We had a great time exploring Brighton, walking along the promenade and pier and then visiting the amazing Brighton Pavillion with its incredible architecture and certainly not one would expect from the outside. Next stop was Duke of Wellington’s house and then Dover Castle and the White cliffs of Dover! We have now joined both the National Trust and also English Heritage, allowing us free access from now on to many historical sites which makes sense as we really enjoy visiting mansions, castles, ruins and famous people’s houses. Yesterday we visited Winston Churchill’s house and today Charles Darwin’s house, both so very interesting. Tonight we are parked by a 16th century pub that has 280 hectares of woodland next to it which is full of grey squirrels and so so cute. We visited a British wildlife ... read more

Well, it is exactly one week since we left Darwin and so much has happened. A lot good but some not so good! Flight to Bangkok was a typical Jet Star experience with limited leg room but that is how it is and one gets what one pays for! Flight to Dubai, in comparison, with Etihad Airlines was wonderful and appreciated so much more after the first flight. Our niece, Maria, in Dubai along with her 3 year old showed us the sights of the city and we had two fantastic days, exploring the souks, (markets) that sold all kinds of spices, gold, silver and everything else. We took a local boat ride on an Abbra (not abracadabra) across the main river that runs through the city. It is quite wide and very busy with boat ... read more

Amazing, it is six months since my last blog and hard to believe that it has taken me so long to, once more, put words to type. Working full time again certainly makes time fly by exceptionally fast but I think maybe it helps that I am still enjoying my job as assistant manager at the book store. The job as manager did arise but I turned it down as I am happy to just cruise these days and leave the responsibility to someone else. Pete has been working in Darwin and also WA as a fly in fly out sheetmetal fabricator and cryogenic insulator (ability to work on hot and cold pipes) and is currently back working in Darwin at the Gas Plant here and still making ridiculously high wages so we are certainly not ... read more

After setting off from Alice with trustworthy tyres we continued blissfully to Darwin in a much more relaxed mood, even stopping at Mataranka for an amazing soak in the natural springs there where the gentle current enables you to swim downstream before emerging at a bridge further down. If you can avoid looking up at the incredibly enormous spiders, dangling in their webs from the overhanging trees above, then it is amazing but if like me and you look out for each and every spider then it is with incredible relief that you arrive at the destination without screaming in terror. What a wuss I am! We really enjoyed our second trip up the centre just as much as the first time as we stopped at different camp sites on the way up. We had a ... read more

Pete and I are on the road again at long last and heading slowly to Darwin. We have been on the road 3 days now and just loving it. Can’t beat just pulling up to some off road camping area and settling in for the late afternoon and evening as it is just so relaxing. Tonight we can’t get internet access so hence I am taking the opportunity to write my blog! Leaving Perth, we have travelled through coal mining areas and then on to vast expanses of wheat crops. Now we are on the coast at the beautiful town of Esperance where we have viewed spectacular islands off shore and the turquoise sea and pristine white sandy beaches. To top it all Pete and I took a short coastal track to a lookout when I ... read more