Christ! Quickest blog in history

Ok, so i have 4 minutes approx to write a piece of blog material that doesn't sound completely rubbish.

We are in Christchurch and staying at the YHA - it's very nice by the way. basically we are looking for work - but don't tell anyone shhhh.

I am on a computer in the library for the third day in a row and it is a difficult situation where one computer gives you free internet access but not email access. One computer gives you email access but you have to pay and all computers give you free word access but only for a maximum of 1 hour at a time before logging you off - bit hard to work out - should really have been brain training all this time Noan eh?

Anyway I have 1 min 53 left to say that we are both still happy and healthy although a bit tired and fuzzy feeling that the last few months have been a bit of a blur. We will write more on the blog soon and put some more photos up as well - oooops there goes the 80 second warning.

Well I best post this before i lose it - all the best and happy christmas shopping everyone!!

All the best,

Steph (43 secs to go)

Melbourne at an end

At time of writing we have less than 48 hours left in Melbourne - and scarily - Australia as a whole!! Has it really been 60 days?

Well actually it has been 60 days and it has been brilliant - this last wee stretch in Melbourne has been particularly great but certainly different to what we have been doing so far. To set the scene we have been staying with a friend of mine from sports coaching in Glasgow (Vicky) who is living with another sporting Scot here in Melbourne (Adrienne). Both of whom are renting a flat and very kindly agreed to let us stay with them during our time in Melbourne. Even more generously than that - they let us borrow their camper van (Harold) and their Sat-Nav (Betsy) so that we could explore the coast. (more about that later)

First things first though - you can probably recognise the guy in the photo at the top of the page - he was in Taggart 4 times and this other guy he's with has been in a TV show called Neighbours for almost a hundred years apparently and once held the Ramsay street record of 40 runs not out before he was dismissed for smashing Madge's window. He is best known for his role as shellsuit bob in River City - but we know him as wee Stefan ;o)

Ok, so we went to Neighbours night in Melbourne and had a bit of a laugh - usually Dr Karl Kennedy plays with his band but he is in the Uk doing Panto so we got Stefan Dennis instead which was hilarious. He was a rubbish singer and dancer of course but it was funny anyway. The rest of the night was just a bit tacky but fun and current stars from the show mingle with the plebs and sign autographs (you'll see our photos on flickr soon)Stefan asked if he could get his photo taken with me when the girls weren;t looking, they weren;t pleased but he was delighted. ;o)

Our latest adventure with a camper van took us down Great Ocean road where we saw the cuddly fella in the other photo at the top. No we didnt; take this at the zoo but at the side of the road on the way to a lighthouse called Cape Otway. We saw tons of Koalas just hanging about but this one was so close to the ground that we were able to get really close.

The final photo in the trio at the top of the page is of us in a town called Lorne (no, not named after the famous square sausage) where we were able to cook on an outdoor barbie before heading off to a free camp spot for the evening. Pretty nice to be out next to the Ocean cooking your dinner. Even though the weather wasn;t great (bit cloudy) this dinner was made betterby the fact that there was another Koala just hanging about in the tree above us.

We've seen a lot on this final leg of the Australia trip and we are extremely grateful to Vicky and Adrienne ( to whom we hope we can return the favour when they come to NZ) for putting up with us... I mean putting us up for so long and for lending us the van - cheers girls!

Ok, best go for now - we have one final day in Melbourne tomorrow and then we are off to NZ on Sunday. Flying to Christchurch, arriving at 11pm at night it will take us a few days to get ourselves sorted out but hopefully you should get more photos and more blogging soon.

All the best,

Stephen and Katie.

A couple of rock wallabies

A couple of rock wallabies
Originally uploaded by katieandsteph88

Well, we are back safe and sound in Perth and although a bit tearful saying goodbye to Dirty Morag (we had to give her a right old clean oot this morning - in fact Travellers autobarn were quite impressed) we are glad that our life literally on the road has ended.

5000km travelled in about 20 days and it was an interesting/exciting/fantastic trip. We will update you on the highights when we get more of a chance to sit down and add photos and tell stories on the blog but suffice it to say the trip can be summed up as drive-nificient, kangaroo-tastic and snorkelliffic.

The photo above is one we took at Cape Range whilst lookinf for the rare black footed rock wallaby. Unfortunately we didn't really see any (just regular roo's and emus - isn't it sad when that becomes a little less exciting?) so we though we would pose for this shot. We hope you can imagine what black footed rock wallabys may look like although I am pretty sure we got it spot on.

We are now just gearing up for our flight tonight to Melbourne. Leaving Perth tonight at 12.20am and arriving on the set of neighbours for our first day of filming at 6am sharp. Watch out for two new Scottish cast members in about a years time. ;o)

Ok, best go but would you believe it's one of the hottest days we have had in Perth and a) The Christmas Decorations are going up and b) we are having to wear extra (almost all) clothing to the airport in a bid to get our bags a few kilos lighter!

All the best

StephandKatie.

We Survived!!

3 days in Cape Range National Park - snorkelling with all sorts of marine life and colourful coral was really quite something. The park was made up of stunning gorges to walk and lots of deserted sandy and rocky beaches to swim/snorkel and camp at (turoqoise bay really was picture-postcard). There was no need to dive as the snorkelling was just first class (thanks to our buddy Nick who leant us is snorkel gear!)

Okay it was only 3 days but living without 'facilities' takes its toll and I am now concerned that we are in a public place (Exmouth library) and the public are keeping their distance!! The first thing we did when we reached exmouth this lunchtime was treat ourselves to a slap up lunch of fish & chips washed down with a freezing coke (I'm not sure we are cut out for this roughing it!!) Mind you my hair has taken on that 'surf chick' look that most girls pay hundrends of pounds for and Steph's designer stubble coated in 3 day old Nivea factor 30 is a good look!!

Looking forward to heading back to our friendly campsite in Coral Bay for one last swim with the baby reef sharks and a much needed shower. We'll then be heading south to Perth to visit Nicholas and Cat and their brand new baby boy, Lewis, who decided to put in an appearance on our last day before we headed North so that was quite exciting! We're only back in Perth for a day before flying to Melbourne to visit more friends and then see where that takes us for the last lead of our Oz adventure.

In terms of NZ, we have a little bit of news in that we may have a real home to live in over xmas! I went a bit mad and signed us up for a 'house-sit' (no bills or charges just be responsible and look after the house/pet)and we have been in contact with a young couple from England who need their 2 bed house and pooch looked after for 10 days over xmas/new year. It also transpires that they are teachers and their school is looking for a PE teacher for the new year - how weird!! Who knows, it may not work out but things are looking pretty good on that front - even just having a base for xmas will be nice - plus the added bonus they have a puppy that needs looking after!!

Even though its only been 6 weeks, we are missing our friends and family lots! Thanks for the comments, and keep in touch as we at times are quite literally hanging onto every word typed!!

Better get on the road now, got a few thousand K's to do and our camper van, affectionately know as 'Dirty Morag' (we wanted to give her a Scottish name and she's covered in dust) is doing us proud. We've not killed any Kangaroos yet, but we have eaten a few, you name it curried, stir fired, BBQ'd - it's bonza mate! The cheapest and healthiest of the red meat variety!!

Camper vanning!!

Well you may have noticed our blog entrie have been a bit sparse of late!! We are currently winging our way up the wet coast, through small town after small town and having varied success getting access to internet. The West cost is rugged, windy beautiful and of course remote - Steph is coping with the solitude and enforced relaxation.....just!!!!

Wildlife has been amazing - we have seen almost all there is to see - a family of emus on the road, kangaroos, lizard, sharks, snakes, spiders.

Monkey Mia was fantastic, feeding and being around wild dolphins is pretty special. We also went to the 'apparent' most atmospheric restaurant in WA last night called the old pearler and enjoyed some great seafood - have to say not sure if it beats carradale prawns though!

We have stopped to refuel, restock and use the internet in crazy carnarvon before heading a bit north to Coral bay where we hope to drop down another gear and actually stay in the one place for quite a few days to snorkel at Ningaloo etc.

Hope you are all well, and we'll be back in civilisation after the 19th and will be able to dedicate a bit more time to our travel tale and photos then.

Katie and Steph x

p.s. the roads here are soooooo long it is really easy to drive but after dark youhave to watch out for kangaroos that jump out in front of you. Unfortunately a lot are killed - we are planning a roadkill barbecue if things get tight

Still in Perth

Still in Perth and still having a great time - I hear the weather back home isn't so good...that's a shame....anyway, nice and sunny here in Perth and life is good. Only joking I can just imagine what the weather must be like back home - nightmare - all I can say is I am glad we are missing it this year. Having said that it is strange but you really do miss the air quality back home and yes, believe it or not I am missing the rain slightly as well. I remember the same thing happening in North Carolina - it wouldn't rain for a while and then when it did I was compelled to go out in it and suffer the wet and the cold - must be something in built to scottish genes or something.

Anyway, you'll be glad to hear that it's not always scorching hot over here - we went out to Katie's friends (Nicholas Peach) the other night for a barbecue and once it got dark I was blinkin freezing sitting outside - apparently it doesnt get really hot here for a god few weeks yet. Great just in time for us to be sleeping in a big tin can oven by the side of the road. (it actually will still be cold at nights in the van and during the day we will have air con anyway so we won't suffer.)

Today we are back in the library - free internet here although you are usually restricted to an hour if it is busy. Most hostels will give you some kind of varying quality of internet access but generally they charge anywhere from $4-5 an hour so that's about 2 quid but it all adds up. there is also no real certainty that the computers are safe in a hostel at least you can trust the ones in a library or specialist internet provider on the high street a little bit more.

I went for my first run last night since the "holiday" started - I haven't had the energy really but I managed to get out last night for an hour. I ended up going a lot further than I had planned as I got an idea into my head to jog to the Western Australia Cricket Ground and I was feeling pretty good. Unfortunately by the time I got to the cricket ground I was miles away from home and starting to get tired. Made it back in one piece though and really felt good, and really enjoyed my dinner too. Jogging is a great way to see a place and I saw quite a lot on my route - in fact we had been looking for a few things that I now know where they are so we can go back and visit today.

Tonight we are seeing Nicholas again, it's his birthday so we are off out for a bite to eat and a few beers which may help us sleep at the hostel - for anyone who hasn't stayed in a hostel before (and we are staying in some of the better ones) there are a number of reasons that you won't sleep all night but my biggest annoyance is snorers - I think they should all be put in a soundproofed room together to let us non snorers get on with sleeping peacefully.

I do have some sympathy for snorers because they can't possibly be sleeping all that well but I am afraid they annoy the heck out of me when i am trying to sleep - just ask my brother who has on a couple of occasions had something hurled at him when we;ve been camping.

Luckily we will only be hosteling for another couple of nights and then we will have our own camper van to sleep in - probably only to be disturbed by our imagination that some wild Australian creature is trying to get in or something.

Ok, best go - I will try and post some more pics soon.

SB

Just an addition to this story - on our last night in Perth we ended up having to sleep in our camper van outside Nicholas's house as his wife went into labour. We saw him the next day at the Red Bull Air race which I have to say was absolutely fantastic and I am not usually into these kind of things.

Perth

Well, we arrived in Perth two nights ago and would you believe - it was peeing it down. That's ok though because apparently we had just missed a big storm that was actually supposed to be a cyclone so we weren't complaining too much.

In our new hostel, it's pretty good although we are in a six share mixed dorm and Katie is the only girl. That's not really a problem but I can imagine it's it not the most pleasant thing for a girl to do - share a room with a bunch of stinking, snoring blokes. And the snoring blokes really are the worst so we will have to go out and purchase some ear plugs today.

On the bright side of things, Perth is small but growing on us. It is certainly very different from Sydney that seems to have great night life and restuarants. We ate out at a Vietnamese place last night for 4 pounds each. We were also able to take our own bottle of wine with no corkage fee - that's pretty good as far as we are concerned.

Last night we went for a wander and disovered that it was the final night of Gay Pride in Perth so we stuck around and watched the parade. Notable highlights? Dykes on bikes, The chameleon society float, proud parents of gay children and The Christian Gays who even had some members dressed up as the pope and some nuns. Not our first choice for a night out but it gave us a few laughs and it was good to see people having a good time.

There seems to be plenty to do in Perth and next week is the Red Bull Air race which we will stick around for even though we may have the camper van by then.

Ok, we best go as we are spending the day with a guy Katie was at school with. Nicholas and his wife are taking us to the beach and then we are having a barbecue dinner so life is still going well!

Will write more soon,

Steph and Katie (a joint effort)