After driving from Queenstown, the Weather improved today, no rain and warmer than last 3 days. Picked up the shuttle bus that took us 7 kms from our hotel into the National Park and the start of signed walks of varying difficulty. Tom had his mind set on making it to the summit of Cradle Mountain - a walk/climb of about 8 hours (round trip). David and I intended to make for a spot called 'Marion's Lookout' - a 4 hour round trip. We had a text from Tom af...

Queenstown is home to The Wilderness Railway, a small steam driven railway that was built at the end of 19th century to carry wood and copper from the interior to the port of Strahan. It was closed last century when a road was finally built and reopened as a tourist attraction some time ago. it has been closed since April 2013 due to falling passenger numbers. Thanks to a grant from Tasmanian government it was due to be reopened in September but landslides preve...

Set off on the 250 kms drive to Queenstown today for our first stopover. Roads virtually empty with scenery lush and varied. Clouds grew darker as we went further west. We passed a hydroelectric generation plant with enough capacity to serve the whole of Tasmania. Steady rain started about an hour later so we stopped at Lake St Clair Lodge for lunch and watched all the walkers who had obviously set out earlier to walk in this national park in sunshine and ret...

David and I and Tom and Sarah arrived this morning in Tasmania, just a one hour flight from Melbourne. Picked up our hire car and drove the few miles into Hobart. The city holds a huge open air market every Saturday so it was lucky we arrived today and our hotel was 2 minutes walk from Salamanca, the area by the harbour where the market takes place. It was very windy so stall holders were kept busy trying to retain the plastic sheeting that covered the stalls. ...

Yesterday, David and I cycled to the Melbourne Tennis Centre to pick up our tickets for the Australian Open which commences on Monday, 13 Jan. we had already ordered seats for the Rod Laver court and some day passes which is the equivalent of NOT having to queue up for Wimbledon! As Melbourne's botanical gardens are directly opposite the Tennis Centre, just across the river, we visited there next. An oasis is a busy city, the gardens are tranquil and very popula...