Australia

Purlingbrook Falls

From Brisbane we rented a car and explored the area. First stop was Springbrook National Park, this place was lovely and we weeved our way through rainforest on a little windy road to Purlingbrook Falls. This was really pretty, we also visited the Natural Bridge which is home to glow-worms and bats! After a quick pitt stop we headed to the Glass House Mountains - a collection of 18 extinct volacano summits, it provided very dramatic scenery. This part of Queensland is better known for the never ending fields of pineapple(!) and Steve Irwin's Zoo (which we didn't visit!) We camped here for the night before hitting the road once more.

Nic enjoying the pool at our YHA

A giant reefa

Enjoying Bribane's botanical gardens

Commuting home - Brisbane style!

We said our goodbyes to the farm, we met great people there and was sorry to leave! Back on the train we headed towards Byron Bay ready for a few relaxing nights - or that's what we thought! We arrived on a Saturday at 9pm and the place was heaving! We made ourselves at home and spent most of the days down the beach using courtesy body boards. The waves were fantastic - biggest we've experienced, David even has the cuts and bruises to prove it! We had a couple of day trips including Lennox Head where we met up with a couple we spent time with on the farm. It was a really nice day eating, drinking and soaking up the goodness in a fresh water lake, stained brown from the tea tree (very good for your skin don't you know!) Another trip was to the renowned Nimbin.....the smell as you walked down the street reminded you of Amsterdam. The only difference was no-one was whispering in your ear "cocca, ex-ta-c" instead they were saying fancy a smoke? maybe a cookie? Great. We resisted the temptation and declined!

We left Byron Bay bound for Brisbane - we really hadn't planned this very well and only had one day and just about two nights before we would leave again. We spent the whole day walking around soaking up the atmosphere.

Nic with Tom (the world's most impratical farm dog)

Getting ready for our campfire dinner

Nic about to help herd the cows!

One of many nice dinners!

David preparing to kayak

After bidding farewell to Sydney we headed to a farm in a small place called Quirindi. Five hours on the train and there we were, sat around the table eating home-made biscuits in the middle of nowhere!

The farm was fantastic! Peter and Lynda, our hosts were very welcoming and over the next few days we met some great people and took full advantage of Lynda's delicious cooking and the surrounding countryside! We mucked in with the farm jobs too; milking the cow for the breakfast milk, fixing water pipes, feeding the animals, helping pump the water from the creek to the tanks and also rabbit hunting! This was great fun, riding through the fields in a open topped 4WD whilst standing up holding a super strong headlamp looking for rabbits, once spotted, Diesel - a beefy looking dog was ordered to jump off the 4WD and chase! We were close but unfortunately didn't catch anything......

We got a feel of 'real' Australia in the countryside. The farm was completely self sufficient, electricity was collected from solar panels and stored, rain water was collected and saved. Whilst staying on the farm Lynda and Peter took us out for the day. We took a picnic and some kayaks and headed out to a lake. We kayaked and David even went for a dip. It was just then that the red back spider was found! He'd made himself quite at home in one of the kayaks (not the one we used - phew!) At least we've seen one up close and know what to look out for!!!!

Sydney Bridge!

The QE2

The Bridge climb!!

We arrived in Sydney after intermitent sleep, despite having four seats each to spread our wings the train made plenty of strange bangs in the night and we're sure we ran over several aminals!

The hostel seemed clean, modern and well organised - we assume all accommodation in Sydney to be like this anyway after our last visit! The only difference being that instead of the harbour only 5 minutes away we were now 30-40 minutes walk away! Still, this gave us the opportunity to check out some of the surrounding suburbs! The city looked a little different from last time, it was very sunny - nope that wasn't it...we were allowed in places not previously because of New Year's security...umm nope. Ahh, that was it, a big ass massive ship in the harbour the QE2!! She was beautiful.. a nice reminder of home!!

After a touch of sightseeing the day of judgement was upon us - Bridge Climb day! We hadn't avioded the bridge up to this point, we just hadn't got very close - we were saving it! In the evening of the 23rd we donned on our safety equipment, head torches and sexy overalls ready to tackle the heights! The way up was butt quenching. You could see through the corragated floor down to the water and also see the little people walking below. The temp was still 24 degrees, humidity at 100% and even with the wind picking up, nervous sweat started to appear as we started to walk up the exposed, near vertical ladders!! We eventually made it to the top with breathtaking views of the city, all lit up - all we had to do now was get down! This involved crossing from one side to the other, over 8 lanes of traffic and two train lines... squelch!

We've enjoyed our time in Sydney and glad we came back to see the Botanical Gardens, the Bridge, the market at The Rocks and more of the surrounds... would we come back - Ah hum for sure!

The cool Adelaide library

David's home before the downsize...

and Nic's home before the downsize!

At last, we'd achieved complete relaxation and made our way into the big city of Adelaide! It was roasting! It was 40C plus and was just too hot to walk around and do much sightseeing. That said we still managed to pack a lot in. We visited the museum (air con here was good) and the library (air con slightly more powerful than museum) and had a brief look around until the heat got to us!

So, defeated by the heat we decided to take the opportunity to get ourselves organised. Our bags had begun to feel too heavy so we completely emptied them out and binned/posted back home some of our stuff. It's made a huge difference, though Nic still has most of her shoes and has since bought new clothes......

We stayed in Adelaide for four sweltering days and with bags slightly lighter we boarded the Indian Pacific once more for our overnight journey back to Sydney.