Lucey travels down under

Dreaming of John Denver

2009-04-02T05:05:00.000-07:00

Thursday April 2, Sydney.

Take me home country roads......we stood at Cape Reinga, the most northerly point of New Zealand last week and the ‘lands end’ style tourist sign told us it was 28012km to London. It wasn’t so much the distance that hit home but the fact that we had finally realised we were close to heading back to England and there it was, right in front of our eyes.

A long way from home.

So 3 flights and 13 hours of jet lag to deal with- no problems bro!
Cape Reinga was a surprisingly spiritual space. According to Maori folklore, when someone from your family passes away, one shouldn’t mourn, but instead actually celebrate the time you had together. At the northern tip of the North Island the soul’s finally say goodbye. As strange as it seems, we could feel it.
After 6 ½ months away from home it also marked the start of a long trip back to Tonbridge.
We arrived at Russell last Tuesday afternoon and booked a 2 night stopover. 5 nights later we were still there and as we sat on the sunset lit terrace of Richard and Judy, a couple who we had met 2 days prior on the 7am ferry to Paihia, a genorous Gordons g&t in hand, we felt as we relaxed as any point throughout the entire trip. Russell is amazing. One day we shall return.

Happy Russell- we loved it.

Of all the places we have seen since leaving home, the Bay of Islands must be the most beautiful. If we had come here a month ago, I don’t think we would have moved. Since last September and our time in Cape Yorke, the days we spent there have remained at the number 1 spot in our trip experience. It would seem nothing would knock it off the top. ‘Rock the Boat’ however managed to help New Zealand’s far north do it.
We were looking for something of all the best bits of the last few weeks- snorkelling, sea kayaking, sailing, fishing- and completely by accident we came across this set up. Johnny and the boys and girls who run it- thanks so much. If anyone ever gets the chance to come to Russell, make sure you make time to spend a few days with these guys.

Dawn on 'Rock the Boat'

And now to Sydney. Rain, rain, rain. Not we anticipated nor hoped. We had spent new year’s eve here and decided it was not the greatest place to visit in a campervan so had planned a few nights here now. Thank god Elli has gone otherwise we would be walking around in damp clothes and feeling exceptionally miserable. Of all the culture suddenly on offer, footy looked the best option. The Aussie national team- the ‘Socceroo’s’- World Cup qualifying game against Uzbekhistan in the Olympic stadium beckoned. 2-0 Aussie and we were happy, along with 60,000 others despite the rain.

Go Roo's!

So we have completed another 3 of the remaining 27 air hours we have left to reach London. 11 of the 13 flights of the trip and only 4 shopping days to go – thankfully all in Bangkhok- before our return to £’s and pence and Easter weekend. We can’t wait!
See you soon
Andy

Taumatawhakatangitangakoauauotamateapokaiwhenuakitanatahu

2009-03-24T19:28:00.000-07:00

New Zealand’s longest place name is just awesome. It deserves going to just because of that alone. However we didn’t and nor can we say it either, despite many attempts.
We are however sitting under an absolute carpet of stars in a town called Russell in the Bay of Islands. This place is quite beautiful. It used to be the capital city of New Zealand until Auckland and then Wellington took over that role. Cloaked in history, primarily the signing of the Waitangi Agreement in 1852, we are surrounded by an amazing landscape.
The past 7 days have once again spun by. Our target was meet up with Steve and Jo on Friday to spend a few days in their seaside ‘Bach.’ (batch as we Brits would pronounce). We could not refuse the offer to have a true Kiwi style weekend in a house by the beach on the Coromandel Peninsula.
To get there however required a few days drive, albeit through a countryside that has never ceased to amaze us. As we passed back through the centre of the North Island in Taupo we stopped at the Huka Falls, for which we had managed to miss the turn a few weeks before. The equivalent of two Olympic swimming pools of water passes through this gorge per second and when combined with a ten-metre drop, the result is pretty spectacular.

The Huka Falls

On from there and Bugs had a wish granted when we finally hit the Zorb.
The Zorb is a 11 foot tall plastic ball which you can ride inside. They then add a dash of hot water, throw you in and roll you down a hill. A cross between a water slide and a rollercoaster. Hilarious! Drew picked the short straw and decided to be the accompanying adult- luckily it was sunny. By the time of our third go together, she had picked the courage to ‘GO SOLO!’ We haven’t heard the end of it since, now she has graduated to the Go Girl Daredevil Club.........

Zorbing..........................................................................How cool am i dad?!

We arrived at Pauanui early Friday evening, just after Steve and Jo, to find a bottle of fine red already opened. What followed was an incredibly chilled weekend when we drank wine, went to the beach, had lunch, drank wine, played mini-golf, had wine, went rock fishing, drank beer, had dinner and drank more wine. That was just Saturday.

Is this the most chilled out pastime ever?

As we left on Sunday, we visited Cathedral Cove and had a fab time swimming in the ocean. After we had bade farewell to our hosts we spent the night in Miranda, another cool town name, before arriving in Pakiri Beach for some serious horse riding! Mads and Geo ‘had talked themselves up’ massively ahead of the trek and were not amused when they were downgraded to the ‘incompetents’ and ‘nervous’class which included Lu, myself and Bugs, despite them having not ridden a horse for years. Great horses, with absolutely no doubt whether the rider or the horse, were in total control. Since then we have been aching in parts that we haven’t used a lot this trip.

Maddie- 'I love the beach!'

With only a week to go before we start heading for home, we have come to the Bay of Islands praying for some fine weather to chill out in.
Take care
Drew and Lu. x

We’re on the road to Nowhere.....

2009-03-19T00:52:00.000-07:00

3.2.1 Bungy- the evidence, 2 of our girls are nuts!

March 19. Taihape
Taihape markets itself as ‘on the road to everywhere.’ We renamed it after the Talking Heads as it somehow feels more appropriate. We are nowhere. However, it also claims itself to be the Gumboot Throwing capital of New Zealand, an excellent attempt at fame.

the giant Gumboot welcomes us.

We are also now within 50k of Mordor and Mount Doom of Lords of the Rings movie fame, so you can get a good idea of the scenery round here- pretty spectacular.
As we took the ferry from Picton this morning, we bade a fond farewell to the South Island. Our 2 and half weeks there have seen us experience weather of every extreme: swimming from golden beaches in Abel Tasman; floods in Hokitika; the glaciers; snow in Queenstown; and all capped off by a beautiful weekend spent with the Mances in Christchurch. It has left lasting impressions on us all.
We had not met with Chris, Ceci, Kira, Maia and Luam for several years so we were pretty excited at the prospect of meeting up. From our arrival on Friday afternoon to bidding farewell on Monday morning we had loads of fun and they showed us some parts of their beautiful city which we would never have come across from a ‘Lonely Planet.’ Whilst a visit to Fred and Myrtles ‘Paua’ shell house introduced us to Kiwi eccentricity at its finest, our forearms are all still burning from our exertions at the ‘Clip and Climb’ climbing centre last Saturday. In the Mance madhouse, Maddie, Geo and Bugs negotiated a bed for 3 nights, whilst Lu and I took over the driveway- despite the best efforts of myself, Chris and a passing tree to take the roof off Elli as we reversed in. Thank god I opted for the no-excess insurance policy!

Skipping on Taylors Mistake.

By Monday Lu was ready for one of the highlights of her trip- swimming with the dusky dolphins. We ventured to Kaikoura, just North of Christchurch. When Flipper turned up, with 300 of his best mates, the 4.45am alarm call and the freezing cold water was long forgotten for what is undoubtedly a life-long memory.

5.00 am, freezing but ready...

Heres Flipper

Unfortunately, Bugs, Mads and I elected for the lie-in option so only Geo was there to share it with her.
En route, an impromptu coffee shop stop saw us acquire a serious 9 foot high piece of modern Maori sculpture, which may beat us back to Tonbridge. We are not sure yet where it is going to live but it seemed right at the time. I guess they must have put something extra in the latte.....

the ropeswing to Nowhere

We now head north as the Coromandel and Bay of Islands beckons
Adios, until next time
Andy and Lu

3 2 1 Jump

2009-03-12T02:29:00.000-07:00

12 March, Timaru

Skimming stones at Hakitiki

Brrrrrrr- So winter finally hit’s us. After looking forward with some relish to Queenstown and it’s multitude of cool things to do, we got here Monday and were greeted with the majestic scene of snow capped mountains surrounding a deep blue lake- much like Geneva in appearance.

The road to Queenstown

What we didn’t anticipate however were the snow caps progressing steadily closer towards the town as we experienced Queenstown’s lowest ‘high’ March temperature on record. That’s pretty low considering this is an alpine winter ski resort! So we finally got a dose of what Europeans have been experiencing this winter, although in a campervan with a tiny heater and absolutely the wrong sort of clothing. When we ventured outside we pretty much wore everything we possess and looked like a family of Weebles as we darted from one warming coffee shop to another trying to resist the temptation of sticking new sets of winter clothing on the credit card. Bang went the ideas of mountain biking down the Remarkables, white water rafting and Bungee jumping- almost......
As we left town today in a gloriously annoying autumn sun, we drove past Kawarau Bridge bungee jump centre and inquisitiveness got the better of us. Within half an hour Maddie and Georgia were strapped up, Lu watched nervously fully expecting something to go disastrously wrong whilst Olivia was trying to convince the officials she too was 13- just a wee bit small. As soon as we work out the technology, we’ll put the movie on the blog. I’ll let them tell the story when we are back but they are psyched.
Prior to Queenstown, we had spent a very wet couple of days journeying through amazing Lord of the Rings country to the tiny town of Franz Joseph, where rainforest meets the spectacular Fox and Franz Joseph glaciers. Fortunately the storm clouds parted for long enough for us to take a 40 minute helicopter ride up both glaciers even allowing us to land and spend 10 minutes at the top of one of the ice fields, leaving our footprint of a family of snow angels. Truly a once in a lifetime experience. It certainly took care of the girls’ geography lesson for that day.
Two nights followed in the town of Wanaka which proved equally memorable as we discovered the only 5 star campsite of our trip- the luxury of heated bathroom floors and a spa overlooking an amazing mountain view! On the ice on Franz Joseph Glacier

It's a Puzzling World- Wanaka

With only 4 weeks to go before we get home, conversation and thoughts have turned to getting back to life in Tonbridge. Soberingly, Maddie and Georgia have just submitted their GCSE choices- god we must be so old!
Until next time
Andy and Lu

Who discovered England?

2009-03-03T13:46:00.000-08:00

Queen Charlotte Sound

Kaiteriteri. March 3rd 2009.
Captain James Cook was a pretty impressive guy. He was the first European to chart New Zealand, beginning in 1769, and did so with such a degree of accuracy that his maps were still being used in the early 20th century. He also made a lasting impression on the indigenous Maori population. Having inhabited this land for some 400 years prior to Cook’s arrival and had only a fleeting (and fleeing) sight of white men-a Dutchman named Abel Tasman- prior to that, they named more places in New Zealand after him than all other individuals put together.
‘Well who discovered England then?’ asked Lu in response to this impromptu history lesson earlier today. My font of new found knowledge, due entirely to reading Michael Kings ‘Penguin History of New Zealand,’ unfortunately does not extend to this.
The time seems to be going very slowly here. Thinking to last blog update just before we arrived in Napier seems an awfully long time ago. Perhaps the attitude of Greg, the former Glasweigian barman who gave us a vineyard tour around Hawkes Bay, rubbed off on us. This guy must have been the most relaxed individual ever. He drove us around, talked to us occasionally and then took us to some of the most memorable places. He gets top marks.

Amazing mnountain landscaped vineyards in Hawkes Bay

Having spent a week making our way down through the north island to Wellington, we then spent a rather rainy 2 days in the capital city. We had picked up on the way that the main museum, Te Papa, was not to be missed. We were not disappointed as it was filled with really cool, interactive displays ranging from New Zealand’s volcanic and earthquake activity, to Maori culture and the history of immigration down here. Better than any school lesson we could have given the girls that day!

We are not alone....

Since leaving Wellington it feels like the sun has barely set. We are now on the south island in a time zone directly opposite to Northern Europe and about the same longitude south as Lisbon is north. Hopefully this is the start of an Indian summer- Kiwi style. Once again we have no strict plans as to whether we turn right or left at each junction we come to, but we seem to have arrived at Kaiteriteri at the entrance to the Abel Tasman National Park and are now staying on the beach, listening to the waves about 20m away. The little town of Nelson stopped us overnight yesterday and saw us go sea-kayaking this morning. All new for all of us. We had south soon.

Sea kayaking in Marlborough Sound

After we managed to get the laptop back in Wellington, we are back with some pics so have added a couple of extras.

Lady Knox Geyser

The Haka and geothermal pools near Rotorua

The 'Swoop'

Love to all

Lu and Andy

A metre goes a long long way.....

2009-02-23T18:45:00.000-08:00

Lake Taupo, Aoetaroa. 24/02/09
Kia Ora

We sit here on a beautiful sunsetting evening catching up on what has been a decrasingly hectic few days.
It is now a week since we arrived in Auckland with no plan whatsoever as to how we were going to spend the next 41 days.
All we knew was that we where due to pick up exactly the same motorhome as Mavis.

Then it appeared, a whole metre longer than our previous home- ELL1.
We love Elli- she is new(ish), shiny, Tardis-like and has only 38000km on the clock!

However, love was not going to provide any answers to our dilemma of which way to go. But Kimi superman, Steve Scarborough stepped in and saved the day.
We had 1 phone number of someone we knew in Auckland and it was golfer Steve and his lovely wife Jo. We touched base.
With an invite over to dinner and a overnight berth for Elli on the driveway we hatched a plan. The following morning however it was seriously dashed by an atrocious hangover- which also resulted in us leaving our laptop at Steves. So no photos until it catches up with us.
The result of our evenings exploits- we headed south to Waitomoand it's amazing limestone caves.
En route however we called in at A&E after Bugs was smacked in the face by an errant kitesurfer. She is totally fine now although a serious black eye looked really tough for a couple of days!

In the tiny village of Waitomo, which has only 41 permanent residents, Bugs and 1 experienced Glow worm caving whilst Lu, Mads and Geotried Black Water Rafting.
Torrential rain for 2 days had spiced things up a bit and we are now all addicted to adventure tourism, Kiwi style.
Hving then spent the evening in Elli, in a storm, watching the original Danny Kaye version of Hans Christian Andersen, we have been unable to shake off the movies furry, soft focus and rounded view of the world. New Zealand looks good like this....

Rotorua brought us more adrenalin activities, amazing Geothermal mud pools and geysers but most memorably our introduction to Maori culture. Initially i was rather cynical about atending such a touristy event but we decided the kids would enjoy Temaki- an evening in a Maori village. It turned out to be fantastic however with Bugs now firml;y believing that tribal villages full of facial tattooed warriorslurk in every forest. She also did comment that 'Maori food is so much better than what the aborigines eat.'

Our next destination is Napier on the west coast's Hawke Bay- home to New Zealand's finest red wines. So named after and english soldier, Charles Napier, the town was devastated by an earthquake in 1931 measuring 7.8 on the Richter scale and was then rebuilt at the height of the Art Deco movement. Unfortunately for us, it's annual Great Gatsby was last weekend - it is supposed to be superb- but at least we have the vineyards to host us!
Farewell. Pics when we get our laptop back.
Andy, Lu, Mads, Geo and Bugs
xx

Things that go bump in the night

2009-02-14T03:53:00.000-08:00

Valentines Day, Devonport, Tasmania
Within a couple of hours we will be on the ferry back to mainland Australia where we shall have a bustling day, firstly meeting up with Saran and Dave, then Indra and Johnny before returning Mavis II and getting a late flight to Auckland, arriving at around midnight. Plenty of time though to contemplate Tasmania.
This is a truly fascinating place with an extremely laid back attitude to everything. Lu and I caught on to that quickly, but it has now enveloped us all. In packing the van this morning we noticed the kids have not touched tv, i-pods or playstation the entire 12 days we have been here.
Given that, we have covered a lot. After the tranquillity of Lake St Clare we headed south to Hobart for the weekend. An unscheduled stop en-route at Russell Falls saw us trek to some amazing waterfalls, take an absolutely exhilarating ice-cold shower under one of them and then attend a presentation by a Park Ranger on Tasmanian Devils who are slowly being wiped out by a facial cancer disease. Fortunately there are many good people working hard to save them as they are pretty cute animals and dont totally deserve the 'Taz' reputation they have got.

Taking an impromptu dip in the ice cold Russell Falls!

Hobart. Our campsite was not in a great place- some 14km from the city centre and in a pretty ‘bogun’ part of town. It proved tough to shake off our first impressions. However an invite to dinner with old golfing buddy Rich Sampson, very pregnant Fi and kids Olivia and Claudia changed things around. By the time we left town on Monday we had shifted camp to their ‘ranch’ just outside the city where Rich very ably demonstrated his recently acquired Aussie barbie skills. And we even fitted a round of golf at Pomeina Disc Golf course.
Farewell Hobart and on to Port Arthur where we had decided to take the nightime ghost tour. Port Arthur is the site of the old penal colony on Tasmania. Established in the 1830’s as a secondary offender institution, it housed the toughest of the convicts which had been already sent to Aussie. By the time it closed down some 30 years later it had left an awful lot of residents- almost entirely ‘spiritual’ ones.
Nightime fell, Maddie pulled out feighning sickness. We were advised Bugs was too young and would find it too frightening but that didnt account for parents who would also s___ themselves!! It was genuinely scary although we can report we did not see any ghosts- Georgia because she walked around with her eyes shut most of the time and Lu had covered almost every part of her body in case a hand tapped her on the shoulder. I was just scared.
As we left the following morning, we discovered ‘Federation Chocolate.’ Run by a kind elderly lady who makes her chocolate to order, it claims to produce the only Apple chocolate in the world. Bugs was in heaven.

Life in the Lucey Camper!

I think the initial sole purpose of including Tassie on our trip was to see Wineglass Bay. A big hike over Mt Amos took us there. The beaches here are pretty spectacular but this one ranks towards the top. Despite its tranquil appearance the history of this place is pretty gory. It was named in the 1850’s when the local population was doing its’ best to wipe out the Southern Right Whale. They very nearly, but thankfully didn’t, succeed but in the process the sand and waters of this beautiful place were stained blood red. The names remains but luckily the true colours returned.
(Apologies if I sound like a tour guide, you can imagine how Lu and the kids feels sometimes, but you gotta know your stuff!)

Wineglass Bay

We then discovered our Paradise. The Bay of Fires is ranked as one of the places on the planet you have to visit. It is a remote, totally unspoilt and absolutely magnificent area. We were welcomed by ‘Serena’- a bronze bikini clad statue who marked the entrance to Binalong Bay (‘been a long’ what we didn’t find out).

The Amazing Binalong Bay

Our breath was then taken away by miles of luminescent aquamarine water, white sand and no people. What makes the place unique however is the scattering of house size orange and green lichen boulders that litter the coastline. The landscape is almost alien. We camped by the beach and had a magical night. I think we will carry the memory of this place for a long time to come.

On the rocks in Bay of Fires.

Take care all.

Andy and Lu

Close to the Edge of the World.....

2009-02-05T03:45:00.000-08:00

Lake St Claire, Tasmania. Thursday 5 February.

Tinselvania, as Tasmania has become to be known in our trip, was soon upon us. On the overnight ferry from Melbourne we held a toast- ‘hello Tinselvania!’ It was rapidly followed by Olivia’s announcement of ‘and Goodbye ricecakes.’
The source of this little ditto, for those who have ever tried to feed Olivia will know, lays in her appetite, or rather more like, lack of appetite. Despite much thought given to this subject on our daily supermarket sweeps, the vast majority of her lunches have consisted of cucumber, carrot, peanut butter and ricecakes. So it was quite logical for her to celebrate leaving mainland Australia after 4 months by toasting the food she has probably consumed the most of, hoping never to see them again!

'The Spirit of Tasmania'

Tasmania was a relatively late addition to the places we both wanted to see on this trip, but after less than 48 hours here, we are all hooked. From the moment we boarded the ferry and found we had our own cabins (so exciting) , to standing on the edge of Lake St Claire this evening at dusk, you can feel there is something special about this place.
On our first morning we made paper, discovered the source of an amazing Tassie cheese we have been eating, and met Australias ‘Officer Friendly.’ In addition we had also spent 15 minutes in the company of the first Wiszla we have seen since leaving Fire at home. Jasper the 2 year old dog, probably did not know what hit him as 5 people jumped out of their camper to mob him and his owner.

Being greeted at the door at the amazing Creative Paper Factory in Burnie.

Strahan, pronounced ‘strawn’, where we have stayed for 2 nights, lies on the west coast of the island and on the beautiful Macquarie Harbour. Apart from being 9 times bigger than Sydney’s harbour, this places real fame is as the home of the infamous Sarah Island prison and ‘Hells Gates,’ the 70m wide rock strewn entrance to the harbour from the Southern Ocean. This is one of the roughest and hostile seas in the world but on the day we took a harbour tour, it must have been the stillest and most placid of the year. Our boat tour took us out between the rocky Gates and into the ocean. There were no waves but we immediately felt we were on an enormous rollercoaster as the Arctic rollers hit us. The relief as we turned back to the calm of the harbour was felt by everyone.

'Hells Gates'- a millpond!

The drive from Strahan to Hobart is 5 hours of wiggly mountain pass followed by miles of majestic plains, so have stopped ½ way at Lake St Claire, which at 147m deep is Australias deepest lake. For an island so small Tasmania seems to have an extraordinary number of big mountains, huge tracts of bush and big expanses of water. In addition it has 3 varieties of snake, all deadly poisonous. After a close encounter today, Maddie now knows and will never forget that the Tiger snake is jet black, about 4 foot long and is the 4th most venomous snake on the planet. I shall save the tale as I am sure she will enjoy telling when we are back home!
Hobart tomorrow for 4 days and I may even get to play my first round of disc golf since leaving home.......
Andy & Lu

You ''canhot'' be serious

2009-01-31T00:05:00.000-08:00

Melbourne. Saturday Jan 31. 7pm

Melbourne is so hot- too hot. Having never experienced 45c before I now realise that sitting in a sweltering UK summer traffic jam without air-con is a mere trifle. What makes this even more difficult to experience is the wind. When the north wind blows, it has already scoured 3000 miles of scorched outback and as a result feels like you are walking around with a body sized hairdryer blowing at your body.
It’s the second highest temperature ever recorded in Melbourne. The record was a mere 57c.........

Late night visit to the scary Luna Park

However, it is nothing that a cold beer cannot relieve, or more appropriately for the last few days, a freshly made mojito!
We have a had social couple of weeks since getting here: Lu’s former work colleague Sarah and hubby Dave have been so helpful and also revealed a couple of Melbournes little late night gems; the Diamantes, Anthony, Adriana and the kids, were great Australia day hosts and also introduced us to a couple more late night establishments; with Caro Salthouse and mother, aka Myles’ sis and mum, we shared a few glasses of fizz in honour of their brother in Geneva; while Johnny, Indra, Mish and Tash who have now finished their trip, joined us for a birthday lunch at the beautiful Royal Botanical Gardens.

Australia with the Diamantes

Melbournes cool way of honouring is favourite sons (and daughters)

The Aussie Open tennis has been the backdrop to our stay. It totally justifies it’s name as ‘The Peoples Grand Slam’ and is so accessible and a lot of fun. We have been a lot, from the first day when Olivia in particular sweltered but fortunately had her Nintendo in her bag, to last night’s unbelievable 5 1/2 hour Spanish semi final which finished around 1am. The atmosphere was electric and I doubt not one person left early nor wanted the match to finish.

The Grand Slam of Asia/ Pacific

Tonight sees Ang head back home to England, tomorrow Federer / Nadal, which we shall watch on the big screen in Federation Square. On Monday we will bid farewell to Melbourne, hello to Mavis our campervan again, followed by an overnight ferry to Tasmania. The adventure continues......

Auntie Ang!

2009-01-17T15:27:00.001-08:00

Melbourne, Sunday January 18th, 8.00am

After 92 days we finally bade farewell to Mavis. Over that time we have had a scary motorway blowout, seen the canopy ripped off in a cyclone, a burglary (back to that in a minute), made and unmade our beds 92 times and had numerous electrical problems to name but a few of the unexpected delights of hiring a motorhome. But we have also travelled down almost 4000km of majestic coastline, seen some amazing places and met some fab people. To think we are only just over half way through our trip.
The last week has been one of contrasts- from the beautiful Wilsons Prom to the rather downmarket Phillip Island, followed by Melbourne which on day 3 is still taking our breath away.

After a short but really interesting stop at Buchans cave, we made it to Wilsons Prom.

Buchans Cave

Watching the surf on Squeeky Beach, Wilsons Prom

Wilsons Promontory is a huge nature reserve on Australia’s most southerly tip, run by Victoria’s Park Service. There are no settlements and the only residents are the park rangers and numerous kangaroos, koalas, emu and wombats. The sea is as deep a blue as any we can remember from our trip. The park service run a small campsite at a place named Tidal River which is so popular amongst Victorians at this time of the year that places are balloted 6 months before. However, we discovered quite by accident that there 16 camp spots held each night for out-of-state and non-Aussie visitors. The ‘Lucky Luceys’ as we have often named ourselves on this trip, got one of the 16 spots and we spent a wonderful 2 days in the park. It got hot- close to 40c on both days- and was very relaxed.

View from our camp on Wilsons Prom

Each evening after dark a very enterprising chap ran an incredibly popular cinema screen showing the ‘latest’ movies to campers and any passing wombats, who seem take great interest in cinema goers food- especially popcorn!

We bade farewell yet again to a place we did’nt want to leave and plugged in Philip Island to our aussie accented navman- who Olivia now impersonates with an eerie accuracy. ‘Turn right in 300 metres......’
Apart from being 90km from Melbourne and home to the Aussie Moto GP, so attracting thousands of city visitors each year, Philip Island’s real fame is as the home of a 60,000 strong colony of ‘Little Penguins’ who each evening at sun set, gather in the surf after a days fishing to make the perilous journey across the beach back to their burrows. This procession has become a major tourist attraction but one is managed to have minimal impact on the animals, a objective it meets very well.
We then spent an afternoon packing the van up before it’s return. How we managed to get everything in it I cannot understand, but more worryingly how are we going to get everything back in another van in 2 weeks time and then finally reduce our baggage to 25kg each for the flight home? That will be a challenge of Krypton Factor proportions.
Melbourne. Our apartment is majestic. The 14th and top floor of a building on the banks of the Yarra river overlooking not only the main shopping street and arts centre, but also the Botanical gardens, the MCG and most importantly of all, Flinders Park and the Rod Laver Arena, the home of the Aussie Open tennis. The city is buzzing.

On our balcony with the cbd behind.

Saturday 17th January dawned not only on Maddie and Georgia’s 13th birthday but also as the day the secret we have carried with us since leaving home could finally be revealed. ‘Auntie Ang’ was flying half way round the world to join us and the girls did not have a clue. When the apartment door was opened at about 10am to reveal Ang holding a 13 candle cake the shock left them utterly speechless, for about 5 seconds, then mayhem broke out. Maddie screamed, Georgia, mum, dad and Ang cried, whilst Olivia did the splits!

13th Birthday girls....

Chicks in the city...

She will be with us for the next 2 weeks.

On a final note, the stolen handbag.....
Lu’s close friend and former work colleague, Sarah, who we haven’t seen for 10 years but hails from and lives in Melbourne, called us earlier in the week to say she ‘had’ the handbag. Via a long series of events it had arrived on her doorstep, looking a little weather bedraggled but still containing the purse and credit card, Olivias prescription shades, some make up, old family photos and a screwdriver(!)
We were gobsmacked.
Take care
Andy

I shall go no farther.....

2009-01-10T03:13:00.000-08:00

Saturday 10th January, Mallacoota

Olivia’s pronouncement earlier today mid way through yet another coastal walk as she sat on a particularly sunny clifftop.
I think however she expressed something we are all feeling after a particularly exhausting couple of weeks – since we left Byron on Boxing day in fact.
We have covered many miles and crammed much into a relatively short space of time, but now with Melbourne beckoning– 16 days in a lovely city centre apartment, 10 minutes walk from the tennis and 200m from the main shopping street- we need a break from Mavis and driving.
Much has happened since Christmas: we spent New Years eve on the steps of the Sydney Opera house watching the fireworks; got caught in a traffic jam of UK proportions as we escaped the city heading south; spent a really interesting couple of days in what has to be the planets strangest capital city- Canberra; and met up again with Indra, Johnny, Mish and Tash who in 4 meetings have become true friends and who we will miss greatly when we finally head home.
Firstly Sydney. We figured that we are in Aus for New Year so there is only place for us to be. Unfortunately so did another 1,499,495 people.....it was pretty packed. However, having got to the city centre by about 2pm and found a great space we spent many hours eating bad fast food and drinking overpriced beer, but it was worth it. Sydney opera house and the harbour bridge are the iconic views of Australia, so seeing a great firework show silhouette them has to be a highlight of the trip. We managed to escape back to Mavis at a pretty reasonable hour and subsequently spent a pretty lazy new years day recovering in 35c heat.

Waiting for midnight....

And so to Canberra. The city was established in about 1912 and is in the middle of nowhere. Well not quite- it is mid way between Sydney and Melbourne, so avoiding territorial animosities- and that is pretty much close to the middle of nowhere!
It has a clinical feel to it. Wide freeways, lots of green space and every building seems to compete in its impressiveness, but there are no people there apart from a few fellow tourists and staff

manning the many public buildings. We were strongly recommended to visit the Australian War Memorial, so that was our first stop. Both Lu and I were quite taken aback by what proved to be an emotional couple of hours but I feel that having such a sympathetic and yet incredibly

knowledgeable tour guide contributed to that.

It compares to London’s Imperial War Museum but to be honest blows the socks off it (excuse any pun!).

Honouring Australia's war dead....

The National Gallery hosted an impressive touring Degas exhibition and an equally alluring gift shop for 3 young girls, whilst the National Portrait Gallery, which only opened last month, displayed Australia’s finest sons. From Captain Cook and many other founders through to politicians, Indigenous land rights campaigners, its famous sportsman and pop-stars, this was fascinating history in an amazing building. If you ever find yourself in Canberra.........
Back to the coast and several noticeable changes- not least the weather, which has cooled, but mainly the ocean which is at least 2-3c colder than our last time we were in it at Byron. Our speedos and bikinis have been put away and we have dusted off our fleeces and woolly pyjamas The south east corner of Aus features lots of small coastal towns, rocky outcrops, big surf and miles of golden beaches. We are seeing a lot of this as we now come off the main highway at every chance and just follow the ‘tourist routes.’ Stops at Nelligen, Batemans Bay, Merimbula, Mallacoota and soon Wilsons Prom and Phillip island should see us hit Melbourne by Friday, just in time for Mads and Geo’s 13th birthday. How old are we!

These grow so abundantly, Aussies class Agapantha's as weeds.......

The other thing we have come across is Tasmanian Camembert-nice- whilst all 3 girls have started reading with something of a voracious appetite. It is a great combo.
Take care and wrap up warm- I read that Europe is in the middle of a rather aggressive cold snap.
Andy

The Hundredth day....

2008-12-30T02:51:00.000-08:00

100 days- Narrabeen Beach, Sydney

Waiting for the storm- Hunter Valley

We left home on September 21st so today is the hundredth of our trip.
Lots has happened to us all- and we have laughed and learn’t at everything.
There have also been the negatives: lu’s 80 mossie bites in one night; the extremely challenging stresses of pre-pubescent daughters; the van break in and several other motorhome crisis’, to name a few, but we deal with it all and are taking an increasingly Aussie ‘no worries, no drama’s’ approach.
We set a pretty difficult task for ourselves today- pick the 5 best moments or places and your worst bit. I assure you picking the top 5 was hardest.
Here it is.

Olivia-
1- turtle rescue at Mapoon.
2- Aarukun speedboats.
3- Christmas day at Byron Bay
4- Dreamworld- ‘The Claw.
5- Meeting my new Aussie mates- misha, tashi and elyssa
Worst- The camp toilets in Serena

Georgia-
1- turtle rescue at Mapoon.
2- Christmas at Byron.
3- Movieworld- ‘Superman.’
4- Daydream Island in the Whitsundays.
5- Fraser Island.
Worst- Smell of Molasses at the Bundy rum factory. Georgia- top 5

Maddie-
1- Driving speedboats at Aarukun.
2- Surfing at Byron.
3- Movieworld- ‘Superman.’
4- Scuba diving the Barrier Reef in Daintree
5- Wild Dolphins at Yamba.
Worst- The nightime trip across a croc infested river in a tinnie at Turtle rescue.

Lu-
1- Whitehaven beach- just beautiful.
2- Turtle rescue
3- Spending time with indigenous peoples in Cape Yorke.
4- Winding down on Rawa Island.
5- Learning to surf in a storm on Rainbow Beach.
Worst- All 3 kids vomiting during our plane charter from Mapoon to Aarukun.

Andy-
1- Speedboat ride to Rawa.
2- Surfing at Byron
3- Storms at Rainbow beach.
4- Sunrise at Rainbow Beach.
5- Big Crocs, really close, in Cape Yorke.
Worst- Emptying the camper van waste water, every day.

The past few days have been a bit of a blur- 4 days of travel, but we did slip in a very enjoyable afternoon vineyard tour in the Hunter Valley yesterday. However we are now just outside Sydney in preparation for New Year fireworks at the Harbour Bridge.
Happy New Year. Love to all
Andy

St George Foreman- International Cultural Ambassador

2008-12-27T01:53:00.000-08:00

Christmas eve. The ominous prospect of yet another BBQ beckons.....How do we convince the kids that this is how we should be celebrating Christmas ?
Then at 4pm Santa appears early. Our next door neighbour of the past 2 weeks offers us her magical ‘George Foreman portable roaster.’ Wow! an offer we couldn’t refuse. A mad dash to the shops in which we acquired a magnificient Turkey, Roast Potatoes, fresh gravy and all the trimmings. But sadly no pigs in blankets.
That done, the evening was back on course and we all got dressed up for a special Christmas eve dinner and drinks at ‘The Balcony,’ a place in Byron we have come to know and love for early evening gin and tonics. The heavens opening just as we were leaving so reminded us of England but a great evening of family tapas and paella followed and then back home to bed in expectation of Santa (who remember had to climb in through the vent in our loo!)

Christmas eve dinner

Christmas morning started at a very civil 6.45 am and Santa had somehow delivered. Our walk along the beach before breakfast, dressed up in white, red and green with Santa hats on, attracted the local newspaper reporter doing his piece on Byron at Christmas. Boxing day morning and we had made the front cover of the paper- unfortunately minus Georgia for who a call of nature coincided with the pic.

We take a walk whilst Fluffy pants guards the chocs!

Smoked salmon on muffins for breakfast, a present opening session and by a very relaxed 1pm we hit the beach. What a great atmosphere- lots of santa hats, barbies and very hot indeed. There was even a surfing santa wearing a mankini!

Santa's not so little helpers.

By 4 however the prospect of the turkey beckoned and we switched on George. Two and a half hours later we sat down to the most relaxed Christmas dinner you can imagine. What an amazing act of teamwork but we all agreed Lu gets a masterchef nomination.

Lu looking great- and the turkey wasn't so bad either.....

Alas, like all wonderful things, Byron is over. We loved every single minute.
The next few days we are heading south to Sydney for New years eve. We have just stopped north of Coffs harbour at a place called Split Solitude Beach. We spent the most amazing hour at the ‘Legends of Surf Museum’ run by the coolest 80 year old guy, Scott Dillon, we have ever met. He has been surfing since he was 3 years old and the museum is a tour of his memorabilia- great pics of him surfing the most famous waves in the world, a collection of amazing boards and other pieces of surf history. The camp is very relaxed, the only similarity to Byron is that we are right on the beach, but that is it. We are in the sand dunes, amongst the trees and it is very laid back indeed.
Take care and enjoy the holidays
Andy and Lu.
xxx

The Spaceman says eveybody look down....

2008-12-15T13:30:00.000-08:00

Byron Bay, Tuesday 16th December 7.00am

Our second morning at beautiful Byron and it feels like the sun has not left a perfectly cloudless sky. This is our base for Christmas and it would be hard to beat right now. We are no more than 30 seconds from the beach and 2 minutes walk to the very cool main street of this bustling town. A real mixture of people- lots of families and backpackers as usual, but what seems to give this space it’s feel is the locals. They are, relaxed, man,.....of course they are all friendly and very chatty, everyone is in Aus apart from the low life who broke our van, but they seem to appreciate they live in an exceptional place- even the drunks who have a special tree on the beach they hang out under are cool. Add to that the surfers, their babes and a mix of hippies who appear to have got stuck here at some point in their lives, and you have Byron.

7pm Yoga and boarding at Byron

All appreciating a perfect surfing beach with crystal clear water, at Australia’s most easterly point. I think if Captain Cook had discovered it he would have abandoned ship, stayed, and changed the course of history!
A testing week beforehand though with both Lu and myself having our first ‘lows’ of the trip. Both really triggered by the handbag incident which unfortunately we are reminded about daily due to the stuff taken. What added to it was a mini cyclone that hit us on Tuesday evening in Ballina. Yet another storm had hit us and seemed to have passed whilst we were enjoying a ‘teach the family’ Black Jack’ session, when from nowhere a wind appeared, rocked the van like a toy boat in a bath and then ripped our canvas awning and almost wrenched the supporting steel frame from the van, completely bending it in the process. Luckily our insurance covers it (yet again) but we felt exceptional vulnerable in our little home.
We patched it up with string and tape and got out of town the following morning. The new one is being fitted next week.
And so to Yamba- another tiny fishing port about 350km south of Brisbane. Without doubt, Yamba grew on us. The weather was nothing special as we arrived but as with so many places, as the sun came out, so did it’s character. A campsite with pools, slides, free kids cinema, a great waterfront setting and an en-suite loo proved what we needed. With the arrival of Johnny, Indra, Mish and Tashy-our third encounter- our gloom was lifted and thrown out with the trash. Several bottles of Rose, local fizz and many beers all added to the fun and slightly cloudy head in the morning. The highlight of the stop however was yet to come.
We had tried unsuccessfully to rent some tinnies (small 4m motor boats) late Saturday afternoon so we booked an early Sunday start. The brilliant sunshine that greeted us when we woke up glistened on the Clarence river and we could see why it has been named Australia’s most beautiful. Half an hour into our adventure and Geogia and I noticed a fin about 10m from the boat. Two more appeared in quick succession and we realised we had come across a family of bottle nose dolphins- 2 adults and a pup- feeding.

Gulls on the Clarence

We were then treated to 45 minutes of slowly trailing this family as they fed in the shallows. Not another soul around and it was absolutely magical. Of all our wildlife encounters, whether in zoos’, parks or even the crocs in Cape Yorke, this was the most memorable.

Dolphin hunting.

Farewells again to Johnny and the Kurzines, we will see them again in the near future en-route to Melbourne.
So to Byron, the road trip winds it was on.
Take care all
Andy

mavis the motorhome

2008-12-08T01:50:00.000-08:00

8th December 08

Hi its Mummy and Georgia here, nobody has caught up with the blog for a while so here we go.

Brisbane –Our first city! We stayed in a camp site only ten minutes from the city centre. This was great for all our sight- seeing, culture injections and our last chance to shop for Christmas, for anything that wasn’t going to be from a surf shop that is.
Brisbane is set up with its museums and galleries along a stretch called ‘The South Bank’ a very similar feel to London.

Day 1 was spent visiting Brisbane’s science museum which was really hands on and practical. Giving us a chance to sprint against Australia’s fastest 100m runner, problem solving, optical illusions, space, weight and much more. Mum says she couldn’t believe it when I tapped her shoulder and I was lifting a family size fridge, with the use of leavers, and Olivia with what looked like her head chopped off on a food platter thank goodness for optical illusions.
Over the next few days, we visited the Museum of Modern Art, The Brisbane Museum and an exhibition called ‘Game On’ a history of Video games. Great fun was had by all playing various games. Remember Ping Pong? Space Invaders (couldn’t get Andy off that) and hysterical time on the dance mat.
This year Christmas shopping just for the five of us was very strange , looking for small light portable presents that we could hide somewhere in the motor home. Happily Olivia will not be receiving any large pieces of moulded pink plastic this year. We did however start to feel a little bit in the Christmas spirit. There was a lovely large tree in the main square and children singing carols from all the local schools. There was a Australian post box in the main square which was just for letters to Santa, so the girls were able to send details of where we would be staying and asking him to climb through the vent in the ceiling, and to then balance onto the loo to get into our Motor Home (which we have now called ‘Mavis’) as we did not have a chimney. Olivia is still asking Santa to bring her Charlotte her best friend for Xmas.... Mmm not sure he will be able to do that one.
Another first for the girls on this trip and certainly a great experience for us all, one evening following a long shopping period we took them to have their first taste of Japanese ‘Teppenyaki’ We had wonderful chef who was keen to put on a great show for us pommes, all the girls could say was WOW. When it was time to make the egg fried rice we had to catch the raw eggs into our bowls......Andy did....the rest of us no way, so egg all over. Once the rice was cooked we also had to catch the rice in the bowl this time we all managed that one.
Brisbane bought more storms and high winds. The heat builds up each day and then like a flick of a switch, late afternoon the heavens open with rain, thunder and incredible lightning this goes on for most of the night, day breaks and you are greeted by a beautiful blue sky and warmth once again.
Pacific Pines, Claire, Tobi and the Theme Parks. – We arrived in Pacific Pines on the 30th of November, where we planned to stay the night saying hi, and ended up staying a week. We were visiting one of mummy’s old school friends (who she had not seen for 24 years) Claire Spillman and her gorgeous black Lab, Tobi.
We were greeted that night by a thorough face licking and lovely roast lamb. Our first roast for over 3 months! How did she know The Lucey’s love their roasts?
The next day we left the house at 10am to go to our first Theme Park, ‘Wet and Wild’. This was great fun going on all the water slides, the kamikaze, the black hole and all other sorts. Olivia managed to go on every ride. She has great guts!

The Aussie air seems to have given Mads a growth spurt!

The day after that, Claire had the day off work from the Gold Coast Hospital where she is a child’s physiotherapist. She told us about a place called ‘Tambourine Mountain with lots going on. I, Maddie and Daddy went on a very testing, 4 course of high ropes. That took us 3 hours, while mummy and Claire took Olivia horse riding. The day was great fun, having a picnic lunch, and afterwards an ice cream in a little village.

Decorating the tree at Claires.

On the 3rd day of December we went to Movie World. The Superman ride was the best rollercoaster. So fast, with vertical climbs, drops and loops.! The batman rides were good fun, as well as the soaking log ride and Land of Looney Tunes. Mum is sooooo not good at roller coasters so the land of Looney Tunes was about her level. Ha Ha

with mum in the Land of Looney Tunes!

School work couldn’t be forgotten, so another day catching up with that and our scrap books, which are beginning to look really interesting. That same day, dad went out to the supermarket and came back with his hair coloured peroxide white! Okay, okay, we all know that you were bleaching your hair for blond highlights, but now this!

Blondes have more fun.....

Last stop a day at Dream world. What a week of theme parks. We have definitely had enough of them for a long long time. At least we had experienced them before all the schools broke up for their summer holidays, they were quite busy with ‘Schoolies’ though which are the 16 and 18 year olds all out having fun after their exams.
We left Claire and Tobi who had been such great hosts all week. We did not want to leave our beds with cotton sheets, great showers, flat screen T.V the comfort of a home and good company. The aim for the next week was to travel south of the Gold Coast to explore as far as Coffs Harbour, about a third of the stretch to Sydney. That afternoon we met up with Pad and Lynn for lunch who were staying in Sanctuary Cove, just 10 minutes away. Unfortunately a few minutes after we had sat down, I went back to the Mavis – the van, to get a jumper only to find the glass smashed and the van had been broken into. Mummy’s new Orla Keily handbag which we had bought her for her birthday to use on the trip was the only thing that had been stolen but it contained a matching purse, mobile phone and everything else in the bag. Dad was amazed how much mum kept in her handbag...... So if you don’t hear from mummy that’s why. She was most upset about her photos she had in her purse of us since we were tiny, Olivia’s important glasses and of course her phone. At least the robbers had gone before I arrived back at the van. The rest of the afternoon was spent getting to the police station to report the crime and then trying to sort out fixing the glass.
So we are now in Kirra near Coollangatta the border to New South Wales catching up with our insurance company, getting the glass fixed in the morning and mummy and Daddy have just said we can do some school work. Yuk.
Hopefully we are going to see high school Musical this afternoon.
.
All our love to you all,
Mummy and Georgia,
xxx

brisbane nov28

2008-11-27T15:22:00.000-08:00

CRIKEY!!

Is it always raining when i do blog updates? The west coast of Aus has had a huge amount of rain over recent days- maybe its our british influence. We sat through 2 days of major storms last week. 1 nut case was killed- he tried to take pictures from inside a storm drain....darwin awards(?) so probably a good thing his genes have been eliminated from society ,some 120000 homes in the Brisbane area were damaged and numerous trees and power lines fell.
Meanwhile lu, Maddie and Georgia went to surf school! At 7pm that evening, when after several hours away they still hadn’t returned, i did begin to plot my course of crisis action. However they got back, totally elated, having been bashed around by 4 ft waves for a few hours. Definately the best way to handle adverse weather.
Nightime however was different. Having told the kids not to worry as we were protected by the rubber wheels of the camper being in contact with the ground, things did get pretty bad. My plan centred on explaining that if you count the seconds between the lightning strike- which were awesome as we watched them over the ocean- and the following thunder roll, that is how ‘far’ away the storm actually is. The count started around 15 which was fine but it steadily fell until by my own nervous reckoning it hit 2 and a collective wail rose from the kids beds. I said they had been counting too quickly and it was definitely more like 5!
We survived.
That all took place on a cliff edge at a place called Rainbow Beach. Without and doubt the coolest place we have been so far. Our tour of west coast Australia’s finest campsites has produced some pretty ugly contenders- Serena, Ingham, Mackay and some beautiful spots, but Rainbow Beach blows them all away.
A tiny town of about 500 people, 3 coffee shops- all serving awesome pancake breakfasts, 1 surf school and a couple of browsy gift shops- the owners of which knew Mads, Geo and Bugs on first name terms by the time we left (that involved an ever increasing discount whenever they spent there, which was an upside). Unsurprisingly in such a spot, they have just finished building some pretty awesome, ultra modern, ocean view apartments, so i guess in 5 years time the place will feel very differently.

Caught by the waves at Rainbow

Camp Lucey

We had a great 7 days there made even better for us by the arrival of Jonny and Indra and their 2 daughters at the tail end of that. We met them what seems like an age ago in Mission Beach as they were on a 6 month trip to the North from their home in Melbourne and they caught us on the way back down at Rainbow. I am sure we shall be leapfrogging each other a couple more times over the next few months.
The weekend was spent just north of Brisbane at a place called Dicky Beach- so named as the SS Dicky beached itself there about 75 years ago- where i spent yet another afternoon getting thrown around in the waves with a surfboard trying to perfect my ‘hang ten’ technique. Jesus, it is a tough sport. What is most frustrating is sitting on the beach, exhausted after 2 hours in the water, and some young kid turns up, throws his board in and within 1 minute is riding a wave to die for. I have a long way to go and perhaps not starting at age 44 is the best idea.....
On Monday we visited the late Steve Irwin’s Australia zoo. What a fantastic day. We hit it pretty much as the gates opened at 9.30am and were 1 of the last to leave 7 hours later. It is obviously super touristy –the crocodile show arena for example holds 5000 people and is like a Wimbledon show court in scale- but there is a very strong message of conservation, environment and sustainability all in a larger than life Steve Irwin style- Allrighty.

At the zoo with a huge groc and the great Steve.

A short stop to more friends who we have met en-route, Louise and Tony, who hosted a barbie and sleepover that night for us made a long day.

Now Brisbane. We are camped some 5km from the centre of the city in a nice sleepy suburb. There is a great Mexican restaurant 500m away so we introduced the kids to Chimichangers, Quesidillas and reconstituted beans. No Tequila but memories of some of several pretty riotous nights at Jeepers in Wandsworth town flooded back to us.
So we now have 5 days of city culture ahead. There are some highly rated museums here, a great modern art gallery and more importantly for the girls with Christmas looming, great shopping. My credit card is gearing up for a battering......
Take care in the snow back home!
Andy

let's go, adventure!

2008-11-16T02:24:00.000-08:00

Maddie and Olivia’s Update on Sunday the 16th of November
Hi everybody, how are you? It’s Maddie and Olivia.
We know that Mummy and Georgia left you saying that we were going off to Fraser Island from Harvey Bay. Well on the 12th we left the motor home at the caravan park and got picked up by a huge four wheel drive coach. Alex, our wicked driver and tour guide, with a very strong Aussie accent was really funny and every time we got to our seats to go to a different venue he said things like ‘All righteooo!’, ‘Let’s go!’, ‘Adventure!’, ‘No Dramas!’ Now imagine that in the strongest Aussie accent you can think off. From the caravan park we picked up a few more passengers and the set of for the Urangan Boat Harbour, where we took a boat to Moon Point on Fraser Island. The first stop we made on Fraser was to Central Station for a rainforest walk. After the apparently ‘interesting’ rainforest walk we hit the stretch of beach and drove along the shore. It was an amazing sight. We stopped at Elli Creek and waded along the knee high crystal clear water holding up our shorts trying not to get our pants wet. In the end Maddie gave up, stripped off and daringly dived into the freezing water where everyone stared at her in amazement. Even our darling father was amazed...

Views from Indian Head, Fraser Island

For lunch we stopped at Happy Valley. Although, the atmosphere wasn’t that happy as we got caught in a rain storm. I felt like a hot cup of tea and when no one was looking, sneaked a takeaway cup and lid. Georgia on the other hand wasn’t brave enough to do it. After lunch we stopped off at the Maheno Shipwreck. It was really weird knowing that over 50 years ago people actually were on the ship and used it day to day.

Maheno at low tide.

That evening we stayed in a campsite in tents with really comfy beds. It was great to have a good night sleep. The following day we stopped off at two lakes for a swim and walked a 25 minute rainforest walk. To get to the first lake, Lake Wabby-the only barrage lake on the island- we had to walk 1.8km and most of the walk was across heavy sand dunes in hot weather. You can imagine the whinging and whining that was coming out Olivia. The second lake, Lake Birrabeen on the other hand was more like a 20 second walk, luckily no whinging that time. The second lake was supposed to be good for conditioning your hair and skin. We said goodbye to Fraser and got dropped back of at the Caravan Park.
The next day we said good bye to Hervey Bay and drove to Rainbow Beach. Our campsite is 50m from the beach and there are no mozzies here- it’s great! Unfortunately Georgia wasn’t well all day but Mummy, Daddy and us two headed down to the beach and had a fun time. Although, because the current was so strong, Olivia would have got dragged away so quickly if she hadn’t held on to Mummy and Daddy’s hand. Even me. Maddie found it extremely tough. Yesterday we bought some body boards. Daddy and us two had a fab time at the beach. Georgia still was under the weather. Also we watched the movie ‘Rain Man’ in the evening, with Tom Cruise and Dustin Hoffman. It was really good and a movie which Dustin Hoffman won an Oscar for in 1988.
This morning we went out for pancakes for brekkie. Daddy had a surf lesson and Georgia, Olivia and I were in the crashing waves for four hours! We loved it. Right now we are all pretty sunburnt and sitting in the camper waiting for a big storm to hit.

4.45 am sunrise at Rainbow

Tomorrow, more surf lessons. We are staying in Rainbow Beach for at least three more nights, including tonight. This is a great place.
That’s all for now, missing you lots,
Maddie and Olivia xxx

hi georgia and mum here......

2008-11-10T15:34:00.000-08:00

11.11.08
Mum and Georgia before breakfast thought they would update the blog.

After nine days at the Whitsundays, we finally packed up our bags and moved on. It was hard because it is one of the most beautiful places we have ever been to, and we will always remember.
Our aim was to get to Hervey bay, with a few stops along the way. Our first night stop was in scary Sarina,( psycho killers unite). The motor home company arrived at 6am with a new van for us to start us on our way. Sadly no bigger, but with a battery that worked.
We seemed to drive miles and miles and miles through major sugarcane areas with not a soul on the road.
We stopped at the Capricorn caves which were a series of 27 dry caves discovered in 1888 by a Norwegian searching for kangaroos. It was weird walking on hundreds of tons of guano poop! One of the caves was used as a cathedral for weddings and concerts. The acoustics were said to be more perfect than the Sydney Opera house.
We drove straight to Yepoon, where we stayed for 2 nights. We all remember listening to Barack Obama’s acceptance speech as we arrived into town, quite a special moment. Hopefully this is a special chance for the U.S and the World to get back on track.
The next stage was to drive to Agnes Water/Town of 1770. This is where Captain Cook first landed in Queensland and guess what year that was...?

During our stay there Maddie, Dad and i went to surf school. The people over here are so committed to educating the way of the water, the tides and lifesaving skills. It’s not just about

learning to surf.
We discovered some kind of jelly fish so that put us off going into the water. Later we found out that the little creature that we were so terrified of was called a jelly blubber that Australian kids throw at each other for fun... what do we know?

Our last day on the road before Hervey bay. We stopped off for a tour of the world famous Bundaberg Rum Distillery. Words could never describe the smell of the molasses in the air. Such a pong I’ll never forget it! I don’t think Olivia ever took her fingers off her nose. There has been many an evening when dad has lost use of his legs from drinking Bundy and coke.
That same afternoon, we finished the drive to Hervey Bay.
From here tomorrow we are off on a sand safari to explore Fraser Island, the world’s largest sand island and on the world heritage list. Mum’s worried about sand flies and bugs again; she’ll use her new potion that the locals have advised. A mixture of dettol, Citronella oil and Baby oil, and boy she smells good.
Will update more after Fraser.
Missing u all so much. X

nov 3 - airlie beach, 7am, hot

2008-11-02T14:21:00.001-08:00

A major day- after an unbelievable 6 weeks on the road- i have finally worked out how to use our blog... so much for forward planning whilst we were at home!
I think rather than try and catch up in 1 go- boring for you to read and equally mind numbing for me to write, i’ll do it in bite size pieces.
Right now we are back at airlie beach- if you are looking at a map, it south of Townsville, north of mackay and the closest part of mainland aus to the Whitsunday islands.
This is the 8th day we been here now so i guess you could say we have got a bit stuck but you know, it’s the closest place to perfect that lu or i have been to, maddie and Georgia love it also and the camp pool has a slide, so Bugs gives it a big vote also. I reckon however we’ll move on by mid-week.
We just got back from a weekend away from the van – 2 weeks in a room no larger than our kitchen at home so i think we were due it. An 8am ferry on Saturday, followed by a 5pm ferry back on Sunday with a night at the daydream island resort squeezed in the middle. Great beach, great pool, couple cool margerita’s and starched bed linen. Downsides- hotel aircon played havoc with my sinuses and lu’s uncontrollable shopping tendency, but we can get over both of them!
My suspicions about our camper’s reliability are also increasing, fuelled by a flat battery when we got back to the ferry carpark. Aussie racq were very quick but that due almost entirely to being 2 miles from a population centre. An outback road may not yield the same response. This on top of geo locking us out of the van on Friday (the day saved by Bugs the cat burglar....) and a couple of other minor issues.
I spoke to the higher company about it- very understanding and i suspect when we get to Brisbane (about 1250km) we may be in for a change.
one of our overriding impressions of this trip has been how unbelievably ‘nice’ everyone seems to be- without it being in that vile American over serviced way: From the guy at immigration when we first got to Sydney; any number of shopkeepers we talked to; general tourist info people; the breakdown guy last night, but also people at the camp kitchens we been using or just parents of kids maddie, geo and bugs have befriended , these are a really friendly bunch. No doubt some drunken as....e will try to spoil that view but he can wait. There was also the weird town of Ingham- home to Australia’s largest Capsicum festival (how many are there?!)- which had a bit of a Texas Chainsaw Massacre feel about it, but we didn’t stop there too long so it doesn’t really count.
I attached some pics- mainly from our day trip to Whitsunday island and the jaw dropping Whitehaven beach we visited last week. The girls are all growing really fast- (i am even noticing it- could be the sun). Look out for bug’s new teeth, maddies new hair cut – could you fail to spot it- and lu’s new ‘120 a day’ sit up stomach!
Take care, keep in touch.

2008-09-29T01:08:00.000-07:00

Georgia (Asleep)

Guy(Daddys old client), Mummy, Daddy, Maddie, Olivia

Mummy

Daddy, Olivia and Maddie

Rawa

2008-09-24T18:54:00.002-07:00

Hi everyone, we are now on the beautiful island of Rawa!!!
We were picked up in singapore and drove for 4 hours in an old taxi van. we went through palm tree and rubber tree plantations- it was really interesting. we stopped and geo took some pics of some of the rubber trees. we also saw monkeys on the side of the road eating all the rubbish people throw out of their car. dad says we musnt ever throw stuff out of our windows now.
we then got on a speed boat for half an hour to get to the island.
The weather is amazing and the sea a beautiful turquiose colour!! There is a cool slide on the pier and even though we got there yesterday the whole family have probably been on it a thousand times!!! lol!!! We swam out to the end of the pier in really deep water and jumped off the pier about 4 or 5 metres high!! Even olivia did it!!! Although we stopped jumping when some big fish came to see whats going on!!
When Georgia, Olivia and I were walking along the path to our hut a crocodile raced across in front of us and now we are all scared to walk back there(even though dady says that it wasnt a real one!!)
We have made some friends with two norweigian families and the children(girls) are all around the same age to us!!
Better go now but write soon and next time i will put some pictures up!!!
Madz xxx

Rowa

2008-09-24T18:54:00.001-07:00

Family Lucey Diary

2008-09-18T04:24:00.000-07:00

18 september. 3 days to go.
Packing mayhem about to start. Way too much stuff and more worried about where it's all going to go once we are there as opposed to can we can get it all in the bag.
Haircut dilemmas- i think the whole family should go for peroxide crew cuts. Think about it- no shampoo, towels, gel or even hairdryers required. And it means i may get in the bathroon in the morning. Pics would look pretty cool too- in about 20 years time!
Andy x

20th september. 1 day to go.
I cant wait. i have literally just finished my packing, and i am so excited, i can't wait to step onto the plane tomorrow and then step of in two days time! we are all soooooo excited!

Maddie and I had to say goodbye to our friends yesterday and we were all crying at school even though it's only seven months! Missing everybody already even though we haven't even left yet! Speak soon,

Georgia xxx