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!

I arrived back in Perth on Friday and checked into the very lovely Pan Pacific Hotel, I was really fortunate to be allocated one of the re-furbished rooms on the 22nd floor, the hotel has work on-going, however, I have no time for lie in’s on this trip so the noise of the work didn’t bother me.

I got collected at 7.30am for my Rottnest trip, I could have easily walked down to the port, however, not knowing what I do now round and round the town I went picking up others going on the same ferry similar to our Seacat at home. When I got back I just walked back to the Hotel rather than get the bus back. There are 2-3 different ferry companies so plenty of choice. You sail for quite a while on the river before going out into the sea, it’s lovely it gives you a chance to see the city of Perth, if you are lucky some Dolphin’s and the different water activities on the river.

I was on a pre-paid tour of the Island and whilst it was good I think I would have preferred just hiring a bike and maybe stopping off at a beach here and there as the sand is so fine and white and the sea a very acceptable temperature, well compared to Donegal and the Atlantic that is! You can easily go round the Island on your bike in a day and for those that don’t want to pedal too much you can hire a motorised one, however, I suggest you definitely pre-book if you want one of those.

I was with 4 Texan’s and 25 people from Finland! I was asked if I could speak Finish! Anyway, Rottnest Island is a highly recommend, it is beautiful. If you want to stay on the Island you need to book accommodation 8 months in advance or go to one of the two 5* Resorts.

There are salt lakes which often makes the water look pink and are really pretty.

You can see the Island in a day, I joined the small open train at Oliver Hill a 10 min walk from the dock and we chugged up to Oliver Hill Guns where there is also a lighthouse. This small railway was put in to transport the huge canon to protect the Island and I think the entry into Perth. The Island had a military presence from 1935 through to 1984 when the canon’s were decommissioned. They were deemed too heavy and difficult to be returned to the mainland and so this is now a heritage site where volunteers take you on tours of the site.

A coach and tour then picked us up with lunch and we went on a tour of the island, had time for a paddle and then were returned to near the Port.

The Island is famous for their Quokka’s which are marsupial’s and do look like they are smiling at you, they are harmless and just roam around the place minding their own business.

Please feel free to skip through – this blog is more of a memoir to and for me 🙂

I expected to be assaulted by the heat instead my senses were exposed to the birds settling in for the night, the noise was quite something as I exited Perth Airport. It was a short journey into the city which at around 8pm was like a ghost town and a very limited choice if you required food.

I was booked into the Ambassador Hotel, which was very under-whelming, how the mighty fall! Still it was comfortable and the advantage was that my Intrepid Tour of WA left from it the following morning.

I feel very lucky as the group turned out to be small, and a relaxed easy crew all travelling alone. Michael our tour guide (from South Carolina), living in Australia for 7-8 yrs, Geraldine – Sweden for 50 yrs originally from Melbourne, David – Sheffield, Andrew – Abergavenny & Rachel from Edinburgh.

See below Map of where our tour took us.

This was a nice, relaxed introduction to travelling for me. I 100% made the right choice to book and go on a tour straight away, I think I would have felt very isolated and a long way from home.

On Monday we made our way to Margaret river, stopping at Busselton – Busselton Jetty for lunch, I was so glad of a good walk and fresh air. Lunch was really nice just looking out at the water with a very nice glass of red. We then made our way to see the Nigilgi Cave where we were greeted by Josh, the indigenous people’s of this land like many were completely at one with nature knowing when a certain plants came into bloom or began shedding their flowers that different fish would be available for them. The caves were beautiful and a large version of what you would see in our caves in Fermanagh. Josh then played his didgeridoo in the cave – the acoustics were amazing and at this point the penny dropped that I was in Oz! We went down to the beach for a paddle before dinner just lovely and good for the sole.

Tuesday – what’s not to like, wine tour, cheese and chocolate factory! Before which we went to watch the surfers at Gracetown, note to self, should have worked on my core a lot more prior to this trip!

Fabulous to watch and just so beautiful. At this spot on 27th September 1996 at a primary school surfing competition, parents and children were sitting under the cliff watching the final heat of the day when the cliff collapsed killing 5 adults and 4 children miraculously one child was dug out after 2 hours and saved. A dreadful tragedy in such a lovely place.

Onwards to our wine tour, very timely indeed! What a beautiful place, having had wine, cheese and then a chocolate factory we skipped lunch with the option of an early tea. We chased the sunset and had some mince pies on the beach! Great idea Andrew! Then came back for a glass of wine and an early night.

Wednesday – As we left Margaret river I didn’t realise that we were broadly going off grid for the next 36 hours. We travelled down to Cape Leeuwin and the Donnelly River Village, this was a day of sightseeing with a lovely swim early in the day and an hour on the beach, The Leeuwin light-house and lovely coastal walk where we saw a statue on the beach of a lady named Layla breast feeding a fish- urgh! Each to their own ;-). The further south we go and into the forest of tall trees, it’s so beautiful as the sun twinkles down through the canopy a long way above us. 50 metres approx, that’s about half the size of the trees we will see on Thursday and the height of the structures/trellis’s that we walked on. We are cooking in tonight and on arrival at the accommodation it reminds me of a place youth groups go to with huge communal, dining and kitchen area, however, every room had an en-suite so whilst basic a step up from that!

On arrival we were warmly greeting by some very inquisitive Emu’s and oh my goodness there were about 4-5 kangaroos, so tame, so soft, 2 of which had Joey’s hanging out of their pouches, very cute, however, we all stayed to the side as opposed to go out front in case we annoyed mum and got a nasty kick.

I was reminded of Granda Morrow, as this was originally a logging community, such perilous work with many being injured or killed like Granda’s father in Canada. These men and women did not have an easy life.

Time to make dinner, I volunteered to do it , everyone mucked into and making and eating dinner was really enjoyable just nice easy company. Early start tomorrow so early to bed which is definitely a pattern on these tours so if you dont like early rises this is not for you!

Thursday: Nothing could prepare you for the force of nature Gazza at Walpole is, We went on a 2 hour river cruise, it was easily the most entertaining, enlightening and educational tour I have ever been on. The wealth of his knowledge was so impressive, history, botanical, birds, animals, geographical and lots more delivered with such fun, thoroughly enjoyable topped of with a lovely cup of tea and his 84 yr old mothers lemon cake – so moist really yummy. A must do if you are down this way, it was better than going to see a comedy show. Gazza had us falling about laughing whilst educating us at the same time. I am just not sure how much of it all went in!

Pic to follow on that one 🙂

On to the Valley of the Giants, something I had been looking forward to despite my fear of heights. The Tingle Trees are so impressive, some they think 4-500 years old maybe more, the Red ones have huge buttresses often their bases are hollowed out by fire, fungal and insect attack yet miraculously they remain alive and vibrant trees. The Yellow tingles are straight up and down and these Karri trees are in the top 3 tallest trees in the world and are typically around 80 metres tall. The tree walk is worth doing, I did find it a challenge, however, glad I did it.

We finished in Albany – had an English Pub Dinner and hit the hay.

Friday: A short tour of Albany, the beautiful coastline and a Quick look at the whaling station (no longer in operation) and then 5 hours back up to Perth.

We had thought of going on this wee day cruise 😉 – some interesting company!

Christina left me off for the 8.20 Dublin Express and suddenly I was off, a very smooth journey down, no stops, perfect.

The advantage of flying business class was apparent as soon as I went over the check in. No queue! None to go through security and straight into the lounge where whilst they do call you for your flight I wouldn’t rely on it! I set alarms as a precaution lol I have missed too many flights, please not today! Good quality food and beverages available as you would expect also.

I met two lovely women in the lounge which I appreciated as it made the time pass and reduced any anxiety I might have been feeling. I am shocked how ok I have been in think even now as I type in the hotel room I think I am at work! One of these lovely ladies, Fiona, was on my flight and heading the Jeddah the other to India both really interesting women in their own right.

The first flight was a really nice airbus the air quality in it was great, something the air steward commented on since these big birds were re-furbished and the benefit of a reclining seat/bed and good leg room was a so nice, the service was excellent and nothing (not that I needed anything else) was too much trouble. Some lovely treats too. Qatar is a highly recommend my only disappointment was the inflight movies I really struggled to find anything I liked and watched one movie (not great) over the entire 17 hours!

Doha airport is pure opulence and ooze’s wealth so i kept walking ……….very quickly past Louis Vuitton, Gucci, Prada, Rolex and all the diamonds and many more for fear I would bankrupt myself and never make it to Oz. So I made may way straight to the lounge for a shower. The shower facility was every bit as good as a 5 start hotel with everything you need, beautiful soaps, shower gels, shampoo’s and moisturisers and gorgeous towels.

I was so glad I had that shower before my next flight, a highly recommend and a great top tip from Lucinda. Thank you.

There was any amount of beautiful food within the lounge in the main restaurant or lighter snack food area however I had absolutely no appetite from this point right through to Perth, I think just that this was my evening/ night time.

Doha to Perth – I was on the upper deck and I only thought I had been on large aircraft before ……….this was one bird! I didn’t appreciate the scale of it until I landed in Perth. What a treat! The same type of seats as on the first flight, however, this time – along with the cosy blanket came the White Company PJ’s & Slippers and another lovely treat bag. The ten hours passed relatively well and just being able to be horizontal made all the difference.

Whilst pretty tired when I got to Perth I was so much better than I expected to be and I guess that is the true benefit of paying the extra if you can see your way to it – See pic below C&J 😉

😎

So, how will I find my first experience with Qatar airlines? I will let you know.

It seems rather surreal that in just 4 days I will be en route to Dublin to board my flight to Doha and then on to Perth, the first leg of my 6 week journey.

I hope you will enjoy this experience with me – why not come along for the ride?

Time is disappearing rapidly and soon the packing will begin. My aim is to try to stay under 23 kg, on my main case and be sensible with my hand luggage. Whilst my “Big flights” give me lots of luggage capacity I am mindful of the 5 internal flights that have local restrictions long haul flights do not!

How do I keep under 23 kg for 6 weeks? Good question, right now I have no idea.

The plan for this weekend ie 3 weeks to go, is to lay everything out and then try to be ruthless and put the must have, no choice, NEED pile and then see what weight and space I have for luxury choices, luxury choices who am I kidding! It’s not that anyone will care especially me if they see me in something twice, however, I need enough to do me between laundry stops so to speak.

Once I have worked it out I will share my learns!

All will be well I am sure!

39 Days 17 Hours 14 Minutes – that is what my app says!

The first checklist (not that I am good at those) is complete:

• New Passport – tick
• Visa – tick
• Vaccinations – tick
• Insurance -tick
• Next of Kin – tick – What? Am I going to die? – anyhow – tick

So today I thought I would work out how to put a blog together! Name my domain ? I have to name it? So after short deliberation and check in with my No: 1 daughter – Epona it is: elaine@epona.uk “Epona Traveling to Australia”

“The Celtic Goddess or Horses, Travelers & Dreams – Epona and her white mare bring dreams to you. She helps manifest the dreams if you allow her to accompany you on your path” – Holy smokes! I just liked the name and celtic reference.

Horses hmmm, haven’t solo travelled ever and Dreams, I wish I just don’t sleep long enough to enjoy one!

This is more of a journal to and for me to remember this journey and so if you choose to read it enjoy, scan or feel free to sign out at anytime I won’t be offended.

Next update coming soon.