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Well, Saturday night I headed out of Sydney and Australia to The Cook Islands. I will come back to my overall feelings of Oz at the end of the post.

The past few days have been leisurely as well as practical as I have tried to see a little of Sydney and its people. A couple of ventures up to Manly Beach, the competitor to Bondi and regarded by locals as the best that Sydney has to offer, which was lovely. The Ferry takes you to the back door of the peninsular and an avenue of shops leads you to the beach front. Bleached blonde sand goes well with the naturally blonde locals (as well as lots of stunning brunettes). Earlier in the week it was quite empty, but you still got a feel that the locals know what they have on their doorstep. A large group of Mum’s and Toddlers are gathered on the grass by the side of the promenade looking out to sea with their flasks of coffee for elevenses. The autumn breeze chills the air sufficently to make the sun really comfortable. Surfers are carrying their boards down to the water, while others sit astride their boards just offshore waiting for that special moment.

After a stop-start walk back and forth across the front, I end up in a bar for my twelveses (wine and a salad). Great way to spend a few hours before returning to the Ferry for the slow trip back.

Todays trip to Manly was almost identical. Walk, beach, surfers, eat. On the way back something really amazing happened. As I past a street musician, a young girl of about 20 I guess, started to sing ‘Somewhere over the rainbow’. It stopped me in my tracks and I had to listen to the whole rendition. It was excellent and fitting of my tour to Oz. In Sydney I had not expected to find what I had found. I emptied my change into her Guitar case.

The harbour was buzzing with weekend sailors with their bright white kites full with wind, tacking from side to side and dancing with the many ferries that cut routes in the deep blue water.

Earlier in the week, I took the ferry around to Darling Harbour, which is a really popular part of Sydney for tourists and locals alike. Lots of things to do and lots of restaurants and bars. In the daytime it is a really pleasant stroll down the boardwalks and in the evening the Restaurants come to life. Friday night I met up with neighbours Marie, Steve and Jemma and chewed over my sabbatical as well as Jemma’s time out in Sydney. We all agreed with separate reasons why returning to Sydney had so many positive attractions.

So what else have I been doing. Preparation for Rarotonga… On Wednesday, I bought a Camera that I could use underwater for snorkelling. On Thursday night I trapped it behind the door of my Hotel Room safe and shattered the screen. Back out again on Friday to buy another identical model (much to the amusement of the salesman at the department store where I bought them).

My hotel was in the Rocks area of Sydney which is the oldest settlement and the side streets still show signs of the old days, with a modern twist. It did remind in places of Dickensian London, with small alleyways fitting of the back streets of St Paul’s.

So it’s the end of Sydney and Australia (for now at least) and I have a feeling of regret that I am moving on. Although I have had moments of lull along the way and at times it has been a little lonely being a sole traveller, it has ended with a real positive feeling for Australia, its people and its way of life. It maybe helps that in the last month, we have had sunshine and nice blue sky on most days, which picks you up and then having a low expectation of the final leg which really came through with the goods? Would I come back?…absolutely! Do I need a Yellow Brick Road to guide me?…well, I know my way from Perth. It sort of went…

Into Perth a quiet, civilised and laid back commercial hamlet with due mention to Fremantle and especially Rottnest which gave me a pick up…

Then heading to the Red Centre which in 3 days gave me a feel for how remote you can be on this Island. My colleague campers were good fun and helped to pass the many kilometres away…

Then out to Brisbane, the place to work and live with a River, a Wheel and a South Bank…

A bit of a zig zag back to Melbourne which had all those things Australian, beer and weather as cold as the UK, recovered through the beautiful Great Ocean Road drive and the Koala’s and the Roo’s of the Grampians…

And finally there was Sydney. Everyone will have an opinion, but my experience of Sydney is that the wizard of Oz is alive and kicking right here. I wanted more time to ‘Stand and stare’ here, but I will return if, full of care.

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I had a lesser expectation in my mind of Sydney from the comments from other travellers and Australians. I was going to stay a couple of days and then do a number of days elsewhere but my mind was quickly changed and my feelings for the city heightened with an early taste of local things.

Flying into Sydney you get a feeling straightaway that it is the biggest City in Australia. For the British contingent, it was the first Penal Colony based around the the landings at Botany Bay.

My early assessment of ‘big city’ is based on the fact that I didn’t arrive in a cow shed for a terminal and there was an Airport Train right to my Hotel. There is a ferris wheel at a Fair under the Bridge but that doesn’t count as a ‘South Bank Wheel’, but I will forgive this omission.

It was getting late when I got into the Hotel, so refuelled myself in the Bar and watched Aston Villa v Chelsea live on the TV.

My room was quite spacious which I wasn’t expecting for Sydney. A corner suite with a very large outside window at bath brim level in the bathroom (memories of Delhi) and two large Windows in my Bedroom on either side of the corner, one roughly towards The Sydney Opera House and the other, which looked out onto the City, with a prominent BT logo on one of the large building in the distance. It was Sunday tomorrow so no need for an alarm, the Sunshine can wake me up.

Well the room got lighter in the morning but there was a pea-soup fog over Sydney which made the headline news. Ferries were suspended and you couldn’t see 20 yards. I was located in a series of tall buildings but you wouldn’t have known it. But nothing is forever and by 11.30am the fog was rising and thinning and the brilliant sunshine shone through a beautiful blue sky. As if on cue, the weather had been turned on for the 12th May which was Australia’s Mother’s Day!

I made my way down to the closest harbour which as you approached saw the Sydney Bridge to the left and the Opera House to the right. Ferries were sprinting from the Quayside and the place was buzzing. Aboriginal musicians were panting away on their digeridoo’s to attract the public and a variety of other acts were set up as side shows. I could see this was to be a day of strolling, sipping and watching. And so I did. Venturing first with a walk to the left and under the Bridge. From this side the pictures of the Opera House are only interrupted by the boats coming in and out of the Quay. It is a world icon and seeing it for the first time does give you a feeing of fulfilment. A large International Passenger Terminal was on this side too where all the very large Cruise Ships, like the Queen Mary 2, dock. Some like the Queen Mary are so big that they can’t get under the Sydney Bridge (basically floating villages of 4000 passengers). You do get a feeling of the Titanic, the scene where they are setting off from the dockside. Sadly, there wasn’t a ship in port on sunday.

The picture of the Opera House also attracted lots of photo poses for people who were informally or formally using the back drop. By formally, I mean specifically, Weddings! By coincidence they were all I think Chinese. It was funny to see them queuing up for a specific spot which each photographer thought would be a unique snap. But what a memory at the same time.

As I ambled back towards the other side of the Quay (to get the photo of the Bridge), the tables and chairs were filling along the long quayside with Happy Mothers with their Happy Sons and Daughters. To be honest, I really wanted to be part of it. It was hot, sunny and everyone was well…Happy! So as a stalking intruder, I parked myself at a Bar Stool and sipped a few glasses of Sauvignon Blanc with a bite to eat and just sat and watched. The layers of the backdrop were like painted scenes from a theatre, The Bridge, the Quay and Water, The Boats, the passing public, the Happy Families at the tables and the darting waitresses.

I had stayed around for a couple of hours before making my way up to the Opera House. The white arches looking like a gaggle of nuns in their white habits, very impressive. The view across the water to the Bridge complimented the one in the other direction.

Carrying a ruck sack around with me was getting a bit of a bind, so I quickly headed back to the hotel to stash it and return for another session of watching. On my return to the same restaurant, we British are creatures of habit, surprisingly someone was sitting at ‘my stool’ so I chose another. As I sat two things started simultaneously, on a big TV the Villa v Chelsea game kicked off, without any sound, behind a Singer with an accompanying guitarist who was going to serenade the Mothers. The football was going to be just as agonising the second time around, so I took more notice in the singer. Pretty good, so I was one of a couple that clapped for the first few songs, including an Old Boy about 6 inches away from me. I passed comment about the football and I had to admit I was a Villa fan. He then told me his story. Moving to Australia in 1970 with his two son’s from his home in Fulham he now lives in Sydney. He pointed to one man in front of the singer, “he’s a Chelsea fan” and his second son joined him and said that he was a Man United fan. “Oh and it’s my Grand-daughter who is singing”. The whole family were there to support her, uncles, aunties and cousins. A very pleasant afternoon completed with comical banter about UK and Australia.

Back in the Hotel, the scenic room wasn’t going to work as I realised that 20 feet away was an office block that would also see me waking up to the sunshine, so I had to close the heavy sun blinds for the duration. What a shame but saved me being indicted for exposure.

What a nice opener. My next event that I had arranged was the Sydney Bridge Walk. Although I am not afraid of heights, I do have the occasional dream about falling off buildings (no psycho-analysis please family!!), so was both looking forward to the climb and apprehensive.

I had passed a sign at the base of the Bridge yesterday that said “Unauthorised climbing on the bridge is an offence – Maximum Fine $2200”. For an ‘authorised’ climb you get charged $218, so more economical I thought.

The ‘Climb’ meeting building was in the last bit of brick building of the bridge before the steel work started. I was directed to a waiting area where I was one of 4 people doing the climb. Usually there are 14 people in a guided group and there can be multiple groups following each other. At the time I had chosen we were the only one’s on the bridge which gave the guide, Richard, plenty of time to talk individually with us and lots of stories of the landscape and the celebrities he had guided in his 5000 walks since the ‘walk’ opened in 1998.

There was no scope for error. First we were guided to strip down to the basics (My jeans came off and I just had a shirt on, yes…and underwear), we were then given a lightweight all in one suit. We were each given a breathalyser test (any alcohol means no walk) and told to walk through a metal detector. So nothing in pockets and no watches or bracelets. The locker key was placed around my neck inside the boiler suit. We were then led to an area to tackle up. First there was a safety belt around the waist and tightened. I was thinking, does my bum look small in this? It would be advantageous for the belt to have a large rear. Each item that was then added was double clipped to the clothing so there was no chance of anything dropping off; A handkerchief, A baseball cap (or to be pedantic a Bridge Cap), a Headset and Walkie Talkie receiver, A rain coat (which look suspiciously like a reserve parachute) and finally Sunglass ties.

We were given a test rig to attach our safety clasp to and then asked to climb up and down it, before we were led out to the real thing. Richard the guide was great and gave us perfect tuition and checked understanding. Basically from the next corridor we were attached to a steel wire from start to finish. The most dangerous thing was the climbing and descent of the metal ladders which there were quite a few, to get us to the walkways that led through the structure of the bridge. In a few places you had ‘duck or grouse’ steel works which you quickly learned from.

On the arch of the bridge the metal steps seemed easier to navigator than at Kings Canyon a couple of weeks ago and we had plenty of stop points to take in air and the views. Richard’s narration into our ears of the Bridge, the facts and figures, who built it, who makes the steel etc etc was booming through the headsets, until we got to a few vantage points towards the top. It was a still afternoon and despite the 8 lanes of freeway and 2 train lines below us, we could hear him really well without the headsets and then it seemed more like a conversation. That’s when he told us stories of celebrities like Usain Bolt and Robert de Niro. He also gave us the skyline commentary going 360 degrees to the main points of Sydney. One he pointed to was the blocks of apartments that face the Opera House on the side of the water. He said that when plans for the opera house were being approved a lady in one of the small apartments opposed it on the basis that it would reduce the price of her house. The tiny apartments are now worth $1.4M each.

So after the photo’s at the top, it was down the opposite side of the bridge and back into the main building. A great afternoon and something which will be a lasting memory amongst others in Sydney.

On the morning of the next day, I checked out of my hotel as my original plan was to move out of the city for the last 4 days before flying to Rarotonga, but I changed my plans and intend to now stay in Sydney. I have an Aparthotel, a few hundred yards away, from the afternoon but placed my bags in concierge and headed out for breakfast.

On the first main road I was waiting one side of a pedestrian crossing and spotted on the other side Steve and Marie Turner and daughter Jemma, some friends of mine and the boys went to school with their kids. They live 100 yards from my house. As they looked over I waved and I could see that they were looking away. The lights changed to Green, so they were getting closer, I waved, they looked elsewhere (probably thinking I was one of those pain-in-the-butt street sellers) and they even walked passed me despite me saying hello, until I shouted out, “Marie, it’s Dave!!”. Seeing people out of context is hard and you’re the other side of the world. But this is Sydney and you should be thinking ‘Neighbours’ right? We normally catch up when they are usually walking their dog past my front door. They had flown in that morning for a 2 and half week stay and to catch up with Jemma who has been working in Sydney for 6 months. What a very small world.

And the ApartHotel view is even better, a full view of the Bridge to one side and the Harbour and to the other a full city skyline, which at around 6pm is awesome.

Sydney and its residents are luring me in, rapidly.

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After the morning ‘flap’ with the petrol I loaded up on my latest travel soda favourite and a well deserved Ice Cream (it was already up to 26C outside the car), plugged in the iPad to the car and kicked off the country music. When I had asked for directions to the Grampians the tourist office gave me just one direction. “After the petrol station, just take that road”. Yes?…”for 2 hours”. That’s about 200 Kilometres I was thinking and my maps in the car were very sketchy. Oh well, I am on the road now and if I don’t hit civilisation by then, I will turn around and come straight back.

The outskirts of town although showing the ‘Beware of Kangaroo’s’ signs quickly turned to farm land. Huge fields with thousands of Sheep and Cattle. I stopped counting the sheep until I fell to sleep…not really. But I was a little disappointed at first, not for the landscape and the trees, which I think demonstrated all of the scenic qualities of the UK Counties I have ever seen, but for the fact of my logic. Cattle need to be penned in by fences, Cattle can’t get out, therefore Kangaroo’s can’t get in. So was it likely that I would see Kangaroo’s in the wild? …hmm. Small Townships passed by every 40 to 50 kilometre all named after great leaders of the past, but one thing stayed common was the farming. It just kept going and going. The ground was scorched away from the coast as they were still having a drought out here, but something must be working as things however parched kept growing. Each town must also have a development council that was trying hard to get the tourist to stop off. One that I passed through had a ‘Cheese World’…sadly I didn’t stop. I plodded on at a steady pace and when there was someone behind me I pulled over and when I was thirsty I had a drink, but it was nice to see the landscape and just to be driving out here, mainly by myself.

As I hit the Grampians, I passed through the first large town and headed for what I was hoping to be my restplace for the night, Hall’s Gap. I knew that I was getting closer to something when the speed limit dropped from 100 to 80 to 60 to 40. On the edge of town I caught out the corner of my eye a Roo. It looked different to the Wallabies I had seen before, but I turned around for a photo. In fact I had been looping back for the previous 30 Kms as the trees were playing tricks with my eyes thinking there was wildlife there that I was missing. The Roo’s were definitely Kangaroos and wild ones, munching on the grass lawns of a Motel. There were two of them. Due to the absence of Roo’s on my visit I would call this a ‘flock’, seeing two.

Off to the Tourist Office, again, they gave me the low down on 3 Motels. It wasn’t a large town and I went with my gut feel for the ones with the Kangaroo’s on show. By this time it was 4.30pm and I was in need of a cold beer so headed up the drive of the ‘Grampian Motel’. It had wide long lawns on both sides of the drive and the Rooms had their backs to the one side of the Rocks and looked out on others where the shadow and the setting sun was racing quickly uphill as daylight was coming to an end. The Reception was right in the middle with a small terrace with tables just in front . In my head I was already thinking through my introduction and request. ‘Nice place you have here, I spotted the two Roo’s from the Roadside, do you have a room for the night’. Very Biblical if Jesus had opened his Eye’s to a Roo. Ironically, the receptionist’s name was Christine. I digress. Words going through my head as I walked up the 5 steps to door and I wasn’t focussing on anything but the location of the door handle, when…boing…a 5 foot Kangaroo raised up by the side of me and just stared. I let out an expletive that should not be repeated and took a step back. “G’day, I see you’ve met Lemon Tree” cheerily Christine greeted. Kangaroo’s are not small. They have tiny Heads and short Arms (guess that why you never hear of them buying a drink) but from the neck down they are big, propped up by massive feet and a menacing tail. Lemon Tree’s claws were about 2-3 inches long, you wouldn’t want to pick a fight with one.

I checked in and ordered a beer. Lemon Tree moved back a table and lay down on the grass, staring at me. The reason for his naming was that his first encounter with the owner was as he was picking Lemon’s from a tree at the motel and the Roo scared the life out of him.

The view was quite amazing. The temperature in the shade was falling quickly and everything at that moment was perfect. My table photo really caught the moment as I remembered it. My eyes started spotting more and more Roo’s on the lawn, but keeping in mind where the big one was at 18 feet to my left. At that point his mate, known locally as ‘Mother’ sat down just behind me, which looked to me as though she was sitting in conversation on a small wall. She was looking at me, like I was looking at her. ‘You’re a Kangaroo’, ‘You’re a human, aren’t your feet small?’ They both hung around for a while before bouncing off.

The Motel was a draw for wildlife, White Cockatoo’s squawked their way up and down the valley, Emu’s came out in the dusky evening and bright coloured birds flitted from tree to tree.

In the evening I stayed for dinner in the restaurant and despite my David Attenborough tributes, Kangeroo meat was on the menu so I tried another portion. This time it was done like medallions of fillet steak, in a jus of Garlic and Red Wine. As I finished off my meal, which was delightful, I looked over my shoulder to see Lemon Tree staring directly at me. He might have known what I was eating or it could have been that I was directly in line with the Bread Basket. Christine slid one of the large Dining Room windows open and he pop his head in. She fed him a few slices of bread, but I still think that he was staring at me.

I bashed on my iPad for a while before leaving the restaurant, keeping my eye on Lemon Tree, or the lack of him as he had bounced off. I said my goodnights to Christine and walked straight out the door into Mother. Mother was a timid looking thing. I guess a number of people have said that just before getting a kicking. Christine came outside and coaxed Mother back up to the terrace and to give her a treat. I was clearly going to have to watch my step or move to something else on the menu.

So enthused by the Motel, I booked immediately for a second night. Roo’s on your back lawn? what more could I want.

I caught up on my blogs in the morning of the next day before heading out into the Grampians to get some views and some more fresh air. These are low level hills/rocks, but give some excellent views. And the area was really quiet. I must have past 5-6 people in 4 hours of leisurely driving. Heading up into the hills and then back down and out until it went flat again. This was a quite relaxing couple of days.

The Roo’s kept coming. The name for a group of Kangaroo’s is a ‘Mob’ which for me sits nicely with Lemon Tree and Mother from my short experience.

As I leave early on my way back to Melbourne the Roo’s were everywhere. I must have spotted 200 Kangaroo’s before leaving Hall’s Gap alone. It was a beautiful sunrise and with the hazy dust over the road, I had to have my eyes peeled for the bouncing bollards, as my car was quite small and they were quite big. I remember Newton’s laws of physics. It goes something like “…and the little object gets creamed!”.

So my check list of things Australian was getting smaller. I wasn’t in a rush to see a Crocodile and the only encounter with a spider was in Port Fairy as I quickly arranged its demise. Now for some different wildlife, I am off to Sydney.

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I’ve hired a car for a few days to head out of Melbourne as I was getting a bit stale and I haven’t been using my grey matter to either plan or panic. Melbourne was fine, but I had slipped into it being a cosy stay rather than seeing too much, so I thought, head out and see a bit more of Victoria. No, Victoria isn’t a woman, well she was, but I don’t want to get people back in the UK thinking that a Sheila was on the way home with me. Well not yet. Funny though, when I went out to Phillip Island a waitress served me in the Penguin Centre by the name of Sheelagh, which I thought was stereotypically hilarious and fitting of my infantile humour.

The Hotel arranged a small car for me, which was just a block away to walk. All good apart from me overlooking the size of my ‘long haul’ bag. As I would be out on the road and hopping in and out the car, I wanted to keep it out of sight. Luckily I corrected this en route by loading the boot from inside the car which surprised me when it worked. Anyway, where was I going ? My first challenge was getting out of Central Melbourne without hitting anything. No problem with the side of driving as it is just as the UK and I can read speed signs in ‘Kilometres’. A few signs would test me and a few different wildlife signs to amuse. The hardest thing was Melbourne’s Trams, which you have to accommodate them being in the centre of the roads. So, if you want to turn Right, you wait on the Left even if there is no traffic in either direction and when your lights go to Red, you can then turn sharply into the lane you need. I could see that even local drivers got out of position. I shouldn’t have panicked, everything worked well and I got out on to the freeway…where to…The Great Ocean Road! This is a scenic drive west across Victoria’s coastline as it hugs the rocks along the coast. In some sections you go inland and enter rainforest before getting back to the blue ocean.

You will see hopefully from the photos that the coast line is gorgeous. A bit like rugged Cornwall, but with an Italian Riviera mountain road. There are lots of European’s out here so I have been so pleased to see a mass of signs that say ‘drive on the left’.

The other part of the drive is the distance. Australia is a very big country and I think when they talk about driving distance they take the ‘country mile’ reckoning method. My plan was to get to a place called Lorne before I made any sort of comfort stop. I headed out for about 2 hours before I hit the Coast and when you see it, you need to stop anyway. The clouds had moved on and the blazing sun turned the sea a beautiful azure with lots of white froth from the waves crashing into the shores. It was really uplifting even though I did plug the iPhone into the car and bash out the Anthem followed by some heel kickin’ country.

So Lorne, you see lots of familiar English, Irish, Welsh and Scottish town names out here. Nothing like their counterparts, but I guess when the settlers came, they made their little corner of Australia sound just like home.

My plan was to get to the Lorne Tourist Information Office and find ideas for lodgings for the night. I didn’t know how far I would get, but thought, I need to be in a Motel or something similiar by 5pm, as it gets dark just after 6pm and its illegal to sleep in your car on the Great Ocean Road. This does get a bit hit and miss, but it’s only for one night at a time I kept thinking. Lorne provided me with lots of leaflets, although I couldn’t really trust the one assistant who enthusiastically put lodging papers together, as he was the spitting image of ‘Joe 90’. If you are too young or not from the UK, google it for a picture. He also told me of one he had recently been to with his school. I was expecting him to add..and Miss allowed us to take our shoes off and paddle in the sea!

Back in the car for a couple more hours and I arrived at Apollo Bay. What I had noticed is the laid back nature of the towns on the route. Buildings of wooden slatted weatherboards, but in pastel colours that make each place look quaint and like a holiday village. Decision!, I would stay here. The Info Office again helped me with a choice of 4 Motels. It was at this point that they explained that ‘Hotel’ didn’t mean Hotel. Hotel meant Restaurant or Pub. Got it. My Motel selection was completed by a 2 minute drive by and shooting for one that had a cute unique name, ‘The Coastal’.

It was right across the road from the Information Centre, as most things were in this small village. I parked up and went to a small reception to see if there was any room at the Inn? In luck! I filled out the registration card and then the little old lady behind the counter asked me a question which stunned me. “Would you like a glass of milk?” Maybe they had had a lot of Joe 90’s ?, or had a second job as an oesteo practitioner and could see that I needed it. So stunned I thought, had I misheard but she repeated it with a straight face. I refused with a smile, but then thought is this a customary thing?

The Motel was very quiet but had the basics that I needed.

Not leaving it too late, I headed to a Fish and Chip shop that the receptionist guided me to which which was in the harbour. On entering the shop, I was met with a fresh fish stand with a range of ‘todays catch’. It was still a takeaway, but you could have your choice Cooked in Batter or Fresh. Although there were some obvious ones like Salmon, Lobster and Prawns, I was guided to a Blue Grenadier. 20 minutes later a huge portion appeared. The fish was a bit like Haddock which is one of my favourites and the Chips were good, just there was lots of it. This meal finished me off for the day.

A quick check out in the morning and reception didn’t offer me a cookie to go with the milk, and a fairly early start, I loaded up the car and drove the 50 yards to a restaurant for breakfast. Trying to get filled up before heading out as a plan to change my eating habits which are all over the place at the moment. A simple Scrabbled Eggs and Bacon on sour dough toast. Service was with a smile, so I found it a real ache to sink the rubbery pile of egg just to be polite. Loaded up with more Lemon Soda, I am off.

This next bit of Coast Line and Drive also went into dense rainforest. I stopped first at Maits Rest for a boardwalk through the rainforest. The Ferns and Old Eucalyptus trees were massive. Victoria is supposed to be in a drought, but this was a moist environment with dark green leaves which blocked out the sunlight. I was also given a big nip by a mosquito which was as prominent as any of the ones in India. But in all this greenery, I couldn’t get Cornwall out of my head and one other which was the Brecon Beacons with their tall ferns.

I could see the journey was to be one of stop start to get a real feel for the landscape.

Next was Cape Otway which is a piece of cliff which holds Australia’s oldest Lighthouse. As I pulled off the main road down the narrower lanes, the thick bushy trees were mostly Eucalyptus. I wanted to take a photo of the dense trees just to remember the silver colours and green tops, so pulled over. Now one thing I remembered from our trip in 2011 to Teton National Park in Wyoming was that when one car stops, everyone stops because they think you have found wildlife. I had just got out the car and the next car stopped and a Japanese Girl ran back up the road shouting, “What is it? What can you see?” Like a lot of other people they were in search of Koala’s in the wild. Seeing them on Phillip Island was nice, but that was a park, so I would share in her euphoria if anything is found. After disappointing her with an explanation, she was off. With my photo done, I was 2 minutes behind them.

As the trees started thinning out I spotted a large brown blob over the roadway, so pulled over. Yes! A Koala in the wild! Not moving very much but there all the same. And another, and another… I was starting to get a knack for spotting them. More cars stopped and joined in the photo frenzy. In the end I thought that I must get on as I wouldn’t have time for anything else. Then a small one decided to climb down a tree right by the side of the road. Unlike Kangaroo’s, Koala’s don’t do anything quickly. A quick pose for the camera, snap!

Eventually on to Cape Otway and the Lighthouse and Telegraph Point. A burly guy at the Lighthouse was a mine of facts. Dates, distances, names etc etc. At one point I was the only visitor at the top so he asked where I came from and quickly pointed to the Glass which was made in Smethwick. I told him that I thought the Cable was probably made about a mile from where I grew up. When I gave him a reference point for Smethwick being the home of West Bromwich Albion, he shrugged his shoulders and said he had never heard of them. I should have said it was 5 miles from Aston Villa.

Onwards and westwards, the coast got more spectacular and a great photo opportunity at Princetown for the 12 Apostles. Huge chunks of Rock that have been separated after years of erosion and find themselves away from the main cliff line. After going through the visitor centre, the first warning sign was for Snakes. That focussed my mind quickly. Only an hour before I was going past some wetlands and one squirmed it’s way across the road infront of me. I slowed and made a detour to help it out. At the Apostles, everyone stopped and took a photo of the warning sign.

The Coastline was spectacular and in the dipping afternoon sun the Apostles shone a bright bronze colour with the mixed blue seas annointing their feet. With the wind up, the waves were crashing into the rocks and producing clouds of white spray.

Along the coast to my next stopping place and resting place, Port Fairy.

As I arrived at their Tourist Office the sun was quickly going down so I needed to make a rapid decision on a Motel. 4 options given, I plumbed for one that was fairly central. In the dusky light the town looked like something from a wild west movie and just missed people, horses and cattle. The tour leaflet announced it as ‘voted World’s most liveable town 2012’. I immediately thought of the ‘world’s best cup of coffee’. Over to my choice of Hotel, where the reception was a Bar. Yes, they did have a room, did I want to see it before making a decision? Odd thing??, No it’s only for one night. I drove around to the stable type room and parked outside. I got a feeling of seeing something like this on an old Australian Cattle film, but I think the cattle stayed inside on that occasion. This was very basic, but clean. It was akin to a cell at Melbourne Gaol but with curtains and complimentary soap.

The Motel, was supposed to be the oldest Inn in town, so I just accepted that I was taking part in something bigger. I ventured over the courtyard to their restaurant which was very busy, then very empty. Some kind of local pub crawl was in progress, which left 4 blokes in the Public Bar talking about the same things like a scratched record. The food was fine and I headed off to my room to catch up on some TV.

I was up and out of my room by 9.30am. The sun was already blazing. I tried to check out (I had already paid) but there was no one in the Pub. I left my key in the door and drove off. Drove off, 25 yards to the next corner for some breakfast. In the full sunlight this town looked really different, yes the buildings looked like Saloons and Horses would not have been out of place. Very English with small roundabouts at the ends of the High Street.

After breakfast I ventured down to the Coast which was less than a mile. I could see where the Best Town attributes came from. Tall lush green trees lined the walkways, the slatted timbers were beautifully painted and matching, roses crept along the white painted picket fencing infront of each house, that had long balustraded veranda’s. The side walks were green with grass and there was a lot of shade. The South Beach coastline was amazing. The waves were crashing in for the miles of shoreline that I could see to the right of the town. I think I have taken 200 shots of waves alone. The salty smell of the sea, the blustery wind and the damp air was exhilarating. People were turning up in cars for 20 minutes of fresh air recharge then driving off. This was a nice setting to have your Town. The harbour was by contrast serene, but the same beautiful houses had their back lawns down to the river. It reminded me of Amity from the Jaws film, with its big boats, boardwalks and in the sunshine everything looked great in bleached white. Even the river was a deep blue to contrast correctly with the boats.

So the Fairy People really had something special.

I looked at the map and from here I would say goodbye to the Coast as I was to head North.

My first fill up with petrol was not without a hiccup. I had noticed the Petrol Flap lever by my feet in the car and had tested it out 200 yards before getting to the Filling Station. At the pump though it did not work. I drove off to call the hire car company who suggest that if I had one person on the lever and a second at the flap this may work. Lone travelling has many downsides. I did hail a local to help me, who was suspicious that I was trying to scam him, but did quickly see that I had an issue. It worked with a bit of wiggling.

So, fully fuelled I was off, to The Grampians.

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My flight down from Brisbane was on Tiger Airways a cheap airline with no frills unless you want to pay for them. One ‘nice to have’ thing to pay for in advance is your luggage. I took heed of a warning on this from the Flight Centre agent back in Perth, so was adequately covered. As we lined up to check in, a ‘student’ type traveller had only opted for a small weight on the online ticket and had a bag of similar weight to mine. He had to pay 190 dollars more for his luggage and on an airfare ticket that probably cost him 50 dollars. However, if you expect these foibles then you live with them.

A pleasant flight with an upgraded seat to the emergency row for free (I should have paid 29 dollars for this privilege if I had requested it) but as they needed volunteers to assist in an emergency row they moved me for there for free. All the techniques that Innkeeper Monsieur Thenardier in Les Miserables would do, or Ryannair, take your pick.

We were soon down in Melbourne and as we walked from the plane it felt like the UK back in February. It was wet, cold and dark, even though it was just after 5.30pm. We were directed by cattle sheds at Terminal 4 into a caged open air area where there was one belt. It was more like a detention centre for prisoners, than a baggage welcome area. They finally came through and I called to the hotel again to see how the buses worked and with one more call I was heading across the bus lanes in search of a vehicle of a certain name. It came pretty quickly and left pretty slowly even though there were only 10 guests on board. The Chinese driver checked and re-checked all the locations for Hotels. One lady had tested his logic by saying a Hotel was on Queen Street not Queen Road. I guess he dropped her off somewhere.

All done, to Melbourne and I am in a Radisson. Quite trusted for services even though I had no idea where I was located in relationship to things, but the hotel welcome was a nice one.

I have quite a bit of travel planning to do while I am here for the Raratonga and USA legs of the trips, so all I wanted to do in Melbourne was to explore a few of the things which make it Australian and for what they are famed for. So think Aussie for a second and a quick top 10 in my head would include:

Cold Beer, Penal Colony, Cricket, Australian Rules Football, Prisons, Rivers/Marina and Coast Line, Local Indigenous Stuff, History Museum, Kangeroos, Crocodiles. Add to this my timely chore of finding a Laundry facility and topping up on some hygiene shopping, then this should give me a few things to aim at in Melbourne.

As for weather. Sunny on my first day but cold and gradually getting worse, with an odd early dusk time. I guess everyone starts early and finishes early, but a waitress the other day commented that the dark evenings are pain.

So I headed out on the first couple of days to see where I was and to see what I could do to top up my ‘think Australian, think Melbourne’ and to see what I could find.

Melbourne is a pretty big city that has spread around the coastline and with all the facilities that you would find in a modern western metro area. Yes, they have the River and Marina, although I have been up there twice and it was blowing a gail, freezing and all they restaurants had battened up their hatches. I jumped on the City Circle Tram which does a complete loop of the city with audio commentary to help tourists and it was free. Melbourne has lots of old trams, but fit in really well with the new and old buildings. Down by the river there are lots of late 1800’s early 1900 buildings with the metal artistry on the first and second floor landings. They also have some very state of the art office and apartment buildings.

Melbourne is a very wealthy area from its gold mining heritage. From ‘Docklands’ where the Marina is, a wide bridge spans the river. The bridge reminded me of one in Newport, South Wales, which I regarded as unfinished and an eyesore (two concrete pillars, that do not support anything). I would later see a more spectacular bridge heading out of town.

I head up to the Melbourne Museum to see if there was any local history that I can see. A bright modern building, but I only had an hour before it was closing so had to speed around. You do get the sense of link between Australia and Britain from all the pictures. Lots of migrant workers making the the sail ship journeys to make something new for themselves. I didn’t realise that Melbourne made its name from Gold Mining and a rush of migrants wanted to come to have their share in it (plus a few penal reformed inmates). A sort of latter day social security tourism but with more zero’s on the cheque if you struck gold. The museum had a replica of the first big single nugget of gold that was found, a massive 2200 ounces, it looked the size of two footballs and by todays value would be about £2 Million. I guess one Premier League footballer would put that into the shade quite quickly and the miners would have to work harder for their bounty.

One absence I have noticed down here compared to the other places I have visited is the Aboriginal People. Not sure why that is ?

So back to my Aussie bucket list. Penal reform! you can’t go to Australia and not visit a Gaol, it is a tradition. I made my way up to the Old Melbourne Gaol to see what it was like for some of our former countrymen, as they continued their trades in this land of plenty. The tour started with being ‘booked in’ as a criminal by an assertive officer and led to the overnight lock up. The men were separated from the women, the door was slammed shut and locked, before ‘click’ the light was turned out. The prisons were in use to as recently as 1994. It is good to see that their bed and breakfast was as grim as the crimes that they committed. Although looking at the facilities, I think a couple of my Hotel’s could be likened to the Gaol.

The Prison was the final lock up for the infamous Ned Kelly, the ranger outlaw who plundered travellers making their way across the country. When you see the Gaol itself and their tiny rooms, and a regime of lock-up in solitary for 23 hours a day with 1 hour in the yard in solitary walk you have to wonder why they would commit again. Some of them like Ned Kelly meeting the hang man at the end of their stay whose choice was made for them. As I looked along the stone walkway of the dark dank levels of the Gaol you did get a historic feeling, however righteous their stay was. I have not mentioned anything about open air prisons so far, so let me next turn to a great afternoon and baptism on the Saturday to ‘Australian Rules’ football.

I looked up on the Internet who was playing, so at least I could blend in with the local side. I know from our own football, that being in the wrong place and saying the wrong thing is at your peril. Today I would be supporting Essendon, a local Melbourne side, playing a team from Sydney, GWS Giants. As I approach the ground the local colours were obvious as there was a sea of Red and Black. I queued for a ticket with the locals and was then guided to a pretty good seat in the 3rd tier over the halfway line. The game had already kicked off while I was waiting in the queue, but it must happen a lot as there were huge screens on the outside of the ground to keep everyone informed. Luckily, I was on the end of a row, so didn’t have to ask 15 burly Aussies swigging beer to move to let a late Englishmen into his seat.

And the rules of the game? I hadn’t a clue. It really looked like a prison yard riot, with pushing, shoving and the occasional elbow. But I learned quick. I could sense that even some of the locals had to have the rules explained as the referee made the usual wrong decision against the local side. So let me paint a picture. The stadium was huge and had a roof, the pitch was Oval and about 180 metres long by about 150 Metres. The roof was about 100 metres off the ground so no chance of anyone hitting it. Each team has 18 players and there are 9 Umpires. At each end there are 4 Goal posts. If you kick through the middle two posts you get 6 points and if you kick through the outer posts you get 1 point. If you catch the ball cleanly in two hands which has been kicked to you, you can have a free kick to continue the game or have a shot at goal. The ball could be hit with the fist to pass or kicked and it didn’t matter if you dropped it. Then add the fact that everyone is trying to get to the ball or muscle you off it. 4 quarters of somewhere between 25 and 40 minutes. I didn’t understand this as I was sure the first quarter was 39 minutes on the clock ??

As for catching and kicking, I was surprise at how poor they were at this. I wondered what the Aussies were thinking ? I soon found out. The abuse that the Home side got in the first 2 quarters by the fans confirmed my observation. They couldn’t catch or kick and had very few tactics. Half time they were trailing by 18 points. These are high scoring games, so 36 to 54 at half time was not unusual. One by one the fans started shouting ever increasingly witty insults at the players to the amusement of the other fans.

By the second half I was starting to get into the rules and know when to clap and when to sigh. But a total change around in the second half saw Essendon take a 20 point lead before GWS scored again. The locals ending up winners comfortably by 40 points. Yes, there was the expected bruising and bust ups, but surprisingly enjoyable.

My next thing of things Australian was a visit and tour of the home of Aussie cricket at the Melbourne Cricket Ground, the home of Melbourne Cricket Club and the Boxing Day venue for test matches between Australia and England when played down under. Aussies are very proud of their Cricket and its heritage. The MCG is a mecca for Australians and the tours are run by members of the MCC who, donned in their Club Striped Jackets and Ties, pay their dues by volunteering to take tourists around the ground. We had a nice old boy ‘Peter’ who must have been 85 years old but shuffled extremely quickly around the ground, stopping every now and then to give facts and figures.

Kangaroo’s have been sorely missing on my trip to Australia, so I decided to see if an arranged trip could give me a better chance. Although the trip to Phillip Island was principally about seeing Penguin’s there was a write up about seeing Roo’s and Kaola’s. Turns out that the handful of Roo’s were Wallabies that are a slightly different and smaller species. The Kaola’s were in a park but I did get a photo or two.

Th Penguin march was a daily home coming at dusk of Little Penguins, the worlds smallest at just 12 inches high, who on an agreed confidence, leave the water in their thousands to go home to their holes in the sand dunes. Sadly no photo’s of this one, but to see them making their waddle over the rocks and up an embankment and knowing exactly where to go was fun to watch. They were really pint sized. A worthwhile trip.

Note added when I got to back to the UK. A letter had arrived at home from the Melbourne Police to say that I had not paid a Toll Road Charge. It sort of turns the tables on a convict leaving Melbourne and returning to the UK!

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I hadn’t planned for being in Brisbane, it came as a consequence of lacking options for getting out of Alice Springs and the plane was at least going East which I felt was going to hold the last three weeks of my Australia tour.

Anna from Italy joined me on the flight to Brisbane. It amazes me the confidence of kids, even when travelling alone. Anna has 2 weeks left then flies home to Mama and Papa in Northern Italy after being away for 9 months, before starting University in September. She has backpacked her way around New Zealand and Australia with half of the baggage weight that I have.

Into Brisbane on a flight which I couldn’t finish the Movie ‘Les Miserable’, which as usual was leaving me with a lump in my throat. A beautiful story of love, hope and passion. Anyway, I am not Claudia Winkelmann and I am not here to give you movie critiques. Brisbane! A small domestic airport, which means not far to walk. Anna and I walked passed the baggage area, so with a bit of help we were re-directed down an escalator, but despite the intelligence of a 19 year old and the wisdom of a 52 year old, we couldn’t see the natural way out. We could see the belt. We had a quick laugh and then looked for obvious exit signs, which were there but not fitting our logic. Automatic doors opened up at the base of where the escalators had dropped us. I guess you had to be there…

With bags in hands we said our farewells and I headed for a Taxi. My Taxi driver was wearing a turban, so I thought I would go for the friendly conversation. “Forgive me for asking but are you a Sikh?”, he smiled but didnt know what to say as I think he was expecting a shallow follow up comment about his turban. But as I explained that I had been to Amritsar and the Golden Temple, it turned out to be his home town, so his smile got bigger. The Temple was one of my big memories of India and he could see that I was being respectful to his religion, so when I brought up the Wagah Border closing he could see I wasn’t playing with him. $50 lighter after the taxi fare (he smiled when he told me the price too) I was at the Hotel.

The afternoon and evening blended into one, as I hadn’t really got the energy to get out and do any reconnaissance. It can wait for tomorrow. I started playing with the Hotel wifi, which I could see was a bit slow, but the staff were friendly and helpful so I didn’t say anything. I got on with rendering down the hundreds of photos and tried to remember the detail of Uluru which was there, but not necessarily in the right order.

In the morning, I was fairly alert so continued with my Blog and then tried to upload the photos…oops. Remember the line from Jaws “I think we’re going to need a bigger boat!” I was going to need more power in my WiFi. My family and friends had been waiting patiently for the next instalment. I did get some advice from Reception but they advised that their service was only 256k, which in Internet terms is the ‘Turtoise’, I needed the ‘Hare’ on this occasion. They pointed me to the Tourist Office a couple of blocks down and I thought I would plug them for options.

A light breakfast behind me I headed out. I seem to be staying in a business district next to the river, quite pleasant. When you are booking on the fly it is sometimes hard to guage what type of location you will be in. A couple of short blocks down and there it was. Tourist Offices are under played. I think I could count on one hand the number of times I have used one in the UK. They do have a lot of info at their finger tips. For wifi I was guided to try the Brisbane Library. Bang on first time, home run, touchdown, goal. A great service for free. I had 140 photos to upload. While it was doing that I finished my blog and checked for all of the auto corrections that bring up stupid words out of context. Thank you Brisbane Library. It took a while to get everything finalised and ‘published’ and I am away. So now what? The guide says that the South Bank is supposed to be a nice promenade.

As soon as I stepped onto the bridge crossing the river, I got a sense of London Bridge and its crossing of the Thames to our South Bank. A nice promenade, cafes, arts centre and of course a Big Wheel. Their Southbank had been put together for the 1988 Brisbane Expo. Lots of cafe’s, park areas, shade and sun terraces and a huge swimming pool surrounded by a white sandy beach. And really importantly it was being put to good use in the lovely sunshine.

As I write this part of the blog I am at a Bar overlooking the large man made beach and pool with Bars and Cafes all around, right next to river and it dawns on me. To be a great city, you need a great river and a good south bank! My feedback to my birth town Birmingham is to cut a trench that follows the original River Rea about 200 metres wide and link it to the canal network. Sorry for all the neighbourhoods that would disappear and the thousands of homeless but there is nothing like a good beer with a nice view. A bit shallow? OK, make it a deep trench! Brisbane that afternoon was growing on me. I wasn’t expecting it to be this relaxing. Instead of the usual pigeons pecking on the sidewalk there were Curlews strutting around and Black and White birds like large Wagtails.

At that point I realised that I was finally having time to stop and stare, the opposite of the famous poem by William Henry Davies. I urge you to look it up and think what the opposite might feel like. This afternoon in this Bar in Brisbane I am feeling engaged with stuff. The breeze and the noise that it is making, the children splashing in the pool, the colour of the creeping rhododendrums making their way up the curled arches over the walkway of the promenade, the high palm trees saying ‘hi’ to the blue sky, with a city skyscraper background. Friends meeting in the bar and having a few laughs over the most basic of conversations. It is always around us, but we just need time to absorb it and enjoy it. French, German, English, Australian…You have to have time to listen and enjoy everything and everybody.

I spent about 4 hours on this side of the Brisbane River, just watching and walking.

The next day was the same, but I walked off in the opposite direction to see more of city around the bend of the vast river. I was feeling a bit tired as I awoke at 5am to see Aston Villa thrash Sunderland 6-1 but at same time the result gave me a lift for the morning.

The City is a modern one. To think that this was one of the original penal colonies and there are signs of old Victorian buildings, but quickly being hidden by the new Brisbane. A statue of Victoria stands in the centre, but this city is about the new Australia. Towering shiny high rise office blocks that fit well with the river, freeways on stilts that hug the north bank, surrounded to the South by Mountains and the North by Sea. I would say in a snap judgement that this is a nice place to work and live, not to have a vacation.

I make a criss-cross route across their purpose built Pedestrian and Cycle bridge, circle the Beach area and then take the River Catamaran back to my original starting point give or take a half mile. Wherever you look everything seems to fit with each other.

My route also took in the Library again to get my WiFi fix before heading back to the hotel. Back in the Hotel I stopped off in the lounge to check for one further bit of info of the internet, but then had my first run in with the Receptionist over getting access. I could have it for Free in my room, but it isn’t complimentary in public areas. She quite clearly didn’t get that wifi is like water. She was thinking that it was like a fine Malt and something I would pay a premium for. Don’t moan I thought. I just shook me head at her comments. Her colleague offered me the access code that I had been given freely for the last 2 nights. It was poor anyway, so made me pleased that I was moving on. Finally I went up to my room and found that my bedroom had not been tidied by housekeeping that day. Back down to reception, not to complain, just to say I could live with it, if I had my soda’s topped up in the mini bar and fresh towels. Duly arranged. I went back up to find water coming out of a ceiling and a pool on the floor. Back down…I shouldn’t have moaned about the wifi. The wifi man was probably also the plumber and the soda man. I moved room for the last night into a slightly better chambre with a marginally better view. The only issue was that every 20 minutes a buzzer went off in an ajoining wall which woke me about 10 times in the night.

On the morning of my departure I had the invite to respond to a customer survey that everyone gets in rooms but doesn’t fill out. I ended my one with…if you need any more information on running a better wifi you can email me at…

Going downstairs, I was greeted by the same awkward Assistant that played hardball on the wifi. But this was a new day, the Goldfish had obviously circled her bowl and it was all smiles for me this time around. I played along and checked out.

My memory of Brisbane are caught in the photo’s.

I am pleased I stopped off in Brisbane, not for any great tourist reason, but to note that I have visited The City and found it to be quite…well, nice. And as Forrest Gump said “That’s all I have to say about that”.

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After the mellow introduction to Australia through Perth, I headed out to Alice Springs on a Qantas Flight to the centre of the Country, The Red Centre. It gets its name after the colour of the rock which in the sunshine turns the iron oxide deposits bright red.

After a short flight of about 3 hours we touched down in Alice Springs Airport, a very sleepy backwater compared to the Airports that I had visited so far. The plane turned right off the runway and was immediately at the terminal. Thinking about it, it was a bit like Kochi airport in India, but set in a desert. We piled off the plane onto the tarmac and walked 100 yards into the Arrivals Terminal. One thing I noticed as we landed was that there were no perimeter fences to the Airport. It sort of went, Desert, Desert, Airport! No major greetings of security and a single luggage belt soon brought in my bag. I phoned the Hotel and had one of those nice simple intimate discussions. “Hi I am stopping with you, do you have a Curtesy Bus to the Hotel or should I get a Taxi?”. Response, “where are you standing?”. “By the luggage belt”. “Turn around and face the Exit. You see the bus outside with a band around it?, that’s it! And see the guy standing in the corner to your right ? (20 yards away) buy a ticket from him and then get on the bus”. It was Oh so easy and you sensed a small provincial approach. I was expecting her to say ‘tell Dad I’ll be late home for tea’. If Skippy the Bush Kangaroo had to to be re-launched, Old Man McGregor would fall down his Well in this sort of place.

The Airport Bus made a quick meander around a few hotels and then dropped me at the Chifly Alice Springs Resort. Alice is a little Oasis of just 25,000 people. 1500 Kilometres from Darwin at the top of Oz and 1500 Kilometres from Adelaide at the bottom to the south. And unlike Dorothy’s route to see the Wizard, you would need to ‘Follow the Red Brick Road’ in any direction out of Alice Springs. I read a note to guests in the introduction to the hotel that said, “make sure you fill up your car before leaving Alice Springs!” Over the next 2 days I would understand why they say that.

The Resort itself reminded me of an American holiday resort from the 50’s that you might see in a movie. Not sure if people come here for the same experience, but there were many groups of people who were on some kind of tour, mostly locals (i.e. within 1000 Kilometres). The rooms reminded me of a US Motel. The sort of place that you would have seen in the movie ‘No Country for Old Men”. But very unlike its upmarket Hotel cousins on the Coast it had good WiFi. I had an easy evening and tried out the Hotel’s restaurant where I had a T bone steak that was the most beautifully cooked piece of meat that I have had for many years. I was tempted by the Fish dishes, Barramundi Fillet, Barramundi with Buerre Blanc, Spicy Barramundi…but guessed that it was unlikely that Barry the Fish could be caught locally without the presence of a lot of water, so gave it a miss. I also hopped over the Kangaroo option for another day. It was to be an early night tonight as the tour bus was to pick me up at 6am and I also needed to decant my large travel bag into something smaller as the tour had a weight limit which was well under half that I have been travelling with.

My tour guide appeared on cue and I joined our mini coach and trailer that was going to be like a second home for the next 3 days, under the mentoring of Mel and Jerry of ‘Adventure Tours’. The bus made its stops to top up the Tourists to a total of 14. Mel doing here fourth ‘maiden’ tour to Uluru was being herself mentored by Jerry as the seasoned guide, but as we would find out it was a continuous relay of inputs that made the trip memorable and enjoyable. With all people accounted for we were off and we soon got a sense of Jerry’s infectious personality which she stamps on a road trip. If we thought we were still snoozing at 6.00am, by 6.10am Jerry’s whooping introduction meant that you were clearly and firmly awake.

Let me introduce the rest of the group, so you get a feel for our make up. It is easier to remember them in seat order from left to right and from back to front. This was made very easy for me by Jerry having everyone do a quick introduction on a headset speaker as we were travelling along. I think the questions were, Name, Age, A bit about yourself, What is your favourite colour, your favourite food, the colour of the underwear that you were wearing and a funny story. This was a great icebreaker and killed a bit of the time of the very long drive out to the ‘Rocks’.

So we had Aki from Japan, who was working in a Sandwich Shop in Sydney but by trade was a Nurse back in Tokyo. Maximillian, “Max for short” who was German. Erme and Martin from Innsbruck in Austria (who were a little bit younger than myself), Lenka and her Mum Dana (who was my age) from the Czech Republic. I put the age thing in so you get a feel for the split of ages which were very young to healthily mature like myself.

Next there were a lovey-dovey couple in Alex and Melanie (a second one) from Germany who I think were in their 30’s. Hannah a young student from Kiel in Germany who had a cold for the complete trip. Samia a young French-Algerian student from Lille in France. Anna a young student from Italy, but so close to the Austrian border that she spoke German and last but not least Gemma and her partner Scott in their mid and late twenties who were from South Manchester but both have been working in Sydney.

As the trip went on we would see these great personalities come through and the group gelled well with each other and with Mel and Jerry.

My introduction included the Red Boss briefs and the being left at the Great Wall of China which I was looking not to repeat. It was a fun exercise.

Now my order of events in each day may not be chronologically correct as I didn’t take a single note on the trip, so bare with me on the facts. The photo’s help to piece together events, but one Red Rock photo tends to blend into another, but looking at them I think I know how I was feeling and whether I was hot, cold, thirsty, hungry, inquisitive, tired, completely knackered or awe inspired. Put this together with a hundred moments of laughter as a group and the story is complete.

One of the regular parts of the tour was the Pits stop which didn’t really need a ‘T’, but allowed the occasional topping up of water or the opposite.

So first there was the Camel Farm. This was a Pit stop and an opportunity to jump onto a Camel for a ride. Yes I tried it and can now understand what childbirth is about. I have the highest respect for Lawrence of Arabia. 4 and half hours of film was long enough but riding one of these for weeks across a desert would be a real @£$% ache! (Arse, Ball or Calf, you choose). The stop also had a small Wallaby enclosure, so at least I have seen a Kangaroo in Australia. This was my reserve experience as I still want to see one in the wild.

Jerry had a habit of shouting, rather enthusiastically, without notice when something of interest was about, so when the ‘Eagles’ Eagles, Eagles’ call was made, it shocked everyone to look, if like me, in the wrong direction. The Eagles were feeding on my first in the wild sighting of a large Kangeroo. Well that’s nature I guess. The following shout of ‘Dingo’s’ was a really good one, but I think the Dingo’s heard her, as we come to a quick stop and the pack high heeled and run off.

We pulled up for firewood foraging at the side of the road. Looking at the spindly trees that all looked as though they had been through a bush fire (more frequent and arranged than you would think, for the good), but we got on with finding some small and some rather large branches that were placed on the top of the trailer. I must admit that I had my eyes on every footstep to ensure something ‘snake-like’, ‘insect-like’, ‘poisonous-like’ didn’t forage on me. The exercise was very cathartic and you felt better for doing something yourself that would be used later in the day.

Another drive on and then “CAMEL!!” shouted Jerry, as there were 4 Feral Camels walking through to our right. Everyone got off the bus to go find them, but they were very quick footed. We would get another taste of Camel tomorrow.

We carried on to our campsite at Canyon Creek, for our jointly prepared sandwich stop for lunch. All well orchestrated and even the most basic of sandwiches tasted great. Not having seen the full itinerary, I didn’t know what to expect on the tour.

Next we were back on the bus for the ride off to Canyon Creek itself. The rocks were impressive, a bit like a Wild Western desert scene where John Wayne is in a shoot out with the bad guys. Well, no bad guys other than the heat, but two Sheriffs to guide us and coax us up to the top of the Canyon and the walk around. Walkings easy isn’t it? From the car park and after our safety talk of the do’s and don’ts we had an immediate climb of about 400 rock steps to the summit. I was feeling the effects of the heat after just 100 steps and quickly slipped back through the group. You need lots if water and lots of air into your body and I should have worn a lighter T shirt to get air round my body and had a lighter backpack. Other than those factors I was having a great time. The views were good and I didn’t waste any opportunity to capture them. The brightness of the rock in the sunshine and the back drop of blue sky and foreground of green trees and bushes made for some nice angles, so apologies for the number of photo’s. I culled at least 4 times this amount for the cut. When I got to the top, my second breath kicked in so I was fine for the rest of the walk. Going around it was so nice to have short conversations with most of the group and to have a laugh along the way. From their experiences which in some cases put my 3 and half months of trip into the shade, mostly backpackers, I gained more insight of Australia. I have found that people like different things and Australian towns can be revered or hated from one person to another. The short stories also brought out the personalities of the people and you would slowly see what made them tick or just converse. If they didn’t want to talk, I tried to respect that too.

We made a circular route down into the Canyon and then back up again to the opposite side before making a final descent to the car park. It wasn’t in the same scale as the Grand Canyon, but the sense of it being isolated from the vantage points was apparent.

I guess we got back to the Campsite and our pitch in the hills by about 6pm just as the sun was dipping. Chance for a shower to clean the orifices of the dust. The light was going down, but it should have been no excuse for walking into the ‘Female’ Door rather than the ‘Male’ door. I quickly corrected myself when I bumped into Hannah. My door was 10 feet away. As I entered what was like a small portacabin with a few sinks, 2 loos and 2 showers with soft curtains, both of the curtains came back at the top and two Monks (from Thailand) in tandem showed theirs faces and in unison, said hello! It was so funny to hear them but I remained respectful that they were monks in orange robes and needed me not to laugh. Returning to the campsite, the fire was well under way and the kitchen area was active with Mel preparing some hearty food. Spaghetti Bolognese, a Vegetable something a bit like a Ratatouille and Jerry prepared some campfire bread, which someone will have to remind me of what it was called. It was sweet, herby, garlicy and quite delicious. After this all I could think of was bed, but not before ‘The Box Game’. The one where you pick up an every decreasing cereal box in your teeth but you could not bend your legs or touch the ground. I declined on the basis that I didn’t think I could bend without passing out, but some excellent efforts from Alex, Anna, Erme and the final champion Aki, who had a very organised Japanese technique akin to bowing or as I commented, from years of practice of picking up chopsticks from the floor. Aki went on to demonstrate the art of Japanese courtesy bowing and her rendition of ‘Very Sorry’ which was the lowest right angled bow was hilarious. Aki understood western humour and the way that Japanese customs appear to the west. Put together with a very sharp wit and great use of the English language, Aki was a bundle of fun to be around.

It was time for the Swags to come out. Swags are all weather sleeping mats, which are thick tarpaulin covers that zip both sides but hold a 2 inch mattress. Together with a sleeping bag this was it. Sleeping under the stars around the camp fire. I think I was one of the first to drop off (I guess 2 minutes after my initial spin which is a common bed habit for me). I continued to wake up through the night and must have spun until our wake up call of 5.45am (it came too quickly). Breakfast cereals were out on the table and we had 30 minutes to eat, wash and get packed up.

We were on the road at first light with a very long drive ahead of us to Uluru.

The first contact of a red rock sticking out the sands was affectionately known as Buluru, as most people mistook it for Uluru. My head was filled with Close Encounters of the Third Kind, where Richard Dreyfuss was ‘losing it’ over a shape in his head that he has trying to recreate. The sky was blue and it was Hot, very Hot with an amazingly low humidity that drained you of water. You needed a hat, you need sunglasses, you needed a fly net around your face as the flies wanted your body water and you needed water if out for 15 minutes …oh and lots of suncream. This was a holiday and we were enjoying ourselves, honestly.

Mel guided us to a vantage point at Buluru across the main road which was void of traffic and you could look in either direction at the straight white lines for a very long way. Reminds me of Aki’s introduction story of walking in a remote area and lying down in the road to look at the stars with her friend. Unfortunately she fell asleep until an oncoming vehicle woke her up. To one side of the Red sand dune was Buluru away into the distance and the other direction was a Salt Lake. This would not be the place to get lost. To think that the area was once an inland sea is incredible.

We made our way to the second camp site at Uluru. It used to be called Ayres Rock but as the land has been given back to the Aboriginal People it has reverted to its time honoured name and now it is politically incorrect to use the settlers name for it. Time for a few snacks at the store before we head into the campsite, but Chicken Burgers on the barbie for lunch, which went down very well. The afternoon was dedicated to Uluru. The walk around Uluru was 10 kilometres in 2 hours of blistering heat and dry humidity or 2 hours to do half of it. I went for the shorter option as I favoured a stroll with photo opportunities rather than the extra endurance test. I was surprised I was the only one doing the half, but I was dropped at the far side of Uluru rock and had a very peaceful walk at my own pace and on my own.

This is the land of the Anangu People.

The flies were a real nuisance and the hat netting blocked your view. I don’t know how many I ate. Every camera shot was a bind (net up, flies in, brush flies away, sunglasses off, flies in, brush flies away, click, sunglasses on, flies in, brush flies off, net down, fly inside net, net off, flies in, brush off, net down…simple really), but I did take lots of photographs. It was surprisingly green around the rock, so there must be underground water to supply the roots. When you come across one of the many Gum Trees, they have a beautiful smooth silver bark and with the drooping leaves against the blue sky and red rock, made you want to take lots of photo’s. I promise the people back home that they will not be subjected to evenings of the same photo’s. I did subject the family to 200 slides of Austrian Mountains and Waterfalls back in the late 80’s. My belated apologies.

One very strange bit of the walk was when I arrived to a small waterhole which had the mythical story attached to the rocks formation and as I was reading some low height information boards about the story, a soft aboriginal chanting started in the background. It really felt like it was in my head and not coming out of a speaker. Made me look around and then laugh to myself.

As I was reaching the final stretch of my half walk, Max and Anna passed me in true youthful spirit, having completed 5 Kms more.

The final bit of the Uluru tour was an explanation and short walk back to parts of the Rock where the Aborginal people had made their markings on the walls. Although feint against the red and white rocks, it was something that I had wanted to see. In addition to this the Aboriginal ‘countries’ around Australia are also famous for their dot paintings. The paintings each tell a story or part of a story about their life and culture. From those of you that follow my Tweets and some of my earlier posts, I have an interest in how we learn, we behave and how we bring values into our culture. The paintings on walls of caves and on canvas are the Aboriginal way of getting their culture across. Where do you get water?, how do people get on together?, what is the right way to behave? Each painting is unique to their way of life and although we as non-Aboriginal backgrounds will never be able to fully understand their meaning it is fascinating all the same. The local law is the Tjukurpa and it is something that we could try to emulate better in our society. Of course there are indigenous people that operate outside of the rules, but they are not regarded as part of the true Aboriginal people.

Off to a vantage point for the setting of the sun on the rock. We were quite early and took a point close to the front to view the changing colour of the rock and the amazing skylines. Of course there was also the opportunity for the younger ones in the party to ‘jump over the rock’. The photo’s will explain.

The tourists arrived in their masses, some wined and dined with champagne and dressed up to the nines, others like us just savouring with a few nibbles and a beer. The sun went down and we all disappeared.

We raced back to the campsite for showers and then a barbecue meal. The meat for the barbecue was Kangaroo, Camel Sausages and Beef Steak. All the things that you get out here in the land in between Alice Springs and Uluru. Mel was the chef prepared heaps of meat for us and it went down well with a plate of salad and fresh coleslaw. The Kangaroo had been marinating in a sweet sauce and was a cross between beef and pork to taste. The Camel sausages were firm and meaty, akin to a thick cumberland sausage and the beef steak was, well, beef steak. This had been another long day and although we sat around the camp fire for about an hour, everyone was thinking about their swags and getting to bed. With another early wake up of 4.50am and on the road in 30 minutes having had breakfast and cleaned up camp, bed called and everyone answered.

The night was a bit colder, but made for a good nights sleep, however short it was.

Rise, wash, breakfast, clean, on the road. I think the group nailed this, even though there was very little conversation as everyone was still asleep. We headed up to a viewing point at Kata Tjuta, which from a man made walkway through the brush you could see Uluru Rock way out but close to the point of where the sun would rise and to the left of us Kata Tjuta a range of 36 rounded rocks that would be slowly lit up by the sun. Kata Tjuta would be our final walk for the tour.

Click, Click, Click. I must have taken 50 photos of the sunrise alone as the skies changed from a cold sky blue to orange, red and white and then the sun was up and the rocks turned their red lights on too.

Jerry wailed to the group to get back on the bus as it would give us a head start on the walk before all the other tourists. It was a good plan, as the more isolated you are in this region the more beautiful it looks.

This time I voted for the longer circuitous route of the rock, which would make its way up and down before entering an area between two of the highest rocks in Kata Tjuta and climbing steeply to a ‘saddle’ between the stones. The photos will give you a sense of the walk. The rocks do not rise that high compared to the Mountains and Hills that we have in Europe, but in a flat land, they do give a nice panorama.

A highlight was spotting a Euro Kangaroo with its joey. About 75 yards away but a little photo opportunity. At least I got to see it bounce off. There are supposed to be millions of Kangaroo’s but not many of my travelling companions had seen them. Alex had been travelling across Australia since February and had only seen 3. So in 48 hours, I had seen one in captivity, seen a dead one, seen a live bouncing one and eaten one. A good compromise I think.

We had the group photograph at the top which I will find a way of posting on an update to the blog and then made our way down. One last vantage point to capture the Kata Tjuta and we were back on the bus. Everyone was tired and looked for anyway possible to rest their heads for a journey back to Alice Springs. A first pit stop for supplies brought a welcomed ice cream and a cold lemon drink as we refuelled for the massive drive back. The sun was already heating up the bus, so getting back on the road with the air conditioning was the best bet. A further food stop to eat the sandwiches that we had prepared at 5am this morning, but most people were finding it harder to eat. When you are tired you just want to have a slurp of drink then sleep.

So the final leg and the music requests were made. I wasn’t shy in offering my anthem, you’ve got it, Ellis Paul’s “The World Ain’t Slowin’ Down”, duly played, which was a nice end to my trip and I hope I didn’t bore everyone else. Jerry and Mel joined in with my sabbatical with arm waving fashion as I took a video clip of the bus as the song was being played. Thanks to everyone for that moment. I am not sure they would know what it meant to me.

The Kilometres just flew by and we were in Alice around 5pm.

This was an excellent few days that was brilliantly executed by Jerry and Mel of Adventure Tours. I met some lovely people on the bus. My lasting memories are with Aki who was one of the funniest and genuine people I have met, Erme and Martin who although did not speak much English joined in with everything with a smile and when we pit stopped, with a Coffee (very Austrian), Max who was the ‘go do it man’ with German enthusiasm (I will remember his poor execution at breaking a fire log on day one and breaking his big toe), delightful Lenka and Mum Dana. Lenka was translating all the time for her mother (my boys back home to note how to look after dad when he doesn’t hear something!), Alex and Melanie who I think noticed we were there but had eyes for each other. Alex had a very quick wit. Young Red Headed Hannah, who coughed and blew for 3 days and complained of everyone snoring! Samia, our cute little French girl with a husky voice, and the bouncy and irrepressible Anna from Italy. If someone had to be out at the front it was Anna, who smiled from start to finish of the trip. And last but not least ‘Young’ Scott who looked as though he was just out of high school and charming Gemma, a delightful couple from South Manchester. They acted exactly as a married couple should (even though they aren’t) which was great fun for the rest of us and a pleasure to be around.

And I can’t end without a final comment for Mel and Jerry. Mel was so polite and didn’t whip us as much as she should, which was nice for us. And Jerry. You need something or someone on a trip to forget that you have travelled 1500 Kilometres. The button was on full volume for 3 days and her humour was spot on. I’ll echo my thoughts again, a really enjoyable trip to the Outback with lots of memories.

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As I opened the curtains this morning to take an early peek at the weather, I was met with a pure blue sky. It immediately picks you up. As you guessed from my last blog, I have been peddling at half pace for a number of days so needed to get out and get my camera as well as my pedometer going. I put the ‘World Ain’t Slowing Down’ song on and get myself ready. A healthy breakfast and up to the Perth Train Station, curtesy of the Hyatt bus, with Ross the driver, who I have to admit was a mine of information. A little old man with an honest warmth to his welcome, even though he was only taking me a mile across the City. He was an encyclopaedia of everything ‘Perth’ and it is a shame that I am leaving as he obviously loves his City and wants me to see as much of it as possible. Well done Ross!

The tourist office gave me some quick advice for the ticket up to Fremantle which was idiot proof and inside 15 minutes I was on the Rail, a metro type service, up to Fremantle. I am learning short cuts to failure avoidance, by working out what I need to know in advance. The China Wall excepted, it is starting to work. So when I get off at the Railway Station, which way do I turn, is the River behind me or to my right? what colour is the building I need, what’s it called?????? …but it is working.

I plan to get a Ferry for Rottnest, my main destination for the day, but as I turn up the 10.30am boat has just departed, so gives me lots of time to buy a ticket and view what I have to do. All very ‘queue here’ and get on. With the next one at 11.30am I take the opportunity to go into Fremantle for a camera battery (thinking about 3 days outback for Uluru) and also to take a few more snaps of Fremantle to help me remember the place. It is bathed in sunshine today, which makes the white sandstone buildings look even more colonial. Fremantle reminds me of a cross between Leamington Spa and New Orleans. The Regency period buildings are typically British and some have first floor veranda’s with iron artistry fresco’s that line the walkways. I have plenty of time to get my supplies and to be on time for the ferry, with a few more photo’s too.

As we pull away you get a sense of the harbour and docks for what its main purpose has been for almost 200 years. This has been about shipping raw materials out and human traffic in. The Sheds that we alight from are the same that all of the migrant would have seen coming to Fremantle on the ships over the last 100 year and some sheds as huge barns used to store lambs wool ready to be shipped to the mills. Fremantle got its name on the world map when it hosted the America’s Cup yachting race in 1987 the first time it had not been in America. You can see that this is a boating place with the large Marina and the huge boats that dock. A bit of history helps I think.

The fast ferry takes about 35 minutes to get to Rottnest Island. Rottnest named by the Dutch who thought that the Island was infested by large Rats. These Rats are actually Quokka’s, a large marsupial like a small Kangaroo, but with all the features of a large Rat that stand on its hind legs with a big tail. There are lots of them here, but I only saw 2 and by the time my camera was out and I said ‘smile’ they had either turned around or hid.

As you approach the Island, which is free of traffic, you get a feeling of holiday village. The Island is quite beautiful and I now realise that I should have found a way to do a whole day here. Maybe next time. As I walk down the pier, a Pelican was sitting on a lamp post above my head. It was huge. On an Island like this there isn’t much to threaten it, so it just sat there and preened while tourists clicked away. I hired a bike for a couple of hours which was ample in the heat, humidity and the direct sunlight. The bike hire man was handing out safety helmets to everyone, but not to me. I guess he though that if I fell off it would be a case of low speed and I would probably bash one of my shoulders instead. The roads were fairly flat and I just went across to a couple of local bays to get views of the sea. I’m holding off my snorkelling unto the Cook Islands, so not in a rush to jump into the sea. It was very hot and you could feel your water reserves being drained.

After my bike ride, I had to replenish the liquids and then laze around watching the water, boats, birds and people doing similar. I rolled out my jacket on the sand, used my bag for a pillow and tilted my cowboy hat over my face. It was delightful and after my backbone had sunk a little into the hard sand, fairly comfortable. I watche the Pelican cross from side to side, occasionally stopping by boat owners fishing off the backs of their boats and the gulls and sea birds squeaking and squawking at each other. My mind just drifted.

It was soon time to get back onboard the Ferry to head back to Fremantle. A lovely journey shared with the delightful company of Gemma from Sydney who is an Art Director with a medical magazine. Gemma had visited a lot of the places that I have just left in Asia, so we compared notes on everything from the lack of English, to litter and the crazy driving. These are the times that make my journey so rewarding when you can have a good old natter with lovely people, thanks Gemma!

As the ferry was making its way back, I could see the reflection in a glass window over Gemma’s shoulder that the sun was again starting to drop and giving the same shimmer that I had seen a few days ago with Beverley when we stopped off at Cottisloe. My camera wasn’t at hand again so another opportunity missed.

Just to digress a second, I received an email yesterday that was meant for another Dave Dugdale, but was sent to my btinternet.com address. The girl also name Gemma was trying to get something from her father back in the UK. The next coincidence was where Gemma Dugdale lived…she lives in Subiaco which is just outside Perth here in Australia. Strange how these things happen.

Back up to the hotel and a relaxing evening in the Hyatt with some Antipasto and a Gin and Tonic and to write up the blog while its fresh in my mind. Out the corner of my eye there is a Prom assembling for the event rooms to my right, with seventeen year olds dressed to the nines for their special night. Proud Mum’s and Dads hanging around a bit longer than they should to witness the special evening. You felt excited for them.

So that is about it. I’m heading out to Alice Springs tomorrow and expecting to be out of wifi range for 4 days, so will post you towards the end of the week if I am lucky. Catch you soon.

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The part of the colonies trip I have been looking forward to is now with me as I get out of Singapore, with the help of Heavenly bodies (although less heavenly than my first flight, not through looks but more that they cared less) and down to Perth. A happy driver in the airport taxi ‘F’d and blinded’ his stories for the next 30 minutes before I got to a tired looking Crowne Plaza Hotel. The Hotel would be more at home in Bournemouth than Perth, but I will reserve judgement for a couple of days.

But before I reserve, let me say that the Hotel is fairly pricey and I wasn’t expecting a lounge and reception to be of B&B size. It must be the right hotel and sizeable as a Virgin Atlantic crew walked in which at least brightens the place with a bit of Blonde and Red. I haven’t savoured my room fully, but it does have a view of the Swan River, which must be what I am paying for in the rate. WiFi is a bit poor too. I remember my trip to New York with the boys in 2011 where we stayed in the Crown Plaza on Times Square and they had similar crappy wifi for a high premium. I can get a limited free service in The Lobby but it gets 2 staff to make it work and its has a download/upload threshold which I think my Blogs will blow.

As a safeguard I tap into the ipad to see where the local Starbucks are located. “Starbucks doesn’t make it in Australia!” says the headline. Oh. Must be other answers to the problem so I will venture out for breakfast tomorrow to see whats what and get an on the ground estimate of my options. WiFi has become my drinking water. It really upsets my day if I struggle to get online, ping the boys and update the blog. I now understand my Shaolin Monk of yesterday with his Blackberry. We really are adicted, we need it fast, we need it now and we need it for free. Of course there is no such thing as a free lunch, but if my Hotel wants to charge a premium lets have at least a good facility. This afternoon, I was asked by Hotels.com to give my verdict on the Prime Hotel in Beijing. A score rating and a comment box. It took me 5 minutes, ping submit, and..”I am sorry you can only have a maximum of 1500 characters in your response”. Aargh!.. Do you want guidance in 2000 characters or do you just want to hear in 64 characters some drivel that ‘it was a lovely hotel and they had a complimentary bottle of water in the room’. Is this moaning? I just want hotels to say what they will do and then do it. The Pan Pacific in Singapore did just that and I didn’t choose its Perth sister as it had a lesser write up than the Crowne. Hmm, if I had dished out another 100 pounds and gone with my inner feeling? Hey, this isn’t about Perth! The next few paragraphs will tell you what I think as I walk around.

I tap into google ‘Top 10 things to do in Perth, for ideas…This has been my standard approach to everywhere that I have landed so at least I get the right perspective and see the main things.

After a nice Irish Breakfast in a nice Irish Bar, surrounded by nice Irish staff, I was set for the day. Perth is a young and modern city compared to the other places and you immediately feel that it is a little corner of Britain. Perth is tucked into the bottom left hand corner of Australia and although it sprawls from town to town down the coast, the next main bit of land you would hit if you went out into the Indian Ocean would be South Africa or South America. I read up on the second breath of prosperity that the mining and raw materials is giving. China is buying in heaps, which is making Perth really expensive. The main ‘City’ part of the City is placed by the side of the Swan River which divides Perth into two, but it’s flat, so you always get a sense for where you are in relationship to the water. One of the first tasks was to get my hair cut and groomed so I made my way up a couple of blocks to Turner’s, which turns out to be owned by a lady who emigrated out here from Oxford. It is about 2 hours after the leaving the hotel that I bump into someone who spoke like an Aussie. Perth is very cosmopolitan.

In the afternoon my Sister-in-law Elaine’s cousin, Beverley, who came out to Perth in the late 60’s kindly picked me up for an official welcome to Perth to help me get my bearings. We drove up to Kings Park, which is a vantage point over the River where you get a good view of the City and the suburbs before heading out to the coast to get a glimpse of the Indian Ocean. Although there was a lot of cloud around the sky was the most prolific blue. It made me realise that I hadn’t seen really ‘blue’ sky in over 4 weeks. I had had clear skies but it was always hazy or smoggy. It was late afternoon and the sun was beginning to head downwards, so the shimmer across the deep blue made for a good photo. Unfortunately I didn’t have the camera to hand so it is in my head and you will just need to believe me. It was like one of the photo I had in a late evening from the Maldives when I was out with Sue for our 25th anniversary. I had a funny feeling of cornwall in my head, when looking at the bars and restaurants facing out to sea. Very beautiful. After a quick coffee, we headed up the coast road and within a couple of miles we could see a Paraglider hovering over the route. The closer we got the more incredible it looked. I have seen these guys hugging the cliffs before, but this one was so close to the road and so low, passing up and down, that cars stopped to watch. I didn’t see the news that night so hope he was alright.

After a further circular route of the area Bev took me back to her house and the wider family was coming across to welcome me. It was lovely to be at the centre of things, although I do struggle with people going out of their way to do things for me, but it was so nice. My thanks go out to Beverley and Husband Corrado (his home grown and prepared olives were excellent), Debbie and Husband Mark and Deb’s older twin brother Stuart (Stewy) and wife Liz. And not forgetting the kids that were around Anna, Emily, Andrew, Emma, Maddy, Ally and Emma’s gorgeous little girl Indiana (Indi). Indi obviously has everyone’s attention and why not.

The House view was spectacular, from the Dining table we could see the Perth City skyline and River, like a mini Hong Kong. Lovely, really lovely and great company, so thank you to all.

The next day I had to kick off with some preparation. I feel I have a couple of ‘operational’ days ahead as I try to plan my route across Australia. I had to get an Australian Mobile sim card and I wanted to get my bearings to the tourist office and a few practical things like toiletries again. Irish Breakfast start, creatures of habit aren’t we, but it was quicker than the usual herding that you get in Hotels. My sim card didn’t work, so I had to locate my other ‘as important as water’ place, the Apple Store. They pinpointed the problem and we would be able to fix tomorrow.

Elaine’s other cousin Deb, then picked me up for the second tour of the area with additional historical and local commentary as we headed out to Fremantle. Fascinating and interesting. Deb picked me up at noon and on the way she had said we would aim first for the Round House, a Customs and Prison Holding point from the early settler days that has a timing Cannon that is ignited at 1pm. Amazingly and without looking at the clock, as we walked up the steps, the Curator was just giving the final words and then a countdown to the cannon. We couldn’t have timed it better. In the next couple of days I will get some photos up when the Wifi is restored and I start clicking my camera.

We had a nice leisurely walk through the Marina, Local Brewery (free taster tray was a nice surprise to both of us!) and we had Fish and Chips in the main seafood restaurant for the Marina. This was very British with a bit of something unusual for us, sunshine.

After a guided tour through the streets of Fremantle, the fresh air had got to me and by 6pm I was almost ready for bed. Deb had been a great tour guide and an ambassador for the Perth Tourist Office. Well done Deb!

Since being in Perth, I have caught up on lots of sleep, but I have decided to give myself a kick up the backside to get my trip more defined and to get my camera clicking again, which I haven’t been doing for a few days.

Sunday was fairly peaceful in Perth, but I am determined to get the trip to Ayre’s Rock sorted. To be PC it is Uluru, as it is indigenous people land. Anyway, with a pointer from the Tourist Office that Uluru was not in their territory (I am in Western Australia and it’s in Northern Territories), they did point me to the Flight Centre about 100 yards away. What I find from time to time on my travels is that I get to logistical overload which ironically brings on frustration, which complicates your thinking. What I had in mind was, Flight from Perth to Alice Springs (‘Alice’ is bang in the middle of Australia), overnight stay there, a 3 day tour of the area and overnight camping, another night stay in Alice and then catch the Ghan Railway down to Adelaide. Thursday is also ANZAC day so is a public holiday, so a few things to work out. I was given some brochures to have a look at and I took the idea away to work out what I could do. This is where is all starts to unravel. The Ghan Railway stops at Alice Springs (Southbound) once a week on a Wednesday only. The 3 day tour starts on a Wednesday, Thursday or Friday and there are limited flights from Alice to Adelaide. Whatever combination I tried, it keep giving me the wrong answer. I had thoughts in my head of being stranded at the Great China Wall and could it happen again, but delayed in days not hours. So after my short FaceTime call on sunday to Jon, which was more like him giving Dad a pep talk, I started Monday with more determination and I booked myself into the Hyatt Hotel in Perth for a couple of nights, much to the surprise of the Crowne Plaza. As I had a final beer of the evening on Sunday, the rain started to hammer down and it felt like I was in a Blackpool B&B on a wet bank holiday weekend. My motivation to ‘plan’ would have to wait until tomorrow.

Waking to a much brighter day and with the prospect of packing up and transferring to another Hotel, I had to be up and at it. I am still later than all the other guests as I saunter into the restaurant for a light breakfast. Although I have been eating well, my appetite isn’t as big as it was which may be good in the long run, so I was into Cereal, Fruit and Yoghurt. I checked out of the Crowne after a lengthy discussion with the Manager over Wifi and what he needed to feedback into his management teams if they are interested. They were shocked that I was moving and that I had a better rate for a better hotel with better wifi. They were pleasant though so I cannot fault them for personality.

I turned down a Taxi offer on the basis that the Hotel was Right out of the Hotel, Right at the next Road (up a Hill) and Right again at the first road leaving me 200 yards to walk to the Hyatt. They could have said to me ‘Turn Left out the Hotel and walk 100 yards and you are at the back entrance to the Hyatt!, but they didn’t’. I felt at Home as soon as I entered the Hotel. Large lobby, Large reception desk, everything that you would want and a large fountain in the middle. “I’m early by 3 hours, do you mind looking after my luggage?”. “That’s OK sir, we have your room ready you can go right up!”. You just get that feeling don’t you.

I headed back to my Travel company with a determination to get things fixed and within an hour it was. Great service the only issue being that my flight now ends up in Brisbane which is on the opposite coast so I will have to find a way to double back to Melbourne. But it is done and I leave on Wednesday midday, which is very sociable for breakfast, packing and check-in. My only issue now is that I know that I have 33Kgs of Luggage, the Tour allows me to take a maximum of 15Kgs, so I have to negotiate with the Hotel in Alice Springs to hold my luggage for 3 days. If it doesn’t then I am going to have to have a balloon debate with myself and lose half of the weight. Let’s hope it doesn’t come to that. I have bought myself a small folding rucksack to fill up with the necessities, which will supplement my North Face rucksack. It will be interesting.

With the logistic done, I head up to Kings Park to get a better view of Perth and my promised photos. The sun came out in force, I tested my new suede cowboy hat (for outback purposes!, just to make sure we are in the same page) and I had time to relax and wander.

I could hear the Kookaburra’s laughing in the trees, but came across one that was in a great pose for me. The colourful Parrots were a bonus. So after 4 days I give you a posting. Apologies.