Days 19-23 Monday 16 - Friday 20 Feb Sydney When we hit the western suburbs of Sydney it was about 10 degrees warmer. An instructive way in to the city. Part motorway, part clogged urban road, the Paramatta Road looked everything affluent, waterside Sydney is not. Run down, often boarded up shops. Scrapyards and ‘automotive’ products. Graffiti and rubbish. Motels (‘clean and affordable’ surely means filthy and cheep??) you wouldn’t want your kids to stay in. Goodbye western suburbs, sorry we can’t stay - we want the Sydney of everyone’s imagination. We got it. The weather improved over the week and for three days the sky was clear and blue. We dinged our go anywhere but Manly bus and ferry tickets ($34 for a week - a bargain. Tip: Avoid the tourist Explorer buses. Get yourself ... read more

Merimbula was a good choice for a sunshine and sea base for a few days. The Merimbula Beach Holiday Park on Short Point was all we hoped it would be, except for the couple of grey days and the couple of torrential downpours. It wasn't their fault that we didn't use the pool 50 metres from our luxury cabin or swim off the stunningly beautiful and varied beaches around the town. Merimbula's got the hard hitting surf beaches both sides of the estuary. Dip your foot in and the undertow tries to drag it to New Zealand. 'Never Swim Alone'. Protected by a sand bar or the cliffs, other beaches are more benign, either with the odd black swan cruising across a lake or with windsurfers catching the breeze. Red rocks - mini Ulurus? - reminiscent ... read more

Day 10 Saturday Feb 7 Melbourne to Bairnsdale I’m writing this on the verandah of our cabin on the Mitchell Gardens Holiday Park, overlooking the Mitchell River in Bairnsdale. It’s 7 am on Sunday and it’s the first grey sky we’ve seen on our trip. It was even mainly blue when we flew over Kent. Talking about the weather can be tedious, unless it’s out of the ordinary. We’ve been very aware of the ‘Britain paralysed’ situation through the Australian media coverage. The Aussies are quite amused that we can’t cope with a bit of snow. It’s the extremes or changes that make the weather remarkable. Having experienced minus 7 in Winchester before we left, it’s now even more memorable, as yesterday we had plus 48 (not a typo - forty-eight degrees) in Bairnsdale. Melbourne and ... read more

We've made it to Melbourne. Unlike James Cook, (let's hear it for Whitby) it only took us 19 hours door to door from Dubai to hit Australia's second/first city. Unlike Cook, we had no trouble with the crew or weevil-free victuals. Fresh beverages were regularly served and the captain was given a round of applause when, almost on schedule, he hit (not hard) Aussie soil shortly after 11pm. Flags were planted, (thanks for the tip, Mike W) credentials shown to and accepted by the natives. Questions were asked about goods and chattels. One native was particularly interested in establishing whether my sports equipment was free from vestiges of foreign fields. Thanks to my brother's shoe brush in Dubai, I could proudly, for England and the R & A, say 'Yes'. The native smiled and said 'Well ... read more

In order to make sure we don't get lost when we set off for Dubai, Australia and New Zealand in the New Year, on 17 November I made a dummy run to Heathrow Airport, London, England. Our friends Perry and Tatsy had been to Philadelphia to see family and I was only too pleased to offer to collect them on their return. Bit of a challenge to find my way there all on my own, but with the assistance of Fifi (my faithful satnav companion) and some well placed road signs, I was able to get there with very little panic. Winnall looked really inviting as I waved to Tesco's and Homebase on my way to the M3. The early morning mist had gone, along with the main rush hour traffic, but the road was still ... read more