New Blog Address

As the comments don't seem to be working we have created a new blog at:
http://charlnkev.blogspot.com/

This web address will still be here, but from now on we will update the new one.

Philip Island

G'day.

The problem with the car has meant we're still on Philip Island while she gets the electrics sorted out. Luckily there's plenty to do here so it's not too bad, and we should be back on the road this afternoon - destination: Melbourne.

Having said that, we've heard from a few people that prices of accommodation in Melbourne have skyrocketed now the games have started so we might stop somewhere nearby instead. After 5 nights in the van, we will probably stay somewhere with brick walls and a telly tonight.

We went to the Penguin Parade the night before last, where you sit in the cold on a grandstand built into the hills just off the beach and watch hundreds of Little Penguins coming in from the sea, running across the sand towards the safety of the dunes. You can then walk back along a boardwalk through the hills and watch them waddling along towards their burrows making a hell of a noise as they do so. They're the smallest breed of penguin but they don't half make a racket. Oh yeah, on the way down we also saw our first kangaroo (or wallaby).

On the way back we ran over an owl (it was fine; it flew off when we went to check on it).

We visited the Koala place yesterday and saw loads of the little buggers doing not very much at all. They're cute though, so they can get away with it. The centre had boardwalks built that allowed you to go up into the trees and see them fairly close up, so we got some decent photos which we can't show you because Kev forgot the cable.

Once we get the car back we'll have a quick stop off at the race track and head off towards Melbourne. We'll tell them we're with the Queen and they might let us have free parking or something.

Comments

Hello all. Just a quick update as we're waiting for the car to be fixed - the central locking went nuts when it rained yesterday, and has been continuously locking us in and out of the car ever since. Apart from that, she's running fine and we've named her Matilda (thanks Lynn).

We're currently on Philip Island staying on a caravan park with the Winnebagos and other huge mobile homes. Our little van shines in amongst them. We had a couple of nights in Eden which was a pretty little fishing town. Tonight will be our fourth night in a row sleeping in the bus, which is surprisingly comfortable. The campsite where we are at the moment is full of children so we've made a point of leaving at every opportunity.

We visited the Nobbies and the Blow hole this morning. Make of that what you will. We also saw the seals and a few penguins on Seal Island, albeit a long way away. Tonight we're booked to see the Penguin Parade, to watch the Little Penguins coming to shore as they do every night but we're not allowed to take photos so you'll have to take our word for it.

Tomorrow we're off to the Koala Conservation Centre and the GP circuit. There are signs all over this island saying beware of Koalas on the roads but we haven't seen any yet. There are plenty of little lizards scurrying about, as we found this morning when we visited Swan Lake.

Hopefully the comments will work now. I found all the old comments and have published them but this blog system seems to take a while to update itself so I can't guarantee if it will work in future or not. I've added a comment myself and it worked but if it's still screwed then can you email me and I'll try again.

An extra night in Narooma

Evenin'

We loved Narooma and the YHA here so much that we booked an extra night here, so we'll be leaving tomorrow. The managers Chris and Wendy are superb; Chris helped us to sort out our car insurance yesterday, and today he drove us up to Bateman's Bay to buy a load of camping gear, while his mate knocked up a bed frame in the van for us for just $50! Bloody bargain. So we're just about equipped to live in the van, we popped down the charity shop and bought bedding and curtains (less than $6) and we also picked up a load of camping gear in town. We've found out that the lay-by's here have bbq's, toilets and running water, so we might give that a go sometime soon.

Tomorrow morning we'll head off down the coast to stop in a place called Eden - sounds bloody awful.

Short on time tonight so here are a few piccies from the last few days (proving that Charlotte is alive and well):

From the roof of the parliament building in Canberra:


Cycling along the boardwalk in Narooma:


A couple of the awesome stingrays:


Our new bed:

Narooma

We're back on the coast now after our short stop in the pretty but disturbingly quiet Canberra. We decided to walk around the city, forgetting that everything in this country is at least ten times further away than you think it is. It's really not designed for walking round either so you have to navigate with the roadsigns. Anyway, we had a look round the old parliament building which is now a museum and that was quite interesting with a lot of nods to the British equivalent.

Then we walked up to the new building which is sort of built into a hill, so the roof is made of grass. We hadn't seen it before so it was interesting. We were a person short for the helicopter ride so unfortunately that will have to wait for another city, and we ran out of time to see much else. The lesson is: if you go to Canberra, hire bikes.

That evening we found the only pub in the city (well it seemed to be) and had a good night there. We were glad we visited, it had a unique atmosphere, but could see no real reason to stay so it was back in the bus to the coast.

We arrived at Bateman's Bay but couldn't see much for us there so continued our scenic drive down the coast. We saw a place called Potato Point which had such a great name, we stopped there for a look. Then we continued on to Narooma - our present location.

The hostel here is brilliant. It's run by a couple and has a very homely atmosphere. The owners are full of info and stories and have been absolutely relentless in helping us with everything.

The town itself is probably the friendliest place on Earth that we've been to and we're sorely tempted to stay a bit longer even though we planned to leave tomorrow.

This morning we took the free bikes out for a great ride round the coast and were able to see some massive stingrays coming right up to the edge of the water to eat the scraps the fisherman were chucking into the water.

After that we completd the circuit of the town and came back to the hotel to go up to a winery, a decision made last night as we drank lots of beer and wine with a few other guests here.

Time's up here so we'll have to cut this a bit short. Should be able to put photos on tomorrow if we stay here another night, otherwise it's down the coast again to find another paradise to stop at...

Quick update

Hello. We've made it to Canberra with no problems, it was a nice drive over here taking about 4 hours or so from the Blue Mountains. It's the capital of Australia but you wouldn't think it - it's so quiet here. We're going to explore a bit today as we're here until tomorrow, and we hope to see all the parliament buildings, visit a winery and hopefully get a helicopter or balloon ride this afternoon but we need to investigate that first.

We finally have the ability to attach pictures so we're going to add a load here from the last week or so.

Chilling out in Sydney:


Charlotte's friends at Taronga Zoo, Sydney:


Some crocodiles in the zoo:


Bondi Beach:


The Rocks, Sydney - a funky little area with the original colonial buildings and a market:


And the Blue Mountains:

Blue Mountains

First of all, there seems to have been a problem posting comments for the last week or so. We think that's Kev's fault but we also think he's fixed it. Sorry about that.

Yet again we can't use USB on this PC so unfortunately the photos will have to wait until we can but take our word for it that we're now in the Blue Mountains and it's beautiful. We headed out here a couple of days ago, leaving Sydney a little underwhelmed, partly because we had a lot of sorting out to do and also because we knew we were going back later, so just kept our time there fairly simple.

We managed to get our new big red fun bus into the city near the hostel for us to leave and after driving round for a while, found a load of spaces near a school. We claimed a slot and sat trying to decipher the parking signs for several minutes before finally agreeing that we were legally parked.

We returned a couple of hours to check on it, and had a lovely yellow envelope with a $125 fine in it for... "Not parrallel park in direction of travel" - we got fined for facing the wrong direction on a fairly empty street. After that, we were quite happy to leave Sydney and head out into the wilderness, hoping that the big old bus would make it into the mountains. Oh she doesn't like going uphill...

Anyway, we've had a full old day today here in Katoomba: a 6am start to go and see the canyon while it was quiet and hopefully see the mist rising. The mist turned out to be dense fog, so we looked at absolute nothingness for a while and then found a trail down beside the Three Sisters (a rock formation) called the Great Stairway. After descending this we finally got to see the fog lift and some spectacular views of the mountains.

Since then we've been driving round the national park, looking at the views from different angles. We're in an 8-person dorm tonight which should be interesting since the other 6 are a group of French people. Between us, Charlotte and I can tell the Frenchies our names, where we live, and also inform them that we would like a cheese and ham sandwich. Kev can also tell them that "the dog seems hungry to me" (le chien semble avoir faim) - a vital sentence learned at school.

To help us through the evening, we're off to the off licence to buy large quantities of Australian wine, which is slightly more expensive than water.

Tomorrow it's off to Canberra, then onto the coast for a slow drive down to Melbourne before we settle for a month or so and hopefully a return to the world of work. It can be expensive, this living.

Hopefully the comments will work now so please feel free to go back to the previous ones and add some - we'll definitely read them!