Must finish this before the year runs out!

30 December 2009

I did a lovely summary in Word and was going to copy it to blog, but found it was in gobbledy gook so here I am hard at it getting the job done. Don't know what I did. Don't you hate doing things twice??

Total number of days away - 96

Number of kms - 17000; the odometer seemed to skip backwards at times, (!) so this figure is a sum of daily distances.

Longest distance in one day - 650

Shortest daily distance - 0, several of them!

$ spent - approx 17000, but hard to be exact because of domestic costs (rates, etc)

Number of toilets cleaned - 0

Number of toilet rolls used -less than one; we came home with the same one we left with! Thanks to public loos, cafes and CVParks.

Number of kilos lost - 0

Number of kilos gained - 0 (Phew!)

Most expensive fuel - $2.10 per litre, on Great Central Road.

Cheapest fuel - 99c in NZ

Best things about trip - togetherness, Rita, feral camels and dingoes, seeing Jim, Nat. Parks of NSW, Canberra, Snowy Mountains, seeing the Bo's in NZ, meeting new people and hearing their stories, snow in NZ, solar cars on the Nullarbor, rain on the Nullarbor.

Worst things - too many clothes, books, games, stuff. There are plenty of good, cheap book exchanges; Op Shops have plenty of good cheap clothes for unexpected weather changes.

What we forgot to take - nothing! This time we remembered it all!

Things we didn't use - our inflatable kayaks - it was either too cold and wet, not enough time or there was no water.

General

- not enough time in South Australia, there are so many parts to the state, we need to go back just for SA.

-too much in too little time, hard to travel so far, so fast. too many things not experienced, need to go again!

-now we know so much more about Oz; when we see events on the TV news we can say that we know where that is and what it looks like.

This is the last word So be it, tanks all for your support and positive comments, sorry about no photos. Over and Out.

Love

Po

xx

November 2nd, 2 days to go

Woke up to a very dirty camp, everything covered in red dust from the willy willys ast night, and we had thought those days were over!

We were heade for the balladonia Road house and hoping to get advice about the unsealed road which would be a shortcut to Esperance via Israelite Bay, a new experience for us. But no, the road had been closed for 18 months and was being upgraded because it had become so terrible. So we had to go the long way round via Norseman, where we discovered one of the biggest coal slag heaps we have ever seen, and we come from S Wales, and a delightful floral bush walk with lookout over town. Turning south for about 100 kms, we stopped in Salmon Gums for a lunchtime drink, but found that the charming old pub had lost its charm and had gone over to the noise brigade so we had lunch in the park opposite, met some very entertaining fellow travellers and pressed on for Esperance.

We were determined not to repeat our error in Esp. Last time we stayed in a CVPk next to the Grain terminal and the noise of trucks grinding uphill day and night plus frequent trains blowing their hooters created a lasting memory. So we drove around (this is one of those occasions when I found the town map after we have left town the next day!) aware that we actually were at the grain teminal end of town, but the CVPk looked too nice t be the same one....so we checked in (tired and fractious) and yes, found ourselves backed up against the same hill, trucks and train, tho to be fair, it was nowhere near as bad as we remembered. We treated ourselves to an excellent pub dinner and slept thru all traffic noise!

Next morning we enjoyed the lovely Ocean Drive along the south coast with all its beautiful bays and crystal clear waters, with a firm focus to the day...we had to get to Lake King Hotel, 200kms away, because it was Melbourne Cup day, and tho we are not followers or punters, it is always an occasion and worth spending it in small town company - lots of laughs and chat, great atmosphere, great food. We had no idea who the horses were and hadn't placed any bets, but we were on a mission. The policeman who stopped us halfway to do a random licence check was not aware of the said mission and seemed inclined to chat, admire Rita, enquire about our trip and so on...We could hardly tell him we were trying to get to LKH because he would have had to warn us about speeding and his mates might have been out there waiting for us!

Eventually we got away because another car turned up ( it can go days between cars out here!) and screeched into LKH carpark at 11.57, 3 mins before the off. Well we were there on time ok and watched the very exciting race with a nice cold drink, but there were only 4 other people there! The main event was a fund raiser at the town hall! never mind, the 4 people were very pleased to see us.

We were aiming to spend our last night at Wickepin. We had heard of this tiny wheatbelt town from reading A Fortunte Life by Albert facey, a very famous West Australian. This was his home town. Using my country towns guide, I read that we should watch out for the Tin Horse Highway near Kulin, a local feature which started as a bit of fun to brighten the rather boring and continuous vista of wheat, when a few farmers knocked up horsey figures in their sheds, using all sorts of old scrap, but it became competitive and quite serious, so that there is now quite a long stretch of road lined with works of art, which become more clever and more comical as you progress. Well worth going the long way round. Also the native WA wildflower presence was increasing and the drive was very pleasant, which is wht we have found in the past when returning from holiday trips at this time of year. The aromas of the flowers is quite an experience too, can be quite unexpected and quite pungent.

we reached Wickepin in time to find the local municipal CVPk, usual patch of dirt with a few electrical power boxes and a magnificent ablutions block. We took a walk through town and have to say we were rather disappointed with the run down pub and general run down air of the place, considering old Albert became a fine statesman and WA is supposed to be proud of him. probably the highlights of the place were Alberts old family homestead, the guest house where he stayed for years, and last but not least the CVPk caretakers gnome garden which boasted a fine collection of what appeared to be any bit of debris that had fallen off something or blown in from somewhere over the last 150 years! One could only gawk at the collection and at the amount of spare time people must have when they live in a place like Wickepin!

Next day we were headed for home; a little trepidation re return to lists of tasks, but we timed our arrival to be 1100 hrs so that we could fill the spa tub from the solar hot water system and enjoy a lovely hot soak, leaving time for the system to refill and reheat while the sun was still out. You know what happens with plans like these...

We took the most rural route we could find going through Narrogin, Williams and Quindanning with its delightful old pub, putting off traffic lights to the very last possible moment, and as we went through them in Pinjarra we realised we could have missed them altogether if we had just turned 1 street earlier. We knew there would be no more till Rockingham because the new freeway extension would help us to bypass Mandurah for the first time ever.

And so we drove into our home space with that strange feeling that people with amnesia must have...we simply didn't know wht had been happening in our home town for the last 3 months.

We filled the spa, switched it on and it ran for about 5 mins and then died. To cut a long story short, 5 days and $700 later we had our hot soak - the little computer unit had died. Ah well, it is 5 years old and has made no other demands on our purse. So we wasted all that lovely hot water and the system didn't reheat because the sun went in, so we couldn't even have a hot shower!

End of trip, and what a trip, we feel so fortunate to have been able to do it.

Watch this space for summary of distances, costs, photos and other notes and musings.

Trying hard to complete this task

About the Drambuie...it was the Germans fault, honestly. Next morning was a bit slow and it was certainly not helped by the relentless squawking of dozens of galahs! Hot night - we had slept with the back door wide open and the noise was incredible. They have emailed twice since and are planning to visit us in the New Year. Hmm must forward plan that, and hide the new bottle of Drambuie.

I should say that when we first arrived at this camp site we found ourselves next to a big group of noisy ocker Aussies and decided to move to a quieter site. I am not sure how much noise we subsequently made, those Welsh hymns can really carry you away, but at least our neighbours were involved and enjoyed it.

We went for a 1 hour walk through gullies and over hillsides, lovely in the early morning light, found remnants of old mine sites; thanks galahs for getting us up.

Our recently developed plan was to visit Whyalla on the Eyre Peninsular, in the hope of having a snorkel with their famous giant cuttlefish, but a bit of research revealed that we need to be there in breeding time, between May and August, so put it forward to next trip. We stopped for lunch in the Kimba Community Hotel, recently renovated with community money, very unusual. It was a great pub and we were glad we had stopped. his is what you find whe you read the local info. Kimba boasts being halfway across Oz. Nice little farming town close to main highway, easy access to many beaches. Now we are on the Eyre Highway which crosses the infamous Nullarbor Plain. Most people complain about this journey; it is one lane each way, carries large trucks and tourists, overtaking can be a nightmare. We find if we stick to 90 kph everything else passes us so it is not our problem! We found a free camp at Pildappa Rock, a huge granite formation in the middle of flat farming land, great to climb over and check for wildlife in the rainwater pools at the top. Some still had water in them, some had tadpoles and one even had a tiny frog. It is always worth the 10 to 20 kms side trip to these places, to get away from the highway and have a wilder experience.

Next day we reached Ceduna, a pretty town on the sea, had a really great fast walk along the foreshore, a nice change from scrambling in dry river beds and climbing ridges. For you mad golfer out there, Ceduna is the beginning (or end) of the Nullarbour Links Golf Course, a recently constructed facility to amuse travellers. You tee off and find the "green" (not very green out here), sign off and then drive for a few hours to the next hole, which I think is the Nullarbor Roadhouse, and so on all the way to Kalgoorlie. You register at each green to prove you have done it and you receive a certificate at the other end when you finish, covering several 1000 kms in the process. So popular is this golf course that people are forming groups to do it as a holiday of choice!

We just missed the head of The Bight Whale Lookout; it closed today, end of season, but we found a beaut free camp at the 133km peg ( 133kms from where I am not sure) with great views of cliffs of Great Australian Bight, the wonderful smell of the sea, clean fresh air, a lovey evening with clear blue sky and a strong feeling that we were getting close to our beloved Western Australia!

Next day John informed me that because of my cold, with associated coughing, snoring, tossing and turning, he woke up 25 million times! needless to say it was an early start. It was a cloudy day with a forecast of rain. We thought that might be a bit of a novelty, rain on the Nullarbor Plain...last time I remember such rain was when I had tickets for Cliff Richard concert in Perth in 1995, and his trucks coming from Adelaide to perth got bogged in wet mud and he had to delay the concert by 24 hrs. It was chaos for us because I was on night duty and it had taken me ages to find someone to work the night for me, and then I had to change it. Great concert though, good old Cliff, he's back again in 2010.

So there we were riding along, singing a song, when bingo...rain! Something to tell them all back home. But even more exciting, we noticed rainwater pools forming on the road and then we noticed kangaroos with joeys, and emus with chicks , wedgetailed eagles and Great Australian bustards coming to the pools to drink. Looking at the low scrub of the Nullarbor Plain, you would not think that so many animals were lying low, so close to the highway. What a treat! lets hope that traffic slowed down and reduced the risk of road kill.

We soon reached the SA/WA border where you pass through a quarantine check and have to hand over fruit, veg, honey and such like. We have done this before and are getting wiser, so only a remnant of honey to give up this time. In Victoria the sign yelled at us EAT FRUIT NOW which really didn't seem very practical because you would still carry the peel and cores, and anyway how much fruit can you eat in 2 kms at 90 kph, and who's going to check? between Vic and SA we did the right thing and threw a few items in a bin, which emitted a vast cloud of fruit flies which invaded our van and crossed the border into Sa with us! In WA they are serious and there is no messing about.

Just beyond the check point is the Border Vilage which has lots of facilities, lovely gardens ($40,000 pa for desalinated water) and a shower block, yippee. A bit further on we found a nice bush camp where we could liht a camp fire and cook our dinner in foil, the last day before the Summer fire ban. There were several willy-willys (little tornadoes) which threw plenty of dust at us, so we retired quite early, putting our watches back to WA time to ensure an early sunset!

We are only 2 days from home, but new surprises and excitement are yet to be enjoyed!

the last 2 weeks

Travelling west from Bacchus Marsh, we headed for ballarat, famous for the Eureka Stockade and the miners stand for fair representation; a famous event in Australia's history and the beginning of a new era in democracy. Government mining licences were becoming intolerably expensive, in an attempt to control the invasion of thousands of people from all over the world, intent on making their fortunes in the goldfields of Victoria. We found the excellent Information Centre, built on the site of the stockade, and learned all about. Scarey times, many people died trying to make their point. We also saw many sulphur crested cockatoos around the area, always lovely to see these large parrots, who give a spectacular show of crest when excited, fipping it out like a fan!

We then camped for the night, another freebee, on the shores of Lake Bolac. We had been there 2 years previously and remembered the free toilet and shower block in this pretty location with very few other people around. Still there too. Lots of local infrastructure such as boat ramps, sailing markers, water taps, picnic tables, but the locals say the busy days are gone as people have found other pastimes and travel. This time the wattle was in flower, and we parked in a brilliantly yellow and pungently aromatic glade on a headland overlooking the lake. Not a place for those with hay fever!

As Margot in Mt gambier was helping her son and family to move, we delayed our visit by a day and had time to visit the Grampian Mountains, much to my delight, as we had had to pass it by last time. So we turned north to pass through Ararat, and found ourselves arriving right in the middle of the town Agricultural Show parade! brilliant timing! We watched the various floats and then found the Orchid Show, which I can never resist, and I got chatting to a lady who had lived there all her 70 years and was a non-stop history teller. It was she who told me that the town was founded by some Chinese men. Because of the Vic. government trying to control the influx of people, they put taxes on everything, including the ship's captains who brought people into the ports. To get round this, they disembarked their human cargo in a place called Robe in S Australia, who then walked the 200 miles (500 Kms) to Bendigo. These particular Chinese stopped at a stream to refill their water bottles and LO! found lumps of gold in the stream. They didn't bother to go on to Bendigo, and the rest is history, but Ararat has the largest fied of Alluvial Gold in the world, and it is stilled mined. So of course we had to visit the Gum San Information Centre which tells the whole story and has some terrific displays and artifacts. So you can see how easily a week to get home becomes 2 weeks or more. I was persuaded to treat myself to a silk dressing gown.. it didn't take much pesuading.

We finally tore ourselves away and got to Hall's Gap Tavern in time to have a fine roast lunch, being Sunday, before we drove through the mountains to the reccommended campsite at Jimmy Creek, recently upgraded and very fine for a Dept of Environment and Conservation (DEC) site. The loo was still long drop tho!

My cold was quite bad at tis point and I was beginning to think sinusitis, so I did something which is not reccommended, I dug out of my medicine chest a 4 year old pack of antibiotics whic I always care just in case, and commenced the course. Glad to say the infective threat cleared up PDQ (pretty damn quick) and I began to feel much better. So much for meds going out of date!

We managed to do the Piccaninny walk and admire wild flowers, including several tiny wild orchids, always a treat. Then we got to Hamilton and stopped to get blood pressure meds for John, only to find that his aged pension concession card had been stopped and his pension payments also! Quick visit to the Centrelink office to put that right, and they gave him back pay too. The things that happen when you are away from your mail box! We stopped at a petrol station to ask how to find the road to Mt Gambier via Dartmoor, and suddenly the conversation was taken over by a white South African man who wanted me to go to Portland with him, to see koalas and visit a great DEC camp spot. Well! I got out of that spot PDQ and reported back to John, and we whizzed out of town. Well blow me, a few miles along the road and there is Mr SA, pulled over and apparently waiting for us. As we shot past he fell in behind us, and as it was not the road to Portland, I started to feel a bit concerned and thoughts of Peter Falconio RIP came to mind ( he was ambushed and shot on the road from Alice to Darwin several years ago). So John found a tiny side track to do a sharp turn into, knowing that Mr SA with caravan could not possibly follow us. We found a lovely picnic spot beside a stream and felt much better for having lost him. He was probably a very nice man just wanting some company but...Scarey.

Getting to Yahl, near Mt Gambier, it was great to see George and Margot in their new home on their son's property. Son Ben is a vet, is married to Michelle and has 3 lovely kids, Aimee 8, Adam 6 and Ruby 2. We had a lively family dinner, saw some local sights, toured the new family home built of rammed earth, rode the tractor to feed the cows and gossiped, wined and dined; terrific. We stayed an extra day, Margot was so keen to keep us. She has only been in SA for 15 months and misses WA and all her family and friends there. George is almost 80 and still rides his horse most days, M is 70, gardens and helps with child care, so they have plenty to do and the family home is just 50 metres away on the other side of a hedge, so the kids are always in and out. Lucky daughter in law!

Mt Gambier is built on limestone which is riddled with caves, and some cave roofs have fallen in to create sink holes. These holes are large enough to hold concerts and parties in, and some have been made into formal gardens. They are quite fascinating. We climbed down into the Umbertson Sink Hole and enjoyed the gardens and the BBQ facilities. Funny to think that in WA, ever since the catastrophic Gracetown rockfall 10 or so years ago, we have Beware of falling Rock signs, while SA has BBQs under the ledges! MG is also renowned for its Blue Lake, which has a spring/summer phenomenon when the lake water turns irridescent. It had just turned before we got there, and it really was quite a sight.

We were keen to get on to Robe, to complete the story of the Chinese gold miners, and finally hit some lovely warm weather at last. SA countryside was looking green and healthy; it can go so brown in summer, lots of pine plantations, saw mills and wood chipping. We spent the night on the Coorong Peninsular, but didn't se any wombats or emus, much to my disappointment.

John booked us on a ferry to Kangaroo Island for the next day, for 2 days, in spite of $350 cost and then...

Bit of a drama at this point.. we then phoned our sick friend in Keppell Mews and heard that he was holding a party to celebrate the marriage of his daughter (they had a quiet family do due to circumstances) and we were invited. Could we get home in time? To cut a long story short we managed to get our ferry fee refunded, tho it wasn't easy, probably cost nearly that in mobile phone charges! So now we had a real focus.

During the 100's ofkms that followed. North thru Adelaide and into the South Flinders Ranges, we were luck enough to see 4 solar powered cars coming towards us. Its funny to think they are trying to function without fossil fuels, yet they each had a convoy of conventially powered support vehicles! The vehicles are tiny and look so vulnerable. I managed to get photos of cars 3 and 4.

Camp that night was interesting, at a DEC site in S Flinders. Met some German neighbours, and spent some cheerful hours in cultural exchange. They may visit us at home soon. Highlight of the night (apart from me singing Horace the Horse, and John doing his songs and jokes) was when we moved an esky (ice bin) and found a very large scorpion under it. Now I have never seen a live one before so it was fascinating. After a period of careful observation we carried it a long way from camp ( on a shovel) and pointed it at a distant point!

How can it be that, at this point the litre of Drambuie, purchased in duty free a mere 6 days ago, is almost finished?

More later...

Closing weeks

Its Nov 11th, how can it be? was my last entry really Oct 17th, or has one gone astray?

We spent our last week in NZ having on and off days, fine, wet, fine, wet, but there was always a space to get out for a walk and for Nina to have a run on the beach and for Hawk to play "bombs away", throwing rocks into the sea. The planned BBQ for Sunday for Mark's birthday had to be cancelled as the elements were trying to breach the front of the house. I think that was the day also that the near vertical hillside was trying to breach the back of the house, with a series of small land slips, or "slups"as they call them. It was a very squeezy experience! Do you know that NZ has an earthquake almost every week???? Apparently they are very small and often not felt, but.....heck.

So the wet Sunday became a trip to the excellent Te Papa Museum, which is great indoor space for kids to run around and fiddle with interactive stuff. Adults too!

Mark had a day off next day and it was perfect weather for BBQ on balcony overlooking great view. Gourmet suasages, chops, steaks, all cooked on his birthday present BBQ from loving wife. Loving in laws gave him binoculars, lets hope they get a good work-out. Chocolate cake once again with candles, saliva and singing, we did him proud. We even had a chat to his Dad Ron and wife Lise in Canada, on Skype, a new experience for us.

That BBQ was serious, it saw us off for the rest of the day!

Tuesday and another day off for Markie, so off we went en famille to Porirua Aquatic Centre with Hydroslide. John and I studied the sliders and concluded it took 12 seconds to go from top to bottom, so we decided we would do it.... We eventually decended a deux (you can tell I have been in Akaroa) with much yelling and a bit of panic, and even did it a few more times so that we could hold our heads up in society. Well you have to, don't you?

That evening I managed to get myself to a local Tai Chi session; rocked up at a convent address to find a beautiful large garden on an absolutely flat large site on a steep hillside, complete with large car park; such a surprise in hilly welly. I was greeted in friendly style, and it was identical to our own class in Shoalwater - exercises, set, etc, really comfortable feeling even though I knew no-one. They are just as friendly as my own group. I left them with a tea towel souvenir from Rckingham and arranged to return the next night with my camera, to take some snaps of their lovely club room. Leasing premises is so much better than just renting sessions, it allows the group to put up information posters, banners, mirrors and wall bars. Perhaps we will be able to lease soon. I discovered later that the nun gardener had won a community garden award.

Going back to Cousin Jim in Noosa, we enjoyed his great knowledge of showtunes and their words, but the one we really got into was "I don't care if it rains or freezes, I'm all wrapped up in Jesus, all my sins are taken away...but that was all he could remember. As we travelled along, whatever went wrong or failed to perform, we used to sing this song, and especially in Arthur's Pass. Well at this point Mark decided to Google the first line and BINGO it was sung by Paul Newman in Cool Hand Luke. So Mark printed off the words and we got down to some serious entertainment. We determined that we would print a copy of the words and send them to Jim, plus burn a CD and send that too. What a find. Next day we got the movie out just to hear Paul sing it, but the movie was not as good as we expected, although apparently Paul really liked the story.

Time with Bo's was running out. K and M had time out on Weds night while we babysat and we 4 went out for a meal locally on Thursday, the day before we left. I really enjoyed my role as bathtime monitor and made the most of it while I had the chance. Hawk is a little devil, always getting in Hayden's way, pressing and pushing wih much flailing of arms in the hope of making contact, while Hayden plays along and loves it. 2 completely different kids, physically and mentally, and it was great to watch a fight dissolve in giggles.

Friday, time to go..we spent the morning at a local cafe called the Bach (pronounced Batch), great coffee and food, plus newspapers, mags and toys; last few photos and then taxi to airport. It's always hard to leave them but this time we know they are coming home in a few months, so it was not too bad.

Great flight, we had to have separate seats, so I just watched movies, Harry met Sally and Slumdog Millionaires; great. The hotel van picked us up and it was with some trepidation that John left me with the bags and went to collect Rita after 3 weeks of idleness.....

But what a girl! She was so pleased to see him, she started first time and leapt around the corner to collect me and the bags and suddenly it as as though we had never been apart!

It was late, so we made our way west of Melbourne, declining to see Sarah and Rob because I had caught a bad cold and didn't want to pass it on. We found our way to Bacchus Marsh CVPk in order to plug into mains and recharge all batteries. Next day we did some shpping and found a picnic spot and suddenly we found ourselves being familiarised with the history of the women of BM. There is so much information everywhere you go, you can get quite overwhelmed. Gold was the thing, as in so many places, but of course, the women created the fabric of the society and were responsible for the establishment of so many social services. Very interesting.

We expected that it would take 7 or 8 days to get ourselves home, judging by last time, 2 years ago and our only date along the way was with my nursing pal Margot in Mt Gambier, just over the Victorian border in South Australia. Little did we know how much there was yet to see and do, right up to the very last day!

Hopefully by the time I complete this blog I will also have learned how to post some photos. Give me another week...

Saturday 17th October 2009

They are ALL asleep!!! grandpa, parents and kids.

Where did I leave you? I must enlarge on Akaroa; it was colonised by French people in mid 1800's, at a time when communication took so long that they were well established when someone told them "Sorry, its British" They must have said "Merde, quelle domage!" or something to that effect. Anyway the Frenchness has prevailed and it is really delightful, architecture, etc.

On our last day in South Island I had my eye on the clock, drop van off at noon, get to ferry terminal to check in by 1320 hrs, ferry leaves at 1415 hrs. to this end I kept onto John, press on, press on, but there was so much to see. We were in the Marlborough Sounds area, famed for its fine weather, aquamarine sea inlets, green mountains, orchards, tiny towns and villages, all so laid back, plenty of marinas, and of course it was a wow view every minute, the twisty roads providing a kalaedescope of visual splendour, it would have been easy to cancel the ferry and stay another week! We could easily be tempted to do a 6 month house swap, even tho you can only sail 2 hrs each side of high tide, which is what we got away from in UK! However we pressed on, we had to because we had picked up an Austrian hitchhiker who was hoping to get the 1315 hrs ferry. This was the first warning and I didn't heed it. I just thought hmm, plenty of ferries.

We dropped young Wolfgang off at the Picton ferry terminal and almost did a pub lunch but I was on edge, keen to get rid of van. Well! Lucky we did, because the van man said"2.15? that's odd" I had booked the ferry on i'net at Wayne's place and printed off the ticket so I checked it, and sure enough it said 2.15...................but from Wellington to Picton! AAARRRGGGHHH! Not much phases me these days but that did! PANIC...but the kindly van man said you'll make it, whizzed us to terminal where I confessed my blooper to the lady and she smiled and said we'll soon fux thet (honestly that's what she said, that's how they say it in Kiwiland). Next thing we were in the queue and boarding. Now I could lie and say it was my brilliant planning, but the huge grin on John's face was bound to give it all away. Since then I have regained some ground on personal behaviour issues (I won't go into details but it does involve alcohol) but I think I am still way behind. Had to ring Kathy and warn her of early arrival, which can really ruin your day with 2 small kids and a husband to collect from work, but she managed. Mucho chagrin.

We left Picton and its lovely fiords in calm blue water and sky, and as we approached windy Welly it got wilder and wilder and it reminded us of returning to West Wales after an outing or holiday eastwards; as you approach Port Talbot, the weather closes in and you know that that is it, put your socks and long trousers on.

Lovely reunion, kids in good form, not scared of us. Hawk too young to remember us but he pitched in with a will, got the hang of us. Hayden knows I worry about not having a bed to sleep in so he showed me to my room and wow!...4 large windows overlooking Island Bay, the shoreline about 15 metres away, lots of white horses out on the water, fishing boats bobbing on moorings, and in the distance the snowy peaks of South Island. Pretty specky. Nina the dog did her usual prancey dance and it was suddenly like we had never been apart for 9 months.

Since then we have revelled in the comforts of home and not having to drive anywhere. Its easy flat walking around here which is great for
k and kids, and the boys will play on the pebbly beach for hours; it reminds us of being kids, growing up on Sully beach 50+ years ago.

We have been keen to know what K and M will do next, when his contract expires in Feb 2010, and on Thursday he gave us the great news that he has been offered the job he wanted, with the building of the new Fiona Stanley Public Hospital in Perth, commencing late March 2010. So yippee they are coming home, now we don't feel so bad about leaving next Friday. They've got a very busy time ahead of them but it'll pass.

Mark's birthday on Monday, so a busy weekend, we went to Hayden's Kindy Gala today, seemed to spend a heap of money on little things but won 2 bottles of wine (a semillon blanc and a merlot, no less) and some chocs, so came out in front I think, plus BBQ tomorrow.

That's it, you're up to date and they are all still asleep.

Love
Po

friday 16 October

refreshed and recharged after a swim in the welly pool, Hayden and Hawk are like a couple of dolphins, wonderful to watch.
But back to Victoria...
noticed error in last post...the pianist referred to is David Helfgott..oops.
-had quick looks at Wilson's Promontory, Wonthaggi, discovered old port at Port Albert and took time to walk and explore. At this point we have regularly covered between 200 and 300 kms a day, so sometimes it is actually hard to find time for a decent walk. To this end, we even take opportunities to walk by collecting water from taps, taking rubbish to campsite bins, plus a nice stroll to the ablution block; its all exercise!
We reached Phillip Island and found a really beautiful camp site, owned and run by seasoned campers, so it had some really useful features, such as sensor lights around the grounds, which come on when they are needed and go off so you are not kept awake by bright lights, lots of hooks in the shower cubicles and beside the wash basins, (everyone has hangup washbags these days) a large enclosed campers kitchen with everything including washing up liquid, huge lounge area with sofas and a gigantic LCD tv, where, being on our own, we were able to watch ABC instead of commercial rubbish.
we had a drive around Ph.Island and due to inclement weather we decided to do an indoor thing so went to the chocolate factory.
i have never been to one before, and I have to say, it was a WHIZZ! Make your own choc bar in a fantastical machine, see the miniature village made of choc, the liquid choc fall, the 1 ton block of choc, besides being very informative about the production of same. And with lots of school kids, it was extra entertaining, as you can imagine.
Since being in NSW and Victoria we have really enjoyed the towns and villages being so comparatively close to each other, mostly 10 to 15 kms. Its true what they say about WA, its a long way between beers!
Also we have noticed the high density of cows and sheep per paddock, whereas in WA its a case of paddocks per animal! Here, the fences are serious, while in WA after a few kms out of Perth metro area, they hardly bother with them.
-The road trains in Queensland are maximum 75mtrs in length, whereas here they are just trucks.

John and I have been having a lot of fun scoring points off each other for doing silly age-related things, such as leaving the keys in the van door and going off walking, putting things away and then blaming each other for not putting them away properly, then finding them in a completely different place, leaving an empty kettle on the hob; not reading the map properly and taking wrong turns; too many to mention but John is way ahead at the moment because of a silly thing I did, but later...

Did I mention I hired a flute for the trip? I can play quite a few tunes now, Happy Birthday, Calon Lan, Gwyneth Gwyn, Rhagfyr, Mozart's clarinet concerto K622 3rd movement, opening 6 bars! But only in C major, i am struggling to apply fingers to keys for notes outside said scale. As usual, "could do better, needs more practice". Ah well..

We finally got to Melbourne and found Maureen's place quite easily, had a lovely reunion with her, talked until wee hours, caught up on gossip and families, it was terrific, haven't seen her since 1995. We had such fun (and a few traumas!)together in Manhattan all those years ago, and our lives are now completely different, but the bond is still strong. We even phoned a mutual friend in NY and had a good chat. M is a mental health social worker and loves her work, and makes time to pursue her love of art, photography and her growing family of nieces, nephews, and their kids, all the issue of her 4 brothers, who all live in the melbourne area.
M had to work so we had brunch in her local cafe where they all wanted to know about Rita and our trip, then caught train into city and explored Melb. on foot, had a tram ride, went to imax 3D cinema, museum, art gallery and Federation square, then met M for dinner in Carlton, the old Italian area, quite an experience and great food.
Melbourne is an old grey city and has a grey/brown river and a lot of grey sky...not for us.
When it came time to leave, with M promising to see us in WA in Feb, we set off a nearby suburb to visit Kathy's old flat mate Sarah and her husband Rob and their daughter Niamh. Niamh is 1/4 malaysian thru Sarah and is a pretty child, and it was her 2nd birthday, with family party, so we scored a hit there. We were made very welcome and given 3 offers to leave Rita in their drives while we went to NZ, but we had already made a motel booking, so had to decline. But we will stay with Sarah and Rob on our return.

Nice motel, lift to airport in morning, left Rita in respite, good flight, then sunny Christchurch, which I later learned is the Swing Capital of NZ, so there you go! Collected our van next morning and found we had been given an upgrade (frequent flyers with Pacific Horizon). Typical me, I almost declined it because in the van we booked I knew exactly where everything was and where to stow things, plus easy pull-out bed, plus a waist height fridge, which the upgrade didn't have. In the event, it was a nice van, but the fridge and bed were a pain and not enough storage, too many fancy bits of kitchen equipment. It was very easy to drive, which is so important on NZ roads, with all their bends, mountain slopes, steep drop-offs and so on. Somewhere in the past I have seen a speed limit sign which says 25kph on a tight bend. Underneath it said "you have been warned" and I now apply this principal to Tasmanian and NZ roads. NZ has so many 100kph speed limit signs which are a complete waste of taxpayers money, because they are immediately followed by 65, 55, 45, 35, etc.

In Christchurch we made time to do a tourist tram ride and walk in the lovely botanical Gardens, then hit the road for Akaroa, which is a tiny French town on the flooded crater of an ancient extinct volcan which forms the Banks Peninsular off Christchurch.
We had been there 5 years ago and were glad to see it again. Had a sail on the crater lake, out to the Heads, took photos of French influence, they still have French street names, speak French and have an annual French festival, which we had just missed! Beautiful sunny weather, so we spent 2 days there, especially as we found the Little River Hotel with its huge sign saying "motorhomes welcome' and discovered that we could camp free in their back garden, which was up a steep bank and commanding views over a lovely green river valley. They just hoped we would refresh ourselves within, which of course we did. Considering it costs between $25 and $35 per night in a CVPark, this is a great idea. they seemed to take a liking to us because the meals we were served were enormous; Johns steak egg and chips came with 3 eggs. We met lovely local people and had great chats about local issues, which is always interesting.

We managed to make contact with Wayne near Timaru, south pf Chch, a pal we had met 5 years ago while camping by a lake. He loves fishing and presented us with 2 trout for breakfast that time. Since then we have been email pals. We spent the night at their place; they have been converting a bach (a basic NZ fishing shack) into their permanent home and were apologetic about the ongoing work, but it was so interesting for us to see. They have children and grandies nearby, and Wayne also has a magnificent motorbike and does huge challenging things like, the Southern Cross race, in which you have to ride your bike to the N,S,E and W- ernmost points of NZ, and all within 3 days. Judith said he spent 11 hrs a day in the saddle and was still driving it after he got home and collapsed into bed. He also wore a set of $600 tyres out in that week! Some guy. We did enjoy their hospitality plus we had never actually met Judith. They are so generous , saying any family and friend of ours was welcome there.

We took there advice and did a diversion to Lake Tekapo where they have hot outdoor springs, partly natural so they say. i was determined that at max 2.5degC I wasn't taking my clothes of for anyone, but when we got there, well, it just had to be done, so in we went! 3 pool, 41, 39 and 36degC, all of them gorgeous with lakeside views and snow all around. Wot a larf. Spent several hours there.

From there it was a pleasant but rainy ride north and west. I was concerned about Arthurs Pass through the mountains, snow was forecast and sure enough it arrived. On the day we were due to go thru the Pass it had been closed during the night but was now open, and i can tell you, it was a really rare treat to go thru that magnificent Pass in fresh Spring snow, still snowing at times. I made a snowball and a snowman, we saw kids(still on hols from school) sliding down banks on anything they could find, bits of wood, plastic bags and so on. Wow, great fun. We stopped at a lookout and were amazed to have our first and completely unexpected sighting of the kea parrot, the only alpine parrot in the world, right at our feet. We swept on our way, amid snowy scenes, heater full blast and Johnny Coppin singing Winding Stair on the CD.

By this time we were needing to keep an eye on the kms and the date because I had booked us on the Tuesday 2.15 ferry from Picton.
We found a beaut lakeside campsite, Lake Brunner, near Inchbonnie, revisited the longest swingbridge in NZ/?the world, checked an historic coal mine site, pressed on and took 3 tries to find our next free camp; after 2 dead ends in private farm yards we took a lookout road and swept up to the top of Hope Saddle with 360deg views of snowy peaks, and just the one grassy site just big enough for us, plus no "no camping" signs. Sometimes we just laugh, it is so extraordinary the places you can find and spend the night for no cost. There was even a spotless public toilet. No CVPark can compare.
-Lots of quirky NZ arty things along the way; letterboxes, garden figures, a doll festivall, home made campervans, no end of it. Even a school bus stop is individualised. They are very good at it and must put real time and effort into it.

Our last night was again near a pub and in a streamside layby, very welcome after a day of steep u bends, drop offs, no barriers, melting snows. A local in the pub implored us to stay on his property with full use of shower, toilet, kitchen, etc, but we declined. John warned him that we were strangers and might just be serial axe murderers!

Hawk has woken up so I'll take a break!