We arrived down-under, in Sydney, in the land of Oz, in the southern hemisphere... In the land where spring is fall, north is warm and south is colder... And where they drive on the left side of the road.

The more I read, before coming here, the more I learned about vicious snakes, poisonous spiders and killer crocodiles. We'll try to avoid them all in the next three months.

We had an uneventful flight of no less than 16 hours before landing in Sydney, in The Rocks - the old cobblestone part where white Europeans first landed. Actually, the Dutch 'found' Australia about a hundred years earlier but took one look and decided it was an empty wasteland. They didn't even bother to claim it. Then the French and the British king played monopoly with real places and the English won. But they decided to use Australia as a dumping ground for their criminals: the Rocks is where the first settlers landed.
Now, if the deadly insects and animals don't kill you, the prices will. The skytrain from the airport was just a few stops but cost 17.- per person one way. We walked by a bakery with little, tiny pastries in the window: 15.- dollars each. But the people are cheerful, the sky is blue and the beer is plentiful. We enjoy staying in the same hotel where we stayed 13 years earlier: http://www.australianheritagehotel.com/ It's a fun pub with a few rooms upstairs. Not much has changed, the paint is still peeling and the floors creak a bit more. But Sydney itself seems more touristy and crowded. Now all we need to do is learn to drive on the wrong side of the road before picking up our camper.

Left The Rocks after breakfast, hauling luggage down to the wharf and train station. Airplanes are always a bit like time machines, transporting you to a different climate and culture. Here it feels much like home in Canada - the temperature is the same, people, traffic, etc. are so similar - except for the birds and the vegetation. Took the train to Mascot and found our Britz camper rental - a 5 minute walk. It was great to have all the time we needed to do paperwork, settle our luggage, register online for toll roads and more - before heading out into left traffic. With my toes curled in my shoes I yelled 'left' most of the way while Kees had no problem driving. Finally made it to a major freeway where driving is easier if you don't constantly have to think. Between our iPad map app and the borrowed GPS we hear many beeps and even loud chiming church bells*. No idea what was setting it all off but I found a general direction on the map and we managed to have all electronic gadgets direct us north to a campground on the beach, via a supermarket. We are fully wired and I must say it helps to make life easier.
Our first night in the camper and we are sipping wine, a chicken cordon blue dinner from scratch and listening to the waves of the South Pacific crashing below us. Beats the horrendous noise at the pub in Sydney where we slept for the past two nights.

* turned out to be a warning for 'speed camera coming up', not Kees exceeding the speed limit!

When we picked up our camper, we were made to watch a DVD on how everything works. The camper in the movie looked gorgeous and I was curious as to how closely our real camper would resemble to one in the movie. Lo' and behold, the real one was every bit as nice! It is spotless, with nice upholstery, no stains or smells. Spotless cupboards with plastic wrapped dishes and cutlery. A sealed bag with crips, clean linens, towels, pillows and a kingsize duvet. You have to hold your breath to ever fit inside the shower but at least it's there. I'm sure there will come a day, in the Outback, when we are glad to have it. For now, the campground has wifi and a pool. Not exactly roughing it.

From Toowoon Bay to Forster NSW we took freeways when we wanted to circumnavigate larger cities, and small scenic roads when we wanted to explore the coast. Quite by accident we found a deserted church camp on the edge of a huge bay. We are camped, all by ourselves, under palm trees full of screeching birds, overlooking the water. I tried to swim since it was clean and warm. But after walking into ankle deep water for half a mile, I gave up and wade back. Not deep enough.

Forster to Woolgoolga, NSW : Spent the rest of the day driving. Even though the map says we are right on the coast, we haven’t seen the ocean all day. Everyone tells us that McDonalds has free wifi so today we stopped at each one - I can’t stand another order of fries and wifi never worked at any McD. So much for that.

Found a campground, in the middle of a little town, that is very close to the beach. It looks good but is so windy that the sand comes right by our camper. Hope some of the beach will still be there tomorrow.

What I Learned Today: ... that kookaburra’s are meat eaters.