Monday 29th January 2007 For the first time since we arrived in Oz we were actually cold in the middle of the night! We carried on our drive south and drove towards the Blue Mountains (West of Sydney). We had a quick car park lunch and headed to Katoomba where we stopped off at a really nice YHA to eat, and use their showers ($2). That night we stayed a few kilometers north at Sutton Park (supposed to be day stop only). Tuesday 30th January 2007 After breakfast we had a picturesque drive to Echo point. But it was full of tourists pilling off coaches, so we didn't stay long. We then drove towards Sydney and down towards Melbourne. Wednesday 31st January 2007 Spotted some more amusing driver tiredness warning signs - my favourite being "Droopy ... read more

Tuesday 23rd January 2006 The next day Dave was not in a good state, neither was Baz. Dave had passed out and been sick, he was found with his trousers round his knees and a Dingo sniffing round his arse. Someone rescued him from being rimmed by a Dingo and put him in the tent with the loser of the drinking game, from the England team - both in a very pissed state. Turns out Dave puked in his rucsack in the night too. Dave was supposed to be in the tent with me and Lisa - thankfully he didn't make it! So with Baz feeling really rough and probably pissed, it was up to me or Lisa to drive. Lisa doesn't drive manual very well and wasn't keen, so it was up to me to ... read more

Sunday 21st January 2006 We met with our group (8 others??) at 8am to go over the vehicle and cover andy previous dents etc. There were only three people eligible to drive in our group, me, Lisa and Bas/Bos He went first and drove us to the supermarket where 10 of us organised food for 3 days for a fantastic $10 a person! We also picked up some wine and beer and drove torwards the ferry. There were two other pink Land Cruisers from our hostel and we spotted another three white ones doing the same. SO there would be at least 60 of us heading to the island that day. We were given a suggested itinery with times to get on and off the beach (to avoid getting stuck at high tide) and with the ... read more

Friday 12th January 2007 I grabbed a quick morning swim before breakfast and then we headed out to pick up the campervan we had booked to allow us to drive down the East Coast to Adelaide. It had not been a good few days for Lisa - she had been having a terrible time trying to get through to various credit card companies to arrange replacements (lost her wallet in NZ) - in typical 'big-company-take-your-money-now-speak-to-a-machine' wanker style. I hate big companies' customer 'service' - don't get me started... So while we waited for the campervan to be ready Lisa tried (in vain) to get her cards sorted. We finally picked up campervan 'Armageddon' - 'spelt incorrectly' Lisa tells me. She was also not too impressed that most Wicked vans are funny or arty - ours was ... read more

Tuesday 2nd January 2007 We got up 1.5 hours later than planned and rushed around trying to leave Christchurch. We went into town and picked up a hire car from Thrifty that needed to be relocated to Picton (so cost us nothing but petrol). It was a Toyota Corola - not too bad, but not the V6 Ford Falcon I was hoping for... I dropped off my snowbaord bag (with all my kites, some winter clothes, books, snowboard, etc) and my new paraglider at Dave's-- my paragliding instructor--house. The plan was when the rest of my paragliding kit (harness and reserve chute) finally arrive, he would put it with the glider and get both packages picked up by the transportation company I had arranged to send it all back to my parents in the UK. We ... read more