Reached the Indian Ocean

Train stopped last night for 3 hours in a very properous gold mining town of Kalgoorlie - about 27000 people -  town was developed in late 1800s and no cash was spared in the buildings.  Many old style beautiful buildings and we walked arount the town about 9:00 pm when it was already dark.  See the old hotel that is lit up. Boarded the train at 10:30 pm and got in our bunks for one more night as we made the final length of the train trip - about 700 kms from Kalgourlie to Perth.  

Arrived in Perth this morning at 9:30 am and immediately took a 3 hour city bus tour pointing out the highligdhts of Perth. Very hot day here - 38c - and not a cloud in the sky.  Kings Park provides an excellent lookout over the city and the Swan River.  A  very  beautiful city and hope the pictures give you a sense of what it is like. Beaches are spectacular. The picture of Irene and Neil is taken on the river front where you see the Perth skyline in the backgound - this scene if often used for pictures of Perth.

So we have now gone from east to west in Australia - from the Pacific Ocean to the Indian Ocean -- that is why the train we were on is called the Indian Pacific Railway.  We will be in Perth for the next two days.

Crossed the Nullarbor

Spent all day on the train crossing the Nullarbor region which stretches east to west for 1000kms - nullarbor comes from latin words meaning no trees and the label is certainly correct as you can see from the pictures.  As we leave the Nullabor leaving for Perth trees are starting to show up again.  Stopped at ghost town - Cook - now 4 people live there and train stops so we can look around.  Note the sign saying next services are not for over 800 kms.

Adelaide Church and Train

Went to church this morning at the Adelaide Cathedral - a smaller church than the one we saw in Sydney but still very striking architecture.  Wandered around this afterrnoon in the mall and in the botannic garden and then boarded the Great Indian Pacific Railway at 6:40 pm.  Went through some major farming areas but harvest was done about two weeks ago so only saw sheep in the fields.  Went through some very flat areas and farms are very large -- we have been told 5000+ acres.  Will travel all night, tomorrow and tormorrow night on train to arrive in Perth Tuesday morning.

Adelaide Zoo and Beaches

Wandered around Adelaide today and visited the Zoo to see the Pandas and then off on a tram car to the beach.  Very hot day(37) and had supper at the beach in the replica of and old historic ship.  Some very interesting children playground equipment modelled around theme of fitness equipment.  Will also have most of tomorrow to look around before we board the train at 6:40 tomorrow night( Sunday)

Adelaide and HOT!

Returned RV in Melbourne this morning and flew to Adelaide - about a 1.5 hr flight.  Very hot here -- 35C and to be hotter tomorrow.  Have a nice hotel downtown so walked around the central city- very clean and well organized.  Went for supper at an Indian restaurant -- very good!!  Walked through the pedestrain mall after we finised eating - about 8:30 pm and was still around 28C.  Mall goes for several blocks and some spectacular buildings. One is made of panels that constantly change colour. Hope the picture works out. Irene and Rose were dressed up for the night out.  But we are not always in our best form as you will note from a picture Irene took of me as I was trying to salvage my precious Leatherman knife which I accidently left in my carry on luggage. I am sure my great hat look is what convinced them I could keep it.

Australia Day, Market and Gardens

Another nice day and we left Phillip Island, travelled into Melbourne.  Great day to do this as it is a holiday so traffic was not a problem. Shopped at the Greater Victoria Market - largest market in Australia -- Irene getting concerned about the size of her suitcase.  Then spent time at the Royal Botanic Garden - a lot  people having picnics on the lawn.  The blue flower is one that  we have seen often on our travels but still aren't sure of the name. .

Koalas - sleeping and fuzzy

Spent today hanging out at our campsite and visiting the Koala park on Phillip Island.  Another great day and we saw lots of koalas, most of them sleeping but we managed to catch one on the move. Hope the picture shows up.

Heading for Melbourne tomorrow. Not sure what to expect as it is the national holiday - Australia Day -January  26 like our July 1 in Canada. 

Penquin Parade

Got to Phillip's Island about 6:30  pm last nighty just in time to get our site and then head for the Penquin Parade.  Hundreds of people pay each night to sit on bleachers by the beach and as it turns dark the Penquins come in groups up the beach to rest overnight in the hillside grassy areas in their burrows. Saw lots of Penquins except they are the smallest variety of Penquins -- only about 12 inches tall!! Amazing what people will pay money for!!!

Going to see the Koala park today.

Lakes Entrance to Phillip Island

Traveling 300 km today our hotest day yet - a hot Saskatchewan summer day!!  Going thorugh pasture and cattle country. Pastures turning brown  with heat. Many wonbat warning signs on highway - saw one that had been hit by a car.  They are about size of a large beaver with short legs so they are pretty solid if you hit one.  Maybre Nolan can post a  picture of wombat as he has a stuffed toy.

Most beautiful spot so far was Lakes Entrance - hope the picture of Irene and Neil works which we took from a lookoyt point and you can see where the ocean enters the Lakes.  

Eating chayotte or cho cho

Rose picked up some plant at a winery store that she thought was called chuka but turns out it si choyotte - also called cho cho and is originally from Mexico.  Rose and Irene cooked it up and we all ate it.  Actually was quite good. Not sure what we will eat next. So far we have eaten ocean perch, prawns, barramundi, butter fish, oysters, mangoes, passion fruit.  Irene is having trouble with coffee and has invented her own drink - order a long black and get another pot of water to dilute it.

Some pictures from our trip today Jan 23 - driving through national park and on the 90 mile beach.

90 Mile Beach

Drov e 250 km today from Eden to Lakes Entrance.  Went through several national park areas - high trees, huge ferns and very pristine.  Other than the highway this was really a wilderness preserve - no buildings.  I will try to post a couple pictures - note which side the oncoming traffic is on.  Arrived late this afternoon at a place called Lakes Entrance which is a very unique area in that there are many inlland lakes separated by a long sand dune that separates the ocean from the lakes.  The Beach is 90 miles long with very nice sand. 

Heading tomorrow for Philipp Island south of Melbourne. 

In Eden and eating Oysters!!

Travelled today along what is called the Sapphire coast -- not secret given the colour of the water.  Very nice day and we decided to follow the coastal road so there were lots of curves.  It took us much longer than one would expect to get 200km.  We stopped at a harbour community of Bermagui and had fresh fish and looked at lots of fishing boats.  We were seeing lots of Oyster for sale signs so decided to buy a dozen which we ate raw with beer this evening.  Can't say we are Oyster fans yet!!!

Staying at Eden tonight and will move on tomorrow and do another 250km.  We will cross into the state of Victoria.

Kangaroos sited!!

Had a great today taking it easy around our campground overlooking a bay on the ocean.  Then went for a drive  looking for Kangaroos.  We found lots of them and the local people see them as pests.  Very friendly people all over and everyone is quite willing to give you suggestions and help.  One of the people giving us directions where to find the roos actually invited us in for wine and cheese but we felt it would get too late so passed on that

Had a great meal at the Soldiers club - these exist all through Australia and are known as geat places to eat.  This was a large new building overlooking the ocean so was a very pleasant place to eat. Then did our grocery shopping in 20 minutes before store closed at 9pm - it was a 4 person blitz but we are now set to roll tomorrow - heading further south down the coast for a place called Eden - suppossed to be a 3.5 hr drive.

January 20 evening

Travelled along coast today stopped at a Winnery and fishing town - Ulladulla - where Irene and Rose bought fresh ocean perch at the harbour and Neil inspected a tuna fishing boat- goes out to sea for five days at a time.

Arrived at the campground in Bateman's bay  at mouth of Clyde river that flows into ocean and we have a waterfront RV site - overlooking water where several boats are moored. Beautiful campsite and a much quieter than where we were last night. Probably around 70 sites here compared to 550 last night. 

Plan to stay  here for two.  nights and explore - have hot lead on wild kangaroo area which we are going to seek out tomorrow. May have to go buy a fishing rod as camper next to us just caught a fish right behind our rv site.

Drove through rolling foresed countryside today but still quite heavily populated so lots of nice looking acreages and smaller communities.

Now 7pm, Friday night - will be 2am Friday in SK and 1am in AB.  Just starting to get dark, temperature in around 20  reached high 20s to 30 today.

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January 20

We have had a great week in Australia. Spent three days in Sydney staying in hotel overlooking Darling harbour so we explored a  lot of the local sites.  Weather was cloudy and rainy but only got soaked once as we ended our sightseeing tour on an double decker open top bus and we were on top.

Picked up our RV and managed to get out of Sydney - not the best place to start driving-- and we headed for the Blue Mountains and stayed two nights at a very nice campground in Katoomba.   This is a very busy camping season in Australia and it is the second last week of school holidays.  New school year starts on Jan 31. so we were very surprised we could get a powered site.  Took a great cable car ride at Katoomba, spectacular views.

Yesterday we travelled from Katoomba and are now on the ocean coast.  Camped at Kiama on the ocean but the campground is very very busy - lucky we got a site.  We are moving on to Bateman's Bay today - about a two hour drive on the Princes Highway heading towards Melbourne. Our hotest day -- must be over 30. 

Need to run as we have to check out.  Hope all is well. Look forward to seeing comments on the blog.  Jill is helping me post this given some technical difficulties at this end!!!!

Getting Ready to Leave

Trying to dress up this blog before we go but having trouble with background colour.

Now Tuesday night(Jan 10) and we are into serious packing.  Irene and Neil leave for Saskatoon tomorrow and catch their plane to Vancouver late Thursday afternoon.  Rose and Don leave Edmonton late Thursday afternoon and we meet up in Vancouver.  We leave Vancouver at 11:45 pm on Jan 12 and take the non stop Air Canada flight to Sydney which takes 15 hours and 30 minutes.  We arrive in Sydney on Saturday Jan 14 so no Friday Jan 13 for us this year.

Don