John's Birthday and Christmas Eve

We haven't ended up quite in the wilderness after all. We have driven to the furthest surf spot in the east of Victoria,a place called Mallacoota. It's a sleepy little town out of season right on the edge of a huge lake. We have treated ourselves to a proper camp site for the sfirst time since being in Oz, just for a few nights. The setting is amazing. We are camping next to the lakeside with a view of forest and hills in the distance and to our right we can see the waves breaking out on a sand bar. It's a popular spot for families to bring their own boats and enjoy the lake. This is great as there are fewer surfers here than other spots.

I (John) had an amazing birthday. I have always said I have wanted to go away surfing for my birthday but it has never been possible. I'm used to cold birthdays with little daylight. Here in Oz it's the opposite. I awoke to Ruth having decorated the van with loads of birthday trimmings. We had breakfast and hit the good surf at a near bye beach. We pretty much had the spot to ourselves. The king of all bacon sandwiches followed, nice! We had another great surf again not many other surfers out. We chilled a bottle of bubbly the best way we could (in the lake) and enjoyed it along with a porterhouse steak and a few Victoria Bitters. We had a chat with my Mum and Dad via Skype. It was great to see them. My Dad showed us the frost out of the window. I'm glad we are in Oz!!!

Christmas eve has been HOT, we have surfed again and a kind man gave us Flat Head fish that he had caught that morning, to cook on the Barbie (We didn't catch it ourselves Dan but it was good!!).

Hope Santa remembers we are not in England! Have a great Christmas xx

Look out for crocs!

On our way to our next destination we stopped at a great camping ground in the woods. I (John) followed the sign for a water point expecting to see a tap. Instead it was the passing river. I suddenly had flash backs to that film crocodile Dundee where she bends down to fill her water bottle and the croc nearly gets her.

Merry Christmas

We are heading back into the wilderness for Christmas to avoid the school holiday mayhem. In case we have no internet access, We wish you a VERY MERRY CHRISTMAS from down under. Love to you all. x x

Bells Beach

I (John) surfed Bells Beach, one of Australia's most famous waves. It was gooood!!

Kangaroo golf course

During our wildlife adventures we've also seen a few Kangaroos, but they don't tend to hand around long. Apparently, screeching your vehicle to a halt and shouting “Look, a Kangaroo!” is not the best way to take a long look at them. With one glance round Skippy was off. We'll be more prepared next time and try to contain our excitement. Anglesea Golf course, known for it's Kangaroos, gave us a closer look but the experience didn't quite match seeing them in the middle of know where, in the wild.

Koalas

Driving down to blanket bay we noticed a man taking photographs of something in a tree, as we slowed down to see what it was we noticed it was a Koala. We were so excited! We pulled over and took a picture too, when talking to the man and his family it turned out they'd chosen this road because it was quite common to see a Koala. Glad to hear this we drove on feeling really lucky to have seen one in the wild but really hoping we might even see another. John was driving so I was on Koala watch, I was looking high into the trees when John shouted to look ahead on the road. It was unbelievable! There was a Koala wandering up the road. He was completely unphased by us. We stopped the van so not to scare him. He also stopped, looked around for a bit and then carried on walking past us, if anything he looked a little miffed that he had to walk around the van before he could go on his merry way. Driving on we saw several more in and around the trees and even more on the camping ground, one feeding his/her young. They're amazing creatures. We've learnt lots about them since talking with Aussies. When I refereed to them as Koala 'bears' apparently this was wrong, they are not a bear at all, this was added by the Americans, they are closer to the ant eater family. They eat so much eucalyptus that their body becomes so tired digesting it that they sleep for 18 hours a day this is also why when you see them moving they are so lethargic looking. Also from spending more than a week camping in the forest with the Koalas, the wild Bore that we keep hearing (snorting and growling really loudly) that we've been a little scared of is actually a male Koala. And the females sound a bit like a whiny baby. Sorry if this is a little boring, we're completely fascinated by them.

Off roading - oops

Turns out there's a huge difference between dirt roads and dirt tracks. From the advise of some locals who were camping close by we went to visit some waterfalls. We wouldn't have normally attempted something called a dirt road but he assured us they were fine, just a bit of loose surface. He was right, the road was a little bumpy but the beautiful jungle like settings of the waterfalls were breathtaking and well worth the trip.
Our next spot we fancied staying was a little further around the coast but was down a dirt track (track being the word we're brushed past). After handling the dirt roads the day before we thought we'd be fine. Oops. We were bouncing about all over the place, and the torrential rain meant we were passing through some questionable puddles (not sure when it stops being a puddle and starts being a lake). There was nowhere to turn so once we'd managed the 5km of absolute gnarly driving we reached a water logged camping ground with only 4WD's with snorkles and all the gear to be seen. As the heavy rain wasn't easing up we thought we should make the trip back sooner rather than later. So we turned around and went for the crazy drive back. A lesson learnt, no more dirt TRACKS. And as for cod, we were very proud of him, he did really well even if he did come out of it smelling a little gassy and a little more textured.

The Great Ocean Road and the Great Otway National Park camping areas

We have got a Camps 5 book for Australia, it's a guide to all free and cheap camping all over the country. They're really difficult to get hold of! As they're really popular you rarely see them second hand but also they've stopped printing them so they're a bit of a collectable. When we were looking for the van we noticed in one of the other vehicles there was one lying in the front seat. When we enquired about the book he just told us to help our selves. Yay! It has been brilliant! Not only have the camping spots been free but they have also been amazing beauty spots, well out of the way in the National Parks that you might not know about without the guide. The first stop over was on Lake Colac , it was so beautiful and peaceful, the sun set was amazing. (I'm going to have to start accessing a Thesaurus for 'beautiful' and 'amazing' because I feel like I'm using these words to describe most things recently). We hadn't managed to find anywhere to fill up with cooking gas by this point so it was more sandwiches for tea. The next day once we had cooking gas and we also had access to all of the free gas bbqs in the parks we were eating like kings and queens.

We joined The Great Ocean Road at a popular tourist site. A series of 12 rocky outcrops named the Twelve Apostles. It was an impressive site, particularly as there were waves crashing against them. The Great Ocean Road is amazing. It was built by the returning Aussie soldiers from WWI who needed employment. The road is now the largest war memorial in the world. The road cuts its way through forest and coastline offering spectacular views.
The surf has not been ideal but we have been getting in when and where there's a wave. Our first surf felt a little sharky but we have soon got past that, except when Ruth starts to make Jaws theme tune noises! The water seems cold after Bali OK not home cold, but we feel we have gotten a little soft.

Road trip!!!

We were a day late picking up the van as the rain had been so heavy the person building a bed in the back hadn't had the dry 2 hours he'd been waiting for to fit it. Thursday morning we got up early all excited, we took the tram into the city and stopped off to buy some essentials for the van, the best thing was a HI-Country 4WD Thin Double Sleeping Mat, the most comfy bed ever and it's self inflating. You just take out the plugs and it inflates, you have to do absolutely nothing! Is this new cutting edge technology or do we have these at home too? (We've never really had air beds). They're amazing! Anyway, Joe the Van Man then picked us up with all our gear and headed off to his garage. Previously when he'd asked us if we had any preferences about the bed frame, we just mentioned that we had a few surf boards with us to fit under the bed so he said he'd make sure he'd leave room for them. When we arrived at the garage and had a look at the bed we were both a bit surprised at how high the bed actually was, he'd left absolutely loads of room underneath, which left the top a bit cosy, but at least we had our super thin super comfy mat that inflates its self.
A week or so into the trip and the van has been brilliant! The bed height even turned out to be perfect,once we had all the gear in and then did a supermarket shop on top of that it's amazing how we filled every inch of the underbed part of the van and the bed is not a squash, just cosy, sitting up is well over rated. Also because the boot lifts upwards we have an instant porch! The duel fuel tank is great as it's economical to do long distances which has been perfect as we've been traming up and down the Great Ocean Road to the different surf spots. The bodywork on the van is also very lightweight, all part of it being economical but this means it dents really easily, due to it's battered appearance we have named him Cod!

Yay, we have a van!!

We've found a great van, a ford econovan. It has 2 fuel tanks, one unleaded, the other gas,the gas is very cheap and a lot more environmentally friendly than petrol. It's literaly just a van at the moment rather than a camper but we're having a bed frame built into the back so we can stick a matress on it, with enough room for the boards and other bags underneath. The man we bought it from isn't really used to dealing with campers and when I asked him about a vent (as we'll be living in it) he explained it has windows.That's good enough for us. (Helen,thanks for that mosquito net you left us, we'll be using it to make some sort of window barriers to keep the gremlins out). We hit the charity shops today to kit it out with the basics. We should have been picking it up today but it's raining so hard(apparently a months worth in 1 day)the bed fitting man has had to hold off for a dry spell. All being well we'll pick it up in the morning. We're really looking forward to making it our own and being back on the open road!! Hopfully heading to Geelong and maybe even Philip island (where there are lots of penguins and good surf).

Everythings upside down

It's very strange but since arriving in Oz, we have noticed some personality changes. In England I (John) have a pretty good sense of direction where as Ruth is the kind of person who always turns the wrong way when leaving a shop. In Oz, Ruth knows where everything is, she is a walking Sat Nav and I don't know my arse from my elbow. All of a sudden we are early for everything, which is unheard of back home. I am the last to get ready when going out, and Ruth is the one waiting for me. This again is a complete opposite. We have put it down to being upside down.
This is me with Ned Kelly's real armour in Melbourne State Library

Melbourne with angry Balinese mosquito bites

Surprise, surprise it wasn't Ruth this time.
Medewi was quite rural, you would be walking past, cows, chickens and various other farm animals to get to and from the surf. I (John) had been bitten quite badly on my feet. To be honest I didn't look after the bites as well as I could have. On the day of leaving my foot was sore and swollen. Half way through the flight to Oz the the swelling had spread up my leg making it hard to walk. Very painful! On arrival at Melbourne airport the pharmasist sent me straight to the doctors. I had a bad infection and would have to take strong antibiotics for the next week. I still haven't had the opportunity to blow the froth off a couple of cold ones.
Despite this our first impression of Melbourne was great. It's a vibrant city, very multicultural, with lots of friendly people. We had found a private room in a hostel and were staying there for 3 nights, whilst we were looking for a van.
A good friend of mine Colin had put me on to his son Richard, who gave us loads of good advice. We met for a drink (coke for me), had a great chat about Oz, Home and especially his old man.

Australia bound

We had a fantastic last week in Medewi, loads of waves and met some very friendly people from Australia and the Uk. We now have some good contacts for Oz. One more crazy white knuckle taxi ride (there are no seat belts, and they laugh when you mention them), and we were at the airport.
We had a good flight to Singapore (Changi Airport), There's loads to do there so we manage to fill our time easily between flights. We even did some art rubbings.
Unfortunately we couldn't sit together for the 7 1/2 hour flight to Melbourne. It was horrible (especially as we both had the dreaded middle seat). We took regular visits to see each other (I bet the aisle people had wished they'd swapped after all).

More fun waves in Medewi

Fun waves in Medewi

An epic battle between Dan and the FISH!