Saturday morning dawned with a blue, cloudless sky and the promise of a warm, sunny day. We had booked online to visit the Houses of Parliament so set off from our hotel at 9am. We stopped for coffee at our local Costa and then it was onto theTube and four stops and one change later we were in Westminster. As we alighted we could see that there were many people heading in the same direction. Big Ben is swathed in scaffolding for renovation but the clock face is still visible. We stopped to admire and get a photo of the distinctive Churchill statue and then walked along to find the Cromwell Gardens Entrance. As it was only just after 10am and our tickets were for 11am we strolled past and entered the lovely gardens along the ... read more

We had three great days in Canberra with Melissa, James and the boys. On the Monday Fletcher and I spent the whole day in the house. We had been travelling for so many days that we were a little burnt out so we enjoyed chatting to Seb and Jude, listening to Zac's cello practising and playing on our computers. That night, James and Seb cooked some red curry chicken which was delicious. Then Seb proposed that he and us took on the other four in a game of Codewords. This is a lot of fun and makes you think. In the end we were victorious after several turns and more wins than losses. Good fun. On Tuesday, Seb and Zac accompanied us as we drove over the lake to Manuka to visit our favourite book shop ... read more

We left Cairns on Wednesday morning and headed south. We had spent a few lovely days with Liz and Graham who are fantastic hosts, but now it was time to turn our heads towards home. We made good time driving back towards Townsville. The going was fairly easy, though there were many large vehicles on the road. We passed the many cane fields and had to stop for the Cane Trains as this was the start of the cane harvest. We skirted Townsville and then headed along the coast. For lunch we decided to stop at Ayr but I was driving and saw a pub in what I thought was the outskirts. However, this proved to be the Hotel Brandon. Here we had a counter lunch. I chose lasagne and Fletcher, predictably the Seafood basket. Both ... read more

From Tuesday to Friday I participated as an Official in the Oceania Athletics Championships which were held at "The Red Track" in beautiful Townsville. This is a picturesque track with Castle Hill towering in the background. These are the first Oceania Champs to be held which, under new IAAF rules, give points towards qualifying for the World Champs and so Australia and New Zealand sent full teams and thus this was the largest Champs ever held with over 700 athletes competing from every country in the Pacific. During the four days I officiated at more than a dozen events including Shot Putt, Discus, Triple Jump and Long Jump. My favourites, though, were the three High Jumps where I was a bar judge twice and a recorder the other time. Excellent competitions and very good heights were ... read more

On Monday morning, after a lovely time in Alice Springs, we again headed north. Our goal was Tennant Creek which was about a 5 hour drive and we motored along happily, listening now to Thunderball and noting the monotonous scenery of red earth, spinifex and low scrubby trees. Our one stop along the way was at the Devil's Marbles, or Karlu Karlu, which stands out amidst the rest of the country. Round boulders sit atop each other and there are several outcrops. An interesting sight. We arrived in Tennant Creek about 4pm and checked into the Goldfields Hotel/Motel. The room was comfortable, with all we needed except the WiFi was unreliable. We then went for a drive to see what was there. We drove up to the Bill Allen Lookout from where we could see the ... read more