LA wasn't somewhere we were planning to stay long. In fact it was only because of our late change of South Pacific destination that we had anytime at all. So we found ourselves with one full day in Los Angeles, and with this we decided to do the 'Grand Tour'.

The city is really made up of 80 smaller cities that joined and became districts of what is now LA. So as you can imagine it spreads out a fair way. One of our first stops was Venice Beach - this we were told is where you see the 'craziness of LA'. Unfortunately I think most of the crazy people were having a lie in. However we did meet a guy called Zulu at Muscle Beach. He was in training for a bodybuilding competition but was also keen on showing us his sunset photos as well as a photo of himself and Woody Harrelson (the actor).

After this we continued on to Rodeo Drive where all the boutique shopping is done by the rich and famous. Luckily it wasn't a long stop as you really need money to enjoy this area, which we sadly didn't have. It was then on through Beverly Hills to see the houses of the rich and famous - this sounds more exciting than it actually is, however there were some nice mansions around.

Finally we ended up at the star spangled sidewalks of Hollywood. It was however only these stars that gleamed in a fairly grotty area. The chinese theatre was the main attraction, with the hand and footprints of the stars. We did get to see the Hollywood sign though and got the manditory photos - however we were eight miles in front of it at a busy junction.

With the tour over we felt we had seen as much of LA as we needed to and were looking forward to heading to San Francisco.

Well as you may have noticed part of our trip included a week on the South Pacific island of Samoa. Unfortunately this is where we hit the biggest glitch in our well planned trip around the world.

I seems when booking we weren't informed that the entry requirement of Samoa is that you hold a passport valid for six months beyond your visit to the country. Mine unfortunately had five months (only just missing the six). This is obviously something we should have checked ourselves also, but on a trip this long these things often slip through.

The irony is that I checked this issue with the only country that I was told had this issue on our trip, which was the USA. This turned out not to be a problem as this is waived for British passport holders.

Anyway this meant I couldn't go to Samoa. Luckily a very helpful customer advisor at the Air New Zealand desk asked whether we would like to go to Rarotonga. We said yes and then asked him where this was - as by this point we were desperate. He arranged all this for us at no extra cost and we found ourselves flying out that night to the Cook Islands.

Although disappointed that we couldn't go to Samoa we ended up having a really good time in Rarotonga. Mostly relaxing on the beach and snorkeling in the turquoise waters. We plan to visit Samoa in the future, with a bit more planning this time.

So that was New Zealand. We can't believe it's gone so quick. But it has been pretty cool and very beautiful. Top things must include cruising the fiords, watching a sperm whale dive, helicoptering onto a glacier, marvelling at stinking, bubbling mud pools, gurgling geysers and taking a boat out to a live marine volcano. Wow - the smell, the steam.

The people are pretty fun too especially the ones who mistook Paul and I for long lost friends and stopped us leaving the pub.

We've one day left in Auckland - and looking forward to chilling on the beach in Samoa - that's if the rainy season decides to take a holiday too.

We have spent the last few days in New Zealand's volcanic zone on the North Island. But today we went one better and took a trip to the most active marine volcano in the country, White Island.

The island was first discovered by Captain Cook, who named it White Island due to the colour they believed it to be. Another explorer later discovered it was actually a volcano. Only one third of the volcano sits above water, the remaining creating an amazing underwater diving area.

The island has has a number of owners and there has been a couple of attemps to mine sulphur on the island. A couple failed due to the sulphur levels being much lower than expected. Another mining operation was destroyed by an eruption and the resulting lahar (ash & water flow). Now the island is a reserve and tourist attraction.

It took an hour and a half, across a choppy sea, by boat to get to the island. We were then given hard hats and gas masks. Once on the island you begin the two hour tour of the crater. The landscape is alien, with steam and smoke rising from vents in the ground and crater walls. The main active crater is full of blue sulphurous water, bubbling and steaming. This was once a 120 metre hole billowing smoke until an eruption in 2000.

It was an amazing experience to be in an active volcano, but we weren't too sad to leave.

Having arrived at Fox Glacier the previous day in a blanket of clouds, we were relieved to see blue sky the following morning. This meant our Heli-hike onto the glacier would go ahead as planned.

With the hobnail boots on it was time to board our helicopter. We swept up the valley and saw the frozen river of ice that we we about to land on. With no cloud in sight we were able to see both Mount Cook (New Zealands highest) and Mount Tasman.

Once on the glacier we put on a set of crampons and our guides started chipping out our route with their ice picks. The route changes regularly as the ice is always moving. Where we landed the ice moves roughtly a metre a day, but further up the it's moving an amazing five metres a day.

On our hike we passed small streams that disappeared into deep cravases, crystal clear blue water pools and some amazing ice caves. Some ice caves we were able to go inside and other more unstable caves we just peered into. After our exploring we looped back to the makeshift Helipad to await our helicopter off the glacier and our last view of the amazing Fox Glacier.

Yes, Lord of the Rings Fans, we've been to Isengard. It was actually quite by accident - we decided to take a river safari into a beautiful glacial valley and this actually turned out to be Isengard. We also saw the forests where Borramir was killed, the plains where Gandolf flys by on his superfast white horse, and the spot where Pippin and Merrin are captured by orcs. What can I say - it's magical.

We have left Oz! After 10 months in mighty Australia, we've finally left - we're going to miss it and its happy inhabitants!

But no time for moping, we're now in New Zealand. We arrived pretty dozily jet-lagged about three days ago. First stop was Christchurch which was really like been back in England. The streets are named after English towns. You can go punting on the river Avon which flows through the city. Weeping willows and chestnuts flank the river's banks and the botanical gardens are abloom with daffodils, bluebells, tulips, pansies and primroses.

We've already upset a couple of New Zealanders by suggesting their country is just like ours, so I won't continue the comparisons - although I must add that it has rained quite a bit since we've arrived and this morning we woke up to snow.

We are now on our way across the South Island in a tiny hire car towards the Western mountains and glaciers. We are currently in Kiwi-land's adrenalin city, Queenstown. I want to say it feels like Keswick in the Lake District - but I really shouldn't!

One of the best things about Australia has got to be the amazing wildlife. So it's a real shame to learn that more than 20 species have become extinct and many more endangered since the British settlers arrived 200 years ago.

There's a variety of reasons. One of the key ones has been land clearing for agriculture. This has destroyed a lot of habitats. Another one is the introduction of non-native animals. Over 100 years ago, some land-owner thought the introduction of rabbits would be great as he wanted something to shoot. Not only are rabbits now major problems for farmers everywhere but they have also driven out a lot of native animals - not least the bilby, a now endangered marsupial. Foxes and feral cats also present huge problems - they have a particular taste for Australia's smaller marsupials.

In Western Australia the department for conservation and land management is working to re-introduce some of those marsupials that have been driven from their original homelands. We were lucky enough to visit their breeding programme in the heart of the Dryandra woodlands in south-western Australia. Around five species - including the bilby - are been nutured in a five hectare enclosure - with the aim being to release them back into the wild once the population is large enough. Bilbies, for example, last inhabited the area over 80 years ago. As a result of the programme, bilbies have since been re-introduced and it is hoped that the population will increase in the wild. Of-course a huge effort is being made to eradicate the non-native predators.

Visiting the enclosure was amazing. About 20 of us accompanied the ranger on a night-time walk of the enclosure where we saw bilbies, boodies, woylies and bandicoots. Bilbies are the most distinctive, having a silvery fur and very big pointy ears. Boodies and wyolies are like very small wallabies - no bigger than 30 centremetres high. Bandicoots are even smaller - like little rats but with furry tales.

I know, I know my descriptions don't do the little critters justice. Luckily the conservation department has a great website so you can have a look at some of them by following the link: Marvellous marsupials

Enjoy!

"Yuck!" said one lady as she tasted the Cabernet Sauvignon. "I don't like red wine, in fact... any wine". This was the first stop on our tour of the Margret River wine region (I think this lady was on the wrong tour). Our friendly guide Colin was driving our group around five wineries enabling most of us to enjoy the full flavour of the region.

Each winery had different ranges produced with a variety of grapes and combinations. Generally there were three whites and three reds to be tasted at each winery. So as you can imagine by the fifth winery we were quite a merry band, with a few struggling to keep up.

We can safely say that Western Australia has some lovely wines. Next stop Swan Valley!

That's it. We've sold our van. Our amazing Mitsubishi Express. Our wonderful, sexy, Star Wagon. Our cosy, cuddly mobile nest. The foxy little tiger that got us all the way around Australia.

Yes. I'm quite upset about it. In total we travelled 23,000 kilometres together - Paul, the nest and I. We have, however, found a really good home for him. A nice couple from France who are about to embark on a similar journey to us. And better still we don't lose the van just yet - we've negotiated five days more with him to visit the wine region south of Perth.

The van is sold. Long live the van!

Some of you may have noticed, and even disappointed, that the photos section hasn't been added to since we left New South Wales. Fear not we haven't stopped taking photos, far from it in fact. It's just that it takes a while to add them and at present we don't have the facilities to do so.

We hope the journal will keep you entertained until we can show you some of the amazing sights we have seen.

"Look. There!" The catamaran suddenly lurches starboard as 30 nature lovers rush to see the mysterious water dweller. Slowly, snout first, the dugong plunges underwater to snuffle on the sea grass. Silence. We wait. Will he resurface? Sixty eyes trace the outline of his body, shiny grey in the shallow sea water. We watch. So this is the origin of the mermaid myth? His tail is a perfect mermaid's swish but his face? A bulbous sea cow with a square mouth for grazing! Just how delirious were those sailors? But we, too, are mesmerised by this graceful creature.

We in are Monkey Mia, part of the Shark Bay marine park. It's a world heritage area on account of the spectacular creatures that live there. Dugongs - or sea cows - are very much endangered so being able to see one is really special. The sea around Monkey Mia is a favourite for them because of the vast areas of sea grass - they eat about 70kg a day of the stuff. It is also incredibly clear and shallow so you are able to get a pretty good view of them and the other creatures that inhabit the marine park. The day we took our trip on the Shotover wildlife cruise we also saw dolphins and turtles.

Monkey Mia is, in fact, most famous for its dolphins. Since the 60s dolphins have come right into the bay to be fed and a whole tourist resort has grown up around it. It is quite an experience to see five or six dolphins swimming a metre away from your legs. The thing that struck me most was how many and how pointy their teeth are.

The feeding is, however, very controlled. In the past it seems that the dolphins had become dependent on it and feeding the males had also led to a lot of aggression. Now feeding is restricted to about seven females and each is given way less food that what they need. There is no touching allowed and only a lucky three are able to place some fish in the water for dolphins.

There are some people who find this really disappointing - one lady from Colorado wrote in the comments book that they should be 'more dolphin interaction'. When you think about it, it is really strange the way we want to pet animals. My best moment wasn't scrutinising the teeth of the dolphin as it swam about the ranger. Rather it was when we were admiring the dugong, and then over on the horizon a pod of three dolphins began leaping and diving in the distance.

"Save the Ningaloo Reef" were the words on the blue sticker that came fixed to our camper van. We had heard amazing things about this reef, and after hundreds of kilometres of barren roadway we were looking forward to a change of scenery.

The Ningaloo Reef is a fringing reef that begins near the town of Exmouth and curves around the cape following the coast two hundred kilometres south. What makes this the reef so amazing is it's accessibility. The outer reef comes as close as fifty metres from the shore in places and acts as a barrier to the open sea.

Having hired snorkel gear we headed to the Cape Range National Park which is made up of a numerous unspoilt beaches with crystal clear turquoise water. Once into the slightly cool water the coral reef appeared instantly within only a few metres of water. We drifted over huge coral boulders, large stingrays, octopus and many different reef fish.

The Ningaloo Reef remains so unspoilt because of it's location, there are no large cities nearby, just hundreds of kilometres of shrubland. Which means that only the really intrepid traveller passes through. Saying that, word of mouth has meant that this quiet spot is getting more and more visitors. But campaigns against building huge resorts have so far been successful.

Ever had trouble with numbers? The sunny resort of Broome did when the magnificent seven paid a visit.

With sniper-like timing Paul and I had co-ordinated our stay in Broome with Paul's Mum (Kathy), Dad (Andy), Uncle (Ray), Auntie (Kerry) and Auntie's sister (Debbie). These fab five had rented a swanky holiday apartment for the week, while we had checked our little van into the nearby caravan park. Their unit soon became the homestead and our lentil-weary bodies were treated once more to the delights of the Aussie barbecue. And of-course being back together after nine eventful months on the road there was also plenty to celebrate. So we did. It was perhaps just as well we got a 10 per cent discount at the nearby liquor store.

We also decided to celebrate Andy's impending 60th birthday as Paul and I will still be travelling on the actual day. No doubt impressed by the pictures of Paul surfing, Andy gave our board a go - proving that there's more to being a silver surfer than just using the internet.

From surfing to sailing and we joined skipper Dave and decky Flip on a fine old pearl lugger for a sunset cruise. As the boat set sail at 1pm there was a fair amount of time before sunset so Paul, Kerry, Debbie, Andy and I decided to try a bit of boom-netting. Billed as a 'natural spa', the idea is to sit in a net at the back of the boat and enjoy the ocean as it bubbles over and around you.

I'm not sure if any of us were sitting comfortably when it began. We were hurled through the water, the waves grabbing at our bathers as we in turn grabbed at the net to stay afloat. "It's the only way to travel really," pointed out Andy glad he was wearing shark-repelling sun-screen. Debbie, meanwhile, was struggling with her own white pointers as the sea wrecklessly tugged at her costume.

"How ya doin?" called Flip. "Good!" yelled Kerry a little too eagerly, as Flip decided to speed up for maximum bubbles. Giggling and shaken it was not without some relief that we climbed back on board.

Back on deck poor Kathy had been joined by a real-life Onslow of Keeping Up Appearances fame. There's safety in numbers so we regrouped for a sunset wine. Just then a sea snake swam past, causing Flip to talk cheerfully of all the underwater nasties we'd shared the sea with. Sharks, poisonous snakes, jelly fish, cone shells, stinging fish ... We felt so glad to be back on board that we had another sunset wine.

Then right on cue - as if to prove that Australia's marine life aren't all bad - a couple of bottlenose dolphins swan up, racing along the bow of the boat. A flurry of fins before the deep orange sun began melting into the deep blue sea.

It had been quite some journey. So enamored by it were Debbie, Kerry and I that - much as the hobbits got matching tattoos after filming Lord of the Rings - we got identical cruise sun visors. Funny but we three aren't that tall either.

With all that ocean activity we were also keen to go fishing. The lads (me included) decided we'd spend a morning tying our luck. Seasoned fisherman Ray led the party and collecting some squid for bait, we hit the jetty with our reels. It was not a good fishing day but it was a good turtle spotting day, as a couple of them cruised almost continually up and under the jetty beneath us.

Only one man out the whole of a very full pier got a bite. For a moment it looked as though Paul was going to bring in the second catch of the day but it wasn't to be. The pier watched sadly as he pulled up some very ugly looking reef fish. Ray swiftly released it.

The girls meanwhile had gone to check out another of Broome's famed activities - pearling. Over at the pearl farm they were considerably more successfully in catching themselves somes pearls.

Sadly, like a really good film, the week came to an end all too soon. Andy and Kathy flew down to Perth to explore south-west Australia. Paul and I climbed back on board our trusty steed to head further down the coast. Debbie, Ray and Kerry stayed in Broome a little longer - not least to finish off the drink in the fridge - before heading back to Melbourne. Until the next time, the magnificent seven were to wander their own separate ways.

Last night we went on a bit of wilderness adventure. Using our GPS - thanks friends - and the carefully made notes of a previous traveller we headed out to a waterhole just west of Elliott. It was supposedly only 12 km off the Stuart Highway - no bother for our intrepid mobile nest we thought.

What optimists! The 12 km unsealed was actually 12km down an incredibly sandy, unmarked track. The poor van's already been rattled around a bit - nothing major but we had a bit of a pittstop in Alice to get a replacement bolt for something we lost along the way that meant we couldn't go into second gear.

Anyway once started there's no turning back so we continued. Very slowly. It took almost 45 mins to get there. But what a reward. At the end of the track was an amazing still lake and the obvious home of huge numbers of birds. We're not birdspotters - well not educated ones - but of the ones we can name - there were hawks, ibises, ducks, egrets, kittywakes (or something like that), crested pigeons, crows and of-course some speedy rosellas.

It was also a perfect place for Paul to use his fire building skills again and we had a cosy night in front of the fire watching the sun bleed into the lake to be steadily replaced by the silvery smile of the tropical moon.

At the Darwin Crocodile Farm we were introduced to Bert, the 5.2m saltwater crocodile, who is not only the largest saltie in captivity but also a movie star. This 80 year old croc starred with Mick Dundee (Paul Hogan, aka 'Hoges' to the aussies) in the original Crocodile Dundee film. He was captured in the Reynolds River and his home is now the farm.

As you enter the farm you see a large man made lake and inside this innocent looking lake are 100 man eaters. On a second glance you start to see the scaley beasts swimming just on the surface or basking on the lake side. Luckily there is plenty of fencing to keep them in.

The main attraction at the farm is feeding time. Unfortunately this time of year the crocs are generally just chilling out and only eat around once a week. But this didn't stop Snowy (the only known albino looking croc in the world, although not true albino because he lacked the pink eyes), Stumpy (who had lost part of his leg), and Pig (named so due to his eating behavior) from snapping whole chickens from the keepers hand and swallowing them hole in two bone crunching gulps.

Although the farm invites tourists to see the crocs on display, the main business is crocodile leather and meat. Fortunately this part of the business isn't on display, other than in a photo album showing the process for those interested. With six hundred salties, freshies and alligators on show, and a whopping 1400 crocs being farmed behind the scenes this farm aims to become the largest in the world within the next 5 years.

After seeing these scary salties up close you can see why, out of all the deadly animals in Australia, this is the one that most Australians are frightened of. Especially when they out number the humans in some areas.

Uluru was as expected truly amazing. It's fascinating to just look at the huge red rock towering over the desert scrub land. It's like a huge block of butter that has been left out in the sun, resetting into a puzzle of curves, bubbles and outcrops.

To the local Anangu people it tells an important number of creation stories. In a way it is like a 3D holy bible with the rocks' natural carvings marking past events. You are able to learn about a couple of these histories - others are restricted to initiated people. One we were told about was a fight between two ancestral snakes and you can see the marks of the huge snakes curved for eternity into the rock.

Because of the rock's significance you are asked not to climb it - and to be respectfully quiet in certain sacred sites. It is, after all a 'holy' site. Quite unbelievably an awful lot of people completely ignore this. We walked to one sacred site - a still waterhole by the side of the rock - only to be met by a loud tour group drinking champagne. There were also lots climbing Uluru. Sad to see and sad for them. Their experience can only have been a whole lot poorer from not making any effort to understand Aboriginal culture.

About 50 km away from Uluru there is Kata Tjuta - otherwise known as the Olgas - a collection of dome shaped rocks sprouting out of the desert. We took a great walk through this. There seemed to be budgies and other birds at every turn. The bright green budgies were particularly active - like a lot of Australia animals we have seen - they were busily mating. It's got to be something to do with the climate and the generally groovy vibe out here!

From here we went to King's Canyon. This is certainly on a par with Uluru and Kata Tjuta. You can take a 7k walk around the rim of the canyon, climbing over 100m to the top and then back down to a waterhole known as the Garden of Eden because of the lush flora and wild life that inhabit. As this is all desert country, it is remarkable to come across a true oasis. The rock making up the canyon is also fascinating as it is actually ancient sand dunes - I think about 400 million years ago, the centre actually had a shallow sea and the canyon is the evidence of this. In some parts of the rock you can see the fossilised ripples of the long, long dead sea. Looking across to the sheer drops of the canyon you are able to see a raspberry ripple of pure white sand and rich iron oxide. To really appreciate this one - you'll have to wait until we get our photos put up on the site.

We've made it. The van's still going. We haven't run out of water. We haven't had to resort to wittchety grubs. Yee Haa! We're in Alice Springs and we're here for the rodeo on Saturday. Paul and I are now kitted up in our cowboy hats and after the long dusty trip from Cairns are in the mood for a bit of partying.

We've had a pretty cool time driving between roadhouse, outback town and through mining country. Mt Isa, where we passed though, is one of the largest mines in Australia with 100s of kms of tunnels under the ground where they mine lead, silver and zinc. Of-course we went on an underground tour. Although I didn't want to go - a childhood visiting slate and coals mines in Wales has put me off - it was actually quite interesting. For a start I got to dress up - in full mining clobber including gum boots (way, way too big for me) and mining torches. We then learnt about the process and Paul got to have a go at some kind of hole boring device and hold a mega heavy drilling device. It was also quite impressive to see how miners work - dirty, dark and tough.

We can now claim to have had a beer in Oz's most central pub - at the roadhouse in Ti Tree, just a bit north of Alice. It was our last stop before reaching Alice and we definitely needed a beer after doing about 400-500 kms a day. Yes - we're sharing the driving - which I love. So much so that I'm thinking we may have to get some kind of camper when we return to the UK ...

We're travelling in real no-mans land now. From Carins we travelled about 600 km across the Savannah Way to Karumba on the Gulf of Carpentaria. (If you look at a map of Oz you will notice a huge horn on the right hand side - the gulf is to the left of this horn.) We had heard quite a bit about the road - the Gulf Developmental Road, as it is called. "It is a relatively new road and recently sealed", the lady at the Road Information Centre in Cairns told us, making us - or rather the learner driver here - confident about our trip across the outback.

And as expected we found a sealed road. What we didn't expect to find was that, for a good part of the way, the sealed part is only one lane wide. And when there are 50 metre road trains hurtling up and down on it, this doesn't do your confidence much good. I needn't have worried. One of the great things about outback Australia is that it so flat, so flat that you spot the rattling road trains and fellow campervans, way into the distance.

In fact you're quite glad of the company on the roads. It's a pretty desolate, harsh looking area. It is supposedly cattle country. In fact we saw a fair few - or rather their carcasses by the sides of the roads being mauled by huge black hawks, wedge-tailed eagles and crows. The number of raptors flying overhead was bewildering. Unfortunately I had a close-call with one who decided to fly across the windscreen - could have been a black hawk down (sorry).

Arriving at Karumba was odd. The place was empty in terms of homes, shops, atmosphere but full, so full of fishermen. By every caravan, tent, campervan was a boat - or a tinnie as they call them - and fishing gear. Apparently people book the camp sites 12 months in advance just to go fishing in the gulf. In fact unless you fancy fishing, there is nothing else to do. It might be by the sea, but you can't swim. It's choc full of crocs - who were no doubt also fishing.

At the start of the Savannah Way is the Undara Volcanic National Park. This area was a highly volcanic area, but it was the Undara shield volcano that made this area important. This was because Undara has the longest lava tube in the world, measuring 160kms long (although the actual tube is 110kms and the remaining 50kms was filled with the now solid lava).

The lava tubes were formed by lava flowing down river beds and over time the top of the lava flow formed a crust. This crust got thinker whilst the lava still flowed rapidly through the tube that had formed. The tubes were huge and could hold 23 cubic kilometers of lava. The flow eventually hit a lake and this caused the tube to come to an end and seal up.

Around 50% of the tube eventually collapsed, these areas are now full of unique plants and trees. We were able to visit a number of these collapsed areas as well as venture into sections of the tube itself. The tube ranges in size due to the sediment that has washed in and formed the floor. The highest area of tube which we visited must have been around 40ft high and 25ft wide. Just imagining these full of lava flowing at high speed is amazing.

Having gained our Open Water and Adventure Diver qualifications in Thailand we were ready to tackle the Great Barrier Reef. We heard that the trips from Port Douglas were much better than from Cairns, so that narrowed down the choices. Once booked we both started to worry that we had forgotten all we had learnt 7 months ago. We had also lent our dive book to Sian's brother and his mate who were learning to dive back in Mission Beach (they were supposed to join us on this trip but their course ran over).

Once on the boat our nerves disappeared as the instructors were more than happy to give us and a few other a quick refresher course. On the way our to the outer reefs our progress was slowed due to a few Humpback whales passing in front of us. A mother and her baby just sat on the surface in front of our stationary boat as we all watched in amazement. We also saw a Sea Snake on the surface lapping up some sun. We were also lucky with the weather as it was sunny and very calm seas.

After all the excitement of our encounters onboard it was time to slip into our gear and jump overboard. We did 3 dives in total at 3 different reefs. Unfortunately I lost my buddie (Sian) on the first dive, which isn't a good start! I was following the group around a coral pillar photographing some Bat Fish, when I looked around Sian had disappeared! I checked with the rest of the group as we when around the pillar and still no Sian. I looked up... couldn't see her. I informed the instructor and he surfaced to check. It turned out an air pocket in Sian's BCD (inflatable jacket) had sent her up and she couldn't control it. She was picked up by the boat and our dive continued without her.

The remaining dives were less stressful and shallower which was actually better for viewing the coral and wildlife. However I think we both agreed afterwards that the dives we did in Thailand as part of our Adventure Diver course were more spectacular. If I had have seen the Minkie Whale that was circling the boat it might have changed my mind. Sian however did see it and a turtle from back onboard the boat.

You know you are in the tropics when half a fly falls in front of your mango daquiri. No - it did not put me off my drink. We are in Port Douglas, north of Cairns and it's tropical, humid and startlingly green. Insects love it and those pesky critters are out in droves. No matter. It's still great up here. We're only an hour away by boat from the Great Barrier Reef and on Wednesday we go diving. Yippee!

Brother Michael and his friend Adam have stayed further south in Mission Beach to learn to dive so we're hoping that we can all manage a dive trip together. Paul and I, meanwhile, took a trip to Hinchingbrook Island. This tropical island off the east coast is renowned as a place of pure wilderness and beauty and indeed it was. We took a bush walk though the island and not only found witchety grubs but Paul almost stepped on a snake. Luckily they both scarpered noisily. It was apparently a North Queensland Tree Snake. 'Harmless was it?' I asked the ranger when we got back to civilization. 'Oh no. They can be quite aggressive but they don't have too much venom,' he replied reassuringly. There's a 32 k trip you can do across the island - it takes about 5 days and you have to book camp sites 12 months in advance. It sounds the perfect holiday for my hiking Dad.

Back to Port Douglas. It is a very chi-chi kind of place with lots of shops selling resort wear and heeled sandals. I've upped my look too and bought a new pair of sparkling earrings. Actually that's more to impress the fish than the locals - fish seem to love shiny stuff so I'm hoping they'll swim with me. We've also found a rum old pub to impress Mikes and Adam with once they get here. It features corrugated iron decor and cane toad racing.

Cairns, where we've visiting today, is more of a city but a very laid back one (to be honest I'm getting the impression that, Sydney and Melbourne aside, everywhere in Oz is pretty laid back). It's got a very cosmopolitan feel and a wonderful man-made lagoon by the habour with lots of babes in bikinis. I think this will impress Mikes and Adam too. There's also just thousands of shops selling opal and pearls which is pretty interesting as we head into the centre we should come across lots of gem mines. Broome is the pearl capital of Oz and I've a feeling when we get there, Kerry (who's joins us there) will be keen to teach us all there is to know about pearls.

From here we head to Uluru, then Darwin and then Broome where we meet up with Paul's Mum and Dad, and Ray, Kerry and Debbie. We have now sat down and worked out our route. It's pretty full on - and we should clock about 18,000 km - as one Aussie put it to us 'Oz is one big bit of dirt'. He's right - a big bit of dirt which a tremendous amount of gems to marvel at.

We are sailing. We are sailing. Or rather we were sailing - I can still feel the motions. Yesterday we took a trip through the glorious Whitsunday Islands on the Ragamuffin Maxi, a huge 80 foot racing yacht.

Having spent his childhood by the sea in Holyhead, bro Mikes had spent a fair amount of time sailing with the sea cadets, so when we got to Airlie Beach - the launchpad for the Whitsundays -Mikes was keen we went on a sailing rather than a cruise trip to the islands. He was not disappointed.

We had only just stepped on board when the crew pointed out that, as Ragamuffin usually had a crew of 26, they needed some volunteers. I dutifully volunteered Mikes but unfortunately volunteered myself as well. Paul and Adam were keen enough to volunteer themselves. So for the first 15 minutes the four of us were grinding away on the Ragamuffin. No, this wasn't some kind of R'n'B dance craze. Far from it. We were winding the sail up, while carefully avoiding the boom as it swung across (OK so I didn't have much avoiding to do).

Mikes and Adam were so good at grinding that for the remainder of the trip the crew kept them up there winding the sail up and down, changing our course left and right as we battled against the winds. Paul and I meanwhile sat with the other tourists, thrilling at the ride as the boat tipped vertical on the waves.

After that exhilarating ride and a snorkel with the fishes off one of the islands, Paul and I decided to head off to Dunk Island the next day. Mikes and Adam, still chasing adventure, decided to go white water rafting on the Tully River. Now Dunk Island has a special kind of significance for Paul, as it is were his parents worked when they were taking their trip across the world in a camper van back in the 70s. And it's one special place - a luxury resort with golden beaches and a tropical rainforest interior. Its symbol is a vivid blue butterfly called Ulysses and appropriately enough attracts its fair share of escapists and romantics.

Back in the 1900s a writer called E J Banfield went there on the insistence of his wife who wanted him to live his predicted final 6 months of life peacefully. The island so soothed his soul that he didn't pass away for a further 25 years. in fact he even wrote another book, Confessions of a Beachcomber.

With only a day we didn't do anything so lasting as a book but instead smooched around the resort where the younger Mr and Mrs Duncan worked, swam, sunned ourselves and took a 9k walk around the island. We certainly hadn't actually meant to walk that far but Dunk Island is very much like that - you can lose yourself and all sense of time exploring its beauty.

It was then back to the mainland to catch up with Mikes and Adam, where we finished our respective adventures off with a couple of cold beers and a Mikes' home made chow mein. Luxury!

Leaving the Gold Coast behind we hit the Pacific Highway, which changed into the Bruce Highway somewhere around the Sunshine Coast. This road, known as route 1, will take us all the way to Cairns.

After a few stops in Mooloolaba and Tewatin (near Noosa) we headed to Hervey Bay. The main attraction here, apart from whale watching, is Fraser Island - which is the the largest sand island in the world, 125km long and over 160,000 hectares in area.

Being entirely made of sand the only way you can tour the island is by four wheel drive. Not having our own 4x4 we took a two day tour on a four wheel drive coach. Despite it's sandy consistency the island supports a lot of forest types and wildlife. We travelled through sub tropical rain forest which instantly changed to euculypt forest on swinging around a bend.

The tracks on the island are mostly single lane and made up of deep sand, but the main road is actually the 75 mile long beach (which it is aptly called). This beach not only allows all the vehicles to access the sights but also acts as a runway for the aeroplanes that give you tours from the air. You need about a week to see everything apparently, in our two days we got a taste of the islands natural sights as well as the Maheno shipwreck.

Having returned to the mainland, and finally got rid of all the sand that we unknowingly collected, we hit the highway again for our long journey towards Airlie Beach and the Whitsunday Islands. 

We've hit the Gold Coast - the southern most part of Queensland - home to the Australian branch of the Gibson (well actually Shaw) family. We're staying with my Aunty Charlotte and Uncle Peter in Palm Beach who are doing their best to show us the sites in the 'too short' a time we have here.

The Gold Coast is one big strip of sun-coloured beaches punctuated by surf clubs. It sure is a pretty chilled out life out here. However there is also the green behind the gold - the rainforest clad hills and vales and thanks to cousin Helen, Aunty Charlotte and Uncle Peter we've managed to see a fair bit of it.

When we first arrived Helen whisked us off to see Currumbin Wildlife Sanctuary along with my cousin Charlotte's five year old Ebony. The kangaroos seemed to take particular delight in Ebony's pretty pink outfit and were happy for her to stroke and stroke and stroke them.

It was then a quick whizz through Surfer's Paradise - a crazy looking place of highrise apartments and nite-clubs. One of its key attractions are gold bikini clad meter maids - which just about sums it up.

In the evening Helen drove us to Natural Arch in the Gold Coast Hinterland. After much twisting through mountain roads we got to see what we came for - a cave of glowing lavae. Looking up at them was like looking at the stars would be if stars were not so far away. Not the best of descriptions but I hope you get the idea.

At the weekend Uncle Peter and Aunty Charlotte showed us the Hinterland by day. On Saturday we drove to Pearling Brook Falls where we were able to walk under a shimmering waterfall, while on Sunday we were treated to a day out at O'Reilly's national park where we were able to climb to the very top of a tree. Amazingly peaceful - it's no wonder birds are always singing.

We've also joined the rest of the UK-based Gibson family in climbing to the top of Mount Warning. The mountain is the remains of the core of a volcano and to get to the very top you have to haul yourself over rocks with the aid of a metal chain. It's pretty exciting stuff. From the top we could see Byron Bay.

Our last night in the Gold Coast is to be spent at my cousin Charlotte's house with her husband Danon, Ebony and of-course Aunty Charlotte and Uncle Peter. It is set to be a a great night especially as my 'little' bro Michael and his friend Adam have also just arrived and are to spend the next two weeks travelling up the coast with us.  

So while it will be sad to say Goodbye, it is also great to say how lovely a time we've had. Thank you all! Somehow I think we'll manage to see more of my Australian relatives in the future ...

 

Ever since we brought our camper van down in Melbourne we have been carting around the surf board that came with it. So now we are in sunny Byron Bay we decided it was about time we learnt how to use it.

Having picked the surf school from the many available it was just a matter of turning up and heading down the beach. All kitted out in our wetsuits we were taken through some stretches by one of our surf/yoga instructors.

After picking it up pretty quickly... on the beach with out drawn out surf boards it was time to hit the water. This is where things got tricky.

Sian was standing up on her board first attempt, which put the pressure on! After a few failed attempts I managed to get myself up and all the way to the beach. After this it was a bit hit and miss for both of us. It was a great 3 hours and we are now ready to introduce our board to the water.

Whilst having a celebratory beer in a nearby bar, on came a video on the big screen of the pro-surfers in Hawaii. It was then we realised we had a long way to go. And to be honest I don't think I'm that keen on big waves.

We're in Byron Bay - a beautifully chilled out but superbly hot beach town on the coast between Brisbane and Sydney. I've just come back from a yoga class and Paul has been for a run along the beach, and this afternoon we've got a surfing lesson booked.
How cool is that?!

We finally left Sydney about a week ago after spending a sad last night with Mandy and Stef. Not sad cos we were off but because we all got up at 3am to take a bus into the city and watch the England-Portugal match. We heard the English heart break even out here.

Thank you Mandy and Stef for some great nights and in particular the car radio-cassette converter which is saving our ears from Aussie country and western and talk shows. Not to put the pressure on but here's hoping we see you in Perth!

We're now moving North chasing the sun and tracking the humpback whales who are also moving up north from Antartica to Queensland to give birth. It's pretty special to see the big finned critters splash and blow from the shore.

A few days ago we were in Port Stevens - a place known for its dolphins but it was whales that we saw. We also took a 4WD trip onto the Stockton Bight - a 32k moving sand dune where we went sandboarding. Absolutely amazing to whizz down a massive dune with nothing in view but sand and the sea.

Despite the apparent barrenness of the dune it's actually host to a whole host of critters including sea eagles which we saw soaring above. Even more incredibly there is about four families living on the dune in corrugated metal houses known as tin city.

The houses were originally built in the 1930s when the depression forced some people to look for a life free of housing costs. They have since claimed squatters rights and now the council can't move them. The council has put its foot down somewhat on what they can and can't do leading to a pretty bizarre situation. One person who has a satellite dish on his hut has to hide it with a rusty old grill so as to be seen not to change the structure of the original building.

The hotter weather up here is certainly agreeing with us and just as importantly our mobile nest, which hated starting in the cold. Anyway must sign off - surf's up as I think they say here.

The Blue Mountains, west of Sydney, are so-called because of the blue haze that cloaks them. It is caused by the eucalyptus in the leaves of the blue gum trees. For years the settlers in Australia could not figure out a way to get across the mountains and some pretty crazy ideas spread as to what lay beyond them, with one popular thought being China.

It's easy to see why they were so confounding when you arrive there, as little villages seem to be metres away from huge cliff drops. These drops make spectacular look out points. We will be putting some photos up soon, so you will be able to see what I mean. Beneath the sheer perpendicular drops lie swathes of green, blue forest with seemingly no way for mere humans to enter or exit. The bird life is prolific, with rosellas, cockatoos, currawongs, magpies and crows swooping and gliding across the magnificent vistas. It's all quite breathtaking stuff.

After scrambling along a cliff path at Govetts Leap, Paul and I stopped to catch our breath at the wispy waterfall named Bridal Veil Falls. A pair of crimson rosellas were nestling in the tree beneath us and the sun was beaming through the blue hazed mountains. It was a perfect moment. Paul must have thought so too, as he proposed. Of-course I said yes, thinking he was just being cuddly. Then he swiftly produced a beautiful diamond ring.

It was June 21st. According to our mystical friends back in Katoomba this is the first day of the new season, a specially positive time for beginnings. Even without this extra significance, it was the perfect time and place for us.

Mulled wine anyone? I know, I know, we're out of sync with half the world but we're just back from the winter magic festival in the Blue Mountains where it even snowed for us.
The Blue Mountains are just west of Sydney and get pretty cold this time of year, so cold in fact that a few years ago one hotel owner decided to impress his Irish guests by putting on a Christmas dinner. From that day on the whole region now holds Yuletide throughout the winter months (June - August).

And if that wasn't enough reason to go there, the hippies and pagans who live in Katoomba in the heart of the Blue Mountains decided to hold a winter magic festival around the time of the winter soltice, which is June 20 in the Southern Hemisphere.

Luckily in my last place of work I got pally with a girl who has a few witches among her friends and was warned that everyone would in costume and at the very least wearing a cape. Although I've been pretty practical with most of my packing for this trip, I had actually squeezed a cape in my backpack. A few lashings of black mascara and I was all set for waltzing with the wizards. Paul, in case you're wondering, did not get quite so into the spirit of things.

My friend was right though. We arrived in Katoomba to be greeted by a street full of nymphs, witches, wizards, fairies, elves and forest beasts. There was music and dancing and food and drinks and ... sadly rain. Yes your wannabe witch and wizard called it a day and retired to the pub to drink red wine and indulged in that oldest and most magical traditional of all, making friends.

As we prepare to leave Sydney, and with work finished, we have been able to update the photos and critters sections.

You will find a few more galleries within the Victoria section. These are from our trip along the coast to New South Wales, as well as a trip to the Grampians.

Sydney has dominated the New South Wales section. There is still more to come for this region, but for now our Sydney exploits should give you plenty to look through.

We have also spotted a few more critters on our travels and within Sydney. But for you arachnaphobic's out there be warned that a few large ones have made it on the list.

Aargh. We've hit the half way point. We're six months into the adventure. And so only six months to go. Sniff. What's worse though is that I'm currently wishing the days away! Just three more weeks of being a office dogs body and we hit the road again.

My latest position was actually not too bad. It was with a union so there were lots of cheery posters about reminding everyone about the importance of team work and how little things really can make a difference. This worked wonders for my ego - me being the tiniest cog in the machinery. There was also a great coffee machine which - as Paul knows only too well - works wonders for my mood.

I'm now in a much more corporate company which being a financial company makes you buy your coffee from its cafe - and as I'm only a temp, I haven't being given a pass which means I can't even access the damn place. Like I said, three weeks until we are on the road again.

Paul's job is coming to an end this week which is pretty sad cos he liked it and I'm now threatening to find him some envelope stuffing or data entry to do. Lucky for him he already has an excuse - he's going to get our beloved little van totally fixed up before the big off. After a month of sitting in our friend's drive way, will it start?!

And talking of our friends, we shared a lovely drunken evening with Mandy and Stef last Friday celebrating Stef's birthday. They had found a groovy bar complete with a stage which, as the last people there left drinking at midnight, we decided to dance on. Alas it didn't last long as the owners swiftly shut the bar. This didn't do our dancing egos too much good.

And now for some sad news, we failed in our mission to photograph the gorgeous spectacle of Sydney's big fruit bats flying out the botanical gardens of an evening. The gardens shut at 5.30pm - which is just about the time the bats fly out. Despite hanging around, hoping the bats would leave before us, we were spotted by a ranger who shooed us out along with the bats. Ah well, all good, cheap fun.

Yes - it's time we were back on the road, free, free like a bird or maybe a bat.

Today youthful Mr D turns 29 and tonight we will be celebrating with cake and beer. Hurrah!

I've been to court. No really. I have. On Tuesday I was in Sydney's District Court.

OK,OK. As you all know what an angel I am, there's no way I can keep up the pretence. I was in the court for what must be the strangest temp job I've had since been in Sydney. I was employed to do what I thought was going to be admin for a legal firm. When I got there I found out I was court runner for a team of typists. That's right. I had to spend all day running back and forth to court to pick up tapes so the lovely ladies back in the office could transcribe them.

And if being a lowly runner isn't bad enough, I had to look smart as I had to pick the tapes up from the actual court room during proceedings so at to bow at the judge each time I entered and left the room. What do posh clothes mean? Posh shoes and big blisters. Ouch.

My other news is I've had my lovely locks cut. Ever looking to do things on the cheap I went into what looked a cut price place where I was greated the wonderful Mextaxa who, like all hairdressers began by scolding me about my mop.

Mextaxa then decided that a trim was no good as, 'You have fat person's haircut. You are not fat.' I took this as a compliment, removed my glasses and sat blind while she pointed out the effects of too much sun.

To cut an hour-long event short, I now have layers. Think back to the 80s and footballers' with perms. Yep layers. Strangely though I like it. I wonder if that is also an effect of too much sun.

Paul is beginning to fret about the van again and the need to get a few bits fixed. He is also fretting about our money-saving veg diet as he's been a bit tired lately. I'm sure it's just the effects of a steady job. His work does seem to be pretty good though. Not only do they have fruit but they also have a stash of lollys and play music in the office. Why can't I design websites?!

The downer of this blog though has to be the weather. It's Autumn here and it's freezing! Well, hovering around 20 degrees and getting dark at 5pm. Not what you expect of Australia. Roll on our relocation to the ever sunny Gold Coast.

This blog's big news is that we are both working. Well, I have been working and now Paul is working. Paul's managed to get a bit of a groovy sounding design job for three weeks with a web agency over here. It sounds like pretty interesting stuff as they do a lot for some of Australia's biggest companies such as Telstra (sort of like BT used to be). There is also an office dog and free fruit so it's got to be a fun environment.

For my part I've been doing reception work and a bit of office admin but have yet to find a steady job. Not to worry though now as I've been getting into Good Morning Australia and re-runs of Judge Judy. Perhaps it is just as well - on one reception assignment I mistakenly tannoyed Melinda Messenger instead of Melinda Jones.

We are getting to like Sydney more and more though. We've successfully evicted our cockroaches and found an excellent second hand book shop which opens until midnight. We're also making the most of the lovely botanical gardens here. A wonderful place on the edge of the harbour that's home to fruitbats, possums, eastern water dragons and golden orb spiders as well as a fair amount of plants.

We've even seen a show at the opera house. Well, it was actually in the opera house studio so not directly underneath the sail-like domes. And it wasn't home-grown talent we saw but England's very own comedian Daniel Kitson. Very funny.

But it's the big trip across the rest of Oz that we're really looking forward to. We've a few things to sort on the van so I'm calling mechanics today. Sadly though I haven't been able to keep up with my driving lessons. For a start our van is quite a distance out of the city with friends. Secondly every state is different and to get your license here (New South Wales) you need to log 50 lessons. Lessons are more that double what they were in Melbourne - around $60 each - so you can see the problem. I'm hoping that when we get to Queensland lessons will be cheaper and they don't have this logging system. It's a real shame though as I was getting to love driving - especially after having a go in the van.

Right. I'm off to sun bathe while Paul brings home the dollars. It's a great life out here!

When we arrived in Melbourne it was Christmas time. In Tasmania we hit the Australia day celebrations. As we pulled up in Sydney everyone was leaving the city for the Easter weekend.

Now a couple of weeks on we have Anzac day approaching, another big public holiday (not in all states). More importantly a day for remembering those who fought, and those currently serving, in the Australian & New Zealand forces.

Australians love to make good use of their holidays and often pack everything into the 4x4 or Ute and head out to the beach or the country, and spend the long weekend camping, surfing or just drinking beer (ideally all three).

For us, where every other day is a holiday, these holidays tend to mean that everything is a bit busier or in the case of looking for work everything slows down.

Both Sian and I have registered with employment agencies and are currently searching in Excel for a cosmetics company - whilst I persevere with my hunt for design work.

After spending a week in Lane Cove caravan park (10km out of the city centre) we decided to look for something a little more permanent and closer to all the action. It took a couple of days of wandering around different areas to get an idea of what was available. Ideally we thought it would be great to be by the beach, in places like Manly or Bondi. But one recuring problem was the unavailability of parking. This wasn't just by the beaches but obviously in the city too.

In the end we turned down Manly's cool vibe, beach and ferry journeys and went for the cheaper and more central location, Kings Cross. This is the area where you find a lot of backpacker accomodation and although it isn't pretty (not dissimilar to London's Kings Cross), it is in the heart of the city. Unfortunately this meant we had to abandon the Camper Van and leave it with our friends up on the northern beaches (thanks Mandy & Stef!).

The flat itself needed a bit of a clean but we eventually made it a bit more homely. Unfortunately we also have a few unwanted friends living with us, cockroaches! So we have been zapping and squashing the critters with heavy duty spray and traps. I guess this is the price you pay for trying to save money. But that said and done I think the problem is under control.

Our landlord also may be familiar to a few of you. He is a part-time actor and has appeared in over 80 commercials. Those of you in the UK may have seen him in the DVLA Chitty Chitty Bang Bang commercial (for road tax I believe) as a cop in a car (can't say we remembered it that well either!). Or for anyone in Australia you will see him in the Commonwealth Bank advert that has been running recently, he plays a queue attendant who looses all his customers to the Platinum card queue, or something like that.

We're in sunny Sydney and currently expoloring the sites. We spent Easter with Paul's old MC friends Mandy and Stef who very sweetly got us each an chocolate bunny. We were our usual disorganised selves but I blame it on the weather - it's too hot to be Easter.

After a fun fews days, we're now back in our trusty mobile nest and staying on a national park caravan park about 10 km out of Sydney. The bird song is terrific and the spiders are huge. There are also supposedly lots of Eastern Water Dragons (some lizard thing) about but we haven't been lucky enough yet.

We are also back on the job hunt and busy calling and emailing recruitment agencies. I've yet to ring the zoo but after visiting it with Dawn and Lottie on Easter Monday I know what I'd ideally like to do!

We're on our grand trip to Sydney from Melbrourne and for the past three days have been slowly winding our way across coastal Victoria and Gippsland.

First stop after leaving Melbourne was the quaint collection of coastal towns that make up the Mornington Peninsula. A lovely place to go if you are after latte by the sea in the morning and a stroll along the beach in the afternoon.

We then moved on to Wilson's Promontory - a animal and tree covered peninsula with rugged beaches and a few mountains to keep the walkers happy. It's a hugely loved national park that draws hundreds of campers. Unlike the other national parks we've stayed at this one came with a warning to seal all food and store it in your car to avoid the wrath of "aggressive wombats"! (If you've looked at our critters page you will see that it is hard to imagine an agressive wombat.)

Luckily we managed to avoid the wombats but we were caught out by a very agressive wind. Paul spent half our first afternoon there tinkering with a very fetching tarpaulin which he attached to our Star Wagon (the van) as a rain and wind cover. This worked well until at 1am the wind got agressive. Unfortunately our tarp was more of a sail than a cover and we were rocked with the wind, with the tarp clip crashing over our heads with each gust.

We didn't sleep much but by getting up at 5am we were able to set off on a fantastic if blusterly walk across the hills to Squeaky Beach. True to its name Squeaky Beach squeaks - unlike your usual beach, the sand is made of quartz not shells, so walking on it is, as the guide book explained, "like walking on a a bed of tiny marbles".

This was not the best bit though because the wind was so strong it blew the waves back on themselves causing tiny rainbows to form and shatter as the sun shone through the surf.

Our next stop was Cape Conran national park. This was far more the bushwacking wilds - with pit toilets and bush showers (that is cold showers which looked as though they used rain water - we didn't bother finding out). It also seemed like the wilds had got to most of the people we met (or rather didn't meet) as no-one seemed to want to smile despite the area's truly wonderful beauty. Probably the best part was a self-guided walk across an Aboriginal midden by the sea - basically an ancient rubbish tip with shells and tools demonstrating the original inhabitants long connection with the area.

After the three days camping on national parks we've been drawn in by the promise of a heated 25 metre swimming pool at a campsite in Narooma. Bliss.

Well as may have noticed the website has had a slight re-launch. Now not only can you read about our travels but you can see some of them too. We have added photos of the trip so far and hope to add some more at a later stage.

Hope you enjoy the new site. Paul & Sian

We've finally managed to tear ourselves away from Melbourne and the family and friends we have met there. For the last week we have been staying with Ray and Kerry and have left our St Kilda studio. It was sad to say bye to the possums but Australia is full of the furry critters so we should see some more.

Back at Ray and Kerry's Paul has been working flat out on the new look website - selecting the photos seems to be the hardest part. Meanwhile I've been working at the old data entry job in Melbourne Uni and making curtains for our Star Wagon - wicked curtains - blue with little stars on it.

The last few days has been full of goodbyes. On Friday we went out with my work colleagues - Paul came too as he'd met most of them before. True to leaving do form we drank a fair bit.

The weekend has been spent preparing the Star Wagon for the big trip with a great deal of help from Ray and Kerry. Oil, anti bug spray for the windscreen, wooden spoons, power cable - you name it, they have either checked we've got it or got it for us. Massive thanks!

Saturday night we had a farewell evening of delicious home-made curries with Debbie, Ray and Kerry - not forgetting Gertie the dog who snored in the corner as usual. A good evening and thankfully not a sad one as we all plan to meet up in Broome in September. Yippee!

As a final farewell to a city we really could live in we drove round the Albert Park Gran Prix circuit in the van - probably a bit slower than Schumacher did back in March.

So goodbye Melbourne and thank you so much to Ray, Kerry and Debbie for all the help, love and good times they gave us during our stay.

My ears are still ringing from the sound of the Australian Grand Prix. I managed to go to one of the practice sessions and see the new sessions cars on their first out lap. The noise they make is emmensely loud, in fact you would be able to hear them all over Melbourne.

I hadn't had chance to see Albert Part before all the track was set up, but looking at it now you could hardly imagine it as anything other than race track. On race day the weather had turned a bit and was looking a bit murky (this Grand Prix has a history of bad weather, even though it's summer here), this however didn't stop thousands of petrol heads turning up.

We got there early, but clearly not early enough to get a good spot. It looked like some of these people were camped down for the weekend. After a stroll up and down we finally squeezed into a spot in front of a big screen and waited for it all to happen.

There were a few warm up races, motor bike stunts and some aerial acrobatics from F18's, helicopters and a Qantas Jet flyby. The actual F1 race flew by quicker than on TV and slightly harder to follow without the usual commentary, but it was a great experience to see these cars blur past our eyes.

When it was all over we were able to walk on the circuit to the start/finish line, by which time there were no famous faces around, so we headed to the pub in which we met up with Sian's work colleague Andy and his cousin Pete. It turned into a great night which was worth the hangover the next day.

Well I'm pretty excited because I'm am going to my first F1 Grand Prix on the 7th March. Sian and I have our tickets for the big race in Albert Park, Melbourne. They aren't fancy grand stand seats but they have six raised mounds around the park circuit with big video screens so we should be able to see a fair bit. They have been spending the last few weeks transforming the park into a F1 circuit and the city is starting to get hyped up for it.

Well we are now proud owners of a camper van, which we hope will get us around Oz! It's a fairly basic Mitsubishi Express Wagon with a bed in the back and all the camping needs. Managed to get it for a good price as the previous owners are flying back to the UK in a week and were desperate to get rid of it. It also came with a surf board, so I guess we better learn how to use one!

Sian now has her learners permit, so we better get some L plates so she can get practicing. It would definitely help if she can help with the driving, as we should be doing around 15,000k's.

Yesterday we went to the Sony Tropfest, which is the largest short film festival. The free event was broadcasted to all the state capitals. The Melbourne venue was the Sidney Myer Music Bowl which is a permanent outdoor auditorium with some seating and a big grass bank. As with most aussie events - people rocked up with their esky's full of beer as well as chairs and blankets, we weren't quite as organised. We watched the 16 finalists, each of which had to be under 7mins long. All the films were of a very high standard and very entertaining, well worth going.

http://www.tropfest.com/

Having spent a great time in Williamstown with my wonderful Uncle and Aunt, Ray and Kerry, we have moved across the water to St. Kilda. It's a cool area with loads of bars, cafes, restaurants and fantastic cake shops! A couple of weeks back was the St Kilda music festival where hundreds of thousands, us included, came to enjoy the music and the beach.

St. Kilda seems to be where a lot of the backpackers hang out, and we found it to be one of the only areas to do short term lettings on apartments. The one agent that delt with these lettings had a real cowboy running the show. In fact the real estate company tried to disassociate themselves with this character, informing us he just operated from their offices. After wasting our time with this guy we met this guy who owed/managed a few studio flats in the area, and we ended up taking one. It's basic and needed a good clean but scrubbed up ok in the end.

Well since getting back from Tasmania we have been looking for work, which in no more fun than it is back home. Sian started work this week at Melbourne University doing some admin work, and has a six week contract. I have been having less luck getting work in the design/web industry, it appears that Sydney may be better for this type of work. However I am still looking and something might come up, otherwise I'll have to look for casual work somewhere.

We know. We know. Last posting was before Christmas! The trouble is we seem to have too much to do just seeing and experiencing this amazing part of the world let alone to write about it.

We're in Tasmania at the moment - home of the (tassie) devil and heaven to hill walkers or bush walkers as they call them here. Today we woke up in Cynthia's Bay by Lake St Clair. A beautiful deep blue lake in 'one of the last pristine temperate wildernesses on earth'.

Living up to its wild natural reputation there were many exciting animals - quolls (spotted meat eating marsupials), pademelons (like a mini Kangaroo) and - aargh - tiger snake - yup venomous and slithering a foot from our feet.

Being out in Tas we've also had to get our survival skills honed up a bit. Most people here seem like serious campers and our happy style of pitch the tent and find a pub doesn't work here when you are often in remote places (lesson one: buy beers in advance).

Having taken note of people cooking up neat meals and luscious hot chocolate we bought ourselves a wee gas stove. All very exciting until we realised on site we had no way of lighting it (lesson two: buy matches). One easy thing out here is that most camp sites and picnic areas have free gas powered barbies (yup we're getting into it) for anyone to use. Would England ever be laid back enough for public bar-b-ques?

Two days ago we were out Tahune National Park - a working forest with an air walk. Whoah such heights, such leaves, such birds and unfortunately such rain. So much in fact that the night before we had slept in our cosy (but cold)rental car. A great 1989 Magna Wagon.

So back to Christmas and New Year. Christmas was very odd in that it was exactly the same as it would be in the UK. Presents, too much food, too much drink. But sitting in a sunny garden until 9pm and watching the possums doing the nightly washing line walk was very different.

New Year was far weirder. We were in an outback farm in Nyngan (front of Bourke), New South Wales. Blistering heat. Too hot even to sunbathe. In fact the only thing to do was drink ice cold beer (stubbies). So we did - which I guess was similar to what we would have done in England.

We were there because Kerry and Ray's (our hosts in Melbourne - Paul's rellies) friends own the farm and were having a New Year's/50th birthday party. The party involved roping a hose to the veranda and around the garden to continually spray the guests with water. Believe us they needed it. They had also got a couple of cattle troughs in the back filled with water for good measure which sadly at midnight most girls were chucked into by local character Sess. Yup me included. A very strange way to spend New Year.

As well as finding out about the harshness of farm life and seeing kangaroos, huge lizards - goannas - we also tasted the local delicacies - yabbies. A bluey-green crayfish that lives in fresh water or in this farm's case man made tanks (huge water holes). It wasn't good to see their huge claws as we'd been swimming in the tanks earlier. For the record they taste like a muddy lobster.

For the week we were there we stayed in the disused farm house. So under used that when Stacey (one of our hosts) was putting a mattress in our room she stepped on a deadly brown snake. Thankfully it didn't bite her.

Although very different for a New Year and annoying that we couldn't get a mobile signal to call you guys we had a fantastic time - all thanks to our lovely hosts Ray, Joy, Stacey and Melissa.

Before setting out to Tas we borrowed Ray's 4X4 Pajero. Groovy!! As Paul's navigator I plotted our course down the Great Ocean Road to take in the sites including Gibson Steps - one of the best views of the Twelve Apostles. The apostles are amazing limestone rocks that tower out of the crashing ocean. The area is also known as shipwreck coast because of the many wrecks that occured - often of ships travelling from England. It appears that a Hugh Gibson raised the alert on one of the wrecks. A lovely old book described him stepping out of the house to smoke his pipe and seeing the flames of the poor vessel.

It was also along the Ocean Road that we first oafed with camping. We found a lovely spot on Cape Otway - once inaccessible except by sea - remote and wild - we saw a wallaby on the way up. We'd paid for our pitch for the night and opened our tent. Aargh - no poles (lesson three: check your equipment).
So we were off to a back packers hostel for the night.

Anyway the next day we made up for our night without creatures by going off to Tower Hill - a long extinct volcano which is now a national reserve and home to koalas, roos, eagles and emus. All of which were up and around when we got there for breakfast.

OK that's the round up - hope you got though it. We're in Tassie for another 10 days so no doubt we'll have more to tell.

Happy New Year everyone!

Sorry about the lack of entries recently. We've been really busy seeing and doing things and will update the site asap. Just finished a 3 day trip along the Great Ocean road and now we are off to Tasmania for two weeks. So you may have to wait a little longer for the updates. Till then...

Streuth mates we're in Oz and it's raining! This is just so, so wrong. The tan is fading fast and how are we going to toss shrimps and snags on the barby if the rain keeps putting it out? It appears there is a little piece of Britain that will be forever with us.

It's not quite Christmas yet but the festivities here are well underway with carol singing at the village market. We are staying with Paul's Uncle Ray and Auntie Kerry in Williamstown – the suburb of Melbourne that was once home to the city's seafarers. Beautiful tin-roofed wooden houses with intricate lace-like porches. It's a little Hampstead-like here even down to the big 4X4s but I suspect they might prove more useful here.

In fact Ray and Kerry certainly need theirs as for New Year we are off to a farm in the bush nearest named location Nyngan - a 1000km drive through the Ozzie outback. It sounds fantastic and I'm looking forward to critter spotting. There have thankfully been no manky spiders yet. Animal-wise I'm going to have to resort to the old cliche that things here are upside down - the swans are all black and the pigeons healthy-looking.

We're on our way to sorting through the mundane things - I'm to do a basic car knowledge test to get my learner driver permit and we've sorting out working tax codes. I think the job hunt might wait until we get back from the back of beyond.

Finally here's a new phrase for the party season courtesy of our Auzzie friends: Talking Braille - when your booze intake renders you incapable of speaking sense.

Now we have finished all the diving we have explored a few of the islands around us. The first being a trip to James Bond island in Phang Nga bay. For those of you who don't know this was the island where bad guy Scarramanga had his lair in the Bond film The Man With The Golden Gun. The area was beautiful, with 300m high limestone islands and mangrove mazes. Also as part of the trip we went to Monkey cave which houses a large reclining gold budda as well as monkey's and bats. Another stop was at a fishing village built off the side of an island on stilts.

We also went to the Similan islands which are Thailand's most westerly point. It takes about an hour and a half by speed boat to get to the Similian's. There are 9 islands in total, only two of which are inhabited. All the islands are part of a national park an so remain unspoilt unlike some of Thailands islands. It's also supposed to be one of the top ten diving sites in the world, but this time we decided just to snorkel on some of the shallow reefs. We spent a night on island 4, Ko Miang. We watched the sunset at sunset point and after dinner we went on the hunt for the hairy legged crabs (or chicken crabs as they are sometimes called). These are land crabs that live in holes in the ground and only come out at night. Unfortunately we only saw one as the rest had been disturbed already and scuttled back into their holes. Sian also saw a large water monitor lizard, which was as startled as Sian, and quickly scampered off. There were also a lot of fruit bats flying around at night. The Similan's proved to be the tropical island paradise that we had hoped for, and wished we had only had longer to stay there.

Hello. We are writing this from Phuket's finest dinosaur themed restaurant - free internet access and the raptors taste good.
Yesterday was the last day of Thai Diving and unbelievably for me (Sian) we've gone on to do three adventure dives after passing our open water diving course. Unbelievable cos I almost backed out on the last course day because we had to go 18m deep and I was so scared. A quick tear and hug from Paul and reassurance from our wonderful instructor Sabrina (yep - she was magic) and I did it. Get me to the Great Barrier Reef!

The adventure dives were really cool. The first one was a naturalist dive which involves identifying different fish and coral (this is what convinced Sian to do them). This dive was just off a island/rock and was along a reef wall (21m) where we saw lionfish, barracuda, puffer and box fish as well as many more. The second dive was a wreck dive which I (Paul) was really excited about. The wreck was of the King Cruiser, a passenger/car ferry (85m long) which had hit the reef and sank. The sea bed was 30m but we only went to 22m as we hadn't done the deep diver course. But we were still able to swim around the outside of the ferry and look in the upperdeck windows and captain's bridge. Again we saw loads of fish. The third dive was at shark point, here we did our peak performanc buoyancy dive which trained us to control our buoyancy/position in the water using just our lungs. We finished the dive with a swim around shark point which had really beautiful coral and lots of anenome fish (nemos!).

Our next stop is Ko Simillian - actually it's about nine remote islands off the west coast of Thailand. We're looking for golden sands, blue waters and to chill and do nothing for a bit. So the blog will go quiet. Hope you are all keeping well. XXX

Well last day of the diving course tomorrow and looking forward to it. Not only because we do our last two open water dives but also so we don't have to get up so early in the morning! Plus there is all this studying you have to do, but think we've cracked the dive tables. Tomorrow we head to the beach and take a long tail boat out a short distance to a reef with a depth of 18m (which is as far as we are allowed to go on this course). Apparently we should see some shoals of large fish as well as impressive reef. The weather has been a bit overcast but it hasn't really effected us as we've spent a lot under water. We are quite surprised how mentally and physically demanding the course is, but it's now all becoming easier all the practice we've had. (PD)

By the way, the old Inside Housing logo pens don't work after you've dropped them in sand. Hope the new pens are better designed. (SG)

Just come up for air after wallowing in a pool all afternoon. We are day one into our PADI open water course, and to be honest it was quite exhausting. Went into the water after lunch, came out at sunset! Tomorrow we go to the beach and do it all again in the sea. (pd)

Yep Thailand is cool. We are sleeping in a little bungalow in a peaceful little garden just tucked behind the big hotels. It is tiny and basic and we have little ant friends in the sink.
There is also lots of amazing looking fish to eat - but alas Paul won't share a platter of clam, abolone, shrimp, crab, loster and local fish.

PS The keyboards here are wicked - have thai script on them as well as Roman letters - no pound sign though. (sg)

Singapore is very clean but still interesting. We spent our time at a night safari and the man fed the tigers for us (and probably the tiger's sake too). He lobbed big bits of meat right in front of the glass screen separating us from the beasts so we got to see their scarey jaws. I did step back a little.
There were also lions, some crazy looking bearded pigs, giraffes, leopards, and Asian style otters and badgers and other animals. Really good to see them at night when they are all awake and making tonnes of noise - you also walk through the park so Paul got bitten by some mossie critters.
And we spent the tourist dollar and been to Raffles for a singapore sling. It's a good place Singapore - more high tech than London and nicer looking sky scrapers than London. We stayed in the China town part of it - so I got to eat some huge prawn noodle thing (complete with tenatcles) for a pound from one of the street stalls. Paul had a vegetable curry (worried about being ill on the first day).

Well I never thought this website would ever get built. I had grand visions of what it should look like and do. But unfortunately I ran out of time because of the 101 other things that needed to be done. This has meant that I've had just half a day to build the site with only html software to hand.

I'm hoping that when we get to Australia, and if I get a designing job, I might be able to improve the site. But for now it's going to have to be the basic option, which I guess is better than nothing!

Well I'm knackered, and need to get some sleep.