Catch up time!

Hello from the Great Ocean Road!

We can only apologise for a lapse in blogging that has covered 4 different states and over 2,000 km of driving. Australia is one big place and we've come a long way since leaving Surfers! Our time there came to an end with a great night out, culminating with us singing a duet of Starship's We Built This City in a very classy karaoke bar. After saying our goodbyes to friends and colleagues alike we headed onwards to Brisbane for Rhiannon's birthday weekend.

It was great to get back to Brizzy and see our good friends Tim and Liv there, and upon our arrival we instantly got lost in chatting, eating and drinking...basically a right good catch up was had! The next day, Rhiannon's actual birthday, we popped out for some food and a movie (the insanely funny Wolf of Wall Street - not one for the kids!) and then after a chilled Sunday struck North again for our next stop...Australia Zoo!

Crikey! What a place! From the shamelessly over the top escapades of the Crocoseum, to our first proper encounter with wombats, echidnas and even a Komodo dragon we were not disappointed at all. The legacy of Steve Irwin, not only as a showman but as a passionate conservationist, is clear to see and it is by far the best (none wild) park or sanctuary we have visited.

But there was no time for stalling after our day there and before we knew it we were in Bundaberg, hoping to see another natural highlight and luckily we weren't let down. Mon Repos is a stretch of beach 15km north west from the town and thanks to excellent conservation work and the local communities support, it now holds the largest turtle rookery on the Australian mainland. Every year thousand's of loggerhead turtles haul themselves up onto the beach to lay their eggs, before two months later they hatch. This is what we were here to see! After being assigned to our group we patiently waited, chomping down on our dinner of fish and chips as darkness fell. After an hour or so of waiting , Rhiannon had got so bored she needed the inevitable cup of tea and so went back to Bruce to make one. As is always the case, just as the tea was about ready our group was called and without much bother the tea was cast to one side and we hurried with great excitement down to the beach!

With no torches or lights we navigated along the beach by moonlight alone, to where our group was gathered to see the nest of hatchlings emerge! First we gathered around in a huge circle as they dropped down the dune, nearly a hundred loggerhead hatchlings barely the size of a child's hand, where a portly volunteer gathered them up into an enclosure to ensure they were kept safe for the next stage. Then the team brought around two of the little fellas so we could see them up close, perfect miniatures of the huge sea going turtles they would become, with already such great strength in their tiny flippers which could be felt as they wrapped them over your finger for grip.

We then arranged ourselves into two lines, about 4 metres apart, leading from the enclosure down to the surf, forming a corridor. Down the middle a few lucky visitors, including Rhiannon, were arranged with torches to form a light train, which would guide the hatchlings down the beach into the ocean. As the enclosure was lifted we were met with the awe inspiring site of a wave of tiny turtles, inching there way along the corridor, some straying off course, others bumping into Rhiannon's feet, until they swam off into the night. We then stayed behind to watch the ranger excavate the nest to take an egg count, encountering two more hatchlings who hadn't dug their way up to the surface yet! One was as energetic and ready to go, just like the others we had seen, whilst the other probably wouldn't have made it out of the nest due to his lazy flipper. Yet we were glad to see both of these guys given the same chance as all the others and released out to sea. Seeing as only one in every thousand will make it to adulthood, they need every chance they can grab. This really was a breathtaking experience and if you're ever anywhere in the world where you can see this, don't hesitate.

But from one majestic experience to another, as we pushed northwards still to the beautiful towns of Agnes Water and 1770. We knew it was going to be a special place when we first arrived and Alex spotted a kangaroo chilling by the roadside just outside of town and it just got better from there. 1770 is where Captain Cook made his second landing in Australia, and it is just a strip of shacks (and a pub!) on a narrow peninsula, overlooking a beautiful bay and the mainland beyond. Our campsite was metres from the beach and provided a stunning sunset every day, as the light danced off the bay and the sun slipped behind the hills.

After only a few hours we revised our decision and extended our stay to a full week, basking in the late Queensland summer. And to top it off the next day we made our way out to the Great Barrier Reef, Lady Musgrave Island to be precise. Lady Musgrave is a tiny coral cay (an island made entirely from dead coral!) surrounded by a huge turquoise blue lagoon, about 60km off the coast, and is one of the first few reefs that make up the southern end of the Great Barrier Reef. What started off as relatively serene boat ride out of the river mouth at 1770, soon turned into something akin to a theme park ride as we hit the swell when we cleared the headland. Now thank god for motion sickness tablets as the boat soon turned into what could only be described as a vomit comet, when passenger after passenger fell victim to sea sickness, where we sat on the upper deck enjoying ourselves immensely as the waves crashed over the bow onto us for the full hour and a half voyage! 

As we arrived in the lagoon, the instant calmness brought respite to our fellow passengers, and we stared at awe at the beauty that surrounded us. Shade after shade of blue was projected by the sea and sky, and as our captain began throwing fish food into the water hundreds of beautiful fish of all shapes and sizes emerged around the boat. We were quickly into the water to check out our watery visitors, before an afternoon that included a tour of the island and then a glass bottomed boat tour of the coral around the reef, where we shown the turtle bomb! Now this is not some weapon of mass destruction, but instead a huge spherical coral with a recess in the top where turtles come to rest and small fish pick them clean of parasites, almost like a turtle car wash. Upon seeing this, and obviously not having had enough of turtles so far, once we returned to the pontoon we grabbed our snorkelling gear and hurried out to the turtle bomb ourselves, where we were greeted by three beautiful green turtles. We had to be practically dragged out of the lagoon as we must have swam and played with these turtles for at least an hour, the only thing we've done that could possibly rival the majesty of watching those hatchlings emerge just a matter of days earlier!

After this we spent the rest of our time in 1770, reading, walking, eating and sleeping, our own little holiday within a holiday! At the end of the week we treated ourselves to a sunset kayaking tour of the bay we had listed by for so many days. Apart from the only cloud in the sky covering the sunset and the surf being to rough to try surf kayaking it was a great way to spend our final evening there. Our guide was a funny and informative Aussie with a great interest in bringing up the Ashes when he found out we were English. He also however showed us 1770 from another angle, pointing out the million dollar holiday shacks, the catamaran moored in the creek that was the permanent home to a cat called Snickers and treated us to a a free glass of wine on a secluded beach. We also saw more turtles popping their heads above the surface of the water (hawksbill turtles this time) before we both saw on different occasions a type of stingray called an eagle ray leap clear of the water! This firmly cemented 1770 as our favourite little spot so far in all of Australia, so we ended our time there by treating ourselves to a couple of beers and a pizza in the local bistro!

But alas the time had come for us to leave and retrace our steps to where it all began...Sydney. After a brief stop in Brisbane to say our goodbyes to two very special friends and their very special dog, we rocked up a week later on Sydney's North Shore to spend a few days with two more great friends, Catherine and Alex, aka Biggles (don't ask, just be thankful there aren't two Alex's for clarity's sake!). We were lucky enough to be invited to stay at the apartment they stay at with Catherine's parents, the legendary JT and Subo, in a beautiful suburb situated right near the river which offered a glimpse of the top of the Sydney Harbour Bridge!

What followed was a great week which included a day and night in Bondi, a trip to the beautiful Watson's Bay for fish and chips and a dip in the bay, a shopping trip, a night watching football for the boys, a testy game of monopoly and a couple of museum visits all accompanied by beautiful weather. We were sad to leave in the end, Sydney had been so much better this time round with friends to share it with but we had set the pace, so it was onwards...

...to Canberra. Or specifically a day trip to the nations capital as we traversed the much trodden route south west from Sydney to Victoria. Despite feeling a bit like a huge campus University (Canberra is a purpose built capital city as Sydney and Melbourne wouldn't let each other be it!) we saw the capital buildings, both old and new, a huge water jet set in the middle of the lake on which Canberra sits and went to two great places, the world class National Australian Gallery to see works by Jackson Pollack, Picasso and even the famous Dali Lobster Phone, as well as going to the National Museum of Australia, an inventive and exciting museum dedicated to this strange, beautiful country. Canberra was short and sweet but with 650km still to go to reach Melbourne, we pressed on.

Now somewhere along the way we must have picked up a little hitchhiker, as the next morning we were awoken by the chomping of little teeth. After much searching nothing was found until the next night, when under the cover of darkness the noise started up again. Rhiannon flicked on the light and saw a little bundle of fur retreat from the container where we hold our precious supply of biscuits. After a few more minutes of sitting in silence, a little mouse popped it's head out to a hole in one of the counter tops and ran behind the seats in the front of Bruce. What followed was 10 minutes of Alex tearing apart Bruce with all the doors open searching for the little fella, to no avail. We thought we'd seen the last of our little friend until last night, so after our humane mousetrap failed we're going old school mousetrap on him...sorry, but he's been getting at our biscuits!

The next day brought us into Victoria, thanks to 5hours worth of driving, about 70 km north of Melbourne. And yet we haven't actually been to Melbourne, since we bypassed it to enjoy one of Australia's most iconic areas, the Great Ocean Road. Victoria so far feels a hell of a lot like home! After swimming in the sea in Queensland and enjoying an early autumn heat wave in Sydney, where it was consistently around 30 degrees, we now find ourselves back in long trousers and wooly hats, as the trees change colour and the cold southerly wind lashes the coastline. It's still around 20 degrees, but in Victoria you can get all the seasons in one day and it has fluctuated quite alarmingly in the couple of days we have been here. It has however given this first stretch of the road that has included the lighthouse from 80's children's program Round the Twist and a night camping in a beautiful spot up in the Otway Ranges that Rhiannon is convinced is the Forest Moon of Endor!  

In the next couple of days we will complete the Great Ocean Road and see it's most famous site, the 12 Apostles, before circling back to Melbourne and trying to sell Bruce. We had wanted to visit tasmania by taking Bruce across on the ferry but at 700 dollars it's just not feasible, so we are hoping for a quick sale and the possibility of a couple of cheap flights for a long weekend in Hobart.

Then we fly to Auckland for an express stop on the way to Canada to see some old friends in Vancouver for a well overdue visit and a trip across the border to Seattle, before making our way home! Of course we will not leave it too long till our next blog (we promise!) and even if you do have to wait, be safe in the knowledge that in 2 months time we will all get to see each other face to face, so we can bore you to tears with recounting everything you've already read about in our blog!

Until then, much love!

Alex and Rhiannon x