VEE-TRAVEL: E-mail #5 from Queensland

A truly Wicked Campervan

Hello everyone

Can't believe we have been travelling for three months now – it has gone by so quickly. Travelling in Thailand feels like a distant memory now that we're in Australia.

Spending Christmas in Sydney was both weird and wonderful! It was weird being on Coogee Beach celebrating Christmas, seeing loads of people having BBQs and drinking away. The weather was cloudy with a bit of rain … so it wasn't what I had envisaged!

Boxing Day was so strange – we were in a pub and we saw three fights. I thought: 'What the heck? Am I still in England?'

That evening, I was in denial when I first heard the news of the disaster, the tsunami. The next day, when I saw the news on TV, the impact was devastating. I was so sad because I was thinking of all the people in Thailand we'd met and how their lives had changed. The fact Clare and I left two days earlier sent shivers down my spine.

On New Year's Eve we went on a cruise. The fireworks were amazing, even though the boat was quite a long way from Sydney Harbour. Sydney is a great city – it's got everything.

In Melbourne, the Deaflympics were wicked. Two weeks full of action and entertainment! It was so emotional seeing Great Britain men's football team winning the gold!

We went out almost every night to a bar, chatting and meeting new deafies. The apartment we stayed at for two weeks was a blissful place – huge, comfortable, light, with fantastic high views of the city. But after spending two weeks in the same place, I was looking forward to being on the move again! I preferred Sydney to Melbourne, because I loved the city.

We were really excited about picking up our hired campervan. But my goodness … the Wicked Campervan graphics on the sides are sooooo rude! It's called Tits and Asses! No prizes for guessing what it looks like!

Now we have a new travel buddy coming along, the one and only Ricci Collins! Another new adventure for us all.

We waved our goodbyes before embarking on a long journey down the Great Ocean Road. Wow, what a beautiful state Victoria is. The Great Ocean Road is one of the world's greatest scenic routes and I felt so proud to be driving for hours by the coastline – the freedom of that was amazing.

After Adelaide, we drove on into the outback, holding our breath, as it's a pretty dangerous state to be driving through – if you break down in the middle of nowhere, then you are stuffed!

The Northern Territory was like being on a different planet – like Mars! It's so beautiful, so red and the land goes on for miles and miles … it was unbelievably hot there too: the temperature can reach 50 degrees! We could have baked in our van if we didn't have air conditioning! My favourite part of driving through is looking up to the skies and seeing eagles soaring, looking for prey to kill. We got to see one sweet Kangaroo boinging across the road – its legs were so huge!

After travelling hundred of miles from Adelaide, we arrived at Coober Pedy. Coober Pedy is the opal capital of the world and its rather spooky – dusty and almost bare! But we loved the place, sleeping in a hostel in the underground caves, as it's much cooler.

We left Coober Pedy for Ayers Rock, which is stunning. Then on to Alice Springs, a small city in the middle of nowhere. We stayed there for four days and had a fabulous time! It was Clare's 25th birthday and we celebrated it by having a chocolate fight in our hostel's kitchen. We managed to get Clare drunk two nights in a row!

After another long drive we finally reached Queensland – a beautiful tropical state with high mountains everywhere. In Cairns we said our goodbyes to our campervan. I was sad to leave it behind because I had a fantastic time with the van for three weeks. It was back to backpacking!

The next adventure was going scuba-diving at the Great Barrier Reef in Cairns. Saw lots of clownfish, similar to Nemo! I stroked one, and it was soooo sweet. It was also uncomfortable, because my ears were hurting as we descended further down!

I'm having the time of my life though I miss everyone and I miss England! Take care,

Izzy xxxxxxxxx Wanderlusting

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