25.01 No Rest In Sight!

Our trip to Adelaide, to Sydney and back to Melbourne covered a total of 4251 kilometres! It was an amazing way to see a small part of such a vast country and the contrasts of the four different States (SA, VIC, NSW & ACT) we drove through. Obviously we would have loved more time to investigate the lots of different places we came across, but that'll just have to wait until next time!

It wouldn't have been made possible with our trusty Magna Wagon, perhaps she isn't quite the lemon that we thought she was! All she asked for was fuel and half a litre of oil! Having a week's break from each other certainly helped too!

We have now worked out that we have driven almost all the way down to the east coast, from Cairns to Byron Bay, and all the way along the bottom from Adelaide up to Sydney! Plus, the extra bit we did on our day trip from Cairns to the Bloomfield Track!

So what's next? There are a number of things to see in Victoria before we have to sell our Magna on, prepare for our own departure, plus there is the blog to update with a number of things that happened towards the end of last year! There will be a number of posts that will be slightly out of order, so don't panic!

03.01 Sydney to Melbourne

We left Sydney at about 7am after loading the car and saying goood bye to everyone - not emotional at all (far too early for that!). Our journey home took us from Sydney to Melbourne via Canberra in one day! Fortunately it was pretty much dual carriageway all the way down, so the cruise control was set and the car just did its thing for the next 800kms!

We thought as we were passing Canberra that we should have a look, just to say that we had been there. People were right that there isn't really anything there. The city was very quiet as if there weren't enough people, and it was a little bit dirty, compared to Melbourne or the other major centres. But the breakfast was cheap!

As you can see from the photos, we made it to Parliment House and took a few photos before we got back in the car and headed home.

Heading down the Hume Highway we decided to have a break at Wangaratta. The weather had been quite warm on the way down so we had had the air conditioning on, but as we got out of the car for a drink we hit this wall of heat. It was 35°C in Wangaratta and not much cooler when we hit Melbourne! In total the journey took us 12.5 hours!

02.01 Sydney Opera House, Botanical Gardens & the Rocks

Our last full day in Sydney, we decided that an early start was to be had and headed down to the Opera House to take some photos before the crowds arrived! We also walked round to the Botanical Gardens, took some more photos before we had to check in for our BridgeClimb!

So while we were climbing the coat hanger, Joanna and Mum spent a little time around the Rocks and the Harbour...

Interesting architecture!

On our way to dinner at Wolfies Grill!

After dinner it was a stroll harbour-side at the Rocks, getting some evening shots!

This one's animated, click to view!

01.01 New Years Day

On the ferry to Manly Beach!

This is the sign that greeted us at Manly Beach. We hadn't seen any of the beaches like this in all our time in Australia.

Still busy, even if people can't get into the water!

So instead we went round the corner to Shelly Beach, which was a lot more sheltered, but it had a few blue-bottle jellyfish swimming around!

On the ferry to Double Bay!

We had a quick drink in Double Bay before getting the last ferry back to Circular Quay. We did see Leo Sayer while we were there too!!

From the ferry on the way back!

Dinner at Darling Harbour!