Day 130 : And its goodbye from me.

This is unfortunately (not sure if that’s the right word…) the last blog from me as I am due to fly out of Brisbane this Sunday.  The long journey through Australia is almost at an end, and sadly I have to return to reality.

Plan for the day, head up to Byron Bay from Port Macquarie.  We had another long days drive ahead of us so everybody enjoyed a bit of time out of the truck.  Active start for the whole crew, Amy and Louise went for a scenic walk into town,  Paul and Steve were jogging around parts of the Port Macquarie Iron Man track and I went for a cycle and swim along the beach.  We decided on taking the inland road to see the Big Banana instead of the coastal, so this gave me plenty of time to reminisce over the events of the last month.  So here are my top worst and best moments of the trip.

Five of the worst moments

Sleeping with bugs in Marla. Nothing really prepared me for this.  We got into Marla late in the evening and I was looking forward to a good nights rest.  The state of the rooms was pretty bad but at least the beds were clean and the place didn’t smell too bad.  It was in the middle of the night that things got really bad.  I woke up with about 20 beetles crawling all over me.  Louise was using her mobile phone to scan for bugs in her bed.  Not sure if this was the best idea as it seemed to be acting like a homing beacon.  Strangely, the bugs left Paul alone, maybe they had some sort of kind ship or he was smart enough to spray on some bug spray!  I woke up sharing my bed with the biggest cockroach I have ever seen in my life.  Still, its probably not the worst bed guest I’ve ever had!

Being in a confined space with Steve while he has a bad stomach. I’ll spare you the details… It will be enough for me to say his ability to clear a dance floor has nothing to do with his dancing.

Losing at pool to Paul and Steve. Still in shock about this.  We were in the cool rec room of the Yalara Fire Station and decided to shoot some pool with the Chief.  It might have been fatigue or it might have been heat exhaustion, whatever it was it was painful!  5-1 the final score.

Eating fast food all the time. Before I left London loads of people said to me ‘you’ll have some great food down under’ or ‘look forward to some shrimp on the barbie’.  However, these people probably didn’t factor in that we would be eating at service station, truck stops and youth hostels most of the time.  We’ve had some great meals and they were magnificent, and some great bbq’s but most of the time we’ve been chowing down on muck.  I think the worst day had to be the day we arrived at Sydney.  We had McDonalds for breakfast, McDonalds for lunch, and to top it all off a kebab for dinner.  I’d hate to think of the sat fat count for the day…

Seeing the Big Banana. It’s a large plastic banana on top of a shop which sells smaller plastic bananas.

Five of the best moments

Morning swim and run on the beach. Nothing better to start the day then a refreshing swim and a run along the beach.  Best place so far has to be Byron Bay.  I do have to mention I’ve started to believe in the ‘there’s s**t that will eat you out there’ theory so I do limit my swims to rather shallow waters…

Camping in the outback. Getting away from the roadhouses and setting up camp in the middle of a dried up river bed really brought through the sense of adventure I wanted to get from this trip.  Sleeping in the outback under the stars is spectacular.

Cockatoos in Lorne. They have some crazy birds down under.  Most people will tell you about the kangaroos and emus but for me the wildlife highlight has to be the birds of Australia.  I wasn’t prepared to see all sorts of parrots, parakeets and cockatoos flying about all around us.  Best moment has to be in Lorne where we could feed the wild cockatoos on our balcony.

Sydney. Sydney in general is unbelievably amazing.  Its got cool bars and restaurants, great beaches, good weather and very chilled out residents.  Why would anyone choose to leave this place is beyond me!  As a side note, I was hoping to get the chance to drive over the harbour bridge, but (due to some suspect navigation that day) I actually ended up going over it 4 times.  Happy days!

Driving through the Great Central Road. Some people think that driving through the outback would be boring as there is nothing to see there.  But this is exactly what makes it fascinating.  The fact that there are still places on our planet where you can go and feel truly remote.  During our journey we could spend 7 hours driving without seeing another car or any other sign of civilisation except for the dirt track we were cruising on.

There you have it folks, the good and the bad of Australia.  I would say this is me done, job over, but I know that the whole team will be busy making sure Martha gets back to London.  Best of luck for the rest of it!

Fuad

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