Today we headed North of Adelaide to complete the Mt Crawford to Kaiser Stuhl leg of The Heysen Trail, Ruth, Tim and I arrived at the spot on Mount Rd where we ended a previous walk a few weeks ago and dropped off Ruth's car, then I drove to the entrance to the trail head for the Kaiser Stuhl Track on Brownes Rd where we left my car just on 8am on the 29 December 2008. This is the first stage of the Barossa section of the trail so it was fitting that our first sight should be the grape vines [View Full Entry]

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Back on the trail again (27/12) this time I am walking with my mates Tim and Steve, I picked Tim up just after 6.30 am before heading to Steve's place we took two cars leaving mine just of Dashwood Gully Rd and Steve's at Mylor right in front of the deli. We left my car at 7.45 am beginning the walk by following some back roads past a few farms before arriving on the edge of the Kuitpo Forest about an hour later. A nice cool and overcast morning boded well for a good walking experience shame about the swarms of [View Full Entry]

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The Heysen Trail at 1250km running from Cape Jervis in the South to Parachilna Gorge in the far North is rated as one of the worlds 7 great walks, I was amazed when I read this, so I started looking into how to go about doing it. I did walk part of the most southern section from Cape Jervis to Fishery Creek in 2005 (about 6km) and had plans at the time to go back down there and do more but never did. I remember that section of the trail as being mostly flat and the views across the ocean to [View Full Entry]

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We awoke early as we do and went for another bread and jam breakfast, we had the company of an old French guy and a Polish professor who was interesting to talk too. At 8.30 Walter drove us to the wharf so we could catch our ferry to Moorea, the tickets cost about $14 each, the ferry was large, modern and very similar to those in the Greek Isles. The crossing took only about 30 minutes but that was more than long enough to cause Ruth some queasiness, on debarkation we decided to catch the local bus to our pension which [View Full Entry]

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I was up early which is pretty much always the case when its time to move on, Veia drove us to the airport at 8.30am where we were able to grab a toasted sandwich for breakfast. Later Ruth went to throw her wrapper in the bin, a moment later she came back raving about big spiders in the bin, I went over to look and it turned out to be a land crab, after seeing that one we began to see others scuttling around the place. We arrived back in Rarotonga about 10am, while I went and got a car from [View Full Entry]

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It is market day on Raro so although we are stiff and sore from the trek we headed to the Punanga Nui Market this morning. It's Ruth's mums birthday today so we picked them up and headed to Avarua. The market was interesting as markets tend to be anywhere in the world, there were lots of different foods and arts and crafts. The weather is not the best, rain has forced us to duck in and out of shops and stalls, I bought some coconut scones and a steakroll with mushroom sauce for lunch both were really good. We then went [View Full Entry]

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To day is a big day up early again and waiting out the front of the resort for the four wheel drive tour group to arrive, 5 couples in total were on our vehicle. We then met up with to other 4wd's from Raro Tours, the tour leader then introduced himself and the drivers, we recieved some excellent commentary on various landmarks on the way to the first stop at Wigmore Falls. Unfortunately the waterfall was bone dry even though it looks like it will bucket down at any moment, after killing about a million mosquito's we then headed off up [View Full Entry]

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Its still blowing a gale this morning and the skies are overcast, so much for tropical paradise . Had a leisurely morning before heading back to Avarua to visit the market and see if any stalls were open, one of the open shops had some fantastic carvings so purchased a statue of Tangaroa (God of fertility), a carved outrigger canoe, a carved paddle and a native carved drum. I was very happy with my purchases which will be wrapped and delivered to the resort before we leave for Tahiti. We then took care of some banking and visited a bar called [View Full Entry]

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Ruth woke me around 4.30am she was a little frightened as the wind has not ceased and she feared the roof would blow of or that we would get washed away in a tidal wave, after providing comfort and reassurance we slept till 8.30am. The wedding planner (Teresa) is due at 10am so we showered, dressed and had some breakfast getting ready to face the day, Teresa arrived on time and we spent about half an hour organising the ceremony, cake, flowers and reception location before heading to the Court House in Avarua where we completed the necessary forms to get [View Full Entry]

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After a year of intolerable idleness its now time to embark on a new adventure. This time its off too the South Pacific with a stint in the Cook Islands and French Polynesia. I must admit that after spending my first winter at home in 5 years I am looking forward to balmy days under a palm tree on a nice beach with a beer in my hand. This trip is special for more than just the weather as Ruth and I will exchange vows on Muri Beach on Raratonga. Then it will be off to explore the island and do [View Full Entry]

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