Wrest Point Tower Hobart Sandy Bay

... the highlight of my time in Tassie! In darkness and very quietly a small group of us with an experienced guide headed to the coastline and the breeding site of the fairy penguins. These Penguins are only 30cm tall but swim for 50km every day hunting for fish and they never sleep but just take 3-4 minute power naps whenever they feel tired, whether on land or in the sea! We observed them climbing up the rock face onto land in groups of 10-15 at a time, when one makes a break ...

... bus h*d only 12 se*ts - &*mp; Pete &*mp; J*yne were *bsolutely *d*m*nt th*t only 12 people were to be on the bus for *ny journey. Which me*nt, if you h*ppened to be either l*te or slow getting there for the pick up, you h*d to w*it *nother 30-40 minutes for Pete or J*yne to come b*ck, thereby missing out on some v*lu*ble picking time. Luckily, I h*ppened to be right next to the door when the bus pulled up so I got * se*t no problems. Behind me it turned into *n orderly scrum to ...

... our friend, Christine Robertson, was waiting to greet us. She recognized us despite the change in Jim's profile and hair colour. It was so nice to see her again. She took us to her house in Croydon and there we met John. The rest of Friday, Saturday and some of Sunday was spent resting and talking with John and Christine about our trip to Tasmania. Late Sunday afternoon we took a taxi to the airport in Sydney and caught our flight to Launceston in Tasmania.

... jail ruins'.....neither historical (at only 100 years old....ok, well not for a Brit anyway), nor ruined at all (it looked brand new and was standing in its entirety) and it god knows why they call it a GAOL..."Hello Australia....it's a JAIL". The next 2 days were spent exploring all that the Hunter Valley had to offer....wine, port, cheese, chocolate.....heaven! I think we actually didn't too badly considering we only bought 13 bottles between the 2 of us. 5 ...

... loud, thundering sound, and witnessed this branch - as long as five people - come crashing down from the clouds above onto the forest floor! "Well, there is the answer!", I said to the gang, and started laughing hysterically, almost falling over. No one else got it, which made it even funnier! (If a tree falls in the forest, does anyone hear it!?? - Well, "YES!" - if you're there.) Foreigners! I swear to god....no sense of humor! Ha! It was another amazing drive, north this time ...

... back on the mainland now and planning to attend the Melbourne Cup on Tuesday. They call it the " Celebration that stops a Nation ". Real big deal in Australia, 150,000 people dress up and go to the horse races. It's the Social Event of the Year OR a " Real ****-up " depending on who you talk to. I'll check in one more time before I leave on the 6th. Allan

I had all my morning to visit Hobart as my bus for Launceston was only at 2PM, so I took this opportunity to visit the harbor, church, a brewery (quite nice) and an old site where there was a jail for women. The visit of the brewery was quite funny as first the guide was funny and also because everybody wanted to try the beer of course and asked to make it the shorter as possible to go straight to ...

... river and had lunch sitting along the waterfront. After lunch, I went to the Eureka building and took the lift to the 88th floor for a magnificent view of the city. I then went on "the edge" which is like an elevator moving horizontally out from the building with glass all around. A bit scary at first but it was ok. On Sunday, I went to the Melbourne museum and had a wander around the city centre. On Monday, 10th, I had ...

... yadda..... we were only there for the free samples, which arrived as a box of choccies each at the end of the tour....yummers !! Later we took a drizzly harbour cruise, consumed gallons of free wine (top quality of course, French Oaked I think) and ate ******s in gravy.....classy. In the evening we went for a deliscious Chinese Dinner and a trip to the cinema to see Rocky 75, which was Big Cockles highlight of the trip so far.

... by living amongst them. In actual fact, Geoff is originally from England, but given the way he refers to the Poms, I might as well be living with a born and bred Aussie! It seems to be a common occurrence this, and he seems to be doing his up most to convince me that I'd be mad to return. Hmmm...its getting tempting. But at the same time, the more stick I take for being a Pom, the more I find myself wanting to defend it. Who knows what ...