Hi Everyone, Well arrival in Melbourne was damp and a bit miserable chiefly because I had to say goodbye to new friends, but, I was staying with old friends so caught the train to Grahams' house in Mitcham. I have used the rail system in Melbourne on numerous occasions and think it is really good. Having arrived at Flinders Street station I discovered that I missed my train by about 30 secnds, I eventually made it to Mitcham and walked to the house just for the ...

Hi Everyone, Today we started our journey from Adelaide down to Melbourme. Our guide, Dave, has the reputation of being the most awake person alive at 5.00am in the morning, oh dear! He was accompanied with a co-driver, Kiwi, never did get his real name. What we did not know was that the next two days were going to present us with the best walking / climbing of the trip.. Flinders was good but we were now entering the Grampian National Park and driving through t...

Hi Everyone, Before you ask, the photo has absolutely nothing to do with Adelaide, well not to my knowledge, it okay though, don't you think? Arrival in Adelaide was quite pleasant, it is a very nice City, I don't know why fellow Australians snigger about the place, certainly not you Melbournites (those out in the Burbs anyway). It has a very European flavour to it and a very pleasant climate, more Mediteranian than anything else, the architecture is very Frenc...

Hi Everyone, I know this is late but I've had difficulty getting it on-line, so here we go with an update re Coober Pedy, the Opal Fields of South Australia. it's a place so hot that the locals choose to live underground, well nearly, they have taken to building properties into the hill sides and then using old disused mines as accommodation, just to keep cool. The average temperature inside one of these dwellings is still 25 degrees, so quite reasonable. The ar...

Hi Everyone, The Olgas is an area of outstanding natural beauty, it is a sacred site to the Aboriginal people and really is impressive, the range was formed in a similar way to the marbles but stands 300 meters high and was formed from whole rocks some 30cm in diameter, washed down from an ancient glacier, compressed into limstone and then erroded over millions of years leaving the current formations. We walked for about an hour in and out of the towering mound...