Sydney, part one - June 3 Our exploration of Sydney with Richard and Gawain started in the funky, bohemian area of Kings Cross with a wonderful lunch and fruit smoothies. Our local tour guides then took us to the Royal Botanic Gardens, which is a beautiful park located in the heart of the city. The park is to Sydney what Central Park is to NYC, or at least in theory. Strolling through these lush gardens is where we caught our first glimpse of wild white maca...

Newcastle to Sydney, May 31Our next destination on the campervan journey through Australia was the Hunter Valley city of Newcastle, located about two hours north of Sydney. We met an Australian couple, Matt and Tash, while in Peru on our GAP Adventure Tour. We had actually hiked the Inca Trail with their father Julian. When in Peru together, they said "look us up when you get to Australia and you'll have a place to stay". So we did! The timing worke...

Byron Bay, May 29Brisbane is a very large, modern city that is not easy to drive through with a huge campervan. We circled the city a few times and crossed many bridges before finally finding a parking spot that would fit our house on wheels. We spent the afternoon strolling the beautiful city and both felt that we could easily live there. It has a great, vibrant feel about it and gets two thumbs up from us! Unfortunately, with our tight timelines we had to j...

Australia Zoo - May 26 Only having eight days with our camper meant we had to pick our destinations carefully, and the Australia Zoo was a place we did not want to miss. We had heard great things abut the Australia Zoo from our friend Dion (whom we met in Easter Island) as well as other backpackers and locals in Cairns. We were not dissapointed! We arrived midday to find that the entrance fee to the zoo was not cheap, $54 dollars per person! Very expensive for...

Brisbane, May 25 I'm not sure what kind of information makes its way back up to Canada, but the change in weather and seasons in Australia has lead to severe rain storms and flooding along the southeastern coast. Some of the areas that were most damaged are right along our planned route south from Brisbane to Sydney, with the main Pacific Highway washed out completely. I spoke to an older local couple, who were also taking advantage of the free camground that w...