The last couple of days in Adelaide were spent mostly packing up and stocking the motor home as well as driving around having a last look. What we love most about Adelaide are the river red gums that are everywhere. They are all along the Murray and also prolific at Alice Springs but they add such a great touch to the already picturesque Adelaide, in their parks and lining their suburban streets. And so we said farewell .. as they say .. and headed north east up the aptly named Corkscrew Road (very winding for a motor home) to Cudlee Creek and beyond. Our next destination was the Barossa Valley and Nuriootpa once more. This is wine country and for miles there are vineyards .. not at their best in winter with the bare, sometimes pruned ... read more

We don't know how we did it, but we did tear outselves away from the easy, laid back tropical lifestyle that is Darwin and the Top End and are back in our little motor home once more. We made the most of our few days in Darwin .. our hotel room seemed very spacious after life on board the train (and the motor home) so we revelled in room service, large tv, even larger bed, and all the trappings of a good city hotel. We took a half day tour of the city - a hire car was proving to be hard to find with the escaping winter crowd and also because of the long weekend. We enjoyed the tour very much, sitting upstairs in an open bus (with awning to keep the sun off our ... read more

We had an extra day in Mannum, such a friendly town and so relaxing. Yesterday we drove towards Adelaide and to the town of Hahndorf. It is an old German town of Germanic stone buildings but now very touristy. We just drove through and then toured the nearby towns of Bridgetown, with its old stone mill and turning wheel (now a smart restaurant) and to Sterling. Sterling has many smart shops and lovely trees still wearing their autumn colours. The whole area is hilly with wonderful big white gum trees, all very picturesque. Hans Heysen's home, which we've visited a couple of times, is in the area and he was famous for the beautiful gum trees he painted. We stayed the night at Hahndof and this morning drove the not many kilometres into Adelaide, stopping first ... read more

The morning alternated between showers and sunshine and, as we were had a lot of washing, we ended up drying it all in the dryer. We then drove into town - by then the sun had decided to stay out. We like Robe very much. It is quite an old town with lovely old buildings, many built from the limestone that lines the coast. We drove up the main road .. many of the shops were closed. I asked a lady was it because it was Monday or was this the time that Robe was 'quiet'. I was told it was the latter, in summer the place is packed and then restaurants, caravan parks and accommodation must be booked well ahead. So we're lucky to be here when we can get around easily, though I'm a ... read more

After two wet days, one at Rainbow Bay and a side trip to Maleny where we couldn’t see past the car for misty rain and fog, we were relieved that the Sunshine Coast lived up to its name and the sun shone. We enjoyed Noosa, riding the ferry down the river, sitting by the beach in the sunshine and, always, the shops. We decided we’d visit Coolum for a night as we hadn’t stayed there before. Coolum is on the southern end of the beautiful long white sand beach around the headland from Noosa. It was very nice there, the weather was sunny and warm and even a diversion south to the big mall at Maroochydore to buy and post birthday presents didn’t dampen our spirits. The natural area around Maroochy and Mooloolaba is lovely, but ... read more