First thing (Monday 10 February) we got up, organised ourselves, and drove off to return the car to the hire company. Mission accomplished we then utilised the courtesy bus to take us to the airport in preparation for our flight to Adelaide. This boarded quickly and we took off…. Again Virgin Australia so nothing offered other than tea, coffee and water complimentary – I’d prepared this time by purchasing cheese and biscuits and some soft drinks…. About an hour before we landed we had a glass of wine and enjoyed the rest of the short flight (3 1/2 hours)….

On arrival we got an uber to our apartment and settled in. Nice place and quite spacious…. I finished the blog whilst Richard popped out for some provisions at the local shops. This serviced apartment’s only disappointment was the balcony – a bit grubby from street dust and not really fit for purpose especially as it housed a large air conditioning unit pumping out some very undesired additional heat! Oh yes and $4 a small bottle of water in the fridge which we thought was a bit swingeing….most places give you complimentary water these days. Anyway, blog published and Richard returned with the goodies. We then got ready to go out and found a local restaurant which served the most amazingly flavoured foods….on sharing plates. Fabulous!

Tuesday morning we headed out into a very hot day – phew! – and visited the Central Market via the tram (which was incredibly reasonably priced at only £1.27 for a full day’s travel). The Market was very interesting with pretty much any type of fresh produce you could possible want to buy and lots of food offerings and certainly didn’t expect such a comprehensive cheese offering. And all in air conditioned comfort….

We then navigated our way to the historic area and visited the Migration Museum and the Library. This area is so familiar it could almost be in the UK. Historic buildings and churches – only unlike the UK this area was very clean and tidy….

The Migration Museum was interesting and followed the story of families from around the world who had decided (and were indeed encouraged) to make Australia their home (not forgetting the £10 Poms) and the ‘Whites Only’ immigration policy which can be traced back to the 1850s with the last vestiges of this discriminatory policy not finally removed until 1973. You also need to know about the shocking adoption of Aboriginal and Torres Strait children who were forcibly removed to be placed with white families. These children are classed as the ‘lost generation’ as they had no opportunity to learn about their own culture. It is estimated that one in three indigenous children were removed between 1910 and the 1970s which is really not that long ago, which makes it even more heinous. But we must acknowledge that child trafficking also went the other way – with 130,000 UK children from “deprived” backgrounds sent to the Colonies for a better life. This was mainly to Australia and Canada with many of them separated from their siblings: the children were often falsely informed that they were orphans (many of them being removed directly after birth from single teenage mothers who were shamed into compliance): and many of whom were subject to physical and/or sexual abuse. What a cruel world we live in!

After this we googled to find a rooftop bar – thinking we could escape from the oppressive heat – so headed off on foot towards the nearest one. We found the entrance – stepping over a few homeless people along the way which is obviously an issue in Adelaide – and made our way up to the rooftop. Well it was a rooftop bar but it was only four flights up LOL! Not exactly what we had in mind….but it had nice cold vapour lines of mist chilling the seating area. We had a couple of drinks before returning to the area where our apartment was located and tried out a few hostelries on the way. We met a local nutter who decided Richard was his best friend as his accent reminded him of Ricky Gervais and I got hugs too but he thought I was Ricky Gervais’ mother! He was off his head so I tried hard not to be too offended LOL.

We did find a local bar we liked but afterwards headed back to relax in our apartment’s air conditioning as the heat of the city had sapped our energies. We then had a chat with Lester and Helen (who we were going to visit shortly after) before heading out for a fantastic dinner at the local Japanese restaurant (strangely named Call Me Curry & Izakaya). Our location in the city was a bit grungy in places but perfectly positioned in terms of eateries and hostelries….

On Wednesday morning we were hit by a heatwave – 43 degrees – phew! The highest daily temperature since 2017 and made Adelaide the hottest capital in the world that day. It felt like walking into a pizza oven, so intense, and very draining, So we headed off to the casino to have a look around – huge place where I managed to spend (lose) $20 on the slots (pokies)…. Oh well never mind – and then down to the riverside to check out where we would be picking up our river boat trip later in the week. It was so hot even the ducks were seeking out the shade!

Then we headed on the tram to Glenelg (end of the line) which the locals call affectionally ‘The Bay’ which was very nice and – aided a bit by the sea breeze – we walked the promenade to the local marina, had a lovely seafood lunch, then back to the main drag where we found a hostelry to keep cool in. Later in the afternoon we headed back to the marina, found a tapas bar to have an early supper, and at 7pm we boarded a large commercial catamaran which was taking us on a sunset and dolphin watching cruise. The crew were nice, the other guests were also pleasant, and we were lucky to get seated at the stern of the vessel so in the shade. Most people were in full sun on the bow / transom etc. We enjoyed both the cruise, the dolphin sightings, and the sunset at sea before the boat turned around and we headed back into the marina. We then retraced our steps to the tram and caught one back to the city (about 45 minutes journey). Back in our apartment we had an early night having enjoyed our day out despite the heat.

Thursday morning we had a leisurely start and met Lester & Helen on the street as they picked us up. Thankfully the weather had cooled down a bit – phew! First stop was the South Australian Royal Yacht Club before having a quick glance at the Clipper City of Adelaide, a massive renovation of an 1864 clipper ship which was built in Sunderland to transport passengers and goods between Britain and Australia.

We then went to check out the docks before driving towards the beach and the coast – ending at Semophore where we enjoyed checking out the jetty and making new acquaintance with a couple of Brits who were visiting on holiday but who now reside in Spain. We also checked out a huge pelican who was bothering a fisherman for snacks LOL.

After a nice pub lunch on the seafront we headed inland towards Mount Lofty to admire the city views. En route we came across a koala walking down the road. Lester stopped the car in a hurry – giving me a bit of a fright when I realised that I was teetering just above a sheer cliff drop! The koala spotted us and went into the bush becoming camera shy and would only give us a view of his/her bottom LOL.

At the top of the Mountain we couldn’t see much of the view as it was shrouded in mist…oh well, never mind. On the way back we stopped off at a residential cul-de-sac to see the huge tree growing in the middle of the road…. Why would anyone plant that there?!?

Back at the apartment we said farewell to Lester and Helen and had a quiet night in….

Friday morning we headed down to the River Torrens to pick up our Popeye boat trip down the river.

We enjoyed the ride and the commentary until we eventually ended up at the botanical gardens and the zoo – we had already decided not to visit the zoo. But we wanted to see the Chiculy glass installations in the botanical gardens so walked through hoping to catch a glimpse. Those that we saw were stunning – we had tried and failed to get tickets to see this installation during the evening as they are lit up – and, because of the severe weather the botanical garden had been closed because of fire risk. Anyway we did manage to catch a few – absolutely stunning!

Moving on we walked through Rundle Market enjoying some of the street art and we went into the Opal Store where Richard purchased a lovely opal pendant for me to match my Opal ring – Happy Valentine’s Day! Lovely surprise….

On the way back to the apartment we popped down to our hire car company who, for a change, had a city location. We were picking up our car at 5pm so wanted to check all was OK – and glad we did as the car they had allocated was too way too small – so Richard asked if he could have another Mazda X30 as we had both enjoyed driving that last time. Deal done we returned to the apartment and got on with the laundry as we were leaving the following day. At 4.50 pm we went back out and picked up the newly-allocated car and drove off – we had instructions how to get into the apartment block’s underground car park but the one-way system foiled both us and the sat nav. Pleased to report that this time the car – being a slightly older / lesser specification – had USB ports so we were able to run the google maps onto the dummy screen. Anyway, the one way system and the end of work traffic, caused us a nightmare and it took us almost an hour to get back to where we had started which was only a five minute walk away! To enter the car park was very very tight and I was glad Richard was driving. We managed to find a spot inside but, again, it was all very tight! Almost made you want to hold your breath as we navigated around….

Back in the apartment we got ready for the evening – first stop was to a Japanese noodle restaurant which was busy and looked nice. But the menu was incomprehensible to those not in the know so we left and headed down to the local pub where we listened to some live music, ate pizza, and watched the locals having fun. A very mixed collection of punters but at the ‘rough’ end of the spectrum – think some of them had spent the day watching the LIVGolf tournament and had kept hydrated accordingly LOL.

Having finished our food we moved on and walked to the Sky Tower – where we headed to the nine floor for their rooftop bar and sunset drinks – and met the more up-market type of clientele LOL. After drinks and the sun had gone down we headed down to the ground floor and I played on the slots again in the casino and won $50! Woo hoo!

Afterwards we just turned in for the night and that brings this part of our adventure to an end. Please come back soon for the next instalment. Bye for now.

Jan

Wednesday 5 February we were up early, packed up, in readiness to pick up our hire car. We had to be ready early as the water in our Perth apartment was going to be turned off at 9 am. We had received advance notice of this so made sure all our laundry was done and we had spare kettles / jugs of water for washing up etc prior to departure.

At 10.20 am we left the apartment by Uber to the airport. We found the Ace hire cars’ office easily enough and went in – a bit early as the car was booked from 12 noon. To our delight it was ready – a Mazda CX30 this time and a bit smaller than before thankfully….

Richard drove towards Margaret River and the first thing we realised was that there was incompatibility between the brand new car (only had 500kms on the clock) and our old iPhones, so not able to use the Apple / Google combination for navigation on the dummy screen. Oh well, never mind, we’ll manage using the phone on its own. Then we realised that there was no USB plug – only C type – so again our old phone could not be charged. But, against every eventually, I’d packed a power pack into our luggage just in case. Could you guess I used to be a Girl Guide LOL.

About 1pm we were feeling peckish and came off the main road to a small town cafe where we had a fabulous lunch before continuing to Margaret River. We were told we ‘had arrived’ on the phone but couldn’t physically see the building…. So we drove around again and looked harder – eventually we sussed it out – drove in and checked in. The name of the apartments was actually hidden by the extensive foliage outside. These serviced apartments had a 24 hour reception on duty to help us – although on check in day the woman was not particularly welcoming. We picked up the keys and drove down to the allocated car parking area – let ourselves in – and were wowed by the size of the place. Absolutely huge, especially compared to Perth.

After resting up for a while – and a little unpacking – we headed up the Main Street towards the Settlers Tavern where we enjoyed a nice bottle of wine and dinner. Richard enjoyed his (fish and chips) but mine was just too fatty (beef brisket sandwich)! My bad choice I guess…

Back to the apartment we enjoyed a pontoonie although Richard was complaining of the cold – the air conditioning wasn’t that fierce and I was enjoying it…but hey ho!

Thursday morning we popped into the information centre in town and booked a full-day wine tour for Friday. We had a basic breakfast in the cafe and then shopped in IGA for some provisions. We also found out that Busselton (where we wanted to visit the pier / underwater observatory) had a swim meet on the Saturday and a cruise ship was scheduled for the Sunday. Desperate to avoid both of these busy events we were able to book our tram tickets online for 1pm departure.

We arrived early and managed to find a four hour free parking slot – very happy at that! We headed into the Brewery on the promenade for ice creams (I know a bit bizarre) before heading over to the jetty office to sort out our physical tram tickets.

We thoroughly enjoyed our tram ride up and down the second longest leisure pier in the world (at 1.8 kms) – with our local one in Southend-on-Sea being the longest at 2.14 kms. So that means we have been on the longest leisure pier in the northern hemisphere and the longest leisure pier in the southern hemisphere. Not many people can say that LOL.

The observatory at the end of the pier was interesting despite the throngs of tourists trying to check out the windows for sharks LOL.

Afterwards Richard decided he quite fancied the look of the dirt roads and we took off chucking up red dust and sand around us. OMG the car rattled like it was being shaken and was so uncomfortable – not sure the rental company would be too happy about that! Eventually we ended up at Cape Naturaliste lighthouse and a lookout which wasn’t that good to be fair. Moving on we headed to the surfing lookouts at the end of the Margaret River and enjoyed watching the surfers in action – it was absolutely wild out there! We met a guy with a small parrot on a lead – he’d rescued it after it fell from its nest – and it was very protective, clearly having imprinted on him as a parent. Not wanting to get bitten we moved to the lower side of the wall where we were not perceived as a threat…. Afterwards we returned to our apartments and stayed in to enjoy a home-cooked dinner.

Friday morning we were picked up at 9.10 am for our wine tour – the small minibus was filled exclusively with British tourists so it was quite fun to hear what they were up to. The driver / tour guide was very knowledgeable about wine and the history of the area so we were delighted by our tour selection. Have to say we found the scenery around the Margaret River area absolutely stunning…

The first winery was Leeuwin Estate which is a pretty fancy corporate place famous for hosting big name concerts back in the day. Now it is concentrating mainly on the wedding market and even has a helicopter pad available for that special day! Nice tastings and I particularly enjoyed both the Sauvignon Blanc (Art Series) and the Prelude Vineyards Chardonnay. Now I’m not a Chardonnay fan – disliking the intensity of the flavour from the oak barrels – but this won me over. Fabulous! And we were also won over by the friendly kookaburra sitting on the small wall in the manicured gardens.

This was followed by a visit to Brown Hill which was like comparing chalk and cheese. A family-run winery operating out of one big shed where we had the tasting. The women talking us through all the options was incredibly informative, had a sense of humour and we enjoyed patting her collie dog LOL. This winery does not sell outside of the immediate area and is not to be found in bottle shops….so decided to take the rare opportunity to purchase a bottle for later.

Then it was onto Xanadu which is also very large and very corporate. Again a good tasting but the formality meant it wasn’t quite as enjoyable…. We then headed into their on-site restaurant and had a fabulous lunch (with the most amazing potatoes ever!) which had been pre-arranged through our driver.

After lunch (which came with complimentary wine of course LOL) we headed to McHenry Hohnen. Another small family-run brewery which we enjoyed very much – especially the cheese plate that came with it. My favourite this time was the very pale rose….

Then it was time for chocolate! So we headed to Temper Temper artisan chocolatiers which is based in Cowaramup a delightful village based mid way between the surf and the vines…. We had a tasting – of course LOL – and came away with a few pieces for later.

And so this was the end of the gourmet wine tour and we said our farewells to the gang and returned to Margaret River. We got dropped off at the top end of the high street and had a beer in the local bar…followed by a wine bar further down the road – but was driven out by the live singer who was doing some original dirge…all about saving the planet…. We then visited the Tavern for the last time…before returning back to our apartment for an early night. Had been a pretty full-on day!

Saturday morning we drove to Leeuwen Lighthouse and enjoyed the historical nature of the place with its renovated buildings, films and maps and charts….what a terrible coast this is! Can see why there were so many wrecks back in the day before proper charts became available. And the mixing of the two oceans….

This is also the place for a beautiful memorial to those navy sailors who had served and since perished….

Driving on we headed to Augusta and enjoyed views along the coast before settling into the local hotel for a basic lunch (tiger prawn salad) and watched the Australian Royal Navy band setting up for an afternoon concert. We later found out this was a memorial concert in relation to a Navy disaster when 12 people were swept off a Royal Australian Navy vessel called Nizam by a freak wave and who were not recovered….. Sadly we were on a mission to see other things otherwise I would have quite liked to have stopped to listen for a while…

We then headed to Hamelin Bay where we walked the beach and checked out the sting rays that frequent the shallows…. Was lovely!

Afterwards we headed back to our accommodation and picked up a curry takeout along the way for another quiet night in.

Sunday we were up early and drove to Perth (3+ hours) – we had hoped to go via Fremantle and see the Sunday markets but on arrival we could not find a parking space anywhere! Absolutely manic…. So after driving around for quite a while we decided to leave it behind and head back to Perth – and check out King’s Park once again. This time we wanted to explore the war memorial in more depth and enjoyed an ice cream as well.

See there were a few McCarthy’s listed but none for my maiden name….so from convict stock or settlers….that will be the question!?!

Moving on we headed to our accommodation for the night – a B&B near the airport. We drove to the address given to us by Booking.com and was told to wait when we rang the bell. Then this guy came from next door to say we were staying there and he let us into our allocated room. It was absolutely huge with a fab en-suite bathroom. Once the guy had left I checked out the rest of the property while Richard emptied the car…. There was a communal kitchen, patio, lounge etc. And was obviously newly renovated. Very different to anywhere we had stayed before…but…who cares it is only for one night!

We went out and walked to the local pub – called Around the Corner – and it was a bit sketchy in places. But, never mind, we had a lovely dinner and good drinks all at very reasonable prices. Later on we walked back and had an early night. The bed was comfortable with quality linen and thoroughly enjoyed….

So that bring’s this part of our Australian adventure to a close.
Check back soon for some more.

Bye for now Jan

Friday 31 January we were up very early, checked out, and got a cab across to the domestic terminal at Brisbane airport. It wasn’t too far away and seemed odd that it cost less for a taxi than it would for both of us to go on the hotel’s shuttle bus…. Check in / security clearance for the domestic flight was easy so we quickly headed to the food court for some breakfast.

The flight was on time (9am) and we were delighted that our Apple Air Tags confirmed our bags had been loaded on board. We took off and settled down to read some books – this flight was not too long (five and a half hours) or a full service one. So no seat-back screens to while away the time on movies etc. But we didn’t mind….coffee / tea and water were served free of charge…but everything else was at a cost. We changed our watches to the Perth timezone and, about an hour before landing, we had a glass of wine and some cheese and biscuits. Very nice.

Once we had landed security was easy again although there was a long terminal walk with our bags to find the uber that we had ordered. We drove away from the airport and arrived at the road where our apartment was located around 1pm. But the road was sealed off with roadworks going on….never mind….the uber driver was great and he went around again so that we could enter. We were dropped off quickly and made our way up the 12 steep steps to the front of the apartment block – one of the workmen who was digging up the road helped me with my luggage LOL. We sat on some benches and reviewed the access information – well it was a lock box on the wall with security boxes inside…so followed the instructions and, voila, I had the keys and security fob. So we quickly went upstairs to have a look around. The apartment seemed dark on arrival and very small compared to the beautifully-shot promotional photos. Never mind, it had everything we could possibly need…. And we had been naughty accessing it earlier than the official check in time of 3 pm LOL.

After we had got ourselves familiarised and semi-organised we headed out down to the Elizabeth Wharf area so we could check out where we were going in the morning as we had a return ferry ticket to Rottnest Island booked. Mission accomplished – by now we were getting pretty hot – so headed to the Hilton Hotel bar on the roof for some views over the Swan River.

We enjoyed that very much before heading back up the hill towards our apartment having found a recommended Thai restaurant en route called the Long Chim which was located in the basement of the historical State Buildings.

We didn’t have a reservation so we had to sit in the bar area rather than the restaurant itself but that didn’t matter as we weren’t exactly dressed to the nines either LOL. Had a lovely meal but mine was so heavily laced with fresh chilli that, despite doing my best to avoid eating them all, upset my stomach. We didn’t find anything on the wine list that inspired so we decided just to have water as we ate our main course. Was absolutely delicious and great service / fresh food. So we headed back to our apartment for an early night.

Saturday morning we were up early and walked down to Elizabeth Quay, found pontoon 3 and swapped our online tickets for real physical ones. We headed into the nearby cafe for a drink and we waited forever for my sparkling water to come along…. Finally it was time to board the ferry and we managed to get seats on the top deck – we had lathered up heavily with our factor 50+ suntan lotion in advance – and met a lady who worked for one of the mining companies (they are huge here in Australia) who was in Perth for a conference with some colleagues. She was a bit standoffish to start with but warmed up and we enjoyed chatting to her during the journey.

We admired the scenery as we headed out to sea and, finally, arrived at Rottnest Island. We didn’t have a tour booked nor did we have bicycles booked either (the main form of transport on the island). For those that know me well, will also know that I’m not actually able to ride a pushbike as I have no sense of balance. Probably the reason why I was never sea sick on the boat….

Anyway – we were hungry – so headed towards the first eatery we came across to be told that the kitchen was closed and they were not serving. The next place – a nice looking hotel – had the same response although was definitely a bit friendlier and helpful. So we wandered off on her recommendation and stopped off – Richard enjoyed his pancakes and I had the healthy fruit and yoghurt option. Very nice it was too….

Afterwards we headed up to the Main Street with the intention of going on the hop on-hop off bus. Two single deckers were circling the island on an hourly basis. Thought it might be a bit more regular than that…. And the queues were horrendous for both purchasing tickets and to get on the actual bus. We got lucky in the queue as a quokka decided to come by and say hi. After that bit of excitement we got on the next bus and, by this time, we were lucky to be one of the first ones boarding so got a seat. Only a single decker but they were being counted on by one of the guides so all the standing room was taken up too.

Of course the minute we got off the bus – at a lookout place – we lost our seating privilege and, for the rest of the day, we had to stand up on buses as they circled the island and we got on and off. Pretty tiring to say the least. Final stop was a beach which we enjoyed just sitting in the shade looking out at the boats anchored off…. People were bobbing and swimming but, despite having our swimmers in the bag, weren’t convinced this was a safe activity as they have big dangerous sharks here LOL. Throughly enjoyed the wild and spectacular coastline of this island – and check out the mares tails in the sky warning of strong wind. At least it kept the temperature down a bit (was 30+ degrees centigrade)…

Finally we arrived back from where we had started and went to the hotel for a drink. There was a DJ entertaining the crowd and we enjoyed listening to his tunes and watching the quokkas wandering around trying to get fed by the tourists. Of course we didn’t feed them but many people were….. You are not supposed to touch them either but of course people were…. They might look cute but actually they can be quite aggressive and despite their reputation we never saw one smile either LOL.

We found a bar closer to the main wharf and headed there for a final beer…. Anyway, time to go, and down the wharf we went to board our boat. The wind had really picked up 25 knots + so we knew it was going to be lumpy on the way back – so we elected to sit in the air conditioning downstairs this time LOL. We also enjoyed a few beers as we were sitting pretty much next to the guy serving….

Off the ferry and we headed into the pub called the Lucky Shag and sat outside on their waterfront terrace. Anyway, we enjoyed some more music, chatted to some Americans who lived nearby and we reckon they were spooks from Pine Gap as they were very secretive about their work…. Anyway, we had the taste for it by now, so swapped to wine and, eventually, wobbled up the hill towards our apartment. Had been a fantastic day!

Sunday, we had planned to go to Fremantle Markets on public transport. But having done two 15k step days consecutively, Richard decided I needed a bit of a break! I wasn’t arguing with that…the heat just completely zaps everything…so I focussed on doing some laundry and getting a blog done and published. Later on – mid afternoon – we headed out again towards the harbour looking for somewhere to eat but, this is Perth, and most eateries shut their kitchens during the afternoon (around 3pm) and reopen them again around 5.30 pm for dinner. So out of luck unless we wanted fast food (which we didn’t) and so we walked a huge circuitous route anyway, clocking up 10k steps. Oh well, so much for giving my legs a breather LOL. Having failed miserably to get fed we decided to go shopping and picked up some provisions for cooking / eating dinner in our apartment. So in the end we had a quiet night in enjoying some home cooked grub.

Monday morning we were up a bit later as we were going out at lunchtime on an organised tour. This was into the Pinnacles Desert to see the sunset, have a BBQ dinner, and star gaze through a large reflecting telescope that had been set up by the guides. Anyway, we were picked up right on time and met the rest of the small group. They were mainly Asian – Korean, Japanese and Chinese. Plus the odd Brit, Australian and German thrown into the mix. The driver was pretty entertaining but, as we were at the back of the bus, we couldn’t always hear him too well as his microphone had failed!

The first stop of the day – about an hour and a half later – was to a bakery, ice creamery and toilets in a small town called Lancelin. Pretty remote to say the least! At this stage we met up with another minibus doing the same excursion from the same company and we travelled in company after this. Anyway, the next stop was to the sand dunes to go sand boarding….and our guide asked us if we actually wanted to do this. Think we may have been age profiled LOL. We confirmed that we weren’t bothered…having done it before….so he offered to drop us off at the Lancelin Sands Hotel where we could enjoy a view over the water / walk up to the lookout / and generally while away some time while all the youngsters got covered in sand! We thanked him and took him up on the kind offer…. So we were dropped off, Richard went for a walk up to the top of the lookout, and I sat down with a glass of wine in hand. And lovely it was too! We enjoyed checking out the langoustine fishing boats who were pulling hard on their moorings behind the reef. Finally Richard returned and he joined me…. By now we should be going so we walked back out to the car park to rejoin our minibus – then the two minibuses returned – and gave everyone a break. So we stayed put and had another!

After about another 10 minutes or so we all took off towards the Pinnacles Desert. On entry into the National Park we stopped at the toilet blocks for a comfort break first and picked up a couple more tourists who were joining just for this part of the trip. We drove into this moonscape – OMG how fascinating – absolutely blown away by it all. We took a few photos before climbing a rock for a good view when the sun went down. I got a bit tired of clinging to the top of a rock so headed back to the minibuses where the drivers were organising dinner…and enjoyed the sunset from ground level.

Richard returned and we had cheese and biscuits – wine was on offer – but decided to go for a hot drink as by now the wind had turned very chilly. Of course we had not brought our jackets with us…. So we huddled down together and enjoyed our BBQ sausages and fresh bread / salads before wrapping ourselves up in a blanket to keep warm. By now one of the guides had set up the telescope so encouraged everyone to have a look at the moon – and showed us how to take photos of it too. So here you are….enjoy!

The guide was very knowledgeable and, although it was not a completely dark night and too early in the season for the Milky Way to show itself, we watched as the planets and stars revealed themselves to us. Was lovely. All too soon the show was over and time to return to our apartment, a two hour trip back for the driver. So we were dropped off just after 11.30 pm having thoroughly enjoyed our tourist excursion.

Tuesday morning we went out for breakfast down near the Wharf and then got on the Hop On Hop Off Tourist Bus. We stayed on enjoying the sights of the city as we decided to not get off until we reached King’s Park as we fancied checking it out.

We arrived at the Park but were too slow to organise ourselves getting off at the right stop so stayed on for another couple – and then decided to walk back to the original bus stop through the botanical gardens, admire the views of the city from various lookouts, take in the war memorial etc etc. Of course, like mad dogs and Englishmen, we were out in the midday sun without any water with us. What idiots – you would have thought we would have learnt by now?!? So to start off we decided to hydrate in a cafe we came across near a child’s play area (plus dinosaur of course) before starting our walk. Richard told me it wasn’t far and led by goggle maps off we trotted…. It wasn’t the nice lawned park we had been expecting as it was largely bush and sparse vegetation on red dust paths in places…. Sometimes it was pretty hilly too. It even had a glass bridge into the tree canopy… But worth it for the spectacular views over the city.

Couldn’t believe how many joggers passed us along the way too. Anyway, a while later, and only 11k steps to our name in 39 degrees Celsius heat we arrived at the first car park and found another cafe and had a restorative glass of water to recover. We were both absolutely shattered.

We had made arrangements to meet Richard and Hannah (and their daughters Sophie and Abigail) later in the afternoon at a waterfront East End pub called The Royal. So we decided not to wait for the next bus and got an uber back to our apartment where we enjoyed restorative showers / clean clothes / and a rest up before heading to the pub as previously arranged. Richard and Hannah had both worked with Richard in London before they moved to Australia and had become a couple after relocating here. So was lovely to see them and to catch up on their news…. Oh yes and the pizza was pretty good too LOL. Lovely family and another great reunion!

So that concludes our stay in Perth but not in Western Australia – on Wednesday we checked out of our Perth city centre apartment and collected another hire car to do some more exploring of the area.

So bye for now and come back soon for the next instalment. Jan

Friday morning (24 January) we checked out of our apartment in Caloundra and drove towards West End, Brisbane. Having arrived early we headed into the ice cream shop to have dessert before lunch LOL. Subsequently we met up with Ryan (who Richard used to work with in London). Ryan was working from home that day and, as it was school holidays, he was joined by his two beautiful young daughters who were not going to miss out on the opportunity to have pizza followed by ice cream. The girls were not shy at all and were very assertive – particularly about their view that pineapple was born to be eaten on a pizza LOL – and it was a lot of fun. After lunch we headed down to the mall and ended up in Anita Gelato where the girls were able to choose from a huge variety of flavours.

Sadly it was all too soon to say goodbye so we said our fond farewells and headed back to our car. We then drove towards Riverside Marina on the Brisbane River where Russ and Barb have their boat SV Happy Hour moored. They had already sent a message to let us know that Russ was home earlier than expected from work so we went straight there. We were greeted at the barrier by Russ and Barb (although we went to the wrong one to start with doh!) and then walked down to the boat having conveniently parked the car at the top of their pontoon. We had packed an overnight bag / toiletries etc so left the rest of our luggage in the car – there is no room for hard shelled suitcases on a boat! We had a lovely evening chatting and catching up on their news since we had seen them in London last year. This was the start of a bank holiday weekend in Australia as Sunday was Australia Day – or invasion day according to the First Nations people. Russ did his usual whipping up of a culinary feast of a chicken stir fry – was lovely. Then we headed early to bed….by which time a storm had started so we watched the lightning striking from the comfort of our bunk through the port. Felt quite nostalgic….

Saturday morning we had a leisurely start and Russ cooked us an eggs and bacon breakfast – and delicious it was too. Before we had even got up he and Barb had made fresh sausage rolls and baked a selection of cup cakes. Wow! They have more appliances in their boat galley than I have in my kitchen at home….

We showered ashore and bumped into John Hembrow near the office who used to run the Down Under Rally which we had participated in back in the day – he is working at Rivergate as a dockmaster on weekends / holidays. Was nice to see him although he was a bit stressed by the demands of a superyacht!

We spent the day playing card games – introducing them to Five Crowns (where I wiped the floor with them all) – we then played Sequence where Russ and I teamed up and beat Barb and Richard, followed by our first introduction to Upsies / Downsies which was fun although took a lot of concentration LOL. Throughout the day we were drinking and eating…and laughing very hard. Was great fun before we called it a day and had an early night.

Sunday we headed over to Fort Lytton and joined the first walking tour of the day.

Oh yes and there was a heatwave! Most of the tour was out in the full sun and by the time we finished I looked like I’d just come out of the shower….have never felt so hot and bothered in all my life! Was an interesting tour seeing all the armaments in preparation for an invasion during the Second World War which, of course, never happened so the guns or mines were never fired in anger.

Back to the marina we continued playing games – this time it was Barb & Richard’s turn to beat us in Sequence so we made it the World Series which was the best of three games (totalling nine games including the day before). Oh they revelled in their victory and refused to play any more having secured the crown! So back to Five Crowns and I won one, Russell won one too. So in total I won twice, Richard lost twice, Russell won one and Barb won one. It all got very competitive as the wine and laughter flowed…. Russ cooked us burgers for dinner which was very nice – always surprises me though that Australians put beetroot and pineapple on a burger – but everyone to their own LOL.

Monday was a Bank Holiday so Russ didn’t have to go to work. We had another leisurely start and Russ cooked us pancakes for breakfast. Followed by more sausages rolls, wahoo fish bites and other nibbles / lollies. (Explanation required here – lollies are what the Australians call sweets. Think skittles etc). Thankfully a slightly less hot and humid day so we enjoyed just sitting around chatting, eating and playing games again. But we did have a walk after breakfast around the marina to have a little look around. So not completely lazy!

A competitive afternoon of gaming followed with Upsies / Downsies starting us off which Russ won. Then a hand of Phase 10 which I won. Then Five Crowns again which I won and then Barb won. For dinner we had sausages and mash for dinner. We had another early night as Russ had to leave for work at 4.30 am the following morning. So we said our sad farewells…the time had gone so quickly…and we had had lots of laughter and lots of eating!

Tuesday morning Barb did our breakfast whilst we had our onshore showers. We repacked the car and said our sad farewells. We had enjoyed being back on a boat again even if it was a catamaran LOL. We headed to Margate first – and we had a few hours to kill – so decided to try and get me a haircut as it was getting pretty wild and out of control LOL. Managed with the first saloon of the day so pretty happy whilst Richard took himself off for a coffee. Very reasonably priced too…. Leaving Margate behind we then went to Radcliffe for a spot of lunch and to see the Bee Gees. We sat on the pier for a while watching all the kids jumping in and having fun…

Afterwards we headed to Woody Point to see Tom and Diane (who used to own SV Avalon) but whom have now decided to settle in Australia. We admired their beautifully refurbished apartment and then headed to their rooftop terrace for bubbles overlooking the expanse of water that is Moreton Bay. Also grateful that we were able to use the visitor spot in their gated car parking facility so we didn’t have to worry about leaving our car full of our junk on the street.

After enjoying the bubbles we walked to the pub for dinner which was at least downhill. But my legs were feeling it in the heat and after a nice meal and good evening Tom very kindly offered to get an Uber back which I gratefully accepted. And we were the last punters to leave the pub – which used to happen when we met them on the Down Under Rally! Back at their apartment we had some pontoonies before retiring to bed. Was so lovely to catch up with them.

In the morning we went out for breakfast – Richard drove as Tom and Diane were going to walk back. Leaving them having said our sad farewells we headed to Brighton and Sandgate before returning towards Brisbane and Remmant where we were going to visit with Ed & Yvonne (who used to own SV Steelee). Yvonne laid on a wonderful charcuterie board for nibbles with a glass or two in the garden before we had a lovely lamb dinner on the deck of their amazing Queenslander home. Such a lovely evening….and so to bed.

In the morning Ed cooked us breakfast on the BBQ on the deck and we just sat around chatting.

Before we knew it, it was time to say goodbye again and we drove towards Brisbane Airport – filled up on petrol – then checked into the Pullman Hotel. We looked like the poor relations with our assortment of bags and cases – one of the jobs was to get all our stuff back into cases / hand luggage bags for the morning’s flight to Perth.

Have to say we were completely blown away by everybody’s hospitality whilst we revisited Queensland. Amazing friendships are formed by cruising couples even though most have sold up and moved on since we last saw them – the bonds remain…. Was just so lovely to catch up!

Having checked into our room we then drove to Ace cars where we returned our hire car, retracing our steps back to the hotel utilising the complimentary shuttle bus. We decided to enjoy the afternoon and laid by the pool and had a late lunch – deciding that all this entertainment was pretty bad for the weight – and vowed to do better whilst we were on our own going forward LOL. Later on we returned to the room, repacked and weighed our suitcases and had a quiet night in.

So that concludes this part of our Australian adventure. Come back soon for the next instalment. Bye for now. Jan

Monday 20 January we departed Byron Bay in New South Wales towards Caloundra.

First stop en route was the Boatworks, our home for a lot of our time during Covid and after Richard’s heart attack which amazingly is almost five years ago now!   On arrival we headed into the on-site restaurant The Galley and waited to be seated.   David spotted us, looked confused for a little while, then rushed over to envelop us in bear hugs.   “Richard and Jan you came back!”    We settled down to some breakfast – which was excellent as always – and caught up with David and Cara who genuinely seemed very pleased to see us. Cara said she hadn’t smiled so much for weeks!   How nice is that?!? And of course we forgot to take photos in the moment…..

Tearing ourselves away we headed to the office – Amy was working and came out straight away for a bear hug.  She looked really well.   Danielle was also working but on a break at that moment in time so we headed into the yard to see if we could find Nikki. We were directed to the super yacht yard (which had been transformed with new huge sheds) and much of the old ‘storage’ area was now kitted out with new units / workshops. We asked one of the guys to radio Nikki which he did as two people were looking for her – tracked down and waiting in place – we drove around the corner. She was absolutely delighted to see us and we got more bear hugs. Saying fond farewells to Nikki we headed back to the office and this time found Danielle – wow she looked completely different having lost lots of weight – just younger and more vibrant. So we caught up with her for a little while and then sadly we left the Boatworks behind….

First stop was the mall to pick up some chocolate gifts then onwards to Upper Coomera where we had arranged to visit with Tim and Naoko. Tim was delighted to see us but Naoko looked a bit shocked as Tim had forgotten to tell her so she quickly jumped in the car and headed out shopping herself. Naoko is an excellent host so clearly felt the need to pick up some provisions – all a bit strange as we had reminded Tim that we were coming only the day before!

While Naoko was out we looked at Tim’s ongoing projects and discussed ideas for taking it all forward. He desperately wants to get the big boat launched this year so he can take his fellow veterans out sailing to improve their mental health. Tim suffers from PTSD himself so the projects keep him busy although with his scatter gun approach their fabulous home is surrounded by bits and pieces and resembles a works yard!! Naoko returned and proceeded to lay out a fabulous charcuterie board which we tucked into. She also persuaded me to have a glass of wine as Richard promised he would do the driving….she had even remembered what type I liked and had picked up a couple of bottles specifically. So it seemed rude not to LOL. Here we are with Tim and his dog….

Our visit was over all too soon and it was time to head up the coast towards Caloudra. We arrived around 5pm but found the reception to the building closed. Hmmm….so called the listed number and was talked through instructions of how to get access to the underground car park, the apartment keys etc. Managed all that and we rushed upstairs to have a look. The apartment was huge, quite old fashioned and could do with some upgrades here and there. But a wrap-around balcony looking down towards the sea was very welcome…. Sadly I could not find a washing machine although I was convinced that the description had talked about laundry facilities. Oh well, never mind….

Having made ourselves at home we headed down the road to the promenade and into the Drift Bar.

This had been our favourite watering hole many years previously and we were surprised by how quiet it was – but, hey, it’s a Monday so what did we expect?!? We had a couple of drinks listening to the live music which was a young hippie chick dressed in Mary Quant type fashion. She had a good repertoire but, just like her clothes, was a bit dated LOL. Sadly her voice was a bit weak and didn’t really engage with the room. The Drift Bar appear to position their nightly live music offering as background rather than entertainment.

We had some potato wedges for our tea and were amazed by the sound of the parakeets as they returned to their trees opposite to roost for the night. Quite amazing that such little things can be so very loud. Anyway, had been a busy day, so we headed back to our apartment for an early night.

Tuesday morning we were up early and I did some hand washing and got all that out on the balcony on the airer. After breakfast we headed out to the nearest large supermarket for supplies and picked up some cheap giant prawns – cooked, cleaned and peeled – and later we realised that we had got 35 for the princely sum of £13. Fantastic!

On our way back we had some brunch – just a toastie – and chatted to the receptionist in our building. She showed me the laundry room which was coin operated. Excellent – will use that later on before we depart.

We then headed to the beach – this used to be the main channel between the mainland and Bribie Island – and the tide used to race through, which is where we really enjoyed drifting along in the current. In January 2022 Bribie Island was broken through by the sea in a storm and this has now become the dominant entrance so the Caloundra bar is infilling with sand and closing over and a huge sand bar now blocks the main channel. Which has meant that the sea is shallow, warm, and a bit lagoon like instead. So we joined all the other families and enjoyed bobbing for a while. We were amazed to see people walking and driving across to Bribie too. Amazing changes brought about by nature.

Back to the apartment we had a delicious prawn salad for tea followed by a glass or two on the balcony – where it was so windy the washing had been blown over…. So we ended up back in the Drift Bar for a nightcap and then home for the night.

Wednesday morning we awoke early as we had planned to meet Sandy and Nigel – but sadly, Nigel had gone down with the lurgy so we postponed the trip and hope to see them later in our travels. There was a severe heatwave warning so we decided it was way too hot for the beach and headed into the mountains instead. We thought it would be cooler in the mountains but that was not to be the case. First stop was Montville which was a historic old town and very cute. We stopped at the Poets Cafe for lunch and enjoyed great food and iced smoothies. Richard wanted to walk around to get some photos but, the trek back up the hill to our car in the heat did me in, so he continued on his own and I escaped to the air conditioned comfort. We had already agreed that I was driving from here too….

Leaving Montville behind we headed to Garrad’s lookout for views over the countryside which was absolutely spectacular. So lush and green….

Then we decided to return to Caloundra via the supermarket and back to the apartment. The air conditioning in the apartment was only in the lounge – fans in the bedroom – so we camped in front of the TV for a few hours. Later on as it cooled down for the day we headed back to the Drift Bar for a couple of cold ones before returning to our apartment to finish off the prawns for supper. Afterwards we vegged in front of the TV but sadly the viewing opportunities were a little limited – either the Australian Open tennis in Melbourne or the Trump Inauguration – before turning in for the night.

Thursday was another extreme heat warning day (think 40 degrees centigrade) so I spent some time in the laundry as we were leaving the following day. Having completed all that Richard took me out for brunch where we ended up in the Coffee Club on the seafront – which was new since our last visit here.

Back to the apartment we decided against returning to the beach as it was way too hot so decided to stay put. So I took the opportunity to blog …. Later on we got cleaned up and headed out to the Drift Bar which was still quiet, although there were lots of volley ball players turning up for the long bank holiday weekend’s tournament. Richard had captured the activity setting up this tournament on the beach earlier.

So back to bed having readied ourselves for our morning departure. So come back soon for the next instalment. Bye for now

Jan