In a van down by the river

We've been in the campervan for a little over 2 weeks now. We started in Adelaide and have driven along the coast up to Byron Bay. It's really been quite pleasant, the van is new, clean, comfortable and reliable. I really like having a home base on wheels, and we've enjoyed some free urban camping in a number of places. The real bonus for me has been the ipod jack, as radio stations here are pretty brutal, the DJ's all have names like Clairsy and Kymba and they sound like douches.

Adelaide was basically just a place to start the drive, nothing much on the list to do, but we did manage to see 2 friends of Genevieve's from high school who had separately ended up living there. It's funny when you reach out to people on the other side of the world that you'd likely never see living in the same town. Everyone likes a little familiarity on the other side of the world, and local insight (as well as rides from the airport and home cooked meals) are always great when travelling. It was great to meet them and hear a bit about moving down here.

From Adelaide we headed for the Great Ocean Road, which is not just a clever name. This 250km stretch of highway runs along beaches, jagged coast, sandstone cliffs and rainforest. It was built by WWI vets after the war and claims to be the world's largest memorial, which is a bit of a stretch. Nevertheless it's a stunning drive and worth the hype. The iconic views were amazing, but the highlight for me was all the wildlife. We camped under koala filled trees, saw so many kangaroos and wallabies, picnicked with emus and saw countless colorful bird species, all in the wild.

Next stop was Geelong to see another couple Aussies we met in London, Isabella and Gianni. They had recently had their first child and it was so nice to see them and their new son. Amazing how much their lives have changed since their going away party with some drunken karaoke and bowling on Euston Rd. Life moves so quickly. It was really great to see how well they're doing and have a few nights catching up, and sleeping in a bed.

Melbourne was somewhere we both would have loved to spend more time, but the nature of this trip gave us only a few days. An English girl we met in London, Katy, happens to now be living in Melbourne and offered us a sweet parking space in the city and bathroom access, a real perk. It was cool to have her show us around to some markets. We also met up with Emma, who is my good friend Cole's little sister and also happens to be living in Melbourne. I didn't know Emma that well when we were younger but I'm really glad I reached out to her because she was so nice to hang out with and really went out of her way to show us around the city. It was the very large Melbourne Comedy Fest while we were there, and she and her boyfriend joined us for a show. We were lucky not to have to arbitrarily pick from the list of hundreds as there was a comedian performing that happened to be a regular at Gen's coffee shop in London. She was quite surprised to see Gen and it was really cool to see her show, which luckily was quite funny so we didn't have to lie to her face.

I'd really wanted to catch and Aussie rules football game, and since half the AFL teams are around Melbourne we were told that was the place to do it. There was a good match at the huge cricket stadium while we were there and it was really cool to see. I can get into any sport that so many other people are that passionate about, especially when it doesn't have the nancy diving and whining of European football. I'd definitely be an AFL fan if I lived here. We met for a beer with a guy I worked with in London and he explained a bit about the sport to us, it's amazing to me a city like Melbourne can support so many teams, and there were over 60,000 at the game we went to.

We both really liked Melbourne, I could definitely spend more time there. There were so many vibrant areas and outdoor cafes and restaurants, alleys packed with people eating and drinking, huge parks and a really nice waterfront. I can see why people either like Sydney or Melbourne because they're very different cities.

We kind of rushed from Melbourne to Byron Bay in about 6 days, but we did take the scenic route and stopped at a few great places for beaches and snorkeling like Jervis Bay, Nelson Bay and Coff's Harbour. We spent a couple days in Sydney so Gen could see the city, and have dinner with a girl she worked with in London. We also did the very beautiful Coogee to Bondi walk which is 5km of paths along the beaches and cliffs of the city's coastline. I could really get used to that lifestyle, so many sandy beaches and surf spots and swimming holes.

Now we're in Byron Bay, which is an incredibly strange place. It's a very small town with a huge international reputation for being a good time. It does have some very stunning beaches and tons of great bars and restaurants so I can definitely see why it's gained so much popularity. It's a bit of a victim of its own success though since the massive crowds and traffic kinda of go against the laid back vibe. The first thing we came across was a benefit concert for the areas homeless, which is ridiculous because everybody in Byron Bay is homeless, those guys are just staying longer. Once we passed the requisite hula hoopers and bead sellers I knew I was out of place. I'd love to tell somebody I made the money to be here mining uranium to be sold to China. Namaste Byron Bay.