Blogs from Barrington Tops, New South Wales, Australia, Oceania

So we are all settled in watching a crap DVD about people getting lost in the jungle while making a film about Vietnam war, in the middle of nowhere, with no one around (at least that is what we think) when suddenly the Tank starts to rock. I look at Shenton and he looks at me, neither of us are moving so what can be going on. There is not a breeze in the air and I for one am a little bit scared. Shenton jumps out of the Tank and without touching the ground is on top of Tank with his head torch on. I hear him moving around then he shouts to me " get my gun out" I play along, as the most dangerous object I have to hand is his glasses case, ... read more

Steve and I drove to Gloucester today, stopping at Wards River on the way. Gloucester is located on the northern boundary of the Hunter region in the foothills of the Barrington Tops World Heritage Area; forming part of the hinterland of the Mid North Coast of New South Wales. A rural community with spectacular scenery encompasing pristine rivers flowing around the Bucketts Range of mountains. * Famous for gold deposits and the bushranger "Captain Thunderbolt" * 271 km north-east of Sydney, population 2,600 After setting up camp, we went for an afternoon drive into the Barrington Tops National Park. We stopped at Devil's Hole Lookout and at Poleblue Camping Area. It was very hot when we returned to the van so we went down to the river to cool off. ... read more

After hearing such great things about the Barrington Tops wilderness area we decided it was the place to work off some of our Christmas indulgences with some bush walking and camping. The 27th of December 2007 dawned bright and sunny - a welcome relief after the weeks of rain and overcast dull skies that Sydney has been suffering under. With our cat safely locked in the house with many bowls of water and with his Aunt and Uncle booked to come and visit for feeding and cuddles during our absence we packed the car and headed out of the city. The long and exhausting crawl under the harbour then north to the freeway was hard going but finally we hit the open road! The drive was fairly uneventful until we turned off the bitumen five kms ... read more

Tue So 7 am pickup with first stop being Surfers Paradise were Stinger our driver let us walk down to the beach and we said goodbye to Kat and Eleni and Eugen. Then we stopped at Byron Bay where we picked up Sten and then onto Surf camp. We had a lesson that afternoon and got taught how to stand up on the board first on the sand and then out to waist deep to try it out. I managed to stand on my first attempt and then took a long time to do it again. Wed The morning was spent back out on the waves, it was hard work but lots of fun. In the end there was just Karen and I and 2 other girls and the last wave of the morning all 4 ... read more

hallo an alle. sind gut in australien gelandet und muessen ersteinmal den schock verarbeiten, dass wir bali verlassen haben. es war ein traum. nun sitzen wir auf der terasse in einem riesigen haus in der pampas und schauen uns die kaengurus beim trinken an. haben gestern unseren ersten trip in den regenwald hinter uns gebracht und danach gab es einige schiess - uebungen von ross. wir werden hier zu richtig kleinen survivorn ausgebildet. leider kommen wir nicht wirklich mit dem hohen temperatur unterschied klar. aber in cairns warten wieder 30 grad auf uns. kohle neigt sich langsam aber sicher dem ende zu und wir glauben, dass wir neuseeland verkuerzen muessen. ach wie schade.........eine laengere zeit auf fiji. senden euch tausend kuesse und besonders an unsere kleine prinzessin in bochum. denken jeden tag an dich du...unsere...ruhrpott-perle. nine ... read more