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Published: March 22nd 2008
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Nicky: Hello!! Well would you believe it is raining in Oz, I didnt think it did that here but for the last few days it has been overcast and raining. After the heat in melbourne it is quite nice but it is stopping us getting a tan on the beach - which is a bit of a pain!!
It also meant that the views in the Blue Mountains were a bit cloudy, not that it made them any less impressive. It was the sheer size of it all that took me a while to get my head around. We visited an area called Wentworth Falls which has a beautiful waterfall in it that was huge! and the forest area around it just went on for miles. Because of the low cloud there was also what looked like steam coming off all the trees as well which was really impressive. We tried to spend the night overlooking a lake. When we arrived it was close to sunset and looked beautiful with the light on the water, but one of the rangers chucked us out because they were closing the park (!) and when we went back in the morning it was overcast
and not half as pretty.
In total, we spent about a day driving around the mountains and stopping to take some pictures - all the time heading north towards the Hunter Valley. This is one of the major wine producing regions in Australia where lots of the wineries offer tours etc. The area looks alot like Tuscany, Italy - not just because of the vines and the olive trees but some of the natural foliage is the same as well. We stopped at a couple of wineries and olive shops and had a look around before signing up for one of the tours at one of the bigger estates. I was designated driver (which was fine becuase there was also a chocolate factory I wanted to look around!!) and it was really interesting to listen to the guide explain that actually because of the rain in the last few months the Hunter region is having one of its worst years in the last 20 years and that they are producing in 25 acres of vines what they would normally produce from just one!!! We (well Neil,) tried a few of the wines then went to the adjoining brewery where we
were given a paddle of beers to try as well. I think Neil enjoyed this bit even more than the wine!!!
After spending a night in the Valley we are now in the coast and caught in a bit of fix. Because it is Easter every Australian family has packed up the dog into the caravan and headed to the coast, so camp sites that would normally have 2 or 3 travellers in them are full!! This means we are struggling to find places to stay that are near the beaches or lakes. Because of the rain it also means we cant get onto the beaches anyway. We dont want to just drive north for the sake of it and miss out on this bit of the coast -it is called Pacific Palms and supposed to be beautiful. We may have to sit out the weekend playing cards in the van!!!
I hope everyone has a wonderful Easter weekend, let us know what you all got up to. Speak soon, lots of love xxxx
Neil:
Hello everybody!! We've now completed just over 3000 km in our little hippie van!! Lots of driving, but we're now reducing the driving
and chilling out a bit more. I'm really enjoying camping in the van. Most of the camp sites we've stayed at have been empty - except for animals. We had our first frightening experience a few nights ago. We were camping by a river just outside of the Blue Mountain region and we had the whole site to ourself. It was a really nice location and plenty of wildlife - spiders, birds, massive ants etc.. It was the middle of the night and we were both fast asleep when we were woken by the van swaying from side to side. We both woke up with sheer panic on our faces. There was a snorting sound and a scratching sound and the rocking motion of the van. My heart was pounding and I made some noise to get rid of the man eating monster outside - but it carried on. I decided to lean across into the drivers seat and flash the headlights and luckily that seemed to scare it off. For the rest of the night I don't think either of us slept properly. I had a good look around the van in the morning and found no marks or
foot prints. Our van was parked on the edge of a forested grassy slope, and in the morning when we were making breakfast, two animals starting running in the forest - really quickly and pounding the gound quite hard. I don't know what they were, I thought they looked like big dogs but i didn't stop to look to hard - i slammed the van door shut and got ready to leap in the side door as it looked as though they were heading for us. We were both very ready to leave the site and begin our day.
We're now on the Eastern coast about 3-4 hours north of Sydney and will be making our way towards Cairns over the next 3 weeks. This should be an amazing journey but it looks like the Easter weekend will be wet and miserable.
I have finally seen a Kangaroo!! (See picture) Well actually it's a wallaby.
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ROLF HARRIS
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WALLABY
It's a wallaby you flamming gala's!!!!!!!!