I fly home today! This is so wierd I don't really know how to feel. I've been looking forward to coming home for ages but am now a bit anxious. Someone said to me the other day is that the hardest thing is when you get back absolutely nothing has changed and you just slot right back into your old routine as if you had never gone anywhere. That scares me a bit. I'm really looking forward to seeing everyone but I don't want it to be like 'oh you're back' and then just talking about normal stuff. I feel like I've been so far away that every time someone sees me they should be 'OH WOW YOU"RE BACK THAT'S AMAZING'. Every single time. Cos that's how I will feel. Things like having a dishwasher and a room where I can keep my stuff instead of in a huge bag that I have to fight to put things into every morning just seem so alien. hmmm.
Anyway since Surfer's Paradise we have been to a couple of other nice seaside towns like Coffs Harbour, Port Macquerie, Byron Bay etc, that all seemed very nice but a bit dull. I think going to them in winter when you don't really want to go onto the beach makes them all a bit samey. Coffs Harbour was nice as we went there on a Sunday and they had a big market on where Mike and I both bought cool sunglasses. The best times in the camper were when we went inland. We followed Waterfall Way up to Dorrigo National Park and that was brilliant. The drive there was right up a mountain on really twisty roads with fantastic views, both our ears popped. The national park has a skybridge where you walk along a wooden path at tree level, and at the end the trees drop away and you're looking out over this view of the whole valley, about 600m up in the air. We also found a really lovely free campsite in a valley near Thornton, near Brisbanish. It's not on any of our maps, the road isn't even on the maps, we got a bit lost, but it had hot showers so we were happy. The scenery there was gorgeous too, one morning it rained and there was a rainbow that looked like it ended about 100m away from our van. We've been having a bit of an OAP holiday, getting up early and going to bed early, going on walks in the countryside, not talking to anyone else. Not very cool but quite nice. We decided to change our tickets so we would come home a bit early as we really were getting abit too cold in the camper to stay in it for a month and were also both running out of money quite alarmingly. I was also getting bored of washing my hair in public loos sinks every morning and going for a week (I did wash in buckets of hot water in between but it isn't really the same) without a shower.
Our last day with the camper we went to the Hunter Valley near Sydney where they make lots of wine and cheese and lovely things like that. That was one of the best days, we got to taste some lovely posh wines including this amazing pink champagne. Also had lovely olives, preserves, cheese... ah it was so good. I really wished I was rich at that point as I could have spent so much money on good food there. We went on a wine tour of McGuigan's vineyard which was good, came out feeling very knowledgable about wine.
Handed back the camper on Saturday about 10 days early, after the most horrific drive through Sydney. After spending 2 hours trying to avoid the toll roads and one way system, we got about 100m away from the drop of point when we went down a tunnel and ended up about 20km away on a different side of town! It was just like snakes and ladders. Both feeling pretty stressed by the time we got to the drop off point a 2nd time, only to be told that the outside of the camper had to be cleaned (I had got up so early to clean the inside and he didn't even look at that), so we had to drive back up the road and pay 17 bluddy quid to have it washed. rip off. By then we didn't care though, just wanted to get rid of it and not have to drive around sydney any more. Hopefully we haven't been fined for anything on it but I think we're still waiting for an email to let us know if we're in the clear.
Checked into a really nice hostel called Australia Backpackers in the Kings Cross area. Only paying 11 quid each a night but we've ended up with a private room which is pretty good. We went out for a walk around the Botanic Gardens which are beautiful. So much better than London parks as it's got so many different bits. And lovely views over the water. Then we went to the Opera House! That was amazing, really sunk in that we're round the other side of the world, as I've seen so many photos of it and now I'm actually here. Went inside and wished we had enough to watch something there. For dinner went to a nice place in Kings Cross that did chicken and chips for $6.50. The food doesn't seem as cheap here as Brisbane (nothing could beat those $3 burritos) but there are a few offers if you look. Had an early night but some idiots in the hostel had a party until 7am with crap really loud house music. They got chucked out the next day though.
Sunday we went to The Art Gallery of New South Wales and the Contemporary Art Gallery. Mike is so good to put up with me. Both were really good, much more modern than I was expecting and some really interesting stuff. There was also a free concert in art gallery of NSW which was pretty cool. More walking around perving on the botanic gardens and then we went to The Rocks which was packed as it had a big coffee festival on and a proper party atmosphere. We walked across the Harbour Bridge, talking loads of photos and then staggered home as my feet were hurting a lot. Yesterday was our last full day here. I don't think we really did much, just went across to the shopping bit of sydney and looked in lots of lovely shops. Wondered down to Chinatown and sat in a really pretty garden with lots of fountains for our lunch. Also had a look at Darling Harbour which is so picturesque. Came home and sat in an Irish Bar drinking jugs and reminising. Had a huge $10 steak for dinner which was delicious. More jugs and did a trivia quizz. Then came back and passed out.
And so now it's Tuesday and we're catching our 24 hour flight home at 2.25pm. Crazy times xx
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