1st blog from Oz. Arriving at stupid o'clock on Tuesday 23rd am, after 24 hours travelling and in a time difference of 8 1/2 hours - who knows what time our bodies thought it was?! - we checked through immigration and customs in no time and were kicking our heels in the Arrivals area by 4 am, waiting for the car hire to open.
After a nice cuppa, we picked up our little car and set off for our Airbnb accommodation. We found the house easily and sat listening to the sea pre-dawn in 26C before going to the house as we didn't want to wake our hosts at 5.15 am.
Had to have a kip and woke around midday. Sh*t, shower, (not) shave and out to check the area. Found the local Woolworths, provisioned up (sort of), and our hosts very kindly fed us (unexpectedly). Then off to bed - but no sleep - that was to elude us for at least four nights. nuff said.
Wednesday we went motorhome shopping. Gumtree had a bus advertised - 10m, a/c, double bed, shower/loo, sitting area: everything we wanted - for $15000 (about £8500!) But it was a bus…couldn't see myself negotiating the streets of Perth or Sydney in that! We looked at a few ex-rental motorhomes, but the asking price was extortionate and you can't be sure how reliable or how much hammer the engine has had, so…we started looking at a few Toyota Hitop camper vans - sans loo, sans shower - and decided to buy a bucket (with lid) - and go for it. Girding our compromised loins, we went to see a very good one - and bought it! Just waiting for the money and paperwork to clear and we're off - first stop Kakadu National Park, then Katharine, then…?
A note about Darwin. The city much maligned by Bill Bryson has grown up and is wearing long trousers now. It's small enough to drive round in half an hour, some of the suburbs are separated from the CBD (Downtown) by bush, it's very friendly and my is it hot! We have watched glorious sunsets every night and enjoyed (?) 34C and 90% humidity. Bring on The Wet - we'll be gone by the time it arrives! More later. Off to watch another sunset. I could get used to this…
By the way, the more people who follow our blog, the more we feel missed!
21st September 2014. D (Darwin) day. Our lives have been in a sort of limbo since we moved out of the house last Wednesday. After several traumas involving fraud and speaking to Ebay in Manila, We finally managed to sell the Renault yesterday. We've been very fortunate staying with lovely friends Rob & Lynette in Fleet who have looked after us wonderfully, but now there's No More Sleeps! We set off for the airport at around 2pm, for the flight at 18.25 - definitely giving ourselves plenty of time for flusters and last-minute faffing There's an air of suppressed panic in the house at the moment, while we re-pack and re-pack, at the same time trying to manage to get some breakfast. I'm writing this in stages. Every so often I go away to do something I've forgotten, then come back and write another sentence. (Bacon's burning - back in a mo). Long mo later. Everything is coming down to 20 kgs of hold luggage and as much as we can cram into our hand luggage!
Some people have suggested that we put an itinerary up on the blog, so that you have an idea of where we will be when, so this is as close as it gets. Fill in your own gaps:
23 Sept: arrive Darwin.
30 Sept: leave Darwin (with motorhome, hopefully!).
4 November: arr. Perth.
?? December arr. Sydney.
Jan-Feb East coast Australia.
21 Feb 2015 leave Sydney, arr. Wellington.
Feb-Mar South island;
Mar-April N island.
21 Apr leave Auckland, arrive LA 15 minutes later!!!!
Apr- early June drive up west coast USA
early June Vancouver Island
June-Sept cross Canada
Sept-Dec East coast USA inc Memphis, Nashville, New Orleans, Florida
Dec - Jan Trinidad?
Jan - Apr Uruguay, Argentina, Chile, Peru, Ecuador (all a bit hazy from about June 2015, to be honest)
Anyway, that's it for now. soon be leaving for the airport. Please post any comments about the blog as i'm quite new to this stuff. Is it too long/short/too much information/not enough? What other stuff should I be writing about?
Woke up this mornin'…realised I didn't have to go to work no more and went back to sleep!
After the wonderful surprises of our party, It's all been pretty non-stop, although I did have four days out of internet contact at The End Of The Road festival in Dorset, which was great. Now we're powering on to the move and first flight to Darwin. We spent a chilly four hours waiting for our visas at the US embassy last week, which paid off as we now have 10 year visas for the States!! This was followed by a very jolly afternoon watching 'The 39 Steps' at the Criterion Theatre, courtesy of some of my lovely y11 students - well done folks on some great results!! Still got plenty of things to plan and finalise - not least the packing, but we have some previous in that area, so not unduly stressed - yet…
All a bit surreal at the moment, but fun watching the schoolchildren marching past our house on their way.
