Left the Dandenongs Friday morning and drove south west to the Mornington Peninsula. This area south of Melbourne has some beautiful golden sandy beaches but lots of flies! Melbourne is notorious for its flies as well as it's changeable weather. As there was no breeze and it was also very humid it was ideal conditions for these pesky creatures. It's not so much the quantity as their persistence. You can wave away an English fly and it will invariably give up...

We arrived back in Melbourne late on Saturday (8th) then went out to lunch on Sunday with Tom and Sarah and Laura( who we stayed with in Sydney and who was in Melbourne for a couple of days for her work). After a lovely lunch in Docklands area we all decided to experience the 'Melbourne Star' - a huge Ferris wheel like the London Eye. It is situated in the Docklands area and is a bit of a joke with the residents of Melbourne as it opened a few years ago and only...

Yesterday, David and I set out for a walk in the forest near Bellingen. The forests around here are huge so we carefully kept to the gravel road to lessen the risk of getting lost. We saw our first snake, a black one as it moved off the road into the grass ahead of us. Then a lace monitor, a type of lizard which was about 18 inches long and climbing up the trunk of a tree. We encountered a couple of huge ants about 2 inches long, including one walking around my...

Arrived yesterday at Bellingen via Coff's harbour airport and was met by Bobbi, a friend we first met in Zakynthos some years ago. Bobbi, who originates from Hobart, was living and running holiday villas in the Greek Island for many years with her husband, Dimitri. She decided to return permanently to Aus to revive her career as a singer. She is now living with Pete, a guitarist, and together with a couple of other musicians they perform at local venues as well...

Sunday, our last day in Sydney and Laura took us to see Bondi beach. As it was a hot sunny day ( as has been all week) the beaches were crowded as was the coastal pathway that links the beaches in the area. We walked round to Bronte beach and after a refreshing fruit juice made our way back to Sydney to visit Rushcutter's Quay, a marina not far from Laura's flat. We had a late lunch in the yacht club where you can sign in as a guest and dine with all the yacht...