LEAVING BRISBANE, AND BACK IN CAIRNS

Well hello! It's been a while, a few months!

So what has happened since i last made contact with this blog? Quite a lot actually!

I ended up spending two months in Brisbane, a month of which was working for accommodation at Base Central Backpackers. Here i was a housekeeper, which was an okay job and it gave me free rent which saved me $600. I made a tonne of new friends and said goodbye to some other ones, and then eventually to all of them when i decided to pack up and leave just short of a month ago! But we'll get back to that in a moment. First of all, what did i get up to whilst in one city for that long?Many things i can assure you, but quite important to me was the fact that i could finally unpack and not live out of a backpack!

There are lots of little treasures in this wonderful city and although i dreamed of escaping and traveling once again, i wouldn't change this little adventure for anything. Sunday sessions on the green at Southbank played a big part in my ability to stay sane and every weekend we'd go to the bottle shop and purchase the cheapest bottle of wine we could find, pick up some cups and catch the free ferry across the river to the green. Here we could chill out and listen to free music, drink wine and watch the sun go down over the city.

A few times we went to Eat Street Markets which is a big food market (obviously!) which contains may food stalls, serving food from all over the world! My first time i was like a kid Disneyland and it took me a good few loops to decide on what i wanted to eat. I chose yaki soba, langos and a cronut with a syringe on Nutella! Sounds like heaven right? I did try to not get the same thing and also tried the lanksa, currywurst and few other heavenly foods! Some locals do not even know of the existence of this place, we found out, even though it is a weekly event.

We also went to the Soutbank markets a few times, where i purchased a new ring. There was also a food market at the end of the mall every Wednesday where we would go around trying all of the foods.

Towards the end of our time in Brisbane we finally got around to visiting Mt Coot-ha, which is a lookout with spectacular views across the city and surrounds, and therefore became one of my favorite places. Here we were to say our final farewells to the city that became home for a few months.

Me and two friends, one who i've been traveling with ever since we met in our first ever week in hostels in Sydney and one we met in Cairns, decided that we wanted to leave! And that we did. on Gumtree i discovered a camper van that seated five people and slept four, for a reasonable price. The following day we met with the owners to have a look around and then the day after purchase our beloved Trevor. One week later and we were outta there!

Our 3 weeks travelling up to Cairns has bought us to many places we visited on our first East Coast adventure, but now with the ability to drive ourselves we got to see many new sites that Australia has to offer! Lots of lookouts, lot of sunsets, lots of waterfalls and many evenings playing card games. Our waterfall collection includes the infamous Milaa Milaa waterfall known for being the waterfall used in the herbal essence adverts! I have been nominated as chef, which i enjoy. Even though we have minimal room and the smallest pans in the world where i was having to cook for four hungry mouths! But now it's just as easy as cooking in a normal kitchen, though i still cannot seem to get the correct amount of rice and end up with tonnes of the stuff! But somehow we have gone down to two meals a day and eating rather healthy, due to buying mountains of fruit and veg from little stalls along the road where everything is as cheap as chips. Our stomachs have seemed to have shrunk a lot in the past months since leaving the city life.

Now it is back to the job hunting. We are currently in a little place called Ingham staying at a free campsite 20km west, near to Wallaman Falls. (Australia's tallest single drop waterfall, a stunning place) Trying to find farm work is seemingly harder then it seems, although we are at an advantage with our own transport and accommodation. We are thinking of heading down south any time soon, as that's where the promising phone calls seem to come from. But we'll see.

Lots of driving, and being in the middle of nowhere means that i have had the opportunity to read again and therefore since leaving Brisbane i have got back into books. The Girl On The Train, Dracula and now i am currently reading Be My Guest by Conrad Hilton, the man who built the Hilton Hotel empire! It's actually an interesting read and has given me many more facts to add to my random fact collection in my brain!

Oh, before i leave i would like to inform to the fact that i still haven't gotten my laptop fixed and have basically been carrying a dead wait with me for over 3 months. I also ended up braking my phone so had to purchase a new one, and have also been given the crown for most clumsiest and messiest person people have ever met. Saying that though, i have become a much more confident person and can speak to people! Hallelujah!

Anyway, the job searching awaits and i have taken a half an hour brake to finally get round to updating you all, so i must get back!

Thanks for reading!

P.S. Check out my Instagram for photos of all my travels! @wanderlustandfree and give me a follow if you so wish!

EDEN | PHOTO DIARY

We drove across a lovely bridge which took us over a beach in Merimbula. As we were trying to get to the Victoria border we decided not to stop here and continue to the next town along; Eden. 

It was a very hot day so we parked Julie under the shade and walked across the road to the beach in Eden. This is the last town before the border into Victoria.

The beach was very long and stretched along the bay. 

I had to take a photo of the ship called 'Norfolk', which according to the story dropped anchor in the bay on one of its journeys.

PEBBLY BEACH | PHOTO DIARY

Pebbly Beach is a little place just off the Princes Highway, between Bateman's Bay and Ulladulla. Originally we had not planned to stop here but we spotted the name on a map and decided it sounded interesting. So we drove down the dirt track for about twenty minutes until we came across it. It cost $7 to park, due to the beach being situated in a National Park. 

The first thing we noticed when we got onto the sand where the wild kangaroos!

Then we noticed the bluebottles lining the shoreline, due to almost standing on a couple! 

We took a wander across the rocks and the way the stone had been carved by the waves was spectacular. Look how neat those lines are! 

Looking out to sea from the tip of the rocks.

The tide was coming in and the waves where getting choppy so we didn't spend too long at the end of the rocks...

But there was a couple of lovely little nooks that had been created by the sea.

Once back on shore we went back to the Kangaroos. Yes, I know you shouldn't approach wild ones.

This one was very cute and soft. Please ignore how red I am, i can assure you it's just the setting on my camera! 

In the end it was a good $7 spent. 

LAKES ENTRANCE & METUNG | PHOTO DIARY

The day started with driving to a place called Orbost where we got our campervan fixed. Mid-afternoon we were finally back on the road and so we headed to a place called Lakes Entrance, this place marks the entrance to the Gippsland Lakes. We stopped for a while, using up the free McDonalds wifi! 

From a lookout point along the Princes Highway we got a better view of all the sand banks and where the ocean joins the lakes. 

We then drove to a place called Metung, not entirely sure of the correct pronunciation but we settled with 'Me Tongue' which gave us a few laughs.  

Metung is a secluded little town, mainly full of rental accommodation and holiday apartments. Quite a few of the houses were up for sale. Metung sticks out in the middle of the lakes, with water on either side of the village and only one road in and out! 

THE GREAT OCEAN ROAD | A PHOTO DIARY - PART 1

Our first stop was Bells Beach, infamous for holding the RipCurl Surfing Championships every year. 

We then continued along The Great Ocean Road until we came across this memorial arch, which commemorates those who fell during the first world war. 

A casual selfie in the wing mirror during a short pit stop to attached the GoPro onto the roof of the campervan. 

We pulled over (again!) for a bite to eat in a little village called Lorne, which was beautiful and the famous road drives straight through the middle of the centre! 

The picture above is where St. George's River meets the sea, running under The Great Ocean Road. 

The Great Ocean Road is full of some beautiful scenery! We stopped at pretty much every place we could. 

We stopped overnight in Apollo Bay which was just over the road which you can see in the above photo.