G'day Ann

At the end of a very full day sightseeing on a Sydney bus tour, then meeting up with Ann to do the Art Gallery, which was lovely and cool in the heat of a very hot day. Then we took the ferry to Manly where she lives and cooked up a veggie stirfry in the apartment she shares with all the leftover veg from our camper trip. We were going to swim but neither of us had the energy, so I was glad to have the chance to show her how EFT works on anxiety, which was good for me as I'm anticipating the next leg of my travels in N Z. Thanks Ann for taking time for me when you weren't feeling so good. It was great to have a companion and I hope the tapping is working!

I'm in an Internet place right next to The Hostel and before it gets too late I must go and sort out my luggage ready for the flight tomorrow. So next Blog from Christchurch!

Hello Sydney... Goodbye Rich!

At last we reached Sydney after a long drive from Melbourne. We wanted to trace Bryson's journey backwards and see some of the more unusual things he discovered on the way. So we found the pets-cum-porno store in a little place who's name escapes me (Rich went in while I contemplated buying naughty postcards to send to friends and family, but decided they were really too rude!) and the POW Escape Museum in Cowra where a miniature lady comes to life and interacts with the exhibits. Bill was not kidding; that really is an amazing exhibit!

Yesterday, (Thursday) we drove through the Blue Mountains, which were a major abstacle to the early settlers who couldn't find a way through for some time. These are not the usual kind of mountains with valleys ascending through passes, because this is really a plateau riven by huge cracks and ravines, so eventually they found their way over the top, often on narrow ridges between dramatic cliff drops on either side. We stopped at Katoomba for a ride down a nearly sheer crack in the cliff (a remnant of coal mining) to the forest walkway in the valley far below, then after a cool leisurely walk were brought back up by cablecar. I'll post pics as soon as I can.

Anyway we spent our last night in the little camper that had been our home for two weeks south of Sydney at Botany Bay. We expected beaches but found a stretch of docks and the Airport taking up much of the coast, then further along a bungalowed place called New Brighton, where we paid an exhorbitant price to camp. This morning Rich found a safe place to swim, in an area fenced off from the dangers of the ocean... sharks and stinging jellyfish!

After he deposited me at the Backpackers Hostel and we sadly said Goodbye, I wandered into town and finally met up with Ann, who was only a short way from where I was phoning her. We then spent the rest of the afternoon and evening walking and talking until, after a delicious schooner of James Squire Golden Ale at the Observer, she went to get her ferry home and I came back to the Hostel. So that's all for now... more tomorrow!

Meeting Ann

Yackandandah

Just a quick entry here as we're having morning coffee (8.45am on Wednesday) in the Java Internet Cafe in Yackandandah. We read in the brochure that this is the prettiest little town in the highlands of Victoria so we just had to visit after spending the night in a hilltop carpark, miles from anywhere, watching to sun set and sleeping under the spectacular sky that we've almost become used to.

With only two days to the end of this part of my journey, when Rich flies home on Friday, I have to phone Ann to see whether we can meet up for a days sightseeing. However, with Rich's phone losing battery power, then finding there's no signal when we camp, and then realising that we don't know the codes for Australia or Sydney, I've still not accomplished this. So as soon as I've done here I'll find a public phone and try to work out how to use it! How useless I am sometimes.

So if you're reading this Ann, please leave a comment if you can!

AUSTRALIA DAY!

Actually its Monday 26th Jan here and we've had an interesting day observing Australians celebrating their National Day in Melbourne. From a parade of all the ethnic groups that have settled here, (must have missed the Aborigines) watching people trying out the flying trapeze, (Rich wanted me to have a go but I'm wearing a skirt, which is hardly suitable attire) to the South Bank for food, drink and Buskers, it's been a beautiful day. This is a real city, reminiscent of London with its many Victorian buildings as well as great new edifices lining an attractive river. We came in by tram from the large Campsite at the edge of the suburbs, with caravans, campers and tents crammed into every available space.

We just hopped off the tram on our way back to find an internet cafe, as the one and only computer on the campsite is very expensive. So here I am, online in a Turkish cafe with men smoking hookas all around. I'm still having problems downloading pics from my camera and I don't know when I'll get that fixed so no new pics right now.

In the last few days we followed the Great Ocean Road, stopping to see the Twelve Apostles rocks on the coast, lashed by an incredible ocean, walked down the Gibson Steps to the beach and tried to camp overnight in the car park. However, the Wardens came around to tell us it's not allowed, except that Rich had had a drink or three so had to promise we'd leave before dawn. In the early hours it started to blow up a storm, lashing down with rain and rocking the van. I lay awake, feeling and hearing the booming roar of huge waves gnawing and nibbling at the base of the high cliffs on which we were parked, imagining the news: "Mother and son in storm tragedy. British holidaymakers who'd narrowly escaped being swept out to sea last week met their fate when freak winds swept their camper van off the cliffs last night." Suffice to say that we were awake most of the night but didn't want to move till dawn gave enough light to see where we were going. Then an incredible drive in the early morning through varied scenery of hills and forest, stopping for a break in a beautiful area of rainforest, full of tree ferns.

There's so much to see in this part of the country, but with only a few days left we just had to drive through and admire the views. Tomorrow we start the final leg to Sydney, where I hope to meet up with Ann, the daughter of Catherine in the US who often leaves comments. Rich flies home before I leave for NZ and I'll only have a couple of days to see Sydney so it would be great to have someone show me the sights if poss.

Deserts and Mountains

Leaving the varied experiences of Kangaroo Island on Monday we travelled East to meet up with the coast again at Victor Harbour, where we gratefully booked into a campsite that provided power to recharge batteries and more importantly, hot showers; and we really needed to clean up! An interesting feature of this small seaside town is a causeway to Granite Island where small penguins nest. This granite was also a magnet to Rich as it provided him with a perfect surface for bouldering; that's free climbing on large rocks. I joined him as the sun was setting to watch for the return of these birds from the sea to feed their large fluffy chicks that suddenly began to emerge from their burrows. As it was now dark there are no pics.

As we walked back through the town to our campsite at 9.00pm it was remarkably quiet; the only places open were a large pub, with music issuing from its empty interior (I kid you not) and a pizza parlour where three giggling girls emerged as we passed. That was it!

Next day we left the sleepy bungalowed coast to continue eastward, crossing the Murray river by ferry and entering a huge empty plain with a feeling of forboding, as though embarking on a voyage to Mars. This feeling was somewhat encouraged by the music of John Adams on the Radio that could have accompanied a space movie. After some hours we were relieved to see a mass of rocks on the horizon that confirmed we were heading in the right direction to Mount Arapiles, where we camped for two nights amid pine trees and cool breezes. Rich bouldered to his heart's content while I chuckled over Bill Bryson. (We're taking it in turns to read Down Under.) My exercise was to walk the 'Tourist trail' up to the peak, which was steeper and rockier than I'd been led to believe, and hot!

The next day, my Birthday, we left in a dust storm on the flat plains whipped up by high winds, with warnings of fire hazard. (There are several fires around Melbourne as we just saw in the paper.) Later we entered the Grampian mountains, a huge range rising up from the plains which gave spectacular views from the narrow winding mountain road. Last night we camped at this beautiful place called Hall's Gap where Rich gave me a Birthday treat of a very good meal in a classy Restaurant and we felt decidedly like happy campers in our dusty clothes.

I'm having problems downloading pictures. For some reason at this Internet cafe I can't do it and at other places the connection has been too slow. This is a town called Woolalooloo (or something!) on the coast as we make our way to Melbourne. I hope to find a better place to next download pics and stuff!!

We Live to Tell the Tale.

We've been almost in the wild for the past four days on Kangaroo Island, south of Adelaide. Rich had read about this still unspoilt place that abounds with wildlife and we couldn't wait to experience kangaroos and wallabies bounding around the camp site and koalas festooning the trees, not to mention other quaint marsupials and reptiles. Well, its been interesting, although claiming that the island is teeming with wildlife might be a slight exaggeration. However, we did see kangaroos in the distance and one mother and bouncy joey crossed the road in front of our van when I didn't have the camera ready. We photographed an echidna; the Australian version of a hedgehog that was scrabbling about in the dirt looking for ants. Rich definately got a glimpse of a large lizard, the rare Heath Goanna, that immediately dissapeared, but he saw its tracks.

Apart from that, mosquitos feasted on us at one camp site, especially as I sat patiently waiting one morning for wildlife to appear at a a water hole and saw nothing but birds. There are plenty of birds; flocks of chattering red, orange and blue parrots and the strangely musical version of black and white 'magpies'. Then we did see a large 'sacred ibis' take off majestically on one occasion and when we visited a seal colony were overwhelmed by their pungent smell.

Late afternoon yesterday we took a designated trail, where we did see a massive spider's web stretched between two trees with its large intimidating owner sat in the centre, but my camera battery chose that moment to die, so there's nothing to show you. Later as I cooked dinner on our fourth campsite (we were the only occupants that night) Rich said "There's an eight foot kangaroo over here" but he was jesting, so as we were eating in the van and I said, looking through the window behind him, "Quick look, there's that eight foot kangaroo!" he didn't take me seriously. There was however, a large buck, at least as big as a small man, just a few yards from our van and as dusk fell we saw other dark shapes moving around. (But no pics.)

The wildlife has not just been about animals. We just had to find 'the best beach in Australia' according to one writer, which does look spectacular, (see pic.) I did see a sign about 'the rip' but launching myself into the surf in wild abandon, (there's something very seductive about the sea; a favourite story of my childhood was Hans Anderson's 'The Little Mermaid') I was soon shocked to realise how far out from the shore I'd got and my attempts to swim back were not getting me any nearer. With Richard's strength and tenacity, along with my totally irrational belief that I have another 30 years of life, he somehow dragged me back to shore, (almost losing my swimsuit in the process!) aided by a family with a surfboard.

They'd realised we were in trouble and had alerted the coastguard, so as we recovered our breath on the beach a policeman eventually arrived to check us out and then two ambulances (see pic) staffed by very cheerful volunteers who told us that the helicopter had been put on alert and if we'd been swept out to sea we'd have been picked up by a winch. Now that would have made an exciting blog! Later, reading 'Down Under,' Bill Bryson noted a local's comment; "Don't worry about sharks... its the rips'll get you!" Point taken... a mermaid I am not! My next swim was in a calm, safe lagoon and even then I wasn't getting out of my depth. I think I'll stick to swimming pools in future.

The next day we found 'Remarkable Rocks' where Rich proceded to frightened the tourists by doing what he always does. I'll swear my hair is turning whiter by the day!

Kangaroo Island

We were thankful to leave Adelaide, another 'you could be anywhere' kind of city, where we paid for a day's bus riding and then found that the city had free buses and tram within the city limits, which being only one mile square, (or one square mile, I'm never sure if that's different) we could easily walk around. So we made up for it by riding the tram a few kilometers to the coast through the never ending suburbs. It was very hot and the AC in our room at the Shakespere Backpackers Hostel, being old simply didn't do the job.

So yesterday, Thursday morning, we took possession of a Backpackers Campervan and took to the open road. Following the coast south we made for the Sealink ferry to Kangaroo Island, which promises a wildlife experience such as you don't get now on the mainland. It's expensive but we want a few days 'in the wild'. We camped by a cove where we attempted to snorkel but found it was really too shallow. Further out Rich saw a bunch of ominous looking jellyfish so we didn't loiter too long in the water. It was a very quiet spot and we weren't disturbed by anyone telling us we couldn't camp there overnight. After a good meal cooked on the gas stove, we made oursleves comfortable; Rich on a top pull-out bed with me below on the very large comfortable bed. When I went out to do the necessary in the night the sky was incredible; so black and full of brilliant stars and of course, quite different to our familiar northern starscape.

In the early morning, bright red and yellow parrots flew around the bushes and lovely little wagtails bobbed around the van. So now we're both in the Island's Library checking emails etc. Then we're off to explore this very large island.