Tuesday 16th December to Wednesday 31st December
Perth/Fremantle
   We flew to Perth to meet up with our friends Peter and Cheryl from the yacht Stolen Kiss. They had a place in Fremantle and were kind enough to put us up for a couple of weeks.
   Fremantle is a delightful place, very windy and full of yachts. I don't think we'd ever seen quite so many in one place. We had fun exploring the long white beaches but decided the water was too cold to venture into. Because of the winds there is usually quite big surf in the afternoons so we spent time just watching the many kite surfers and marvelling at their skill.
   The 'must go to place' from Fremantle is Rottnest Island about a half hour ferry ride to the west, lots of beautiful beaches, clear water but be careful of the reefs and rocks. It's a favourite place for the local yachts and motor boats to visit for the weekend so the pretty bays are full of moorings.
   We paid a visit to Fremantle Prison which is now a museum and had a fascinating tour by boat through tunnels running underneath the prison. In the early days of the settlement a fresh water supply was always a problem so the tunnels were dug to tap into the groundwater and supply first the prison then the surrounding town with drinking water.
   Perth is built on the banks of the Swan River and the Swan River Valley is well known for producing good quality wine. We all spent a happy day driving through the valley to visit some of the wineries and sample their wares before choosing which to buy.
   We discovered that there is a specially constructed bell tower in Perth which now houses the original 'Bells of St Martins'. The bells themselves are in a gallery high up in the building where they can be seen while the bell ringers below sound the peals.
Thanks to our friends we had a great time but come New Year's Day it was time to move on.

Thursday 1st January to Saturday 3rd January
Gracetown
   We were going to spend a few weeks around SW Australia before heading east so the first stop was with friends Russ and Deb from yacht Lady Anne. Russ has a cosy place overlooking the bay at Gracetown. We drove down the coast from Fremantle stopping at Yalgorup National Park on the way to have a look at the intriguingly named thrombolites. These we discovered, are rocklike structures built by micro-organisms which have been in existence for some 600 million years.
   From Yalgorup we travelled through Bunbury and Busselton stopping to admire the pier at Busselton. From there we drove to Cape Naturaliste and took a walk along the cliffs to watch the rolling surf.
   Gracetown is a tiny settlement on the coast south of Cape Naturaliste. It has a beautiful beach and Russ can see if the surf is worth getting up for without getting out of bed.
   Had a great time with Russ and Deb and even swam off the beach. They assured us that it really wasn't too cold - but it was definitely bracing. We found some beautiful bays up and down the coast and spent a bit more time exploring Cape Naturaliste.

Sunday 4th January to Tuesday 6th January
Augusta
    Augusta is about 50 km south of Gracetown and the closest settlement to Cape Leeuwin which is the most southwesterly point in mainland Australia. The Indian Ocean and the Southern Ocean meet at Cape Leeuwin and although the weather was relatively benign when we were there the seas are usually very rough. We took a tour of the lighthouse which, when it was first built, had a light powered by kerosene but now obviously it's electric. The light can be seen from about 20 miles (32 km) away. It was commissioned in 1896 and since that date there has been only one shipwreck on the rocks.
   There is a very sheltered river at Augusta which seems to be home to a large flock of pelicans which can be seen sunning themselves on the rocks in the daytime.
   A pleasant walk can be had along the river to the mouth where it flows out into Flinders Bay and the Southern Ocean.

Wednesday 7th January to Friday 9th January
Pemberton
   Pemberton is situated in the middle of the Southern Forests and is surrounded by large tracts of karri trees. There are many pleasant walks along shady forest tracks. Karri trees only grow in this small area of Western Australia. They grow to about 60 - 70 metres and can live for hundreds of years. There are three famous trees which were once used as fire lookouts. The trees have iron spikes hammered into the trunks which then form a ladder. The trees - the Gloucester Tree, the Diamond Tree and the Dave Evans Bi-centennial Tree - are now open to the public. We climbed the 60 metre high Gloucester Tree to get a magnificent view across the treetops.
   We stayed at the Warren Grange B&B which is about 16 km from Pemberton. It was a very pleasant farmstay run singlehandedly by Susan Rice. The farm is up for sale but no takers so far.
   We made a side trip to Windy Harbour which is a collection of holiday shacks on the coast in D'Entrecasteaux National Park. There are some lovely walks along the cliff top between Windy Harbour and Point D'Entrecasteaux. There were a couple of fishing boats in the harbour but even on the relatively calm day that we were there they were still rolling around quite a lot. In the full fury of a Southern Ocean storm they'd need to be somewhere else.

Saturday 10th January to Monday 12th January
Walpole
   Walpole is on the coast and has the advantage of the sea on one side and the magnificent forests of tingle trees on the other. There are some beautiful walks among the tingle trees including a 600 metre long canopy walk reaching 40 metres at the highest point.
   We climbed Mt Frankland which is 29 km north of Walpole and gives splendid views all the way to the Southern Ocean. On the west side of Walpole we found Mandalay Beach which has to be one of the most stunning beaches we've ever seen. It's a long wide stretch of almost white sand and the sea beyond the breakers is the depthless blue of the deep ocean. We walked it's length and saw no more than half a dozen people the whole way.
   We stayed ay Jenny's Lake B&B which was very well run and extremely pleasant. Again it was 15 km from town but Jenny offered us the use of her BBQ and/or kitchen so we just threw together some salad and tossed a steak on the barbie.

Tuesday 13th January to Thursday 15th January
Denmark
   We stayed in Denmark because we'd been told it was a good tourist spot but in hindsight we should have gone a little further on to Albany. From Denmark the attractions were the forests, the beach and the artistic community. We'd seen quite a lot of trees and beaches by now so we drove to Albany to have a look at 'Whaleworld'. Whaleworld is set on the site of the last whaling operation in Australia and the whole area has been preserved to show what the whaling operation would have been like. The last whale was landed and processed on 21st November 1978 and then the plant was closed. The present exhibit was well presented and shows very clearly how the plant worked. There is even an old whaling ship included in the tour. Southern right whales and humpback whales can now be seen as they migrate northwards from July to October.    
   The other interesting place we visited at Albany was a wind farm. Until you've been close to one of the turbines you don't appreciate the sheer size and power of them. This farm has 12 turbines and supplies up to 75% of Albany's power. Albany has a population of just under 29,000 people.
   Albany grew up around it's well-protected harbour, one of the few protected harbours along this wild coast. Albany itself still has quite a few of it's 19th century colonial buildings reflecting the status of the town in it's early days.

Friday 16th January to Sunday 18th January
Stirling Range
   North of Albany are the Porongurup and Stirling National Parks. These are the closest this area gets to having mountains. They consist of granite outcrops formed millions of years ago. The Porongurups rise to a maximum height of 1,073 metres with lower slopes covered in bush, scrub and some magnificent karri trees. The highest point in the Stirling Range is Bluff Knoll at a touch under 1,095 metres. The slopes of the Stirling Range have fewer tall trees but the higher parts are covered in wildflowers some of them only found in this area.
   We climbed Bluff Knoll on a relatively cool day (25°C approx - the day before the temperature reached 40°C). From the top we had a magnificent view of the surrounding land. It looked extremely flat and quite parched.

Monday 19th January to Wednesday 21st January
Esperance
   Esperance is on the coast and heading east is the last coastal town before the Nullabor Plain and the Great Australian Bight. It has the whitest beaches you've ever seen with sand as fine as icing sugar and clear blue seas. The town became established as a port around the gold rush of the 1890s.
   Esperance is almost enclosed by the Recherche Archipelago consisting of over 100 islands, islets and rocks. These are home to a variety of aquatic life including the Australian sealion, N.Z. fur seals, white-bellied sea eagles and southern right whales. We took a boat trip to the islands and spotted all but the whales. The whale season is May to October so we were there at the wrong time of year.
   Cape Le Grand National Park stretches for 60 km east of Esperance and includes granite outcrops as well as miles of pristine beaches. It was pretty hot the day we visited so we resisted the temptation to make the steep 3 km return walk to the top of Frenchman's Peak, we went to chill out on the beaches instead.

Thursday 22nd January to Saturday 24th January
Across the Nullabor Plain
   The two towns bracketing the Eyre Highway across the Nullabor Plain are Norseman to the west and Ceduna to the east. Norseman was established during the 19th century around the goldfields and gold is still mined there today. It's a small dusty town on the edge of the plain named after the horse of the guy who first found gold there. Apparently the horse was lamed by a nugget of gold stuck in it's hoof and started the gold rush.
   The distance from Norseman to Ceduna is about 1,200 km. It took us about three days to drive from Esperance through Norseman to Streaky Bay through Ceduna (about 1,500 km). Every 200  km or so there is a roadhouse which has accommodation, sells fuel, has a restaurant of sorts and usually a small shop so you drive until you've had enough and then stop at the nearest roadhouse for the night.
   The Nullabor Plain is mostly scrub and low trees and is actually an enormous limestone plateau varying from 15 metres to 61 metres thick. The roads on the whole are pretty straight and every 5 - 10 kilometres or so you might see a car or a road train coming the other way. Occasionally there are signs warning you about the possibility of seeing animals on the road. The signs indicated kangaroos, emus, cattle, camels and wombats. We saw kangaroos and emus but no camels or wombats. We had cloudless skies most of the trip and saw many strange mirage effects where the road in the distance seemed to disappear into a vast tract of water and approaching vehicles appeared to be suspended in mid-air.
   Australia has customs check points between states so when we crossed from Western Australia to South Australia we had to pass through a customs check point where the car was briefly searched to ensure we had no fresh produce or plants hidden away.

Sunday January 25th
Streaky Bay
   After three days driving we decided to stop for a day or so at a quiet  little spot on the west coast of the Eyre Peninsula called Streaky Bay. It's a good place to stay to drive down to the Point Labatt sealion colony. These are Australian sealions who spend their whole lives at Point Labatt. There are lookout points over the beaches and cliffs of the west side of the Eyre Peninsula. The access roads are gravel but in the dry season the surface is almost as good as tarmac so no problems apart from dust from oncoming vehicles.

Monday January 26th
Streaky Bay to Murray Bridge
   We drove from Streaky Bay to Murray Bridge about 80 km SE of Adelaide. It was a long drive but we needed to get to Melbourne by the 29th to drop the car off and wanted to spend a day or two in the Grampians about 200 km north of Melbourne

Tuesday January 27th to Wednesday January 28th
Halls Gap - The Grampians
   The Grampians are a range of hills 200 km or so north of Melbourne. We wanted to stop there for a day or two to do some walking but the day we arrived was the start of a heatwave. Temperatures were over 40°C so long treks were not a good idea. All we could do was chill out in the shade. We drove to a couple of lookouts to admire the extensive views but that was about all.

Thursday 29th to Saturday 31st January
Melbourne
   The heatwave had reached Melbourne and temperatures were up to 45°C, far too hot for sightseeing. We did go for a walk through the streets and back lanes in the morning before it got too hot then spent the afternoon in an Internet Cafe sorting out accommodation in Tasmania and catching up on correspondence.
   The last day was cooler so we explored the Victoria Street Market. This is a huge market selling meat and poultry, fruit and veg, loads of Deli items, reams of tacky T-shirts plus all the other stuff generally found in street markets. The hot afternoon we spent in an air-conditioned art gallery before boarding the Spirit of Tasmania to cross the Bass Strait to Devonport.
   If you're a city person Melbourne was great, lots of little alleyways with tiny restaurants and all the shops you could wish for.

Sunday February 1st to Sunday February 8th
Hobart
     The ferry to Tasmania left Melbourne at 8 p.m. just as it was getting dark. The weather forecast was for 45 knot winds and 5 metre seas so we wondered what we'd let ourselves in for. Our cabin was on the top deck and we did get spray on the windows but it's a big ship and the movement was not a problem. We arrived at Devonport about 6 a.m. and took a bus to Hobart stopping at Launceston long enough for a cup of hot chocolate and the most delicious blueberry muffins you could wish for, arriving in Hobart about midday. Yes I know it's cheaper and quicker to fly but we thought the ferry would be more interesting.
   Hobart is an attractive town built around the port area. There are still lots of 19th century buildings and the area around the port has been developed with tourism in mind so has lots of little cafes and tourist type shops. Initially we had booked accommodation close to the town centre but on arrival we found the rooms very run down and grubby. We wanted to be in town for the Wooden Boat Festival the following weekend so set about finding somewhere else. Accommodation in town was fully booked but eventually we found a spot at the Treasure Island Caravan Park about 10 km out of town. As well as camping areas they have a number of self-contained cabins on site which were perfectly adequate. The one we had was right on the waters edge and each morning the ducks came visiting in the hope of being fed.
   The main tourist attraction around Hobart is Port Arthur. It was the site of a penal colony for repeat offenders from 1833 to 1877 and nearby Point Puer was the site of the first prison solely for juvenile offenders in Australia. Some of the buildings were badly damaged by fire after the prison was closed down but many are still intact or have been restored. After the prison was closed some of the buildings were used for other purposes and some fell into disrepair or were demolished. Tourists began to visit and some of the ex-prisoners earned money as guides and by telling their stories. The site is now well-cared for and run by the Port Arthur Historic Site Management Authority.
   In the same area we went to a wildlife park dedicated to help preserve the Tasmanian devil. The population of Tasmanian devils is threatened by a communicable facial tumour disease and the park has a quarantined breeding program to try to keep the numbers up. Unfortunately as yet there is no cure. Tasmanian devils are noisy rather vicious animals who seem to spend their time squabbling with each over anything and everything. They don't see very well and are not good hunters so live on carrion, mainly roadkill.
   We took a trip along the east side of the Tasman Peninsula from Eaglehawk Neck to Tasman Island in a 30 ft open boat with enormous engines on the back - the same type of boat used by the coast guard patrols. The scenery is dramatic with towering cliffs and caves worn deep into the limestone by the action of the waves. Colonies of Australian fur seals live on the rocks and islets and sea eagles hunt in the bay. We saw an out of season humpback whale hunting for food not far from our boat. The trip took about 3 hours and the winds were picking up. We poked our nose around the southern tip of Tasman Island and suddenly found ourselves in much bigger seas. Before the driver had a chance to turn back three waves broke over the bow and everyone was drenched. We were wearing full length sou'westers but it didn't stop the water going down your neck. By the time we turned and were heading back the winds were gusting at 40 knots and white water was blowing off the tops of the waves. It was an exhilarating ride. 
   Overlooking Hobart is Mt Wellington, a peak of about 1,270 metres. There is a road all the way to the top and several footpaths leading down from the top and around the mountain. We parked partway up and walked to the top admiring the magnificent views across Hobart and the Derwent River.
   The Wooden Boat Festival took place over the weekend of the 6/7/8th February and the docks were packed with wooden boats of all shapes, sizes and ages from 19th century square-riggers to modern day rowing boats and everything in-between. As well as all the boats in the water there were demonstrations set up in the surrounding areas including building your own sailing dinghy in three days. There was also skiff racing in the original wooden 18ft skiffs but it was a bit too far out to get a good view.

Monday 9th February to Tuesday 24th February
Touring Tasmania
   We'd hired a camper van for a couple of weeks to tour Tasmania. Camper van hire companies don't allow you to take a normal van on anything but a tarmac road. Many of the roads to the more interesting places in Tasmania are gravel or even 4 wheel drive so we hired a bush camper. Basically this is a Toyota Landcruiser with an extra bit stuck on top to give you standing headroom and a sleeping area. It's fitted out with sink, storage,fridge, cooking and eating utensils, bedding and a camping stove. It's set up to be self-contained and can go pretty much anywhere there's a driveable track.
   Our plan was to head across the middle of Tasmania taking in the southern part of the central lakes area then heading over to the wild west coast. After that we intended exploring the NW corner then returning to Hobart via Cradle Mountain and the Walls of Jerusalem National Parks. 

Wineglass Bay
   One of the most popular places close to Hobart is the Freycinet Peninsula. It has some beautiful beaches and one of the most beautiful is Wineglass Bay. It has a narrow entrance then opens out to a circular bay with a long white beach. It can only be reached on foot or by boat and is a 1½ hour steep walk from the nearest car park.
   All the standard campsites in the area were full. We had bought a book showing camp sites in Tasmania and it told us there was a basic site about 8 km away. The site was 2½ km down a bumpy unmarked 4 WD track and it took us a couple of goes to find it but eventually we came across a group of tents pitched near the top of a cliff and decided that was it. Apparently it's very popular with rock climbers. We had our first experience of pit toilets and found they were actually not as bad as they sounded. They're composting toilets that are really just a toilet seat built over a very large hole. We'd come across something similar in Nepal but the Australian ones were better maintained.

Lake Sorrel
   From the Freycinet Peninsula we drove to Lake Sorrel where we stayed at the Dago Campground. This is an enormous area with masses of space for camping on the southern edge of Lake Sorrel and we were the only ones there. It only has basic facilities but it is in a fabulous spot. There was a shower block but it was closed with a notice on the door explaining that there were so few campers that it wasn't cost-effective to keep it open.

Lake St Clair
   From Lake Sorrel we went to the more popular Lake St Clair and there the camp site was almost full. Lake St Clair is at the southern end of the Cradle Mountain National  Park and is a very popular walking area. It's the finishing point for the Overland Track - a 6 day walk from Cradle Mountain. The camp site is full of wildlife - we spotted a padamelon, three possums and several kookaburras without even trying. There are plenty of walking trails here so we picked one that should take us 5 to 6 hours to complete and did a circuit through forest areas to Shadow Lake and back to the camp site. It was very cool under the trees and Shadow Lake was so still and peaceful we could have sat for hours just enjoying the solitude.

Strahan
   To reach Strahan we drove through the Franklin-Gordon Wild Rivers National Park. There were a few short walks into the park to see the rivers and get a hilltop view of the surrounding peaks and valleys but most of the park is inaccessible so that it remains a wilderness area. Who knows, there may still be some thought to be extinct Tasmanian tigers (or thylacene) still surviving there.
   As we left the river valleys and approached Queenstown the scenery changed dramatically. Queenstown grew up around the copper mines and instead of the lush growth we'd just passed through the hills were bare and rocky with traces of the mines still very obvious.
   We stopped in Queenstown to stock up with food for the next few days because we were heading for the sparsely populated west coast. We'd hoped to send a few text messages to friends and family to let them know where we were but hadn't had a phone signal since Hobart.
   Strahan, we discovered, is tourist centre full of accommodation, little restaurants and adverts for boat trips (but still no phone signal - at least not from our service provider). It's quite an attractive little town and made it's name originally during the protests against the Franklin Dam Hydro Electric development in 1982. The development never went ahead and the area is now a World Heritage site. We camped on a small site at Macquarie Heads right at the mouth of Macquarie Harbour. It was very green, the first site that actually had grass underfoot not dirt.

Corinna
   To see the 'rugged west coast' we would drive from Strahan to Arthur River along the Western Explorer route stopping at Corinna overnight. Most of the road to Corinna is sealed - just the last 10 km or so is gravel but it's quite narrow and winding passing through large areas of rainforest. We stopped on the way to check out Henty Dunes. These sand dunes are slowly encroaching from the coast and have become a mecca for those who like to ride over rough ground in dune buggies.
   We also drove to the quiet little fishing community at Granville Harbour for a lunch stop but even there a kid on a dune buggy decided to use us as a roundabout.
   To get to Corinna from the south entails crossing the Pieman River on a small chain ferry. We just about fitted so I don't know how they manage cars towing caravans. Corinna was such a pleasant place that we stayed for two nights. It grew up, as did so many other places, around the mining and logging industries. Large numbers of the now protected huon pine trees were cut down and shipped down the river on barges. In it's heyday the town was the centre of the local goldmining community but now there is only the very peaceful little campsite and the sounds of the birds and the river. We spent a pleasant few hours walking in the forests and soaking up the tranquility.

Arthur River
   The road to Arthur River from Corinna through the Tarkine Wilderness is 110km of gravel road, most of it winding and steep. There is some spectacular scenery and also some very desolate looking areas where the logging companies have been at work. A large area was burnt out a few years ago and has still not fully recovered. We went to see the wild Southern Ocean from a couple of spots along the coast but the weather was very benign and it wasn't living up to it's fearsome reputation. The road took us as far as Arthur River which is another tourist centre albeit a fairly low key one. The main attraction is a trip up the river on a tourist boat, the bar across the entrance to the river is too shallow for anything other than a small canoe so boats in the river stay in the river. There were lots of holiday homes and a tiny store selling a few basic items but not much else.

Stanley
   From Arthur River we headed NE stopping on the way at Dismal Swamp. It wasn't dismal at all, it's actually a large sinkhole, the bottom of which is covered in rainforest. To get down to the bottom you can either take a sedate 5 minute walk or a 15 second helter skelter ride. Naturally we chose the latter - in fact it was such fun we went back and had another go. At the bottom of the sinkhole are paths through and around the forest with information plaques telling you about the habitat.
   We drove on to Stanley which is quite a twee little town on the north coast of Tasmania. We'd planned to stay at a large camp site there but when we arrived we were told it was fully booked so we had to go elsewhere. Our handy little book told us there were a couple of basic sites at the Peggs Bay Conservation Park a few kilometres along the coast. The site was a large forested area just behind the beach and was almost deserted. We found ourselves a cosy spot tucked into a corner in some trees sheltered from the wind.

Penguin
   We drove along the North coast stopping here and there to look at the view but it was a miserable day with a cold wind and drizzle so we didn't stop anywhere for long. We needed to stock up on food and do some laundry so we stopped in Burnie just long enough to do that. It wasn't a very exciting town and we were not tempted to stay there overnight.
    We stopped at Penguin for the night and found a camping ground just on the edge of town. We'd heard that penguins came ashore in the evenings on the beaches at Penguin (hence the name) but we didn't see any. There had been some redevelopment along the beach so presumably it had disturbed the penguins and they had moved elsewhere.

Cradle Mountain
   From Penguin we drove to Cradle Mountain. We'd already made a booking at the only camp site since it's often full up and arrived there about 1 p.m. The walk we would like to do is the climb up Cradle Mountain itself but that's a full days hike so it will have to wait until tomorrow. We made do with a pleasant 6 km walk around Lake Dove for the afternoon. The camp site has quite a lot of resident padamelons (a small kangaroo-like animal) who hang around the camping area hoping for tidbits.
   We made the hike up to the top of Cradle Mountain the next day. The mist cleared just as we were scrambling up the last 20 - 30 metres of rocks so we had superb views across the surrounding countryside. The walk from Ronny's Creek to the top and back took about 6 hours. The next day we thought we were going to do a slightly shorter walk but it didn't quite turn out that way. The route we had  originally planned to do should have taken 4 - 5 hours but we decided to investigate a trail to the Scott Kilvert Memorial Hut (named for a student and student teacher who died in a blizzard in the 1960s) which added another couple of hours to the walk.
   The walks around Cradle Mountain are mainly on formed tracks, either boardwalk or shale to try to minimise the damage caused by the many thousands of boots tramping over them each year. It's a beautiful area but very popular so not exactly wilderness walking. Even the 6 day walk along the Overland Track to Lake St Clair has to be booked well in advance and is walked by over 9000 people each year.

Mole Creek
   After leaving Cradle Mountain we went to the Walls of Jerusalem National Park. This is barely developed for tourism, there are no big campsites and access is a long way down a dirt road so far fewer people frequent it. There is a beautiful walking track from the car park through the forest leading eventually to the base of Mt Jerusalem. The walk all the way is 6 - 8 hours so too far for us to fit in by the time we arrived in the late morning. We walked as far as Lake Adelaide and saw one or two people, lots of trees and wildflowers, many birds and an echidna shuffling into the undergrowth. It was very pleasant walking over natural paths and actually more enjoyable than the more organised Cradle Mountain.
   We camped at Mole Creek about 50 km or so north of the Walls of Jerusalem on a grassy site right next to a small river.

Launceston
   We stayed one night at another Treasure Island Caravan Park just outside Launceston. We'd stopped at one or two small towns on the way just to have a look round and arrived about midday. This gave us time to have a very brief look at the town (we're not really city people so a brief look was quite enough) and a longer look at the Cataract Gorge which splits Launceston in two. There's a park area at the town end and a pleasant walk along the river to the remains of a now defunct Hydro Electric plant. 
   Since we were due to return the camper to Hobart the next day we'd completely run out of food so found ourselves a good fish and chip restaurant for dinner. The drive to Hobart would take about 3 hours and the van didn't need to be back until about 4 p.m. so we could leave Launceston around midday. Since we'd run out of food we treated ourselves to breakfast in a small cafe on the edge of the town centre and just to fill up another hour or so we tried out the cable hang glider experience on the edge of town. The way that works is that the hang glider is suspended from a 200 metre long cable, you climb to the top of the hill, strap into the harness and fly down to the bottom along the cable - not quite the same as the real thing but fun anyway.
   We still had plenty of time to get to Hobart so took the scenic route through the central lakes area arriving in plenty of time to drop the car back to Britz and catch our flight to Sydney.

Wednesday 25th February to Sunday 1st March
Sydney
   Our main reason for going to Sydney was to catch up with some old friends. Our children are the same age and grew up together in Hong Kong. Janet and Van and their twin daughters Emma and Caitlin moved back to Sydney some 10 years ago and we hadn't seen them since. We found our way out to their house on Wednesday morning and had a lovely couple of days catching up with everything.
   We spent the last couple of days being tourists in Sydney. We did a walking tour of the main sights, crossed to Manly on the ferry and chilled out on Bondi Beach (the sea was good for surfing but a bit rough for swimming). Monday morning we checked out of the hotel, caught a taxi to the airport and flew back to Darwin.