Judy & Brian Tour Oz

Day 1 Finally we had our opportunity to take the van down to Nova in Melbourne. Left home about 9am and had a leisurely run down the Hume. We went into Holbrook for lunch and got into Wangaratta about 3pm. It’s 31C or so, so we wanted a swim but no swimmers… We drove into town to Kmart (despite our little caravan park man assuring us that ‘town’ was closed on Sunday afternoons) and Judy bought yet-another-pair of swimmers, I was happy with wearing my undies, after all there is only about 3 people in the entire place. Back to the caravan park's pool and in for a dip, very pleasant, perhaps bordering on a tad too warm from the solar heating. Read the papers and played with the pewter for a hour or so, then off to The Vine Hotel for dinner and a glass of wine. Not having had quite enough to eat, we nipped back into town for an ice-cream from big-Ms. This is a nice, clean well kept older park, only complaint is that it’s right on the main road between town and the ...

Home! Made it back safe and sound.  Had a fantastic time, already planning for next year, which looks like it will include the Nullabor and southwest of Western Australia, but then we need to see the wild flowers up near the Murchison, and if you get that far, you might as well go back to Broome, and …. Well, who knows where we might end up! We did notice that our style of travel has changed due largely to having been to all the big must-do attractions last year. Taking more time now in each place, just to settle in and smell the roses, but not to long to get bored. We both still love to travel, even if its down the road we were on last year, it's still and adventure.   Some simple stats, because I’m really tired: 107 days away, Towed the van 13,465km, drove the car 19,620km Did I mention we had a good time?  Thanks to everyone for reading our blog and we'll catch you on our next trip. Brian & Judy

Made it down to Karuah by lunchtime mostly because it’s all dual carriageway / divided road from near Kempsey. I thought about going on but decided the safest option was to leave the Newcastle / Sydney scrum for a new day, besides Paul & Sue were heading our way and we could catch up and spend some time together. Did I mention that Judy was giving me hints about fishing up in Coffs Harbour, so we went and snagged a couple of baby breams and basically fiddled about. Seeing as we were in Karuah, that has a big long jetty sticking out into Port Stephens water, we opted for another go. It was rather pleasant sitting in the sunshine, watching the activity on the water and listening to it slop, slop around the pier. Mixed catch, a baby bream and an even smaller whiting. I braved the pool, which felt really cool, but was actually rather refreshing after the days driving. We were just thinking it must be afternoon tea time and P&S turned up, must have radar! We spent a p...

Helensville, Qld Yes, Helensville, because that’s where the van park is and it’s also right across the road from Movie World, Wet and Wild and The Great Australian Outback Spectacular. Having seen the show the last two years we thought we’d give it another crack, even though the show is the same as last year. The show comes with a three course meal, drinks and tea. It’s a full on bit of fun for 2 ½ hours, with horses and cows and sheep and utes and bulls… I couldn’t help wondering what the two dour Scots next to me made of it as they didn’t crack a smile all night, just sat there looking kind of perplexed. Not to worry, we joined in with the yelling and stomping and hat waving, all good fun. After the show, we both decided that we hadn’t remembered a thing about it from last year and that they must have changed it! Doesn’t matter, another great nights entertainment, probably a lot more fun and just as believable as that other show on national telly at the time. Yee Ha! ...

Today we went out wandering to find a shop or two and replenish some bits and pieces. We also wandered into Sanctuary Cove, home of the zillionaires and their big, huge, enormous boats. Can a zillionare have too big a boat? I guess not. Only the odd Porsche, Maserati, Lambo and Jaguar around in the streets, they could do better than this! I have to mention that Sanctuary Cove is a bit of a closed environment and with the houses arranged around the marinas and golf courses. They then have special paths for the wives (I didn’t see any men driving them) to run into their own private shopping centre to pick up a new frock or two, in their golf carts. Even the carts have flashy mag wheels, fabulous paint and beautiful upholstery. We then went into Brisbane City, to go and see Grease the musical which is on at the Lyric Theatre, which is in that Southbank (Expo 88) area. This is a great area, lots of gardens and a lagoon beach pool and the river as a backdrop. We wandered about and ...