Shark Bay to Kalbarri 28 Feb 2017

My goodness, we must have been keen to leave Shark Bay! We were headed out of town after partially refuelling by 0740 today! It's a shame, because the hotel/motel was quite comfortable and spacious!

The first leg of the journey was the 140km back to civilisation, the Northwest Highway. I say civilisation, but it's actually just a Roadhouse, itself 80 km from it's nearest neighbour and well over 200km from the nearest town! We did have to slow down twice. Once when a large Emu strolled across the road and the second time for a Goanna making its way into the bushes. We stopped briefly at Overlander Roadhouse and fully refuelled as it was cheaper than at Denham. From Overlander, it was back onto the monster straight road and 65km of ruler-straight road to just south of Billabong Roadhouse. After another 70km, not long after crossing the Murchison River, we reached our turn-off to Kalbarri.

This road heads West back to the coast through the usual scrubland that seems to constitute most of NW Western Australia. After about 30km we entered Kalbarri National Park and shortly afterwards turned off onto a side road to a couple of overlooks of the Murchison River. As it is in the National Park, we were expecting to pay, but when we read the sign at the registration hut, found that because they are redeveloping the another area of the park we wished to visit, that area was closed and therefore fees were suspended. It seems and the Z-bend and Natural Window area will soon have a 'Sky Walk' that looks rather similar to the one over the Grand Canyon. The locals here are hopeful it will be an important new tourist revenue.

The views over the Murchison were wonderful, but the river is currently very brown due to the storms they've had over Northern Australia, the same storms that gave us our river fording experience last week. The air was very still and extremely hot so we were plagued with flies. I like protein, but not the flying version.

We made it to Kalbarri by 1130 and drove straight to the Tourist Information office as we wanted to book a Murchison River cruise. We were successful and its the first day the tour has run for about 3 months! Following that, we found a coffee shop, Angies Cafe, that did good sandwiches to order and better than that, the Terrace had water-misting fans, which made it feel cool to sit outside.

Our accommodation for the next two nights is Blue Ocean Villas and they are located just off the see-front and we have a whole two storey villa to ourselves. Granted, the second bedroom and bathroom upstairs are locked, but it's still huge. It has a large kitchen/lounge/dining room with verandah windows, a large bedroom, a laundry and a toilet/shower room. It also has its own car-port and back yard with washing line and a small shared swimming pool. We are most impressed especially with the air-conditioning and speedy internet!

We made the most of the free laundry!

After a quick swim in the pool, we headed out to take our River cruise. The boat had a bow-ramp and picked us up from a bit of beach near the Marine Rescue Centre. It was only a small flat bottom boat, but it served complimentary tea and coffee and also had a licenced bar on board.

We headed up the very brown Murchison River with the Captain providing a commentary about salient historical points and the natural history of the area. He also had a wry sense of humour!. We went about 6km up the river which is about as far as it was possible to go in anything larger than a kayak. We saw a huge number of Pelicans, many Herons, feral Goats and lots of Kangaroos. We also learnt a lot more about the initial Dutch and French exploration of Australia. The Murchison is the second longest river in Western Australia after the Gascoyne, both nearly 900km long. The Murchison has a huge catchment area hence the brown flood water.

We also discovered that the Government is running a programme, Western Shield, that is attempting to eradicate introduced, non-native species and to return native species to the whole region. They are having to lay poison for the foxes, feral dogs and cats, whilst some goats are getting rounded up and then shipped out for meat. Once a year the Parks are closed whilst they carry out an aerial eradication programme of shooting goats they can't catch and also feral pigs. The area is so vast, these are the only feasible methods of return nature to how it was before settlers introduced other animals.

After returning to dry land, we visited a Tavern for dinner and a bottle shop for a bottle of wine to sup in our superior accommodation!

Shark Bay/Denham 27 Feb 2017

To start things on a negative note, we are both a bit disappointed in Denham/Shark Bay! Of all the places we have visited so far on this trip this is the one that has left us a bit unsatisfied. It's nothing to do with the accommodation, on the contrary, Trade Winds is a nice comfortable place to stay.

I think our issue is that we've diverted off the main highway by 130km to visit and unless you wish to pay for tours, there's not much doing! There are four food outlets mentioned on Trip Advisor. One is closed and up for sale and another looks very nice but is of the fine dining category. We ate at the Shark Bay Hotel and that's pretty good value for money, and the other is in a hotel with no sign of a menu outside, just two chef's special suggestions.

For some, Monkey Mia is the big draw, but neither of us is interested in watching dolphins being fed by hand. At the moment, several tour companies just aren't operating so no diving or snorkelling either. I could go diving in an aquarium, but that doesn't do it for me especially as they claim to hand feed sharks throughout the day. 

OK, I'm off my soapbox now!

Determined to make the most of it, we headed out to Eagle Bluff about 25km south of Denham. After driving 4km down a dirt road, we came to a lookout and boardwalk on top of the cliffs. From here, we had a view over a shallow Bay and two small islands. As the water is so clear, it is relatively easy to spot turtles, sharks and rays swimming around. It would have been better, but there was a blustery wind that was stirring up the water surface. It would have been nice to see a dugong, but it wasn't to be today.

After about 45 minutes, we drove back down another dirt road to a lagoon, but there wasn't much to see there. Trying to find something to do, we decided to drive to Monkey Mia just to see the scenery! The bay is idyllic there, but inaccessible without paying an entrance fee. On the way back to Denham, we stopped briefly at Little Lagoon, probably the best place for a swim here. It was very sheltered, with a flat sandy bottom, nice to cool off for a while, but no shade on shore.

After a lazy afternoon, which perhaps is no bad thing, we bought pizzas from the supermarket next door and cooked them in our apartment. We both have high hopes for a more interesting day tomorrow!

Coral Bay to Denham 26 Feb 2017

We woke to overcast skies this morning, but it was still very warm. By 0830, we were packed up and on the road heading south again. It's a long drive, hence the early start!

The first part of the journey from Coral Bay was the 13km to get back to the main road and once we got there we really did turn south. I was still a bit concerned about the river we forded on the way up to Exmouth, we've seen rain clouds to the east and south of us. If we got to Lyndon river and it was impassible then it would mean turning back and adding 256km to our journey. My concern was heightened by the complete absence of traffic coming north but crossed my fingers and hoped that was due to it being early on Sunday morning.

My fears were unfounded, but it was clear to see how much water had been over the road the day we forded it! In a more positive frame of mind, it was foot to the floor, or at least to 110kph and get a wriggle on! It took us just short of an hour to do the 91km to Minilya Roadhouse. (Remind me to show you the polo shirt I got from here!).

Now back on the North West Coastal Highway, our next populated place and fuel station was Carnarvon some 140km south. Once again, it was a case of engage cruise control and start knocking off the kilometres. Luckily, we saw no wildlife on the stretch of road and rolled into Carnarvon just after 1030.

We pulled over here and refuelled the car. The girl in the gas station was not only serving fuel customers, but making coffee, clearing tables and serving breakfasts. We chose not to have a drink as we could see it would take ages!

The next stretch of the road we remember as 480km of scrub and three fuel stations. Today, we only had 200km to do before our turn off. It's the stretch of road too where straight means straight! A 35km stretch followed by a 25km stretch followed by a 100km monster straight! Half way down the 'monster', we stopped at the Overlander Roadhouse for a sandwich, it was surprisingly busy there.

After a drink, we took the turn off to the Shark Bay World Heritage drive! This is a 138km long one-way street to Denham and Monkey Mia. Our destination was Denham, Monkey Mia, for us, is a bit too kitsch with its dolphin feedings etc. After 30 km, we turned off to look at Hamelin Pool, famed for its Stromatolites, living organisms that look a bit like rocks, but believed to be similar to life on Earth 3 Billion years ago. The thought is fairly staggering and we walked around the boardwalk looking at them, but it was blisteringly hot and the flies had returned, so we didn't stay too long.

From here, it was about 100km to Denham and Shark Bay.  The first Dutch explorer, Dirk Hartzog, in the 1660s gave it the Shark Bay name. It's really little more than one street on the water front. Luckily, there was an onshore breeze and the flies seem to be few and far between. 

Tradewinds Motel is directly on the waterfront and the rooms very pleasant. I went for a wander to get the lie of the land and found a couple of places to eat. One in an old shell brick building was a bit pricey but the other two were quite reasonable. The waterfront is quite nice here, plenty of grass and shade, it's also possible to swim here, but at the moment there is a lot of eel grass on the beach.

This evening, we went to the 'old pub' a small hotel about 200 metres up the road. The menu looked interesting, the beer was cold and the owner friendly. One Squid Stir-fry and one Thai Curry later, we were stuffed! From a personal perspective, I think I got my 'daily five' and more in one meal plus lots of squid! The beer was good too, a pint of Yak in my case!

Coral Bay 25 Feb 2017

We had an interested evening last night! In retrospect, it really started with me going to the bottle-shop and ended up with moving rooms this morning!

Yesterday 'arvo', notice the colloquial, after we'd settled in I thought I'd invest in a six-pack. No amount of exercise is going to produce a bodily 'six-back' anymore, so In homage I bought six bottles of pale ale from the hotel bottle shop. It seems weird for a hotel that has its own bar to sell take-outs and about the same price as the bar price, but that's the way it is here!

After paying for the goods, I was walking back to our room when I met Lynn coming the other direction. She told me the fire alarm had gone off in our room and the rooms either side of us several times in the past 5 minutes. She went to pass on the news to reception who dispatched a man to investigate. There was no sign of fire in the block we were in, so he removed the alarm and went to fix it. He returned not long afterwards and refitted the alarm. All quiet.

At 2230, just as we were dozing off, the alarm on the ceiling started shrieking again. Clearly, it woke us up instantly, but it also woke the guests next door who has only just got their small child to sleep. Out on the patio in front of out room, once again we could see no sign of fire. I walked across to reception, but it was unmanned overnight. A sign suggested speaking to the duty bar manager or to phone a mobile phone number. This proved difficult as the bar was closed and we don't have a local mobile phone! Back at the room, I copied what the man had done earlier and removed the alarm from the ceiling and assisted our next door neighbour to do the same in their room. Peace returned.

Back in bed, it did concern us that the alarms clearly weren't being monitored anywhere and in any case, we were now in a room with no fire alarm. Finally, both of us managed to go back to sleep until morning.

Lynn was in reception soon after it opened in the morning and handed them our alarm and requested the hotel did something about it. Still all quiet. Then about 15 minutes later, all the alarms in our block went off again except in our room and our neighbour's room, because we'd disconnected them!

I went to reception to be told it had gone off because the handyman was trying to fix it! At this stage the duty manager appeared and expressed concern about our disturbed night and offered us another room in another block closer to the sea and a hotel charge card. He told us to have dinner and a bottle of wine on the house this evening! This seemed to be an equitable solution to me, so I gratefully accepted and we moved rooms. From our room patio, we look straight out into Coral Bay with the beach just 40 metres away.

After moving rooms, we got our snorkelling gear out, donned costumes and towels and headed for the beach again. Whilst Lynn snorkelled right in front of the hotel, I headed round to Purdies Point and swim out about 50 metres over the coral gardens. There is a slight current here that slowly pushes you back into Coral Bay itself. I stayed about 100 metres off shore and found the visibility to be good at 10-15 metres. The coral is beautiful here, some of the hard fan coral is enormous and the Staghorn coral a vibrant turquoise. There are plenty of fish both large and small, most feeding in or on the coral. I was lucky enough to find myself with an escort about 10 metres away at one stage, a Black-tipped Reef Shark. It's a beautiful creature, smoothly gliding through the water with its own attendant cleaner fish close to its mouth.

After about 45 minutes, I went back to shore to find Lynn sitting in the shallows, she had been looking at fish too closer to the shore. She had seen several Giant Clams only metres from the beach, they are quite impressive and react to a hand waved in front of them by closing their jaws. They are very colourful too.

Whilst sitting there we got talking to a lady from Exmouth who was there with her daughter and grandchildren for the day. They prefer it here to swimming in Exmouth! Whilst sitting there in the shallows, several rays glided past us, how good it that?

We took ourselves into town for a sandwich and ended up with  spinach and feta pasty instead with free mini cakes (mincemeat slices) thrown in. 

Later in the afternoon, we made the most of the reef on our doorstep and went out and snorkelled again. It is a pretty place, even at high tide it's hard to find any greater depth than 5 metres.

We limbered up for our free dinner by getting hold of the menu and salivating over it for a while. Choosing a wine too, took a while! It was sunset when we sat down outside overlooking the bay to eat! Crab linguini was good as were the fresh prawns, both caught here in Coral Bay. A bottle of Semillion Sauvignon Blanc from Western Australia seemed to match the food too. I have to report our free dinner went down very well and perhaps worth being disturbed last night! 

Exmouth to Coral Bay 24 Feb 2017

This morning it was time to leave Exmouth and start the journey south. We will cover much of the ground we did travelling north, but stop several times before we reach Perth again.

Up with the Lark,  or more likely the ubiquitous Butcherbird, we left the hotel just after eight. Our first port of call was the petrol station. Fuel is a rather important consideration here when fuel stations can be well over 200km apart. Although our destination was only 150km away, it was wise to fill up. Fuel is considerably more expensive up here, transport costs must be huge.

After topping up the tank, we headed south out of Exmouth, the only direction possible! After about 30km we turned off onto Charles Knife Road. This took us west into the hills of Cape Range high above the coastal road. The road narrowed and wriggled around as it climbed through scrub and rocky outcrops until it opened out to fantastic views over dark red coloured canyons and enormous vistas of the east coast. Eventually, the metalled road gave out and we continued for a while on gravel until the road really narrowed, crossed a very narrow ridge and climbed up a really rough bit of road to a small parking area. We took several pictures and I'm guessing we could see close to 80km in all directions. A very remote, but beautiful spot, but fiercely hot at 35C.

Back on the main road, we picked up speed and continued south past Learmonth airfield. We briefly stopped at a wartime memorial that commemorated attacks on Japanese forces in Singapore, the building of an airstrip and resupply facilities for the USN submarines. It must have been a hard existence living and working here with no road access and only tents for accommodation.

Finally, after about 140km we came to our turn-off to Coral Bay. It was only a short distance from there to the very small community of Coral Bay. We were rather early to check-in so we went for a coffee at the bakery and sat outside to drink it. Now, that might not sound interesting, but for us it was momentous! There were NO flies! This was a revelation and we don't really understand it, a community in northern WA and no flies. Believe me we are not complaining!

After coffee, we drove down to the beach and ate our filled roll that we'd bought in Exmouth. Still to early to check-in we looked at various tour opportunities and succumbed to an ice-cream on a shady verandah. Whilst sitting there, I mentioned that I thought buying a couple of 'Rash Vests' might be a good idea after we got sunburned yesterday whilst snorkelling. For those unaware, a 'Rash Vest' is a sort of t-shirt designed to be worn whilst swimming, snorkelling or diving. It protects you from sunburn, provides some warmth like a wet-suit does and potentially protects you from stings in the water. We returned to the small shopping centre and managed to get a couple at a reasonable price considering the location we are in.

By now, we decided we could check in at the Ningaloo Beach Resort. It was a bit of a blow out price wise for us, but the location and quality of the place made it all worth while. With the benefit of hindsight, we should have stayed here for three nights rather than Exmouth! Coral Bay has a really good feel to it and the hotel is excellent. The staff are friendly and the room looks out over the pool to the sea!

Dressed in swimsuits, Rash vests and clutching snorkelling gear, we left our room, crossed the car park and walked onto the beach. Ditching unneeded clothes, hats, sunglasses etc, we walked a further 100 metres up the beach, donned mask fins and snorkel and headed into the sea. The coral reef is only metres from the edge of he beach and is fairly spectacular, loads of fish and coral to see in warm still water. I think we were in the water for over an hour and a half, it was blissful!

Having rinsed all our kit off at the hotel, I went to the bottle store for a few beers to take to the room. The bar maid told me it was 'sausage sizzle' starting at 6. On enquiring, I discovered this was BBQ'd Sausages in a bun for free! That sounded like half of our dinner taken care of, so we went back, grabbed a couple of schooners of cold beer and sat outside eating hot dogs and watching the sunset over the sea.  Surely, this what holidays are made of!

Cape Range National Park 23 Feb 2017

Today we spent our day in the Cape Range National Park the northern tip of Western Australia. Our hotel claims to be closest to the park, but it's only by 5km! The park covers most of the northern tip of Western Australia and includes Ningaloo reef which is a fringing reef stretching right down the coast from here. The northern entrance to the park is about 30km down the coastal road whilst the southern entrance is about 100km away and only accessible from Coral Bay.

Our aim was to go snorkelling at Turquoise Bay about 70km down the coast, so we set off at a reasonable speed until we met our first group of Emus, I'm not sure what the collective noun for Emus is. After seeing one lot, we continued to spot them for the rest of the day. After last nights excitement about seeing Kangaroo finally, we got to see them in daylight today, we saw two groups, one of which crossed the road in front of us. Sadly, they moved too far for us to capture them on the camera.

Park entrance was A$12 for the car. The entry point was mikes from anywhere and was manned by a very cheerful lady. Traffic was extremely light so it must be a boring job you'd think.

We found the turn off for Turquoise Bay and parked in the 'drift' car park and walked across a sand dune to the beach. We'd been told to turn left, walk down the beach for 100 metres then get in the water and drift back over the coral. Repeat as many times as you like!

The current was stronger than we expected close into shore although it was less of an issue further out. Before we even got into the water we saw a white-tip ref shark in the shallows! Snorkel kit on, we ventured out. There was plenty of sea-life and coral heads, but the current made it difficult for Lynn with no fins on. That said we were in the water for well over an hour. The best thing was that there were no flies!

After a quick bite to eat, we moved to Turquoise Bay itself. There's no current there and it's a wonderful place for a swim, coral is a bit sparse, but there were plenty of fish in the shallows. We spent another hour in the water!

On the way back to Exmouth, we saw several more Emus and a tree full of Gallahs, a red and white parrot-like bird. They didn't seem bothered about us parked next to them, but I think they we in the shade of a tree with no other trees in sight. Shade is a premium out in the scrub here especially as it was rather hot at 38C today.

 Back at the hotel, it was laundry day for us! The best thing is, after the washing is done in 30 minutes, the laundry is hung on a line in the shade and will dry within the hour! Tonight we will pack our bags ready to head south in the morning.

Exmouth 22 Feb 2017

Today I have been surrounded by tropical fish and moths! We also went searching for Turtles and came up with Kangaroos! Such things make holidays memorable!

This morning we went out to search for a different beach for a swim. We didn't want to drive too far as we had appointments in town at lunchtime. Our first stop was a beach not far beyond Vlamingh lighthouse, it says it's clothing optional, but there wasn't anyone there. I went for a brief swim, but it was a bit rocky for Lynn so we didn't stop. On our next attempt, we hit jackpot in so much that it was a beautiful sandy beach and the waves just gently lapping the shore. We both hurriedly got into the water and stayed for quite a time. I say hurriedly as the flies were awful again and once you are in the sea, they leave you alone! It's a case of get out the water and run for the car. Once in the car, drive off as fast as possible, put your foot to the floor and open all the windows. 

Flies, there must be gazillions of the little blighters everywhere you go. They don't seem to bite, but try their best to get on you and inside you. I think I can handle them on my body, but I draw the line when they get in your eyes, particularly the tear ducts.

After a brief stop at the hotel we headed to the visitor centre where I was getting picked up to go diving. Lynn headed off to get her hair cut!

After collecting gear and being given an extensive security and safety brief we headed off the H.E. Holt Naval base, where they look after the VLF transmit and receive site. Our dive site was the Naval Pier on the base. This dive is reckoned to be one of the top ten shore dives in the world.

After passing through various barriers and having our passports examined, our bus drove onto the pier and out to the jetty at the end. We pulled on wetsuits, despite the water temperature of 30C, and diving kit and did a big stride entry from about 3metres up! I got buddied up with Mia, a Finnish girl who currently lives in Carnarvon. She is Divemaster Qualified, so we had similar levels of skill. Most the rest of the divers were escorted by guides, but we were left to do our own thing. Mia had a rather nice Cannon underwater camera and wanted to take pictures. That suited me fine as I could lie in the water and watch fish.

As for fish, there were hundreds of species of tropical fish ranging from nudibranchs to Leopard Sharks and most things in between. As I alluded to earlier, under the pier, in 12 metres of water, we were surrounded by fish large and small. Talking of large, besides the sharks, there was one monstrous Queensland Groper. In Europe we would call it a Grouper, not here! I'll not list the fish we saw, but in two 50 minute dives we saw an incredible range of fish. One unique fish we saw was a black sailfin catfish, only to be found at Ningaloo.

After a great afternoon, it was back to the hotel for a meal in our room, ham and salad. As it was getting dark we headed out to see if we could see any turtles laying eggs or hatchlings heading for the sea. Earlier whilst we had been on the beach we'd seen evidence that turtles had come up on the beach and laid eggs. We also thought we'd seen sign in the sand of hatchlings. We sat on the beach until it was dark but failed in our efforts, but did see the most amazingly starry skies. There is no light pollution here. 

On the way back, we finally saw Kangaroos, at least two groups. We were beginning to think we wouldn't see them. No turtles,  Kangaroos instead.

Carnarvon to Exmouth 21 Feb 2017

Today would see us complete the last leg of our journey up the West coast of Australia. We chose to drive quickly to the north and then take our time driving back south to Perth.

After an early start, we encountered a set back when we saw the the road from Minilya Roadhouse to Exmouth was closed due to flooding. We knew it had rained very hard up here, but hadn't thought it might close roads. There is an alternative route to Exmouth but it adds more than 50km to the journey.

On the way to Minilya, we found several bits of road with water running over it, but it was less than 10cm deep and the lorry in front managed to move a lot of the water as he plowed through. After 140km we pulled into Milinya Roadhouse and went in for a coffee. We also caught up with the lorry we'd followed through the flooded bits and he asked the Roadhouse staff about the Milinya to Exmouth road and they said it had re-opened, but to be driven with extreme caution. He was headed to Coral Bay whereas we wanted to go all the way to Exmouth.

We set off before the lorry knowing that he would be following us, just in case we got stuck! We did well for the first 20 km with only a few creeks overflowing, but 25km in, we found the Lyndon River. This is normally a 'dry' river, but not today. The crossing was about 50 metres wide and had about 20-30cm of water flowing across it. Lynn wasn't very happy about attempting it, but I reasoned that at least there was a solid road surface under the water. With the car doing between 15-20kph, we slowly entered the river and gently drove right across without incident. We knew this drive was going to be a bit of an expedition and deliberately hired an SUV, but weren't really expecting River crossings!

After testing the brakes, we carried on, the road quickly climbing into low hills and all bone dry again. The section of road from Milinya to Exmouth is 222km long with no services and no civilisation at all. For a while it almost gets to the west coast near the turn off for Coral Bay, but then just heads north through miles of scrubby desert. Saying it was desert isn't really correct as it had rained and lots of plants and grass were shooting.

Finally, at around lunchtime we rolled into Exmouth. Temperature 35C! Distance from Perth, almost 1300km and about 14 hours of driving over three days. As we drove into town we encountered a family of Emus wandering down the road.

We parked in the local park and ate our self-made 'wraps' whilst watching someone mow the grass! After that, it was off to the tourist office to see if I could organise some scuba diving. Just north of Exmouth is the H E Holt Australian Naval Base a joint Australian American base providing communications to submarines. There is an enormous VLF (Very Low Frequency) transmitter and receiver antenna array at the end of the peninsular. On the base there is a pier which is world renown as a shore based dive. I've arranged to do a couple of dives there tomorrow.

Our hotel used to be the accommodation block for the US Navy Chief Petty Officers. Now, it has a pool and is considerably more civilised! The building is cyclone proof and strangely, all the building materials and electrics were shipped in from the USA.

After checking in and sorting our bags out and discovering it's going to be laundry day tomorrow too, we drove 5km up the road to Bundegi beach. Here, there is a sandy Bay with a boat launching pier and a very inviting blue sea. It was very refreshing despite the water being the temperature of bathwater. We also discovered that the tiny flies that plague everyone, don't follow you into the sea, bargain!

Once we'd finished there, we drove back to the hotel and got into the pool there. It was slightly cooler than the sea and again, the flies are less of a problem.

Geraldton to Carnarvon 20 Feb 2017

In some respects it was a day of superlatives today! The longest straight road I've ever driven - 104km without a bend, wriggle or kink, 180km between populated places, you'll note I don't use the terms village or town and most number of flies trying to occupy every orifice and inch of skin! I've had flies in places today I daren't mention!

We ate our complimentary continental breakfast at the Best Western in Geraldton and then drove back into town to buy lunch, Subway 6 inch rolls, and a local SIM card for the mobile. The first purchase was self explanatory and the second because it is so remote up here that we are not sure our UK roaming card will work if we broke down or had an accident between towns. I've now got an Australian Vodaphone number!

Our route today had us continue north up the route 1 following the coast of Western Australia. The first town we came to was Northampton after 60km and as we left the town we could see the next populated place was Billabong 120km away! There's only one way to drive here and that is to get up to the legal speed limit, 110kph, switch on the cruise control and turn up the iPod!

Lynn's iPod on shuffle produces some interesting mixes of music, quite aside from the excessive number of Celina Dion tracks. At one stage, we segued from Celine to Cream, then Harry Secombe, ELP, Les Miserables to Pink Floyd! Oh and the Three Tenors were in the mix too! Never a dull moment! I just remembered we even got Val Doonigan singing about a strange toy!

We stopped at Billabong for a drink, leg stretch and loo for 20 minutes as it was about halfway between Geraldton and Carnarvon. The road from here was as straight as a ruler for over 100km, why have bends in a road after all!

Over the past couple of days, they've had rain here and the roadside ditches and billabongs have water in them, the grass has even greened up. Those creeks we passed were full of muddy water.

There are various road signs warning drivers of animals on the road. They include, but aren't limited to, Kangaroos, Emus, Feral Goats and escaped Cows. We saw a few Emu not far outside Perth, but have only seen Kangaroos killed by traffic. We saw quite a few goats and a dead cow killed on the road. We've also seen one or two Goannas, large lizards scuttling across the road. Fortunately, we've avoided contact with the wildlife so far. That said, I'd give a lot to obliterate all the flies in Australia, they are tiresome and thoroughly unpleasant as they attempt to get in your eyes, nose, ears and mouth. We are told they are bad because of the recent rain.

Finally, after 5 hours and 480km we rolled into Carnarvon, quite a big place really. There is a port here and fishing and fruit and veg growing the big things here. We are staying on a campsite tonight in a cabin. Its quite well equipped and the site has a pool, with water, which I used this afternoon.

We had fresh squid again for dinner. It couldn't get fresher! We've also refuelled ready for the morning and the last leg of our journey north.

Perth to Geraldton 19 Feb 2017

Our Western Australia exploration began today with an early start in Perth. We left the hotel at 0800 and briefly visited a petrol station to collect some water for the journey. We discovered that the suburbs of Perth seem to go on forever! Eventually, back near the airport we found the start of the Great Northern Highway, Western Australia Route 1.

Initially, this road follows the Swan River Valley and is lined with vineyards, olive groves and fruit farms but by the time we reached Muchea, it was mainly cattle farms we were passing. At Muchea, we turned off the Great Northern Highway onto the Brand Highway, still the Route 1. The further we got from Perth the more sparsely populated it got and eventually we ran out of farms and it was just scrubland.

After Gindin, we could see the next settlement was Badgingarra about 120km up the road. I put the car in cruise control at a speed of 110kph, the posted speed limit, and we didn't come out of cruise until we reached Badgingarra!  Some stretches of the road were straight for up to 15km. There wasn't much traffic either way, just the odd Roadtrain. One lorry with up to 3 trailers behind, some as long as 36.5 metres long. They travel at over 100kph too!

At Badgingarra, we stopped for a leg stretch, the loo and a coffee. It felt very remote, the next settlement north was over 70km away. Several locals were in the little cafe though, I guess they lived on farms somewhere in the scrubland.

Back on the road, we had a similar distance again to drive to get to our destination at Geraldton. We thought we'd seen some vast empty areas both in Australia and North America, but Western Australia probably trumps everything for remoteness. The only other place I've seen like this is the Dempster Highway in the Yukon and NW Territories of Canada.

South of Dongara, the Brand Highway is joined by the Indian Ocean Highway, a road we will take next week as we return to Perth. Finally, about 1315, we arrived in Geraldton after about 5 hours drive and 450km.

Geraldton is both a holiday town and a deep water port. As we'd been driving north we passed the signs for several mines and Geraldton is where the the Bulk Ore Carrier boats dock to collect the various ores that are dug out. The ore gets to the port by rail. The town is quite nice, but as it's Sunday, everything is shut.

We checked into the Best Western Hospitality Inn and have a pleasant motel room. It has a pool, sadly, when we went to check it out, it is empty of water!  No matter, we have the Indian Ocean at our doorstep, so it was off down to the beach. With the air temperature around 35C, the sea was a great way to cool down.

Finally, I learned a new expression today in the bottle store! I was wished, "Enjoy the rest of your Arvo"! Oh and the locals call this place Gero!

Adelaide to Perth 18 Feb 2017

It's time to leave South Australia and hop on a flight to Perth some 2100km and 3 hours flight time away. Our motel is only 15 minutes from Adelaide airport and all we have to do en route is to top up the fuel tank with just under 7 litres of unleaded.

We have been interested, some may consider rather sadly, to see the differences in fuel prices. We expected it might be more expensive in Tasmania at around A$1.32 per litre and were therefore pleased to discover as we drove through Victoria and on into South Australia that, even in some of the really remote towns, prices had dropped to A$1.24. Imagine our surprise on driving through the suburbs of Adelaide that the price had risen to A$1.43. I know that compared to UK and France that's still cheap, but why so expensive in a big city? Oddly, yesterday, out in the wilds of the Adelaide Hills at a tiny settlement called Meadows only 40km from the city, we bought fuel for A$1.34 again. Just as a theory, I wonder if tax on fuel drops the more remote the community. 

Now that was interesting wasn't it! Just of note too, when we started planning this trip, the exchange rate was about A$1.80 to £1. Now, after Brexit and current uncertainty, we are getting less than A$1.60 for £1. Australia is not a cheap destination for British travellers.

Having handed in our Hyundai Elantra SE at the rental returns, we walked to check-in and got rid of our bags. The Elantra was quite a comfortable car both to drive and sit in and had a larger boot/trunk than the ASX. That said, I preferred the raised driving position of the ASX! 'Soft-roader '.

The  airport at Adelaide is very modern looking and wasn't too busy. The majority of  flights here are domestic, but we did see a Singapore Airlines flight take off just after we arrived. It didn't take long to get through security, grab a coffee and settle down and wait for our flight to be called.

Now, having departed on time at 1250, our flight time is 3 hours and we are due to land at around 1320 in Perth. The time difference between the two cities is two and a half hours. After muddling through the maths, that will mean we are just eight hours ahead of UK time. We've also seen the weather forecast for Western Australia and there's only one word for it, "Scorchio"! Temperatures are in the high 30's at the northern end of our trip. I'm certain the a/c in the car and various hotels will be earning their keep. With luck, as we are on the coast for the next two weeks, sea-breezes might help it feel more pleasant. I think the sun screen supplies will be depleted too!

After about 2 hours of flying over open ocean, we crossed the southern coast of Western Australia well to the east of Albany. It's a sobering thought that due South from here there is nothing until you reach Antarctica.

Compared with Adelaide at 21C this morning, Perth is rather warm at 34C. It didn't take long for our bags to appear on the baggage carousel at the airport and we set out to pick up our rental car. Today's rental is with Hertz and we got a free upgrade to a Hyundai Tucson. It's a bit of a beast, but at least it has high clearance and a good view.

It didn't take long to drive into the centre of Perth crossing the Swan River on the way. Our hotel, the Sage, is on Hay Street in the business district. It's very quiet here as it's the weekend, but the downside is that not many eateries are open nearby. It's only an overnight stop, we will see more of Perth when we come back in two weeks time.

Wine, gardens and ancestors 17 Feb 2017

It's a paradox! In some ways, some things in Australia feels very familiar whilst in others it's wildly different. I've already mentioned some driving traits, but on the familiar side they drive on the left, on the other hand distances are in Kilometres and there are the huge road trains too. I've learnt some new words too, some I can repeat in public! In the bar, beer is drunk in schooners and we've been using an 'eski' to keep our drinks cool whilst we travel! Beer is sold in stubbies, bottles to us!

In some respects though, the parts of Australia we've visited are very similar to the USA, whilst seeming very British at the same time. I think it is to do with attitudes to life, people generally seem far less stressed than back in Europe. Houses that we've looked at in the Estate Agents are very reasonably priced too, some of the lovely period bungalows with wide verandahs and large gardens are a snip compared with UK prices every with Sterling weak against the Australian Dollar.

Enough of my rambling! We headed south out of Glenelg this morning through Brighton to McClaren Vale, a major wine producing area of South Australia. We had an appointment at Shingleback Winery, one of the top producers of the region. After introductions, we got down to the serious business of tasting their entire range of wines. We started with a sparkling wine and ended up with a port-like dessert wine. Shiraz grapes are king here and it's amazing what the vintners can do with it, although some of the blends are also good. We had several favourites, but carting wine around when travelling by air can be a pain. We took the pain and purchased a couple of bottles!

We ate lunch in a small cafe in the village of McClaren Vale before heading for the hills! The hills in question were the Adelaide Hills to the east of the city. It a mix of farms, some vineyards, olive groves and cattle farms, rather pretty all in all. I can see you could spend days here visiting producers and sampling local foods and drink.

We ended up at Mount Lofty near Crafers at the Botanical Gardens. These are located on the upset reaches of the mountain and consists of steep paths in forests of eucalyptus and pine. We also saw a lot of interesting birds there. We paid for an hours parking, but didn't notice the time passing whilst we were wandering around. Luckily the place was all but deserted and no-one checking the empty car-park!

Crafers is also where a great uncle, several times removed, lived once (see below). It was impossible to find the exact house as it's changed it's name, but there are some beautiful properties there. It must have been cooler living up there, especially during the summer.

Back at the motel, it was time to pack again as we move on again tomorrow!

 John Mourilyan Snoswell (1844-1927), first son of John Snoswell and Elizabeth Holman, established himself as a saddle and harness maker in Grenfell Street. In 1873 he married Matilda Coleman who died in 1943, and around 1875 took up farming at Curramulka, returning to Adelaide after selling his property in 1909. There he acquired various real estate property and spent his retiring years at the imposing residence 'Hofwyl', Waverly Ridge, Crafers, which he purchased in 1913 when sold at auction by C.A. Horn.

Portland to Adelaide, the Princes Highway 16 Feb 2017

Today marked the first of several 'long' drives ahead of us! Short of returning back to Melbourne, we had no choice but to carry on around the southern coast of Australia. I'm sure, in other circumstances, we would have found plenty of places to stop off and look at wildlife, but we wanted to have two nights in Adelaide before our flight on Saturday.

With that in mind, we set off today with one objective and that was to make the journey to Adelaide as quick and painless as possible. It is 570km journey, but route finding isn't difficult and traffic, by both UK and French standards, light. The majority of the road is two lane highway and a maximum speed of 100kph (62mph) in Victoria and 110kph (68mph) in South Australia. Once again, we encountered many 'road trains' that drive at the same speed as the cars, they can be quite intimidating.

The first stretch took us to Heywood and then on to Mount Gambier.  Just to the east of Mount Gambier at Rennick, we left Victoria and entered South Australia. We stopped in Mount Gambier for a coffee and got a time check from the girl serving drinks and set our watches back by 30 minutes. We are now only 10 1/2 hours ahead of UK time! Weird! I don't think I've ever been in a time zone that is 30 minutes different.

The next stretch of road, about 160km took us through sparsely populated farming country to Kingston SE. Almost the entire length of the road was completely flat and much of it dead straight, some stretches as much as 11km without even a slight bend.

At Kingston, as it was lunchtime, we found a coffee shop and had some sandwiches whilst sitting outside. The town was a very sleepy place and I imagine that cray fishing is important judging from the giant Crayfish sculpture on the edge of town.

We could see on the map that the next 200km would follow the coast although we couldn't see it as it was behind gigantic sand dunes. We got moving up the road and as there was virtually no traffic, were cruising at 110kph. As we came round a bend about 60km up the coast, we saw a camper van beside the road and could see its front was damaged and the occupants stood by the roadside. We stopped to see if they were OK and they told us they'd had an encounter with two kangaroos, they'd managed to miss the first one, but had hit and killed the second. The collision caused the damage,but the air bags had also gone off. The driver said it was like being punched in the chest. His female passenger, who had her feet up,on the dashboard at the time had scratches all over her legs. They were phoning the rental company as we left after turning down our offer of a lift to civilisation. I hope they didn't have to wait too long for recovery.

The last bit of the journey from Tailem Bend was mostly on dual carriageway and after just over 7 hours, we were dropping down the steep hill into the edge of Adelaide. We are staying in Glenelg, a seaside suburb of the city in another Motel. This one is slightly larger than last nights, but is clean, quiet and comfortable too. 

Most importantly, it has a guest laundry which was good as we were running out of clothes! After washing, we hung it out on the line to dry and went into the middle of Glenelg for dinner.

Lynn thought it has some similarities with Skegness, but there were a wide range of choices of food, some cheap and some quite expensive. We ate at the Hogs Breath Cafe. American in style, it is a chain, the food was quite good and reasonably priced.

A long drive, but interesting to see the huge, wildly isolated farms and big skies!

The Great Ocean Road, Geelong to Portland 15 Feb 2017

After a pleasant overnight stop in Geelong, we got going fairly early, hoping me might escape some of the tour buses headed for the Great Ocean Road, the road that heads round the southern tip of Australia. A forlorn hope as it turned out!

First, we headed down to the coast at Anglesey although the official start is at Torquay. We chose not to go there as the stretch from Torquay to Anglesey is actually not right on the coast! This turned out to be a familiar trait to this iconic road trip. Whereas Route 1 down the Californian coast follows the ocean almost exactly, the Great Ocean Road tends to spend a lot of its time away from the coast.

Perhaps the most spectacular part of the road is between Anglesey and Apollo Bay where the road hugs the cliffs and beaches all the way. This part of the road was originally built as a memorial to the Australians killed in WW1, and indeed built by returning soldiers. It is very touristy, but very beautiful.

After Apollo Bay, the road crosses inland of the Otway headland in dense eucalyptus forest. We took the turn-off for Cape Otway lighthouse and not long after found several Koala Bears in a eucalyptus grove. We stopped and took photos, they are very photogenic. We carried on to Cape Otway, but it was A$20 to visit the area, so we declined and returned to the main road.

The road then resolutely stayed out of sight of the ocean for 20-30km and instead wound through miles of forest. Eventually, at Princeton, we got back to the coast. The car parks were all very full here too. We found a space at one, and I walked down to the beach and walked to one of the sea-stacks. Not far down the road, the car-park for the  12 Apostles overlook was jammed full, so we didn't stop choosing to continue to Port Campbell and look at a sea-arch instead. The Apostles, were visible in the background!

From here, we picked up speed as the road left the coast and took us to Warrnambool, a fairly large town. We were going to stop for some refreshments, but didn't see anywhere that took our fancy!

The last 100km were on the Princes Highway to Portland, the first British settlement in, what  is now, the State of Victoria. It's a nice little town now, and has a deep-water port that seems to trade in timber and wood-chipping. We stayed at a delightful motel, the Mariner. It seemed to have been newly decorated and despite being on the main road was quiet .

In the evening, we saw three or four species of parrot feeding down by the port too

Melbourne to Geelong 14 Feb 2017

Well, it wasn't a perfect nights sleep in our city centre hotel! You forget that at night cities get cleaned and all the daytime rubbish moved. That said, every time I woke I quickly fell asleep again.

Once awake this morning, we were quickly out of the hotel and dragging our bags up to the multi-storey car park where we had left the car. The hotel had a concession rate there and it cost us A$22 for 24 hours parking, not too bad for a city centre.

We managed to find our way out of the centre and dodge the trams and were quickly headed over the West Gate Bridge on the M1! The M1 freeway turned out to be a busy road with 5 lanes of traffic heading in each direction. Some of the lorries, known as 'land-trains' effectively tow two trailers behind them. It makes them very long, but they still drive at over 60mph!

About 25km out of Melbourne, we turned off the freeway and headed down a very long, very straight road heading towards the sea. We saw lots of birds and eventually pulled over to dig our binoculars out of our bags and find the bird book. We had a look around and were enjoying the sight of a 'flock' of Ibis overhead when a lady driver stopped next to us. She was a fellow birder and wondered what we were looking at she was a bit disappointed when I told her. The birds we were excited by were really common for her!

Eventually, we rejoined the freeway and headed in to Geelong (pronounced 'zherlong' with the emphasis on the 'zher') which is quite a nice seaside town. Outside it, however, are quite a few petro-chemical plants. We parked near the pier and walked to an information kiosk to find out how to get to our lodging. We ended up with a pile of leaflets and a free Geelong bag!

As we walked back to the car, we passed a cafe and ducked in for yet more fish and chips, well, actually I had calamari and chips. I have to say, it's a cheap meal here and the fish is inevitably fresh from the sea.

We decided that as we had a couple of hours to kill before we could check in we would explore the Bellarine Peninsular. This is quite a large agricultural area with a few seaside towns. It's also an important wine producing area. We saw a lot of wineries, but the one we chose to go and do a tasting in 'Jack Rabbit' turned out to be more of a dining experience and gift shop, so we left empty handed!

We visited Portdarlington, St Leonard's and Queenscliff. The last of these overlooks the narrow channel which gives access to Port Philip Bay and Melbourne. There are a lots of monuments here to various naval organisations. There is also a Victorian fortress to guard the port entrance!

Then it was time to head for our Air B&B lodging. We are staying in Belmont a suburb of Geelong in what was once a granny annex to a large bungalow. The room is lovely and our hostess friendly. As we'd eaten at lunch time, we went to Aldi to buy some salsa and chips for dinner. How romantic is that on Valentine's Day!

Hobart to Melbourne 13 Feb 2017

After 14 days in Tasmania and around 2600km driven it was time to leave for mainland Australia today. We've driven around most of the island and seen so much beautiful scenery and wildlife but realise we could easily have spent so much longer here.

We were up and ready for breakfast at 0800 and enjoyed a quick meal before leaving Orana House before 0830. It's only a 15 minute drive to the airport and after topping up the petrol tank we returned our trusty Mitsubishi ASX to the rental company. 

Check in was easy and we only had just over an hour to wait for our flight to Melbourne. The journey in a Boeing 717-200 only took an hour to cross the Bass Strait and we were soon in cloudy Melbourne. 

Having collected our bags, we headed for the car rental office to collect our pre-booked car. There was quite a queue that stretched right out of the door. Eventually, after about an hour, we finally took delivery of our steed that will take us around 1100km to Adelaide. We realised that there are quite a few toll roads here in Victoria so decided we'd avoid these driving into the centre of Melbourne. It was an interesting experience driving down the length of Sidney Road into town. I'm sure we saw suburbs that tourists rarely visit! 

Our hotel, the YTI Garden Hotel is right in the middle of the city. In comparison to London, it would be like staying just off Oxford Street. Driving in the middle of the city is fun as you share street space with trams! The hotel is small, plain and simple but perfectly clean and adequate for an overnighter in the city.

We explored the immediate area and then jumped on a tram down to Federation Square. The centre of Melbourne has a zone where all the trams are free! How good is that? We wandered around in the park by the Yarra River before catching a second tram up to the Marina. After a wander around there eyeing up the luxury yachts we caught a tram back to the hotel.

We got stuck on the tram for a while as a police car was parked across the line and the occupants involved in arresting someone by the road side! Trouble with a tram is that you can't just drive around problems!

This evening, we investigated the Hardware Lane area, next to the hotel. It's full of restaurants with their owners doing their best to entice you inside with offers of free entrees and drinks! We chose Barbarossa Claypots, a restaurant mainly serving fresh fish. Lynn had mussels but I found a dish that is close to my heart, Kasssler! A taste from the past in Berlin! The beer was darned good too!

Penal Settlements 12 Feb 2017

We've seen it on TV a few times, but today was our chance to visit the old penal colony  at Port Arthur on the Tasman Peninsular. Of 160,00 people transported from UK to Australia, around 70,00 ended up in Van Diemans Land, now known as Tasmania. Those that re-offended were sent to Port Arthur. The only access by land to Port Arthur is via Eaglehawk Neck a very narrow stretch of land attaching Tasmania to the Tasman Peninsular. The 'neck' was protected by a line of ferocious dogs as well as guards. They also told the convicts that the waters were shark infested! Not true, but effective as a deterrent!

The journey from Lindisfarne took us on familiar territory as far as Sorrell but then joined the Tasman Highway south to Port Arthur. It took about 75 minutes. It's a World Heritage site, so there are a lot of visitors, but it's well organised and, by our standards, not too expensive to visit. We bought basic tickets for A$34 each which gave us a 45 minute basic orientation tour with a guide and a harbour trip by catamaran. It's all very organised and very well done.

Our guide, Tammy, gave us a good overview of the site peppered with humorous comments. The settlement opened in 1834 and transportation went on until around 1878. My Grandfather was born in 1881 to put it in perspective. It was meant to be a more humane punishment, but floggings were fairly common. What was astonishing was that the system of keeping convicts locked up in solitary confinement 23 hours a day in complete silence was thought to be better than physical abuse.

The place has a rather desolate feel to as many of the buildings are mainly ruined. It's odd too, because the location is absolutely gorgeous. 

After our guided overview, we took our boat trip. First we went to Point Puer which was one of the first male youth prisons ever, boys from as young as 14 were sent there. Next stop was the Isle of the dead. Both convicts and soldiers and civilians were buried here.

Back on dry land, we walked to most of the buildings on site. The ruined Penitentiary is probably the most iconic building. It started life as a mill, but was soon converted when the wooden barracks became unusable. There was also a lunatic assylum filled with men who failed to survive solitary confinement.

I suppose, as a day out, it was a bit somber, but very sobering  to think that the justice system though transportation was a good punishment for offences such as theft.

After our day out, we headed back to Lindisfarne, emptied the car and packed our bags ready for our flight to Melbourne tomorrow morning. We should have time for breakfast here before the 15 minute drive to the airport 

Strahan to Lindifarne 11 Feb 2017

This morning we were at breakfast before eight and had left the Lodge by 0830. Our route today took us through the Franklin-Gordon Wild Rivers National Park and the edge of Cradle Mountain Lake St Clair National Park. Some of the wildest areas accessible by road in SW Tasmania.

First, we headed back to Queenstown before climbing up a spectacularly windy road up the hills behind the town. Just past the top of the pass near Mt Owen (1192m) we stopped at the Iron Blow lookout. The whole area between Queenstown and Gormaston is riddled with mining remains, the area was hugely rich in copper and iron. Iron Blow was just one pit, now flooded, stained with minerals waste and rather lonely these days. 

We continued on through absolutely beautiful remote scenery reminiscent of the Highlands of Scotland. Traffic was extremely light too. In Derwent Bridge, we stopped for a drink at a great cafe cum fuel station called the Hungry Wombat. Quirky, but friendly!

From here the road continued through forested undulating countryside dominated by tall, mist-covered mountains. The Lyell Highway is certainly a beautiful, if somewhat slow, road.

After Hamilton, the road improved and we were able to pick up speed and after a brief stop to eat fruit and a hot cross bun for lunch in the car, we arrived at the Royal Botanical Gardens in Hobart around 1330. The gardens are free and nicely laid out and easy to walk around too. We covered most of it, but missed the Japanese Garden as a wedding was taking place there.

After a couple of hours there, we headed over the Hobart bridge to the town of Lindisfarne where we found our B&B Orana House. It's a beautiful colonial bungalow with a view across the Derwent River to Hobart and Mt Wellington. Our family room has 3 single beds and a double spread across a suite of 3 rooms!

At around 1730, we headed into Hobart and the waterfront area. The Wooden Boat Festival is taking place there this weekend. As the name suggests, there are hundreds if wooden boats gathered here. Some of the largest are huge three masted schooners, one from the Jubilee Sailing Trust from Southampton. There are lots of smaller boats too. Moored right at the back is an enormous cruise ship. It looks out of place with all the other small craft here.

It's rather nice being back in civilisation and having internet access! At least we can book some accommodation in Adelaide now!

Laziness and laundry 10 Feb 2017

Today was a rest day with a few domestic chores thrown in. We are travelling with just seven days of clothes each, so we have to schedule in a laundry day once a week at the least. Today we used the laundry in Strahan which actually seemed to belong to quite a posh hotel. To be fair, it usually only takes about 90 minutes to wash and dry and there is always something to go and look at whilst it's washing.

Most of the washing was dry when our tumble-drier stopped and the kindly hotel minders were happy we hung the rest on the clothes line back at our hotel.

The hotel we are staying at gets mixed reviews on Trip Advisor to say the least. It's a bit like marmite ( or vegemite here), you either love it or hate it. The building itself was an estate managers cottage which has been moved, lock, stock and barrel, from Gormaston to Strahan. That's a journey of nearly 60km. The road between to two is extremely winding, so, although the building was cut up into 6 pieces, it must have been an interesting journey. The owners,  now in their seventies are away at the moment and the place is being looked after by their daughter and son-in-law who arrived the day the parents left, on Tuesday, apparently with no handover!

Once upon a time, the cottage must have been wonderful and still is to a degree. It is very homely with a mis-match of furniture and fittings and it also has a faint musty smell to it. The rooms, some en-suite are small, but adequate, but our bed, for example, has one of the springs trying to make an escape bid through the side of the mattress. The room was superficially clean, but drawers in the bathroom were decidedly grubby.

To me, I think the place was once a labour of love, but is now a chore to the owners. The grounds are beautiful, the location stunning, it just needs new owners, it's on the market for A$590,000 or about £350,000, but certainly needs some money spending on it. I could be beautiful again if someone had the money and vision.

After our chores were done, we had a picnic in the grounds of our hotel, as I said, the views are gorgeous looking over the harbour to the mountains. Strahan is the only town in Macquarie Harbour, I believe the second largest natural harbour in Australia. There's only one very narrow entrance between Macquarie Heads known as 'Hell's Gates'. The name came from convicts transported to Sarah Island inside the harbour a particularly harsh penal settlement.

The other reason for our laziness today is that we have to drive to Hobart tomorrow, a journey of just under 300km. It doesn't sound far, but we've already tasted the road just outside Queenstown and we will travel through two National Parks. That means we will doubtless be stopping and starting a lot admiring the views and looking at wildlife. It will probably take all day to get to Lindisfarne, just outside Hobart!

We lazed in the garden for a couple of hours and then went to explore the outer reaches of Strahan. We followed the railway line down a dusty track for a few kilometres, the line runs along the beach. Back in town, we refuelled the car ready for tomorrow and set out to drive to Macquarie Heads. It was 11km up a dirt road that was in surprisingly good condition. There is a campsite at the end of the road and clearly the main reason for camping there is to go fishing.

It's possible for 4WD vehicles to drive on the beach, but our car doesn't qualify so we walked down to the broad beach that flanks 'Hell's Gates'. The channel is really narrow considering the size of Macquarie harbour, but navigable to reasonably sized ships. Clearly, the fishing is good in the channel too.

Shortly, we will head into town for our eat-in take-out fish and pizza outlet and following that, we will go and claim our free 30 minutes of wifi access!