Beaches, Beaches and More Beaches

We've been driving up the eastern coast of Australia the past 2 weeks. Our pace has been pretty quick but still relaxed. Basically we've seen beaches, beaches and more beaches. There has also been several opportunities to see dolphins and whales - the whales have been migrating north in the same direction as our travels.

Camping has been surprisingly pretty good. The toilet and shower facilities have been much cleaner than we expected so we're still camping. However, it has been pretty cold some nights so we had to sleep in our thermal underwear despite having warm sleeping bags.

We've stayed in some pretty small towns along the way. I keep thinking that I must be getting old because I prefer staying in the towns that are quieter versus the towns that are full of young backpackers. For example, foreigners who we've met along our travels rave about Byron Bay. I agree that it is a nice place but it felt too hippy for me.

We've driven 3,400 kilometers (2,100 miles). One drive was pretty cool along Waterfall Way. So guess what we saw...yes, we saw waterfalls. We've also seen some of my high school friends along the way and paid a visit to Australia Zoo (Steve Irwin's creation) where we were able to hold a koala and feed kangaroos.

The last week has been pretty awesome as we've explored the Whitsunday Islands, Magnetic Island and the Great Barrier Reef. We went snorkelling and saw cool fish, including reef sharks, sting rays and a turtle. We had a bonus on the way back from the Reef today as there were whales breaching.

Unfortunately we've been having problems loading images but managed to load these images. We'll try to load more images another time.


Our camp set-up


Lunch with Michelle from high school


Brisbane


Dinner with Brad (from high school) and his wife Kiri


Whitsunday Islands - Hill Inlet


Whitsunday Islands - Whitehaven Beach

Hitting the Road For The Last Leg Of Our Journey

I can't believe it's been nearly one month since we posted. Kylie commented on the last post with a friendly reminder. A lot has happened but here is a quick summary.

After Canada, we spent just under a week back at Dad and Marie's place. Kylie and Jon were able to join us for the Memorial Day long weekend. This was the first time that Kylie, Jon, Klas and I were together with them in California so Dad and Marie held a nice brunch for us to be able to meet their neighbours. It was a nice and relaxing weekend with an important stop at In-N-Out Burger, which is a must-do for any visitor to California. It was sad to say "good-bye for now" but we were excited about what lay ahead.

The first time all six of us - and the two cute dogs - were together in California

Brunch with the neighbours

The first week back in Sydney were dedicated to finding a car and preparing for our interview with the Australian immigration department for Klas's spouse visa. Thursday, June 5, was a big day for us - we purchased a car with the help of our family friend Denis and Klas was told that he would be granted the visa in August. Mum was relieved that we could officially stay in the country :-).

The rest of the time we have been preparing for the 18,000 kilometre trip (more than 10,000 miles) that lies ahead of us. We have so much stuff to bring as we are going to attempt to camp. That's right, the girl who never liked playing in dirt and the boy who is about the cleanest person I know are going to try to rough it in their early 30s...well only to a point...flush toilets are still essential so we'll be staying at well-equipped camping grounds. We borrowed a tent from Aunty Lisa and Rafe, which we put up yesterday as a test run. It was...interesting. Luckily Aunty reminded me to bring a hammer.

Now we are going to pack our car and hit the road. I just hope that everything fits in the car. Stay tuned...

Our new car. As you can see, it's not another Ford Contour but a 2001 Toyota Rav4. Thanks to Denis for all of his help.