rickjenner

I've been back for almost a week now, but need to tie up a few loose ends and write a bit about the last few days that I had in California before coming home. My parents flew over from the UK to see me and their friends, the Haycocks, near San Francisco, and we immediatley drove out to Yosemite National Park for 3 days. The weather was pretty bad, lots of rain and low cloud, but the scenery was perhaps even more dramatic, and it was great to see El Capitan and Half Dome, formations I'd seen loads of photos and heard stories of, but not seen before. We did a little bit of walking but mainly drove around the park, had the occasional picnic, took loads of photos and also spent a bit of time ... read more

Only about 2 weeks to go folks and then I'm back in the UK, hope the weather is OK, I have been wearing shorts and t-shirts for most of 5 months and have no intention of doing otherwise back home! Fat chance hey! I've spent the last week travelling through Victoria, from the Great Ocean Road in the west through to Bright, where I am now, in the north east. I had a great couple of days on the coast, and the drive was pretty spectacular. Shame I didn't have a better car to really enjoy it but the scenery was great all the same. From Robe (great hostel, bit sleepy) I drove to Port Fairy - slightly odd name but a great little place all the same with an island I walked around, where I ... read more

I've spent the last 2 days diving off the coast near Exmouth (scene of the recent Qantas drama), so here are some photos (not all mine) from the 5 dives I've done. Yesterday we dived off a place called Navy Pier, inside a US base here that's used to communicate with subs in the region using VLF. Little coral but the most amazing fish life I have ever seen, including 2 types of shark and huge shoals of trevally. Today we dived on Ningaloo Reef, where there was much more smaller life (fish and coral), but also a huge Manta Ray! There isn't much to this place, but a couple of days good diving was worth the trip!... read more

These photos are from a few dives we did a few days ago from Cairns, not many big fish but pretty amazing all the same, especially the reef of course!... read more

We've been in Australia for well over a week now, and we're really enjoying it here, especially as the weather is so good, and it's only early Spring! Today it's been mid-20s again, clear blue sky, a bit of wind but we are on the coast after all. Doesn't make sunbathing particularly pleasant though with all the sand swirling around. So we're on the beach/coast at Byron Bay, not far from Brisbane, after a long drive up from Sydney. We had a great time there, especially the couple of days on Bondi Beach. The hotel we stayed in was awesome - a lovely suite with a balcony overlooking the beach. Nice to have a bit of luxury, not that we've really been slumming it too much! While staying there we walked down the coast past several ... read more