After some discussion yesterday and today, Hubby and I decided to try to get as close to Sydney today as possible, in hopes that we could find some way to get downtown and see the Opera House, so we made a beeline down the Pacific Coast Highway, which was a patch up of motorway, highway and small town main street the whole way. Unfortunately, it was patchy rain off and on all day, including some real gully washers that reminded me of a good south Florida summer thunderstorm. That made it a pretty tiring drive, and after a long stop at a service center that wasted almost half an hour (NEVER AGAIN, KFC!!), we finally settled on a free campsite at a rest area that was on the water, just a bit off the highway, in a place called Mooney Mooney. Not much more than a parking lot and boat launch, but it had all the modern conveniences that a camper needed, and we settled down for the night just as darkness fell. It continued to rain off and on during the night, and even with earplugs it could be heard. Not my favorite weather for travel! But we're only about an hour outside of Sydney, so we have high hopes we'll have a chance to see some sights tomorrow. We met a couple in a gas station that suggested we park in a town called Hornsby and take the train into Sydney, which sounds like a good idea. Hope that works out!

After leaving our little municipal park behind, we made the hour drive to the Lone Pine Koala Sanctuary, the place everyone said we had to go whenever I mentioned wanting to see a koala in person. Hubby was feeling the after effects of his rambunctious ride yesterday, and was a bit tired, so he mostly found places to sit down while I wandered around. We managed to see the sheep dog show (very ordinary, the sheep all knew what to expect and the dogs didn't exactly complete their tasks as ordered, plus the keeper had to discipline one dog because it had started to get in the habit of barking when the other was doing its thing) so it wasn't exactly very thrilling, or even interesting. We also went to the free flight bird show, and again, the keepers behaved as if doing a show was the last place they wanted to be, and the final big raptor that was supposed to appear never did, so it kind of ended with a thump. Unfortunately, with it being Sunday, the place was packed with screaming kids and bad parents, especially the divorced ones that you could tell were on their one day out with the kids, so it wasn't actually very enjoyable. It seemed more like a zoo than a sanctuary, and that the animals were being highly exploited, especially the koalas, just for the money. Sad to say, but that's how it felt. About mid-afternoon we finally left, and headed down to another campground we had found on Wiki-Camps about two hours south, this time a $25 place, but they had a laundry (which turned out to be free!), but no dryer, so I quickly washed several loads of laundry and put them out on the handy line. This place was a ways off the freeway, part of a mountain lodge, at the end of a dead end road, and though it catered to a younger crowd, ended up being nice and quiet. I had a short conversation with a young French guy about his tent, which was a split-level job, with the bedroom on top of his truck and the living area down below, something I'd never seen before. After a while it started to rain, so I had to run out and get the washing down before it got too wet, and fortunately the sheets had gotten dry in time, though a lot of the rest of it had to be scattered around the inside of the campervan to let it dry. Thank goodness it was a quiet spot, though, after being in a parking lot next to a train and a road last night, so no earplugs tonight!

Woke up early, no surprise, and were headed out pretty quick, as we still had a long way to go. The terrain remained flat and agricultural for the most part, until we got closer to Brisbane, then the hills once again took over. In one section, there were these enormous cacti, at least 25 feet or more tall, looking like they were just about to blossom. Would love to have seen that! Once we got near the city, we decided to look for a decent Indian restaurant for our main meal of the day, but once again, we had problems finding parking, until by some miracle, we ended up right in front of a placed called The Sultan's Kitchen, with parking at the back! We parked and wandered in, then discovered that they were only open because an Indian tour group had booked the restaurant, but they were just finishing up, so the proprietor very generously agreed to seat us anyway. He offered a bargain price for the us to have what was on the buffet, but seemed quite content when we said we'd rather order from the menu, which we did. It was a fabulous meal! He came by and conversed with us several times, and Hubby enjoyed speaking with him and answer his many questions. Afterwards, we headed up to the ranch. Daryl had very generously invited us to stay up at the property overnight, declaring that it was spectacular out on the ridge, so after some phone guidance from him (he wasn't on the premises), we eventually made our way out there to what was, indeed, a spectacular spot, overlooking Brisbane, and you could even see the ocean in the distance (apparently about where the Coral Sea and the Tasman Sea meet). We were actually in the horse pasture, so we had numerous visitors during the evening, and it was so quiet, we looked forward to an excellent night sleep, especially after the noisy night of trucks we had last night! I thought it would be a good place to see stars, but surprisingly, there was so much light spilling up from the city that they weren't really that great, but it was a great night anyway!

Well, the night wasn't bad, but it wasn't great. The trucks never did settled down much, and the AC running was a bit disturbing, but we did end up getting a halfway decent night sleep. We departed just before 8 and headed straight into town to find the public dump, since oddly, the Holiday Park didn't have one, and managed to get all that done in short order, and off we went! We stayed mostly on a road called A-39, not a freeway, but it was the most direct route to Brisbane. We stopped once for a meal at McDonald's (they call them Macca's here as slang, rather than Micky D's), but they all have free wifi, so I was finally able to download a pic my brother had sent me a few days ago. I had tried in several other places, but for some reason, it just refused to download, but finally I got it, pictures of my horses from the rump side, to prove they're not starving (as if I thought they were :-). Most of the day was devoted to going through miles and miles of flat agricultural fields, though we weren't sure exactly what was in the fields. Some had obviously been recently harvested, looked like it might have been wheat, but I have to say, these fields were are extensive as anything we've seen in Iowa or Kansas or Nebraska. They stretched on so far that the windbreak of trees faded off into the horizon, buried in a mirage lake, until the curvature of the earth literally made them disappear. How far they went on I have no idea, but they were incredible. Not much corn, but I think wheat and barley and perhaps hops, even cotton in one area. Almost had sheep withdrawal today, but did finally pass several fields of sheep, so I did get my sheep fix. Don't know what I'm going to do when I get home. There was also a stretch where there was a very interesting cactus tree that grew about 20-25 feet high, even 30 feet in a few cases. Beautiful, and looked ready to bloom, would love to have seen that! We finally reached the area where we had found a campground from Wikicamps, which has been an invaluable resource, but this time it was a bit shaky on information. We looked for Bush Lagoon, but there were no signs, and we passed it. We came back and found a turnoff that had to be it, but it was little more than a sandy area around a drying pond, though there were lots of tracks and scat around, and I had hopes of maybe seeing some kangaroos or koalas or wombats in the wild. I put out some old french fries, but that didn't help. Oh, well, I seemed condemned to only see kangaroos as road kill, darn it. I'll keep looking though! Because we were so far out in the boonies, though, the stars were incredible! We even found the Southern Cross just by looking out the windows of the van, plus there were more stars than I can remember seeing in a long time painting the sky. We had hopes that the trucks on this busy highway would diminish during the night, but it didn't slow down too much, and we had traffic passing most of the night. But it was free, and the stars were great! Can't have everything, right?

Got up early again, this time heading to Mansfield, with a purpose. We had arranged to go riding nearby tomorrow, and we arrived in town fairly early. We learned the Mansfield Hotel had a restaurant and bar that had wifi, so we headed in for lunch. I had a bunch of logistical work to do, cancelling and making reservations in Malaysia after our big change of vacation plans, and the wifi was slow, so it took me most of the afternoon to manage. Finally we headed out to another free campsite in a State Park called Mt. Samaria, to a nice little site near a creek, with a couple of other campers. As we had eaten early at the hotel, we weren't terribly hungry, so we settled in early for the night, with the alarm on for extra early as we had a nearly 45 minute drive to where our day-long ride would start tomorrow.

Once again up with the alarm and on the road by 8:00, continuing to gasp in awe at the beauty of this Great Coast Highway. Apparently it was dedicated to the soldiers and sailors of The Great War, and built during the 20's and 30's, a remarkable engineering feat, without a doubt. Again, stunning all along the way. We stopped at a small animal, self-sustaining sanctuary shortly before we reached the 12 Apostles, because I wanted to get up close with as many Australian animals as we could. No Koalas, but we did get to pet some kangaroos, see some dingoes, and get close to a bunch of other birds and mammals. Plus I got my sheep fix! Every since we left New Zealand, where literally you couldn't drive for 15 minutes without passing flocks of sheep, I've been going through sheep withdrawal! Today, we managed to see sheep a couple of times, both in the sanctuary and along the road, so I've got my sheep fix for the day. Anyway, after we spent an hour walking around the 40 acres site, we bought a couple of cups of coffee and muffins and back on the road we went! We stopped at the 12 Apostles visitor center and walked down to the first lookout, then Hubby stayed behind while I walked the rest of the way, taking some incredible pictures of this remarkable phenomena, large sections of limestone have been washed away from sections of land, leaving free standing monuments of real estate. Amazing! We then made our way west along the coast, stopping at a whole series of these natural monuments, with names like The Arch, the Grotto, and London Bridge. In Port Campbell we stopped at the visitor center, where, unlike the national park center, we found some maps, and a lot of information about a famous shipwreck that happened in these parts back in 1878. Nearly 80 people on board, and only 2 survivors, only 4 bodies found, the rest washed out to sea. Was glad we finally got some information, we were surprised at how little is provided at the sites themselves. Hardly anything on how the erosion phenomenon occurred, almost nothing about the local flora and fauna, other than a few vague references to how hard it is for a few creatures to live on the harsh conditions of the coast, and an unkempt cemetery that's been mostly tarred over as a walkway, while the graves themselves are overgrown. Kind of sad, really. Anyway, after going as far as the Grotto, where I jumped a rock wall so that I could actually put my hand in the water, the Southern Ocean I soon learned, along with young man who wanted to get a couple of rocks for his turtle pen, Hubby and I headed out again. Having decided that we didn't have time to get all the way to Adelaide and still do all the things we wanted, we headed back to Port Campbell where we filled up on food and fuel, then north to another free campsite north of Ballarat in a regional park in Cresswick, passing through much more rural areas with lots of cattle and sheep (really got my sheep fix at the end of the day!), and settling into the woods early, by 6:30 tonight. No need for dinner! Just going to be early, reading, and will be up again in the morning!

Got up with the alarm this morning, as we anticipate a long drive today. Not sure how far, we're going, but we sort of have a plan to head along the Great Coast Road, apparently one of the most scenic routes in Australia, on our way to a place called the 12 Apostles, the equivalent of desert hoodoos, but along the shore of the Southern Ocean between the towns of Princeton and Port Campbell. What a gorgeous road! After driving through more beautiful countryside and forests, we turned out toward the Coast Road, and soon we were weaving along on a road reminiscent of 101 in California, a road literally cut into the side of a cliff, for miles and miles and miles! There were a number of cute little beachside towns along the way, but the road always went back to hanging just off the side of the cliff, which, being on the left side of the road, was the closest to the drop-off into the sea. Fantastic! After miles and miles of that kind of driving, and a stop in a little town for a fish and chips lunch, and later groceries, we found another free campsite (thanks Wiki-Camp Australia!) that literally was just above the Coast Road. So many camping areas are entirely unmarked, absolutely no signage, especially for the free ones, so if you didn't know it was there, you would drive right by. We turned onto a gravel road by a creek that immediately started climbing upwards, but not so dramatically that our rig didn't make it. There were several turnouts along the way, including one that actually overlooked the beach (that was already taken, darn it!), but we found an available spot near the top (there weren't many!) and settled in for the night, listening the distant surf pounding the beach below us. Fantastic!

We didn't bother to set the alarm last night, as we wanted to make sure we got caught up on our sleep, so as a result, we were barely making it out of the Holiday Park by check-out time of 10:00. We had a major problem with the hose for refilling our water tank, as there was some kind of adapter on the end to fit a different type of hose, and it was so tight, nothing I (or our burly young neighbor) could do to get it off. Of course, the tool box in the campervan doesn't include pliers, so we didn't know what we were going to do. Fortunately, as we moved over to the dump to empty our tanks, a young park guy came by, and when I explained the problem and asked if he had any tools, he reached into a compartment on his golf cart and pulled out EXACTLY the end we needed, and gave it to me! I gave him the dysfunctional one, which I'm sure he'll be able to repair, and thanked him profusely for his generosity. After that it was short order before Hubby and I were back on the road, continuing southward through the forests. The terrain really improved once we got out of all the seaside resorts south of Sydney, obviously a popular way for folks to spend their holidays. Anyway, we zipped along, winding our way through the forests of unknown yet beautiful trees, until it was time to stop for the night. We decided we wanted to fill up with diesel before we settled down for the night at a free camping spot in a little place called Genoa Park, but didn't see any fuel nearby. Then we saw a sign that there was fuel down a side road, and we headed off in that direction. As my fuel tank indicated kept shrinking, the distance to the gas station seemed to get farther, but at last we pulled into a little town at the end of a peninsula that had TWO gas stations, side by side. The temperatures had dropped dramatically (and we thought Australia was going to be hot!), and we were bundling up by the time we got back to Genoa Park on the main road. On the way, I saw my first live kangaroo! (I had actually seen a dead one by the side of the road yesterday, a big one at least the size of a NY deer-or me, if it had been standing up), but this one was smaller, and I managed to get a few pictures of it before moving on. Then we got back to camp, and got the shock of our trip. This unit (and apparently ALL of the Britz/Maui/Mighty brand units) doesn't have propane heat inside! The only heat is through the A/C unit, or from the front cab when the engine is running! It had been so warm at the first overnight stop that I had put the AC unit on, didn't even think about heat. We've owned half a dozen RV's over the last several decades, and every one of them had propane heat (including the "lower end" unit we rented in New Zealand), so we were stunned to learn this. I even called the road service folks to see if we just weren't able to find it, and the guy who answered said he didn't know the answer, but to bundle up and then we'd get a call in the morning to tell us how to find the heater. Not much help, but of course, that's what we had to do. I made sure Hubby had a wool cap on, we DON'T want him to get sick again. He fought a sore throat for most of the time we were in NZ, and we didn't want to repeat that! Anyway, we finally settled down for the evening, bundling up against the unexpected cold, but happy with the day!

After another quiet night at Glentunnel, and the opportunity to wash the outside and clean up the inside of the campervan, we headed out to Christchurch on a leisurely schedule. We had reservations at the Amross Motor Lodge about 15 minutes from the airport, and we didn't want to get in too early. We had a small breakfast (we were trying to run down all our groceries, but still had quite a bit leftover), then eventually headed to the hotel. I was hoping to find someplace to buy a souvenir sweatshirt, but all anyone had was hoodies, so I was capitulating to just getting a T-shirt. We had heard about a place called Re-Start, oddly described as a "high-end, shipping container shopping mall." After stopping at the hotel early and learning it would be about an hour before our room would be ready, we decided to take a drive over there, a decision we quickly regretted. Christchurch had experienced a series of very bad earthquakes back in 2010-11, and the entire downtown area was a construction zone. Dozens of roads were blocked off or redirected, large equipment was everywhere, and traffic was one big snarl. Shipping containers were stacked high everywhere, in once case it looked like it was only to protect the public from possible falling debris! We eventually made it to Re-Start, but the parking area was so small we couldn't even hardly get into it, and it was packed. One car had even just stopped in the middle of the aisle and left it! As we stood there wondering how we were going to get out, Hubby had to speak to the passenger, who evidently had to be told it wasn't a good idea to block the only path around a small loop of a parking lot, and he finally moved into the driver's seat and moved it. By this time we decided it wasn't worth the effort, and headed back toward the hotel. We took the time to fill up the campervan with fuel, grabbed a quick nosh there to get us through to an early dinner, and headed back to the hotel. It wasn't long after that we moved into a very nice room, with a full kitchenette and comfy space all around. Once we got all our stuff out of the van and into our room, we headed for the airport, where I exchanged some money, mostly into Australian dollars, but some back into U.S., in preparation for our departure tomorrow. I wasn't sure if the money exchange would be open as early as I needed it the following morning, though it turned out they would have been, as they open at 3:00 am. By this time, it was time to get the campervan back, and it was only a few minutes from the airport, so off we went! It didn't take long to get ourselves checked back in, but unfortunately, they didn't offer shuttle service anywhere except to the airport, so we had to call a taxi for the ride back to Amross. I did laundry next, while Hubby napped. Wash was fine, dryer took forever, and when I went to get more change, the proprietor suggested I hang it on the line out back! Wish I had know that BEFORE I wasted time and money on the dryer! So that's what I did, hung it up, then Hubby and I walked around the corner to a little Thai restaurant and enjoyed a nice meal before coming back, getting down the laundry, finishing packing and going to bed, VERY early, as we have to get up at 3:30 for our flight. I arranged for a taxi to pick us up at four, and jumped into the comfy bed by 7:30!