Gt Ocean Rd and Melbourne 17-22 Mar

The flight down to Avalon is simple enough on Jetstar - we make the 20kg luggage limit no problem, and pick up our car and head straight out along the Gt Ocean Road for some more stunning coastal scenery. Its St Patrick's Day, and the IRish people in our hostel in Apollo Bay are already in good spirits. After a bit of a mooch around the beach and little town, we're happy to lounge in front of the TV. Next morning we hit the road again checking out various lookout points and rock formations further west along the coast. There are great views at formations that look straight out of the geography text book, but also 1000s of tourists who we keep bumping into at various stops. There's also a good load of nature - lots of sleepy koalas in the trees, and even a snake slithering across one of the beach paths.

Next day we drive back into the city - we're a good 300km or so away, so its a bit of a journey. Distances in Australia are so much bigger than we're used to - travelling such distances for a couple of days would be a big deal in the UK, but here its pretty normal We've arranged with Liz, one of our new friends from Sydney to go and see a talk that she is arranging. The speaker is a chap called Pete Goss who has just recreated a journey first covered 150 yrs ago from Cornwall in a similar wooden boat. Its not the sort of thing that we would usually be interested in, but he's a fascinating guy with some great stories of his journeys, and equally as great pictures and videos of raging seas. Its in a great venue - the Royal Yacht Club, which has an amazing view back to the skyscrapers in the city at sunset. We've missed the nice events with canapes and booze from our London life, so its nice to be back amongst it, but also acts as a reminder of home.

Melbourne's much more rough around the edges than Sydney - including the people. Fortunately, its not all body beautiful sculpted as in Bondi, the people seem a little more down to earth and cool. The city centre lacks the wow factor of Sydney Harbour, but makes up for it in quirky cafes, bars and restaurants along lanes off the main streets. St Kilda, which sits on the beach is a really chilled place to hang out and watch the world go by - with some fantastic cake shops. After a good sit on the beach, we spend most of Friday afternoon in our hostel sitting in the sun on the terrace with a box of wine, enjoying what might be the last hot sunny weather that we get for a while.

Saturday we've hired another car, and Liz joins us for a day of siteseeing. First stop is Pin Oak Ct, a nondescript cul-de-sac in the suburbs, that is most recognisable for the fact that it offers the exteriors for Ramsay Street. Its hilarious being outside of the houses that were such a cornerstone of TV growing up. There's a security guard just sat around waiting for the tourists, which he admits are predominantly British!

Next stop is a drive over to Philip Island, a couple of hours around the bay. There's some great coastal views including Sunderland Bay, which is ever so slightly nicer than the North East. Philip Island is most famous for being the home to penguins. At the end of their day out fishing, they waddling up the beach back to their nests on the shore. They are the cutest things as they make their way waddling home calling out to each other. Back in the city, we pop into the Belgian Beer Garden for a night cap - a cool little bar that's full of Mebourne's young and beautiful. We fit right in.

And thats it for our 6 weeks in Australia. We've covered thousands of kilometres from Perth to Melbourne, and loved pretty much every metre. We've really got into the Oz culture of BBQs, and chilling out with a beer. We've also got accustomed to the lack of quality TV and the laid back approach to the news - the relaxed presenters on Sunrise winding each other up, and the colloquialisms on the news. Its also been great to see how the Aussies all pull together in the face of great adversity - the Victorian bushfires dominated the headlines for most of our stay. And the climate is something else. Beautiful blue skies, with sunny Autumn days. Its been a fantastic place to travel through, we've felt right at home here, and one of our top places to re-visit on tour. Next stop Auckland, New Zealand and the furthest point on our trip away from home

Sydney Pt3 13-16 Mar

We're in the last stretch of our stay in Sydney, but there is still lots to see. We head up to Palm Beach on the bus, about an hour away, which is also known as Summer Bay - the location of Home & Away! Vaguely familiar from growing up watching the Aussie soap, its an odd sensation to be there in familiar surroundings, sat outside Alf's surfshack with an ice cream! We head back to Sydney, but are too late to join Polly at the cinema, but have a great dusky walk past the Opera House through the Botanical Gardens where the cockatiels and bats are out in force making a right racket.

Its Saturday once again, and we've hired a car with Trish for a road trip down to Jervis Bay, a beautiful beachy bay a couple of hours drive south. There are loads of rock pools to explore in Huskisson, and we have a good walk along the beach where we meet some resident Husky dogs and watch the kite surfers before the drive back via a couple of lookouts which have great views all the way up to Sydney. The rain's started by the time we get back to Bondi, so instead of heading down to the beach bars, we pop next door to the Flying Squirrel, another immaculate tapas place. Trish has it made on Bondi Road - the beach 5 mins walk away, the city half an hour away, but top notch restaurants, bars and takeaways right on the doorstep. And they are pretty cheap too - its easy to understand why the girls rarely cook at home.

Sunday, and after we return the car, we head into the city to see the St Patrick's Day parade. Its odd being 1000s of miles from Ireland, but the Irish contingent in Sydney still really go to town to celebrate, even though most of the procession is a bit budget - people marching along waving, looking forward to the Guiness tent in Hyde Park. Its blazing sunshine too, and those pale Irish complexions are in for a battering today! Meanwhile we're headed off to the Thai festival in Darling Harbour for lunch. There is so much going on outside in Sydney for free, that there is absolutely no excuse for staying at home. Next stop is over to Manly for some birthday beers is a very-buzzy-for-a-Sunday-night bar, where we gather with all Trish and Polly's ex pat buddies for some afternoon drinks. Once again it turns out to be a small world as the birthday boy shares mutual London friends with us. Its a great lifestyle here, much better than the UK, but we cant get over how much we miss our mates back home, and that if everyone lived down under or London had this climate it would be awesome!

Monday is our last full day in Sydney, and as we approach the Southern Hemisphere Autumn, we are well aware that this might be the last good bit of sun that we see for a while. Bearing that in mind, we decide to head to the beach for a morning swim in the pool at Bronte. Its firmly sealed as our favourite beach along the coast. Not nearly as poser-filled as Bondi, but still with enough beautiful people preening themselves. We take an afternoon walk north of Bondi, past dozens of sunkissed beauties priming themselves in the open air workout areas (its hilarious) to Dover Heights which gives us our final view across the harbour. Such a stunning iconic view along the harbour, we've really loved our time here, and make a firm decision that we will come back one day, this time with a bit more cash behind us so that we can enjoy all the fineries that Sydney has to offer. Its a fantastic place, but we cant get over just how far away from home it actually is. Would be great to come here if it was all presented to us on a plate, with a fantastic job that includes ex-pat deal, and relocation money, but until that unlikely event happens, it will remain our no.1 holiday location.

Sydney Pt2 8-12 Mar

After a long session on Saturday, Sunday starts slowly, very slowly. We manage to pop down to the Australian museum to the see a photography exhibition, and then have to feed the hangover at the pub - BBQ meat in bread all round. After lunch, a stroll around Wolloomaloo where we spy Russell Crowe hanging out in his appartment watching Polly take photos the rain starts as we get to the Botanical Gardens so its back home to rest in front of the TV. Its great to have somewhere so comfortable to relax with a hangover, not some shady hostel room, and we can catch up with our favourite Aussie shows - The Biggest Loser and So you think you can Dance!

After a weekend of overindulgence, its time to start helping out the budget once again, so we spend our Monday window shopping in Bondi Junction, and cook supper for Trish coming home from work.

We venture further afield the next day, and head down to Sydney's fish market. We're expecting a huge warehouse scenario with tonnes and tonnes of wet fish, but its a lot smaller, with only a couple of stalls, all with take-away restaurants attached, and full of Asian tourists! So we have to have an earlier than planned lunch of octopus and squid, and head off for a stroll around Pyrmont - a great suburb sitting on the harbour further west from the bridge. The main street through is very similar to Abbeville Road, and once again our thoughts turn to how we could happily live in Sydney. There are a lot of joggers though, even during the day time. Around the wharves to Darling Harbour are loads of very trendy looking offices interspersed with bars and restaurants to keep the office crowd happy at lunchtime. Darling Harbour is a mass of big harbourside bars and restaurants, which look a bit Wetherspoons-esque, but do have happy hours for us to have a cheapo beer in the afternoon.

Wednesday and the weather takes another turn for the worse. We're headed over the bridge to meet Trish for lunch in North Sydney, which is like the city in London, full of offices, and pretty dead at the weekend. We do get another good walk around the harbour for a look at the bridge from another angle, and from underneath. Safe to say that we have seen the bridge from pretty much every angle possible after we have been up the pylon museum back on the southside. Its a great iconic building, and the pylon museum gives us a great look behind the history. Time to head off to the pub to meet another old friend, Fran and her husband Hamish who have lived out here for a few years. He has a great job as a PE teacher out in Bondi, so basically plays games all day in the sun.

The sun is back for Thursday so we decide to head to the beach for another walk along the clifftops. We get as far as Clovelly today, after a swim at Bronte - which is turning out to be our favourite beach to hang out. We can sit and watch the waves crashing in for hours, and dodging the joggers and even come to the conclusion that if we lived here, we probably would embrace the outdoor lifestyle a little more, rather than spending a whole day in front of Sky Sports, and then heading to the Abbeville for the evening. Thursday evening in Sydney is spent at the opening of a photographic exhibition of one of Trish's mates, and then on for some great Vietnamese supper in Surry Hills, another bar and restaurant-filled suburb. Its been another corking day doing all the things that we love to do - but we're also starting to realise that we have all this back in London, and that Sydney is so isolated that we wouldnt get to see our friends and family so often, and that actually for probably the first time we miss home, and are even starting to look forward to getting back to SW4.

Sydney Pt1 3-7 March

A whole two weeks in Sydney, we've not been anywhere for that long, so although we would have liked to spend more time speeding down the East coast of Oz, its a proper treat to unpack our bags properly, and look forward to two weeks of being in the same place. Trish has even got a few shelves for us to use, so we can put our things away! Its the simple things that please so much after 6 months on the road. Its hard to believe that we are over half way through our trip now, and can't help starting to think about being back in the UK, even though, we're still away for 6 more months!

Anyway, we're in Sydney on the other side of the world, and having arrived late last night, only had a quick glimpse of the harbour, bridge and opera house in the dark, so head into the city from Trish's place in Bondi to take in the sites, and climb the Harbour Bridge. Only problem is, that its really overcast, and a bit rainy, so the effect of the harbour glistening, and the white opera house against the blue sky is somewhat diminished. However, not all is lost, we are here for two weeks after all.

After grumbling about the state of the weather for our bridge climb that same day, our hopes are answered and the skies clear to glorious blue, as the most stunning sunset while we are at the summit. Its an absolutely glorious experience, breathlessly beautiful with views as far as the Blue Mountains and to the coast as the sky changes through pink, orange and mauve to black. The climb down as the lights of the city come on is equally as memorable. It doesn't feel odd that we're climbing a bridge until we are back on the ground with a beer in hand thinking about what we have just done. Truly awesome.

Next day, Nicky comes out to Bondi and we go for a walk along the beach, and cliff tops to Bronte. Its a remarkable walk along the cliff tops with the mesmerising waves crashing in below on the rocks and surfers waiting for the wave of their dreams. Its beautiful all around here, with perfect weather for being outside, strolling, enjoying the scenery. Bondi has some great restaurants too, and we completely over-order at a gorgeous tapas restaurant opposite Trish's house. Sydney is fast becoming our favourite city on our trip, and thoughts turn to the inevitable, hmmm could we live here..? The answer is definitely YES.

Friday is another busy day, we're on the ferry to Manly in the morning, and the lingering blue skies mean that we get the beautiful photos of the Opera House and Harbour bridge that we had craved on our first day. Manly is a lovely little suburb, about 30 mins on the public ferry from downtown Sydney, and has another stunning beach. We take a walk around the bay to Shelley Beach which is a bit more protected so not so powerful waves knocking us over as in Bondi. Cant stay too long though, as we have to get home to change and the meet Trish and a few of her friends in the bar on the top floor of the Shangri La Hotel, for another amazing view of the harbour. Beautiful. After another great supper at the Lord Nelson pub, we've started the weekend off well...

Saturday is one of Trish's mates's birthday and he has chartered a boat to potter around the harbour for a few hours. Booze is cheap and the weather is once again perfect so we are in for a good day. It also seems that most of the guests used to live in Clapham at one time or another before heading down under mainly for a better climate. Even one of Trish's neighbours from the junction turns up. All very odd. There's sharks at large in the harbour, so we dont venture in for a swim, and anyway, the booze is too cheap not to make the most of it. After a late lunch in Wagamama, we head off to watch Mardi Gras. It just appears to be loads of people marching along the main street - we were expecting something similar to Notting Hill so are a bit non-plussed by it all Its a bit of a tearful goodbye to Nicky who decides to stay on and watch the rest of the parade, as we head off to Bondi junction to another party with Trish. Nicky is off to Adelaide in the morning, so its the last we will see of her until we get back to the UK. After a few more beers in the junction (its just like Clapham) we have to call it a night, when we cant find the next bar back in the city, and anyway, its been a good long session.

Speeding down the East Coast of Oz Pt 2 - Ballina - Waterfall Way - Nambucca Heads - Port Stephens - Hunter Valley - Blue Mountains - Sydney (27 Feb -

The journey along the rest of the East Coast passes along many, many kilometres. The planned route isnt by any means direct, and we start off heading inland to drive along the Waterfall Way. We're a little hungover and a therefore a little fractuous as we race through the bush with petrol running out. Fortunately, a BP on the horizon saves us re-enacting a Neighbours storyline. We eventually reach our first waterfall in a little outback village with the tiniest fire station ever seen. We manage a swim at another waterfall, but its pretty powerful and precarious doing the breast stroke... A rainforest skywalk and a stop by a creek (where a wedding is in the photography stage) complete the day, and we check in to our least favourite Big4, that is reminiscent of 70s wood panelling with a broken door to Nicky's annex...

There is a nice beach in Nambucca Heads though, and we stop for a look out before heading south once more. Today's first stop is one of the finest beaches we have seen - Seal Rocks is along an unsealed 2km road, and is a beautiful bay, with calm azure waters. We've only a couple of hours to enjoy it though before we're back on the road, and off to the comically named Lemon Tree Passage, for our next, and favourite BIG4 camp site. Nicky even has her own room like a proper grown up. We're still self catering, and this place has a good sized kitchen, and we can catch up with The Biggest Loser.

We've covered about 850km in the past couple of days, but fortunately the next day, we're not driving nearly as far. First stop is Nelson Bay home of Red Ned's award-winning pies, and they're so good that we have to have too (Teriyaki Kangaroo a particular stand-out.) There we head over to Newcastle and the free-entry Koala sanctuary that we discovered when we were debating going into the Steve Irwin zoo near Brisbane. Just as well we didnt as we can get up close and personal with some very cute koalas, see a couple of kangaroos bouncing around for $0. Good news for the budget. Final stop for today is the HUnter Valley, famous for its fine wines imported around the world. We're also particularly keen on the smelly cheese factory, and the plates of tasting measures take a big hit. Once we've slurped a few wines and decided on which one we want to accompany supper, we're off to our final BIG4 for the night.

Scandal hits the BIG4 Hunter Valley overnight as the chairs around the pool have been pushed in! Annoyingly this means that the pool is closed and we cant go for a swim before we head off for Sydney via the Blue Mountains. We report the noise we heard overnight to reception as we drop off our keys, and leave them to investigate the criminal element of the Hunter Valley town of Cessnock...

We stop at Govett's Leap lookout for lunch, which has beautiful views, and happily few tourists. The further around we get, and the closer we get to Sydney, the more tourists we encounter, and no other views match the first at Mr Govett's Leap... However, there is a great ice-cream shop.

Once we get into Sydney city limits, we pass the Olympic Stadium, so stop off for a quick view of the complex and then head into town. Its all gone by so quickly, so that even though we're relieved to be at the end of a busy few days driving and sight-seeing, its cool to be in the big city at long last, even though it does feel like we've stepped back 20 years in time. Its sad to drop Nicky off at her residence in the very centre, but also very exciting to be seeing Trish and staying with her and her friend in Bondi.

Speeding down the East Coast of Oz - Noosa - Brisbane - Byron Bay (24-27 Feb)

After bombing down the Bruce Highway from our trip to Fraser Island to Noosa, it takes us about as long to find a bottle shop to get some evening booze for our Big4 home. Still Noosa is a lovely place, very reminiscent of the South of France - bars and restaurants that wouldnt look out of place along the croisette, and nice properties that are very tempting. We find some great coastal walks along past the surfers for some amazing views. There's also a giant lizard-y salamander-y thing-y strolling around the car park. Anyway after a bit of free McDo wifi, avoiding the rain, we're all set for our accommodation for the rest of the drive down the coast. We're going to cover some kilometres...

Its not far from Noosa to Brisbane, and to avoid arriving too early, we divert around the Glasshouse Mountains, after considering stopping off at Steve Irwin's zoo en route. (Budget says no.) Anyway there are some good views, and after a bit of a tramp around we're back on the way to Brisbane. Its a cool city, but we soon tire of walking around, se hit the pub for a drink, and then head to the beach. Its kinda what London tried to do with a beach down by the Thames, but a lot nicer! Brisbane is the only place that didnt have a BIG4 cabin available for us, so we're all jammed into a funny backpacker place. As a treat, its dinner out rather than Luce slaving over the hot stove.

Leaving Brisbane, we heading south to the Gold Coast. Surfer's Paradise is a bit odd, just loads of sky scraper buildings, so we dont stop long, just for an hour on the beach, and head on to Ballina, home of the giant prawn, and next door to Byron Bay. Byron has a much nicer feel to it than SP - much more chilled, and more interesting places to hang out. There is also a great walk to the most Easterly Point in all of Australia, which seems to be on everyone who has since been to Australia's facebook photos.

Airlie Beach, Whitsunday Islands & Emu Park (17-22 Feb)

We're on the Bruce Highway again heading South from Townsville. We've enjoyed the time there - its a good place to hang out, and the sort of place you would enjoy living. Just a bit cut off from everywhere else!

Next stop is Airlie Beach, the stopping off point for Whitsunday Island cruises, and a lot more backpacker-y than Townsville. We only just make it through as the road in is flooded. Probably not the best idea to try and drive through as the water comes to the top of the tyres, and we think that it floated a little (!) but we made it - the hire car is always the fastest on the road and with our luggage weight, we were probably always going to be OK.

We've booked into a cabin which caters for all our needs - a fridge to keep the box of wine cold, a TV to watch our new addiction - The Biggest Loser, a swimming pool and a giant pillow to bounce on. Who would have thought that a children's playground could be so much fun?

The Whitsundays are a stunning group of forested islands with beautiful sandy beaches, and lovely to boat around. Hook Island also has the best snorkelling that we have encountered so far. Whitehaven Beach is the pick of the bunch - where the Bounty advert was filmed. Only problem round here are the stingers, once again, we're in the lovely lycra suits to go swimming to avoid getting stung.

Next stop on the East Coast is Emu Park, which we chose as a stop-off point to get from Airlie Beach to Hervey Bay so we could pop over to Gt Keppel Island. However, as we've been to some of the best island stop-offs that the East Coast has to offer, we decide instead to nail 80% of a 5l box of wine over the course of an evening, an spend the next day recovering. The furthest that we get is the next town along - Yeppoon - for its offerings of fast food. This area of coast - the Capricorn Coast is a bit more interesting with rocky wide sweeping beach coves, but not as developed as the past couple of stops. It was a good stopping off point, but there isnt a lot there to do, fortunately as we completely wasted a day!

Townsville (12-17 Feb)

The drive down to Townsville, along the Bruce Highway passes by, and we heck into Fran's guesthouse. Its a small city, on the beachside which is full of bars and restaurants. Very pleasant for a beer after a day at the beach. There seems to be a bit more money floating around here, top notch properties on the waterfront and stylish places to pass the night away.

After buzzing around the rest of the world spending a couple of days here and there, we've decided to slow down a bit in Australia, until we meet up with Nicky in Hervey Bay next week, so we're here to chill in Townsville for a few days, enjoying the views from the top of Castle Hill, the Maritime Museum and Magnetic Island's beaches. Less enjoyable though is the walk from the Magnetic ferry port to the beach.

Having mostly self-catered through Australia, we find an all you can eat Thai restaurant for Valentine's Supper and make good use of the BBQ on the beachfront before the heavens open and it rains like we have never seen before. Rivers of rain cascade through the streets, and the best we can do is shut ourselves up in Frans place and watch TV!