Hobart, Tasmania (TAS) - 29th November 2008Hobart Car Kilometres: 185,291Distance Travelled: 397kmTotal Distance Travelled: 17,040km After leaving the north coast, we had planned to take a couple of leisurely days getting to Hobart, hoping for a squiz at Table Mountain on the way. However, the weather conspires against us (it's probably not personal), and we get within a few kilometres of the mountain and give up - it's veiled in fog and clouds, and we have no h...

Wynyard, Tasmania (TAS) - 27th November 2008Wynyard Car Kilometres: 184,894Distance Travelled: 103kmTotal Distance Travelled: 16,643km After an enjoyable ferry ride, including a free cinema viewing of The Visitor before we retreated to our generously proportioned and quite comfortable reclining seats to doze the night away, we are in Tassie, and disembark the ship uneventfully.We're tired though; as comfy as we were, we didn't sleep brilliantly - the ship's purs...

Melbourne, Victoria (VIC) – 25th November 2008 Melbourne Car Kilometres: 184,791 Distance Travelled: 676km Total Distance Travelled: 16,540km After a lengthy inland drive to Melbourne, we find a campsite in the suburbs to rest our weary heads, and set up for the night. Tomorrow we catch the overnight ferry to Tasmania, but for now it’s time to catch up on our sleep, washing and admin duties. We spend our time between checking out of the campsite at 10am...

Canberra, Australian Capital Territory (ACT) - 22nd November 2008Canberra Car Kilometres: 184,115Distance Travelled: 361kmTotal Distance Travelled: 15,864km After the excitement of Japan, we experienced a bit more of Jetstar's creative approach to customer service (nothing specific, it was just generally rubbish, even for an economy airline), and swung back into Sydney for what seems like the zillionth time.Bleary eyed, we caught the train back to Rick and Diane...

Kyoto 14/11/08 - 19/11/08After another short Shinkansen ride (525 km's in about 3 hours), we arrived at Kyoto station. Kyoto is the Japan before the bombings of the war, with 17 UNESCO World Heritage sites, 1600 temples and over 400 shrines. Our first impression was drawn from the very modern steel and glass structured station with a huge atrium, 7th floor skywalk and 15th floor observation level. When we first arrived we found our way to the Nijo station and our...