Tuesday 13th May - Got up before Gems and did some skimming on the lake. Had breakfast, washed up and set off to Picton. Sat in the park on the waterfront to have lunch in the sun and ended up sharing most of it with the ducks. Had a drive around to find somewhere to freecamp tonight then did a walk partway along 'the snout' to a viewpoint which overlooks the Charlotte sound - beautiful. Drove back down into town, had a beer and used the internet for a couple of hours. Drove up a one way loop onto the ridge [View Full Entry]

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Mon 5th May - Set off to drive north west stopping in Wanaka to update the blog and by a magnificent lake to have lunch. Travelled on through the Haast pass - a great stretch of windy, steep roads with great scenery, the best being an old bridge over a series of massive waterfalls and rapids cascading down the valley. We arrived at Fox on the west coast at dusk and decided to find a free camping place we'd heard about on the web. Drove around 20km on an unsealed road to the coast where we parked up on a stony [View Full Entry]

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Tues 29th Apr - It had rained hard most of the night and was still raining when we got up at 7ish. Got a bit worried as the river was very high and we'd crossed several fords to get here. Also the petrol was very low! Set off back to Wanaka, the fords were high but passable and we made it back to fill up with petrol. Went on the internet and did laundry in Wanaka then had a pie for lunch. Drove to Arrowtown along, perhaps, the best road yet (possibly beating the waterfall way in OZ!) There were some [View Full Entry]

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Fri 25th April - Throat is back to normal now. Got up at 4.30am! Gordon picked us up at 5 and we said our goodbyes and drove to Brisbane airport. The Abbots have really looked after us. Stopped in Brisbane to see some Anzac day celebrations, the CBD and the sunrise. Got some breakfast at the airport and flew Jetstar at 9am. Arrived at Christchurch airport 2 hours time difference on, at 3pm and got the bus to the town centre. It is really cold here compared to what we've been used to the last 3 months, but it is autume [View Full Entry]

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Tues 22nd April - Throat is a bit better. Up early to sort everthing out in the van and pack our bags. Drove to esplanade and had a walk round the manmade lagoon area, built as Cairns has no beach. Paid Gems speeding fine then dropped Thor off at the spacestation. The guy who rented us it in Sydney (Shrek!), was there so he gave us a lift to the airport. Had a bit of a wait before we flew to Brisbane. Gordon met us at the airport and drove us to his son Lloyds' house near Ipswich. It's a massive [View Full Entry]

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Thurs 17th April - Up at 6.30 to rain, quick breakfast and left Wanderers to set off north on the Bruce highway. After 8 hours driving including a lunch stop we arrived at Mission Beach. Did a short rainforest walk - this area was hit by cyclone Larry in 2006 so is still recovering. Its also an area well populated by the rare 'Cassowarie' bird - an emu type thing. We saw their droppings but not them! Stopped at a council run campsite right on the beach. After spending a couple of hours on the net we made feta, onion and [View Full Entry]

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Monday 14th April - Museli for breakfast. Noisy Cockatoos. Walked into town and went to Whitsunday Bookings to get advice from Tina (lonely planet recommended) about island tours. Ended up booking a 2 nighter which left that afternoon! Checked in at the office in town then had some lunch by Thor at the campsite before driving down to the marina to park up. Waited around for a while in the hot sun then boarded our catamaran 'Whitsunday Blue.' It holds 8 passengers and 2 crew but there were only 4 of us plus skipper Paul and cook Sarah. Jeff and Liz [View Full Entry]

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Mon 7th Apr - Awoke to pouring rain. Walked into town and went on internet for a couple of hours while Gems looked round the shops. Had a lovely lunch in 'Twisted Sister' cafe. Went back to the internet cafe and got blog completely up to date whilst Gems had a haircut - quite short for her! Showers on and off all day unfortunately. Enjoyed a quiet night around the van and campsite. Tues 8th - Up early for breakfast - still raining! Had a drive up to the lighthouse before heading off - the most easterley point in Australia. Drove [View Full Entry]

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Thursday 27th March - JB net us at the airport at 1930. Got a train to Kings Cross area and walked through the stripclub lined street to Potts Point where JB's flat is. Great 5th floor apartment he shares with Gav and Martin. JB, Gems and I went out for a german meal at 'Maggies' in Kings Cross - had an awesome pork knuckle. JB then took us down to the harbourside to look at the amazing views of the city by night. Slept in JB's double bed whilst he was on the floor! Fri 28th - JB to work early. [View Full Entry]

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Packed our bags and left JB's flat, its been a great few days in Sydney. Walked down to the Spaceships office where we picked up our campervan (actually a modified Toyota Spacewagon) called a Spaceship! It has extending bed, chairs, fridge, cookers, water supply, ipod connector and a DVD six speaker surround system! Its also bright orange and white and is called Thor so turns some heads! Picked Debs up from Kirribilly - she is joining us for a few nights to head up north. Stopped at Palm Beach - better known by people as Summer Bay where 'Home and Away' [View Full Entry]

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