We arrived in Beijing shortly after sunrise to find the smog had lifted and the sun was shining brightly in a brilliant blue sky. After leaving our bags at the hotel we set off for Tianannmen Square. Have I mentioned that China has a lot of people? It seemed that most of them had arrived in Beijing to visit Mao's tomb - the queue to enter the building was hours long and the square was crowded with chinese tourists. Internal tourism has taken off in a big way over the last few years and international tourism is taking a back seat. [View Full Entry]

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When we arrived in Hong Kong the pollution blown down from China made it almost impossible to see more than a few hundred metres. On day we left, the threatening typhoon blew the pollution away and we were able to see the hills and harbour at last - but only briefly. It also blew in heavy rain and strong winds and, as the train to Guangzhou crossed into China, we were pleased to be leaving. The night before, we met our three travelling companions for the journey: David, an ex-geologist and current teacher living in the Blue Mountains west of Sydney, [View Full Entry]

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Well, we have made it as far as Hong Kong. We arrived on Tuesday evening exhausted from the early morning flight and previous days of getting the house organised for our guests. We had managed only about 4 hours sleep in the previous 48 hours so died when we arrived. We had expected to sleep on the train to Sydney and the plane to HK but our adrenaline levels didn't allow it. We have relaxed more now but still have moments of panic when we wonder what we might have forgotten to do in the house. (You can see photos of [View Full Entry]

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Didn't mean to raise a blog for this but have had a few phone calls from concerned people. The Central Coast and Newcastle were declared a disaster zone following a cyclone which passed through the area on Friday and Saturday. Several people have died and many places have been flooded. Sylvia and I are both well. We were in Sydney when the cyclone struck. Our house has some minor damage but is essentially whole. An awning was blown off but otherwise we are unaffected. Thanks for your concern. [View Full Entry]

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We have arrived home safely. Will update the blog eventually. Sorry we couldn't keep it real time. [View Full Entry]

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We left Mt. Isa feeling rather disappointed. I guess the fantasy of a big outback mining town had not lived up to the reality. The romance was overwhelmed by the smells and the noise. Still, the people were friendly and the children's mass we attended on the Saturday evening left us feeling spiritually refreshed. Most towns only have mass once a month and this is the first time we have been in the right place at the right time. We headed back towards Cloncurry to rejoin the road North, planning to catch up with the attractions we had missed on the [View Full Entry]

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Travelling north from Longreach, we are moving into Waltzing Matilda country. The unofficial Australian national anthem, this song has been heard around the world, yet few people are aware that it is based on actual events. Winton (pop. 1140) is the next main town on the road north and claims to be the place where Waltzing Matilda was written although there is some doubt about this (see below). It is also the town where Qantas opened its first office, despite Longreach's claim to be the home of Qantas. Even though the Waltzing Matilda Centre in the main street offered audio-visual displ [View Full Entry]

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Heading north from Charleville the country gradually changes. We are leaving the agricultural belt of southern Queensland and heading into cattle and sheep country. For as far as the eye can see, there is only scrub and mulga. Being Sunday, the little settlements we pass through are closed down and there is no opportunity to visit any of the small museums each has created to try and attract the tourist dollar. We lunched at Tambo on the banks of the Barcoo river (pop 370), notable for being the oldest settlement in western Queensland (1836). What we noticed most, though, was that [View Full Entry]

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The road to Dalby from Murwillumbah is standard expressway for most of the distance. Only after Toowoomba does it start to get interesting. The early part of the journey goes via the Gold Coast, a much over-rated tourist region of high-rise hotels and enormous houses on artificial canals created by real estate developers in order to separate Victorian retirees from their money (for the geographically challenged, Victoria is a southern state of Australia). Shortly before reaching Brisbane, the road west turns off from the main highway and starts to meander its way across the Brisbane basin tow [View Full Entry]

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It always takes longer than you expect to pack up. Sylvia thought we would be away by 0900; I thought 1100 was more realistic. We finally hit the road at 1300! The five hour drive to Macksville was uneventful but tedious. The downside was that we arrived in the dark and the temperature had dropped to 7 degrees (all temperatures in this blog are in Celsius). We managed to get the camper set up in the dark without too much trouble but were freezing by the time we clambered inside. Wearing most of our clothes, we went straight to bed to [View Full Entry]

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