The rain continued on into the night but was starting to show signs of clearing in the morning. We had a bit of a lie-in and spent the morning updating the blog (it had been neglected for 10 days or so). In the afternoon we jumped on the ferry from Manly to the Circular Quay and headed off to the Hyde Park Barracks Museum. As most people will know, the first people sent from England to the Australian colony were in fact mostly convicts; these people had their sentences changed from death to transportation for 7, 14 years or life. The Hyde Park Barracks Musuem provides insight into the daily lives of the convicts arriving in NSW and their route to freedom. It allows you to do a surname search using the historical database to find ... read more

We awoke to a chorus of animal sounds, mostly cockatoos with the odd bark and snort! Alison, Simon, Charlotte & William live in a beautiful spot in Sun Valley and share their garden with lots of four-legged and feathered friends. Lola the pig is so cute! Unfortunately we also awoke to rain which meant the visibility wouldn't be great at the Blue Mountain hot spots. Un-deterred by the rain, Alison and Simon took us on a walk to Wentworth Falls and the mist cleared for a few photo opportunities. We weren't able to see the three sisters - so it's a good job we did that jigsaw you gave us last year mum! After a wonderful day in the Blue Mountains and a scrumptious breakfast and pie lunch we headed back towards Sydney to stay with ... read more

Today I had to wipe my 'I only drink Pinot Grigio and it has to usually cost more than £8 but be on a half price special' slate clean, or should I say palette clean! We headed into Australia's finest Hunter Valley for a vineyard tour and some wine tasting. We picked one of the oldest vineyards in the region, McWilliams Mount Pleasant and had a very interesting tour. We were able to pick a grape, see the wine-making process in action and learn all the tips and techniques that they use. The Hunter Valley is famous for its Semillon (white wine), Merlot and Shiraz red wines. We had a very comprehensive tasting session. Grandad - James highly recommends the Mount Pleasant Rose Hill Shiraz! We also had a try of some sparkling wines and dessert ... read more

Given that we slept next to the motorway, it's not surprising that we were up at 6am. Luckily we hadn't been caught for 'illegal camping' and we headed to Byron Bay for some early morning beach action. James went for a run and I popped down to the beach to do some light exercising before breakfast. Byron Bay is known as the 'chilled hippy town'; it continually comes under threat by developers to turn it into another Surfers Paradise, but the residents put up a strong fight and there is not a single high-rise building. How long this will last, I'm not so sure! After a wander around the town and finally some free internet access we headed back to the beach for a swim and a brief sunbathe (we ... read more

After a late night at the turtles we allowed ourselves a lie in and a leisurely breakfast. Our facilities were just about advanced enough to make pancakes, so it was Nutella pancakes for breakfast! The rest of the day was spent on the road, and we wanted to get close to Brisbane before dark. We stopped at a number of little beachfront towns on the way and decided to stay at Redcliffe - once the home of the Beegees! Given that we ended up staying so close to Brisbane we knew that this would be our last night in Queensland and tomorrow we would cross the border to New South Wales. Bailey's bit: After our mad dash to the turtles a few insects unfortunately met their fate on our windscreen, this meant we had to utilise ... read more