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I should start for apologising for seemingly being a slacker on this. In my defense, however, I've been stuck in a campervan for 8 nights and I'm not sure if any of the places that we passed through actually had internet cafes. No offence to them intended, but they have been some very small places! I have been keeping a written diary, however, so for once can actually be quite retrespectively accurate as to where we went and what we did on each day.
FRIDAY 22nd June, Sydney We had to wake up fairly early from our hostel in Sydney to check that we had everything ready to leave, as this was the earliest checking out we'd had so far (9am). My morning got off to a bad start when I bent down to pick something up from the floor and managed to bang my back really hard on the top bunk - I was nearly crying with the pain. Aaron checked it for me and there were two cuts, but luckily it wasn't anything serious (though it was still unfortunate because I had to carry all of my damn belongings in my backpack to the campervan depot!). We
The Three Sisters
It was awe-inspiring to be up close to these.were stuck with the bags until we could pick up the vanm at 12:30.
For once it wasn't raining, so we went and got coffee and sat in one of the random parks. We then eventually went to the train station and caught the train to 'Green Square' (trains are much better over here, they have double-decker ones so you can easily get seats. You hear that trans-pennine express?!) We arrived at the depot, and I was scared about what would be painted on our van but luckily it was a tasteful one! It was orange-coloured, and with a picture of an aboriginal lizard (see picture).
We then put in some petrol (which became the bane of our lives!) and headed towards the Blue Mountains. This was a detour as far as Melbourne was concerned, but we both wanted to go and this was the cheapest way to do it. We went to Echo Point and looked at the views (it's really beautiful, they really do look blue). We then drove into a town called Katoomba and went to the supermarket. Cooking was almost impossible in the van so we mostly lived on bread and chicken/peanut butter/jam/cheese.
We ended up spending the first night (and most other ones) parked on a random residential street - and up here in the mountains it was the coldest that I have ever been. We were both literally shivering for most of the night, and when we woke there was ice on the insides of the windows. In the morning it was still freezing, and the condensation from the ceiling was dripping onto our heads! We ended up going to the shop again to buy jogging pants just to keep ourselves warm at night time.
SATURDAY 23rd June, Katoomba We walked around the time as it was their 'Winterfest', which is to do with the longest day of the year. There were loads of people dressed up wearing velvet cloaks and dressed as faries and wearing goth-esque costumes. There was loads of stalls filled with nice things, and nice smelling food that we couldn't afford.
We then went back to Echo Point and looked down Jamison Valley again. We walked down the Giant's Staircase - which name doesn't lie, it's really long and steep, and saw the Three Sisters rocks up close. We then went back to the van
and started heading back down from the mountains so that the next night would be warmer. We ended up in a town called Penrith, and stayed on a street there.
SUNDAY 24th June, Penrith We went to Featherdale Wildlife Park, and finally got to see some native Australian animals. We got to stroke and feed kangaroos, and stroke and have our pictures taken with koalas - which are really nice and soft.
I particularly liked the wombats, which are possibly the best animals I've ever seen. I don't think the pictures does them justice.
Then we went back to the van and drove to Woolongong to spend the night there.
MONDAY 25th June, Woolongong We got up early so that we could move the van and not get fined for parking. We then went for a walk around to look at the lighthouse and the shoreline. It's quite a nice town, but very industrial.
We then drove on and visited a town called Ulladulla and ate our lunch by the water. We then phoned the Eurobadulla National Park where we were thinking of camping that night, and headed out for the campsite. It got a
little strange, as a lady followed up to the campsite and said she liked the van and said we looked tired and we got taliing and she ended up offering us her shower to use, as she lived around the corner. We were desperate for a wash so ended up going, but in our own van, and were very careful. She had a really cute cat and dog, and it was so nice to be clean again! We spent that night in a carpark in Moruya, as it started raining and we couldn't get back onto the campsite in the van. This was probably a good thing as the rain didn't stop.
TUESDAY 26th June, Moruya As usual we woke up early, and headed out on the road early. This was our longest driving day. We passed through a town called Bega, and had lunch in Eden (which was nice, but not as nice as the name leads you to believe). This is the day that we crossed the state line and made it from New South Wales and into Victoria.
We went to an actual campsite on this night, in a town called 'Lakes Entrence', which looked
beautiful but the weather didn't allow us to truly investigate. We managed to heat up some rice for tea, and went back into the van as the rain didn't stop. (we had driven just under 600km today)
WEDNESDAY 27th June, Lake's Entrance That night was ridiculously bad weather-wise. We woke up at 2:30am, because the wind was so strong it was actually moving the van. The rain also became quite noisy and strong. We were in a wide-open space and obviously open to all of the elements. We didn't know what to do as the weather was so bad, and ended up moving the van so it was diagncal, which helped avoid some of the winds (which were gale-force, it turned out). We ended up both needing the toilet so had to trek across a field in the dark to go - everything we were wearing was drenched in seconds. We eventually selpt for about 2 hours at 7am.
When we woke up the next morning there was a tree blown over in that field, and it's proximity to where we were walking and where the van was parked was quite scary.
We were planning on driving
to 90 mile beach the next day and going for a walk, but it never actually stopped raining. We ended up driving on, and drove about 120km in 2 and a half hours. There were constant river overflows that we had to drive through. There was also a large number of trees which has falled into the road and we kept having to stop so that they could clear the debris from the road. They were very efficiant at sorting them out, but the sheer volume meant that we were stopping every 10 minutes. We wanted to drive on further, but got so delayed that we couldn't.
We made it to a town called Sale, and it was still raining. We considered stopping in a caravan park, but the owner said that they'd had 6 trees fall over that day, so we decided to get as far away from trees as we could!
THURSDAY 28th June, Sale It had finally stopped raining by Thursday morning, which was a relief. We continued driving and went to a town called Traralgon and asked about Phillip Island visiting prices, as we were now hoping that the weather was suitable to do
something that we'd planned. The ladt had been there the day before, and was really helpful so we set off on the 1 1/2 hour drive.
The island itself is quite small, but really green and well maintained. We went to a place called 'A Maze 'n things' which was similar to a fun house at the fun fair. Aaron also had a look at the Motorcycle Grand Prix track. We got back into the van and carred on and reached Dandenong, where we spent that night.
FRIDAY 29th June, Dandenong We woke and set off for Melbourne early again as we were parked on a residential street. We had to clean the van out in time for taking it back so that was our main priority. We went to St Kilda's Beach, and ate our lunch and cleaned and aired out the van.
We stayed that night near the place where we had to return the van at 10am the next morning. We got to see some of Melbourne, and were impressed by the shopping centre in Central Station.
SATURDAY, 30th June We woke up and sorted out the van, putting the bed away and
making sure that it was properly clean. The depot was meant to open at 9am, so we got there then so that we could offload the van and move on. Unfortunately, the bloke working there didn't both turning up until 10:30 (the latest that said we could return it was 10am!) and proceeded to take ages with everyone else there first. We didn't end up leaving until 11:20 - fuming mad!
It took us an hour and a half to walk to the hostel and ended up waiting there because we were late! The owner finally retuned and is really nice (he's called Bob, and has been great about telling us where's good to visit etc)
We went out to look around the town, and visited Federation Square. We watched the Wallabies beat the All Blacksat a casino (the only place we found where we wouldn't have to buy expensive drinks!).
IN CONCLUSION The news when we were away was dominated by the weather - flooding ended up following us along the Princes Highway and we were lucky that the drove through as quickly as we did. Lake's Entrance and Sale are still flooded - our campervan
Aaron at A Maze N' Things
Some girls came up just as he got in, and started asking each other whether he was real! wouldn't have stood a chance.
I would advise people not to rent a campervan over here in the winder - it's very cold, and has been very wet and gets dark very early in the evenings. I'm sorry that this entry seems quite rushed, but I've got so much to say and not very much time!
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Mum
non-member comment
I want a wombat!
So relieved that you're both safe at Melbourne now - glad we didn't know the full scale of your adventures while they were taking place! I can see what you mean about the wombat - can you bring one home to live with Harry and Boo?!! Take care, loads of love, Mum XXX