The Great Ocean Road

Heading further south you would have thought it would be much colder but to our delight it's not! We managed to sleep in the van without our hats and scarves and gloves on!

We have travelled the Great Ocean Road, which is very bendy. Stopping off at many look outs to see the rugged coast. We visited the famous 12 Apostles (with every other tourist) and got the token sunset photos, although they've come out quite well I think! We then headed to Port Campbell looking forward to a Fish and Chip supper only to find the town deserted at 6pm so we had to make do with beans on toast boo : (


The 12 Apostles at sunset ahhhh.

We then made our way inland through the Grampians and back to Melbourne which we passed as quickly as we could to Phillip Island. The traffic was horendous, they are all a bunch of nutters on the road, but managed to park up in a somewhat dodgy caravan park who charged us $25 for just a pitch with no electric and no water, the cheeky beggers and it's out of season! This was in Cowes would you believe, obviously not the Cowes on the IOW but this little island is partnered with it and all the way out here! Anyway we were eager to find out our Ascot results, oh yes we had a rather generous tip off by Peter at the Royal Coachman back in the Snowy Mountains, and discovered that it had come in FIRST!!! YIPPEE Darren and I now only have to work for a month rather than two, Brucey Bonus! Thank you Peter.

We are now back on our way to Sydney along the coast. More news will follow probably.

Extreme Rad 360's Dude!

Woohoo! Ok, after that little rant on the blog last time (it was soooo cold in the campervan/fridge), we decided to make the most of a chilly situation, head into the Snowy Mountains, and try out a bit of snowboarding!


Cosy! Not cold! Yippee!

We travelled in the van to a small village called 'Jindabyne', where we were told it would be simple to book up equipment, accomodation and lift passes at a much cheaper price than one of the city packages on offer... this was true, but it took most of the day - Ski Season has only just started over here so much of the stuff is only just getting into action. Only a few of the lifts were up and running but that wasn't too much of a problem for us boarding beginners.


Hanging some rads dudes, erm.

After getting some kit sorted we went up to 'Perisher Blue' Ski Resort, pretty good for newbies, and checked into our lodge, 'The Royal Coachman' - sounds like a pub, brilliant! And it was brilliant! We went from our sub-zero campercube to logfire luxury, in a matter of mere (cough cough) dollars! The couple that run the place, Peter and Carole, were ace and kept us very well fed and watered/lagered.


White Christmas, no, wait.... it's June!?

Snowboarding was great fun, although of course we now have a lot more bruises on our knees and arses than we started, but nothing is broken. After 3 lessons and a fair bit of time on the slopes, we managed to get to the stage where we managed proper full S-turns on the main slope, and even 360's!!! That's on the ground though, not in the air. Still a massive acheivement though we think.


Gnarly! JB handstands off the piste! Wild!

So that's been the main event this week.... Other news includes: We're running a $50 Sweepstake in the camper. I've got all the rubbish teams, Jodie has all the good teams, hotbear wasn't interested in gambling and it staying out of it; We totally missed the England Vs Trinidad & Tabago match after finding out that the match was on Friday, but 2am Friday morning, rather than 2am Friday night, damn, damn, damn;


Rad! Dudes! Time for another cuppa tea, woot!

More photos added here from the cold, cold campercube.
Photo's added from Jodie's spangly new camera here (don't they look posh).

Right now we're down in Melbourne (with the Neighbours.... daaah daahhhh, etc). Except there's nowhere to park a 2.5M high van in the city, so we're going to push off down the Great Ocean Road, which should feature some top sights, and certainly some great oceans. Cya! Gnarly dudes, did you see me hang a 180 reverse grab on the heelside nose plant rabbit door table....

-5 in a Campervan!

Are you nuts!?!? That's exactly what we were asking ourselves last night as we snuggled up under our sheet + 2 proper thick sleeping bags + tshirts + wooly hats = STILL COLD!!!!!

So, we feel mainly lied to by the programme 'Neighbours'. At no point did Harold ever say "Brrrrrr Madge, its well cold outside, lets not stay outside in a campervan overnight". Sigh, living and learning which is what this year was all about... already with our flexible schedules, we're considering moving back to Thailand where all there was to do was sit, read and sweat. However, we are losing weight due to immense amounts of shivering. Cuppa Tea plans were thrown in disarray this morning because our campervan's water hold had frozen! Argh! Had to drive around the block to defrost it. This is all far more complicated that we previously thought.

We've travelled down here from Newcastle, yes you know, Newcastle.... cold, rainy, industrial city full of lots of people who talk funny - turns out they have an almost exact replica here. Trying to watch football over here is a struggle. Spent much of the day trying to find somewhere that was screening the Epic Worldwide Sporting Event. We caught most of the England match the other night, in between the Live Band that was scheduled for the exact same time as the match (no commentry, apart from a lot of shouting of lads on the pull, oblivious to the life & death footage in play on the telly). Getting into the pub was even tricky - I got ID'd!!! Ha, yes really. Either I'm younger looking than I look, or it was a really rough pub. Ok, it was rough.

Today we sought refuge in Canberra (oh, we're in Canberra by the way) in the National Art Gallery, and got so desperate for warmth we visited the Parliment House, and Jodie's so desperate for heat she's used it as an excuse to buy fluffy boots - pics to follow when the camera works. We tried it this morning, but it was too cold for it to work. Jodie has a stinking cold. I'm due one shortly.

This evening, rather than freezing our butts off in the van, we're going to sit in a pub watching the Socceroos (snigger) get beaten by Japan.

News of your BBQ's back home are brilliant - Thanks for that. Yes, we freeze nightly in a 3' x 8' metal box and you're all sitting in the sun, drinking beer. We're so upset right now, we can't write anymore. Brrrrr. Cold.

Airlie Beach to Brisbane

Yes, the place where everyone goes when they leave Ramsey Street: Brisbane, sunny but cold, but actually quite a lot of people here and big buildings which is what we hoped for! Yippee! Civilisation again!

We've got some new pictures uploaded here, which covers our diving at the Great Barrier Reef (above sea level, sorry) to our travels to Brisbane.

Highlights include:



Cuddling a Koala Bear (Humpfrey)!



M&M's as big as yer head!


Making new friends (Bundaberg Rum Factory - Yum Yum)


Chilling out in hammocks on the beach, yes! In winter!

People here keep going on about how its winter and how cold it is! Ha, you know nothing! We laugh in the face of coldness (actually about 24C). But then, we have British Cuppa-Tea Power at our disposal, as long as our van is filled up with gas & water. We've also found out about 'free camping', which is like normal campsites but with no money involved and lots of truckers. Woohoo!

As an extra special surprise for those who can't live without us, we've got a nice little video of us mucking about....


Video - Clicky Here!

Honestly, the hours fly past....