Update from Gold Coast, Queensland

We are now on the Gold Coast, staying with one of Dave's lovely relatives and our tour of oz so far really has been about catching up with family :) ha ha  It's been a couple of weeks since Apollo Bay, so here is an update of what we've been doing:

Apollo Bay, Wednesday 13th March:
We did a 8.8km walk along the coast of Apollo Bay and it was Beautiful. The landscape varied so much from sandy beaches to rocky beaches, open grassland to little gullies of cool trees. We had the lovely company of Christine who we met at Johanna and her two little dogs Jo and Taz. The dogs sniffed out an Echidna on the beach and we got some photos, it wasn't shy at all and came towards the camera.... they are such an adorable creature.

14th March we left Apollo Bay and drove along the Great Ocean Road towards Melbourne, absolutely beautiful. We drove inland after awhile and camped at a free camp site somewhere in the Otway Ranges. Next day we headed to Pakenham for the Caravan's Service - we did a bit of shopping and catch up with family and friends in the area.

19th March, we left Packers and made our way to Paynesville to stay with Dave's Cousin Casey and her lovely family. Casey gave us a tour around the local sites the next day - really beautiful place. On 21st March we caught the ferry across to Raymond Island and did a 3 hour walk... a bit pooped but scenery worth it. It also meant we could have a Scallop Mornay pie when we got the ferry back to Paynesville - YUM!!

  there's fish in there!

Family Pic!  :)

Dave inspecting the water at Ramrod Creek/River

This road sign was on Raymond Island, I've never seen one before. "If you must take a horse & jinker, keep the pace to a respectable 40 km/h please".  Love it.

On Friday 22nd March we left Paynesville (Thanks guys for a lovely stay xxoo) and we headed along the coast road towards NSW. The countryside around there is beautiful, it is a wonderful drive and we both thoroughly enjoyed it. We stayed the night in Genoa at a free camping ground which the local community made available to travellers. Really nice place. Next morning we made our way to Canberra - further along the coast and left at Bega.

The drive from Bega to Cooma has been one of the best drives that Dave and I have ever done. Beautiful countryside and because the maximum speed we could go up the hills/mountains was 25km/h, we got to see it :)  Our Silver chariot did a fantastic job towing our home up those hills, real little trooper, chug, chug, chug. Dave was suitably impressed. Arriving at Cooma on the other side of Brown Mountain we had the best coffee at a cafe there (40 Cafe I think it was called) and it perked us up for the rest of the drive to Canberra.

Sunday 24th March we went to the War Memorial, National Museum and Parliament House. Would have seen more, but Canberra is a bit hard to navigate, you just keep going round and round and round. Everything is tucked away too, so when you're starving and need much required refreshments you can't see anything from the road and murder is nearly committed............. but anyhoo, nice place :)

view from the War Memorial at Canberra looking down Anzac Parade to Parliament House.

We did a tour at the War Memorial with a volunteer guide, this guy knew his stuff. Some of the stories were amazing and I felt like crying on a number of occasions ; at the futility of war but also the beauty of the best of human nature.


 bronze statue of a 'water carrier' from Gallipoli
 (our tour guide is on the right of the statue - great stuff)

So, whilst in Canberra and by the beauty of that scourge 'facebook', we discover that another of Dave's cousins is living there, so we caught up with them on Sunday night and had a great time. We really should call this the 'Gibbo's Family Reunion of Oz'  :)

Monday 25th March we left Canberra, turning right and heading for the coast. Drove around (wide around) Sydney and past Newcastle and stopped at Raymond Terrace at a Truck stop on the side of the Pacific Highway for the night..... um, it was noisy.... "I'm sorry Dave, did you say goodnight?" Jo yelled from the other side of the bed they both occupied.

7am the next morning, we're outta there, after minimal sleep. We're making our way to the Gold Coast to stay with Dave's Aunty and we want to get there before Easter so we have a definite place to stay over that chaotic/school holiday period. And, after 11 hours of Dave driving and me snoring in the co-pilot seat (hey, it's exhausting constantly supplying mints and water to the driver and providing directions - whether required or not!!) we arrived at said Aunty's place. Yeah!! It's been 4 years since we've seen them and it is great to be here. Beautiful place and people. :)

Well, that's us up to date. Tours of the Gold Coast and surrounds await us :)