Hi, all. Updated yesterday's blog if you haven't seen it. Not sure where I finished.......was doing it at Sydney Airport when Rae said "I don't believe it", as she spotted Sue Reeve and her husband, Mick. Bizarre coincidence, Sue and Rae had worked at Copleston at the same time .......and now do lunches together, with Annie Skinner. We were on the same flight to Cairns! Might be on the same Great Barrier Reef trip tomorrow! Good flight to Cairns.....and we "got an hour back"' which surprised me. Picked up the car and headed off to Trinity Beach, where were due to meet Robyn and her partner, Jonathan - which we duly did at Lunica cafe, by the the ocean. Robyn is Clare's, James' fiancee's Mum.We had a good chat for an hour or so.........Jonathan had been ... read more

Waiting to do the bridge climb..........lovely day, sunny, 21 degrees, not a lot of wind (outside!).....no nerves, says Rae. Take off in 30 mins! We did it.......interesting process getting kitted out......they think of everything, even the things for ensuring that you don't lose your glasses. Then there is the test climb! Surprise, surprise there are a few ladders to scale and steps to go up. But they don't rush you. I guess that we were on the bridge for a couple of hours and there is pretty much non-stop commentary on its construction and what you can see around you - we spotted bride being photographed in the gardens below, saw a sea-plane flying beneath us. Fabulous views of the city and the Opera House. Rae was very brave (she's not keen on heights......but the 2 ... read more

Our last full day in Tassie! Went for a run, to Blackman's Bay......more tough hills. Then had a swim.......beautiful day again, forecast to get up to 30. Clare took us to the Tasmanian Royal Botanic Gardens, where James was doing his course.........a good place to learn about horticulture! Lovely gardens.......especially the Japanese one. James had been given his homework - learning the botanical Latin names for 100 plants/trees/shrubs etc. We also met the Mr. And Mrs. T, who were passengers with James and Hatter on the the inaugural Overlanding West Africa trip........seasoned travellers, although they've never got further than Coventry in England. James and I went for a swim when we got back while Clare and Rae went for a paddle.......very refreshing. Nick and Jacqui came round to say cheerio.........maybe we'll see them in Spain some ... read more

Back at Kingston Beach now........had a great couple of days up at Freychinet National Park. Managed to find an RC mass at the local "community church" in Bicheno - only happens once every 4 weeks". We had a peripatetic priest who covered quite a wide parish. We then bought some picnic lunch stuff and headed off for Freycinet, about 30 mins drive away. Then we set off on our 11 kilometre walk up one of the Hazards to the Wineglass Bay lookout, then down to the beach at Wineglass Bay, then over to Great Oyster Bay where we had our lunch sitting on the beach looking at Refuge Island, and then back to the start. It took us about 4.5 hours, including various stops and lunch. There was a "beach" wallaby at Wineglass Bay, complete with ... read more

James and I went for a run this morning..........mixture of road, track and beach complete with a couple of killer hills. Beautiful morning........went across the road for a swim afterwards......a bit chilly, but we did it! See pics of house and views across the road. James and I played golf this afternoon at Kingston Beach Golf Club with Nick.....only 13 holes out of the eighteen, called the chicken run for some reason. Very fast greens, great bird life and a very interesting travelator/escalator/lift sort of thing to get you up from 17th green to the 18th tee! I've not mentioned how I played yet........we all had our moments but, for all sorts of reasons (excuses), mine were fewer than Nick's or James'........different clubs, too many screeching cockatoos, too bright sunlight etc. Nick and Jacqui came over ... read more