Out in the Bush

For our first little excursion we decided to stay quite local. Just east of Brisbane, a short ferry ride away, is North Stradbroke island. As soon as you start the drive off the ferry you feel a whole world away from the city. Miles and miles of endless beaches. It was late afternoon when we arrived so we headed straight for the campsite. Right next to our plot was the beach and we were just in time for a gorgeous sunset. As we were snapping away with the camera we began to notice small movements around us. Suddenly there were thousands of soldier crabs just appearing out of nowhere.

The next day we headed around the coast to do one of the coastal walks. It had the most amazing views.

We got to see turtles, Dolphins and even a wallaby right next to the path.

The following day we headed inland and took a walk through the forests in search for some koalas. Unfortunately we didn't find any but we did reach a lake and noticed some people taking a dip. They told us there was no one there when they arrived so they took the opportunity to have a swim... even though they didn't have any swimwear. They were just swimming back to the edge ready to get out so having got the hint I began walking away. Sean on the otherhand was oblivious and stood there continuing to take pictures. It defintely wasn't the view he was expecting to see through the lense!

It took a good couple of hours the walk and before we knew it, it was time to head back for the ferry.

After spending the next couple of days just sorting out a few more bits on the van whilst staying at Sean's mates, we were finally ready to set off for good with no going back.

First stop Mount Tamborine national park.
There are so many national parks all the way around Australia so we're going to be selective of the ones we stop at, but this one was only about an hour away and a lot of people had recommended it. We began by going to see one of the waterfalls which took about an hours walk to get to. It wasn't very big but still impressive to see.

The amount of wildlife is unbelievable. You couldn't take a step without seeing some kind of lizard darting out of the path, but we were still hoping to see something a bit bigger and less out of the ordinary. And it wasn't long before we did!

This was what we came across right next to the path. The picture doesn't really capture how big it was but it was definitely near to 6ft long. To be honest if it wasn't for seeing others taking pictures of it, it would have been easy to miss so who knows how many other things we've walked right past.

We went to do another waterfall walk later that day and took a drive through the local village before heading back to camp to make dinner. The following morning we set off to the next destination where we are now, the Gold Coast.

:)

6 Months Later...

Hi everyone,

Since we arrived we have been working and saving hard for the next leg of the journey which we are just about to set off on. We stayed in Brisbane and as you know Sean has been working as a removal man and I got a job at Sunglass Hut. It took awhile to settle in, for starters it wasn't easy finding jobs, especially for me, and being away from friends and family at Christmas was so difficult but we're happy that we've stuck at it and got a chance to really experience living and working in Australia. We haven't actually done much so far in terms of sight seeing and touristy things as our main priority was saving so now we're even more excited to finally get on the move and just enjoy it.

Mount cootha

Sean learning to play his new guitar

Story bridge, Brisbane

Carving the ham

Christmas dinner

Lots of English goodies from home.

Sean made a lot of mates through work. One of them, called Alemar, he became good friends with. He ended up going to a few bbq's and was forced to try a Brazilian delicacy of chicken hearts, which he actually enjoyed!

One of many BBQ's

Doing removals meant Sean got to see a lot of Brisbane and a lot of good and bad houses. Some of the horror stories he's told me really made my skin crawl.

The joys of removals

One of the highlights so far was actually seeing Coldplay in December. I'd wanted to see them for ages so I couldn't believe it when we found out they were going to be touring Australia and were going to be at the stadium literally just around the corner from us. They were amazing! Such a good night.

❤

Just the other day we went to the Koala Sanctuary which was really good. Obviously we've seen them on tv before but nothing can prepare you for how cute they actually are in reality!

They also had loads of other native animals there including Kangaroos that you could actually go in the field with and feed. It felt so bizarre to us walking around their enclosure with them. They would take food from your hands and get petted and were completely unfazed by it all.

A few weeks ago we bought a campervan who we have proudly named Bruce! The name came after we lost all power when out driving and we literally had to drive at about 15mph the whole way home including on the hard shoulder of the motorway! We couldn't help shouting 'you can do it Bruce!' as we struggled up hills the entire way back. Any Matilda fans will know what we mean.

Update - we now have some much nicer beachy curtains

The day we got the van was the day we moved out of our accommodation, so when we realised it was going to need some work doing on it, without having anywhere to actually do it, panic started setting in. Luckily Sean had a mate from work, Stuart, who offered to look over it and help him sort it out. Him and his fiancé Carly kindly said we could park up in their back garden and stay there whilst we got everything sorted... 2 weeks later we've only just left! They were so unbelievably nice to us and when we were stressed out to the point of almost giving up they were always there bringing us cups of tea and making us feel a million times better. We really couldn't thank them enough!

We're just about ready now to officially set off. It may be a few weeks later than planned but the van is finally set up perfectly for how we want it and it's given us enough time to properly prepare so it was worth the delay in the end. Lets just hope the van lasts now.

Now to get travelling again!

:)