Roadtrip week two

Melbourne was the next place on our route and we spent a busy couple of days there, taking in the sights. I loved all the quirky independent boutiques in the suburbs. Australians are very good at supporting their locals so in Melbourne you’ll find shops that sell only Melbourne made and designed stuff and the same in Sydney. It’s cool. We spent most of our time in Melbourne checking out the amazing shops and we were lucky enough to catch up with our friends Tai and Mim and had a really amazing dinner out with them.
Luckily we managed to get out of Melbourne just before the serious storms and floods came but we saw heavy rainfall and storms in the Mornington Peninsular. It’s a shame really as Mornington and Lakes Entrance where we spent the following days are beautiful spots near the beach but with the constant raining we ended up just eating lots in the van! We even found a fish and chip shop that did gluten free batter-there was no way I was going to pass that up, so we spent a stormy Saturday night eating fish and chips looking out to the lakes just by Ninety Mile beach. Brill.

Yey for friendly faces!

I’m writing this as we drive up to Cooma near the Snowy River to visit family friend of Ed’s –Trisha. While driving we have gone through about 5km of burnt woods in the Gippsland area. It was really something. We had a huge truck behind us so couldn’t really stop but every tree was black and there were still trunks smoking. Signs on the road warned of smoke on the road but i guess the heavy rains this weekend have helped stop that. This really is an amazing country. In the two weeks we’ve been here they’ve had floods, two cyclones, huge fires and storms and further flooding and in the most part this is there dry season?!




We spent an amazing couple of days with Trisha, talking about everything under the sun and it was great to see some proper farm land.
Tuesday was my birthday and we headed off from the farm towards the coast again, stopping for BBQ’d bacon sarnies for lunch and a beautiful restaurant dinner as a special treat for me- Amazing tea flavoured meringues with awesome white chocolate sauce for dessert!


The last few days we’ve been lapping up the camper lifestyle, we drive for a few hours in the morning, make sure we find a campsite as close to the beach as physically possible, park up, make lunch take to the beach, spend the afternoon sunbathing and reading, then take a dip in the amazingly powerful surf they have on this stretch of coast (between Sydney and Brisbane) to wake us up then showers, bbq and a chilled evening with a beer (or three) and the maps to plan the next days adventure.

It is pure bliss and we are in heaven!

Roadtrip!

After a night with Ed’s godfather and his family in Adelaide it was campertime!
Aside from a couple of incidents- loading up with a big shop and then forgetting to lock the cupboards and losing half the shopping out all over the place and almost scraping the top half of the camper off while driving into a multi storey car park, we got right into the campervan lifestyle.

We just drove a couple of hours the first day and stopped in the McLaren Vale wine region. We had a great time visiting the ‘cellar doors’ for tastings and managed to pick up a handful of bottles for the nights to come. Next day saw us hit the road and make tracks and then it was Great Ocean Road.

A beautiful drive, we just stopped at every picnic/view point, Ed was surprised by how touristy and commercial the 12 (now 8) apostles had become since his last trip but I guess that’s the way most things are going. With nothing to compare it to I loved it. Fabulous rock formations on day one and day two was all about the beaches, beautiful white sand and awesome views.

Gorgeous UVY in the evening light at our first ever campsite

Local cider



First Ozzie BBQ, Rossi style

A sneaky lunch time stop at one of the McLaren Vale Vineyards

Wine tasting, Rossi style

Average lunch time stop off, beats Embankment gardens

'12' Apostles

Ozzie Adventure

Our last night in Bangkok we took ourselves off to the very fancy Banyan Tree Restaurant for a cocktail. Up on the 49th floor it offered amazing views over Bangkok, amidst the hi-rises and smog!



The following morning saw us a jump on a plane to Oz. I’ll get Ed to guest post on the Oz trip as there is a bit of a story to tell there!
Arriving into Sydney rather than jump straight in a cab, we took a train to Circular Quay and then jumped on the wonderful Manly Ferry. What a way to arrive! We got a full view of the Opera House and harbour bridge from the train station and then enjoyed amazing views from the ferry to Manly Wharf.
A quick stop in Manly for brekkie –gluten free bread, smoked salmon and the inevitable vegemite! A world away from the six weeks of phad thai!
Then it was on a bus to see friends Marcus and Liv and their gorgeous kids; Jessica and Olly.

YUM!




Gorgeous Jessica, clearly knows how to pose already

Baby Olly at Dee Why Beach.


Next day we checked into our hostel in Potts Point in central Syders and this was our base for the next six days. Sydney flew by in catching up with friends and family, amazing food, awesome sights and a lot of fun. It was really nice to be somewhere that felt familiar. It was funny the trains reminded me of mainland European trains, with their double deckers, underground signage was similar to London and then you’d see a bar or area in central Sydney that could have been straight out of New York.

Delicious dinner thanks to Jaume at Jordans, three tiers of fish cooked every way you could imagine!

Sydney zoo



Pie anyone? Average brekkie when travelling

Australia Day 2011, Bronte Beach