shortplanks

Blog 18 We attended a speedway meeting while in Canarvon , not motor bikes , cars with big wings on their roofs , it was strange staying up late . There were lads staying on the campsite who were racing so this gave us an interest , they didn’t win though. And so having had our ears lowered , what luck there was a hairdresser on site, we again headed north , our destination Coral Bay , sounds nice doesn’t it , the bay was edged with white sand , the water that lovely turquoise blue , but it was full of tourists , you would have a job to paddle for the hordes, the whole area was fringed with caravan parks one on top of the other , also along the beach were cars and ... read more

Blog 17 And then there was three We spent several days around the Alice springs area looking for a suitable place to take Linda for a nights bush camping because we didn’t feel safe enough spending two nights in town , there had been a lot of violence , it wasn’t safe to be on the streets after dark. We went to the site where 4 meteors craters were , this was very interesting , one of the craters had it’s own micro climate , everything in it was green and lush, the others were barren , there was no shade at the site , but the sunset that evening was 180 degrees and lasted a good hour changing from pink and blue to a fierce burning red and orange , we ate dinner while watching ... read more

Blog 16 Well and truly gorged We found 2 things nice in Darwin , the garage where the van was being serviced ran a shuttle service into town and dropped us off in the centre of Darwin, we saw a tour bus stop and went to the information booth in the middle of the shopping mall , it was here we met our first nice thing in Darwin. We asked if it was here we purchased tickets for the tour bus , that’s right, but what did we want to see? Just the museum in fact we had already seen the other attractions , as mentioned in the last blog , ’’oh you don’t want a tour ticket then , they are 30 dollars each , if you go round that corner , catch a ... read more

Blog 14 Back to uncivilisation We had a few days to spare before meeting with Kate , but that was good it gave us the chance to call in on Sue’s sister Barb , and her husband Ronnie , they live on the outskirts of Brisbane, and how welcoming they were, we had a wonderful dinner , followed by ice cream , a rare treat , and a real bed for the night. Nice to see you Barb and Ronnie , and thank you for a lovely evening and for the use of the computer , eventually it did as it was told. We then drove to the glass house mountains ( named by Captain Cook , the shape of them reminded him of the big glass houses back in England). We were not far ... read more

Blog 11 hello mudder hello fadder is best read before this one it was published on 7th February but interested people weren’t informed by email I don’t know why. jo Blog 12 Wait a minute it’s stopped raining. The weather was worsening at lake St Clair in fact it snowed after we left, and so we decided we would move on east even though there were still things we had wanted to do, we stopped at Fortescue Bay just outside port Arthur. Here we met a group of Tasmanians who had been coming here every year for the past four years the enjoyed the fishing and just that day had caught forty ,something beginning with T, Trivelly I think, and four lobsters. They had a good game they would play which involved a rubber snake and ... read more

Blog10 On Christmas eve we travelled into Melbourne city to meet with Norman, we met at St Kilda Beach , to be more precise we met at a bar overlooking the esplanade, the sun was shining but not exactly beach weather. After a couple of drinks the wind came , and as we have learnt ,this is then followed by rain. We went back to his hotel and met , Martin Steve and Sue ? We all then went for a meal, a lovely evening. Christmas Day we spent with Sue Alex and their family , it was organised chaos , 15 of us sat down to a full Christmas dinner, it was wonderful, and they coldest Christmas day for 150 years. If anything Christmas here is more traditional than back in England. Thank you Sue ... read more