So, on Monday I went for my relaxing massage which was a birthday pressie from Ben! He had asked around at work and found a lovely place called Eden, which was a lady's house where she works from home. It was in Uralla, about 20 minutes from Armidale, so I set off with directions! I found it OK, and it was a gorgeous home right in the middle of nowhere, the last 10 minutes of driving had been down a gravel track! Margaret was lovely and invited me in and offered me a drink. The house was stunning, with huge windows on one side looking out across the landscape. The 'Body Bliss' massage was just that, bliss! She even threw some hots stones into it all which was a new experience for me! It lasted well over and hour and was heavenly! Feeling very relaxed I headed back to pick Ben up from work and had a very laid back evening feeling blissed out!
On Tuesday morning Ben bought me a cup of tea in bed for my actual birthday! I have never been out of the country for my birthday so that was a new experience! Ben had to go to work, so I found myself on my own, which was also a new experience for a birthday! I made the most of it and had a pamper day following on from yesterday! I had a lovely jacuzzi bath and painted my nails on my feet and hands. I read my book outside in the sunshine, which was also a new thing for it to be hot and sunny for my birthday, so I made the most of that! Went and got a movie of my choice for the evening, we were supposed to go to the cinema, but as there are only 2 screens here, there was Nothing on we wanted to see, so a DVD it was. I also managed to find my favourite bottle of Aussie wine which I haven't seen since we were in QLD! I picked up Ben and we had a lovely evening! He cooked dinner, my request of calamari and chips, with chip buttees obviously! A lovely glass of wine and a movie with popcorn!
On Wednesday I went to the Post Office to see if a parcel my Mum had sent had arrived. We wanted our rough guide to NZ which Ben bought in England and couldn't bring as he already had bought 3 books with him! So we looked around in shops here, but it was crazy expensive! Thought it might be cheaper for Mum to post ours out, and found out she could send it care of a post office branch here. Originally we thought the best bet would be to send it to the Gold Coast branch as we knew we'd be heading there, even if it wasn't until April. However, once we knew we'd be in Armidale for 3-4 weeks we rang up to find out if if could be sent across to the Armidale post office. They said it would only take 2-3 days and just be $5.50, however, the book had not arrived on the Gold Coast after 2 weeks. I rang every few days, and it turned up the day after I wrote and told Mum it was lost in the post and they told me to start a postal investigation! So we arranged for it to be posted over to Armidale! So, back to the day after my birthday, I decided after I had dropped Ben off at work to check the post office to see if it had arrived, but was not really expecting it to have, however, it had! I opened it on the way back to the car, and there were two birthday cards inside too! Funnily they had written on them that although it will be super early, don't open it until 15th etc, which was really funny, as Mum had clearly got confused, as we weren't ever supposed to pick up the parcel until April. However, it all worked out perfectly, as I got the birthday cards the day after my birthday, and technically it was still my birthday in the UK! It was so nice to get something from home! Mum and Dad, and Grandma had also put some birthday money in my bank account which was a lovely surprise!
I worked again on Wednesday and Thursday during the day which is all good for the bank balance! At the weekend we got up and had bacon sarnies, which is becoming a regular weekend treat! We then went into town for the Armidale Autumn Festival. There was a parade which reminded me so much of being at the Okehampton Carnival!!! There were lots of floats full of children representing their schools or groups, and also lots of Pipe bands. The Pipe bands were amazing, all dressed up in their smart outfits, and the music was just awesome. It's not really a style of music I'd say I like that much, but hearing the band right next to you was amazing! I enjoyed waving at all the kids, and Ben was totally embarrassed by me! It started to rain towards the end of the parade, so we sheltered under the brolly, and then headed straight to the shops when it had finished. We spent the rest of the weekend chilling out, watching TV and movies, and organising and planning the next couple of months. We have pretty much sorted out time in NZ, Fiji and Hawaii now which is great!
Posted by
Sarah O'Neill
,
19:53
So the week passed with Ben working, and me working Monday and Tuesday and Thursday. I decided not to work any 11.30-7.30 shifts anymore, as it meant Ben had to walk home and also I was getting home late and Ben was having to wait to eat dinner, so Thursday was only from 11.30-4.30 which worked so much better. I had lots of things on my to-do list for the time we had in Armidale so I got through a few things on the list too! I spent a lot of time researching our stay in Fiji, (one of the jobs on the list!), and found myself with information overload! There are around 300 islands, so knowing where to start was difficult! I spent a lot of hours on the internet! The weekend came around quickly and we were both looking forward to a lie in! I had a lovely lie in, but Ben was wide awake, typical, and so got up and made me a cup of tea when I woke up! Ben's work had asked him to stay for an extra week, and so we needed to work out if we could afford the time, as we knew we were running out if time to do all the tings we wanted before we left Australia. We spent Saturday working it all out, and planning every day of the two and half weeks we would have left if we stayed down to the minute and worked out that we could stay! Ben wasn't too keen on working an extra week, but we both knew it would help so much financially, and neither of us can work at any other point in our travels as we won't have the right visas! We planned our time after we leave Armidale, and have booked a 2 night 3 day cruise around the Whitsunday Islands, and then a 2 night 3 day trip on Fraser Island, where you go with a big group, and drive a convoy of 4WD exploring the island and staying in camps together. So, once we have travelled up north, and done the trips, we have to get back down to the Gold Coast, where we plan to sell the car, and have only 3 days to do so! Then we fly from the Gold Coast to Sydney, stay in the airport hotel, and fly to New Zealand on 13th April! It all seems very strange that we will be leaving Australia so soon, as we have been here so long. Even though we are still only just over half way through our trip, it kind of feels like we're on the home stretch now which is pretty scary! I am so excited to see everyone at home and spend time with family and friends, but also don't want the trip to be over, but I know this time is going to fly by! Will have to make sure we savour this time!
On Sunday we had another lie in. Ben said he had to give me my birthday present early on Sunday instead of Tuesday, so he made me a nice cup of tea and gave me my
pressie! It was a 'Body Bliss' massage that he had booked for me on Monday, hence why he had to give it to me early! I was
sooooo looking forward to that! We had bacon sarnies for brunch and then headed out to
Dangar Falls to explore. These falls drop 120m, so not as big as
Wollomombi, but still awesome. We have decided we definitely like waterfalls! We did a 3km round walk to different lookout points and enjoyed the views. It was a hot and sunny day, so drank lots of water! Ben scared me trying
to get good photos of the waterfall, climbing over the railings! He is so naughty! The walk didn't take us as long as we thought, so we decided to pop to
Gara Gorge
as well. The signpost had a round route walk that was 5.5km, and foolishly we decided to do it, even though we had not water left! It was very hot and a longer walk, but it was very beautiful and we saw lots of lizards! Ben tried to climb a very large rock formation, but than
kfully gave up pretty quick when he thought about how he would get down!!! The views were spectacular and the pictures just don't do it justice! We commented on how some of it looked l
ike we were at
Shaugh Prior in England,
especially the river with boulders in! But then other bits are so different and the landscapes are so amazingly different! All in all we had walked over 8.5km and felt like we had done our
exercise for the weekend!! Had a good
skype chat with Carol and Mike, last one for a couple of weeks as they go on holiday! Had a relaxing evening after all out walking and got ready for the week to come!
Posted by
Sarah O'Neill
,
19:23
On Sunday we all had a lie in and then a yummy brunch of bacon, beans and toast before we set off to Wollomombi Falls. There are lots of waterfalls in this area, and the main road through Armidale and and all the way to the coast is called 'Waterfall Way'. Wollomombi 
Falls is a 220m drop and very beautiful. We went to the lookout spots, and followed a 4k route walk which was very nice. Sadly the weather wasn't fabulous, but it meant that walking wasn't too hot! It did start to rain at one point, but didn't get too heavy before it stopped! Enjoyed a good old chat with Ami on the way back to the car while the boys lagged behind.
Popped into the supermarket on the way home to get some things to do a roast dinner for later. When we got back it was a team effort to make the roast, and it turned out superb! It was so nice to sit at a proper table with friends and enjoy a roast dinner, it has been a while! Later on we had arranged a skype date with Carol and Mike which was great and the signal was much better, although we seem to appear 'psychedelic' in colour at times their end! We watched a terrible Harrison Ford movie called 'Witness' which was in the apartment, and looked a lot better than it was!!!
The next morning I took Ben to work, and then came home to get ready to go to work while Pete and Ami got packed up. The cleaner came to service the apartment, which is such a nice luxury, she cleaned it throughout and changed all the bedding and towels. I had to go to work, and so said goodbye to Pete and Ami wondering if we would see them again soon! Had another busy day at work and a relaxing evening afterwards!
During the week Pete and Ami had been in touch and were heading north, so we invited them to say with us as we had a spare room, so they came up on Friday. They picked Ben up from work, and were here when I got home, and we all went to get a Thai takeaway which was yummy! We played cards late into the night and had a great evening!
The next day we all had a nice lie in, and then got up and had bacon sarnies for breakfast. We went to the Armidale show not really knowing what to expect! After eventually finding a parking space, we found out it was $10 each to get in, was not expecting that! We all decided to go anyway, and managed to cheekily wangle getting in on a 'family ticket' for $25 altogether which made it a lot cheaper! One of the first things we saw was a man riding a large cow 
(or was it a bull?) all dressed up, complete with massive heart sunglasses! The cow/bull didn't seem too impressed and was rather vocal, and was frothing at the mouth, crazy! The 'show' was a mixture of old agricultural show stuff, and a fairground with lots of crazy rides! We found ourselves in a room full of all sorts of birds in cages with first and second prize cards next to them. There were loads! We had a look at all the pretty birds and then moved into the next room where there were cages from floor to ceiling full of all sorts of chickens and ducks! We saw some of the weirdest chickens ever, the strangest one was called a 'silky'. We also saw the biggest fatest duck I have ever seen! We had read on the poster that there was going to be duck and pig racing, so we set off to find out when this would be!
We found the Show office and found out that the duck and pig racing was on quite often during the day, so off we went to find the duck racing! I didn't really know what to expect, but it was crazy! The poor ducks had coloured ribbons around them, and the course was an obstacle course made up from all sorts of stuff, including a children's slide! I
t took ages for the commentator to get the ducks into the cage to start them off, but once they were all in, he let them all out and off they went! It was so funny to watch! They all followed each other, although one went off on his own occassionally, and went over the see-saw, up and down the slide and through the rest of the race course! They did a few laps and I think the blue one won! Certainly an experience!
After the duck racing we found some gorgeous little chicks and were allowed to have a little cuddle to keep them warm as their warming bulb had broken, which was lovely! We then saw a Reptile Show, by a man
who goes around to schools and shows presenting a show mostly about snakes. It was very interesting, and I learnt what to do if I came across a snake which I did not know! Apparently you should 'freeze!', I would probably have guessed that you walk away slowly and quietly, but that is not right! He had some snakes with him and bought them round for us to touch, and it felt surprisingly smooth and not slimy! After we'd heard enough about snakes we headed over to the pig racing! We were there in time to be given a raffle ticket each, and found out that if you were picked out you chose a pig to
support, and named it! Ben's raffle ticket was picked!!! He picked the red one, and named it Pookie Macademus (surprise surprise!), however, the lady asked him for a shorter name as she would have to shout it out when commentating! It was decided he would be called Macky! We were all shouting for Macky, who was winning to begin with, however, he got pushes aside by the bigger piggies and came third in the end! The first prize was a token for a children's ride, and second and third prizes were ice-creams, so we were rather pleased that we did not come first in the end! The voucher gave us two free ice creams, so off we went for our treat, one per couple! We then went to check out the 'wood chopping', expecting to see some hunky ment chopping wood! We were a little disapppointed as most of the men were a bit old, but the action was fun to watch! They had to chop a piece of wood, and we think they were judged on time taken, as well as how it looked by the end. We also had a wonder through the hut that had the vegetables on show that had been judged, and the photography exhibition which was pretty good! We had a wonder around the rides, but didn't fancy the look of any of them, and they were all super expensive! On our way out we had a plate of dutch pancakes with chocolate sauce and cream, yummy!
Went to McDonalds for lunch, at Ben's request of course! Had a lovely afternoon chilling out with cups of tea and cookies watching the film 'The Holiday' which I love! Ben did a BBQ for dinner and then we headed back to the show for the Demolition Derby!!! I was really looking forward to this, as had only ever seen one on TV, and never really thought I would ever go to one! It was dark, and started to rain, so we had our pac-a-macs and umbrellas, but the atmosphere was great! We were stood as close as we could get, right up next to the railings, and the cars all came out and lined up! Sadly one car conked out before they even got started, but the rest managed to get going, so we picked the one we were cheering for! It lasted about 20 minutes, and basically they all drive in to each other and bash each other up until the last one is left standing! They all looked pretty battered before they even began, but by the end it was crazy, some were
smoking so bad you couldn't see the other cars, and most of them got a lot more smashed up than when they started! It was also really muddy because of all the rain we've been having, so they were slipping and sliding all over! It was great fun to watch and certainly an experience I won't forget! After it was all over you could go and see the cars, so we went to have a look at the state of them! We got rather muddy! When we got home we played cards and had another late night, playing until 2 in the morning!
Posted by
Sarah O'Neill
,
22:25
Once I had dropped Ben off for his first day of work I set about exploring Armidale! Although Armidale is in the back of beyond a bit, it is not all bad, as there is a large Uni, University of New England, which means that the city has a bit of life about it! I went to the information centre to find out what was going on in this city, and it seems that there is quite a lot! The guy there was super helpful and gave me loads of leaflets and info about things to do at the weekends. There are lots of waterfalls in this area, so we would definitely be visiting a few of those! I also found out it was the Armidale show at the weekend too, so that looked like fun. I booked myself on the free Armidale tour for Friday morning, which is a good 2 hour tour around the city visiting points of interest, which sounded like a bit of fun rather than daytime TV back at the apartment! I also asked about temping job agencies and they pointed me in the direction of 'Speedie Staff Solutions', which I visited on Tuesday. Went in and spoke to a lovely lady who gave me some paperwork to fill out and asked me to come in the next day with it all to go through it. Spent the rest of the day catching up on washing, and it was nice not to have to pay $4 a load! I took my paperwork in on Wednesday and asked what kind of work there might be, and she said if there was anything it would be working up at the University kitchens. I went home and didn't expect much to come of it really. However, I got a call at about half past two to say she had got me work for Thursday (the next day!), Friday, and Monday and Tuesday, 11.30am - 7.30pm, so I had to make a mad dash to get myself a uniform! I needed smart black trousers, a white button up shirt and black shoes. I decided to try my luck at the charity shops first and then head to the real shops, but luckily I managed to get my whole kit and caboodle for only $9, bargain! So I went to work on Thursday having dropped Ben off and had a bit of time to get ready and have a good breakfast, and it wasn't bad at all. It was crazy busy, but that meant the time went fast! Basically I had to help serve up the meals canteen style, and then had to leave the others doing that when the dishes began piling up, and get them through the dishwasher pronto, as they would be needed as the meal time went on. After the mad rush of lunch, we had to clean up wash everything down, wash the floor etc, and then had a break before it all began again for dinner! The ladies there were all lovely and so friendly and helpful, and the day went quick so it wasn't the worst job I have had! The other good thing is I get lunch and dinner for free there so that saves us a bit of money! Was absolutely whacked after my first day and slept very well!
On Saturday we got up early to pack up and leave to head towards the job in Armidale. We had decided to drive it over two days, staying overnight at Manning Point. So after saying goodbye to Pete and Ami, and a minor drama of the car not starting (I had left it in neutral all night instead of park, which it apparently didn't like, but started after we gave it a rest in park!) we were on our way! After a few hours of driving we arrived at the campsite which was very nice! It was right on the beach, so after pitching the tent we headed down to the beach. We had to walk down a path, and luckily I was behind Ben, as we disturbed a rather large snake, but thankfully it slithered away before I saw it! We were the only people on the beach, and after a while we realised why, it was so windy, when I lay down I became covered in sand in seconds! So we decided to head back to the very nice pool! I wasn't going to get in, but it had a fun slide into the deep end, so I did that, which solved that whole getting in slowly thing! Had a lovely afternoon and evening, and met a guy using the BBQ with us who told us about his latest invention! It is something about reducing the amount of petrol you use in city driving, when you are not accelerating (which apparently is lots of the time when city driving), and you buy it and have it fitted to your car. Apparently some cars already have it from the manufacturer, but his is the first you can fit to any car! So we will keep our eyes peeled, he's planning to hit Europe in a few years.
The next morning we got up pretty early to get to our Apartment asap! The drive there was only about 300km, but took us absolutely ages as the road was through the Great Dividing Range! It was very beautiful, but quite a long and winding road that climbed for ages, and then descended. Eventually we got there to see where we would be living for the
next 3 weeks. I was so excited I practically ran inside! It was absolutely gorgeous! It has a big open plan dining and living room, and kitchen and two bedrooms! The lounge has a very comfortable sofa and flat screen TV and air-con, the kitchen is very modern and even has a dishwasher!! The bed is huge and very comfy and we have an en-suite with a great shower and a jacuzzi bath!!! We also have a garden area, patio table and chairs and BBQ, so Ben is a happy bunny! After months of camping it was such a treat! We felt so lucky to have the apartment for free with the job, especially after roughing it for so long!
We went shopping for the week, and it was so nice to know we had a fridge, an oven and a microwave, we could buy all sorts of stuff that we hadn't had in ages, and we could buy stuff for the whole week, not just for the day - camping style!!! We also scouted out where Ben's work was which was only a 5 minute drive.
We enjoyed a lovely evening with a BBQ (of course!) and relaxing in front of the TV. I had a lovely jacuzzi bath, what a treat! Also had a very good night's sleep not on an airbed!!!!
On Thursday we headed to Manly beach on the ferry. It was a lovely sunny
day and the views of Harbour Bridge and the Opera House were spectacular from the Ferry. The journey took about 40 minutes, and then we were a short walk from the beautiful Manly beach. Bondi is probably the most famous of the two, but most people prefer Manly, and I am definately one of them! It was very busy, but we managed to find a spot and dumped our stuff before all heading into the sea. I don't usually go in the sea, but it wasn't that cold at all, especially once I got in! It was really good fun, but the waves were absolutely huge and got a bit scary in the end! Ami and I got out first and relaxed on the beach. We all had fish and chips on the beach for lunch which was a lovely treat! After some relaxing and sun bathing the boys went back in the sea while Ami and I enjoyed the sunshine!
Ben and I had arranged to neet up with Ben's Aussie friend Nathan who worked at Derriford for a while and came to our wedding. We had arranged to meet him at Bondi after he'd finished work 
at 5pm, so had to leave about 3.30 to catch the Ferry back to Circular Quay to then get the bus to Bondi. We had a while on the beach waiting for him, and enjoyed watching the huge waves and lots of surfers. I definately liked Manly better, but Bondi was a fun place to see! We met Nathan and headed to the RSL club for a drink. After lots of catching up we went to the little Mexican place Nathan knew for some tea, which Nathan shouted for us which was so nice of him! We all ordered burritos to take away, which took a long time to come as it was so busy, but were worth the wait! Delicious! We sat on the wall at the edge of the beach to eat our dinner. Nathan offered us a lift to the train station so we didn't have to get the bus, and gave us a bot of a tour of Sydney as he drove! We got back rather late and headed straight to bed!
Orginally we were going to leave on Friday, and drive through the Blue Mountains, stay there, and then carry on to the job. However, we decided to stay and do the Blue Mountains as a day trip with Pete and Ami. The only problem was that we couldn't stay on the site we were on at the campsite, so we had to move sites on Friday morning! We decided to try and move the tent while it was still up, rather than take it down and put it back up! We took everything out of it, un-pegged it, and all four of us took a corner and carried through the park! It worked great and once it was pegged down and the stuff was back inside we were good to go! Ben and I cleared out the back seats of the car and we all went off for the day. We drove for
about 2 hours through little Blue Mountain villages, visiting the Information Centre on the way. We had thought about doing a guided bus tour, but the guy in the info centre was so helpful and told us not to bother, and to drive it ourselves, and told us the bits to see and gave us all the info. We drove to all the lookouts, seeing gorgeous waterfalls and amazing views. We found a supermarke
t and got a picnic which we ate in a lovely park. We went to see the three sisters, a rock formation, which has an Aboriginal story behind it. A baddy was coming to the village, and the witchdoctor man turned the Chief's 3 daughters to stone to protect them, but was killed before he could return them to normal. While we were at the 3 sisters lookout we saw a cable car going down into the gorge below, so went to find out about it. There were 2 cable cars, one up and
down, and one glass bottomed one across the gorge, and also a steep train up and down. We were divided about which to do, Ami and Ben wanted to do the train down and the cable car up, but Pete and I wanted the opposite, so we tossed a coin for it, and
the train down won! I am so glad it did, it was brilliant! When we got it and saw how steep it was we had a bit of a shock!!! It was so steep we couldn't see where it went! It was brilliant! I don't think I even looked at the views, I was just concentrating on where it was going and looking at the track!!! This picture was taken at the bottom, can you see how slanted the seats are, you are practically lying down! We did the boardwalk at the bottom, and then caught the cable car back up, which was a much more sedate ride! We had a long drive back towards Sydney in the Friday evening traffic, but had a great evening with a BBQ and cards and wine until 2am!
So, after vowing to catch up on the blogging and not fall behind again, look what happened! I had great intentions to catch up as had some free time, but then I ended up getting myself a job, and all of that went down the pan! So back to arriving in Sydney!
We had booked at a lovely campsite that was in Lane Cove National Park on the outskirts of Sydney, and the closest campsite. It was lovely and had excellent public transport links to get into the city which was great! We rang Brian about the job when we arrived and he told us that he had been in contact with the Environmental Protection Agency (the licences in NSW are issued by them, different to QLD) and had spoken to a lovely lady who seemed to think it would all be fine. We were still a bit bemused and disbelieving! He told us to go into their office in the city and take the documents we had with us, and he would get a faxed copy of Ben's degree certificate sent over to them. Considering how everything had to be originals or copies signed by a Justice of the Peace in QLD this seemed a bit strange to us! Luckily Ben called ahead before we went to the office and they told us we couldn't come in, they don't do it that way, but they told us to fill out the 2 page form and fax it in with his AIR certificate and they would do it today! Absolutely nuts!!! So, we faxed it all in, and withing 2 hours we had a fax back with Ben's licence to work in NSW which meant he had a job! WooHoo! We found out the the Environmental Protection Agency oversee so much, Radiography licences are not their major concern, which is why it was so simple. In Queensland there is a whole organisation dedicated to just that, so of course, it becomes a great big deal! If only we had known that before! But we were so pleased we knew it now, and it worked out for him to work! So, we knew he had a 3 week job in Armidale, and we had 5 days in Sydney before travelling towards the job. It was also so amazing as it came with accomodation! We just wondered what that might be, but had to wait and see!
So after all the drama we put the tent up and decided to go into Sydney for the la
te afternoon / evening and visit the Botanical Gardens at dusk to see the bats at Rachel F's recommendation! There were LOADS of them, and I couldn't quite believe how BIG they were! They looked more like
birds, but when you looked properly you could see their little claws and furry heads, ewww! They were amazing to watch and a sight to be seen! We walked through the gardens to the other side to get our first view of the Opera House and Harbour Bridge. It felt quite surreal after seeing it on the TV and in movies so many times before!!!
On Tuesday we had a late start as the weather wasn't great so we didn't rush up to make the most of it! We headed into Sydney on the double decker train, and went to the famous fish market! Luckily Ben didn't make me get up and go at 5.30am to watch the auctions which are apparently lots of fun to see! We had a wonder around and marvelled at all the amazing fish and crabs around, and then shared a fisherman's basket for lunch. It's so nice that Ben has finally embraced fish (the battered kind for now!) and we can enjoy it together, it only took me 10 years! After lunch we headed back to the Maritime Museum as we had seen that there was a shark exhibition on, and of course Ben wanted to see that! It was also a good way to get out of the rain! It was free entry which was great! On the way to the shark exhibition we had to pass one called 'On Their Own: Britain's Child Migrants' which turned out to be absolutely fascinating! I love social history, especially 20th century, so I loved it! It was all about children who were sent out to Australia and Canada by the ship load to start new lives. Some stories were harrowing, and the children ended up being slave labour on farms and some were told their families were dead when they weren't and it was a terrible experience that affected their whole life. While for others it was the making of them and they have never looked back. It continued into the 1950's which I thought was amazing! After that unexpected find we moved onto the shark exhibition which was also fascinating! They even had a video of people tagging great white's at Port Lincoln with the company we went with for our cage dive! There were some terrible shark attack stories, and the debate rages on as to whether they are killing machines, or it's a case of mistaken identity when they attack! After that we made our way across the city to the National Art Gallery, where Ben wanted to see the exhibition of 'China's Entombed Warriors', the Terracotta army. However, when we got there it turned out that although entry to the gallery was free, it was $20 each to see that exhibition, and we weren't that fussed, so we looked at the art as we were there. We both enjoyed it more than we thought and felt we had had a very cultured day! We finished it off with a visit to the cinema as it was bucketing down and didn't fancy an evening in the tent. We saw No Strings Attached which was a great comedy chick flick that we both enjoyed!
Wednesday started off quite sunny and put all our washing going, as I was on my last pair of pants! However, once it was done and was hung up it began to spit with rain, typical! I left it and hoped for the best! Lucky we did, as when we got into Sydney the sun came out and we had a lovely day! We got a few bits from the supermarket and had a picnic in the botanical gardens, amongst the bats which were now sleeping upside down in the trees! We walked through the gardens to 'Mrs Macquaries Chair', the Govenors wife from a long time ago had a favourite sopt where she walked everyday and enjoyed the view. When we turned the corner we saw the huge cruise ship the Queen Mary II. It was absolutely huge! We walked to the Opera House and saw
it up close. When you get to the front of it and walk up the steps towards it, it looks like 3 separate buildings. We went inside to the booking area, but couldn't see inside any of the theatres which was a shame. We headed back to the campsite in time for tea and an Aboriginal cultural show that is on every week. It was 2 aboriginal people that talked to us about their culture, beliefs, and how they use songs and dance to teach their children. It was brilliant and so interesting. I was so glad as it made up for
the bad experience we had before! They did lots of dances for us, my favourite was the one about the kangaroo. They imitated a kangaroo, teaching their children the habits and behaviours of kangaroos so they would be good hunters when they grew up - they were VERY believable kangaroos!!! Ami and Pete arrived to stay at the campsite for a week, so after a skype with Mum, Dad and Emma we played cards and drank wine from a box, fondly known as the 'goon bag'. There were some rather friendly possums and a bandicoot that came out at night to rumage through the bins. Pete and Ben took to feeding them all sorts!
So, it has been a long time since I last blogged for lots of reasons, bad signal and being busy mainly! So, now that we are stationary for a little while I thought it was about time to catch up! I'm hoping to keep up-to-date from now on!
So, from the lovely campsite at Lake Hume we headed through Canberra to
Bateman's Bay. We stayed on another lovely campsite that was right next to the beach and the
rainforest, it was beautiful! There were a group of wild kangaroos that frequently visited the c
ampsite and were very tame and friendly! The weather wasn't great while we were there, but we did manage to visit the beach when it wasn't raining and Ben kicked my ass at beach boules, or '
bocchi' as it's called here! Being
between the beach and the
rainforest meant we didn't get any phone
reception or signal for our
USB modem, so we couldn't get online, which was when I started to slip writing the blog! However, I did make notes each day to jog my memory, thank goodness! We went into the town each day to check Ben's phone as we were desperately waiting to get news of a job. It was not looking good as there was nothing around in Queensland. However, he did get a call about a job in
Armidale, New South Wales, which was perfect as it was a 3 week locum post that came with
accomodation. The problem with this was that he did not have a licence for
NSW, only Queensland. He also didn't have originals of some of the documents he needed to get one, and the process in
QLD took over 6 weeks, time we didn't have. We told the guy with the job all of this and said he could get Ben a licence in 48 hours, which we didn't believe, however, he put Ben forward for the job and we waited to hear. We both thought that was too much of a long shot, so started to think of other ideas. We looked into fruit picking, however, there were waiting lists of backpackers for jobs and the money was terrible, but it seemed like our only option!
So, we decided to continue travelling north as there would be cotton picking work in north
QLD in March, so we decided to aim for that. We drove to Jervis Bay which is a place with amazing beaches and beautiful national park. We went to the information centre and they told us we could camp in the national park and they had good facilities including hot showers, so we rang up to book, but as it was the weekend, they had no spaces, which was a real shame!
We ended up in a campsite next to the beach, which was nice enough, but had no camp kitchen which was a bit disappointing. The weather stayed dry for us in Jervis Bay, but sadly was not amazing, so beach days weren't great, but we went anyway! The best beaches were in the national park, so we headed there for the day. It was beautiful, but there were lots of jellyfish washing up on the sand so I would not go in the sea! After a couple of days at Jarvis Bay we headed onto
Kiama.
Kiama has a blow hole which is usually very spectacular, however, the sea wasn't very rough
when we went! We did climb up on the cliff and took in the amazing views which was lovely! We found a great campsite right on the beach, and with an amazing pool so got our pitch and then headed up the mountains to do the
rainforest boardwalk. When we were in
Bateman's Bay the man camping next door to us told us about the best pie shop ever in
Kiama, up the mountain, so we decided to take a detour there first for lunch. It was a bit of a trek, but the views were great as we drove! Sadly Ben ran over quite a large Water Dragon, which looked to both of us to be a tree branch
, then as we got closer and realised what it was and it didn't move, we both said drive straight over it - but you can imagine what happened next - yep, it moved and we ran over it, the noise was awful! We found the pie shop and enjoyed 2a world famous" pie! We then drove to the
rainforest to
do the boardwalk. There are two routes, one is shorter and suitable for wheelchairs, and the other does an extra loop that is hardcore to see a waterfall. We put our trainers on and enjoyed a very tough walk to the waterfall, and a good rest admiring it, before heading back. We enjoyed some time on the beach and in the pool back at the campsite. We were still waiting to hear about the job, and while lying on the beach I thought of one more solution, that we come home 3 weeks early, bringing all our flights forward by three weeks, which would save us a lot of money as 3 weeks in Australia is expensive! We decided that this seemed like the best plan and started to look at changing our flights. However, the very next day we got a call to say he had the job and this guy was going to sort out the licence. We both still didn't really think it was going to work out, after our experience in
QLD, so we didn't let ourselves get excited. We were driving to
Sydey that day and Brian (the guy with the job) told us to ring him when we arrived to sort it all out!
