Geo: -34.9258, 138.6Seeing we are 'knocking round' together 20 years we decided we should do something more than just go for dinner. C. had always wanted to WOMAD in the Engerland and never had. But then we saw in the paper it's on in Adelaide too called WomAdelaide even and as luck would have it on our 20yr. anniversary so it was an omen we had to go.South Australia is a bit too far to drive to and back for a weekend, so we flew down with Qantas at the crack of dawn on Saturday (well 07:10),cause we got up so early (05:15)we ended up having 3 breakfasts by 9am (normally I have none), one at the airport, one on the plane - who knew airlines still give out free food on internal flights - and ... read more

Geo: -32.9376, 151.143Wollombi Hunter Valley 23rd -26th Jan 09Long weekend, whoo hoo. Decided not to drive too far this time, so headed for Wollombi village about 100km away in the lovely Hunter Valley - wine (and nature) region. Had read an article about it in Travel Section of the Sydney Morning Herald and only when we rolled into town did we recognize The Wollombi Tavern of Dr. Jurd's Jungle juice fame (which has featured at our Dublin 8 cocktail parties) and where we had been for a drink exactly 6 years ago. Had said at the time must come back here, but how often do you ever actually do that.So the drive up was nice over the Hawkesbury River and then via Peats Ridge - we got off the freeway early to look at scenery and ... read more

Geo: -35.3079, 148.064... read more

Geo: -36.4151, 148.619Road trip around the Snowy Mountains....27thDec08-3rd Jan09Sydney - BowralFirst things first in order to go on a road trip you need wheels so I booked a car rental two and half months ago, I am so organized at times I make myself sick.... Sydney is all e-tolls these days so we registered the car online and planned to head south by the Sydney tunnel, but it turns doing this requires prior knowledge. We see the signs for the tunnel and the bridge one on top of the other, ok so far so good, the one on top is for the tunnel which implies left lane hand lane, ok so far not so good because it's the right hand lane and by the time you realize it's too late to switch! So over the bridge ... read more

Geo: -35.3284, 149.084Canberra 3-6th Oct 08The only outstanding state or territory we had not been to since we first set foot on this continent 10 years ago is Australian Capital Territory or ACT, which is between Melbourne and Sydney cause presumably like bold children they couldn't agree who was the capital (a bit like the battle for the capital of Mayo between Castlebar & Ballina then), so they made a planned town called Canberra about 300km from Sydney and 650km from Melbourne (see the Mayo connection again? Westport is also a planned town, so it should be the capital). So it is nearer Sydney and so in NSW perhaps? No to stop any such arguments they also made a new territory and called it ACT (don't know why it and Northern territory are not called states, ... read more