Quest Wagga Wagga

... time here has been so special.<br><br>Thanks again for all who have emailed. Keep them coming because we are very out of touch with home news. I haven't tried phoning. Depending on emails. Andy, would love to hear from you. It seems ages now since we were with you! Nina and Dave, hope you have had a super holiday with lots of sunshine. Our weather is to pick up now we think.<br>Lots and Lots of Love to you all<br>Jean and Colin

Nothing too exciting happening here at the moment. I am merely trying out Mini Me the notebook computer to see if I am computer literate enough to be able to manage a blog!! We leave Saturday week and while the excitement levels are high..at least one of us is ...

Wagga Wagga After delaying our departure 1 day we spent the first night away at the Rossiter family guest house and spend a great quick night over a couple of beers and a home made Rossiter Pizza. Great to catch up with friends and this will be one thing both Rebecca, myself and the kids will find the hardest over the next 10 months To all the people we missed on the way north we will catch up with on the way south next year

Of course, the morning we left Tasmania was spectacularly beautiful and sunny, but that's only to be expected. We had an early morning drive from Lonnie to Devonport, and then we had a flight back to Melbourne. Rainy, cold Melbourne. We had such a long day of traveling, we didn't feel much up to the sites, so we just ran some errands, picked up dinner at Lord of the Fries, and hung out at the hotel. And for those ...

... higher, the trail disappeared under a layer of crunchy white, and my balance was tested as I wobbled across a steep slope of icy snow, sinking with each footfall, aiming for where the route became discernible once more. On a stretch where the snow had melted, a pile of boulders provided shelter from the cold wind for our picnic break and then it was onwards and upwards again. Arriving at the trig point, I was disillusioned to learn ...

... it at a roadhouse and saw that Wagga Wagga, my next booked room, was 402km away. It was now approaching 4pm. ****! Towards Hay the highway heads into some proper outback, reminding me again of the tour, several dust devils prowled the flat horizon as I drove E. I must have been in the proper outback as several oncoming truckies waved as they passed me. Everyone has waved at Macka in the outback so this felt pretty cool. I stopped at Hay for petrol and quickly diverted to look ...

... luxury. We were waited on hand and foot - with treats like homemade rusks (of which Chantell packed us a take-away when we left), bacon &amp; eggs for breakfast, to three course meals from snacks to delicious fruit salad and Dom Pedro's. We were also treated to half a fridge of space to store our "on-route" condiments/goodies ( which we stocked-up on in Adelaide and plan to ...

... Museum (really just across a road). We saw one Steam loco which we had seen at the Diamond Valley railway (Eltham Park) only a few weeks back. We stayed there about 1 ½ hours and took photos - they had 2 steam engines running and 3 diesels. We left their and headed for the Antique Shops for a look - we had seen 3, but only one was open. Went to the visitors ...

... to get into place we forgot to put up the TV antenna before we raised the van roof. This was rectified later by me climbing up our little ladder (thanks to Verina) and inserting the antenna into the clip, and Ted who poked the tree branches away with a long metal pole. Otherwise all well - did the week's washing which almost dried in the wind - the dryers finished it off OK. We went straight to the Visitors' Centre - these are grouse places in any town you ...

come here, and stay on a farm in a lovely little place called Hanericka Farmstay, seed how a farm really works and have an experience of the Aussie country life, with home cooking, horse riding and all sorts of stuff you will never find in a city. www.hanerickafarmstay.com<br>You will maybe even meet me if your lucky.<br>