We left a still wet Sydney this morning. The rain was still falling, the roads quite flooded and traffic jams everywhere our driver was late ( apparently caused by a flat battery) but we made it to airport, there was about half an hour on the tarmac waiting for take off because of misty conditions but we arrived in glorious sunshine to 30C in Darwin. So we have spent the afternoon in and near the hotel swimming pool...very nice. However its now 5pm and we have huge black cloud and thunder ..but that's expected 'up the Top End' which is what the Aussies call the Northern Territory. Last night we learned all about the old area of Sydney called The Rocks..basically built up by the British convicts but there is lots of earlier history... about the ... read more

Well, after packing we drove through Hobart and along the Derwent Valley towards New Norfolk with June reminiscing about all the holidays she and Arthur spent in their caravan in this very picturesque region. The area is very reminiscent of England with rolling hills and river valleys. We stopped in the small town of New Norfolk and had a walk and coffee. It was a quiet Sunday lunchtime with only a few people about. This is a long weekend in Australia as tomorrow is Bank holiday for Australia Day. There are huge celebrations planned ...every beach has competitions in every sport possible all starting at 08.00 am, there are sailing regattas, BBQs, parties and fireworks planned. I hope that the weather is better than today! The only ones not celebrating will be the Aborigines! We leave ... read more

June, Brian and I left Hobart yesterday morning and drove north east towards Bicheno. We travelled through the countryside to Orford in Glamorgan where a bridge crosses the mouth of the River Prosser. Then onto Swansea a small east coast town where we stopped for coffee. This seaside town overlooks Great Oyster bay. We arrived in Bicheno mid afternoon...a quiet but popular holuday resort..and as we are in the main summer holidays it was quite busy. We stayed at a beachfront hotel overlooking the coast. Unfortunately the weather was a bit grey but the main reason for staying in Bicheno was to see the Little Blue ( or Fairy) Penguins return to their rookery in the evening. We left the hotel at dusk and joined an orgsinised group at 9.00pm. We were taken by mini bus ... read more

After a brief visit to Kingston for June to go to the bank and to meet up with Andy we headed off along the River Derwent known locally as The Channel because it forms a channel deep enough for cruise ships to come into Hobart. We went through Margate where a train acts as a row of shops and through Snug onto Kettering where a ferry crosses over to Bruny island but we headed towards the sea and stopped for coffee at Verona Sands...it was still quite chilly and a warm drink was very welcome. Then we drove towards Cygnet through lovely countryside. Cygnet is a country town with a lot of charm on the way to Huonville where we had lunch. Then surprise surprise the sun finally came out and warmed us all. We spent ... read more

Today we had a great time sharing June's birthday present! A ride around Hobart on a motorcycle. Andy and Brian had arranged that we were picked up from the waterfront and taken around the historic Battery Point which involved some hairy slopes on the back of a bike! Then through the city up to the Botanic gardens where we all had lunch. It was a great experience and the first time Brian had worn a crash helmet. June is used to motorcycles as Arthur had several and we used to ride in a sidecar! Today's ride was a bit more scary at times but real good fun. Brian and I then went to MONA the new museum of art. It's a lot like Tate Modern so we weren't always sure what we were looking at! But ... read more