Attempt #2

So as many already know we have had a fair few sets backs since the last blog post.

Starting from when we were back on the Gold Coast is where it all began to go wrong. We were casually driving along the main sea front road, loving life, when we suddenly heard a loud bang and saw everybody's heads turn instantly to look at our van. Bearing in mine this was a Saturday afternoon on one of the busiest streets... A bit like driving along Blackpool front on a summers day but nicer. Embarrassing doesn't quite cut it. We pulled over straight away and realised that the radiator had blown. We literally didn't know what to do. A second later one of the workmen from the building site next to us came out to see what had happened. One of the main things we have come to realise out here is how many genuinely nice people there are who are honestly just want to help. Straight away he was on the floor looking under the van, checking the pipes, seeing where it had blown and explaining it to us just exactly what happened and what we need to do. We managed to slowly drive it to a campsite 10 minutes down the road. It was double what we had been paying nightly but it was our only option.

From there Sean managed to get the cracked radiator out himself and rang around wreckers to find a second hand one to replace it. Thinking about it now has us in stitches... With no van Sean decided to rent a bike and cycled the 40minutes to pick up a new one... Not only that but because it was so big he had to put it in a cool bag that he wore as a backpack to carry it back in, with string tied around it. Definitely wasn't funny at the time but very funny now. Luckily on the way back one of the guys from the wreckers found Sean and gave him a lift half of the way. Another example of how helpful people are.

He managed to get it fitted, and because things weren't going bad enough already, it then had a leak. We rang the wreckers back and after explaining the situation they agreed to have a courier deliver a replacement to us. Once again Sean took the radiator back out and fitted the new one. To say he has never done any mechanical/engineering things before, within a month he had fitted a new battery, new carburettor and 2 new radiators, so he's basically had a crash course and done very well :)
We took it to a mechanic to have another look over but with all of the problems we decided to sell. We couldn't afford to put any more money into Bruce and we'd pretty much lost faith in him at this point.

The Gold Coast

Taking a day from the stresses of the van to play mini golf :)

After having it up for sale for a few days without hearing anything we decided selling it in Brisbane would be better so we ventured back up the coast. Very kindly Seans mate, Stuart, took us back in and it took about another week but we managed to find a buyer. We were contemplating renting a campervan to avoid any more stress, when another option suddenly came about. Stuart and his fiancé Carly said we could buy their 4x4 Mitsubishi Challenger. They'd always said how reliable and good a car it was so it was kind of perfect. It took afew days for us to re purchase all of our camping gear, and find a roof top tent but we were finally ready to set off...

...Again.

We're really happy with the new car. It's not quite as homely or easy as the campervan but it's good and will get us around Australia comfortably. It also means we can venture further on unsealed roads and do some 4 wheel driving... maybe.

The journey started with a stop off at a place called Uki to pick up the tent. At that very moment it began to rain, heavy, and didn't stop. That night was one of the worst storms we had experienced in a long time and it came on our first night in the tent. Within seconds of getting out of the car to try set it up Sean was soaked through.

The next day we got up early, packed up the tent between downpours, and set off for Byron Bay. Over the next few days we'd had more rain than we'd probably had throughout the entire time of being in Australia.

We had both really been looking forward to going to Byron Bay ever since people started telling us to go way back when we were in Asia. It's one of the go-to places for backpackers, sun, sea, sand and surf, but unfortunately the rain put a bit of a dampener on it. Going to the beach in the rain isn't quite the same as going when it's nice and sunny. We spent a couple of nights there though, did a walk up to the lighthouse and strolled around the shops. Who knows maybe we'll get a second chance if we make it back around before we leave.

Unfortunately as you can see we didnt take many photos as the weather just wasn't great. 

From there we have come to Coffs Harbour for a night. Another sea side town further down the coast. On a map it still looks like we've barely gone anywhere, but we're about 4 and a half hours south of Brisbane now.

It's been a bit of a rough start to the journey (part 2) but hopefully from now on in, it will be smooth going.

:)

P.S. The rain finally stopped today.

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!

:)

In the land down under.

Hi all,

It's been quite a long time since we posted, and the Asia leg of the journey is over but we're now in the land down under and returning back to the real world :)

So quickly picking up where we left off...

When we booked our flights too and from Borneo we had been a bit overly optimistic on the time scale in relation to how much money we would have left at this point in the trip. There were so many trips and hikes you could do which looked absolutely amazing but just too costly for what we wanted. We had 7 days to spend in Sepilok which we knew was too long for that one place but we preferred to spend it there, rather than back in the city.

When we arrived in Sepilok it was already dark and the bus only stopped on the main road so we were once again in the middle of nowhere with no idea where we were going. We quickly got the torches out of our backpacks and got our bearings and began walking the long stretch of road through the trees to the hotel. Walking through an area known for its wildlife, at dark, wasn't exactly ideal but luckily enough a taxi driver drove past soon after and knew straight away where we were heading. The hotel was great. It was completely surrounded by the jungle and even had a pool which was a good way to pass the days when we didn't have anything to do. The only down side was there was no internet in any of the rooms except for a very slow connection in the reception.

We were on 5 minutes from the orang-utan rehabilitation centre which was perfect but we decided to save that for later in the week, so for our first full day we headed to a bear sanctuary which was again just down the road.

Though the Bears are in fenced enclosures the rest of the site is open to the jungle meaning often other animals come passing through. We got the chance to see this when it was feeding time for the Bears and we suddenly heard lots of howling in the distance, gradually getting closer and closer. Almost every day the macaque monkeys would come to the bear sanctuary to get in on the feeding. There were so many in this one group flying trough the trees, bringing down branches and everything else with them, they could easily have been mistaken for a heard of elephants stamping through the jungle. It was quite funny to watch.

The next day we went to orang-utan centre. Except for a few of the young apes which are being rehabilitated, the orang-utans that come to the 2 daily feelings are actually wild so you're not actually guaranteed to see them. We were lucky however and when we went for the first feeding of the day, 2 adult orang-utans showed up. It was so nice to watch them come swinging though the jungle... well they actually casually strolled through following the guy with the food but oh well. It wasn't too long before the macaques showed up again and after defending their food for so long, the orang-utans gave up and vanished back in to the jungle.

After the morning feeding they close the centre for a few hours so at that point we walked back to the hotel. It was nice to see them but honestly we were a little bit disappointed that we didn't see more, and see them interacting rather than just coming to the platform for the food than going again. I decided to go back again later for the afternoon feeding to see if it was any different whilst Alex stayed at the hotel. It turned out to be so much better than the morning. I was one of the first in and raced to get to the front of the group so I could walk around while it was quiet. And I'm glad I did, I just overtook 2 of the guards when they suddenly called me back. There were two orang-utans play-fighting on the platform right in front of us. They were that close you could have walked up to them and touched them... had it not been for the guards. I watched for about 10 mins or so while the rest of the group caught up but unfortunately the orang-utans had to be shooed away because they started to interact with some of the people watching. About 30 mins later a large group came for the feeding. This time about 5 or 6 and they were climbing all over the place, swinging from tree to tree. Exactly what I wanted to see. It just went to show that they could go where they wanted when they wanted which was so much better than seeing them in enclosures.

Spot the ape

He was so close!

The macaques gather for leftovers

After a week in Sepilok we took the bus back to Kota Kinabalu, spent a night there, then flew to Kuala Lumpur. Here we were spending another night in the airport before our flight to Bali the next day. Needless to say we now knew this airport like the back of our hand. It honestly has everything you could want and need but after being there 3 separate times, 2 of which were overnight stays, we were pretty happy to see the back of it.

 

...it was a long night.

We had just 6 days in Bali, which was enough for us just to have a nice quick beach break before heading to Australia.

Our flight from Bali was late at night so we landed in Brisbane the next morning at around half 5. After 4 months of temperatures on average around 30 degrees getting off the plane with the temperature around 6 degrees was a huge shock to the system! We were not prepared at all! We quickly found the train to the hostel we had booked but as we were about 6 hours too early for check in we had a long morning of waiting around. We took the opportunity to start getting organised though. First we went to the Apple Store to get Seans phone fixed, which in the end he got replaced with a brand new phone, then we went to the bank and set up our new accounts and then we went in search of new SIM cards.

We knew that the cost of living in Australia was a lot more, but going from paying £10 a night for a double hotel room to paying £22 a night for a 20 bed shared dorm, was a bit of a shock. We spent one there and then fell immensely lucky when we found out a distant relative of Seans lives just out of Brisbane city and offered to put us up.

That is where we have been up until now. Unfortunately we haven't found a job as of yet but we are still hopeful. Technically we did both get a job at a marketing company but we turned it down when we realised it was commission based and literally paid half of what we could be earning on minimum wage.

So far we're liking Australia though. We've been to see the Gold Coast, and surfers paradise and some other sea side towns. We got to see the new Thor film being shot in Brisbane city which was crazy busy but exciting to see and the other day we went to a big drag racing event with some more distant relatives, which turned out to be a really good day but apart from that we don't really have much more to report. At the moment our days are mainly spent Pokemon hunting and job hunting. We may still do some blog posts if we move somewhere else or once we've got jobs and new accommodation but until we have saved up and can do some more travelling they may be few and far between.

Serious Pokemon hunting

Being one with nature

Just happened to pass by Thor and Loki... as you do

Anyway, that's all for now. Better get back to job hunting!

:)