Port Lincoln Part 2

I spent the day exploring Port Lincoln and the surrounding area. It was just a magic day and the last that autumn had to offer was unbelievably fine. 

Above is the view from my apartment. I could struggle out of bed to that every morning, you wouldn't even have to ask nicely. After a leisurely breakfast I headed for the foreshore grabbed a coffee and soaked up the rays. The foreshore had marble plinths along the way commemorating things such as Matthew Flinders finding the place, the first fishing trawler, the last cargo sailing ship; that sort of thing. Right in the middle of the park however, almost at the waters edge, is a statue of Makybe Diva. I mean Matthew Flinders found the place but the horse got the statue. It makes you proud to be an Aussie.

The statue cost $180,000.00 and is a life size replica. Her owner  (Tony Santic) comes from the town so there is a legitimate connection. Plus its not everyday you win the Melbourne Cup and to do it three times is pretty special. It made for an interesting diversion. 

I headed to the Axel Stenross Maritime Museum where they had an excellent display of the all the commercial fishing activities that goes on around the town. There are cray fisherman, prawn fisherman, tuna fisherman, abalone divers and oyster farmers. Aquaculture is big business in Port Lincoln. The museum's name sake was a local Finnish boat builder who lived here for over 50 years. There are many examples of his handiwork on display.

The town also offers a range of aquatic activities that a visitor can partake in. You can go diving with sharks (yeah right), you can swim with the tuna (sorry but they won't swim too well when they are served medium rare with a white wine sauce) or you can swim with the sea lions (nobody seemed to notice it was a day before Winter) along with a host of other things. I passed on all of these and went in search of food.

I headed out to Coffin Bay home to what are considered to be the world's best oysters. What a sad story that place is. It got its name for being the place where an almost entire ship load of passengers were buried. They were coming to Australia to settle in the only state that didn't have convicts and that was their fate. Struck down by yellow fever and never setting foot in their new homeland. Nuh, its all lies it was actually named by Matthew Flinders after one of his admiralty buddies Isaac Coffin. I liked my story better however.

Lunch: Ignore the Water and Admire the View

As you can see lunch was pretty good, I followed up the oysters with a tuna steak salad, truly awesome. 

From there I needed to walk of my over indulgence and headed to the Coffin Bay National Park. I paid my entry fee and took in some of the views.

I communed with nature and actually got my feet wet walking along this beach.

I finished my afternoon with an hours walk up to a lookout where nature came to me. The bird life was abundant, I was greeted by kangaroos and the emus that had earlier tried to impale themselves on my car still were pretty friendly (don't be surprised if I come home with an emu hood ornament, they are seriously suicidal). I headed back to town to catch up with a friend of a friends. There must be something about the Bryant name, everyone with that surname seems to be going out of their way to be nice to me.

Jim Bryant is a spritely 82 year old and former chairman of the local radio station along with a myriad of other business interests. He kindly took time out of his incredibly active life to give me a few tips about the journey ahead, share some gossip about out old mate Daryl Durrant and just generally chew the fat. 

I retired for the evening, grabbed a whisky, took in the awesome view and did some preparation for the Nullarbor. I'm not sure what the phone/internet is like so I may be off the radar for a few days. Anyway the plan is to spend the day exploring Streaky Bay then bedding down in Ceduna for the evening. After that its 1,200 kilometres of I know not what. I'll catch everybody on the flip side.

The Country Wave

The trip into Port Lincoln was long and somewhat tedious. South Australia has one very good feature however that NSW could learn from, roads that would be marked as 90kph in NSW are sign posted as 110kph here. It speeds up the boredom. 

Port Lincoln

I pointed the Vectra in the direction of the coast and set out for Port Lincoln, sadly waving goodbye to Wilpena Pound. The Flinders Ranges is one of those places that has to be seen to be believed. It is full of incredible beauty tinged with tragedy and sadness. The entire area is testimony to man's failure to tame the elements. 

Healthy Weight Part 4

If I could distill down my reading on the subject of dieting to few basic points these would be them.

Whole foods are best. To put it quite simply the more natural, unprocessed and for that matter how little cooked the food is the better it is for you. Obviously there are some exceptions to this but it is not a bad filter to run your food preparation and consumption decisions through.

Flinders Ranges

The Magical Whisky Tour rolls on and here I am in the Flinders Ranges. How can I best describe them? They're like the Power Rangers only with less Lycra and dressed in natural colours. I need to thank DB for his excellent advice otherwise I would never have come here. The scenery, in particular the scope of the scenery, is just breath taking. From now on DB you will be known as "The Guru of Glenelg". The skies have been cloudless and the breadth of your vision is literally not big enough to take in the mighty vistas. Impressive stuff.

I left Burra and all it had to offer at about 9.00am on Monday morning and headed for the ranges. I took a slightly longer route that took me along a bit of the coast. There was no real benefit to this. I just passed through a number of sleepy towns and skirted around Port Pirie and Port Augusta. I stopped for lunch at a place called Quorn (pronounced Corn like the vegetable). At one point in the trip I was only 320 kms from Broken Hill, you don't realise how big NSW is until you try to avoid it. Quorn was the last place you could get reasonably priced petrol (to give you an example it is $1.70 a litre here) so I topped up and had some lunch after wandering around the town.

Quorn itself had once been a big railway town where the original "Afghan" or more commonly known as the "Ghan" railway passed through. During WWII it serviced 43 trains a day with troops criss crossing the country. It still has a railway but it is run by volunteers and only works on weekends for the tourist market, running down to Port Augusta and back. I had lunch at the delightful Emily's Bistro, where I was served an excellent roast pork and a flat white for $15.00. How do they do it for the price? It was housed in an old department store that still had the name "The Great Northern Emporium". It was liking a working museum. The business was lined with solid timber counters and glass display cases. It still had the old pulley system used to send sales overhead to the central cashier. Much of the furniture, crockery and cutlery was period as well. All fabulous stuff. They had an old piano in the corner that still had its original double sconce for holding the candles. I was tempted to sit down and have a play but I held myself back.

From Quorn it was on through Hawker and then Wilpena Pound Resort where I checked in for two nights. I managed to land a half price deal through wotif including breakfast which came in quite handy. Its an eco lodge apparently which probably means I shouldn't be using the air conditioner buts its cold and I am. I love these places, it has a sign asking you to reuse your towel for environmental purposes then gives you only enough space to hang up one. The room I'm in sleeps 4. The staff here are great and have been fabulous with maps and places to see. 

Went and saw some real Aboriginal rock art which was a bit special. You can't take your eyes off the view around here it is just all encompassing. But you cant take your eyes off the road either as the stock and the wildlife use it with almost gay abandon. In my two days driving here I have had wallabies, rock wallabies, sheep, rabbits, kangaroos and emus all jump blithely in front of the car, hell bent on committing suicide. Its lucky I am such a caring, sharing sensitive new age guy. 

Its real 4 wheel drive (and Vectra country), the poor old thing has been getting quite a beating on this trip. I got caught up in the bar with a tour group last night who were somewhat pretentious and giving everyone a hard time. I don't know how those tour leaders do it. I think I would be telling them to do the "in and word off" a lot. I found out what time they are eating tonight and am getting there an hour later. Hopefully I will miss them. 

I went to a place called Spokes Hill to watch this magnificent sunset earlier this evening. It would a really romantic place to take a date, fortunately I didn't have to worry as there were 7 4WD loads of tourists all having a wank about the size of their vehicles. I almost couldn't see the view for the tripods and the massive lenses on their camera. I was getting serious lens envy. I mean the last time I was involved in anything that long was one of the lunches I had in the 80's. Anyway the sunset was magic. I'm off to dinner now so I can torment some more tour groups. You have to make your fun wherever you can. 

Clare Valley

So it's goodbye to Adelaide and all the hopelessly well groomed people there. It's grown so much since my last visit and has really turned into quite the vibrant city. I jumped in a couple of cabs and they darted in and out of traffic with reckless abandon. The restaurants and bars were pumping and the shops were all well patronised. Its the kind of place I would be happy to live. There's just this one thing I have to mention. They have this one way freeway. It doesn't make any sense. In the morning it goes one way and on some evenings it goes another. If you are going against the traffic, bad luck take the highway with all it's 50 kmh zones and traffic lights. At unspecified dates and times the freeway runs in whatever direction it pleases. I believe the direction is chosen using the South Australian Premier's (Jay Weatherill) astrological charts, that would make as much sense any I suppose.

Maclaren Vale

I finally succumbed. Having travelled through innumerable wine districts over the last few weeks (think Hunter Valley, Tamar Valley, Coonawarra, Adelaide Hills, Limestone Coast, Mornington Peninsula, Padthaway and Clare Valley) I finally did some serious wine tasting. Before I could do that I caught up with an old buddy who I had let slip through the cracks. David Bolton, or DB as he is known, owns a company here is Adelaide called Maximum Gaming. He and I, along with selected others, had an annual ritual of catching up every year at the Gaming Expo in Sydney. Needless to say it was lots of good food, food wine and good company. He kindly took a day out of his busy life to play tour guide to Maclaren Vale. Together we drank lots of wine, talked about the old days, caught up on the new developments he has going (he will be king of LED lighting in Australia of that I have no doubt) and took is some magical wines accompanied by some fabulous vistas. A better way to spend a day I cannot think of.

Adelaide

It seems that the bad weather is following me around. It poured down on my drive up to Adelaide from Cape Jervis and by lunchtime Friday it was raining after what looked to be a fine start to the day. I haven't been here since 1985, things have changed. There's traffic to begin with. Adelaide used to be a big country town now its clearly a city. Many of the people are impossibly well groomed and dressed. It has lots of imposing old buildings scattered around the place and of course it's home to the Giant Pandas. 

Kangaroo Island to Adelaide

The people on Kangaroo Island are really starting to grow on me, they speak with a frankness that is quite refreshing. They call a spade a front end loader. There is no doubt what they mean and where you stand. We all agreed that the recent weather had been crap and yes it would have been nice for me to have seen it all but I either had to stick around and hope it got better or suck it up princess and stop whining. Off course I found a third way. 

Kangaroo Island

Well the weather here is crap but that's ok. I'm told it doesn't rain underground. I have ventured out from my accommodation in Kingscote and struck out in the Vectra to Seal Bay, then on to the Birds of Prey display and inevitably the Kelly Hill Cave. I was warned before I got here that the Islanders use a different method of time keeping, it may not be quite geological but Greenwich mean is more of a concept than reality. They are a rough and tumble lot, real back slapping, beer swilling, nose picking, ball scratching kind of guys. 

Murray Bridge

I spent the night in Murray Bridge last night and don't I wish I hadn't, what a dump. My Coonawarra Cab Sav hangover didn't get better all day. It was miserable whenever I went. Anywhere that was even mildly interesting or scenic was spoilt by the weather. The towns got progressively more dull. Robe was nice, Kingston was ok and Meningie didn't have a lot going for it apart from the wind. At that point I decided that at the next decent size town I would stop for the night. I consulted the map ans there were three choices, Wellington, Tailem Bend and Murray Bridge. Suffice it to say I didn't make a good choice.

To Narcoorte

Well what an entertaining couple of days. I headed out of Mt Gambier through streets lined with sandstone houses decorated with the pink dolomite the region is known for. The plan was to check out some of the local caves (you may have gathered its kind of an interest of mine), then hit the Coonawarra and sample some red wine. Not quite whisky but I will struggle along all the same. Then I thought I would spend a quiet Sunday night in Naracoorte, go to bed early then head in to Adelaide in the morning. Well it all started to go pear shaped as I checked into the Naracoorte pub.

To Mount Gambier

Well I have left Warrnambool, Victoria and headed along the coast road landing in Mount Gambier about 20 kilometres inside the South Australian border. I can now say that I am slower than the east coast because as I drove across the border the speed limit may have increased to 110km but time went backwards, 4.00pm became 3.30pm. 

Back to the Mainland

Jumped on board the Spirit of Tasmania II for the voyage home. 15 knot winds and a one metre swell, I have been to rougher birthday parties. It didn't really seem like we were on the water at all. I drove off the ship at 6.55am (my god that's early) and headed for Geelong, where I had breakfast, filled the car up (only $1.41.9 a litre) and gave the old Vectra a bit of a wash (she didn't look so good covered in Tasmanian bird droppings). While Queenscliff is the actual start to the Great Ocean Road most Melbournites pick it up at Geelong. It was time to cross the next thing from my bucket and drive the Great Ocean Road.

To get out of Melbourne I had to cross the West Gate Bridge, scene of another famous bridge disaster. In 1970, while still being constructed, a span of the bridge collapsed killing 35 people. These were mainly workers who were either on the span at the time or tragically were under it on a morning tea break when it all came crashing down. 

Having made it across I headed to Geelong then on to Torquay where the ocean part of the road's name begins to appear. From there it was on to Lorne. Lorne was clearly in the process of being massively over developed. What once must have been a sleepy coastal village was now covered in shiny new chrome and glass apartment buildings that rose from up the town's surrounding hills like some post modernist giant's staircase. 

From Lorne it was on to Apollo Bay where the process was over development was also in full flight. Both towns were full of Asian tourists dutifully propping up another sector of the Australian economy. It makes perfect sense really, once the mining boom is over and we no longer own the country it will be important for the new owners to know the best places to live. 

Apollo Bay

From Apollo Bay it was on to Port Campbell but first I had to pay a visit to the Twelve Apostles. Apparently they were originally called the "Sow and Her Piglets" and that there were never 12 of them only 9. The name was changed to give them a more tourist friendly image back in the 1920's. In this secular age and the fact that I could only count 7 of them maybe they should change the name again to something like the seven dwarves (but that wouldn't work on so many levels).

Now this is a massive tourist location, despite the relative difficulty in getting there and having seen hardly any cars on most of the Great Ocean Road (apart from in the towns) to pull into a car park that contained well over 100 vehicles was a bit weird. Where did they all come from? Are they lost? Do they know the way home?   Is there enough food? 

There are a number of other natural features that are available for viewing within a few kilometres of the apostles. The most famous of these being London Bridge (it should now be more correctly known as London Island). In January of 1990 one of the spans collapsed stranding two people on Australia's newest island getaway. Fortunately no one was hurt and they were rescued by helicopter a few hours later. It does give you a greater respect for the power of nature. 

Before

After

From the apostles it was on to Port Campbell and then Warrnambool. The Great Ocean Road becomes the Great Forest Road as you wind your way through the luscious green dairy country of the Aire Valley. It's all so hopelessly picturesque with letter boxes made from old milk pales and the Friesian cows grazing happily in the paddocks. I am sure the Upper Hunter looked a bit like this at one time. In a way its still the same, instead of Friesian cows we have yellow caterpillars and instead of grazing in paddocks they graze on rock. The imagery isn't quite as romantic though. 

I spent the night in Warrnambool and will check out it's virtues after a dull night of washing and a good nights sleep.

Farewell to Tassie

I spent my last night in Tasmania catching up with an old friend of mine. He moved down to Tassie about 8 years ago and we sort of fell out of touch. He's a rash all over the computer now as when you google him there are references to him on newspaper websites, and in local radio archives. He's a councillor on the Break O Day council (a position I know he would do with great diligence and care). So if you are one of Reon's constituents what can I say but come election day, vote early and vote often. Reon and his partner Wendy kindly put me up for the night and we talked about the old days. I had prepared myself for a night of drunken debauchery but it just didn't happen. 

MONA - The Museum of Old and New

After Port Arthur I headed back across the Derwent to check out MONA - The Museum of Old and New. Many years ago in 1975 there was a pretty significant accident involving the the bulk ore carrier "Lake Illawarra" and the Tasman Bridge. Essentially the Lake Illawarra collided with the bridge and cars went plummeting off the edge. This event quite literally divided Hobart and saw 12 people killed including both motorists and ship's crew. It was huge news when I was a kid. It was across this very bridge that I travelled to get to MONA.

Old Hobart Town & Port Arthur

Headed off from Hobart at about 9.00am with Richmond my first stop. It is an amazing old town, full of heritage buildings and, along with Stanley, a place I would have appreciated some more time to explore. The reason for my visit was a little bit kitsch. Firstly I wanted to see the oldest bridge in Australia, but I also wanted to see "Old Hobart Town". It's a miniature world recreating Hobart circa 1820 in 1/16th scale. I've always been a sucker for that kind of stuff.

Hobart

After recovering from my very thorough wine tasting and subsequent whisky appreciation at a local pub I ventured forth to conquer Hobart. Everywhere you turn there is some old building, point of interest or convict thing. The Taswegians are very proud of their state and rightly so. Anywhere that can make coffee as consistently well as Tasmania deserves high praise indeed. 

To Hobart

Hit The Road at about 9.30am, wanted to give the frost a chance to dry out before I headed to Hobart. Went out through Queenstown an old derelict looking place that had completely denuded hills from the copper mining that had gone on there for many years. I needed to fill up with petrol but this was just too depressing for words so I pushed on. The trip got far more entertaining after that.

Gordon River

Decided to spend the day in Strahan and take a cruise on the Gordon River. The weather was crappy. I just couldn't face the 4 hour drive to Hobart with all the rain so I hung around. There is not a lot going on in Strahan so it should make for extremely dull, quiet and early night.

Cradle Mountain to Strahan

I awoke this morning to the ferocious sound of wild animals mating. I rushed to the window and flung open the curtains and startled two Tasmanian Pademelons (a variety of wallaby) but the noise didn't stop. It turned out the animals were in the next room. I had a big day planned so I showered and headed to the lodge for the buffet breakfast (carefully scrutinising every couple there to see if I could identify the culprits). I soon bored with that game and jumped in the car and headed for the little coastal hamlet of Stanley. In particular a place called "The Nut" for reasons that will soon become self evident.

On Board The Spirit

Set my alarm for 5.00am (my God who gets up at the time?), and was out of bed, showered and on deck by 6.00am. The ship was already docked and a dark, foggy and industrial Devonport was looming outside. The glowing arches of that famous Scottish Restaurant was Tasmania's most visible landmark. This was clearly the working part of the coastline. I didn't want it to be too nice, the start today is going to be a little dull. The first port of call is the laundromat (a bachelors work is never done).

Burnie to Cradle Mountain

Slept for ten hours straight (the 5.00am start on board the Spirit of Tasmania was not to my liking). Got up to an amazing view over the port of Burnie and had brekkie while taking it all in. Burnie is a strange place. The part of town I stayed in was excellent. It was next door to the Burnie Club that was prominently yet discreetly sign posted as "members only" and looked very swank. There well maintained Victorian mansions either side of the motel, plus there was a goat.

Devonport to Burnie

It took just 20 minutes to get the old Vectra off the Spirit of Tasmania. The operation is a well oiled machine. First stop, the laundromat which doesn't make for instructive travel stories. 90 minutes and with a week's worth of freshly laundered clothes folded and bagged later, I departed. Being the well organised person that I am I had made absolutely no plans about what I was doing and where I was going. So I headed to the Devonport Tourist Information office where two volunteers (I think they were retirees) spent a good hour with me showing me things to do in Tassie (thank you guys you were great). They then handed me off to one of the paid staff who booked me some accommodation in Burnie for the night. With no more excuses I headed out to discover Tasmania.

Bush Walk Ratings

Now since I have been away I have been doing a bit of bush walking. This takes the place of my usual afternoon jaunts around the golf course at Muswellbrook (for which I am justly unknown for). Its much more stimulating than looking at the damage done to the greens by white cockatoos. What has been really interesting is the different ratings given to how hard a particular track is to walk. In NSW if its says you need 2 hours to walk it I have been doing in half that time. In Canberra it took about two thirds of the recommended time. In Victoria however they really mean it, if they say 2 hours they expect you take it at a jog and there wont be any dilly dallying about and stopping to look at the scenery thank you very much.

Spirit of Tasmania

I'm sitting in The Leatherwood Restaurant on the Spirit of Tasmania II, sipping New Zealand Sauvignon Blanc and about to dine on Tasmanian Smoked Salmon and Blue Eyed Trevella. Let me just say that again I'm sitting in The Leatherwood Restaurant on the Spirit of Tasmania II, sipping New Zealand Sauvignon Blanc and about to dine on Tasmanian Smoked Salmon and Blue Eyed Trevella. 

Erica to the Mornington Peninsula via Walhalla

Woke up in Erica to one of those rural vistas (see below) that was just too idyllic for words so I headed out of town to find some breakfast. Erica is a small logging community of about 150 people that happens to be located in some truly gorgeous countryside. The next town, Rawson, was a six minute drive and is considerably larger than Erica. Off I trotted in search of my morning sustenance, but due to lack of interest Rawson was closed. Sheepishly I returned to Erica and spent a whopping $ 8.50 on a huge breakfast from the local General Store. It sold firewood, managed the mail, it's a cafe, is the local tourist information office and essentially the place that run's Erica. To top it all off it made great coffee.

Psychic GPS

I haven't talked much about the tech I am using on this trip except to vent my spleen at Mobicity for their fairly ordinary efforts in delivering my phone (btw I got a refund). I picked up another HTC One X in Penrith on the way to the Blue Mountains and have been learning its capabilities on the fly. Two of the best features it has is the Navigation App from Google and the integrated mp3 player. What's truly psychic about this is just how integrated it is.

Now the GPS talks to me, which is nice now that its just me, this blog and the road. It has a stern American female voice, imagine taking your stay at home aunt, who is a bit of a know it all and basically the fun police, and putting her in charge of giving you directions to places that neither of you have never been. She has to sound like she's in charge, she can't sound exasperated and she doesn't know how to pronounce place names (you should hear her say Kosciuszko). I have given her a name, Martha. It had to be a no nonsense name, like an old school teacher or even worse librarian. She is a stranger in a strange land but she is trying to deal with as best she can. Plus she's psychic.

Now when Martha doesn't have things to tell me she lets me play mp3 files through the Bluetooth audio sync with the car sound system, she then butts in whenever she needs too. What's a little creepy is her song selection. I first noticed it when I was entering Jindabyne, up came the old Midnight Oil song from Red Sails in the Sunset, "Kosciuszko". I smiled quietly too myself at the luck of that. I have about 1,600 tunes in Martha's memory so it wasn't too big a stretch to think it just a bit lucky.

On leaving Jindabyne that's when it started getting weird. I was about to hit the 100 km zone of the Snowy Mountains Highway when on came Elvis Costello singing "Watching the Detectives", just then two highway patrol cars sped past me. I'm starting to laugh out loud at the irony and then it hit me, Martha is psychic. I kept a very careful ear on her song selection from that point on. Next freaky thing was a small grape growing district I was travelling through and up popped Cold Chisel singing "Cheap Wine". Now I'm starting to hear the Twilight Zone theme music in my head. 

I'm thinking this could be great, if I get to drive across the Nullarboor and Alan Parson starts singing "Eye in the Sky" I KNOW there will be one of those helicopter speed guns somewhere above my head and can slow down. I'm going to be really nice to Martha from now on though. I am positively freaking out about what she will play when I board the Spirit for Tasmania soon. If Flash in the Pan start singing "Down Among the Dead Men" (about the sinking of the titanic) I'll be wearing life vest for the entire trip.

Merimbula to Erica

Well today started pretty well. Had a superb breakfast at The Waterfront Cafe, check out the view.

Healthy Weight Part 3

Now I have been on my diet for 4 months and I am pleased to say that I have lost 25 kilos (55 pounds). Not a bad start (I've lost half an Olsen - my new unit of measurement). So let me explain the changes I have made.

I'll deal with the tough stuff first so here's what I don't eat any more

Bread

Cookies and Biscuits

Crumbed and battered foods like schnitzels and fish

Sugar

Cakes

Chocolate

Sweets, candies and lollies

Coke, Pepsi and all of their derivatives 

Juices (with the occasional exception for tomato juice)

High carbohydrate vegetables (potato, pumpkin and corn)

High sugar fruit (watermelon, cantaloupe and grapes) 

Margarine

Here's what I do eat

Lean meat (Steak, Pork, Lamb and Chicken)

Fresh Fish (Salmon, Tuna, Swordfish, Barramundi, Bream and Flathead)

Fresh (and frozen) Vegetables (Beans, Snow Peas, Carrots, Cauliflowers, Broccoli, Squash, Mushrooms, Zucchini, Onion, Asparagus, Tomatoes and Capsicums / Peppers

Fresh Fruit (Strawberries, Blueberries, Raspberries, Kiwi Fruit, Mulberries, Avocados, Passion Fruit and Blackberries)

Frozen Berry Mixes

Fresh Nuts (Brazil, Pecan, Macadamia and Walnuts)

Eggs - fried and scrambled good, boiled or poached best
Water

Milk

Coffee

Cream (yes that's right, its great in my coffee)
Hard Cheese

Tea

Vinegar

Cold Pressed Olive Oil

Now this list isn't exhaustive or even close to complete, its just a quick snapshot of the changes I have made. No doubt there will be diet and exercise gurus that could pick this to pieces. All I can say is go your hardest. All I'm trying to do is fulfill a public service by ridding the world of an excess Olsen. How can you fault me for that?

Cooma to Merimbula

Bounded out of bed at the crack of lunch time (7.30am really) and prepared for an assault on Australia's highest peak. I put some fruit, nuts, water and warm clothes in a day pack ready for the ascent. It was a frosty start with the mercury already rising to the lofty heights of 2 degrees. Still it had got down to zero overnight so 2 degrees was positively balmy. I had breakfast at a really dodgy Cafe then went to the Visitor Information Centre who promptly ruined my day.

To Cooma

What a day today was. Originally I planned to head to the coast, but Dave, who from now on will be known as the "Sage of Canberra", suggested a more interesting route. I am mighty pleased he did. Setting of in a westerly direction and heading to Brindabella was how the day started. Once I was out of Canberra it didn't take long to hit some really stunning countryside. There was probably 50 kilometres of dirt road along the way (you wont be getting any love letters from Holden Dave) then a well surfaced road into Tumut. 

In Canberra - Part 2

After a sensational breakfast at Urban Pantry in Manuka (including two double shot espressos) I dropped Claire at her school and set off exploring the town. I used to come to Canberra a bit so I felt reasonably familiar with its many attractions. I headed for the ones that had substantially changed or I had never visited before.

In Canberra

Well what a night. I met up with Bern and Dave, two of their kids Pat and John (plus the dog Paul), a more welcoming bunch of people you could not hope to meet. Before long I was ensconced in their kitchen sipping tea (which quickly turned to white wine, then red wine - well you know the story from here). The house has stunning views over Canberra but most impressively to me was the truly amazing sound system. I'm not talking about some Cbus thing with all the bells and whistles, I'm talking about absolute musical purity.

To Canberra

Well I headed out to Canberra using the most indirect of routes. The plan is to stay with the sister of a friend (who has a daughter at school in Canberra). While it will be the last bit of recognisable company I will have for a while, I still feel a little apprehensive about being the unknown house guest. Hey what's the worst that can go wrong? They hate me and kick me out. I can deal with that.

False Pretences

Wipe Out - What can I say my world has been turned upside down. I went to the Blue Mountains with the promise of a nice cup of tea to sooth my ailing liver. It was all lies !!!!

To Goulburn

With a heavy head and a wine soaked stomach I set off on the next leg of my adventure. I hated leaving Sydney. It just felt so right to be back. Sometimes you leave a place and you come back years later and it it isn't the same. Coming back to Sydney felt like I'd never left. Its crazy to say it but I loved being in the big crowds, the sense of purpose and energy that they have. The traffic was worse but it always is. I don't know why we country folk complain about Sydney traffic. It is that slow now you can almost walk faster.