The last post and looking back

So we have now been back in the U.K for 3 months and thought it was about time that we finished up the blog with one final post. We've also been sorting through our thousands of photographs (literally) and thought we would share a few that we didn't put on the blog previously.

Now its obviously quite hard to remember what exactly we did in the last month of being in Australia, (which makes us very glad we kept up with the blog for the rest of the trip), but we'll have a go.

After visiting Noosa we drove further down the sunshine coast and stopped at a place called Caloundra. By chance there was a navy ceremony on so we stayed and watched the parade, followed by a navy helicopter flyover.

That evening we had no plans and by chance we came across a small park next to the beach so decided to set up our stove and make dinner there. Before we knew it, it was packed. People were setting up blankets on the grass and getting the barbecues going. It turned out just around the corner was one of the ever so popular weekend food markets. Coincidentally we also bumped into Debbie and Emma (the British couple who we met previously).

From here we went on to see the glass house mountains which is made up of - as you may have guessed - 13 different mountains. We began by doing a walk up to the top of one where you got amazing views. There were actually so many walks that we wanted to do that we decided to spread it over 2 days. On the second day we walked up the biggest, and longest hill ever to a really nice view point and in the afternoon Sean did a hike up another one of the mountains. I sat this one out as one long walk in the scorching heat was enough for me in one day.

As we were now so close to Brisbane the campsites were beginning to get very expensive. We managed to find a semi cheap one in a place called Dayboro. The plan was to stay here whist we prepped the car for selling and then once it was sold, possibly find a hostel. We had been here for about 5 days before we got a phone call from Seans relative, Peter, who had put us up when we first arrived in Brisbane, offering us a place to stay again. We couldn't have been more grateful. At this point we were getting very bored and living in a field where there wasn't much to do in the area, was getting a bit boring to say the least. For the next 4 weeks we stayed here, getting the car ready and visiting our friends Carly and Stuart. Sean had kept our return as a secret from his family so we could surprise them when we got back, hence why we couldn't put much on the blog at this point. To everybody at home we were selling the car and were going to go fly to the west coast, all part of the plan to keep them off the scent. We eventually sold the car for a good price and so spent our last few days visiting some of the local spots.

Picnic in the park

On the 5th December we returned to the UK. It was sad to leave somewhere that had been our home for the past year, and especially sad for the travelling to be over as we'd had such an amazing time but it was so nice to see all of our friends and family, and especially nice to surprise those that didn't know we were coming home.

Here are a few extra pictures from along the way.

Trying some horrible vietnamese tea.

We saw this as we were driving past in the exact same kind of bus. It wasn't suprising considering the way they drove.  

Breathtaking views in Sapa, Vietnam.

Losing a bit of weight along the way.

Tuk tuk ride in Cambodia

The biggest Schnitzel ever.

Not what you want to find running across the kitchen.

Finding some kind of washed up jellyfish.

Double decker underground train. 

Lifeguards from the t.v show Bondi 

Burning the crops

Hot chocolates in the tent.

Breakfast with a view in the camper.

Cockatoos galore.

We lost count of the amount of times we thought there was a kangaroo or snake in the bushes and it turned out to be one of these.

Seans first blog post

Once again the rain passed and we faced a tough decision. Being at rainbow beach meant we could see the largest sand island in the world from the shore, but with only rugged sand roads and beaches to drive on, the only way to explore it is to go by 4WD. It's not advised to take your own vehicle, especially when it's pretty much everything you own, but Danny and Lauren (our new travel buddies) had already been looking at tours and it was not something we could afford. Upset and heart broken I poured myself a lovely cup of rum and coke while Alex guzzled her wine. In the morning Danny decided to cut all his hair off which cheered our spirits up as we could laugh about his new look. We all met at the beach to play a little football (next to Fraser Island) where me and Alex thought we would go for it. We would go to Fraser Island with our beloved car.

All four of us unpacked our things into Danny and Lauren's van (tent included to reduce the weight) and set off at 5am the next morning. We decided to split everything between the 4 of us to keep it cheap. We were all excited and ready for the adventure ahead. Within minutes of departing the short ferry we could see why people were advised not to bring your own car as the 'roads' were so rough with the soft and hard sand, trees, logs, tree roots, dips and puddles. It certainly made it an interesting but bumpy ride.

The trip itself was very nice and we had lots to see, although Danny's head made it hard to at times due to the reflections from the sun (sorry I had to put one in). We first stopped to have breakfast next to one of the many lakes and then continued to the famous lake Mckenzie to try and beat the crowds. When arrived it was really nice but it was already packed as it is the main selling point of the island.

Lake McKenzie

The pinnacles

The wildlife was great to see and we managed to get some great pictures of the dingos on the beach as soon as we arrived. Continuing on we stopped at the shipwreck and then up to Indian head where we go to see multiple turtles and some Hawks or eagles... well some kind of bird. The views were amazing. It was nice to stop and relax and to have a break from being thrown around in the car. We literally could have sat there for the rest of the day but time was pushing on. We then decided to go have a dip in the 'champagne pools' and then cook our evening meal of sausage casserole.

Indian head

Champagne pools

Dinner on our knees and enjoying life none of us kept an eye on the time. The meal was disrupted by 'oh no! It's 4:30! We were just over an hour away from the ferry and the last one was at 5:30 or so we thought. The tide was out which meant it was a nice smooth drive back so I put my foot down to try beat the time. We all felt could make it until a ledge made from a little stream going to the sea appeared from nowhere. BANG. The car dropped and steam went everywhere from the water hitting the underside of the car. It now sounded like a boat. I jumped out and I saw that it was just the pipe to the back box of the exhaust that had slightly come apart so I carried on racing to the ferry.

We all accepted we would be spending a night on the island when we found out that the last ferry stopped at 5:15 so we had actually missed it by quite a while. When we got to the ferry port me and Danny tinkered with the car which I managed to fix while Alex and Lauren spotted dolphins that swam right next to the shore. A few minutes later we saw a beautiful sunset. Things weren't that bad.

We pulled over in a little woodland area where we would later try and get some sleep. Alex ended up getting bitten of the head three times. The bites swelled up so big, which again lightened up the mood as we all laughed at her new horns. Unfortunately she wouldn't let us get a photo. We also managed to see a strange kind of moon-set as it was bright orange and set over the horizon at about 10PM. We all thought it look amazing and weird. The girls didn't like getting out of the car to go to the toilet as they were scared of the dingos attacking and we couldn't really wind our windows down either because of all the bugs so the car was unbelievably hot. It was then time to try and get some sleep.

After a very horrible night we waited for the ferry. We arrived back at 6:30 AM and all very grumpily cleaned and prepared our things and the car so we could hit the road again. Once we were showered we could start to laugh about what just happened. Overall it was a great day.

We weren't in any rush to get to our next stop Noosa, so on the way we took a break at a rest stop for a little while. We got the ball out to play catch or should I say attempted to play. Alex's throws were some what hit and miss. Many of them end up perfectly in my hand and others just got thrown up in the air with Alex running to catch them. It had been a good way to pass some time.

With it being Lauren's birthday coming up we had being trying to think of something small to get her and made a quick stop at Coles (the supermarket) to get her a card and the card game, uno. We thought it would be nice as I remember when I received nothing for my birthday in Vietnam which wasn't nice (a dig at Alex there). Anyway another night at a free camp. We couldn't believe how nice it felt to lie down, the first time since Fraser Island. We were out cold.

Now in Noosa, which was unbelievably busy, we decided to do the coastal walk where supposedly loads of koalas live. The walk was about 13km and was really nice but unfortunately we didn't get to see any because of the wind that day.  We were a little disappointed but it was still worth the walk. After, we met up with our buddies and gave Lauren her birthday present and card. We were then later joined up with Debbie and Emma (our other friends who come and go) and all went for some drinks at the hostel. We all song happy birthday and then stuffed our faces with chocolate gateaux before heading to the restaurant down the road. All of us picked the cheapest option on the meal which was some well needed, well cooked, non camping food. To our surprise Debby and Emma paid for everyone's meals which was great and upsetting as I'd have picked steak had I known ;)

Noosa coastal walk

In the morning we all rented some free surfboards from the hostel and headed for the beach. We haven't surfed before and was told it would be quite hard without lessons. The beach was jam packed and considering the surfing ettiequte rules which basically says if your a beginner get off the wave when someone else is on it, made it very hard. I ended up catching 3 waves. One I just body boarded to the beach, the second I tried to stand up but saw rock so jumped off and the third I actually stood up but then fell off after a couple of seconds.

We are now sat waiting for the washing to be done in the laundrette and don't have a plan of where our next stop will be.

:)