Jan
12
2011
Apart from Errol Flynn being born in Tas, the cute little Devils are probably Tasmania’s most famous icon. Cute to look at, not very big, almost cat-like demeanour, until….feeding time, then all hell breaks loose!
We visited the Devil Park which is all about conservation work at the
Kinda cute!
Tas Devil is under threat. And for once it may not be human-made. They are suffering from a deadly and contagious skin cancer, so wild Devils are heavily threatened. So the park is trying to breed up to 600 cancer-free Devils to eventually release into the wild once the affected Devils have all died out: big job.
But the park was really good and worth the $30 each entrance as the money goes to save them, and the woman at the reception is the woman who founded it in 1979! The feeding time is when you really get to see the Devils in tru form: ferocious carnivores who could easily bite through a human wrist, and has a stronger jaw than a Bull Mastif dog! Yikes!
No Soup for this Ma!!
Also at the park are kangaroos, wallabies and geese. The ‘roos let you feed them and are surprisingly gentle!
Although they know they’re gonna ged fed and are fairly docile, they are like sheep and if anything spooks them they all run in a pack and follow eachother!!
Jan
7
2011
More Hobart than Hobbit!
That means we are now safely on Tasmania. Flew out here on Wednesday night from Melbourne, on a flight delayed by an hour, meaning we didnt get into Hobart to the cafe/bar/hostel until 1130pm – bless the guy running it he sent us a text saying he’d wait for us, which he did, and so we checked in and dumped our bags in 6mins flat before he took us to one of the only bars still open (which didnt close til 3am!!). We left the bar at 1am needing some sleep! . . .
. . . Now this is an area of Aussie life that still confuses us: while we were waiting for our train in Melbourne city to the airport at 430pm we had trouble finding somewhere open for a quick pint. Then we get to Hobart and the cafe/bar/hostel opened its bar at 8 in the morning! Go figure as they say! So there were blokes having a beer while we were eating breakfast! Oh well: Horses for Courses!
So today, Friday, we are having a coffee planning our route around Tas – prob in a rented campervan, so we can be as flexible as poss and get to as many of the parks/rivers/coasts as we can. It looks like there’s a lot to see so we may be here up to a fortnight, who knows?!
So far, Hobart gets a big thumbs up from us both, esp the Salamanca smart area of bars, cafes and bars!
Jan
4
2011
And we’re not talking football!! Unfortunately! Or not!
But what we are talking about is a few days of ‘playing house’! Whilst our friends Jonno and Kathy are away on xmas/NY hols, we are house and cat sitting for them: Mutually beneficial as we get to stay somewhere for free, and they get ‘home security’ (sounds a bit American that last bit!!).
So therefore – and this coincides very nicely with New Years Eve and the few days after – we have had somewhere to put our feet up and chillout for a week. Its been great having a bbq out the back upon which we have cooked breakfast each day, and dinner each night: such a novelty at this time of year! And we even did some gardening. ie: Mike watered the front garden and Jane tended to the strawberry and cherry tomato plants! Its all Go Go Go !!
Jan
1
2011
Just a brief one to let you know how we spent New Year’s Eve 2010: We went to the beach! Elwood Beach in south-west Melbourne to be exact.
And we worked out that this may be the first NYE either of us have spent outside the UK; and definitely the first we have spent on a beach. And just before midnight we strolled up a mount and watched the firework display above Melbourne city.
And to our faithful readers, have a bang-up 2011:
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- Can’t miss from there!
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- Bit of side-spin!
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- Not in this one!
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- Action!
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- $2 frisbee!
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- 4 feet closer to New Year!
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- Best feet forward!
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- Still chillin !
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- Chillin with Bart on the beach!
Dec
30
2010
With the sun beating down an unexpected 28C and the clouds seemingly on strike, we swooped on the opportunity to take the borrowed motor-carriage out for a spin in the Aussie countryside!
Heading east out of Melbourne we took the Maroondah Highway through the outskirts of suburbia and out towards the tall green stuff. Loads of twisty roads, scenic backdrops and drop-offs at the edge of the road! Good driving roads, although being in a friend’s car we took it steady, and enjoyed some of the views! Some really nice wooded lake areas, mega tall tress -some scortched half way up- and vineyards dotted here and there.
Stopped for a brief wander around the small tourist town of Healesville and a bite to eat at Wattleseed cafe – good pasta!
Coldstream brewpub!
From there we continued our delightful drive, making a loop of over 100km returning to Melbourne via the ever-so-small town of Coldstream, which had……a Micro-brewery & pub! Cunningly called Coldstream Brewery we stopped for a cheeky summer ale (made with nice spicy hops) and a glass of vino white!
Upon return to the ‘burbs we visited the fresh fish stall and then barbecued up some king prawns, scallops and squid. All very civilized, what ho?!
And in case you were wondering, our dinner did constitute ‘throwing a shrimp on the barby!!’
Dec
29
2010
After a great five days in Sydney – most relaxing and enjoyable it was too – we are back in the ‘Bourne; MELBourne!
House and cat sitting for a friend we’ll be here a week, taking in NYE…also a first for a decade as we normally have a private party on Dec 31, whereas this year we shall be having a re-enactment of Xmas Day and be on the beach for NYE. Down at Brighton beach, south-west suburb of Melbourne, we shall be spending a chilled beach barby kinda New Years!
Dec
28
2010
SATURDAY 25TH DECEMBER 2010 . . . Whilst staying on the 9th Floor of the Oaks Apartments on Darling Harbour in Sydney . . .Like an Australian in England on a snowy winter’s day, we were revelling in a totally new experience – going to the beach on a hot summer’s xmas day!! A bit of a head-scratcher really as he hasn’t felt
Beached !!
much like Christmas so far, what with the (mostly) sunny days, light nights, lack of snow and people in shorts everywhere! , but we had decided ages ago to do that cliched thing and go to Bondi Beach on Dec 25th! So: we did!
Starting the day with bacon and eggs and fizzy ‘not champagne as it’s from Australia not France’ white wine; we marinaded the lamb we bought and put it in the oven at a lowly 50C before catching the 380 bus to Bondi
We were in there somewhere!
and finding the nearest watering hole – a Bavarian Bier Cafe on the oceanfront! Also we found ourselves unintentionally doing that quintessentially English thing, we found ourselves hitting the beach at midday (Mad-dogs and all that!). We had decided to only stay an hour or so due to the heat, and we obeyed ourselves well, squeezing a beer in afterwards!
Back from the beach we discover a perfectly slow-cooked roast lamb and warming bottle of Cabernet sauvignon from the Margaret River region of Western Aus.!! We tucked in. We tucked in good!
Darling Harbour
Dec
23
2010
In what is probably our best golf game yet, yesterday Jane scored two holes-in-one with Mike making only one in what viewers are calling the closest golf tournament of the year…With Tiger Woods finishing the year without a trophy for the first time ever, it is now obvious that there are New Kids On The Block !! Okay, to be fair it was Crazy Golf, but we did bloody well anyway!! To celebrate our title we went to a very Sixties hotel pub in Ulladulla called The Marlin. Closed on Sunday but re-open on Wednesday, it was a blend of cream, purple, mauve and lilac. Mike was going to vomit but no-one would have noticed.!!
So today: Off to Sydney where we’ll be staying the next four days in a self-catering apartment, with separate bedroom, lounge/dinier, kitchen and bathroom. Food on Dec25th shall consist of roast lamb (big surprise) with maybe a vegetable, and some locally sourced imitation champagne!!
Dec
22
2010
Thats our drive from Melbourne to Sydney for xmas!
And winding is more fun to drive than long, even in a 4WD campervan that sometimes handles like a boat! And as well as not being long and boring, the scenery is infinitely better…coastal views, undulating hills, rainforest-type land, small towns that are left from the goldrush days and more sea views!
And this drive is a shorter one as well – a mere 1200km instead of just over 4000km!! And at the end of this drive we have a 4* hotel apartment with separate longe and kitchen for four days over xmas; and its right on Darling Harbour so there’s plenty to do, inc free live music and fireworks on Dec 24th!
One downside at the mo is the weather is looking slightly inclement! While England has unusually bad snow, out here they are having unusually large amounts of rain: could put the mockers on the beach on xmas day!
Anyway, staying tonight in a small place called Ulladulla, south of Sydney by about 2 1/2 hours.
Dec
19
2010
We know what you’re thinking – thats a long way to do for two days!! Truth is it was a slow journey, with the max speed around 60kmh on our way down the Mornington Peninsular to the south of Melbourne. Bart, bless him, lent us his red-hot screaming motor so the frustration of driving at about 40mph was exacerbated (good word!!) by having plenty of top-end grunt under the right foot!!
Like the ‘original’ Sorrento it is a peaceful and attractive place with lots of good coffee shops, boutiquey wine shops and cheap steak nights! Unlike the ‘other’ Sorrento, there are no classic blue and white postcard views and pizza restaurants! Despite the slow drive, it was a really nice place to go see, esp as its by the sea, and we found a fairly cheap (for the area) motel and set out on foot to suss out the place. A one-street kinda town, with parking in the middle of the road like a mini-Marlborough, it has a nice bistro/bar/hotel offering $15 steak ‘n’ Mash; another former hotel now posh chippy with beer and wi-fi and some rather agreeable ocean views! Its the kind of pace where people get married on the beach!!