Well...
Adelaide...
The Australian Winter had well and truly started, nobody had told us that oz can get cold in the winter months. So out came the hats and scarves that we thought would be unnecessary from now on. It was freezing! And if you remember, Hannah had no glasses at this point, so sunglasses were the order of the day, in miserable, cloudy, wet weather!
Anyway, luckily we had a friend to meet up with in Adelaide, a girl, Kristen, who we met in Mexico. It was nice to catch up and we went out a few times with her, so despite the miserable weather it wasn't so bad. Adelaide itself is quite a nice place, lots of old colonial buildings with fancy iron work around the verandas.
We spent a couple of days doing the tourist thing, going to a beach (a little disappointing, we thought aussie beaches were the best in the world!)wine tasting, and of course looking for a campervan for our road trip. It took a little longer than intended, but we finally found one, and after almost a week in Adelaide we happily set out on our journey.
The first part of the trip was the long road to Melbourne, but there was plenty to see along the way; aussie road signs, lighthouses, wildlife, oh yes and the Great Ocean road (although at times it felt like it should be called the 'Great road with a little bit of Ocean'!) We made many stops along the way, and saw some beautiful beaches, and some not so beautiful... We spent a morning in a nature reserve called Tower Hill and to our surprise, as we entered the park we had to stop to allow a Koala to cross the road! Cute! From then on our eyes were continually looking skyward and with aching necks we spotted a total of 12 koalas ( pictures of all, you'll all have so much fun when we show you our photos!!!!!)
The Great Ocean Road was the final leg up to Melbourne, lots of beautiful sunsets, the best of course was the sunset at the 12 Apostles, although you have to look hard for them all! We saw many crazy surfers, especially as the weather hadn't improved much, so the water was freezing, all we managed was a little toe dipped in. Hannah, as well as her obsession with road signs, started a new hobby of lighthouse spotting (I do worry about her). But we did go on some scenic walks in search of lighthouses so it wasn't all bad!
After the G.O.R. we hit Melbourne, got a pair of glasses (yeah!) and went to explore the city. It is a great place, full of museums, different cuisines from all around the world, and has a very arty feel about it. Very different to Sydney, it is a much busier city and not so compact, but the rail and trams were useful. We spent 4 days in Melbourne and had a great time. we caught up with Liz, a girl from the Peru trip, who took us on a wine tour of the Yarra valley (very nice!) and we went to our first Aussie rules footie match with Liz's parents at the MCG(Melbourne Cricket Ground). A cool game, a bit like rugby, basketball, and football (sort of) We think we have a little understanding of the rules... we also met up with a guy from Buenos Aires, Shukri, so we were sorry to say goodbye to Melbourne, but looking forward to the next leg; Melbourne to Canberra to Sydney.
The next stop after Melbourne was a National Park called Wilsons Promotory. It was beautiful, luckily the day was clear and bright, but still cold! We did a walk to a beach which was called squeaky beach! The sand did really squeak under your toes! The sand was white, and the sea was a clear blue. We also saw many emus, kangaroos, and our first and only wombat. He was so cute, we could get really close to him, he was too busy munching on the grass to notice us!
Onwards we went, to the capital, Canberra. Now after spending so much time in the other big cities of Australia (Sydney, Darwin, Adelaide, Melbourne) we felt that the capital deserved at least half a day! Well, apart from Parliament House, there is very little to see there, so after a few hours looking around, we hit the raod again to head to our first and final destination in Oz, Sydney.
It was a very quick few days, we spent one night with the Storeys again, bringing them up to date on the photos, and then onto Debs (our other Peru friend) for a couple of nights, it was lovely to meet Deb's family, we have definitely been lucky in Sydney, meeting so many many people and places. We will certainly return the favour when they visit the UK. As long as they bring some wellies (sorry, gum boots!) they'll have a whale of a time! Deb's family were really kind and offered us their beach property up in Port Stephens for a night, so we headed north for a couple of days by the beach; perfect!
But unfortunately, we had to say bye to all of our Sydney friends and head to the airport for the final leg of our journey; Singapore.
We are sitting here right now, sweating rather a lot, in our pokey hostel in Singapore, the memories of Australia already seeming a million miles away, which we suppose in a way they are, it couldn't be much more different here... But we have had a fantastic time in Oz, made even more special to all of the people we have met up with and visited along the way. A special thanks has to go to our Peru pals, Charlotte, Debbie and Liz (and their families). All of whom, have taken us into their homes and made us feel so welcome. After six months on the road it has definitely been a welcome break.
We were sad to say goodbye to Charlotte, Deb, and their families on our final night, we feel that we have known them for a lot longer than a couple of months, but we will look forward to seeing them again in the not so distant future...
Now onto our next adventure. We only have 2 months until we return back to the UK, and so much to see, we know that 2 months will rush past more quickly than we want. Despite missing home we just don't want this journey to end...
Hopefully we will be able to do a couple more blog entries before we come home, but if not... see you soon!