The Rock... and the journey there...

...well, we left Melbourne in a blaze and headed down the Great Ocean Road towards Adelaide. The GOR was pretty fantastic with lots to see... i.e. The 12 Apostles, Loch Ard Gorge, London Bridge etc... very nice :)

From GOR we headed further north towards the Fleurieu Peninsula and Adelaide. Excellent beaches, nice city, great meal out and lovely sunny weather :) but then... the big trek was to begin.... THE OUTBACK!!!!!

OK, it started well... but then came the flies... the intense heat, the rotting carcasses of everything from Kangaroo to Camel, and a drive for 4 days sold just to get to Uluru (Ayre's Rock)... but it was worth it :)

The huge emptiness of the outback is crazy and scary- but also really, really beautiful. The colours, the changing landscape... just everything. We are both really glad that we have driven so far instead of flying to the centre. The things we have seen and the experiences it has given us are amazing!

We headed from Adelaide up to Coober Pedy- a crazy Opal mining town... rather in-bred... and, well, odd! We were pleased to get back in the van and scoot! That is until we saw the roadkill and things got even hotter!

Next stop, Uluru and the Olgas. As we drove to Yulara (the Ayre's Rock Resort) and Uluru came into view, it was an excellent experience- the thing seemed to glow luminous... and this was in broad daylight!! Trace described it as iridescent. It was just this huge, amazing thing on its own in a wilderness of flat, barren land. Really strange and you can understand the Aborigines affiliation and belief in its spiritual powers.

As usual, pictures just cannot do it justice, but the changing colours of it throughout the day and as we sat and watch the sunset over it were unbelievable! We cant really say anymore on it except it is amazing and definitely worth the drive :) Oh, and 45 mins further down the road is the Olgas, which are nearly (but not quite) just as mesmerizing as Uluru...

We are currently in Alice Springs... and it is soooo hot its just nuts! We thought we'd get this updated and then go for a little explore :) So, hope you like the pics and we'll update again soon after our 5 day trek out of the desert towards Cairns :)

An apple a day...

Obviously doesn't work... Dr Karl still managed to get his hands on us! Oh and the Irish guy called Connor - I knew who he was still being an avid Neighbours watcher (well kinda) but Matt didn't have a clue!

The Neighbours tour was really good fun and we got to see Erinsborough High, the studios (from outside behind a bush!) and most importantly of all Ramsey street. It was so exciting actually physically standing in front of the house that Scott and Charlene lived in!!

And as a little extra and much to Matt's pleasure, we also got to see some of the set of Prisoner Cell Block H.

From the tour we made our way to see Melbourne get slaughtered by Geelong in an Aussie Rules football game at the MCG Stadium.

Anyhow, onwards and upwards, the Great Ocean Road and Adelaide calls...

Kangaroos, Spiders, Ants.... oh, and views!

Cool... Oz is amazing! We left Sydney in a blaze... well, about 90km's per hour in the van :) and headed south towards Jervis Bay. The sun was shining and the van was running like a dream. And, once we arrived at Jervis Bay we thought we had hit paradise and things couldn't get any better! Crystal waters, gorgeous sand and background views to die for! Absolutely gorgeous!

We spent the day on the beach just lazing around before heading off for our campsite on Durras Beach. When we got to Durras we pulled up at the campsite to be greeted by LOADS of wild kangaroos! Very weird! And they are soooo darn big its crazy! Very, very, very cute tho! We went for a walk on the beach and watched the sunset before fighting our way through the kanga's back to the site for our tea :) We tried to light the BBQ next to the van but my Bushtucker skills are somewhat limited and we ended up with a pile of glowing embers...... hmmm....

So, the next day we started for Canberra... it had been a bone of contention as to whether we ought to go there or not. After all its inland and not on a beach... However, we decided to give it a go, and it was deffo worth it! The place is amazing! It's a purpose built city that became the capital so as to stop squabbles between Melbourne and Sydney.... I think... Again, the sun was shining and for a city, it was pretty quiet which meant getting around was really easy. For the first stop we headed to Parliament House (like our Houses of Parliament) and went for a walk around both the grounds and inner sanctum of the place. It was surprisingly interesting.... even Trace agrees.... :)

We then headed out to the Captain Cook Memorial Fountain on Lake Burley Griffin, which was also amazing. And, finally we headed to the Australian War Memorial and Museum... not exactly 'party times', but again, it was absol brill!

But then, things went scary.....

We got into the van and began the jaunt to Melbourne... having decided to do a spot of freedom camping I thought I'd check from the outside of the van to see how lit up it was... as I checked around the back window I saw the silhouette of the biggest, dock off spider shape I have ever seen!!!!! 'Please let it be on the outside' I prayed! Unfortunately, it wasn't! So, after telling Trace we had a problem.... we slowly peeled back the curtains to see what we were going to do with the big blighter.... Once we saw it properly, I'm afraid it wasn't much better... It was hooooge... and to add to the scariness, we just didn't know if it was a poisonous one or not! It was fat, hairy and can only be described as Tarantula in appearance!!!! We now think it was a baby Huntsman spider.... but still cant be sure.... however, we manged to coax it into a mug and ever so slowly make our way out of the van........... and threw it as far as we could before slamming the door and screaming!!!!! We know... what a pair of babies.... what will we do in the bush..... ???? :) Anyhoo, after tearing the van apart to check that the big b*st*rd had no brothers or sisters we finally settled down to a nervous sleep.

The next day everything was hunky dory... daylight does that to you... and we continued the trek towards Melbourne.... By the end of the day we got there and decided that we would freedom camp again as it was late in the day and we didn't want to pay for just a night :) gypos we know.... So, we pulled up on a lovely quiet beach and headed through to the back for a brew and some tea (dinner for you posh readers!). We opened the cupboard to be faced with a shedload of ants!!! Goddamn it, this van was an insect magnet!!! And we were freaked again for the second night on the run! Well, we cleaned them out and sprayed lots of stuff (not very vegetarian of us we know... but needs must) and eventually had tea.

Again, the next day made everything better again and we found a cool campsite in the city and are currently exploring the centre as we finish this....

Tomorrow we are booked onto the 'Neighbours' tour, and have been told it will be a special meet and greet one... oooooh, who will it be??? Please let it be Harold!!! And, then in the afternoon we are hoping to get to an AFL game (Aussie Rules Football) at the MCG ground.

And that's it for now... we'll try and update soon...hopefully, with Harold pics :) doh, Madge......

The land of Rolf

This is us in front of Sydney Harbour Bridge, which means we're here in Australia!

After just one day in Sydney we knew we'd definitely made the right decision to leave NZ early and move on - it's so exciting starting a new adventure and also a little daunting...especially as Australia is so big!

We spent the first three days staying in the centre of the city and seeing all the sights and just really enjoying exploring such an amazing city.

On our second night here we met up with friends from home Han, Katie and Han's boyfriend Andy who are all currently living in Bondi and after LOTS of catching up it turned out they were all going away for the Easter weekend and had a lovely beach front apartment going spare.... how very convenient...

We picked up our camper a couple of days later and signed a rental agreement for the next 63 days! It's not exactly luxury, but we do have loads more space than in our little Road Runner and a cooker, fridge, sink etc, it's just a little worn round the edges, or 'Shabby chique' as we like to call it.

All vanned up and ready to go we drove a whole 6kms down the road to Bondi Beach as we were having Dinner and staying with Han, Andy and Katie for the night. We had a lovely meal and were made to feel very welcome. It was great to catch up with girlie friends from back home and to see them so happy in their Ozzy life! Unfortunately though, with the wine flowing, such tasty food and good company we forgot to get the camera out so no photies.... boo!

We woke up the next morning to a beautiful day and decided to test the van out by taking it on a little trip to the Blue Mountains which is just 2 hours West of Sydney.

Here we visited Katoomba, home of the 'Three Sisters' rock formation, rode the worlds steepest railway, saw a dusky blue mountain sunset from Echo Point, stopped to view Govetts Leap and spent the first night in our new little camper.

We're now looking forward to relaxing in the apartment in Bondi for the Easter weekend and planning our route for our Australian adventure!