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Road trip 1 = Sydney - Melbourne and back, 2100km's
10/11/07
We picked up the van which is to be home for 3 weeks. We have a double bed, a kitchen with sink and gas ring for cooking. No power steering or fan, but hey what more do we need for life on the open road. We actually emptied our bags for the first time this trip, which is great and we can also be more self sufficient, yep who would of thought cooking for ourselves would be something to miss. But further to that we had outdone buses in Asia so to pick up the van was very exciting and meant we have the freedom to go where we want when we want. Leaving Sydney with no map, adopting the theory of how can we get lost when we are not even heading anywhere, we left the city on the Hume Highway which is the direct main route to Melbourne. We drove until it started to get dark then found a roadside right next to some public toilets to spend the night. We cooked dinner and yipppeee had some rose wine (no shortage of wine in Oz and cheap aswel as we consumed a 5litre box for $15), so slept quite well for our first night in the van, even though we were on a slant so woke up spooning lol.
11/11/07
Hit the city mid afternoon, passing through a toll road ooops! Decided easiest to park the van overnight and shower we are best being near a beach so we ended up in the suberb of Melbourne St Kilda, lovely place which is full of amazing cake shops! A craft market was on when we arrived so we wandered around that then hit the beach and braved a very cold beachside shower! Weather stunning tho.
12/11/07
Awoke at 7.30am to discover we had been given a parking fine, cant be right we had paid and displayed (and had been asleep in the van at the time) so we contested by sending it back to them with a card reading "dont eat anything bigger than your head" haha, you have to make the most of the resources available to you!! We got ourselves organised and caught the very efficient tram into the city. First stop tourist info, I wanted to find out about visiting Ramsey Street but the crazy lady could not tell us as they have banned people just turning up, so she told us it really was a waste of time anyway we removed that from our list of things to do, however she advised us on lots of other things to do on our day in the city and couldnt be helpful enough in making sure we got the most out of our stay. Melbourne is defo more tourist friendly city, offering a free bus and tram stopping at all the major attractions, and having men in red jackets just hanging around to answer any questions. The people are sooooo friendly. We had been warned Melbourne was the best place to spend your dollar aswel as lots of shops so we had to browse, we both ended up geting measured for new running shoes!! Much needed though! Get us away from the shops.... We headed for lunch at the botanical gardens, which are stunning you really wouldnt know you are in a city. So back to the van we decided to drive on and ended up in a small town called Drouin, we pulled in to a caravan park for the night.. Got chatting to the locals, very random but interesting people.
13/11/07
Woke up to knocking on the van window from Jason a bloke that lives in the caravan park inviting us for brekko, well it would be rude to decline so we enjoyed sausage and egg in his van and didnt end up leaving this town til midday, Driving up the Princes Highway which is the coastal route back to Sydney, driving at 90kms/h so even road trains overtaking us, but hey we are in no rush! Stopping along the way at Lakes Entrance and Bairnsdale its all very beautiful. Stopping for the night in a town called Eden, in a pub carpark but still overlooking the ocen so a beautiful view to wake up to.
14/11/07
Drove on to a holiday destination called Merimbula, stopped on a beach with not another single soul on it. Moving on to a tiny quint village called St Tilda where we headed straight for the cheese factory to try all the cheese's for lunch, then to a store for special fudge, mmm this is culture!! Back on the road Karen driving she couldnt help but pull off the road at a sign for a winery. At 4pm, the place was due to close at 5pm so we tried whites, reds, muscat and port. The owner came out and chatted to us so apologised he had to rush off but asked if we would like to join him for dinner. At his house which was faboulous, back garden being the vineyards and a lake. Very interesting bloke who had worked for the bbc, made us a lush 3 course dinner which comprised of steak (so yep Gill eat steak)!! And drank the wine which had been made onsite. Brill night and we still dont know how we managed it...?
15/11/07
Again woke up next to the ocean so went for a run to physce ourselves up for another freezing cold beach shower. We drove on to Murramarang national park which is home to a beach that claims to have some of the whitess sand in the world, it actually squeeks when you walk on it. So walking in the park we came upclose with the friendly Kangaroos and lizards and the most amazing coloured birds! Driving on to stop in a town in Jervis Bay called Husskisson. We grabbed a chippy tea then headed to the pub. However 6hours later Karen was back in the van after empting the contents of her stomach from the fish, but she was fine!
16/11/07
We had decided to stay another night in Jervis bay and enjoy the pub there to off course. So we headed to The national park for the day and did some bush walking and nature trails. All very pretty and a change from a beach. We swam and then showered again at a beach side! Hitting the pub, a posam sat right above us, cple of btls of wine later and back to the van for more alcohol, it got quite messy and we didnt stop drinking till 5am!! Great night..
17/11/07
Not setting off driving till gone midday as the alcohol wore off.. Back to Sydney one week on after an amazing trip! Went to friends of Karens who live near Bondi, we had dinner in the Yaught club in Sydney.
Sorry its taken so long for us to update. Miss you all loads. xxxx
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