This will be our last blog from Tasmania, well from home really after getting back a week ago. Arthur River is known in Tasmania as the Edge of the World as the next landfall to the west is South America, some 15,000 kms away. It is said to have the purest air on the planet as the prevailing winds travel so far without touching land anywhere before hitting Arthur River. We can believe that, and to match the wind there are huge waves constantly pounding the rocky shore line. It would appear that all Tasmanians must like camping as some of the camp grounds that we have been into have been extensive, and the one we used at A.R was no exception (there was also another one on the other side of town just as big). ... read more

An early start on Monday morning saw us competing with the peak hour traffic on the way through Hobart on the way to Kettering, lining up for the 9.30 am ferry to Bruny Island. Where else would you try driving your caravan through the CBD in peak hour…? It is a very short journey, and soon we were putting rubber to the road again albeit the last in the queue. There is a North Bruny and a South Bruny, bit it is only one island as such, joined by a 700 mtr long ‘neck’ which separates the ocean (Storm Bay) from the sea (D’Entrecasteaux Channel) We had planned to stay at a free camp just onto South ‘island’ and headed straight for that, arriving mid morning. After sinking the levelling ramps into the rain softened sand, ... read more

Taking time to smell the apples…. It was Sunday 9th of March when we hitched up and headed off to Port Melbourne to catch the ‘Spirit’ and commence or latest trip. We were so prepared this time it was worrying – something had to be wrong! Well, so far we have yet to find out what we have forgotten, so we must be getting better at the preparation side of things. The other worrying thing was that we had masses of space free after packing everything, what have we forgotten… it is definitely a worry. Departure day was right in the middle of Moomba and the Grand Prix, and although Geoff was tempted to try the rig out around Albert Park, Marg persuaded him to proceed directly to Station Pier and the Spirit of Tasmania. We ... read more

Its all about the journey This entry is dedicated to Eugene, my colleague in the UK, who keeps telling folk that Marg and I have gone walkabout. This little trip has definitely taken on that feeling of being ‘unstructured’. Perhaps it is the first sign of losing one’s marbles… As an example, we were telling folks for weeks that we would be heading East and up the coast before heading across southern NSW. So the first change was to head towards western Victoria, a change bought on with the realisation that school holidays were due to start at the end of the week, and there was a good chance that the East coast locations would be busy with school age holiday makers. School age holiday makers and grey nomads are a bit like oil and water… ... read more

Next stop on this wonderful journey was the little railway town of Jasper; well it is a small town, but a major hub for the railways heading East/West and some to the North. This was also the first of the Fairmont Hotel chain that we were to stay in. This is a fascinating establishment that fits into the category of “it was a good idea at the time” or perhaps in hindsight “what were they thinking?” The best description I can come up with is it is a bit like a Billy Butler’s holiday camp with rows of cabins scattered around the curving roadways of the facility. After following one of the roadways , which were all in a poor state of repair, we found our cabin at the end of a row of 6 or ... read more