Stood in Sydney International airport at 3pm on the Wednesday 5th November the world changed as Barack Obama was pronounced USA’s 44th President, the crowd was quite sizeable and the mood was really good. Then we boarded our 16 hour flight and the start of our very long day. We took two flights changing in Auckland which was quite strange to return to after sixth months on. The flights were both excellent and I could not praise Air New Zealand more they were faultless and everything was just as it should be. We landed before we left in Los Angeles and [View Full Entry]

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We headed back to Sydney and across town we were off to Kings Cross and our final Australian stop. Kings Cross, the red light district and a place of complete contrast, along side the strip joints and night clubs stand up market cafés and bars and boutique shops, you just don’t know what your going to find. Our hostel was definitely not the best choice we have made all trip, The Pink House was a two old houses joined together and falling apart, tatty and dirty. We stayed in a dorm room which had double bunk beds, which was extremely interesting! [View Full Entry]

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It was a warm up travel day, to prepare us for our long leg home, a quick and smooth flight to Sydney we were soon on our train to the city. We had to change trains and that’s where the smoothness stopped. Alice fed her ticket to the machine and it enjoyed it, a quick panic and we soon found a kind guard to fish it back out for us. Our connecting train took us high into the hills out of the city, no doubt the views across the valley would be stunning unfortunately as we headed through the rain we [View Full Entry]

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It was love, a flurry of good feels from the moment we arrived, the city was all we wished for with a chilled and airy, free spirit buzz and home to Neighbours to top it off. I think it’s because we split our city stay and when we returned for the last few days it just felt like coming home, familiar sights and sounds, we didn’t have to work or stress, we knew this city, it was under our skin. We loved Melbourne and after a month in Victoria it was sad to say goodbye to the first really settling place [View Full Entry]

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Back to Melbourne and it was time to relax and put our exploring into the hands of Alice’s mum’s cousin, a 2nd cousin I guess. Having left Ireland and moved permanently out to Australia, on what was supposed to be just a short trip in the 70’s I can understand some of the anxiety Alice’s parents had about us coming here. Not quite a £10 pomme, Helen fell in love with the country as any young traveller could. She showed us some photos of her travels and unsurprisingly there was the trademark hold a koala shot, nothing changes. It was quite [View Full Entry]

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Moving east and the next stop was Wilsons Prom, through the Gippsland and small towns we soon found ourselves heading south and into the National Park. Paying our fee at the gate we made our way down the 30Km track to our camp site. Nestled between the banks of the Tidal river (name what you see theory) and Nelson’s beach the camp site was a thriving buzz of activity. We parked up and set out to discover the area and it wasn’t long till we found an ice cream. We took a scenic walk up through the bush and above the [View Full Entry]

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A change of plan, originally we were going to head further north and to the mighty Murray River to find more Australian country culture and see the Mississippi of Oceania. The weather of Ballarat made us change our minds and we headed back to the coast to see if we could find some golden sands. The sun shone brightly as we headed through Melbourne, Alice navigating we were bound to find somewhere. Soon though good judgement and possibly a dash of luck we found ourselves heading down the Mornington Peninsular. The playground of Melbonians, golden sandy beaches reaching around Philip Bay [View Full Entry]

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A sad goodbye to the coast and off we headed to the hills. Our first stop at the base of the Grampians gave us a surprising and amusing discovery, in every town we have stopped at we visit the big blue I. Normally the staff, as eccentric as they may be, talk up their town and every little thing init that could comes under the remit of an attraction. However in this town the guide just gave us a strange look and told us to move on to the next town, so we got back in the van and drove on. [View Full Entry]

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A long drive ahead as we left the Grampians disappearing behind us and headed through wine country in search of gold. Our first stop was Arratt, for some supplies and already we could see a few of the extravagant Victorian gold rush buildings. We drove towards Ballarat down the Avenue of Remembrance, a 20 Km tree lined boulevard, every tree nominated to a fallen solider. It was quite moving just the stretch of mile after mile of dedications, it ended in the Victory Arch that marks the start of the city. Ballarat City has had many lives and is a true [View Full Entry]

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Life on the road starts here, we headed across Melbourne to the depot and to start our new exciting leg. Our transport, our home and our adventure all round up in a battered 1994 van, with 300,000 miles on the clock and a dodgy paint job it was an adventure in it self. Victoria was our goal and the first call was The Great Ocean Road. With a quick stop off for supplies we were soon making our way west and out to Torquay. On Victoria’s Surfers coast, Torquay is a cool, hip town full of all the labels and some [View Full Entry]

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