Australia, Country 26 (re-visited), Diary entry 18th - 2nd March 2007, Total distance in Australia: 19,637km

Probably not drinking as many glasses of wine on the way back as we did on the way there (although I don't think we were far off!), we arrived at Brisbane airport feeling euphoric from a fantastic weeks diving, lots of relaxing and chilling and to Phil and birthday girl Katherine ready to take us back to their house. Katherine had now entered 'adulthood' celebrating her 18th birthday today, so Alex, Phil, Trisha and I had a glass of wine when we got home to celebrate for her as Katherine doesn't drink. Trying to entice her to have a little tipple of something she could not be tempted....although I think part of this was maybe due to some excesses from her mini holiday with friends while we were in Vanuatu!! We finished off the day with a fantastic chicken roast and birthday cake for Katherine.

Before leaving for Vanuatu, we had both planned a telephone interview for the Monday evening, Alex's was at 5pm but as I was talking with someone in the UK, mine was scheduled for later at 8pm. Wanting to be alert and with it (hard at the best of times) I was obviously not going to let a drop of wine pass my lips until after I had been grilled at why I was so great and how the potential company could not do without my indispensable skills. Phil didn't think 'just the one' would matter too much and tried his best to cajole me into sinning, but I was strong and stood my ground.

Alex disappeared into Katherine's room as the phone rung for his interview with IBM. 30mins later he reappeared with a sly smile on his face, saying he thought he'd got the job, but was a little perturbed that he'd not had to wear his brand new interview suit bought specifically for this occasion! It all seemed a bit too easy really... obviously his reputation goes before him! Unfortunately my interview was for nothing as 8pm came and went as did 9pm, which is when I decided that either the UK had got the time difference wrong or they just didn't want to speak with me. Either way...... it was way past wine o'clock and now we had something to celebrate!

The next day after a few calls and emails to the agent, apologies were given and another time was to be arranged for the interview. Miscommunication was the reason for the no call. We repacked the car with dive kit and organized ourselves to move on to our next port of call, Rich's place in Indooroopilly, literally round the corner from Trisha and Phil's house. We met Rich in Indonesia on the luxury floating hotel round the Banda Sea and as we all said our goodbyes on the last evening with a few too many beers inside us, Rich told us to look him up when we got to Oz. Our plan was to catch up for a couple of days before heading south to the big smoke called Sydney where we'd officially end the trip.

By the time we'd organized ourselves it was well past lunch, so after a quick bite to eat we trundled round to Indooroopilly to find Rich. After locating the flats no problem, parking proved to be a little more interesting. The visitor parking is outdoors, but you first have to drive up a ramp through the complex. It looked high enough to get Tinfish through so we started up the ramp, but I decided it would be prudent to get out and just check the height was OK before wedging Tinfish halfway up the ramp. Thankfully I did as getting up the ramp would have been OK if not a squeeze, but as soon as we'd have driven on to the flat, the back end being slightly higher would have taken out the light and probably part of the ceiling as we'd moved forward....not the best welcome present for Rich! After getting Alex to reverse back down we took the easy option of parking on the road - why we didn't just do that in the first place I don't know.

After getting reacquainted over a drink (non-alcoholic I will add) Rich wanted to play tour guide and suggested we take a walk to work up an appetite ready for dinner with Ursula and Jo Jo. Having spent a week relaxing in Vanuatu in between exerting ourselves lugging dive kit around, we thought it a good idea to get a bit of exercise, that was until Rich drove to the bottom of Mount Cootha. When he said 'walk' we interpreted that as a stroll round a nice garden, taking in the sights and possibly breaking into a slight glow, not hike up a mountain! Still it was too late now we were there, so after donning our hiking gear - placcies - not the walking boots and pick axes that we needed, we began the climb.

The ground to begin with was not too bad, an undulating mud path but with lots of loose stones on the top, looked easy enough. I had not even managed 10 steps when I nearly came a cropper going ar$e over tit and that was on flat ground! The path just got steeper and steeper and the journey just got funnier and funnier. Rich had obviously done this a few times and was well versed with the path. Alex and I stumbled and slid all the way, not to mention nurse our over excited hearts beating 30 to the dozen as we clambered up toward the top. Surrounding the path, tall strong trees shaded us from the afternoon sun, trees that would be critical on the downward journey!

It was all worth the effort once at the summit, although we were a little surprised to find a road at the top...... you can actually DRIVE to the top, a small note Rich had forgotten to mention to us as we set off! We got a drink and sat on the grass taking in the splendid views of Brisbane. After about half an hour we decided to tackle the downhill run back to the car. It was literally that....a run. The towering trees came in extremely useful, as we ran down sections of the bank hurtling ourselves at trees that would take our weight to stop us before we lost control. If I was wearing one I would have taken my hat off to a guy we passed as we veered towards the bottom, going uphill on his mountain bike. By the time we had reached the bottom we had definitely woken our legs up!

We returned to the house to prepare dinner for our guests Ursula and Jo Jo. Rich won't handle raw meat even though he likes it when it's cooked - obviously the perfect meal to have when you have someone else to cook it for you is chicken and beef fajitas, washed down with Pimms. Not a mix I've had before, but it works very well I can assure you. We had a great evening chatting the night away. With 4 of us divers, poor Ursula didn't have a chance once we all began telling stories, but being a keenie to learn, she kept up with the pace extremely well, asking loads of questions when we got a little too far ahead with 'techie talk'.

We spent the next day relaxing and catching up. Alex received confirmation of his job offer with IBM, who'd recently acquired his old company MRO, so in a strange kind of way he was going back to his old job! Rich however is 'in between' studies at the mo having finished his Masters in Brisbane and now applying for his PhD in 'watching pygmy seahorses'. So you could call him a bum really, just like us two! With a typical days schedule involving getting up about 8am (quite admirable for a bum I think), perhaps going to the gym, then coming home for a well deserved snooze, bit of a read, maybe another snooze after lunch then a quick visit to the mall or a walk before a snooze to replenish the energy levels for preparing dinner, we felt we'd fit right in.

We interrupted the hectic schedule today as Alex and I headed out for the evening to catch up with two old uni mates Katie and Richard who had literally just relocated to Brisbane the week before. Basing themselves in the south suburbs of Brisbane, it took us about an hour to get over to them. Renting a house on the seaside, we could only see the glisten of the water as we parked up, we would get the spectacular views on the morning. We'd arrived early enough to say hello to their two girls Hannah (a 'proper' 4 year old) and toddler Alice before it was bedtime for them. With all the excitement of moving to a new country and visitors at the house, bedtime was delayed and delayed by any possible tactic imaginable.

The best one seemed to be while trying to make a bead necklace tip the rest of the beads out onto the table to get the one you want, which miraculously end up with them all over the floor, especially if Alice was helping! Once we'd picked these up and put each colour back into its own section, a new game of pass the parcel began. Hannah was in charge and she informed us all of which nursery rhyme we had to sing; this in itself was testing enough for Alex and I who had to quickly review the old archives of the brain to try and relocate the correct nursery rhyme in time.

On her command, she'd stop singing and the person who was holding the container of beads was allowed to take the colour they wanted (obviously once Hannah had given approval). It was very amusing watching the clever ways of bedtime deferral. Richard and Alex went out to collect our Chinese dinner while I was given the task of bedtime story by Hannah. Off we went to choose a couple of books. I inadvertently missed a page half way through one, but well rehearsed with the story Hannah picked up on it like a hound smelling its supper and back we went to an appropriate start - not necessarily just to the page I'd missed!

Once story time was complete it was wash time, so off to the bathroom for face, hands and teeth clean. Having only been in Australia a week, Hannah had already been told by Richard and Katie that it was a very precious commodity and in between rinsing the flannel or tooth brush, she responsibly turned off the tap so we wouldn't waste water.....VERY impressive Hannah! It was then back upstairs for a final final goodnight to all before Katie put her to bed.

We had a great evening eating way too much Chinese and catching up on the years that had passed us by since last seeing each other. By 11pm Katie and Richard were flagging, knowing that they weren't going to have the luxury of a lie in if Hannah and Alice had anything to do with it, so we all went to best for a good nights rest.

Waking up early from the normal sounds of a household with young children, I tried my hardest to keep going back to sleep, but by 7am I decided sleep was not going to return so I might as well join in the fun that was being had upstairs (the Australian houses tend to be topsy turvy to UK ones with bedrooms downstairs and lounge and dining upstairs). Alex managed to stay in bed for another hour or so, although I don't think he was sleeping, I think he was child evading! After about half an hour I think he'd wished he'd stayed in bed longer as Hannah needed the loo and who should she choose to wipe her bottom but Alex! Oh, how I laughed and whole heartedly encouraged it as Alex was trying to think of every excuse under the sun why he wasn't trained to do that sort of thing.

We played for a few hours and I was surprised when I looked at my watch and it was only 10.30 AM. I have always wanted children, but so far we've always had the luxury of practising on friends' kids....the best thing about this is that you can always give them back! I'm not so sure I could actually handle children on a 24x7 basis. Feeling exhausted after 3 hours, this was our cue and as we still had lots to do before leaving for Sydney the next day, it was time to say our goodbyes and head back to Rich's flat.

Alex had been swerving a little on the drive back to test the steering as he said it felt a little loose and as we pulled up at Rich's flat and began manoeuvring into a parking position the reason revealed itself as we heard a clunk. Nothing was happening so I jumped out to see if I could see an obvious problem. Well nothing can be more obvious than a wheel jutting out at an angle, a result from where the steering arm has severed off from the steering knuckle underneath! Oil proceeded to pour out everywhere unfortunately emptying into the drain which had stamped on it "do not pollute, empties into river". Not the best advert for a well meaning trip. We scraped up bark from around the trees and put in on the road to divert the growing oil slick from the drain.

There was a garage nearby so Alex walked over and a mechanic came over to take a look. He advised the best option was to get it to a local Toyota garage as we'd probably need Toyota parts. I guess if we were going to break down, we couldn't have done it in a much more convenient place, at least we had internet and phone at Rich's to get all the numbers we needed. We were also incredibly lucky that the car was barely moving when it failed, if it had been 10 minutes earlier when we were racing down the highway, the end result of a wheel coming off at speed doesn't bear thinking about. It would have been catastrophic. These things happen for a reason and I'm a true believer in fate giving a helping hand and that if it's going to happen, there's a time, place and reason for it...this was definitely the time and the place. The car wasn't in the most convenient place, as it was abandoned half way across one side of the road, but there was at least enough room for cars to pass by. Alex phoned Toyota and spoke to a service guy. As with any problem, until they see the vehicle, it's hard to give advice on what's wrong and possible costs associated with it. He gave us a number for a tow truck and now we had to play the waiting game until we could move Tinfish.

Rich had gone for a tandem bike ride with Ursula and was a little surprised to return and find Tinfish looking awkward in the road! Now, we have a history of turning up at peoples houses with the intention of staying for a day or two, only for something to go wrong and finding ourselves staying a whole lot longer! This was no exception. Rich had already offered 'stay as long as you like' but there's a difference in offering and then your guests staying for an open ended period of time! Not wanting to outstay our welcome, we were concerned how Rich would react, but he was as good as his word and not worried about it one bit. This also meant that our newly laid beds in Sydney which Chrissie had just made up weren't going to be slept in for a while yet.

The tow truck turned up mid afternoon, but because of the angle Tinfish was stuck at with other cars parked on the opposite side of the road Tinfish couldn't be moved. We had to wait for the cars to go. The guy was really nice and was working until 10pm so said to call him when the area was clear, he could then drop it off at Toyota and give us a lift back to the flat. The afternoon seemed like an eternity waiting for the owners of the cars to return. We'd left a message on the last one just in case he returned early and we could get tow truck man back before Toyota closed. As it turned out it was after 7pm before we managed to call the tow truck and tell him the area was clear. Tinfish was strapped up and dragged mournfully on to the back of the truck, whilst we hoped the wheel wouldn't completely fall off. Alex then went off with tow truck man whilst Rich prepared a fantastic dinner which he'd learnt to prepare on our live aboard in Indonesia. Steamed fish with a great sauce on a bed of noodles, it was delicious. After dinner we relaxed and watched a movie.

The next day was another day of waiting. It took Toyota most of the morning just to get Tinfish into the workshop and the mechanics didn't have time to assess the problem until mid afternoon. We whiled away the day with reading, naps (a favourite past time of student Rich) and wearing a line in the carpet of the lounge pacing up and down. We ventured into the mall, 100m down the street to grab some food for tea when we received the anticipated call from Toyota. Alex had already done some research into the problem and possible costs for parts. We'd decided that we were probably looking at about $500 for the parts and labour all up, not great as we'd already spent a fortune on Tinfish since arriving in Australia, so we were totally unprepared when Toyota said it would be at least three times that with Monday being the earliest for pick up!

The other side appeared loose so they strongly suggested that we should be replacing both sides. Alex asked if there was some sort of arrangement we could come to, as it was way more than what we'd been expecting. The service manager said he'd look into after market parts for us and see what he could do. We felt totally drained. Tinfish was just costing us more and more money now and we were not enjoying ourselves. This wasn't the point of the trip and although we knew there would be ups and downs taking a car half way round the world, we felt we had received more than our fair share of downs with Tinfish consolidated by the fact we only had 900km left to go to get to Sydney!

Wanting to cheer us up, Rich suggested that we should be active over the w/e (although I do realise there's not much difference from a w/e to any other day for us 3). It was a great idea so Saturday we spent the day roaming round town and treating ourselves to a dim sum lunch, then strolled by the river to Southside to see the man made beach for the city folk to enjoy! The update now from Toyota was Tuesday pickup. Having had such a great time during the day, we decided to see the city by night and went out for a few drinks in the evening to make a fair comparison. It had been a while since we'd had an impromptu night about the town and it was a lot of fun.

The next day we ventured up the Sunshine Coast to Mulullabah. An hour or so north from Brisbane, the beach which this area is renowned for was spread out in front of us like a golden carpet. We lunched on pizza before walking it off on the beach. Deciding the water looked far too cold for a dip, we left the boogie board in the car and made do with a read and a nap in the shade of a tree. The evening's activity was the movie Saving Private Ryan - a favourite of our old next door neighbour David.

One of the downsides of having a lazy week is that I began to build up energy that somehow has to be expelled. Every minute of Monday felt like an hour and with a diary needing to go up on the website, I found it very difficult to settle and concentrate. I was like caged lion and somehow needed to vent this excess energy I'd got. The boys on the other hand were the total opposite to how I was feeling, laid out with their books in hand revelling in the sun drenched apartment. I ended up setting myself little targets and treats to get me through the day so that I could get the damn diary finished. Once finished, we went for a walk down the river, looking somewhat out of place amongst the cyclists and runners trying to keep fit, so I could get some fresh air and be a little hyper active. The film of the night was MI:3.

The day of reckoning had arrived and initial reports were looking good at getting Tinfish back by the close of business. After another few chapters on my book, me and Rich ventured out to the other side of town to buy some cushions for his settee. Rich has a gorgeous apartment and has most of the ancillary items too, but as with most boys out there he needed the 'girl touch' to make it just perfect. Alex gave it a miss and had another date with his book but I love wandering round furniture shops, probably more so now as I've been living out of a car for a very long time. It was also a good opportunity to have a look at what was out there for when I need to buy myself! We came up trumps with some fabulous cushions, in a very short space of time I would like to add and I did promise when I visit next I shall bring Rich a candle.....definitely a girl thing!

Alex managed to drag himself away from his book when we returned to go out for a coffee before Rich dropped him off at Toyota to sell his other kidney in order to pay the repair bill. Unexpectedly Alex was all smiles when he returned. Having used after market parts, the costs had reduced dramatically and with a discount on the labour rates, the bill ended up only just over half the amount they had initially quoted. Still more than what we had originally intended but much more digestible than the quotes we'd been presented with a week before. It was time to celebrate spending yet more money on Tinfish, so we cooked up Kangaroo steaks, mashed up some spuds and washed it down with a couple of bottles of vino.

Up early the next day as we had a long way to go, with probably a 10 hour journey ahead of us as we'd decided to stop off with friends in Nelsons Bay for the night to break up the journey rather than head directly to Sydney. Leaving slightly later than intended (no surprises there then!) and forgetting that New South Wales was an hour ahead of Queensland we were already running way behind schedule. Saying our farewells to Rich, we left him looking forward to his mid morning nap and set out on the road for our penultimate journey. Knowing the wheels were misbehaving we crossed our fingers and hoped we'd get to Sydney in one piece.

We began on the Pacific Hwy - route 1 - which would take us all the way south. We hadn't even managed 2 hours on the road when we broke down again. Luckily (fate plays its part again) we were at the bottom of a downward slope so I was slowing down when we heard a loud knocking noise and the car began pulling to one side. I pulled off the highway, bearing in mind Australia's highways are unlike any in the UK, they are more like the A30 we would take from Guildford to Weymouth - a dual carriageway with no hard shoulders, that merges to one lane traffic whenever it feels like it and passes through towns at regular intervals - but in much worse condition than any UK road.

Halting at the bottom of the hill at a T-junction with no hard shoulder, probably the most inconvenient place we could stop, we'd got ourselves another flat.... We tried to pump up the tyre a bit to move the car as we were sticking out into the road but it soon became obvious this wasn't going to work. We would have to change the tyre where we were. Not a problem lets face it, we've done it a million times before, so we'd be back on the road in a jiffy. Someone was obviously trying to tell us something, as the heavens opened up as soon as we got out of the car. This was probably the hairiest wheel change we've done yet with 20 tonne trucks blasting past whipping up spray in their wake. Thankfully it was the passenger side rear wheel that had gone, so we had a little protection from the car.

Stuck at a bit of a downward angle the jack wouldn't go under its usual place. Repositioning it Alex began jacking the car up. With the angle that it was at, the car wouldn't lift high enough to get the wheel off. To add insult to injury, the jack then began to fail. After a couple more unsuccessful attempts we decided that we'd have to get the high-lift jack off the roof. This is no mean feat I can tell you; just getting it off the roof is about a half hour job in itself. As in all of these circumstances it is my job to try and stay calm while Alex vents his frustration at Tinfish, me and the world around us and this was no different. I admit I don't always handle him well, but I was doing the best I could. Even I was beginning to tire of Tinfish constantly breaking down and I'm always the optimistic one in these situations.

This was the first time we'd had to use the high-lift jack on the trip, so it was a little rusty and not working well! After a little bit of encouragement (Alex taking a hammer to it) we positioned it under the rear bumper. Unfortunately all it did was lift the bumper by 4ft whilst the up rated suspension did as designed to do, making absolutely no difference to the axle underneath, the result being that the wheel stayed firmly on the floor! During one of Alex's rampages he came across some flat plates which had been used in road works, so managing to place these under the broken jack when it was down, it gave enough lift for us to remove the wheel. TWO HOURS it took to change a wheel! Must be the longest in history I reckon.

Once we removed the wheel, we saw why it wouldn't pump up, half the rim had split open like someone had taken a blunt tin opener to it. It was a mess. Knowing this was one of the ones that already had a hairline fracture and now had an inner tube, we could only assume the spare wheel we'd replaced it with also repaired with an inner tube, would do the same with time. We worked out that we'd done about 1400kms on it before catastrophic failure, leaving just enough distance to Sydney before the same happened to this spare wheel. Once again we were left with no spare tyre. Would we make the end of the road? We began to seriously wonder now, but with no other option we got back in to Tinfish and carried on.

We eventually made it to Nelsons Bay after 8 more hours once we'd driven through severe rain storms and floods. Thankfully we missed the hail which Nelsons Bay got as I'm not sure whether the ever increasing crack in the windscreen would have been able to take it. Hungry and knackered, Tracey cooked us up some fantastic fajitas and gave us that well needed glass of wine! Last time I'd seen Tracey was when we'd both flown over to the UK for Ant's wedding, so we had a lot to catch up on. It was getting late, so we kept it to a minimum of the hellish day we'd had and collapsed into bed.

Feeling refreshed I woke before the girls went to school. Tasmin and Millie were all dressed and waiting to walk to the school bus by the time I woke, but we managed a quick hello before it was time for them to go. Tracey had been a busy bee yesterday while we were cajoling Tinfish down the Pacific Hwy, and had arranged an interview with the local paper and got us on the radio as well as talking with the managing Director of Toyota in Newcastle! Now that is not an easy thing to do. Having only planned to stay a night, but arriving so late we were going to have trouble fitting everything in that Tracey was organising for us. Another message was sent to Chrissie to delay our entry to Sydney once more, promising we'd arrive for Friday night drinks. The reply "I'll believe it when I see you!" Fair comment.

After breakfast, we met Josh from the Examiner at Blue Juice Cafe on Briubi beach giving him the low down on the trip and then a photo session followed on the sand dunes. Tracey was an excellent tour guide and being a keen fitness fanatic usually saw the sights from her bike rather than a car. We went to look for wild Koalas but unfortunately there weren't any there to entertain us. We returned to Tracey's for lunch and then Alex and I had to go and buy a wheel which we'd won on ebay to replace the never ending procession of failures and was conveniently nearby. As we'd been gone most of the afternoon, we couldn't go boogie boarding as Tracey had planned (although this was a tactical delay on our part as we were too wuss for the cold water!!). We returned to find the girls in high spirits back from school. Tracey had been busy in the kitchen and had made a superb dinner for us, completely forgetting that she'd already got a dinner date with some local girls and as they've only just moved into the area, didn't want to cancel as it was a good way to meet new people! Bad luck Tracey was all we could say, the dinner you cooked was fantastic. Lamb casserole with veg and tatties - delish.

We wolfed it down and then the girls read stories and played before it was time for bed. Well rehearsed in the 'delay tactics' for bedtime after visiting Hannah, I was ready for them all. The girls became more and more excited and we went downstairs to get them changed, however it proved difficult to get them in their PJs and washed for bed. They just wanted to play and dance. Eventually (after much bribing) I managed to get them changed, washed and read a story before they went to say good night to Gordon and Alex. I decided I would never be able to settle them, so I left expert dad to the deed whilst Alex and I had a glass of wine in the lounge.

Up early the next morning to make sure I saw the girls before school as we were planning on leaving before they finished school, we had a quick play before it was time to do their homework. An exception to the rule as it was normally done at night, they did their spelling and reading before it was time to catch the bus. A quick photo session with the car first, we walked down to the bus and waved them off to school. We returned to find a worried Alex expecting to be dragged into the seas by an excited Tracey. Thankfully, she had seen the terror in Alex's eyes and decided that if she couldn't get us in the water, we'd at least be doing a walk before we left Nelsons Bay.

Picking up the camera to take with us, Tracey realised that she'd not put the CF card back into it before taking pictures of the girls on the car. Now this was a mum in BIG trouble! Tracey then took us round to the end of Nelsons bay where we had a delicious breakfast and coffee ready for the walk up Tomaree Head. Returning to the car we found some people hanging around hoping for our return. Lots of questions were asked about the trip from a guy who had wanted to do a similar thing. We gave them our details and said we'd be happy to answer any questions they had. Asking where we were heading next, they seemed delighted it was Sydney as that was where they were from, so promised they'd be in touch and have us over for a BBQ or something to ask lots more questions.

The walk up Tomaree Head looking across to Fingal island was very pleasant and not as difficult as we thought it might. We were rewarded with fantastic views of the beaches and bay. Time was ticking and we wanted to make sure we missed peak traffic entering Sydney so we returned to Tracey's to pack up while she called the school to see if Tasmin and Millie could be met at lunchtime for another photo, this time with the CF card in the camera. We met the girls at school and had some photos taken before waving them off to their swimming classes and heading for Sydney.

Thankfully the drive to Sydney was uneventful and we reached the city about 4.30pm. Chrissie had sent me an email earlier in the day saying she's left her phone at work so we knew there was no point in calling for directions. We had the address to her new posh pad in Paddington, so made our way across town to the general area.

It all felt very weird as we drove towards the Harbour Bridge. We needed to drive over such an iconic landmark to signify the end of such an iconic trip but somehow I felt very empty. I needed to celebrate our arrival now we had reached our final destination. It had been 19 months to the day since we waved goodbye to the white cliffs of Dover, just driving into Sydney didn't mark the end of the trip for me; I wasn't really sure what I wanted, needed or expected, but this wasn't it. Something had to happen to state we'd arrived, that our 19 month journey was at an end and we were about to embark on a very new life half way round the world. It wasn't going to end with us getting lost in the city centre trying to find Chrissie!

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