Back at James........got back from Bruny about 16.30. Had a lot of rain during the night but it had eased off by the tine we were up. Had a great breakfast delivered by the 43 Degrees folk. Most of us went for walk before our Wilderness Cruise and were rewarded by more wallabies, including albino ones - unfortunately I had only my phone camera. Went off on our Pennnicott cruise at 11, by which time the weather was fine. We were first on the jetty and one of the tour leaders recognised Scottish accents and told me her grandfather was from Glasgow and had emigrated to Melbourne. The trip was amazing - see pics. Some amazing cliff formations (jurassic dolorite!), blowholes, cormorants, seals, gannets, albatrosses and went sailing in a wild Southern Ocean........in particularly weird but ... read more

Back again, folks. Flew into Hobart yesterday from Melbourne. James and Clare met us at the airport and took us to their beach-side (temporary) home - just across the road from the Derwent Estuary. Then we headed up to our temp accommodation at Nick's (Ant had ousted us at James') and we all ate there. Nick (Clare's dad) is an artist and he showed us his studio complete with work-in-progressive paintings. He's working on a commission valued at A10000 dollars! There is a lovely view over the Derwent from the house. Today we headed up Mt. Wellington, 4000 feet up. We did drive, though. Pretty windy at the top (understatement!). Awesome views! Stopped off at the Cascade Brewery before we went in to Hobart and had lunch at the waterfront. Temperature got up to 28. Returned ... read more

Up at 06.30 for coach pick-up at 07.15! Interesting coach tour with a very entertaining driver/guide called Roger. Took us all over Melbourne.......CBD (Central Business District to eastern suburbs to Docklands to Port Philip Bay and beyond.........followed by a river cruise on the Yarra. Roger told us about the "dunny" (toilet) with the best view in Australia - on the 35th floor of the Sofitel hotel building where you can and enjoy the spectacular view at the same time. Would like to visit there before we leave! Attached is a pic of the Eureka skydeck, the tallest building in Melbourne..........interesting for several reasons: apparently the miners of Ballarat etc. used to shout "eureka" when they discovered gold (obviously very intellectual miners, as they must have done some Greek history; the top of the building is finished ... read more

Did "Blood on the Southern Cross" last night. It was very well put together, starting off in the auditorium with some background before moving outside the 2nd Act (unfortunately it rained during this bit!) and then we were moved in sort of trains called people carriers to another area for the 3rd Act which included a spectacular hotel fire and a pitched battle between Government (British in the 1850's) and the miners (or diggers) over licences for mining. Not surprisingly, a drunken Scotsman called James Scobie started it all! Very interesting evening which end with a power cut and the audience being led out by torchlight! Went for a run this morning around Lake Wendouree in the centre of Ballarat......took me 11 mins to get to the lake.........28 mins to run round it and.........33 mins to ... read more

Tuesday..........set off from Beacon Point along the windy coastal road........stopped off in Lorne for a 15 minute break before heading to Point Lonsdale, as recommended by Helen. Breakfasted in The Shack in Ocean Grove, very good and reasonably priced. Had our first visit to a bottle mart (the off-licence, which is where you buy you beer, wine here). Spent a couple of hours on Point Lonsdale beach, walking round the lighthouse and along the beach before having a swim, or trying to have a swim in the crashing surf. Rae missed out on the last activity! Reached Ballarat about 16.30 and caught up with Helen and Malcolm before Helen took us for a ride round the town (attractive space with lovely lake and nice "old" buildings). Then we had some very tasty homemade lasagne. The gold ... read more