4/5 Day 98 After visiting the post office to send some books home we got ready to leave David and Eleanor's, as today we flew to Singapore from Sydney airport. The shuttle picked us up at 11.15am and took us to the international airport for us to wait for our flight that left at 3.50pm. It was a Quantas flight on a 747 jumbo jet and took about 8 hours and was a comfortable flight. We arrived into Changi airport at 11pm and when we got off the plane we suddenly felt really tired and walked round the airport like zombies! [View Full Entry]

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Day 94 This morning we packed up the camper van and headed onto the M4 motorway which goes straight into Sydney. We travelled for approximately 40km from Penrith to an area south west of the city called Belmore, to drop off camper van at the depot. Along the way we saw the Olympic Park and the city skyline in the distance. The train station was 10 minutes walk from the depot and it felt strange to be backpackers again carrying all our belongings. It took us half an hour to get to Central Station where Oliver's uncle David was picking us [View Full Entry]

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Day 91 Blue Mountains An early start so we could make the most of the day ahead as we were off inland to the much loved Blue Mountains. We travelled the scenic route via several national parks which reminded us of New Zealand and the scenery was fantastic. At Wisemans Ferry we took the cable ferry across the river which is similar to the Mallard on Windermere. After a few hours we arrived at Windsor and then Richmond where we picked up maps and information for the next few days. We then travelled up a mountain road through many villages with [View Full Entry]

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Day 89 Wangi Wangi Today we got up early to see the sunrise over the Tasman Sea. We had no idea what time sunrise would be so we set the alarm for 5.30am so we didn't miss it. It was a beautiful clear morning as the sun rose at about 6.15am and it was worth missing a couple of hours of sleep. We enjoyed a quiet breakfast in the early morning sunshine before setting off as we were heading to Lake Macquaire today. We briefly called at Port Stephens on the way and arrived at the north end of the lake [View Full Entry]

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Day 87 Coffs Harbour Another sunny morning so we enjoyed a walk to the nearby headland at Emerald Beach. The ground was very wet, the wind very gusty but the waves were quite spectacular, definitely not a time and place for surfing here. Coffs Harbour is a popular holiday destination so we went to have a look why. It has a pretty harbour and great bays for the surfers to catch some waves. We have a walk along the headland by the harbour which turns out to be a wildlife walk where many birds nest. After cooking lunch we travel for [View Full Entry]

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Day 84 Wet n Wild Towards the gold coast and just of the Pacific Highway are all the many theme parks, today we have decided to have an action packed day at Wet n Wild. We arrived early only to find that it was going to be busy as there were loads of families and groups of children here today too. After queuing for what seemed an age we entered the park, it was going to be a great day as the weather was forecast to be 28 Degrees Celsius, just right! We spent the day going on all the slides [View Full Entry]

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Day 81 Brisbane Today we headed south and ended up in the city centre of Brisbane. We eventually managed to park at the South Bank and walked along the river. It is a very popular part of the city as it has a man made beach and lagoon right on the riverside as well as lovely gardens and cafes. We spent a couple of hours there before finding a holiday park south of the city. Hideaway Holiday Park is located just off the Pacific Highway 12km from the city. We got lucky here as we decided to book in for 3 [View Full Entry]

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Day 80 Australia Zoo This zoo is famous mainly due to the late Steve Irwin and family. It is located about 100km north of Brisbane and is home to many animals who live in their natural surroundings. We arrived at 9am ready for the opening as did lots of families as it still the Easter holidays. We spent a couple of hours walking around seeing many native animals including, cuddly koalas, relaxing kangaroos, cute looking dingos, huge cassowary's, hippocrocapigs and of course crocodiles! After seeing the animals that we have tried to see in the wild several times we were very [View Full Entry]

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Day 75 Central Queensland Today we left Stuart and Townsville to continue heading south so we can arrive in Brisbane next weekend. We travelled down the Bruce Highway for a few hundred kilometres until we reached Bowen, when we left we found out that this is where the Darwin set was built for the film Australia. It was wet and stormy weather for most of the day but dried up for us to see the small tourist town of Airlie Beach. On any day except today Airlie Beach and the Whitsunday islands would look spectacular, however toady it was just another [View Full Entry]

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Day 73 Townsville Townsville is known as the capital of North Queensland and has a population of 160,000. In the morning we drove along the esplanade to the harbour to find out about the ferry's to the nearby Magnetic Island for tomorrow. Next we headed up to Castle Hill which provides a great view over the city In the afternoon we went to the post office and reluctantly sent our passports off to the Russian Consulate in Sydney, hoping to get a visa to enter Russia in July. The esplanade runs right along the sea front, with safe swimming areas, children's [View Full Entry]

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