From Sydney to Melbourne and back again...

Hello everyone... We have arrived back from our best week in Australia so far! Last Sunday we caught the train to a place called Tascott which is where our friend Kath is from, its just north of Sydney on the central coast. After meeting up with them in Sydney it was time to get ready for our road trip. But...before we could do that we had our first proper aussie barbie! Nigel was very excited about this and got himself kitted out and ready...crocodile apron...check...stubby holder plus beer...check....tongs...check! Under the close supervison of Kath's dad Tony, Nigel was able to pose for the picture...and then the experts took over! It was a really lovely evening catching up and getting to know Kath's family while eating delicious food...steak and sausage barbie!! After dinner we got our stuff together and settled in for a good nights rest before we got ready to hit the road early the next morning.We got up the next morning and packed up the car..which was kindly loaned to us by Kath's dad Tony and beame affectionately known as the "Beast" and got us across two states with ease. Our first drive was back through Sydney and along the coast until we rached a small town called Kiama. We stopped to stretch our legs, take a look at the stunning views of the beach, lighthouse and the blow hole. On a good day apparently the spray can reach up to 60m high. We waited for a few to see how high it would go but not that far unfortunateky, but on such a nice day that was unlikely.



After the short stop we carried on and then stopped at another coastal town that Kath and Chris had been at a wedding the day before and stopped at a fantastic veggie cafe with the BEST wraps and burgers in the world!! I really struggled to choose. Not quite the road side junk food that I would get back home.

As you can see the boys were pretty hungry at this point and Chris was very amused that the waitress got his age right! Four hungry friends very satisfied by Kath's excellent choice of cafe! Well done... always helps to take an actual Aussie with you!
After a 6 hour drive we finally reached our first campsite at a place called Potato Point. On our drive down Nigel spotted his first kangaroo since we arrived in Australia...it was a very exciting moment although the two kangeroos we were gauping at and trying to take pictures of seemed quite confused by the whole situation. As we got closer to the park we realised that we were practically on the beach with the most stunning views! and there were kangeroos EVERYWHERE! although Kath then pointed out they were actually Wallabies and we all felt rather English in our mistake. The guy on the left was my favourite... as you can see he has obviously been fed alot by the campers and is a big fat Wallabie... Chris decided he was a Chav wallabie who was slobbing around...I just liked him because of the way he was sitting on his tail with his legs out front...very funny. We couldn't spend too long with our furry friends as we had to get on and pitch out tents for the first night...after some confused faces and Chris's general bewilderment with the whole idea of sleeping on the ground, we managed to get the tents to stand upright...success! ....well....almost... we were too smug... a big gust of wind came and Kath and Chris's tent almost blew over! Me and Nigel were busy laughing and putting it down to the fact they obviously hadn't put theirs up as well as we had and then turned around and our tent lifted up of the ground and we had to chase after it and try and catch it! After a fit of hysterics we all managed to get our tents to a point were they looked semi-stable and livable. I particularly like the look on Chris's face wondering what to do with his poles! ...but with Kath's expert guidance he was able to work it out! We then had a walk along the beach and a paddle in the water..it was cold! about half way along the beach we decided that we would stop and create some art work in the sand to remember our trip...you can see it below. I would like to say that it will remain there for some time but Chris decided to destroy it the minute we had finished taking the pictures...after all of our hard work!





Next up on our evening stroll on the beach... Quick snap of the four of us so you can see the view that we had from our tents. Just beautiful...

After we had stopped for a quick snap of the fantastic location we decided to head back to our tents in the hope that they would still be there...and they were. We cooked ourselves dinner on the barbie but we could have had a wood fired pizza if we had known that the campsite provided them...they looked amazing. We had a couple of beers and then realised that the temperature started to drop quickly. I wouldlove to tell you that our nights camping was fantastic and really walm.. etc but the harsh reality was that I was underprepared, with a summer sleeping bag and it was so, so cold...at one point I think I had every item of clothing that I had brought on and even some of Nigels too! I have never been so cold camping... not even in England! This was the only night to be like this though all the rest were really pleasant and warm. In the morning we set off for the slighly longer drive to Sydney. We passed through the most stunning scenery I think I have ever seen, panoramic views that I don't think I will ever forget. We tested Chris on some aussie terms that I had picked up in my guide book and managed to pass the time quite easily. On the way down I spoke to my friend Sharna about meeting up but she couldn't in the end as we were getting there late and she had to pick her boyfriend up from hospital which was a shame. When we arrived at the campsite in Melbourne we had a bit of a problem with space and a heated discussion with the German people beside us about where our tents could be pitched. We were not backing down ....well at least not until we realised we were in the wrong that is! We had a great meal that evening and a game of travel scrabble and then turned in as we knew that we had a great day ahead of fantastic tennis! The little guy on the right hand side there is a friend that Kath and Chris seemed to make in the night and found him on the middle layer of the tent in the morning when we were packing away. As me and Chris shrieked in terror Kath settled our nerves by claiming quite matter of factly that its fine its not poisonous its just a teranchulor!! like that was going to make me feel any better!



The next morning we headed into Melbourne for a quick tour of the city on the free tourist tram and then over to que to get into the aussie open which is just near the centre of the city. We had upgraded our tickets to include the day session as well as the evening so we settled in ready for five matches! As you can see below it was a pretty good order of play. The one we were really looking forward to was the Nadal match.





He didn't disappoint, witha straight 3 set win 6-2,6-2,6-2 he made it look easy. The crowd loved him and he had several marriage propsals throughout the match from both male and female spectators! He took it all in good humour though. Then Chris decided that with his new found inspiration he would go and have a go at one of the competitions outside to serve a Nadal type serve...he got to 137 KM per hour but not quite enough to beat him! we all cheered him on but I think we only contributed to his nerves! Next up we got ourselves matching transfer tennis ball tatoos from one of the tents and then had some lunch and sat in the sunshine...it was a really hot day! Then we headed back in to see Justine Henin for undoubtedly the best match we saw that day...they were so evenly matched it took them about 20 minutes just to complete a game!. It was nail biting tennis though and they had us on the edge of our seats in the final games. The crowd was amazing! Henin managed to claim the victory and she was a popular choice! It really was a great day of tennis and we were all exhausted by the time the last match came on. We managed to watch the first set but them had to head home for some sleep! Definately worth the two day trip to get there though.



The next day we headed on to our next stop at Australia's capital Canberra. Ever since we had arrived in Melbourne Chris kept talking about how much he wanted to see the set of Neighbours and visit Ramsey Street.. After a quick stop to look around this small town we headed on with our seven hour drive.I had done this last time I was here and had enjoyed it. We had worked out that it wasn't too far away from where we were staying so we decided to drive there on our way out of the city.... the only slight problem is that we got the address slightly wrong on the satnav and ended up on a very ordinary street! We couldn't stop laughing when we arrived and realised we were on the complete opposite side of town... so unfortunateky much to his disappointment we had to give it a miss! On the way back we stopped in a little place called Glenrowan. This was were Ned Kelly made his last stand before being capture and taken to jail. The guide book said that we would know we were there as soon as we got there.... and we absolutlely did...the giant statue in his rememberence was a little bit of a give away! When we arrived at Canberra we had a quick drive through the city and then headed to our campsite. We had had two great campsites the previous three nights so when we arrived at our last one we were a little bit lost for words.... and not exactly in a good way. To quote Kath it was pretty much Hicksville and the place people come when they have just got out of prison! We had a really bad feeling about it and seemed to be the only holiday makers in the whole place..everyone else looked as if they lived there. After spending time putting up our tents and watching people eyeing up the car and probably our valuables we decided that we would have to leave...either that or face the reality that one of Chris's thoughts on how we might we killed here may come true. Unfortunately, there are no pictures of this place as we left in such a hurry...so.. just imagine camping in the middle of a council estate in the worst area you can imagine and you will probably have the right image! With only four hours left until we got back to Sydney we took our chances and ran for home! So, that put an end to our road trip...not quite the way we had imagined!