25th November - lancelin

Fresh and ready to go we had an early start leaving our caravan shell behind we were on the road by 8 off to see the pinnacles. These are funny pointy rocks that have come out of the ground due to sand and water (there's a scientific reason we just can't remember) 

Either way we had a good drive around this amazing site they were all different and some areas had none at all and others loads. We can only assume those ones haven't peeked their heads through yet. We took lots of photos on the SLR and got a good size comparison with Deb hugging one. 

We got to the end of the track and found some wild Asians who were walking the track backwards and looked very very hot! We passed them by and then saw the cutest little wallaby and took some photos of him too. 

Even at 9am it was roasting so we nipped back to the campsite cafe for breakfast. We all agreed it was the best breakfast we have had so far. We were going to eat outside but the flies in WA are crazy, you can't go anywhere without swatting them away from your ears eyes and nose it's gross. Us pommies do not enjoy this so we all decided it would be nicer to eat inside without flies and with air con. The cafe was decorated with some really cool signs one of which was grandmas favourite saying. 

"Yesterday is history, tomorrow is a mystery, today is a gift of God, which is why we call it the present."

We wondered back to the van finished packing down and hit the road again. Deb was very excited as today was finally the day we would get to go sand boarding. After enjoying paddle boarding she was looking forward to it. We had to go to 2 shops before we finally found some half decent boards available for rent. We asked the lady behind the counter how many times people get up and down the dunes she said today was an average of 1-2 times! We didn't like the sound of that and it was challenge accepted to go more times. We drove down to the dunes dropped the caravan and took the 4WD onto the sand. We left it with the other cars at the bottom of the dunes we hauled ourselves up to the top of the first dune where some other people were and picked out our first slope. I thought it was WAAAY too Steep so Ian offered to go first. His first attempt wasn't far off ours in port Stephens and ended up in sandy failure at the bottom of the dune shortly followed by debs board and then Deb. Myles and I went together and I'm not sure why I seemed to go down this dune at a million miles an hour giving me an unusable gopro video due to my language haha! We dusted ourselves off and then looked back at the dune above us. It was MUCH steeper to get back up. We struggled up and Ian went off to get some water. We decided to do one more small dune back to the car which failed a bit so we all jumped back in the car for some well deserved aircon and water. Not being defeated we trekked back up the dune to another better slope. We all flew down with grace Deb getting her first successful go! At this point we kept seeing Ian in the 4WD attempting to get to the other side to collect us. We quickly decided this wasn't going to happen so scaled the dune using the boards to steady us and drag ourselves up the soft sand. Once we got to the top we boarded down to the bottom to try and find Ian and the car. Once we got there we saw the top of a 4WD not going too far. Myles went to investigate and yep it was Ian and the 4wd not quite stuck but not moving either. After some careful jiggling they managed to work their way out onto harder sand. Once we worked out where the hard sand was we were on! Ian drove us to the top of the hard sand and we only had to wonder across to the new slope and he would collect us at the bottom and start again. Deb and Laura decided to go first running up to the highest point they could. Laura managed to jump up where as Deb with shorter legs was struggling eventually we both balanced on the top for a photo Myles was taking from the bottom. We decided to set off which just didn't work we both slipped and crashed into eachother. This was hilarious at first and Laura tried to separate them knocking herself off and her leg ended up underneath Debs board which hurt tremendously. Myles has photo evidence of Lauras face which is hilarious but wasn't at the time. We both got ourselves back on our boards and finished the slope to the bottom where Laura had to be helped to the car and decided to stay there being that she couldn't walk. The swelling and bruising came up over the next two runs that Deb and Myles did. Deb and Ian did one more run before we all decided we were pooped and couldn't go anymore. We did a good hour and a bits worth so HA to all the panseys on tour busses who only did 2 runs on the smallest part of the hill. The thing I forgot to mention throughout this whole process was the Chinese couple on the top of the June with camera men doing part of their wedding Photoshoot in 40 degree heat. All in black! I'm sure the photos would have looked lovely but judging by the volume of flies and sheer heat it can't have been enjoyable for them. Why they weren't out there at 6am rather than 11 I will never know. Once we left the esky (ice box cooler) was emptied of some ice which was bagged onto the now swollen leg of Laura. After double checking the travel insurance we were covered for injury sand boarding so that was good news Incase it got worse. We dropped the boards back to the hire shop and got some icecreams to congratulate ourselves. We carried on to our last campsite from here which was around 14km outside of central Perth. It was gorgeous. We dropped the van got parked and headed off for woolworths while the boys tried to find yet another car wash to get rid of the sand from the car which wasn't meant to go on sand dunes! We got ourselves a feast of cold meats, cheeses and salad to help finish off everything we had in the van for our last evening. Next to our van was a big picnic table and duck pond so we enjoyed that. When we got back from woolworths there was a pet rabbit on our site. We gave it a little stroke and had no idea where it had come from so left it too it's own devices and abandoned the food into the fridge to go for a swim in the pool! It was freezing as the shade had come over the pool but this didn't stop Myles or Deb jumping in straight away eventually Laura joined them but ended up in the warm jacuzzi spa. We had an amazing last camp dinner lots of chatting and drinking before our last night in the van. 

 

24th Nov - Debs Birthday

Debs birthday has arrived! Much excitement in the caravan this morning with her birthday goodies from Harrods. We had an early start as we had a long days driving ahead. We popped down the waters edge early morning to enjoy the Dolphins for one last time before we left. Today was another long driving day so not much to report on. We stopped for a gorgeous fish and chips lunch by the harbour in Geralton and had snapper instead in of cod which is a winner any day in my books as it was much tastier / moist. Being that we were finally in a town we took the opportunity to wash the car and caravan as both were a little dirty and very salty after our off-road adventure in the car. 

Back on the road we started to see cars, trees, rivers and even little towns! We also saw an emu at close proximity! Not even Ian expected to get Deb an Emu for her birthday...

After hearing Ian shout hold on followed by quite a thud we had a very red caravan. The chap behind us stopped to check we were all okay and after checking out the damage to the car we headed back off to our next caravan site. The lady at the site was lovely and told us where we could go and wash the emu off our caravan. Myles and Ian took the yucky job as we only had one brush and hose. We decided after today we needed to go out for dinner to went to the local tavern which looked a bit bustier than the cricket club which had 1 car outside. We gave that a bit of a miss. Myles & I tried the second best steak sandwich in WA which was great. Deb had a fishy dinner and Ian a steak. It was a bit of a faulty towers meal with some things missing wrong drinks orders and Ian's steak was forgotten initially! We ordered some ciders which it turns out they only had 3 in the whole bar so we moved onto something else! After a rather funny meal we walked back to the caravan park where Deb & Laura were dropped off at the park to finally see if Laura could do monkey bars! It turns out this is a big yes and firemans poles are good for keeping up with polefit. 

After a very long exhausting day we were all ready for our beds. 

23rd Nov - Monkey Mia

Pre warning, long blog please get your breakfast before you start reading. We take no responsibility for you being late to work! 

The sun woke us up for what would be our first glorious day of weather since we've started traveling! 

We had a few good days when we were in the outback but at 37 degrees with no pool or sea it's a bit much to do too much in! 

We scoffed down some breakfast and decided whether or not we wanted to stay another night at Monkey Mia, we decided to call it after we saw the Dolphins as we could tell what the weather would be doing a bit better by then. We left early and took a walk along the beach rather than through the resort and spied some stand up paddle boards, peddle boats & kayaks. We carried on to the end of the jetty where everyone had to wait for the briefing on the dolphin experience. There were a good 100 or so people waiting when we got there. (We found out later that in peak season they can have upto 850 people!)

Being very glad that there wasn't this many people we had the briefing and were invited onto the beach where the Dolphins were already waiting in the shallows. We had spotted them walking down the beach but they came in closer once they heard the park rangers in the water. We were all invited to stand into the water with bare feet to signal the start of the experience to the Dolphins. They don't call them with any bells and they do have no dolphin days it just depends how many turn up. For some reason they only feed 5 regularly and others just seem to come along with them. Today there were 6 in the water; one of the calfs came down who was around 5   So not tiny sadly. They told us loads about each dolphin, they tell them all apart by their top fins which are all different especially being that we were in shark bay there were a few chunks missing here and there. All the Dolphins that are fed are all females as male and female Dolphins live separate lives. Pre 1994 the experience was very different where people could buy buckets of fish and feed as many Dolphins as much as they wanted. Up to 35kgs of fish could be sold in a day. This also caused an issue as male dolphins were coming down to the beach with the females which caused a lot of aggressive behaviours. Alongside this calfs that were being born weren't learning normal hunting behaviours and survival rates of calfs was around 45% where as now it's around 87%. 

Once the fish buckets came out all the Dolphins lined up which was a bit weird. Each dolphin got 3 fish which were fed by members of the public picked at random, sadly none of us were picked. Soon as the first fish had been fed a Pelican called rouge swooped in. When the feeding started all the Pelicans who were waiting on the beach were coaxed away with their own yellow fish bucket. Except for one pelican who hadn't been sat with the rest since we had arrived. He was known to the park and had brain damage and was partially blind. You could tell he was a bit odd just by the look of him. He even had his own dedicated park ranger (I think she was the only lady brave enough!) he wasn't having any of it today snapping at kids especially but trying to steal what he could anywhere! Once we finished we wondered back up the beach toes in the sea to the caravan to decide our days moves. Throughout the morning the sun only got brighter and the wind didn't pick up! So we got ourselves creamed up and added an extra day in Monkey Mia to our trip. We got ourselves sorted for the day and Deb haggled with the paddle board guy and got us a better deal on his very expensive paddle board hire. We made the most of it keeping them a good hour longer than we should have! We had so much fun paddling around the beautiful bay pushing each other in and we created a race around 4 buoys in the water. The people on the beach weren't quite sure what to make of us I am sure. We started the race from the grass at the top of the beach had to run to our respective boards and whoever did the square of the 4 buoys first won. Deb counted us in as we only had 3 boards we all charged down the beach and as we jumped onto our boards Ian pushed Myles and I and we both fell off while he made his get away. Myles grabbed his board and swooped off but in my tumble I grounded out my board and Deb tried to help me back out to sea, in pushing me to give me a boost I overbalanced and ended up in the sea again backwards. The boys continued to push each other off whilst paddling away it was like something off gladiators! Myles eventually got the win! We then decided that was qualifying and we would go for round two. Round two involved Lauras board being away from the other two. Deb counted down and by 2 Ian was already gone. He got a black flag and sent back to the start line. The same thing happened on 1 and Laura joined him, we both ended up falling off our boards by which point Myles had gotten on his board and gone. Ian was catching him rapidly and Laura was on route. The first corner was an issue as she couldn't turn as well as the boys so enjoyed the view when Ian tried to push Myles off and threw himself off instead. Yet again Myles was the winner and that was the end of the excitement as we were all very tired. We had a gentle paddle around looking for turtles and after no success hauled the boards back onto the beach. We then got the aerobe frisbee and started playing on the sand, then with ankles in the water. The game finished when we were fully in the water and it got thrown over Myles' head and dropped into the deep. Where the weed was it all of a sudden dropped off like a cliff and even though it was vibrant yellow we or a snorkelist and paddle boarder roped in couldn't find it either. RIP yellow frisbee we got two good games from you. We declared that the end of playtime and went back for lunch. We had toasted cheese sandwiches for our efforts of the morning. We then got the map out and planned our off roading route! We found somewhere called the little lagoon which you could drive the 4WD Around much to the boys delight! Ian was driving at the time and whipped it around the track onto some open salty sand where we had a bit of drifting and water spray for our efforts. We then had a driver swap and Myles got to play on the way out. We decided as it was now around 1pm it would be silly to swim in such salty water as we already got a bit crispy this morning paddle boarding. We set off for an old sheep station in the outback, we had read about an artesian hot spring (just what you need in 34 degree heats right?)

Myles was chief dirt driver this morning and flew us up the sandy track to the homestead. When we arrived it was baking and the flies were unbearable. We saw the hot spring which was actually a borewater hot tub. It literally looked like a hot tub. As we couldn't even keep our hands in we decided to give it a miss! I'm sure it would be lovely in winter months...

So on from there was the most westerly point of Australia. All on very soft sand. We went to check out the start of the track before we decided if the car would cope and we found something that the Aussies had never seen in a national park. They had a tyre deflating and reflating station so we could go on the sand! After the boys let the tyres down a bit we were ready; Ian's turn to drive we set off down the track leaving a dust storm behind us. We had an amazing time jumping sliding and generally off-roading down this track. It was a good 45 minutes to the most westerly point with a few stops on route at scenic beaches. Once we arrived we expected it to be a sheer cliff looking down at the sea. What we got was a beautiful beach with orange sand which was soft like play sand between your toes. There were a couple of families there fishing and kids snorkelling for little shells with squishy bits inside for bait (no idea what they were called) but they were most excited when they found one and went charging up the beach with them. Deb as always couldn't resist and threw herself in but the currents were a bit much for Myles and I so we paddled and had a walk along the beach. 

Next was the drive back, even better as we now knew the route. Ian would do the first half as the sand did get very deep and soft then Myles the final half. He loved it if not a little nervous at first. He has now driven rocks, dirt, beach and loose sand in a week! 

After all this excitement it was back to the little lagoon for a swim. We had a good play but by then the wind was back for the evening so we made it a short one followed by some long hot showers as we were particularly salty and sandy. 

Laura had a quick call to Steff in England and we have now arranged our New Year's Eve plans skating at Somerset house followed by a balcony view of the mayors fireworks in London so that's super exciting to come home to. (Not the weather mind)

Once Myles was back he Deb and Ian went to find the bar while Laura showered and caught them up. Myles went to get Laura a cocktail from the bar. Only a sex on the beach. This turned out to be the most difficult request they have had and Myles had to explain how to make it to 3 different members of bar staff. Once they agreed to make it he wondered off and when they bought it over we all laughed. It was pink. So no orange juice. It was pretty much vodka and cranberry juice which wasn't very appealing but hilarious none the less, after we all had a sip and polished it off we headed back for our final BBQ in Monkey Mia. We were going to head back to the restaurant for pudding but forgot so agreed it would be dinner out tomorrow night for Debs Birthday wherever we may be then! 

22nd Nov - Carnarvon

This blog is a short one as it was a bit of a travel day. We left Coral Bay after our snorkelling trip. Not much to see in between today just lots of dirt rocks and scrub. 

Once we arrived we set up camp had our dinner and had an early night. 

We had an slower morning than normal all feeling a bit shattered from the previous few day's battle with the windy weather. We planned to visit the Carnarvon space centre which was opened by Buzz Aldrin. It was a bit gash but nothing like the alien museum in America. It was totally run by volunteers who maintained the museum and the area around it. We checked out the HUGE dishes around the site. The biggest dish was used during the Apollo 11 mission. It was the first to get the signal that it had made orbit and that they had landed. Pretty impressive stuff. There was also a huge laser on the site that was used to locate Australia to the rest of the world as they didn't know where it was! There was loads of other cool space bits and bobs that had been used during various missions and a simulator which simulated the launch into space it was a good laugh but a bit cheesy! 

Once we had a game of space invaders to see who was the best (it was Laura thanks mum) we headed off for Monkey Mia! 

We stopped at the blowholes on route which were really stunning in the late afternoon sun but it was FREEZING with the spray and very very windy so we didn't hang around too long. What we did find was loads of soft salt around the rocks by the pools. 

Another long drive ahead we decided not to stop anywhere else as we would be going back out on the same road. When we got to Monkey Mia the weather sadly was no different. We set up camp and decided to have a BBQ for the evening. We stayed at the only place you can in monkey Mia which is a bit of a resort so it had a Pool hot tubs bars and all sorts, we wondered around to check everything out and Deb and Ian stopped for a drink while Myles and I checked out the jetty and other side of the beach from where we were set up. After a blow along the beach we fought our way back to the bar to meet Deb and Ian. Tonight Ian BBQ'd for us all which was delicious, we had cheese and vegemite sausages, which we all agreed were a bit odd and too flavoursome. This was made up by the BBQ pork belly which was glorious. We had a fight with the awning which was sounding like it would blow away battened down the hatches and got an early night as we would be up to see the Dolphins in the morning. One of our neighbours assured us the wind was supposed to drop tomorrow but we'd heard this story a lot so didn't hold out too much hope!  

21st Nov Ningaloo Reef

We packed up the van early and got our stuff together by 8 ready to set out on our snorkelling Trip. The wind had got worse overnight so we were given the option of whether we still wanted to go or not. As the weather wasn't predicted to get any better we decided to go for it anyways and grabbed the kwells out of the first aid kit. The boat was tiny and not what any of us were expecting. It was bloody freezing all day! We got on and given wet suits & snorkels it wasn't even an hour before we were at our first stop when we all grabbed our gear and jumped in. So glad to have the wet suit as it was very cold. The water was very choppy which made snorkelling quite tricky. Myles and Ian got out after 20 minutes and Deb and Laura carried on with the tour guide. The coral this side of Australia is very different to the barrier reef as its a lot harder which means it not as bright and colourful  as we had seen before. The fish were gorgeous and we even saw 2 green turtles which was lovely. Once we got back on the boat it was hot drinks all round and everyone huddles up trying to get out of the wind. This was pretty much how we spent the rest of the day. Watching wildlife from the boat and trying to keep warm! Sadly the spotter plane flew for around and hour and couldn't locate any Ray's so we didn't get a chance to swim or see them this time. It was really good fun and exhausting but a real shame the weather wasn't nicer. 

We still don't have much wifi so I have put some photos of our trip that were taken on phones or the GoPro on facebook for you to have a peek at. 

Lots of love to you all, 

Laura & Myles 

20th Nov Coral Bay

So Coral Bay! We stayed in a beautiful campsite right on the waters edge, it was so nice to finally see some coast a beach and some coral. While the boys were setting up the van the night before Deb & Laura snuck off to the waters edge to check out the stunning turquoise sea and white sand. If it wasn't for the shallow coral the whole lot would have been a really clear turquoise blue colour. 

Day 1 in coral bay was a slow start as we didn't have to pack the van up ready to move on as we are camping here for two days. We had a chilled breakfast and then decided that we HAD to check out the sea before anything else could happen. Laura didn't have the intention of going in above her waist as the wind at this time of year is known as blowvember. So we take the assumption it's not going to get any better. Not letting this deter us we grabbed towels a boogie board and headed down to the sea front. Deb threw herself in within seconds shortly followed by Myles and the boogie board. After 10 minutes of being splashed Myles dragged Laura into the water and we all had a good swim and play until Ian came to the seafront to tell us it was Time to come back. We wondered down to the local shops and bakery to pick up some goodies for the day ahead and have a chat with a few different tour operators about their snorkelling trips. The guy we spoke to was a horrible sales person and the tour we wanted to do wasn't going out until Friday due to 3m swells. Well we went back down to the tour operator at our camp site who called him out as all the trips never leave the main reef so it doesn't get that high. We suspect he had low numbers so tried to put us off. Undeterred we booked with the campsite for the next day. We booked in for a 3 stop snorkelling trip including (if wildlife provides) a chance to swim with manta rays. 

Back to today, we made lunch loaded up the car without the caravan for the first time and set off for Exmouth. This is the most northern point we would reach this trip. Lots of cliffs, blue sky and beautiful beaches would follow. We started off by taking a dirt road for the first time and of course Myles was driving. We had good fun adventuring off road. We found a weird beach where the sand changes from yellow/orange to a grey white! It was so strange and we can only imagine it was from the coral out at sea washing up to this point as it was the only beach like it. Once we got back on the main road it was another long drive into Exmouth town centre. We pulled over pretty sharpish as we finally saw our first good bit of Aussie wildlife an emu with 4 babies having a drink under a palm tree. We took a few photos and watched them for a bit before we saw our second big photo opportunity, this wasn't a big banana it was a giant prawn! Selfie done time to move on. 

All the drives we have done so far have been pretty similar, long, red dirt, few bushes, no animals and straight. 

Not a lot to see so when we finally hit the coast again it was breathtaking to see. We stopped at the turtle centre (which wasn't as good as we first thought it was just a few information boards) but the beach below it was gorgeous. We carried on down a few beaches watched some kite surfers had some lunch and jumped back into the car. Ian had seen a dirt road that lead to the horizon up over a hill and that was that. Myles had his second off roading experience and this time it was hard. It wasn't all dirt there was a LOT of rocks and uphill bits. Eventually we got up over the top and saw the next ridge which we knew the car wouldn't cope with so sadly had to go back. It wasn't all in vein though as we FINALLY after 4 days on the

Road saw our first wallabies! We also saw some beautiful goannas who didn't want to give up their bit of road for a car. When Myles went all David Attenborough with his camera it changed its mind. After this we traveled a few hours back to our campsite which by this point we were all pretty tired and in good need of a shower as the constant wind and sea this morning left us feeling a bit salty! 

All fresh and ready to go we decided to head out for dinner tonight to another campsite, Ian saw a sign for sushi earlier in the day so thought that would be a good call. Myles & I looked at the menu and decided on what we wanted. We all sat down & the waitress told us there was no sushi or pork belly left.. Well Ian and I were stuffed and had to make new choices! We had some really nice starters, olive bread for Deb and Ian and Myles and I had Camembert. The mains came out and they were HUGE not even sure if my chicken came from one.. If so it would have been a prize giant chicken.  After a good meal we headed back for the camper ready for our early start snorkelling tomorrow! 

19th Nov Tom Price

Myles has been asked to write the latest blog. Mainly because it involves big machines and manly things. 

We started the day off early not for any real reason but because it was an absolutely gorgeous morning. We sat outside the camper van absorbing the Australian vitamin D that was provided by the rising ball of heat in the sky. Eventually we had to get up and leave, so we packed up the camper and headed out, but first there was a problem, we must have missed a step in closing the awning as we stripped a bolt out of the side. So we bodged it and headed to the local department store. Purchased some massive self tapping bolts wound them in and pretended it never happened. 

We then headed to the visitor centre of Tom Price. Tom Price was a mining town, that in the 70's was only open to mine workers. If you didn't work in the mine you couldn't live there. It's also the highest town in all of Western Australia.

So the surprise from yesterday was that Deb had made some phone calls and had arranged for us to have a tour of one of the biggest mines in Australia. While we waited at the centre a bus then arrived with Rio Tinto on the side. We boarded and headed out to the mine. It was only a short ride and after about 10 minutes we arrived. As we were driving along the road we were driving next to a railway. The bus driver then said that this was the biggest privately owned railway network in the world and was driven by autonomous trains. (and southern rail are arguing about conductors)! Australia have trains with no drivers!! 

The trains that run on the railway are 2.5km long that's 1.6miles.

A loaded train of iron ore is worth between $1.5 - $2 million dollars depending on the ore type. Normally 5 trains a day leave the mine.....

We then entered through the gate and had to wait before we were given clearance to enter the 'pit' the mine itself if referred to the pit as its just a big hole in the ground basically. Clearance granted and we started a drive in avoiding the massive trucks that were hauling ore out of the mine. When I say massive trucks  I mean massive. 

Each truck will carry around 240 tonnes of iron ore. The total operating weight is 376tonnes. 

The engine is a caterpillar 16 cylinder quad turbo 4 stroke diesel.  That produces 2160hp at 1700rpm. It's also a hybrid. The Diesel engine drives electric motors that drive the wheels and when going down hill the engine shuts down and the motors spin in reverse to generate electricity. That still doesn't stop it using more than 1000 litres of diesel a day. That machine runs 24 hours a day and are driven in simulators on Perth. There's nobody actually in the machines in the mine! 

Anyway we headed up to the pit and were told to get off the bus after a long lecture of where we couldn't go and what we could/couldn't do. We headed up to the edge and it was similar to looking into the Grand Canyon. It was massive. These trucks that towered above us were little dots in the pit. 

Right at the bottom there was a vivid blue lagoon of water which is constantly pumped out and recycled. It's sprayed on the roads for dust suppression. It's such a vivid blue because of the shale that seeps out of the rock. 

Deb being Deb runs and waves at the water tanker that's driving past who waves back and sprays the massive water cannon vertically.

We then got back on the coach and did a circuit of the mine looking at all the various aspects of the project. There were some massive mounds of iron ore that are being stored on site as currently supply is outstripping demand so they are stockpiling for a rainy day.

We headed out of the mine and headed back to the car. Programmed the satnav and headed out to Ningaloo reef. Brimmed the truck with diesel and headed out. The satnav said we would arrive at 22:07 driving at dusk/night is very dodgy, the kangaroos like to jump out at cars for some stupid reason. So Ian put his toe down a little to try and take off some time. The drive was 707km (442 miles) and we completed it in 6 1/2 hours. Which was pretty impressive. We actually arrived at 18:03 to be precise. 

We parked up in our bay and let the car tick itself cool after its 42degree desert blast. It was so hot that the transmission wasn't changing gear by itself and the suspension wasn't coping through corners. The air con also wasn't blowing that cold either....

Dinner was the classic Aussie BBQ which was waffed down and we headed to bed early as it was a rather tiring day!

 

17th - 18th The Outback!

As you may have notice we've missed a day as we've been off the grid, our itinerary took a slight detour from the coastal route planned and we are in the Western Australia outback! 

Our first day was a LOT of driving, we got up early in the morning loaded the last few bits into the van & drove to go collect our caravan. It is huge & has so much storage it's unbelievable! 

We stopped for the evening after over 7 hours of driving and 406 miles in the town (if you can call it that) called Cue. It was very cute and super deserted. We set up our camper for the night and wondered down to the local pub for a drink to check it out. The girl behind the bar was British and lived in Kent. In the middle of bloody nowhere we find someone who lives within an hour of us what are the chances! Deb and Ian chose the songs on the juke box and we played some pool with a cider. The sunset we could see out of the door was just amazing! Dinner we had some nachos cooked in the caravan successfully! After a long day we all headed for bed early ready for the next day's drive!

Friday 18th

Sadly our neighbours didn't realise that we liked our sleep and didn't work in the mines. They crashed around at silly O'clock and by 5:30 we had all given up so started getting ready for the day ahead. We had another long drive planned 8 1/2 hours and 504 miles by googles standards. 

We set off early at 7 so we could stop for lunch. We stopped in *insert town name* which was the biggest town on our journey as it was the only one with a supermarket! There was also a giant mining truck which we couldn't resist going to have a look at, it was bloody huge! *insert photos of trucks* 

After this we headed for dales gorge karijini national park. It was another long drive with the ever same scenery of rocks, red dirt and bush. We were very excited for this one as there were watering holes and waterfalls you could swim in. Being that it was 34 degrees outside this was a welcome break and we all got in no problem! 

*waterfall photos* 

After this another jaunt from the national park to Tom Price where we spent the night ready for our next exciting adventure tomorrow but we'll keep you waiting to find out what that is! 

*side note*

It has been bought to our attention our photos don't seem to be loading on the blog, I can only assume that this is because we are updating from iPhone with bad service so I do apologise and when we get real wifi back on the coast hopefully we'll get those updated, once we get those added we'll let you know :) 

Much love to everyone reading! 

Myles & Laura 

Perth 16th Nov

So the day started early at 5:30 with toast and a new blog post for you all! 

Once we had finished all that malarkey and had a shower it was admin morning! 

First things first was off to Westpac to sort out our bank account, this was amazingly easy and we were done very quickly. Next was Telstra for an Aussie Number for Laura's phone as it's unlocked (side note if you need Laura you won't get her on the UK number so drop us a Facebook message or email through here! 

We left the shop with the aim of going to woolies to grab some food then back to the hostel. We were greeted with typical Aussie weather.. Rain. It threw it down we got soaked so went shop hopping until it stopped. Luckily we got a break in the rain to get back to our hostel. Once we got back we had bacon sandwiches for lunch and planned our next adventure, we wouldn't be seeing Deb and Ian until 5ish so planned to find the green cafe & go to the Perth Mint. The green cafe was a let down so we didn't stay there long and wondered off to find the mint, we took a detour through some lovely gardens, past the supreme courts and along the riverside. We timed it just about right as we walked through the gates to the mint the rain started again! We had a little look around all the jewellery before our tour started. It was really interesting to learn where gold comes from and that the Mint was built by the British which was used to make Sovereigns. We saw replicas of the top 3 biggest gold nuggets found in the world (all of which were found in WA) 

We were then taken to the back of the mint where we were shown the world biggest legal tender. The coin below is worth 1 million dollars and weighs 1 tonne. 

It's actual value in gold is:

This was all very cool but the exciting part of the tour was watching a gold bar being poured. Adam was the chap who would be showing us how it's done. It was amazing to watch it come out of the furnace and being poured. It turned out that exact bar had been poured hundreds of thousands of times as its dropped back in the furnace at the end and repoured for the next group. 

After this we found out our weight in gold and had our own custom coin engraved! Photo to come*

Once we left the mint we started to wonder back to our hostel to find the phone ringing! Deb and Ian were on route to come and find us; within less than 5 minutes they had found where we were and we had a very excitable reunion. Since then we have done a big food shop, moved out of the hostel and into Deb and Ian's apartment ready to leave early in the morning and gone for dinner in the city. 

Return to Oz

Just a quickie to let everyone know that we have landed safe & obviously found our hostel & their wifi (clearly the most important thing) We were very lucky for our first flight as we had a whole row of 3 to ourselves, we watched plenty of films and had curry for lunch. This was about the peak of the flight as the food only went downhill from there. Once we arrived in Dubai we had a good 3 hours to wonder around the airport which was just lovely, waterfalls everywhere! The second half of our flight wasn't as good as Laura felt horribly travel sick for some reason! So most of the flight was spent snoozing and avoiding the smell of plane food 😷

Last night we bussed it to our hostel had a freshen up and went on our first adventure for food. Being that all we blog about is what we eat here is the first of many food photos: We found a cool burger joint called flip side burgers, the photo doesn't do it justice as we dug in almost straight away! So we are now starting our first day in Perth properly. Deb and Ian are due to land around lunchtime. We both woke up around 5:30 and decided that was enough sleep so it appears the jet lag hasn't hit us too bad so far! The heat on the other hand I feel will, it's 6am as we are writing this and it's already fairly humid! Much love to everyone back home & hopefully wifi will provide and we can keep you all updated. 

Laura & Myles

1 Month Home!

Today I realised that we have been home 1 month today. 
I can safely say this month has gone quicker than any in Fiji America or Australia. I cant believe it was a whole month ago we left deb at the airport to come home! 
(This also means a whole month without blogging which is pretty shameful. Never the less I am amazed to say our page views are still steadily creeping up so we must have some pretty interesting stuff on here to keep people coming on (not sure if its family & friends out of habit or if google thinks we write good stuff!)

Well what has happened in the last blur of a month.
First few days was spent visiting family and friends, (the sad part is we still haven't seen everyone we want to! And for that we are sorry.. More on why this has happened later!)

Our first weekend home was a planned one, sort of family time when we went down to the Super Car Event as we have the past few years working and helping out supporting the childrens trust. Obviously we all had a little go in a car (Mercedes shooting break which was phenomenal for any car and especially a saloon car!) Laura was also very VERY excited to hear Myles had talked her into an Lamborghini Aventador which had taken place in the Gumball 3000 rally that year! 
With that our first weekend home was over! 

Monday morning came and we were all suited up for an interview.
By the end of day 1 we had jobs and were both starting the next day! Myles as a Pyrotechncian and Laura as a Web Designer. Thats when it all started to blur! Between Laura working for Force FX our new place of employment and still working for Ian it was all a lot to take on board whilst learning so much in a short space of time! Myles was equally thrown into it by being chief firer for B festival the weekend we started! 

You cant say we do things by halves! Laura helped out on her first show that weekend too setting up but mainly being a photographer (which is a new skill but got a few good shots for the website and thats what counts!)

The 2 weeks after that went by without us even realising! Again another weekend where Myles was working doing the effects for the Playstation GT Academy! With Laura spending the weekend seeing her family and friends after seeing Myles' the one before. This week has been crazy! I cant believe so many things have happened in one week. Firstly Laura set up her first website on the work sever (I don't know if this sounds like a small thing or not but for her it was huge considering 3 weeks ago she had never seen how a server really works let alone work on it!) So that's pretty exciting news. On Monday Myles also picked up his second baby, his new Motorbike Flynn! 

Isn't she beautiful?! 
So that's pretty big that we have a bit of our own transport again! This brings us to Tuesday when Laura got the most exciting text, Ian had sold her first website to a client! (She was so over the moon!)
This firstly means money but secondly a lot more work to get it finished for the client! Which means a new laptop is needed, which requires money.. catch 22 there! Luckily working so early when we got back has paid off and research can begin! 
Sad talk on Wednesday Myles bike had to go back to the dealer with an engine management light on. This has resulted in it STILL being there now! & a part being flown out from Japan specially! Luckily its still under warranty and we should have it back by Monday. They were kind enough to give him a loan bike.. It was a dirt bike! 
Oh yeah we both rode this twice! 
Only twice for Laura & Myles took it around the garden for fun. IT WAS BONE SHATTERING! 
Thursday arrived in a blur realising that it was Andrew [Myles' brother] prom! This required logistics to get home in time as Laura had made other plans sadly not realising that it was prom day. No matter though the hottest and busiest day in the office would make this a side thought! James [our boss] very kindly gave us some confetti cannons for Andrew for a bit of fun. This wasn't just fun for Laura.
Building the website and starting the social media for the company has required a LOT of photos and some areas just didn't have enough photos. This meant that the prom had to be photographed and made a show of! Myles was sent off to schmooze with teachers and get some great event photos!
That takes us up to today really! 

Here's a shot from the office playing with lasers !

Myles is working at another Festival called Mutiny in the park which has gone really well which is great and Laura had a birthday day getting her new shiny laptop from John Lewis. Big thank you to mummy and daddy for going halves on it hopefully it lives up to its spec and proves to be very good for work !! 

So there you have it! Lots of busy time and exciting things going on for the people who never seem to stop! 
Lots of love to you all x

18th June Coming home

For those that don't already know we are now home! Well we will be by the time you read this as we fly overnight by UK time.

On Wednesday morning we woke up rather early, 3am to be precise so only about 2 1/2 hours sleep! Waking up to the view of Sydney was amazing and I couldn't help but stare at it again. We got dressed and met a rather excited Deb outside our door (more excited than usual anyway) I made myself a coffee and it tasted awful so Deb decided she was going to work out the machinemabob eventually after adding water coffee was made and it was much nicer! Ian presented us with a card and both Deb and Ian had filled it with writing! I opened and read it and handed it to Laura trying to hold back tears... A sentence from Ian in the card which I will always remember is "I don't believe in goodbyes, only see ya laters" brilliant. Ian didn't want to come to the airport so we said our "see ya laters" at the apartment and headed for the car. I offered to drive for the last time, driving through Sydney at 3:45 am is a breeze! Only catching and timing traffic lights is the tricky bit, we got onto the short stint of highway to the airport only for the exit for the international terminal to be closed!! Bugger. So we took a quick scoot further up turned off and swung back heading into the city, and took the exit heading back instead. We found our way to the terminal and unpacked the car. We said our "see ya laters" to Deb this time not managing quite so well to hold back the tears.. We lined up and waited for check in. Then proceeding to fill our leaving Australia customs form, scanned for bombs and as we were walking through duty free our flight was called. The airport was empty as Sydney has a curfew with no flights allowed between 11pm and 6am. Our plane was due to be first out of the airport. We were booked on the latest Emirates, Boeing Airbus A380. The biggest passenger plane in the world! And by god is it a big plane! We were right at the back out the way from all the noise and babies so walked all the way down. Unfortunately we couldn't come up with the $12,000 each required for business class tickets but even so economy is still rather lovely! It was still pitch black outside and we were sat on the tarmac ready to take off. Engines spooled and we were hurtled down the strip, it was a long time before we could rotate but we left terraferma and were climbing happily. Laura and me always hold hands while landing and taking off. Being in the air we then kept our hands busy playing with the infotainment! Shortly after everyone on the left side of the plane was asked to close their blinds I assumed it was because the sun was rising and it was going to be very bright. A couple of minutes later I looked because I wanted to see the sunrise over Sydney and I wished I hadn't. Laura's hand was held again! I'm no expert but I'm fairly sure that sparks and flames shouldn't be pouring out the back of a jet engine?! I closed my blind knowing there was nothing I could do. And pretended nothing was wrong, I watched the interactive map closely to see if we were deviating from the planned route. I knew if there was a major problem that we would turn dump the fuel at sea and head back to Sydney. But we stayed the course and kept climbing 10 minutes passed and we were still climbing I checked again and there were not only the odd streak of orange coming from the engine. Being lucky enough to have 4 of the most powerful jets Rolls-Royce have ever made it wouldn't be a major issue if one was out or order. Once we were level I went the long way around to the toilet and went via the galley closest to the cockpit without going upstairs obviously. I approached the only male steward went in and closed the curtain behind me, he asked what in earth I was doing until I asked if I could have a word, my exact question was "what was wrong with engine 2 at take off" nobody else had seen it as the blinds were closed to avoid seeing the sun. As it turned out I was the only person to see it!! This worried the poor steward greatly and asked me exactly what happened and when. He asked me to wait while he went to speak to the pilots. Luckily they were aware as they had been contacted by Rolls-Royce in the UK and Sydney Control telling them that there was a problem. The most likely cause was a bird strike as we were first down the strip and the sparks I saw was just BBQ bird. I accepted the answer knowing full well what a bird strike can do to a jet engine.  I thought I would distract myself and went to watch a film with very sweaty palms, well when I say the the film was on, I was fixated on the engine...

However we are now 8 hours into the flight and sat at 38,023ft with a ground speed of 565mph. It's -50degrees outside and we are flying over the equator. Only another 3469 miles to Dubai then 12 hours to home. I still feel rather special knowing that only 1 steward the pilots and me knew what happened to the engine! Laura will know when we land to refuel in Dubai. Not the most relaxing flight we have had so far, but we did have a lovely omelette, beans, hash browns, mushrooms and tomato for breakfast. I had a salmon in lemon cream for lunch and Laura had the lamb couscous. We both had an Asian BBQ pork salad starter and a chocolate Ganash for pudding. It was very yummy! Emirates has impressed so far...

We arrived safe at Dubai airport and walked straight to the gate, we felt rather poor after seeing all the gold and diamond encrusted watches in the duty free. We grabbed some free Internet to pass on travel information before boarding our plane bound for London!

17th June - World Tower

Our last day!

So our last day! What a day to remember....

We were up fairly early and finished off our packing, and got our rucksacks weighed to make sure we were still within our limits. 

We seemed to be ok so we pressed on with what had to be arranged! First on the list was Vonnie (Debs mummy) we had a short trip down the road and said our goodbyes. What a lovely woman Vonnie is, she was our Australian Grandma. An even got us leaving presents and a card which was so kind of her!

Next up on the list was to collect Ian from Cambletown on the way to Sydney. It was now revealed to us that Deb and Ian had arranged a hotel for our last night in Sydney. Yet again our Australian parents going silly and over the top and doing things we never even contemplated doing in Australia! But we come back to that in a minute.

We had a drive down to Bondi Beach for a walk along the coastline. Ian still feeling rather sore from Wakefield park gave it a miss and had a snooze in the car. We returned and headed to our hotel. After a bit of a faff actually finding the car park we were in. We went to in to huge reception which was terribly acoustically designed. Eventually we were given the cards to get in. We got into the lift and made our way to the 74th floor. Yes Deb and Ian had booked us a room in the penthouse apartment on the 74th floor! It was huge. And I mean huge! It had 3 bedrooms, 3 bathrooms a kitchen and a massive living room with dining area. This was all very nice but drawing back the curtains we had the most spectacular view of central Sydney. We actually looked down on the CBD and were at the same level as the Westfield Tower! It's the highest accomadation in Sydney and it was breathtaking! 

We spent the evening relaxing, having dinner and drinking champagne of course! We had such a great time and couldn't thank deb and Ian enough when they took us to the airport the next morning at 4am! But that is another story...

Friday 6th to Monday 9th June

Over the long weekend we have been very busy, too busy for blogs even! 
We have basically spent all weekend in the city of Sydney
As we have done so much we shall save a little time writing so much up and do you all a quick summary. 

Firstly our 1st year traveling anniversary was spent in the city of course finishing the rest of Vivid we didn't see and retaking the photos Myles wanted to see! We had fish and chips in darling harbour watching the vivid aquashow. This time being friday it was foti day! You should all know that Foti means fireworks by now! Oh yes the show had fireworks with it this time!
We watched the show and enjoyed the fireworks very much but it did take away from the water a little as you would expect! 
We spent the rest of the evening enjoying the city & lights from land and sea! Another late night was had arriving home just past 12.
Saturday morning arrived and a note arrived under our door announcing 'adventure day.' Deb had another exciting day planned for us!
After breakfast we headed out down the back of the house past the garages and towards the national park. We had a beautiful walk to the furthest and biggest waterfall that we had not been to before. We took some photos and Myles tried to divert the course of nature as usual. Once we were back we picked up Debs mother and had lovely pies from our favourite pie shop in Bargo! Myles had cheese bacon and steak whilst Laura had curry. Both very very nice!
After this more secret adventures. We drove back into the city and after hitting traffic we arrived later than planned at 2:30. We went to the powerhouse Museum as it had an exhibition that deb thought we might like. A game exhibition :D
We had fantastic fun  playing donkey kong, pacman and all good things like that. Including things like angry birds on 14inch screens! 

A short time later we got kicked out and walked to China town. We had a good walk around and noseyed in the shops until a very well dressed asian woman told us "we had money back guarantee if we didn't like their meal no MSG money back come come" So we did as we were told and gave it a go. We didn't like their fish all crammed in the tanks and debated liberating them but at $199 per kilo for prawns we thought better!! We had a beautiful meal which was finished with cream puffs that we queued for 20 mins and were just pancake batter filled with hot custard. Yummy but not quite worth the wait. Obviously just something you have to do! 

Sunday was a different sort of day, Myles requested underwater day, but that was a tall order in the winter! Our day was spent visiting Debs daughter mel having the worst meal we have ever had in Australia (ahem dont ever visit austi beach cafe in wollongong its awful!)
and then having a relaxing evening after 2 days of busyness! 
Monday held the real underwater day as we awoke to pommie weather for the queens birthday bank holiday! We had a damp trip to Sydney again visiting manly beach for the first time! We had a unique visit as it was unlike most in the rain! We did a short part of the walk and headed back to the car. We carried on into the city where we parked up and headed to the ferrys. Still in the dark Deb bought some tickets and we boarded the ferrys. Laura clicked where we were going straight away. Bienalli! 
Deb had wanted to go since it opened and today was the last day! Lucky us..
It looks really good on paper and you get to cockatoo island in the rain and get let down. We raced into the que for the 'Google train!' 
sounds pretty cool huh? The idea is that its a train ride of what a google search is like. We jumped in and the lady at the front announced anyone in the que without tickets wont get on. LOTS of people then left as it just started raining again but we had an umbrella and waited it out. We knew that the train had only 2 rides left so drew straws to see who would go if we all couldnt. Laura drew the lonest and Myles the shortest. This didnt matter anyways because the lady shouted any singles to go on and Laura shouted yes and ran. This was the agreed plan and the person would then film the amazingness to come. I won't even put the video on because it was SO rubbish. It was a black tunnel with train noises and occasional flashing lights. THATS IT! Deb managed to get on the same train as me leaving myles alone to wait. OH I didnt mention it only goes one way to the other side of the Island. Yeah so we waited whilst Myles got wet and eventually on the last ride he arrived equally as disappointed. We went around most of the rest of the stuff poking fun at the whole thing and its rubbishneesss!! We mutually agreed how awful modern art is and that it is for people who cant do real art. Sorry but its just stupid! 
With that I will end our weekend! 
We also went to Ikea for meatballs and dinner and saw a mcclaren dealership! 

So yeah thats us keeping busy as usual! 
There have been blog updates in the gallery and videos department so make sure to check all that exciting stuff out!
Lots of love to you all x

Day 365! 1 Year!! (06/06/2014)

Hello Readers.

Today marks the 365th day of our travels. Yes it has been a year already! I'm sure it feels much longer for you all but time has really flown for us. It seems like only last week we were trekking down into the grand canyon or laying in Fiji enjoying the "Fiji time culture"

So we have been away for 365 days that equates to:
8760 hours or 525,600 minutes or 31,536,000 seconds.

In that time we have done quite a bit of travelling. Distance wise I have spent some time working it out for you....

So when we set off we flew from London Heathrow to New York, 9 hours, a total of 3485 Miles 
After that it was a drive to see Natasha in Canada, 12 hours, a rough total of 493 Miles
A week later it was back to NYC so another 493 there.
For the next 23 days we drove across America as you well know, a total of 10,594 miles.
San francisco to Los Angeles was an overnight drive, 380 miles there.
Our flight to Fiji was 11 hours and approximately 5534 Miles
From Fiji to Sydney was only a short stint of 4 hours - 1962 Miles.
This brings us to Australia. 
In our car we have done 9375 miles.
In debs car we have been roughly 1078 miles
Ians car hasn't done as much work only clocking up 312 Miles.
and a future calculation will be our flight home;
Sydney to Dubai is 14 1/2 hours and will be 7486 miles
And Dubai to London - 12 hours will be 3417 miles.

Including the flight home we will have travelled 44,609 miles (71,374km for our foreign friends)
To put that distance in perspective that's the equivalent of driving from brighton to london 841 times!

Here are some of our highlights...

New York

Niagara Falls

Ramen

The Grand Canyon

Monument Valley 

San Francisco

Sydney

The Blue Lagoon Fiji

New Years Eve

The glorious secluded
 beaches

The Great Ocean Road

 

Vivid

Ayers Rock

Dinner under the stars

And how could we possibly forget the amazing Deb & Ian. Who have made our trip into a truly once in a lifetime experience! Thankyou!

2nd June - Flashback!

This is a flashback blog!
Who can guess what happened on this day 1 year ago?

Wednesday 28th May - Vivid

 Exciting news today is Wednesday! We have been waiting for Wednesday since last Friday. The reason for this is this, Vivid!
Vivid is a light and music show that takes a hold of Sydney city each year. When planning the trip to Australia Laura was a bit sad to have missed it last year but now! Plans have changed and we are here and excited for it! We will be heading into the city with Deb at 4 ready for the start at nightfall.

Culture Day 25th May

You might ask what Culture Day is, we certainly did. We woke up and before we even got half way down the stairs we were greeted by the most excitable Deb in the world telling us that it was Culture Day and that we had to get ready quick. During breakfast we enquired as to what Culture Day was and the response was Culture Day. This could only be a secret day of doing stuff that Deb doesn't even know yet!

16th May - Skydive

About to Jump! (Well fall)

After a pants night sleep it was game day. Skydive today. After a slow start due to a cold start, we made a start to the day saying goodbye to Deb and we were playing the waiting game. Laura had to check in by 11 which meant we had to kill time until 10:30. This wasnt too hard with washing to do and the internet providing a good distraction for the morning. Laura went for a walk and the nerves started to kick in. She tried to keep what Ian had told her the day before in her mind and calmed down a bit.  Not long later we were on the road. An easy drive an we were there. We checked in and as we did I was set to be in the next plane. 

Reflection

Happy birthday to me. And why the heck not?

Looking around on Facebook I have seen how people have celebrated their 21^st birthdays and I realised Myles and me are some of the very few who haven’t spent theirs with their families. We spent our birthdays the other side of the world wit a family that isn't our own doing things we never dreamt we would be doing. 

This got me thinking about what else we have done differently. This year most people will be finishing their degrees and looking for their first full time employment in their chosen field after 3 or 4 years at uni. Well at the age of 21 we have had a full time jobs for 2 years after college and guess what we still have no idea of what we want to do! I have spent a year travelling, seeing the world and gaining life experience, but most of all I have found my confidence. I have realised that I have talents and that I have a voice and I can do whatever I put my mind to. I have cleaned boats, been a debt collector at an accounting firm, I have done data entry work and worked as housekeeping in a hostel. All of these things are totally different to anything I have done before and yet I have turned my hand to all of them. Granted it is not brain surgery but each one has taught me something whether it’s a skill or something about myself & for that I am glad I have done all of them. This month I am being a Web Designer. I have spent the last month teaching myself the basics and starting to build my first few websites. This is totally left field from what I have trained to do the past 2 years but I have support behind me & I’m enjoying it? I’m not getting paid to pull my hair out trying to read gobbledygook and yet I’m carrying on? After spending 5+ months with Deb and Ian I have learnt a lot but mainly that you can’t buy opportunity and experience. By sheer luck we found them on Gumtree and changed our whole experience in Australia. I don’t believe we were ready to travel Australia when we arrived and if we didn’t meet Deb & Ian we would be home by now. We had a great opportunity with Deb and Ian to learn about life and what’s important. Deb has a great outlook on life; I have only seen her unhappy once and that was when we lost Tara the dog. Her attitude is why bother being unhappy when you can do what you want to do? If she wants to go to Sydney to see a giant rubber duck then she does it. It’s this attitude that has rubbed off on us making us want to make the most of all of our experiences. Then Ian has this work ethic and eye for seeing talent in anyone and making use of every experience which has inspired us to push ourselves when we get home to use all of our experiences.

Where I’m going with all of this is that we haven't taken the “standard” or usual route that people take in life or whilst travelling; I am so glad of this, on a personal level I have become more confident and self assured of what I am doing and what I want. I am a healthier and happier person for coming away and what more can you ask for? 

We have had a ball being away and I am sad think about the end of this fantastic journey. I am excited to start thinking about when we will be coming home and seeing everyone again as well as planning our next adventure whilst seeing this one end feels impossible.