6th March Our first major stop off after leaving Sydney was the Blue Mountains. This is a series of national parks, part of the Great Dividing Range and is one of the most popular areas, probably because of its close proximity to Sydney, although is stunningly beautiful too. The 'Blue' of the blue mountains comes from the unlra fine oily blue mist given off by the eucalyptus trees. The night we arrived we did a night stroll as some of the cliffs are illuminat...

28th FebWell the last week or so has been a tale of two cities. We spent two days in Canberra with our lovely friends Maureen and Angela who Michele was at primary school with and emmigrated 20 years ago. They both have children themselves and it was great for ours to have some pals to play with. On one evening Maureen had all their family over for a BBQ, many of whom we had met when we travelled here 14 yrs ago so it was lovely to catch up. Maureen and Angel...

22nd Feb The last five days have seen some real contrasts. We have spent three days in the National Parks of Eastern Victoria and Western New South Wales and then a couple of days in Canberra with some friends. Now when you think of Australia and try to picture the landscape, most people would have an image of huge deserted expanses of bushland, kangaroos hopping by and the coastline with surfers and, jellyfish and sharks (bit of a generalisation but not witho...