Alison & Ewen’s three step guide for a successful Aussie road trip

So after an incredible six week road trip from Sydney to Cape Tribulation and back again, we’ve definitely have caught the travelling bug and are already planning our next road trip.  Here are some reflections upon our time on the road and tips for others planning a similar trip.

1. Always ensure you have enough supplies

Water, water everywhere but not a drop to drink.  We always assumed that unless a sign specifically said “not drinking water” that we were good to go.  After one particularly warm night, when we emerged from our van slightly parched and sweating like we’d just ran 3 marathons back to back, we ran the camp tap.  I can only imagine that sewage water is less murky than what trickled into our bottle.  Morale of the story, always fill from a reputable source.

2. Take in the awesome scenery along your route

Whilst driving along the Bruce Highway, the Queensland government encourage you to play trivia games to stay alert.  When you’re relocating an Apollo motor home from Cairns to Brisbane in under three days a simple game of I spy can become elaborate very quickly.  Once you’ve used “road”, “sugar cane”, “road works” and “kangaroo” you’ll need to get inventive.  As undefeated I spy (and 20 questions) champion some suggestions, depending on your current surroundings, are: fence, palm tree or railway.

3. Have the time of your life!

Incredible beaches, sun, sun, sun, cliff jumping into rock pools, seeing kangaroos and wallabies feed on the beach at sunrise, platypus spotting, roller coaster riding, showering in the rainforest, taking wrong turns, the Whitsundays, outdoor cinemas, excellent sun sets, breathtaking view points, 14,000ft sky dives, endless barbecues, swapping tips and stories, feeding wild lorikeets and cuddling a koala.  Green Day were right, that was unpredictable.

Click here for a short video in response to Apollo's ultimate motor home competition.  Please like it and wish us luck!

"I'm in a glass case of emotion"

So a lot has happened since I last posted.  Obviously, Ewen broke his leg, and set his cast on fire at his birthday party (accidentally) 3 days after getting out of hospital!

Two weeks after that Ewen got a purple fibreglass cast put on, but I haven't uploaded those pictures to my laptop and Ewen misplaced our camera at a friends house and we won't get it back until Sunday!


I also got a job working for the Caravan and Camping Industry Association of New South Wales (what a mouthful!) which I'm really enjoying.


Coley came out to Australia on 4th July to work (managed to get a job in our fave local) and live with us!


Oh, and we went to Melbourne and got engaged!


A picture speaks a thousand words...so here are a few pictures.  I don't have anything witty to say!

Coley, Graeme, Me, Abi, Ewen
First day in Melbourne - 06/07/12

Giving Kylie a run for her money

I bought you a present dad (the massive one at the back), unfortunately it's docked in Melbs...

The girlies with the Melbourne skyline in the background after eating in China Town en route to the Eureka Tower

88 floors up, and the lift goes sooo fast - it only takes about 15 seconds

On the skydeck waiting to go on "The Edge"

Nice view.  You'd hate it mum!

We actually went to that stadium on Sunday to watch our first AFL game

The Edge

A 4.5cm glass thick box that comes out from the Eureka Tower over Melbourne

Not sure why this one has come out blurry?

A close up of my gorgeous ring!

Our first AFL game, featuring LOADS of birds on the field.
It was Great Western Sydney (where Ewen, Coley and I live) vs Hawks (near where Graeme and Abi live) and GWS lost spectacularly, it was 193 to 31 or something ridiculous.  Apparently the biggest goal difference all season!

The Eureka Tower (the massive building in the middle) from the MCG stadium

That's pretty much all of our news!  We're finally starting to see the first hint of spring, it's been gloriously sunny most of this week and I've got the flip flops out again!

Lots of love to everyone x

Some cool news, and some not so cool news

Cool news...I got a job!!  Working part time as a database and membership assistant for the Caravan and Camping Industry Association NSW.  Not much else to it apart from that.

Not so cool news...It took 54 days, but Ewen got broken.  Spectacularly.  Of course, you've all already guessed that this is a football injury.  Unfortunately this time it's a pretty bad one.  He has (somehow, nobody is sure how) managed to dislocate his ankle, break the thin bone in his leg into several jagged pieces and completely tear all of the ligaments joining the leg and ankle together.  So, basically his whole ankle region is shattered.  It's now Monday night and he's been in hospital since Sunday afternoon.  Foot is back in the correct place but is getting surgery to plate together the bits of broken bone, re-attach the ligaments and screw the two leg bones together until it all heals.  So 2 weeks in a soft cast, 4 weeks in a stookie, lots of physio then back to get the screws out 10 weeks after the stookie is off.  Not ideal, but the main concern is getting Ewen back in business!

That's just about all of the chat for now.  Here are some pictures!

Arriving in the hospital

After the drugs have worn off

Evesdropping

In the supermarket in Nowra while camping, Ewen and I are standing at two opposite ends of the crisp aisle when two ladies walk past Ewen and stand next to me.


Lady 1: "Oh my god, did you see that boys hair?!"
Lady 2: "I know, he's bleached it the colour of the sun!  Oh God, that's absolutely awful!!"


I then walked up and started talking to Ewen.  The two ladies faces drop and they hot foot it out the aisle.

The Blue Mountains

G'day!

So since we last posted, we've been seriously trying this looking for a job thing.  So far, it hasn't paid off but we're optimistic!  We've also been planning our travels for when Coley comes out.  Our route will hopefully be: Sydney - Kuala Lumper, Kuala Lumper - Hanoi, Siem Reap - Kuala Lumper, Kuala Lumper - Denpasar (Bali), Denpasar - Perth, Perth - Sydney.  Then depending on the money situation we'll either work in Sydney for a bit and travel up the coast, or we'll work our way up the coast.

The most interesting thing we've done in the past week was go to the Blue Mountains last Friday.  We'd heard mixed reviews; some folk had said "oh, it's just some hills and rocks", others had said it was "incredible"

We had actually planned to go on the Wednesday, but slept in.  We're now so glad that we did, we had an absolute belter of a day for the visit!

So we got the train from Windsor to Blacktown, before we had to swap for the Blue Mountains train to Katoomba.  Here is Ewen on the train...I think the train looked like it should be from the 70s

We walked from Katoomba to Echo Point, where I made friends with a giant koala in the gift shop...

The view from Echo Point was absolutely incredible.  There's not much I can say so here are a whole load if pictures, although they don't do it justice!

Aboriginal man with didgeridoo

The Three Sisters

Ewen & The Three Sisters

From Echo Point, we wanted to go up the Giant Steps which lead right to the Three Sisters.  Unfortunately these were closed due to a land slide.  So we headed off in the other direction along the Prince Henry cliff walk, en route to Scenic World!

Due to the abnormal amount of rain in the area over summer, the path now resembles a swimming pool or mud bath.

The view from halfway along the Prince Henry cliff walk

Going up some of the thousands of steps from the Prince Henry cliff walk

Only a small fraction of the steps we walked up

The start of Katoomba Falls.  Such a beautiful, but peaceful place

After leaving the fountains, we found ourselves in the jungle, before more stairs, more mud (I had an unfortunate brawl with a fence whilst trying to avoid being engulfed by mud.  As a result, I have obtained a nasty bruise on my right arm which is now an attractive shade of puke)...and road!  So we finally made it to Scenic World.  I took a picture of the "4 big facts about Scenic World" so I wouldn't have to remember them to tell you.  What I will say though, is that the Scenic Railway was AWESOME!!!

...so awesome, that here is Ewen while we're going down

And this is the view on the way down (after coming out of a black cave)

We took the longest of the three walks around the rain forest.  There wasn't much to see except two fake coal mines (which were surrounded by the whole of China) and a fake miners cottage.  It started to get a bit chilly under the canopy and we were hungry so we headed for the cable car back to the top.  You can see the Katoomba Falls in the picture below.  There's actually a glass-bottom cable car which you can get across the valley to see the falls better, but we didn't pay the extra $10 each for that ticket.

The Three Sisters from the cable car

Ewen's first holiday purchase, a $5 Australia hat, complete with corks!

All in all, we were lucky and had an excellent day for the trip!  The lonely planet guide recommended that you spent more than one day there, however we felt that we did and saw enough in just one day.  Although if you wanted to do some of the walking trails or go further into the mountains then I'd definitely recommend a longer trip.

Since then we've been on the job search really, yesterday in Blacktown and today in Parramatta.  Tomorrow we'll probably go to Richmond and hopefully book some flights!  Last night I managed to get bitten by mosquitos SIX times in 20 minutes, all on my feet.  I'm currently rocking elephantiasis of the right foot, which is not a great look.  Ewen had football training tonight and was told that the first game (supposed to be this weekend) had been postponed for three weeks due to the pitches being waterlogged, which has made him sad.  Although he made two friends!

Hope all is well wherever you are reading this.  Hopefully the next time I write my feet will be less swollen and itchy.

Lots of love x