Queensland - here we come...

We have left NSW and entered Queensland. There is a small town on the border of the two states (think it's called Twin Towns or Twin Heads), which has a street that separates them. Since Queensland doesn't go onto Daylight Savings Time (remember - it is spring over here...) we have gone back an hour so now it is only 10 hours ahead of England and 15 hours ahead of Michigan.

Spent the day travelling up the Gold Coast (lots of high rises, looks alot like Spain's coast), then through the mountains standing at a lookout which we can see the ocean from about 25 miles away, finally to Noosa Heads - a very quirky spread out town - with no town centre that we can find.

Tomorrow, we intend to take a day tour overland in a 4x4 on Fraser Island. Should be a blast, and we shall tell you all about it when we get back.

We were wrong - Flower Power has been truly found...

When we said that Byron Bay was a throw back to the 60's - we were wrong. It is nothing but a false front. We left Suffolk Bay on Monday morning having had a relaxing 2 days and decided to drive north via a very convoluted path through the hinterlands of the North Rivers area. We first stopped in Lismore - a pleasant community inland from the coast about 30 Km. After spending some time in an internet cafe - and doing some guitar shopping - (yes Chris - I did get one!!!) we were off again through the hills into the Nimbin Valley.

We arrived in Nimbin an hour later to find the true exiles of Berkley - living peacefully in this small community. Throw back doesn't quite cover it. All you childen of the 60's would feel at home here.

After a wander through the town (it is quite small) - back on the road through the Tweed Valley on some lovely twisty/windy roads till we came back to the coast and ended up in Tweed Heads for the evening. Now we are sitting on the border of NSW and Queensland - ready to cross over state lines, change time zones (Queensland has chosen not to participate in the Daylight Savings Scheme) and begin the final leg of this part of our journey.

Reliving the 60's...

Today we have left South West Rocks, driven to a small village called Nambucca which has such a lovely feel about it, and investigated small town life in New South Wales. Nambucca has many things going for it - but one of them is this fantastic Mosiac Wall that really draws your eye to it.

From there, up the coastline stopping for lunch at Yamba - and taking a well deserved walk on the beach enjoying the kite surfers and their antics. Even managed to do a self portrait of the two of us. We then continued northwards till we got to Lennox Head where we watched someone being taught to Hang Glide - must be an amazing experience.

Finally, we have arrived in Byron Bay - home of some real 'alternate' living and some people who looked like they simply moved from Berkley, Ca. in 1969 straight to Byron Bay and have hidden here ever since. The good news is we can break out all of our old outfits from our University days and they would be right in style. The bad news is - they no longer fit us - life just isn't fair.

We decided since it was Saturday that we would spend Sunday as a relax day - not drive anywhere and not tempt fate with the Van since if it were to break down again we would be without any assistance until the Monday - so we have had a lovely day - sitting and reading on the beach, window shopping in Byron Bay and just taking in the atmosphere. Due to Karen's son Chris' constant nagging - Lei has also decided that if fate takes a hand and we see a decent Guitar for a reasonable price - we are going to buy it so that we have some music for the beach in the evening. Wish us luck on that...

Back on the Road Again...

Well - we managed over 350 km yesterday without an incident - will try again today - but first - a short delay to take a whale watch cruise. It is at the end of the migration season - so we only had a small chance of seeing some stragglers - but the day is lovely - the cruise fun and we did see some dolphins and stringrays - so it wasn't a total loss.

Then - up the highway - taking short stops to look at some lovely coastline. We decide to go off road a bit and visit a small town called South West Rocks where we stay for the night. On the way to check out a couple of campsites - we see a herd (assuming that is how it is referred to) of wild wallabys. Managed to get a video as well as pictures as they seems as interested in us as we were in them.

We are over 500 km past our visit to Penrith - so God willing and a fair wind - maybe it is behind us.

Less we forget - NEVER TEMPT FATE...

Well - here we are on Thursday morning - only 10 miles down the road when our Van reminded us once again - to never tempt fate. The van stalls in the middle of the motorway in the beginnings of Sydney traffic - and we have to return to our original point of departure to see the service people again.

This time - a happy ending to our story (we think). Met up with a transplanted Scotsman who has a brother living in Ann Arbor, Michigan - and has taken a liking to us. He is the service manager for the dealership and after much discussion - believes that the Van's problem is due to a service issue by the rental company - not something that is our fault - hence works with us to solve the problems and gets the rental company to start admitting some culpability. What a break to what has been a fairly stressful time. His name is Brian and if anyone ever ends up stuck in Penrith, Australia - we highly recommend contacting. HE IS A DREAM.

So, after some further tender loving care and some time to visit with some local wildlife - we are back on the road at 2pm - looking to make up time. After a shaky start worrying if it going to happen again - we start getting back into the holiday - by 6pm - we are at a lovely place called Forster.

We are beginning to get some confidence back with the Van - and realising that we really do love the freedom of the road...

Never Tempt Fate...

I can assure all of our friends and family who are following our adventures that I shall never crow about a cunning plan again - Fate has taught me a lesson - one I shall not forget.

On our last day in Sydney we were probably reacting to the stress of this all but still managed to...

1. lose Lei's credit card (and found it again fortunately)
2. lose Karen's phone (and found it again fortunately)
3. arrive in Penrith with no idea where we were going to stay or if there was even a hotel here (which there was - and we managed to find and get booked into - FORTUNATELY)

So the good news is that we have taken possession of the Van again (hurray) and have plans to be back on our way early Thursday morning. We have targeted certain destinations so that we can begin to get back on schedule and still arrive as planned in Cairns on Dec 1st.

We have the camera on charge so the next posting will be back to our usual high standard of presentation (just kidding there). Wish us well on the second half of our journey.

Languishing in Sydney

Well... Blog delays and travel delays until who knows when. The van is ill and the company haven't got back to us yet. We have a 2nd night and 3rd day in Sydney so that's a bonus although we did want to be on our way. Until we get back to the van where all the gear to charge the camera etc is stored this blog is closing down........

We saw:

The Bridge

The Opera House

Manly Beach

Darling Harbour

The Chinese Friendship Garden

Cockleshell Bay

And a Great Outdoor Photography Exhibition www.yannarthusbertrand.org/

We are on our way to The Botanic Gardens and The Rocks ....... and whatever else we choose....

Deja vu...

I am beginning to think that at times I live in a dream world - where sometimes my worst fears come true and sometimes I am both blessed and cursed with getting what I want...

Here it is - Sunday morning and we decided to break camp and head to Sydney from the Blue Mountains. Not a long drive but one I am not looking forward to as the idea of driving around Sydney in this camper doesn't appeal to me. So I have a plan to minimise the amount and area of driving I will have to do.

My plan is simple - have the motorhome break-down again (this time is wasn't my fault) and need to be towed to the nearest dealer - who of course isn't open on a Sunday. Then have to go to a hotel and spend the night till the dealer can look at the van on Monday morning and diagnose the problem. Pretty clever - right?

So, with the van down for the count - no one open - we had the tow driver drop us at a train station in the Blue Mountains and headed for Sydney where we ended up at a great apartment/hotel right next to Darling Harbor. You have views of the Sydney Aquarium from the balcony and a 5 minute walk takes you directly to the Ferry docks. Couldn't have been better.

We toured the harbor and out to Manly Beach by Ferry - enjoyed dinner overlooking the Pacific, and back to the hotel. Added bonus - we even got access to the internet so that we could update our blog...

Tomorrow we get the news on the Van's prognosis - but either way - I am happy since I ended up seeing Sydney without actually having to drive around here. What a cunning plan...

Did you ever wonder why the Blue Mountains are blue?

Yes - there is an answer to this - and if I could find the marketing buff - I would give it to you. They even have a name to explain the phenomena, but I can't remember it. Suffice it to say that at times they do appear blue.

We camped in Katoomba - next to the scenic look-out over the Three Sisters and Katoomba Falls. We decided to spend the day going out to the Jenolan Caves (about 40 miles into the mountains over some very dangerous roads. We took a coach tour for this one - Karen didn't trust my driving there). The fact that Karen convinced me to tour the Lucas Cave with its 910 steps (NO - I didn't count them - the guide told us the number to ward off the less able prior to going into the cave!) tells you just have awesome it was.

Then back to the campsite where we decided to spend another night - and where we met Claudia and Oli - a couple of teachers (I just can't get away from Karen talking shop - even in Australia) from Hamburg, Germany, who decided to take a year off and travel. They have been touring Australia for the past 4 months and will go on to New Zealand, then Fiji and finally to San Fransisco before returning home.

Things can't always be exciting...

Well, sorry for the delay in posting again. I have a couple of reasons - one is that again we have had difficulty in getting access to the internet. The other is that for the past couple of days - things weren't that exciting. Scenary is still beautiful, but then you know that. People are still nice, so that isn't new. Couldn't come up with something different to tell you.

On thursday we travelled through the Eurobudalla region and onto the Illawarra region. Our goal this past few days has been to book onto a whale watching trip - each time we enter an area with this available - we have either just missed the time they left, or they have cancelled due to weather. We stayed in Jervis Bay hoping to connect with another trip Friday morning - only to have no luck again - so on to Kiama to see their famous blow hole. Then we visited some of the places that Karen's brother Steve had lived when he first emmigrated to Australia.

So that's been the past few days - now we are on our way to the Blue Mountains...