Gypsy life....

So now we are gypsies living the nomad, no wash lifestyle. We picked up our camper home this morning and set off towards the South. Yep,so much for Janet's organisation, planning and excel spreadsheets, day 1 and the itinerary is out of the window. We decided to visit Byrons Bay (surfer's paradise) first and then onto Lamington National Park tomorrow, before heading off on the original itinerary North towards Cairns.

After stocking up on provisions we headed off and arrived at the Broken Head camp site which is close to the sea. The beach stretches as far as the eye can see and is beautiful clean white sand. The sea is quite rough with fairly strong waves, just up the road from Surfer's Paradise.


After our first home made meal of king prawns, we enjoyed a light show supplied by the electric storm over the sea.

Jeff still has not had a haircut and is growing a beard - very surfer dudey....

Brisbane is a lovely city - although we could have been in any major city in the world. The business centre is full of those officey worker type people, except they know how to enjoy themselves, 5pm and they spill out of the offices and into the bars and restaurants and do a lot of loud talking and laughing. Keep fit is high on their lists too, many of them choosing to power walk, jog or cycle home, and in 32 degrees of heat - we enjoyed watching them! Brisbane tends to be a one day stop over for most travellers on their way to somewhere else, but we definitely thought it worthy of a longer stay. The very wide river is a key focal point, and a very efficient and cheap water bus and ferry service make it easy to explore the outskirts of the city. The farmer's market provided Jeff with a selection of tasters from chilli paste to smoked salmon from Tasmania. Excellent restaurants on Harbour Side and I would fully recommend the Moreton Bay Crab lasagne. Our last gourmet meal before becoming gypsies.........

At last...

ha ha ha...at last, we are connected to the world, we feel whole again. Right, where to begin...
i suppose the beginning is best or at least where we left off...

Monday 23rd went well, dropped cars off & took train & tube to Heathrow, felt like a student, no correct that, like an 11 year old running away from home. We got to Heathrow in plenty of time, too early to check in so had a coffee & chocolate muffin (for my nerves ;-) ....went back to check in & guess what, BA's new fancy check in software crashed!! so instead of checking in ourselves, a very kind BA lady checked us in. mooched around terminal, tried lots of scents & arrived at gate smelling like a cheap 'you know what! We had an hour & a half delay sitting on plane waiting for BAA to remove their gantry! great, a relaxing 3 hours at Singapore was now down to less than 2 hours!

Good flight, BA crews are generally excellent & i even got some sleep, watched Julie & Julia (so reminded me of Kelly) then taking of pelham 123. Got to Singapore had a 15 min massage & skin nibbled by school of small fish. If you get to Singapore check out the Fish Spa. Then we boarded Qantas flight to Brisbane. I have never had a bad Qantas flight & this was excellent. Watched the hangover film which i found very funny. Landed in Brisbane on time, about 7.00 am. Took air train to city centre, a very good service that cost $29 for us both. We found hotel easily & checked in, dropped bags off & went exploring...

more on that next, but for now, Brisbane is a lovely city with more than enough for a longer stay. Janet will write next on the Brisbane bit...

Oh yes, we pick up camper van tomorrow!! look out everyone in Australia... & I met my first kangaroo today...

hugs & kisses..
Jeff & Janet

1 day to go!!!!!

Oh dear! Jeff has a cold & Janet is still packing.

Only 1 day to go now, off tomorrow, all important stuff done, just packing final bits & going through paperwork. It feels strange as this has been such a long lead up to this trip & now its here.

we both want the trip to start now. i just hope I'm not too annoying on the plane, sniffing & coughing & sneezing. A couple of days in the sun & i will feel better. Temperature is in the 30's in Brisbane, mmmmmmm, i can live with that.

Janets packing is now in its final stage, Jeff's packing has not started yet! i get the impression Jeff's attitude to packing & his last minute speed packing style, slightly annoys the more organised, spreadsheet, alphabetical packing style of Janet. oops!

I hope anyone reading this does not imagine that we won't be missing anything or anyone. i for 1 will certainly miss my children, my friends, my yoga classes & the challenge that is my mother! On the other hand i will not miss 'I'm a celeb get me out of here', 'the x factor', Gordon Brown, strictly come prancing, loose women, cash in the attic & the weather!!

take care everyone & big hugs & germ free kisses to you all!!

Jeff & Janet

1 week to go...

This time next week we will be on our way!! Yippee..We are ready now I think; off to the sun & blue skies that is Australia. Nearly have a clear idea on what I will be taking; I think I’ll leave my cowboy outfit at home! Well, now I’m no longer working & especially not at AVEVA, I have no use for it! So if anyone wants to make me an offer.....? Think I will take the guitar tho...

We got our cash & travellers cheques today & I must compliment the Post Office online currency service. It is easy to use, quick, no commission, good rate & free delivery to your home. I thoroughly recommend it, give it a go. We decided after much deliberation to take cash & travellers cheques & also will have access to our nationwide account who only charges 0.84% on cash withdrawals.

Also did some research on mobile broadband connection & wifi connections in Australia, all seems very easy so will buy a mobile broadband dongle when in Oz. I think.

Take care & stop voting for Jedward, you’ll only regret it!!
Jeff & Janet

Day -10

Phew! we survived Friday the 13th, what a relief. Been reading up on Australia & studying maps in between yoga practice. Feeling a little over awed, no i didn't catch sight of myself in a mirror while yoga'ing, its just there is so much to see & do. I may need some time off work after this trip to recover, oops I'm unemployed, that's lucky, what a relief, no work to worry about ;-)

Just been reading about that English man arrested for trying to smuggle 900 bird eating spiders out of Brazil. What a dork. Apparently he runs a 'spider shop' in the UK. I had to take a look in yellow pages, there are no spider shops in our area & i looked under Web Designers as well! What the hell does a spider shop look like, dark, dank, dusty, a bit like the back of the cupboard under the stairs. Does he sell cages & activity toys for the spiders like spider wheels? I wonder if he sells 'seconds'? Spiders with a leg missing. I hope they lock him up but i guess that would just improve his business, he'd come home & his spider shop would have even more spiders in it.
I so wanted his name to be Peter Parker.

oh well, now what shall I pack? Has Janet done a spreadsheet for me i wonder....

later,
Jeff & Janet

Ten days to go....... its pouring with rain and we are sitting with a roaring log fire – not exactly suitable holiday preparation but the long lie in this morning set us in the mood. Not much left to organise now, just the holiday money and the question of whether everything we plan to take will squeeze into the 25kg limit we each have – it’s so unreasonable that they don’t increase the luggage weight limit to correspond with the length of time you are away. Still, we are reliably informed by Malcolm that we can get everything we need out there so look out shops here we come.

Janet is planning to the nth degree, Jeff is planning only as far as Singapore – a massage and haircut!

Jeff’s opinion of the day – if Wayne Rooney lives forever he will never make a world class footballer.

First Post

Hi all,

Only 11 days to go now & we are off to Australia for 2 months. This is our first attempt at a blog, which i guess makes us virgin blogger's, well not anymore, if i smoked I'd light a cigarette right now but that's a stupid habit. Oh dear, first opinion of the blog, sorry. There will, i'm sure, be lots of opinions on this blog so please go no further if you are easily offended.

Well, we have 2 months in Oz to look forward to. wow. all courtesy of AVEVA ltd. The offer of being paid to take some time out was just too sweet to miss. Although i do miss some of my colleagues, more on this later I'm sure, but hopefully this blog will be more about our 2 months in Oz.

Briefly this is fly to Brisbane, drive North along gold coast to Cairns, fly to Ayers rock (for my birthday yippee), fly to Sydney for Xmas & new year, fly to Tasmania, fly to Melbourne, drive East along ocean road to Adelaide, fly home.

We should have done this as a teenagers, but for me, I was busy doing other stuff, so now, thanks to AVEVA I'm doing it at 52.

This is going to be so much fun but its tea time now, more tomorrow,
hugs & kisses,
Jeff & Janet