2nd August 2005: Leaving UK
Last minute panic, finishing off Tinfish, packing the house, a great leaving party, saying goodbye to friends and family, expensive diesel, apprehension and excitement!

2nd August 2005: France
Our first night camping, explaining our expedition for the first time, fine champagne breakfast and fondue.. we're on the road but where will it lead..!

5th August 2005: Italy
Home of ice cream, searching for a 'bush camp', beautiful Venice and a taster of Roman ruins to come!

9th August 2005: Slovenia
An unexpected highlight, small yet interesting from mountains to elaborate karst cave systems and an impromptu party in the car park with the next door campervan hauling Bavarian beer!

13th August 2005: Croatia
Lots of Butlin's style holiday camps in the north, some freezing cold diving, outstanding Dalmatian coastline, a bonus trip through Bosnia, the impressive fortified town of Dubrovnik and a chance meeting with my brother Frazer.

18th August 2005: Serbia & Montenegro
A complete contrast as soon as you cross the border, we are now out of the western European countries and it feels like we've finally left the package tourist behind. Our first random encounter with a local drinking extremely strong coffee, who later arranged a rafting trip down the river Tara! Our first alfresco shower at the side of a road! Border after border as we cross Montenegro into Serbia then into Kosovo still showing the scars of war before returning to Serbia!

24th August 2005: Bulgaria
Guest of the British Ambassador, our first speeding offence, sending back most of our electrics to the UK for repair, ancient monasteries and the only occasion our kites ever came out for the whole expedition! Donkey and cart is still a favoured form of transport.

29th August 2005: Turkey
How many ruins did the Romans build? Not so convinced about the wooden horse at Troy - they must have been easily fooled, bizarre natural flames emanating from the earth, houses chiselled out of rock at Cappadocia, exquisite baklava treats, great fun and games with the dive community, going back in time through eastern Turkey, arguing with the traffic police and Tinfish gets broken into! We get a taste for sweet black tea and find out it gets very cold in the east for camping! Far too much Raki & Chartreuse: especially Martin.. tee hee. Being woken up by our first mosque!

11th September 2005: Syria
Fuel & ATM shortage causes near stranding, hours of entertainment conversing in totally different languages with the local goat herder who insisted on having our phone number! Being welcomed like one of the family by complete strangers and watching their faces when we offered them shortbread biscuits and chocolate like we'd offered them slugs! Far too much extremely sweet, rocket fuel coffee and tea! Syrian beer tastes like swimming pool water and the arak isn't much better! Even more Roman ruins in the dessert and the most impressive crusader castle. Our only hairy moment of the trip, when we're found camping in the dessert - what secret gold map..??

17th September 2005: Jordan
Friendly, genuine people.. "welcome to my country". Our first time woken during the middle of the night by men with guns and escorted by a police escort with flashing lights! Spending the afternoon with a chap who once trained in UK as a member of the Jordanian fire brigade and who now warmly invited us in to share tea and figs from his own garden. Being invited home for a traditional Bedouin meal and exploring Wadi Rum the stomping ground of Lawrence of Arabia, as Tinfish gets a taste of serious sand off-roading, whilst Martin gets stuck. The multi-coloured awe inspiring Petra. Quiznos 6' subway sandwiches, a rare western fast food treat.

29th September 2005: Egypt
The worst border crossing in the history of border crossings! Officious police everywhere, avoiding the convoys and giving the traffic police the slip! Staggeringly ancient Egyptian ruins, from the Pyramids to Luxor to Abu Simbel to mention just a few. The beauty of the coral gardens of the Red Sea, close encounters of the shark kind, overly kind and generous dive community wanting to help us in our quest for CARE International. Our first visit to a CARE International project to see first hand the excellent work they undertake. The most hectic driving in the world.. Cairo traffic!

1st November 2005: Iran
A bold step into the unknown, impressive Persian culture and Maz unable to resist a carpet! People here are as friendly as ever.. every time we pause at lights we're invited home for tea. Adopted by numerous families all willing to offer their home to us without question, hospitality is an ingrained part of the Moslem culture and puts us in the west to shame. A proud people not shy to share their views about their government. Maz having to wear the full attire including headscarf at all times! More snow than we've seen on the whole trip, chickened out of camping a few nights due to the rain, snow and icy cold. Kebabs, kebabs and more kebabs and just when you think you've seen enough ruins you're completely blown away by Persepolis! Incredibly cheap 2c per litre diesel and an unexpected tipple of the real Shiraz along with an illegal rave in the desert!

22nd November 2005: Pakistan
Hostages to hospitality, theoffroadpakistan club do everything they can to make us feel like one of the gang. A small detour to Karachi turns into the first time we've managed to kick back and relax and enjoy a comfy sofa and chill out in front of a dvd! The baton is passed on as we are passed into the care of one group after the other all tasked with looking after us and we are simply spoilt rotten. A trip up the Karakoram Highway into the truly breathtaking but isolated scenery formed by the coming together of three of the world's mightiest mountain chains and the upsetting sight of the aftermath of the devastating Pakistan earthquake! As our visa runs out we end with the dramatised closing of the border ceremony between Pakistan and India.

22nd December 2005: India
A marmite country! The people are somehow different here, quite happy to squat down right next to you and gawpe without any emotion or attempt to interact whilst you get on with cleaning your teeth! Very trying when we are found nearly every night we camp (as has happened during the whole expedition) but with nowhere to escape. Disastrous Christmas as Martin crashes and we end up making brake pads on Christmas day. Stress, stress. Great to see Maz & Martin's brothers.. watching Damien take it all in after being parachuted in from civilisation is priceless! A country of amazing temples, forts and culture, just far too crowded to camp in. New Years eve in front of the Taj Mahal sounds idyllic, but not when they don't turn the lights on! Sunset poo O'clock and Varanasi a complete overload even for the hardened senses! A welcome escape to the Andaman Islands, but India had its revenge with a dose of Delhi belly on coming back to the mainland. Cars, trucks, people, buses, cows, elephants, camels, cyclists, to name but a few all compete on the pot holed nightmare of a road. Bottle after bottle of Kingfisher gets a hammering to keep us sane!

12th February 2006: Nepal
A breath of fresh air! Even with the risk of a Maoist uprising we are keen to cross the border. Heard Namaste dozens of times in the first day and find out it's actually a Hindu greeting, but can't remember hearing it once in India! Confused about the burning truck across the highway until we later find out it was a bandh, which means the Maoists decree a complete strike when no one shall travel! Ignorance is bliss! Made to measure 'genuine' down jackets where you can choose the brand name you prefer. Max, the 4th member of the expedition finally arrives to ride shotgun. Excellent safari hunt for the rhino and the most exhilarating trek around Annapuna taking us to the highest heights of the trip so far.. 3200m and the unique experience of steamed pizza, topped off with a bit of adrenaline white water rafting and canyoning. Met our Chinese guide and now faced with the problem of where to squeeze a Chinese chap of rugby player proportions!

28th February 2006: China
Across the friendship bridge and into China, the country requiring the most permissions, permits, green backs and planning to enter! The fastest ascent by road.. 900m to the first pass of Tibet at 5200m.. bitterly cold, altitude sickness, perfect weather for camping! Minus 20C diesel needed and Martin's brake oil freezes. Tinfish breaks down insight of Mt Everest.. takes all three of us to jack the car up and me to repair the suspension. Mt Everest is stunning, but more amazingly people still live in this harsh, isolated plateau! China appears sterile in comparison and great distances to travel. Absence of children apparent, then we find the child catcher.. ie internet gaming/chat rooms.. hundreds of kids plugged in to a virtual world. Our first supermarket.. watching our Guide look on in horror as we feast on French cheese n baguette whilst he happily devours intestine, offal and stomach soup! Border guards unwilling to let us leave!

28th March 2006: Laos
Why did the chicken cross the road.. invented in Loas.. road kill statistics spike. Children and life everywhere stretching along the only road with no more than a car an hour passing. Man with gun walks across campsite without even pausing.. village which had never seen white people before totally captivated by our presence in the hills, the French relaxed colonial atmosphere, the forgotten war of American blanket bombing, backpacker hell in Vang Vieng where every bar has the Simpson's, Friends or some other trash blarring from the TV, Drugs bust at 2am in the school playground, over staying our visa and having to do a runner into Thailand..!

11th April 2006: Thailand
'Civilisation'..!! Straight organised highways with convenience stores and service stations every few km's, water festival soakings and far too much local whiskey. Some superb diving with some fantastic organisations helping our cause.. watching the flight of the gentle, huge manta rays and a raffle to win a dive holiday all to help our target for CARE. A side trip across to Burma, getting Tinfish totally bogged down on a 4x4 outing of deep, thick mud, luxury as we gate crash an old work colleague's plush hotel suite in Bangkok and learning as we spend time on a field trip with Care to see an example of the rebuilding of the local community post Tsunami. The spectacular Royal Palace, ancient Siam temples and island paradise retreats.

5th May 2006: Cambodia
An experience to savour.. the awe inspiring Angor Wat, the delightful Phom Phen, bribing the police for 2 dollars, the horror of the Khemer Rouge, emotional stress as we find ourselves in the jungle amongst forgotten minefields and being inspired by the resilience of the local community. A chance meeting with my brother, Frazer for a second time, the incredible cliff temple of Preah Vihear, the humour of the locals as they watch foreigners wash from their water well! Playing games on the beach with the local children.. overall Cambodia leaves a lasting impression.

22nd June 2006: Malaysia
The end of the road.. but how good are these highways! Satay and curry a perfect mix, incredibly friendly people all wanting to help in our quest. Chance meeting with the Malaysian 4x4 communities, more albeit less extreme off-roading, taken into the home of our Malaysian friends, some harsh jungle trekking, sucked to death by leaches and more excellent diving, the jewel being the world renown Sipadan and our stay on an oil rig! The last minute organisation of shipping for Tinfish, driving around Borneo and seeing the Orang-utans a rare sight as the dense rainforest gives way to acres and acres of oil palm plantation. Bowling, pizza, movie and popcorn in Kota Kinabulu - memories from a different life - and the smartest backpackers ever!

5th August 2006: Brunei
Two days turns to two weeks.. meeting the expat community and sharing a beer in 'dry' Brunei after a good days diving. Chance meeting with one of the princes who looks after us like one of his own, being introduced to the 4x4 community and making some great friends amongst a great bunch of guys. Organising a 'lucky draw' to raise money for CARE, relaxing to the extreme at the Empire hotel and generally being spoilt rotten. A quick trip to the local means popping across the border to Malaysia, being worried when listening to the stories of the difficulty facing us driving through Kalimantan, but then being able to tag along with a convoy of 4x4's who happened to be going our way! The last of the cheap diesel so fill up!

21st August 2006: Indonesia
Watches and rings off just to be sure, but how wrong can you be! The people here are fantastic, amongst the kindest we've met to date. Guided through Kalimantan and get invited to the festivities of a wake with the accompanied dancing and drinking. Passed like a baton from family to family each as genuinely hospitable as the last, an incredible experience. Our first of many death defying experience as we cross via ferry (ie rusty bucket barely floating!) on the 24hrs voyage to Sulawesi. Bend and curves as we travel north on the other side of the Wallace line to do some incredible diving. Again we have a taster of the best diving the region has to offer with an incredible cruise through the Banda Sea. A bizarre volcanic string of islands as we head east, some like Gunung Bromo a desolate desert, others in Flores a lush tropical paradise. Coming face to face with the Komodo dragon and a heart stopping moment as I stare a gigantic hammerhead in the eye! Awesome ancient temples, our first accident with a moped and Tinfish gets seriously sick in the midst of nowhere.. but we nurse her onwards.

22nd October 2006: East Timor
Our worst week ever in our lives.. cleaning and scrubbing Tinfish whilst trouble erupts outside of the gates! Stress, stress and more stress as we bang heads together to get the Timorese to clean Tinfish ready for Australian quarantine inspections and collapse each night exhausted back at the smeggy backpackers. The UN has fuelled a false economy and we get a taster for inflamed prices. No opportunity to see the real country and a feeling of remorse as we box Tinfish up in her container and realise we won't be seeing her again for a long while. Anxiety when we finally board the plane for Australia, many mixed emotions

30th October 2006: Australia
Australia we have returned! The fun and games continue whilst trying to get Tinfish out of quarantine, cleared by customs, road legal and the gearbox repaired.. an overall experience we don't wish to repeat in a hurry. Finally back on the road and it feels good. Amazing natural wonders of the Australian outback.. big open spaces, thousands of km's, too many wheel failures but some of the best bush camping and evenings with the stars, not to mention the spectacular scenery. Meet the Kelly's for Christmas which is great fun. Delicious wine tasting a tipple we've been missing and so made up for lost time! The west is windy, but beautiful from desert to thick tall forests, the centre vast, red and ancient, the east populated and closer to our end destination. Odd feeling to experience a little of the aboriginal culture so different from much we have seen, but here we are seen as no different to the average traveller. Very strange to watch the pace of life passing us by, we've got accustomed to all and sundry offering us their last meal, whilst back in the 'civilised' world we are barely given a second glance. The only place we've broken down and struggled for two hours on a busy road and not a single person stopped to help - a sad but true reflection!

10th February 2007: Vanuatu
Our last holiday before reality hits. A fabulous fortnight of diving the incredible liner President Coolidge. Time to just stop still and gather our thoughts between plunging into the depths. More helpful and generous dive organisation willing to help our cause for CARE, a holiday just what the doctor ordered..!

23rd March 2007: New Zealand
Okay so we're lucky.. we need to leave Australia to sort out work visas.. so we unexpectedly make it to New Zealand after all..!! With work on the horizon for both of us, decide to fit in as much fun as we can. Campervan has to stand in for Tinfish as we set out to explore the North Island. Excellent fun crawling around caves, racing along in boats, soaring in floatplanes, taking on the rapids and trekking across the alien landscape of the Tongariro crossing! Definitely finishing off the trip on a high! With visas in hand we board our flight with nervous excitement of our new life in Australia..

The dust and dirt of the road washed away very quickly, and the trip already feels like a million miles ago. Thankfully nothing can wash away the memories that we gained from the expedition; they will stay with us forever. The stories that we tell and the smiles that they bring to our faces, were only made possible by all the fantastic people we met along the way. We were told before we left to expect some bizarre encounters and we half didn't believe it'd be possible without going out of our way to find interesting situations. In truth we were never more than a day or two away from a totally unexpected and unique experience... you don't look for them... they find you!

It has been comforting however to know that you were all there with us in spirit (and comments) even though not necessarily in person. We thoroughly enjoyed the visits we did have from Frazer & Beatrix, Damien, Max, Rob, Frazer again!, Siobhan, mum & dad Kelly and Andy & Pips along the way. It was great catching up with all of you.

The trip has been a very humbling experience for us. Not only because we have been able to see first hand the fantastic work that CARE International does across the world, and we saw only a very small portion of this, but also because of the amazing people we met in all of the countries we visited. We have literally been stopped in the street and welcomed to a country, taken to people's homes for drinks and food and even stayed with strangers who have welcomed us into their homes as if we were one of their own. Something that is very hard to comprehend in the world that we live in today.

We have been helped in so many ways and a huge thank you has to go out to many - way too many to mention all in person. We have been staggered by the fantastic efforts that people have gone to in helping us to fundraise, especially within the diving community. A BIG thank you goes out to all of you who have sponsored us along the way, you have all been extremely generous with your money and we can definitely say that every penny makes a tremendous difference. We are stoked to have managed to raise nearly UKP18,000, but there are still a couple of donations still to come in which will raise the total further. Alex and I will be working hard this side of the world from now on to see if we can at least make it to UKP20,000..!!

So, if you were thinking of sponsoring us, but never managed to get round to it.... now's your chance!! It's really easy. All you need to do is click the 'Donate now' link on the left hand side of the page and follow the simple instructions... go on one last time

Well with Tinfish now parked up, we are slowly adjusting to living back in a house; no more cooking on the tailgate, sitting under the stars, showers every other day, climbing up into the tent for bed, trips into the bush, the freedom of the road and hours sat happily side by side as the miles passed beneath us... it actually brings a tear to our eyes! So it simply remains for us to say one last THANK YOU we have enjoyed writing these dairies and I hope it allowed you to experience a few of the sights, smells and experiences we had and given you enough of a taster to step out on to the road in your own way and see where it takes you... you'll never regret it!

...until the return journey!!!

Alex & Maz

We woke to a cloudy, misty morning in Whakapapa car park and were pleased that we didn't wait until today to do the crossing. Two girls we met on the hike yesterday said it'd been their third attempt as the weather had been bad on the previous two, reducing the visibility to less than 100m! After sneaking into the campsite up the road to freshen up, we said our farewells to Kate and Graham, then set off for a drive around the outskirts of the Tongariro National Park, taking in the views from various angles. It was late into the afternoon when we arrived back in Taupo where we seemed to have passed through in either direction a number of times by now. Checking up on internet we had been kindly offered a floatplane flight with Taupo's Floatplane, across the lake and over to Orakei Korako another thermal park within the hidden valley.

Not being able to track down the pilot to confirm a time, we decided to stay just out of town then pop down to the office in the morning. Over by Huka Falls I'd caught sight of what looked like a campsite by the river. On further investigation it was indeed a free campsite where one of the local farmers who owns the land allows travellers to park up and camp. What a great idea and very generous of the farmer. It proved quite a popular spot, but we found ourselves a little area to park the campervan and got busy with dinner. Still in recovery mode from our rambling it was early to bed so that we could be up bright and early to make the most of the following day.

Arriving at the boat harbour we met Neil from Taupo's Floatplane and we were soon strapped in the plane and ready for takeoff. Having flown in a variety of aircraft in our time, this however was a first for both of us, taking off from the water. Being a small 6 seater plane I got to sit in the front, but all seats have a great window view as you taxi across the lake then build up speed to skim across the water before gently lifting off into the sky. Neil told us about Lake Taupo and pointed out various areas of interest. About 15mins later we were on approach to land at the hidden valley and the floatplane gently touched down with a splash then taxied over to the pontoon to tie up. You then get a little boat across the Waikato River to Orakei Korako where you follow a pathway around the geothermal sights.

From earliest times, the Waikato Valley near Orakei Korako was occupied by Maori of the Ngati Tahu sub-tribe Tuwharetoa. By the early 1800's, the Maori population had congregated at Orakei Korako, attracted by the hot springs. "O" is the place of "rakei" adornment. "Korako" meaning white, describing the glittering (sinter) flat. A diary entry for the 11 March 1850 recorded that the Maoris lived in this spot "to spare their woman the trouble of procuring wood for fuel. They seldom light a fire; everything is cooked in the springs." The name Orakei Korako can be interpreted as "Place of Adorning" as Maori women used the pool to bath and beautify themselves for ceremonies.

The Silica Terraces that form the base of Orakei Korako are believed to be the largest of its kind since the destruction of the famous Pink and White Terraces in 1886 on the edge of Lake Rotomahana beneath Mount Tarawera. At present, there are up to 23 active natural geysers that play freely throughout the area. There are a vast number of boiling hot springs to view as well as mud pools, however the highlight on the walk through the valley is the thermal Ruatapu Cave (sacred hole). The cave extends 120 ft down to a hot pool at the bottom named "Waiwhakaata", which means "pool of mirrors". The water is so clear that you have to be careful not to accidentally step in and it's claimed that it's able to clean jewellery if left in the waters for about 5mins.

Having stretched our legs it was back across the river, strapped back into the floatplane then takeoff again to see the sights once more from the skies. After a quick pass over Orakei Korako, we then headed over to the 'Craters of the Moon' before a fly past over Huka Falls then back to Lake Taupo for a slightly bumpy landing as the wind had gotten up causing a bit of a lumpy lake surface. It was a great way to spend the morning and our thanks go to Neil and all at Taupo's Floatplane. Whilst we were walking around Orakei Korako Maz broke her flip flop, instantly reducing her to a state of not actually having any remaining shoes to wear! Hence the afternoon was spent scouring the shops for some new shoes. When all seemed desperate we finally stumbled on a shop that had exactly what she was looking for and conveniently a suitable new pair of shoes for me too!

Waving a final farewell to Taupo, we headed onwards towards Rotorua, however Kate and Graham had told us of a great thermal pool with its own campsite just before Rotorua which we were aiming for to spend the night. Waikite is a small collection of three pools all at various steaming hot temperatures and is an ideal way to lounge and rest tired aching muscles... this should have been on the agenda for our first night after the Tongariro crossing! With a small campsite, it is a great little hide away and we whiled away the time trying each pool in turn... the middle temperature one was just perfect for me and had the best views across the small valley. To interrupt our soaking IBM had rudely arranged a conference call to bring me quickly up to speed on my first project which I'd be running and was parachuting straight into on day one of my re-entry into 'normal' life!

As we discussed the finer details, Maz kept my wine glass topped up. I needed to meet a colleague at the airport Tuesday morning on the 07:30 flight to Melbourne and we needed to work out how to recognise one another... easy I said, I'll be the one looking frantic and out of place in a suit, probably in an advance state of shock! Day one I'd be straight into running customer workshops for the next few weeks on a subject I thought I'd left long behind me... Maxi-who? Not having the opportunity to be 'inducted' into the company I'd be without a laptop or any other normal consultancy 'toolkit', talk about hitting the ground running - I could hardly wait! But for now another soak in the hot tub was beckoning, I'd worry about work when I was face to face with the customer on Tuesday!

Bizarrely in the morning when we were enjoying our last soak, we met a French / Canadian couple that we'd bumped into on the road in Laos, literally a year ago - how freaky is that! They'd been riding their bikes around the world for a good few years now and offered their condolence to us on our final days of adventure. Next stop for us however was more adrenaline... white water rafting! Meeting at the rendezvous point we received the normal safety briefing and yet more damp wetsuits to struggle into. I was a little concerned that we didn't get tops, but they assured us the water was 'really warm' - yeah right. Into a damp smelly minibus the rafting teams set out for the mighty Kaituna River. Although short and sweet at only 14 rapids the actual getting wet part is only about an hour, however the attraction happens to be that one of the rapids is a 7m waterfall... yup a WATERFALL...!!

They start the adventure with a Maori prayer to the river then we all pile in and go through a bit of training. There are all the normal forward paddle, back paddle manoeuvres, however they were particularly concerned that we got the get down absolutely spot on... I guess they didn't want to loose too many in the waterfall! The early rapids were indeed fun and the river is quite beautiful as it meanders through the dense bush. We had too Brit backpackers in our boat who were like over enthusiastic Jack Russell's! Their forward paddle was like a blur, totally ineffective but incredibly funny! We did a couple of small 3m waterfalls, before the main event loomed... GET DOWN and we were over and going down... down... down..! The entire raft with all onboard totally disappeared under the water then popped up in a burst of bubbles and spray, with us all holding on for dear life... absolutely incredible...!

That night we'd booked a cultural experience at Mitai Maori Village. The evening starts with all the tourists (and there were a lot of us) lined up on either side of a small stream to watch warriors in traditional dress paddle an ancient warrior canoe (waka) down the Wai-o-whiro stream. We were then led to the performance hall where we were entertained by displays of song, weaponry and combat, coupled with the grace and beauty of the poi dance as well as learning a little about their past, carvings and ta moko (tattoo art). At one stage it was audience participation where we joined in with some of the dance movements, which made rubbing your tum and patting your head seem easy in comparison! The show finale was a display of the much renown haka before we retired to the dining areas to feast (I mean gorge) ourselves on a traditionally cooked hangi meal, which is slowly cooked by thermal steam in the ground oven over many hours. It was sumptuous and they even provided 'modern' stuffing and mint sauce to accompany the delicious lamb, chicken and sweet potato dishes.

We rolled ourselves back into the campervan and headed back towards the rafting hut to find camp as in the morning we were white water sledging! Sledging is a much more personal way of taking on the river rapids. A custom made plastic sledge is ridden down the river, steered by the rider wearing little paddles on their feet. It is a given that you'll be tumbled and rolled at some point, so they teach you in the sheltered waters how to right yourself, stressing never to let go of the sledge... as that's 70% of your buoyancy. It sounded like fun and it was. With just Maz, myself and two guides, we quickly got the hang of it and 'expertly' rode the rapids... ie raced down screaming! You can use the eddie currents to find shelter or actually approach the turbulent water from down stream quite easily to kick off and 'surf the wave' before being dumped and spat back out. Screwing my eyes up tight to save my contact lenses the force of the water simply delights in inverting your eyelids! Of course we weren't allowed to tackle the 7m waterfall - that would be suicide!

By the end of the trip we were exhausted, smiling from ear to ear and bruised all up our elbows... definitely far more exciting that rafting, but you have to be fit. Apparently we'd done all right and the girl guiding us was actually quite nice once she'd got over her 'sweet as bro', hip and cool dude attitude! To continue the adrenaline flowing, next on the agenda for the afternoon was sprint car racing... we were packing as much in as we could! These were high performance Formula 1500 Sprint cars which are raced on an oval undulating track. Each driver gets 12 laps to perform and a passenger can come along for the ride. Maz went first and sedately in a 'Driving Miss Daisy' style drove 12 times round the circuit to my continued persuasion to try and get her to go faster. I was more than a little surprised at her leisurely pace as she doesn't normally go so easy on the gas!

She clocked up her best lap at just over 15secs, to much mickey take from myself. Well at least she got a longer drive in total I guess! The gauntlet was then thrown as Maz challenged me to beat her by 2 seconds if I was sooo good. On the starting blocks I stalled it first off... not the best start I warrant... but then a flash of lightening emerged from the pits and we screeched around the circuit, occasionally with wheels in the air and once or twice nearly loosing it and skidding off the track completely. Big smiles later we rolled back into the pits to find I'd comfortably beaten her best lap by 2secs and actually was only a few tenth of a second off the fastest lap for the day. The track record however was well and truly out of reach at around 11 seconds... now that's fast.

Leaving New Zealand's thermal wonderland behind we decided to continue across to the coast passing many beautiful lakes before joining the coastal highway and turning to head north towards Auckland. Fancying a nice feed for dinner we started to keep an eye out for a suitable town that might have a respectable restaurant, but as time ticked by and each town seemed smaller than the last our stomachs began to rumble. Eventually we arrived at what appeared to be a seaside holiday town, but even then it took some hunting before we found somewhere that looked good. It was a BYO, so with a bottle of white and red wine in hand we ordered a tasty feast, once more seafood and lamb featuring highly on our choices. As we have come to expect here the food was first class. Now late and a little tipsy, we agreed the campervan parked along the seafront was as good as anywhere to spend the night, something we probably wouldn't have gotten away with in Tinfish.

After a leisurely morning fry up, we setoff to return to Auckland and the final leg of our brief NZ journey and our expedition as a whole! With the campervan checked in we managed to squeeze our growing possessions into a mixture of our luggage and plastic bags... another shopping excursion to find a wheelie bag ensued once back in town. Having so enjoyed our evening meal down at Viaduct harbour on the previous occasion, it made sense to return for our last diner of the expedition - wow, what a thought. All the places we've eaten and all the flavours we've savoured, we had high expectations and the meal didn't disappoint, a portion of HUGH green lipped mussels for starters followed by a rib-eye and tuna steak, all washed down with our favourite bottle of Sav Blanc - divine!

With our flights back to Sydney not until the afternoon, we had one more adventure in mind to fill the morning... sailing on an America's Cup boat NZL 40, quite apt in the 'City of Sails'. The America's Cup is the world's oldest and most prestigious yachting regatta. Usually the domain of billionaires and elite professional yachties, NZL 40 was built for the 1995 America's Cup but now offers the unique opportunity for everyone to participate sailing on these grand prix racing machines. Us punters simply become the crew and were eagerly encouraged to exert energy on the grinders to help winch or lower the sails, or the more sedate job of taking the helm and steering the boat down Auckland Harbour. We had great weather for it, a nice sunny day with moderate winds that got the boat racing at over 10 knots.

Once back on terra firma, we counted down time having lunch at the harbour, before finally returning to the hotel to pick up our baggage and catch a taxi to the airport... the time had finally arrived... after 28 countries, 93,550 km's and 615 days our adventure of a lifetime was coming to an end and the start of a new life in Australia was waiting for us back in Sydney, where that path is likely to take us, no one knows... but one thing is for sure we are both richer, stronger and wiser after our incredible journey!

Having enjoyed our subterranean experience so much the previous day, we'd eagerly booked up for another excursion this time with The Legendary Black Water Rafting Co. We decided to really go for it with the 5 hour Black Abyss Tour... a 37m abseil into the cave, black water tubing, glow worm action, flying fox, waterfalls and lots of cold water

To start the day off more sedately however we took a drive to Marokopa Waterfall which is a beautiful sight and only a short drive from Waitomo. After negotiating numerous drops upstream, the river makes its final plug of 36m, onto jagged rocks below. In a reckless, broken fashion it pours down, boiling and seething around boulders at the bottom, lifting large amounts of fine spray into the air. With rain still in the air and all the spray, it was a good excuse to christen our new rainproofs! On the drive back we stopped off to have a quick look at yet another natural bridge, an eroded feature of this limestone landscape which is run through with caves and tunnels.

Once back in Waitomo, we lined up to receive more soggy wetsuits, fetching white lace up gum boots and a lid for you nut... once again Maz's pin head was too small so she ended up with a child's size helmet! We then got strapped in to our harnesses, received a quick brief and we were ready to clamber into the minibus for more underground fun. At the cave entrance we received some training on the use of the abseiling rack, but by now we considered ourselves somewhat of a professional! Above the shaft which was to be our entrance to the cave, we waited in turn as one by one we were strapped onto the rope and took a leap of faith down the shaft.

Looking down you could see the shaft quickly narrow to a mere crack in the ground, so you didn't actually get a feeling of height. However as you neared the gap in the earth, you soon realised that it was going to be quite a squeeze as you positioned yourself to slip through the slot with the rock right against your face for about 5m before you then dropped out into the total blackness of the cavern. Pretty exhilarating stuff! You slowly descend without a clue how far you're going as all the others below have turned off their lights. Suddenly one of the guides talks right beside you, which makes you jump completely out of your skin as you had no idea that they were there. All good fun!

We were then led through the tunnels before our next adrenaline fix... the flying fox. Again you do it one by one and once you are hooked on, all lights are turned off as you launch yourself into the darkness, but this time it's like zooming through the Milkyway as you marvel at the many glow worms sparkling around you... quite something. After a quick hot drink and a huge slab of flapjack snack as we sat with our legs dangling over the edge of the bank to the water, it was time for the worst bit... and this time I was volunteered to go first! With a tube firmly stuck to your behind, it was a huge leap of faith as you plummet a good 3m, then splash down, landing smack on your behind in the refreshingly cold water! We had half wondered whilst we nibbled on our snack how we were going to get to the water!

Now it was time to link up and float along the water and admire the natural show going on above and all around. They are really beautiful with their small eerie green glow twinkling in the complete blackness. With the float over it was now time to traipse along the water filled passages being careful not to disappear in deep water filled holes which you only found when you stepped in and submerged! Of course what goes underground must come out, so now we followed the water upstream to a tight tunnel to squeeze under before emerging in a small cave at the base of a waterfall which cascaded down over us. The only way out was to climb the waterfall, so up we clambered, before negotiating one last bit of tunnel and a final smaller waterfall and we were out... a fantastic trip..!

Although cold after our troglodyte experience, the small hike back to the minibus in full wetsuit soon had us all puffing and panting and by the time we were back at the shop we were glad to be able to open the door and get some fresh air into our lungs! A much needed shower and some hot soup with bagels had us feeling human again, but with time ticking on, we decided to just have an easy evening and return to our previous night's car park camp spot to relax and savour some more of the great NZ wines

After a great time at Waitomo, it was time to head onwards. We'd already decided not to spread ourselves too thinly, preferring to enjoy a few areas of NZ in the time we had rather than say a 12 day whistle stop tour of both North and South Island which some backpacker embark on with the Magic Bus! Once everything was packed away in the camper, we made tracks toward Lake Taupo.

The lake lies in a caldera created following a huge volcanic eruption approximately 26,500 years ago. According to geological records, the volcano has erupted 28 times in the last 27,000 years. The largest eruption, known as the Oruanui eruption, ejected an estimated 1170 cubic kilometres of material and caused several hundred square kilometres of surrounding land to collapse and form the caldera! Lake Taupo subsequently has a perimeter of approximately 193 kilometres, the deepest point of 186 metres and a surface area of 616 square kilometres. The largest lake by surface area in the country, it is fed by a number of main tributaries, however only the Waikato River drains away from the lake.

This is where we made a beeline for, as it is along the Waikato River that you can ride the fantastic Huka Falls Jet. Once all decked out in our waterproof smocks, we clambered aboard the jet boat and settled in for a thrilling ride. At speeds approaching 80 kph the boat rockets along the river, sliding past cliffs and overhanging trees before doing complete 360 degree spins, covering us all in water and fixing a permanent smile on everyone's face! As we zoomed up and down the river, the jet boat allows you to approach the impressive Hukka Falls, literally the plug to Lake Taupo. Being the only exit for all that water, it tears down the narrow cliff walls before cascading down the falls in a swirling frothy turbulent eruption in which the jet boat skims through. They say that there is so much air in this run-off that there's not enough buoyancy to support the jet boat if it were to stop. You could hear the jet suffering as it sucked in air rather than water and the boat dramatically stalled, but remarkably pulled through unscathed!

With our adrenaline slowly subsiding we headed into town to find out what other action packed attractions we could sign up for! One thing that we definitely wanted to attempt was the Tongariro crossing, widely regarded as the best one day trek in New Zealand. Although the sun was shining this end of the lake, the tourist centre advised that the weather wasn't so favourable at the Tongariro National Park just the other end of the lake and furthermore the forecast wasn't so promising for the next day either. Weather is the one thing they strongly advise must be appropriate for completing the crossing and paint a rather grim picture of what might go wrong for the unprepared hikers caught on the mountain when the weather quickly changes. Seeing as though all our 'trekking' kit was safely stowed away in Tinfish back in Sydney, we thought we might just be the sort of unprepared rambler they were referring too! We decided another plan was needed for tomorrow, the crossing could wait another day.

Being quite close to Rotorua the infamous geothermal centre of New Zealand, we decided to head north a bit and spend the following morning exploring Wai-O-Tapu which translates as 'Sacred Waters'. We found a suitable camp spot by the mud pools... In 1925 New Zealand's largest mud volcano was eroded by heavy rain, the mud pool now occupying the site provides one of the best opportunities to experience the unique character and sounds of erupting mud. It is an ever active and changing landscape and with the heavy rain we'd been experiencing of recent it had transformed the pools into a more fluid bubbling, splattering mud pit. It definitely gave a different sound to listen to as you drifted off to sleep between the splops!

One of the features not to be missed is Lady Knox Geyser (not Geezer!) According to the leaflet it erupts at 10am sharp daily. Now I'd heard of geysers being regular like clockwork, so I got a bit confused when I suddenly realised the clocks had only just gone back an hour... how did the geyser know? Just to be sure I checked in early at the reception to confirm and the show did indeed start at 10am. As the time approached the coaches of tourists arrived and we were all herded into the arena. On stage was a white mound and as it neared 10am one of the staff members came on and stood by the geyser. He then started to explain how the geyser was discovered and it suddenly became clear how the geyser was so punctual... they drop a bar of biodegradable soap down the spout! Within minutes there are soapy bubbles seeping from the spout and then all of a sudden... there she blows!! The water shot up a good 15-20m and continued to spout and blow for a long while.

It was discovered in 1901 when the first open prison in New Zealand was established at Wai-O-Tapu, its objective was to accommodate some of the better behaved prisoners from around the jails of the Rotorua Lakes District. As an experiment, under the guidance of forestry experts, these prisoners were required to clear the light bush and scrub from the area and plant trees. It was a gang of those prisoners who first discovered the clearing in which the geyser is situated and that the bubbling hot water spring could be made to erupt by adding soap. A fact discovered when they first used the hot water to clean their clothes in, which must have come as quite a shock as there clothes were dispersed about the clearing by the eruption! Rocks were subsequently placed around the base of the spring to enhance the eruption and over the years silica from the eruptions has built up to give a white cone shaped appearance.

We then went for a stroll around the Wai-O-Tapu thermal wonderland which takes you on a walk around the spectacular champagne pool, geysers, bubbling mud, steaming ground, expansive vistas, huge volcanic craters and sinter terrace formations all in the warm eggy smelling air. With many different geothermal features of various colours, smells and all disgorging gases from deep below the earth's crust, the champagne pool is the most colourful and spectacular. It covers an area of about 3000 square meters and occupies a 700 year old explosion crater. The name comes from the fact that the water is Champagne coloured and bubbles as carbon dioxide is discharged into the pool. The surface water temperature of 74C generates a hot steam that adds atmosphere to the walk around the pool's side. Among the many minerals being deposited in the rock that surrounds the pool are antiimony, mercury, thallium, gold and silver.

With the scenery changing as you explore the park, it is a good way to see a little of the way the earth used to be like all those millions of years ago. With a bit of a pace to keep, we wanted to get back to Taupo in time to find and buy a little rucksack as we needed something to carry all our kit in over the Tongariro crossing. Of course it was now a Sunday, but we were hoping that with Taupo being a holiday town, places would still be open for at least part of the day. On arriving at town it appeared the weather was indeed looking better for the following day and fortunately a camping shop was open. We tried a small backpack, but Maz wasn't too keen on it as it rubbed into her neck.

We decided we'd have a quick look around town to see if there was anything else, so asked the shop assistant when they were closing... "I'm not sure", so we tried the boss... "I don't know four or half past I guess". They obviously didn't wish to commit so we set off for a look around town. Another backpack we found didn't quite meet our approval, so we hot footed it back to the first shop, bumping into a couple of guys we met whilst tubing in Wiatomo.

Not wanting to seem rude we suggested if they weren't busy we'd meet them for a coffee in a few minutes and quickly explained our backpack issue. 300m down the street we bumped into yet another chap who we'd met in Waitomo! Quickly we said hi & bye without being too rude and eventually got to the shop just gone half three to find it closed! Fortunately they were still inside so we tapped on the glass. This time we tried the pack loaded up and Maz yet again gave it the thumbs down... she preferred the one in the other shop! Thanking them for opening again for us we went back across town and just as we were about to make a decision I found another day pack tucked away... it fit both of us and seemed perfect - result! We got back to the coffee shop long after the guys had finished their first coffee!

We chatted until the coffee shop threw us out then gave the guys a lift back to their campsite. We hadn't eaten yet, so decided on a bite to eat before trying out the public showers, shopping for the next few days and then driving down to the National Park. With laptop power issues, we stayed in the restaurant until the battery was fully charged then popped across the road to find the showers shut 10mins ago! Not being in our little Tinfish, the camper didn't have all the bells and whistles such as a hot shower, and we'd not had the pleasure since our last tubing exploit! We definitely weren't looking pretty! I grumbled all around the supermarket and then we set off for Tongariro National Park, a good few hours drive from Taupo.

On the way round the lake I screeched to a halt as we passed a campsite and spotted the toilet block accessible without having to pass through reception. We parked the camper up subtly and armed with a bag of shower kit and clothes snuck towards the showers only to find the doors looked - curses! In the last big town we drove through I caught sight of signs for a truck stop, so drove in tentatively for a recce. Bingo - showers, or at least one shower in the gents toilets. Human again and I stood guard for Maz whilst she freshened up.

Our camp for the night was the car park at Whakapapa where the shuttle bus to the trek starting point departed from. With 3 buses leaving in the morning starting on the hour from 7am, we thought we'd get the 8am bus, so being camped right at the bus stop would allow for those precious few extra minutes of sleep. Up at 1150m we immediately noticed the distinct drop in temperature and Maz once again began to fret that she didn't have the right outfit for trekking being specifically concerned that she didn't have a pair of the recommended waterproof trousers! Okay so we've not done masses of trekking in our time, but we have stretched our legs occasionally and we managed to survive without head to toe oilskins... regardless Maz spent the time stuffing as many layers (mainly my T-shirts) into the new backpack. After all only one of her tops wasn't sleeveless, so she might have had a point and she actually embraced my joking suggestion to take socks as gloves... one thing was for sure we'd look a right couple of idiots!

Of course there was a more serious concern, basically Maz's hiking boot had parted company with its sole only two days ago, so faced with the choice of finding a new pair and wearing them in on the crossing, we opted instead for the tube of glue! Having tested them around the car park, we were optimist they'd hold, after all it's only 17km! The Tongariro National Park is rich in cultural identity, it has dramatic scenery and unique land forms which combines to make the Tongariro Crossing a world-renowned trek. Tongariro still smokes, the ancestral fires still burn and the land lives on. Tongariro, Ngauruhoe and Ruapehu have all erupted in recent times, their highly explosive nature and the high density of volcanic vents makes the landscape unique.

The crossing spans the length of Mt Tongariro (17 Kilometres) and takes about 7-9 hours. You start from the Mangatepopo Valley and walk over towards the Ketetahi road end as this minimises the climbing involved, but you need to be prepared for an intense 4 hour down hill stretch... absolute murder on the knees! Bleary eyed and wrapped in all our clothes we poked our heads out of the camper and shivered in the early morning light. Backpacks loaded with enough nibbles to survive a week and padded out with excess T-shirts we boarded the bus for the short ride to the car park. Rumours abound that they can't guarantee the safety of any cars from theft which are left at the start of the hike, which we think was just the word sent out by the bus company to tout for business!

The first section is quite easy as you leave the Mangatepopo Car Park at 1150m and head for Soda Springs. Although we didn't have more than a brochure as our map, we needn't have worried about getting lost as you simply follow the constant stream of ramblers... and there were hundreds of them, including 2 school trips who loved the sound of their own voices! The main track continues up the valley following the Mangatepopo stream and around the edge of old lava flows and with the sun poking out from behind the clouds it looked spectacular. As you looked up the valley the dominant perfectly coned shaped mass of Mount Ngauruhoe stood imposing, specifically since its recent role as Mount Doom in the Lord of the Rings trilogy.

Now the pace picks up as you do the first and worst steep ascent from Soda Springs to South Crater known affectionately as the 'Devil's Staircase!'. You have to take care as you are walking over layers of ancient and modern lava flows and other volcanic debits so the track surface is not smooth. Of course it was here that the sole started to separate once more from maz's boot! Not the best terrain to have a flapping shoe! Normally we'd have access to all sorts of tape and stuff to affix a repair, but not this time! Racking my brain for a solution, I used the pull cord from the new backpack and lashed up her boot, a trick that I'd need to repeat about every ten minutes... but there was no turning back now! Mount Ngauruhoe looked ominous with a halo of cloud and if time and foot wear permit you can climb the very steep and very difficult scree up to the crater - another time perhaps!

From South Crater to the Red Crater starts easily as you stroll across the actual crater surface, still steaming in the cooler air and adding plenty of atmosphere to the walk. At the far edge of the crater there's a slightly easier ascent which hop along managed quite successfully. On reaching the high ground the views are simply superb, but it is nothing for what waits in store. Edging closer you finally get to the lip of the Red Crater and what a mind blowing collection of shapes and colours with steam issuing from cracks. Although exposed on the ridge, you simply can't tear yourself away from the view.

The main track then continues around Red Crater where you get to the highest point of the trek at 1886m. From here you have spectacular views over the Oturere Valley, Rangipo Desert, Kaimanawa Ranges and down to the mesmerising emerald lakes. Care is required with the descent from Red Crater, as this part of the track is steep and you are on loose scoria which moves under foot and you end up 'skating' down the slope. On your left you see an old lava flow from Red Crater spreading out across the floor of central crater whereas to the right are the Emerald Lakes which get their colour from the minerals which are leached out from the surrounding rock. All about you is the sulphurous smell leaked from the steam vents above the lake.

Carrying on to the Blue Lake, a cold acidic lake, you suddenly realise just how barren a landscape it is, specifically when your bladder kindly reminds you that it's not been emptied for awhile... there is nowhere to hide! After the Blue Lake it's pretty much all downhill from here. Holding up the rear guard, we got chatting to a couple that had also been kipping in the car park and taken the same bus as us. We laughed about Maz's shoe predicament, when Kate enquired what shoe size she was. Remarkably they had a spare pair of trainers in exactly her size! So with one hiking boot and one white trainer we set off on the killer zigzag downhill stretch all the way down to Ketetahi car park, pusing briefly now and again to admire the views of Mt Pihanga and Lake Rotoaira over to Lake Taupo.

By the time we got down, we were exhausted, ached but immensely satisfied that we'd completed the crossing and still had 45mins left before the last bus took us all the way back to Whakapapa. Having been tipped off that it was easy to sneak into the local campsite for showers, more appealing however was the local bar and a rewarding beer.

Kate and Graham joined us and the conversation flowed as the beer filled the glasses as we sat listening to continual 80's pop blaring out on 80's mtv... Wham, Genesis, Tears for Fears, etc etc, there was no end of it. What did they listen to before the 80's..?? Soon all thoughts of showers were forgotten and attention turned to fud! As we had an indoors (they were living in a converted car) all were invited round to our pad and we rustled up a hotch potch feed whilst we quaffed chateau d'cardboard.

Tired and satisfied it was soon time for bed so we said goodnight to Graham and Kate then crashed into a deep slumber knowing that the next day would bare the pains of our endeavour with no doubt stiff and aching limbs.

We arrived at the airport in plenty of time for the flight and after a quick queue were checking our bags in. After handing our passports over to the check in clerk, they asked for details of our return flight. Explaining that we didn't know how long we were going for, we only bought a one way ticket and would purchase the return flight once we had received our new visas. The frown of the clerk said it all....."well I'm afraid you won't be allowed into New Zealand if you don't have a return flight booked. Good job you came early, you can go over to the sales desk and buy a ticket then come back to book yourselves in for the flight."

We wandered over to the Qantas sales desk and asked a lady for price and availability of a fully flexible return flight for a couple of weeks time. If you're a Little Britain fan, then you'll be able to picture the sketch when a visit is made to the travel agent. We asked the lady for any random flight that would meet the immigration requirement. She frantically clicked on the keys of the computer, looking deeply uninterested at the screen, then turned to us with a blank expression and said 'sorry no availability', or the Little Britain translation...."computer says naaa"! As this charade continued for a number of iterations, Alex got bored and wandered over to the free internet kiosk to quickly find an alternative... Air New Zealand.

So with time ticking, we then ventured over to Air New Zealand and managed to get a fully flexible ticket which would incur no costs if we so happened to cancel it at a later date. Perfect. We returned to have another go at checking in for our flight, and were soon in the queue for customs and immigration. Having not had a confirmation email from immigration about the change in passport number for me, we wanted to give ourselves plenty of time just in case there were any more problems. Let's face it; it hadn't been the smoothest run so far. Thankfully it wasn't a problem, and after showing both my new and old passport which had the visa in we were stamped out of the country.

Still with over an hour to kill before boarding we entertained ourselves around duty free. Alex got a little carried away and decided that now he was a working boy (nearly) he deserved some aftershave and bought some of his favourite smelly stuff. I have to admit that is one thing that I have missed while being on the road - smelling nice! Time flew by and before we knew it we were on the plane having a glass of wine. We landed late in Auckland and didn't get to our hotel until midnight, literally just falling into a slumber as soon as we hit the bed.

After a bit of a lazy morning, we walked into the city. The first thing that struck me was how quiet it was. With the total population of New Zealand being less than that of just Sydney it's not really surprising. I also had to remind myself which country I was in, as the streets are filled with Japanese. We began with a walk down to the viaduct, where lots of sailing boats were moored. After a lovely brunch, lapping up the sun and bustling atmosphere about the quay, we walked round to the tourist information and picked up a million leaflets to try and plan for the next couple of uncertain weeks ahead of us. Completely unsure of how long we would be staying in New Zealand, we decided to rent a camper van to minimise costs, but as it was all last minute, there was nothing available until the following Wednesday. We booked it anyway and hired a car for the first few days as we had to get down to Hamilton for Alex to attend a two day meeting.

Having spied a few nice restaurants earlier in the day, we tarted ourselves up for the evening and returned to the viaduct. The V Grill was our destination and the specials just sounded irresistible; tuna steaks and lamb shanks. We ordered one of each, washed down with a fab bottle of New Zealand's home made juice, when in Rome... Bursting at the seams, we somehow managed to also share a cheesecake, although afterwards we regretted it slightly as we waddled home and lay groaning on our bed clutching our stomachs!

Having slept poorly through the night, (probably too much good fud in my tummy) we had another slow morning. After packing up our stuff, we decided to go up the Sky Tower. At 328 metres Sky Tower is the tallest tower in the Southern Hemisphere, offering breath-taking views for more than 80 kilometres in every direction. I hate heights and I know my phobia is getting worse. The lift had a glass bottom, and as we sped up the floors, metre by metre, the feeling of anxiety welled up like a coiled snake in the pit of my stomach. However, it was well worth it as the views of the city were fantastic. High rises of the city in the foreground with the rolling green hills and volcanoes in the distance.

As we got to the viewing area, lots of people were peering in one area and then suddenly a body appeared outside the glass, dangling like a puppet on string - the infamous Sky Tower jump. Some weird people think it's fun to leap off the top of the tower from 192m (630ft) high falling for approximately 16 seconds at around 75-80kph. They're attached by a wire and our lowered in a 'controlled' manner, rather than bouncing up and down once you've jumped like a bungy. There was also the compulsory section of glass floor so you could walk over it and get the heeby jeebies as you looked all the way down to the ground below.

It was soon time to pick up the car (not soon enough for me after walking over the glass) and make our way down to Hamilton. It's not far so it only took a couple of hours, but the drive itself was lovely. Green rolling hills from as soon as we left the city. Having not been back to England for a very long time, it was a great reminder of home and made me feel a tad home sick. Surprisingly there were more cows about than sheep!

We had a recce to see where Alex was supposed to be for the meeting tomorrow then stayed local to eat. An early night ensued for the boy to get his beauty sleep ready for the next morning. I drove him to his meeting so I had the freedom of the car if I so needed it, but as it was I spent the whole day locked in the room writing another diary. A phone call in the afternoon delivered the news that Alex was in fact dining out on a river cruise, but chauffeur was needed to pick him up at 5pm so he could get himself ready. "I'll only have a couple of drinks" were his last words to me before he left and I ventured into town to get myself a Thai for dinner. Watching a bit of TV, a little drunken Alex stumbled back from his night out about 10pm, his excuse being that no one was drinking the white wine and therefore he had a duty to do!

Feeling a little groggy the next morning, I drove him to the meeting again and then finished pottering myself until meeting up for lunch in Hamilton gardens where Alex's meeting was being held. The day was sunny and warm and as we ate our Subway sarnies, we sat in a traditional English garden admiring the views. We then had a walk around the rest of the gardens, typical Italian, Indian, Japanese and Chinese, all sculptured to look how they used to dating back to the 19th century. We decided to stay in Hamilton one more night, so found ourselves another motel nearer town. It had free wireless, but only if you sat outside in a particular spot 10 metres from our room in the rain!

Having had continuous discussions about different possibilities of how long we'd stay in New Zealand before reconsidering going to back to the UK if our visas were going to take longer than 3-4 weeks, Alex shouted something at me, but as he was outside I couldn't hear him. He came rushing in, bleating something about visas. After telling him to slow down and repeat himself as I couldn't understand him when he was acting like an overexcited school child, he finally told me that our visas had been approved!! I actually had to ask him to repeat himself twice more as I didn't believe him, but sure enough, the email had come through to say we had been issued our 457 visa.....That must be a record, as it only took 1 and a half days! Incredible. Not really worth giving ourselves an ulcer over all the worry. It was now time to celebrate, so we ventured out for dinner.

With the visas being approved so promptly, IBM were obviously extremely keen to get Alex on board as quickly as possible changing his start date to the following Monday. However, as we'd already booked the camper van, we politely told them we would be in New Zealand for another week for a holiday otherwise we'd loose the money on it. It was beginning to work itself out rather nicely, as we now had visas, work would start for us both after the Easter holidays and then finally we would actually have an income again after 20 months!! It was definitely time for a holiday. Probably our last one for a while, so we might as well make the most of New Zealand.

We had to return to Auckland to pick up the campervan and return the hire car. It was strange picking up the camper, so different to our life with Tinfish. The weather was changing though and we realised that it was nice to have a roof over our heads while it was raining. We carried out the obligatory checks round the vehicle and then we were allowed to take our new home for the next 11 days. After realising that we didn't have any waterproofs with us (forgotten in the rush, along with all other useful items) we had an impromptu shopping spree at an outdoors shop closing down sale. It was late by the time we left the city and headed south again. Other items that we'd left behind, were all the 12volt chargers, making it very difficult for us to recharge any of our batteries as they quickly died from our constant use - the biggest pain being the laptop. Our battery only survives about an hour and a half, and this was probably the first time we had more of a chance to catch up with our stories, cramming an hour or so's writing in every so often, isn't conducive to turning out work quickly.

We ended driving in the dark towards Waitomo caves which was to be our first stop of the holiday. Scanning the route for possible stop offs to sleep, we had to re-evaluate our normal camps, as Tinfish could obviously go places our little camper only dreamed of! We ended up parking down a lane near a farm. It was all very novel as we cooked up tea on the gas stove, staying dry from the downpour outside.

The next day we arrived at Waitomo Caves ready for some black water thrills. We booked in with Caveworld for the midday action and went to have a wander round the museum to learn all about the area.

The common feature to this area is the glow worms. The New Zealand glow-worm is probably one of the most interesting insects of the New Zealand fauna. It occurs throughout the country in limestone caves, unused mining tunnels, along stream banks, in damp bush-clad ravines, in damp shady crevices, and under tree-fern fronds in rain forests. The caves in Waitomo have become world famous because of the tens of thousands of glow-worm larvae which live on the walls, ceilings, and stalactites of the grottos.

The New Zealand glow worm is a fly belonging to the gnat family in it's maggot stage, but 'glow maggot' didn't market very well, so New Zealand decided to call them worms to bring in more tourists! The larvae, pupae, and adults of both sexes are all luminous. In the larval stage the light attracts prey in the form of other organisms, while in the pupal and adult stages the light attracts the opposite sex.

The larva prepares a nest in the form of a tunnel of mucous and silk, and suspends from this an array of fishing lines composed of the same materials. Prey is snared in the long sticky fishing lines. The larva hauls up the fishing line on which the prey is entangled and consumes the trapped insect. Up to 70 lines are let down by one larva and, depending on the size of the larva, the lines vary in length from under 1 cm to 50 cm. Each fishing line consists of a long thread of silk which bears at regular intervals a series of mucous droplets giving the appearance of a string of beads. The life cycle appears to take 11-12 months, with the larval stage lasting eight or nine months. It's at only this time in it's life that it actually eats and the adult fly has no mouth, it's sole purpose to simply reproduce!

To increase excitement to seeing these creatures, we decided to add water to the recipe and go black water rafting. Our afternoon adventure was to be held in 'Te Anaroa Cave'. We all met at the office and were taken to don damp wetsuits, booties and helmets ready for the cave. After a quick drive, we were walking up a hill with a big black rubber ring looking rather sexy in our outfits. We were soon at the mouth of the cave and our 2 guides were giving us the low down of the journey we were about to embark on.

We began to walk deeper in to the cave admiring the stalactite and stalagmites as we passed them. We then got to the water. Now black water rafting conjures up many a thought of rapids in the night blackness of a cave, but really it's anything but. Our tubes were for floating on, as we drifted down the cave river but before we could do that we had to get into the water. Rather than just walk down the ladder, it was decided that it would be much more fun if we squeezed our bums into the hole of the rubber ring and fall backwards into the water in a sitting position. Great idea until I saw how high the drop was! It was fun and once we'd all dropped from the top of the 5m wall (OK maybe that is a slight exaggeration, but only slight mind) we all linked up, by grabbing the person behinds feet and put them under our arms. We were then told to turn off our head torches.

We were pulled by one of the guides through the corridors of darkness, fascinated by the glow worms on the roof of the cave like blue stars sparkling in the night. It was an incredible sight. The two guides sang a Maori song which echoed as we floated along. In the blackness, the corridors seemed to go on forever as we drifted and walked in the water. It was great fun and we were underground for about an hour and a half before seeing daylight again as we scrambled up the rocks.

Returning for hot showers and soup to warm us up again, we returned to talk to Kyle, the owner of Caveworld enthusing about how much fun we'd had. Lots of different tours are run, but as we were chatting, he suggested that we may enjoy the night abseil as you get to see the glow worms very clearly close up. We were easily persuaded and we signed up on the dot. We returned a couple of hours later plugging in our laptop to recharge it by the mains while we were out enjoying ourselves. We were met by our guide and were taken to where we begin the abseil. It was just beginning to get dark, obviously the perfect time to do a night abseil!

The plan was to do the first at dusk and then the second once the sun had gone down. We ended up running a little behind schedule so we started the first as almost all light had gone. Now, hovering over a 150 foot drop attached by a bit of rope was much more pleasant for me in the dark as I couldn't see how far below it was and get the heeby jeebies again with my fear of heights. After a quick reminder of what we were supposed to do, we began to descend.

Our instructor had attached himself to us so we couldn't fall too far if we faltered, but as we were age old pros at this we were totally in control. As we lowered ourselves further we were literally abseiling amongst a galaxy of stars. We were surrounded by glow worms as we abseiled into the "Baby Grand". It was a totally unique experience and definitely the ultimate way to see the glow worms. As we reached the end of the rope, we walked along the bottom to the ladder we had to climb to get out of the miniature chasm we'd just descended down. Now this part of the trip that I was really pleased was in the dark - ladders as steep as a high rise, completely vertical with about a million steps to get us out. I would have completely freaked if I'd have to do it in daylight. It was definitely a pulse racing climb, but once at the top, we were eager to drop down the line again. This time we went slower to take in the spectacular display in front of us. It truly was amazing.

On a real high from the night's experience, we drove to a car park down the road which had been recommended by Kyle. There was also a glow worm walk which we'd been told was good to do at night so you could see them on the walls of the cliffs. We set off for our walk and followed the path, but after the night we'd already had nothing was going to compare. We returned to the van to prepare tea and sample yet another delightful Kiwi wine, rejuvenating ourselves for tomorrow's adrenaline pumped day.

After asking directions only once from a lady with a street map, we found the new posh pado pad in no time at all. Chrissie and Trish were waiting for us with a bottle of bubbly in the fridge already cooling. As with cities all round the world once you find yourself in the CBD parking is near impossible, you may find one of these precious spaces big enough to squeeze in a Cinquecento, but finding an area big enough for our larger than life Tinfish is another challenge altogether. This afternoon we were lucky as we'd beaten the locals' home from work.

We parked right outside Chrissie's townhouse and spent the first hour or so lugging some of our gear out of the car. Their open plan hallway was soon filling with our crap. Seeing the astonished faces of Chrissie and Trish looking at all our boxes, bags and loose gear I tried to pamper their concerns by saying we'd have it all moved by the next day, but their stunned silence was due to the fact we'd actually managed to fit it all in the car in the first place!

The weekend had officially started and we opened the bottle of bubbly and toasted Tinfish and our completed expedition. The girls had kindly said we could stay with them till we got ourselves sorted with jobs and appropriate visas. We dolled ourselves up to go and have a night on the town - well Chrissie and Trisha did, Alex and I changed to clean clothes - and we put out to sample the Paddington nightlife. A drink or two first was in order among the Paddington partygoers where we met a few interesting characters. Then after many indecisions of where to dine, we decided to go upstairs and eat in the pub's restaurant. The food was excellent with a mixture of fish, seafood and meat dishes being placed in front of us.

Back down into the main throng of activity we partied into the night. One guy that we'd met earlier was now a few drinks further down the line and was happily introducing himself too all around saying he was a trained 'Tantric Master'. He came to talk to Alex and I and said that he "felt a lot of love" round us and told us we should get together! He then told us that he fancied us both (Alex was beginning to back away at this point) and the following topic of conversation that he began to raise probably got a little bit too explicit for me to write any further! We soon introduced him to Chrissie - she was single after all! It made for a fun night and lots of stories to chuckle at days afterwards.

Saturday we were good to our word and by the time the girls had returned from brunch we had cleared all our stuff away into our bedroom and every other nook and cranny around the house we could find that wasn't being utilised. We then ventured round the shops and markets on Oxford Street before exploring Centennial Gardens where we thought we might get a glimpse of a famous Aussie actor taking a walk. Trish had some friends over for the evening to show off the new townhouse, so we had another great night of being wined and dined. Trish cooked up a fantastic dish of prawns in a white mushroom sauce with angel hair pasta. It was delicious and went down a treat with all. A lie in the following morning, we tried to catch up on admin and had a lazy day.

Monday took the girls back to work, but it wasn't all rest for us. I had a busy week planned job hunting and by now had 4 interviews lined up to impress different companies with my knowledge, experience and wisdom of years in the pharmaceutical industry... well, I had a good few stories from the road! As Mr. Towns had already secured his path of gold back into the workforce, his job for the week was to chauffeur me to my interviews. After a quick hair cut to make me presentable, by mid week I was 2 down and had a rest day before torturing myself with 2 on Friday.

So, what best to do before getting that brain working again to impress for success, than meet an old long lost friend whom I'd not seen in 9 nine years for a few drinks... A friend from school whom I'd lost contact with until after leaving England, she came across our website and emailed to say 'hello'. Coincidentally, she was moving to Australia with her boyfriend in February this year so we decided it would be a great idea to reacquaint ourselves. Now she protests that she simply followed her beau over here as he was relocating, but I know she just thought she'd go down a right treat with the locals, after all she is called... SHEILA! Having landed herself a job before arriving in Australia, she'd cleverly contrived herself a 6 week break before beginning her new job in the city... we were all free birds flocking together!

The time was set and what a better place to meet than the infamous Bondi Beach. We met Sheila and her friend Claire and went for a drink in one of the local open air cafes. Alex and I had presumed a coffee (innocent as we are), but it was soon decided that wine would go down a treat; "One bottle of your finest white my man". One turned into two and then a huge black cloud appeared over the horizon so we decided it was best to head for cover and ventured round the corner to the Iceberg Bar. One more bottle was ordered and Stuart, the beau, joined us 'happy folk' as he'd just finished work. After maybe one more (there were 5 people now after all and Stuart was playing catch up) we decided it would probably be wise to get some grub.

There are many bars and restaurants to choose from along the Bondi beach, but our decisions were made purely on how close things were to us at this particular point in time. We stumbled on an Italian restaurant that looked pretty nice and asked for a table for 5. I nipped off to the loo and by the time I'd returned, everyone was leaving the restaurant. A little confused, (we were all hungry and I couldn't understand why everyone had changed their minds) Alex said that we'd been asked if we'd been drinking. Confused, Alex told the waiter that yes, we'd had a glass or two (I'd like to point out we were in no way outrageous at this point... moi?) and the waiter calmly replied that he would be able to serve us food but as we'd already had something to drink, he would not be able to serve us any alcohol... hence the stampede out of the joint!

Thankfully, we found an even better place next door that not only served us more wine, we ate the most divine food. After a sumptuous feast, Sheila presented us with a 'travel ten' card which is a prepaid travel ticket that allows us to take advantage of the pre paid buses which operate within the city, basically a 'get home quick' card. We were in bed by 11pm! Unfortunately for me, I had two interviews the next day (I swear I was pacing myself) and my head felt a little groggy the next morning. A strong coffee and glass of water the following morning and I felt as good as new. The two interviews went well and no sooner had I been ticking them off my list, next interviews were being asked for... I already had my second week in Sydney planned with 4 second interviews.

Incidentally, my fourth and final interview of the week was with Chrissie's company (with Chrissie and her boss doing the interviewing), so it worked out well when I needed a lift home! That Friday feeling was lingering and Chrissie and I went out to buy a couple of bottles of wine to accompany us for the night, but got a little waylaid and decided that maybe we should sample the goods first... we returned home an hour later than expected. A quiet but maybe inebriated night followed. A lazy Saturday followed with another few drinks in the evening to familiarise ourselves once again with Paddington.

It was now half past the weekend and with only 1 day left to enjoy before Chrissie had to go back to work, we decided a day at the beach was in order. We met up with James and Lucy who we know from back home and took to the shores. Alex had been moaning and bitching all morning about how cold the water was and that he needed a wetsuit before venturing into the ice tipped waves of the northern beaches, but nothing was holding everyone else back. Deciding I was going to brave it, Lucy, Chrissie and I left Alex and James chatting on the beach and went for a splash. It was bloody cold, but once I got my breath back it was rather refreshing. Shouting to Alex to come in, they eventually came over. James rushed into the water leaving Alex dipping his big toe in the shallows reminding me of Mr. Bean's adventures at the seaside and that was just the speedos over the brown suit.

After a few minutes, James went to get the boogie boards so we could all have a play. I have found my new water sport when I can't go diving! It was loads of fun and we frolicked in the water for hours... in fact the moaning Mr. Towns was the last one out! As like all of our outings we spent the majority of our time in the midday sun. By 3pm we were all feeling it a bit so decided to grab some lunch. A cafe over the road did the most delicious looking burgers so we headed directly for them. After securing a table overlooking the sea, we ordered our food and shakes. Not sure if the waiter was new to the place or just a little slow/stoned, as he managed to mess up our drinks order in the most spectacular way and then seem surprised when we sent them back and asked for the correct ones! By the time we'd finished eating the sun was definitely over the yard arm and James suggested we go for a drink at the yacht club they're members at.

Sipping wine on the man made beach outside the yacht club overlooking millions of dollars worth of boats was very relaxing. Needing to keep some sort of excitement in our lives once we settle into the routine of being house trained again, Alex and I quite like the idea of learning to sail... maybe we can return home by sea! Another couple of bottles seemed to slip nicely down our throats before we decided that it was time to go home, after all Ugly Betty and Greys Anatomy were on TV tonight! Seeing Chrissie prepare for the week ahead, I began to get that Sunday night feeling, a feeling I'd not had in a very long time! I guess it was due to the fact that it wouldn't be long before I'd be in the same position and the dust and freedom of the road is a distant memory.

Our second week in Sydney was surprisingly very much like the first. Alex was again my chauffeur and I'd managed to organise my interviews over Tuesday and Wednesday to get them over and done with. In between dressing up in suits we were manically looking for apartments to rent and liaising with IBM about our visa requirements to work in Australia. Surprisingly just like every other major decision we've had to make on the trip, we continued to ask anyone who would want to share their opinion on the visa topic and then decide who we wanted to believe. All of our friends are working over here on the 457 working visa and we would be no different. However, the process didn't seem as straight forward for us as it had been with everyone else who'd gone through the process. Due to the fact we'd decided to enter Australia on a 1 year tourist visa and not the normal 3 month stay electronic travel authority (ETA), we had a 'no further stay' clause as one of the conditions on the visa and it was this small print that was causing a few minor issues.

My interviews came and went with no apparent problems and no sooner had I finished my last one of the week, I was invited for a third by one company on Friday. I've never worked so hard to get a job! Alex had been liaising with his soon to be manager about attending a weeks training the following week to get him back up to speed with the MAXIMO software, we were slipping back into the old world like we'd never left it! The interview on the Friday was pretty intense with the MD of the company and director of HR wanting to know if my personality would fit, and as interviews go I quite enjoyed it. I was in there for 2 hours before I escaped to Alex who had been acting as a personal secretary taking messages for me. On returning the phone call, I had my first offer in the bag which was very exciting and my favourite job of the lot, bonus!

It was time to celebrate and we stopped of to get a bottle of bubbly before returning home and celebrating with the girls. It was Friday night again, so we went out for a few drinks to unwind from the hectic week just passed. Saturday night we were invited to Sheila and Stuarts house for a BBQ, obviously the clincher for the weather as it rained all afternoon. We hopped onto the bus and managed to find their flat without too much of a detour. It was St. Patricks day (not that Alex or I realised until we reached their place) and to commemorate the day, Sheila had decided to make a monumental effort in turning all the food green! Green carrots, green potato salad, green cous cous and even GREEN WINE.

It was a full house with Harn and Trudy who had just landed in Sydney on a 6 month tour of the world, Trudy's parents over in Sydney on a quick holiday to say hi to their daughter and Graham and Kim, fellow Brits now living round the corner. While we all chatted and acquainted ourselves with each other and a glass of green wine, poor Stuart was on BBQ duty (thankfully the rain had given up for a while) cooking up the most splendid array of tucker. Thankfully, Sheila had refrained from trying to turn the meat green too, so there was at least some small semblance of normality on the plate as we tucked in.

Pork chops, steak, sausages, chicken kebabs, prawns and even kangaroo was dished up, all delish but way too much for us to finish. I think Sheila and Stu will be having cold meat dishes for the next few days to come! It was a fantastic night with lots of travelling stories being told as everyone had landed in Australia after a bout of travelling. Time was ticking and we had to be up early in the morning, so as the clock struck midnight, we decided to make our way to the bus stop to go home.

We were more than a little sleepy when the alarm went off at 7am the following morning. Trish was already up making lunch for our day out on the waters. Having changed the plan slightly, we weren't leaving the house until 9am now rather than the agreed 8am the previous day, so I quickly slipped back into bed for a few more ZZZZZzzz before getting up properly. Today we were off sailing with Tony and Phil and a few of their friends. It was the 75th birthday of the opening of the Harbour Bridge and different displays were being put on throughout the day. While hundreds of people were walking over the bridge to celebrate (the second time only that the bridge has actually been closed to traffic), we felt the better way was to see things close up from a boat in the harbour.

We met Tony and Phil in Manley where their boat was moored and then when Nikki and Jez arrived we set sail towards the harbour. I love being out at sea and on this 40 foot yacht riding the swell, I felt right at home. The boat was designed by Tony himself 18 years ago and he has looked after it lovingly ever since. With only 3 people on the boat having any clue about sailing, I felt it was probably wise to just sit down out of the way.

We took it easy bobbing on the waves, slowly mooching round to the harbour, where we anchored up in prime viewing position. Chatting, relaxing and even a few folk fitting in a quick snooze, we whiled away the hours. The displays were unfortunately a little disappointing, and when the mass of helicopters were to fly over the bridge at their nominated time, we had to laugh when a lone chopper appeared, looking apparently lost! On the hour in the afternoon, different planes and more helicopters flew over the bridge. People parachuted down with red contrails bellowing in the breeze and hundreds of people walked over the bridge to wish the bridge 'happy birthday'.

We bobbed up and down drinking a chilled chardonnay and chewing on the thai chicken baguettes and corn fritters Trish had made earlier in the morning - superb! I could quite get used to this life. Unfortunately all good things come to an end and Tony dropped us off in the harbour at Rushmoor Bay where we walked home to have a lazy evening.

Alex began to have 'that Sunday feeling' as Monday was his first day of 'pretend' work. Obviously the week long course Alex was attending wasn't actually work as he isn't allowed to work with the visa we're currently on, he was doing this purely for his deep interest in Maximo - doesn't every tourist! All dolled up in the interview suit he didn't need, he rushed out of the door to get the bus into town. So distraught that this would be his first day away from me in a very long time, he lingered around the house for as long as he could, catching his parents on Skype for the first time and then managed to accidentally miss the fast bus into town arriving for his first day late! Not a great start I'd say, but typical Alex.

How bizarre to be sat amongst IT Professionals once more, all talking shop - SAP this and Oracle that, but worse off all being restricted to the routine of a 9-5..! After the initial rush to get there, I was once more enveloped by a world that I'd left a long long time ago, to the point that I'd actually re-joined my old company (now bought out by IBM) and was singled out as the new 'expert' in the field of Maximo! Maxi-who was about all I could remember and a cold sweat formed on my forehead as I was once more immersed into what seemed like a distant dream! Every now and then I had to pinch myself and found I was also chuckling to myself as the reality started to sink in! The mixtures of feelings and emotions were quite over powering and I wondered how long it'd be before this amazing adventure of ours would slip to the distant memories of the mind... we have our website though and I decided that once nicely tucked up in an office job, I'd start from the beginning and re-read the story of our lives for the last 20 months!

With Alex out of the house all week I had planned days of relaxing, reading my book and writing diaries, unfortunately this wasn't the case. It was probably my busiest week in Sydney yet - flat hunting. Australia has a very different system to us back home when it comes to renting properties. Rather than phoning up to make a booking to go and view a property at your leisure, it's more like applying for the lotto. There are set times to view a property (normally all on a Saturday and amazingly all at the same time) and if you like it, you have to fill in an application form give it to the agent who then forwards it to the landlord. If your name is picked out of the hat by the landlord you're allowed to rent it. Simple. When you're viewing a property with 20 others it kind of takes away the excitement from it and with no credit or reference history in Australia, Alex and I fall to the bottom of the pile. The bonus of spending the week flat hunting was that I now know Sydney and its suburbs pretty well. I have narrowed down what I don't want, but unfortunately you don't get much for your money in Sydney. The hunt still continues.

While we pootled away the week, Alex being enlightened with all the new versions of Maximo in the training course, me looking at properties, we were still trying to work out how to get round the problem of applying for our working visas. For a while it stood that we'd had to leave the country for an undetermined length of time to apply and then wait for the visas to come through before returning to Sydney ready to start work. This obviously had huge cost implications but it seemed like there was no way round it. New Zealand is close but we only know one person there and arriving for 'a while' is imposing even on the closest of friends. The other option in the pipeline was returning home to the UK as at least we could sort out personal stuff there. There was only one snag to this planning, I didn't have a passport.

With 27 countries now stamped in and out of my passport it was rather full, I had half a page left. Knowing that I would have to put my work visa into the passport once I got it, as soon as I returned from Vanuatu I sent off the required paperwork to get a new one issued. According to the website, 10 days was the nominal turnaround time, but small print on the actual paperwork I'd been given stated 1 month - how typical is that. Beginning our third week in Sydney with still no sign of any passport, I can tell you that the paperwork is the one to believe...

As further investigations continued it transpired that another possibility was to exit Australia (probably to NZ) apply for a normal 3 month ETA with business status, return to Australia on the newly issued ETA and then apply for the work visa once back in the country. Sounded rather convoluted and the main concern of mine was that if we already had a visa, surely questions would arise to why we were applying for another one. Still, IBM are a big company so who were we to question the authority. If they said it could be done, then it will be done. There was a user group meeting in Hamilton, New Zealand the following week which was a convenient excuse to get Alex out of the country for the process and 'attend another meeting'. Me, well it would be rude not to tag along as I was in the same position and we decided that I would go as defacto on Alex's main visa, which for a 457 meant that whilst Alex was restricted to just working for IBM and for the specific role recruited for, I could work for whom ever I wanted! There was no way Alex was going to finish the trip in New Zealand and leave me behind!

As the days passed by, time was ticking and I still hadn't received my passport. The one thing that I love about the British Consul is that they're in a country for your benefit, ready and willing to answer any questions you have... for the privilege of $7.10 "payable by credit card". Resenting paying to talk to one of the consultants to see why it was taking so long to issue me a passport, I'd delayed and delayed calling them but it was now a matter of urgency...Alex would soon be going to NZ without me!!!!

I called first thing Monday so I had some idea of when we could book tickets, but after the consulate asked what I wanted to know so they could direct me to the correct consultant and then take my money, I was told that it was in fact a public holiday and I'd have to call back tomorrow. About to blow a fuse, they politely continued and said just call back tomorrow, say I'd spoken with Simon, that I'd already paid and they'd put me through to a consultant.

9am on the dot the next morning I called again but all consultants were busy, so I was asked to call back in 10 minutes. 2 HOURS later, I managed to actually get through to one of the receptionists to try and talk to a consultant again, with the same response; "please call back in 10 minutes." Explaining it had taken me 2 hours to actually talk to someone again rather than get the answer machine (which the girl had already told me not to leave a message as they don't listen to it), she tried again but said I'd have to call back. It took another 2 hours calling every 10 minutes to talk to someone again but this time I didn't have to loose my rag as I was lucky enough to be put through to a consultant straight away. The 1 minute 35 second conversation confirmed that my passport had actually been printed on the Friday and was with the courier ready for delivery tomorrow. Thank God!

Frantically pacing the house Wednesday, I called the courier about 11am to find out an approximate time for delivery as I'd scheduled a viewing for a flat at 1.30pm. "Lunchtime" was the response - now in Sydney that could probably range from now until 3pm so I just carried on pacing. I was as frantic as a lost puppy waiting for its owner to find it when the courier arrived. Standing outside the house checking the address, I almost pounced on him as it was 1.10pm and he was just in time for me to still make my appointment. The flat was like a shoe box, the hunt continues.

Knowing now we were both valid to travel, we checked and double checked with IBM we were to go ahead with the plan and after getting the final OK we booked our one way ticket to New Zealand that night... a return was pointless as we still didn't know how long we'd be going for! I then realised that my existing Australian visa was still tied to my old passport and the small print stated that any changes needed to be communicated to the appropriate department or else travel might be refused! A quick email later, it all felt a little bit rushed and unnerving as from past experiences we know what seems a straight forward process isn't necessarily what happens when you actually try it. Still, IBM was keen to get Alex on board ASAP so we crossed our fingers and toes and hoped it would all go smoothly.

We had to be at the airport on the Friday for 5.30pm, so Alex would be returning early from his last day on the course to get changed and head straight to the airport; we needed to be ready and packed well beforehand. Keen to get back to 'pretend work', Alex began packing on the Wednesday night neatly folding his work shirts, ties and socks ready to be put in the wheelie bag Chrissie had lent us. Thursday I spent flat hunting again. Just before the last viewing of the day I got a call from a solicitor appointed by the company that had offered me a job, wanting to talk about the logistics of applying for the visa. As we'd been through all this with IBM, I told him our plans. I can only say that it still rings true that you should believe no one until you try a process yourself...

Upon completion of explaining what we were about to do, he had grave concerns about why an ETA would be issued to us as we already have a valid visa (deja vu sprang to mind) and after telling him that I had the 'no further stay' condition on the visa, the only way to move forward was to exit the country, apply for the 457 visa as soon as we left Australia and then wait. Hmmm, this wasn't on the agenda, although that had been our original thought before IBM told us to go the other route.

Suddenly not in the mood to view a flat and a little stressed as we'd only booked our flights to NZ the night before...what should we do now? By pure coincidence on the way home I got a call from a frantic man needing URGENTLY to get in touch with Alex. When asked what it was about (visas) I said he could talk to me as I was in the same situation..... He proceeded to tell me that what we were doing was HIGHLY against IBM policy!?!?! He was from the agent who applies for the visas for IBM. I informed him that we were doing what we were doing because that was the advice which we'd been given from IBM (or whoever advised them). I was more than a little confused, angry and stressed. I told him about my conversation with the solicitor an hour before but all he kept saying was that we were going against IBM policy and Alex's manager was not happy! All this the night before we flew!

He called back once I was with Alex explaining the situation again, he also advised that the only way for us to proceed was to leave for NZ, apply for a 457 work visa and then stay out of the country until we were issued it. After frantic calls to HR, we had no idea what we should be doing! Leaving for NZ for an undisclosed amount of time was going to have huge cost implications. Friday morning IBM told us to go to NZ as they had been advised by their company that the visas would take a few days, maybe a week - 10 days to come through. Well, the one common denominator we'd had from everyone so far is that visas are taking 6-8weeks due to a backlog!! It just didn't make sense but it was all coming a little too late now, we'd booked our flights and didn't want to loose the money on not using them.

Alex spoke again with Mr. Visa man Friday morning who again said he could pull something out of his hat and get us a visa in 1-2 weeks... more reasonable at least, but absolutely no promises. Personally I didn't believe him one jot, but we found ourselves heading to the airport Friday night completely unprepared for our final destination of the trip... NEW ZEALAND!

A HUGE thanks to all who looked after us during their precious weekends, we had a great time with you all and look forward to many more when we get our own pad in Sydney!

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!

With the end of the expedition in sight, we decided that we both deserved a small holiday away from the car. Life on the road has been a lot of fun, but extremely challenging at the same time and we both felt like we desperately needed a little break away from old Tinfish before we officially engaged the handbrake once and for all. Of course it had to be a good dive location, so scouring the dive mags Vanuatu caught our eye, not least for the opportunity to dive pretty much the worlds most accessible wreck dive... SS President Coolidge.

Solomon Airways flies conveniently from Brisbane to Espiritu Santo, so the plan quickly formulated and fell into place. Before long we were waving our goodbyes to Phil and Katherine as they kindly dropped us off at the airport. Expert packers that we now are, we didn't even need to flinch at check-in when all our luggage fell easily within the weight limits... although they'd also kindly allowed us extra for diving equipment. We passed the flight reading and drinking the generous servings of wine that were liberally dished out and after a quick stop-over in Honiara landed at Espiritu Santo to be met by a local band playing a welcome tune to passengers clearing immigration. Maz had been slightly worried whether she'd have enough space left in her passport with only half a page remaining, but they kindly stamped the corner of an otherwise busy page. Hopefully they'll be as considerate when getting back into Australia!

On the short taxi ride over to Espiritu Santo the looming grey clouds were massing, threatening to put a dampener on our lush tropical retreat! I guess it's so green for a reason! We checked in at The Beachfront Resort briefly meeting Dave, who had very kindly arranged our stay via copious amounts of emails. Whatever did we do before email - I'd hate to think! We were shown to the 'The Cottage', a self contained lodge specifically for groups of divers, with it's own lounge and kitchen facility... pretty much a home from home, but in our case when home is a car, a 5* holiday resort!

With rain imminent, the air was excessively humid and even we were finding it a wee bit stifling. After unpacking, it was pretty much time for dinner so we strolled over to the restaurant to enjoy an infamous Beachfront pizza as it was pizza night after all... and damn fine they were too. Being a diving week and potentially deep dives at that, it was to be an alcohol free week, as drink dehydrates you making you far more susceptible to decompression sickness, something we wanted to obviously avoid. Whereas most diving on the trip to date had been typically in the 20m range, to enjoy the SS President Coolidge you need to at least plan for 40m, although the stern rests in the extreme depths at 60m and in our opinion needs specialist diving equipment and breathing gases to conduct safely, so not for this trip. With our pick up arranged for 8am the following morning, we decided it would be early to bed.

Built in 1931 by Newport Ship Building and Dry-dock Co. she was launched on the 21st of February 1931, then fitted and delivered to her owners on the 1st of October 1931, where Mrs Calvin Coolidge christened her gracious hull, the President Coolidge. She and her sister ship the President Hoover were the flagships of the Dollar Steamship Line's fleet. When the flag bedecked new liner arrived in her home port of San Francisco, the whole city turned out to welcome her. She was a superb bravura of a ship and at 654'3" long; the largest passenger liner built in an American shipyard up until till that time.

The proud ship President Coolidge served the commercial South Pacific for some time but her future was soon to change. As World War II approached she was occasionally used by the War Department on a part voyage basis but as the damned for war materiel grew, she was hurriedly modified for the carrying of enormous numbers of American troops and put into service in the South West Pacific. On the 6th of October 1942 loaded with a full compliment of troops, she set sail for Espiritu Santo, entering the seemingly calm blue water on the 26th of October 1942. Little did Captain Henry Nelson know that they were on the brink of disaster! At 09:35 ships time, propelled by her turbo electric twin screw engine's her majestic bow parted the crystal calm waters at approx 15 knots approaching the wrong entrance to the harbour of Espiritu Santo.

This route took the doomed vessel directly through a US minefield strategically placed in the East End of the Segond Channel to protect the safe anchorage from roaming Japanese submarines. A muffled explosion shook the President Coolidge and Captain Nelson turned the bow immediately to shore in an effort to beach the vessel and save the troops onboard. She quickly developed a list to Port as 5050 US troops calmly without any panic clambered down her progressively raising starboard side to safety. They'd been told to leave all their equipment behind as no one expected the ship to actually sink. However over the course of only a few hours she gradually filled with water then slipped entirely off the reef and sank! This is where she remains today, with the stern down in the depths at 60m and the bow pointing towards the reef in only 18m... a wreck divers dream!

At 8am sharp, Gary from Allan Powers Dive Tours picked us up from The Beachfront Resort and drove us the few kilometres back into town to the dive shop. With a number of other divers busy loading their equipment onto the truck, we decided to have a simple easy couple of dives today so didn't bother modifying our equipment to the configuration we'd normally dive for deeper dives, so as not to hold up the rest of the group. Once everything was loaded we all jumped into the bus and headed out of town to the divesite. What also makes the President Coolidge such a unique dive is that it is actually a shore dive... you don't often get to dive such a superb wreck of this proportion literally by walking off the beach!

Just a little way out of town along a bumpy dirt road, we turned down a short drive surrounded by lush forest and tropical flowers before coming to a stop besides a kitting up area right on the waters edge. The truck backed up to the patio and equipment was unloaded and the benches used for kitting up. Gary was to be our guide today and he went over the plan with a sketch of the wreck to show us where we were heading. Being our first dive on the Coolidge it was more of an orientation dive to get our bearings. Once kitted you walk to the waters edge then wade about 50m out to where they have made a break water to shelter you whilst you put on your fins. Staggering in knee deep water reminded us of all those US Soldiers that streamed off the ship and paddled in the opposite direction to the beach all those years ago.

Ducking under the water, which is still very shallow here, you have a rope laid which you use to pull your way along the last 20m past the coral garden and to the edge of the slope which the Coolidge slipped off into the deep. Following another rope you slowly descend before the main event starts to take shape in front of you, the enormous bow, now resting on her port side, looms up at you and keeping the wreck on your left you follow the contours of the ship further down. Passing the enormous anchor winch then swimming between the forward 3" guns, one on either side of the bow, stacked with live ammunition in the ready lockers, you peer momentarily into the two cavernous front holds and try to size up the colossal 9 ton anchor now lying flat on the seabed far deeper below you.

The next sight that grabs your attention is the bridge structure rising away from the deck like a block of flats. Staying on the outside we swam around the superstructure getting a feel for just how big the monster is. Impressive too were the giant shoals of fish both small and huge, swirling about the wreck, agitated by the current flowing over it, bringing the food up from the depths and exciting all the hungry mouths. At that point Gary started going wild, beckoning us over and pointing excitedly at something on the wreck. Instinctively we both knew what he'd found and burst into a mass of bubbles with laughter when we spied not one but two nudibranch! Our favourites... all this wreck to explore, it could have been a line of nudi's doing a conger for all we cared, it wouldn't have distracted us away from all this rust glorious rust!

With our time fast approaching decompression, we headed back towards the bow following the route of what would have been the starboard promenade deck in her time as a luxury liner. It was along this side where the thousands of troops waited patiently to clamber over the edge leaving their equipment of rifles, helmets and gas masks which still litter the deck, although the rifles are now encrusted with marine growth and are barely recognisable for the weapons of war they once were. Back at the bow, you follow the slope back up to the coral garden which plateaus at 6m, ideal for your decompression stops.

The prolific fish life isn't at all afraid of divers and come right into your face and my suspicions as to why were soon confirmed when the guides started crumbling bread into the water. Obviously the fish go mad and even meter long snapper come rushing in to grab a bit. To us it's all a bit of a circus and I believe bread is actually indigestible by the fish and I'm told by fishy types that it doesn't do them any good! Puts on a great show for the tourist though!

After so long in the water, it comes as a bit of a shock to the legs when you have to stand up and wade all the way back to shore and you're thankful for the bench to collapse on when you finally make it back on to the kitting patio. The kit is then all loaded back onto the truck and you're taken back to the dive shop for tea and sweet buns before being ferried back to your hotel. It was great to have the midday hours to just relax and read books and we made full use of our comfy sofas in the lounge of the cottage. All we needed to remember was to be ready for our 1.30 pickup for the afternoon dive... this was going to be a hard week

Our afternoon dive was a route around the front part of the ship. Gary explained the route, but I think they are more used to people just following them blind from point to point, rather then seeing the wreck for themselves. Of course give me a camera and every view has a potential for getting that shot, which means we gracefully drift from spot to spot and take our merry time. As it turns out we spent the entire dive in just the front two holds, which was only about half the route he'd had in mind! But what a lot to see... We entered first into number one cargo hold which is stacked with Willy's Jeeps, now all tumbled about as the ship rolled over. After routing around in there we came out then entered number two hold.

The first thing you come across is the barrel of Long Tom cannon, a 155mm Howitzer pointing out of the hold. As you continue inside you pass over the tracks of an armoured troop carrier and at the back are a number of GMC trucks. Following the lower deck into the dark in the very bowls of the ship is an almost complete truck lying on its side and stacked in front of it are three Willy's Jeeps all on top of one another and now sticking straight up towards you. Being the second dive you have less time than the morning dive, so soon our dive computers were telling us it was time to head back up to the fish stop and watch more bread being fed to the fish as we counted down the minutes of our decompression stop.

That evening we took the opportunity to rig our equipment in preparation for more deeper dives, where we would be exploring further inside the wreck. We follow a simple rule, one of self sufficiency, should anything go wrong at depth or when inside the ship, you want to be sure you have sufficient gas to breath. Although we dive as a buddy pair, you can guarantee the time you might need their gas in a hurry, is the time they've got their back to you and being at depth or inside a wreck you can't just swim to the surface. So to avoid such risks we dive twin cylinders, which gives each diver their own redundancy and hence safety. Another safety factor that we were keen to use was a third smaller cylinder containing 50% Nitrox... which in effect is a gas mixture containing 50% oxygen.

This gas mixing was a revolution in sport diving, allowing for safer or more efficient decompression as the elevated oxygen in the gas you breathe literally forces out the nitrogen, which is the bad gas that can lead to decompression sickness if not managed correctly. As with all such advantages, there is a disadvantage and that is the gas needs to be breathed no deeper than 21m as below that depth the oxygen becomes toxic and can actually do acute harm. It all sounds far more complicated than it is... basically you work out the most efficient gas to breath for decompression (50% is pretty much the standard) then make sure you don't use it until you are at the appropriate depth! We've been diving this way in UK for many a year and are well rehearsed in its practice. The challenge here would be doing a beach entry, staggering out with three cylinders when a single cylinder was hard enough... we're far more used to just rolling off a boat with all the kit!

Normally where possible we'd do these dives on a suitable weaker Nitrox in our main cylinders, but as there is a possible risk to go deeper on this wreck than permitted by the mix you are breathing, the policy is no Nitrox diving on the Coolidge save a customer inadvertently drops deeper with possible serious consequences. We did find it a shame to group all divers together, but I assume they see divers of all types passing by and this way they were sure to avoid any unnecessary incident. With our three cylinders attached we set off to dive the star of the President Coolidge... we were off to see "The Lady".

The world famous "The Lady" and the Unicorn - probably the most photographed underwater icon was formally positioned in the first class smoking room before she fell off during an earthquake. She now resides in the first class dining room and is approached by entering a sea-door from deck C where you swim inside along deck C and "The Lady" is mounted in front of you at 38m. It really is the most bizarre thing to see underwater and is really quite mystifying. These ships in their day were decked out like floating palaces and the first class quarters received all the refinements with chandeliers and exquisite fitments. Of course much was removed when converted to a troopship, however "The Lady" was simply boarded up, lying hidden for many years until the wood panelling fell away to reveal her in her glory once more. It is a mystery as to the significance of "The Lady" or who she represents, although some believe it might be Queen Victoria, due to the unicorn and the roses.

After another superb day of great diving, we decided to venture out to try some of the local cuisine. We'd heard that steak down at the market was very good value, however when we got there they'd run out, having only beef stew left instead. Two fantastic plates of stew later, for a few bob and we'd arranged with the lady to make sure she had steak in ready for us for tomorrow night. Something definitely to look forward to! With our time between and after diving taken up with some serious relaxation, we made use of the TV and DVD player to catch up on some movies and slobbing on the couches, something we'd not done in a very long time - and it felt good! All this time we had the cottage completely to ourselves and fell quite nicely into the routine, only once having to chase down and corner a spider as big as your hand!

The next morning we were summoned by Tony who runs Allan Powers Dive Tours as he'd heard we'd not left our 50% Nitrox cylinders in the shallows, instead opting to carry them with us for the whole dive. Their policy when using such mixtures is to leave them at the bow so that the diver cannot accidentally switch to this 'decompression gas' at the wrong depth and potentially injure themselves. This did conflict with our simple policy of where I go my gas goes. When you are reliant on needing that gas for your decompression obligation there is no way we'd consider being separated from it. Tony had explained their policy to me before, so we felt like we were being sent to the head master as naughty school children. There then started a bit of a show down between the three of us...

Once again Tony explained their reasoning, citing an incident when someone had switched gases at 50m and got into serious trouble. Now we're not your normal splash and dash punters, we've been doing this sort of diving for ever, so we do actually know what we're on about. We put our side across once more and reinforced that we were strictly limiting ourselves to 40m and no deeper. Below that we know damn well you should be on Trimix a far more serious dive undertaking which following current thinking should be used on all deep dives. These guys didn't practice it's use, but quite happily let divers go down to 60m on air... which has a serious narcotic effect - a good analogy would be like driving a car after 3 pints of beer... you can do it, but if something goes wrong or you need to react quickly you normal end up in an accident. Hence the chap at 50m was obviously out of his box when he switched to 50%!

What infuriated us even further was that they were also quite happy to let new divers plunge to those depths... a practice erring on negligence! During yesterdays diving, a new PADI Open Water diver that they'd just trained with less than 8 dives under her belt was incredibly taken down to 45m... the PADI limit for this qualification is 18m and rightly so. It doesn't really matter how confident the diver is, some do take to it like a fish, it however only needs one small thing to go wrong and regrettably there is only one possible horrific outcome at that depth. Of course the OW diver was blissfully unaware, putting all her trust into the guide as she was led to those depths, including full penetration of the wreck with only a single cylinder and no dive computer. They were totally reliant on their guide for the entire dive, to the extent that he would tell them when to move shallower for their next decompression stop, having clocked up over a staggering 15mins of decompression! Dive agencies don't practice deco diving until far into a divers sport diving career as its extremely serious stuff and they do that for a reason - we were flabbergasted!

We got quite annoyed that he was insisting we follow their procedures which we didn't feel safe doing and felt they were on very thin ice to be preaching safe diving practices! When we appeared to hit a stalemate, quite by surprise Tony said he'd put his neck on the line and let us do as we wanted so long as we weren't planning on diving any deeper than 40m. Glad that he had decided to trust us in our judgement we thanked him and promised that he'd have no further trouble from us...!

With such a big wreck to explore we had more than enough to look at even when limiting ourselves to 40m. We spent the rest of the week weaving in and out of the wreck and thoroughly exploring the many decks, such as the first class dining saloon, the second class accommodation which is in dispersed with bathroom suites and many confined spaces to nose into. One entire dive I spent in just the very bow of the ship, wiggling through tight squeezes to peer into the steward's accommodation with iron bed frames scattered and their eating mess, before coming across the forward magazine which stored the munitions for the forward 3" guns. Up in the side of hold 2 is the crew's barber's chair and you can also find the left over medical supplies which were being transported to the pacific theatre such as many colourful glass bottles and little glass tubes containing sutures.

The captain's bathroom is always a draw, a little more lavish than the rows of troops' toilets the small bathroom that the captain enjoyed was extremely well appointed. Toilets or the nautical term heads are oddly always something that attracts the diver's attention... probably because the porcelain doesn't rust and they can actually tell what it is they're looking at! Within our depth limit you could also enter the cut away made during salvage and look at one of the enormous propulsion motors then swim out through the actual aft funnel. Working our way between decks we also found our way into cargo hold 4 which was full of aircraft drop fuel tanks, used to extend the range of attack aircraft and then discarded after use. In the eerie darkness, these egg shaped tanks had been jumbled about and now protruded randomly from the hazy silt looking not too dissimilar from the room full of eggs in Alien!

One tea break back at the dive shop we overheard the Open Water diver contemplating whether she should continue her training and progress to PADI Advanced Open Water. We were amused to hear how horrified she was to read that an Advanced OW diver is limited to only 30m..!! By this stage she'd been inside the engine room at 50m, to the first class swimming pool at 55m and deep inside the galley, wreck penetration at 55m! If she was going to progress to become an Advanced OW diver, how could she possibly do the stern at 60m? By now her dive count was barely 15 and had obviously overlooked the 18m depth limit imposed on an OW diver! Unable to hold my tongue any further I told her just how deep she was going and to think long and hard about what she was doing... after all there is nothing worth dying down there for! Alas it had no effect; however another far more experienced diver who'd recently joined us, thanked me for my wise words and decided himself he wasn't going to do anything stupid.

Although we'd been enjoying the local cafes we decided tonight seeing as though it was Valentines Day we'd treat ourselves with a feed at one of the more touristy restaurants - which narrowed it down to about a choice of 3! We decided on the Chinese for a slap up feed. On finding the restaurant we were a little confused as to whether it was a restaurant or just someone's home. With the lounge and TV at one end and a collection of tables and chairs the other, I think it was a combination of the two. Authentically as we'd experienced in China, the food arrived one plate at a time, the last one being the rice, but unlike China the food wasn't at patch on the real McCoy. Tomorrow we'd save our dosh and return to the market cafes, even though the steak wasn't quite fillet, it was tasty enough and always served with a smile.

With 12 dives clocked up on the Coolidge during our stay, one that was entirely unique was the evening we did a night dive on the wreck. Night dives are always something different as the day shift gives way to the night shift, however this night dive was to be one with a BIG difference... NO torches! What's the point you might well ask, swimming around in the pitch black? Well the unique thing on this wreck is the night shift is made up almost entirely of flashlight fish (Anomalops katoptron), which come out of their day hiding spots and shoal in the innards of the wreck like a ghostly swirling cloud. The fish have a gland under each eye full of bacteria which they can lift a little flap up sending out a fluorescent light. They are particularly concentrated in the forward two holds and you simply nudge your way inside the wreck surrounded by the myriad of tiny fish giving off a big glow - enough to actually see by! It is truly a remarkable experience like pixie dust glittering all around you! We then continued the dive by swimming along the promenade deck, peering down into the depths of the first class saloon watching the ghosts of passengers long since passed still dancing a haunting waltz as the shoals magically flitted around one another... transfixing!

After a fabulous weeks diving we celebrated the last night with beer, pizza and a final DVD relaxing in our lounge. As the President, Coolidge was said to have slept 10 hours a night, more than any president before or since... When someone told a friend of Coolidge's death, the friend retorted laconically "..how do they know..." Quite appropriate for a vessel once the pride of the Dollar Steamship Line and now resting serenely at the bottom of the sea. The following morning Dave kindly run us to the airport in time for us to catch our flight back to Brisbane and the final leg of our journey. The holiday was everything we needed and thanks go to all that made our stay both pleasant and memorable... one day we'll be back to do the 40-60m bit of the President Coolidge, once I've got my PADI Advance OW ticket of course!

They don't look that far from each other on the map, but we had to entertain ourselves in the car for a few hours after leaving Devils Marbles before we reached Mount Isa. Having read that it was a 'rough and ready' mining town, we'd originally decided to give it a miss, but after talking to Kim at Christmas, he persuaded us that the mine tour was well worth the stop off.

It was becoming dark when we entered the town, mainly due to the looming thunder clouds up above. Moondarra Lake was on the edge of town so we headed in its vague direction, hoping we'd find a nice spot to camp up for the evening. It was soon becoming obvious that this wasn't a remote spot where we'd be able to hide ourselves away for the night. Upon pulling up to the lake, there was another car already parked up and next to it a huge sign warning all who ventured near the water about the dangers of Murray Valley Encephalitis contracted from mozzie bites. Knowing what a tasty titbit I already am and deciding we'd managed to stay pretty healthy for the majority of the trip, we didn't want to chance our luck now, so we turned round and found another road to pursue.

By now the sun had nearly set and the menacing clouds threatened a downpour as we tried in vain to find a suitable camp. We carried on down one dirt track and found a patch of land that looked flat enough to park the truck on for the night. As we were 'finalising' the levelling process, so Master Alex was happy he would be able to sleep comfortably, the car didn't seem to be manoeuvring properly. I got out to yet ANOTHER flat tyre. Praying for it to be an actual puncture rather than another broken wheel, we transformed ourselves in to the well oiled F1 tyre changing team that we've become, to have our suspicions confirmed when we saw the crack in the wheel. Of course, as we stepped out of the car to change the tyre, the menacing clouds opened up to really make our day!

We still had along way to go to get to Brisbane, so it was now fingers crossed that the others would hold out as we were down to one spare again. Donning gear that covered me from head to foot so I wouldn't get eaten by the mozzies and catch encephalitis (I felt I was back in Iran), we cooked dinner. Thankfully my newly adopted Persian style wasn't needed as the mossies disappeared as quickly as the sun. After a quick spag bol we retired for the night.

The next morning we ventured into town with the mine site and smelter stacks dominating the skyline and the landscape, and put our names down for the mine tour starting at 1.30pm. It was then time for a wake up coffee then off to find an oil change. After scouting out a couple of garages, we found one that would do the job for a carton of beer, so while Tinfish was having a spa, Alex and I wandered round town.

With the freedom of being on the road soon coming to an end, Alex had already been putting himself round a bit and was surprisingly plunged into his first telephone interview by an agent keen to seek out his 'special talents'. Trying to get his brain refocused on a world we left eons ago was a little testing, but after a couple of minutes he was back up to speed with his swift talking and sounding like a pro. A promising start. It feels strange even thinking about looking for work, even though we've been trying to mentally prepare ourselves for a re-orbit since arriving in Oz. In some ways it will be exciting having a base again, rather than being the lonesome, errant nomads we've adapted to, but at the same time, the thought of sitting behind a desk back in corporate sends shivers down the spine! A topic we discuss frequently but remains unanswered.

With Tinfish purring like a contented pussy cat after her oil change, we arrived in plenty of time for our Hard Times Mine tour. After a quick signing our life away session on the disclaimer form, we were met by our tour guide Steve - a lovely Aussie miner who'd been down the pit for most of his life before taking on the role of tour guide. With a true Aussie lilt and an outback way of life, he was sometimes a little hard to understand, especially when he used slang, but his enthusiasm and eagerness made up for any misunderstanding!

From the very beginning of the tour we knew that it was going to be something special when we were kitted-out with bright ORANGE overalls, black welly boots and a hard hat.

Mount Isa, or 'the Isa' as it's locally known began as a mining town, in February 1923 following the discovery of substantial deposits of silver-lead-zinc by the prospector John Campbell Miles. Miles gave Mt. Isa its name - a corruption of Mount Ida, a Western Australian goldmine. When a particularly large copper deposit was proven to exist in 1942 the Australian government, enduring wartime shortages of the strategic material, encouraged its exploitation. Copper would prove the main source of revenue in the 1950s.

This particular tourist mine was never an actual operational mine, however the Former Mount Isa Mines Underground tours were one of Mount Isa's biggest (only!) tourist attractions. When they stopped doing tours of the former mine, several locals invented by dug this 'tourist' mine to replace it. As we slowly walked through the grounds, the history of the mines flowed off Steve's tongue and with a glint in his eye, his own perceptions and twists of stories flowed, embedded in 35 years of knowledge.

We were shown the huge vehicles once used underground, each with its own bit of history, until the next bigger and better one superseded it. Unfortunately we weren't allowed to take cameras into the complex, not really sure why, apart from they couldn't extract the 10 bucks for the personal picture they took of you in your fashionable togs if you got that Kodak moment yourself! After donning our cap lamps on to the hard helmet, we were ready to go.

Descending down into the mine in the Alamak Cage, we began to explore the history of mining as we sunk into the blackness. Steve enthralled us with stories of the good and the hard times that he had working deep under the earth. All underground light is artificial and extremely localised, the reason why we needed the headlamps. We first had a ride in caged wagon to take us to the crib room, where the miners clock in and out and have their cups of tea with ginger biscuits.

Taking a tour underground is a real eye-opener, there's an amazing amount of infrastructure, high tech equipment and highly skilled personnel required to keep the mining operation going. The tour took us round to see how the tunnels are formed and shaped by the majestic boom drills and mucking units.

In the case of Mt. Isa there are even localised climates linked to the temperatures caused by the base rock, which at the deepest levels of the mine can reach a staggering 60 degrees Celsius. Just the thought of the hard physical work down under was enough to put me off, but to then compound their efforts by working in an environment typical of a tropical rainforest would definitely be a big no no!

The reason why I enjoyed this tour more than the gold mine tour in Kalgoorlie was you could actually get up close and personal to the machinery and try your hand at the air-leg drill, feeling the earth rumble with the drilling of the blast face. The machines are extremely heavy and shook every atom of your body as you held on tight while it rammed the wall. It was great to see how all the machines actually worked while they were being demonstrated rather than just using your imagination.

We then returned to the crib and were given a demonstration of what it was actually like while a blast was taking place, with the noise, rumbling and sirens going off. It was very well done. We ended the tour with a cuppa and biscuit, asking more questions and chatting amongst ourselves. Definitely recommended to anyone who has a spare afternoon in Mt Isa!

It was then time to head east. The grey clouds had made themselves at home and we left Mt. Isa under a torrent of rain. We'd planned to camp just out of town, but with the gale force winds and accompanying rain we just carried on driving. With a passing car once per hour, it appeared to be fate that we happen to find ourselves on a 300m stretch of newly laid tarmac just as a road train zoomed past in the opposite direction... BANG BANG - two chips out of the windscreen - thanks very much!

As we carried on further, the vast flat, featureless plains opened up and there was literally nowhere to shelter. The tent would have been simply ripped to shreds had we tried to put it up in these conditions. By now it was pitch black, lashing with torrential rain and we were driving again with no rear lights on the car as they'd broken way back on the Gibb River Road! Not ideal, but we pushed on to Kynuna where we knew there was a hotel to hide out the storm. So once we pulled up outside the roadhouse, we went inside to enquire about rooms...

The roadhouse was empty, with the old looking tables and plastic chairs all neatly positioned in the restaurant. A lady (and I say this in the loosest possible terms) presented herself behind the counter. It had been a helluva drive and we were keen to grab a bite to eat and get some rest. Asking if they had any rooms, I was presented with a blank face. Thinking she hadn't heard me I asked again. After about 10 second silence (and I promise I am not exaggerating here) she asked if we wanted a double. I said yes, and after another 10 second delay, she asked me if we were married!? Not really sure what it had to do with her, I politely told her we were.

"Toilet and shower are outside" - not really a problem for us seeing as the bush has been our bathroom for the last 17 months - so we just said "OK". I also managed to get confirmation - with a slight nod of the head - that they were still serving food, but with the lack of responsiveness to any questions we'd asked, we decided to have a look over the road at the Blue Heeler Hotel, a friendly place to stay according to the Lonely Planet.

We ventured over the road laughing at the weirdness we had just witnessed to see if we could get a room at the Blue Heeler Hotel. Unfortunately they were in the middle of a refurb and it wasn't open. With little alternative choice we returned to the roadhouse asking if we could have the room. The lady appeared from nowhere and just stared at us. Then, a very tall, lanky man dressed in a blue shirt with matching very tight shorts and knee high socks walked in. As neither of them seemed to want to help us, I asked again if we could have the room. Suddenly, the man turned to us and began talking in a rather aggressive voice, something about the Blue Heeler Hotel.

Not really understanding his rant, we just stared in bewilderment, picking up the odd phrases of "off to the Blue Heeler", "bathroom outside not good enough for you", "no room for you here". It was all very strange. He then told us that we could clear off and drive 165km down the road to the next hotel, as we weren't welcome there! They breed 'em weird here......too much wilderness and not enough social contact I think! After saying we'd prefer to drive 165km than stay with weirdos like them, we returned to the cold, wet night and carried on down the road.

We laughed for the next two hours about what had just happened, partly in stunned surprised. It was as if we'd surreally driven into Royston Vasey from The League of Gentlemen and were confronting Tubbs & Edward Tattsyrup! You can imagine if we did get the room... I'd be worried that we'd wake up in the morning to find all four of us sharing the bed...! This is a local shop for local people, there's nothing for you here!

Eventually, tired and exhausted we arrived in Winton 165km further down the road at 10.30pm. It was really busy, in as far as one horse towns get busy, but then realised it was Friday night. We pulled up at a pub which had rooms and went in to talk to the owner, hoping they'd be more responsive than our last experience.

The chef had left hours ago, so we ordered a beer and I said I'd just make a quick sarnie at the back of the car as we'd not really eaten all day. Gary (we were already on first name terms, a slightly better record than our last attempt) told me to hold on, he went out the back then returned saying "will a steak sandwich do for each of you?". You beauty! His wife came back 10 minutes later with a delicious sandwich and we started our second beer.

Chatting with them, we told them our story about the weirdos we'd come across, and he sympathised saying lots of truckies brought similar stories with them too. After the 3rd beer we were a little drunk and finally retired to bed happy not to have to worry about the possibility of waking up with Tubbs & Edward in our bed!

It was this night that I realised how conditioned I'd become to camping. Waking in the early hours needing the loo, I was a little sleepy and in foreign surroundings not really sure where I was. I reached under the bed, thinking I was reaching under the tent for where I normally keep my shoes and as I reached further under as I couldn't find them, promptly fell out of bed! In my apparent rush to get to the loo, I then couldn't find the door of the bedroom, so feeling my way across the wall I eventually came to the door handle, twisted it and it came off in my hand! I had inadvertently found the plug in deodoriser and twisted it out of the socket. After getting Alex to turn the light on so I could get out of the bedroom I finally found the loo! Bush camping is far easier than this house lark.

The next morning we were greeted by yet ANOTHER flat tyre! We pumped it up again only to find it was the bloody rim that had broken once again. Of course this coincided with Saturday morning......after which 11.30am all shops close till Monday. So, I found internet while Alex drove round to a garage to see if someone could help and maybe have a spare wheel that'd fit. Unfortunately no luck, so with now having no spares and wheels failing by the hour, we were in the dilemma of whether we should travel or wait till Monday. Not rally wanting to wait around, we decided to risk the 150km drive to the next town to see if we could find something open there.

Not too surprisingly, everything looked closed when we arrived, so we went to a coffee shop instead to discuss our plans. Deciding that we'd rather risk driving to Brisbane over the next couple of days than wait around here in the middle of nowhere for the shops to open Monday, we returned to Tinfish ready to hit the road only to notice the rear tyre looking a bit deflated... oh yes... you guessed it... THREE rims gone in a matter of only 36 hours!!. We were now stranded. All we could do was laugh, otherwise I think we'd have just burst into tears! We mindlessly drove around town searching for inspiration and stumbled across a BP garage so popped in to ask if by chance there was a garage that may be able to help us out.

By shear fortune, there was a workshop attached to the side of the garage and the mechanic was in the middle of a job for himself, being strictly out of work hours! Telling him of our predicament, Alex had had the brainwave to use the two inner tubes which we've carried thus far, to magically turn the tubeless deflated wheels into reformed inflated wheels with tubes - not ideal but it would stop the air leaking out of the hairline crack in the metal rim, so potentially a get out of jail card. He agreed that it would work given our situation and he kindly got to work straight away. Once again on our roller coaster ride of emotions, we were back on the road within the hour, only to receive another large chip in the windscreen 30mins later..!!! Quite a tally we're racking up... poor Tinfish reminds us of one of those comedy clown's car right now.

It was with mixed feelings as we drove towards the coast, knowing that over the next few days the camping would come to an end and our life on the road would be intermingled with normal existence in suburbia. For this reason, we decided to take it easy and planned 2 more nights on the road to cover the relatively short distance we had left to cover, passing the Dingo fence in the process. The Dingo Fence is a barrier that was built in Australia during the 1880s and finished in 1885, to keep dingos out of the relatively fertile south-east part of the continent (where they had largely been exterminated) and protect the sheep flocks of southern Queensland. It is one of the longest structures on the planet, and the world's longest fence.

The open plains stretched on for miles, with lush green grass springing up from the heavy rain storms over the last week. We relished our last evenings of freedom in the wide open spaces, listening to the wildlife chatter to each other in the trees, devouring the fresh air, and bush tucker cooking on the open fire. To make the most of what precious little time we had left, we found camp early and relaxed in the mornings reading and chatting, delaying the inevitable of getting back on the road. The luxurious life we've lived on the road was coming to an end and it was a very strange feeling.

From our last bush camp just outside Chinchilla, it took just a couple of hours to drive in to Brisbane. Finding my aunt and uncle's house was relatively easy, having only to stop and ask for directions once. Katherine and Maddy were both at home, waiting our imminent arrival, as was my uncle Phil. Warmly welcomed we began catching up over a glass of wine. My auntie Trisha arrived soon after from work. With the excitement of seeing the rellies, a few years for me and 12 for Alex, we didn't take much notice of our magic instantly refilling wine glasses. Trisha cooked a delicious dinner and we regrouped back in the lounge to relax. The excitement of the day was all too much for me, as the room began to spin a quick exit to the bathroom was needed (unfortunately hindsight is a great thing - and although she may have played out such a dash in her head, I can tell you it was the unfortunate armchair which took the beating!) Not a great way to reintroduce yourself back into the family fold!

The next day was a little bleary as we nursed our poorly heads and I had to call in sick for an interview I had arranged with an agent.....I just couldn't face it. Naughty Maz I hear you cry...I know. First day back to reality and I call in sick! Not a good start. The day flew by and I watched a movie with Katherine while Alex entertained himself on the internet. Thankfully we felt better by dinner and managed a glass of wine with the Sheppard's Pie Trisha had cooked. Only the one mind!

The next couple of days were much more productive as we ventured into the city to buy interview suits for any upcoming jobs companies might want to throw at us. With Katherine on summer break from school before starting uni, she assumed the role of city tour leader and took us into town. The first day started with us all just peering into shops without much excitement or interest and we quickly realised that we wouldn't get much shopping done this way. So, Katherine and I split from Alex and we arranged to meet up for lunch. Much more fun! In and out of shops we dashed trying on all sorts of posh clothes that brought back distant memories of a corporate standing from a previous life.

After reviving our ebbing energy levels with a subway sandwich, we traipsed after Alex to see the wares he'd put to one side. There was much more choice for men than women, so after the 4th try on, I was beginning to get a bit bored. Thankfully we had to be back by 4.30pm to meet Trisha at work so we could grab a lift home, so our action packed day came to an end. I returned empty handed while Alex managed a few shirts and a couple of ties. The second day was much more successful with us both picking up a suit, well Alex two, shoes and tops......we were suited and booted, ready once more to take on the world.

The following day, we both had telephone interviews scheduled. Trying to get your brain back into gear after the 18 month experience that we've had, is pretty tough! Questions like 'Why do you want to work for this company?', 'how do you perceive this role?' or 'give me an example of when you were faced with a difficult challenge in your last job, how did you handle it?' all seem a bit meaningless after 18 months on the road, 26 countries, visiting incredible sites, fundraising and experiencing such a diversity of cultures world wide. Still, this was all the preparation for the next challenge we were to face......returning to work.

No sooner had I spoken with Anita at the job agency, than the phone did not stop ringing. I had heard that there was a lack of experienced resources in the clinical arena this side of the world and this was soon reinforced by the endless possibilities being thrown at me and schedules for face to face interviews once I arrived in Sydney. Quite exciting initially, but then the sudden realisation hits the furore of activity in the brain and thoughts quickly turn to trepidation and daunting.

Alex had kept in contact with friends from his old company, maybe thinking that he'd look up the Sydney office once in the area. Along the way however, his old company had been acquired by IBM and it just so happens that there is now a huge need for experienced MAXIMO specialists in Sydney... cue Alex! So, first step was a chat with HR for the routine questions, then to schedule a telephone interview with the senior partner. We were well on our way to becoming normal again, well as normal as we've ever been!

In between exploring the possibilities of how much gold each company was going to shower us with, we began packing for our next adventure... all the dive kit was pulled out of the silver coffin on the top of Tinfish and repacked into our bags ready for Vanuatu and one last splash underwater!

Friday we ventured into the university with Phil and Katherine for a coffee and lunch. Phil works there and Katherine will begin her uni degree there in a couple of weeks, so we had a good look around after a great caesar salad lunch. The week had flown by and I couldn't believe it was time for our final 'holiday' before putting the handbrake on Tinfish for good. In the evening Alex, Katherine and I went to watch Maddy play futsal; indoor footy for those of you not in the know. Maddy was the star player of the all girls team, with them giving the boys a run for their money, but the boys were a little too quick on their feet and unfortunately for the girls, victory was theirs.

It was early doors the next day, so decided only a few glasses of wine were in order to get us through the night. Up at 6am to make sure we got to the airport in time, we said our goodbyes to Maddy, Trisha and Katherine and left with Phil for our final plane ride of the overland-underwater expedition.

A huge thank you to Phil, Trisha, Maddy and especially Katherine (who gave up her room for us and for being our tour guide) for making us feel at home in Brisbane and putting a roof over our heads whilst we slowly adjusted to civilisation! It was great catching up with you all and we really look forward to more regular visits now we're so much nearer!