HAPPY CHRISTMAS IN ENGLAND!!!!

Just a quick message to say Happy Christmas to everyone we know in England. Whilst you're all sleeping, Santa has already been to Australia. Do you like our plastic yukka Christmas tree (courtesy of the apartment)?
The rainforest is living up to its reputation - it's raining! But it is lovely and warm and humid. We're off to the beach (because we can) and we're having a BBQ Christmas lunch (also because we can). Sorry to gloat! Just need a few koalas to make an appearance and that's our Christmas sewn up!
Must admit that we did spent a few hours yesterday frantically shopping before all the shops shut after we arrived in Port Macquarie. The drive from Walcha to here was right through the National Parks rainforest and was ver beautiful but also very slow. Koalas saw us coming and stayed well out of the way - too late for the kangaroos though. Saw 3 very dead (bloated, stiff) ones by the side of the road.
May add another entry after someone has been able to use their Christmas present - all will be revealed. Throw a snowball for us! Love all the Browns xxx

No Harry Potter in Sight!

Have swapped brids of prey in NZ (we were seeing at least 2 every day - 13 was the record) for parrots. Very colourful but very squawky! Seeing lots of sulphur-crested cockatoos and crimson thingymabobs - there goes my effort to impress! Very glad to escape our prison at the Norman-Bates motel in the Blue Mountains - not a friendly place and deserted. On our way out of the Blue Mts we decided to go on he Zig-Zag railway which was great if you were a railway enthusiast - but we are not. Too many facts and figures about engine no 158 etc - what happened to Thomas the Tank Engine and friends? Lovely scenery though! For some reason we then decided we'd like to see Dubbo and the mid-western plains. Ended up in a campsite next to the (famous?) Western Plains Zoo in Dubbo having stopped at some little in-the-middle-of-nowhere town (and seen the delightful locals in their nightdresses (!) with some gorgeous tattoos on show in the middle of the afternoon).

Visited the Warrambungles National Park and were treated to views of emus and kangaroos near the road and a kangaroo close-up by the park visitor centre. I (Jenny) also managed to see 2 goannas on the road out of the park - I probably shouldn't tell you I was the one driving and the only one to see them!

Made it to Tamworth (Country Music Capital) but missed the huge golden guitar statue - it's not a fruit (and we're not really into country music, sorry Dolly) so why take a detour? Did our laborious 1 hr of Xmas shopping - this is the life!

Found a place to stay at 8pm this evening and not a worried parent in sight! Did have the emergency plan to drive back to Tamworth if we really had to and risk driving into a kangaroo in the dark!

Stormy weather here - fantastic lightning show this evening. Off to Port Macquarie for Xmas - it's by the beach, sorry folks! Hope to spot some Koalas if they can stop snoozing long enough to pose for pictures. Happy Christmas to all. Love Browns xx

Monday 22 Dec 08

The 3 Sisters at the 3 Sisters! (Blue Mountains, nr Sydney). Sorry, couldn't resist that one! So hello to Oz again; it's only been 25 years. I remembered the view at the 3 sisters but not the place from where I was viewing it from - a lot can change in 2+ decades. Still incredibly beautiful (still can't really see the "Blue" bit of it). Stayed in a "Norman Bates" kind of Motor Inn (Motel). Not really anyone there except us and they didn't exactly make us feel welcome. Andy had to do some work so the girls and I did a bit of wandering around - also recognised the Katoomba YHA. Did anyone mention that on our first full day in Oz we had some incredible luck and chanced upon some grazing kangaroos in the Blue Mountains National Park. And lots of squawky parrots!

Felt really wierd to be leaving NZ - it was like the end of a holiday even though I knew we were moving onto Oz. Maybe it was because I knew we still didn't have anywhere for Xmas and every web site was showing no vacancies!

For those of you worried that I really was serious about the prospect of us sleeping on the beach or in the car (no campervans avail either); I can put your minds at rest. With only 2 days to go we have found somewhere for Xmas - YEAH! We'll be in Port Macquarie trying to coax the koalas out of those trees to pose for photos. Shame we couldn't do the "Big Banana" in Coffs Harbour (for obvious reasons). But we may manage the "Big Guitar" in the Country Music capitol of Oz tomorrow - Tamworth. For those of you at home in England - only 2 more shopping days to go. I hope you're all wrapped up and ready to roll for Santa. We THINK he makes and appearance on the beach here. Saw a fantastic Xmassy house last night in the Blue Mountains - give some of the houses in Gamesley something to worry about! Happy shopping. Love Browns x

We went to Cadbury's World a few days ago in Dunedin (South Island, New Zealand) and had to wear funny hats. We saw all the factory - my favourite part was the chocolate buttons being made, and all the chocolate we were given. Towards the end we saw a huge chocolate waterfall, in which a tonne of chocolate fell down in a few seconds. At the end we went to a Cadbury's shop, with a whole stack of Cadbury chocolate bars. They had lots of bars we don't have, like Moro, Energy Bar and Perkynana.

We're now in the Blue Mountains near Sydney, staying in a hotel.

Happy Christmas everybody, and Happy New Year!

Katy

First night in Sydney - and it's hot and humid! Lovely tropical feel about the place. Just been a short thunderstorm. Staying in luxury serviced apartments - shame only one night. Off to Blue Mountains tomorrow. It's so nice to be free - no more camper van!

Spent last 2/3 days in New Zealand not doing much in Christchurch. Before that went to see the "little blue penguins" in Oamaru (Australians used to call them fairy penguins, but for some strange reason that name is falling out of favour). Everyone goes through to a grandstand looking out over the sea, then at dusk these little "rafts" (that's the technical name) of absurd little penguins come into shore, and they all tentatively huddle together on on side of a gravel track. On the other side lies their (man-made) hollows, and safety. They dither for ages - you can almost see them shoving each other forward, each trying not to be the first to go. Eventually they waddle across - yellow-eyed penguins (see previous entry from Joanna) look like old men going for a walk; little blue penguins just look comical. Got back to camper van about 11!

Choices of cereals this evening:

• Pippa - Cheerios


• Katy - Cornflakes


• Joanna - Special K


• Jenny - Sultan Bran


• Andy - Fruity Weet-Bix

Photo is of a new friend Katy made in a park near our campsite in Christchurch!

Account of everything we have done in the last few days (in detail)

14th december
pipsie missed out the albatrosses!we learnt quite a lot about albatrosses-the chicks are heavier than the adults and both the female and the male sit on the eggs! The seals were absoloutely humongous, you wouldn't have a chance if one sat you! everyone's very excited about cadbury world(15th)and pippa is thrilled with the idea of seeing penguins jump out the sea.
12th december
milford sound was beautiful:dolphins, seals, hills, snow-topped montains and the opening to the tasman sea.
written by joanna

Penguins

We saw penguins.these are the typs of penguins we saw yellow eyed and blue eyed.The blue eyed penguins were really small. The yellow eyed penguins looked like this.

signed by pippa