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Chris and Charly Down Under

a travel blog by chrischarly

Bye bye tuk tuks
Bye bye negotiating
Bye bye, 'Hello Mister'
Bye bye long bus rides
Bye bye heavy backpacks
Bye bye savings...
And G'DAY 'down under'!

After plenty of time spent in South East Asia, we have just left Australia after having an amazing time driving around for almost 3 months in a camper and are now in New Zealand doing the same :)


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Huge lightening storm

Byron Bay, Australia


Near Byron Bay

Lighthouse


Lighthouse
Drove to Byron Bay this morning and had a nice walk around and up to the lighthouse before trying to find a nice spot to have swim. This was pretty hard as it was a Sunday so everywhere was jam-packed so we travelled further down the coast before stopping in Iluka but before we could contemplate going for a dip a huge storm hit us and we took some amazing photos of some impressive storms, with one fork of lightening hitting the ground just in front of us!


Really black sky

Such black sky


Amazing lightening

So, pretty scared we drove away and stayed at a pretty rubbish but free campsite unable to go outside as it poured with rain all night.

permalink written by  chrischarly on November 13, 2011 from Byron Bay, Australia
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Moonie Beach

Coffs Harbour, Australia


Such a nice place to swim
Headed to Moonie Beach this morning avoiding all major beaches as they were too busy. We went for a nice walk through the coastal rainforest which is one of the only ones left here on the east coast.

Huge lizard up a tree
We saw a huge carpet python on the side of the road (unable to put photo on due to Chris’ Mum’s phobia) and also a huge Lizard which darted up a tree.

really clear water
On the end of the walk we sat on the headland to do a bit of whale spotting before making our way back down to go for a swim in the icey cold water and then Chris went for an unsuccessful fish. We then continued driving south and veered in land and stayed in New England National Park for the night.

permalink written by  chrischarly on November 14, 2011 from Coffs Harbour, Australia
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Carp fishing

Armidale, Australia


Awesome view
Left our campsite and went to Point Lookout in New England National Park before continuing driving south through Armidale and stayed just south of Tamworth in a lovely campsite right by the side of a creek. As it was a boiling hot day, the first thing we did was jump straight in it to cool off. Then, after some dinner early evening, Chris started chatting to an old local, Barry who said there is fantastic carp fishing here in the creek, so Chris decided to give that a go. Carp in Australia are a huge pest, introduced by us Brits for some unknown reason and they have just taken over the rivers so unlike in the U.K. when you catch one, you are not allowed to just through it back in, you have to kill it and leave it on the banks. Pretty gruesome and it felt pretty cruel, but better than getting a hefty fine if you’re caught throwing them back in!


Chris' 2nd catch

Chris' 1st carp


Chris' 3rd catch

Chris' 4th carp

Anyway, Chris managed to catch 4 pretty big ones!

permalink written by  chrischarly on November 15, 2011 from Armidale, Australia
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Hunter Valley... or not

Denman, Australia


Chris fishing
Chris decided to go fishing again this morning for more carp, but unfortunately they just weren’t biting today, so after a few hours we gave up due to it starting to rain once again and headed towards the Hunter Valley to do some wine tasting. This didn’t happen though as the weather was just far too horrible to leave the van so we camped up for the night instead.

permalink written by  chrischarly on November 16, 2011 from Denman, Australia
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To Pete and Anne's

Crows Nest, Australia


Peter and Anne's house
Still raining… Pretty depressing when stuck in the van and you get drenched through just walking to the toilet! Drove through the hunter valley to get to Sydney but didn’t leave the van again until in the outskirts of the city when Chris got his hair cut and I did a little shopping so I didn’t look too much of a feral over the next few days hanging out with all of Chris’ work friends!

Anne
Late afternoon we went to Anne and Pete K’s House in Crow’s nest greeted with a nice hot shower and a couple of bottles of champagne, how perfect! They then treated us to much more wine and the tastiest Japanese food I’ve ever eaten. Fantastic evening, a little hazy towards the end finishing at 2:30am…

permalink written by  chrischarly on November 17, 2011 from Crows Nest, Australia
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Home and Away Beach

Palm Beach, Australia


Chris on the harbour

Sydney Harbour and Opera House


Sydney Harbour Bridge

Near the harbour

A little hungover this morning, unsurprisingly. Pete and Anne had to work so Chris took me on a tour of Sydney showing me his old hangouts and the amazing places he used to live.


Where Chris used to live

Where Chris used to live!

(Above left= Chris' apartment right on the waterfront overlooking Sydney Opera House and Sydney Harbour Bridge. Above right= Chris' apartment on top floor on Freshwater Beach)

We then drove up to Palm Beach which is more commonly known as ‘Summer Bay’ to me as it is the setting for ‘Home and Away’.


Home and Away beach

On Home and Away Beach

Unfortunately there wasn’t any filming taking place but still great to check out. We then drove back and got ready to go out early evening to meet a few more of Chris’ friends in the local before going out for dinner and more drinks once again.

permalink written by  chrischarly on November 18, 2011 from Palm Beach, Australia
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Cruising in a porsche

Bondi, Australia


Me and Peter in his Porche
Before leaving Crow’s Nest Pete took us both out separately in his Porsche for a little drive around before

Such a gorgeous road!
we said goodbye to him and Anne as their parents were coming over and one of Chris’ other friends, Dave was having a BBQ, which we went to before lunch. Had a nice swim in their pool and ate lots of tasty food before we made our way to Pete C’s House for a nice relaxing evening pretty exhausted.

permalink written by  chrischarly on November 19, 2011 from Bondi, Australia
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Tour of Sydney with Ezzer and Treggars

Padstow, Australia


The beach
This morning we drove up to Padstow to see Erin and Treggars who we last saw at around 5am last year on Erin’s birthday in Kenya leaving in a taxi.

Chris and I
We couldn’t wait to see them again.

Amazing view
Then, at about 11 Treggars took us on a nice scenic drive along the coast south of Sydney through a National Park to see the sea bridge,

Erin, Mark and I
stopping a couple of places along the way for drinks and lunch. It was great to have a catch up and remembering everything we did back in Africa. In the evening we played a few games, had a BBQ dinner and consumed plenty of wine and beer.

permalink written by  chrischarly on November 20, 2011 from Padstow, Australia
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Last night in Sydney

Sydney, Australia


Where we went out for lunch

Out for lunch


Chris' dinner he cooked
Unfortunately Treggars had to work today,

Dog with the bone Chris gave her in her mouth
but Erin had the day off and was meeting up with a few of her girlfriends for lunch so invited us along and we’re glad she did as it was delicious! In the evening we stayed in and Chris cooked a feast for us for our last night in Sydney.

permalink written by  chrischarly on November 21, 2011 from Sydney, Australia
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Blowholes

Kiama, Australia


beach
Said goodbye to Erin, Mark and family this morning and started making our way down south again. Had a great time in Sydney over the past few days and it’s sad to leave but I’m sure it won’t be our last visit! Thank-you to everyone who made our stay here amazing…


Blowhole

Blowholes

Before we camped up for the night we went to Kiama to see the blowholes which apparently blow up to 60m if the waves are strong enough, but not today.


permalink written by  chrischarly on November 22, 2011 from Kiama, Australia
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