Tasmania is a wonderful place, but we actually left there about a week ago. The pressure of having to look for strange orchids has almost overwhelmed us. So let's catch up with recent events. It was a wrench to leave Tassie. The weather had been excellent and spring flowers were showing themselves. That is except for the greeny, brown and white diminutive greenhood orchids. They all look rather similar but in fact there are over 40 species. A few are represented...

Today we're in Launceston, Tasmania. Wineglass bay is as beautiful as it appears in the photo. We were there a few days ago staying with a former colleague of Ana's. Although turquoise today, Wineglass Bay was so named because huge numbers of whales were dealt with here in the past, and the sea went red with their blood. Today it's an idyllic place to swim or walk and not a building in sight. Just pale sand, blue sky and blue sea. It's spring here, so it's not...

After a short stay in Sydney, we spent four days in Katoomba. This is a major centre for the Blue Mountains. And it rained for two and a half days and two nights continuously! See photo of the patio at the YHA! We have been in Canberra for a few days staying with Dilys, Rod's sister and we will return to Sydney via the coast road today.

The daytime flight to Sydney was brilliant. Looking out of the porthole of the 747 400 transported us into the mysterious world of oddly shaped salt lakes, myriad acres of desolate red desert and a clear view of Ayers Rock. We arrived yesterday at about 20.00hrs. having gained a couple of hours. Joe (Rod's nephew) and Kim, who shared Christmas 2006 with us back home in Bury, had kindly agreed to collect us from the airport. They live a ten minute drive from the...