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"You might be able to play cricket, but you can't bloody drive!"
Dan's roadrage gets personal.
THE BLUE MOUNTAINS
First stop on the new leg of the journey was the town of Katoomba, right in the middle of the Blue Mountains National park & home to the 3 sisters, the stunning rock formation that's both beautiful & sacred to the aboriginies. It took us a little time to adjust to life in the van again following all the home comforts at the Hotel Whitehurst, but within a few hours we'd stocked up the fridge & re-supplied ourselves with cheap wine, so everything was looking bonza. Katoomba is a lovely little township, full of character, history & a cracking sandwich shop. Dan also further tested his fear of heights on the various cable cars & mountain transport on offer in the town, life back on the road was as good as ever. The local caravan park however, in wanting us to pay $34 for the pleasure of our company, forced us to search for another 'illegal' camping spot, something easier said than done in a world heritage listed national park. Drury & Raw though, were not to be defeated & have become standard bearers in the field of overnight stopovers. We twisted & turned through the winding mountain roads, interupted a family of Kangaroos at dinner, nearly knocked over a convoy of cyclists domino style before settling on our patch of land for the night. Our first day back in the van was finished off perfectly with sausage & mash with baked beans & cheap wine sat amongst the most breathtaking of scenery, awesome.
CANBERRA
The nations capital & our next destination. Basically, following the formation of the country of Australia, so as not to p*ss off Sydney or Melbourne, a new capital city was devised & designed from scratch. The result is Canberra, a triumph for forsight & planning, home of the federal government & the most sparsly populated capital city in the world. It was surreal, but we have to say, it works really well. Surely more countries should take this stance, lets do away with the 'chip on their shoulder' capitals. Lets make Bognor Regis, Swadlincote or Appletreewick capital of England. We expect petitions to be in circulation upon our return.
It has to be said that Canberra houses the best museum we have ever visited, the National Museum of Australia is fantastic.......and free! We don't want to sound too boring but it really is worth the visit. As is the fabulous New Parliment House. The giant rocket shaped flagpole towers above everything in the city from the top of Capital hill, it's a very apt symbol of Australia - sleek, new, towering & proud. It's safe to say that we enjoyed Canberra very much, the rush hour traffic was vertually non excistent & the nearby motorway rest area we chose as our spot for the night, offered one of the best views yet. Again, our time there was too short but as weekend approached we had to move on, we had an appointment to keep - Seven Mile Beach & a rendesvouz at the Giles family caravan with Kerryn & Pete. Fair dinkum.
GERRINGONG
Our excitement at arriving at the caravan on Friday afternoon was sparked mainly by two things.
1: A weekend at the beach, eating, boozing & cavorting
2: "The names Bond.....James Bond"!!!
Yes it's true, just as we rushed to the pics in Hong Kong to catch Superman on the big screen, Mr. Bonds opening night was never going to pass us by and our Friday night was spent, popcorn in hand watching the man himself in action - superb.
Other highlights of the weekend were Dan's fully devised, rules and all, game of beach cricket (suspiciously won by the aformentioned creator), body surfing in the unbelievably massive waves and of course a trip to the local club for seafood, beer & a boogy to the brilliantly bad club turn - Heckle & Jeckle, our faces still hurt. An absolutely cracking weekend finished off by camping at the headland and watching the sunset into the Pacific Ocean.
MELBOURNE & THE GREAT OCEAN ROAD
From the beach we had the long drive south, it took us 2 days to travel down & through Melbourne to the start of the Great Ocean Road, we hoped it would all be worth it. After a nights sleep on a clifftop lookout, we set off, eager & early for the most scenic of drives. The Great Ocean Road is 238km long & winds up & down the cliffs as the sea laps up beneath you. The first 2 hours or so were amazing, not only was the drive fully living up to all expectations but we saw 2 wild Koala bears who were more than happy to pose for photo's. Further in though, the drive got a little more disapointing & the road actually curved in land for large sections & the stunning lookouts of the first couple of hours were replaced by farmland & cows. Not that special for a couple who live in Yorkshire. Nearer the end, we arrived at the '12 apostles', another world heritage listed national treasure. A truly stunning sight but spoiled somewhat by the quite ridiculous number of Japanese Tourists jostling for the best photo spot, they even outnumbered the vast swarms of flies who frequent this part of the world, which believe us, is no mean feat. So all in all a good experience, but not all it's cracked up to be, we were happy to be heading back in to Melbourne.
Now if you'd have told us before we left home that we'd meet a family of Australians in China, who would, without hesitation, offer us a bed for as long as we needed one in Melbourne, we'd have probably laughed & said "that'd be nice". But it was following this very meeting in Shunde (China) in July that we set off to Frankston, South Melbourne, in search of the Jowetts! We were welcomed with open arms by the brilliant Barb, Brian, Kate & Samara, given a real bed to sleep in (yes, another one) & enough food to safely feed a small third world country. We were ready to explore the City. 1st stop (LJ jumps for joy) - the Melbourne Cricket Ground (MCG), venue for the boxing day Ashes test & the largest cricket ground in the world. Not many of the 100,000 or so seats were filled though as we made our way in for the state match between NSW & Victoria, it didin't matter, the ground itself is special enough, it's hard to take your eyes off it & actually watch the cricket. Can you imagine a cricket ground in England holding 100,000 - Lords holds a quarter of that amount, it just shows how popular the game is here, no wonder they're better at it than us! Just a short walk from the MCG takes you in to the centre of the City & all that it has to offer. It's a really cool place & seems to have more of a European feel than anywhere else we've been in Oz. There's more of a cosmpolitan cafe culture & the streets are lined with Cafes & bars, trams plough up & down the boulevards, it's a great place to spend time. We did as much as we could in the time we had, including the old Gaol, the place Ned Kelly was hanged, a spot of shopping & the Rod Laver arena - venue of the Austrailian open tennis (another one for LJ) & even a trip to Ramsey Street (for the Mums, honest). Dan is still upset though at having no sighting, to date, of Stefan Dennis.
Just enough time was left then, for us to drink more than we should (again) at the Jowetts annual Christmas party & to have a full animated explanation of the rules of the baffling game of Aussie Rules Football from Barb, before we hit the road again on the long Journey back to Sydney & Crimbo with K&P.
We can't say enough nice things about Melbourne, and especially of Barb & Brian, you made us feel so welcome & we'll be upset if you don't track us down the next time you're in England, you never know, we might have a house by then!
Thanks again guys, we love you.
Merry Christmas to all our readers!
We'll be thinking of you all at this time of year.
We'll update again next year.
Lots of love always
Laurajayne & Dan xxx
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