The Terrible Trio in Tassie!

Beach Road Cottage, Lindisfarne (photo on left) was our home for our week in Tasmania. Lindisfarne is a lovely tranquil place with a little marina (which I could see from my bed!) We all loved Tasmania! It reminded us a lot of the UK in some ways as it was very green, lots of hills, mountains and lakes and the temperature is a lot cooler than we have come to expect in Australia!We heard that it rarely gets above about 23 or 24 degrees and is often a lot cooler and rains a lot! However, while we have been here we have had mostly sunny days and the last two days hit temperatures of 26 and 32 degrees! The locals are all saying this is most unusual! We were quite happy about it though as never expected to be able to wear our shorts in Tasmania! We hired a car for a couple of days to do some sightseeing up and down the east coast. The scenery was fabulous all the way, in particular Wineglass Bay (so called because it's shaped like a wineglass!) and Remarkable Cave, whose opening (as you may be able to see from the photo) is shaped like the outline of Tasmania itself! Pretty cool hey?! Although I would be more impressed to see one with an opening shaped like the map of the UK! Now that would be truly remarkable! Now of course you can't visit Tasmania without seeing their most famous resident (although now in danger of becoming extinct) - the famous Tassie Devil! Not as scary as you might think as their name only comes from the sound they make, not their behaviour. Apparently the early settlers heard them howling (which being nocturnal creatures would be at night!) and thought there were devils and demons about - hence the name "Tasmanian Devil!" Poor little Tassie Devils - totally misunderstood! We saw them at a wildlife conservation park where one of the rangers told us all about them and how they are trying to save them from becoming extinct. We also met Pixie the wombat at the wildlife park! How cute is she?!! She had been hand raised from a baby but would be reintroduced into the wild when old enough. The ranger told us that the great thing about raising a wombat is that when they are young they love company and contact with humans so you can stroke and cuddle them as much as you want to! This doesn't affect their return to the wild because when they get to a certain age they totally change and become much more distant and want their isolation and make it very clear that they are ready to leave and be on their own. (Click on the picture of Pixie with the ranger to see it at a bigger size and just look at the expression on her face! She is absolutely loving being cuddled isn't she?!) We also met Banjo the koala! Have seen lots of koalas now but still get a kick out of being up close to them! (JK for the K Team)

Connie and the Cakes!

Once upon a time there was a girl called Connie who loved cakes! She ate them, she baked them and often she even dreamt about them! Her favourite island was Capri, off the coast of Italy and earlier this year (for my birthday in April in fact!) we stayed there for a weekend and visited the cake shops! Mmmm! Many months (and cakes!) later we arrived in St Kilda, Melbourne where Acland Street is famous for its cake shops. We found four of them! They are full of mouth watering, taste bud tickling, tongue tantalising, tempting, irresistable CAKES! We took Mary along to feast her eyes on them when she arrived in St Kilda and as you can see, she was excited too! (Connie was too enthralled in making her choice to even look up at the camera!) Even I wasn't left out in the cake department as they have gluten free ones too! Tons of gluten free stuff here in Australia generally in fact! Even the little cafe at the Flying Doctor Centre in Alice Springs, Central Australia (in the middle of nowhere!) offered sandwiches made up with gluten free bread! And in Adelaide they have whole gluten free menus in some cafes! So come on UK - catch up! More gluten free food please! (Ok, ok - I will get off my gluten free soap box now!) But I did enjoy my cake! (JK for the K Team)

Mary does Melbourne!

Well, as from last Wednesday, October 15th, the Dazzling Duo have become the Terrible Trio as we have been joined by Mrs Mary Buckley (otherwise known to some of you as either Mary, Mum, Gran, Nan, Nana etc.) We eased her into the Australian time zone the next day by taking a stroll down the seafront from Elwood along to St Kilda Beach. We took a stroll along the picture postcard pier and then sat for awhile on the little jetty at the end, which seemed to be the domain of a group of about five senior locals, all tanned to a deep mahogany brown and wearing speedos(!) who, from what we could see, spent their time fishing from the jetty, drinking wine (out of glasses that they had in their cool box!), leafing through girlie magazines and, in the case of one of them, laying the law down loudly to anyone who dared to try to dock their boat a foot or two from where he thought it should be! (Think it was more of a case that it was interfering with his fishing but it made for quite an interesting afternoon!) On Friday we went for a whistle-stop tour around Melbourne on the free tourist tram before taking a trip on the Yarra River to Williamstown. There we just had time for a quick scoot around the town and a slap up lunch where Mary had her first taste of the famous Barramundi fish (a whole baby one!) A glass of red wine finished off the meal nicely before we headed back up the river to Melbourne! At dusk that evening we went back to the jetty to watch some little penguins waddle out of the sea to their burrows amongst the rocks! (They only come out after dark at St Kilda so we weren't allowed to photograph them as the flash would frighten them, so the photo is from a similar scene we saw in Cape Town, South Africa, where they were wandering about during the day!) Yesterday we met up with some friends that we had met in Alice Springs and Judy took us up to her father's farm way up high in the hills a couple of hours away from Melbourne. Her father was an energetic 85 year old who still chopped wood every day for exercise! He did a bit of wood turning in his spare time and showed us a cupboard full of bowls, cups, trinket boxes and such like that he had made. He was also a great storyteller, entertaining us with stories of his antics during the war years! We had to leave in a bit of a rush to get the train home but I wish I had taken a photo of him to show you! At 85 he still had the most piercing blue eyes you have ever seen! And he still lived by himself in the original old farmhouse high up on the hills - complete with rickety floorboards and original features! A wonderful old man with real character and such an inspiration! I think all that fresh countryside air must have tired us out though because on the train journey home I seemed to have two very sleepy travel companions! Zzzzzz! (JK for the K Team)

Who Let the Dogs Out?!

Thought it would be nice to have a little break from our travel diary to show you some of the furry friends we have met on our journey so far! CK loves dogs, but as most of you know, I am not usually all that keen myself! (As you know Sarah B, I do like Scruffy - but from a distance!) However it was impossible not to have a soft spot for these guys ... ! First there was "Tranquil Dog" - the large dark brown dog lying on his side in the shade! We met him in Italy as he belonged to our hosts at Bellamarina - the lovely little villa we stayed at in Marina di Camerota. His devoted owner, Mr Esposito, told us that he was 22 years old! If you times that by 7 - to work out what that would be in human years - that makes him about 150 or so! Very very old anyway! He looks quite scary in appearance but, as our host informed us on our arrival - "ee is very tranquil!" Which was quite true. He only barked when someone walked past the house and the rest of the time he was to be found fast asleep either on his side on the path or in his kennel, with his big head hanging out of the door! His real name, as we found out later, was Bene (pronounced Ben-nay - very Italian)! Our next doggy friend was also from Marina di Camerota. We didn't find him - it was more of a case of him finding us! He kind of adopted us one day on one of our walks along the coast and kept following us. Sometimes he would walk ahead but then would stop and wait for us to catch up! When we stopped, he stopped! He never barked, just seemed quite happy to walk along with us! Once we went away for the weekend to Capri and on our return we got the bus back from the train station. As we stepped off the bus, there he was at the bus stop! Obviously he just happened to be there anyway, but he actually recognised us and came up to us wagging his tail like he was so pleased to see us! He followed us almost all the way home, until we passed a yard where there were 2 vicious looking rottweilers guarding the place (he wouldn't go past them!) Unfortunately his loyalty was very shortlived though as a week or so later we saw him tagg along with another group of tourists who had just arrived and we didn't see him much after that! Traitor! The shaggy hearthrug dog was my favourite. His name was Bengi and we met him in Kremasti, Rhodes when we had a few evening meals at a little cafe on the main street. No idea who he belonged to, but around 9pm each evening he would run across the road into the cafe and just sit quietly and look at you with the most big, soulful eyes you have ever seen! Obviously waiting for some little titbit or scrap of food to come his way, but then how could you resist such a little cutie?! The final photo is of Butch, our not so furry friend that we pass most days here in St Kilda when we walk to the shops or go to look in the mouth-watering cake shop windows on Acland Street (I have to drag CK away from them after awhile!) We have christened him "low maintenance dog"! But at least some kind soul has put a bowl of water out for him (which he will never get to drink!) and given him a scarf and some leg warmers (although now it's warming up here he doesn't really need those either!) JK for the K Team

Great Ocean Road - Day Four

The last day of our trip started off with a 5 minute stroll across this gorgeous little bridge to a scrumptious breakfast in Lorne. Nothing like a good brekky to set you up for the day! Not that we're thinking about food all the time - just occasionally! Today was a day when we felt we had actually driven around the UK and parts of Europe, not Australia, as many of the places we passed had all too familiar names! Anglesea (spelt differently, but still reminded us of home!) and Torquay to name just a couple. Both of which were picture postcard seaside towns (just like Lorne) with sweeping bays, grassy hillsides and cute little bridges over rivers and creeks. Anglesea also boasted kangaroos hanging around the golf course on a regular basis! Think we arrived there a little late in the day though as the only one we saw was just lying in the shade under a tree (too far away to get a

photograph unfortunately without stomping across the golf course which we couldn't do!) We hung around by the fences and kerb crawled in our car along the road for as long as we could without being arrested for stalking the golfers or loitering with intent(!) and then decided to give in gracefully! At Queenscliff we took the car ferry across the bay to Sorrento (the Italian leg of our drive!) and then headed up the coast toward our final stop in Elwood, just south of Melbourne where we are going to spend the next 10 days. Not having eaten since breakfast (yes thinking about food again!) we stopped in Frankston where I saw cafe selling portions of hot chips (small & regular sized). As we were planning on eating later I just ordered a small portion to keep us going until we reached Elwood. The photo shows why I was so glad I hadn't ordered a large one!! We arrived in Elwood (stuffed full of chips!) to a beautiful sunset - a fitting end to our trip along the Great Ocean Road! (JK for the K Team)

Get Well Soon Emma!

A special post to our new blog for little Emma, who is recovering from her 2nd hip operation which she had yesterday. For those of you who don't know, she had her 1st operation about this time last year, came out of her cast around February and was doing brilliantly. She soon was up on her feet and toddling around. Unfortunately, she needed to have a second operation as her legs were still not growing properly. This was quite a shock to all the family as she had been doing so well. Now she will need to be in the second cast for another 4 months (for her 2nd birthday in December and 2nd Christmas as well). She will be 3 before she has a birthday or Christmas without a cast on! So it's quite sad news really and everyone is hoping that this time will be the last. We thought that by putting her photo and a few details on our blog, then everyone who logs on can wish her well!

Great Ocean Road - Day Three

CK was the designated driver today, as it was the most winding section of the Great Ocean Road with lots of hairpin bends. As a passenger she feared she would leave her stomach behind at the first bend, so much preferred to drive! We spent the morning driving along the spectacular, but dangerous, Shipwreck Coast which featured arches, gorges, blowholes and the famous 12 Apostles (at least there were 12 originally but now down to 8!) Stopped at Princetown for lunch - cute little place consisting of not much more than a General Store, Post Office & Cafe (all in one building!) and a Tavern! Then it was on to Cape Otway for some koala spotting! Did we see any? Not even one! Undeterred we had a quick pit stop at the beautiful Apollo Bay and then drove a little further along to Kennett River where at last we saw some Koalas! Yippee! Hard to see unless you know where to look, as they sit very high up in the trees on what looks like the most precarious of branches! Our patience was rewarded though when we saw a mother and baby koala high up in a tree. Ahh! So cute! CK managed to get a fabulous photo of them! Kennett River was also Parrot City! We got swooped upon as soon as we arrived and as you can see by the photos - a couple of them got quite intimate with us! Satisfied that we could finally tick the "Saw koalas in the wild" box, we headed off to the Coachman Inn in Lorne for our last overnight stop on the road! We have already checked out a fab place for brekky tomorrow morning so, having only had crisps for our tea tonight, we will go to bed dreaming of scrambled eggs and bacon - Mmmm! (JK for the K Team)

Great Ocean Road - Day Two

Day 2 started well with a hearty breakfast at the Union Cafe in Robe! I had scrambled eggs & bacon and Connie had a posh breakfast of scrambled egg, ham & tomato with chilli sauce on toasted turkish bread! I was driving today and we were soon on the lookout for wombats! Unfortunately as they are nocturnal creatures none of them came out to play! We did see hundreds and thousands of sheep though! No wonder lamb is so cheap over here! Our first stop was Port Mcdonnell where we had our obligatory morning hot chocolate. Connie was impressed that the menu offered deep fried Mars bars (a Scottish delicacy!) After a brief stop at Mt Gambier, Koalas were next on the list to try and find and we were optimistic that the 2 hours during the day when they are actually awake would coincide with us passing their territory - but it was not to be! We then soon left South Australia behind to cross the border into Victoria. We carried on, ever hopeful that some kind of wildlife would appear by the side of the road (but preferably not actually running across the road - especially as I was driving!) but all we managed to see was a cute little baby rabbit sitting patiently on the grass verge. I hurtled to a stop a few metres down the road, in order to turn around and get a photo. He was still sitting there as I returned but another car's appearance on the other side of the road frightened him and he ran off. So sorry - no cute baby rabbit photo! But for all those of you who are disappointed at not having a cute baby animal photo to look at, here's a lovely little baby duckling instead that we saw in Adelaide! Hope that helps! At about 4pm we stopped to stretch our legs at Port Fairy, a lovely little town with a picture postcard marina and delightful old style character cottages. Then onto Warrnambool to the All Star Motor Inn for the night. Warrnambool is famous for having whales come to calve here every year from June to September. Some of the signs said they can be seen from May to October so we went to the viewing area at Logan's Beach to see if we could spot any but seems like we just missed out on that event! But got a nice photo of the beach instead! (JK for the K Team)

Great Ocean Road - Day One

Hope you like our car! We only requested the very basic (and cheapest model!) but when we got to the office they had upgraded us to this very swish little Subaru 4WD!! Not bad eh?! It's great to drive and an automatic so easy peasy! Connie drove the first leg yesterday so I was navigator! We left Adelaide and took the scenic route down to Wellington where we took our little car on the vehicular punt across the Murray River! As you can see Connie was suspicious of my navigational skills! The cheek of it! After our voyage across the Murray River (which took all of 5 minutes!) we felt the need to stop for hot chocolate (with marshmallows!) at Meningie a little further along on the other side of the river. Later on along the road we thought we had stumbled into Barbie Land when we saw numerous vivid Pink Lakes! We eventually saw a notice which told us all about it. Apparently it's something that occurs worldwide when you have a saltwater lake in shallow water and algae grows. The algae then releases carotene into the water for some sort of protection which then reacts with the salt water and creates the lovely pink colour! As the lake dries up during the summer months it gets an even more vivid pink! (Claire - if you're reading this - we took this photo especially for you! And have rechristened it Claire's Lake!!) Our next stop was at Kingston where we met a very special resident - Larry the Lobster! There is a bit of a story behind Larry's immense size! When he was commissioned the measurements were put down in centimetres but, due to some miscommunication, he ended up being made up in metres instead!! Glad they let him stay though - we loved Larry! Our last stop for the day was Robe where we booked into the Robetown Motor Inn for the night. Lovely place, very convenient and a bonus was having wi fi internet access free of charge! (JK for the K Team)

The blog starts here!

Hello! We thought the start of our trip on the "Great Ocean Road" would be a good time to make a start on the blog that I have been promising to do since beginning our mammoth 2 year trip at the end of March! So sorry for the delay! As most of you no doubt know we chilled out in southern Italy and a few of the Greek Islands for a couple of months or so in April, May and June and then after a quick trip home began our "proper" trip in South Africa, visiting Johannesburg and Cape Town. We arrived in Perth, Australia mid July and since then have travelled to Sydney, Cairns, Brisbane, Darwin, Alice Springs and Adelaide. Our next stop is Melbourne, but instead of flying we decided to hire a car and drive there over 4 days on the scenic coastal road - otherwise known as the "Great Ocean Road". So please come along with us - we'd love to have your company along the way!

I hope to update this blog on a weekly basis at least (more often when I can though!) so stop by whenever you want to! (JK for the K Team)