Slackness at its best!!!!

Hi to all? our faithful followers who are wondering where we have got to.

Well.... still in Australia, well for another 8 weeks anyway.  Because of how we have been travelling this time around I have found it more challenging keeping up to date with our blog ie lack of power being our biggest challenge.

Essentially we have continued our travel from Sydney and been around the coast and up to Darwin and then down the middle to Coober Pedy and then back up and across to Queensland again via Mount Isa.

Because I now have this clever little phone (that I am still trying to work out) I have been able to upload photos of some of the places we have visited onto facebook.  Because we got robbed!!!!!!! there has been a bit of a gap.

Never the less what this wee blog is trying to do is say sorry for being a slacker but if you would like to see a sort of an overview of what we have been up to then please feel free to check out facebook - you will find me under neenbe@gmail.com

Love to you all, see you in a few weeks

So where are we up to now....

Well right at this minute sitting in George in a lovely bush free camping site - the sun was shining today and it was hot - yay - amazing how a few hundred kms can make a world of difference to the temperature.  Today we drove - lots but did manage to stop and walk up this water tower at Port Augusta.

Last night we stayed in our first caravan park, having decided we were sick of the cool weather and needed a good shower!!!!! and needed to do our laundry so there you have it.

Today we started to venture towards the Nullarbor Plains - apparently the word Nullarbor means no tree and i can tell you that the lead up to it certainly holds true to its name.  Barren, desolate are a few words thats spring to mind and we arent even there yet!!!!

So what about prior to today.... well we have driven a lot and done a few walks, seen some seals at Cape Bridgewater,

didnt see gannets at Cape Grant, saw amazing limestone caves and sinkholes around Mt Gambier.

Been to Adeladie and strolled around the city - so far my least favourite big city.

Picked up a pet by way of a mouse which we are still to get rid of - he must be missing his family by now and Im sure they would like him to come home!!!!!!!

and now we are here back at the top of the page - not an awful lot exciting im afraid but we are still seeing some amazing countryside and having a good time.

Twelve Apostles

Had a wonderful breakfast at Lorne, we are quite spoilt with our kitchens sometimes, although I have to say it is a bit cooler at the moment, before journeying to The great Ocean Road and the highlight of the Twelve Apostles.

Had to walk down Gibsons steps to the bottom so we could get a bit closer to the cliff, it is an amazing cliff face and to see how it is slowly eroding to form these wonderful structures is quite incredible.

Always an opportunity for a bit of fun and a photo shoot - just as well I have a willing partner - thank you honey.  So there were some quite big waves out there on the day we were there

and we really needed to pick an opportune time for a photos - the wave in the background just made it look so much better

and it got a little bit bigger, which made it even more interesteing

and then opps it got a whole lot bigger which made it ...... wet

This stalactite cave was at the Loch and Gorge - part of the Great Ocean Rd

and this is the view looking back at it

more limestone structures

this one aptly being name the Razorback

and then we came to The Bay of Islands and this amazing boat ramp - try launching on this one

and that was about it for the Great Ocean Road.

Welcome to Melbourne

Arrived in Melbourne and spent a couple of days checking out the city and surrounds.  Always a challenge to find a place to sleep for the night without having to pay for it but we seem to manage at the end of the day and find some amazing spots.

A beautiful sunset from our night spot at Brighton Beach

Melbourne city from Brighton beach

Our venture into the CBD Melbourne was by train where we walked the city.

During our walk through the city we saw amazing architecturally designed buildings, taking photos of only a few...

We visited ACMI - The Australian Centre for the Moving Image (past, present and future), in federation Square where Tony posed as a monster...

walked through Carlton gardens housing the Royal Exhibition building and Melbourne Museum

 went for a ride on the free Scenic City Tram, doing the city circle and getting an overview of the CBD.

Went on a tour of the Old Melbourne Goal and Watch House which was in use until as recently as 1998. It also included a half hour show of the life of Ned Kelly who spent his last few years and was hung in the goal. AWESOME.

At the Watchhouse - girls on the left, boys on the right - ready for our de-brief and strip search

Exercise yard for the detainees who had committed offences and were being detained

The process..... hehehe 12347 has been set free

Cold, wet and windy

Hmm well not a lot of excitement since i last wrote, mainly due to the very crap weather.  We have been to Jervis Bay, which had lovely white silica sand - but didnt spend much time playing in it due to the rain.

Checked out Batemans bay which also had plenty of potential which remains unexplored by us.

Stopped and played at Narooma for a short while, found some awesome hot showers at the visitor info centre - thanks ladies.  Went for a walk and took some 'Australian' photos

The sacrifice my honey made so i could get a nice photo  xx

and tried to get the fur seals to play with us - or at least pose properly for the camera.

Crossed the border into Victoria.

Spent Anzac morning feeling very sorry for the people who attended the dawn parade at Bairnsdale - apparently one of the coldest days in history but spent a very nice few hours keeping warm in McDonalds and chatting to some of the returned servicemen who were waiting to march at 11am.  went and saw the amazing art work on the ceiling of St Marys church and ended up at Lakes Entrance - still cold and wet.

Found the best bbq shelter in all of our adventures at Kilcunda and managed a warmish and dry breakfast.

The sun thought it would try and make an appearance so we went for a walk down the to beach and played in the rock pools for a while - some wonderful pools with very little life in them in terms of fish and crabs - quite a lot of coral and that other planty stuff but not much else which was interesting.  Saw alot of cuttlefish (at least thats what I think they were) washed up on the beach which kept us entertained for a while before we carried on down the road to Phillip Island.

Had a lovely walk around Nobbys Point - with the sun still shining - amazing!!!!!  fish and chips for lunch on the beach and then off the the big smoke of Melbourne.

And oh yes - did a spot of surfing before we left the island.....

Park Benches Adventures Part 2

Well we landed safe and sound in Sydney on Thursday to a warm Autumn day.  Our first priority was to get to George so we found the train station bought our tickets and were on our way – I have to say that by now we were both feeling pretty tired, having gotten up at 2am to get to the airport, so I fell asleep on the train – how do I know this a) Tony told me I was snoring – whatever!!! And b) my head kept falling off my neck.

Anyway we after an hour on the train we were in East Richmond and off to find our boy – but first the half hour walk – thank goodness it wasn’t as hot as when we left – and there he was nicely wrapped up (it took us a good half hour to unwrap him – gosh we did a good job) just as we left him and whats more he started first time without even a grumble. 

After we unwrapped and packed up George it was off to the supermarket to stock him up and find something for tea and then we booked into the Richmond club for the night.

From Richmond we headed south – stopping at Bald Hill lookout for the night and admiring the Austin Marton that parked next to us......  

and view from the lookout down to the 655m Sea Cliff bridge which you may or may not be able to see, essentially it was built in 2005 because the cliff face was so unstable and kept slipping so they built a bridge out over the sea. 

The next morning was typically Hamilton – ie foggy so after breakfast we drove down the road and walked the bridge before carrying on to Shellharbour. 

Pelicans are incredible I am amazed at what these big birds can balance on, 

caught up with a few Rotarians at the Sunday Market, what a brilliant spot for a market - they had just over 55 stalls, with yummy food and goodies to be sampled

remembered one of the reasons i love travelling like we are, 

spectacular sunrises and beautiful breakfast spots

called in to check out the Kiama blowhole which wasnt that spectacular but the wind was coming from the wrong direction, we could still see the effect though

AND....drove around Jervis bay which although was very beautiful and had lovely silica sand was a bit disappointing but I think that was mainly because of the weather which is not that great.   

Now we are in the lovely beach town of Ulladulla and still heading South.

Love to you all - Janine and Tony

We finally left Queensland

After spending a lovely few days with Rosita, Mark and family we headed off with the end goal being to leave Queensland where we had spent the last 9 months.  We generally drove along the coastal roads and have seen some quite different scenery and some beautiful beaches.  Grafton was a nice town and we met some great people and found a park which offered not only bbqs and picnic tables but power as well - score!!

We have seen camels on the beach

and Tony has ventured down a cliff to rescue a hat for me.

We have seen cool breakwaters,

Nambucca Heads

mosaic walls

Main Rd Nambucca Heads

Portion of the above wall

and awesome rock features. 

We have witnessed a boat rescue after a group of 4 young people bit off more than they could chew going out the harbour at Port Macquarie

We had a wonderful few days in Port Macqaurie and really enjoyed the place, deciding this was somewhere we could both easily settle, although the fireworks on new years eve left a bit to be desired.

We swam in pretty bays and nudist bays and found some great opportunities for photos.

Harrys caravan

Harrys caravan from the back

We discovered amazing lookouts and had our hearts in our throats as a group of 7 learner paragliders jumped off a 487m mountain. 

This guy had 4 attempts and crash landed twice before he got off the mountain