On the Road Again - Iluka, Australia

Dear Ethel, Family and friends,

After a busy 2 weeks work back on the Sunshine Coast fixing up our unit, we are now free again to pursue our wanderings as our house is still rented out until November. We bought ourselves a campervan and are now travelling the east coast of Australia, heading towards Bathurst, where Louises’s Mother lives. It is a 1000km of coastline and we have covered about 300km in our first week. We have been staying in caravan and campgrounds along the way. We figure that after 10 months out of a suitcase, the campervan is sheer luxury.

We didn’t stay on the Gold Coast as it is too expensive and started our new trip in Fingal Head, just across the New South Wales border. We are still amazed at the cost of everything since we have arrived back and are fitting the Grey Nomad profile very well, studying the price of everything in great detail and driving slowly on the highway to conserve fuel and save money. Still a very pleasant existence, stopping at every small bay and headland along the way.

All the best for now and we will let you know if anything interesting happens.
Ric & Louise

Week 44, Coolum Beach, Australia

Dear Ethel, Family and friends,

We are finally back on sacred soil, after a long 5 day journey. We left Pune on Monday afternoon after taking an Auto Rickshaw to the station and catching an overnight train. The train ran remarkably on time. I think it’s the trains in the north that don’t run on time and seem to be dirtier. We had an over night’s stay the following night in Bangalore. While killing time in Bangalore we went to see the movie Slum Dog Millionaire and it seemed to us a credible portrayal of what we saw in India. And well worth seeing.

It also made us think about our time in India. In short we really enjoyed our time in the south, The north is so much busier, dirtier and more crowded, but with so much more visible history and our teaching experience has been a thorough education in education. We enjoyed the whole Indian experience and while there are challenging days, people and places to deal with we realise that these challenges make us better people and travellers.

We intend we rest up for the time being and will apply for some paid overseas work now that we have a bit of experience under our belts. Failing that a camper van and a trip around Australia is on the cards, as we don’t get our house back until November this year.

So until we hit the road again... thanks for reading along with us. I’ll be doing some more video, so don’t forget to have a look at our Youtube site from time to time and I’ll update of Photos as well.

Our Australian Mobile phone number is:
0488 327 329

PS: photos of the puppets that didn’t make it, Customs got them and burnt them. Also a local waiting for me on our return home.

All the best for now
Ric & Louise

Blog web site: http://postcardstoethel.blogspot.com/
Additional Blog: http://www.ric-noble.blogspot.com/
YouTube site: http://www.youtube.com/profile_videos?user=RicusDeVaux
Web Photo Album: http://picasaweb.google.com/ethelink