again but when the opportunity arose... Sydney is like a different world to the one we have been inhabiting. It has colour, an exciting atmosphere, people dressed in smart clothes, cafes, bars, parks and theatre. And beautiful apartments with proper bathrooms and beds!

Tried camping, enjoyed most of it. Would we do it again? NO, NO, NO!

PS. Our journey from Cairns was 2824 km or 1765 miles.

PPS Just taken some photos of the sun setting. Gorgeous.








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Location:Henry Lawson Avenue,Port Jackson,Sydney,Australia

Adventures in a camper van

We enjoyed a lazy day on Saturday in Hervey Bay which is a beautiful long horseshoe bay and incorporates the areas of Point Vernon, Piabla, Scarness, Torquay and Urangan. After so much inactivity we decided a long walk was the antidote so set off along the beach, past the km long pier from where you can watch humpbacks, dolphins and huge schools of fish and onto the marina where we had a very long lunch watching the pelicans.








On the way back we meandered through the campsite. I noticed James eyeing up - caravans. I stopped in my tracks, surrounded by campers and caravans. 'What are you doing?' I asked incredulously. 'I was just thinking - I might sign up for a subscription to Practical Caravanning when I get home.' he said. I just looked at him, then he laughed. OMG I thought he was serious!
We were up so early on Saturday, 6.40 am!! We hit the road by 8 am and began a long journey past Brisbane and onto Warwick. We have decided to journey inland to Sydney rather than following the Gold Coast which we drove last January. It has little gems along it but there is also a lot of tat. The roads are slower, but there is less traffic, less roadworks and the scenery is rather more interesting with quirky little towns along the way.
We drove some 500 km and arrived in Warwick at about 3.15. After the tropical climate and the gorgeous weather on the Queensland coast we have now travelled into the more temperate area below Brisbane which will quickly become New South Wales. The Lower East coast has proper seasons and it is quite clearly spring-like with lambs in the fields, buds on the trees and clouds in the sky.
Settling into our camp-site, the quietest and less luxurious so far, it began to rain! If this continues it will be time to ditch the shorts and unpack the jeans! We'll see when the morning dawns.

PS Just found this post in drafts so thought I'd publish it, even though its out of sync!
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Location:Wallace Street,Warwick,Australia

Proper campers us, you know

I feel like I should be whispering. Its 8.45 pm and James and I have just wandered back onto the campsite, having spent a romantic couple of hours eating fish and chips and indulging in a cheeky little white number. Everywhere is in darkness, people in bed, or at least hunkered down in their tents and caravans. Raucous, it ain't!

It's been an interesting week.

Monday came round too quickly, as we knew it would. Alex and his lovely girlfriend took us to Cairns where we picked up our home for the next 9 days, our campervan, which Jim has started to refer to as 'shelle, because he can't go anywhere without her!!


We said good-bye to Alex again but it didn't feel too enormous this time, hopefully he'll be home in a matter of weeks.


We've had a fabulous time in this tropical paradise but itchy feet were starting.
This campervan is 4- berth and feels enormous. When you're sitting at the front and look back it seems to go on and on. We had to sign loads of forms and got a quick lesson, from a German girl, on how to work all the various bits and pieces. We nodded and kept saying yes, but I knew that it wouldn't be until we needed the various things that we would bother to figure out how they worked!

The most important thing seemed to be to decide toilet etiquette, it being a chemical contraption which needs to be emptied, a job neither us fancied.
FYI the consensus was, only to be used when in dire straits in the middle of the night and you can't, 'ignore it and go back to sleep,' as advised by your other half and said other half can't be arsed to get up and accompany you in the pitch black to the 'amenities block.' This other half will find he has talked himself into being toilet emptying monitor when the time comes around.

Anyway on Monday we hit the Bruce Highway, the only major road in Queensland, and left Cairns behind, following the coast road, surrounded by fields and fields of sugar cane. As the sugar cane petered out a little the banana plantations began.








Some 346 km later we arrived at Townsville and found our first campsite.

Oh, I had forgotten what a little community campers are. The couple next to us, cooking their pork chops in the dark, struck up a conversation and a bloke clutching a tinnie wandered over to pass comment over the campervan vs his caravan. Jim's face was a picture, his interest in campervans is negligible and his interest in caravans is a big fat NIL!

We managed to cook without incident and wash up ok, but the mysteries of clean water and grey water remained just that! I took my towel and stuff and schlepped to the unisex shower block. Oh joys! In bed by 10.15 and -unbelievably - up at 7 and off by 7.45. And we weren't the first ones up and off by any means.

We motored along the Whitsunday coast, a pristine coastline where some of the best sailing takes place, all around the Whitsunday islands. Stopping at a little town called Bowen we made our way up Flagstaff Hill - ignored the sign saying 'no caravans' on the grounds that we're not and savoured the gorgeous 360degree views from the top.






Back in the van and another pretty boring 372km later we reached Blacks Beach in Mackay. We both feel slightly light-headed and as if we've been on a boat but guess its the rolling and lolling motion the van makes. Our campsite was right on the beach, we got there at 4pm, parked in our slot and got straight on to the beach for a massive walk before the sun went down as it does at about 6pm.


We walked for about an hour then realised it was getting dark, we had to walk back, along a deserted Queensland beach with mangroves on its edges. Great crocodile territory! After scaring ourselves stupid and practising running as fast, or faster, than a crocodile, we calmed down and returned nonchalantly to our van. We learned how to use the gas BBQ on the side and cooked a proper Aussie steak. Another early night and an even earlier morning - how come when I'm at work an hour whizzes past between me getting up and getting out of the house and here I have a leisurely breakfast, trudge up to the shower, tidy up, and tie everything down so it doesn't fall to the floor and still get on the road within the hour?

Yesterday we drove more inland for 330 km and arrived at Rockhampton. Not much to report though, other than it is the beef capital of Australia and there are statues of bulls all round town. We drove through very samey countryside, pretty much all a dirty brown. After the intense colours of the tropics this is very dirgey. It is still incredibly hot though, apparently we are now in the dry tropics as opposed to the wet tropics of Far North Queensland.
Rockhampton sits right on the Tropic of Capricorn, we had a small and pleasant detour visiting the Capricorn caves.





Another barbecue, the pipe connected for grey water and the tank topped up with clean water and we're beginning to feel like proper campers. The only bit which seems surreal is going to bed on a platform which lowers from the ceiling. We lay there like sardines and it makes me giggle.





Today we drove 396 km to Hervey Bay which is beautiful, the whale-watching centre of Australia. We've discovered how to put the awning up! Whoopee!

We're giving ourselves a break and spending two nights here. Hooray, we can leave the van parked up tomorrow and be normal tourists for the day.


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Location:Torquay Terrace,Torquay,Australia

Round and about

After the excitement of the previous day Wednesday was a plotting day, and after a mornings to-ing and fro-ing we finally secured a campervan to relocate to Sydney! When we were travelling last year we wondered about having a campervan, well this now gives us the chance to try it out relatively cheaply. We have 9 days to travel from Cairns to Sydney, a journey of 2527km. You never know, this could be the way forward, sell up at home and live in a campervan!!

Alex was at work this evening so we gave him a day off from providing entertainment, and spent the afternoon on 4 -mile beach, very lovely it was too.




North Queensland is very caribbean-like, with a tropical climate and lush planting. Port Douglas is so picturesque, lovely beaches, mangroves and rainforest which reaches down to the coast. There are lovey little clapboard churches dotted along the coastline. This is a big sugar cane growing area and there are cane train tracks alongside the roads, plantations and factories.






Another great day out on Thursday. Alex picked us up at 8 am and off we went on the road towards Cairns. Just outside Cairns we arrived at the Skytrain station where we transferred by minibus to Freshwater train station where we boarded the historical train which slowly took us up through the rainforest to a village called Kuranda some 350m above Freshwater. The train took 90 minutes to travel 7.5km but the views were spectacular.









We wandered round markets, aboriginal art galleries, through rainforest and eventually made our way to the Skytrain station for the amazing journey down. We went sweeping over the canopy this time, taking in beautiful plants and bird life.




Back on the flat we had a quick trip to K-mart for Alex to replenish his very classy wardrobe!!

We finished the day by partaking of pizza with Alex and his Aussie girlfriend. Very lovely she is too! She is from Melbourne but also working in Port Douglas for the season. I have a feeling we won't be seeing much more of her though!!!

We finished the week by visiting Mossman Gorge on Friday, where Jim and Alex swam in the mysterious, deep and freezing cold waterhole. I'm not that stupid. Think crocodiles!









We were then entertained by an evening game of soccer (football), watching Port Douglas playing. Unfortunately Alex wasn't playing - he couldn't, one too many yellow cards!

Today, Saturday, we went to watch an Aussie rule football game. Quite entertaining but bloody hard to understand what was going on!

Tomorrow is our last day in Port Douglas, it's been a fantastic week but we've got to say goodbye again. Still this time it's only for 7 weeks, Alex has just over 4 weeks left in Oz then he's off on a road trip from Los Angeles to Chicago before returning home in early October. We've got our mammoth road trip to look forward to starting on Monday. Can't wait!

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Location:Macrossan Street,Port Douglas,Australia

The trip of a lifetime

Yesterday we had the most amazing experience, a trip which we'll never forget. Up early, bags packed and on to the huge and highly impressive Quicksilver catamaran for a 90 minute journey across the Coral Sea to one of the outer reefs, part of the unique marine park which stretches for 2300km along the north-eastern coast - The Great Barrier Reef.


We left the charms of Port Douglas behind and made an exhilarating journey in beautiful sunshine out to a pontoon or activity platform.


As soon as we arrived we made our way off the catamaran and onto the platform where we donned Lycra suits, to prevent stings from any defensive coral or marine jellyfish, and selected masks, snorkels and fins. Making our way to the snorkelling platform we fitted our fins and made our way in to the water. Oh wow, a whole new world, and a stunning, beautiful and mesmerising new world. After a couple of minutes we all stopped, looked at each other and laughed out loud with sheer delight. I don't think the three of us could believe what we were seeing.

The sheer amount and variety of fishes was amazing and the stunning coral just breathtaking. As I relaxed into it I floated over so many dips and hollows, hiding huge fish and giant blue clams. Moving slowly over one area the whole thing just dropped away and I was looking into a huge valley which was incredibly deep but with crystal clear water. I was so shocked I immediately dipped deep underwater and swallowed several mouthfuls of salt water! Ugh!


After 30 minutes we reluctantly returned to the platform where, strangely famished, we tucked into an impressive lunch buffet. After eating we made our way to the underwater observatory where more gorgeous creatures swam leisurely past for our perusal.





Our final activity was a trip round the reef in a semi-submersible vessel. A funny guy pointed out and named lots of different fish, including the huge barramundi which I have enjoyed eating! We saw small sharks which stay in deep water through the day to avoid the heat of the sun.


James and Alex went back in to snorkel again and I took the opportunity to photograph them and to sit quietly with a coffee gazing into the clear depths. Magical!








Only one thing could have improved the day - Liam to have experienced it all with us, he would have loved it and he and Alex could have gone scuba-diving.

A very happy, elated and still slightly disbelieving threesome set off in prime seats right at the front of the boat for the wild and windy trip back.








Some days you remember for a lifetime. Today was one of those days.


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Location:Warner Street,Port Douglas,Australia

Tropical North Queensland

Oh lovely!

We've spent the weekend with Alex and 9 others in his apartment in pretty Port Douglas. The apartment is huge - he had described it to us but until you see it for yourself.... It has originally been a 4 bedroom apartment with en-suite, kitchen, family bathroom and sitting area but at some point the outside terrace has been incorporated into it and that is a massive space, housing a dining table with 14 chairs, 7 settees, 4 large suspended chairs, a pool table, a football space complete with goal, a boarded-in atrium, 2 balconies, a desk, a huge TV and music system and 8 cinema chairs. We all moved around each other, cooking, chatting, watching TV, etc and didn't get in each others way! Unbelievable. I have no idea how they found this place but they certainly fell on their feet!!














We got a guided tour of Port Douglas on Sunday, it's so pretty and with an amazing tropical climate, the humidity goes up and down but the temperature is pretty constant at this time of the year, which is the peak tourist season.


This is a special place, surrounded by the Daintree National Park which is glorious rainforest and in the sea, the Barrier Reef, which are both World Heritage areas.

The photo above shows 4-mile beach, glorious golden sands lapped by the Coral Sea. Alex has taken some annual leave this next week so we have a full itinerary planned. Today we visited Hartley's Crocodile Adventure which not only has loads of saltwater and freshwater crocs, snakes, lizards, koalas, cassowaries, kangaroos and wallabies plus a crocodile farm, it has mad, loud Aussies playing with said crocs!









Jim and Alex played with the wallabies and kangaroos.







And each other!




The views of the coast are stunning.




When we eventually got back we moved into our own, small, well normal sized apartment. All Alex's mates are lovely but it's nice to have some peace and quiet - and a clean bathroom!!

Tomorrow we are going on a catamaran to Agincourt Reef to spend the day snorkelling, swimming and generally gawping at the coral and sealife on the reef. Must remember my seasickness tablets cos me and boats don't always work well together! Can't wait though.




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Location:Port Douglas Road,Port Douglas,Australia