Hello everyone, I hope you are all well, it is once again blog - o - clock! I would like to take this opportunity to thank you all as my last blog update won blog of the day again, very proud moment.

Since I last left you we have moved further south, and stopped off for 2 nights at Wilson’s Promontory, this is a national park of 50,500 hectares. Driving in I saw an emu, the first genuine wildlife outside of a zoo, and might I add, looking alot happier than the previous ones I'd seen, due to the freedom of the 50,500 hectares I suspect. We got our camp set up for the night (well parked Arthur), I must admit I was feeling rather dubious at this point, although I do think it very kind of them to reserve a certain amount of spots for international travelers, I do think that these are slightly more dangerous spots. Once again we were under a tree (and after our experience at Twofold Bay this was nerve wracking enough) however, on this occasion there was a black cockatoo, who appeared to find nothing more pleasurable than picking the pine cones off said tree above us, then dropping them like bullets on top of us, with might I add remarkable accuracy. Martha would be made redundant here; this was definitely not a tent situation, much more an Arthur venue. There were numerous walks that could be followed near to the campsite, so we went on a few of these, admiring the sights from the view points of the spectacular mountains and beaches. It was on one of these walks that I realised I had another thing in common with Arthur, I also have a dislike for going uphill, and at certain points think I even made similar noises to him.

That evening they were playing the film 'Have you heard about the Morgan’s?’ in their open air cinema, a particularly cheesy film I had wanted to see. Wrapped up in a vest top, cardigan and 2 jumpers I was ready for the evening’s entertainments. There is one thing I've noticed since entering the state of Victoria and that is that the temperature drops significantly in the evenings, and I've never been one for the cold. How I envied the 12 yr olds we were surrounded by in the cinema, I wasn't prepared at all, they had brought sleeping bags, bean bags and pillows, all I had was frost bite and a cup of hot chocolate. Before the film began a man announced the emergency procedures and pointed out that due to us being in a national park there is a substantial amount of wildlife present, and that we were not to feed them. As the lights dimmed, a wombat walked along the front of the screen, I had never seen one before and was quite surprised by how large it was. I had previously commented to Lisa that going to the cinema was probably going to be the most normal thing we'd have done since leaving Sydney, in hindsight I realise that was not exactly true, where is the normality in sitting in an open air cinema, in the middle of a national park in Australia with wombats roaming around, it's a far cry from a night in front of the telly in diss with the parentals. All said and done, the film was great and I do love a happy ending!

The following day we were not quite as lucky as the weather was very contrary, 5 mins of sun, 5 mins of heavy rainfall, this persisted throughout the day. Without wanting to run the risk of getting cabin fever by staying in Arthur all day, and in fairness it was long overdue, Lisa and I set about doing our laundry. It really is one of those jobs you start and wish you hadn't, but after spending our life savings in the launderette, we were both happy with clean, dry clothes.

The next day we were on the move again, as much as I loved it there, and the weather was quite good that day, international travelers are only allowed to stay there for 2 nights, I did try to explain to them that I was an international explorer not traveller, but they were having none of it. We nearly had no choice in staying there longer, for it seems that I had slowly been sucking the life out of Arthur. With the van packed, I put the key in the ignition but there was no sign of life. There was a really nice family camping opposite us who we had got chatting to over the past 2 days. I casually went over and enquired with the husband as to whether he had much knowledge with cars. I will give him 10/10 for trying, but I noticed the suppressed laughter, he confirmed that the battery was dead. There is a button near the steering wheel which says 'press', but I was always a little too nervous to, it actually turns Arthur off properly, and by not pressing the 'press' button, I was leaving his accessory lights on, thus the lack of life. It's really no bad thing, the campsite leant us some jump leads, and at least now I know what all of Arthur’s buttons do, that was the last one I was unsure of. After this minor blip, we embarked on the 200 and something km drive to Melbourne. The metropolis was waiting for us, and so was my makeup and hair straighteners, a night in a civilised bar, how exciting! I was slightly nervous driving into Melbourne, A) because I had no clue where I was going, and B) I had been prewarned about the infamous tram system there, with side lanes along the tram lines and dodgy right turns, but Mia had told me before I left, if in doubt go straight. There are a few minor variations to driving in Australia as oppose to England, for example, completely unbeknown to me I had left Arthur illegally parked one day in Sydney. Whereas at home, if parking is allowed on a particular street we just pull up anywhere, here you must park in the direction of the traffic, luckily no ticket on that occasion.

Throughout our careful planning, we had neglected to acknowledge that the Australian Open was on and the city was full. We enquired at a number of hostels but there was no room at the inns, I was beginning to feel like Mary and Joseph, and Arthur was making sounds resembling a donkey. Not to be outdone, we found a lovely residential street, parked up for the night before finding a lively bar to party the night away in, minus the makeup and straight hair. A good night had, and some excellent advice received, must lose English accent and practice Australian accent for Australia Day - Jan 26th! We had headed to St Kilda as it was supposed to be a trendy area, not that I am feeling particularly trendy of late. It has a wonderful pavement cafe/bar culture, and as I have a love for coffee first thing in the mornings, followed closely with wine very shortly after it seemed the perfect location for me. We spent just under 2 weeks in Melbourne, we moved from our prime residential spot after the first night, and parked by the beach (still in St Kilda), where we remained for the duration of our stay, apart from the local chavs racing their cars up and down at 3am each day, the facilities really were very good, we even found a hot shower. No longer will I take personal hygiene for granted , whereas previously I had seen it as a daily 15min regime that was a necessity, a bit like logging expenses at work, I know view a hot shower as a luxury, even if it is in a steel walled room, with no light in the middle of a park.

We asked a lady in St Kilda which direction the city centre was, as we were going to walk there, I think she thought we were ridiculous and explained that it was unwalkable, instead offering us the alternative information of which tram to catch, however, instead of getting on the tram we followed the lines and walked there and back, admittedly on the way back we did feel a bit ridiculous as we were walking like a pair of OAP's, we had clocked up some kms mind. Melbourne is again a very beautiful city, I'm not sure if it's because everything always looks nicer when the sun is shining and you’re on holiday, but we love everywhere we go. I also think it helps that the cities here aren't as heavily populated as back home. Melbourne had a slightly different feel to Sydney, almost more chilled out. We had a lovely day viewing the sights and visiting the tourist information centre for information on what to visit, we have become quite fans of these places-very helpful people. On the walk back, with my feet, ankles, knees, thighs and hips stinging I felt a wave of nausea pass over me, we were being bombarded by joggers, cyclists, skaters and yoga and keep fit classes on the beach, whilst I'm not denying everyone does look very good, it really didn't tempt me to want to take up any form of exercise. I know that some people say that a bit of exercise after work helps to clear the mind, but I find that a bottle of wine after work is equally effective.

The following day we once again walked into the centre and visited the Old Melbourne Gaol, this I found very interesting as it dated back to the 1800's, but only ceased to operate in 1994, so there was some more recent history there too. We had the opportunity to get locked up and be treated like prisoners for 30 mins, Lisa decided this didn't sound like fun so opted out whilst I endured the ordeal. We had to go in women first, stand with our feet up to a line, shoulder to shoulder, then the men were brought in and did the same opposite. There was a woman playing the role of an officer, and I must say she was very believable and somewhat scary. We were stood there for what seemed like an eternity. I tried to explain to her that there had been some sort of mistake and that I was actually innocent, and due to all of the walking I was a bit tired and could do with a seat. If I've one thing left to learn in my life, it's knowing when not to speak! So after sufficiently annoying the officer, you can imagine my nerves when she mentioned strip searches, luckily there wasn't time for that. We got locked in a cell in pitch blackness, then showed round the exercise area. There was some very graphic graffiti left on the walls from the more previous inmates, you could see parents shielding their children’s eyes, I bet there were some interesting conversations around their dinner tables that evening. Needless to say, after that experience I have decided to continue an honest and law abiding life – the facilities really weren’t great. We decided to get the tram back that day, for fear of being permanently lame. That evening we treated ourselves to a meal out, I quite surprised myself by ordering salad, but it was a particularly hot day and I thought it would be refreshing. I began eagerly tucking into it, and I’m not sure if it was the overwhelming excitement of being in a restaurant, or whether I have suddenly become allergic to healthy food, but my face and throat swelled up, I thought I was going to have some sort of anaphylactic shock. Luckily the symptoms subsided when I ceased to eat it, and I ensured that I got my calories from cider for the remainder of the evening, and just so I didn’t feel too hard done by, I treated myself to lobster mornay a couple of days later.

When I went to Ettalong for Christmas, they had given me a small piece of material to do a little tapestry on, I had been completing this whilst traveling, and of course, it was of Arthur. I met up with family in Melbourne and gave my work of art to them and it will be going on the quilt that they are making. I must say, I think I was the only 30 yr old doing tapestry and sipping wine of an evening in the campsites/carparks where we stayed.

We managed to get some ground passes for the Australian Open, which we knew would be an excellent experience. Our tickets gave us access to all areas except centre court. We were lucky enough to see the Williams sisters win their doubles, then we watched the Murray/Nadal game on the big screen. We had had a great day, and were just contemplating leaving when a lady very kindly offered us her centre court tickets as she was leaving for the day. No longer feeling like peasants, we made our way to our seats to watch the mens quarter final doubles. We had absolutely no idea who was playing, but just being there was excitement enough. We noticed that the arena was only half full, so gradually made our way closer to the courts until we were sat on the front row in the VIP area with the padded seats. Other people seemingly had the same idea, but everyone else got moved away by the steward except the two of us. Lisa thought it was due to the fact that we were wearing our recently purchased tennis open hats, but I’m convinced it’s because they thought we were the trainers. It so happened that Brian and Brian (who we were watching), went on to win the final mens doubles – well done boys! That day also happened to be Australia Day, and thoroughly enjoyable it was too, I think the best bit was when the ball landed between Lisa and myself, and Lisa threw it back onto the court.

We left Melbourne a couple of days later, not before calling out the NRMA, equivalent to RAC/AA back home, only a bit of minor cable adjusting required and we headed to a place called Torquay. It was quite late when we arrived, so we found a carpark with facilities to stop for the night, had a quick look around before going to bed. The next morning we were scarily awoken by banging on the side of Arthur, and all that I heard was ‘law enforcement officer’. In my disorientated state, I managed to locate the door and pay back the initial fright. Oh yes, this man I think takes great pleasure in scaring young travelers at 7am, but he hadn’t banked on being faced with me and my morning hair when that door opened – how he took a step back in fright. When he asked why we were sleeping in the van, I had to bite my sarcastic tongue, for was it not obvious, 2 English girls in a van, surrounded by all of our personal belongings? Anyway, with our $125 fine summoned off he went. We had lost enthusiasm for Torquay after this, and the weather wasn’t great, so we headed off on the Great Ocean Road. This road really is great, driving along the coastline, getting higher and higher, it was beautiful, and as soon as we left Torquay the sun came out. We stopped at a number of towns along the way. After that mornings fine, we enquired at the information office about free camping, and the kind lady directed us to Cape Otway. When we arrived the limited number of spots were all full, but some English boys very kindly let us share their spot. We had drinks round the campfire with them and a group of Australians that night which was a lot of fun, but my head let me know the next morning that maybe I’d indulged in one too many tipples.

We headed off to a place called Port Campbell, and due to me having a substantially green day, we found a campsite and stayed there. Later that day to my horror, the evil English boys who had made us drink too much the previous night turned up, we had a chat with them but politely declined their kind offer to join them at the pub. We stayed there for a couple of days, going on a tree top walk, and visiting the magnificent 12 apostles, these are rock formations in the sea. We went to leave Port Campbell, but it appeared Arthur wasn’t quite ready and another call to the NRMA was made. The man was extremely helpful, not entirely sure what the problem was, but got us started and off we went on our way to Warrnambool.

This was another pretty town, once again with a lot of boy racers. We enjoyed the beach and the buzzing night life, the first pub closed at 9.30pm, and the second one contained 4 people, including myself and Lisa. We left there yesterday, not before yet another call to the NRMA. I really don’t think they will ask for my membership number anymore, next time I call they will say ‘ Hello Lydia, I’ve been expecting your call, same time everyday. Problems with Arthur?’ The thing is, whoever comes out is unsure why he won’t start, and informs me I have a good van. Mind you he started first time this morning, I think it is due to the fact that he is looking forward to the weekend. We are headed to Dartmoor later today, where there is a rodeo taking place all weekend, I can’t wait – Yee Ha!!!

So far, since being on the road, what am I loving about Australia? Beaches, scenic roads, friendly people, drive through off licenses (and the boot space in Arthur) and the NRMA. What am I disliking? The numerous flies (I have suddenly got a bad case of torretts), boy racers, law enforcement officers and soy sauce (I think I’ve been eating too much of it, its making me look like I’ve had botox injected into my lips)

Lots of love to you all, and I hope you are all well.

Until the next time – bye xxxx