Epona

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.