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......