Hi Everyone,

Sorry it has been so long since our last update, we have been very busy chasing the sun and finding the Australia which we imagined!

At our last update (thursday 2nd November - oops!), we were heading towards Queenscliff on route to Phillip Island. We arrived late in the day and spent the evening in a local WMC playing darts and apologising for some extremely drunken cockneys

On friday (3/11) we left the site hoping to find some good surf to try my new board on. Unfortunately there were no waves on the island so instead we visited a Koala Bear reserve and spent 3 hours holding debbie back to stop her from smuggling one out of the park! They were very cute but since they sleep for 20 hours every day, they werent too animated! We then visited the local race track famed for the national Superbike races which take place there. Shockingly, they wouldnt let us take the van on the track but we did see a herd of 'roos in the car park and had our first 'baby roo in pouch' sighting - there were 'awwww's all round. For tea we were a little tired of the usual menu of soup or noodles so we treated ourselves to some chips and fish and enjoyed it very much!

On saturday (4/11) we decided to make a second stab at finding some surf for the new board so we visited Woolamai beach which was supposedly where the best 'swell' was (Were picking up more slang than waves but never mind!). After almost drowning about 3 times (dont worry dad, I did have an 8 foot float strapped to my leg) and some advice from a local that the waves here were probably a bit too "narley" for someone with about 3 weeks surfing experience, we decided to move on. We eventually found Cat's bay which was much more my kinda skill level (if not inhabited with a few too many over 50's) and I had a good couple of hours surfing - the board rides like a beaut! After this we decided to head back to Melbourne and found a site on the outskirts in Braybrook (which we would eventually find is full of mental people)

On Sunday (5/11) we visited St Kilda, a very trendy suburb of Melbourne with lots of nice cafes and bars and plenty of pretty people to spend time in them! On the evening we went to the cinema and saw 'little miss sunshine' as recommended by Daniel. It was hillarious and we managed to pull out some very funny quotes which are now in regular use (if a little too frequent for anyone who doesn't know us)

A little background information is required to explain what we did on monday. Over our travels so far, we have found it very easy to have a great time nomatter where we were. We have always met likeminded people and even when we didn't, we have managed to entertain each other. After a week with the campervan we were starting to worry a little that things were going to be different with all the time we were spending in out of the way camp sites homing mostly families and old couples. This combined with some unfortunate weather and some advice from a couple who were coming to the end of their camping experience brought us to the decision that we would like to be back in hostels and using public transport with the aim being on having a good time with more people our age. For this reason, we spoke to some people in a travel agency who said that they could arrange bus passes for us which would take us on the remainder of our journey with a bunch of other backpackers. The only depending factor was how much money Wicked would give us back for an early return of the van.

So on Monday, we found out that Wicked didn't want to give us any of the money back for the camper van! (before you read on, we would like to say that their stubborness worked out for the best and we do love our little van and we started having a much better time from then on) So monday came and went in a little bit of a depressing haze which ended with us getting drunk whilst moaning at our campervan neighbours Vic and Gus (who had an awesome van I would like to add - you could stand up in it and everything! gits (not really, they were nice incase they read this!))

Tuesday (7/11) was Melbourne cup day and though we toyed with the idea of actually going to the races but we didnt think that our wardrobe of mostly beige would make as extravagent an impression as the outfits were supposed to so we found a nice busy pub and watched it there. On the evening we met a lovely Belgian couple (cant remember what their names were, for the purpose of this Journal they can be called Hans and Mildred) SO Hans and Mildred made me (Alec) some lovely pancakes which were nice and then Hans taught me how to jimmy the washing machines so that you could use them without paying the hefty $3 required (we would like to say that Alec and Debbie inc do not agree with the idea of theft of any sort and we believe, as a society, that people should be honest with the purchase of washing services so stay in school kids and say no to drugs! but it was pretty cool all the same)

On Wednesday, we left Melbourne and headed north with our new found love for our van towards the Snowy mountains national park. We drove for a good 6 hours through forests and national park until we arrived at Threadbo which is (believe it or not) a ski resort! Though theres very little snow there since it is the middle of summer, it was pretty cool to know that you could ski in Australia. It was a bit of a ghost town so we drove on a little further to a small town called Jindabyne where we parked up for free outside a lovely guest house called Mad Mooses where we were treated to an open fire and comfy sofas (before they booted us out at 10pm to sleep in our van on a slope)

On Thursday (9/11) we embarked on a 21km trek into the mountains to the highest point in Australia - Mount Kosciuszko (unfortunately you couldnt bungee off it which is our favourite form of transport but we enjoyed it all the same). After 7 hours and a lot of beautiful scenery we were both ready for some sort of food (we had set off just after breakfast carrying only a small bottle of juice - and people say were unorganised!) so we had pizza for tea then took our then working legs (they wouldnt stay that way for long) to the capital of Australia, Canberra.

On Friday (10/11) we woke up on a side street of Canberra after arriving around 9pm and being too tired / stiff to find a camp site. After leaving the van for an hour, we returned to find that we had been given a parking ticket for "parking in a direction not parallel to traffic" in that we had seen the space on the opposite side of the road and driven straight into it. Worried that we would get a ticket for "fringe not following national lengh guidelines" we decided to quickly see the sights (both of them) and move on to the blue mountains resort of Katoomba.

On Saturday (11/11) we went on a trek (fortunately 12km this time) through the jungle to take in the scenery of the Blue Mountains national park. We also saw the three sisters rock formation and climbed down into the valleys below. To return to the town at the top of the mountains, we didnt brave the 1000 steps (our legs were now spasming from the hike they had endured two days earlier) and instead took the scenic train on the steepest track in the world. Not only was it steep but we had to go up backwards and very quickly (needless to say, Debbie had had more enjoyable journeys!) After getting over the fear of sudden death we took advantage of the sunny day we were having and relaxed in a nice picnic spot, sunbathed and read our books.

On Sunday (12/11) we left Katoomba and headed to Port Stephens, a popular seaside town. We decided to stay in a campsie in Anna Bay. It was here we managed to find some good surf for Alec - although there wasn't much else going on here so we moved on the next day to Forster as recommended by some other backpackers.

On Monday (13/11) we arrived in Forster and stayed in the twin town Tuncurry. At the camp site we chatted with (surprise, surprise) some more pensioners who promised us lots of dolphin siteings! When we decided we had spent far too much time with people old enough to be our grandparents we escaped to the cinema for the night!

On Tuesday (14/11) we discovered the old people were right and we were blessed with lots of dolphin sightings! Staying in a campsite right next to the beach, we there was a great rock pool where you could sit and watch the dolphins playing in the estuary waters - it was amazing. We are glad to say that the sun has finally started to shine and we enjoyed our first proper day on the beach, alec surfing and debbie enjoying her favourite sport...sunbathing! The day was made even better when a group of dolphins came into the surf and started catching the waves themselves, it was amazing, you could see them swimming the waves right next to the shore!! They were even following Alec as he surfed along the waves, maybe they thought he was a whale or something (Alec - OY!). After a long hungry day, we decided we were going to treat ourselves to our favourite meal - bangers and mash! after struggling to find all the right ingredients (for some reason aussies eat loads of Chicken and Beef sausages but no pork! wierdos) we managed to get what we needed, cook it, eat it and then went to bed with full tummys!

On wednesday (15/11) we spent the morning in Tuncurry with the intention of spending another day there but after an hour it became aparrent that there was not going to be any surf so we decided to head northwards to byron bay. 500km and a Mcdonalds cheeseburger later we decided that we werent going to make it all the way so we spent the nite in Lennox heads and saw a tropical storm out at sea which was an amazing sight in the darkness of night. We convinced a crazy forign lady to let us stay in her hostel car park for $9.20 (it was the only change we had on us at the time, we did feel very cheeky!)

On Thursday (16/11 - Happy birthday Matthew Smith! 18 today!!!! woo hoo!!) we left Lennox Heads bright and early and made our way to Byron bay (only about 20km away it turned out!) We set ourselves up at a campsite on the outskirts of Byron and went to explore the town. Contrasting with it's description in the reliably depressing LonelyPlanet book, Byron Bay is a beautiful hippy town based around several beautiful beaches and a lighthouse. There are three things to do here - surf, sunbathe and chill (which just happen to be our favourite three things!). We decided that we had stayed in too many nights saving money so tonight we were going to go out for a meal and tomorrow we were going to go out on the razzle! This meant that we could both get ourselved prettied up and we were shocked when we were reminded of how we look under normal circumstances - not too shabby! ha ha. After bunking from a supposedly world famous pizza house because it was more like Mr B's in Bishop Auckland than the swanky meal we felt we were dressed up for, we found a lovely italian restaurant on a back street. Debbie had "yummy spagbol" and I had lasagne....mmmmmm (dribble on chin as appropriate).

On friday (17/11) we moved to a more central campsite and spent the day on the beach, Debbie sunbathing (shock horror!) and Alec surfing (this actually is shocking with the surf we have had so far!). After many very relaxing hours, we were interrupted by a very chatty couple from London who were on their honeymoon travels around the world. We both now know how her job situations is, all of the bosses who have upset her in the past and all of the places she has been scared so far on their travels (which was most of the places actually), her husband was nice! Back at the campsite, we stumbled upon a conversation taking place where a couple were saying that they had come from Newcastle. Being a nosy pair, we asked them which part of Newcastle and they responded by saying that they werent from Newcastle, but Pieremont Gardens in Darlington! We checked our wallets and then got to know them a bit better. Their names are Lyndsey and Mark and they have moved to Brisbane for 5 years to work. We arranged to meet up sometime and then (contrary to our plans to go out on the razz) fell asleep in the campervan - flipping sea air!

On saturday (18/11), more sunbathing and surfing (as above!) and in the afternoon we met another lovely couple, this time from Liverpool called Nick and Kerry and we all ended up going out that night to a bar nearby called the Rails for lots of fun and frivolity (and pints).

On sunday (19/11), hangovers in tow, we spent the day only sunbathing (there wasnt much surf). Unfortunately, we werent told that factor 10 suntan lotion doesnt work in Northern Australia so by the evening we were both feeling a bit burned and retreated back to our campervan to feel sorry for ourselves and cover each other in lotion.

Today, Monday (20/11) we have visited the lighthouse and the most easternly point on Australian Mainland (See photos). And then spent most of the afternoon in an internet cafe updating our site (we will promise to be more frequent in the future!). As for the rest of the day, we are deciding whether to stay here or move on to Tweeds Head, if Alec will ever put the Chris Moyles autobiography down (talk about cultured!) im sure we will let you know in our next update next year!

Thanks to everyone for all of your messages, we miss you all very much!

Lots of love, Alec and Debbie