Author: sigormley

After taking our time motoring over the past few days, today felt like we were positively ratcheting up the miles between ourselves and Sydney. Half an hour up the freeway, the Australian Reptile park beckoned, a cosy little zoo with all manner of Aussie critters, including Elvis the 5 metre croc, all manner of lizards and spiders and the obligatory kangaroo enclosure. Although personally, I found the tasmanian devil more interesting (amazing what effect Disney cartoons have!) It did give us the chance to see the poisonous red-back and funnel web spiders, and tell us to wrap bandages around bites for one but not the other, if only I could remember which way round it was – best to just avoid all spiders!
The camp site hunt was on once again with the aim of getting us fed before the mozzies, this time taking us quite a way up the coast to Toulakey, a quaint little place next to the calmest water I’ve seen for a while, alas by the time we’d bought beer for the barbie it was getting dark and the mozzies won – next time…

With you each day… And today we were with it!
With slightly groggy heads after the first night in the van, a BBQ in the Ku-ring-gai National park, followed by a walk on the Birrawanna track seemed an ideal way to perk up. With rain threatening followed by bursts of sunshine we headed up the hill, with the deafening cacophony of the beetles around (cicadas?). On the way back down, an echidna rustled past, as oblivious to us as the possum from the night before.
With late afternoon approaching, it was time to find a beach (it’s been 2 days!!), although many of the east coast beaches were shut due to large waves, so no swimming or bodyboarding. First beach was Bilgola, reputed to have red sands, and to be fair they did have an orange hue, but no more than Palm beach, film set for the venerable Aussie soap Home and Away. Avoiding the waves crashing high up the beach, we found the Alf Stewart’s diner and other scenes familiar to Caroline (I obviously had no idea what Home and Away was 😉 )
Finally we took the easy option and stayed in the same camp site s before, well with no one turning up to collect fees, it’s a bargain!

So, we’ve left home again! All of our possessions have been squeezed into the “Keen as Campers” campervan, and we’ve left Sydney, although it did take until 4pm for us to actually get going! We might also have to lose a few possessions on the way, in 3 months when we leave for New Zealand it all has to fit into rucksacks!
The van is pretty sweet, there’s a pop-top so you can actually stand up inside (when you remember!), lots of little storage cubby holes, a microwave and even a DVD player! Only time will tell if we are still keen after 3 months in it! After crossing back over the Sydney Harbour Bridge, the swathes of traffic carried us to the coast north of Sydney. Expecting there to be loads of campsites with ample room, it was a bit disconcerting to find them all full. In the end we found a nice little place next to a showground – all we really need are showers and a electric socket and we’re set for the night! Night fell with the laughing of the Kookaburras all around, and even a little possum walked past, completely unperturbed by us. I hope all our campsites are this good!
There’s also a new page on our website that lets you see day-by-day(ish) where we have been. There’s also a lot of places we might go to which are all on a map, and the itinerary page has a rough plan of how we plan to squeeze it all in! See what happens when you leave a geek with a computer and a couple of weeks!

Happy New Year! The boat cruise was excellent fun! Everyone on board was in a good mood to see the year out, and 2008 in. We spent a good while with our table buddies Brett and Hussan swapping the provided face masks in various hilarious combinations (or what felt hilarious after a few drinks!). The free table service drinks flowed all night, and were even better once I realised bottles of wine last longer than beer 🙂
The first fireworks were set off at 9pm, whilst we were worryingly moored under the Harbour Bridge (fortunately no fireworks on the bridge!), then our boat along with the others in the exclusion zone lit up and cruised up and down in the Harbour of Light parade. That gave us the chance to make the most of the band and DJ, who even took the request for 500 miles by the Proclaimers, a song that Caroline danced her heart out alone to, as I was keeping a spot at the front of the boat in preparation for midnight (sorry Caroline – I didn’t know!). Midnight came with the illuminated countdown on the Harbour Bridge, then all manner of fireworks set off from the bridge, with us parked a nice distance away this time!
Here’s wishing everyone the best for 2008!
P.S. Sorry it’s taken us 2 days to get around to writing this, January 1st has always been, and always will be a day to lie low, eat unhealthy things, and vow never to touch alcohol again! 😉

So another year is coming to an end, we’ve got our tickets for the Harbour fireworks booked, and are now just counting down the hours. (check your TV’s at about 1pm for a paddle steamer next to the Harbour bridge, hopefully we’ll be on it!). Here’s hoping you all enjoy those extra hours of 2007, and have a great new year!
To see the year off in style, I’ve bought a bodyboard (short surfboard for lying on) and got down to the surf at Bondi Beach this morning to catch those waves again. Alas all I managed to catch was a mouthful of sea and a rip current, but I’m learning!

I believe those were the exact words screamed at about 12,000ft as we literally fell out of a plane! Fortunately there was an instructor attached, and even more importantly a parachute attached to him. Yes, today was my Christmas present from Caroline, a skydive for both of us over Woollongong beach A storm was brewing over the hills for most of the day, and we were delayed a little while, but this was all good. As the little plane with a very thin plastic door (I was worried at this point as I was attached to nothing), we rose above the clouds to an amazing sunset, and a cotton wool landscape. The 5 minute warning came in from the pilot, so strapping in tight we waddled across to the open door. The sky opened out, we leaned into the freezing air and were gone, freefallling with the exhilarating realisation there was nothing to grab onto apart from harness straps! The fireball lasted about 1 minute, enough time to admire the sunset, see the other bodies hurtling toward the ground, marvel at what the air was doing to the flesh on my hand and think “so this is what it’s like to fall from a plane”! Once in the warm musty cloud, Tony opened the parachute and we were yanked up, quickly slowing down to a much more leisurely fall. Dropping out of the cloud the beach came into view and the city to the south. The descent obviously wasn’t that slow as a few corkscrew twists proved, and the ground quickly approached in the final few seconds to a gentle touch down on our bottoms. A few seconds later the whooping screams of a Caroline could be heard from above as she touched down. Apparently Caroline had done a backflip during her freefall, or so she thinks as her eyes were shut!
Thanks Caroline for a fantastic Christmas present! 🙂

Today was a glorious day to be out sailing, and seeing as we don’t have a boat to be out in, the next best thing was to watch the yachts leave in the Sydney to Hobart race. A crowd had gathered in the park next to the harbour entrance, and the boats were setting off just as we arrived. Helicopters were flying around, and a small flotilla of craft crowded around the racing boats (at least what looked to be the racing boats) and followed them down the coast. There was also a sky-writer who kindly wrote my name in the sky (until he messed it up by writing some more), and the best bit was 2 dolphins jumping out of the sea below us!

Happy Christmas! My guesses are that we’re celebrating Christmas a good 11 hours before most of you. Christmas Eve was quite traditional really, with no less than three trips out to get food. First off was the butchers for crocodile and emu sausages, then the Sydney fishmarket to get prawns (so we can throw another shrimp on the barbie!) and smoked salmon, as it just wouldn’t be Christmas without it. Turns out we are responsible for 0.0001% of Sydney’s Fishmarket sales for Christmas Eve (they sold a total of 700 tonnes in one day!)
We stuck to a typical Aussie Christmas by spending most of it outside (although given the number of Irish in Bondi, you could be forgiven for thinking you were still in the northern hemisphere). There was walking along beaches, playing beach tennis at Coogee, and venturing into the sea at Bondi for a quick paddle. Dinner was of course a barbeque in the park opposite the flat, ending partly because we were stuffed as expected from everyone on the 25th December, but also as the mozzies were tucking into their Christmas dinner!

And so was I, only once or twice, but that’s good enough for me! Donning full wetsuits, us surfer newbies learnt about rips, balance and how to stand up then made for the broken waves. After finding out that being a little too far forward equals a mouthful of sea and interesting few seconds under a wave, I did manage to stand up – thanks to Caroline for recording the momentous occasion!
My arms are now thoroughly tired, which isn’t that surprising given that they were essentially doing press-ups for 2 hours, and that’s a tad more work than the typing they are used to. It may take a few days to recover, but I’ll be back in again soon!