Day 65: Returning Maurice :( and leaving Oz‏

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Maurice has been a star; upon arriving at the camperman garage the manger informed us he had taken us 5108km in just over 3 weeks across 4 states/territories - and we'd had no problems at all! We handed him over and said our goodbyes before heading back into Melbourne. We had done a lot of the Melbourne sights already, but still managed to fill our afternoon with some Fiji-planning, dinner and a short walking tour around some old fashioned arcades. This tour showed us some of the really quaint local hangouts (cafe's, bars) and some impressive buildings. After a quick dinner we hopped on the bus to the airport ready for our flight to Fiji. We managed to get an hour of sleep in the departures lounge, although elderly couples kept walking past giving us this 'awww the life of a backpacker' remark. I guess it's because at our age we can sleep anywhere and it probably had something to do with the fact James was hanging his wet running gear out to dry across the seats!

Australia awards:

Best Hostel: Mission beach YHA (unfortunately we can't count the apartment in Rainbow beach!)

Best Caravan Site: A tie between Colonial YHA in Hervey Bay (spacious and all facilities you could want, including pool chess) and Marengo campsite near Apollo Bay on the Great ocean road (beach side location and quirky atmosphere)

Best Activity: Whitsunday's Derwin hunter sailing day trip which included snorkelling with turtles.

Best Native Animal: It has to be the Koalas - a special thanks to Orinoco for the hug!

Favourite moment: Chilling in Maurice on our many drives down the coast!

Worst Moment: Realising we were about to run out of petrol in the middle of nowhere!

Bailey's bit: I have to admit I nearly shed a tear handing back Maurice, he had served us so well and will remain a fond memory! In the city we were hoping to take part in the salsa class that we had seen the previous week in federation square, we turned up and waited for half an hour but to no avail. I was a little gutted as I couldn't get the chance to strut my stuff, (And probably embarrass Cat) however the walk around the arcades was extremely interesting. I really enjoyed it in a geeky way, as it took you to the less mainstream buildings and urban culture!

Daily mileage: 6 figured out a loop taking me to the beach, town and then back to the site.

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