Just Before We Actually Travel

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Hi,

Just thought we should give you all a quick update before we set off travelling tomorrow and hopefully we'll have loads to tell you in the next blog.

Since the last blog we bought our first car! Its only a little toyota starlet but its pretty good considering its done almost 300,000kms. We didn't have to pay much after a bit of bartering. Its made our life so much easier and means we have loads of freedom and makes jobs much easier. Charlotte has also finished her job at the cafe which she was very happy about. As I had to get up at half 5 every day to drive her there so am I! After that job Charlotte came to work with me doing the car cleans which meant I got to be her boss (not that you'd have known it). The car cleans job was a great job and if anyone needs their car cleaned in Brisbane they should definatley look up Timeless car cleaning . It was a shame to leave as it just felt like the business was just taking off with a contract at a shopping centre car park.

Other than that we also moved in to a new place on the other side of the city. Its a much nicer place in a proper house (not an apartment). We have our own TV with satellite, a space to park the new car off the street and a really comfy bed. The rent is also much cheaper and the areas much quieter which means we've been able to save some money for the travelling.

In the last blog we were talking about my job doing surveys in Brisbane city centre. Since then they rang me again to ask if I could take part in another project they were running. I accepted and also asked if they could give Charlotte a job as well. They accepted and put us both on the same shifts to make it easier. The surveys were on behalf of the Federal Police and instead of being paper surveys, they were on iPads. Unfortunately we had to give them back at the end!

But it hasn't all been work and no play. With the car we have been able to visit places much further out than we had originally. We've been to Mount Tamberine and explored the rainforest. This was really nice as we didn't realise it was so close. We also went to Mount Coot-tha for valentines day and we had a nice walk around the botanic gardens and a nice drink looking out over the city. We've been all over Brisbane but mainly doing the car cleans so we feel we've seen most of it but theres not a lot to tell!

At the moment we're very excited because tomorrow we set of at 4am away from Brisbane. Our first port of call is Airlie Beach where we have booked a trip to the Great Barrier Reef. Hopefully the sea should be a bit flatter than last time so Charlotte won't be sea sick! The journey up there is a mission in itself as its 1100kms or about 12 and a half hours of solid driving (hence the early start). From this we're also travelling back all the way down to Sydney and then Melbourne via Canberra. Theres quite a few plans but we'll let everything happen before we report back.

The only other thing to add is we have now booked our return tickets back! We're flying with etihad on the 21st March (hence we're travelling now). Its a shame to leave but we've had plenty of challenges and learnt a lot already. We're just looking forward to steady pay and being able to see people we know. We should have internet on our travels so we'll do our best to keep you updated before our grand return!

See you all soon!

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