Melbourne and the Great Ocean Road :)

So we've finally arrived in Melbourne. Spent the morning in gaol thanks to Dave but at least we got a good picture out of it... all fine now anyway, too long a story for web. (moral of the story, don't ask a hooker what time it is)



Obviously that was a lie. were on a guided tour of the old jail, all very interesting. Melbourne seems to be a brilliant city and we'll probably spend the next week or so here. Its got a lot more character than the other Aussie cities so far.

Miles of vineyards as we came out of Adelaide through the Barossa valley (provided us with free grapes)


Then came the great ocean road, had a lovely few days climbing around rock formations and looking at the amazing scenery. Absolutely huge limestone pinnacles jutting out of the sea contrasted with some totally barren landscapes too - lots of evaporated lakes and miles of nothing but bushland.








Haven't had a spot of bother with buttercup (the van) since the Adelaide incident, long may it last! and saving lots of cash by eating/sleeping and even using its 'facilities'..... take from that what you will. Have done a cool spraypaint job on one side of it and will hopefully finish it off over the next few weeks.

Adelaide.... still

As it says above. Its a lovely town and all that but we'd really like to get going. First we had to wait the weekend for the "full service and check" from the garage. Then we picked up the van, headed into the hills with our car man Nick to pick up some curtains. As we pulled off the freeeway all sorts of alarming grinding noises started (like when you visit Stephen's ma). Then the car wouldnt go into reverse. Luckily, Nick defied all used car salesman stereotypes. Invited us in for dinner, let us park in his backyard for the night and then drove the van back into town and agreed to pay for all repairs!!!! So thats where we are now. Hopefully car should be ready for tomorrow (Vallies Day) and we can head somewhere nice.

What else have we been doing... camping for free in a lovely carpark beside the beach. Even has a toilet block and cold outdoor shower - what a treat! Visited the drive through off licence - they're EVERYWHERE. And went to the cinema to see Juno. You should go watch it too, its fab.
$3 vodkas in the local Irish bar go down pretty well and we've done some stunning indoor carpentry pimping to the van. Bed now on hinges so we have mini replicas of our bedroom floors under the bed but nice and neat on top. I wonder if that's possible in an actual room...?

Lots of love to all :) Especially YOU.

X Sian & Dave

p.s. Thanks again for the comments, unfortunately we cant reply to them as blogger doesnt give your email address when you post the comment. We'd be happy to have a bit of a chat if you put your address in brackets at the end.

VANtastic news!!!!

As you can guess we are now the proud owners of this magnificent beast . A 1984 (very good vintage) mazda, room for 6 to sit in (take note any potential visitors, Im looking at you Eoghan) and loads of space for mattress etc in the back.

Its super exciting. Seems nice and strong in case we hit the kangaroos this time. (Dont think we posted about the last encounter. (90kph down a back road, Sian driving and 4 of them jumped out into the road. luckily was able to slow down in time)

So there you are. Next stop great ocean road for whale watching and beach type things :)

Also, it rained today for a few minutes. yuck. Not as bad as your rain though...wrecked!

xox Sian & Dave

Caves, Camping and Parrots

Here's a few photos now that we're staying in a hostel where we can hook the camera up.








Unfortunately we weren't fast enough to catch the roo's on camera.

A Nuala style list

Things the Universe has provided us with for FREE!

*a quantas blanket (someone else nicked it and abandoned it)

*2 plates, 2 cups and one set of cutlerey

*$50 dollars!!!! on the floor of the pub last night

*2 HUGE handfulls of free chocolate from the Margaret River chocolate factory. They made a bad mistake putting the free sample dish beside the door. So good we came back and did it a second time.

*Several books that people just left lying around. Fools.

(Nuala is Daves sister, have a look at her lists)