GOOD DAY MATE, HOWS IT GOING

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Hiya All, we are still alive...... We picked up our Campervan (Toyota Hi Top) on Monday 10th December and it has been non stop ever since. We started out from Sydney and took the Pacific Highway 1 Coastal Road, once we crossed the Harbour Bridge and got passed Newcastle it isn't that bad.

We left Sydney on Monday and went to Port Macquarie, New South Wales, stayed at the Melaleuca Caravan Park for a night, which was nice. On Tuesday 11th Dec we travelled to Coffs Habour and stayed at the Lorikeet Tourist Park. The caravan parks are great, there are lots of facilities such as : toilets, showers, swimming pool, bbq areas and lots of activities to be had. Some of the parks we have stayed at have a path leading to the beach, which is lovely. There are all sorts of animals living with us at the Caravan sights such as: Bush Turkey's, rabbits, Kangaroos hoping around, elephant beatles, ducks (all of which are harmless) - its crazy, but I am becoming amune to the life of 'travelling' and can say we are proper travellers now !! The best way to experience and see Australia is to hire a camper and just go travelling wherever you wish, you get to see true Australia at its best and you are not limited if you want to move on, its great....

On Wednesday 12th Dec we left Coffs Harbour and travelled to Byron Bay, New South Wales where it was raining all day - our park was on Clarkes Beach, which is lovely but good have done more if it wasn't for the rain!! That was our first experience of proper tropical rain and although it was raining, it was very humid.

On Thursday 13th Dec we travelled to Landsbourgh (Queensland) and stayed at the Oceanview Tourist Park only a few mins from Steve Irwin's Zoo and the Glass House Mountains National Park. We visited the Glass House Mountains on the evening, which was lovely but we both got munched by mossies. We had a lovely meal at the Landsbourgh Hotel where they serve great food, highly recommended and met a fella who works at the Zoo!! We visited the Australia Zoo the following day and had a great time, we learnt so much about the animals and as Steve Irwin's says "conservation, conservation, conservation" which he truely believed in as you could see by how the animals were kept - they also had the right of way on the park roads as we discovered whilst taking the Safari Shuttle Bus around the park. I had the opportunity to hold a Koala and get a picture which I will post on my blog, as well as, get up and close with so many animals there. Koala's are heavier than you think, they are beauties. The park was full of wonderful aminals e.g. Tigars, Elephants, Rainforest Avary, Birds of Prey, Emus, Womats, Dingo's, Kangaroos which you could feed and so many, many more animals it was fab. We also visited the famous Crocosum and have some good footage on our camera recorder. Its amazing to think that the park initially started with only 4acres of land and has expanded to 72arces with a plan to expand even further. There are 600 workers, 100 of which are volenteers and when the park first began it was only Steve, his 2 sisters, his mom Lin and Dad Bob who worked at the park so they have really developed and expanded the grounds.... It was a RIPPER !!

On the evening of Friday 14th Dec we left Landsbourgh and headed to Gympie, Queensland where we stayed at Gympie Caravan Park for one night. "Watch out for the Road Kill Eaters" i.e. the people!!

On Saturday 15th Dec we headed to Rockhampton (a very long drive) and stayed at The Island View Caravan Park, Yeppoon which had a path leading to Kinka Beach. The beach was lovely although the tide was out and you could almost walk to the Island opposite.

On Sunday 16th Dec we travelled to Mackay (another long drive) and stayed overnight at the Andergrove Caravan Park. We are now only 120 kms from the Great Barrier Reef, so we are getting there. It has been a long drive but will be well worth it when we get there !!! Shaun has drove over 2,500 kms so far and although the roads are fine and dandy (very smooth and beautiful scenic views), you hardly see anyone for miles and there is a lot of ROAD KILL and the heat is exhausting despite having air con in the camper!

Today is Monday 17th Dec and we are heading to Arlie Beach, Great Barrier Reef (about 120kms away) where we hope to book a trip to the Whitsundays Great Barrier Reef to do some diving and see the beautiful coral's. We then aim on heading back home to Sydney which we need to arrive by Friday 28th Dec to drop off the camper and then have a week off at Bondi Beach before we depart to New Zealand.

I have loads of pics and footage to post on my blog, however, I have forgotten to bring my USB Lead so haven't been able to do that today but will try and do it when I get to Arlie Beach, although its been difficult trying to find a Internet Cafe up this way..... but you will have loads to look forward to, I promise.....

Well folks I hope all is well back home, and the weather isn't too cold. I bet the shops are manic with everyone finishing off for Christmas. You really wouldn't know its Christmas out here, other than a few houses we pass are plastered with Christmas lights to the extreme, other than that the shopping areas are quiet, as well as the roads and no one seems to be rushing out here !!!

Lots of Love and Kisses Claire and Shaun xxx

ps. thanks for lovely comments and your emails, its great to keep up with whats going on in the UK and to hear from you all....

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Comments

[Gemma]

WOW WEE!!!
Hi both, wow friggin wee! you seem to have done so much already, what an experiance!! i bet you are absolubtly loving it (well i know you are by the sound of it!) What did you think of port mcquarie? it is really small isnt it!! i look forward to seeing some pics. miss you lots, speak soon. lots of love Gem xxxx