Hi there folks , today I am just rushing around like a headless chook trying to get organised
to leave on Saturday . Disey has just given me a "tropical " haircut , so I might have to wear a warm beanie for a few days if the weather gets cool . Don't know how long I'll be away for, I might get homesick after a few days , or I might run out of money if Disey doesn 't give me enough . ( she 's got ALL the money) ! !
That's all for now cheers from Peter
Had a very tearful farewell this morning , and had a very easy drive to Port Augusta .
Staying in The BIG 4 caravan park , this may be my last night of "luxury".
It is now happy hour ! ! that's about the only exciting thing that's happened today . Even the weather is not very exciting .
Due to overwhelming public demand , here is a photo of my "tropical "haircut .
Cheers Peter
Today I drove from Pt Augusta to Pimba , an easy drive , only about 170 Km . The weather is great but a bit cool at night . Went to have another look around Woomera, it's still the same as it was in the 60s , except the trees have grown . Staying tonight at "Spuds" Roadhouse (free) . Now it is happy hour , and I'm waiting for the Ghan ( the train) to come past , so that I can wave to Bob and Caroline . Well I better go and open another tin of Spam . Cheers Peter
Hi folks , well I forgot to mention that we all know Woomera is a strange place , but while I was driving around yesterday I just happened to notice that all the street names start with the letter "B" ? ? .
Last night I did I did watch The Ghan go past and who do you think I saw ? ...... yes Bob and Caroline ,,,,, sitting up there in their "gold " dining car eating the finest caviar and sipping on champers ! !
Today I drove to Coober Pedy , another strange place ... it's the only place I've ever been where the flies are more friendly AFTER you've had a shower .
I'm staying at a campground on an opal mine just out of town , the camping is free , if you take a tour of the mine for $20 .
That's all for now , got a big drive tomorrow .
Cheers Peter
First of all had a quick look around Coober Pedy town , still the same , filled up with petrol and checked out the bakery but alas it is now closed , maybe we should have bought more vanilla slices last time we were there
Drove today a bit further up the track to Kugera NT . Stayed at a barren wasteland they called a caravan park , it was only $11 but should have been $1 . Tonight I had happy hour X2 (2beers).
Weather just great 25 deg cool breeze
Cheers Peter
A nice drive same weather , cool nights. Kings Canyon campground is very nice , better than Yulara , much smaller . Just sitting down having a beer and spotted a dingo ( 2 dingos) running around . There are gates on the toiled blocks to keep the dingos out . Lots of locusts too.
Theonly public computer in the resort does not work (they never do) , but there is satellite internet at outrageous costs , even the person selling the acess card talked me out of it .
I can hear a dingo howling now behind my campspot , hope it doesn'nt howlall night , I want to get up early in the morning and do the rim walk .
Cheers
Well I did get up early this morning to the sound of the dingos yelping , sounds like pups. Had breakfast and headed off for the rim walk.
It's about a 4 hour walk walk , very steep in parts and very, very spectacular . Put it on your "must do " list ! ! Met and talked to quite a lot of peoaple on the way and exchanged travel stories , as you do .
WARNING I've taken lots of photos
I got back to the camp ground at about 1 o"clock and had a sleep , had lunch and just had a lazy afternoon
Weather still the same . I was thinking of having a swim in the pool but too many kids for a grumpy like me ! !
Cheers
This morning I went on the Kings Creek walk , only about 2 Km It;s a veyy nice walk along the creek with the canyon walls either side . A lot of bird life and a lot of butterflies but not many fly flies . Had morning coffee after the walk and then set off (drove) about 20 Km to Kathleen Springs , which is another walk easy , along the creek bed , there were many washouts from recent rain. Again lots of bird life and butterflies and wildflowers . also the remains of some old cattleyards form the late 1800s but still used until 1960
Came back to camp and had a swim in the pool , this time before the kids took over .
Had lunch and another lazy afternoon . Weather still the same .
This is such a loverly camp ground I don't want to leave
Cheers Peter
I got up early and left Kings Canyon at 8 o'clock and got to Erldunda back on the Stuart Hwy at about 11 o'clock aftr a coffee and a bit of sight seeing .
At Erldunda at last there is Tel$tra internet coverage , so after shatting to a few people , I updated my diary after having to do it in pencil (analog ) for the last 3 days . There has been no phone ,no radio,no tv , no foxtel , no footy scores, NO internet........
Stopped at Erldunda for lunch , and then set off to the Henbury Meteorite Crater, which is up the road and about 15 Km down the Giles Track along the dirt , sand , creek crossings and ccccccorrrriggationssss...... I don't know whether it's worth the drive just to see a big hole in the ground that was made about 4,000 years ago. There is a free camp spot there but I was the only one there and it looked a bit too spooky to stay the night , so I drove back to the highway and up to Stuarts Well ,,, a free campspot next to the roadhouse . The home of "the singing dingo" Paid $4 for a shower but it felt good after the only wash I had yesterday , a swim in the pool
OH I just heard the footy scores , think I'll go back to Kings Canyon
Cheers Peter
After feeding the local emus and kangaroos their breakfast , I had mine , and then drove to Alice Springe , which is only 75 Km, It's very green up here and there is still some water in the Todd River , must go and take photos before it dries up . arrived at 10.30 and will stay for 3 days and have another look around
Cheers Peter
Today I ventured on a short drive on the Ross Hwy , the East MacDonnell ranges . The ranges don't look quite right because it's all so green from all the recent rain . Went for a short walk to Emily Gap and Jessie Gap , both had water in the river / creeks and some fish . They also had some aboriginal rock art of caterpillars ? ? Also went to "Corroboree Rock" , which is where the young aboriginal boys went through the cicumcision ceremony ! ! , that would be a good reason for a corroboree . I drove on to Ross River resort which was built in the 1950s and has not had a coat of paint since (sounds like our house) , but could not see a river . Then drove back for lunch , yes to finish off the Spam . After lunch I went into the city and went shopping , I had run out of bread and Spam .... had a beer and sent a few emails and made a few calls ..
Cheers Petr
By the way ..... love all the messages .... keep em comin'
Well I'm a bit grumpy this morning , we're all a it grumpy because the G packpackers decided to start ringing home (Europe) at about 11 last night on the public phone near our sites , and they were still talking (loudly) at about 2 AM . So I went and complained to the manager this morning and I now have his after hours number .
Today has been a very cultural day , first of all I went to Olive Pink's botanic garden. Olive Pink was one of the pioneers who did lots of wonderful things around this area , and set up with the help of others, a garden with only Central Australian plants . She also stirred up a lot of polititions over social justice for Aboriginal people. It is a wonderful garden with lots of birdlife and a lot of garden art work . walked up to the lookout with great views of the town , the Macdonnell Ranges and the Todd River (with water).
After lunch I kept up the theme of the day and walked over the road from the c/van park to the Araluen Cultural Precinct , which is one of the reasons for coming back to Alice .
It is a beautiful art gallery , Mainly Namatjira and family , and many other aboriginal artists. Also a great museum of Central Australia , and also a Central Australian aviation museum . Put it all on your "must see" list Now i'm exhausted writng all this ! !
Moving on tomorrow , a bit further up The Track so I may be out of communication again.
Cheers Peter
Left Alice Springs at 8 this morning , flue thru Aileron and stopped at Ti Tree for coffee and to fillup with petrol, and as usual had to run the gauntlet of the local clan . Some of the elders were asking " how's old Donkey goin' nowdays ? " Was listening to the ABC this morning and all the Territorians were hoping for some dry weather , the countrtside is very green and all the creeks and dams are full .
Stopped at Wycliff Well for lunch , it's the centre of aliens but they also welcome humans .
Listened to Paul Kelly cd twice ths arvo , it's good driving music .
Had to stop off on the roadside this arvo because of a wide load , I mean it was BIG , WIDE and HEAVY on a low loader , there was more escourt than for the queen . the only photos I took today .
Not much traffic today , but i did see lots of baby frill neck lizards crossing the road and a few baby turtles , and a snake,,,, must be inhaling some of that vocanic dust ! ! Drove on to Tennant Creek about 500 Km , nice quiet caravan park , we have stayed here before
Weather warm , looked a bit like rain this arvo but only saw a rainbow ...
Cheers Peter
Left TC at 8.30 , drove through an array of hundreds of empty sparkling VB cans glistening in the morning sun. It must have been "Big night out " last night,,, why wasn't I told ?
Not far up the track from C there is a roadside stop at Attack Creek ,, and the sign read
"Attack Creek Enjoy your rest " , I wanted to stop and take a photo , but there was a roadtrain climbing over the back of the A' van.
At a 100 Km or so down the road I again came across the grasscutters , a big lawnmower , which was not only cutting the grass but chucking all these rocks on to the road .There was also a man with a wipper snipper trimming the edges of the Stuart hwy , a job for life maybe ?
It's been fairly hot today , so I've had some of the windows open , I wish we still had quarter windows .
OH ,,, I found out what the BIG thing was , it's a generator , thanks to ABC radio so there , now we all know .
I'm now at The Pink Pub camp groud at Larrimah . Larrimah is a thriving town of about 3 people , 2 crocodiles (caged) lotsof birds (caged) and a few dogs , but no flies . where are all the flies ? I was told the're in Victoria. This is only $7 per night includes a shower with about 250 mosquitos
I had to crack out my survival kit tonight and have an Underberg , it is great mosquito repellant ! !
Cheers Peter
Nothing very exciting happened today , just drove from Larrimah to Adelaide River , saw the grass cutters again . stopped and took a couple of photos , arrived at about 1.00 , and I have a nice shady spot for 3 or 4 days . Had a swim in the pool this arvo , it's a very nice pool with shade
Cheers Peter
I met this English guy last night who is cycling around the world . It was his second day in Australia and yesterday had cycled from Darwin . Naturally he was very tired , but still told me of some of his travels since leaving Greenwich , and of course was keen to find out a bit more (hazards) about Oz . He has a website / travel blog it is
www.greatbikeride.com
Well last night I didn't get much sleep , there were 2 noisy families in the small caravan park and then about 11 o'clock the neighbours over the road started playing Slim Dusty music ? ? ? over and over again till about 2 AM .
Today first thing I visited the War Cemetary which is just up the road a few hundred metres . It is a very beautiful area , and many of those killed in the bombings of Darwin, were only in their early twenties . There is also a special section for those 9 civillians killed in the Darwin post office on the day of the first raid .
Came home and went for a swim .
Then I went to visit the Adelaide River Railway Museum . That was also very interestng , but hot , so I came home and had another swim.
It's going to be another noisy night tonight because the caravan park has just filled up with locals from Darwin , who migrate to Adelaide River every year, in their thousands for the Anzac day dawn service . I will set the alarm but I wiil probably still be awake. After the dawn service there is a free breakfast at the show society showgrounds , probably a sausage sizzle , or could be buffalo sizzle ! ! Oh yesterday I went to the pub and had a pint and met "Charlie the buffalo" (stuffed ) from Crocodile Dundee , he's standing on the bar
Goodnight Peter
Well the locals (from Darwin) came in thier droves to Adelaide River just to party . rock till ya drop till the wee small hours ,,,, so I once again had very little sleep . But I did get up at 4.45 AM and went to the Anzac dawn service which was just very beautiful , and obviously the war cemetry grounds was packed . When I came home I had breakfast and then had a sleep for about 4 hours , and then packed up and left for Darwin I arrived tn Darwin about 2.30 and set up camp in the rain . and now hoping to get some sleep tonight
Cheers Peter.
Well this morning I slept in after a really good nights sleep .
Today I’ve been very busy doing the housework , done the washing , the ironing NO….. swept the floor , cleaned out my sock drawer , talked to the neighbours , made a shopping list , put some beer in the fridge , I’ve been so busy I haven’t had time to scratch me mozzie bites .
It’s been warm and a bit humid today , but with a cool breeze about 33 deg .
I was going to go shopping but the shops aren’t open in South Australia .
Nothing else to report today , I haven’t been anywhere .
OH that’s right ,,, my lovely camera stopped working this morning and I nearly freeked out , I thought I would have to take it in to the camera shop and they would have to send it to Sydney for about 2 or 3 weeks , and charge me $ 600 or so . But it’s working again now , must be having a humidity fit ! ! Cheers Peter
Well this morning I slept in after a really good nights sleep .
Today I’ve been very busy doing the housework , done the washing , the ironing NO….. swept the floor , cleaned out my sock drawer , talked to the neighbours , made a shopping list , put some beer in the fridge , I’ve been so busy I haven’t had time to scratch me mozzie bites .
It’s been warm and a bit humid today , but with a cool breeze about 33 deg .
I was going to go shopping but the shops aren’t open in South Australia .
Nothing else to report today , I haven’t been anywhere .
OH that’s right ,,, my lovely camera stopped working this morning and I nearly freeked out , I thought I would have to take it in to the camera shop and they would have to send it to Sydney for about 2 or 3 weeks , and charge me $ 600 or so . But it’s working again now , must be having a humidity fit ! ! Cheers Peter
Well it was another busy day , first did a little more house work , not too much .
It was another cultural day today , I went to the Museum and Art Gallery of NT . It’s something we missed out on last time we were here , and it is really well done . I got there just in time for a talk on Cyclone Tracy , and another talk on “Sweetheart “ the 5 metre crocodile , now in the museum , but that’s another story . I went out for lunch , no ,,,, not at the expensive restaurant , out in the park by the sea for a can of tuna and a peanut butter sandwich . Went back in for an afternoon session of Aboriginal an Asian art and the maritime section .
Ok that was enough culture for one day , so I just went shopping on the way home , but that’s boring
The weather is good , warm , but I’ve been in air conditioned comfort all day in the museum and then the supermarket , both too cold .
Cheers Petr
I just spent the whole day at The Aviation Heritage Museum . It is really interesting and put it on your "must see" list even if you're not an aircraft enthusiast . There is a great display of WW 2 bombing of Darwin , many aircraft including a 1.5 hour guided tour of the B52 Bomber . .I will probably spend the remainder of the night looking after my mozzie bites , and tonight is a full moon , that's when the Midges are most active . I think I'll make my first stop tomorrow The Chemist
The weather is overcast warm and a bit humid and a few showers. ( I had one) ! !
Cheers Peter
By the way ... check out the B52 bomber crash on youtube
This morning I went to see the WW 2 Oil Tunnels , which were built just before the 2nd world war , all dug by pick and shovel and concrete mixed by hand , and lined with sheets of steel , they were never used to store oil and became overgrown by jungle until 1992 , the 50 year anniversary of the bombing of Darwin and to this day they are said to still be a national secret and apparently many of the locals don’t know about them . There were 5 tunnels built altogether but only 2 are open to the public .
This afternoon I went and strolled around the city for a few hours ,and went to the chemist and bought all this stuff for my mozzie bites ,,,,,, and then called in to BCF to get some gas but while I was there I bought some fishing gear , the guy at the fishing shop gave me a crash course on catching Barramundi , instead of going on a fishing charter for $ 260 per day . I was intending to try fishing down at Buffalo Creek , just down the road until I found out that it’s full of sand flies and mozzies and midges , so I’ll save my new fishing rod for another time .
OH by the way ,, if you can only see half of the map of Australia ,,, just click on “Australasia “ in the list of countries . ( or have I already said that) ?
No more rain , just warm an a bit humid .
Oh that’s right , my camera played up again today so I went to the camera shop and was told that cameras can sometimes take a while to become acclimatised , sensitive to heat , cold , humidity . ( just like us humanoids)
Cheers Peter
Hi folks , today I went to a National Trust group of cottages , one in particular named Burnett House , built in the early 1930s , designed by a Scottish architect , Beni Carr Glynn Burnett ( but he’s another story ) and built for the public service , I think originally for recreational , and later used as offices , during the war years , although right on the seafront they were sitting ducks and they were hit several times , in fact there are still bullet holes in the front fence posts and elsewhere . They are very unusually beautiful houses I think , they also have asbestos louvers on the windows , which create a flow through ventilation , and it is working very well today . The houses are basically concrete pillars and beams with concrete bonding beams , so they are very solid and they with stood the war and Cyclone Tracey , except the rooves were blown off and the rainwater tanks were shot during the raid . Another “must see “ if you’re in Darwin .
That’s all I did today , had a lazy afternoon .
Weather is warm and a little bit overcast , think I’ll apply for a position at the Darwin weather bur ro
Cheers Petr
Well last night was another very noisy night , the first time here , with a drunken party on one side and a family with screaming kids on the other . Maybe I should stay in a 6 star hotel or people should learn some respect , I don’t thing either is about to happen . I now have the after hours managers phone number .
Anyway today I went to Parliament House , it’s a very beautiful building on the seafront , It was built in the early 60s and they had a vision of saving energy even back in those days , it is very light in its colour externally and internally with mostly natural lighting , with beautiful light coloured timber panelling upstairs .
I went on a 90 minuet ( is that how you spell it ?) conducted tour , which was actually about 2 hours and included the library and was very interesting to find out some of the early history of the NT , even though I won’t remember much of it ? ? ? I’m having a bit of brain fade . Then had “lunch in the park” ( peanut butter on rice cracker )
Then went shopping at my favourite supermarket W ,,,, for another dose of air conditioned comfort . I’m not sure what the temperature is today but it’s warm , and maybe not so humid ?
Well that’s all I’ve done today , I may be off the air now for a few days , so just be patient ……..
Cheers Peter
This morning I left Darwin after 7 days , and visiting all of the sites that we missed last year . Drove to Batchelor and went to the Information Centre , picked up some maps and had a chat to a few people , made a phone call because there’s no more Tel$tra network further on , then drove on to a cartavan park just out side Litchfield National Park
I had just finished booking in and turned around and , guess what ,,,, there was Harold , the original Dirty Harry “hey punk are ya feelin lucky,, then go ahead , make my day “ ! ! , on one of his big bus adventures . I didn’t have my camera with me , and he did not have a camera , but we all know what Harold looks like .
I have a nice shady spot in the camp ground and I’ll stay here for a few days .
Today I’m having a day off , doing nothing .
Well I just went and had a swim and just came back and ,, bugger me , guess what ,,,, Harold turned up on his way back from his big bus safari , I think he said they stopped in for an icecream ,, and this time I had my camera and so did he . He had his movie camera and I think he’s just finished filming the next big Australian blockbuster ! ! Watch this space !! I didn’t offer him a beer because if he missed the bus he’d have to stay the night , and then we all know what would happen . Too much excitement for one day . ! ! !
Cheers Peter
Another night with not much sleep , this time noisy campers playing pool (billiards) in the outdoor dining area till 3 am , so the manager has assured me that it won’t happen tonight , and offered to refund last nights camping fee .
So I’m feeling a bit jet lagged today but I did go sight seeing , first went to see the magnetic termite mounds , then to have a swim at Buley Rock hole but the carpark was full ,so I went to Florence Falls and had a swim in the large rockpool along with hundreds of backpackers , I think I was the only person who spoke English . There were lots of very tame fish in the pool that would come up and try to nibble your legs , the water was crystal clear . I stayed there for about an hour and then went for a walk along the creek to the rainforest . After there I went to Tolmer Falls , had lunch (not telling) very spectacular falls with a huge rockpool at the bottom , but inacessable , I think it’s Aboriginal Sacret site and a habitat of the endangered Orange Horseshoe Bat and the Ghost Bat
Then I drove around to Wangi Falls and checked out the camp ground where I might stay tomorrow . On the way back I went to Tabletop Swamp and had a look there ,I didn’t go too close because it looked a bit crocodilly ! ! Called in at Buley Rock Hole again but still no parking spots so I came home and had a cup of tea and wrote my wonderful blog.
It’s now getting overcast and a bit more humid
I got up early this morning , had an early breakfast and went for a walk up to the falls , came back and had morning coffee and then went for the 1.7 Km walk to the treetop viewing platform and then through the rain forest , very steep , very humid , and right up to the top of the falls , across the creek , fantastic view from the top , and down to complete the loop at the rock pool .
Came back and cooked ( yes cooked ) lunch . After lunch I drove up the road and around the corner to The Monsoon Café and indulged in their world famous home made mango cheesecake , and coffee of course . Went for another walk in the afternoon back down to the waterfall and just sat by the rock pool where there is a cool breeze blowing , even though it’s still about 35 deg C it feels cool . Took a few final photos . The waterfall is so mesmerising I can’t stop watching . Came back and talked to the new neighbours . I will now start planning tomorrows move . Todays bird watch I saw some grey crowned bablers and a blue winged kookaburra and various others that I can’t identify .
Parked next to me last night was a Wicked Camper ,,,,,, on the back was written ,,,, “ I’ve just lost my virginity , but I still have the box it came in “
I was going to ask could I take a photo , but the young couple in it were too busy ! !
It was a very warm night last night with no breeze , so I was up early and got on the road to Batchelor , I had a quick look around the home of Rum Jungle and headed back down the track towards Katherine . There were a lot of walabys crossing the road this morning , and a snake which I think I ran over . More wild life , a few brolgas and a few jabirus still feeding on whatever is in the water along side the road . It is very windy today and very smokey because of all the burning off they do in The Territory . Oh it’s great to have the internet again , I can’t live without it . I arrived in Katherine at about 1.30 and the first thing I noticed was the lack of humidity , it’s still humid but nowhere near as much as Darwin or Litchfield . I went and said gooday to some of Disey’s old friends who were lined up waiting for the bottle shop to open at 2,00 O’clock . Did not take any photos today .
Cheers Peter
Yesterday I met a man with a wooden leg who was travelling around Australia for the third or fourth time , and all he had to complain about was how much fuel he was using in his new V8 Landcruiser Truck which would have weighed in at about 4 tonne plus a camper trailer , but he was still very happy .
Last night was very cold , it would have gone down to about 20 deg C so I had to find a blanket in the middle of the night ,, that's true ,, but not much else is
This morning I made freinds with a green tree spider , who kept on jumping on to the camera everytime I tried to take a photo , he must hae been a jumping spider ( the deadly type) you can't trust the wild life up here ! !
Today I just cleaned the van , did the washing and all those usual household chores , talked to the neighbours , went to the Travel Info and got a new map so now if I get lost who can I blame ? Also went shopping at my favorite shop W
I did look around for my other favorite shop , , Ikea but there is not one yet in Katherine
This afternoon I met a lady who is travelling around Australia in a Kombi Van towing a trailer , with the grand children , I can hear them screaming for their Playstation , and her husband , who's computer has just crashed , and all she had to complain about was all the mozzie bites she got in Darwin , we had something in common ,,,,, no?
I was going to go to the hot springs but I did that last year so no photo.
I am camped under these large shady trees and every now and then these big pods fall down sometimes in clusters of 2 and 3 but probably not as bad as coconuts
I've gotta go now and cook Barra 4 T ,,, the one I caught at the butcher shop yesterday.
I;ll probably be out of internet range for the next few day unless Mr Rudd has performed any more miracles that I don't know about.
Cheers for now
Left Katherine early this morning did an easy 300 Km to Timber Creek . Stopped a couple of times on the way to take photos , there are some really good mesas and escarpments . I just love a good mesa , I also love escarpments too ..
Yesterday I found out that you can't take fruit into WA , so I've been eating lots of fruit , I also heard that I can't take honey in to WA , so I'll be having honey for main course for today and tomorrow ,,,,,,,, they can't take my honey away ! !
I have stopped Timber Creek for lunch and to write this enthralling episode , and I'm going on about 10 Km to Big Horse Campground , there must be a big horse there , I hope so , but I'm sure there will not be any internet , they've probably never heard of it . TBC
Cheers Oh and happy Mothers Day to all the lovely mothers ! !
Timber Creek Episode 2 Take One
Well I was a bit disappointed with Big Horse Campground , there were no big horses there, and I was the only living human there , so I've come back to good ol' Timber Creek where it's more or less civilized (internet)
There is a notice near the river that reads "do not fish here danger crocodiles " and along side that notice there is another one that reads " camping area for coaches only" ,,, I guess they would not miss 1 or 2 out of a coach of 50 or 60 .
I've just heard on the campers hotline that you also can't take nuts into WA , they probably hav sniffer dogs and digital scanners at "checkpoint charlie ", so I might be up late tonight having a pigout on honey and cashew nuts .
That's enough trivia for one day, I can't think of any more .
Tomorrow I may be out of internet
Timber creek to lake argyle
Left early this morning and drove through some beautiful country , around the Timber Creek area there are a lot of Boab trees , maybe that’s where the name comes from . They are the strangest Boab trees I’ve ever seen , they are all different shapes and sizes , some have 4 or 5 trunks , I wanted to stop and take more photos of them but it was not easy to find the right spot to stop . On the way from TC to Lake Argyle I could have taken hundreds of photos of the landscape , the wild life etc. At one stage I was watching brolgas on one side when 2 Jabirus flew straight in front of the car .
I came to a roadside stop and had morning tea with about 4 or 5 lots of other campers and caravaners which is great because you can all swap stories of good and not so good places to stop and tell a few lies of course.
And then I came to Checkpoint Charlie and I was very honest about what I was carrying , a $5000 fine would make even the most dishonest person very honest , so I gave up my honey and a few half eaten bits of fruit and a half eaten carrot , and Charlie was a very pleasant person anyway .
Then I crossed the border into WA and it suddenly got darker because of the 1.5 hour time difference
I arrived at Lake Argyle and setup camp and then went for a short drive to view the lake and surroundings and it IS stunning , it’s hard to put into words . Later in the afternoon I went and tried out my new fishing gear on the Ord river just below the Dam at a crocoldile and fishing spot . I didn’t catch any fish ( surprise , surprise ) but there were 2 crocs there , freshies about 2.5 metres long , just watching and waiting for a feed .
There was a camper pulled in next to me at the campground , and we got chatting , his name was Fred and I think he came straight out of “Underbelly” . In the evening Fred produced a couple of bottles of really nice red Padthayway 2006 shiraz which he’d had in the cooler for an hour , very nice .So him and I chatted away , he mostly and then we finished of with a night cap of Underberg ………. Slept well
I slept pretty well last night after a few beers and a few reds etc and got up at 5.30 , I will take a while to get into WA time zone , so it’s been a long day .
Firstly this morning I went from the camp ground on the river walk , on a bit of a goat track up the hill and to a lookout , looking down on the Ord River just below the dam , a very beautiful spot with a nice cooling breeze .
I stayed up there just gazing at the scenery for nearly an hour .
Came back and had a coffee and then a swim in the pool , the pool with the 2 million dollar view . I talked to some Dutch tourists today and one of them has been to THE Marion Shopping Centre and I told him that he has now been to the centre of the universe , I think he was a bit puzzled about that ! !
After lunch I went on the Lake Argyle boat cruise , this lake is SO BIG it’s like the inland sea , it is just staggering , and so beautiful , and we were out all afternoon until well after sunset (photos) and I think we covered about 5 % of it . We saw quite a few crocs , lots of fish , of course they do fish feeding , and then have a swim , drinks , nibbles and all that stuff . WARNING ……… I don’t know how many photos I took , just lots ! !
I have new neighbours again , these nice German people from Perth and they have been telling me about all these fantastic places to go near Exmouth etc etc , so why would I want to come home to do the gardening and house repairs etc . got to go now it’s nearly 7.30 and I’m ready to go to bed .
Last night we had two young French guys camped nearby and they started drinking beer at about 9.30 and when everyone else was quietly tucked in bed , these guys just got louder and louder , until midnight or 1 a m .
So off I went again this morning to tell the manager and he went over and woke them up and told them to leave straight away.
After that little episode I went for a bushwalk down the track and over the hill and around the lake to the old Durack Homestead , which was on the property Argyle Downs , that was originally where Lake Argyle is now . Now that’s a very long story . It was a very nice walk , it took about 1 hour each way and I was there for a few hours looking at the house and chatting to the little old lady .
When I got back I chatted to my new German friends next door , and had a swim in the pool with the 2 million $ view and chatted to some more Dutch people who were very interested and fascinated with Australian birds .
Well I should have had a rest but instead I went went down to my favourite crocodile / fishing spot . While I was there fishing a group of young Euros came along and asked could they go for a swim here , and I said yes if you want to get eaten by that hungry looking guy down there about 1 metre away from you , or those two just over there ! ! Anyway they were nice young kids and one of them had been to Adelaide and said she loved Adelaide and that the people were very friendly . And then another guy , an Australian ( very rare ) came along and told me there are a lot of friendly mozzies in Kununurra , so that’s great news . I might just drive through on my way to Adelaide where all the friendly people live .
I was just watching all the caravanners streaming into the restaurant for their $25 all you can eat roast of the day , while I am eating my cheese on burnt toast Ha Ha .
I had just finished my cheese on burnt toast and these other people came along , they were some of the people I met at the roadside stop a few days ago and we had a chat about this and that and they told me how expensive things were in Kununurra especially fruit and vegetables , whish is a bit strange because that’s where it’s all grown with all this almost free water
I reluctantly left Lake Argyle this morning , It;s one of the most beautiful places I've ever been .
Drove only 70 Km to Kununurra . It looks like a nice place , I'm at a caravan park on a lakefront so there's a nice cool breeze blowing . It's on the 1 or 2 star end of the scale . I've already chatted to my new neighbours , one of them wants to buy an Avan , and the other one doesn't like French backpackers and there are plenty here because of all the fruit picking .
Today I AM doing NOTHING .
I've just been down to the lake and been watching these cute little Jacanas walking on top of the water lillies
Thanks for all your messages ! !
By the way I think I have some of my dates mixed up because I hardly know what day or month it is .....
Cheers Peter
I was getting tired of the same old view so this morning I shifted camp about 20 metres along the lake .
Today I’ve been very lazy . First of all I had a look around the town which took about 5 minutes . Then went to Bridgestone Tyres to get my new tyres rotated (boring) . Came home and just sat by the lake bird watching for a few hours . Took the car in at 2.30 and had the work done which was a free service . But I still paid the guys a few cold cans for their effort .
Then went for a short drive around some of the massive fruit and veg growing areas . Came back and went shopping . Now have fresh fruit AND honey ! !
It has been very smokey today with some ash falling out of the sky and I’m wondering if it’s from the volcano in Iceland , has it reached The Land Downunder or is it coming from all the mozzie coils I’ve been burning .
I met this guy today who said I could make about $200 an hour , working . But I said that I was too busy to work . And then I thought of a good idea ,,,,, instead of all you lovely people sending messages ,, just send money ,,, then I could stay away much longer and keep making up these stories . When I went to have a shower tonight I discovered that my shirt has been inside out all day . That’s maybe why no one has been talking to me , even the checkout chick at Coles , who was about one year older than me would not talk .
Cheers
This morning I did a bit more bird watching out in my back yard and saw some Azure Kingfishers and some Rainbow Beeaters but they are very hard to photograph (for me) also lots of Grey Crowned Babblers . My new mate Ozzie the old long haired surfer , from "no fixed address", who’s still lost in the 60s somewhere , feeds the birds with birdseed everyday .
This morning I also went for a drive out of town to look at The Diversion Dam , which is the original dam on The Ord River built in 1963 .
Then went to Ivanhoe Crossing which is a water covered crossing over the Ord River on what was the original Darwin to Wyndham road .
It is starting to get cloudy and a lot more humid so I checked the weather forecast and it is for showers tomorrow , and heavy rain on Sunday and Monday and my mate Ozzie said that’s great for fishing ! !
This afternoon I went to stock up on essential liquid supplies for the next week , and then went to the Historical Society Museum , which of course was very interesting , even though one of their smoke detectors needed a new battery and they’d been waiting already 2 weeks for the electrician to come .
There are now some French people camped along side me and one of them has the same camera as mine and his camera now has the same problem mine had in Darwin a few weeks ago , so me now being the new expert , I told him to go to the supermarket and stand next to the frozen food for about half an hour and that should fix it ,,,,,,,,,, I'm not sure if he believed me . Perhaps I should have tried speaking English ..
This morning I just sat by the lake bird watching when suddenly I saw this creature , it was a great big lizard , over 1 metre long , first of all it was up on the bank and it then went into the water just waiting for something to eat , and it was also waiting to be eaten ..
At 11.30 I went on boat cruise on the Ord River , from Lake Kununurra 55 kilometres upstream to the dam at Lake Argyle where I stayed a few days ago
We saw lots of crocs , and of course lots of bird life for this time of the year .
It was a very cloudy day and we had some light rain so unfortunately it was not a very good day for photos and no sunset , so I’ll just have to do it again next time I come back . But it was still a fantastic all day cruise .
There was a guy on board who looked just like Mark Knopfler and I wasn’t sure if I should ask him for guitar lessons or just get his autograph , but then I thought ,,,,, mmm ,,,,, perhaps I better not .
When I got back home it was just getting dark and there was 2 Tawny Frogmouth Owls in the tree just above the campervan , I think they are still there .
I found out today that they “fog “ the lake with mosquito repellent twice every week , that’s probably why there are not many mosquitos , however there are all these other tiny little bugs , there are so many crawling all over my computer screen that I don’t know which one is the mouse pointer ! !
Oh that’s right , I forgot to mention that there is 70,000 litres per second flowing down the Ord River , from the hydro electric system , just out to the sea …
Well the wet season has started again , it started raining about 9 o’clock last night and it rained all night and it’s still raining , I am now in a small lake next to the main lake . I was intending to drive to Wyndham today but I think it would be a bit miserable and some people have told me it’s not worth going there anyway , so I’ll just sit here and watch the birds in the rain , they’re really enjoying it . So far today I’ve done lots of housework , even washed all the squashed bugs off the ceiling . I’m just watching all the crazy French playing soccer out in the rain on what looks like a swamp . Maybe there will be a croc in there ! !
Yesterday on the boat cruise we had afternoon tea /coffee , with pumpkin scones , Beerenberg jam and cream , so I naturally told every one how good Beerenberg jam was . Now I’m having some of the leftovers for morning tea
It has been really cool here today , only about 25 deg C , and it’s now 22degC so I have just found some warm clothes and another blanket for tonight . It looks like there is going to be rain and showers for the next 7 days so I may stay for a few more days .
At least there are no bugs around tonight , last night was terrible ! !
I may have to do some more housework tomorrow , today I even polished the kitchen sink while listening to the football ...... the same as I do at home
Today is another rather miserable weather day , it’s cold and overcast but the rain has stopped for a while .
I decided not to do any more housework and instead go for a drive to Wyndham .
The scenery is very good on the way , there are some beautiful escarpments and even more Boab trees , I found out the other day that the seeds of the Boab floated to Australia from Africa and Madagascar a few thousand years ago . So …..
Well Wyndham is really “The End of The Earth” , I did find one local to talk to and he agreed with me .
I went to the museum and found that interesting , it was a mixture of the meatworks , which started in 1918 , local aboriginals , world war 2 history , and more meatworks etc
I did take a few photos just to show how bad this place is , it was so bad that my camera stopped working just like it did in Darwin , that’s because it was SO humid . So on the drive back I switched the air conditioner on and put the camera on the dashboard and then when I got back to Kununurra took the camera to the supermarket and stood next to the frozen foods , and now it’s working again , and then did the shopping . I also went to the camera shop and looked at new cameras .
Today has been another cloudy , dreary , rainy , cold , miserable day . The weather couldn’t get much worse , but I am on the banks of this beautiful lake which makes it a whole lot better , and I have good neighbours . It's not so bad when it rains anyway , I can just hang my dirty clothes out in the rain and they get washed automatically .
NEWSFLASH NEWSFLASH ,, I have just fixed my camera . And for those of us who are technically literate , the battery terminals inside the camera were badly corroded , and the same on the battery terminals , so I cleaned them with my Swiss Army knife ! ! Now I’m so happy , but I’ve only taken one photo today that I can show in public .
I have booked in here for another 2 days , but there is The Kimberly Festival starting this week so they might kick me out .
It is not very good beer drinking weather , so I went to Coles bottle shop tody and bought a nice bottle or $5 red for tonight which I'll share with Elizabeth .
All of the National Parks are still closed and there is more rain on the way so I could be stuck here for a long time .
I’ve juss tried the red and ot’s beautiful ! !
It feels like Saturday today I don’t know why ?
Chairs Petr
It is still raining , and all of the National Parks and the off road tracks are still closed , but there are still some mad people driving through the Gibb River road with vehicles caked in mud and washing it off in the caravan park (no water restrictions)
The Parks will still be closed for about 3 to 4 days even after the rain stops because they will have to run the grader through to clean up the tracks , so this morning I booked a plane flight to see The Bungle Bungles .
So today I went to Hidden Valley / Mirima (Aboriginal) , which they say is “ the poor mans Bungle Bungles “ . It’s an amazing large area of ancient weathered sandstone , There are 3 walks to do and it’s very beautiful and well worth doing , and I took lots of photos even though it was very cloudy and dull , not good for photos , it did rain while I was up the top of the lookout .
When I came back , the sun actually came out for about 10 minutes and everyone got very excited , there were even a few crocs popping their heads out of the water ! ! I don’t know who is more excited the crocs or the humans.
Oh , by the way , the local delicacy at Wyndham is the Barra Burger at the pub ..
Well this morning we saw some blue sky and a little bit of sunshine , I think the first time for about 1 week , so in the meantime just did a little bit of maintenance , housework and bird watching , talked to the neighbours who are all doing the same, waiting for the weather to improve While bird watching I saw this little lizard and the saw the BIG lizard again , this time managed to get some better photos .
Ok ,,, due to overwhelming public demand here are the photos of the inside of the camera ,, and the battery terminals … Now how did I take photos of the inside of the camera and the battery terminals ? Was it time lapse photography or just lots of mirrors or both ?
This afternoon I went to The Hoochery which is the distillery (rum) for a look and they wanted $10 for half hour tour plus expensive tastings , so I just looked .
Then I went to The Sandalwood Factory and they had lots of expensive stuffed olives , jams , jewellery , perfume , eye shadow , etc etc which had nothing to do with sandalwood , so me being the worlds worst shopper , I didn’t stay there for very long .
Update on the weather ,,,, the sun is shining and it's very , very humid
The rain started at about 10 o’clock last night and it rained all night until 10 o’clock this morning . I’ve been feeling very lazy today because of not doing anything , just waiting for the rain to stop and waiting anxiously to see if I can go on the flight or if it is cancelled . At least the weather is warm , it’s about 28 deg C
There are people swimming in the pool this morning in the rain , they must be German tourists ! !
The weather although nowhere near perfect , has cleared enough to do the flight to The Bungle Bungles .
Flying Alligator Airways , the only alligators in the Kimberleys , we took off and flew over the vast Ord River irrigation area , with a view of the Diversion Dam , Lake Kununurra , and flew over Lake Argyle and saw all the rivers that feed in to it . We could see Argyle Downs homestead , Texas Downs homestead and Lissadell homestead , but we didn’t see Faraway Downs homestead , I don’t know why ? ?. Then we came to The Bungle Bungles , and it is so special ! !, it is amazing ! ! , we flew around The Bungles for about 20 minutes and I just want to go back there and see it from ground level , but maybe next year when it is dry .
On the way back we flew over The Argyle Diamond Mine and did a few laps around it and then over The Ragged Ranges just before sunset . I took lots of photos but I don’t know how they will be because it was raining some of the time and not much sunshine , but at least I’ve seen The Bungles and It is truly amazing , definitely a “must see” ! !
Now home again , cooking Spam on toast for tea and the remainder the bottle of red ,,,,,,, out of the fridge ,,,,,,, that's "TheKimberley Way" ,,,,,,,, a great day ! !
This morning all these people at the caravan park that I had become friendly with over the past ten days came over to say goodbye and wish me a great trip . It was almost a tear jerker . People I’ve met along the way are wonderful .
Today I’m “on the road again” just like Willie Nelson and it feels good ..
I’m heading down The Great Northern Highway , past Lissadell Downs , Texas Downs , Alice Downs , but still haven’t seen Faraway Downs , Well I’ll just have to go and see the movie again .
The weather this morning has been pouring with rain and then brilliant sunshine , and then pouring with rain .
The scenery is very good , lots of escarpments , Boab trees , lots of narrow 1 lane bridges , 1 river crossing , great termite mounds , Oh and I can’t stop Elizabeth from wanting to climb things .
I drove straight through Turkey Creek , Halls Creek , not much there except the local inhabitants .
Stopped at a free camp spot called Mary Pool , it’s about 110 Km past Halls Creek , it has everything you’d need , it has shade , toilets and crocs . Had to cross over a river floodway to the camp spot so if it rains tonight I could be here for a week .
I met some more nice people here from St Helens , Tasmania and one of them was so nice she reminded me of Dale .
On that note I’ll finish …..
Well Mary Pool was a great free campspot , there were about 30 or 40 caravans and campers there last night .
Left about 8 o’clock and headed down The Great Northern Highway , saw lots of black cockatoos , thousands more termite mounds and great scenery .
Arrived at Fitzroy Crossing at about 10;30 and found the Travel Information Centre closed , then I realised that it is Sunday . I suppose even us tourists need a day off .
Not this one , I went on the river cruise on The Fitzroy River to Geikie Gorge which is named after a Swiss (I think) geologist , Mr Geikie who apparently has never been there , so there is talk of the gorge being re named to it’s Aboriginal name which I can’t remember . Some one will look it up .
Well anyway Geikie Gorge is just AMAZING ! ! It is just so spectacular , and the Fitzroy River is just another massive body of water which just runs out to sea . In the wet season the river will rise about 6 to 8 metres with enough water flowing to fill Sydney Harbour in 5 hours . ( Everything up here is compared to Sydney Harbour ). Besides the spectacular scenery we saw plenty of crocs , Sea Eagles , Fairy Martins that migrate up from SA every year to build their mud nests in the overhangs of the gorge . The weather has improved very much and so it was nice and sunny for photos .
Today I met one of the local council workers when I was filling up with petrol , who wanted to buy an Avan and then I met a truckie with no teeth who wanted to buy an Avan ,,, Then I met an Austrian (not Australian) guy from Perth who wants to buy a little laptop like mine , but I had to tell them all that there’s nothing for sale , unless I run out of money
When I woke up this morning I switched the radio on , and there was a guy with a phony American accent sounding like a 1950s 1960s DJ playing heavy metal music , and every second number was AC - DC . It was the the local Indigenous radio channel . I didn’t know that was part of the Indigenous culture .
I left Fitzroy Crossing early and headed SW along the highway .
Then a bit later I switched the car radio on and got the Slim Dusty Hour and then the same DJ guy came on again , he must have just taken a long coffee break . Why didn’t I just play a CD ?
The scenery was pretty good , the termite mounds just got bigger and so did the Boab trees and for some reason the Boab trees here had leaves , and they are only supposed to have leaves in the wet season . But that didn’t stop Elizabeth .
I had morning coffee this morning with a tug boat operator from Brisbane and as we were sitting under this big shady tree and I told him that the best cure for sea sickness is to sit down under a big shady tree , he said he'd never heard of that one ! ! !
Arrived at Derby and booked it for a few nights , went for a look around town, drove down to the wharf and had a look at the beach ? ? ? the type of beach that's good for the skin . No German tourists swimming today .
Then I went shopping at the coldest Woolworths in the world , I think it was 10 deg colder than a Woolworths at the North Pole .
I had more camera trouble today so just imagine a very large Boab tree with a trunk about 4 to 5 metres in diameter and 20 metres high . That was morning coffee stop .
Yesterday I saw a roadside information sign that read … when The Fitzroy River is in flood it would fill Sydney Harbour in 21 hours , so it’s now somewhere between 5 hours and 21 hours , but no figures on how long to fill The River Torrens ? ?
I was up again early this morning because the sun rises at about 5.30 .
Firstly checked the 4 day weather forecast on 3 different websites trying to decide which day to go to The Horizontal Falls . I know I can’t afford it but …………. It will be Friday .
So today after doing the washing by hand just like my grandmother did , and the housework just like she did , I went for a drive down to The Wharf and as I was driving around this guy just caught a shark about 1.5 metres long , how exciting ! !
Then I just had a look at some old relics , ( no , not from Adelaide ) ,, there was a horse drawn tram here in the old days , not much left of it , and the horse is not there anymore .
I had lunch and talked to some people from Adelaide (they are nice people) .
Came back home and took the washing off the line , I’m getting terribly good at it now , then went for another short drive out to see Frosty’s Pool , which is a concrete pool built in 1944 by the Australian Troops for their swimming pool and filled with bore water . A little further on is The Boab Prison Tree which is said to be at least 1500 years old . It was used as a staging point for Aboriginal prisoners /slaves that were rounded up from the West Kimberleys in mid 1800s . It is hollow inside like most of these old Boabs and it’s big , but the one I saw a few days ago is much bigger , so there ya go ! !
Then I had a look at Myalls Bore and cattle trough . The original bore was sunk in 1890 and cattle trough is 120 metres long and built in 1917 , they say it water 500 head of cattle at one time . ( that’s a lot of methane )
Last night I went down to the wharf to look at the sunset but there were so many people there I could not find a park , so tonight I went down at 4 ’00 o’clock but there was complete cloud cover so no sunset . I wandered along the wharf with a beer and started talking to this nice young guy from Switzerland , who was fishing . He told me how much he loved Australia and I interrupted his fishing for about half an hour telling him how much I liked Switzerland , especially al the yodellers in the mountains and the cowbells in the morning . I think he was glad when I left him and his girl friend alone .
Tonight I cooked chicken Chipolata’s for dinner , it’s just another name for chicken sausages , but I was so hungry I ate them anyway ! !
What a busy day
This morning I went down to the wharf and it was low tide and then a barge pulled in to the wharf to take on fuel and deliver it to some mining company on an island some where out there . I got talking to a wharfie who told me he was the lowest paid worker on the planet , but when he sells his copper and nickel shares he’ll tell them to stick the job somewhere .
Then I wandered around a bit further and got talking to a nice American couple from Florida who are travelling around the world in their 43 ft power boat and have been for 6 years , writing travel stories for magazines . I told them that I also write travel stories but I was not ready to sell them just yet.
The weather is very cloudy and humid today and I didn’t have much to do so I went fishing out on the wharf for a few hours , hoping to catch up again with my new friend from Switzerland , but he must have known I was going to be there and stayed away . I tried out 3 or 4 of my new fishing lures and didn’t catch any fish but caught only a seagull , so the lures must be working . Some other people caught some small sharks while I was there . By this time the tide had come in and must have risen about 9 or 10 metres I think .
On the way home for lunch I called in to the travel information centre to soak up some of their free air conditioning and pick up some free brochures on Derby attractions to fill in tomorrow , while I’m not fishing .
Well this afternoon I went back down to the wharf to try some new tactics and a little while later an aboriginal guy came along and told me ,,,, mate the best place to go fishing is up The Fitzroy River where he lives , he said you always catch fish up there mate . Then a young guy came along on a motor scooter and told me the best place to fish is between the third and fourth lamp post over there , he said you always catch fish there mate . Then another helper came along and he said my problem was there’s too much water and not enough fish mate . Well that was all very encouraging .
Then , because they close the wharf to vehicles at 5 pm , the lady from the harbours department came along and said I’d have to move the car off the wharf unless I wanted to sleep there the night . And I think she meant by myself . So that brought to a close the greatest days fishing I’ve ever had in Derby .
I met and spoke with many more nice people again today and I could write many more stories but it would overload the WWW with Megabytes .
So Cheers
Last night I didn’t sleep very well , it was very humid and no breeze and I have been bitten by mozzies again , the mozzies came around yesterday when it started getting humid . One of the first things young Willie Dampier and his crew noticed when they called here in 1688 was the mozzies It also rained quite a bit last night and there are branches of a tree overhanging my roof and the rain made them sag down and rub on the roof so this morning I got the little gardener man to cut them off . Of course he is a fisherman and he told me that the fantastic fishing up here is all a myth , and that he would rather go to Port Augusta to go fishing and the fish from there are much better to eat.
Today I’ve had a rest day , but I did go down to the wharf for a while and tried fishing between the third and fourth lamp post .
It seemed to be a day of meeting and talking to Victorians today , but nothing too exciting to relay,, just lots of travel talk
After lunch I went and did the historic walking trail of the town , but in the car . One of the more interesting old buildings was the old open air picture theatre which was built in 1920 , and then there was The Old Wharfinger’s house . The Wharfinger was the person in charge of the wharf , ( but we all knew that ) and the old house is now a history museum , and I had to go and get the key from the tourist info centre . The other interesting bit of history is the old horse drawn tram that used to run from the town out to the wharf up until 1960 . There is also some aviation history and some ww2 history .
Then I came home and had a sleep for a few hours , the rain has stopped but it is still very humid . That’s enough for a day off
First thing this morning the weather was just a little cloudy became sunny very quickly .
This day trip to The Horizontal Falls was the best day trip I have ever done anywhere . The Horizontal Falls is just such an unusual thing to see and to experience anywhere . Words cannot describe it , may be some photos can . Or maybe Google Earth can . Apart from the falls the other scenery and remote land and seascape is truly breathtaking . We flew by seaplane and when we landed , transferred to to a mothership , a pontoon , an extremely fast thrill seeking large power boat , and also a very powerful fishing boat.
The first thing we did was feed and pat the very friendly , tame , Lemon Sharks . Then we went screaming off only a short distance to The Falls and there are two Falls (look on Google Earth) and we went through both falls about 10 times ( for thrill seekers only) . At one stage going “upstream “ we were stationary but the speedo was showing 40 knots , and then we would turn around and go down the rapids , and we kept on repeating this over and over again , until the guy driving the boat said it is now getting a little too dangerous . So the tides were just right for it WOW .
We then came back to The mother ship and had freshly caught Barra .and then some of us went fishing , didn’t catch any thing but the scenery was amazing . Then we came back to the pontoon and had a swim in their new shark cage / swimming pool . Then we went in the very fast fishing boat up a little creek to check out a fresh water pool and spring where you can swim . We then went back to the falls and the tide was such that we sat in the middle “pool” and the falls were going out of both gaps at the same time , it happens only for a short time , about half an our I think , amazing
By then our seaplane had just landed and it was time to fly back to Derby with some more amazing coastal scenery to look at WOW
Just put The Horizontal Falls on your absolutely must do list ! !
I have taken so many photos today it will take a week to sort them out
This morning I slept in until 6.30 , after a cool night with a strong easterly wind . I got several bits of good advice this morning , firstly my mozzie bites are actually Midge bites , and one good cure for relief of the itch and the irritation is to use a good haemorroid cream , (no jokes please) that’s the second or third time I’ve heard that , and the next one was to use grapefruit ,cut up and rubbed on to the bites . The next bit of great advise from the gardener, was to go to a certain cocktail bar in Broome where all the 50 year old + divorced wealthy women are , , , , all still living off their rich ex husbands . The same gardener wanted to know where to get a wife like mine who lets me go on a holiday by myself ! !
Today I only drove about 150 Km to a free camp spot called Nillibubbica , it’s about 70 Km from Broome . I got there fairly early and just did a bit of minor repair work and chatted to some other campers and listened to the football . I met a nice old bloke from The Sunshine coast who told me all the best free camp spots all the way down the coast . He was also a computer guru , an educated one , and so we talked (he did) computer stuff for a few hours , I finished up with a headache .
That was my day off .
This morning was very cold , when I left the camp spot it was 22 deg C and cloudy . It was only a short drive , 70 Km to Broome . Broome seems to be a very nice place and I’m booked in to a caravan park right on the seafront , looking out over Roebuck Bay , sound expensive , but it’s the cheapest , but I think the price goes up on the 1st of June .
I haven’t done any thing much today , just went to the travel info centre and grabbed a few brochures just like a tourist , and drove around and worked out what I’ll do for the next few days .
I talked to a few fishermen and they told me of some good fishing spots , but all the good fishing spots are alive with MIDGES . Another person I met today told me a good cure for midge and mozzie bites is brown Listerine , she was told by a doctor .
Tonight , and for the last few nights , here in Broome is “The Stairway to The Moon “ but tonight is too cloudy for it to happen . Shall I explain it ? Or look it up in Wikipedia …… it will not be good for taking photos so I’ll just buy a few post cards
OK I’ll explain it ……. When there is an exceptionally low tide here in Broome (Roebuck Bay) and the mud flats become very exposed , and the full moon rises at the same time , then the moonlight reflects on the mudflats , creating an illusion of a stairway to the moon .
Well the moon did come out , but it was too cloudy , but I did take a few photos anyway . While I was taking photos I met a nice Dutch couple who did not like Holland , it’s too cold , too wet , too small , too much water , and 60 million people , He showed me some photos that he took of “The Stairway” on Friday night when there was no cloud and the photos were really good , a perfect stairway . I should go and find him tomorrow and see if I can “borrow “ some of his photos and then say that I took them myself .
Cheers Peter
Today I had the alarm set for 6.30 , but I didn’t need it because the garbage truck with it’s squeaking brakes made sure that everyone was awake at 6 o’clock .
I drove to The Willie Creek Pearl Farm today , it was an interesting drive out there on some bush tracks following the red marker discs . It’s cheaper to drive than to go on the tour bus but I’ve probably wrecked the car doing so.
It is a very well run and very interesting tour about how the cultured pearls are produced followed by morning tea and two different types of very nice home made Beer Damper , followed by a boat trip on Willie Creek to look at some Pearl shells and a bit of local wildlife (salties) .Then back to the showroom where we purchased all our gifts . A great trip .
So while I was still in the mood for pearls I went to The Pearl Lugger , which is a history museum just of the pearling industry which began in Broome in the 1870s. Then we had a taste of pearl meat which was a bit like abalone , and it sells for about $110 per kilo in Australia and about $400 a kilo in Japan , we tourists were told , but Anthony will no doubt correct me on that ! This tour also finished in the showroom where once again we all bought gifts for people . It was very interesting although 130 years of the pearling industry condensed to about 1 hour is a lot to take in .
Later this afternoon I drove out to the wharf and just had a look and then drove out to the Gantheaume Point lighthouse where there is a good long distance view of the famous Cable Beach . At a very low tide it is possible to see 120 million year old Dinosaur footprints in the reef .
There are some amazing rock formations of the most beautiful Broome Sandstone on the headland , also Red Pindan sand . A very spectacular spot . I took lots of photos .
The weather today has been great , mostly clear skies and about 30 deg C .
I’ve had a very busy day today , first I went down to Town Beach at low tide because at really low tide it is possible to see the remains of 15 Catalina flying boats that were destroyed on March 3rd 1942 when the Japanese first attacked Broome , but the tide was not low enough today .
Then I went to the Japanese Cemetery , which is a nice place and very big . Then not very far away is the Chinese Cemetery which is also very nice ,but only small in comparison.
Then I went to Streeters jetty , named after one of the early pearlers and traders . Streeters jetty is where the pearling luggers would tie up to and used to transport their catch ashore , apparently there were up to 400 pearling vessels working out of Broome at the time and they had to remove all of the surrounding mangroves so they could get access to the shore .
Then I went back to The Pearling Luggers museum where was yesterday to have another look , I found it so fascinating .
Then I wandered down the street past all of the many expensive pearl shops to Chinatown , I wandered through Chinatown looking at all the “I’ve been to Broome “ T shirts .
After Chinatown I went to the old Sun Picture Theatre , which is an outdoor theatre which was built in 1916 , but started as a theatre in 1922 , and is still going today . Tonight’s movie is Bran Nue Dae .
Came back to Town Beach and it was high tide and looked at a lovely old ocean going catamaran called “Salad Days “ .
Came home for lunch , then after lunch I went to The Broome History Museum which was just so fantastic I could have spent the whole day there easy . There is so much history in Broome .
Went and did some shopping , came home for a quick beer and I suddenly thought that I haven’t been to the famous Cable Beach yet , named so because of the telecommunications cable that was laid between Java and Australia in about 1900 ,, so I rushed off and arrived there and luckily got a car park just as the sun was setting and took a few pics .
Came home in the dark with dear Karen .
I’ll probably be out of Tel$tra connection for the next couple of daze , some where in the wilderness ! ! See if I can send smoke signals from all the mozzie coils I’m burning Ha Ha
Over the years many people have told me there is not much to do in Broome , but coming up in the next few days there's the Mud crab racing at one pub and there's the wet T shirt competition at another pub , so there's really plenty to do ! !
After my last visit to all of the pearl shops and boutique galleries to pick up some last minute gifts I left Broome and headed South and only drove about 130 Kms to the turn off to Barn Hill Station . The road (track ) to is 9 Kms of fairly rough corrugated road , and there was nowhere to turn around so I kept going . This place has been recommended to me by a few people as a top fishing spot so I was expecting it to be very “blokey” but when I got there I was very surprised , first of all with the number of caravans and people there , but not “blokey” I was just talking to a guy from Melbourne and he and the wife come here and stay for the winter every year , and most of the people have been coming here every year for 10 , 20 , and 30 years ..
This afternoon all the ladies gathered around and had a crochet afternoon ! !
I went down to the beach fishing for about 2 hours , and I did hear that some of the ladies caught some Whiting off the beach this morning . It is a very nice sandy beach where everyone swims , and no crocs just Tiger Sharks , but there were a lot of people swimming this afternoon .
The mobile phone works some times if you are standing in the right place at the right time , and internet ? ? ?
There is a darts competition tonight but I am so good at darts , they would think that I was cheating . There was a nice sunset tonight but it was only about a 50 out of 100
So far there are no mozzies or midges here and I’ve been told by a few people that there aren’t any , so it can’t be very good fishing then .
I/ve been told that we can/t use any electrical appliance that draws more than 4 amps of power , so that means no air conditioner , no electric jug , no heater , no toaster , no frypan , no Dyson vacuum cleaner , no microwave oven , etc etc , but we can run as many refrigerators as we like to keep the beer and the bait cold , so that’s good .
Last night was a little cool with a nice Easterly wind and the sound of the waves crashing on the beach, and unlike Broome everyone here sleeps in .
The only spot here where there is any Tel$tra signal is on the cliff top down by the beach which is where last night I wrote my blog , in the dark . So this morning I went back to the cliff top to fix a few mistakes , and enjoy the view over the sea .
Oh that’s right today I heard the reason there are no saltwater crocs here is because the Tiger Sharks get rid of them all , so that’s good .
Later on in the morning when it warmed up to about 28 deg C I went for a swim , just like a German tourist .
I was talking to my neighbour from Noosa , who was fishing at 80 mile beach a few days ago and he got a Catfish spike in his toe and had to go to Port Headland hospital to have it surgically removed .
Fishing … there are more ladies than men fishing here , well yesterday the ladies caught all the fish so I went fishing off the beach again this afternoon and I fished with the ladies hoping it would bring me some good luck , but I think instead it brought them bad luck . However my feet are now nice and clean after a few afternoons in the sea water .
I was just talking to some Tasmanians with an Avan and they told me how freezing cold and wet it was in Adelaide when they came through. They also told me that there’s a few Rock bands coming down here from Broome for the weekend so I’ll miss out on a few sleepless nights ,(moving on tomorrow) The hot water here is fuelled by wood and every now and then some one puts too much wood in and the water is boiling . It’s a strange place ! !
There are people here who come for the winter , have their own vegetable gardens growing just out side their caravans . It’s a strange place ! !
I will now wander over to the cliff top again and connect .
Tomorrow definitely no internet connection for a few days
It has been good doing nothing for the last few days , I really needed a rest from all this being a tourist and all the "information overload"
I left Barn Hill Station at 8.30 this morning , and there actually is a hill which looks like a barn , but it was difficult to get a good photo of it , there’s too many things in the way . Drove back down the rough corrugated track to the highway through a lot of cattle country , but I found things to keep amused like listening to U2 a few times , looking at all the different shapes and sizes and colours of termite mounds , stopped for coffee and talked to a few people from NSW , stopped for petrol at Sandfire Roadhouse , that’s a great place ! ! ! as the name suggests . Today I think I drove about 230 Kms , I’m not sure , to another rough corrugated track , but not as bad as Barn Hill track , Barn Hill track was 2nd gear all the way . Any way now I am at 80 Mile Beach , another great fishing spot ,,,,,,,, . It is a beautiful beach , and apparently it was called 90 Mile Beach , until some smarty pants got out the tape measure , and now it’s 80 Mile Beach . Last December this place was hit by tropical cyclone Lawrence , with winds in excess of 200 Kms an hour and it blew every thing away , including the buildings , but worst of all it blew the branches off all the trees , those that were left standing . I have been looking at photos of before and after the cyclone , and it was a green oasis , So now there is no shade here at all , but there are still a lot of people here , 99 % fishermen and fisherladies . I was talking to one fisher lady this afternoon and she said that the fishing here hasn’t been the same since the cyclone , but the first thing I did was go fishing with about 200 others . I did see a lot of fish jumping out of the water , and one guy caught a large Threadfin Salmon , it was about one metre long (true) .
I did get a few bites today so I’m going to buy some bait and try again tomorrow . Today has been warm 30 deg C but nice and dry , not humid , and the nights are starting to get cooler .
The sea water here is very shallow and very turbid / milky , so there is definately no swimming here , not even for the German tourists.
There is internet here but it’s coin in the slot (expensive ) beyond my budget (wot budget)
There are beautiful stars in the sky again tonight ,and much better than any TV
Last night was windy , and this morning is very windy.
After breakfast I went for a walk on the beach . It was low tide , and this is much different to Barn Hill , this is a big wide sandy beach with millions of shells washed up so I collected a few shells and took a few photos .
After morning coffee I wandered up to the shop and bought some bait for this afternoons fishing expedition . I found that the internet / TV room was damaged by the cyclone and has not yet been repaired , things happen slowly up here I’m discovering . It would be a great day to get the washing dry (not mine) and everyone is waiting for the wind to drop and the tide to rise .
I got my fishing gear really organised today with my new rig and bait , and went fishing for Giant Threadfin Salmon . The bag limit for Giant Threadfin Salmon is 2 ,,, and again today I came very close to my bag limit ….
My next door neighbour is from Zerth Ifrica , he is a really nice bloke , but I can’t understand him . He and his wife are on their second trip around Australia , and he said when they finish travelling they would like to settle in Adelaide ,, so there ! ! Trouble is , everything he says I have to ask him to repeat it , he must think I’m really thick ! !
There is a BIG show on here tonight in the BIG marquis , there are rock and roll bands from all around and also a talent quest ( Red Faces) .
Nice sunset tonight .
After the usual home cooked evening banquet I did wander over to the BIG marquis to watch the talent quest for a while , and there was some very fine country talent performing some very unusual acts tonight , until it got too cold for me standing outside in shorts , so I went home to bed .
It was again very windy last night , and cold , and still windy this morning , however it was a North Easterly which was perfect for travelling in my direction , I could feel it pushing the car along .
I was going to stop at another location that has been recommended to me by a few people , it was right on the cliff top with a great view , but with this strong wind I would have been just blown away . So I carried on and had a quick coffee stop ( out of the thermos) at Pardoo Roadhouse , that’s another very swinging place !
I’m now at Port Hedland and I’m not sure why , it is just a much larger version of Whyalla , Newcastle , Broken Hill and Kalgoorlie combined . The caravan park is the dearest ever @ $40 per night , I’ve just been to the Travel Information centre and found out that it is Sunday , yes it is closed , and there is some public holiday tomorrow (must be Monday) , so it’s closed . I was going to do a tour of the BHP works but , the tour does no re open until Wednesday .
I went for a drive down to the wharf and saw some very large iron ore ships leaving the port at high tide , and about 20 more waiting at anchor just offshore .
I was talking to a bloke (Australian ) down by the wharf and I told him about the dearest caravan park ,and he said that the rents up here start @ $ 1200 per week . WOW
I found an nice little garden amongst all this industrial stuff , it was the site of “The Pilbara Aboriginal Strike “ back in 1946 , when the aborigines working on the cattle stations and stockyards went on strike for a better deal .
The Australian bloke I was talking to also told me of a good fishing spot not far from the caravan park , so If everything else is closed I’ll go and check it out tomorrow .
Cheers Peter
At least the wind seems to be stopping
Again it was very windy last night and this morning so I slept in .
Then when I got up I started making a list of things to do today like washing , shopping etc ,etc , and then I came across my receipt for the expensive caravan park and found that I had only booked in for one night . I thought I had booked for two nights . So that changed my plans . The caravan park was actually $ 44 per night . So I packed up and left . On the way out I went to the most expensive Woolworths on the planet so I only bought the bare essentials .
Soon I had the best view of Port Hedland ,,,,,,,the one in the rear view mirror.
Drove south on The Great Northern highway and checked out a few free camp spots along the way , but they looked very dry and dusty , and it was still very windy .On the way I had to pull right off the road and stop for a large low loader with a large bit of mining equipment , so then I took some photos of the country side . The scenery wasn’t too bad , most people describe it as boring , but I don’t get bored , I drove past various mine sites , and Poverty Creek , Whim Creek , and decided to stop at Roebourne , which is not exactly the most lively place on earth . I have met some people here who tell me that any where else around here like Karratha or Dampier are horrendously expensive to stay , so maybe it was the right choice .
This morning I went and visited the old Roebourne Gaol Museum , which was a very good display of local history and particularly told the story of how harshly the local aborigines were treated back in the mid to late 1800s . There were photos of them in chains . I think it was the main reason for the gaol .
Then I drove out to the Woodside Northwest Shelf Gas visitors centre on the Burrup Peninsular . Well the scale of everything up here is absolutely mind blowing , it’s hard to describe it is so big . I watched a few videos and there is great visitor information centre , but again I have “information overload”.
Today was very cloudy and it looked like it was going to rain , so it was not a very good day for taking photos .
Then I went to Dampier and looked around , it’s another mind blowing place to see , there is the Dampier Salt Works , a massive project , and then there is the iron ore loading port , where they bring in these iron ore trains which are 2.4 Kms long and load it on to ships to export to China .
I thought that I had discovered a new breed of cockatoo today but it was just white cockatoos that are covered with the local red dust .
This morning I read the local paper “The Pilbara Echo” and there were rooms to rent (a single room) from $350 to $400 per week in Karratha and Dampier.
I went to Karratha today but just for a quick look , it’s just industrial like most of the Pilbara Coast , and very busy
I had a cup of coffee this morning with two little old ladies who were travelling together and we had a long chat, and they said that I must have a wonderful wife to let me go away by myself , but I said that I didn’t bring her this time because she would only want to go to all the galleries and fashion boutiques and spend lots of my money ! !
This morning the first thing I had to do was to find a pair of long trousers , a long sleeve shirt , socks and shoes . And I had to find a comb because my tropical haircut is not tropical anymore…
I went on a bus tour to Cape Lambert Rio Tinto iron ore loading plant . Then we had to put on the silly hat and goggles just like some of our politicians wear everyday . This is one of four iron ore loading plants on the Pilbara Coast and it is mind blowing again the massive scale of this operation .
The iron ore is mined at some place (I’ve forgotten) about 200 Kms inland , again today information overload . We had a tour lady/driver on the bus who was a local from Roebourne , she was very good , and she just talked for about 3 hours , so it WAS information overload . It was although a very good tour starting with a video at the Roebourne Gaol / information centre / museum . On the tour I met up with the two little old ladies again so we continued on with our chat .
Roebourne was the first settlement in the North West in the early 1800s between Darwin , which was Palmerston , and Geraldton , which was Port Gregory . Nowdays Roebourne is some where you just keep on driving through , but land is very expensive because of all the mining .
This afternoon I drove out to the old historic town of Cossack , which is actually the historic ruin of Cossack . Cossack is on the mouth of The Harding River which is where some of the early pastoralist landed , and then pearling was started here before Broome , but that’s another story. There was a horse drawn tram between Roebourne and Cossack and at Cossack there was a Turtle soup factory , and a Leprosarium , a gold rush , a booming pearling industry run originally by forced Aboriginal labour then Malay ,Chinese ,Timorese , Japanese . Some of the old buildings have been restored so it is a very interesting place to visit . I took lots of photos today , although it is not very good in the bus to take photos , we were allowed out of the bus at the tourist lookout for about 15 minutes , and nothing fell on my head or got in my eyes so that was good .
I’ll probably be without internet again for the next few days unless Disey buys me a satellite connection ! !
The weather has been good , cool nights and about 28 deg C today
This morning I left Roebourne and drove South past a few smaller gas installations and quit a lot of smaller mine sites .
I had to pull right off the road once for 2 big mining trucks .
I liked the scenery , there were plenty of mesas and escarpments .
Stopped for petrol at Nanutarra roadhouse near the turnoff to Tom Price , the place was ankle deep in bulldust .
Drove inland on the road to Tom Price , Paraburdoo and the scenery was even more spectacular , it just seemed to get redder . I don’t know how people can say it’s boring .
Stopped at a free campspot , Beasley River , not a bad spot although a bit dusty . I arrived at 3.30 , just in time to get a good spot .
Could have taken more photos on the way but the driver would not stop .
Today I drove 480 Kms … Good weather , about 27 deg C
It got very cold last night and by this morning I had 3 blankets on .
The campground was very quiet , there were no backpackers and no Wicked Campers , no trucks or trains , myself and most other campers went to bed at about 7.30 .
When I set off down the road this morning it was so cold I needed the heater on .
I took the short cut to Tom Price which was about 70 Kms of dirt road so I did a bit of rally driving in the WRX Forester . There was only one other vehicle on that road this morning , it was a mining truck coming towards us at full speed and I had to pull right off the road and stop there for about 3 or 4 minutes to wait for the dust to clear . Elizabeth wasn’t very happy with that truck .
Apart from that , there is great scenery on the way to Tom Price , a bit like the Flinders Ranges .
On the way here today I kept on wondering if there is,, or was a Tom Price , so when I went to the tourist info centre I asked the dumb question , and the nice lady gave me a brochure on the subject , so it wasn’t a dumb question .
Thomas Moore Price , worked for an American company Kaiser Steel , and came here in the early 60s to appraise the deposits of ore and bla , bla , bla …so
This afternoon I did the shopping experience at Cole’s and it was very expensive (surprise , surprise ) but I was warm inside so that was very good !
Because the weather is so cold I bought a very good bottle of Merlot for $4.99 mainly to go with all the red dust . Even the Galas up here are red , not pink .
The caravan park here is very good , I’m actually on a lawn site and it’s only $25 for a powered site , so next time you’re going past you should stay for a few days ! !
Betta cook T now , beef rissoles , that’s the cheapest I could find . I think they are way past their “use by” date ... Yum
We had some rain here last night and it was a bit cold and the locals are all shivering , so am I .
First thing this morning I had breakfast with the birds which was a lot of fun , but then I could not get rid of them .
Today I posted a postcard to the “ non internet community ”of Adelaide , hope they like it .
This morning I went on the mine tour , the tour of Rio Tinto Tom Price operation , this time we were in a big tour bus with dark tinted windows so not much good for photography , but we did stop at the lookout for about 20 minutes , and the tour was very good . This is another mind boggling operation , just the immense scale of everything ! ! ! ! ! And we were allowed to take as much as we wanted which I thought was very generous of Rio Tinto , so naturally I filled up my pockets with rocks .
One of the highlights of the tour was seeing the remains of a Toyota Land Cruiser that got in the way of a 100 tonne dump truck , the Land Cruiser was in the wrong place at the wrong time …
The rest of the day I went to the local hardware and bought an expensive drill bit , then fixed the legs of my portable gas cooker .
I went for a drive around the town today and I thought it’s quite a nice little town , it was a “Tidy town winner” in 2006 , nearly every town you go to around Australia is a tidy town winner .
There is another drive that can be done here up to Mount Nameless , it’s only a short drive but even the guys with serious 4WDs wont go up there because they say it will wreck the vehicle.
That’s all I did today
I got up very early this morning with the intention of leaving , but the weather was very grey and gloomy , just like I felt . So I with all my weather forecasting technology , I still couldn’t decide what to do , so I procrastinated for another hour and a half and then Richard rang , so that made me feel a lot better .
Finally I decided to stay at Tom Price another day .
So today I first of all let the tyres down and went on the dirt road out to Hamersley Gorge . The road was pretty good , the biggest hazard was the free range cattle , and the added distraction of the spectacular scenery .
The gorge is really beautiful and very rugged so because I was the only one there I didn’t venture too far in because I didn’t have the Star Force Rescue team on hand in case I fell in a rock pool and drowned . Elizabeth didn’t come on the walk she stayed behind and looked after the car.
After that I headed a little further on through The Hamersley Ranges which is breathtaking , I could have stopped every 100 metres and taken a photo . If you like The Flinders Ranges , you’ll love The Hamersleys . A little further on was the famous town of Wittenoom , which I think is a ghost town now , We didn’t go in there just on the outskirts and Elizabeth and I held our breath for about 15 minutes while we passed through .
Continued on , still past The Hamersleys and next time I’m going to take a driver because I found it very hard to look at the road .
Got back on the black stuff after a while and stopped for petrol at Munjina roadhouse and then another 160 Kms back , still through the stunning Ranges to Tom Price .
A great day after all ! !
The next 2 or 3 days I’m going to where the only form of communication is smoke signal , so just look for the big puff of white smoke in the North Western sky late in the afternoon
Someone nearby is cooking curry , I wish they wouldn't .
Today I drove to Karijini National Park ,which is about 100 kms from Tom Price . It is normal National Park camping ,,, bush toilet , no water ,no power , no shower , there is a shower there but it’s about 10 Kms away from where I am camping and it cost $3 , so I have my 12Volt shower and my portable shower tent , which is much better than no shower . I am in an area called “dingo loop” and there are dingos in the park ,,, so .
I am away from the area where they allow generators where they have their satellite TV , electric toothbrush and clothes dryers , so it’s nice and quiet here .
This afternoon I got straight in to it and did the walk down the steep steps and along Dales Gorge , which naturally with a name like that , I shouldn’t have to explain ! ! ……
But I will ,,,,,,,, I have seen a lot of gorges in my travels but Dales Gorge is right up the top ,, 9 out of 10 , it is stunning , it has beautiful waterfalls , many parts of it look like they have been created by a landscape architect , but not so, many rock pools where you can swim , in the freezing cold water , truly there were only Dutch backpackers swimming ,,, and there are about 3 or 4 more gorges to go and see just here at Karijini . I forgot to mention the climb back up at the other end up the VERY steep steps (rocks) to one of the lookouts . So if you’re going past one day drop in and take a look .
It has been a beautiful sunny day , I think about 25 deg C so great for photos although it’s a bit shady down in the gorges .
And of course I have taken too many photos , but it’s hard to stop .
The sun has just gone down and it feels like it’s going to be an Underberg night .
This morning I set out to go to the other gorges in the park , and there are two different roads you can take , and I was chatting to the park ranger on the way out , and he suggested I go the long way round the best road , which is mostly bitumen , So I did . When I got off the bitumen and about 10 Kms down the dirt road I stopped for a cup of coffee out of the trusty Thermos , and I thought this is stupid , the corrugated road was really bone shattering , and this was the best road , so I did a U turn . While I was having coffee there were 3 other 4WDs went past and covered me with dust , but they were all rented so it’s better to wreck someone else’s car I think . People even as far back as Broome were telling me how bad the dirt roads were here in the National Park .
So I came back to Dales Gorge and did the cliff top walk , and then after lunch I wend down to The Fern Pool and had a swim , this is the warmest pool here and only the Australians swim here . I sat under the waterfall for a few minutes to wash my long hair , it was warm but it was like some one tipping a truck load of bricks on your head .
I was going to stay here another day but I’ve changed plans and decided to move on , again where there’s no internet .
Thanks for all your messages , I love them ! !
Thanks for your Emails too , but please no photos or jokes , it chews up my measly pre-paid monthly download . Tel$ra need to pay their executives huge bonuses .
This morning I was up very early and was greeted by this magnificent Pilbara sunrise . I left the campground at 7.30 and as I was leaving another Park Ranger came over for a chat and I told him that I was leaving a day early because I could not get into the other end of the National Park because of the bad roads . He said yes ,unfortunately a lot of people can’t get in , so they are missing out . He told me that the dirt roads will be graded just before the school holidays , so that will be good for the kiddies sitting in the back seat playing on their Playstations .
The next exciting thing to happen was I was driving along thinking how dirty the windscreen was and there were two mining trucks coming the other way next thing BANG 2 lovely star shape chips on the wind screen to go with the other chips and scratches from last years trip , so Elizabeth was not very happy with those trucks either .
This time I went the long way around missing Tom Price and going via Paraburdoo .
My first encounter at Paraburdoo was at the Coles petrol station where I tried to get 4c discount with my Woolworths fuel voucher , that didn’t work …
Well Paraburdoo ….. Well what can I say ? ? ? Well it’s not the sort of place to take the teenagers for their Christmas holidays … it’s not the sort of place to take the grandchildren or the grandparents either . The town has a very distinct 1960s 1970s feel . I found a park bench to have a cuppa and do some office work , why do they always put park benches right on top of an ants nest ?
Now on the plus side ,, there was The ParaSaints football club , I reckon they would be a nice bunch of lads ! ! The white cockatoos here were orange , they looked like they had been spray painted , I tried to get a close up photo but they were like me , a bit timid .
There was also the Drive in theatre which only had seats so I think it’s now a walk in theatre , outside the theatre was the Para Burger Bus, but unfortunately it was closed so I didn’t get to taste any of the local delicacies .
Then there was the Golf Club , which had nicely manicured fairways made from freshly crushed low grade iron ore .
Paraburdoo also has great scenery all around .
Today I drove about 400 Kms , almost back to civilisation , and stopped at Nanutarra Roadhouse camping area . I think Nanutarra is Aboriginal and must translate to “dusty wilderness” although as I was arriving here it started to rain so I got out some of my dirty clothes and hung them out to wash .
I then met these lovely people from Perth , Helen and Geoffrey who were on their annual pilgrimage to Broome , and I mentioned that I only had about 1 inch of red wine left and they said Helen’s brother was a winemaker from down South , so how much (good red)do you want ? So to cut it short they saved my life that night …
It started raining late yesterday afternoon and it rained enough last night to get my dirty clothes clean , so that saved a bit of time . Today there was a lot of water lying around on the sides of the roads so there must have been quite a bit of rain , when I filled up with petrol (at this service station the they served you ) the young guy said they had 5 mm but I think we had more than that . He also couldn’t believe that my wife said I could go away by myself , his wife won’t let him go down the back yard by himself .
The countryside has changed quite a lot from the last week or so , it is now very flat with a lot of floodways , many of them with water in them from last nights rain .
There was also these rows of red sand dunes about 10 metres high and 40 metres wide and about 1 Kilometre apart running east / west and either side of the road as far as you could see ,,, in perfect rows . They must have been created by the wind over the last 100 or 200 years .
Then I headed North up the Exmouth Peninsular and it was nice to see the sea again after all that red dust .
I think there is a lot of top secret stuff around here , army and airforce etc .
I drove in to Exmouth and it all looked very up market with lots of expensive looking canal style development and all that stuff , so I went to the tourist info and got my bearings and decided the two Exmouth town caravan parks looked too flash for my dwindling budget , so I drove 17 Kms around the corner to a much better location at the Lighthouse Caravan Park and got a powered site for $22 per night , it’s a great spot .
The mobile phone / internet signal seems to disappear about 3 Kms down the road near this huge telecommunications base , but I can just walk or drive up to the lighthouse like everyone else does and do my buisines and watch the sunset at the same time. Also from up there we can look out to sea and see very clearly about 8 gas drilling rigs and at night we can see the big orange flames from their burn off , and in the other direction we can see the telecommunication towers all lit up with their red lights and a bit further around we can see Exmouth town all lit up , so it’s all a bit spectacular.
Oh I have stocked up again on red wine , this time a $6.99 Cab Merlot from south eastern Australia
First think this morning I went up to the lighthouse to do my homework , it was a bit cool up there but it’s all for a good cause . ! !
The land area here was first sighted in 1619 , and then charted by Willem De Vlamingh in the year 1696, and so it’s called Vlamingh Head Lighthouse and it’s at present under restoration , that’s why it is not yet painted white and red
I drove down the coast and called in to the Jurabi Turtle centre , which was very good and for those interested we stopped turtle hunting in Australia in the early 70s , so no more turtle soup . Continued down the coast to Cape Range National Park and to the very good visitors centre to get some more info. When I was having lunch today , an old bloke (about my age) looked at me and said “can you still get Spam” ? I said yes but I only have it on special occasions ,,,, he said he had not had Spam for 30 or 40 years , so he asked his wife to get some . I called in and looked at some of the many little beaches and camping spots including Turquoise Bay and Oyster Stack , and then to Yardie Creek where the bitumen finishes and the dirt road is closed because of all the recent rain . This is a really beautiful and rugged part of the country for those who like roughing it a bit .
Now it’s late afternoon and I’m again at the lighthouse doing my homework
Life’s tough here in The Wild West
Today I went to Turquoise Bay and had one of the most amazing experiences ever ,,,, drift snorkelling , where you snorkel off the beach out about 50 to 100 metres and then just drift with the current , and then swim back to shore and then walk back up the beach and do it again , and again . It was a perfect day for snorkelling , no wind and the visibility was fantastic , and the fish life was equally as good , so I’m sorry it has got to go on the “must do” list . There is no fishing at Turquoise Bay and I think the fish know that because just off the beach there are these big Schnapper and Diamond Backed Trevally which just look at you , plus the many other beautiful fish , it’s like being in an aquarium
Yesterday I met some nice people Dave and Jill and today I met them again at Turquoise Bay , and snorkelled with Jill . ( it was not planned ) This morning on the drive there I saw a group (a herd ) of 5 Kangaroos cross over in front of me , and then 2 emus , and 2 Brahminy Kites which are beautiful birds . The girl at the Travel Info Centre said that the Emus come into the town (Exmouth ) and are a nuisance in the summer .
Well I must be up at the lighthouse again . It’s hard work .
Today was rest day , this morning I went to see Dave and Jill and had a long chat , then up to the lighthouse to send some Emails , and then went to look at the Sea Eagles nest and take some photos of the local beach . Then I went and did some sight seeing , the wreck of The Mildura , a cattle ship that was wrecked in a storm on a local beach in the 1960s . Went and had a closer look at the Harold E Holt Naval communication base where there are these enormous towers , 11 towers , 365 Metres high , held up by great steel cables which all looks like a giant spiders web . Then went to the town of Exmouth where I only passed through on the way to where I am staying now , and had a look around the local beaches and the boat harbour and this amazing new canal style hosing development , and of course The Exmouth Novatel Resort where I’ve booked us in for next year for a month (it’s cheaper by the month).
Then I went to the Tourist Info Center and talked to this lovely young girl called Katie and she promised me a Whale of a time tomorrow ! !
Tonight I’m going to have happy hour with Dave and Jill , they are leaving Monday morning , they are great people and we’ve become very friendly .
But it will be a very early night for me , I just hope there are no parties .
After an almost sleepless night because I was getting so excited , today I had one of , if not the best experience of my life . I went and swam with the whale sharks at Ningaloo Reef . We went out on a 30 metre boat called The Magellan , Kings Ningaloo Reef Tours which was built and operated by the owner Bill who has operated tours in the area for 25 years
First of all we went to a beautiful snorkelling site inside the reef for about 1 hour until the skipper got the call from the spotter aircraft and then we came back to the Magellan and every one got really excited . We then up anchor and raced out to just outside the reef where we had our first “drop”. There were 20 people on the boat but only 10 people at any one time are allowed to be in close proximity to any whale shark , I think it‘s 3 metres distance . So each group of ten got to swim with the shark for about 5 minutes and then the next group of ten , but we all stayed in the water and had another look and then the other group etc etc . Then the skipper would get another call from the spotter aircraft so we would go to that spot and swim with another whale shark for a half hour or so . At one time we were swimming with 2 whale sharks at the same time . Altogether we swam with 6 different whale sharks . They are such beautiful , graceful creatures and they are very curious of us humans , they keep following you around and you have to try and keep out of their way all the time .
We then came back inside the reef and had a very late lunch and a few laughs and then went snorkelling again at 2 more sites and we saw a black tipped reef shark a few huge stingrays a few Dugongs and turtles , huge cod and many many other fish and a few octopus
I can’t say any more except you should put it on your “must do “ list ! !
I am so so lucky doing this ,,, thank you Disey
Today was a bit of a non event compared to yesterday , all I did was drive from The lighthouse to Exmouth to pick up my DVD of yesterday and then drove on to Coral Bay , only about 170 Kms .
They squeezed me in to the expensive caravan park , it’s like being in a sardine can , and I was going to have a can of tuna for tea tonight , maybe .
Coral Bay has become extremely popular over the last few years .
I went to hire the snorkelling gear for the afternoon but it was low tide , so not that good , so I’ll wait till tomorrow morning .
We are now in sheep country so this is the start of the flies and the flyspray doesn't kill them , the seem to just thrive on it .
Oh I don’t think I mentioned that yesterday we also saw a Dugong and followed it for quite a while ! !
At Coral Bay there’s not much only one street , 2 overcrowded caravan parks, a Resort , lots of reef cruises and coral viewing boats and a lot more people that it can handle , but the little bays and beaches are very nice and the weather is perfect . Coral Bay is just above The Tropic of Capricorn .
The water here comes from an artesian bore about 800 metres deep and its really salty and very hot , hot enough to wash the dishes , but not suitable for much else . There is most likely desalinated water here for drinking just like Exmouth .
I was talking to some elderly people who have been coming here for 20 years and they said there is too many people , the snorkelling is not as good as it used to be , but they told me a secret spot where to go . Now it’s not a secret .
Last night I was parked next this bunch of morons who all smoked non stop and started partying at about 8.30 and finished about 11.00 o’clock , and then got up at about 5.00 o’clock in the morning and went fishing making more noise. So even though I was booked in for 2 nights , I packed up and left after going to the office and complaining .
Today I have driven to The Blowholes and the campground is just spots in the sandhills next to the beach and it’s very peaceful and it is only $5.50 per night
The blowholes are amazing , there is quite a good swell running and they blow off with a decent roar , and go up in the air about 40 or 50 metres, so it’s very, very spectacular . It is a very dangerous place and you have to be very careful not to get wet or get washed off . There have been a few stupid fishermen washed off the rocks and drowned over the years but you would NEVER fish from there . Where I’m staying for a few days there is no power , no nothing , there are bush toilets , but I have my batteries and my 12 volt shower and gas so it’s nice and the beach is 30 metres away .
It’s a very popular spot but it’s not like Coral Bay
I have taken lots of photos of the blowholes , way too many but it’s so spectacular it’s hard to stop .
It’s now raining , that will bring the fish around ! !
I am camping about 2 or 3 Kms away from the blowholes and I can hear them roaring from here .
Last night a cold front came through at about 8 o’clock (bed time) , and the wind was extremely strong and it blew all night and it’s sill blowing . The swell has picked up and the blowholes are still “working” but not as high as yesterday because the wind is blowing it sideways . Yesterday the lady next door (Anne) gave me some fresh sweet corn , so I cooked it for breakfast today , hot breakfast yum ! !
This morning I went for a walk on the beach but it got too windy so I went for a short drive first of all to the blowholes and then on a bit further where I came across these guys fishing from the cliff top with helium balloons . It looked amazing , they would launch their fishing lines with a helium balloon attached and they would just be suspended above the water with the end of the line with a lure or live bait in the water . Then I came back to campsite and got talking to Irish Jack about Telstra antennas and every other subject . He was a nice old bloke who , like many others come up here every winter to escape the cold weather , but he , like many others I’ve spoken to say that they would rather go fishing in South Australia on Eyre Peninsular.
I like this place , it’s very quiet , the people are very friendly and it’s not crowded like a lot of other places and it’s only $5.50 per night and you get a fantastic view from the lighthouse (another one) and you get a faint Tel$ra signal up there .
I’ve just discovered another great new dish ,,,, it’s chopped up pieces of Turkey Spam added to Minestrone soup , it’s a very hearty dish for a cold winters night ,,,, Yum with a good red .
I feel a new recipe book coming soon
The wind was blowing very strong again last night so it was pretty cool .
Today I just did lots of driving from Quobba Point , past Carnarvon , past Shark Bay , Monkey Mia , Denham , Kalbarri . Why ? Because I have been to all those spots before , and also everyone I talk to tell me that they are all overcrowded , over expensive and the school holidays are only about 1 week away and many people get going 1 week early to miss the crowds , but then they are the crowds . So if I ever go back there I’ll go in the off season and enjoy the hot weather and not the crowds .
There were a lot of stray animals crossing the road today , there were sheep , goats , emus and cattle so that all kept me awake .
There is a lot of lush green grass on the sides of the roads and in the bush , and a lot of water from the recent rain .
Tonight I am staying at Northhampton and just North of here I drove past wheat fields , last years stubble , and a few sheep , and it made me think of South Australia , and made me feel a little homesick . The first time that’s happened .
It’s cold tonight and I’ve had to find some clothes ,and another blanket , and I heard this morning that there was frost on the lawns in Perth so that’s something to look forward to.
There is a sausage sizzle here tonight and country music but I’m staying home in the “warm”
It was another noisy night at Northampton but I won’t go into the details and very cold , 4 blankets .
Today I did a lot more driving past Geraldton , my old windsurfing spot , past every thing , we’ve seen all that coastline before , but I’d go back there if the weather was warmer . Drove through wildflower country and there were thousands of beautiful pink and orange Banksias and some other early winter wild flowers , but wild flower season is spring time . The road has improved a lot since we were last there lots of passing lanes etc .
Elizabeth and I decided to keep driving and now we are in Perth even though it is cold , but she is a bear and likes the cold weather .
I put the GPS navigator (Karen) on to take us from The Brand Hwy to Waneroo road and she took us through a pine forest on 10 Kms of the roughest road we’ve ever been on , but that was the shortest route .
It was a bit scarry , it is where all the locals tip their rubbish , I was hoping we didn’t break down there . But we are safe at Kingsway Tourist Park on Waneroo Road , sound pretty classy , and it's not crowded , I wonder why ?
This morning it was a mild 5deg C in Perth which is much better than the last few mornings of 1deg C .
I’ve had a very productive day today , first I had a great long chat to the lady next door who comes from The Riverina , and we chatted about all sorts of worldly travels , she has been to many of the places that we have and many by herself because she has a husband that won’t travel .
Then I changed a wheel on the camper van , worn out tyre from all those dirt corrugated roads that are going to be graded this week .
Then went to the car wash and NOW the car looks nearly clean ! ! And Elizabeth is very happy to have a clean car
Then I went to the Subaru dealer just up the road to see what time they open tomorrow and while I was there I picked out my new diesel Forester , so we might do a deal tomorrow instead of getting mine serviced if the changeover price is right .
Then went and did some shopping because I haven’t bought any food since the day I arrived in Exmouth and I’m almost down to my last can of baked beans .
Then after lunch I went and visited Jane and Richards old house in Maylands , and it’s still there but very run down because now it is being rented , so I talked to the tenant for a while and asked could I take some photos , and so I did , and every thing in the street is still the same as it was 15 years ago .
When I came home and talked to my neighbour again , this time we compared our different Merlots we bought today , it’s not really beer drinking weather anymore .
I have another new neighbour just arrived from near Port Arthur .. Tas , and they don’t think it is cold here today , they have 2 little kids about 5 or 6 years old and they are in a small Jayco camper trailer like we had and they left Melbourne 4 months ago.
Breaking News ........ I have just opened a cask of Merlot without Dianas help , it is a DeBortoli .... premium reserve , displays soft cherry fruit , violet aromas ans supple tannins .... WOW
I got up early this morning and went down to the local Subaru dealer to book the car in for a service , and it’s going to be serviced at 8 am tomorrow so it will be another early start .
Then I came home and did the washing , then went and bought a new tyre for the campervan and came back and changed that over .
Then I went and had a wonderful shopping experience at Kingsway Shopping Centre , I had to buy some new clothes so that I could get warm . Kingsway Shopping Centre is just like Marion , but the air is not as good . Marion has it’s own very distinct air which is injected into the air conditioning system to get shoppers addicted .
I then made a picnic lunch and went for a drive down to Ocean Reef beach and parked in this huge car park and was nearly run into by a guy learning to drive , there were a few people there learning to drive .
After my picnic lunch I drove up the “Sunset Coastal Boulevard” past all these $5 million plus , 3 storey houses along to Scarborough Beach . I think all the poorer $1 millionaires now have to live a few streets back from the sea front .
I haven’t taken any photos today , new clothes are a bit boring and so are $5 million 3 storey houses , but the new clothes are nice and warm .
Another early start today , to take the car in for a service and it worked out cheaper to buy a new car than to get it serviced so they did a pretty good deal , but they didn’t have a white one , so they threw in The Adventure Pack which I’m more than happy with . I will have to take it easy now for the next 5,000 Kms running it in .
After that I went shopping again for more food , It's probably all those gourmet meals .
After shopping I thought I better take the new car for a spin so I went to Freo ,,, I can feel a song coming on ……………
When ma baby ,,,,,,, when ma baby smiles at me I go to Freo ,,,, I go to Freoo .
I went back to our old favourite pub The Sail & Anchor where they make their own very nice beer , and I had pint of Dogbolter , but after the barman poured it and told me how much it was , I said “but I only want one pint , I’m not buying beer for everyone in the bar” so he said because your son told you to come here and have a beer make him pay for it . Any way when I finished the pint I licked the inside of the glass dry .
Then I drove home via The Kwinana Freeway and The Mitchell Freeway which was quite an experience , especially when you’re a bit drunk and in the new car .
By the way the recipe for last nights dinner will be in the book with easy to follow instructions.
Well I left Perth this morning at 8 . O’clock and fought my way through the peak hour traffic on The Great Eastern highway to York then The Great Southern highway . York is a very nice place , I’ve been there before . It has lots of very trendy B&Bs and galleries and Beauty retreats and all that stuff , and it’s very nice and green ,, at this time of the year countryside
I (Karen) found my way through Brookton , Corrigin , which are nice little towns with little museums and stuff like that , to Kulin ,, a recommendation from Jill and Dave , thanks Jill and Dave if your listening .
Well I went to fill up with petrol at Kulin after searching for the only fuel pump (one ) in the town and this nice 16 year old chick came out to put petrol in the car for me , which I thought was , well I was amazed . She was a very happy , bubbly girl and in the time it took her to fill the tank , she’d told me her life story as well as telling me how much she loved her job and that she was a local . And in that time I just managed to tell her how good she was at her job ! ! What a delightful young girl ..
Next I turned around the corner and stopped quickly and pulled off the road , then this guy pulled up along side , and I thought Oh No , I’ve cut him off , and I said to him I’m sorry for cutting you off . He said no you didn’t , you look like you’re lost , so he gave me very good directions and he told me all about his town , …. Another nice person . And he couldn’t believe that I was ALL the way from Adelaide .
Now Kulin is the home of a Bush (horse) race , I think only held once a year , and they are all a bit nutty about race horses .
So the main reason for going through Kulin was to go to “Tin Horse Highway” which goes for about 5 Kms on one side of town to about 15 Kms on the other side of town to the race track . The photos will tell the story , I’ve only included a few , and the weather was getting cloudy and almost raining so not good for photos .
Then I headed with good directions from my new mate to Karlgarin (they have funny names) .
I was going to stop there for the night , but there’s no mobile / internet coverage there unless you climb up the highest tree , so I drove a bit further to Hyden / Wave Rock , and that’s all the excitement I can take for one day .
I’m going to switch on the heater and have another glass of this classic Merlot .
Who’s Karen ? She’s my navigator …
Oh … I bought a new saucepan yesterday and now I have two , so it’s a bit more like The Iron Chef in the little Avan now .
Last night there was a guy playing guitar and singing at the camp kitchen get together , and he was pretty good I thought , I listened , but I didn’t venture out of the centrally heated little Avan .
This morning , myself and everyone else in the park slept in until 8.30 , it was so quiet .
So after breakfast I went on the Wave Rock walks .
Wave rock … the short story …..only became a national attraction when a photograph of it won the 1963 / 1964 Kodak International Colour Picture competition at the New York International Fair .
There were a lot of surfie chicks there in Wicked Camper vans taking heaps of photos and all having fantasies about riding big waves .
I took 52 photos today , (but no fantasies) it is really an amazing spectacle of nature , all created by wind and water , and it is said that if you come back in another 60million years there will be a second one below it .
There is quite a lot to see and do around here , many of it walking trails , which I did more of this afternoon .
This afternoons walk was about 3.6 Kms through a flat area that was once a pristine series of lakes and natural wetland , once a haven for waterbirds and animals , but because of mass bush clearing and over farming in this large area of WA over the last century , it is now a dead salty dried up plain . They have built a resort there along side Lake Magic (where did that name come from) which is 6 times saltier than seawater . I think it’s going to be one of those “health” places .
The walk then went past the airport , where there was a phone box just near the end of the runway , I wouldn’t like to be making a call there when a plane overshot the runway.
I have always driven past Wave Rock on our way to and from Perth and now it has been worth doing the detour and the stop to have a look around here .
It could almost go on the “must see” list …. Yes put it on there ! !
The weather , it has been quite sunny here today with some of “The Simpsons” clouds ( that’s the only part I’ve ever watched), and only 15 deg C
There is almost no mobile phone / internet service here and when I’m halfway through something it drops out …. That’s why some of the diary looks half finished .
At Wave Rock campground even the local roosters get to sleep in , this morning I didn’t hear them until about 7.30 .
I left at 8.30 and headed South and not long after that it started fine rain which turned to rain rain .
I didn’t take any photos today because of the rain , but imagine thousands of acres of very green wheat about 6 inches high , nice green lush bushland , some early winter wildflowers , mainly Banksias , rain , and caravans going North .
Now there is good internet here , not like the last few days , it was like having dial-up or worse , I think the Wave got in the way a bit at Wave Rock .
I stopped for petrol at Ravensthorpe and not far out of town there were about 30 or 40 Emus scratching around in this newly planted wheat field , I could not stop and take a photo . Also today I saw lots of Port Lincoln ringneck parrots and Bronze wing Pigeons and Crows of course .
Also a bit further down the track there was this big police roadblock , and I thought ,,, this is exciting ,,, but they just let me through ….
Tonight I’m booked in to “Bathers Paradise Caravan Park” (near the beach) so I might just go and have a swim to get my moneys worth . It would save having a shower , it’s too cold .
I did take one photo today just to fill up the space
This morning in Esperance was cold and crisp , but sunny , so I did a lap of the foreshore and took a few photos and then headed North to Norseman where it was a balmy 0.5 deg warmer . It’s a really nice drive with beautiful little lakes and lagoons , and beautiful trees , hence the name of the town “Salmon Gums” . Speaking of names of towns , why is it that the names of towns and places up in the North of WA end in “downs”, yet the names of towns and places down in the South of WA end in “up” ?
When I got to Norseman had the shopping experience at IGA because I needed some fresh fruit , well …. What an experience ! ! Now I have the worst of the worst bananas ever sold for human consumption . I wouldn’t feed them to my pet monkey ! !
That’s the first time I’ve ever ventured off the highway to downtown Norseman (been thru a few times) and it’s not too bad , they are trying ! ! There’s a bit of (gold ) history there .
From Norseman I started across THE NULLARBOR .
The Nullarbor is really nice , it starts off with these beautiful trees , Salmon Gums , (I think) they are very pink .
Then you come to one of The Flying Doctor airstrips (the road ) for emergency landing , there’s also a few on The Stuart Highway .
Then it opens out into smaller shrubs and trees and beautiful green grass and there were sheep grazing there ,, yes s h e e p (those wooly things) .
I shouldn’t start every sentence with then, so then I came to the longest stretch of straight road on the planet , it is 147 Kms long , and now comes the longest golf course in the world but I’m not into bashing golf balls across a windswept desert . ( get a life)
My music today featured Mark Knopfler and Emmylou Harris “All The Road Runnin” (thanks Dale) , and U2 “The Joshua Tree” (thanks Richard) .
Oh by the way , tonight I’m at Caiguna , they do have funny names here but at least it doesn’t end it “up”, and there is no mobile phone / internet
I met a guy today from Margaret River who is migrating to Tasmania because he says there’s too many people now in Margaret River , it used to be nice but now it’s too crowded . He was also telling me about his Jeep Cherokee that guzzles up too much fuel .
Now I have my two saucepans fired up and it’s butter chicken and rice tonight .
Ok ,,, two bits of trivia
1 .. I read today that the first camels to come to Australia , came from The Canary Islands . I don’t believe that .
2 … The roadhouse at Balladonia was setup with the the help of the Federal Government in 1962 for travellers in their FC Holden Station Wagons going to The Empire Games in Perth ,, I believe that .
This morning when I left Caiguna there was ice on the windscreen , although the temperature thing in the car read 4 deg C , so something must be wrong .
My music choice first of all was not good , I played Enya for about ten minutes and started going back to sleep . I think that’s why so many drivers fall asleep at the wheel , they are playing Enya . That was quickly then changed to “wake up” music ,,, Meatloaf “Bat Out of Hell”
There has been a lot of rain out here for the last month or so , there are pools of water everywhere and so The Nullarbor is nice and green and today I saw a lot more of those wooly animal things eating the lovely grass .
The only other wildlife I saw today were lots of Wedge Tail eagles , they had plenty of fresh meat to eat ,,,,, and I saw one dingo
The Madura Pass is really great to see no mater how many times you’ve seen it before , it gives you the first glimpse of The Great Southern Ocean and to me , that leaves a lump in my throat . Sorry I’ll wipe the tears away .
I then pressed on to Eucla and went and visited (again) the old Telegraph Station which still looks the same as the first time I saw it about 20 years ago and Elizabeth just loved playing in the sand hills
Now I’m back in South Australia and lost 1.5 hours of my life
I stopped off at some of the lookouts on the way but it was starting to get late and not much good for photos or viewing .
Well at least there is internet again
Oh by the way I am at Nullarbor tonight and it’s very popular
It was a bit cool last night at Nullarbor , and this morning my Soy milk was frozen so I had frozen Soy Weet Bix . Just like one of those slushy things the kids get at Maccas yum
I slept in this morning because my body is still on West Australian time .
I finally got going and the first stop was the “Head of The Bight” to have a look for some whales .
Unfortunately there was a serious car accident on the road in , yesterday or the day before and sadly two of the locals lost their lives . So because it is all run and managed by the local people , the whale watching was closed , and I would like to express my deepest sympathy to those families who have lost their loved ones .
On a slightly brighter note , while I was at the entrance to the road I met these two nice people from WA . Dean The beekeeper and his lovely wife Leone , both sweet people . We had a good chat , and Dean told me of some of their travels and we took some photos etc , then Dean offered me a taste of his honey and it is very nice Peppermint Gum honey and I bought some . This is the best part of the trip , meeting nice people .
I then set off down the road in an easterly direction and my choice of music this morning was River Tribe “The Blessing” , we saw them playing at Eumundi markets about 6 or 7 years ago and bought the CD , it’s really nice music .
Pretty soon I came to Penong , which is one of my favourite South Australian country towns , I don’t know why , maybe because it never seems to change and I just love the windmills .
I decided to then go and visit one of my old surfing spots , Cactus , where I used to go in the early 1970s , it’s about 21 Kms off the highway down a corrugated dirt road , the road is still the same. It’s a great drive past these lovely salt lakes and huge sand dunes , it’s still the same .
When I arrived I met up with some more nice people , Scott and Sharon , and of course we had a long chat . I went for a long walk along the beach and took lots of photos of the surf and found the patch of sand where we used to sleep and watch the stars , it’s still the same .
I talked to a young surfer and told him how I used to come here in 1970s and he looked at me as if I was from another world .
Scott , Sharon and I then went down to the sandunes and watched the sunset which was very speccy , but now my glass of red wine tastes a bit gritty because their very lively dog was running around the place kicking up sand .
Then I met Harry the caretaker , an old surfer from way back , who’s face was very familiar. We had a bit of a chat and I paid him his $10 .
Now because this is a special occasion , a nostalgic stop over , I thought I’d have a special treat for tonight’s meal , and because when we came here and camped in the early days we would live on Spam , Baked Beans on toast and Ricecream . I could not find Ricecream in any supermarket so I’ve made some . The secret ingredient was Dean’s (now world famous) Peppemint Gum honey , and the instructions will be in the book
It was very dark last night at Cactus except for the great show of stars and the Milky way , it’s just like it was 30 or so years ago .
There was only the very loud sound of the waves , and I had the best sleep ever .
My body clock must be still on WA time because I really slept in this morning and although it was cold it wasn’t freezing , I had a sleeping bag and just 3 blankets .
In the morning I said goodbye to Scott as he was going for a surf and Sharon . Sharon told me that you can get mobile phone reception here if you go out to the headland and stand on one particular rock , so that’s worth knowing for next time I visit Cactus
On the road out I had to keep stopping to take photos because the scenery was just stunning I thought .
Once back on the highway I headed for Ceduna , I didn’t stop because I’ve been there many times , except the compulsory stop at the fruitfly check point where I gave away some terrible apples that I bought at Norseman a few days ago .
I stopped at Smokey Bay for a big feed of oysters ( no I didn’t ) , but it’s a nice little place that I could go back to in the warmer weather .
The next town was Streaky Bay where I stopped for lunch and to update the Blog . Streaky Bay is another very nice town that I would put on my list to re visit in the warmer weather.
I stopped and looked at Edward John Eyre’s waterhole just out of Streaky Bay , it’s one of the waterholes he and his team used on their trip to Albany in 1841
A little further on It started raining and came over all dark just as I wanted to take some more photos , next on the list was Murphys Haystacks , which is some amazing looking BIG rocks in the middle of a paddock . They are called “Inselbergs” which means “ island mountain” Please help me Klaus and Gertrud . That’s not a very good description , I’ll have to do some more study on it .
There is much more to see on Eyre Peninsular
Then drove on to Elliston and I’ll have a look around tomorrow have a look tomorrow morning . I think I’ve been here before ?
It’s a very nice caravan park , it has nice green grass which is a bit of a change from dust and sand , and the amenities is very clean and tidy , it’s one of the best I’ve ever been to
Oh by the way I have just been through wombat country ,,,, and I think that we should all have a pet wombat ,,, just get one for your next birthday or Christmas
Last night again I went to sleep with the sound of crashing waves , and again slept in this morning , I’m still on WA time , and did not leave Elliston until 7.30 WA time .
First of all I did a drive around the coastal tourist drive which I have done before about 3 years ago .
Then I went cross country where I haven’t been before and first of all it’s very lime stony sheep country that has been cleared of what trees and shrubs (Malley) were there and just left where they were pulled out . And then there are some nice old dry stone fences , just like Scotland Caroline . The weather suddenly came over all misty and so I stopped and took a couple of photos , still searching for that perfect shot . I went to Lock , to Cleve and took a couple more photos , but did not go down Edwards Tce ,,,,, Elizabeth would not approve ,,,,, and stopped at Cowell for lunch (no not oysters) , my oyster was swimming with the whale sharks and things like that .
The sun was shining so I headed so I headed North into the sun which was nice and warm .
By the way I just love big wheat silos
I went past the Iron Knob area where the road comes down to a fantastic view where I could see the beautiful Flinders Ranges in the distant and it made me feel all emotional , and I had to pull off the road and stop the car and grab the tissues , isn’t that silly ? I must be a bit of a softie . I’m getting all emotional just wring this . I don’t know what I’m going to be like seeing all those “Adelaide” things again , and people ! !
Elizabeth and I might have a few drinks tonight , even though she does not approve of that either . anyway she's a lady
Can’t write any more
Last night I went to sleep with the rumbling of the Whyalla Steel Works in the background , the locals probably don’t notice it but when everything else is quiet it is noticeable . Whyalla is a great place I think and every thing is tinged with “Pilbara Red” ( that’s an official colour) even the street trees and the white lines on the roads and probably the white cockatoos , I didn’t see any . I drove down to the seafront and it’s really nice down there .
Soon after I left Whyalla the weather changed and it got very foggy so I had to slow right down to about 80 Kms /Hr for about 20 or 30 Kms , could not take photos though . Went past the turnoff to Alice Springs but no . Filled up with fuel at Port Augusta and I got talking to someone there and they said that there is a whale just out near the power station .( in the water)
I played a Crowded House CD this morning because that was on the top of the pile of books , maps , Cds and various other accumulated stuff on the passenger seat . The house probably will seem crowded for a while when Elizabeth and I get home .
Down the road a bit further we went and did a heritage detour to the little town of Bute where my Father went to primary school .
I have been past the turnoff to Bute many times but never been there , so this time I made the time and it was a bit nostalgic for me , but very interesting and now I’m so glad I /we did .
The rest of the trip to Adelaide was ok but I did start to get pretty emotional as I got closer to home and the rest is history ..
I don’t quite know what I’m going to do each night now if I’m not writing my Blog . It has been so much fun doing it , and I would like to thank everyone for reading it and for posting all those great messages , that’s what has kept me going and laughing . Thank you Dale for getting me started with get jealous .
Cheers and lots of love to every one …….. Peter xxxxxx
Oh ,,,, Elizabeth says lots of love to every one also xxxxxxx
Hi everyone or Kon nichi wa
Although it’s still another two weeks untill we leave , it is just starting to “sink in” that we are going .
Yesterday we went and changed some ( Disey's) Australian $ to Japanese Y , and she instantly become very wealthy ,, Ha Ha
We were hoping that the weather was going to be a bit warmer in Japan , but Anthony suggested that we take some winter clothes .
Cheers or Kampai ! ! ( I need to practice my Japanese )
The only drama we’ve had so far has been trying to get my mobile phone to work in Japan . They seem to have a quite strange / different mobile phone system in Japan and Korea which works on 3G W-CDMA 2100Mhz ,, or is it Ghz , which my phone is not . I don’t remember having a mobile phone last time we were in Japan . Was there life on earth before mobile phones ? ?
Anyway Anthony has found his old (6 months) phone which we may be able to use .
On the brighter side of things ,,, Elizabeth is coming with us , she is now a seasoned traveller . Elizabeth now has a new friend called Penelope ,who will also be coming .
Not long to go now so I thought I better start learning some basic Japanese phrases .
So I’ve been standing in front of the mirror (no photos) practising ….for when we go to the local 711 to do some shopping for essentials .
Things like “Watashi wa, shite kudasai biru no surabu o konyu shitai to mommas”
Or it might be easier to just point to a carton of beer ! !
The big day has almost arrived, and after a few little hiccups with our web check-in over seating allocation (were getting really fussy) and a few emails to and from Malaysia Airlines, we managed to get it sorted out . Malaysia Airlines were very helpful .
Were getting so fussy that we’ll probably fly business class next time . Ho Ho We’ve just had our last supper of lovely home cooked fish n chips . I’m not sure what the equivalent will be in Japan , but no doubt Anthony will have some (many) gastronomic surprises in store for us . He has been doing lots of shopping , and assures us that he’s also cleaned the toilet. (toire)
It was a bit of a last minute struggle to get our bags closed and zipped up , they are really bulging, mainly because of all the presents we're taking for Anthony . Things like Fruchocs, Green frog cakes, Farmers Union ice coffee, lamingtons, Tim Tams and all that good stuff.
Greetings from warm and balmy K L Not much to report so far . We had good seats on Malaysia Airlines and it was a normal flight except I had to restrain Disey from all the in flight shopping . We are here for about 2 hours cooling off and again I have to restrain Disey from spending.
Well we’ve been over watered and over fed for the last 24 hours , but we’ve arrived . The flights were very good , well as good as long flights are . We managed to connect to free WiFi in KL airport transit lounge but at Narita the Free internet was free to use, after you paid for it ? ? ?
While we were looking “lost” in Narita a couple of nice plain clothes airport security police decided to check us over , they were very nice and I think they actually wanted to practise their English language skills on us , so I practised my almost non existent Japanese language skills on them , and that got rid of them very quickly !
We bought our bus tickets and then had to wait about 2.5 hours for the bus so I tried to connect to the free internet as described above .
When I came out of the loo (toire) , there was poor Disey being chatted to by two more uniformed airport security police . She must have looked like a courier , or maybe they just felt sorry for her. Any way when I came over and started “talking” to them in the usual manner, and then they decided heard enough .
The bus trip to Odawara station was pretty amazing , there was “full on” Tokyo , which just looks like a giant sprawling architectural nightmare , although it has been re built so many times over the years and I still like it because it’s so different to any where else I’ve ever been .
After a 2 to 3 hour bus trip we arrived at Odawara Station (are we there yet) ? Then it was by taxi , only 10 minutes to Anthony’s house.
Anthony was still at work so I rang , and had to “speak” to a lovely girl and ask for Anthony just to tell him that we had arrived in good condition .
Anthony took us out for a quick lap of Hotaruda tonight and a lovely meal at a little Ramen shop just around the corner and the owner and his wife treated us to their home yummy home cooked meal.
Last nights (Wednesday I think) gastronomic delight,, we started off with cold Japanese tea followed by home made cabbage soup with some sort of citrus (like soy) sauce , a small bowl of noodles , various main courses , sake , shitake mushrooms grilled , pickled radish , home made cold onion tea , a cure for everything including hypertension , high cholesterol , high blood pressure .etc
Disey wants to go back again soon for some more soon.
The owner and his wife wanted us to try “everything” they cooked in their little Ramen shop , it was very difficult to escape.
Anthony’s friend Katsu arrived home late last night , and it was good to meet him at last ,we’ve only ever met him on Skype before .
This morning (Thursday)we went for a walk around the neighbourhood and saw just how compact every thing is . Went to the supermarket for a few essentials like wine and beer and then to a little noodle take away shop for some unknown lunch . Spent the rest of the afternoon just doing nothing , still catching up a bit on the trip .
Anthony and Katsu arrived home from work early ,7 o’clock , so we went for a drive to their favourite Swiss cake shop where we were all like little kids in the first lolly shop We each finally made a choice and then headed to their favourite supermarket and after browsing at all the strange food for what seemed like hours , Katsu finally bought the ingredience for his signature dish . We got home about 9ish and had a glass of Ant and Kats home made plum wine, while Katsu prepared and cooked okonomiyaki, and gave Diana expert lessons . It was the best , the best okonomiyaki we’ve ever had . Later we each indulged in our Swiss cake delight
After a nice sleep in we eventually got going and caught the local train from Hotaruda station to Odawara station , only 2 stops . We talked to a very friendly little old man at the station , or he talked to us and assured us that we were on the correct train . When we got to Odawara we found somewhere for lunch , a cheap little noodle bar , more nice food , then we went walking around some of the back streets and alleys , again found (they found us) a few nice locals that helped us find our way around . They were all trying to show us the directions to The Castle but there was not enough time today , we’ll do that another time. Then we wandered back to the station and browsed through food department store and just bought some lovely red bean sweets , some of my favourite . We then had a coffee and it was time to hop on the train , so we did , and sat on this train for about 5 minutes (still at the station) until we decided that it was the wrong train , so we hopped off and went up to the information office and found a nice little man who showed us where to go .All ended well . When we got to Hotaruda station we were feeling that confident that we decided to recharge our smartcards in the ticket machine and it worked so now we are ready for the next little challenge ! !
Disey and I are now having happy hour , waiting for Anthony to arrive home and go out for tea again , it’s non stop ! !
This morning we all slept , then had home made pancakes for breakfast.
Then we went to a shopping centre with Ant and Kats mainly to buy some more bedding, but spent a lot of time just browsing . Then had a quick coffee ,and then had lunch at this sushi place where we had the most beautiful , beautiful sushi , including sea urchins , for the first time , unfortunately no whale on the menu at this place .
After lunch we came home and got ready to go out again (all action) .
This time it was to the tea ceremony in a lovely old house , the house of a master tea ceremony teacher , where Anthony has been going for 2or 3 years .
There we met the master and many of the other people and were made very welcome , and of course were shown properly the green tea rituals .
Some of the ladies were dressed (for us) in their lovely kimonos and they could speak English , which of course they practised on us . They made us very ,very welcome and when it was time to leave it seemed to take forever .
Came home and started getting ready to go out again .
Tonight we went up in to the surrounding hills to where Anthony used to live to a lovely little old ladies house where she invited many friends of hers and who Anthony used to work with , mostly school teachers .
She is a very arty person who creates lovely lacquerware in this house which she has even lacquered the floors and timber walls , and the cedar bath !
We sat on the floor around a fire pit where most of our food was cooked in a cast iron pot hanging over the coals . We drank lots of beer , wine , green tea and the food just kept on coming out , but in very small serves (Japanese style) The people again were so , so friendly and interesting to “talk” to , most spoke some English and again it was very hard to leave .
The lady wants us to come back and stay with her some time
Today we went to visit a family , Mr and Mrs Kudo and their daughter Hiroko . These lovely people are good friends of Anthony , and we were invited for lunch .
They treated us to a special sushi lunch , which was of course absolutely delicious . We are being treated like royalty and we were given some lovely gifts as well .
After lunch we all drove to the nearby countryside where first off went to Lake Yamanaka where we had our first glimpse of Mt Fuji . We also saw some of the first Autumn leaves of the season.
Then we drove to look at an old house with a thatched roof and a beautiful garden which belonged to a Prince of the early 1900s.
After looking through the house and garden we drove back along the motorway and stopped for rest at a service area where we had a snack of coffee and octopus balls and an amazing view of a My Fuji sunset .
We then after that Mt Fuji sunset experience drove towards home and it was then dinner time so we went to a soba restaurant for another lovely meal followed immediately with some magical tricks performed by the waiter at our table .
It was then time to head home after a wonderful day out thanks to Mr and Mrs Kudo and Hiroko . Arigato Gozaimus ! !
This morning we slept in and when we woke up Anthony cooked us a lovely breakfast of grilled dried salted fish , miso soup and rice .
After breakfast we did some housework and then caught the train to Odawara
On the way to the station Anthony went to the local Family Mart and bought us some Pino ice cream just for after breakfast sweets.
The first stop on our wander around Odawara was the pickled plum shop where we were treated to several tastings .
By then it was lunchtime so we had lunch at a little Japanese curry shop which was very nice .
After lunch we wandered around in the shopping centres and arcades and we became completely disorientated but some how , with Anthony’s help found our way out to the street.
Next we went to the green tea shop where Anthony stocked up on tea (green) and we also had a cup while we were there .
We kept on wandering around until we found the Salted dried fishguts shop (yes) and went in and had a tasting of extremely salted and the mildly salted fishguts . It was a completely new taste “sensation” but maybe something you couldn’t eat a large plateful of or come back for a second serve. It is normally eaten with a bowl of steamed rice . We also tasted and bought some fish pate and had another complimentary cup of green tea . Then went and had a coffee on our way back to Odawara station and went to the JR office and activated our rail passes . Caught the train back to Hotaruda (our local ) station and on the walk home we went to the supermarket to buy some ingredience for tonights dinner (never enough food) .
Tonight Katsu cooked Chinese /Japanese dumplings , miso soup soup , rice , sashimi and pickles and green tea . Yum ! !
After dinner we started planning tomorrows activities .
Today we had a more relaxed day , we just caught the train to Odawara at about mid day . Today we had lunch at Bagel Bagels and then had praline beard papas from the Beard Papa shop . Walked up the hill to Odawara Castle where we were for most of the afternoon . The original castle was built in about the year 1450 and suffered many earthquakes and fires over the centuries , and was last renovated in the late 1960s . The castle has four floors of artifacts of the past centuries and is very interesting . At the top there are good 360deg view of the surrounding area , including the sea and local hills and city , but not very good today for photos because of cloud cover and haze . We did not see the sun all day. Disey just told me that the seats in the ladies toilets are heated ! ! --Wow-- ! !
On the way back to the station we went to the pickled plum shop and had another tasting and bought some pickled plums for yet another taste sensation. Then we went to The Excelsior Café and had coffee and cake and I had honey cappuccino . At the station we met this lovely little old lady who spoke English and helped us find the correct train and said she was going to The Blue Mountains for a one week holiday . Went to the supermarket on the way home and then had a quiet night
We slept in again this morning and after breakfast (normal breakfast) we caught the train to Odawara and then bought a two day pass to Hakone .
Today is Wednesday and it’s cloudy and foggy . We went by normal train from Odawara to Hakone , then on the Switchback railway to Gora where we stopped for lunch . Unfortunately we could not get in to the Wildboar Restaurant , it was too crowded , so had settle for rice and noodles at another little café . After lunch we got on to the Cable Car to Sounzan .
From Sounzan went by Ropeway (skyway) higher up the mountain and got off at Owakudani where we walked up the hill to the hot volcanic , sulphuric springs which were just amazing . There of course was a very strong smell of sulphur in the air and sulphur bubbling out of the earth . In the boiling volcanic water they do boiled eggs which come out black , and they sell to the unsuspecting public by the thousands . We bought some and tried them and they tasted like eggs ! ! We walked past a hundred young school kids and of course they all wanted to say “hello” “hello” “hello” , they love to practise their English . After a short while the clouds started to lift a little and we got another view of Mt Fuji which we and thousand of others got excited about .
We got back on the Ropeway (skyway) and the mist cleared a little more then we could see a clear view of the valley with the sulphur bubbling out of the ground and where they had to shore up the hill to stop the mudslides .
Then we got back on the Ropeway and continued on down to lake Ashi , got off and had a quick look around , by then it was getting late so we re-traced our steps back home changing ropeways , cable cars , switchback , trains and more trains .
To Lake Ashi
We left home a little bit earlier this morning and got the train to Odawara where I had to go to the railway information office to sort out a problem because yesterday I stuffed up my ticket . Then we caught the train to Hakone-Yumoto , and then caught the bus to Harkone -Machi which is a very, very twisting, winding road up through the mountains and down again to Lake Ashi . It is a very beautiful lake surrounded with natural forest although it was cloudy and misty and just a touch of Autumn starting to show through . We then boarded the “Pirate” ship for the next leg of the journey which took us to Togendai . No sightings of Mt Fuji today , it’s far too cloudy and misty . We then got on the Ropeway (skyway) , the same as yesterday for the first leg of our long journey back down the mountain . On the way we talked to a school principle with children who were very interested in Australia , plus more school children who just wanted to say “hello” “hello” “hello” .
Also on the cable car we talked to another very friendly man and his wife who could only say Ayers Rock and Kangaroo , but we managed to “communicate” for a long time, while some other little old ladies sitting nearby were very amused . They probably thought I was Crocodile Dundees older brother ! ! It has been another nice day and we arrived home early for a change .
Thursday night
Last night Katsu and Anthony took us out to one of their favourite seafood sashimi restaurants . Well it was truly amazing food (see photos) , I think the fish we were eating were swimming around in the fish tank just a few minutes before . ! ! Although it was a seafood restaurant there was horse meat on the menu ,,,,, so we have now had the sashimi horsemeat experience . I must say it’s very chewy , same texture as sponge rubber .
Today is Friday, so this morning we did some washing , then Katsu took us (minus Anthony) for a nice drive up to Hakone -Yumoto where our first stop was the very old style Fujia Hotel where we had a look around and took some photos, and just to drop a few names , it was where John and Yoko stayed when they came to the countryside in the old days . Then we stopped at Gora which is on the cable car line and this is where we had lunch at a very nice café /restaurant . We then went to the Hakone Moa Museum of Art and the beautiful nearby moss garden . We then drove around Lake Ashi where we went yesterday on the Pirate ship,, to a lookout , hoping to see Mt Fuji but by then it was getting too cloudy and starting to get dark so we got to the motorway and came home.
Today is Saturday and we just left Odawara station on The Shinkansen on our way with Anthony to Osaka . First of all we went past many lovely green tea plantations , this is a great green tea growing area. Then we saw a really good view of Mt Fuji from the train . Apart from the green tea fields it is just a sprawling metropolis of houses, factories , hotels and all kinds of houses , rice fields and everything else you’d like to name that goes on forever. When we arrived at Osaka we met up with two of Anthony’s friends Peter and Yasuko . We caught another train to I don’t know where and went up to the 29th floor and had lovely Okonumiayki for lunch which was cooked on a built in hotplate at our table . Osaka is about 500 kms from Odawara and we did it in about 2.5 hours. After lunch we said goodbye to Peter and went by car with Yasuko to a beautiful very old terraced rice growing area called Nose (Nose ay). Yasuko is around 67 years old and very lively and hyperactive and will burst out into song now and then . We went back to her house in the countryside where she cooked a traditional Japanese dinner complete with Sake and Sesame wine and finished off with dried Persimmons .
Today is Sunday and last night we stayed at Yasuko’s lovely country house which is about 50 Kms from Osaka We had a really nice sleep on the futons on the floor and Anthony and Yasuko got up early and cooked us a really nice full Japanese breakfast . Yasuko then drove us in her little Subaru cube car through some lovely rice growing areas and lots of persimmon trees. We then drove through Osaka, and just before we got onto the Motorway Anthony took over the driving . We stopped at a service centre on the Motorway for a quick coffee on our way to Nara . We stopped at Horyu-ji Temple which dates back to the 7th century , it is the oldest temple in Japan . Before we went in to the temple we had a Persimmon ice cream . Inside the great temple we went to the museum which displayed many articles of 7th century Japanese National Treasures. We then had a picnic lunch finished of with some dried squid . After lunch we wandered down the street to browse past the shops and had a green tea ice cream . Following on we went to Yakushi-ji Temple where we saw the oldest timber pagoda in Japan which is only open on very rare occasions but it was open today so we did get to see this amazing building .
As we headed back to Osaka we went through many tunnels , one of which was 5 Kms long .
Yasuko took us out to dinner at her favourite restaurant , which is supposed to be one of the most outstanding in Japan . It is an old small family run restaurant with only “word of mouth” clientele and no advertising or signs to say it is a restaurant . There is no menu and the dishes were special Autumn dishes which the chef chooses to create on the evening. I lost count at about 8 courses of amazing Japanese food which include fish sperm in clear broth ! ! So we’re are all waiting for any consequences . The next book will be something like “The gourmet food lovers guide to Japan” although I think it has already been written . After consuming more than enough food we went on a “mystery tour” of Nara and Osaka to find the hotel where we stayed .
Monday 25th The Golden Pavillion
Today we had a more low key breakfast at a little bakery near the station , and Yasuko came to meet us , Yasuko is a very sweet lovely person and speaks a little English and we speak even less Japanese but we still communicate very well. Then we caught 3 different trains to our hotel in Kyoto and booked in,,, then went to by another train to a Temple, Tenryu-ji, which has a beautiful world Cultural Heritage Garden, and walked in the rain.
Then past all these lovely sweets shops and cafes and had another picnic lunch at the Togetsu-kyo bridge . Then we walked back to another station and got on another little train , only one carriage, we got off the train then caught a taxi to go to The Golden Pavilion in the Temple grounds of Kinakaku-ji. Beautiful. Lots of people and it was evidently a slow day. Diana was questioned by a small Japanese schoolboy learning English, on her impressions of Japan.
A bus brought us back to Kyoto station where we said goodbye to Yasuko and Anthony as they went home.
We bought a SANDWICH at a bakery and returned to the hotel to blog. Unfortunately still no internet.
Tuesday 26th
This morning we left Kyoto , caught the 9:16 Shinkansen train to Osaka , only a short trip where we changed trains bound for Nagasaki on the Hakari Super Express via Hakata . The speed readout on the train was 285 Kms per hour !
The train made 3 or 4 brief stops on the way to Hakata. We then changed trains at Hakata onto a Kumomi train to Nagasaki.
The distance from Kyoto to Nagasaki is about 600 Kms and is completely populated with houses , factories etc etc , only to be broken up occasionally by little rice and vegetable growing fields .
At one stage of the trip Diana said that I could sit next to the window so that I could take photos of the view when we go over the sea , but instead of going over a bridge we went through a tunnel under the sea to the Island of Kyushu . We lost count of the number of tunnels we went through .
Today the weather is very overcast and quite cool .
Disey is very confused with the ladies fashions , I rather like the slim Japanese girls wearing leather boots to above the knee with the shortest of short shorts.
The countryside looks a little greener down here with more rice and fields of cosmos flowers . We soon come to the “seaside” of grey volcanic looking “beaches” with hundreds of wooden poles in the water which looks like fishing nets . When we arrived at Nagasaki we went and had coffee at Mister Doughnuts , then went to the Info Centre to find the location of our hotel , then walked about 15 minutes to the hotel . From our hotel , which has free internet (we hope) there is a nice view of Nagasaki Harbour . There is a little convenience store just below the hotel where we bought a couple of drinks (alcoholic) and hot food and just had happy hour and something to eat.
27th Nagasaki
This morning we had breakfast at Starbucks (horror) just over the road from the hotel . It is a lovely sunny day in Nagasaki , the first sunny day since we’ve been in Japan.
After breakfast we caught a tram, or streetcar they call them , from just around the corner , they have lovely little old trams , to Nagasaki Peace Park /
Atomic Bomb epicentre . The Peace Park is very beautiful with many statues and sculptures depicting peace and hope for no more war throughout the world . There were monuments to peace from many nations , too many to take photos of them all . The main ones were The Peace Statue , The Black Stone Pillar representing the Epicentre of the Atomic Blast , The Peace Fountain in the shape of the wings of a dove , a large monument of a mother and child , commemorating the 50th anniversary of the Atomic blast. We then went into The Nagasaki Atomic Bomb Museum which comprised of a very beautiful Memorial Hall , museum and roof garden . Throughout the park and the museum there were many, many school groups , and as usual we were “entertained” by kids wanting to say “hello” “hello” and take our photo .
We spent the whole afternoon in The Peace Museum which displayed the graphic evidence of the devastating Atomic Blast just as we saw at Hiroshima about ten years ago .
Nagasaki , we think is a lovely little city which seems easy to get around , and where we found some very helpful, friendly people.
We are keeping our eye on the weather because of the typhoon approaching from the Southerly direction , which is expected to be centred near mainland Japan this weekend , so we may head back to Anthony’s place a day early.
Thursday 28th Nagasaki
We left the hotel at 8:45 and walked to the railway station and booked our seats for the return to Odawara . While we were there we bought an all day tram /streetcar pass as well . Also while we were there we met some Aussies so we stopped and had a good chat and swapped a few travel stories of Japan We then had coffee and cake for breakfast at Tullys, then we jumped on the tram/streetcar bound for the Sofukuji Temple , Chinese Ming architecture of the late 1600s . It is a beautiful temple and uncrowded except for the usual groups of schoolchildren so there was again the usual “hello” “hello” ! !
We went to the temple shop and Disey bought a little china frog and we were “talking” to this lovely little old Chinese lady who was very friendly and sweet so we gave her a koala to keep and she though it was Christmas .
We then walked up a street still in the Chinese quarter past the Chinese cemeteries, where there were lots of shops selling headstones , monuments and all sorts of burial pariphenalia . Then we went to the Kofukuji Temple , another very ornate Chinese Temple where we went into tatami matted rooms with displays of lovely kimonos and looking out through a beautiful Chinese garden . The four ladies there were very interested about where we were from and were very excited when I signed the visitors book and then they translated our names into Chinese. We then wandered down the street, through a little market and bought 2 bananas . We then found another nice little street and found a nice Chinese café and had lunch . After lunch we wandered down to The Spectacles Bridge , the oldest stone arch bridge in Japan. We hopped back on the tram and went to Hollander Slope , an old steep cobblestone street with Western style houses which were from the Dutch , Portuguese and other Western traders from the early years .
After that we looked at a Confucian Shrine and met a friendly old Japanese man who told us remembers the Atomic bombing and that he was then 8 years old years old . He was a lovely old man and we gave him a kangaroo pin . Back on the tram we went to the Wharf Area , had a look around , had a coffee and went back to our hotel a bit worn out . We both like Nagasaki very much and would recommend a visit .
29th Nagasaki to Odawara
We checked out of the Hotel at 9:00 o’clock and walked to the station , had a coffee , actually I had a nutty caramel latte and Disey had tea and French toast with Maple syrup .
Went to a shop and bought our lunchboxes to take with us and then hopped onboard The Kanome Express to Hakata . We noticed down this part of the country the houses are a bit bigger than normal and so are the crops of rice and all of the other crops , which we can’t identify . We changed trains again at Hakata on to the JR Hikari Railstar Super Express bound for Shin-Osaka .
These trains are just amazing the way they all run spot on time and like clockwork , and completely spotless and with service just like an airline .
The trains we are using are pretty fast, about 285 Kms /Hr . but not the fastest , there is another (faster) more expensive class of express called The Nazomi
This days trip took was about 9 hours altogether including stops .
The weather started off nice and sunny this morning in Nagasaki but is now starting to become a lot more cloudy , maybe because of the approaching Typhoon .
There was about 1 hour between trains at Shin -Osaka so we wandered around looking at all the shops , mainly the Japanese sweets and cake shops .
We found a waffle shop selling about 20 different flavours so we had a Mango and Blood Orange and a Coffee Tiramisu flavour which were very yummy. We also bought some white and black sesame / red bean sweets .
It has been quite a restful day today just sitting in the trains watching Japan go by .
Then we hopped on to another train for the last part of today’s journey to Odawara where Anthony was waiting to meet us . Anthony then took us to another tiny little restaurant down a little back street where we started off with Sweet potato wine and Plum wine , yakitori (charcoal chicken kebabs) , it seems like all we do is eat ! ! The restaurant owner / chef and some of the customers thought it was great because they could practise their English on us. We then caught another train home to Hotaruda , had another plum wine and off to bed . Oyasuminasai
Saturday 30th
This morning Anthony made us another traditional Japanese breakfast of rice , seaweed, miso/mushroom soup , natto , omelette and pickle.
The weather is a bit miserable today because of the typhoon just nearby , so today is a do nothing day which is a bit of a relief . Anthony and Disey walked to the shops (yes food) and I went outside with an umbrella for about 5 minutes to close the shutters .
This afternoon Anthony started cooking tonight’s dinner with some email instructions from Katsu who was at work.
The dish was called Oden Hotpot which started off as seaweed (kelp) stock and with “everything” added to make it very yummy . We had a bottle of Chilean wine , Blowfish sake , special sweets made by Katsu and a sweet plumwine.
31st
I slept pretty well last night albeit some strange dreams which could be due to the Blowfish Sake we drank, although I’m writing this,,, this morning so I must still be alive.
We didn’t do much this morning , Katsu went to work , probably to escape our strange Aussie accents , Anthony went to do an exam and we went in to Odawara to meet him at 1;00 o’clock . Then we went to lunch at a noodle shop in one of the back streets . After lunch we wandered around and found some nice little shops , one was a little pottery shop where we bought some things for the house and other bits . Then we found a red bean shop and bought some sweets , before meeting up with some friends of Anthony’s Mrs Nakamura . She took us to her house where we met her daughter Kumiko and we had afternoon tea and chatted non stop . After about 3 hours Mr Nakamura arrived home so we continued chatting . They were really lovely people , and once again it was great to meet some Japanese people in their own home . They insisted on driving us home so we all piled in the Toyota and came home . We had to stop at The Family Mart convenience store to get Disey another bottle of Chilean wine to keep her happy .
1st Nov Tokyo Shinjuku
This morning we went by train from the local station Hotaruda , to Shinjuku with Anthony . It was a 1.5 hour train trip to Shinjuku with one change of trains.
The first thing we did was have a coffee , before going to the Bic Camera shop and played around with new cameras and mobile phones and other gadgetry . Shinjuku is a bit overwhelming at first even though it was not rush hour , but very interesting to just wander around looking . There are some extremes here like big trucks driving around belting out LOUD rock music to promote some ones latest album and then there is a gentle little machine on the footpath where you can clean your glasses for nothing .
We went again to UniQ clothing shop to browse at their nice winter range mainly for Disey but every thing was TOO small .
Then we went to another shop called Tokyu Hands which is about 7 or 8 floors of household gadgets , hardware and all sorts of amazing bits and pieces , we did buy something here but I cant remember what .
After that we wandered over the bridge (railway lines) took a few more photos (lots) and around some back streets and had to drag Diana past 3 McDonalds , 1 KFC and a Starbucks , till we found a Chinese noodle bar and had lunch .
After lunch we went to the Toto kitchen , bathroom and toilet showrooms on the 26th and 27th floors of a multi story building . Toto is a huge manufacturer of sanitary ware in Japan so this is their showrooms , display of all the latest amazing gadgets . There is also as a bonus,, a great view from 3 sides over Tokyo city which stretches beyond the horizon (thick smog) in all directions.
We finally picked out Disey’s new kitchen for home but can’t yet decide on a colour , there are too many choices and also we must email the exact dimensions so that they can commence manufacture , so it will be a bit after Christmas before any installation can be done. ( exciting ) ! !
After all that excitement it was about 5 o’clock and we hopped back on the train and headed back to Odawara this time via Yokahama , changing trains once . On the train on the way home Anthony had a nice young lady who was sitting next to him fall asleep on his shoulder, although we think she may have just faked the sleep ! ! One and a half hour later we arrived at Odawara , had a coffee and went to the JR booking office and booked our seats for our next (surprise ) trip. Disey now has a very sore foot where Anthony kicked her for misbehaving so Katsu picked us up from the Station in his little car called Abigail .
Tonight we had some South African wine, and Katsu ,who loves cooking, made some Takoyaki (octopus balls) and Sushi which was very yummy.
We then taught Katsu some more Aussie lingo and it was time for bed.
Well today’s planned short trip has been put on hold because Disey has a sore foot and wants to give it a rest .
The weather is really fine and sunny so first thing this morning I went for a walk along the river to have look at Mt Fuji which now has some snow on top and is very clear . So I went along a little path by the river to the main road bridge about 1 kilometre away and took some photos and walked back around the back blocks of houses and flats and small rice fields in between .
The day has been fairly uneventful although I did drag Disey out for a short walk after lunch to have a look at the Mountain and that made her feel a lot better and on the way back we went to the Family Mart . We are regular customers now and they give us special foreigner treatment .I think we are the biggest customers of the day .
On the way back there were all these little people with strange coloured safety vests on waving light sticks and the local policeman was also riding around on his little motor scooter and he came over and chatted to us but I told him I didn’t understand .
So we had a very quiet night ,ready for some more action tomorrow
3rd Nov to Tokyo and Nikko
Today is Japanese Culture Day and is a public holiday and we (4 of us) left home at 10 o’clock and caught the train from Hotaruda station to Tokyo .
We caught the Shinkansen to Tokyo via Yokahama which took about 45 minutes. Then we found a locker to put our bags in. We then boarded another train and changed trains twice to get on the subway to Iriya station . Then we met Arabella , a friend of Anthony’s and wandered around to Kababashi . We went browsing around little streets and shops and I bought a curtain thing for the bedroom door . Then we went to a nice restaurant and the first dish we had was called Loach , which was a little salted fish , followed by miso soup , catfish and eel and lots of green tea . It was another new amazing Japanese taste experience . We don’t know how we will get used to Australian food again ! After lunch it was a frantic 30 minute rush to get back to where our bags were in the locker , we got back on the underground again and then changed trains about three times till we came back to Tokyo Station again and after a hurried goodbye , Arabella gave us a little gift of nibbles to eat on the train, Disey and I caught the Shinkansen to Nikko via Ozanyumia where we changed trains . Arrived at Nikko at 5 o’clock and it was dark by then and we got a taxi to our hotel . The taxi driver was very helpful and he found our hotel in amongst a group of 4 or 5 small hotels /guest houses so we rewarded him with a little kangaroo tie pin . The hotel /Guest house is a small family run cosy establishment near the forest . After checking in we went for a walk , it was freezing cold , down the street to a little supermarket to get something to eat , and some breakfast and some thing to drink , all a bit of a mystery because everything is in Kanji , but we’re getting used to it . We watched a bit more Japanese games show TV and went to bed . It’s been a BIG day ! !
4th Nov Nikko
It was very cold this morning when I went downstairs and outside to the vending machine in the street to get 2 bottles of hot green tea .
We had breakfast in the room of takeaway surprises that we bought from the local supermarket last night .
After breakfast we hit the tourist trail again and hopped on the bus just outside the hotel and went into Nikko . First thing we went to the tourist information and got some better maps and bought a 2 day bus pass . We then hopped on a bus bound for Chuzenji Onsen , and our first stop was The Akechidaira Ropeway where we had to que up (as usual) for a ride up to a lookout , which was very spectacular with all the Autumn colours .
We then came back down, had lunch and hopped on another bus down an extremely steep and narrow winding road to Lake Chuzenji . Which is a lovely little town with spectacular scenery and lots of great little craft shops and eating shops (more food) .
After coffee and crepes for afternoon tea we walked down the road to The Kegon Falls where we went down in a lift 100 metres and then down the stairs to the falls lookout . Kegon Falls are one of the 3 top falls in Japan .
The weather has been sunny and fine but cool all day but is starting to get cold so we caught another bus for a long windy trip back to Nikko .
We finally got back through all the traffic jams (normal) and wandered around for a while and bought some hot fried salty sweet buns and sweet red bean and chestnut buns for tea and caught another bus back to our hotel .
5th Nov Nikko day 2
This morning we got up early again and I went down to the drink vending machine to get our morning cup (bottles) of tea .
After breakfast we caught the bus to Nikko station and put our bags in a locker. Then we caught another bus to bus stop 7 and went to a bakery for morning cakes and then to look at the Shinkyo (sacred) Bridge . Then we walked up many steps towards the Temples . Today is a day of full on Temples .
We then came across a display of very large Japanese Chrysanthemums and Dahlias . We climbed a few more steps and I kept telling Disey “only a few more steps” which went on and on for a few more hours looking at many more Temples and lovely Autumn leaves .
Then we went inside The Toshogu Shrine .
Then we stood in another enormous queue and again took our shoes off to go in to The Mausoleum .
There is some amazing restoration work going on at some of these Temples , one of them is being completely covered by a permanent steel structure .
We just met a young Japanese girl who studied in Adelaide so we chatted for a while and took some photos .
Elizabeth and Penelope have been telling us that they are a bit “templed out” at the moment so we will start making our way out .
We walked back down all the steps down to the sacred bridge again and to the bus stop and caught the bus back to the Nikko town centre and had a wander around till we found a little restaurant /café and had lunch .
After lunch we looked around Nikko and bought some hot sweet potato honey red bean buns which were pretty yummy ! !
We then went to the station and picked up our bags from the locker and caught the train back to Utsynomia , changed trains for Tokyo , changed trains again for Odawara . We met Anthony at Odawara and so naturally we went to an amazing restaurant on the 6th floor . While we were enjoying our meal we all looked at each other and said “do you feel something moving” ? ,,, and yes everything WAS moving for about 1 minute , it was the second earth tremor in the last 24 hours . Disey said that she felt something move in bed this morning , but that was while I was downstairs getting green tea , but apparently the earth tremors were centred around Nikko where we were ! !
After a fairly eventful day we caught the train home to Hotaruda and had an early night.
Saturday 6th
This morning we left home in Abigail at 10 o’clock , it is a beautiful sunny day and we are heading for Orhito . We drove up some windy mountain roads with more Autumn colours and our first stop was along The Izu Peninsular was Jukokutoge where we had a good view of Mt Fuji . After taking some photos we went into the shop and had our first food tastings for the day , it was almost a meal . Disey bought some prawn crackers , garlic udon and dried persimmons. Driving on a bit futher we could see The Suruka Bay (Pacific Ocean) . Then Katsu took us to a big farming property which is connected to his work .There just happened to be a food festival on today and so after some more tastings we had lunch . Everything here is organically grown . We sat down and had lunch and watched a music singing performance for a while , then we went out in to the field and joined in with lots of other people harvesting their own vegetables. First we harvested (digging)Daikon raddish , then Sweet potato . After diging in the field we went back to the food and had an organic ice cream .
We then drove on to Atami where first of all we dangled our feet in the hot spring , very beneficial after all that hard work (eating) . Then we wandered down a little arcade and browsed the shops and had some more tastings and a coffee at this lovely coffee shop . By now it is dark , it seems to be getting dark very early , about 5 o’clock and on the way home we stopped at a supermarket to get some more ingredience for tonight dinner that Katsu had planned which was miso soup and fried rice wrapped in thin omelette . It was now time for bed .
Sunday 7th
Today we left home at 11.30 a.m. and Abigail took us on a short cut through the back streets to the music of Abba . Our first stop today was the Japanese Lantern Shop where today they had a workshop on lantern making , so we / I with some instructions and translations , sat down on the floor and made a Japanese lantern which took about an hour and was a lot of fun.
Then after a vending machine coffee we started heading for the hills again. Again Katsu took us on one of his many shortcuts through some very winding narrow roads , past many hot springs resorts of Hakone-Yumoto . The day was nice and sunny which enhanced the beautiful Autumn colours .
We drove through Gora and we had our first look for the day at Mt Fuji, now we’re heading for Fuji-Yoshida and about 1 hour later we stopped at this amazing little thatched roof restaurant . The place was very old and we sat at a “table” , in the centre was a charcoal fire for cooking . We started off with Pamazaki to drink which is the residue of the sweet rice wine . Followed by pork cutlets and spring onion which we charcoal grilled . Then there was Wild boar Hotpot with mushrooms, quail and Udon noodles etc . We were very close by now and from the restaurant there was a great view of Mt Fuji.
During the very yummy meal we also drank Marmushi snake wine , which tastes a little like whisky and is supposed to be very beneficial to your health. At first the lady /owner wasn’t sure if we would like it so first she gave us a free tasting , and was quite shocked that we did drink it .
After we finished the meal the lady showed us where to get a better view of the mount , and we waled a short distance to a little park and there she was , she is so big when you get up close ! !
It took about 2 hours to drive back even with some of Katsu’s shortcuts so when we were nearing home we called in at Kashi-Noki Swiss/Japanese cake shop and indulged in dinner (dessert) .
Another full on day .
Monday 8th
We left home at 10. 30 this morning and caught to Odawara and went to the JR ticket office to book train tickets for the remainder of the week .
Then we wandered up the street from the station to a timber hand craft shop where we given a nice cup of coffee while we browsed around and bought some goodies .
We went back to the station and had to drag Disey past Starbucks coffee shop where they had caramel éclair latte . Then we went to a little hotel where we had nice lunch for 500 Yen each .
After lunch we went and browsed through a little sweets shop and then went to a glasses cleaning machine and all cleaned our glasses.
Then we went to a little hand made paper and tea shop where Disey bought some more goodies , she’s on a (shopping) roll today we can’t control her .
We then wandered down the street and found a calligraphy exhibition and were invited in to have a look and stayed for about 1 hour , it was really beautiful and we met one of the artists .
We are browsing around the little back streets of Odawara and we just went into a lacquer shop and then a bamboo and cane shop and then a glass and mirror shop , all little old shops that have been old family businesses for years. Then we had a look in a kimono shop , then we went to the Odawara Castle and walked up a few steps to look at the Chrysanthemum Exhibition.
Then we went to the 100 Yen shop to buy some junky things for ourselves , then went to a lovely more expensive shop to buy souvenirs .
On the way home we went to the local supermarket to get our usual supplis of beer and wine etc .
We were sitting down having a quiet drink and heard some strange music playing outside and it was the Tofu delivery man , so we all went out and met the tofu man and some of the neighbours which was a whole lot of fun and Anthony bought some fresh tofu . Too much excitement again for one day
Tues 9th
We left home this morning at 9 o’clock went to the station and hopped on the train to Odawara . While on the station waiting for our next train we got chatting first of all to couple of people who ,,, she was Japanese and spoke very good English , he was Italian and could not speak English and they lived in the French part of Switzerland and spoke French ,,, so . Then we started talking to a lovely old Japanese man who spoke English and was very helpful to us foreigners .Then on to The Shinkansen , heading West towards Nagoya and to Maibara where it was a bit of a rush to change trains to a Shirasagi Express bound for Kanazawa . The weather started off mild and windy this morning and gradually became cold and windy . While on this last train we sat next to another friendly old Japanese man who could not speak English but was still very helpful especially when it was time to change train .
We travelled through some beautiful mountain country side with lots of rice fields again and some very long tunnels .
I forgot to mention that first thing this morning Anthony reminded us that it is our wedding anniversary . Thanks Anthony ! !
We arrived at Kanazawa at about 2.30 PM and the weather was very windy and raining and cold and first we had a coffee at a German coffee shop then went to the tourist info and got some maps and found out where to get a bus to our hotel . Caught the bus to the hotel so here we are ! !
When it was time to go out to celebrate our wedding anniversary with a romantic lavish dinner, we went downstairs to go outside , but it was raining more than ever, so there was no choice but to grab a few drinks and nuts out of the ever reliable vending machine and retire to our warm cosy room for the evening ! ! Saved by the drink vending machine again ! !
Wednesday 10th
We started off this morning having a nice Japanese business mans breakfast at the Toyoko Inn Hotel , Korinbo, Kanazawa .
After breakfast we just had to go outside to get on the Loop Bus which is a hop on, hop off bus to take people around the city . The weather is freezing cold and raining which we knew about before we came , but Kanazawa is such a beautiful city with so much to see it does not really matter about the weather , we have rain coats and umbrellas and today we each bought a nice warm beanie . I don’t know what the word for it is in Japanese ? .
Our first stop was bus stop 6 and we went for a wander down some beautiful old cobblestone streets in The Higashi Chaya district which was a Geisha area . Then we came across The Gold Leaf museum / shop , where first of all we were greeted with a cup of gold leaf tea . We browsed around the shop in complete amazement , never having seen anything quite like this before . Put this on your “must see” list . After about 1 hour of browsing it was time to visit the “must see” gold leaf toilets ! ! We did buy a few bits and then went back to the real world . We then found our way, navigation by Disey back to the loop bus and went around to stop 18 which is The Omi-Cho Market .
After browsing around the market and having a tasting or three , we met a business man who spoke very good English and another little old lady about 4 feet tall who did not speak English but wanted to know where we came from and told us she was 80 years old . I wanted to take her photo but she was much too shy.
We then found a very nice Sushi Bar which was very crowded and had to wait for a seat / stool , and had a lovely, lovely meal . It is the beginning of the crab season in Kanazawa and we had crab miso soup . I got “talking” to a friendly man sitting next to me , he spoke some English and I “spoke” as much Japanese as I could , but we were able to communicate without too many problems. People here , and everywhere we’ve been are lovely .
After lunch we went back to the loop bus stop and while waiting for the bus another little old lady came up to us and wanted to know where we were from and wondered if we were too cold . It’s amazing ! ! By this time Disey’s feet were too tired to walk any further so I got off the bus at stop 13 and walked to along the river , across the river to The Nichi Chaiya district and looked at another old area of Museums and Geisha tea houses . I walked back to the hotel , then went out to the convenience store to get some drinks and nibbles .
We went out again to the convenience stor to get some thing to eat and then went to bed . Oyasuminasai .
11th November
After breakfast this morning we left the hotel and walked not very far away to the Naga-machi Buke Yachiki District . This is an ancient Samuri area from the 16th century . We walked along some narrow cobbled streets which were dotted with very old mud and straw walled houses and shops. We wandered along further and looked at the Old Merchants shop. As we were walking back to the main street we were overcome by the lovely aroma of this bakery so we then bought some nice cakes and lunch . We then started walking along a lovely tree lined boulevard and came across a large piece of brass artwork in the shape of two legs . Just as a contrast we then had a coffee at Mr Doughnuts.
The rain we had this morning has now stopped and we have some blue sky and sunshine.
We wandered along the beautiful boulevard to The Kenrokuen Garden . This garden is one of the three most famous gardens in Japan , it originated more than 300 years ago. The rain unfortunately started again which mad it difficult to take good photos . Despite the rain we loved looking at the lovely water features, tea houses , autumn leaves and trees .
After a lot of walking we found a seat and sat down by the lake , had our lunch and just soaked up the tranquil scenery.
We finished our walk around the gardens then made our way across the Ishikawabashi Bridge to the Kanazawa Castle Park . More nice gardens with a large castle which dates back to 1546 . Some parts of the castle have been destroyed by fires , etc over the years , as with many other castles and have been rebuilt to the original design . We went back down the hill and went past what looked like some archaeological diggings . After strolling through the castle grounds we went to the Oyama Jinja Shrine . Took a few more photos to make today’s photos total 106 . We went back to the hotel both with very tired legs after a long day on the tourist trail .
Friday 12th
We had another nice business mans breakfast at the hotel and left at 9.30 , caught a bus to the station where we had plenty of time to browse around .
At the station we watched the workmen put the snow protection over the trees out the front . Also around the city , in the pavement are water jets that melt the ice and snow and they were testing these in preparation for the oncoming winter . While we were watching, I think we were filmed by one of the local TV stations so we may be on TV tonight .. Ha Ha ! !
We put our bags in a locker and went and had coffee and cake at The German Cake Shop . After that we browsed the many shops and had a few tastings (there are plenty) and bought some special local sweets called “chosei den” . Then we bought lunch to take with us on the train , browsed some more , then it was time to get on the train back to Maibara , I had a lunch box and Disey had a very special , BIG Japanese sandwich “we send you the lovely flavour of the wind in the meadow , a surprising deliciousness you’ll never forget” ! ! changed trains , then to Odawara , then to Hoturuda , our home station . It was another good trip back past many rice fields and vegi fields , mountains and autumn scenery . When we got home Disey did the washing in a new washing machine and she can now read the Kanji instructions, she’s getting very clever ! Her new favourite morning TV program is “Okinomiyaki Bay” !
Saturday 13th
We all slept in this morning and had a very late breakfast made by Anthony , then morning coffee about mid day before going to Dianacity Shopping Centre . We did some very necessary food tasting and then went to eat at Mos Burger where we had not been since our first visit to Japan 10 years ago . This afternoon we just spent walking around with Anthony and Katsu , and went to The Bonito Shop where we were given many tastes of dried Bonito and met a very sweet little old lady who insisted on giving us lots of bags of shaved Bonito and seaweed sweets to take home to Australia . We tried to explain to her that we could not take any in to Australia but she was not convinced . The weather is very strange today because of a huge yellow sand storm some where in China that is blowing over most of Japan
Then we went down to the Odawara “beach” which was ,,,,, well see photos !
A bit later on we were walking along the street and another lady approached us and said that she had seen us a few days ago and it was one of the lady’s we had met at the calligraphy exhibition about one week ago , so we had a chat to her for a while and she said that she had some great photographs of us.
And after that we went to the Supermarket to buy some ingredience for tonight’s meal . Tonight Katsu is giving Diana her second lesson on making Okonumiyaku . We have had a very nice day with Anthony .
Sunday 14th
The Last Day
This morning we made fresh home made pasta dough and left it in the fridge to set .
We had a late breakfast and then caught the train to Odawara and then to Kamukura where we first of all wandered down the little narrow shopping street ,which was very busy as usual , and we just browsed and had lots of food tastings , so much so that we didn’t need a meal . But then we found a dessert restaurant where after some very difficult choices we all ordered something different and then shared each dish around . It was all really yummy ! !
After “lunch” we went back to the station and caught a train back one stop to Kita-Kamukura and went to the Inga-Fuji Temple and took Diana on some more exercise , just a few more steps . Although the weather was a bit dull for good photos we saw some more nice Autumn colours . We then met a nice man who showed us some of his photos he had taken of cherry blossoms and Autumn leaves over the past months , he also gave us two of his photos and we gave him a little kangaroo tie pin which he was pretty excited with .
Then I waked up many, many more steps to The Bell Tower which was another National Treasure and well worth the walk.
After joining up with the others we then caught another very crowded train back to Odawara and then home .
We then had a few drinks and made the pasta for dinner and being fresh pasta it was really nice . We then did some final packing and had an early night .
Monday 15th
This morning we all got up very early and left home at 7:15 . Katsu drove us, it was our last ride in Abby (the trusty little Honda) to Odawara station where we caught the train to Ofuna . At Ofuna we had a quick last cup of coffee before saying a tearful farewell to Anthony . From Ofuna we caught The Narita Express (The NEX) to Narita terminal 2 . At Yokahama the NEX stopped and doubled in size by just adding more carriages . The NEX is a beautiful modern train with carriage service , all the aircraft departure time tables displayed for terminal 1 and 2 , news and weather screens and just about anything else you’d want to know . From Odawara to Narita it was about 3 hour journey .Then we had to join the huge queue to go through airport security , and again it wasn’t long before we were randomly checked and interviewed by the airport police again, just as we were when we arrived 4 weeks ago , they were nice blokes who just wanted to practise their English on us and find out a bit more about Australia .
Then there was another queue of tens of thousands of people who were also checking in . By the time we checked in it was getting a bit tiring but then there was another queue to get through passport control to the departure area and then jump on the shuttle train to the satellite terminal and find Gate 88, and to line up again to board our flight . In between all this we just managed to quickly grab some sandwiches and drink a can of (Disey’s favorite) alcoholic citrus “soft” drink , and have it on the run .
The flight to KL was ok and about 7 hours and KL airport was not so busy and we only had to find Gate C37 . It’s just huge amounts of fun this travelling . This time however we managed to help some nice Japanese ladies who were having a bit of trouble with Malaysian English , to find the correct gate . We also had time to update the blog and send a couple of Emails thanks to the free Wi-Fi internet which is available throughout the terminal .
The departure was delayed slightly but that didn’t matter and it left at 10 PM local time . Then about one and a half hours in to the flight , yes at 11:30 at night they served a full meal , which I did not have , I don’t usually eat a meal at 11:30 at night , I was really tired and so was everyone . Then they left all the lights in the plane ON for another 2 hours and I said to one of the flight attendants , it’s about time to turn off the lights so we can all get some sleep , but they were doing “in flight duty free sales” , for another hour . So by this time I was starting to get a bit grumpy trying to get some sleep with the lights still ON , (ask Diana) so I asked very politely could the lights be switched off , and then about another 15 minutes the lights finally went off , it would have been about 3 AM .
We arrived in Adelaide at 7.30 a.m. Got through customs after declaring all of our illegal imports and we were met and picked up by Bertie Num-Num’s little white taxi and we were very pleased to see him.
Elizabeth and Penelope are very pleased to be home but were too tired for photos and have gone straight to bed to catch up on their beauty sleep.
Thanks to all our readers out there in Blogs Land, and for all those great messages, we hope it is not too long before the next adventure.
Sayonara
Day 1 Singapore
In the last few days we started reading about all of the street scams and pickpockets in Moscow and St Petersburg.
And then Anthony started sending us all these Youtube videos of the pickpockets in Russia. Thanks Anthony !
By the time Sunday night came around Diana was in complete “meltdown” and wanted to stay home .
When we got to the airport we had a coffee and cake and Diana had about 4 Valium and then we got onboard and had a Singapore Sling so she was alright after that .
Lunch was very nice, Diana had the chicken and I had the fish which was Basa from the Mekong Delta I think .
We had good seats right over the wing , the most comfortable position , and I love the way the wing bends up just like a boomerang .
I took a few photos out the window and I think we flew over Lake Eyre .
We first flew Singapore Airlines about 20 years ago and the Singapore Girls are still looking good , have kept their age very well , it must be the high altitude lifestyle .
Day 2 Singapore
Today for breakfast I had Lueng Yong Pau , followed by Fish congee ,,, yum.
We left the hotel about 10 o’clock and got the hop on hop off bus and went to The Singapore Flyer, what an amazing experience with a great 360 deg view of Singapore .
In The Singapore flyer they play Exaloo music .
After The Singapore Flyer , Diana wouldn’t let me go shopping in the gift shop so we went down and had coffee and I had Durian ice cream toast ,,,, yum !
I had to keep Diana fully occupied in Singapore to keep her mind off the Russian pickpockets.
We hopped back on the next bus and we wanted to go to The Marina Bay Hotel Casino but we missed the stop , so we did the grand tour , changing buses at The Botanic Gardens and then on the next bus and stopped at a riverside Thai café restaurant for a late lunch .
By then we were getting a bit worn out so we hopped on another bus and went back to our hotel
We are now at the airport trying to stay awake for our flight to Moskva at 0230 Hrs
Day 3 Singapore to Moscow
We were picked up at our Singapore hotel at 2215 hrs with a very friendly driver , and on the way to the airport he wanted to confirm that we were going to Houston ,, eeerrr no we said Moscow . So when we checked in we found that our flight went to Houston via Moscow . What a relief ! !
Found free WI-FI at the airport to do the blog and do some emails .
The flight left at 0230hrs Wednesday and a meal was served at 1330 hrs . not used to eating at that hour .
It was a good 10 hour flight to Moscow , when we arrived it was grey and gloomy and a bit cool.
Moscow airport terminal is like stepping back in time to around the 1950s , however we found a very friendly English speaking girl at the Hotel transfer desk who took us out to our taxi.
The taxi ride was an unforgettable experience , starting with the first of many traffic jams just getting out of the airport car park .
From there on the driver just drove flat out ,with the hazard warning lights on most of the time , while creating his own lane in between the other lanes of traffic , and dodging past many cars that were broken down and just left in the middle of the road , together with smokey old unroadworthy trucks and also many accidents that made it a bit more unbelievable .
Nearly every car is just like the weather very grey, but every vehicle did have their lights switched on , but we thought that maybe was just because it’s Wednesday.? ?
We drove past dozens and dozens of 15 story 1950s created flats which went as far as we could see in ever direction . (also grey).
The traffic in the inner city just got worse , there does not seem to be any rules , just go any where you can find a space , they also park 2 and 3 deep , on the footpath and even park across zebra pedestrian crossings.
We did eventually get to the hotel .
The Marriot Grand Hotel is just as you would expect a Marriot Grand , and very central .
After lunch (leftovers from in flight breakfast) we wend down to Hotel bar and had the most expensive coffee on the planet , about $ 15 per cup .
We haven’t got our head around the Roubles yet .
Then went out for our first wander around the streets full of chaos and grey buildings , it all looks like it’s stuck in a time warp , but then you come across a shop selling Maserati or very high end fashion shops , but overall it looks like “ work in progress”.
We found a little street shop/ caravan selling all sorts of cheap stuff , and we bought a few cans of strong Russian beer (8% alc) , green tea , then found a Russian KFC and bought something to eat .
Watched tv and had a very early night.
Day 4 Moscow
We had a very long sleep last night followed by a very nice breakfast , I think we had Eggs Benedictine but I’m not sure .
Went for a walk down the street and we had to go down a tunnel to crossover and it was completely dark , we think the lights had failed , that was a bit scarry !
We went down a little side street and bought some bananas at a little street stall/caravan at 35Roubles per kilo which works out to $1.30 Aust .
One of my first impressions of Moscow is that smiling is illegal but smoking is compulsory .
We were wandering down towards Red Square and we started looking for lunch , we had to go down under the street and came across this huge underground shopping mall .
After lunch we walked around the outside of The Kremlin , took some photos and watched the changing of the guard with some very high “goose stepping”.
Then we wandered around and on our way back came to The Bolshoi Theatre
On our way back we found a coffee shop with free Wi- Fi internet so we did a bit more of The Blog and a few emails . We are now loyal customers and they gave us loyalty cards , but being in Russian we don’t quite know what they mean , so when we go back we’ll find out ! !
We then found another little shop/caravan and bought some beer and a can of gin and tonic for Diana and some cake for dinner .(very cheap).
I accidentally deleted some of the blog so I had to do it again and also through lack of internet I still have not been able to do justice to the photos .
The internet charges at both Singapore hotel and Moscow hotel are ridiculously expensive , $10 and $15 per hour , so ?
Day 5 Moscow start of tour
Today the weather is sunny and will reach 22 deg C
Went for a walk in a different direction this time , but I still haven’t got my compass bearing yet I still think North is South , but the sun must still come up in the East .
Walking along the footpath is again like an obstacle course because every where they’re repaving it with paving bricks , but you mostly just walk through where the work is being done,
There seems to be a lot of large 4 wheel drive vehicles here in Moscow , it’s probably because they are the most crash proof vehicles , which WOULD be a must.
Then we came across a very area like a park , where there were opera theatres and beautiful gardens , I think it was called Opera Park.
We are gradually finding out about public toilets , or the lack of .
I think there are more public toilets in Rome than in Moscow .
Having just said that ,, we have just found a public toilet . (free ) no cost !
We then sat down on the street corner bench and ate our dried up cake that we bought yesterday and just watched the traffic and 2 policemen booking all these drivers for just being on the road I think .
Our observation was that the best way to drive in Moscow is to lean on the horn and put your foot down !
Then this nice looking woman came up to us and wanted her photo taken in front of this statue that looked like a Russian Elvis , then the street washer came past and washed every thing in it’s way , including people .
Then we saw these army looking guys with sub machine guns come walking briskly through the park , we were so glad they kept going .
Then we came across a museum ,, The Museum of Modern Arts , and we went in the outer grounds and browsed all these beautiful bronze statues. Dale , you would have loved it .
We just saw a Toyota Camry with a snakeskin paint work , it all just gets more amazing by the minute .
We wandered down this very up market shopping street / mall , where there was display of photographs by Patty Boyd of The Beatles , Rolling Stones , Eric Clapton and others and struck up a conversation with a very friendly young Russian guy who was a local Muscovite he explained and also a great 60 - 70s music lover .
We then went around the corner to our favourite free Wi-Fi coffee shop and had lunch and did the blog an emails . Went back to the hotel and prepared for tonights meeting the tour director .
We then met up the tour director whose name is Olga , at 7pm and also met up with all the other people in the group , Frank and Norma , from Melbourne . So we are the youngest in the group apart from Olga .
We hen had a lovely 3 course dinner , which we didn’t really need (included in the tour) and after dinner we went for a long walk .
Now just a few boring statistics ,,, there are around 10 to 12 million people in Moscow , rising to 15 million during working hours . There are 5 million cars in Moscow and I think they are all driving down our street right now .
There are about 8 million people use The Metro every day .
Makes us wonder about our overcrowding in Australia .
Today we met our travel guide , Olga at 0900 hrs and drove to Red Square and looked around for about 1 hour or so , and had our first close look at the amazing St Basil’s Cathedral . This is the most amazing building I’ve ever seen . Napoleon must have also been impressed because he wanted to take the building back to France but because he was loosing the war he had to go back without it .
Also we just looked from the outside of Lenin’s Mausoleum .
Then went to Church of our Saviour , this church was completely demolished by the communist government in the 1930s and then rebuilt with private donations in the early 1990s.
We then walked over the bridge of The Moscow River for a great view of the city.
Then went to Novodevichy Convent , and then for lunch at an Armenian Restaurant which was very nice ,, then to War Memorial Park , then to walk down a shopping street/mall and browsed in a Russian traditional handicraft shop , but as usual we didn’t buy anything .
Back to our hotel at 1700 hrs ,watched tv and had happy hour ! !
More trivia ,,,,,, Moscow has more millionaires ( $US) than anywhere else in the world .
Great bed great sleep
Today the weather is fine again , so far lucky with the weather .
Left the hotel with Olga and went on The Metro , where she took us to 5 or 6 different stops The Moscow Metro (underground ) stations are highly decorated and lots of artwork , done under Stalin from about 1935 onwards.
The trains are very old , extremely noisy , but very fast .
Then we got to Red Square on The Underground and then joined a very long queue to go and view Lenin’s body in The Mausoleum . What an amazing experience .
We then went to have another look at St Basil’s Cathederal and then to GUM shopping Centre where we fist of all browsed around these very up market shops and arcades , and then had lunch .
After lunch we went through the gates to Alexander Garden to view the changing of the guard at 2 o’clock .
We then got on another long queue to go into The Kremlin where we visited The Armoury , the Royal jewels , thrones , coronation clothing and various other treasures , original Faberge Eggs etc .
We then went walking around the grounds of The Kremlin which was the original walled village until it got overcrowded .
There are also several cathedrals inside The Kremlin and we visited 2 of them . They are filled with the usual treasures and many frescos .
I have never seen so many gold domes .
We then saw the biggest brass bell in the world but it has never been rung because it cracked just as it was cooling , they poured water on it too cool it .
And then we saw the biggest cannon in the world , built in the 1500s , but it has never been fired .
Then we saw The Presidents Office , he only works there and lives somewhere out in the suburbs .
After The Kremlin we walked back to the Kremlin underground and went back to the hotel .
After a short rest and a shower we met up with Olga again and got back on the Metro and back to near Red Square to a nice restaurant for dinner as part of the tour .
Just another bit of trivia ,,,,, Russia has 11 different time zones .
Day 8 Moscow to Suzdal
Today is another nice fine sunny Moscow day , and we left the hotel at 0830 hrs by mini bus and drove through the horrendous Moscow peak hour traffic even though we were going out of the city it was still very choked up with cars buses , trucks of all shapes and sizes.
Unfortunately Diana is not feeling very well this morning and did not have any breakfast so I had to have 2 eggs Benedictine and 2 pancakes with Maple syrup .
More trivia ,,,, there are more than 140 million people in Russia not counting a few million illegal’s.
The traffic was made even worse because of roadworks which they can only do for about 3 months of the year so we went on a detour on a narrow road which everyone else had to go on . We stopped and had a look at a this cute little house where they make traditional Russian toys and other timber bits and pieces .
There seems to be petrol stations about every 3 or 4 kilometres and petrol is 25 to 27 roubles per litre which is about $ 1.10 Aust.
We stopped at Sergiev Posad to visit a monastery . First of all there were no public toilets at the monastery , we were given some story about being too pure to need a toilet , but Olga convinced the young student priest that we did need a toilet so he let us use the holy toilet which was quite a plumbing eye opener .
This is St Sergieus Monastery the most important monastery in Russia , founded in 1340 it’s Russia’s most important landmark of spiritual and nationalist pilgrimage .
I just bought a ticket to take photos , it cost 100 Roubles and it comes with a music CD .
This is one of the monasteries where they do the Chanting like Gregorian chanting .
We did then go in to one of the chapels where they were holding a service and were doing the chanting which is really beautiful to hear in real life .
We went in to another chapel where there was a choir made up of locals who just walk in and start singing , it was beautiful singing .
After that we went around the corner and had a 4 course lunch at a nice restaurant , in the golden room , it looked like the room where everyone goes to get married , but they were playing some 1960s rock music (in English). We must unfortunately look like Americans .
Diana did not have any lunch but afterwards Olga took Diana to the chemist shop next door to get something for her crook stomach .
I think it was some ancient Russian herbal medicine exported from Eastern Siberia just before the second world war.
We then drove through the countryside , there aren’t any kangaroos here but many very old timber houses with very rusty iron roofs that looked like they might just fall over in the next snow storm.
We arrived at our destination , Suzdal , checked in and had another 4 course dinner and found some free Wi-Fi to do yesterdays blog , always a few days behind .
This place is very beautiful with lovely gardens and log cabins , but there was a Dutch plumber here because the hot water is on the right and the cold water is on the left .
Nazdarovye ! !
Day 9 Golden ring
Today the weather is nice again , about 25 deg C
I think Diana is feeling a little better this morning , her Russian herbal medicine is starting to take effect , she had some green tea and dry bread for breakfast and she’s starting to pinch food again for morning tea.
First stop this morning in Suzdal was at an old Russian Museum of wooden architecture , with old peasant style houses and churches , all timber . There we listened to some live Russian folk music and bought one of their very cheap Cds , which probably only plays in Russia , no money back guarantees here.
Ten we went to the Suzdal Kremlin where we visited various Monasteries’ and listened to 5 Tenors singing , and then listened to the bell ringing .
We are starting to get quite religious .
Then we saw the balcony where they proclaimed The Revolution in 1917 .
More trivia …. In Russia they have a Summer and a Winter church.
We had lovely 4 course lunch at a local farm house where the woman of course made every dish from her own produce from the very large garden .
After lunch we drove down the main street of Suzdal past many lovely old timber houses , on our way to Vladimir .
Today we had a gorgeous young blonde local travel guide who looked more like a film star , and in the course of our conversation she told me that she thought I was only about 50 years old , so we then I gave her a very good tip !
Vladimir is a Unesco World Heritage site which was founded in 1108 .
We saw The Golden Gate and the Cathedral of Demitry and The Assumption Cathedral ,,,, more golden domes ,,, more frescos ,,,more icons .
Arrived at our hotel , again lovely timber décor , but again with Dutch plumbing
Day 10 to St Petersburg
We left the hotel early this morning and headed towards Moscow .
The traffic didn’t seem too bad just yet but it was not very long before it started to rain just lightly and then the traffic seemed to get worse.
The most popular car on the road seems to be the Russian Lada but I haven’t seen a good one yet , in fact I think they should all be put off the road, along with most of the trucks . As for the trucks It looks like they all come from the worlds wrecking yards to live out the last days of their lives in Russia.
We stopped for coffee at a little shop where we got coffee and cake for 150 Roubles . By now we were about 30 Kms from Moscow and the traffic was down to a crawl . And then it just got worse .
We passed through many little villages where the best part of the village is the golden domes of the churches , but the rest of the village is only fit for the bulldozer .
About 10 Kms from the station we stopped at a shopping centre just for a break , mainly for the driver , and we had a a bit of a browse , and found bananas for 27 Roubles per Kilo ( $ 0.99)
We finally arrived at the train station , there are three main train stations in Moscow . After showing our passports and tickets several times we had a long walk up the platform to the front of the train .
We managed to survive all the pickpockets in Moscow so that’s a relief .
We had a nice lunch on the train including Spanish wine, as we travelled in business class and watched the Russian countryside go past at 200 Kms per hour . For lunch today I had Baltic Sea Basa I think .
Not long after lunch , but before meal settled down Diana told me that this was the train that was blown up by right wing extremists not that long ago , but I thought it should be safe by now , and they did to an airport type scan of us and all our belongings at the station .
Before the train left the station they asked every one to turn their mobile phones on to silent , but of course no-one did and there were phones ringing every where , perhaps they should have spoken in Swahili .
We were able to get free Russian Rail Wi-Fi on the train most of the trip , so caught up on a few emails and a bit of what’s going on in the world .
Arrived at St Petersburg at 1800 hrs and to the hotel 15 mins later .
We were supposed to go out for another dinner tonight , but the four of us decided we’d had enough Russian four course dinners for a while , we’re all feeling a bit crook.
Day 11 St Petersburg
Today is a bit overcast and looks like it’s been raining all night , Diana is still not feeling well but I am felling a bit better, so we went down for breakfast but did not eat very much .
We met our new guide , Dina , at 0900 hrs and went on a driving tour of St Petersburg .
The first impressions of St Petersburg is that it is much nicer than Moscow and has many very beautiful buildings which are more of a European / French style of architecture .
Also the traffic is much less than Moscow , and more civilised .
A bit more trivia ,,,,,, there are 150 museums in St Petersburg .
We then drove out of the city to The Peterhof Palace ,,, Peter The Great began building the palace in 1720 after he visited The Palace of Versailles so it is very much like Versailles . We were guided through the state rooms with thousands of other tourists (it’s very popular).
We then had lunch at a nice hotel just nearby and then went back for a walk around the huge lovely gardens including the world famous gold fountains of The Grand Cascade .
After the gardens and taking too many photos , we wandered down to The Gulf of Finland to catch the hydrofoil back to St Petersburg.
On the way back from the hydrofoil we visited St Isaacs Cathedral which is the fourth biggest cathedral in the world , it is very much like St Peters in Rome and St Pauls in London , and is just over the road from our hotel , we can see it from our window. I took more photos of the inside (too many) and then we went back “home” . Had a great day ! !
Day 12 St Petersburg
Today started off fine and sunny , but it gradually became overcast , but not cold .
We met Dina in the hotel lobby after breakfast and walked a few blocks to The Hermitage Museum in the former Winter Palace . We went through The impressive Triumphal Archway main City Square of St Petersburg . In the centre of the square is Alexanders Column , which was to commemorate the defeat of Napoleon .
We were in The Hermitage Museum for about 3 hours , with our guide , and there is everything the art lover could ever wish for , over 2.7 million items of art treasures , including many works from Michael Angelo , Da Vinci Rembrant , Van Gough etc etc . The museum building itself with all its grand rooms and galleries is far too much to comprehend for the average punter like us . We have been “channelling” all this through to you Dale , we hope you are feeling the “vibe” ! !
Once again I’ve taken far too many photos of stunning ceilings and pieces of artwork , ther may be a bit of deleting to do later.
We just had a very light lunch and then went to the souvenir shop where I had to divert Diana away from the jewellery section .
Then we went back to the hotel for a bit of a rest , we met up again with Dina and wandered down to the canal , where we went on a canal boat cruise .
Trivia section ,,,,,,, there are 350 bridges in St Petersburg .
We were on the Neva River and canals .
On the canal cruise we were treated to Russian Champagne and caviar , which was very nice . The canal and surroundings looks very much like Paris .On the River Neva , and in the winter the river is frozen .
After a few champagnes we got a little bit piddly and started to feel much much better , but I then had to piggyback Diana back to the hotel .
On the way back we went “shopping” at our local downstairs mini mart where there was nothing in English , I don’t thing they had ever seen an Australian before , or ever heard of Australia .
We bought “something” to eat but we don’t know what ? ? Went back to the hotel to wait for the sun to go down at 2230 hrs
Day 13 St Petersburg
Today the weather is gloomy and it’s been raining all night and still raining lightly .
We met Dina in the lobby again at 0900 hrs and drove around another part of the city in the rain and she pointed out to us many buildings , such as the theatre where Tchaikovsky was the musical director , and many others of political, religious and artistic importance . St Petersburg is a city where you could stay for a month and still not see it all .
In our hotel I think we have Dutch light switches and also Dutch salt and pepper shakers .
We the drove out through the suburbs past several war memorials to WW1 and WW2 . It was still raining so no chance of taking any photos .
In St Petersburg they say they two summer seasons , the white summer which lasts 9 months and the green which lasts 3 months , we are now in the green season where it just rains all the time , but we have been very lucky with the weather so far .
Then to the town of Pushkin to visit Catherine’s Palace which was originally built by Peter The Great . It is another palace which is much like Versailles with more gold and mirrored rooms and the famous Amber Room where there was no photos permitted . There were more people there than the MCG on grand final day . We were there for about 2 hours before returning to the city and then to visit the Peter and Paul Cathedral , the burial vault of Romanov Emperors .
We then continued to Nevsky Prospect , the city’s main boulevard lined with aristocratic mansions and majestic cathedrals.
Then on to Church of Resurrection ( Church of Spilt Blood) which resembles St Basil’s in Moscow but is much more impressive with 7,000 square metres of mosaics . We then went back to the hotel for a short rest and tally up our Roubles to work out if we had enough for a coffee , so then we set off for a stroll around the corner and found the Macca’s that we had walked past yesterday and we had a coffee and Russian fries , which looked more like French fries to me ,,,with a few hundred other Russian fast food lovers .
Tonight we are off to a “farewell” dinner at a nearby restaurant and we are told that they serve HUGE amounts of food !
Yes the dinner started out with vodka , white and red wine followed by ENORMOUS amounts of food , I lost count at 5 courses , and the usual folk singing and dancing show .
Dina our tour guide asked me can we get vodka in Australia , and I told her that Diana has it on her Cornflakes every morning , and she nearly choked on her cabbage soup . Ha Ha
We got back to the hotel and said goodbye to Dina and our friends from Melbourne and that was it .
Nazdarovye
Day 14 to Helsinki
Today the weather is again overcast and a bit gloomy.
We were picked up at the hotel at 0945 hrs and driven to the railway station , one of four stations in St Petersburg .
This is a different station to the one we arrived at a few days ago , it is very modern and clean , we had about 1.5 hours to wait for the train and we got talking to this nice young English guy (from Newcastle) and he thought we were amazing to travel all this distance .
We lined up for to board the train and in the line behind us were an Australian couple (from Melbourne) who had travelled by train from Korea , China etc , so it was good to talk to some more English speakers.
It was pretty easy to get on board and find our seats , and once we got started the ticket checks and passport checks seemed to go on forever , and then once we crossed the border in to Finland the ticket checks and passport checks started all over again , and then the customs checks started , it all seemed to keep us amused for half the 4 hour trip.
Unfortunately could not connect to any Wi-Fi on this train even though there were a few unsecured Wi-Fi connections showing .
After we crossed the border the landscape seemed to change a bit , there were more small wheat or barley crops and it all looked a bit more organized and neat and tidy , more like Germany .
I then bought some coffee on the train to get rid of our left over useless Roubles and we also ate the remainder of hotel “breakfast” for a late lunch .
There is a one hour time difference between Russia and Finland .
Well we have managed to escape Russia without being arrested or having fallen victim to all the pickpockets and street scammers .
The train was zooming along at 200 Kms per hour for most of the way until the last part of the trip when it had to slow to a crawl because of work on the track , so that made it about half an hour late to arrive .
We then started seeing more signage that we could “read” because it looked more like English than Russian .
When we arrived at Helsinki we were picked up and driven to our hotel which was a 2 to 3 minute drive , it would have been quicker to walk , however the hotel is right next to The Casino so Diana did not have far to go for a quick spin of the roulette wheel .
Also for the first time since Singapore we have tea and coffee in the room , also hot chocolate , also a heated bathroom floor , also free Wi-Fi internet.
I think we are both starting to feel better now because we’ve escaped all the force fed 4 course Russian Dinners .
Then we went for a bit of a wander through the old market square took some photos and went to a little super market got something light to eat and a can of local beer .
PRICEFLASH we bought some bananas for 1.49 Euros ,,,, $ 2.40 per kilo .
Day 15 Helsinki
Tis morning for breakfast I had herring in a tomato sauce , and herring in juniper berries ,,,, Yum ! !
The weather is overcast and a bit gloomy but not raining yet.
This morning after the herrings we went on a sightseeing tour of the city of Helsinki .
There are plenty of bicycles in Helsinki but mostly “grandma “ bicycles .
Our sightseeing tour started down at the wharf area which used to be the Russian part of the old town.
The population of Finland is 5 million , and I think only 600,000 live in Helsinki .
The Finnish people bring their rugs and carpets down to the sea to wash them every summer , it’s an old Finnish tradition .
Hope we are enjoying all this trivia ?
There are 10 yacht clubs in Finland , but in the winter they have to take their boats out of the water because it freezes , there are special parks near the water where they can put the boats.
We drove past some of the very nice Art Nuevo houses that are built down near the harbour .
We then went to the Church in the Rock which is a church that is quarried into the rock , how amazing . We went in to the church along with several thousand others , there are 2 or 3 cruise ships in town , so lots of terrorists .
Later we stopped at the monument to the late composer Sibelius ? ? (spellcheck says NO)
It is a very dull miserable day , and not good for photos .
I just told Diana to go take her 15 year old Nokia phone in to the Nokia factory , they might feel sorry for her and give her an upgrade .
We just went past the old Olympic Stadium which was built in 1935 , but was not used for the Olympics, because of the war , until 1952 .
The tour guide keeps talking about all the activities they have here in the summer , which probably lasts for about one and a half weeks from what I’ve been told .
The proceeds from The Casino go to charity , which sounds like a good idea .
After the city tour we went back to the hotel and checked out and wandered across to the railway station and had a coffee and lunch .
Then we waited in the hotel lobby and chatted to some more Aussies for a while before going to catch the ferry to Tallinn .(Now we’re Finnished) . There were just over 2,000 people on the ferry , it was more like a small cruise ship .
We arrived at the hotel at 2000 hrs and went to the 18th floor with an amazing view of the Old Town to the West .
Day 16 Tallinn
The weather this morning is nice and sunny but a bit hazy and no rain although the weather forecast is for rain.
There is a magnificent view from our room of the old town and I can’t stop taking photos .
This morning for breakfast I had Herring in mustard sauce ,,,, YUM .
Our grand children will be so jealous of that ! !
After breakfast we met up with our local guide whose name is Eero , who was a nice young guy and he took us on a 3 hour walking tour of the old town of Tallinn .
Tallinn Old town is a bit like Cesky Krumlov in the Czech Republic where we went four years ago .
Eero was very interesting to listen to as he talked about some of the old history and some of the more modern history of Tallinn . There have been many wars and takeovers here in the past, but now it’s a very modern city where many people speak English and it’s very clean and tidy . It is completely different to what we would have expected to find in Estonia .
We decided that we really like it here and would recommend it as a great destination .
There was only the two of us on this walking tour so Eero took us down many little back streets / alleyways away from the main tourist areas and showed us places you would not normally see..
We went to a very old Apotheki (Chemist ) shop , a very old chocolate shop and a marzipan shop and some very old craft workshops .
The tour finished in the old town square where we said goodbye to Eero and then walked about ten minutes back to the hotel .
After checking out we went and got some lunch at a nearby shopping centre , Diana had Spratt sandwich with egg ,,,,,also bought a mouse pad , getting sick of using glass topped desks etc.
This afternoon I promised to keep Diana off the cobblestones , but could not keep her away from The Casino which was just over the road .
This afternoon we just sat in the hotel lobby resting from the cobblestones and all these strange hippy looking people started coming in together with most of the worlds papparazi and we thought it was some kind of meeting of a strange religious sect . So just continuing along with our daily entertainment we were blessed with an appearance of The Dali Lama (the real one) .
Too much excitement is never enough , we were then picked up and went to the harbour and boarded our Ferry for our overnight cruise to Stockholm .
After getting settled in our cabin we went to one of the many bars for happy hour , then went to one of the eating café’s and had Swedish meat balls with Lingenberry jam , so we must now be in Swedish waters . We then went and browsed the duty free bottle shop , gift shop and supermarket , poker machines and more bars . Went back to our cabin just a little exhausted .
Day 17 Stockholm
We had a beautiful sleep on board last night and we woke up at 0630 hrs to look out and see that we were cruising slowly through this narrow passageway which we later found out is The Stockholm Archipelago .
The sun was up and it was just stunning scenery .
There are over 2,000 people on board the ferry / ship and about 2.5 thousand people having breakfast .
For breakfast this morning we both had some strange pink marshmallow stuff on our cereal , it was all soft and fluffy and tasty .
After breakfast I went out on deck with the 1,900 smokers and took some photos .
We arrived at Stockholm and met our transfer driver , Irene , who took us on a bit of a tour of the city and then to our hotel .
One of the first things I noticed in the hotel was black toilet paper. No comments .
We then walked down to the city sightseeing pick up spot , and had some lunch on the way.
Now we’ve got to get our head around the Swedish Krona .
We just changed some cash and again became instant Trillionairs , like winning the lottery.
There are bicycles everywhere here and every now and then I find myself wandering along aimlessly in the bicycle lane on the footpath . It looks like bicycles have right of way over everything , especially tourists.
This afternoon we went on a city sight seeing tour , first of all in a bus for about 1.5 hours and then on a canal river boat for about 2 hours .
We are also now in another time zone but without much jetlag .
Stockholm is a very beautiful city built around the lakes islands and canals with beautiful old buildings , parks and gardens .
We saw several notable landmarks such as The Ingemar Bergman Theatre, the workshop of Alfred Nobel and the Munchen Brewery.
The waterway we are boating on , in the winter time is completely frozen and they can walk across it .
This is the first time that I have ever been to Stockholm for my birthday and we celebrated by drinking a warm can of Black Russian that we had been carrying since St Petersburg .
Day 18 Stockholm
It’s another nice sunny , partly cloudy day , and today we went on another boat cruise on the waters of Stockholm , this time to the Royal Palace of Drottningholm , on a coal / steam powered boat . The trip took about one hour and went past some very nice expensive looking waterfront houses and yacht clubs .
Diana was very lucky she had Johnny Depp’s son sitting behind her at breakfast this morning but she didn’t know what to say to him ! !
And on the boat cruise today we had Meatloaf’s younger brother on board ! !
Drottningholm Palace is right on the lake / seafront , and is still the official Palace of the current Swedish royal Family and is open to the public .
It is very beautiful as you would expect and is a UNESCO World Heritage site and of course has large amazing gardens .
There were lovely female guards at the entrances and I tried to make them smile for photos , but it did not work for me she just ordered me to “stand behind the line” ! !
Drottningholm Palace was built in 1662 after the first palace was burnt down .
We went inside but were not allowed to take photos , then afterwards we wandered through the gardens .
The weather was great it felt like about 21 …22 deg C and on the boat ride back we saw many people swimming , canoeing and sunbaking on the rocks by the water , there were some sunbaking “Swedish” style I think .
Again today I took too many photos .
After the boat trip we wandered across the bridge (one of many) to The Old Town , by this time I carried Diana’s bag but not her . Next time we come to Stockholm , I’ll hire a Sedgeway for her to get around on.
The Old Town is also very beautiful and has many antique shops, galleries , coffee shops and restaurants and lovely old buildings and more cobblestone streets.
And for late lunch today we had Brot mit Korf , from a little stall in The old town square.
On the way back to our hotel we went to one of the government controlled bottle shops and browsed for a while and go something for happy hour , and Diana finished up drinking two casks of wine tonight , not a bad effort after a big day out .
We really liked Stockholm and would recommend it as a great , almost must see destination even though we still have not seen any Ikea shops yet , but we did hear some ABBA background music played somewhere .
Day 19 To Copenhagen
Today after breakfast we talked to Tony and Bianka on Skype which was good .
We then left the hotel and walked only a short distance to the Central Station and caught a train bound for Copenhagen .
We were in business class on the train which included free Wi-Fi internet.
I went to the train Bistro to buy some lunch and I only had Euros , but they give change only in Swedish Krone , and they did not take Travel X , so for lunch we ate some more hotel “breakfast” and free coffee .
The weather today was cloudy , cold and raining but it didn’t matter because we’re on the train all day .
After the last station stop in Sweden the train went through a very long tunnel and when we came out of the tunnel Diana saw an Ikea Shop , she was very excited , then we went over a very long bridge over the sea to Denmark .
Only one more stop at the airport station and then our stop Copenhagen Central Station , where again we were met by our driver to transfer us to the nearby Marriot Hotel. So far it’s all working like clockwork .
We were on the ninth floor in a huge room overlooking the city.
We then went downstairs and changed some money to Danish Krone , and then for a walk down to the street and it was very windy and cold , it’s the first time we’ve felt cold since leaving home. We bought some food and drink and went back to our room and watched TV .
We watched Allo Allo in English with Danish subtitles which helped us brush up on the local language ! ! Even though “everyone” speaks English .
Day 20 Copenhagen
First thing this morning there was a message on our TV , that said not to drink the water because there was a chance of contamination due to some council work .
The weather is cool to cold and very windy.
This morning we walked a few blocks down to the town square to go on a city bus tour . It’s only about 15 or 16 deg C but not too bad out in the sun .
We went past the Art Museum which was built by Carlsberg the brewer for his own mausoleum .
Denmark is one big peninsular and about 400 islands.
Copenhagen has between 1.5 and 1.8 million people and It looks like they are all in town today .
Copenhagen is very much like Amsterdam with all it’s canals and waterways and thousands of pushbikes .
We just saw the house where Hans Christian Andersen lived for 40 years .
Apparently there has been so much rain here in Copenhagen this summer , now that it’s fine weather EVERONE is out enjoying the good weather.
We went to The Royal Palace where we watched the changing of the guard which took about 15 minutes . The guards looked stunning with their black fluffy hats that were blowing in the wind. Princess Mary was home because her flag was flying , and she was inviting Tasmanians in for tea and scones but not Australians .
After the changing of the guard we walked over to the canal and saw the Opera House and many boats including The Royal Yacht and many Navy ships which are now museums .
We then went further along the canal and visited the famous Copenhagen Mermaid Statue (that’s a long story) , it’s the most photographed object in Denmark .
Then we went to the Copenhagen Cathedral which was bombed by The British in 1802 and had to be completely rebuilt , this is where Princess Margaret was married .
Trivia time ,,,, the Bluetooth function you have on your mobile phone and computer was invented by two Danish inventors and named after the Danish King ,, Harold the Bluetooth.
After the bus tour we wandered down a walking only street and triea to get coffee at a few places but there was no coffee any where because of the water contamination , so I bought some cappuccino slushy stuff , and a couple of “hotdogs” (lunch).
On the way back home we went to McDonalds and shared a small coke and logged on to the free internet and did the blog and checked emails .
Then went to a 711 and bought something for tea (dinner) went back to the hotel and watched TopGear in English with Danish subtitles so further improved our Danish language skills .
Day 21 Copenhagen
We both had a nice sleep in , till 0900 hrs this morning , which we needed because we’ve been doing a lot of hard work .
Tis morning Diana is not feeling very well , I think it is all the walking and not enough rest , so I left her in peace and quiet and went to the Central Station and to McDonalds to use the Wi-Fi and do the blog and some emails .
The internet is not free at The Marriot Hotel like it is at The Radisson so it’s down to Maccas .
After I did the blog I walked across the railway bridge and took a few photos , mainly of all the bicycles , I am a bit fascinated by the vast numbers of bicycles here , I think there are more here than Amsterdam .
It is our day off today , but at 1600 hrs I forced Diana to get out of bed and we walked down the road to The Tivoli Gardens , because we had tickets to get in . The famous Tivoli Gardens is a theme park which was founded in 1843 by Georg (yes Georg) Carstensen , it is an old world amusement park which attracts many thousands of locals and visitors .
When we arrived it was time for a coffee so after looking around we found the cheapest coffee was underneath the rollercoaster , so it was the noisiest cup of coffee we’ve had so far .
It is a very strange concept where they’ve combined Chinatown with The rollercoaster . (I don’t get it) ?
I would put The Tivoli Gardens under the category of ,,,,,, don’t bother ,, unless you are a teenager, or your kids insist, or you are old like us and want to dine at a Michelin Class restaurant. Look it up on Wikipedia .
We were just about to leave and we come across a boys marching band which held many peoples attention as they played and marched around the park .
The Tivoli Gardens is supposed to be very nice at night time when all the lights come on , but that would be at about 2200 hrs and we would be asleep by then .
This is supposed to be our day off because we haven’t had a day off for about 3 weeks.
On the way home we went to our favourite 711 convenience store at The Central Station and bought some beer and some thing to eat .
Day 22 Copenhagen
We slept in again this morning , had a light breakfast , Diana is feeling a lot better .
The weather is very cloudy and misty this morning , but it is supposed to clear up and get sunny later on .
After breakfast we just went down to the canal just outside the hotel and hopped on the Waterbus which took us downtown , where we hopped off and got on another canal boat which did a conducted tour of the city along the canals . Very interesting and a lot like Amsterdam , some of the canals were built by King Christian because he loved Amsterdam.
One of the many lovely buildings along the canal is the Old Brewery set up by King Christian in 1607 , because the water was so polluted he allowed his workers 10 litres of beer per day .
Another nice building is the museum of a sculptor called Thorvaldsen.
Then there is the statue of Absalom , the founder of Copenhagen .
By then it was lunchtime so we walked up to a little town square and found a coffee shop .
I don’t know where all the people come from but everywhere we go it is full of tourists .
We love Copenhagen and recommend it as a destination , but expect the crowds .
We finished the tour and got on another boat by mistake and went on another conducted tour , by then the sun had come out so it was much better than the first and went to some other parts of the canal system .
Then we just wandered back slowly along the canal ,back to the hotel and sat for a while until we got enough energy to go back down to The Central Station and again to our favourite 711 and an Asian take away for something to eat and drink , and to McDonalds to use the free Wi-Fi again .
Day 23
To Hamburg
It’s a beautiful sunny day in Copenhagen and unfortunately we have to leave.
We had a nice Danish driver pick us up this morning , he said that he had been to Australia a couple of times playing in a big brass band , and that he would love to go to Australia again because he loved our wines .
When we got to the Central Station to validate our Eurail Passes we found out that we had filled them out wrong or we were not supposed to fill them out at all , and they wanted to charge us 100 Euros to correct the mistake / misunderstanding . Of course we objected strongly to that , we had just followed the instructions . So they changed them and we were ok (no charge)
Then we spent the last of our Danish Kroner on sweets .
Then we got on The ICE train and we sat with a nice German lady who was on her way to the US .
After about 2 hours travelling through the Danish country side we came to the sea , and the train went on the ferry . We had to get out of the train carriage and go upstairs to the ferry . The ferry had everything including café’s , restaurants take away food , duty free shops , kids playground ,,, etc .
The crossing took about 45 minutes and we had a bit of lunch and then went back downstairs and back on the train .
We are now in Germany and went through many wind farms ( wind parks) , oats fields and corn fields .
Arrived in Hamburg at 1430 hrs and found our hotel just over the road from the Central Station , it’s a nice hotel , down a few “stars” from what we have been staying in , but clean .
After a bit of a rest we went for a walk down to The Rathaus , and it is the biggest Rathaus we’ve ever seen , it’s enormous .
The we were walking back along one of the canals and we got caught in a huge thunder storm , and we did not have our rain coats or umbrellas so we ducked under cover of several verandas , until we found our way back to the station .
We went to the tourist information centre to ask about harbour boat tours and where to buy a can of beer , went to a supermarket and bought something to eat and drink and then went home .
It’s a nice warm hazy day , so after breakfast we walked just across the road to the Central Station and got on The Underground about 3 stops to Landungsbrucken . This is where we went on a harbour cruise . Hamburg harbour I think is the largest container port in the world , it is HUGE !
We went past the fish market , the scrap metal market , and many dockyards , ship building companies , some which were set up in the late 1800s . Not a very good day for photos because it’s very hazy.
After the harbour cruise we had Matjes for lunch .
We just paid 0.5 Euro each to have a p p , the most expensive in the world .
Then we walked about half kilometre around to The Miniature Wonderland which is in the old ware house buildings , but when we went upstairs to buy tickets we were told that we would have to wait between 70 minutes and 120 minutes , so we decided to slowly walk back towards the city centre .
Stopped for a coffee and cake at Valzac Coffee (German Starbucks) and then wandered down to the wharf looking for a canal cruise and we came across this lovely old steam boat called The St Gorg , so we jumped on it and went on a 1 hour cruise of Lake Alster .
The steam boat is 135 years old and is crewed by three very friendly volunteers . I went down below and chatted to the engine driver , who by the way is a keen cyclist , and took some photos of the engine . It was one of the best boat cruises we’ve ever done .
The temperature this afternoon is + 29 deg C and humid , and we are getting a nice Hamburg suntan , but we today we have our raincoats and umbrellas so there’s no rain .
We made our way back to our hotel via the money exchange and changed the last of our US dollars . We are now trying to get used to Euros .
Well that brings to an end another day of extreme travelling .
Today we left Hamburg to go to Meppen by train .
We found Hamburg to be more interesting than we thought it would be , there is a lot to see there and plenty to do , so I would put a tick next to Hamburg .
This morning is nice and sunny as we travelled through very flat , green farming country . The first stop was Munster (West ) to change trains .
On the train we met a lovely young German girl who spoke very good English , and Diana gave her a book . She has a boyfriend who loves Australia and she wants to go to Australia .
Then it was only one hour to our most important stop of our journey ,, Meppen , where Gertrud and Klaus were waiting for us .
It was so , so great to see and meet Gertrud and Klaus again after two years ago when they were in Australia .
We went home in Klaus’s VW taxi and Gertrud had made a lovely plum cake , so we had kaffee and kuchen and had a great chat for a few hours .
So then it was time for happy hour .
A little later on we went to meet some of Klaus and Gertud’s friends at The Kegellbahn and played nine pin bowls , had a few drinks and a nice meal .
After we played a few World Championships and had a lot of fun it was about midnight , so time to go home .
It is so good to be in a nice quiet little town after “living” in those big cities.
We had a good sleep in again this morning , then Gertrud made us a nice breakfast and then we did the washing.
It is nice and sunny and warm , so Penelope and Elizabeth are very happy to be in Meppen and are both relaxing in the garden .
Klaus went to work this morning until 1200hrs ,Gertrud cooked us a lovely hot lunch , then after lunch there was a pretty big thunder storm for about 1 hour with 20 mm of rain , there was a bit of water coming inside the house . When the thunder storm was finished , later in the afternoon we all went for a ride on our bicycles .
By the way ,,, all the bad weather in Meppen comes from The Netherlands .
On our bicycle ride we went on pathways through the beautiful forest and alongside the canals . It was good that we had our local tour guides so we could find our way home . We arrived back home at about 5.00 o’clock after doing 10 Kms , just in time for happy Hour .
Then after a nice small dinner we played this funny board game called Malefizspiel , while listening to some nice Mark Knopfler , and a few more drinks , until midnight . Gertrud was the Grand Champion , so Klaus and I celebrated with an Underberg
This morning it’s another cool and cloudy day and we went for a ride on the bicycles , this time in to town , only about 3 Kms .
We walked around and browses the markets and the shops and also met some of Klaus and Gertruts’s friends , had a coffee , walked around some more , took some photos , then we had a nice hot lunch at The Rathaus Café .
After lunch we went to the bike shop and browsed , so now Diana wants one of the latest technology electric bikes .
We have now joined up with Team Buschschleuter, the world famous German team ,, and then went on The Tour de Meppen .
We had a relaxing afternoon before jumping in the trusty VW and went to Castle Clemenswerth at Sogel for a festival in the park . We had a few spots of rain , but nothing would stop the festivities .
There were some great performances with lots of music and comedy and also an Australian acrobatic group who were very popular .
We had dinner in the rain , under our umbrellas which was loads of fun .
The grand finale there was a spectacular fireworks display which was performed to classical music which lasted for around 20 minutes .
After a great night we came home at around midnight we had a night cap and went to bed .
The weather is a bit cloudy and cool and it’s + 14 deg C .
After breakfast Klaus gave a briefing for the day’s activities .
Today we drove to The North Sea and the first stop was the old historic town of Rysum where there were lots of lovely little old Dutch style houses and gardens . There was an old Dutch windmill which was built in 1895 and we climbed the steps up to a viewing platform so we could see over the mouth of The Ems River to The Netherlands .
The next stop on our grant tour was an old fishing village called Greetsiel .
Trivia time ,,,,,, “siel” means a lock or gate to stop the high tide flooding the land .
After having traditional tea and cake we wandered around the village and harbour and looked at the fleet of old prawn fishing boats .
Next was a quick stop at the light house at Pilsum .
There are many , many wind farms in this region , and I’m thinking there may be more wind mills than there are cows .
But I do know that the wind mills here are causing the tornado in the U S .
Then we did a stop in Leer to see Eike and Rabea and the new baby Fiete .
We then drove to Papenburg to do a tour of the Meyer Werft historic shipyards . The shipyards started in 1795 when they started building wooden boats for transporting peat . This was so amazing to go and see the building of several very large cruise ships .
We came back home and after a short break we went to the school and met some friends of Klaus and Gertud and looked at photos on a big screen .
Tonight was an early night , only about 2300 hrs . The weather is a bit cloudy and cool and it’s + 14 deg C .
After breakfast Klaus gave a briefing for the day’s activities .
Today we drove to The North Sea and the first stop was the old historic town of Rysum where there were lots of lovely little old Dutch style houses and gardens . There was an old Dutch windmill which was built in 1895 and we climbed the steps up to a viewing platform so we could see over the mouth of The Ems River to The Netherlands .
The next stop on our grant tour was an old fishing village called Greetsiel .
Trivia time ,,,,,, “siel” means a lock or gate to stop the high tide flooding the land .
After having traditional tea and cake we wandered around the village and harbour and looked at the fleet of old prawn fishing boats .
Next was a quick stop at the light house at Pilsum .
There are many , many wind farms in this region , and I’m thinking there may be more wind mills than there are cows .
But I do know that the wind mills here are causing the tornado in the U S .
Then we did a stop in Leer to see Eike and Rabea and the new baby Fiete .
We then drove to Papenburg to do a tour of the Meyer Werft historic shipyards . The shipyards started in 1795 when they started building wooden boats for transporting peat . This was so amazing to go and see the building of several very large cruise ships .
We came back home and after a short break we went to the school and met some friends of Klaus and Gertud and looked at photos on a big screen .
Tonight was an early night , only about 2300 hrs .
Today was a very special day for us because Klaus arranged for us to go to school and meet the children of year 9 . First of all we met the English teacher whose name is Sarah and had a nice chat to her until it was time for class to begin . Then we went to the classroom and met the children who then asked us many questions about Australia . There were a lot of interesting questions mainly about Australian wildlife . It was lots of fun answering all those questions , we had a great time for about 45 minutes and then lesson was finished . After the lesson we took some photos and said goodbye . It was a very special time and I loved it .
Then we went over the road to town and had a coffee and cake at The Rathaus Café , before Gertrud picked us up .
The weather is a bit like Adelaide winter today .
Klaus got home at 1330 hrs and we had a nice hot home cooked (Gertrud) lunch and had a relaxing afternoon .
After dinner (supper) Klaus and I went next door to see Alex and had a couple of drinks and talked “secret men’s business” while Diana and Gertrud stayed home and had a few drinks and talked “secret women’s business”
Klaus and I then “escaped” form next door and we came home and all just sat and listened to music and talked until mid night again .
So we had another action packed day in Emsland .
We were up early this morning to say goodbye to Klaus before he went to work .
We were driven to the Central Station in Gertrud’s taxi and said goodbye , and boarded the train to Cologne .
It was a fairly uneventful trip after having been fully entertained by Klaus and Gertrud for the last 5 days .
We arrived at Cologne at around 1430 hrs , went to the travel info centre , then caught a taxi to the Leonardo Hotel which is 2 or 3 kms out of the city centre .
After having a bit of a rest we walked down the street to check out the tram/train to go to the city centre tomorrow , bought some food and drinks and returned to the Leonardo .
Did not take any photos today .
Today the weather looks fine and after a late breakfast we went by train only three stops in to the city centre .
When we arrived at Koln-Bahnhof we had a coffee and then found a pissior and the price was one Euro for a pp , the most expensive in the world , so we hung on for a while .
We then went to the Cathedral and there was a service taking place, and I took some photos and looked around . Cologne Cathedral was started in the 1200’s and took 600 years to complete . It is built in the Gothic Style and is the best example of Gothic architecture in Europe . We have seen it before , but it is truly amazing .
Diana just went to the public toilet at the cathedral and gave the toilet attendant 1 cent coins and he got very upset .. Ha Ha ! !
We then wandered around the old town which was founded by The Romans in 100 BC .
Went to The Nordsee shop for lunch , then just along the mall from there we found The Lego shop , so we went in and browsed around in there and found lots of really good things especially for Matthew , but unfortunately they were all too big to fit in our bags .
Then we wandered down to the river and went on a 2 hour boat cruise on The Rhine which was very nice .
Caught the train back to our stop , bought some tea and Bitburger and went back to the hotel .
We had a late breakfast and a late start today .
Walked down the street to the station , we have a choice of 2 stations from this location . While waiting for the train we saw the first animal wildlife , a rabbit . It probably escaped from Australia .
We went by train only one stop to Messe/Deutz and then walked a short distance to the Koln Triangle Panorama Tower and went up 28 floors to the roof , where we had a fantastic 360 deg view of Colgne . Stayed up there for about 1hour , took photos .
After the panorama tower we walked towards the city and sat in the park for our first morning tea at 1 minute to mid day .
Then we wandered across the bridge ( one of about six) and looked at the tens of thousands of romantic padlocks that have been put on by romantic couples over the years .
Went again to the Cathedral and went inside , this time there was no service going on so we were able to see the whole inside , took more photos .
We came out and sat on the steps in the sun and had “lunch”, looked at the map and worked out what to do next . After lunch we found the Mc Donalds where Diana had lunch in 1978 .
Walked down some little backstreets and after about 500 Metres we found a beautiful ancient Roman tower , which dates back to 50 AD and is almost completely preserved . I talked to an old man who was one of the locals and who told me he was a stone mason and always admired the old tower every time he walked past it .
A bit further on we accidentally came across the arty expensive end of town , there were all these exclusive little galleries , art deco , antique , wood carving , goldsmith shops , etc . Diana was delighted that I took her there .
Then we bought a souvenir in Zepplin Str had a cup of chai , and went to Neumarkt underground station and caught another train/tram back to another one station near home .
After we had happy hour we went downstairs to the local pizza shop and bought dinner /supper , and it was one of the best pizzas we have ever had .
This morning we got a taxi from the Leonardo Hotel to Cologne Central Station and to Starbucks ( don’t tell Anthony) for a coffee and to connect to free Wi-Fi and do the blog and some emails then on to the ICE train to Frankfurt . Diana just had to go to the loo which cost 1 Euro and I said that’s your lunch money . The more coffee you drink , the more money they make !
Arrived in Frankfurt at 1300 hrs and went to the tourist info centre to find our new hotel , which was just over the road from the station .
After checking in we had a little rest and then went back to the station and got some lunch , we had Matjees um Brotchen for lunch and beer . It’s good beer drinking weather in Frankfurt today it is +29 deg C .
We then went for a walk around the city , through the sleazy area and I think red light district , and found our way down to the River Main , where Diana had a rest and I walked over the footbridge and took some photos . Walked along the river then back to the city centre and to the station , bought some beer, wine and supper and went back to the hotel and had happy hour .
We didn’t sleep very well last night , there was “doof doof doof” music (noise) somewhere downstairs until about 4 O’ clock this morning which kept us awake even with the windows (double gazing) closed .
However we went on a city bus tour this morning which was interesting .
There are 68,ooo people live in the city of Frankfurt which was 85 % destroyed in the second world war .
Most people who come to Frankfurt never leave the airport .
The tour guide kept telling us that we have such really good (unusual) weather , today is nice and sunny and about + 28 deg C .
We drove through the district of Bournheim where on one side of the road there is a lovely park and the other side are remnants of a medieval wall.
We were able to get off the bus a couple of times to take photos of the old town square and the main shopping district .
After the bus tour we came back to the station for a coffee , and I spilled my coffee all over Diana so she had to come back to the hotel to do the washing and for a bit of a rest . Then we ventured out again , first , after spilling coffee all over her I thought I’d better take Diana out for lunch so we went to the Wursthelden for a sausage .
We then went a long walk through the red light , topless girls , table dancing , sex shops , something for everyone district again , to new Main Tower , and went up the lift 54 floors and then up 2 or 3 more floors up the stairs to the observation deck . There was a very large queue of people to get up . It cost 5 Euro each but the girl gave us seniors discount , and I thought we only looked about 35 years old .
Of course the 360 degree view from the observation deck was amazing , and it was such a nice clear day , we were very lucky .
Then we did the long walk back to the central station , this time through a much more classy , very quiet an civilised area . And had coffee and cake , and went to our “new” favourite convenience store for liquid supplies and returned to the hotel for happy hour . After happy hour , I volunteered (Diana told me) to go out and get some Asian take away .
Last night was another night of “entertainment” until about 4.30 am .
Today we went on a coach trip to Heildelberg for most of the day .
Heildelberg is only 95 kms from Frankfurt so about 1 hour .
We went past Frankfurt Airport which is one of the biggest in Europe and handles about 50 million passengers each year .
We have been to Heidelberg before , but that was about 20 years ago ,and only for a short visit . This time we are on a guided tour with only a small group of people . Today is a bit hazy and not good for photos .
First we went to The Castle which was started building in the 15 century .
Heidelberg has 150,000 inhabitants of which 30,000 are students at the universities . And the oldest university was founded in 1386 and is the oldest in Germany .
The castle is up very high up and overlooks the town and the River Neckar and there is a wonderful view over all the red roofs .
After looking at the castle we hopped on the Funicular Railway and went down to the old town where we wandered around , took lots of photos and had ice cream and coffee for lunch and a free toilet . After lunch we walked further over the cobblestone streets down through the old bridge gate and took more photos of the river . Heidelburg is where you could easily stay for 2 or 3 days and just wander around taking in all the lovely scenery , very old buildings , history , wine tasting , shops and there are river cruises and much more .
We arrived back at Frankfurt at 1530 hrs and started packing and then confirmed our Singapore Airlines flight , in German , on the internet , could not get Singapore Airlines in English , so I had to use my Euro Language Translator a few times .
Later I rang Klaus and Gertrud to say danke for looking after us so well in Meppen and auf wiedersehen .
Today (Monday) we left Frankfurt at 1230 hrs and after a 11.5 hour flight we landed in Singapore at 0630 hrs Singapore time .
We could not get in to the hotel room until about 1000 hrs so we went around the corner to Mc Donalds to get free Wi-Fi only to find out they don’t have free Wi-Fi , it must be the only Maccas in the world without free Wi-Fi . So we ate some terrible pancakes and coffee for our second breakfast for the day , the first at about 0430 this morning .
So we finally got into the hotel room and tried very hard to stay awake , but it didn’t work so after all day in the room we went out at about 6 o’clock and got something to eat and drink, came back to the hotel and had an early night.
Both days, Monday and Tuesday have morphed into one long day
This morning we had a late breakfast , and after breakfast I got on the internet to Singapore Airlines to confirm our flight , only to find out first of all there was no record of our booking , but after a few phone calls and getting back online it was all straightened out . That’s the first time on this trip that something has nearly gone wrong .
By then it was about midday so we walked slowly down to Chinatown and wandered around and went to a little organic , vegetarian shop and shared a bowl of brown rice , tofu and green vegetables , and pure apple juice ,(very healthy) .
We wandered around further looking for fresh durian but could not see any so I had a durian mooncake . Then we went to a little Singaporean dessert shop and we shared a Chendol Snow Ice , which is a traditional Singaporean dessert , I think it’s coconut ice cream with coconut sugar syrup ( very wicked) . So after all that calorie intake we had just enough energy to walk back to the hotel after stopping for a short rest at speakers corner . This may be the last diary entry for this trip so we’d just like to thank the reader for reading it .
I can almost give a 100% guarantee that some of the diary was even true .
Thanks also for the nice messages left on our message board .
We left Singapore at around midnight and nothing much happened on the flight , I had some sleep , but Diana did not , and we arrived in Adelaide around 0630 hrs .
It seems very quiet at home after being in all those big cities .