Hey guys,

First let me apologise for the massive 2 week delay in writing a blog, we have been rather busy and it has been hard to find somewhere to use the internet for a good length of time!

Since Sydney we have picked up our Toyota Hi Ace campervan and have slowly been making our way north towards Cairns. So far we have travelled around 1500km, and probably have double that still to go! lol

Before heading north we spent a few nights in the Blue Mountains in Katoomba, these were spectacular...we saw the famous Three Sisters and Katoomba Falls, we also had a ride in the Cable Car which takes you from the bottom to the top of the mountains. The mountains are named after the blue mist which forms around them, you can see in the photo's we have when we upload them. The Blue Mountains were extremely cold, our campervan was definitely built for humid weather. On the first morning we awoke with ice on the inside and frost on the ground!

After Katoomba, we headed north east to the Hunter Valley. This is Australia's most widely renowned wine making region, it hosts well over 100 vineyards. We stayed in a small town called Cessnock which was right in the heart of the Valley. We spent one full day wine tasting, chocolate and fudge tasting and cheese tasting! We tried the most unbelievable Tawny Port (shame it was $40!) and bought some great cheddar cheese with Chilli and Date chutney...somehow we still have some left.

It was in Cessnock that we discovered that we had a pretty bad gas leak that needed to be fixed asap. As it was the weekend we had to wait a couple of days, but we did buy a portable gas stove to cook some food!

We managed to pull ourselves away from Cessnock and head further north to the popular seaside town of Nelson's Bay (Port Stephen). This was a cute little town that had some great beaches. It also had a great lookout point that we climbed one morning that looked right out over the Bay and into the South Pacific.

Heading further north still, we went to Port Macquarie which was similar to Nelsons Bay although larger. This is where our van was fixed so the main reason for the visit, although we did spend a couple of days here as it was very nice. One day we were lucky enough to see Dolphins swimming through the bay out to sea - apparently it is quite common to see them this time of year (and whales...but we haven't seen one of those yet!). In PM, we visited a Koala Hospital where rescued Koala's are taken and rehabilitated back into the wild. They were so cute, me and Cheryl may try to bring one home if we can. They are funny animals, all they do is eat and then sleep for about 20 hours a day. The reason for this is not that they get drunk/high eating Eucalyptus leaves (a common myth) but because the leaves contain little nutrients for them to have the energy (everyday is a day at school!). Another interesting fact for the geeks out there....Koala's have an appendix which grows to 2 metres long, this is because Eucalyptus leaves are harmful to them and they need this to dispose of the toxins in the leaves. So to conclude, they are an animal which has evolved to eat something their body dislikes, but they are cute anyway.

Heading north further we next visited Coffs Harbour. Unfortunately the whole time we were here (apart from the morning we left) it rained really heavily! However, we was not deterred and made a trip to a place called the 'Pet Purpoise Pool'. This was essentially an aquarium with a bit of a twist. We met loads of Dolphins and Seals, having our photo taken with them whilst they 'kissed' us - very cool. Cheryl got to feed a dolphin by holding some fish high into the air and the dolphin jumping up to get it! We also fed some reef fish, small sharks and this gorgeous green turtle. And if this wasn't enough, they also let us feed some really small blue penguins aswell. It was a really fun day despite the rain, we never realised it would be so interactive!

After CH, we headed to Byron Bay. This is a really strange but amazing place. The town had a 'hippy' feel to it, with lots of 'free love' and 'legal highs' on offer! The beach here stretches 30km and is incredible. We spent quite alot of time on the beach chilling and reading as it was so nice. The temperature was only in the 20's but with the sun shining on your back it feels like 35! One morning we awoke at 5.30am to see the sunrise, Cheryl managed to take the most awesome picture which we will upload when we are home. I have a feeling it may end up on my bedroom wall too as it's that good!

After Byron Bay we headed towards Brisbane stopping along the way in Cabarita, Coolangatta, Burleigh Heads (we stayed a night here) and Surfers Paradise...all really nice places. We finally got to Brisbane on Monday afternoon, we are currently staying with the Brutons which is awesome...so good to see Mike & Leanne after about 6 years! It is also nice to have some home comforts and do some washing! lol. After Brisbane we have a pretty hectic schedule lined up for the remaining 3 weeks of our trip, these include:

- Noosa
- Fraser Island (the largest sand island in the world apparently)
- The town of 1770
- Magnetic Island
- Mission Beach
- The Whitsundays (home to some of the best beaches in the world!)
- Port Douglas (where we hope to do some diving and put our PADI certification to good use!)
- Cape Tribulation

As you can tell we have been pretty busy but we are loving campervan life and can't wait to hit the road again soon. We both can't believe how quickly the trip is going but we are having the time of our life! We apologise for the lack of pics, but we now have 5 DVD's worth (15GB-ish!) which will take a while to sort out when we are home!

Hope everyone is well and not missing us too much,

Love

Rich & Cheryl
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx