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We have decided that since this is our last blog of Australia we should start it slightly different to the previous three (which all began so similar).
Sydney was nice......Melbourne is nice..........Route in between was nice.
..............Ok we will elaborate a little more. Sydney was better than we had expected. We had both been before and like the place but were unsure about returning to such a big city with the Van and only spending a couple of days. When we arrived we headed to a small camp ground only 10km north of the city centre and only a 30 min bus ride. We left the van at the park and went into the city for fish and Chips which is where we left the last blog.
That evening James heard a rustling in the bushes and we spotted a Common Brush Possum. While feeding it illegaly (because we were technically in a national park) it became a little too tame and climbed into the van to find more food. We headed back into Sydney in the morning to start our day of sight seeing. The city was smaller than we both remembered and we were able to
fit a lot more into our day. We saw Sydney Harbour with the bridge and Opera House and also Darling Harbour where we caught a ferry and got some great pictures of the whole harbour. As always, not content was one animal encounter Kayley went to the showers at the campsite to find a little friend inside the cubicle which James (who is an expert in the arachnid familes) believes to be either funnel web spider or a black house spider. We like to believe it is the first as that means Kayley got within inches to the second most poisonous spider in the world!
After Sydney we headed inland to the Blue mountains where we had a lovely day of....fog. What a perfect day to see the views from the mountains! We thought about leaving but decided to be patient, which paid off as we got to see the three sisters ( amazing rock formations not actually three random sisters) and a gorge / canyon with some gorgeous views. We decided to take to more scenic route to Canberra which took us through more mountains and farmland before spending the night by Abercrombie river.
Upon Waking we
found more fog and icicles on our faces. We made a move after a warming cup of tea and drove through some beautiful Autumn scenery. Canbera was nice although a little boring and the roads have next to no signs on so you have no idea where you are....the map was no good either! We went to the National War museum and drove to the top of a mountain for some views of the city.
We left Canbera, again via the scenic route and started our journey to Melbourne via the Snowy Mountains (not as snowy as they sound). The first route was through Mt Kosziosco. We were told there was snow and we wanted to get some photos to show the full contrast of Australia. We were a full month before the ski season....which was just as well for the skiiers as there was abolutely no snow! The route was absolutley Breath taking and thank God we had a better Van. The whole route was windy and steep and we didnt do much more than 40kmph. We saw more than we could have hoped for and are so glad we did the route.
We found our way
to Jindabyne with the most beautiful lake. Our campsite sat right on the shore where we were treated to the most stunning sunset.
Our route the next day is one that we will never forget! We took the Great Alpine road which took us literally to the top of the mountains. We climbed higher and higher and saw a caravan parked further up the hill. Thinking it was just resting it's engine we carried on - thats when we saw the ice on the road and understood why the caravan had stopped! After a scary few seconds of wheel spinning, we made it past the bulk of the ice and after asking a passer-by, decided to continue up to the top with caution. The majority of the bends further up were taken on the wrong side of the road to avoid the ice and we were somewhat relieved when we reached the top of the mountain (so was Doris). The sun had melted the rest of the ice and we were soon on our way down...albeit with slightly warm breaks.
The road just didnt seem to end and before long we were following the most beautiful river traversing
its way through the valley. This is where we saw more Kangaroos and a family of Emus. This road took us all the way down to Lakes Entrance.....an entrance of the lakes!
This was a typical seaside town complete with Ice cream and seagulls. It was a lovely place but we both agreed we didn't need days there and that one was enough. After a brisk walk along the beach/dunes we drove back to Melbourne via Stratford on the River Avon where they had just finished hosting the Shakespeare festival.....all sounds so familiar.
We have since spent the last week in Melbourne with the family and getting ourselves sorted. The Van has now gone back to the completely inept hire company......DONT use Camperman Australia!
We are on our way out for dinner in a couple of hours before an early flight to New Zeland tomorrow. We will no doubt write a blog next week with some more photos.
Hope you are all well. Lots of Love,
James and Kayley
P.S,
We went to Ramsey Street!
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Matt
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Spiders in pyjamas
Hello, following my long attempts at identification of your spider. My conclusion has left me flinching and itching, there are spiders everywhere! I know it, urgh, yikes. . . I had my own spider confrontation recently it was not a nice looking spider. Most spiders are disgusting but at least I can see the facination this thing was like an albino piglet, it had 8 legs and two huge front legs/arms that he would try and catch small children and pets with and this mouth was something out of alien. In your honour shippi I caught it, put it in the freezer and then took pictures of it. Anyway it was disgusting. Look out for brown recluse spiders in the hollywood hills and black widows plus the native tarantulas. . . or more likely in LA - silverfish and cockroaches :) . Although an interesting side you are probably aware of in response to those native species there are "false" tarantula etc which have european roots and mimic the look of those other spiders. But there are no animals in LA. Except the worst kind of animal - people. But I think you have NZ first? I look forward to the next one. .