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 in the Australian orchids album.

The fern tree and eucalyptus forests are so different from anything else we've seen, it's as if you've been transported into a previous epoch. No grass grows in these woods just ferns and bracken. And as the wind gusts through the upper canopy of eucalyptus, fragile branches leave their lofty home and fall, crashing through the understorey like angry primates defending their primeval universe. And are velociraptors extinct?!

We returned to the mainland via Melbourne. An old tram takes you around the centre of Melbourne, a free introduction to the city. A recorded commentary points out the important buildings adding a snippet of history to whet your appetite for more.

We drove to Geelong before the rush-hour, to meet up with Roger and Sue. Ana had left a message to say we were in Australia and would love to see them after 25 years. We all spent some time together in Stoke-on-Trent in the early 1980's.

There is a famous golf course near Geelong where kangaroos share the fairways with the golfers and draw in a lot of sightseers. Hence the picture of a kangaroo for this entry in the blog.

The south coast is very beautiful west of Melbourne, so after a few days with Roger and Sue we drove to Warrnambol. From there we explored some of the dramatic coastline around Port Campbell.

From there we drove inland to the mountainous area called the Grampians and stayed at Ararat - The Orchid City; honestly, that's what they call themselves! Ana couldn't believe her eyes. That's where the 'Wotif.com' bargain accomodation had led us, so more orchid hunting it is then!

Guess what? We're just 4 km. from a wonderfully-densely-orchid-populated nature reserve. So that's Richard sorted for the duration then!

The Grampians are a stunning place to explore as well. Even though half of the area was burned by forest fires in January and February this year, [that's about 84,000 hectares] a new flush of green growth is decorating the blackened tree trunks.

Today we're back in Geelong with our old mates Roger and Sue as we prepare to leave Australia for Aukland, NewZealand in the morning.