We had an inkling that things would go from bad to worse and we were right! We never saw The Blue Mountains because it was dark before we got there! The 3 hour trip around Broken Hill was cancelled because we lost even more time on the journey because The Indian Pacific is a private company and has to give way to all the commuter trains in Sydney and Adelaide :-( The rest of the journey is single track and very slow....... The train shakes from side to side , back to front and rattles uncontrollably ! The food is *** lower than British Rail and any attempt at sleeping is pointless unless your name is Paul Matthews ;-) Poor Pat gave up at 3 30am and sat knitting till daybreak The outback is BORING !!! The wallabys, emus and goats are ok for about an hour but one loses the plot after 6 hours of bone shaking dawdling :-(( By the time we got to Adelaide both of the car hire offices had closed and so we had to go to the airport in a taxi to get the cars Not only did we have to pay an extra 15% airport tax but they added 90 Aus dollars one way trip fee !! Undaunted we drove to our motel where we were given our 'family ' room It turned out to be a replica of a 70's social club bar complete with a Cyril Lord leafy gold / brown carpet lol Dad , Pat and I were still giggling when we were trying to get to sleep ha ha Laughter aside the beds were clean and very comfortable after our layered cupboard ,sorry cabin on the train!

We started today with a big breakfast by the side of a lake in the sunshine
We visited a group of volcanic lakes at Mount Gambier which were amazing One of the lakes turns blue every November until March ,as Trev has no photo shop here it is as real as shown! Then we went on to Port Fairy which is a quaint old fishing village full of tiny cottages and lagoons, a harbour and lots of black swans and other beautiful water birds We stayed there for dinner which was various fresh local fish with a crisp white Australian Sauvignon mmmm happy Dee ;-) our accommodation tonight is very Ikea and almost on the seafront at Port Campbell so tomorrow will start with sunshine , sea and more Great Ocean Road :-) It is now 10 30 and still 25 degs ....Goodnight cold and frosty England xxxx