Sydney and the Blue Mountains

Arrived in Sydney on the 5^th of Jan (just as Michael Clarke scored 300 at the SCG) to catch up with Jo and Jazz who looked after us as always being  great hosts and tour guides around Sydney harbour where we took in the usual sights of the Opera House, Harbour Bridge, The Rocks and Darling Harbour. Our water taxi to Darling Harbour took us on a guided tour via Woolloomooloo Bay, Fort Denison and the PM’s  Sydney residence, Kirribilli House. Ended the day with a drinks and Ice Creams at Darling Harbour. Only downside to our stay was a visit by a scumbag who smashed a window in the 4wd and stole the satnav and ipod!

The following day we went to Little Bay between Botany Bay and Coogee to stay with Vix and Giles who again very kindly looked after us. Great location on the golf course and a short walk down to the beach where the girls had a great morning with everyone.

With the city and coast behind us it was off to the Blue Mountains. We stayed for two nights in Blackheath and on arrival went to the lookouts at Govetts Leap for our first ‘wow’ factor of the mountains and saw the Bridal Veil Falls and Pulpit Rock. Then we visited Evans Lookout before calling it a day. The next day we went to scenic world outside Katoomba with modern cable cars taking us up and down the valley and a floating cable car with glass bottom. A highlight for Daisy was a ride on the steepest railway in the world (52 degrees) down to the valley floor! 

From the cable cars we saw the Three Sisters rock formation (280 million years old!), Jamison Valley in all its glory and the Katoomba Falls. That afternoon Daisy and Tom walked from Echo Point across onto the first of the Three Sisters before we took a trip down the Megalong Valley to view a Gorge from the inside. Wonderful couple of days!

Then onto Kangaroo Valley for one night, located between Bowral and the coast to enjoy some beautiful countryside. We managed to catch up with Hattie and family for lunch on the way which was great, thank you all again! The next day we drove through the stunning southern highlands stopping at Fitzroy Falls along the way.

Next stop Canberra and the Snowy Mountains!!!

The First 1500km - Noosa to Sydney!

First stop was the appropriately called ‘Christmas Creek’ just outside Beaudesert  (inland from the Gold Coast) to catch up with a school friend of Jo’s,  Louise  before we stopped the night in Beaudesert again with  friends  Barry and Di who Jo lived with in London. Thanks for all your great hospitality!!!

Next day we travelled to ‘The Goldie’ staying in Southport (thanks Tracey)  just outside surfers Paradise and caught up with another English/Aussie combo  Amanda and Justin at a nearby  water park.  By chance we also managed to catch up with another school friend Nicole and again caught up on the past 20 odd years which was lovely!

We then headed further south to stay just outside Yamba and our first night in the caravan! All went well and the girls seem very happy with their new life in and out of camping grounds/holiday parks.  Spent new years eve there and caught up with Jo’s uni mate tracey for some fishing and beers. The pacific heights hotel in yamba sits high on a hillside with a sheer drop and amazing ocean views from massive windows.  Also managed to visit McLean, Australia’s only Scottish town….

On the first day of 2012 we headed off to Nambucca Heads via Coffs Harbour and lunch on the river.  Beautiful weather so far and the girls have learnt to spot sugar cane and banana plantations which are the main crops grown here.  They even spotted the ‘big banana’ located just outside Coffs Harbour. Unfortunately we bypassed Ballina and the ‘big prawn’ as well as the ‘big pineapple’ on the sunshine coast...seen one seen them all  we reckon.  At Nambucca Heads we stayed below Captain Cooks Lookout and enjoyed shelly beach and a walk/scoot along the famous V wall where people are encouraged to paint the rocks.  

We then headed south, stopping at Port Macquarie for lunch, to the small oyster fishing area at Manning Point. We have now got a routine with the caravan and can set up in about 30mins! People in all the parks are really friendly and interested in what we are doing! We are now getting the ‘traveller wave/finger’ on the highway when passing other travellers.  A Long walk with the girls on the beach and some fishing from the jetty for bream and off to Sydney we go.

Our GPS tracker should now be up and running so you can follow our footsteps by clicking the link on the right hand side and then opening up the various trips !.....Next update Sydney and the Blue Mountains!!

Christmas and off we go!!!!!

What a great Christmas! Father Christmas managed to find us! The girls left him a cold beer, mince pie and some carrots for the reindeer all of which were gone in the morning! They were more excited to find the food gone in the morning than xmas pressies under the tree.  After opening a couple of presents we went down to Noosa main beach first thing Christmas morning but a big storm the day before had closed the beach and the swell and surf was huge! However the sun was shining and we enjoyed a traditional Christmas round the pool with friends and family.  Amazing food and drink was consumed by all....too much actually, including belly pork, roast duck, ham, chicken, prawns, roast potato, parsnips, red cabbage and xmas pudding!!!!

On boxing day Daisy swam a whole lap of the pool without armbands so we were all very excited considering she has only had one week of lessons since she was 1...very proud!
After catching up with some more school friends today we are now looking forward to the next few months....

Australia is now in front of us and we're all packed up and ready to go! Home for the coming months is an 18ft Jayco outback discovery poptop caravan. She comes with bunks for the girls a shower/loo etc, fridge freezer, gas cooker, microwave, tv and air conditioning! Externally is a large awning,
shower, solar panel and the list goes on. Power supplied by mains or DC/battery whilst on the road and when we are in the middle of nowhere the gas also cools the fridge, lights the external cooker and heats the water. The van holds 190 litres of water in total!

In the Toyota Prado we have a back up battery which has its own solar panels which also keeps the car fridge cold when we are off road. There are built in draws in the back holding all our beach and fishing gear and another kitchen basically! We have the standard issue roo bar, electric winch and CB to keep us out of trouble! There are two 90 litre fuel tanks so no excuse for running out of fuel!!

So off we go!!! Thanks mum and dad, we couldn't have done it without you xxxx

Happy Christmas!!!

Not much else to say apart from.....have a good one!!

Christmas, King Parrots, Carpet snakes and Cuts!

We have started to bump into some of the local wildlife. Apart from the usual kangaroos, kookaburras, galahs and lorikeets we have seen king parrots and the resident carpet snake (python) at Tristan and Jenni's aswell as a green tree snake. Plenty of green tree frogs and cane toads knocking around as well!

Christmas started this week for us with a visit to the year round Christmas shop in Eumundi and then the girls decorated the Christmas tree and the house with lights. We even managed to make mulled wine from scratch and decorated the tree over a few glasses as well as a few xmas tunes.  The girls also 'helped' their grandma Omi  make the xmas pudding.

The rest of the week was spent catching up with Jo's girlfriends and their children where Daisy and Holly rode a pony for the first time, as well as lunch with Jo's grandfather Arne and Elaine.

Finally for the week an early start and breakfast cooked on the bbq down on the river. Beautiful morning and a few fish caught after breakfast. Jo managed to hook a monster but sadly it took the line with it and almost the whole rod, which was just sat in the sand when the fish took the prawn!  The girls were having a great scoot with  cousins Max and Sam when Holly took a small diversion into someone on a bike and managed to split her top lip open! After a brave visit to the doctor without tears she was glued back together!

Next week update on the caravan and 4wd as we finish off kitting them out for our travels!

Wiggles and Fish

Another eventful week! First a trip to see The Wiggles celebrate their 20th birthday in a big tent at the agricultural showground in Brisbane. The girls loved it, dancing to all their favourite songs and Daisy a little overwhelmed by the whole thing, especially when Dorothy the Dinosaur came on the stage. 20 years has been pretty kind to the four Wiggles, Murray, Anthony, Sam and Geoff, although Geoff has recently had a pacemaker put in and lucky for us managed to get through the show! Great day out!

With some much needed rain starting to fall we managed to get down to the river between showers to do some fishing with all the cousins! Using frozen prawns Jo, Daisy and Holly all managed to land whiting or bream.....Tom was after the bigger fish!! A few more trips to the river planned in the coming days to see if we can land something big enough to eat!

We have started to kit out the caravan and have now booked/planned all our stops to get us to Sydney in early January, final prep this week before the lead up to Christmas!

Finally a couple of trips to the beach to soak up the sun and for Daisy to practice her boogie boarding, her confidence is growing all the time even though she has managed to get dumped by some waves a couple of times. 

Test Match and Trains

Its been an eventful week! We left the girls in Noosa and travelled down to Brisbane to watch the first day of the first test between Australia and New Zealand at The Gabba. Great mornings cricket but by tea the rain started to fall so we reverted to the pub for a few jugs of VB and then onto our hosts for the evening, thanks Kate and Dave for your great hospitality! Back to Brisbane next week with the girls to watch The Wiggles!

We have also been up to Gympie with the girls, Tristan, Jenni, Max and Sam to travel on The Valley Rattler steam train. We headed out of Gympie and through the bush and farmland over the Mary River before stopping for morning tea/snacks and a turn around. Great fun although everything needs a good wash to get rid of the smoke and coal!

We have started to fit out the caravan and have been making the girls bedding and sleep sheets. Trying to plan our first weeks travel but not easy as its the summer holidays here and most caravan parks busy for Christmas and New Year!

Finally for the week a BBQ on the river with some of Jo's old school friends, kids having a great time scooting up and down the footpaths and messing around on the rivers edge but whats with the beef sausages...cant find a decent bit of pig anywhere!