Due South

In a few hours we leave The Sunshine State and head south to Sydney.

We pick up our hire car, a 4 litre Ford Falcon (or similar), at two o'clock this afternoon.

The plan is to reach Coffs Harbour tonight, spend tomorrow looking around it with Sean and his family and then continue on down the M1 to Newcastle to visit Paul and Tracey before arriving in Sydney for the weekend.

I may be unable to blog while we're travelling, I don't know. But, rest assured, I'll resume as soon as is possible.

I'll miss Hed and Annabel, they've been great. They're off to New Zealand this evening for a well-deserved holiday.

They've housed us, fed us and given us invaluable advice on all things Australian. They've ferried us around and been at our beck and call since we arrived and we'll forever be in their debt. Without them being at this end to meet us, things would have been so much harder and they've given us a fantastic introduction to the Aussie lifestyle.

It's going to be tough not having them around after today. I'm going to feel like a kid who's had the stabilisers taken off his bike.

I'll miss Queensland too. They've made us very welcome and, above all, they really appreciate the finer things in life - beer, pies and rugby league.

They've got a saying up here that describes the place pretty well;
'Queensland - beautiful one day, perfect the next'.