Australia has been our home for the last half year, we arrived in the winter and are leaving mid summer... We bought a camper van drove it around NSW and parts of Queensland. We saw family and met new and old friends. We enjoyed the Australian wildlife and beautiful wild beaches.
Australia is like the UK with better weather and less people, free BBQs, and bigger spiders! Oh yeah their pretty big!! I saw a huntsman as big as my hand, my cousin said he once woke up with one in his mouth!! Yuk!! Most of the white folks came from the UK originally, some in the last 100 years others the centuary before, so its not really surprising to find fish and chip shops all over the country, but it was a surprise to me, a pleasant one.
Australia is bloody big, we saw a fraction of the country,the east coast which is the most populated coast. Due to our visas we had to split our 6 month stay into two, divided by our trip to Indonesia.
The first half comprised driving slowly between Sydney and Brisbane, sometimes only driving a few km per day. What struck me was the immense deserted beaches, with signs warning you against swimming because of strong currents, rocks, sharks etc.We stayed with my cousins and got to know family which had not been seen for 30 years which was great and added a whole new dimension to the trip. After Brisbane we stayed near the glass house mountains with Ian and his kids and picked coffee during the days. After Indonesia we returned and spent two months in the Northern Rivers area which is on the border of NSW and Queensland, Byron Bay and Nimbin are some of the famous names associated with this region. Before heading down to Sydney and the area around the blue mountains.
Australia is famous for many things, Koalas being one of them, this photo was taken at Australia zoo, the zoo that Steve Irwin (aka Crocodile hunter) founded. Unfortunately Koalas have suffered greatly from car related deaths and dogs in gardens and their populations have fallen greatly... We never saw any koalas in the wild just in sanctuaries. Kangaroos and Wallabies are also killed regularly on Australian roads but their numbers are high and seen regularly everywhere.
Rainbow lorakeets are very colourful birds and can be seen all over Australia in big numbers
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| Don´t worry Lili its not a croc just a Guiana! |
Australian humour is well known but this one was quite novel!
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| Picking coffee Beans! |
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| Me fixing a rear tyre that exploded whilst driving!! |
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| The inside of our camper! |
Queensland.
Our first stop in Queensland was my cousins house, I had not seen him sinse I was 10 years old! We enjoyed our stay with my Aunt and Cousin. My Cousin asked what we had been doing each day, when we said not much just chilling, he was quite surprised... truth was after many months of travel sometimes you just need to pause and do nothing.. running around and seeing tons of tourist attractions, just did not appeal... Lee my cousin and his family took us out for some great day trips one up to the hills and national park in rain forest, on the way home I jumped on the back of his motorbike and was treated to a real thrill of a ride back... when your racing your way along long open country roads at high speed, you cannot help but have a smile on your face!!! They also took us to Australia zoo, which was founded by Steve Irwin, crocodile hunter.. little ripper... Its a cool zoo with well treated animals with plenty of space.
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| Gold Coast surfers Paradise |
After my cousins we took to the road again, but not that far... Ian and his four kids became our friends instantly... when we drove up to his place, nobody was there but two dogs, whom after a few minutes I decide were friendly and would let us in the grounds without a problem... there were little signs everywhere saying hobbit house , there were dinosaurs painted onto the sides of water tanks.. we felt at home.. Ian likes a beer after work and likes to run in the morning and weekends... the beer bit was easy, the running a little harder... mainly due to the fact he lives on a mountain so steep climbs are frequent.. but he got me out there.. even racing with him and the kids a couple of times... I spent my days picking coffee at a neighbours place and Sandrine painted the kids doors.
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| Mental preparation before the big race |
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| Day at the races |
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| Brisbanes water supply |
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| Tawny Frogmoth, strange looking bird! |
Northern Rivers
We spent a month on the property of Melanie and Nicholas with their kids Jeremy and Celeste. Celeste is 3 just like Lili, they were best of friends and worst of enemies for the time we stayed,,, It was great for Lili to spend some time with a girl of her age and a boy slightly older.. We worked as volunteers mainly doing bush regeneration and weeding, we were treated to first class organic food and expensive red wine in the evenings... The land had loads of wallabies just lying around or nibbling on grass and black cockatoos screeching in the trees.
So our Aussie experience came to an end where it started, in Sydney! We sold our van to a French couple and then stayed in a community near the blue mountains. We took a day trip up the mountain and were rewarded with a beautiful day of stunning views and waterfalls that you could cool off in.
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| Wentworth Falls, Blue Mountains, near Sydney |
Blue Mountains, the Eucalyptus oil refracts and gives the blue colour to the mountain air
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| Felt great getting out, massage and refreshing shower all in one. |
