Hey there

Well we have finished our tours with AAT (All Aged Travellers)! We had great fun - mostly, but it was knackering. It's taken a few days to recover with lots of sleep after long days of driving.

I've uploaded some photos - with lots of animals. Highlights included a sheep shearing demonstration. You can hardly believe the amount of wool that comes off one sheep. We saw John Howard, the little bank manager of a Prime Minister they have here in action in the parliament at Question Time. he was talking about water - which is a huge issue here. And we saw why when we were shown lots of dried up rivers.

We went up Australia's highest peak - by ski lift! That's where I took the picture of Max and Margaret who were lovely lovely people. They were such troopers and Max was a genuine WW2 veteran. Not many of those to the pound these days. Margaret called us "Her lovely boys" and we called them Uncle Max and Aunty Margaret.

I was amazed by how many people were travelling Australia in their eighties! Makes you realise it's never too late...

We saw tonnes of wildlife at Kangeroo Island - sea lions, koalas, kangeroos etc and some of them got quite up close and personal. On the ferry over to the island a bird decided to use me as perch. It started on my shoulder and pecked my ear, then hopped on my head. Phil has a picture to prove it, but I haven't got that one right now!

I met up with my friend Nick in Adelaide and we went swimming in the sea, but the waves were so strong you could barely stand up never mind swim. You forget how powerful the water can be. Thanks to Nick for showing me around and letting me meet his folks.

We had a couple of long driving days on the way back to Sydney, stopping in the largest inland city in Australia which closes at 5pm on a Saturday afternoon...

Now we are back in Sydney and preparing for Mardi Gras this weekend. We have a couple more refugees from the London winter on their way over so it should be a good party! I'll update once we've recovered from that!

Hi to all at home. Miss you all.

Ronnie