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Tuesday 27th August

By admin on Tuesday, August 27, 2019

Our 1st night spent in juicy Lucy in a car park. Actually it wasn’t that bad, Lucy is comfortable to sleep in and there wasn’t any noise about to keep us awake. In fact the wild life was very quiet compared to Australia even the dawn chorus was a bit lack lustre, we’re so used to thinking that we are trapped in a film set of Jurassic park in the middle of the night.

We move on early just as the sun was starting to rise, our 1st sunrise here and if the second hand lonely planet book from a Australian charity shop is right, then I’m one of the first in the world to be watching it today. Breakfast in a petrol station of cheese toasties. And Lucy got a full tank of diesel.

Heading again south, we want to spend some time on the South Island before continuing our cycle tour back in oz.

Following highway 1 down, the landscape is getting mountainous very pretty. First things first boring old shopping. The big supermarket here is called countdown over $200 later we have full supplies. We are ready for this next part of our adventure.lunch stop by a Lake looking at snow topped mountains in the distance. Yes it’s a little bit chilly but lovely. Fresh fruit and yogurt served us well, love having a fridge.

Then we carried on through a small town called Tirau where everything seems to be made out of corrugated still, very clever.

We our now in a thermal, volcanic region and we can see steam coming from chimneys out of the ground all around.

Tonight we’re staying in Taupo right on the lake of the same name. It has a active geyser that erupts every 15 minutes.

After our first cooked meal in Lucy of bangers and mash, we had a beach walk.

The beach was made of pumice stones frown up with volcanic activity. I’ve picked one up and will try it out later.

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Monday 26th August

By admin on Tuesday, August 27, 2019

We made it to New Zealand! The flight was delayed by a hour but it was a trouble free flight no turbulence and only 3 hours long.

New Zealand is 3 hours ahead of Australia so by the time we got here and changed time zones it was 4:pm it gets dark at 5:45pm so we picked up juicy Lucy our new home for the next few weeks and headed off to find somewhere to park up for the night.easier said than done. We headed south following the highway 1 and pulled into 3 campsites along the way, all of them closed or just car parks with no bathroom facilities. We gave up looking as it was dark and mike was getting tired after our early start and flight.

So I went into a small corner shop and bought baby wipes. We found a quiet car park opposite a police station and stayed there the night. Tomorrow we will have to sort ourselves out properly but this will do for the night.

New Zealand the land of the long white cloud. On the international dateline,opposite the Greenwich meridian of zero degree it claims to be the first country to see the sun rise.

And from what we could see before it got dark on us it’s a very green lush land. We are looking forward to exploring over the next few weeks.

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Sunday 26th August

By admin on Sunday, August 25, 2019

Today we enjoyed our last day in oz for a month. We spent the day wondering around Sydney. When we return we can get back into cycle touring. I’ve missed being on the bike, but so close to New Zealand we can’t not visit. Who knows if we’re ever going to be this side of the world ever again.

Sydney is a lovely city full of old buildings and public art. We did the normal touristy things and yet again the weather was excellent, just right for tramping around a city for hours.

We spent the night in a airport hotel and our flight is 9:40 in the morning.

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Saturday 24th August

By admin on Saturday, August 24, 2019

100 miles drive south just 80 miles away from Sydney. Airport hotel tomorrow night booked. We both love Australia so New Zealand has a lot to live up to.

Today’s campsite on the beach. Still lovely and with good facilities.

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Friday 23rd August

By admin on Friday, August 23, 2019

Not much to say about today. We’re going south so another 200 miles drive down the coast and we are in a campsite just passed Coffs Harbour.

We managed a quick pie stop on Route let’s hope New Zealand likes pie I think mike is addicted.

Another campsite we have stunning views over the ocean and yet again the facilities are great.

We cooked up a basic meal of beans, mushrooms,sweetcorn and cheese in a spicy sauce making full use of the indoor kitchen and finished off the day with a walk along the beach.

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Thursday 22nd August

By admin on Thursday, August 22, 2019

We started the day with a breakfast snack at the local bakery. And wondered around Australias Stonehenge. The stones were donated to the town of Glen Innes from other Celtic countries In recognition of all the celts that have moved here.were heading east along the Gwydir highway and there’s nothing along the way. It’s a relatively new road cutting across the mountain. Opened in 1960 so it only has look out rest areas and the odd road side loo that’s not particularly inviting.

However it cuts through national parks and forests offering up fantastic views.

Our destination tonight is the city of Grafton in a well equipped campsite back in the tent tonight lets hope we don’t get to cold.

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Wednesday 21st August

By admin on Thursday, August 22, 2019

The campsite was great with a lovely inside tv sitting area and open fire last night. We made full use of it as it was a cold evening. After a very cold nights sleep, We’ve even brought warm pjs and bed socks we packed up and headed north again.

We’ve been along the coast and been along the outback so now we’re headed for the mountains.

The first stop as we got closer to the mountain was a lookout point. It was spectacular views all around unfortunately a phone camera can’t do it justice

We stopped for our mid morning cup of tea (god when did I get old) in small town uralla the buildings our all deco very smart. And lunch was in Guyra more 1900 in style. Mike rather fancies staying in one of the Innes that has the fretwork verandas all around.

Final destination for the night Glen Innes. It’s cold and windy and the only campsite we can find with toilets and showers state in there description clothes optional! I didn’t want to stay there.

The town is pretty and has two of the inns that mike likes so we opted to stay in the cheapest one we had to share the bathrooms but they were clean enough and it had a sitting room that we had to ourselves.

We spent the afternoon watching the sun set from the veranda and then watched a film on tv before bed.

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Tuesday 20th August

By admin on Tuesday, August 20, 2019

We drove to Tamworth today famous for its country music festival. Lots of big stars have played here including Kieth urban if you haven’t heard of him you may of heard of his spouse someone called Nicole Kidman. It’s a city based at the foot of the mountains and has a really nice feel about the place. With lots of statues around proud of its country music vibe. It also is the home of the country music hall of fame.

On the way to Tamworth we passed through little towns called Coolah where I brought a cardigan from a charity shop for $2 and quirindi for a coffee. The weather is still nice day time but again it’s going to be a chilly night.

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Monday 19th August

By admin on Monday, August 19, 2019

Thoughts of home today it’s my parents birthday, I miss family but am having the trip of a life time. So happy birthday mum and dad hope you’re enjoying your day. Thinking of you x.

We didn’t drive very far today just to the town of Dubbo 60 miles south. When we got there we spent the day at the zoo. Mixed feelings about zoos it’s wrong to keep animals in captivity just to entertain us humans, but on the other hand they’ve got a good breeding program and are giving money back into conservation and education. A hot debate.

The zoo was very well maintained and the animal enclosures we large and not over crowded we enjoyed our visit despite the cold. Today was the coldest so far and the forecast for tonight is-1 should of brought my thermals.

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Sunday 18th August

By admin on Sunday, August 18, 2019

Last night we went to the hot baths at 9pm. It was a lovely dark sky, big moon and no clouds perfect for star gazing. How ever the baths were packed with old people sat around having a chat, so again we decided not to get in. Instead we drove out of town and star gazed in the middle of nowhere. We stayed until we got to cold neither of us had jumpers and it’s cold at night. On the way back to camp we spotted some kangaroos.

Not much to say about today most of it was spent in the car driving south. The landscape slowly changed from empty planes to more green spaces and trees.

We passed through several towns but being a Sunday not much was open. A cup of tea in walgett led to meeting a group of ladies who yet again took a shine to mike, I think they like bearded tattooed men here best keep my eye on him!

Onwards we looked for a campsite in coonamble but everything was shut so we would have nothing to eat tonight, so we carried on to gulargambone where a small spar shop was open all though not much left on the shelf. We managed to buy bread,tomato cheese, avocado, crisps and Coca Cola a feast. Alas the campsite was full.

We carry on to the next town gilgandra by this time mike has been driving about 200 miles and has had enough. It’s also close to getting dark and kangaroos start to wonder into the road so we decided to check into a motel. Safety checked in we ate our feast at a proper table, we no how to live the high life.