Days 211 - 223

Tonight is a time for reflection. It is our last night camping on our trip, "Around Oz on a Battered Fish." Tomorrow, we will be arriving in Sydney at 10.30 am in Sydney Square. This will mark the end of our wonderful adventure. I am feeling a mix of emotions - excitement about seeing family and friends again, relief that we will finally be able to stop living out of a backpack but mainly, a huge sense of disappointment - disappointment that it will be over if I go to sleep tonight, disappointment that there are no more hidden gems of Australia to find on this trip and disappointment that we have to stop what we have loved doing for the last 7 months.

We have had a great final few weeks. It was fantastic seeing a lot of Gerard's relatives and friends in Melbourne and catching up with what they have been doing since we last saw them 3 years ago. We were spoilt rotten by Gerard's Uncle and Aunt who own an Italian restaurant, Casavini's in Doncaster, Melbourne. Each day, our plates would be bulging with gorgeous Italian food and Gerard and I would gobble everything up like two Labradors after 7 months without lasagne, gnocchi etc. We were also very relieved that we were staying in a house rather than being in the camper trailer as it rained non-stop for 3 days. We would have been soaking. All of the locals were extremely grateful for the rain as Melbourne is going through a drought and people are limited to 150 litres of water a day. To us, (we use about 15 litres of water a day for washing, cooking, drinking etc), 150 litres a day seems like a generous amount but just the fact that everyone is restricted proves how desperate the situation is.

From Melbourne, we went to the Southern Most point of mainland Australia and completed our 45 km hike to get to the Southern Most point of mainland Australia (see blog below for further details) and after a stop over at Lakes Entrance, we left Victoria and crossed into New South Wales ("NSW"), and then into Australia Capital Territory ("ACT") to visit Australia's capital, Canberra. Canberra surprised us. It is an entirely purpose built city, with lots of greenery, parks and waterways giving it a bush feel. Compared to Melbourne, there was little traffic on the roads and a healthy feel to the place, with cycle trails everywhere. We attended a media day at Old Parliament House, visited new Parliament House and went to Black Mountain. All in all, we enjoyed our visit to Canberra.

From Canberra, we headed back to the coast and met up with Gerard's sister, Theresa, her son and two nephews, who were joining us for their first weekend of camping. We arrived during a thunderstorm but thankfully, they arrived a day later to sunshine. The weather was great and we enjoyed lazy days on the beach (well, as lazy as you can get with 3 boys aged 5, 6 and 8) playing cricket, football and fishing. It was great to show them where we had been living for the last 7 months and how we had been living.

Our final night is at Royal National Park, the oldest National Park in Australia. We could not have wished for a better place for our last evening as the scenery is stunning, with our camp spot looking right out over the water. This will be a place we will come back to for a weekend trip out of Sydney, as it is only about 40 kms out of the City. It is strange to say that this is our last night and I guess I had better make the most of it rather than being on the computer. One more night only of lingering over the sky filled with stars and hearing the water lapping close by. I don't want to leave!

I will blog over the next few days and let you all know how arriving in Sydney went and what we will be doing next.

I have included some photos of the view of Canberra from the Black Mountain lookout tower, the Battered Fish and Barnacle in front of Old Parliament House, me looking very exhausted nearing the end of our 45 km hike to the Southern Most point of Mainland Australia, Gerard at the ACT Border, kangaroos taking a rest at dusk and the thunderstorm at Batemans Bay.

Take care everyone,

An emotional Rachel and Gerard x