It's a wombat...singing the Aussie tunes with Mark and Sarah. :)

I have been a bit of a delinquent with the blogging activities this past few weeks, I apologize and will attempt to rectify this. My lack of blogging has been mainly due to my energy level. Travelling and camping in this way has proven to been quite tiring…well I expect that traveling in any way for more than a month is exhausting. It's rare that I ever spend a month at home sightseeing everyday…usually there are a few “down days” and a few hours spent lounging in front of the television, but since we are in Lucy, no such days or hours exist. Trust me…I am not complaining. We are having a blast and enjoying our time here immensely, but I am a neophyte to long term traveling, and so I am trying to adjust to the level of energy it requires.  However, I can say that we are both sleeping like the dead each night. Especially for Mark, who is a known finicky sleeper…it seems like he is catching up on all the sleep he has missed in the last year.




Since I last wrote, we have been as busy as ever.



1) Fraser Island- We visited yet another Heritage listed and UNESCO protected site within Australia. Fraser island is a sand island off the eastern coast and is home to many unique types of trees and wildlife. It is the only place where a rainforest grows in sand…and the animals are huge. I saw a spider that was the size of my hand, but luckily I was safe in the bus so I didn’t faint from fright. There are exceptional fresh water lakes as well (Lake McKenzie was the clearest lake I have ever seen, it looked like a cuban beach)and it was great to be in some freash water after all the beaches. The only way to get around the island is by 4WD, so we took part in a tour on a 4WD bus (yes Sean, they exist, they are very cool...the hugest tires ever), and you mainly travel along the beach that seconds as the freeway (street signs included).

Mark with the shipwreck on Fraser island.

Us at Lake McKenzie.

2) Brisbane- This is the largest city we have visited yet, and we immensely enjoyed being back in the city life. We spoiled ourselves and stayed in a hotel for two nights, which was a welcome break from Lucy. We basically enjoyed walking around the city and going out after 9pm....so strange to be able to socialize after dark without the aid of a falshlight. :)

Christmas time in Australia, damn its warm here.

Out on the town in Brisbane..yes the bearded man is my husband. What do you think, should he shave?? I vote yes.

3) Hunter Valley- Located southwest of Newcastle is one of the many wine districts in Australia, and the main area for the production of Shiraz (my favorite type of red wine). We joined a wine tour called the "CheersBus" and our guide brought is to many small boutique wineries. I was pleased that we visited the small boutique vineyards, as Wyndam, McWilliams, and Jacobs Creek are easilly found at home. Overall we visited 5 vineyards, 1 brewery and 1 cheese shop. With each wine tasting consisting of 5-7 wines, by the end of the day we were quite giggly and extremely pleased that we had chosen to take a tour rather than drive ourselves around.Definately my best advice for all future wine tours....never drive yourself, it would take all the fun away. :)

Tipsy after all the wine.

Our spoils of the day...to be saved for Mark's 31st birthday in Sydney.

4) Blue Mountains- After sleeping off the wine tour, we had a big day of driving to get to the Blue Mountains National Park. Since we still had a few days with Lucy, we decided to bypass Sydney and continue south before dropping her off. The whole park is full of beautiful walking tracks, waterfalls and lookouts. Being so high in the mountains, it was the first time we had to sleep fully clothed and wrapped with blankets, but this was a nice novelty after so many sweaty nights.

Three sisters at Blue Mountains National Park.

5) Canberra- We spent a day in Canberra (this is the only photo we took) and we can report that like most capital cities, it is extremely clean, but quite dull (even more so than Ottawa).

Parliment House.

We are now at the end of the camping portion of our trip....we will leave the nomadic life and join city life again in Sydneyon tuesday. Although we are sad to say goodbye to Lucy, we are both very excited at the prospect of being in the same place for a few days....I am not discouraging anyone from taking a campervan on a trip...but maybe 2 weeks would have been more realistic. Comfy bed, TV and city streets here we come.....

Hope everyone is getting along with all the Christmas preparations, we havent even began to think about Christmas yet. Luckily the warm weather is keeping it far from our minds and heading off any homesickness, but we love and miss you all.
Love Sarah and Mark