Post # 4

Since leaving Canberra I've been in the absolutely amazing Tasmania. Sadly have now left there and newly arrived in Mel-bun. I could easily have spent months in Taz...

I arrived first in Hobart and planned to spend a day and a half there. It is really a very charming town, centred around the harbour with a chic feel to the place but without any obvious pretence. Almost felt a little bit Cornish with lots of the sailing fraternity knocking around. New and old sit happily side by side with modern apartments next to colonial houses and big yachts moored next to working fishing boats.

New and old in perfect harmony...





From there I headed to the west coast which is where I spent most of the time. It is difficult to describe just how beautiful, rugged, isolated, wild and undeveloped that part of the world is. I don't think a single photo i took really does justice... Around every corner there was a fabulous view which would literally stop me in my tracks. Mountains, rain forests, incredible coast lines, glacial lakes, fertile pastures, plains and forests of eucalyptus all crammed in, next to each other.

Lake Rosebery...




Cradle Mountain...




East/West "Divide"...




Beautiful beaches with no one around...


A couple of bits of driftwood brought in from the Great Southern Ocean...




One evening at dusk I took a boat trip out into Gordon Bay (circa 5 times size of Sydney Bay), with two other people, to see Little Penguins coming back to their burrows on Bonnet Island (about the size of a very large roundabout!). Sadly 22 Sperm Whales had beached on a sand bar in the bay two days before and despite the best efforts of all local sailors most had perished. we couldn't avoid passing them and despite our skipper's warnings of what we were about to see, it was really very sad to see such huge creatures as they were.

The penguins, however, did not disappoint! (no flash, IR light!) They were almost tripping over our feet.




Onto the Bay of Fires (NE of the Taz)














Finally I headed back east to Freycinet and Wine Glass Bay (pics to follow) before leaving for Melbourne.

Tasmania is a remarkable place. I also got my first taste there of the real (slightly unnerving) isolation that is possible in this country... No phone signal anywhere on the west coast, no Internet I could find, only 2 stations on the car radio and 3.5hrs/200km on an unmade, gravel road without seeing another car! The previous day I had to make a 90km detour to get petrol... All very different to home!

Off to the MCG tomorrow for a relaxed day, watching cricket!

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Location:Flinders St,Melbourne,Australia

Post #3

Noon in Canberra. Same as any other time in Canberra... Dull!

That's not entirely fair as they have some fantastic galleries, museums and memorials which is mainly why I came so not a wasted trip but the city itself is just plain odd. A totally 'planned' city so rather like a Milton Keynes of Oz but without too much life to it. Won't be too sad to be getting on a plane tonight to leave but glad enough I came all the same.

They have, however, built some amazing buildings as galleries/museums...






Last couple of days in the Blue Mountains continued to be filled with breathtaking scenery, walks and mountain drives. Below, leaving the mountains they did indeed look blue (refraction of light by the volatile oils given off by the gum trees, don't you know!)



After a great night out in Sydney last Friday with Keeley (who is doing very well, been there 12 years now) I left Sydney on a train on Saturday afternoon for here. Four and a half hours of, sometimes, beautiful scenery and I arrived at the capital city's train station... Smaller than Manningtree! The rest is history.

Tonight I'm getting a 7:30pm flight to Hobart, Tasmania. Have got myself terribly organised and have a couple of nights booked in Hobart, then a few days in a log cabin somewhere on the 'wilder' west coast and then another cabin near Port Arthur and Wine Glass Bay. The general plan from then I think will be to swing by Melbourne for a few days and then head west to Perth. I will continue to travel clockwise until it's time to head to NZ and then fill in the blanks (prob the north and east coasts) when I get back.

Few highlights so far, other than the obvious tourist points.
1. I've met some very interesting people.
2. This guy playing the most amazing guitar in Hyde Park, Sydney



3. Australians walk to the left, not to the right. So when approaching someone you pass to the left! For a 'left hander' this is perfect and totally natural and after years in London constantly feeling like a salmon fighting to get upstream this is heaven!
4. Finally, on the hottest day of the year so far (37 and cloudless) another busker was singing "I'm dreaming of a White Christmas"! They do seem to embrace the whole English theme of Christmas with dept store windows dressed in snow scenes with reindeer etc. Very strange when it is so hot!

Over and out


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Location:Akuna St,Canberra,Australia

Post #2

I guess it's been about a week since the last post. "time flies"' and all that...

Had a great few days in Sydney. A great city. Got a ticket to see an opera (Don Giovanni) at the Opera House last Saturday. Almost as spectacular as the performance was the interval; a cold glass of sauvignon Blanc outside on the terrace with the triple vista of the harbour, the city and the Opera House all beautifully lit. Amazing.

I left Sydney on Tuesday morning in a rental car. Having paid for a Hyundai Getz I ended up in a Holden "Epica"... Nice car but not that Epic! (although probably more epic than a Getz). And so armed with the obligatory cheese-based snack for the journey I headed to the Blue Mountains.






I've been here since and have had 3 days of spectacular views, exploring and 'bush walks'. Tomorrow I head back to Sydney to meet up with Keeley Pope (uni friend of P's) before getting the train down to Canberra.

The "Blueys" really are beautiful and I've loved being up here, not least my 6 hour bush walk yesterday from Govett's Leap down into the Gum Tree Forest. It was described as 'difficult' which I assumed was because of the time taken. How wrong I was; one of the hardest walks I have done but completely worth it.

View from the start of the walk...





1 hour down, down, down...





Another hour





And finally at the canyon floor






A small guest for lunch down there





And I can leave to your imagination what the climb back up and out was like. It was 30 degrees with the humidity of a sauna.

On the topic of weather: it was an uncomfortable 37 in Sydney when I left and we'd had the hottest November night (26) In 44 years!

That's it for now. I'm finally beginning to think like a traveller and not a tourist (not to mention addressing my diet) so I'm off to make my supper in the YHA kitchen rather than spending 50 dollars in a restaurant.

Over and out


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Location:Katoomba, Blue Mountains

Start of the road

So the journey proper started at Harbut road at 09:00 Tuesday morning. Tom was heading to the Science museum to learn about nuclear fission so came along for some of the tube ride to say "Bon Voyage"! Photo one marks the "official start" at Victoria station.





First proper Aussie food yesterday... A pie from... PIE FACE! Delicious.

Now friday morning and just spent first night in the "Harbour YHA" in The Rocks. Fantastic location and the YHA... Excellent! Didn't expect to be saying that but it is only a couple of years old and is more like an hotel but at something like 27GBP per night. Complete mix of people here: some young dudes, families and lots of people older than me! Sharing a room with Carlos and Rodriguez, 2 Spanish guys... Of course they've been living in London for years: Clapham! Currently having a morning coffee on the roof terrace looking down on the Opera House and across at the bridge. Photos below are the view...

Location:Sydney