Another glorious day! Today we’d organised to catch up for coffee with Ken who lived in Hobart. Judy and Ken used to serve on the ACCE Board together several years ago and have maintained links through FaceBook. Today was a public holiday so traffic was light and we had no problem parking although we did double check with a local to ensure that we didn’t need a parking voucher on a public holiday. Luckily, we left Margate with plenty of time to spare because Judy’s IPad map led us in completely the wrong direction to the Rendezvous Café where we were to meet our friend. A friendly passerby steered us in a better direction. The café was located in a square behind the of 19-century sandstone buildings of Salamanca Place. The café was surprisingly busy so ... read more

Saturday 7th March 2015 The blog today may sound a little different to usual, it being written by our guest blogger - Jan. :-) Oh, dear regular readers of Weggsies’ blog, I have been charged to unleash my Inner BloGoddess and write this entry as my penance for dragging my beloved fellow travellers on grueling (but oh so fun and incredibly healthy) hikes through various wild Tassie spaces. Let’s see how this description of our gastronomic speed-date with Bruny Island goes. Be prepared to feel a little queasy, Possums. However, in the past few days we have worked very hard on burning calories! We were up and out early to catch the small open-decked car ferry for the calm 20 minute crossing to Bruny Island, the terminal being only cooee down the road from the ... read more

Tuesday 3rd March 2015 A morning a little more on track than usual and we were on our way well before 1000 hours. The traffic into Hobart was light and we made good time there and through the city. A little holdup when we veered left after crossing the bridge but this was soon rectified. Just outside of Buckland we stopped to look at a convict built church (we saw all the cars outside so had to stop), which is known for its 14th century stained glass windows which came from Hastings, England in 1846. Here, we also had a coffee break at the local roadhouse as nature called. The highway twisted and turned and after having several cars tailgating us even though we were moving, we thought, quite quickly, we pulled into a rest stop ... read more

Tuesday 24th February – Saturday 28th February By early afternoon we arrived in Somerville, on the Mornington Peninsula, where we re-united with John and Marilyn at their home. We first met them nearly 4 years ago in Queensland when they also were touring in their caravan. A couple of years ago we saw them again in W.A. and we explored Albany, Hyden and Kalgoorlie with them. They made us feel very much at home, insisting we move out of the van into a bedroom in the house which they had prepared for us. During our stay with them we were able to wash our dirty clothing, wash the car and caravan, and generally relax with them. One day we spent being driven around Mornington Peninsula where Judy and Rags were able to relive the time they ... read more

Monday, 16thFebruary 2015 Today was the big day. We were leaving with the caravan in tow for our trip across Australia to Victoria, and then going on a home exchange in Tasmania for 3 weeks. On our return we intend following the coast up through Victoria and NSW, with a possible detour into Canberra, eventually reaching Brisbane and then returning to WA, with a possible detour to Coober Pedy, in about mid May to celebrate the birth of two new grandchildren. There was a possibility that a parcel sent through Australia Post would arrive this morning, but after completing all our packing and loading, doing things in the garden (including mowing the lawn) we could not justify waiting any longer, so at 11.45am we pulled out of Ascot. Everything went well, both with the Jeep and ... read more