After surrendering every single piece of fruit or vegetables, (including our polystyrene esky!) to the WA border crossing, we crossed over into WA. This part of the trip was a total last minute thing, we only decided to come here after hearing all the stories from other travellers,we met, it sounded so beautiful we had to come....We weren't disappointed. We headed on straight down to Walpole, which is famous for it's huge, tall Karri trees, we walked the aerial walkway in the "Valley of the Giants", which was pretty fun, then went to Pemberton where we BOTH climbed the Gloucester Tree, [View Full Entry]

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This part of the trip was a grueller! As the title suggests, it's the equivalent distance of travelling from London to Moscow.We drove anything from 200 to 700 kilometres per day, Bertie the vamper can held out great and we ended up doing the leg really quickly, sightseeing included, 4 days! We stopped off at the Great Australian Bight and saw loads of Southern Right whales as they made their way up the coast to warmer waters. To call South Australia vast/desolate was an understatement, particularly a stretch called "The Nullabor Plain", no trees, just scrubland an bushes galore here. The [View Full Entry]

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This road really blew us away, the scenery and drive was spectacular, the ruggedness and beauty of the coast just can't be captured on camera. We took a couple of days to explore, it was well worth the drive. [View Full Entry]

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This area was absolutely beautiful, huge valleys & lovely mountains, we made it a very quick stop and left the same day, WA here we come! [View Full Entry]

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well, we made great time after Fraser and shot through down to Sydney as quick as we could manage(not before buying me a DIDGERIDOO!!Poor Jo!) , the most noteable small stop being in a small place called Nimbin, it's famous in Oz for being the weed capital of Australia, and we're not talking dandelions here folks!! you can buy cookies, cakes, whatever you want.....a really strange place!! On arrival in Sydney we had the pleasure of being able to stay with one of Jo's friends, she met him in Canada and still keeps in touch, his name's Gordon, he lives with [View Full Entry]

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After a quick scoot down the coast we arrived in Rainbow Beach which was our base for the Fraser Island trip. One of the first things we did was a dolphin kayak trip, this was simply stunning, we saw huge pods of dolphins, some swam right underneath the kayaks, though i think the highlight for me were the massive manta rays that made an appearance, they swim really close once they realise you're not a threat to them, they swim so gracefully it's as if they fly through the water, the ones we spotted were about 4 metres in width, though [View Full Entry]

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We took three days to explore the Whitsunday Islands, which were absolutely beautiful. The sand was so white and fine, and the coral reef was amazing: we had perfect weather and alll was great.....except the boat that we were on was destined for the knackers yard...broken steering, broken toilet and the loss of one engine made the trip a little less than perfect but we still managed to have a ball. [View Full Entry]

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After the farm, we headed off back down to Cairns to take in the sights and sounds of Cape Tribulation which is farther north from Cairns, it's a beautiful area full of pristine tropical rainforest, we had a few days down there before heading off. On the way back we decided to do a spot if hang gliding, ( Jo's idea, and what a great one!!! ), weather conditions were just about perfect, the views were amazing and the experience was one not to be forgotten for a while, needless to say we loved it! After spending all that money we [View Full Entry]

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We arrived in Cairns on Joey's birthday, (Great birthday present eh? I planned it that way...........HONEST!!!). Breaking with our skinflint tradition, we went straight to a hostel as finding a campsite would have been really difficult. As it turns out it's a good job we did as two days after arrival, a cyclone hit the coast just north of Cairns and brought with it five days of continual heavy rain, Oz style. Hostel life was a fair eye opener for me (Mark) as I've never stayed in one before, it was pretty good actually, apart from the single bunk beds!! 15th [View Full Entry]

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Welcome to clean toilets (with toilet paper!!!!!), friendly people and hot showers (first one in 4 months!!!). After waiting to leave Indonesia for so long we finally arrived in Australia & immediately loved it. Ayers Rock was amazing, we didn't climb it out of respect: the aboriginal people view it as sacred & request that you don't. We also visited The Olgas, which were equally as awe inspiring, & King's Cannyon.....all were truly magnificent but we were plagued by the thousands of flies! [View Full Entry]

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