On the way back - Parts 1-3

On the way back

Part 1 - Animal Adventure Catch Up, Denmark Animal Farm

After a horrid coach journey we made it from Perth to Denmark. We were at Denmark for almost 5 weeks and loved everything about the Farm we stayed on.  

Debbie and Steve (the owners) were great, and the lunches they made where the best we've had in Australia!

We spent half our time on the Farm working with Mark and Krissie, fellow volunteers, who had stayed at the farm for 5 months. The other half we worked with Andrea, who worked in the shop, and Steve. 

During our time on the Farm our achievements included; feeding the animals, fixing a fence, cleaning enclosures, picking up poo, dressing an avery, and helping to deliver three baby alpacas. 

We had a truly amazing time. Not to mention spending our mornings making sure Clancy (koala) did not escape and our evenings with Zoomer (joey) and Doris (cat) on the sofa, then bottle feeding the lambs before bed. 

It was an enjoyable and rewarding experience. One we will never forget. 

We hope to see Debbie, Steve, Andrea and all the animals again in the future. We will definitely be meeting up with Mark and Krissie back in England. 

On the way back

Part 2 - 4 Hours is Nothing

After only a couple of days we left 

Cottesloe (our post farm beach stop off), a beautiful place but we were ready to move on. So over to Cairns and the East Coast. Where we spent a lovely week at Tropic Days. 

Our time was mainly spent around the hostel, in hammocks or playing pool. We did venture out to Green Island and see part of the Great Barrier Reef. The journey was...moving. After surviving the crossing we jumped onto a glass bottom boat, we had it all to ourselves (it was that rough!). We calmed down enough for me to talk Chloe into snorkelling which was amazing! 

While at Tropic Days we also;

Walked to the pub in the rain with Ali

Went to the cinema

Brought Chloe's birthday surfboard

Joined in with pizza night and BBQ night at the Hostel

On the way back

Part 3 - Trivia Games Save Life's 

From Cairns we decided to hire a camper again to travel down to Sydney. 

So far we have made it to Surfers Paradise. 

Near Cairns we started our journey by visiting an Aboriginal Centre for an evening of entertainment and dinner. 

Continuing south we visited Mission Beach, Townsville, Bowen and Airlie Beach. Where we spent two days enjoying the views and visiting the shops. I even managed a morning run and attended a didgeridoo lesson. 

Next up was Agnes Water and 1770. Here Chloe finally got to use her early birthday presents (surfboard and wetsuit) while I took more blurry photos of fish and coral. 

Noosa followed, with our first stop being Pizza Hut, all you can eat. The second stop was the beach (the first stop was best!). From Noosa we past Australia Zoo, which we decided we had to stop at. The presentation of everything is second to none, and the Irwin family comes across as being central to everything in the zoo. We even saw Bindi Irwin!

Almost there....

Brisbane, confusing. Having signed up for the 'Brisbane Color Run' we were slightly confused as to why we were directed to Springfield, Ipswich. 

It would appear the 'Brisbane Color Run' was to be held over an hour away from....Brisbane!

Still, the event was awesome! It was so good I'd forgotten until now we saved $10 by entering as a two person team. 

Chloe's birthday was the day before the Color Run and her birthday highlights included chocolate birthday cake lunch, afternoon napping and a KFC dinner! 

Now you are all up to date, we have some washing to do and it's getting late. We are looking forward to seeing everyone at home and telling you the 'real' stories from Australia. Haha. 

Denmark Aninal Farm

Cairns (Green Island)

RoadTrip (Cairns to Sydney so far)

Aboriginal Evening

Airlie Beach

Agnes Water & 1770

Australia Zoo

Chloe's Birthday Cake

'Brisbane' Color Run

Finding friends on Gumtree...

Having decided we would make our way to Perth. We looked into a few different options; flights, camper hire (and relocations), and lift share. 

Chloe found a couple of adverts on Gumtree for a lift share and we agreed on one. We contacted Valentin and met for a drink later that day. Just to check that he was ok, and wouldn't kill us (as much as you can check these things). Then we were off with our new German friend two days later. 

The plan was to travel by jeep one day to Broken Hill so the car could get its checkup. Then made our way to Perth. We were joined by Valentin (who's jeep we were in) and Bob. Bob is a Danish girl, 25, who's name we didn't understand. 

Bob came with us to Broken Hill and then left us to 'couch surf' with a 57 year old man before making her way to Sydney for a new job. 

We stayed in free camp sites, some had toilets, some didn't. It was an interesting experience. One we hugely enjoyed (toilets a-side). Seeing some of the small towns; one with a population of 16, another had just 6 people living in it. 

Fowlers Bay had beach and sand dunes, the SA-WA border town with only two buildings, with included time travel possibility. We even saw some of the desert, we think. 

In truth most if the time was spent in the jeep or in the tent (escaping the flys and mosquitos). We learnt that Valentin liked pasta more than rice, and I liked rice more than pasta. We are also pretty sure some people ignore the 7 day maximum stay in a couple of the camps. 

The best showers where at Norseman Roadhouse / petrol station, where we where also able to charge our devises while doing washing. This was considered a very exciting day! 

Having arrived in Perth, some 17 days later, we are now destined to back track some of our journey, as we return to Denmark for our third WWOOFing experience. This will be followed by, somehow making our way to the east coast....from the west coast. 

Broken Hill (ish), New South Wales

South Australia

Western Australia

Adelaide and beyond

It's been lovely, if very short. After 6 days in Adelaide we are about to start our journey to Perth. We should arrive in approximately 2 weeks, as we plan to stop at a few places along the way. 

We have enjoyed being able to charge everything, and use the Internet to talk to friends and family back home. We have also downloaded a couple of films to watch along the way. So I think its fair to say we have made good use of the facilities here at the hostel. 

In Adelaide we have visited the Botanic Gardens, Port Adelaide and wondered around the CBD. We had one very cultured morning where we visited the Art and History Museums. 

I also managed to organise two meetings with universities, which were very interesting. 

We are off now to get a few camping bits to help with the journey. 

Perth here we come. 

Botanic Gardens

Big Ball Thing

Market

Port Adelaide Lighthouse 

Free Camping - Off Route

After an amazing time at Mansfield Zoo we made our way, via Melbourne to Tasmania. 

Our first day there involved landing at the airport, which seemed very small, and getting a taxi to the campervan pick up. There was a bit of a wait, as we arrived before it opened. And after 2 hours we were off, in our upgraded van, not car. 

We made our way to the free camp site approximately an hour from hobart. There was some misunderstanding with the satnav at first but we got there in the end. 

Having found the area we where looking for, finding the actual camp site did prove to be an issue. One solved after driving though a forest and finding another site in the same area. 

We spend the night in the field with one other van, and left quickly in the morning to have breakfast at the beach. We found Alan's house (Chloe's work friend). Then made our way to Swansea. We visited the IGA and the Jetty. Then continued on our way towards the first National Park. 

Our first day there we decided to be optimistic and take on the 5 hour walk through Wineglass Bay and Hazards Beach. An awesome walk with stunning views, resulting in quite a few photos. Of what one may consider slightly similar views, though no less stunning. 

We ended up staying in the national park for a few days. On the second day we walked and climbed Mount Amos. As big as the achievement was, getting down proved more...eventful. I'm sure Chloe will tell you how 'funny' some parts of the journey were, when my very life was in peril. 

The following day we returned to wineglass bay, for some time at the beach. Having not had access to a shower for a few days I was happy to get in the water for a rinse. However Chloe wasn't to pleased by the temperature so stayed on the beach. Later that day we decided we needed a bit of a plan so started to look through the booklets at what we could do and see in tasmania. Which quickly turned into looking for the best walks and National Parks. 

That night we moved from the free camping site near the park to one further out. We were so pleased to see 'real' toilets, having survived pit toilets at the last site. It was a nice place and the beach was lovely so we decided to stay another day. The next day we walked the beach, hoping to reach the next town. However our maps seemed a bit misleading, after about 70-80 minutes we turned around and walked back, driving to the town instead. 

When we returned it was salt water shower time behind the van. Chloe really didn't seem to enjoy the experience all that much? Though did start talking to someone while I finished my shower. We chatted to Jan for a while, then her husband George came over and invited us for dinner (Jan and George are from long reach and in Tassie for 11 weeks touring with their trailer. George is 72ish and very funny. Jan wants us to visit in the future). Once we had eaten, laughed, and once it was so dark we could no longer see, we returned to our van. 

The next day started early, off to a blow whole in Bichino, then Nature World to see the Tassie Devil and feed more Roos. Then we were off again to find the next camp site. This one had showers! 

One night we had lightning, this lead to us wondering if being under a tree was a good thing or not, another night we had to walk around houses looking for the correct road (for the camp site) we did eventually find it, half a mile back and not near the houses. 

And so that was our start to Tassie. In the time that followed we decided to make our way around National Parks, Great Walks (of Tasmania), and other sight seeing destinations. 

Chloe, of course, wanted to visit Penguin and a chocolate shop (which was closed when we went). We saw the End of the World, this looks like a rocky beach. I hugely enjoyed visiting the caves at Mole Creek, it was something very different to the other views we saw. Later in our journey we followed the convict trail through to Port Arthur, hearing about convicts of the past and how throwing a lot of criminals onto an island can actually work?!

There were, obviously, other trips and sights, but we don't want to say everything now or we will have nothing to tell you when we return in June. 

Orford

Wineglass Bay

Mt Amos

Friendly Beaches

Douglas-Aspley

Penguin

Mole Creek

Falls

Pancake Day

Convict Trail 

Hartz Peak

The 'Plan'

Homeward Bound

Having now been in Australia for 7 months we feel able to say, Australia truly is a wonderful place. Ok, so we said that after a week, but hey it's still true. 

Having visited Sydney, lived in Melbourne, WWOOFed in Adelong and Mansfield, and lived in a car in Tasmania. We still have Adelaide, Perth and Possiablly Brisbane to go. 

The 'good' job opportunities for us have been limited. Which is a huge shame as its been one of the only negative things about our visit here. This would be different if we were on a sponsored visa, as there would be less restrictions.

Though in truth, even with that, the job market in our fields is not vast, and seems in no way better than the UK currently. 

While we have enjoyed the experience of the work we have done and contacts we've made, these are not jobs we would stay in the country to do. As such we now believe, at this point, a second year here would be of little benefit to us (as we continue to spend more than we earn). 

Having journeyed across the earth to this strange place to discover what possibilities lay here. I believe we could find that the UK currently has more to offer us, maybe... 

We have missed many things and many people from the UK, and look forward to seeing you all very soon. We have decided to continue exploring Australia and see other parts of the country and meet more people. You never know what will happen. 

PostPost. 

Decision made. Flight booked. Australia is beautiful. Home is England. 

WWOOFing at the Zoo (featuring Renzo)

We are just about to finish our time at Mansfield Zoo. It's been an amazing experience, one we will never forget. 

As WWOOFers here we have; 

Prepared the animals food in the morning and fed the animals. With the afternoons often made up of various maintenance tasks. We then listen to some quite remarkable stories from Dave at dinner. 

We have loved getting to know the animals; Angel, Solo, Paroo & Bombala (Dingos), Jenny & Marshall (Wombats), Calvin, Sebastian & Hobbs (Monkeys), Djuma & Matimba (White Lions), Tim (Alligator), Elvis (Water Buffalo), Fake Elvis (Rusa Deer), Matthew (Alpaca) and the many other animals here. Not to mention the Camel, Deer, Bison, Wallabies, Emus, Lama, Ginny Pigs, Turkey, Quoll, Birds and Ducks!

And the last minute addition of Baby Ralf!

There are also three family pet dogs and a cat. Which make us miss Tom, Millie & Marmalade even more. 

Having worked everyday for the last four weeks does mean there's less to 'update' you on, also Ive not noted things as we've gone along, So I've gone for bullet points. 

We have slept in swaggs the zoo, twice! 

We have both fed the Capuchin Monkeys, and lived.  

Chloe has fed the alligator. 

We have only had to collect poo four times. 

We gave the dogs hair cuts. 

We have enjoyed Renzo's attempts to show us how 'shy' he is. 

We survived a snake 'attack'. 

We were not near any bush fires, though we did have four to five days of smoke filled sky's. 

We made a food bowl for the wombat. 

And

Dug wholes for trees. 

I've really got into reading Game of Thrones, but am becoming annoyed at the space the books are taking up in my bag. 

And,

We celebrated our first wedding anniversary! 

We have discussed our plans and thoughts about the future a lot. However Ill put some of those in another post, one not all about animals.