Good bye Goldilocks, hello John but not before we tried out a real Pat Sharp Mullet!!

Selling the van

We advertised the van for sale on Gum Tree, an Australian website for buying and selling things. After 2 weeks of it being on and not getting much interest we were a little concerned and considered altering the add to a much lower price. On the last day of James's holiday we received a phone call from a mobile mechanic (Konrad) who was interested in the van. The next day he came out to see it and being a mechanic his inspection was pretty thorough. We settled on a price that we were really pleased with, but it was all on a handshake until the exchange was done 2 days later. He seemed good for it so we celebrated with a meal at Govindhas, the amazing vegi spot in Burleigh heads.
A day with Konrad:
I (John) arranged to drop the van off with Konrad (the buyer). I set off early morning and drove over an hour to his house. The place was a graveyard for Ford Econovans and various other vehicles. I've never seen as many vehicles in various states of disrepair. We completed the paper work and he took us to the Department of Road and Transport to change the registered owner documents. Then it was back to his to strip the bed out of the van and load all his tools into his new van. He was like a whirl wind, organised chaos would be a good way to describe Konrad. We then had to pick up some parts for a job he was doing before he could drop me back at the camp site. It was a long 6 hour trip. Konrad was into his self help tapes and we sat through a number of tapes training therapists to do something called time line therapy. It was delivered by an American man with the most monotone voice I had ever heard. I almost lost the will to live!! Eventually I was reunited with Ruth, who had had been standing guard over our belongings all day. We will miss our Cod!

A great week with James

James (John's Cousin) was spending his first, well earned holiday in his new job, with us on the Sunshine Coast. We picked him up from Brisbane Airport and headed straight for a National Park camping ground next to a creek, it was a lovely area but being a Saturday night it was a little lively. It had been a scorching week without rain so John and I slept in our Non waterproof tent, luckily James had managed to borrow a really good weather proof tent. Half way through the night the heavens opened, quietening down the lary drunks but causing John and I to become flooded out. We made a quick dash for the comfort of the van. From then on rain seemed to be the theme of the week. From there we headed north using some Scout Grounds to stay at. The first was Dunethin Rock. The first night there we had the whole ground to ourselves. It had rained most of the day but thankfully it had stopped in time for dinner. Whilst we made dinner James had the job of lighting a fire, as the wood was all wet it wasn't easy but even so he managed to get a roaring fire going with just the help of a 10cm² piece of cardboard and only 1 match, I think even Ray Meres would be impressed. From then on we called him James 'one match' Penn.
The following day we hired some Kayaks from the Scout ground and headed both up and down the river, exploring some of the more narrow creeks. There were loads of jumping fish, one almost landed in my lap, we saw Kingfishers and a few snakes curled up in the trees. After several hours and about 15 KM we were exhausted and ready for a good feed and collapse.
We headed as far north as Noosa where we found yet another Scout Camp to stay at. By this point the rain was really messing up the grass areas and we had to push the van out a few times.
James had hired a surf board for the week and Noosa had some of the better waves of the week. He has a 'No Fear' approach to surfing and whenever the bigger waves came through we just heard 'Av It Penn!' and then saw James on his board flying head first down the wave. He is now called James 'one match, hell boy' Penn.
The picnic area around the beach had some very clever birds (they looked a little bit like young Kookaburras but I'm not sure. I (Ruth) went over first to the picnic tables to save us a spot. I was nibbling on a rice cracker. As I brought the cracker up to my mouth the bird that had been watching me darted straight for the cracker and therefore my face, before it reached me I pulled the cracker down to my side just as a second bird swiped past my side and took the whole cracker clean out of my hand. He then went and shared it with his mate. This manoeuvre was so finely tuned, it all happened in the space of 2 seconds. It was incredible.
We finished the week with a night in Brisbane, James treated us to a hotel. It was real luxury. We went out for a lovely Vietnamese meal. It was a great week!!!

Lammington National Park and the Green Mountains

We spent a night up the Green Mountains. It was great for hiking and it had a beautiful Tree Tops walk. The camping ground itself was home to the tiniest Wallabys we've ever seen. It was a lot cooler up there which was refreshing. We're keen to return up that way at some point if we get chance.

Fun on the Goldie (Gold Coast)

We arrived on the Gold Coast. It is a huge very developed touristy stretch of coastline just south of Brisbane. We went straight to Surfers Paradise. It was like driving into Manhattan, so many sky scrapers and high rise apartments just across the road from the beach. Not really the Paradise the name suggests. Despite this the surf was good and we scored some fun waves. A local was convinced I (John), looked exactly like his brother. Yet another look alike. We had arranged to meet a friend we had made in Bali at the start of our trip. He was still working in Western Australia when we arrived so we stayed at a quiet town on the edge of a national park called Canungra. Whilst getting ready to cook tea one night a lady brought over 2 huge steaks. They had bought them in for tea but they found out they had just become GrandParents so were going out for dinner to celebrate. They insisted we take them and as Ruth is Veggie there was all the more for me. Nice! The Gold Coast has it all from Extremely developed tourist areas to beautiful mountains and national parks just a short drive away. As well as some of the best and most famous surf breaks in the world. We met our Friend Tom at his place in Palm Beach, just north of Kirra where we stayed for just less than a week. It was very nice, not as developed as Surfers Paradise. Tom and his flat mate, Adam took us straight to the Coolungatta Hotel where we saw a great band think it was Mason Bracks, and drank far too much. The surf was amazing whilst we were there, I even got Barrelled a few times!! We also got some important jobs done. To sell the van we had to reregister it with new Queensland plates. To do this we needed a Road Worthy Certificate and a Gas certificate (a bit like an MOT). Without having a Queensland address or at least having someone who lives there to vouch for you it would have been impossible to do. Tom was a great host and really generous. He took us to meet his dad who lived in the mountains next to Banana plantations. His dad was a Brit from Coventry. One evening Tom and Adam took us to a Harry-Krishna Vegetarian cafe, Ruth was in her element. The food was great! Yet again I was mistaken for another lookalike. We were just tucking into our food when a lady came over asking if I was called Phil. I told her that I wasn't, to start with she wasn't convinced but then after looking at my hands she realised it was her mistake. She was a 'Palm Reader' and my hands apparently looked nothing like Phils (one of her clients). We ended our trip with a day at Wet 'n' Wild Water Park – great fun!!

Mosquito Creek

On the way to the Gold Coast we pulled up next to a creek to camp for the night. There were loads of Chickens, Peacocks and Bush Turkeys running around. It was very nice but we were eaten alive by mosquitoes.

Byron Bay

We headed to Byron bay, which is famous for a laid back hippy surf scene. Despite it being 'layed back' free camping is a real no no and camp sites are pricey. We bit the bullet and managed to get a deal for 4 nights on a camp site right on the beach. The place was very relaxed yet trendy. Lots of boutiques, shops, restaurants and healthy lifestyle places. Ruth wouldn't let herself go in the shops as they were a haven of lots of floaty colourful clothes which she found hard to resist. The camp site was nice, lots of bush turkeys roaming round. They are protected and boy do they know it. Quite unfazed by people, they like to see what you are eating. We also met another huge Goanna. I (John) tried the 'don't move' technique this time so as not to spook it. It was about 4 feet long and stopped right in front of me and licked my leg with it's big forked tongue. There were some great walks here through Rainforests leading onto the headlands. The beach was another beauty with lots of different surfing options. We got some great waves although we both had a 'sharky' incident. Ruth was surfing when a young shark (maybe a Grey Nurse) swam past her several times and then glided right underneath her for a closer look. She was in the middle of convincing herself that it was just a big fish when a nearby Aussie surfer shouted over “I see you've got yerself a shark there hav ya”. Ruth laughed nervously but when she paddled towards the guy he said “don't you be bringing that thing near me!” Apparently it would have only taken a toe or two if it would have bitten her. Only! I was surfing around the headland at a place called Tallows. After falling on a good sized wave and getting hit in the face by my board I ended up spitting blood for a few minutes. This quickly followed by the largest dark shadow I have ever seen in the water. In hind site I think it was just a huge school of fish. However a local did tell me it is a very sharky spot. Apparently they used to bring Whale carcasses in there and the sharks still remember. We left in one piece and feeling pretty good about our short stay at Byron.

Yamba

This was an area that had a strong mix of the rich and very poor. For the most part the houses were very grand, the town was full of expensive boutique style shops but when exploring the area we came across very poor aboriginal communities, the houses had no windows or doors. It was quite a contrast.

Moonee Creek Beach

We decided to treat ourselves to a campsite for a few days, a chance to have a few driving free days and enjoy the area. To get to the beach you had to wade through 2 creeks, waste deep. There were 2 long beautiful beaches either side of the headland that made for good surfs and walks. You could camp pretty much where you wanted to within the woods. We made friends with a Possom that visited after dark at the same time each evening.

Coffs Harbour

A great spot that our friend Mat had recommended. It's well known for it's bananas. We surfed here amongst turtles.

Point Plomer (Loads of wildlife)

This was a bit out of the way, especially as we don't have an off road vehicle so we had to go back on ourselves to get there but it was well worth it. The National Park Camping Ground was right next to the beach. There was a good point break that could get a little crowded but a 5 minute walk up the beach gave us a good beach breaks to ourselves. The wildlife in this place was amazing. There were Goanas strolling past your camping pitch, John got a little close to one trying to take a picture and it very nearly went for him. Apparently they can mistake humans for trees and if they feel at all panicked, they run up you, making a bit of a mess with their sharp claws.
Most places we've surfed we've seen dolphins and this place was no different. However one day, whilst we were surfing this spot that we had to ourselves John turned to me and said, “Paddle in NOW!”
We had decided not to use the 'S' word if we were to see one but just to tell the other to get out. I turned around and sure enough there's a couple of fins poking out of the water gliding in a straight line (jaws style) only 10 ft away coming in our direction. We paddled in with urgency, for some reason in this situation I feel it's necessary to paddle with my toes out of the water incase they get nibbled. We reached the shore out of breath and relived only to see the to 2 fins swim off in 2 different directions leaping in and out of the water, revealing their true identity as 2 mischievous dolphin doing a 'panto horse' style act, one being the front fin and the other being the back and we're sure they were laughing.

Boomerang Beach

Another great beach and protected from some of the heavy winds coming from the South, we enjoyed a few days here before heading to Port Macquarie. There seemed to be a lot of Kookaburras here, they are nice looking birds but are confident and wait patiently until your back is turned to steal your food, especially meat.

Frazer Park (Pancake day)

One of the nicest beaches and National Park camping areas we've seen so far was Frazer Park. It was yet another beautiful forest right next to the beach, completely untouched and not a building in sight (except for a small toilet block). The surf was good and better still the ranger didn't bother coming to collect any camping fees. On pancake day we had lots of fun flipping and eating pancakes, 1 or 2 we launched a bit too high but with a few diving catches not one touched the ground.

Onwards and Upwards

After a great day in Sydney we decided to drive past, giving it a wide birth. A lifeguard we'd met down in Camel Rock (ha ha that just brought the Fraggel Rock song into my head) earlier on our trip advised us that Narrabean upwards the beaches started to get a little less built up again. We dropped into Narrabean and Whale beach briefly and then carried on to a place called Shelly Beach.