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...

We were driven to the Blue Mountains yesterday by John. A two hour drive from Sydney and a world away. The landscape is of high stone cliffs and deep forests with dramatic rock formations and waterfalls. We also visited a now almost deserted village called Hartley. Its claim to fame is that the buildings are still as they would have been in the 19th century when convicts were used as a workforce in the area. The village once had around 1000 inhabitants and was...

Arrived in Sydney yesterday afternoon and decided to take the airport shuttle to Kings Cross, the area in Sydney where Laura lives, and who is kindly sharing her flat with us for the next week. Firstly, taking the shuttle was a bad idea but as we landed at 5 pm we were told that a taxi would get caught up in rush hour and take much longer than usual. The shuttle bus took over two hours! However, we did see a lot of Sydney on the way as ours was the last drop of...