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Published: November 17th 2009
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The Special one
Old Jelly Belly Hello Possums,
I hope you are all well.
Thanks to all that have sent us a message this week, it’s nice to hear what has been going on outside of our own lives.
Last time we updated you we were just about to………..if you don’t know, shame on you for not reading last weeks, now go back and get up to date…..
So, here we are in Cairns, Australia. Quick note, the guy in front of me on the plane from Langkawi to Singapore had 6 fingers on each hand, well actually it was 4 fingers and two thumbs, I wanted to take a picture for all you guys but unfortunately I missed to opportunity, I was just all fingers and thumbs with the camera! I did however get chatting with him, apparently he doesn’t usually fly, he normally opts to hitch hike! I digress, now before we got to Australia we thought it was supposed to be hot and dry, well we landed and it was wet, and colder than Asia we could not believe it.
We got a cab to the hostel and checked in, it’s only a 10 minute walk along the sea
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The Lagoon front into town which suits us quite well. It’s not you normal hostel, it is more suited to couples and more mature travellers. It has a pool right outside our room and the owners have been very helpful. Cairns is a large town (actually classed as a city) spread out in a grid system, with a population of around 120,000 people. The local people are really friendly and are very helpful with any queries that we have. We had a bit of an admin day when we got here in order to set things up for the next 6 months. New bank account, new phone number, tax numbers (for when/if we get a job….no, defiantly when we get a job….if…) all of which were really easy to set up, much easier than at home, and a lot more relaxed (did you know, in Australia you have to pay a monthly fee in order to have a standard bank account, I know they are criminals but come on…..anyway all set up).
To be fair our main focus since arriving here has been to find a campervan, not just any campervan, Harold (AKA Harold Bishop, AKA the old Jelly Belly) ,
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The long Drive day, mountain. so we headed out as soon as we arrived to hit the papers. It has been like a big treasure hunt, finding clues around every corner on where to find vans and asking the locals for advice on what to buy and what to avoid. We have viewed a number of vans so far and have let some pass us by as we want the most “perfect” van as we can find for our budget. We will be united with our “Harold” soon I’m sure. We are putting two vans up on the ramps tomorrow at a garage to get a mechanics opinion, one looks great, it is blue (which Kate loves, she was handing over the money even before we said hello to the seller) and the number plate has “BB” on it, so already Kate is adjusting the pre agreed name to “the Blue Bishop”…….fingers crossed Harold has been eating healthy and taking some exercise over the past 20 years, if he has, he can join us for the next 6 months…..The second van looks like it has seen better days on the outside but the engine is supposed to be great, so we will have to see
what tomorrow brings.
We hired a car this week (Banj, it was a Hyundai ooohhh) in order to explore some of the local area, as well as looking at a camper based about 20 miles outside of Cairns. I also had a “great” idea, I though lets check out some of the camp sites around Cairns to see if people are advertising their campervan there. So off we headed in the white Hyundai Getz (Cerri, very impressed with the drive) and drove up a big mountain that took about 45 minutes and…….well to cut a very long storey short we drove for 6 hours in a big loop, on roads you wouldn’t expect existed, they refer to the road as a corrugated road, of which you could not drive more than 10 km per hour. We did get to see some great views en route and in particular an area called the Tablelands, this is where they grow a lot of produce for Cairns and the local areas (local is anywhere within 1000km).
We have spent some days chilling by the man made lagoon on the sea front. The lagoon is basically a large swimming pool with sand
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DES around the edge, it attracts a lot of young locals and travellers, its great as it seems to be getting hotter each day so it’s a fab place to cool down. I spent most of today trying to learn how to do a “roly poly” under water and attempting an under water handstand, neither I perfected, and to be totally honest Kate was holding my legs up for the hand stand and twisting me around for the roly poly!!! The problem is, I cannot go under the water without holding my nose and a one handed handstand is very difficult, what a “drongo” I am. Kate on the other hand is a very accomplished handstander and roly polyer….
We have been slip, slap, slopping (Google it) every day for those of you who worry about the sun and the damage it can cause.
I hope you are all enjoying the weather at home, I see that “summer” has past and the rain has started. Please take a minute and feel for us, all this sun is just horrible, we would sooner be with you all in the rain.
Over and out (the “blue bishop” has got a
CB radio, great fun, and handy in an outback emergency)
Matt and Kate
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Kim
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Slip slap slop!!
Hi Both Loving your blogs! We are all keeping up to date at work. Loving your pictures too. Kate- we still have your photo on our wall...sniff!! Got the Slip Slap Slop talk when I went to Oz..was unfortunately quite sunburned and got the 'look' when speech was being delivered...oops. Woolies is great...cos it's not like Woolies!!! Have you found the firearms section.............?! Mental. Take care of yourselves and hope you find Harold soon. Hugs Kim x