The Grass Doesn't Grow Under Our Feet

Since our return to Australia in mid-July we haven't been letting the grass grow under our feet.

We spent a few days in the brisk winter in Canberra where we picked up our car.  After the heat of an Italian summer Canberra's winter was a bit of a shock.  Then we drove to Sydney where we spent a few more days.  During this time we sold our Astra convertible  - the last thing we need now is a "spare" car.  From Sydney we aimed for the warmer climes of northern New South Wales and Queensland.

We had another delightful and restful week at Cabarita Beach, near Tweed Heads soaking up the sun and the nearby rainforest.  This is a beautiful area which combines beach,river, rainforest and bushland.  A great place for relaxing - but there's plenty to do if we get bored.

From there we moved further north to Rainbow Beach which is close to the ferry point to Fraser Island.  4WD vehicles abound in this area where the countryside is predominantly sand flats with plenty of vegetation.  There are plenty of great camping spots, all requiring permits from the park rangers.  A visit to Fraser Island also requires a permit, and a ferry trip.  Rainbow beach is so called because the sand varies in colour from white, to yellow, to black.

Just south of Rainbow Beach is Carlo Sandblow.  A short walk from the carpark is a huge sandy area - like a volcanic crater, only sand.  An enormous sand-dune.  As we were leaving we passed a model and film crew on their way to a photo shoot.

A short drive around the peninsula found us at Tin Can Bay, a popular holiday town which is well known for the dolphins which come into the bay every morning.  It's also a good place to hire a "tinny" for some fishing.

While we were at Rainbow Beach we both did a Caravan Towing Course.  This was a day well spent with Tony and Helke (http://www.towingcaravans.com.au) who were able to teach us the basics of caravanning and the essential skills of backing and parking.  After a week at Rainbow Beach we headed south to spend a few days in Maroochydore to prepare for "C (for caravan delivery) - Day".


As we made our way south to Maroochydore we detoured to Noosa and climbed to the Tewantin Lookout with magnificent views of the coast and the hinterland.

Our few days at Maroochydore were not all shopping for stuff for the caravan.  We also had a trip to the Glasshouse Mountains.  These were named by Captain Cook because the volcanic plugs reminded him of the glass furnaces of northern England.  The lookout is a popular tourist spot and we were not the only ones enjoying a picnic lunch there.  The paths are decorated with mosaics depicting the mountains and there are some good interpretative panels with plenty of information about the area.

Meet Bruce, Doris and Big Tony.....

After a lot of planning and many months of waiting we have at last taken delivery of our new home and transport so it's time to introduce you to Bruce, Doris and Big Tony.

Bruce is our Toyota Landcruiser 200 Series that we took delivery of in April, just before we went to Italy.  If you've already met Bruce "in the flesh" you will notice that he has had a makeover.  Over the past few weeks we've been getting some modifications done.  Bruce now has a bull bar complete with very effective driving lights.  We have new towing mirrors which are adjustable so we don't have to fit different towing mirrors when we have the caravan attached.  We have also had a CB/UHF radio and aerial fitted - so we can listen in to the fruity truckies language on CB/UHF 40, or attend to the more sedate language of fellow caravanners on CB/UHF 18.




Doris is our SatNav system.  The first time we heard her voice we both immediately said "That's Doris".  In true Doris fashion she tells Bruce exactly where to go (although Robert doesn't always take her directions).

Big Tony (or BT)is our new Bushtracker caravan which is now our home for as long as we want to keep travelling.  After 3 nights we are finding it VERY comfortable.  We are not missing the perpetual packing and unpacking regime of the past 10 months.  

As with any new home we are now trying to work out where all our stuff will be stowed.  There's plenty of storage space, although we may not be saying this when we empty out our storage unit at Girraween Rent-A-Space in a few days.  We have already decided that if it doesn't fit it will become an op-shop donation. We are very pleased with the curtains that we had specially made with fabric from Aboriginal Fabrics in Alice Springs.  They match perfectly the quilt and cushions from similar fabrics which were made by sister-in-law Margaret - perfect.

After a full day of handover instruction from Bushtracker, we hitched up and drove a few kms south to the campground at Coochins Creek where we spent our first 3 nights watching beautiful sunsets and laughing at the male brush turkeys chasing after the single female near the campground - nature at work!  During this time we were able to try our as many bells and whistles as we could.  We also became frequent shoppers at Bunnings and K-Mart and several camping equipment stores as we kitted ourselves out.  We've got plenty to learn over the next few weeks and months.

Now we are well and truly "on the road".  Our first trip is a "shakedown trip" to Sydney and Canberra and back to Maroochydore where Big Tony will have his first service to tighten any loose nuts and bolts.

Final Thoughts on Italy

Our time in Italy has been amazing.  It's hard to believe that we've been out of Australia for 11 weeks.  The time has gone so quickly. The best decision we made was to spend 2 months in Spoleto.  The town has so much to offer and the people are friendly and helpful.  Laurie and Norma helped make our stay there so memorable.  We saw the seasons change from the coolness of spring with fields red with poppies, through to the heat of summer. The most important words we learned were "uno per due" which let us sample many culinary delights on our travels without overeating. 

We've seen enough marble statues and Renaissance art to last a lifetime.

Italy really does have GREAT coffee.

 

And most importantly we saw and did everything on our "list".

We arrived back in Australia onThursday 19th July, having left Rome at 10pm on Tuesday 17th.
We took the scenic route - Rome -> Dubai ->Bangkok -> Sydney and Emirates provided excellent service.  We're adjusting to the cold winter weather in Canberra for a few days and will make our way to Sydney via the NSW South Coast over the next week.  After a few days in Sydney (doing stuff) we'll head north to sunny Queensland where we will take delivery of our new caravan in mid-August.

Watch this space for our next post, probably in a few weeks.

P.S.  We think the Italian economic situation could be solved by enforcing the apparently optional road rules.

A few Last Thoughts on Rome

Our last day in Rome was spent finding the things still on our list. As well as the Sistene Chapel we wanted to see the Parthenon and Temple to Diana.  These are both close to the Trevi Fountain so we got off the bus at stop #8 and walked the 10 minutes to the Parthenon.  As well as the ancient Roman building there is also a Basilica to Santa Maria and The Martyrs on the site.  Both buildings complement each other although they are totally different.

 

Rome is a vibrant city and deserves it's title of The Eternal City.  The traffic is a nightmare, although I expect it's really just a matter of knowing where you're going. The food is great and there's plenty to do and see.

The Vatican

Another morning bus trip, this time to The Vatican. The Vatican City is an independent state wholly located within Rome.  It's not very big - only a few square kilometres.  Once we have crossed over the River Tiber it's only a few minutes before the imposing structure of St Peter's Basilica is in view. 

The area in front of St Peter's is enormous and would easily hold several hundred thousand people.  There are a lot of visitors and tourists around, and the square looks empty.  As we get off the bus there are many people trying to sell tickets to "Beat the Line". There's a longish queue to get into the Basilica and we queued for about 20 minutes before we got to the security point and then another 10 minutes before we got into the building.

The Basilica is huge too, about the size of 2 football fields, although it doesn't seem that big when we look at it.  This is due mainly to the optical illusion created by the size of the statues, surrounding it.  When we look at it in comparison to the size of people in the area it's true size becomes apparent.

Once inside the Basilica we are struck by the painted ceiling, cupola and walls.  There are many small chapels, each with marble statues and paintings.  The floor and altars are inlaid with many different colours of marble.  Although there are a lot of people inside this magnificent church there's also a sense of reverence. It's cool and it's not too noisy. People are busy looking at the many artworks and ornate decorations.

From the Basilica we moved on to the Vatican Treasury Museum. Here we saw many of the treasures collected over the history of the Roman Catholic Church. Many of the items have been gifts to the Church.  The Basilica is built over the Tomb of St Peter and we saw the key to the Tomb.  This museum is a collection of religious items - crosses, vestments, books dating to the 11th century, and other items used for worship.  There were plenty of gold, silver and jewels in evidence.

We spent about 2 1/2 hours at St Peter's.  We walked around to the entrance to the Vatican Museum and the Sistene Chapel, but the queue was too long and it was very hot so we decided to come back tomorrow.

Tuesday morning and it's our last few hours in Rome so we've caught the bus back to the Vatican to see the Sistene Chapel and the Vatican Museum.  This time we queue for about half an hour before we get to buy our tickets for 15 euros each.  We could "Beat the Line" and do a tour for 30 euros each but we're happy to queue, especially since it's in the shade.  There are plenty of touts selling hats, umbrellas and scarves along the queue.

The Vatican Museum is a museum and art gallery with a huge array of exhibits.  There's everything from Roman statues to mosaics to tapestries finely stitched with gold, silver and copper and silk threads. The rooms are arranged in themes so there's a room of animalia (animal statues), another room with huge maps painted on the walls and long rooms lined with painted cupboards. 


All of the rooms have ornately painted walls and ceilings. We saw rooms painted by Raphael and another room full of statues by Raphaello.  As well as Renaiassance artworks, there's also a series of galleries devoted to contemporary, 20th century art with works by Matisse.

There is a special exhibit dedicated to Oceania and the  indigenous Australians.

The centerpiece of this part of the Vatican is the Sistene Chapel and all corridors seem to lead there eventually. The walls and ceiling are  breathtakingly beautiful and we just sat and drank in Michelangelo's magnificent paintings.  The guards were kept busy keeping the noise to a quiet background hum.

As well as the indoor galleries, the are also a number of pleasant courtyards with colonades and cloisters, lush lawns and sculptures.  As we walked along some of the corridors we saw fantastic views of Rome.

This was a morning well spent. We probably spent about 5 hours in total at The Vatican and we did it at our own pace.