Goodbye Oz

So long Australia - for now.....it's been great

Well that's the end of the line for us....only a wee 30 hour plane journey and we'll be back in Scotland (where apparently it's raining). We've had a great time and we are pretty sure we will return one day, and pick up where we left off......but for now

Gooooooodbyyyyyyyyyyeeeeeeeeee!!

Cheers again to everyone, who kept in touch with us and to all the new friend we made on our travels....you all made a great experience all the more enjoyable

Love

The Blues xx
(no longer on tour)

Beni in Sydney

Beni at the opera house

Poor wee Beni.....all alone in Sydney. Why? He can't find Pee-sac or Jeni. Who knows where they are.....hopefully residing at the bottom of one of our rucksacks, but they could have eloped to the Sunshine Coast, since the last time they were seen was when they all went surfing on Maroochydore Beech (or even worse.....maybe a great white got them in the surf)

The old Steak and Kidney

Sydney at night

Us at the Sydney harbour bridge

So here we are....last stop in Sydney. Because it was our last stop, we decided to splash out and get a nice apartment for a few days, overlooking Darling Harbour......pretty much in central Sydney. We spent the last few days having a look around and trying to top up our tan, but I reckon the Sydney weather new we were heading soon and tried to acclimatise us, to Scottish weather, by raining for a few days. This meant that we had to stay dry which of course led us to a wee tour of the local boozers. The sun put his hat on, on the last day and on the whole it was pretty warm, so we can't complain really.

Our party is coming to an end!

Due to the lack of funds and no win on the Ozzy lotto, we are heading back to the UK on the 27th October.

We will spend next week in Sydney, so should have some more pictures to put on our blog before we head home.

It has been the best 8 months of our lives and dont regret one bit of it....and the next time we head off, we will make sure we budget properly (ha ha)

This tour is not over, just postponed for a while...

Love The Bluesxx

The great Tattie scone cook off

Stand aside citizen.....

this is a job for Tattie Scone Man !!!

After the drunken night before, we were all saying how we missed not having tattie scones to cure our hangover hungers (for those not in the know, a tattie scone, or potato scone, is a Scottish delicacy, made from potatoes, flour, water and a little salt), BUT you can't get them in Oz. IB let it slip that he had made them before......so that was it. The following day we set on our quest, checked the recipe thanks to Google (click here if you want to make your own), and headed to the shops.

A couple of hours later, we had a good 45 tattie scones, which soon became 40 (the workers have to eat you know), which we froze - although I don't know why cause Cathy and Gavin are going through them like there is no tomorrow!!

I think we can safely say they were a success

Back to Brissie

Brisbane

After a great time at the Sunshine Coast, we headed back to Brisbane to stay with Cathy, Gavin, Becca and David. Cathy, who we had never met, is the sister of our friend Brian, so it was going to be fun trying to find her at the station. She described herself as "shorter than Brian, with longer hair" - hmmm this could be tricky, but also said she was wearing a purple top...which made finding her much easier. She drove us to their home where they made us very welcome. On Saturday night we had a few drinks (of course) to celebrate our new friendship and danced the night away to Debo's mp3 player, which had an array of "hits" which Cathy hadn't heard in ages......great fun (but sore heads and legs in the morning)

Life's a Beach

Life on Maroochydore Beach....

It's all about catching some rays....


Or catching some waves!!!!

Havin a great time.....love Beni, Jeni and Pee-sac xx

Boat shed at Cotton Tree

Anthony, Becca, Debo and IB at the Boat shed

After 10 days of staying in their back garden (and using their facilities), we felt it was only right that we should give the Murrays their life back. To say thanks we treated them to lunch at the Boat Shed restaurant. It's in a great setting, right down on the beach and best of all it's only 1 minute from our new backpackers....not far for us to stagger home to. The food was amazing (possibly the best we've tasted....ever), and yes, there was more beer/wine involved.....it was such a nice day it would be a shame not too.

Thanks again Murrays for all your hospitality!!!

The Blues encounter more Mozzies

IB's leg......yes it is itchy!!

It was nice to have a break from our old pal the mosquito, when we were in New Zealand (it was too cold). Now we are in Oz, they are back with a vengeance, and their South American cousins must have let them know how good we taste....because they love us!!!

Hopefully our new repellent will help save us from this itching hell

Debo meets her first Huntsman

Harry the Huntsman

(who has been in the wars by the looks of things....only 7 legs)

After 2 great weeks of not seeing much scary wildlife around our camping trailer (which Becca and Anthony had set up in their back garden....cheers guys), we found this cheeky chappie, when we were packing it away. It was only about 5 inches in diameter and, according to the Murrays, a mere baby, but it was enough to give us a couple of shivers. To see what they can grow to click here

Debo didn't freak out though....and we can only put this down to all the other beasties we've seen over the last few months - well done her !!!

Australia Zoo

Croc feeding at Oz Zoo

Some koalas, hanging around

On the Thursday, we took Maya and Aleah (Murray kids), to Australia Zoo. For those of you who don't know, this is the zoo that was set up by Steve Irwin and his wife. It's layout is dedicated to the well being of it's animals and allows the public to get very close to the animals. At the croc show there was a memorial to Steve who made this all possible. We had a great day and saw many "locals" like crocs, emus, koalas, Tasmanian devils etc.

We spent about 6 hours there and were all knackered towards the end. Anthony and Becca came and picked us up and took us for a well deserved beer on the way home.

Arrived in Brisbane

Another beautiful day in Brissie

We know....we know.....we arrived in Brisbane over 2 weeks ago, but we've been having so much fun, we never got round to updating the blog until now.

We flew into Brisbane and it was actually raining on arrival. Stayed at a backpackers in the centre, which had it's own bar (trouble). Woke up the next day to beautiful sunshine and hangovers. Luckily the hostel also did brekkie (eventually.....it was Sunday morning), and after a feed (and a pint or two when the bar opened at 12), we felt OK again. Got in contact with the Murrays (who we met in Wanaka etc.) and headed out to their place.

Tried to sneak a few beers on the train (it was a 2 hour journey), but there was no loos on it, so decided this would not be such a good idea. Met up with the Murrays and were taken out to their house in Buderim, on the sunshine coast.