A month with my parents!
Trip Start
May 06, 2006
1
74
81
Trip End
Mar 23, 2009
Brisbane,
Queensland,
Australia
Monday, May 26, 2008
After my delayed arrival in Oz I didn't get much time to look for a car before they arrived so we headed out on their first day in Melbourne and bought one, as you do! Unfortnately there was some work that needed to be done to it before we could have it and so we ended up spending a lot more time in Melbourne than we intended to. It also felt very weird to part pay for the car and walk away without it! However, after 6 days we'd pretty much exhausted all the tourist options available in Melbourne and couldn't wait to pick up the car. Of course, I am now totally in love with my Ford Falcon Sedan with it's cruise control, a/c and slightly sketchy radio. I realise most people wouldn't be excited by this but it's all new to me on a car of my own and it's also the most powerful car I've ever had. I love it and should anything happen to it I will be more than devastated I'm sure. Just the freedom it gives me is enough to make me happy!
Anyway, after doing (literally) everything in Melbourne we just wanted to get out (don't get me wrong, I love the city and my friends I have there but I also just wanted to get travelling with my parents!) and so headed north, stopping at a hick town along the way that none of us can remember the name of! Many jokes were made about the hotel in relation to Norman Bates and Psycho but it was actually a pretty nice place. The following morning we made our way to Sydney and after a day of driving and about an hour of not being able to find the place (with a GPS no less!) we finally arrived at our motel. We again exhausted the tourist activities with bus tours around the city, a boat tour of the harbour and buses out to Bondi Beach and other local beaches. We also met up with an old school friend of dad's who took out to dinner and a club. Sydney was another great city but not somewhere I'm sure I could live and work for the latter part of my visa. We had a fun time and ended up spending 5 days there after some adjustment to our initial plans. We realised that, mainly because of the delay with the car, we weren't going to make it up quite as high as I'd wanted and so cut out a section of the trip.
On leaving Syndey we stopped at the Blue Mountains which were absolutely beautiful including a trip down to the Jenolan Caves - possibly one of the most bendy roads I have driven on. I thought it was great fun but mum wasn't so keen about the sheer drop off the edge with some rotten wooden posts being our safety net! We ended up doing a night tour of the caves which worked in our favour as we were the only 3 on it so got a personal and extended tour for the same price! After 3 days in the mountains we headed back to the coast and stayed at Port Macquarie for a few nights. Nice little town with a koala hospital with some sad stories but not much else to do other than that. 2 nights there and then up to Coff''s Harbour which I loved. Some gorgeous deserted beaches (with snakes on the walk on the way!) and a lovely little town. After one night there it was up to Lismore to see John and Sue, some friends my grandparents used to live in Malawi with! I stayed there this time last year but it had been a long time since my parents had seen them. We did a side trip to Byron Bay on our first day and then on to Nimbin the following day (gotta love Nimbin, I did last time!). Mostly we just relaxed and ate gorgeous food cooked by Sue. A much needed break seeing as both mum and dad were ill!
After that we went up to Hervey Bay ready for our trip over to K'Guri/Fraser Island. We decided to go on a trip where someone else would drive - partly to take a break from the driving but also because I thought dad might have a heart attack if he had to drive on roads of sand and mum might have one if she sat in the back having to watch! We did a tour of most of the island and got so much into just 2 days! It was an absolutely beautiful place with so much history (we had a very knowledgeable driver!) and I think it was the highlight of all of our trip together! We left, begrudgingly, and drove south to Noosa the evening we arrived back on the mainland.
Noosa was another beauitful town but clearly a very desirable area to live if the property market is anything to go by! We stayed 2 nights and visited some very windy beaches and just generally looked around the towns (lots of little ones all spread out!) before moving South again to Brisbane. We found a gorgeous place to stay in Brisbane - a 2 bedroom town house in the city, a great place for us to spend our last 2 days together. We went to visited Christian (the son of John and Sue!) and his fiance, Lucy, in their coffee shop in the city and then took Christian out for dinner that night. Was great to see him again too as while it had again been only a year for me, it had been a lot longer for my parents! The last day was spent getting some last minute souviners for people and then being on a boat touring the river, good to start but a little long in the end! We cooked up a Mexican feast for dinner, watched a movie and took an early night as we had to be up early in the morning!
On Sunday we headed to the airport and said our goodbyes. I was, of course, very sad to see them go and I'm feeling slightly lost without them but I'm sure I'll get used to it again. We've literally been together 24/7 since they arrived so it feels a little like ripping off a plaster at the moment! They're on their way back to you in the UK now so hopefully the family will hear more of the stories soon! Was great to see you both mum and dad and I'll hopefully see you in New Zealand next year! Miss you!
