Journeys End

Close Encounter

Last week in Bruce and it has been eventful, especially when one Swamp Wallaby left it until the last minute to bounce along in front of us whilst we were doing 80kmh – fortunately there were no cars coming the other way so a quick break and a slight swerve managed to avoid him (just missed his tail somehow) and nobody was harmed, although the car behind who was driving very close I am not so sure about – he did overtake us very shortly after though!

Yes Bruce has been returned and all our travelling kilometres (oh we are so International!) have been added up.

The two vans have managed 10800 Kilometres! Not bad eh. Well done ‘Victor’ and ‘Bruce’ and the two drivers (that’s us we didn’t hire anyone) who kept changing like the Le Mans 24 Hours to keep on the move. On top of this 1500 kms in the red centre and we have calculated about 500kms of walking through National Parks, Beaches and villages over the last 13 weeks totalling approx. 12800 kms or 8000 miles! Only a few more and we could have got to Australia ourselves.

One good bit of news for us though after 6 months – NO MORE DROP TOILETS OR SHARED AMENITIES (posh word for showers!) – Hoorah, although we are not sure how long it will take us to get used to it, so make sure if we visit you do not leave any shovels around!

Other eventful thing this week was I managed to find a picture we took of a Poteroo that we mentioned last week that is half decent (no it is not a giant Rat!). Well done us!

Poteroo

Rain

Ah more rain, thunderstorms, leaks etc etc but mostly at night or late evening so has not put a ‘dampener’ on things!

Just as proof though here is why we had to take a road diversion. You do not try and get across especially when the 4x4’s turn around!

Grand Pacific Drive

Try to be positive! Very Average – meant to be as good as the ‘Great Ocean Drive’ – its not – Ok to be fair most parts are excellent but you need to miss out the massive Steel factory that spans the road along with a couple of towns and cities and the bay with 18 oil tankers parked in it!

This is a real ‘S’ Bend

Good bits though really are Jervis Bay – a stunning huge Bay where we managed to see dolphins on three separate occasions just from the beach and also some of the whitest beaches (so they claim) in the world.

Again we stayed in a couple of National Parks and even had to cross a stream this time!

On our walking trips we even managed to see some Lyre Birds (no pics though as they were too quick)

Blue Mountains

Stunning! Most of the time: see below

‘The Three Sisters’ Before  (Sunglasses are obligatory in all weather conditions)

After (please note the Blue of the Blue Mountains)

Some great walks and we were lucky it had rained due to being able to see some of the waterfalls almost in full flood in the summer! At least we know that this is probably the worst Summer on record which is something we can be proud of!

Scenic World

Very touristy, Yes, but still well done – The steepest railway in the world 52 degrees! Followed by a 2.5km boardwalk in the rainforest (yes it did rain) then up by cable car (A first for David – very brave boy!). The see through floor cable car across the valley was missed though. This was mainly due to the memory of Dawn having to go on the rickety old version when she was younger. (We could see why though as they have the car that was decommissioned in 2004, it is now a museum piece!).

A trip with a view

Zig a Zig Ah!

Well ‘Zig Zag Railway’ actually. A steam or Historic Diesel engine that zigs and zags through the Blue Mountains. As normal with Australia and more specifically our trip a couple of weeks ago the Steam train was taken out of service to be renovated and is not running at present! We therefore had the Diesel engine but was still excellent fun with some great views. Dawn was chosen (after chatting up the driver beforehand) to sit in the front!

The surprise however came later when we went through the half kilometre tunnel and for fun they turn all the lights off and its pitch black!

Just a quick note though for all those Train and Bus enthusiasts out there (and we know there are some who read this blog!) the engine is a 7 litre British Leyland diesel that was used in the old London Buses.

It was a super few hours and not only did we cross some fantastic viaducts but we also helped change signals, and were shown around the shed where they had all the spare engines.

Koala Korner

Yoga for Men

Last part of our trip next week Sydney for 4 days staying in the luxurious ‘Shangri La’ near the sea front close to the Opera House and Bridge (well deserved we say!). Dawn is thinking of a spray tan there though as due to the weather we have started to fade fast!

Less than a week to go so see some of you next week!!

Love

David and Dawn