Queenstown to Waipara

A slight cock-up in the hostel booking department today meant I booked the hostel after the one I meant to, and I didn't realise until I put the address into SatNav, oh well a 7 hour drive today. The scenery however was stunning as a drove up through the mountains where they filmed The Lord of the Rings. I stopped for lunch at Lake Waitaki (which is where I had initially planned to stop the night) which has a strange blue hue to it, surrounded by towering mountains. and is used for a hydro-electric plant. I stopped again on the outskirts of Christchurch for some tea and then had 1 hour left to drive to the 'hostel' I had booked. The hostel is actually a number of old railway guards cars that were salvaged when they were scrapped by New Zealand Railways and they have been turned into bunkrooms. I have a whole one to myself, complete with the original seating and fittings at one end and 4 bunks in what was the luggage compartment.

Queenstown

I had a leisurely start to the day, getting up in time for the free breakfast (toast, jam and cereal) and then did a spot of washing. That done Heather at the hostel booked me a place on the Shotover Jet for later in the day. I walked down through the town centre and into the Botanical Gardens which are well kept and have a Frisbee Golf course in them (Note to Middlewood; easy one for us to do!) You play 'golf' around a course, but using Frisbees instead of clubs and balls. The 'holes' are metal posts with baskets on them. As you had to go all the way back into town to buy/rent a Frisbee and get someone to play with you, I decided to see if there were any Geocaches in the area (You use a GPS to find a hidden 'treasure') and there was one listed on the website called Frisbee Golf, I loaded the coordinates into my PDA and searched out the hidden box which was located ... now that would be telling ... have a look at the link to see where it is. I did find it, and recorded my details in the log book and re-hid the cache but there were loads of non-Geocacher's (or Muggles as they're known) about and I had to be discrete without looking too suspious. Heather had booked me onto the 3pm Shotover Jet boat but I still had to pay the balance at the office in the town so I walked down there and 'checked-in', as they had a trip leaving in 5 minutes with space the lady on the counter moved me forward to this run. The Company has a mini-coach which shuttles people back and forth to the river site so I and 10 other jumped on and the driver put on a DVD of what to expect and do whilst we drove the 10 minutes out of town to the site. The Jetboat is different to the normal propeller driven boat in that it sucks water in through a port on the bottom of the boat the forces it out through a small jet at the back; this means that it can be used in as little as 10inches of water (25cm for you modern people). Also as the jet can be pointed in any direction the boat can be made to go from 50mph to a dead stop or a 360 deg. spin almost on a button. First we were kitted out with buoyancy aids and then the driver/pilot/captain? gave us a safety brief; sit down, keep hold of the bar, have fun! Then he set off up the river. The section of river they work in is a combination of wide sweeping open sections with barely 10in. of water flowing to tight narrow gorges with deep fast flowing water and very steep hard rock walls! We went up river to the first bend and he signaled a 360 spin and we all hung on, he flipped the boat left then right the left and right around, the back lifting up out of the water and spray covering us all, fantastic! Back down the river we did a 'hand-brake turn' at the landing stage for the 'official photo' an then we entered the gorge, the driver set off at speed and flew into the gorge with barely 6in between the sides of the boat and the sheer overhanging walls then sliding across the river to dive around huge boulders in the middle. I'm not sure how fast we were actually going but the fact that it was so narrow certainly made sure you held on. Out of the gorge part the river again became wide and shallow separating into lots of seemingly impassable riverlets over pebbles. The boat was thrown around from stream to stream and every so often a 360 thrown in whenever the water level was deep enough. after about 10minutes we came to a stop and everyone got their breath back, the driver answered a couple of questions and then we set of back up the river using different streams and cutting it very fine against some washed up trees (that's why you keep you hands inside the boat!) We went through past the Jetty at speed and then stopped around the next corner to wait for the othe boat which had been following us to catch up before returning to the jetty. The ride lasted for about 25 minutes and was excellent, although I didn't buy the 'Momento Photo and DVD pack' as it was nearly half the cost of the ride again. The driver of the boat had told us that this was once a gold mining area and although commercial mining was banned a number of years back private panning was still allowed without a licence, a guy last year had found a nugget the size of a fist soI had a quick dig about in the pebble and sand spit next to the jetty (just like every one else) but alas no gold for me so it looks like I'm still coming home in May!

Te Anua to Queenstown

Took my time and got up about 9 this morning and enjoyed the fact that I had had the 4 bed dorm to myself for the night. I cleared out of the room then went up to the 'house' to get my supplies from the kitchen and have a coffee before setting off. I drove out onto the road and drove for ages so much so that I was away that I was virtually heading back into Invercargil and I actually stopped at a rest area and double checked where I was with Google maps! I was on the right road, and then a little further on picked up Highway 6 towards Queenstown. Road signing is really basic here – it usually only tells you the direction to the next place and not always all the places in that direction so you have to know all the places enroute which is a bit of a pain
Queenstown is a large town not too dissimilar to Bowness and Windermere in the English Lake District. I parked up in town and got on the Google maps to find the exact location of the hostel only to find it said 12metres; I was literally out side it on the other side of the road. The Last Resort Hostel is anything but the last resort. It's a small clapper board building tucked away in between a load of modern buildings. The hostel only has 18 beds so it's not too big and unfriendly. You get free breakfast in morning, free tea and coffee all day and free internet access all for 15 quid – it's a 5* hostel bargin. There's even a free Chocolate bar on the bed along with the towels. I've got two nights here which is nice.
I took a walk around the town and had a look in some of the outdoor shops and left sharpish on seeing the prices! I did go for a Guinness in the Irish bar on the lake front – as recommended (Cheers Rossi) and it was a good pint too and savoured it whist watching the US and Canada battle it out in the Ice Hockey on TV, sorry Canada. In the evening I went down to the Buffalo Club one of the many pubs/bars in the town to sample a beer or two, the hostel has a deal with the pub; you show your room key fob and get 2-4-1 drinks, all night so at $5.60 for 2 beers not a bad price. However I got ID'ed on the way in, that hasn't happened to me for years, turns out it's standard practice no matter how 'young' you look. Made my day anyway The local tipple here is Monteith's but tasted much like the Speight's the other day, damn lager beers, what I'd do for a decent pint of real ale now.

Milford Sound

Up at the crack of dawn! Showered and out by 7am I hit the road and drove up to Te Anua to get some fuel, the road to Milford Sound is one way in and out and is a round trip of about 240km (150miles) and with no petrol stations you don't want to get caught short, it's a long walk out! The drive was really good the road was quiet and I stopped on the way at 'The Mirror Lakes' which are small ponds at the side of the road which reflect the mountains across the valley, it would have been amazing but a SAGA coach turned up and 50 odd cackling British women got off making a right load of noise. A few quick pics and I left embarrassed by the their scant appreciation of the place. The road passed though a large wide flat grassed plateau an then continued up and over a pass and descended into a wooded valley before climbing up through thick cloud to the tunnel entrance. The road to Milford Sound was hewn through the mountain to enable direct access and is I think the only Fiord which has road access all the others are closed to tourists as nature reservations or only accessible by sea. The tunnel is one way and runs for a about a mile, it has a traffic light system but it only operates from 9am so I must have been up there too early they weren't switched on when I entered the tunnel. It has a couple of passing places in it but essentially if you met a coach going the other way you would be stuffed! The Tunnel pops out literally half way up a mountain on the other side and takes your breath away. The road switch-backs rapidly down the valley, sheer sides of granite rock on either side. Eventually you arrive at Milford which is essentially a tourist service centre and the port for the pleasure cruisers. I had booked ahead with a cruise company recommended by the Hostel and as I had an hour to spare I went into the cafe there for a coffee and sandwich which was a respectable 5 quid (unlike the UK which would have charged at least a tenner just for the privileged of walking in the door.) I walked around the small inlet at the head of the water to the 'Cruise Terminal', a small port for the boats which ply the sound. I checked in at the desk for the Mitre Cruises and waited for the boat to come in. The hostel had given me the number of this company and said it was the best one as they only deal with individual bookings and not the many coach parties that use the bigger boats. The boat only had about 40 people onboard and the Captain was the tour guide. The commentary was excellent and numerous, anyone braking the rules would be thrown overboard, therefore the Captain would be forced to pick you up, however he would charge you 'salvage fee' of double the trip cost before he allowed you back on! The boast sailed out into the sound the huge sides of the mountains either side towering above, a few clouds were about and a fair wind was up but the water was calm. The Sound isn't actually a Sound but a Fiord the difference is that a Sound is where a chasm in the rock is flooded and Fiord is where a glacial valley has been flooded but the sea. The fiords here were named before they actually knew what they were. The boat took us along the left side of the sound pointing out the different features of the mountains, and how they were formed. There are many beech trees clinging to the sides of the mountains and they manage to stay there by interlocking their roots and getting into tiny crevices, however every so often a 'tree avalanche' occurs and they literally fall like dominoes down the hill side leaving a huge scar down the mountain. All along the sheer faces there are water falls coming off the mountain sides dropping hundreds of feet into the water below. Because the rock simply drop straight down under the water the boat was able to sail right up to and under the waterfalls drenching everyone on the boat (he did warn us to put cameras away!).
We rounded a point on the side and there were some Seal basking on the rocks, these were the females along with the bull male, and were oblivious to the boat there. The water in the sound is unusual in that because of the amount of fresh water that comes off the mountains the top 7m or so has very low salt levels, this also stops the light from penetrating down into the water very far and so there is a unique sea life environment close to the surface. There is a platform you can get off at with an underwater observatory however it was another 40 quid so I gave it a miss. The boat went right up the sound and eventually we went out into the South Tasman Sea and the swell suddenly increased to about 2m. This was a calm day though and this part of the Sea is on the edge of 'The Roaring 40's' apparently one of the roughest sea's in the world. We turned back and headed into the sound, the captain pointing out the continental divide fault which runs through the region and a hanging glacial valley way above us which had been cut cleanly across by the Milford Sound glacier. On the way back in to the port we were joined by a school of bottle nosed dolphins who swam along side and in front of the boat. I managed to get a couple of 'just got-it' shots but most of them are simply lots of empty water. Back at the port I returned to the car and set off back to Te Anua. stopping just through the tunnel to take some pictures of the melting pack snow which was still here in the summer. Further down the road I stopped a rest stop and met a group of hikers who were trying to get back to Te Anua so I offered them a lift, they had hiked for 2 days over from Queenstown and were 4 hours early for the bus back but they could get an earlier one from Te Anua. By the time we got back to the town the warmth of the car had set in on their legs and they could hardly walk when I dropped them off at the i-Site. Back at the hostel I met up with Peter and Jane again and we chatted till about 10ish before turning in.

Invercargil to Te Anua

Left Invercargil this morning after dropping a fellow backpacker at the local supermarket, he was heading to Dunedin so unfortunately the wrong way to me. He had given me some info on where to stay in Queenstown and advised me to book ahead – as it happened I had to book for 2 nights minimum and also I couldn't get in till the 22nd and 23rd so I also rang ahead and booked 2 nights at Te Anua where I was heading today.
The drive out of town followed the Southern Scenic route and the drive was quiet, rolling hills and very windy. I stopped on the was at Colac Bay and watched a couple of kite surfers out on the water. The wind was really strong and having spoke to one of them they said it was constantly like this, again the beach was virtually deserted, mind you the fact that you had to lean into the wind at 45deg just to stay stood up was probably a good reason for this!
Further along the coast I stopped again at Gemstone Beach, the beach here gets 'gemstones' thrown up onto it by the constant pounding seas, today the beach was covered with sand but it changes each tide and some days is just all pebbles many of which are translucent or shiny, hence the beach name.
The road now turned inland and began to head into the towering foothills of the Fiordland National Park, the landscape changed, huge towering mountains surround glaciated valley and tundra like plains in between and it is quite spectacular. I arrived at the hostel around 3ish and checked in. It's actually about 9km (5m) outside of Te Anua on the side of rolling hill, the location is fantastic, the main building is built of wood like an Alpine Lodge and houses the lounge area with huge open log fire places,the kitchen and laundry and even a mezzanine level pool table area. The 'bedrooms' are all in wooden cabins slightly lower down the hill each sleeping 4-6 people and with their own bathrooms. The views across the valley to the rugged mountains beyond is stunning. I was sat updating the blog in the lounge area when Peter and Jane, two of the people from the Hostel in Invercargill turned up as well, we chatted again and found we were both going to Milford Sound tomorrow abait on different boats. We sat and chatted till around 10pm then turned in as We had a 6:30am start tomorrow to get to Milford Sound.

Dunedin to Invercargill

I had hoped to stay another night here but due to a football or rugby match today there wasn't a bed to be found anywhere and it was damn cold, wet and windy for my little summer tent! I had a drive around the town and parked up next to the Railway station which is of the classic Late Victorian Gothic stlye and took some pictures and called at the superstore for some food before setting off south again. I had a break at a couple of places on the way and then after calling for fuel at Balaclutha I turned off the main road and followed the Scenic Route down the towards the coast and The Catlins, this road was a lot quieter and I drove through some beautiful scenery along the way.
Part way along I saw a brown road sign for Cannibal Bay, it sounded interesting and I turned off the road onto a smaller country lane which quickly became a gravel road and twisted and turned for another 8km until it dropped over a crest and down to a huge virtually deserted beach. The sea was rolling in and breaking on the wide bay but there was a fierce offshore wind blowing the tops of the rollers creating a strange mist out to sea. I stuck on a fleece and walked down to the rocks at on end to try and get some picture of the sea and then I spotted what I thought were people at the far end of the beach and it was only when another couple asked me had I seen the sea lions that I realised what they where so I took a walk down to the other end of the bay and got some picture of them just lazing about on the beach. Every now and then the bull would raise up on his flippers and have a good look around, a good scratch then back down to chill out. I knew not to get too close to them as there were warning signs around all around, and I've heard they can shift as fast as a man!
Back on the road I got a bed at the Southern Comfort Backpackers in Invercargill and had a great evening just sat around the huge dining room table just chatting with other guests, a couple of Australians (one of whom was cycling around NZ), A German Girl on a gap year, some Swiss and later a nice but rather loud Italian older lady who was quite funny.

Christchurch to Dunedin

A Shower and a strong coffee got me up and going this morning and I decided to drive down to Dunedin with is much further down the East Coast of the South Island. The road was good for most of the way being a single road with passing sections every 5km or so. They also have little private cafes along the way and many of these offer free coffee to drivers – all you have to do is sign the log sheet on the counter. Eventually after about 5 hours (I didn't realise it was that far) I got into Dunedin and called about 6 different hostels before I found one that had vacancies, luckily it was just around the corner from where I had parked up. The Manor Backpackers was an old rambling big Victorian House well suited to a hostel. I took a walk down into the town as I had read there was a Brewery in town and not one to miss a good pint?!? I went in search... Speights is just on the edge of the town centre on a hill and is built in the classic mill style of northern British brewery. There was a tour but it was booked up for this day so I went next door the the Speight's Ale House. The huge cavernous room was obviously once a warehouse for the brewery but had been 'tarted up' with lots of fake mash tuns and all things brewing, I spied they did a tasting rack of beers so I ordered one of those and these are the results
Golden Tasteless and bland, fizzy pop
Pale Ale Light beer as expected but little taste and gassy
Summit Light and fruity an nice summer beer
Wheat Beer Strong Apricot flavors and clear not cloudy
Old Dark A deep red beer with some hoppieness still gassy
Porter Burnt hops and dark chocolate bitterness
The Porter was about the best of the lot and I would class it more of a Black Lager than a porter, all the beers were what I would call a lager rather than an Ale, apparently though the Golden Ale was a cask and the others were all Nitro-Kegs not that you could tell! I was happy with the Porter though and ordered a huge platter of meats, cheese and pickles which also came with a whole mini loaf. Suitably stuffed I wandered back to the hostel

Christchurch

Early morning alarm call from my Mum and Dad – thanks, you got me up in time to checkout! I took the hotel bus back the 500yds to the airport, well it was free.
Back in the terminal I found a Vodafone concession and picked up a SIM card for my phone, then went to the Avis desk to get my car, this time a Toyota Corolla, bags in the back I drove into Christchurch and looked in the Lonely Planet for a hostel to stay at. The weather is a little like a normal wet Tuesday in Manchester.... wet and cold!
I found the Jailhouse Hostel in the guide and gave them a ring, they had accommodation available so I headed down there, it's just outside town and took me a time to find it as it's hidden off the main road. It's called the Jailhouse as it actually was a prison until 1999 when it was decommissioned and turned into a hostel. Yes you actually stay in the old cells some of them have been knocked through to make dorms and some have been left exactly as they were on the day the last prisoners left, complete with drawings on the walls and the original bench beds, the beds have been replaced for hostel use! Having checked in I went down to the town centre and followed the walking tour around the town in Lonely Planet guide. Christchurch is very English so much so I found it hard to believe I was actually on the other side of the planet! They still have a traditional tram which trundles in a circuit round the town but I forgo a ride on it as it only went in a small circle which I'd already walked and it was a tad expensive. As usual it started to rain so I headed back to the car and took a drive out to the coast – just to see the Sea – there was a chippy near by so I got Fish and Chips and parked up on the prom to watch the mad surfers in the freezing cold.
Back at the hostel there wass not much happening so I called at the local pub around the corner for a 'swift half' before retiring.

Off to New Zealand

Got up at about 7:30 and had a shower and coffee at Jo's house before setting off to the airport. I stopped on the way to fill the car for the last time and then dropped it off at the Airport and went to check in, Adelaide Airport is about the same size as Liverpool, but less portacabins. I went to check in at the automated checkin but it didn't work and referred me to the service desk, luckily it was only because I had an onward flight from Melbourne so Igot my bags checked through to Christchurch ( good job really as they were over 22kg and the Jetstar flight from Melbourne is 20kb max) So all I had to do was pick up my second boarding ticket at Melbourne when I got there. I got a call from Ian Loxton asking where I was and I told him at the airport, and he surprised me when he said he was just going through security and would see me there! Somewhat confused I met him on the other side of security and found out that you don't need a boarding ticket here to go through security and you can go in and out as you need! Ian had come to see me off and we managed to get get a picture of us (which I had forgot to do the other day.) taken by a very fiendly security guard on the entrance gate (you wouldn't get that at Liverpool) Ian also gave me a very rare Baseball Cap with the Compuserve Pacific logo on; very rare these days. So my flight was called and we bid farewell and I boarded the flight to Melbourne. The flight only took an hour (for a distance that had taken me about 5 days to drive!) We got a coffee and cinnamon cake on the plane and the cake gave me heartburn, daft thing is I knew it would, but I still ate it! Luckily I had some Rennie in my bag, not that I've needed it much these last couple of weeks. Once at Melbourne I still had to exit the Domestic area and go and recheckin at the JetStar desk but it didn't open for 2 hours so I had a wander round the airport and resisted the temtation to eat at the many restaurants, as I wanted to have something to do once through check-in. I ended up doing a Phil Rowe and camping out on the check-in desk till it opened for 45 minutes. So armed with my Boarding pass I went through immigration, and security (this time it's travellers only) and it drops you straight into the duty free, a quick wander around here then on to find some food, not impressed the only food out let airside is 1 cafe-bar, all the restaurants and food outlets are before security and you cant go back out, so I had to have a microwave warmed chicken schnitzel and an overpriced beer, oh year and the internet access was $11/hour. Not impressed, Melbourne Airport! The flight boarded on time and we actually made some time up with a tailwind so landed about 20mins early. The flight was fine but as JetStar is a lowcost airline the food and drinks are chargeable but luckily I had an exit seat so I was able to stretch out for the 3 ½ish' hours.
We landed in Christchurch around 10:30pm local time and I get ready for the usual immigration/quarantine questions, especially as I had brought the tent I had bought in Australia. I ticked the various boxes on the entry form, and joined the queues to get checked over. The lady on the desk looked at my shoes and decided my trainers needed scrubbing – the soles of them - not the whole of them and obviously the tent needed checking out. She asked me to wait and took them off into another room and was gone for a good 15 minutes. when she came back the soles of my trainers were spotless and my tent was repacked tighter than when I had bought it. I wall let out into the arrivals hall and went to the info desk to find out how to get to my hotel I had pre-booked. The lady behind the desk called over 'Marcell' the hotel driver who I had just walked past to get to the desk and he took me out the the free transfer bus he had outside. I had no sooner got in the bus and got comfy and was looking for the seatbelt when he had the door open and we had arrived, it was no more than 500yds to the hotel door. I checked in ok and then walked to my room and it felt like I walked further to the room than we had driven to the hotel.
I was just settling down in the room for the night when there was a load of shouting and noise out in the corridor, by now it was gone midnight and a little late for that sort of noise. I put my eye to the spy glass and saw a load of kids running up and down the corridor. Grrr.... Camp Warden head on... I went out and read the riot act, quietly but firmly, it seemed to do the trick but just as I had done so a German guy from the room next door to me came out and had a go at me thinking I was hotel staff for letting the kids lark about, I politely explained I was in the room next to him, and went back in my room leaving him stood in the corridor in a pair of boxer shorts with about 20 Korean?!? kids sniggering at him and darting into rooms. With that I decided there was only one way to get to sleep and had a wee dram of the good stuff I'd purchased in Duty Free.

Adelaide Day 3

A slow start today as this not being a public site you don't need to be off before 10am (and end up paying for another night.) I had a bit of a sort of the car and it's contents as stuff had spread every where over the last 3 weeks. The I drove down to 'the old house' which is the Original house from the Site and has been converted to to a bunkhouse and function centre. The building sleeps 60 and also has beautiful rooms downstairs which is often booked out for weddings and apparently make a nice income for the Scouts (it's booked up almost 2 years in advance!) Dennis the warden came down ad showed me around inside and we swapped a couple of badges and Campsite type stories – its the same all over no staff!!!) Eventually he got a call and had to go and I asked him how much and where to pay my fees, he just waved and said 'no worries' and drove off. Thanks Dennis!
I left the campsite and drove just down the road to Handorf which is the oldest German settled town in Australia, it was strange as I was expecting Germanic stlye buildings but they were mostly of the Australian style of low buildings with big veranda's and there were many little shops selling German style goods, proudly 'Made in Australia' very odd. I drove back into the Centre of Adelaide and went down to see the city itself which I hadn't yeat really seen. I parked up and walked the virtually the full length of Rundle Street which is the main Shopping Street and found the Scout Shop, In I went to get some goodies. I liked the look of the Australian Scout Leaders shirts but alas you have to be a registered Scout Australia Leader to buy one so I had to make do with an activity t-shirt and I bought a number of Badges as well and picked up a copy of the Lonely Planet New Zealand . I also found they were doing badge swaps so I had to return later as all my badges were back in the car at the far end of town.
I took a good walk around the city including 'The Garden of Unearthly Delights' which isn't as ba as it sounds but a section of the parkland wich hass been sectioned off to show loads of acts in the Adelaide Fringe Festival which is happening now, (A bit like the Edinburgh Festival) unfortunately the shows did not kick off till later in the evening so I took a drive down out of town towards the Airport and checked out where the Car Hire Return was for the following morning. finally I got to Jo's House again as she is only 10 minutes from the airport and cleaned out the Car and packed my bags before having a well earned beer that had been in my boot for a week because of the tablets (I stuck it in the freezer to chill it!)

Adelaide Day 2

Up at about 8 to a lovely warm day, I showered and dropped the tent and then listend to the Amateur Radio News on the local repeater and called in at the end (just to keep the locals on their toes!) So off to find the Scout Camp; it was back up the Freeway we had used to drop into Adelaide the first day and I found the exit no problem at the top of the long climb out of Adelaide. At the first roundabout I saw a brown tourist sign for the Scenic Lookout at Mt. Lofty so I went to have a look. Mt. Lofty isn't really a mountain it's just compared to Adelaide which is all flat and almost at sea level it's a heck of a lot higher up. The view really is impressive though and you can see the whole of Adelaide spread out below you like a table cloth. The Central Business District (Town Center) stands out as it is the only part of the city which has high rise buildings and also it is surrounded on all sides by a large ring of parkland (which is fiercely protected by the cities residents apparently) I took a number of pictures the went back to the car to find the Campsite. I followed my rough directions I had jotted down and some how missed the side road I wanted, I ended up doing a huge loop through a number of small villages, including one that was holding a Classic British Car Show/Rally but I didn't stop; Top Gear weren't there. Back around again and I saw the sign this time and found the entrance to Woodhouses about ｽ a mile down the lane. The Campsite is huge about 240 acres and the Scouts bought the land many years ago, the site is now one of the oldest Scout sites in Australia. I met the Warden Dennis at the office and he showed me areas to camp. There were no Scouts in camp apart from a Leaders conference (Most Scouts camp in the winter here as during the Summer there is a total fire ban so it sort of mucks up a propper camping program (oh and the snakes are very active apparently – but I didn't see any.)
having set up my tent next to one of the Amenity Blocks I gave Jo Moore a call; Jo had been on my first Indian Tour way back in November and we had agreed to meet up when I got into Adelaide. Jo lives back down in Adelaide just to the South of the City Centre and after I got to Jo's she took me on a whirlwind tour of the centre the we drove out to Genelg which is the 'beach' suburb of Adelaide. We walked down to the front and along the coast a way and then back into the main part of it and had a meal at one of the restaurants on the front. It turned out that Jo is only 10mins from the Airport so she kindly offered to let me stay my last night at her house as I have an early morning flight out on Tuesday. I returned to the campsite to settled in for the night, the sky was amazing and I called back at Mt. Lofty to try and get a sunset picture but I was about 5 mins too late, although I did get some good dusk pictures as the sky went a brilliant red hue.

Adelaide Day 1

I gave Ian a ring just to confirm details and left the campsite and drove up to the the North of Adelaide and managed to find Ian's house without too much difficulty, well I went around one block twice but that was because I got stuck in a left turn only lane. Ian and I have known each other from years back when the internet was still in it's infancy and we used a service called Compuserve which had forums for special interest groups. We were of course both in the Scouting Forum and Ian was already an Admin. Each October there is an international 'virtual' Jamboree called JOTI which originated on Amateur Radio and soon spread to the new fangled internet. We used a great new gadget that allowed the Scouts to be able to message each other directly on the Forum and we had Scouts at locations all over the world communicating. This was way before things like Instant Messenger or even the mass use of text messaging on mobile phones so it was a big thing then. At Middlewood we had a dial up connection and the bill was not cheap for the weekend! The event started to grow world wide and I think Ian made me an Admin and along with some other leaders around the world we promoted and monitored the chats amongst the Scouts.
So we have kept in touch ever since and it was really great to at last meet up. We played about for a bit on the Ian's PC whilst I uploaded some pic's to Flickr and also fixed the keyboard on my laptop whilst bobbing out to watch parts of the Olympics on TV. Ian also got me the details for the local Scout Campsite and rang them to check if it was ok for me to come up the following day, and at $10/night it was certainly cheaper than thepublic site at $22/night. Suddenly it was dinner time so we nipped out to the chippy to get some chips to go with the tea Ian's wife had made. Chippy's are different here in that the all have a salad bar as standard and the vast majority use frozen chips rather than fresh cut. Soyou have to wait for your order as they are cooked to order, and the size of the portions, they are huge, at least double a UK portion. After tea we went round the corner to see Paul who helped Ian in the early days of JOTI and who it turned out was also a Amateur Radio Enthusiast... well probbably a bit more than that! Ian had a radio shack (room full for radio gear) to die for and an amazing antenna farm (garden full of aerials) to die for. His current little project is Earth-Moon-Earth and satellite communications – bouncing signals off the moon and back to earth or off tiny satellites that zoom round the sky ( and not big stationary ones like you get SKY/FOXtel TV signals from!) It needs big TV-like aerials that that track the sky and you have to build them yourself, not the sort of thing you can pick up at a shop. By now it was getting on for Midnight and as I was staying on the public site I had to drop Ian back at home and then get back. I was really god to at last meet up with Ian. (And thanks to Ian's wife who did a load of washing for me whilst we chatted!)

Naracoorte to Adelaide

I was awoken early this morning but had a good nights sleep, the majority of the door were with a tour group and were up at 6 to leave at 7:30am. I let them all get up and run around before getting up and then went to shower in the strange washroom which was built in a huge converted watertank. Jeroen was up now and the owner made us both a coffee (but not from the grotty kitchen!) and then we walked around to the garage where his car was being stored. It did not look good the mechanic suspected the engine had seized but needed to check further so I left Jeroen with my number and went of to see the caves. The Narbrook caves were made thousands of years ago and are unique when water seeped into the limestone rocks and then formed channels underground, eventually holes appeared in the roofs of some of the chambers and animals fell in, these animals then died down in the caves and became preserved as fossils the sink-holes eventually sealed up with silt and detritus which also fell in resealing the caves until they we found by people in the 1800's searching for bat guano. The cave systems are huge and not all of the systems have been fully explored but large areas have been opened up to the public and guided tours are done through parts of them. The Victoria show cave that I went into is explained by a very knowledgeable guide who took us around different parts of the cave system and even had a seated area where we were given specially selected fossil bones to handle and projected images of the sorts of animal that were found in the remains. The tour took about an hour underground and when I got out I got a text from Jeroen to say his car had died and he needed a lift to Adelaide. So I went back into Naracoorte and met him at the library where he was pricing up a new vehicle on the internet. We called back at the garage to get some of his bags (The garage agreed to let him leave it there till Monday when he was going to return to get the rest of his kit – I couldn't fit a surfboard in my car!)
So we set off for Adelaide, the drive took about 4 hours and it was really good to have some company as this stretch of the route was fairly boring with huge great stretches of flat prairie land and dead straight roads. We chatted about all sorts and put the world to rights, politics, religion, traveling you name it! We did stop about halfway for a snack and stretch at a small one hore town I have no idea of the name but it did have a railway halt of sorts and I got some pictures of the tracks disappearing in the the horizon. Eventually as the road neared Adelaide it became a Motorway and started a long steep decent down to the city, down a winding cutting through rock faces and all of a sudden the town was in front of us. We called in a McD's to use the Wifi and find some hostels for Jeroen, he had brought a Sat Nav with him from his car so we used that to locate the Hostels in the City centre and at the second on he found a bed so I dropped him there and we said farewell.
i drove on out the the city to find a campsite Jeroen had found me in a guide book he had. (He needed to visit the vehicle hire places in the morning, I had no such needs to rush around!) It took me about 30minutes to navigate my way out of he city and find the right road to the campsite but 10 minutes later I was set up on the campsite and gave my old friend Ian Loxton a ring to arrange a meeting for the following day.

Warnambool to Naracoorte

Got up this morning to a fine drizze. I called in a McDonalds for breakfact and to use the free Internet then drove on towards Adelaide. The road had now left the coast and I head inland a fair way. I stopped off at Mt Gambier to have a look at the Blue Lake. The lake is inside the crater of an extinct volcano and is now actually the towns water supply. The 'Mount' defies what is actually there as you don't seem to climb very high up to reach the rim of the crater, however looking down into it the water level of the lake is way down and a strange deep blue colour. It can't be a reflection from the sky either as it was actually chucking it down when I got there (what's new!) I sat and played radio for a bit chatting to a couple of radio amateurs on the local repeater, causing a little confusion as the guy I was speaking to couldn't understand my call sign. (My call is G7ELA and as I'm currently in 'VK5 land' I have to add that bit on the end so it becomes G7ELA/VK5/Mobile; it confuses a couple of people!)
The Landscape was now rapidly changing as I drove on, the road was a good 2 lane road with overtaking sections every so often but there was very little traffic on the roads. I passed through huge forested flat land area's which were obviously commercial plantations of pine, the road way went for miles in a dead straight line with the huge pines planted about 40yds off from either side of the road which gave a strange tunnel effect. After an hour or so the landscape changed again to vineyards, and more vineyards planted as far as you could see in both directions and the land started to roll gently again. Eventually I came to the town of Nararcoorte, I had been driving for about 3 hours and it was getting late in the afternoon so I decided to stop for the night. The rain had stopped but there were still dark clouds around so fancying a change I hunted out the Tourist Info office to see what was available in the area. The office had closed when I got there but they had left small paper bags hanging out side full of local info guides and maps, so I had a flick through them and found a listing for a Backpackers Hostel. This seemed like a good idea and the cost was similar to camping. I gave the owner a ring and they had space and he gave me directions. 2 minutes later I was outside the front door. The owner showed me round the back to the dorm, which seemed to be a converted garage but quite clean and with lots of bunks. He explained that they weren't a normal sort of Backpackers Hostel but they normally just have a tour group in 4 times a week and also they provide beds for lots of the temporary workers who work on the farms and vineyards around the area. The dorm was clean and the people that were there were all very friendly but the place was very shabby and a little 'Heath Robinson'. The kitchen area for the 'backpackers' was a mess and I decided to not bother cooking here! Just as I was dropping some things on a bunk another lad arrived. Unfortunately his car had broke down not far from town and the tow truck had dropped him at the door and taken his car in to be looked at the next morning. As we we both 'independent travelers' and the owner suggested we visit the local pub for some food as they did a 'special' evening meal for $8.80. So we decided to walk down to it and get some food. Jeroen was from Holland and had bought his car from one of the companies which specialise in selling older vehicle to travelers. He was planning to meet a friend in Adelaide at the weekend the drive on to Perth but the car had stopped about 10km outside of Narbrook. He had managed to flag someone down who helped him to call the breakdown service. He had to go back in the morning to find out the damage. The food in the pub was basic either a turkey, pasta or fish plate brought out from the kitchen with as much veg or salad as you could eat from a buffet. A bit plain and the turkey was loaded with salt but with lots of veg and salad was a nice big cheap fill. I had read about the local caves in the tourist info guides so planned to visit them tomorrow morning, and suggested to Jeroen that he could have a lift to Adelaide if his car was terminal. He wasn't sure was he was going to do yet so we left it for the night and returned to the hostel.

Apollo Bay to Warrnambool

Feeling a lot better today, up and out early. The scenery is amazing and the road is a great driving road. I turned of the main road to take the side road down to Cape Otway Lighthouse. I thought it was only a short distance off the main road but it turned out to be 14 kilometres (which is really nothing here!) It claims to be the oldest continuously lit lighthouse in Australia and also the point where the first telegraph cable came ashore from Tasmaina. The Light house and the surrounding buildings is now a museum and the 'real lighthouse is a small 10ft post to the front of it (between it and the sea) with a small beacon light on it, this is due to modern shipping now using GPS to plot their passage through the straights to the South of the Lighthouse. Originally when the Lighthouse was in operation the beam could apparently be seen from 37km away at sea. The new one is visible to about 15! Before the lighthouse was built the straights were treacherous to shipping and many boat hit the reefs and sunk. The old rule being never to pass the lighthouse at night! The lenses on the lamp are huge and sit in a special bath of mercury to give them a frictionless bearing to turn on and they are that strong that in the morning and evening the keepers had to draw blackout curtains to specific places to shade the sun from shining directly into the lenses as that would cause the filaments to burnout because of the 'reverse' magnification of the sun!
There was also a number of other buildings at the site including the Telegraph Hut which had also doubled as a School and a house at various times in it's life, a WWII Radar station that was installed after a US Ship was sunk off the coast by a German U-Boat.
I drove back up to the main road and continued on the main road. Not much further on a number of people had stopped in a Eucalyptus wooded area and I realised they were all Wallaby watching, so I pulled over and joined them. There were quite a few of them just chilling out in the branches of the trees right next to the roads and ignoring all the tourists below with camera's snapping away. I stopped at a Junction in the Road called Lavers Hill for a coffee and then set off again until I came across the 12 Apostles. This is a rock formation on the coast which is where columns of rock have been left standing whilst the softer rock around them has been eroded. Originally there were 12 but some have crumbled into the sea and I'm not sure how many are actually left but all the same it was very impressive from the view point. I then drove onto Warrnambool and found a campsite for the night in the centre of the town. By now the cloud had bubbled up and by the time I had my tent up a heavy sea mist had rolled in. I sat in the camp kitchen and watched an episode of Border Patrol on TV which strangely was featuring Manchester Airport! My neck is a lot better tonight and a managed to go to bed without painkillers (and I'm still off the beer!)

Doctor Ho and Apollo Bay

I got up at about 9 after a really bad nights sleep my neck felt terrible this morning.
I cleared the site and after a quick shower called in at the Wardens office to find out where the nearest doctors was. Luckily it was only just down the hill on the shopping area in Anglesea itself and I gingerly drove down there trying not to turn my neck. The doc, who was called Dr Ho (not Who!) was actually a Malaysian who had trained in the UK but now works here, diagnosed me as having and abscess caused by an ingrowing hair. He suspected it was due to my neck getting too sweaty at night. (I put this down to my inflatable pillow) He gave me local anesthetic and cut it open to drain off some of the puss and then patched me up. He also prescribed me a course of strong antibiotics which means no booze for the next week – bugger! The treatment and doc's fees cost $85 but luckily I found out the UK NHS has a reciprocal agreement with the Australia's equivalent Medi-care. So I had to pay up and then find a Medi-care office on the way to get a refund. This seemed too simple but we will see.
So I set off from Anglesea after a coffee and tablets along the Great Ocean Road. I kept stopping every so often to take pics, but the 'pain in my neck' was starting to come back as the anesthetic wore off and I got as far as Apollo Bay before I had to pull in and find a Camp site for the night.

Melbourne and Eumeralla Scout Camp

Up at 8 this morning to go back into Melbourne to meet up with Tess from the Vietnam Tour. I parked the car in the Retail Park nest to the Camp Site and took the bus back into town. On the way I noticed that there was a Regional Scout Office on the Retail Park and made a mental note to call in on the way out of Melbourne to find a Scout Camp.
I met up with Tess at Federation Square in the centre of Melbourne and we made our way down a series of streets and then alleys to what looked like a dead end back street, at the end was a small doorway which led into a small corridor and then up some stair to a tiny funky little restaurant/bar. It was called Bella Sister (or Sister Bella?) and a strange place that seemed to have organically grown with odd paintings on the walls and obscure phrases written on them and the walls. The seating consisted of tight bench seats and tables like you would get in a caravan or low cushioned stools and tables. The bar was wedged into one corner of the floor area. I assume the kitchen was on the ground floor and the whole place cannot have been much bigger than my house back home. We went our separate ways around 1pm, Tess had to meet another friend in town and I had to get back to the car before the 4 hour time limit was up. It was great to meet up and reminisce about a trip that strangely seemed ages ago but was less than a month ago. Back at the retail park I called in at the Scout office and got the address of a Scout Camp Site down on the Great Ocean Road at Anglesea. So armed with the address I headed off down the motorway towards the coast stopping at the main Tourist Info office on the way to pick up a load of maps and guides to the area. The road into Anglesea (which is a town here, not and Island!) dropped down to a two lane road and I was happily trundleing along when a huge sign announced the Scout Camp entrance was 200m on the left, stamping on the brakes I just made the turn (much to the annoyance of the guy with the caravan behind me I think!) The camp office was down a long gravel road which ran into a bush area for about ? mile. Luckily the camp was just open having been closed for the summer holidays?!? I produced my international knecker and Appointment card and that was enough to get me in. There ware only two other groups on the site but they were from Schools and were staying in the buildings lower down the site. The warden directed me up to the top of the site and said 'just find a patch in the bush at the top' He wasn't wrong the area was just grit sand and low eucalyptus bushes but I found a nice flat piece next to a camp fire area, however with the current fire ban no fires to be had. I had wander round the site after setting up the tent and suddenly spotted my first kangaroo grazing on the grass lower down the site I had my camera with my and managed to get fairly close to it and noticed there were actually 2 but the light was fading fast and it was quite had to get a good shot of them. Well at least I have actually seen one for real now! Back in the tent I settled down for the night, It was pitch black and totally silent... apart from the sound of the sea breaking on the shore close to the site, the loud crickets, the occasional squawking of a bird, 3 mozzies that had managed to get into my tent and something scratching round the outside. The other thing that was bothering me was my neck was getting really achy now and the spot on the back was getting bigger, a visit to the Doc's tomorrow I think.

Melbourne Day 2

I got up in the morning to my phone ringing from home had had a chat to everyone enjoying a party in my house back home (I hope you cleaned up – you know how I like my house spick and span!) I headed into the town again and then took a tram out to St. Kilda Beach to meet up with Jenny from the Vietnam Tour. We met at the 'big mouth' entrance of Luna Park (a bit like a mini Blackpool Pleasure Beach) In fact St Kilda was a little like Blackpool with a beech front promenade and lots of little shops and cafes, we took a walk along one of the streets which according to Jenny has been home to specialist cake shops for years, you name it if its a cake or sweet or covered in chocolate you could buy it here.
We had lunch at one of the restaurants here then walked up the promenade towards the other end of the town. along the front were lots of stalls which set up on a Sunday selling handmade arts and crafts of all descriptions, at the main part of the town we found out that it also happened to be the gay pride parade in town and we stood and watched the various 'groups' going past – some of which I had to wonder what their connection to the parade was and with other it seemed more of a protest march, however there were a couple of strange sights in the parade. We called in at a Gelati Bar for ice cream and spent the next 5 minutes sheltering under a tree trying to eat it before the heat got to it first. Walking back down past the Craft stalls the heat from the sun was now really intense. Jenny insisted on me having some hand-painted fridge magnets as a souvenir of my visit (my reputation in Vietnam was for not buying any souvenirs!). I had had a great day and we parted back at the Luna Park Amusement Park.
Since the last couple of days I had started with a spot on the back of my neck and it was starting to get bigger, I'm not sure the sun did it any good today and buy the evening my neck was very stiff. (more on this to come...)

Melbourne

I planned to spend a couple of days here in Melbourne so I took my time getting up and had breakfast then did some washing in the morning then took the local bus into Melbourne centre in the afternoon. It took about 30mins and dropped me right in the centre. I'd had a look through the Lonely Planet Guide the night before and found a self guided walking tour of the city centre in it so I intended to follow that. I had already been in contact with Jenny and Tess from my Vietnam tour who live in Melbourne and Jenny suggested I first wander down the South bank of the river and have a look in the Sydney Casino. It was huge and packed as it was Saturday Afternoon, I resisted the temptation to have a gamble but it was interesting to see the different games being played and the amounts being wagered – a taste of thing to come in Vegas I think.
Back in the town it's self I followed the walking tour in the guide book down the wide streets and tiny little 'laneways'. I was really impressed with Melbourne and some how it reminded me of Manchester, old Victorian and Edwardian style buildings mixed in with modern blocks but it all seemed to work. The walk took in many of the architectural features hidden away down little back-streets and also the unofficial 'street-art' alleyways which are covered with graffiti including a 'Banksy' stencilwork. I then jumped on one of the trams which run throughout Melbourne and are of the traditional narrow type (not the huge train like one's in Manchester. By now it was getting on for 7 o'clock and I headed back to the Campsite on the bus.

Gundagi to Melbourne

In the morning the storm had cleared and I had thought of heading up into the Snowy Mountains before heading into Melbourne but the site owner said the storms and rain were still lingering up there so I decided to give it a miss. Back onto the highway for the 6hr drive down to Melbourne. The highway in most parts is dual carriageway but occasionally drops down to a two lane road as it passes through towns. One of these towns is called Hamilton and I had to double take as I got to the centre to find a full size submarine in the middle of the town. I had to stop and take a look. The story goes that the town was once called Germanton, which for obvious reasons didn't ring too well during the Wars, so the town decided to rename the town. To cut a long story short the decided on the name of a British Submarine Captain called Hamilton, and there the association with submarines began, so when HMAS Oxley was to be scrapped the town bought it and 'semi-submerged' it in the centre of the town as tourist attraction, and built a submarine museum next to it. The museum was actually very interesting and showed the history of the town and the submarine it even had a mock up of the inside of a sub complete with periscope that you could 'spy' on the surrounding area. Back on the road I hit Melbourne just at the hight of rush hour. I pulled into a service station and had a look through the local A-Z for Scout Camps thinking there had to be at least one in the Melbourne area. I found one listed as about 30mins drive from where I was so I headed off to it with directions scribbled on a pice of till receipt paper stuck on the dashboard. I found the site no problem apart from the heavy traffic but it was all locked up. A notice board on the outside gave a contact number and I gave it call, Sandra answered and apologised that they were no longer able to have campers as the council now owned the land and was being awkward with the Scouts, but she did come out to meet me with her Husband the Group Leader and they gave me directions to the nearest Tourist site. (the next nearest Scout Site was 2 hours drive away on the other side of the city)

Canberra to Gundagi

Got up early this morning and drove back down the central area of Canberra and went to the National Museum of Australia. The museum is in a strikingly modern building on the edge of Lake Burley Griffin. The Main entrance gives little away as to what is in the museum and a long sloping corridor leads up to the exhibition halls, however to enter them you have to wait to enter a rotating cinema called Circa, As you sit down in a quadrant shaped theatre a large screen explodes into life with images of the development of Australia as a continent, other screens on the roof expand the images around you. After a couple of minutes the whole of the seating area starts to move around in a clockwise direction and stops at another set of screens, this time showing images from aboriginal beginnings, then the seating moves again to show the early days of colonial influences and other settlers to the land, finally it moves again to show the modern Australia. Ech different quadrant has a different layout of screens, audio and lighting effects and gives you an overview of the different things covered in the museum itself. However once inside whilst laid out well it seemed to be lacking something but I'm not sure what. There was a large section on colonial Australia which was closed off for renovation and the areas on Aboriginal and Torres Straits Islanders seemed very small. Finally there was an exhibition called K-Space where you could design your own house or transport of the future and then view it in a 3D world which was really aimed at primary aged school children but the curators were really keen that everyone took part. I wasn't really sure where the museum was aiming itself at and to me seemed similar in some ways to Urbis in Manchester.
Anyway, back in car on on the road South, sort of, I had to go back North to to pick up the Hulme Highway towards Melbourne. After a couple of hours driving the sky again seemed to get very dark and a storm was brewing. I managed to skirt around it at Yass and then stopped at a small place called Gundagi. The sky had now cleared and it was a pleasant evening. I found a campsite just off the Highway at a bargain $10 with better facilities than the last night. (I'm really becoming to think that campsite fees are a complete lottery with regards for the bang for the buck!) I even had a nice grassed area with a large tree to shade from the morning sun. I drove up into the town which was literally a single wide street and stopped at the IGA superstore for some supplies. Back on the campsite after some tea I settled in for the night. Around 1:30am it started to rain then rain some more and the wind got up. At on point I was holding onto the poles of the tent to stop it being flattened onto me, the rain was torrential and then the thunder and lightening began. The tent being made for the lovely Australian sun was no match for the rain and it was soon coming straight through the outer layer. The wind had subsided so I quickly bagged by sleeping bag and made a dash for the car. Luckily my bag didn't get too wet but I had to pour the water out of the inside of the tent in the morning!

The Blue Mountains to Canberra

In the morning I got up and made a sausage barm and coffee for breakfast then went out to try and see the sights of the area, The YHA was in Katoomba which is famous for the Three Sisters rock formation so I drove down the road to view point but it was total white out fog so I drove around to the 'Scenic View' Resort where you can go down the edge of the mountain on the worlds steepest railway walk around a 'rain' forest and then come back up on a glass bottomed gondola all for the price of about $28,on being told the cloud base was down to the rain forest I saw little point in paying that much, to get soaked, to see very little. So I looked around the overpriced gift shop and left. I drove around to the Tree Sisters again and this time I thought I'd best try and see at least something so I parked up and walked down to the viewing point. Luckily for me just as I got there the cloud opened up enough for me to get a quick couple of pictures before closing in again (and 2 coach loads of Korean tourists descended) a quick exit was in order!
Back in the dry of the car I decided to head down to Canberra as it was sort of on the way.
I got into Canberra around 6pm and found the Tourist information office but it was now closed but had a list of campsites on the wall picking two I took a drive down to one but didn't like to look of it as it was way out of the town, driving back in I rounded the Capital Hill where the Australian parliament sits (It's a big grassy knoll, with a flag on top!) and went back up through the centre of the town to find one nearer the centre. The facilities were limited and the camping areas were like tarmac but it would have to do. I drove down to the local shopping centre and had a delightfully unhealthy huge kebab and got a couple of beers to take back to the site.

Bondi Beach to the wet Blue Mountains

Sydney and Bondi and the wet Blue Mountains
I cleared off the Sydney site this morning and headed back to the station to get the train down to Bondi Beach. The line I was on luckily went straight through to Bondi Junction and then I had to get a bus down to the beach. It all seemed a bit over-rated with not much 'surf' to speak of but I took a walk down on the beach and along it and managed to get stung by one of the many 'bluebottle' jellyfish that get swept ashore here. They don't hurt too much it's bit stronger than a stinging nettle. They look like a small translucent purse with a blue central part and a long tail of 'legs' and it's these that have the stinging barbs.
Having 'done' the beach I took the bus back to Bondi Junction then the train back to the car and headed out to go and see the Blue Mountains, so called because the views over them are spectacular with a strange blue haze (which some say is because of oil from the Eucalyptus Tree, but others say this is a load of rubbish; it's just pollution!) As it happens I wouldn't actually know as I headed further up the Highway the rain got heavier and heavier and then I was into the fog or cloud. Thinking camping was probably not a good option here I looked through the Lonely Planet and found there was a YHA in town so heading there I booked in and fancied a pub tea. The reception gave me directions to the the local pub – 'Hotel Gearin' down at the far end of the town, so armed with waterproof coat I walked down there and settled down to a very nice meal of soup and a chillie pasta dish. Just as I was finishing the food the landlord came round with quiz sheets and persuaded me to take part. As it happens 'Team Me, Myself & I' did a very creditable 39 out of 60, was not last; just second to last. The walk back to the YHA was a little wobbly and very very wet, thank god I hadn't camped.

Sydney

The site I was on was a good way into the southern Suburbs of Sydney but there was a local train service close by so I took that into the city centre being able to park for free next to the station. Once in Sydney I walked down through the town to Darling Harbour which is has been developed to be a recreation area with bars and restaurants around it. I had a quick sandwich here and watched the world go by as short rain shower blew through then took the ferry boat out from the Harbour out into the river and under the Sydney Harbour Bridge, which as soon as your are under it the Opera House comes into view. I had only paid for the singe trip so alighted at the next dock which is Circular Quay (which doesn't seem to be very circular!) I walked up through the centre of the town and found an internet cafe and checked my mail then coming out I took the Monorail which runs around the town to see the sights then finally decided to call it a a day and head back to the campsite.

Hunter Valley and down to Sydney

I had been told the hunter valley was worth a visit, this is where a large chunk of Australian wine comes from and if your a wine buff (which I'm not is well worth a visit). However as usual as headed up the valley the rain came in hard. Visibility was down to about 100yds and there was only one camp site in the area, so I had a drive around first and came across a micro- brewery come pub/bistro/hotel. I went into the brewery part but there was already a tour on and the next was not till late in the afternoon so I looked in the pub area to buy some bottles of their beer; A black lager and an IPA but at $15 a bottle was a little steep. With the rain still coming down I decided to move on and drove on down to Sydney. On the way out of the Hunter Valley, I stopped at a roadside cafe/fuel station for a coffee. Round the back was a place called Kulnara Sculptures and the chap there showed me some of the things he had made – all from scrap, His current seller were 'Ned Kelly' mail boxes made from welding two old gas bottles together and then adding arms and a gun etc. He had a huge dining table and chairs that had been made from recovered steel and wood from a ship and port barrels.
Time to move on; I found a campsite on the road atlas and headed for it. It was after 6 when I eventually arrived at the site and had to call the site owner as the office had closed but I got a space a grassed area off to the site of the site, which was mostly semi-permanent residents, but it did have good clean facilities and a big camp kitchen.

Coff's Harbour to Toronto

I got up early and left at 10am after sausage barms and coffee for breakfast. I also had to reset my watch as I was now in New South Wales which has summer time and so was a hour different to Brisbane ( I hadn't realised that) After Driving for a couple of hours I stopped at a small town called Macksville and had a coffee in a local Milk Bar. The owner came over with the coffee and noticing I was browsing the road atlas gave me a couple of pointers for the drive ahead. The Highway had started off as a 3 lane motorway in Brisbane and had dropped down to a 2 lane dual-carriageway and was now just a single road with just two lanes, So traveling was going to take longer. As the coffee man had suggested (and others) I came off the Highway and headed into Port Macquarie. I stopped at a pub for lunch of a huge steak and salad then drove down to the 'front'. As it was weekend most of the local kids were down there and were jumping off the jetty into the deep channel that passed close to the shore then swimming across to a silver white sandbank which was just starting to show as the tine was receding. Suddenly a small sea plane landed on the main stretch of water further out and then 'taxied' into the channel to dock just down from the jetty, The kids just stopped swimming mid channel to let it past then carried on!
Whilst taking the road out of Port Macquarie I came across the Koala Hospital. This is a voluntary hospital set up to help save koala's many of which get hit trying to cross roads or burned in bush fires. There were a number of patients in residence and they all were sleeping (as they do in the middle of the day) hugging various trees in their compounds.
I drove on to Toronto which is a good drive down but still North of Sydney. I was looking for a Scout Camp I had found listed on the web but alas it was not to be. I searched high and low and eventually had to give up as the light was fading fast. I found a public site nearby which was dear for the facilities available but would have to do the only saving grace was being able to see the full moon rise over the lake at the edge of the site.

Byron Bay to Coff's Harbour

In the morning the rains had stopped and I left the site around 10am and went back into the Town Byron Bay is a mall town of little shops and fairly eclectic in that it has a hippy feel to it. The council here have strived to keep it this way and kept out most of the big stores and concerns. I drove through the town and parked up at the base of the Headland walking round to the most Easterly point of Australia then up to the Lighthouse, A short rain squall came in again but it was still hot and humid and I was dripping more with sweat than rain when I got to the top. I walked back down to car and went back to the car and called back in the town for an iced coffee before setting off back on the Highway. After a couple of hours I got to Coff's Harbour which was not at all what I had expected. This is a large sprawling town which sits back from the sea. The is a large harbour down at the coast but I was fairly tired by now and just wanted to chill so I checked into a campsite and called at a local shopping mall for some extra food and beers and relaxed back at the camp site making use of the free internet in the camp kitchen before turning in.

Byron Bay

I left Mark and Caroline's the next day at around 9ish and first drove to the local shopping mall which had not only a food store but also a camping store so I was able to get a tent and coolbox etc for the trip down south. A night on a campsite here costs about the same as a bed in a dorm in a cheap backpacker's hostel and most of them have a camp kitchen where you can cook up a meal or use the freezers overnight.
I headed South out of Brisbane and the roads were good although the advanced signing is not as good as the UK and you have to really know the road numbers and names of all the roads you need to get through a major area. Once on the Pacific Highway there was no problems and I soon came to the turn off for Surfers Paradise which is essentially Benidorm without the Spanish! (It's funny how these places replicate themselves around the world!) I walked down onto the beech area and took a couple of pictures then rejoined the highway South down to Byron Bay. I arrived in the small town just in time to catch the Tourist Information before it closed and got details of a Campsite down the road for $17 (8.50GBP) I set up my tent and went to make some tea on the BBQ at the camp kitchen and then settled in. It was really warm and a storm was brewing for about an hour the sky was lit up by a massive lightening storm then eventually the rains came and it came down stair-rods. My worries about the tent were confirmed as it started to leak – but only in one spot so an ingenious use of my brolly and the billy can I had bought earlier saved me from getting wet.

Brisbaine Day 2

I woke early, well earlier than I intended at around 7am and as it was already warm got up and had a breakfast of cereal and coffee and walked down to the train station with Caroline as she was walking their two children Annalee & Archie to their nursery which is on the way. I couldn't believe how hot it was; 8:30am and it was already hitting 30. I was soaked with sweat by the time I got to the station. A short train ride and I was in central Brisbane. The first place I came across was a Telstra shop so I dived in to get a local mobile SIM card then into the main shopping area I found a discount book shop and picked up a good Road Atlas and a copy of the Lonely Planet Guide. I walked on through to the Botanic Garden which sits on a bend of the river and was very quiet at this time of the day but still not much of a respite from the heat. I did as Mark had suggested and took a river ferry down the river and got off on the South Bank then followed the path back up to the central area. This side of the River is below steep cliffs and a large section of them have been marked out as a climbing area – it seems they are owned by the council but you can just turn up and climb – if you have the gear and don't come when I did, the middle of the day. I stopped at a little shop for water and bought a huge bottle but it didn't last long. Eventually I came to 'The Street's Beach' area, this is a section of the river bank which has been laid out with gardens, restaurants, and even a real beach with sand around a swimming pool, all open air and all free. I found a fish and chip stall and bought some and sat down in the shade on the beach with my feet in the water and under a palm tree for shade. Walking back over a bridge into the main central area I wandered around the shops for a while then had a beer to cool off before heading back to Mark and Caroline's. Luckily on the way back to their house, Caroline passed me on the way to pick up the kids, and thankfully this time in the car, the air conditioning was bliss.

Brisbane

I got the usual grilling at customs again but this was to be expected, Australia has very tight rules on goods brought in to the country, especially anything organic. So I declared everything including my wet-shoes ('cos I'd walked on Vietnamese soil in them. Everything got through ok and they didn't take anything off me, The shoes got spayed with methylated spirits and my Fisherman's Friend's were deemed safe! I went to the Avis desk to get the car and was told unfortunately they didn't have the car I'd booked but would I mind a free upgrade to a higher grade car as it needed to be taken back down South anyway; a Vauxhall Omega (But badged Holden) I got some cash from the ATM and gave Mark a ring, Mark is Jane Lomas' brother and he lives out in Brisbane, Jane had already rung ahead and asked Mark if Icould stay with him and his family for a day or two and it was no problem. Mark gave me directions to his house and armed with a copy of the Brisbane 'A-Z' I set off to find them. Luckily for me it was Australia Day and the roads were quiet so navigating wasn't to bad. I arrived at Mark and Caroline's in about 40minutes and was greeted with a beer and bacon and egg buttie – heaven! We chatted for a while then went over the road to the neigbour's house where all the residents of the cul-de-sac were having a traditional Aussie Day BBQ complete with beers, snags, and steaks and a huge Pavlova to finish . It was really good to just sit down and relax and everyone was very friendly, all the kids just ate what they wanted and played and the adults just sat around the table and chatted. It was also damn hot – I don't think I felt heat like this since Trivandrum in India but it was also fairly humid here which added to the heat, which of course means you drink more beer suffice to say I slept soundly this night!