It has been two years since I last went on my long haul travels to Australia and what a trip that was.

It is 66 days 17 hours and 59 mins before I head off according to my Trailfinders app!!! I don’t feel the anxiety I did the last time before I travelled, maybe that is to follow! Hopefully not.

My plan is to fly out to Hong Kong first, via Doha, I should land in the afternoon of New Year’s Eve and have according to my trustee organiser be in a hotel that overlooks the bay and the spectacular NY’s fireworks display, if I am feeling up to it/brave there is rooftop bar/pool area which you can go up and enjoy from the outdoors. I will see how I feel. I have 3 nights so two additional days to take in the sights of area and have had some good pointers on what I should do/go to see.

The next leg will be to Auckland where I will join a G Adventures tour for 22 days in which I cover a lot of both the North & South Island, filled with activities, let’s see how this ol’girl holds up! Hiking, Trekking, Kayaking, Cycling, white water rafting, you get the picture, or you will as I go along.

Homeward bound includes 4 nights in Singapore which I am really looking forward to as I just didn’t have the nerve to do it last time, the gardens are calling out to me as I just think they look incredible.

I will update you as I go, I just wanted to give you all a heads up and forewarn you of my blogs again 😉

Ex

I left the hotel at just before 6pm and was home around 5.30 pm then did a detour to see my fav (and only grandson) I felt very nauseous since landing and now quite lightheaded, I’m instructed to lie down elevated my feet and drink lots of water.

Christina has kindly made some lovely soup and crusty bread, my appetite is not great so after an hour or so she leaves me home, shower and bed for me.

I was 100% on my outbound journey to Perth, however, when I work it out I was 25 hrs travelling there and 35 hrs home, no wonder I’m a bit squiffy!

The key thing is I am home safely, looking forward seeing my nearest and dearest friends and family. I am so grateful for this experience, the places I have been, the people and family I have met and been with and my goodness the seafood, most of my close friends and family know how much I’ve missed being able to eat fish, hopefully this is a corner turned, I will still be cautious of Mediterranean caught fish 🐟. Some final pics and until my next adventure Au Revoir, thanks for sharing my experience, as you know this was really more of a diary for myself so apologies for any grammatical errors or rushed posts often my time and signal were very limited.

The final countdown, I have 2 nights 3 days left, I leave Friday night and Andrea leaves early Saturday morning – Perfect!

The weather forecast was for rain, however, has changed to 10% chance so we decide to postpone our visit to the Taronga Zoo (Be careful it turns out their are two Zoo’s in Sydney, if you are booking make sure it is for the one you want to go to) until Thursday. We have heard good things about Manly beach and decide to have a lie in, no alarms and head there late morning and spend the afternoon on the beach.

The public Transport in Sydney is outstanding, the location of our hotel, The Ridges is perfect and it is good. 3 stops from Central to Circular Quay, where the water buses are waiting, everything is tap on tap off, the service is amazing and the water taxi’s are really fast despite the volume of people getting on and off, it is just so well organised. Also, get this, the seats in the train can be easily changed for forward or back facing, I had a double take when a guy popped his over, so cool and clever.

The huge cruise ships in Sydney harbour depart early evening and new ones arrive by the morning, most of them are enormous and obviously bring huge revenue to the cities they go in to.

We arrive at Manly and just walk around 5-10 mins over to the beach which is really busy, we hire 2 of the low reclining deck chairs and an umbrella and watch the world go by, again the sardines are between the flags and the life guards are not only warning about the rip’s but the Box Jellyfish! Explaining that if stung it is really painful for around an hour and then uncomfortable for around 24 hours after this, you would think this would be off-putting! It is the children’s summer holidays in Australia and approx 100 children arrive with their inflatables, about 20- 30 guards get in the water next to the flagged area and then it’s ready steady go! What a joyful sight, my heart is in my mouth worrying about what if one drowns or gets stung, what I have forgotten is that this is where these children grow up they are literally water babies, respectful of the water, they are also very well protected both in the water and on the shore by their group leaders and guards.

It was impossible to swim due to the numbers in the water, jumping the waves and diving through them was the height of the pleasure and it was fun. We travel back in good time as I have tickets to see La Traviata tonight at the Opera house, a Christmas treat from my lovely children & spouses, unfortunately, Andrea was unable to source a ticket and my concern is getting back after, it turns out one of the girls on the trip Aine, somehow sourced a ticket this morning and so I am delighted to have company later.

La Traviata is a tragic tale of a young Parisian courtesan, Violetta, who attempts to leave behind the life she knows and finally find true love. When she meets the romantic Alfredo, the hypocrisy of upper class society threatens their love and someone must pay the ultimate price! And yes, I did 😢

Every walk of life is heading to Sydney Opera House, from the very casual/unusual to the beautiful people! I am so excited and it was a memory that will go to my grave with me.

The opera house translate the words the non operatic types (including me) to fully understand what is going on. I had done my homework beforehand, however, this enhanced my experience further. A HIGHLY recommend to book something here if you come this far.

Two days one night to go 😢, lots to do before I go. Taronga Zoo is on the Agenda today, late start, we are booked for Sails restaurant for this evening, another Christina, my daughter, organised event with a lovely voucher from them all, my Christmas presents 🎁 will be hard to beat in the future that’s for sure!

We decide to pack our clothes for later just in case we run behind and end up being very glad we did.

First things first, brunch….on the Quay.

On to the water bus to the zoo. NB There are two zoo’s in Sydney, so be careful to book the one you want! Yes, I know I am repeating myself from a previous blog! My core aim is to see the giraffe’s, I love that the back ground behind them is the bridge and opera house plus I just love them.

Oh my goodness today is so humid and there is a lot of walking, we are literally melting!🫠

We need to transfer back to circular quay then get back on another water bus to Lavender Bay where Sails restaurant is, I am sure we will find somewhere to change!

Oopsie! There is literally no-where and the restaurant is not open yet, there is a tiny beach so we go paddling and much to Andrea’s bemusement I decide to change there following my paddle! As I explained ahead clearly hasn’t done summer’s in Donegal, she gets into the swing of things and demands evidence pics that we did this 😂 …..I told you I was classy!

We go into Sails, which is rather fancy, with our rucksacks and explain we need to get our faces in before sitting down, I don’t think they are quite used to this, however, the service from start to finish was impeccable, the food, the best of my whole trip….INCREDIBLE!

What a way to finish and such a joy to share it with Andrea, the icing on the cake.

I’m a bit tired and emotional tonight, Andrea was showing me a video of Budapest, which sets me off, it is near her original home town, she feels it is more beautiful than Vienna and I’m inclined to agree, through her clear pride n passion for it. I so hope we can meet up there in the future. Andrea has lived and worked in Canada (not far from Toronto) for over 30 yrs. Maybe another holiday destination on my bucket list too?!

Some pics of the journey back – Sydney by night!

It’s time to pack up, I’m so lucky that Andrea is here tonight which means I can leave my things in the room, go out for brunch/lunch etc and then be able to have a shower and go to the airport, my flight leaves Sydney at 21.45 pm.

We potter about and eventually hop on the train to Central Quay, we walk towards the Rocks and choose a very old Cafe for lunch.

After lunch we do a bit of shopping and the say our goodbyes as Andrea is doing a tour of the Opera House, I head back to the hotel, shower, sit on my case to get it closed and now have 2 pieces of hand luggage! I am well within my weight restrictions so not worried! Off to the airport……homeward bound, it’s hard to believe that 6 weeks have passed and I have absolutely no regrets about doing this trip. It was everything I had hoped Australia to be and more. ✅ off the bucket list!

🦘🪃✈️🇦🇺

The forecast is good so the beach is calling and the hop on hop off bus gives us the opportunity to see the city and areas around it, hear the history and go to Bondi, what is not to like! My hopes were not high as I had heard it was not all it’s cracked up to be and a bit tacky. I think this was a good thing and I really liked it but then who says I am classy! lol 😉

We travel past the Anzac Bridge (ANZAC stands for Australia New Zealand Army Corp), we pass Central Park and go along George St which is the longest street in Sydney, 3 km long. Hyde Park (A lot of familiar names) originally was a horse track and when first established was such a success the first races lasted for 3 days, it is no longer a race course, however remains oval in shape and has an Anzac memorial within the grounds.

We arrive at Bondi which is an aboriginal name meaning water breaking over the rocks and had breakfast enjoying the view. My first omelette of the trip and it didn’t disappoint, Andrea had the sourdough with avocado. Light and tasty.

The people are like sardines between the flags as the riptides are lethal here, the lifeguards have buggy’s and go up and down the beach warning people of the danger they may be putting themselves in and to either move over or get out!

We stayed here for a few hours and then decide to walk to Rose Bay, the map didn’t look far and long story short we were over ambitions and ended up getting the bus to Rose Bay. We had lost our ticket lol! We had the confirmation but no ticket and the driver let us on this morning, the question is will the next one? It turned out it was him and he remembered us, I can’t think why? 😂, all good and off to Rose Bay we went.

We found a really lovely little restaurant and thought we would take a picnic to the beach, however, we ended up just eating it outside and watching the world go by. We shared half a spatchcock chicken, with some tabouli (which I hadn’t had before, loved it!) and a tahini cauliflower salad, it was really delicious. See above.

We are going out for dinner with the group tonight, think it will be a light supper for us! We catch the last bus back and get organised for our night out. Nick’s is booked and whilst the food looked great, some was not as good as it looked. I took pics of everyone’s food (lol I did not eat all of this!) the night was soured by the maitre de, so inflexible and what a nonsense trying to pay the bill, anyway the men were getting nowhere and I asked Derek did he want the big guns to step in, and so it was sorted after I said I wanted it noted that we had and were offering to pay, he was declining and so I assumed we were free to go! This seemed to focus his mind and we settled the bill. He wanted one person to settle a $1250 dollar bill and then us to sort it out amongst ourselves…..eh! No! It was the first time I/we experienced such inflexibility and we were a group booking, I don’t get it! Especially with so much choice and so many amazing restaurant’s.

And, so we say our goodbyes as everyone is going their separate ways, some remain in Sydney for a day or two more, thankfully including my wee chum Andrea!

Initially, I was I don’t know I was a bit under whelmed, I am not sure why, I think I have been hugely spoilt on this trip with beauty over-load, however, and before there is a huge outcry lol, I found Sydney to be a grower and it sneaked into my pores and converted me. (To be fair it was pretty grey and was raining which didn’t help)

What a way to end my trip, the experience in Sydney just grew and grew for me and was enormously enhanced by my new friend Andrea. Being able to share this together rather than be on my own in this big city was a huge bonus.

We just clicked on this east coast trip with g-adventures and I hope that we will remain friends, albeit from a distance with some occasional hook ups for many years to come. Andrea has lived just outside Toronto from her mid-twenties, she was born and educated in Hungary, warm, funny and kind just my sort of human.

We get on the road early and head out to see if we can find some Kangaroo’s on the University grounds in the east of the city, however, instead of the usual numbers there were only 3, so off to the city we go.

I am booked at the Ridges which is very close to Central Station, Really good location and if only I liked beer, right beside the Surry Hill’s Brewery.

We get checked in, most of the group are doing the Big bus tour ie hop on hop off. Andrea & I have decided to split from the group today and do our own thing, we end up deciding on going for the 2 day option.

We get off at the 2nd Stop from Central to go into the Fish market, my expectations of a fish market were exceedingly low, I could not have been more wrong it was an eye feast and fabulous, just such a buzz around the place, we had lunch in the Boat Shed, we choose 2 mornay Oysters and half a lobster from Peter’s and then ordered crab claws from The Boatshed and ate the lot in there …..YUMMY! The choice was incredible and some fairly scary options!

This was what we chose:

This is what was available and I am sure there was much much more that I have missed:

Back to the bus, we get off at China Town which was fairly uninspiring, however the little jewel was the Chinese gardens they were gorgeous, only 12 dollars to enter. The rain eases and finally ceases enabling us to truly enjoy this lovely space.

Andrea and I didn’t do the detail and dilly dallied through the gardens and walked down under the Harbour Bridge to the Rocks, had a nice coffee/tea and headed off to the next bus stop, actually ran to catch what we thought was the next bus….duh! lots of people getting off, it was only 4.30 pm no more bus today, well all we could do was laugh! Sunday Service Oopsie!

It turned out that we were very close to Circular Quay where we glimpse of the Opera House for the first time together, very soon we have a proper view of the bridge , the opera house and the iconic skyline.

Day 2 – Bondi Beach, Rose Bay & G-Adventures Final Supper to follow.

500km later we arrive in the mountains, skirting Sydney on the way past. These mountains are best known for their soaring sandstone ridges.

We travel through a lot of small towns, ancient Aborginal rock art, lush green valleys and a lot of craggy cliffs, we are so lucky the weather is perfect as often these mountains are shrouded in cloud, not today and the forecast for tomorrow is fab.

It is Derek’s (our tour guide) birthday, he doesn’t think we know, he had taken pics and videos on my phone when we were surfing and accidentally left the video recording when he was speaking to one of the instructors and told him, so I head off and get a card, cake, candles and party poppers 😉

He has booked a Thai restaurant and very uncharacteristically orders some fizz lol, still everyone acts stupid and after dinner out comes the cake, honestly his wee face he was made up 🙂

The food was great even though the place looked like nothing on earth and no I wasn’t brave enough to order or eat the below.

We travel deeper into the majestic Blue Mountains and oh my word they are magnificent (this was one of my favourite days). The natural beauty of this area is astounding, we explore Laura & Katoomba, view the Three Sisters and walk through the Jamison Valley.

Derek had us up early doors to avoid the queues and we were able to avoid crazy queues get on the cable car where we got a Birds Eye view of this incredible area and then took the Katoomba Scenic Railway, a very short train journey down an incredibly steep incline 52 degrees to be exact, it felt more like a roller coaster, an old coal track that the miners used to haul the coal to the top.

Some of us did the 900 step giant staircase to the valley floor at the foot of the iconic 3 sisters, this was a dodgy one, so worth it.

I will stop typing and let the pictures do the talking, I was blown away by the beauty of this place and so grateful it was such a clear day.

We then took a 3-4k trail walk over to meet Derek which was just gorgeous.

We had lunch at a a renowned Bakery which our guide knows very well. Kangaroo Pie! (which was absolutely delicious, so tender. I found out afterwards that most Kangaroo that is consumed is not farmed, they are deemed pests so often are just shot and left, in this case eaten!

We got back later afternoon, everywhere closes at 4pm on a Sunday so not much to do, we are booked at a Korean bbq place right beside our accommodation, ummmm my jury is out on this one, nice to get some veg………..and off to Sydney in the morning for my last 5 days of the trip.

Prepare yourselves for cuteness overload!

We left the beautiful Baron Bay at around 10am and it was a long journey up to Port Macquarie and I so wish we had got more time in this beautiful coastal township. I am meeting Deborah this evening whom I met on the Tasmanian trip so I messaged her the minute I arrived at 4.30 pm and she was already in town and waiting. She reckoned I might like a drive up the coastal road and then a home cooked dinner at here’s and she was right. She had roasted a chicken and made a lovely salad, perfect!

It was a really lovely evening just chilling in her home surrounded by lots of books, paintings and super friendly cat! Deborah is an artist and I wish I had taken some pictures of them too. The scenery here is beautiful and the beaches gorgeous, lots of craggy cliffs beauty at every turn in the road. It’s a very chilled relaxed vibe and I liked it and was very grateful to Deborah for giving me the luxury of seeing it properly compared to the rest of the group.

Up early and off to the Koala sanctuary before we travel onwards on another long journey to the Blue Mountains. We skirt Sydney to go up to them. More about them in my next blog!

The Koala’s…………The Sanctuary/Koala hospital is a charity funded place where Koala’s are rescued and sometimes get returned back to the wild, however, more often than not they are not fit or able enough to return, many are from the huge bush fires a few years ago, some from dog attacks, disease or after being hit by a car.

They are so cute, slow, kind creatures, it is now against the law to cuddle them and honestly I was quite happy not to as many of them have Chlamydia (mostly in their eyes).

The inpatient list….

I am posting the best of my pics, I have so many I just loved this place. One quite scary one, see if you can find her!

They get there names from the places they are found. The signs outside their enclosures explain where they were found and what had happened to them. They are free to climb the trees, well those fit to do so and are very well looked after here. As you can see you can choose to sponsor them too.

Onwards to the blue mountains. We stopped in a roadside cafe for lunch and to all of our shock it was simply fabulous and a highly recommend should anyone be travelling this route from the Port to the Mountains.

Everyone up and in much better form! Lots of choices today:

1. Surfing lesson on the beach in the morning (included) – yes please

2. Kayaking in the Afternoon (extra) – yes please

3. Skydiving (extra)- been there got the t-shirt – no thank you

4. Lighthouse walk 1.5-2 hrs up and back – I didn’t do this as I felt I saw enough of it from the water when we were kayaking, however, I am sure the views were lovely from up there, some of the guys fancied doing sunrise at 5.30 am ie go up in an Uber then walk back not sure if they actually did this.

First up, Surfing, our main instructed is Jimmy who rocks up in a bus that looks an feels like it arrived there in the 70’s along with Jimmy all we were missing were a few spliffs! Assisted by a lovely young Kiwi called Sam. We called our boards and head to the beach, 2×2 ie 2 people carrying 2 boards, we start our lesson by limbering up and then Jimmy explains how we should approach getting up on the boards. Oh dear Lord this is not going to be a pretty sight if I ever get to my feet! Yoga definitely would support this activity and I feel repetition of the movement and muscle memory would play a huge part in being successful doing this.

There is a delay in us getting in the water – the life guards are getting everyone out of the water as A GREAT WHITE, yes as in SHARK has been spotted in the waters by the drone! Jimmy reassures us that the sharks are not interested in eating people and normally they just bite you and when they realise they have made an error ie you are not on their menu they just let go of you! Okie dokie well that is reassuring isn’t it! Also, we will be in waters that are too shallow and close to the beach for the sharks liking, however, where the more experienced surfers are is a little more of a risk and some of them just stay out and make their own decisions. The guards went into the water to get people out, there is a siren and I would say if that goes off the waters clear of everyone immediately as that means things are really serious. Jimmy goes by his gut feeling which he says all surfers have. OK!

Anyway, approximately a 30 min delay and we are in the water, it is a tough walk out with the board each time, and I start by just getting used to catching the waves and broadly body boarding in, thinking though what I need to do to get up. Jimmy supports me through the first time I get up on the board and honestly once I was up I felt relatively secure. I managed to get up on my own a second time which really really pleased me, honestly I was shocked that I managed it, like most things confidence plays a huge part and being clear on what you need to do.

A quick lunch and on to the second event of the day: Kayaking! Andrea and I decide to be Kayaking buddies, helmets and life jackets on off we go carrying/trailing our kayaks out to the water, I am exhausted already! A quick instruction which was broadly, paddle like hell until you are over the crashing waves, if you don’t want to get dumped out! We paddled out past the most easterly point of the Australian mainland where you can see the Julian Rocks Marine Reserve. The surfer’s here are catching incredible waves, however, way way to close to the rocks for my liking, I am sure they know what they are doing, it just looked really dangerous. Looking up is the Cape Byron Lighthouse, and we can see the people trekking up to it and it turns out they can see us as Kit & Jay were able to say they saw us.

We saw some dolphins while we were out and thankfully no whales today or sharks! Apparently, it is only female dolphins that live in these waters, young male pups are put out at around 3 months old, the playful males only pop into to mate and then they are off again. The local indigenous women came here to have their babies in the waters along with the dolphins and so this is a very sacred place for them.

In a moments lapse of concentration, and after deciding we wouldn’t go in for a swim as we were both concerned how we would ever get back in, we capsized, I take full responsibility for it, neither of us have a clue how we managed it, well oh my goodness, number 1 neither of us could get the kayak to turn over again, and number 2 neither of us could get ourselves back in the kayak, after some able support of the guides we made it back in, thank goodness no-one witnessed such a sight bar the guides.

We are shown Zak Effron and Matt Damon’s (currently under construction) holiday homes here and you can see why they have chosen it.

Time to negotiate ourselves back on land which we did pretty well bar being unceremoniously dumped out by one of the female guides just as we came into land! A Tim tam was offered and suddenly all was well with the world again. The dragging of the kayak back up was tough.

We were thinking of staying at the beach, however, there were limited options for shade and Andrea was feeling a bit off, we worked out she hadn’t drank enough and was probably a bit dehydrated, this was resolved by a large bottle of Peligrino water and an ice cream, we just walked back slowly to the hotel and got in the pool to cool down, I have caught the sun today just with being out on the water so much, I dread to think how bad it would be if I hadn’t factor 50 on.

Curve Ball:

Robert, one of the guys on our tour has not been well overnight and has got a positive Covid test, adding a bit of chaos to Derek the tour guides life and some issues within the group as there is some varying views on Covid, how it is dealt with and behaviours. Thankfully, as Andrea pointed out G-Adventures are Canadian owned (which I didn’t know) and so they deal with Covid under Canadian rules not the Australian ones ie 5 days isolation and so Rob must remain at Byron, he is feeling pretty ill by all accounts, so is not fit to travel anywhere. I would be in such a state if I was being left behind. How to get medical help if really sick, how to get supplies whilst isolating and I would be so worried about how on earth I was going to get myself to Sydney and home. Plus the disappointment of what I would be missing out on. Poor Robert. I am so thankful that I got my booster approx a month before I travelled (thanks to Eve) and am hopeful I dodge this nasty bullet.

Dinner at the Balcony, whilst the prawn starter was lovely (shared), oysters on the go, I took a pass, my main course was so full of garlic I couldn’t eat it, the cold red Malbec went down very nicely 🙂

Aine, one of the girls has decided to share my room as luckily I have a spare bed in my room (with her mask on all night bless her) rather than to share with her room buddy who has been at the highest exposure from Robert. There is no other vacant rooms. Most of the accommodation is fully booked around here.

We are leaving tomorrow to go to Port McQuarie. I am hoping to meet up with Deborah, one of the ladies I me on my Tasmanian trip, I had emailed her to confirm, however, as a duty of care I have made her aware of this latest Covid carry on and plan to do a test when I get to the Port for two reasons, my own re-assurance and before I meet Deborah as I feel its just not fair to do otherwise.

Derek had hoped to get us away at 8am, however, he has had to get alternative accommodation for Robert and we now leave at 10am. I wonder what tomorrow will bring, fingers crossed no-one else goes down with this.

Today we are off to the Whitsunday Islands on a boating excursion, a day out on the water amidst 74 tropical islands that make up the Whitsunday archipelago, we are visiting Whitehaven Beach, known for its stunning white sand and oh my goodness this was a massive a massive understatement as you will see. Warm Tropical waters, what is not to like?

I could work from home very nicely here.

The Whitsunday’s are in the heart of the Great Barrier Reef. The plan is to go snorkelling today where we will see a variety of brightly coloured marine plants, coral and beautiful tropical fish, a walking tour and some time on the beach.

We are still in stinger territory and so we need to wear the delightful stinger suits, there will be an opportunity to do some paddle boarding. Will I at last manage to get up and stay up today?

Our Skipper is Shannon with a lovely lad Reece and the very beautiful Katie looking after us and providing us with information of where we are and quite importantly treats and lunch.

Katie takes us on a small outboard raft to the reef from the boat, no fins/flippers allowed here to ensure the coral is preserved due to its proximity to the surface. I really have taken to snorkelling and the reef here was more alive and beautiful, however, there were a lot less fish. There were some Green turtles out in sea as we travelled out and then one on the reef which some people saw and photographed they are very lovely creatures.

Top Top: Buy a Go Pro. Luckily a couple of people on our tour had one and they were able to take and share pics of our under water adventures, which I for one was very grateful of.

Next we headed to Whitsunday Island which was lovely on first arrival, however, nothing but nothing could have prepared me for the views at the look out, I have never seen a more beautiful view in my life, simply stunning. When you look down on these beautiful ever changing (due to the swirling sands and 6 hourly tides) you can see the stingrays in the waters of the beaches below.

The movies, Fools Gold with Matthew McConaghy & Kate Hudson was made here, and some of the Pirates of the Caribbean (they spent an obscene amount of money for about 10 mins of movie time mainly due to the Islands not bending to their demands so for eg they chartered every boat in the area to keep it clear for filming! Planted Palm trees on the beach which were then re-planted at Airlie at an outrageous cost. Hollywood clearly used to getting its own way paid very dearly for it hear with the unbending (quite rightly) Aussie’s.

We walked back down to the boat which had lunch ready for us and we sailed round the one of the beaches we could see from the lookout. What is amazing regardless of how hot the day is this lovely fine white sand is warm never hot, so no hopping or running required! It is made from silica making it very unique indeed.

There are a few choices re: exiting the main boat, go with Katie or Reece in the dingy, dive/jump off and swim or dive/jump off and paddle board, I chose the latter.

When I booked this trip i was determined that I would try everything and even if I didn’t manage or do something well I would have no regrets as at least I had tried! Whilst there is no photographic evidence of it, I managed to get up and paddle twice! Was it pretty & graceful…….No! Another new skill acquired I was feeling pretty good about myself lol.

Time to head back and the Skipper was blasting out some great tunes everyone singing us home. All the usuals, Sweet Caroline, Queen with Don’t touch me now, Dancing Queen and many more. We had a 10 year old boy at the wheel enjoying the vibes singing and dancing, he was so pleased with himself, a round of applause given as he relinquished his duties to the Skipper as we came into the Port.

Kit & Jay our American friends have organised a restaurant tonight for the group and it was so nice to be in a restaurant that actually served you. I had the Barramundi a beautiful white fish with Broccoli and mash it was delicious, you will have to take my word for it I forgot to take a pic!

Airlie Beach has a beautiful lagoon which I didn’t get a chance to go into just nice to know it is here I guess.

Tomorrow we have the morning to enjoy in Airlie, we leave at 12.30, flying to Brisbane at 3.30pm and then have a 4-5 hour commute to Byron Bay, the flight was delayed by about 40 min, we lost an hour going from Brisbane to Byron Bay when we crossed the State line and ended up getting to BB at around 11.15 pm local time, this was a wasted day with very limited options for food, truck stop for dinner where the choice was KFC who were running out of things or McDonalds, a lot of tired cranky travellers tonight, hopefully everyone will be in better form with a nights sleep. An earlier flight would have made all the difference.

Part 2 – It is New Year’s Eve!

Luckily when we got back from our Reef adventure some of the restaurants in Port Douglas had re-opened and our guide, Derek had us booked into a local pub for dinner, I must say I am not a big fan of this queueing to order my food then queueing to order a drink, I sound very spoilt don’t I? It’s just table service is so much better, however, with lots of groups coming in its easier to have it paid up front and there isn’t a requirement to split the bills which could get very messy. No runners here!

We are packed up and on the road again. Today we are stopping at a local market and then have an Indigenous Tour before we head back to Cairns.

It was so interesting and definitely no swimming here and no walking on the shore, the Croc’s grow to up to 7 metres in length, they live for around 100-150 years which blew my mind and literally can grab you and eat you whole! Eh! No thank you. You can see the debris on this beach from the floods and Typhoon.

We head off back to Cairns to enjoy New Year’s Eve with a few stops along the way.

Our guide has kindly booked us into Hemmingway’s Brewery for dinner, there are fireworks at 8.30 pm for the kids and then again at 12 for the adults. I skipped the midnight one and was sound asleep by 10/10.30 so rock n roll! Tomorrow we have a 10 hr drive to Airlie Beach.

Happy New Year Everyone!

The journey down was 738 km down, I am so glad I took an early night, we have an additional driver today called Danny, who actually drove the whole journey down, giving Derek a well earned break today. Airlie was a welcome sight. I passed on dinner and just went to the pool. I am so tired today and just need time on my own, heading to the Whitsunday Islands tomorrow, so looking forward to it. To bed sleepy head. One bonus is that since I have landed on the East Coast I am sleeping!

Part 1

So, as I said it was disappointing not to make it to Cape Tribulation and Daintree Rainforest, however, there is not much can be done about it. Today, we are off on a full day boat excursion to the reef, something I never imagined I would ever do or see and it did not disappoint.

This is where we get a chance to say g’day to Nero, the clown fish (gorgeous) and some of the 1,500 other species of tropical fish that thrive in these waters off the east coast of Australia. We can finally get in the water as the Crocs don’t come out this far.

It is stinger season , that is jellyfish to you and I, hence the requirement to wear stinger suits which cover you head to foot including gloves.

I am going to let the pictures speak for themselves. Unfortunately I cannot upload some of the videos which showed the dolphins and the movement of the coral and fish.

Cairns – Port Douglas – Cairns – Airlie Beach – Brisbane – Byron Bay – Blue Mountains and finally, Sydney.

My 2 previous tours were with Intrepid and overall I was impressed – will G-Adventures be as good?

Our Tour guide is Derek Murphy! Another guide called in at the last minute this time due to two others having Covid. Will it ever go away?

In this group we have: 3 couples, American, Canadian and English then 10 singles, Robert from Ohio and 9 females, I was going to say girls, however, that might be too generous a description for some including myself haha! Everyone seems lovely and you it turns out everyone gets on well thank goodness because we are together for 12 days.

So, we grab a bite to eat and discuss the plans for tomorrow. Cape Tribulation & The Daintree are out due to water damage, for those who don’t know a Typhoon hit just before Christmas the airport looked more like a Marina, the had 24 inches of rain in The Daintree forest in one day and to put that into context they have 2 metres a year normally as an average! One of the areas we came through had 2.4 metres in a 24 hour period, the damage is clearly on view as we drove up and, so we have a day to do what we want in Cairns, 6 of us decide to take the Skyrail over the forest up to Karunda, it was spectacular, we could hear the birds singing from the cable car, we thought it was piped sounds to start with! You can see how brown the water is from the the rainfall and flow of the water.

This forest is over 200 million years old, wrap your head around that one. There are 3 cable car journeys which span approx 10 km, on the 2nd journey Barron Falls ones into view and it is spectacular especially with the additional rainfall, we get the option to view it properly at the next stop!

On to the third leg, we arrive at Kaunda and much to everyone’s surprise there are shops and craft stalls galore, you also could choose to pay to go to see Butterflies, Koala’s and/or the Aviary. We only had an hour at the top and needed to get lunch so didn’t do any of that. Derek our guide is collecting us at 1.30 pm so off we went again.

When we meet up with Derek there is question over us even travelling up to Port Douglas now tonight as their water has been turned off, the irrigation systems are struggling and there is no drinking water, all the restaurants are closed, a decision will be made at 2pm, if we cant go up this evening we will have to leave at 5am to be in Port Douglas in time to go snorkelling on The Great Barrier Reef tomorrow. 2 o’clock was pushed back to 3 o’clock and no-one was hopeful of getting away a this stage. 3.30 pm and we are good to go and with a collective whoop we are off with a few proviso’s. We need to provide drinking water, wine, food as we will need to bbq tonight and be understanding that showering, in fact washing and flushing toilets might be a bit tricky!

The resort is beautiful we have been upgraded for the next two nights, I think a lot of people had cancelled and it felt like we had the place to ourselves, the bbq was so good and great fun, team bonding time for sure. Quite a few of the girls including me got into the lovely pool after dinner and sure enough there is no water to shower after.

I was lucky as I was up before 6 and got enough cold water to rinse out my hair and get washed and then the water went off so most didn’t get this luxury, early bird gets the worm clearly!

We are about to do something today I have always wanted to do and see, which is Snorkel on THE GREAT BARRIER REEF! We sail off at 8.15 am, it took an hour and a half to get to the reef and we snorkelled on 3 different sites, I just loved it. The fish are so beautiful, the reef was duller than I expected, however, by the third site I felt more confident and it was definitely the best site. It was also good to track the people who went diving, the bubbles are freezing cold when burst and lovely to look at rising from their tanks.

It is stinger season (broadly jellyfish, all different sizes) and so, everyone has to wear a stinger suit, you can still feel the attempts to sting through the suits and on you face, vinegar sprays were available if required. Lunch was provided and was really good, this has been a very memorable day indeed.

We went to a local Irish Bar for dinner and despite the offer to stay in town everyone was back on the bus and ready for an early night. It is New Years Eve tomorrow, we have the market in the morning, an Indigenous tour and then a drive back to Cairns, dinner is booked at Hemmingway’s Brewery at 6.30 then fireworks at 8.30 and again at 12pm for those that want to stay up. I will have to think about that!

Cairns was a 3 hr 20 min flight from Melbourne and I lost another hour, I am now 12 hrs ahead. I arrived around 6.30pm in the evening and it was a short taxi journey to the hotel. Wow! The heat and humidity is something else, it reminded me of August in Spain when you get off the plane or Florida when you add in the humidity.

You could see from the plane the remains of the flooding post Typhoon.

I was anxious as it was drawing darkness and I was unable to get into the hotel without a keycard, which I couldn’t get until I checked in……chicken and egg! The hotel was broadly locked down with big iron gates which was not helping my anxiety with regard to Cairns and my safety. Thankfully a kind resident let me in. No way am I going out again tonight!

I naively thought I am staying in the Ramada it will be lovely, not the Ramada Wyndham, it reminded me of a mixture of 1970’s Spain & and motel, a constantly dripping shower, terracotta tiles etc however, it was clean and luckily I wasn’t hungry after such a lovely lunch before I left Melbourne, fingers crossed things look better in the morning.

It so did, I was up and out early, again the heat and humidity from early morning is quite something. Cairns is a relatively small city, broadly on a grid and surely to goodness even I can manage this without getting lost, the hotel despite all its faults seems to be in a pretty safe area and was a very short walk to the promenade alog the waters edge, so beautiful. No swimming because of the Crocs here! It wasn’t long until I came across the man made Lagoon area, so nice (pics below).

I walked through the Marina area and then through the town to a big shopping centre, shops for all tastes and requirements. I am limiting my purchases until after my flight to Brisbane due to weight restrictions on the internal flights so I only got a couple of t-shirts and shorts.

I had seen some nice places along the Marina that looked nice for lunch so dropped off my purchases, changed into my beachwear and headed to the Lagoon for a swim and cool off. It was like a bath and it wasn’t long before I was dry again.

A lot of the pubs/restaurants in Oz work on an order your food take a number/buzzer and then go an order what you want to drink, I fancy getting served today as I am about to join my g-adventure trip this evening and most of the places for food work as above, so I found a really lovely little restaurant called Tha Thai which confusingly was Thai and had lunchtime specials menu. I had a really beautiful prawn linguine with a glass of wine (part of the special lol) for $25.

On my way back to the hotel I decided to go up in the Eye as you do which gave me a great view of the town, bay and lagoon.

Next up I meet the guys I will be travelling with and guide for the g-adventures tour – there is talk that Daintree rainforest is closed due to Typhoon and its associated rain ……I will soon know.

Boxing day was lazy and relaxed broadly we did nothing but have naps and relax – Perfection!

I need to get my main case to 23Kg as I dont want to incur another fine! Lo and Behold when I got to the airport unbelievably it was 23 kg on the nose! Quantas have a 10kg allowance for on board and they are relatively relaxed about it which is refreshing, no-one taking advantage including me so you have to ask our local airlines to maybe take a chill pill!

Re-packed and ready for the east coast Lu & Ben are taking me into the city which was so kind Ben our tour guide for the morning wandered us through the city and I saw different places within the city I would not have seen like the graffiti alley rounded off with a wonderful seafood lunch. I know you are reading this Lu (and hopefully Ben) I can’t thank you enough for your kindness to me on this trip, lots of love Ex

It is the 22nd of December and an early morning arrival into Melbourne at 7am. So, before I made this trip I made a conscious decision to be wifi only, to ensure I was present for this experience and have my head up and looking out as opposed to down and in my phone, overall, this has been a good decision, however, when trying to book an Uber on very dodgy airport signal is not ideal! For some weird reason I had signal with my head stuck in the Uber’s passenger window!

Luckily I had messaged Lu from the plan so she knew I was landed and en route. I insisted on making my own way at this time of the morning she had already done 2 airport runs on my recent 3 day visit.

Pamper day, I have been looking forward to this, we headed out for one of the best pedicures I have ever had, got our nails done and then I headed off to a day spa place for an all round tidy up, details not required!

I had an afternoon nap, having been up since 2.30am, we are going out with Lu’s friend Rae tonight into Melbourne for dinner.

We headed into town around 5pm and went to a little cocktail bar near Parliament, a great place to watch the world go by, wedding on the steps etc as we waited for Rae with a lovely freezing cold Pinot Gris.

Lu has us booked into Margaux and underground French Restaurant which reminded me of Dublin with all the old floors and booths. Rae is such a lovely easy girl and I can see why Lu & she are great friends.

Starters (and I wish I had taken pics) snails in garlic butter out of their shells, gorgeous, so tasty. I had snails once before in Paris in their shells in garlic butter and wasn’t convinced, I am so glad I gave them another shot, we had a few other sharing plates and then we all had the burgers which are meant to be one of the best in the city and oh my word it didn’t disappoint, absolutely gorgeous.

23rd Dec. Early morning walk with Lu & Ruthie on Alton beach which was approx 20 mins from the house with clear views of the city, so nice, Ruthie in her element getting her ball and chasing the birds!

Then off to collect fresh prawns and Morton Bay Bugs! From the wholesalers near the beach.

I heading into Yarraville for the afternoon to get a few bits and pieces and write up my Tasi blog, got lost a few times so walked more than I had expected. We are going to Jocelyn & Rob’s tonight, they have very kindly invited me too. What a lovely evening, great company and lovely food along with a lot of dogs in their Christmas outfits which was definitely different! We were the first to leave at around 10pm as all three of us were whacked.

Christmas Eve and it’s all going on in the kitchen. Ben has had the turkey soaking in Cider, water, oranges and seasoning over night and is now putting butter under the skin and seasoning it. The smoker is on, you can put different types of wood pellets in it depending on what you are smoking. Lu is prepping n the ham. It not as we know it as you cannot buy raw pork in Australia, however the principle is the same post boiling remove most of the fat, score it, cloves etc Lu has made an apricot base for the ham. Apricots, apricot jam, seeded Dijon mustard, white miso and honey, delicious and into the oven to roast.

For those of you that are thinking it is hot and sunny think again thunder storms and it is pouring down!

So…..Be warned this will be a long one as there is so much to tell and even at that I will not have done this wonderful place justice.

My Advice:

First of all, make the effort and go to Tasmania, be in no doubt, you will not regret it, especially if you enjoy walking, hiking or mountain biking. Take appropriate light, warm, waterproof clothings and good boots!

Day 1

The tour commences and I meet my fellow travellers, 18 in total, 17 women and 1 poor man! An inspirational Canadian couple with such a zest for walking, I am not sure of their exact ages, however, definitely late 70’s early 80’s. Graeme with his two titanium knees and Linda who would put anyone to shame fearless and game to go and walk anywhere.

Our tour guide is Lawrence or Larry to those that like him, you couldn’t not, what a lovely lad. The following words/phrases will forever remind me of Larry: Cool Banana’s, Alrighty & Cool Beans.

The tour did cater throughout for differing abilities on climbs and walks and I am delighted to say I did it all without the requirement of a cardiac ambulance!

Travelling from Hobart to Strahan, lots of miles to cover.

First stop: Mountfield National Park – Tall Trees, we took the Russell Falls/Horse Shoe Falls trek which wasn’t long, really beautiful as you will see from the pics below.

Second stop: Lake St Clair National Park – surrounded by mountain ranges and our first glimpse of Cradle Mountain and my first creeping worry about my aerobic fitness level and yes my age as I glanced around the bus! The group was a mix of ages a third under 30, a third 30-50 and the final third 50+. We took a short walk up to Platypus Bay just nice to stretch our legs. Lake St Clair is the deepest freshwater lake in Australia and no I wasn’t tempted to jump in! Water temp estimated to be around 5-8 degrees.

We are staying at a comfortable Motel in Launceston for 2 nights called the Penny Royal. I know it doesn’t look like much!

Day 2:

There was a choice to either do the hike to Montezuma Falls or take a river cruise along the Gordon river. I chose the latter and it was such a good choice. First of all, it was on a big comfortable catamaran, including lunch (which was good). I loved this trip as throughout it there was a running commentary either verbally or on the TV screens on board showing pictures and giving the information past, present and future of what you were seeing.

Out towards Hell’s Gates, aptly named as the currents are lethal. We sailed from Port Macquarie a Penal Settlement 1831, a brutal time to get into bother and being a prisoner officer didn’t seem a bundle of laughs either. Some poor souls made a breakwater of stone and constructed a railway track (there is a pic, however, although it is hard to see now I can’t imagine how they did it). There are huge salmon fisheries along the way, held down by 12.5 tonne weights, this water is pretty fierce.

The Huon Pine which is the slowest growing tree in the forest ie one millimetre a year the oldest of which is around 3000 years old are really rather special.

Sarah Island is the first stop and the guides are super, we had the lovely Ollie who was very theatrical and hence it was no surprise to find out that he had played the lead part of which there are only 2 parts in the play called “The Ship that never was” which plays every night at the Macquarie Harbour in a small amphitheatre, yes I did go and it was excellent.

Sarah Island was a Convict Penal Settlement between 1822 and 1833 “remembered only as a place of degradation, depravity and woe!” John West recorded. I would encourage you to read about this place, so interesting. Craftsmen and artists worked in, well when I say worked I do mean as convicts, escaping convicts providing some of the first maps of the waters, the Scottish Master Shipwright David Hoy created the largest ship and boat building industry in the colony, convict workers conspired, schemed and bargained to get difficult officials dismissed. Australia’s first streaker lived here! Others like Alexander Pearce escaped and was famed for his cannibalism, finally the last escape from the Island on The Frederick, the ship that never was which made it all the way to Chile, as I said worth looking up.

The second stop and just a wonderful experience was in the worlds only Cool Temperate Rain forest, I cannot explain how wonderful the air is and the cool freshness of this area, this place is a unique and beautiful place where giant burrowing Crayfish live, for me it was the feel of the place I loved more than anything else.

This was a really good decision! Captain Morrow at your service lol 😉

And finally for day 2 the Play!

Day 3:

Cradle Mountain National Park. The Mountain is 1545m height and is one of the park’s most iconic features and is surrounded by stands of the native deciduous beech, rainforest, alpine heath lands and button grass. Icy streams cascade down the mountainsides and ancient pines are reflected in the still glacial lakes. It is wet, it is not warm, come to Australia they said! Our Hike today is to Marion’s look out 1223m up, you can choose to walk to Waldheim Châlet or do the Dove Lake Circuit, tempting, I am giving this a go!

There are so many walks and hikes you can do one of which is The King Billy Walk which just tickled me, it does seem to be a traditional route! 😉

So, I fall at the first hurdle, too busy looking at wombats! I wasn’t even on the really rough terrain, down I went on my left hand side straight into a puddle, down but not done, onwards! Why didn’t I put my golf wets in? Hiking boots? I am also having a stern chat with myself throughout this hike about my aerobic fitness, treadmills, terrain walking etc. I was surprised at how many didn’t do this hike half to be exact and I am not saying I was the first up, however, I was in the mix and could have gone on for sure which really pleased me this was steep and challenging. More mountains for me please.

A short drive through Sheffield famed for its murals and they are good if you are into that sort of thing and on to Launceston for the night where it was raining Koala’s and Kangaroo’s, am I in Australia?

Day 4: It has stopped raining at last!

Starting a Cataract Gorge and ending in Bicheno, Bay of Fires

Cataract Gorge was just a short walk, really beautiful, where you walk over the Alexandra suspension bridge or you can take the cable car, however, we arrived at 8am and so it was too early and the cable car was not open. I could hear the peacocks as we got off the bus and thought of Mum & Papa and the kids having a love/hate with those birds! I am going to let the pics doing the talking this time.

We stopped at a little pond and yes, how lucky we got to see a couple Platypus in the wild just doing to Platypus’s do! We then passed through Derby, famous for mountain biking, I have never seen so many camper van’s bikes and people out of no where.

This area is full of dairy cows, we had hoped to call in the Pebgana Cheese Factory, however, we were running late and because they served this with wine I think Larry was concerned he might have trouble rounding us up!

On to St Columba Falls, another of Tasmania’s 60 short walks, claimed to be one of the highest falls in Tasmania really gorgeous, this reassured me that my decision to do the cruise was the right one and the rest of the group said these falls were more spectacular and my FOMO fears were allayed. Larry included!

And finally, the Bay of Fires, oh! Folks how nice to kick off my shoes and get my feet in that water which was so clear and fresh surrounded by the orange coloured granite rocks.

Did I say the rain had stopped, I spoke too soon, so I have agreed to do the Penguin Tour, everyone loves a penguin tour……right? Not tonight! It was utterly miserable even the penguins didn’t want to be out! All I could think was WTF (sorry mummy!) what am I doing out here! The tour guide was really excellent, however, I was foundered and getting crankier by the minute – everyone has a breaking point! Thankfully it was only an hour long so I kept my crankiness to myself, bar a wee winge with my fellow miserable pals. NB Evidence that pictures lie! lol 😉

Day 4: The Sun is Out – oh Hello!

Up early and off we go to the beautiful Freycinet National Park, we start with Coles Bay which encompasses Honeymoon Bay just a short stop to appreciate the view and on to Cape Tourville for a short walk to the Lighthouse the views were really beautiful and now onto one of the things I have been looking forward to a trip to Wineglass bay, it’s beauty had really appealed to me and it did not disappoint it is STUNNINGLY gorgeous, one slight over look the 1000 steps to get do to it and up from it, oopsie! Well well worth it! The views today were spectacular The Hazard mountain range, 5 peaks.

A 20 min walk to get to the look out and then the steps to the beach and where had I left my swimsuit? On the bus I was disappointed however maybe my miss was my mercy as that water was cold. This was the first day I realised the piercing heat of the Australian sun! And yes I did have my factor 50 lathered on me. It was a truly pinch me moment being on this beach.

Tonight is our last night and so we are going to the Lobster Shack, time to experience the Oysters, Tasmania are famed for having the best oysters in the world and so if my mind isn’t changed here it never will be. Mmmmmm I had two! That was enough and whist they were better than the last time I remain firmly on the fence!

Day 5 – Woohoo the sun is still around and out!

Nature World Nature Reserve is first on the list today, Wallaby’s, Geese, Parrot’s, Snakes, Wallaby’s and oh! Yes at last TASMANIAN DEVILS, you do not want to mess with these wee rascals, to be fair they are scavengers and not overly interested in the living or human’s thank goodness. They were in enclosures, feeding time was pretty hectic and apparently they were really well behaved today. They have a jaw strength 5 times stronger than the average dog!

We called at Tiabunna nr Maria Island – Tiabunna also the name of Tasi’s native Hen, boho they are fast wee birds, I saw them at Cataract Gorge! They can run at 40km/hr I think you would definitely be ready for dinner by the time you caught one!

Planet friendly alert! Interestingly, well to me it is, and perhaps some of my friends and family members, Tasmania has discovered a way to reduce Methane emissions by approx half from cattle from a Kelp Feed which is cheaper for farmers to buy than traditional feeds, it is made from red seaweed called Asparagopsis.

ARE YOU STILL WITH ME?

And all too soon it is over and I say goodbye to my friends of 5 days and our amazing tour guide Larry!

And, finally, Mount Wellington, the last challenge! To be fair we were able to drive most of the way up and made the final assault. We went from a beautiful warm day to cold and unfortunately in our experience cloud covered peak. Charles Darwin said “it was a mountain of little picturesque beauty”. Hey what did he know! It might not be a beautiful mountain, however, the views over Hobart are spectacular.

I have a 6am flight to Melbourne tomorrow so an early one for this tired girl!

A short hop from Melbourne with the flight just over one hour. I landed in and could immediately feel the reduction in temperature here. Today is a down day for me so I took a nap and then decided to walk down to the harbour area which was lovely.

What to do tomorrow? That is the question …… I decided with my navigational skills being what they are to book a tour, there were a lot of different options so I went for the One Day Trip to Bruny Island with Bruny Island Sea Cruises leaving at 7.45am from the office on the pier, so easy to get to.

NB they ask if you have back or neck issues so Cruise is maybe a bit misleading lol 😉

Skip past this nerdy bit about this company I just love someone doing well from nothing just having seized an opportunity: The Company was set up by Robert Pennicott 24 years ago in 1999, he was a fisherman who lived on Bruny Island and was being asked by tourists if he would take them out round the island on his boat. Wowzer! that took off! He now owns Pennicott Wilderness Journeys of which the Bruny Island Sea Cruises are a part of and many more (worth a google). He is now named as an Australian Tourist Legend! Lots of awards! All I know is that I fell on my feet with this one, I just wandered in off the pier.

Today, as if you all don’t know is my gorgeous grandson Caleb’s first birthday and bad Nana is on the other side of the world, sorry baba, well it’s your birthday so I am going to treat myself! Party for One lol 🙂 I was recommended to go to Mures on the Pier and it did not disappoint. It reminded me of Rick Stein’s in Padstow the only difference being everything was in one building. An amazing fish counter if you wanted to buy some, the lower deck restaurant for anyone wanting to eat relatively affordably (watch out for the seagulls!)

I decided on the Upper Deck, well it is a celebration and got a beautiful table at the window over-looking the harbour.

Starter, I decided on the Semolina crispy fried Squid, black garlic aioli, cucumber, mint, palm sugar and lime dressing and for mains a Tasmanian Seafood Laksa including scallops, premium white fish, salmon, squid, spiced coconut soup & noodles, which I can honestly say I could have drowned myself in, it was sooooo good.

The Day Trip:

Meeting at 7.30 am for a 7.45 am briefing and off we went in a very nice small coach with Josh the Tour guide, lovely lad who drove and talked us through the journey, we wound our way out of Hobart and stopped at “The Neck” this is a sandy strip of land that separates the North and South of this Island and yes I am rolling my eyes at the irony that they disagree over who makes the best beer lol!

We were introduced to Truganini for the first time (not the last) today, a trailblazing Indigenous woman who fought for the rights of her people despite many personal losses and hardships. She was the daughter of a famous elder, Manganerer, one of the local mountains is named after him!

Anyway actually quite incredible what she did in her life and even her post death story is quite something, long story short, she died at the age of 64 in 1835 and wanted cremated in her homeland nope, they buried her on the mainland then scientists exhumed her and displayed her skeleton in a museum. Finally, it was agreed that she would be cremated and brought home to Bruny Island 100 years later as she had wanted.

Details in the below pic just might be hard to see.

Another fun fact the Indigenous name for Bruny is Lumawanna Allonah – meaning beautiful island and it is.

I love this………….

Thank goodness I bought a fleece before boarding the boat I would have been foundered without it despite the full length splash coat…..getting the picture folks!

All I am going to say is this was great experience from the dolomite sea cliffs, Jurassic, Triassic (that’s circa 201-252 million years ago) coastline to the sea lions, pelicans and dolphins just gorgeous.

You definitely want to be a male sea lion the key aim is to be the biggest and fattest and you only have to mate one season a year with any Sea(Lady)Lion you want, the bigger you are the more chance you have!

Sea(Lady)Lion’s for their whole life are pregnant for all but 23 days a year, when they are instantly back in season, Seriously!

Lunch was included in this trip and again all locally sourced and really good.

If you are ever coming to Tasi -Definitely look this company up I highly recommend them.

Back to the hotel – up early for my tour to Tasi tomorrow – update in 6 days time 🙂

Arrived in the city that my cousin Lucinda lives in with the lovely Ben. Wedding Bells Jul 27th. Oh my goodness what a sight for sore eyes at the airport there she was – I was delayed and it was late just so surreal and so lovely to see Lu. She had a very welcome chilli waiting for me at home too, yummy. Met the lovely Ruthie what a sweet dog we were friends immediately 🙂

Tuesday: Ben & Lu up early, I spent the morning doing my laundry and having a nice time with Ruthie, Yarraville is just the loveliest suburbs west of the city. I just loved walking through it and went down into the village and had a light brunch before I headed into the city where I did a tram tour of the city, and had a nice glass of pinot on a floating barge. Melbourne as a city is not as compelling as Perth, however, Lou, Ben. & I went out for dinner and suddenly I was a convert!

Top tip – get a train pass Lu lent me hers – easy to top up and the trains/trams are cheap as chips and the central ones are free!

Wednesday: Storms forecast and when I say storms I mean storms! Also, a one day strike on the Vline – note to travellers – always check in case there is strike action if it wasn’t for Lu I would have been sitting at the station for 2 hrs for nothing! The Plan for today was to go up to places the names of which I have heard all my life like Traralgon & Warragul were suddenly going to be reality. I was so lucky it only rained when I was under cover and dry when out and about.

So a bit of background for non family members – my Grandad was one of 10 only 5 survived all boys all big men over 6 feet tall, James and Alexander emigrated to Australia and William (my Grandad) and his twin brothers (who were amazing Characters 10 yrs younger) David & Johnny remained in NI, My great grandfather quite a man in his day and in a post war recession managed to purchase two farms for the twins Ballymenoch (Holywood) & Ballyhenny (Newtownards) whilst keeping the Home farm at Lisleen where my Uncle James and cousin Jonathan continue to farm. Uncle Alec’s family ended up in Melbourne, and cleared bush and continue to farm here, I was looking forward to meeting Billy for the first time apparently he is so like Granda, however, rail strikes and thunder storms prevented that.

Uncle James stayed in Perth and his son John is still there unfortunately I didn’t get the chance to meet John & Brenda.

I set off later than planned due to the rail strikes at 7.45 am and eventually got to Warragul at 11.15 am to such a lovely warm welcome from Win, our family are definitely feeders to start with tea and home made yum yum’s the off we went for the most amazing drive through the countryside and mountains, Noojee Trestle Bridge, Lunch with the cheeky Kookaburra’s on guard at Noojee Pub the onto a beautiful wall at Torongo Falls. My pics do not do it justice folks.

Back for a cuppa with Win and home made barn brack warm with butter just as her mother had made it. Oh how our history defines us. I FaceTime’d with Trevor and his wife I hadn’t spoken to Trevor since 1975 when I was 8 years old – lol so now you know folks!

The journey back was much more like the thing only took me 2.5 hours and Ben was cooking Red Snapper two different ways one Lemon based and the 2nd Asian based with 3 different amazing salads with sous chef Lu under command lol 🙂 both amazing btw. A- MAZ-ING! How lucky am I? And while the snapper does not look happy they did not die in vain they were delicious.

Bed and early start to Tasmania tomorrow 🙂

Perth is lovely city, so clean and really flat. I decided I needed exercise and decided I would walk up to King’s Park so asked the concierge the best route, well what a disaster, I clearly got it wrong and ended up in an area which I didn’t feel comfortable in, couldn’t work out how to get myself back found a small train station, couldn’t work out how to get a ticket. And no there were not any ticket machines so as the train pulled in I thought stuff it I am getting on, of course when I got into Perth Station I had a feeling I might be like Tom Hanks in Terminal! Anyway I went up to the ticket person and explained I’d got lost and hadn’t paid for a ticket and he very kindly let me through. I then walked straight into an Indian Festival, it was just getting going and the Sari’s were just gorgeous on the women and young girls.

Top Tip – In Perth they have buses called eg Bluecat, Purplecat etc which are a free service and I wish I had just walked down to the port and caught one, you can hop on hop off and it is a really good service and of course there are city tour hop on hop off buses, however, I didn’t have time to do that as was heading to West Leederville to see Max, my friends Carroll & Michael’s son, more about that later.

So, I hopped on the Bluecat and went up to Kings Park, where they have a big war memorial under which you can go in underneath where every fallen soldier from any war right up to Iraq is named, it never fails to break my heart, all those your men (mostly men)

King’s Park has a beautiful Botanic Garden, I think I missed the best of it and would say in Spring it was absolutely full of colour, it is situated high above the city and the views are incredible I thoroughly enjoyed walking round, you could spend a day up there easily, lots of big groups sitting around under trees with their esky’s chilling out on a lovely Sunday. 2-3 places to get a coffee, wine and food also.

Back on the Bluecat and off to Perth Station and yes I bought a ticket this time! Just 2 stops to West Leederville, really straight-forward. Max is one of the Manager’s in an Irish Bar there called JB O’Reilly’s in Cambridge St. Rachel who was on my WA tour came and met me and we had a really really nice late Sunday lunch with a treat of wine from Max, don’t worry Carroll, I got him in the long grass with a very healthy tip! Turkey & Ham with all the trimmings, we ended up staying there until after 10pm and Max dropped me back to my Hotel which was so kind of him as I know it was out of his way. Oldest swinger in town lol 🙂

Carroll & Michael, Max is a complete credit to you in every way, so glad I got to see him and can confirm he is in receipt of his Christmas present!

Urgh! Monday morning and yes I did feel the effects of going to an Irish pub! So, up and out for a good walk that sorted me and then off to the airport Melbourne bound – can’t wait to see Lucinda! And Ben of course.

I will do another update in a few days when next on the move to Tasmania!