Drrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr iiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii vvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvv iiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii nnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnn gggggg - all day, can't remember much apart from seeing a dingo and being in some kind of trance all day.

We ate all our fruit that we had in the cool box before heading over the boarder and the quarantine check into WA wahey little Betty is back home again!!! she has started to drive a little better today. Could be because she recognises the number plates on the other vehicles and is showing off....... Bless her.

Anyway we arrived at Kununara which is just over the border and came upon a little campsite to settle down for the night, the woman who was like a small Hitler showed Toby where we should park whilst telling me to follow and ' do not drive fast as this is a campsite' - minger!! spoke to me like I had never been in a campsite before.....Anyway I cooked dinner again after buying a few supplies from the local shop and settled down for the evening, after it had turned dark we were then visited by loads of huge bats making a racket in the tree above us much to our amusement. Early night once again ........Actually Toby went to bed at 7.00pm and I read my book - it's all late night parties and fun for us!!!

Because of the clock going back an hour and a half we woke up extra early, had some b'fast then were on the road again. I drove for the first 4hrs until nearly lunch time before stopping for a quick lunch stop then Toby drove for the afternoon. Nothing eventful happened apart from me choking on a nut in the morning when I was driving and Toby just carried on dancing to Bob Marley in his seat, he didn't realise I was really choking until he saw that I was bright red desperately pointing to the water!!

We found a run down old campsite at about 4ish and parked up, didn't find anyone else to pay so we decided not to worry about it. A couple of vans turned up late in the evening and told us the pub (joined onto the campsite) was very rough and notorious for fights so we decided not to venture in there.......I cooked a wonderful vegetable chunky soup as we needed to eat some veggies again. Bet the van will smell great in the morning!

Left at 6.30am which was quite good going, we slipped out without paying which was also good! Only on the road for 4hrs plus 30min stop for some b'fast, so were in Broome before lunch time giving us a chance to enjoy some of the day for a change. We had a quick drive around town first to see if we could find a garage for Betty but the only one we could find was shut so we carried on to look for a campsite. Broome is really pretty and has a really chilled out seaside atmosphere so we decided to park up near the beach and have a look. Wow, the beach just stretched on for an eternity whilst the blue of the Indian Ocean just dazzled us with it's beauty. I have never seen beaches as lovely or perfect as the ones in Oz, they really are just breathtaking..... I blabber on as usual.

We booked into a lovely campsite that had a fab pool ( god what a crap word 'fab' is.........) after a quick lunch of leftover stew and a good ole tuna roll, Toby headed off to the beach for a paddle whilst I went and did a few laps in the pool. After that we found a phone so we could call Shellbo and wish her a 'HAPPY BIRTHDAY' but ended up leaving a message on the phone - but Happy birthday me girl, still got a while to catch up with me though!! Checked our emails and found out that Clare and Beau are on the way home today! We thought it was the 6th and were going to phone them at Kathy's house that evening to say high, can't believe I missed them.

Toby and I then decided to try out the local pub for a drinky and some food, make a change not to have to cook out of the back of the van in the dark. Once again potato wedges were high on the list along with a Thai Curry for me and something just as tasty for Toby. The meal and drinks cost a fortune so felt pretty bad about that even though we deserved a bit of a treat, we then had a couple of games of pool which Toby let me win I'm sure. Headed back to Betty and did some reading and typing before hitting the bed.

Where's my friend Clare then? Just can't have a good mooch around the local shops with a man can you! Toby just followed me around looking non plussed whilst I tried to look around the little Chinatown area in Broome which looked really nice. After seeing Toby's face though I suggested we just go back to the van and carry on to Perth mumbling all the way that I wished Clare was with me to enjoy a good mooch.......

We found a travel agent on the way back to Betty that had some really good deals on for flights to Brisbane which is where we have decided to fly to now instead of straight to Sydney. I convinced Toby we should grab the flight now which he wasn't happy doing as it meant we had a limited time to sale Betty but I'm sure we can sell her in time.

After that we headed down to Cable beach so I could take some photo's and Toby could have a quick swim then had some lunch and started on the road again. We stopped about 2hrs later in a roadside stop which had some toilets for a change ( hole in floor) and had some dinner before an older couple came over and started having a chat inviting us over for a cuppa later on. So off we trundled, and into their little campavan we entered for a good few hours whilst they told us of all the roadside stops we should use on the way to Perth. They gave us Cheese and biscuits and coffee telling us all about them and the travelling they had done, I was happy to be sat indoors for a change rather that outside being bitten to death.

Woke up just as it was getting light so jumped in my clothes whilst cleaning my teeth and starting up the van. I then drove from 6.00am untill 4.00pm which I thought was bloody good going on my part!

Well I suppose it was apart from the poor animals I killed along the way or maimed for life....... I dodged all the Kangaroo's first thing in the morning as they dived for the front of the van for nothing else better to do. I was then chased along the road by a mad Dingo who ran out from the side of the verge and chased Betty for ages for some unknown reason? I carried on driving into the afternoon with only a short stop for some lunch ( tuna roll) when I happened across an Iguana sitting in the middle of the road which I mistook for a twig or log etc. I nearly took it's head off but manoeuvred Betty with skill and quick thinking and was thrilled when I realised I had missed it only to watch the car in the rear view mirror drive over it! A few hours later I was actually thinking to myself how darn lucky we have been at not hitting any animals in the whole time of being in Oz when all of a sudden I saw a huge snake in the middle of the road - my first snake I have actually seen in the wild in Oz, Oh dear I ran over it......... I didn't bloody mean to It all happened so quickly, I can't believe I ran over the very first bloody snake I saw. Toby said I didn't squash it and missed it with the wheels which made me feel a little better, I was nearly in tears as I hate killing anything unless it's a fly or mosquito and they don't count, sporn of the devil!

We stopped of at a roadhouse to get some fuel and for Toby to ring his Brother and wish him happy B'day - Happy birthday Oliver!! I took a photo of a massive spider sat near the van then headed off again to our resting place for the evening 25mins down the road. We had only got 5mins out of the roadhouse when a little fluffy pretty coloured birdie flew head first into the front of Betty, well that was it then! I pulled over crying and refused to drive anymore as I was so upset. Toby only drove for a bit before we found a little clearing where we could park up and have some Chilli - starting to hate the stuff now. I then had a little prayer for all the animals I had hurt or damaged that day - amen.

Wow what a place Coral Bay is!! we drove in at about lunch time just got out of the van and walked onto the beach and what a bloody beach it is......

Clear white sand and the water was completely clear and beautiful with wonderful little colourful fish and white yachts. We booked ourselves into a campsite as that's all there was there really apart from a couple of shops and a fab bakery. We were lucky enough to get a sight next to the beach and then got changed into our bathers and hired out some snorkel gear, yes I was going to have a go with the fish. I was absolutely fine with all the little pretty ones that came up to your hand for a little touch and nosey but was a bit crap when a huge school of large silver fish came and swam all around us. I actually dived under with the snorkel in amongst the coral!! I am getting brave aren't I

Toby went and booked up to swim with Whale Sharks the next day, I wasn't brave enough for that as they are the biggest fish in the world - a picture of one on a poster showed someone swimming with it and the human looked like a little flea..... no thanks.

Spent the evening playing cards and having a beer from our Eski and getting very cold.

Poor old Toby was a bit upset because of not enough interest so he booked up an afternoon on some Quad bikes - fab

The morning was actually quite cold so we didn't go onto the beach but just mooched around until it was time to board out vehicles. Really had a good time in amongst the sand dunes, the only other girl in the group just couldn't get to grips with it at all and she got all upset and didn't want to drive anymore only 10mins into the drive, silly sod. I on the other hand had a stupid grin on my face for the whole 2 hrs and just wanted to go faster!

As we were just sitting around next to Betty Toby ran off chasing a van saying he recognised the drivers. It turned out to be Sian and Mathew and a lad called Rob whom they had picked up along the way, they and Toby, Clare and Beau met up in Tasmania whilst I was in England. They were really nice and we all got on great so we arranged to meet up and have a drink in the bar later on in the evening and watch the Football. Ended up having a bloody great time and meeting a lovely group of people one of them was called Ropey who had massive Dreadlocks down his back. Of course the evening was made even better when England won the footy and the bar erupted into huge celebrations, we ended up going back to someone's boat and having some more beer, got back to Betty at about 2am a little worse for wear.

We said our goodbyes to Sian, Mathew and Rob wishing them well on their journey and swapping some books before having some hugs and heading off to Perth at about10am. It took hours and hours to get nowhere on the map and ended up stopping in a free campsite at about 5ish after giving Clare and Beau a call which was really really nice to talk to them. They were finding it strange being at home but were having a good time visiting everyone, of course Clare and I were all gushy and talking Shminky - which is a special language only we can talk. We watched the sun turn the sky into a burning inferno with the most scarlet reds and oranges I have ever seen and then lit a fire and played some games before going to bed.

Woke up whilst it was still dark and packed up and hit the road we then drove for 11hrs..... it would have been less than that if not for me leaving my purse in some public toilets and not realising until an hour later, so we had to turn around and put 2hrs extra on our journey. God I was bloody relieved to find by purse handed in at the garage though thanks to a very kind couple handing it in, I was more upset thinking I had lost a Xmas card sent to me by brother many years ago that I always carry around with me. We arrived in Perth and found a phone box to call BJ who is a friend of Van's, he had given us BJ's number and said we should stay with him. We finally found his house and settled ourselves in nicely with him and some of his friends who were around clearing out his garden. It seems BJ was leaving on Tuesday to start a new job in Tasmania so was packing up everything, we said we would move on as we didn't want to get under his feet but he was more that happy to have us. Later on we went and got an Indian Takeaway and 2 bottles of red, the curry was blinkin lovely and we ended up chatting with BJ and his friend Rob until 2ish, drunk all the wine!

Got up really early again and had a wonderful shower, something we both were desperate for, Toby designed a poster selling Betty then we headed off into Freemantle to use the Internet and for me to stick some of our posters up around the backpackers and I bought a Lonely Planet Guide to New Zealand. Toby went into Perth to hire out a mobile phone so that people could get in contact with us if interested in the van, when he came back we went and watched Spiderman at the cinema which was pretty cool then when and bought some food from Coles and went back to BJ's for our dinner and to write our diary.

We all got up reasonably early and said all our goodbyes then packed up Betty took a photo of BJ and then headed into Freo to check into a really nice backpackers that we had got a double room in. I then spent all day cleaning and scrubbing old Betty, unloading all our stuff into our room which meant walking up the stairs 50times !! Later that evening a couple in the hostile wanted to have a look at her which was good news, then we spent the rest of the evening finishing off our box of red wine and getting to know the locals. I went to bed feeling yucky and then promptly was sick and had bad dioreah - Crikey I seem to be catching up with Toby and his jippy tummy!

Feeling wrotten this morning so Toby went into Perth on his own to show a couple of girls the van who seemed interested whilst I just sat around like a lazy bint watching videos and feeling quite poorly Toby came back much later in the day with good news - he had sold our Betty!! $800 dollars less than what we had bought her for but at least we had sold her. He said she had driven really badly all day as the clutch had gone so she was making terrible noises which is why he had to agree to the girls offer really. We had done lots of work on her already what with a new exhaust etc so I think we would have maybe got less for her if she hadn't had that done. The girls took her to a mechanic who worked from there hostel who luckily didn't look at all the rust underneath and at the side she was fine everywhere else and she had loads more K's left in her yet! Goodbye Betty and god speed......

We didn't do much in the evening just sat around and chatted with loads of people whom we have become friendly with then I went and rung my mum.

Lazy day today, had a walk around the beach part and to see if we could find the boat repairs that Mark was working on - didn't find it. We have been ringing him all the time but not getting any answer and he hasn't called back so I don't know why? We did some washing and them sorted out some stuff to send over to NZ. I called Van and said hello asking his advise as to where to go as soon as we get to NZ, he suggested we stay with his friends so I wrote them a postcard telling them we were landing soon. We then had some tucker which was being cooked at the Backpackers for $5 each you could eat big plate of beef or vegetable stew and rice with free wine which we couldn't argue with!! Saved me cooking thankgoodness.

Had another evening sitting outside chatting and telling stupid jokes... Mums Nun joke went down a storm!!

Had a huge lay-in for a change then I went to the Postoffice to get a another big box and to do some food shopping whilst Toby went into Perth again to try and get some money back from the RAC which I don't think he will as we don' t have an address.

I then just pottered around the area and the hostile for the rest of the day and had some drinkies with Jenny, Evans wife who I really liked. We stayed up untill the early hours with all the girls talking about relatioship kind of stuff and Toby just looking daft......

Toby spent a large part of the day doing some work for Liquid so myself and Evan sat down and watched the funniest movie I have ever seen called - Duce Bigilo. Can't remember the last time I laughed at a film that much, both Evan and I were crying and howling on the settee whilst people would just come in and give us strange looks then walk off again!

We met up with everyone at 7pm and trundled off to the pub to watch the England V Denmark, what a bloody game!!!!!!! the pub was in uproar and beer was flowing all nigh. Jenny and I sat next to a lovely lady called Julie who had moved out to OZ 17yrs previous and when she told us she was 42yrs old we just couldn't bloody believe it, she looked in her early thirties We had a fab time and after the footy the pub had a swing band playing live who turned out to be the same band who played at the open air cinema back at Xmas time when we saw 'Casablanka' very very good band. Everyone was doing the proper swing dance movements which was great to watch, but we soon moved onto another bar that had a live band. They were playing funk which got us all on the dance floor and got Toby doing all his extra special dance moves! Freemantle is such a good place to go out and we all ended up having such a good evening.

Just wandered around for the day and did some packing, the stuff we need to send over to NZ. I phoned a lady called Clarity who is a friend of Van's and asked if we could stay with her for a while and also if we could send a couple of boxes over to her with some of our stuff. Still finding it hard asking a complete stranger if we could stay with then but Van said we had to take him up on his suggestion of staying with his friends so we are going to!

We then went out with Lorry and his friend Reana to the cinema and say 'The Hard Word' which was a really good film. Afterwards we just went and sat outside and had a chat before going to bed.

Finally sent our stuff off to NZ and then just sat around and watched a few video's before heading off to Reana's house for dinner with Lorry. He unfortunately had a phone call whilst we were walking to her house saying she had forgotten the meat so dinner was off for the night. Because we were still hungry we went to a pizza restaurant and had the best damn pizza I have had in a long time, after eating half of the restaurant we went back to the backpackers.

Toby went off to find Bon Scotts grave whilst I did my own thing for most of the day which meant me walking around the town and mooching around the markets and small shops. Keep seeing really nice clothes and shoes which I would love to buy, I think I will have to learn to walk in high heels again though....

Poor old Tobes came back really wet so after he dried off we went to the cinema again to see, Impostor which I thought was really good.

Tobes myself and Lorry walked over to Reana's house for dinner but detoured on the way to get a couple of video's. It took about an hour in the end to get to her house which was really really beautiful, she rented with 2 of her mates and I fell in love with the place. They had a lovely step down in lounge with a big wooden steepled roof like a church, I could really live in a place like that.

We had a lovely dinner which was like shepherds pie crossed with lasagne then watched 2 films - Evolution and something else which I can't remember Had a really nice evening with fab food and company.

I got up early and went to Coles to get some food then came back and made some sandwiches for the journey as Virgin Blue charge money for everything.

The shuttle bus came and picked us up at 9.45am to take us to the airport. We go there quite early so after taking the mobile phone back to the phone desk we went up to the restaurant and had something to eat. We then went and sorted out some money for NZ which took ages before heading back to the waiting lounge where we read through tabloid mags. Toby got really excited because a new series was coming to the TV called the 'Osbornes' which is like the 'Big Brother' but watching Ozzy Osbourne and his family which looks bloody mad! Toby can't wait for it to hit the screen - saddo

The flight was an hour late which wasn't very good seeing as it was only the second day Virgin Blue had opened in Oz but all was forgiven when we had the safety shpeel because all the young blonde very pretty girls had to wave to everyone whilst there names were announce over the tannoy - how embarrassing is that!!! a few hours and a transfer later we were in Brisbane where we then picked up a hire car, Toyota Echo and headed off to Damo's house. The car felt like luxury compared to Betty what with power steering and some power even though it was a really extremely small car. Everyone was in bed when we arrived so we watched a little TV before hitting the hay.

Had a lovely day just relaxing then headed off to the cinema in town, we were going to the gold class screen which was blinking wonderful. In gold class you can order drinks (alcohol as well) and food to be delivered to you during the film so Toby ordered some bits whilst I got the popcorn then headed into the cinema - wow! it consisted of just 10pairs of love seats, the pairs were 2 large sofa seats which had foot rests and could lay back in with a little table in front Unbelievable it was just like being at home but much better, we saw Minority Report which was really good and 20mins into the film we had a huge chicken salad and potato wedges with dips delivered to our laps.

When we got back to Damo's house we caught up with Robyn and Declan and also Ray then I made a huge chilli and went to bed

Fantastic!! footy today and it's Brazil against England and we are all looking forward to see the game. I watched TV for most of the day then went for a little drive, for such a small car it's really fast and responsive. Toby did some work for Liquid for a few hours then got ourselves ready for going out for the night, Damo came home early ready for the big game.

Caught a taxi into town and found a pub which by this time was packed to busting point so we had to find a small gap to stand in and then watched the game. The pub was full of blokes singing and really getting into the whole thing so when the first English goal was shot the pub erupted and went bloody wild. I had a pint over my back and an elbow in the head whilst the girl next to me ended up in tears.......... complete mayhem!

After that we went to another pub to watch the rest of the game. We found a little place that was a but more subdued but with a lot less atmosphere where we watched the next half of a crap game. What made it worse was the |Oz bloke behind us kept cheering the Brazilians on and kept singing that England were crap. I turned around and called him a tosser and to shut the f***k up otherwise I would hit him... oops take the football thing very seriously!!

Anyway as we all know we lost and we were all gutted (we had met up with Damo's mates as well) The bloke who had been a wanker all through the game came over to kiss and make up and told us that his sister and mum were Brits and that the reason he was so happy was because he had a $1000 on Brazil winning - traitor. He went to shake my hand saying 'no hard feelings' and Toby said I should spit on my palm first but I was already shaking and missed my hand and got his instead!! oops he went bizerk saying I had spat on his hand, but I hadn't really I just pretended to do it! Anyway he went and told his mates then stormed out of the pub. I felt a bit bad so went and apologised to his friends but they thought the whole thing was hilarious and called him a tosser.

We then went onto a few more pubs and I met up with a really nice girl whom ended up in a heated discussion with Damo about racism which then carried on in the taxi all the way home between me and him then carried on again back at Robyns house which pissed Declan off so much he went home. He can't stand the way Damo thinks and gets really annoyed with him, I just thought it was funny and like a good old battle of wills. We had all drunk a lot of beer before so before long we were heading home to raid the cupboards and eat all the food we could find before going to bed.

We went out with Damo to a call out about a gas leak which passed a few hours then stopped off to buy some food for a big BBQ we had planned for that evening. Well everyone was doing something in the evening so it was just going to be us 3 with tons of food between us, we had a game of Trivial Pursuit out in the garden whilst Toby and Damo drank copious amounts of whiskey and got very drunk. We called Clive (Toby's dad) at it was his bifday and wished him well before getting started on the BBQ luckily Dan came round which is Damo's neighbour to help us plough through all the food we had cooked. Damo collapsed into bed halfway through his meal not to be seen again until the morning! Declan and Robin had also popped around in the evening all dressed up to go to a Moulin Rouge party so both were dressed up in all the gear and looked fantastic so we took a few photographs and said our goodbyes.

Goodbye to Damo today as he is off to work really early and we are leaving somewhen in the morning, about 10am in the end.

We stopped off at Byron Bay for a look around and have a picnic sat overlooking the beach which was really pretty, we then had look around the town before heading off to Nimbin The journey had to be the prettiest I have ever seen, the best countryside and views in the whole of Oz, reminded me of Wales but a lot greener. We arrived in Nimbin in the late afternoon and found a place called Rainbow Retreat the original hippy resort which was very relaxed and very friendly so we dumped our bags then went back into town for a look around. I found the whole place a bit strange - for people who don't know anything about Nimbin, it's a hippy town where all sorts of people are wandering around and 'Weed' is smoked openly so all the shops sell all the usual stuff like bongs and pipes etc. I found it quite strange especially when a guy came up to us as soon as we got out of the car and he asked us if we wanted to buy some weed then some kids came up and asked us the same........ the guys that hung around on the streets were all quite old and looked like they had been there forever with dreads hanging down to their bums and looking 20years older then they were. I'm all for making weed legal and all for hemp instead of burning tree's etc but these guys had obviously been doing this shit for years and didn't sound at all healthy - coughing and sounding wheezy because of the smoke so as far as I'm concerned it's all in moderation bla bla bla.

Anyway needless to say we bought a bag of weed from the owner of the Rainbow Retreat the smallest bag we could buy which was far too big for us, no way we could smoke all that before we go to NZ but we had a good shot at it that evening !!!!!! Anyway ended up sitting around the campfire with some very strange people, mainly an American couple in their 50s who were sucking on bongs and talking really odd whilst their 8yr old ran around the grounds. We got stoned and I was quite surprised at the fact that Toby didn't fall asleep straight away as is his usual trick but stayed up long enough to listen to a lovely girl from the UK play her guitar and sing. Needless to say we slept very very well ....

Give me food give me food give me food.....

Had a really big b'fast then headed off to our next stop, Adeles house in Barington. We stopped of at Coffs harbour for some lunch and I had a sweet potato and almond burger - yummy then drove on to Adeles which took bloody hours!

We arrived at 6ish to a wonderful meal of lasagne and chicken with a desert of Grama pie, bloody wonderful!! Adele is the lady whom Toby and Clare met when they were doing the big trek in Tasmania and I was in the UK, I had heard a lot about her and how lovely she is, so was really excited about finally meeting her. Adele had to be one of the most wonderful people you could ever wish to meet, ever! She had a wonderful house that was lived in a and really welcoming, something I would finally like to have if we ever settle down....... We also met her daughter, Jessica who was beautiful and very sweet and her son, Frank who was also very nice.We had a lovely evening talking and relaxing before hitting the hay.

Said goodbye to Jessica and Adele as they went off on their separate ways then we had some b'fast and headed off down to the river to see if we could find some platypuses. We had to wait for ages whilst all the cows walked past into their field then spent an hour sitting by the river looking for the platypuses which I never saw in the end but it was really nice sitting out in the countryside listening to the birds and watching the wildlife. We then loaded the car and said goodbye to the cat, puss who was rubbing himself up against the cows in the field for fun then headed off to Sydney.

Wonderful drive again apart from when I got closer to Sydney and the traffic got worse, I got more stressed and more uptight with the traffic and congestion. We went straight to Chuckies house who is another person I hadn't met before due to me being in the UK in April, but she was not hard to get on with infact she is bloody mad - WHERE'S YOUR PUPPY!! sorry it's just something she shouted out at the TV a lot.

She was working from home for the week so we didn't want to get in the way so spent a few hours driving around having a looksy

Thought of the day - I am really worried cause I think I have missed Clare's bifday and am feeling really very very shitty about it, I seem to be loosing touch with what day and what the date is all the time. So I need to stop for 5mins and find a phone and give her a ring to say sorry and try to relieve some of my guilt! I have no excuse but I seem to be making a habbit of this lately and would like to apologise to people if I have missed your bifday lately.

Had a wonderful curry in the evening and watched the football.

Had a lazy morning then went into town to watch Scooby Doo at the Fox Studio - the film was great and afterwards had a look around some shops but wish I hadn't cause ended up feeling a bit fed up. I have been feeling a bit low for the last week and can only put it down to having to wear the same bloody clothes all the time and not feeling feminine anymore but looking in the mirror and seeing a drab un-feminine scruffy person whilst surrounded by pretty girls looking lovely all the time. I could also do with settling down for a bit and having my own space instead of constantly being on the move all the time not knowing my arse from my elbow............

Anyway we wondered around the Fox Studio and found an animal pen in the middle of the grass play area, basically a little pen full of chickens, ducks, guinea pigs, dwarf and normal rabbits, baby goats and cows etc. It was for the little children to touch and feed but I elbowed my way pass the mothers and pushchairs to pay for entry then spent the next half an hour playing with the most delightful little balls of fluff. That cheered me up no end and I didn't want to leave but Toby dragged me out whilst emptying the baby guinea pigs out of my pockets and the baby rabbits from my day pack........We went back to Chuckies house and moved our stuff over to her sisters and husbands house, Wendy who is Ozy and Andy Hayward who was originally from Whitchurch, we just sat around and just chatted whilst Wendy worked on her lap top, this woman is cool as I found out she owns a Ducati 750

Had the best nights sleep probably since we have been travelling actually, which did me the world of good and felt a bit brighter today. We made our way into the main area of Sydney near the bridge to find somewhere to park and found a really expensive carpark which had valet parking something we didn't realise until a woman came running after us whilst we tried to find our own parking space!

We then went and found the meeting point for the bridge walk we had planned for the day and got ourselves dressed into some silly suits and put our safety harnesses on. We then had a little pep talk and practise on some steps........ yes they think we are all stupid. The whole thing took about 3 hours and we were lucky enough to have the most beautiful day, sunny with blue sky and crispy cold weather. The walk was wonderful and the views were absolutely fantastic, it was the perfect ending to our adventure in Oz. We had a nice evening watching a video and drinking some vino.

Had another good nights sleep and woke up to a miserable day outside, windy wet and cold, so we decided to stay in and update the website then went out for some nosh in the evening

The weather was a lot better today so we decided to catch the ferry over to Circular Keys right next to the Harbour Bridge and the Opera House. It was a lovely trip and gave us a chance to see Sydney from the water prospective, it has to be the most be the most beautiful city in the world. It is clean and even the water in the harbour is the brightest blue, something you don't get in Southampton Docks! They told us that sharks are starting to come back into the bay which is a really good sign because the amount of fish are starting to expand due to moving or pulling down the companies who were polluting the waters. Something that England should be looking into in think..... The Australians really seem to be much more aware of the problems with the environment and have so many schemes and project set up for just that. They are into recycling and planting etc and spend vast amounts of money on non pollutant materials and environmentally friendly building equipment etc. Something other countries should be catching up with - being a rich country like the UK, they have no excuse.

We also found out about Hemp today as well and it seems that hemp is made from the male marijuana plant and can also be used to make paper which would stop the vast amounts of forest being chopped down, it also is made into a material which obviously can be used for clothes but the most interesting one is that they can make petrol out of it!! But, the large petroleum companies and main material manufactures don't want this to happen so have gone on a huge vendetta against this happening........Also the government would loose millions if not billions and would certainly put greed above the environment.

Anyway won't bore you any longer with my rattling on but sometimes I get pissed off especially now when seeing all these wonderful places and knowing we are destroying it because of our ignorance and complete complacency of the issue, I know when I rattle onto my mum about these things she just gets annoyed with me and tells me to be quiet - like so many people ignorance is bliss....

Well we saw the Opera House and had a quick look inside before heading off into the shopping part of the City and a little look around. We then caught a ferry back into Rose Bay and back to the flat where we conked out in front of the electric heater trying to get some warmth into us and watch the football - well done Turkey, bloody fantastic game.

We got up early and packed are bags again ready to take them over to Chuckies house as we were staying around her house for our final night.

We then went to visit a lovely family on the other side of town.... but I will explain who they are. My mum is bestest friends with a lovely lady called Christine back in the UK and Christine had a daughter now settled in Oz so when I was home in April Chrissy told me to call in on her daughter Malana and her family to say hello, so we did! I called her late morning and just told her who I was and if we could come over for a visit, so off we trundled t in the car over to their house for a really really nice afternoon. Malana is just like her mum in the fact she is warm open and honest and I liked her straight away, her partner, Rob is a smashing bloke and was really enthusiastic about everything especially the website which he said he will now look in on from time to time. I also met Daniel and Rachel who are both wonderful kids so I was quite disappointed when we had to leave as I wished we could have got to know them sooner.

Later on in the evening Toby, myself, Chuckie, Wendy and Andy all went over to one of their friends house for a BBQ before wandering down to the local to watch the World Cup - Germany V Brazil. Problem was the host of the BBQ, Jonothan was half German so I had to be careful not to cheer to loudly when Brazil scored! We had a wonderful evening and great ending to our stay in Australia but was made even more unforgettable when Chuckie was being beaten up by a 4ft cardboard cut-out of a gnome by Jonathan's 7yr old son......... very funny.

NEW ZEALAND JUL 2002 >