Arriving back in London after 8 weeks away. Before reflecting on this trip of a lifetime here are some statistics: Total miles covered: 33,454 By Air: 27,305 By Rail: 2,843 By Sea: 262 By Road: 2,938 By Helicopter: 106 Number of photos taken: 1,382 Total bottles of wine consumed: only 66 bottles! Extra luggage purchased during trip: 1 As important as the places experienced and people met, was the opportunity for us to spend more time together, more inte...

Monday 21st and we return to Sydney, for the third time on this trip, and the rain from Katoomba seems to follow us all the way into town. The late night news remarked that this is the wettest March in 37 years. We're staying at the trendy and hip Blue Hotel, on a wharf in the waterfront suburb of Woolloomooloo, just along the harbour from the Opera House. It is extremely hip and fabulous to our eyes, and they have done a great job in restoring the massive former...

This was supposed to be the view we could see and one of the reasons we went here. But read on............ Friday evening and we arrive at Lilianfels Hotel in the town of Katoomba, in the Blue Mountains about 75 miles west of Sydney. The drive from Sydney is horrendous as it rained the whole way, there were major traffic jams and finally we encountered thick fog in the mountains. In fact, for the three days we have been here the rain hasn't let up, neither has t...

Wednesday, March 16th we drive to Hobart. It's a pleasant drive through farming country, though Robin was a bit upset when he ran over a snake, and actually slowed down wondering if we should go back and see if it was beyond help. I vetoed that, asserting that he had done the country as favour, as Australia has the largest number of poisonous snakes (and bugs, and fish, not to mention the crocs). Further on, we decided to stop off for lunch in Richmond in the Coa...

We're off further down the east coast of Tasmania to Port Arthur and Stormy Bay. It's a long drive and stops offs are mandatory--at Orford, for example, for a coffee and to switch drivers. Incidentally, so far this drive through Tasmania has taken us through the counties of Devon, Westmoreland, Dorset, Cornwall, Somerset, Glamorgan, Pembroke, Monmouth and Buckingham. Sound familiar? We make it down to our destination at Port Arthur by lunchtime. Not another convi...