Monday afternoon Outback Spirit Tours took us for an orientation tour of Alice Springs although we had done quite a bit of walking as well as a tour with the Ghan, it was interesting to hear different stories from Alice Springs and get to know our driver/guide Gary and another guide Kane, great blokes and we will have a great tour with these guys. Dinner was at the hotel Monday night and it was delish with a delicious piece of Wayghu beef with an entree and desert. Earlyish night as an 8am take off tomorrow in our monster bus/truck, its something else, quite new with only 30,000klms on the clock, a Mercedes truck with a small bus type set up on the back, lovely leather seats and everything onboard, iced water, big fridge full of food ... read more

After leaving Robe it was about a half hour drive to Kingston SE, another little seaside town with the Big Lobster, so authentic, one of the best BIGS we have seen, then a drive along The Coorong which spands about 100klms, we really didn't have any idea of the immensity of this area, it is stunningly beautiful! Stopped off to look at the Pelican Islands on The Coorong, we could see hundreds of pelicans there, they come each year in their thousands to breed from June to March. There are literally thousands of other birds along The Coorong as well a lot of visitors bird watching, boating, kayaking, fishing, camping, walking etc. You could spend a month just in and around The Coorong, getting ferries etc from one spot to another. Stopped in the little town ... read more

Arrived Ballarat Monday 27th, on my birthday, our beautiful daughter had us around for a yummy dinner. Greg and Ingrid arrived up as well for a couple of days with us and joined us at Lara and Lukes for dinner. The full day Greg and Ingrid were with us we had a long walk on the lake and Ballarat Botanical Gardens, it really is an oasis in the middle of the city of Ballarat. Weather cool 20 degrees but good for walking. Did some shopping and caught up with Bryce for dinner at the Grapes, it was another fabulous meal, not just pub grub really restaurant quality food. Mick and Noni arrived up on the Friday afternoon and also camped with us at the NRMA park which is great within walking distance of the CBD and ... read more

I know we just arrived home from our nearly four month trip around the world on the 22nd. October 2022 but now we are embarking on a lap of Australia. Not exactly planned for right now but that is the way it happened. As a lot of you would know we have had issues with Uniting Age Well since we moved into our Granny Flat in October 2011 and things just haven't improved. Cowboys the whole organisation especially senior management. The building was never right from the beginning, poor builders and the problems have never been fixed or maintained to a good standard. On more than one occasion we have been threatened with eviction for speaking up about issues with the building and lack of "giving a shit" from management, so it all came to a ... read more

A very interesting day Sunday 2nd, got on the train in Cefalu about 11.30am, this rail actually goes all the way to Rome! This was a great journey to Messina and beyond as the route was so scenic hugging the coast all the way there. We arrived in Messina and it took about half hour or so to get train onto the ferry, whilst we all sat in our seats, it is the only ferry that takes trains left in service in Europe. It only took about 20 minutes to get across to Villa San Giovanni where we spent the night before catching a 6.50am train the next morning to start our journey up to the heel. Our B&B was really gorgeous, very modern and close to the station. Looks like a pretty dodgy port town ... read more