tbutler

Lightning Ridge is an opal mining area. Opals were first discovered in the early 1900’s and mining has been going on ever since. The opals are different from those found in many other areas. These opals are known as black opals. They are dark with the colors familiar in other opals. They are beautiful and quite expensive. Just as in a gold rush, the discovery of opals in the area caused a boom in population. Mining camps sprung up near the hot spots for opals and towns developed near the camps. The town of Lightning Ridge is a combination of several towns and is a thriving town. Part of the success comes from the continued opal mining and part from the tourist trade. Lightning Ridge is also a popular winter hangout for Aussies. The park where we stayed was a very large park and was almost empty. Their busy season starts after Easter. Once the holidays pass, people come to Lightning Ridge for the winter. This is of course the opposite of what happens in the northern hemisphere where the Christmas/New Year holidays mark the march of the penguins south from Canada and the northern tier of US states to southern climes. We viewed the DVD provided by the RV Park and enjoyed it. We had already reserved a guided tour of the town and the mining area. We were picked up by our tour guide at 8:00 a.m. on Sunday Morning. Chuck greeted us and took our names and our intended method of payment. He collected the cash, those of us paying with credit card would pay at the office later. The bus seated about 20 people and we grabbed front seats so as to hear all the commentary. The tour through town was interesting. The town has some amazing facilities for a small community. There is a Bowling Club which had a magnificent lawn bowling field. It also had a restaurant that was highly regarded by the locals. These athletic clubs are also gambling parlors. We ate in one in Eden and they had slot machines and betting on sports, horse and dog racing. One of the most amazing facilities in Lightning Ridge, far from any large population center and in the Australian Outback, was the aquatic center. It features a swimming pool with a wave pool since the children there are far from the ocean and don’t get to see ocean waves. There is a full size Olympic pool and an Olympic diving pool. Chuck touted the success of local swimmer and divers. Then the tour took us to the mining areas. First we were driven to a castle built by an Italian immigrant. He is an artist and built with his own hands a castle. It has no roof, it is clearly built by simple means. It is his contribution to the world. It is also now a historic building and as such is preserved. We met Amigo when we arrived. He was putting some shellac on the doors to his castle. Inside he had an art gallery with works by his daughter. We toured the castle, part concrete, faced with stone, it was an amazing amount of work for a single person. Clearly he was persistent. Next on the tour was the Astronomers Monument. This was the creation of a man who had been imprisoned for a crime he didn’t commit. When released from prison he had come to Lightning Ridge and started building a monument to Copernicus. Being of Polish heritage, he wanted to honor Copernicus with his monument. Built of concrete and inscribed with many facts and information about Copernicus and the personal history of the builder. His love of astronomy had come from his first reading book when he was an adult and learning to read. It was a book on astronomy and this had been his life’s passion. He was killed several years ago in a gas explosion and the monument is now also a historic building and can’t be altered. Then we began our tour of the mines. Mine plots here were usually a single person or two, sometimes a family. Mining consisted of digging a shaft down through the surface dirt and then through a layer of sandstone about 20 feet thick. Below the sandstone was the layer which contained the opals. They would then remove as much of the layer as they could, bringing the ore to the surface by a variety of means. Early miners did this by hand. Later machines were built to accomplish this task faster and with less effort by the miners. The ore which was a weak shale was then washed to expose the opals. Opal is a variety of quartz. Washing the ore can remove the chunks of quartz but not all are opal and not all opals are valuable, only those with colored inclusions have value. The mining camps did not have electric power and still don’t today. Miners used engines from cars, tractors, any engine they could get their hands on to drive their machinery. Old vehicles were abandoned where they died and used for spare parts. The rear end from a car or truck could be used to drive belts or wind a cable. This was a world built by those who could improvise whatever they needed. Miners lived on their claim. Many still do. The miners shack was a simple dwelling built from native rock, corrugated tin and wood. Rainwater was collected from the roof for their water supply. Their existence was a lonely one but it developed a culture of brotherhood among the miners. They came to town and shared stories and experiences and got to know one another. We visited one miners cabin, Fred Bodel - an early miner in the area, it was a very simple existence (see photo). Fred lived in this camp until his death. This characterizes the inhabitants of Lightning Ridge today. There some really strange characters still living there and they are independent and sometimes just a little bit strange to those of us who have lived and worked in the everyday life of big cities. These people are living on the frontier and they love it. During our stay in Lightning Ridge, we visited the bore baths, shopped for opals and browsed the Sunday flea market. We thought a visit to Lightning Ridge was an interesting experience and would recommend it to everyone. A place to see at least once in a lifetime.

The next morning we departed Katoomba just after the office opened and we had paid our bill. We planned to drive to Lightning Ridge which was over 600 kilometers away. The Western Expressway gave way to two lane highway and this then entered the Blue Mountains. Travel became slower, the road was rougher and traffic was slower. We were among the slowest traffic most of time. We stopped occasionally to let traffic pass and pulled off at scenic overlooks. The weather was cloudy, hazy and we were getting occasional rain so the scenic stops weren’t as photogenic as they could have been. Still it was an interesting landscape. After another hour, the road started to improve. We came out of the mountains and the road became better. There were still curves and hills but the condition of the road improved. Slowly, the hills became smaller and the road straightened out. We passed through towns that now were farther and farther apart. As the day passed, the road became almost straight with only a slight turn from time to time. We worked our way further west and north in steps. Towns were usually the place where changes in direction occurred. The condition of the road now started to deteriorate. The road was good in the center but the edges were sunken and broken in places. I resorted to driving the way I had in Nova Scotia several years before when I encountered roads like these. With good visibility I could see traffic so I drove in the center of the road, straddling the center line unless traffic was in sight. We had now outdistanced the rain and things looked better for a while but soon we were running parallel to a large storm system. We could see dramatic clouds and rain shafts across a significant portion of the western horizon. As it go closer it became more menacing. I stopped to photograph the storm and then we continued on our way. We were headed north on the final leg toward Lightning Ridge so the storm was approaching from a right angle. It wasn’t too much longer that we outflanked the storm. Approaching Lightning Ridge, the road condition deteriorated more. In addition, we were now seeing emus and kangaroos in increasing numbers. In the final 40 kilometers we also faced open range with cows and sheep roaming the roadsides and crossing the road. I slowed to about 60 kilometers per hour (about 35 MPH) to allow time to stop if necessary. We reached Lightning Ridge at 6:30 p.m. pulling into the Opal Caravan Park shortly after. We were warmly welcomed and given an orientation to the park and the community. We even were given a CD which promoted the community. The park was one of the finest we have stayed at anywhere on this trip. It was built in 2011 so it is modern in every way. Located on the fringes of town, it is near the bore baths, the Australian term for artesian wells that bring hot water from deep underground. We hooked up the electric and turned on the gas. Louise started dinner and we opened a bottle of wine, glad to be at home in Lightning Ridge. This is the Australian Outback.

We left the Australian capital, Canberra early in the morning in order to get into Sydney to visit the Britz office. On the way in we added one more item to our to-do list. An indicator on the instrument panel indicated a light was out. The roads from Canberra to Sydney are excellent roads. It is four lane interstate quality highway all the way. As we approached Sydney, we encountered the toll roads. These toll roads automatically bill each vehicle that doesn’t have an electronic pass. The rental campervans have no electronic pass so we would have to get on the internet and log in and pay our bill within three days or the bill would go to Britz and they would tack on a $35 administrative fee to the bill and we would be charged that. Given that, we avoided the toll road. Leaving the highway we entered the city streets of Sydney. I had never planned to drive the campervan in Sydney. We planned to bypass Sydney and see the rest of the country. We have hotel reservations in Sydney the last week of our stay in Australia. Driving in Sydney was a real adventure. There are no north/south east/west roads in Sydney. Roads wander around and change names without changing direction. The GPS was no help initially as it simply wanted to route us back to the toll road. Louise took over as navigator, keeping me posted on how to best get to the Britz offices. Still, she was concerned that her map didn’t show the final few streets needed to get to the office. I told her to restart the GPS as our route departed from the toll road and sure enough, it picked us up and routed us right to their office. Once at Britz, I gave them a list of repair items to be addressed including the headlight that had burned out on our trip. They directed us to the local restaurant area and said they would pay for our lunch. I told Louise I would stay here and she could go for take-out pizza. Some things were fixed and other minor things were simply going to take too long to resolve. We got the majors done and were on our way by 2:30 p.m. That put us on our way out of town just about the time traffic started to pick up for the afternoon rush hour. The GPS plotted our route and we followed it. We were on the streets for about 30 minutes before it put us on the Western Expressway out of town toward the Blue Mountains. Traffic on the expressway moved along quickly and we were well out of town by 4:30. The first park we stopped at was full, a boating competition had a crowd in town. There was no other park here so we decided we’d go to the next town a way down the road. At this point we needed a grocery stop and we found a store in town. We wanted to stock up because the list was long and we were headed out to remote areas where the size of grocery stores and the prices for food would most likely be to our disadvantage. So we stopped at a grocery store and stocked up. When we got back underway, rain was starting. As evening came on the rain and fog began to make driving more difficult. As dark set in we were looking for the next campground. We finally found the road we were looking for and it took us to the campground. The office was just closing but the man inside opened the door. He assigned us a spot, gave us a quick orientation to the park and said we should stop and pay for the site in the morning when the office was open. We were home for the night in Katoomba in the Blue Mountains west of Sydney.

Canberra is the national capital of Australia. It is located between Melbourne and Sydney which have a population of about 4 million people in each city. That is 8 million people in a nation of about 14 million. So most of the population of Australia is in these two cities and in the surrounding communities. Once we leave this area we’ll see very few large towns and as we head west, we’ll see fewer people. Canberra itself is not a huge city. The population of Canberra is just over 400,000. That makes it small enough to be accessible. We enjoyed riding the buses, a ride from our park to the downtown terminal area was less than 30 minutes. The downtown terminal is a series of bus stops within several blocks of each other in the central downtown area. From there we transferred to another bus which took us to the parliament building. Australia replaced their original parliament building in the 1980’s and the new parliament building is a beautiful piece of work. The building sits atop a high hill. Much of the building lies beneath the ground and behind a façade that faces out toward the city with the old parliament building clearly visible several kilometers away. The building itself has modern utilities including solar panels and energy saving design. Parking lots are located beneath the building and as is necessary these days, everything is designed for tight security. We checked in through the security area and then were admitted to the public portion of the parliament building. We had a backpack with our rain gear and we checked it at the information desk. They have tours and we browsed our way around the building waiting for the next tour. On display in one area is one of only two copies of the Magna Carta that exist outside England. Our guide met us promptly at the appointed time and greeted the group, asking each person or couple where they were from and then replying in their language or with comments about their home area. He detailed the history and nature of the building and the history of democracy in Australia. The highlight of the day came following the tour when we were directed where to go to sit in on a session of parliament. We passed through another security screening and were seated in the gallery just before “question time.” This is a weekly procedural event something like a press conference with the Prime Minister and members of the House engaged in questioning each other regarding the issues of the day. It began with on a somber note as the Prime Minister, Tony Abbott, addressed family members of the Australians who were passengers on Malaysian Flight 370 which had just been confirmed lost by tracking and the discovery of debris far off the southwest coast of Australia. The families were present in the gallery as Mr. Abbott addressed them and expressed his condolences. The opposition party leader agreed with Mr. Abbott and then added his remarks as did the Speaker of the House. This was the last agreement we saw during our stay. The format has the opposition asking questions of the party in power, primarily the Prime Minister. When the reply comes, there are outbursts from the opposition party mocking and jeering the Prime Minister. The Speaker of the House dismissed one of the opposition party members who she felt was being particularly persistent in her remarks. It didn’t seem to take much steam out of the opposition. This it turns out is pretty much a show of puffery for the public and the press. It does serve to air out differences but there is no substantive progress on any particular issue being made. The news media are happy, they have a number of topics to pursue in the coming week. We saw coverage on the session on the news broadcast that week and are still hearing news about some of the comments made during that session. Leaving the parliament building we took a bus back toward the city. We stopped off in another area to check out the science and technology museum. There was too little time to pay admission and buzz through it so we continued on our way. There are an amazing array of buildings located in the area and much time could be spent visiting the various art, science and history museums and other government buildings. Returning to our campground, we arrived just as the rain started to pick up. Overnight it rained heavily and by morning the grounds were thoroughly soaked. We were parked on grass in an area that could have been a real problem. I wasn’t at all sure we would be able to get out. Our plans had been to drive into Canberra and visit the Zoo and or the Science and Technology Center but with the rain, we gave up on those plans. I examined the soggy ground and determined our best strategy for leaving our parking spot. Fortunately, the ground was firm enough we had no trouble getting out. We didn’t even leave any ruts. That done, we set our course for Sydney, just over 200 kilometers away.

We’ve had a very dry trip, only a couple of days of rain in New Zealand and nothing to speak of in Australia. That all changed on Tuesday, March 25. As I was doing the final outdoor tasks getting ready to leave our campground in Eden in New South Wales (NSW) I noticed a little mist in the air. The clouds were dark and heavy and the forecast for several days had called for rain. We planned to drive along the Sapphire Coast as it is known. There are designated tourist routes which have historical or scenic value. As we drove on to the north, the rain started and became steadily stronger. Soon we were driving in a deluge. We stopped for lunch at a park in a small town and watched the rain pour down from the roof over the back window of the campervan in sheets of water. Even the birds were taking shelter from this downpour. So we abandoned our plans to continue with the tourist routes. The routes were slow, we were encountering one lane bridges for the first time in Australia and there were numerous places where we were warned that the depth of water on the road could be gauged by the markers provided. Our next objective was Canberra, the capital of Australia. The drive to Canberra was in moderate to heavy rain almost all the way, some 250 kilometers. When we stopped at our first choice for campgrounds, they might have a space for us but we were going to have to look at it first. We discussed internet and they had a very expensive internet plan, $10 for one day. When we asked about bus transportation into the city, they indicated that there was no bus service at their campground. They graciously suggested several other campgrounds and called to them to ensure that they had space available. We thank them and went on our way to the one that did have a site. The Canberra Carotel (a combination of Caravan Park and Motel, a carotel) had free internet, no restrictions and was at the end of the bus route into the city. We could catch a bus right next to the entrance road to the Carotel. We settled into our site and enjoyed an evening of unfettered internet access. During the evening and through the night it rained lightly and misted keeping everything outdoors wet. We packed our raingear the next morning and set out for the bus stop.

We were full time for almost 10 years and traveled all of the US and most of Canada. We used My Home Address out of Emery, South Dakota. They were very dependable and easy to work with. They will register your vehicles and you can be a resident of South Dakota. South Dakota has no state income tax. Vehicle registration fees were lower than in Texas. I don't see where you are traveling as a need to relocate the mail service. We used their once a week service with Priority Mail service and had our packages two days from the day they mailed it with very few exceptions. We usually allowed an extra day or two just to be sure the mail would be there when we arrived. There fees were low and we could contact them by phone or e-mail.

I agree, I had to learn more about this. You know that orcas can be trained if you've been to Sea World. I suppose it isn't beyond belief that these whales were trained by the Aborigines for years as they fed them after catching whales. There was a statement from a biologist at one of the Australian Universities. The written letter was framed on the wall in one of the galleries. It was a carefully written statement not exactly backing the claims that the orcas were helping the whale hunters but also testifying that he had spoken to many of the whalers who participated in this activity during the time whaling was going on at Eden. He said the stories of those he interviewed were consistent in describing what the whales did and how they assisted,

At the town of Adaminaby we stopped at the visitor’s center and talked with several natives. They had a statue of the Man From Snowy River, the supposed subject of the poem of the same name. Louise bought a copy of the poem for $1 and read the poem to me as we traveled on through the mountains. As we drove on, the road once again descended a steep slope and large vehicles were advised to use lower gears. I down shifted and we started our descent. Just a kilometer or so down the road we came to a rest area and scenic overlook. I pulled in partly to let traffic behind us pass and partly to see what the overlook offered. We got out and walked out onto a platform looking out on the valley of the Snowy River. It was hazy but it still provided a beautiful sight. The valley was greener than any we had seen up to this point. It turns out that the eastern side of these mountains get a pretty steady rainfall. There was a trail to other viewpoints and that led to a trail into the woods. That trail looped back to the first overlook. We spent an hour walking through the woods and viewing the scenery. Before we continued on, we fixed lunch in the campervan and then were back on the road. Our destination for the day was the town of Eden, a whaling town on the southeastern Australian coast. There is a Killer Whale Museum there and we wanted to see what it had to offer. We arrived too late to enjoy the museum so went to a campground. We booked in for two nights, which would give us the full day in Eden the next day. Leaving the office, Louise asked about the sound she was hearing. I had seen a sign for Bellbird Creek just before we got to town so I guessed it was bellbirds. We parked and hooked up electric then set up the chairs outside to enjoy the show. The trees were full of birds with a call that sounded just like a bell. More specifically, they sounded like someone hitting a glass with a spoon, a bell-like tink filled the air. It took a few minutes to get a look at one of the birds, they didn’t stay still for long. Some of them were swarming over a couple of brightly colored birds, rainbow lorikeets. Consulting The Birds of Australia, we identified the birds as bell miners. They are a very territorial bird and we watched them take on a kookaburra and some cockatoos. They operated in the same way that small birds take on hawks or crows in the US, swarming the larger stronger bird in a way that makes the large bird flee to get away from the swarming attack. On Monday morning we walked along an inland lake on a boardwalk. The walk continued on sidewalks along the bluff overlooking the bay at Eden. Along the way there were various signs describing the whaling history of Eden. This whet our appetite for the museum. Approaching the museum we noticed a number of frescos done in the Aborigine style, mosaics, by an Aborigine artist. They depicted the history of the area from the Aboriginal dreamtime before contact with Europeans through to the present day. The artist had provided comments regarding each of the eight frescos. Dreamtime is the time before birth and the time after death in Aborigine culture. In their culture, people return again and again, sometimes in different forms. The museum building had the date 1938 on its art deco façade. Inside, the exhibits mostly revolved around the whaling history of Eden. Whaling here was based from the shore. There were no large boats traveling far and wide to find whales. When a whale was sighted, a crew would rush to their rowboats and try to harpoon the whale. Local lore held that the Orcas, killer whales, would assist the whalers by steering the whale toward their boats. Then when the whale was harpooned, they would keep it from diving deeply and escaping. Details of how the killer whales did this was presented in diagrams and written accounts. It was said that one of the most revered killer whales, Old Tom, would grasp the rope of the harpoon in his mouth and pull up on the rope to keep the target whale from diving. Old Tom’s skeleton was displayed in the main exhibit hall and sure enough, his teeth on one side of the mouth were shortened and smooth from pulling on the rope. When the target whale was killed and brought to shore, even before reaching shore, the whaling crew would cut the lips and tongue from the whale and leave it for the killer whales as their reward for assisting in the hunt. This was their pay for a job well done. There were numerous killer whales that were recognized and named by the shape and size of their dorsal fin. Old Tom was one of the most revered and had an unusually long and straight dorsal fin! I thought that was really interesting! Most of the whaling crews of these days were native Aborigines. They held that the killer whales had been assisting them and their ancestors for ages. They consider the killer whales to be their ancestors who have come back from dreamtime as killer whales to assist them with their hunting. In 1930, Old Tom died and with him, the whaling industry of Eden also died. Today, no one from Australia hunts whales to kill them. Now they hunt whales to be able to share them with the public on whale watching tours. We enjoyed our visit to the museum. It helped us understand more about the Aborigine culture and the history of the settlement of Australia and lives of early Europeans who settled here.

For a week we’ve been following the Murray River east from Adelaide toward the Great Dividing Range, the mountains which feed the headwaters of the Murray. The Murray also is the boundary between the state of Victoria and the state of New South Wales. Thus we’ve been exploring both the northern part of Victoria and seeing the territory of New South Wales across the river. As we leave Wodonga we are headed east into the Snowy Mountains, part of the Great Dividing Range. Historically, this range of mountains impeded migration of people into the central part of Australia. Today the mountains still present challenges to travelers. Near the town of Carryong we crossed the Murray. We stopped at a scenic view point which overlooked the wide valley of the Murray River. The flooding river had resulted in moving an entire town out of the valley and the outlines of building foundations were still evident in the exposed flood plain of the river. We visited with a man who stopped at the site. He was a train engineer who had operated the trains on the route into the mountains for many years. He told us about the village. He also spoke of the rail line which now is a bicycle trail. He has ridden the entire route of the bicycle trail many times and looks forward to the day when two trestles are converted for the bike trail. From the viewpoint, we begin our climb into the mountains. We have chosen a little traveled route which will take us to the highest town in Australia. Cabramurra is a company town for the electric company which runs five dams and power plants on tributaries of the Murray River. We saw the dams and reservoirs on our drive into the mountains but the power plants are all built underground. Near the town of Cabramurra we saw one of the tremendous power switching and transformer yards that supported this huge operation. From there we descended on the east side of the Snowy Mountains into the valley of the Snowy River. Travel through the mountains was slow and we emerged from the highest elevations in the late afternoon. We decided to stop for the night after seeing a wombat and kangaroo, both live and both near the road. Pulling into the first park that we came to, we made camp for the night. This was not a franchise park and it condition showed it. The owners were friendly and they even had complementary internet, a welcome change from many of the parks we’ve visited up to this time.

Without any definite word on the outcome of the refrigerator problem we decided to stay one more night at the Big 4 Campervan Park in Ecucha. Louise had our refrigerated items stored in the refrigerator in the park kitchen facilities. We moved to the new site and then decided to explore the town. As we walked, we got a call from the road service company. The agent informed us he was trying to put together a solution. He thought we would be exchanging our campervan for a different one and just wanted to confirm where we were headed and where the best place for the exchange would be. We indicated our intentions to be in Albury in New South Wales as our next stop. With that news, we could relax and enjoy the day in Ecucha. Our first stop in town was the Port of Ecucha. Yes, Ecucha had a port. We are far inland but like the cities of St. Louise and Minneapolis, goods and materials can be shipped up and down a large river to the ocean. The Murray River was just such a river. Ecucha no longer has a port because the Murray has several dams downstream from Ecucha. At one time goods and materials were shipped into and out of Ecucha on the Murray River. A fleet of paddle wheel river boats still rest in the river there. Several of these operate tours. There is a preserved old town along the waterfront with buildings from the early settlement of Ecucha and they post signs on buildings so you can tell who built them and their original purpose. We enjoyed walking from shop to shop, a tea café attracted Louise’s attention and we planned to return later. Unfortunately, tea is served for a specific time in the afternoon and we didn’t get back in time to stop there. We browsed the blacksmith shop and the woodworker shop. A modern day clock shop was in one of the old buildings and several wineries had outlets along this street. We had a grand time walking along the river and exploring downtown Ecucha. Returning to the campground, we found that we had missed a phone call. The phone I have is set to maximum volume and vibrate and I still am missing calls. The message said that someone would drive a different (new to us) van to meet us (at our specified location) tomorrow at 2:00 (our specified time) and that they would call again in the morning with details. To get the phone message I had to set up my mailbox which took almost 10 minutes and ran down my prepaid phone. I would have to buy a voucher at the Coles Supermarket on my way out of town to put more time on the phone. I could do it on-line but they won’t accept foreign credit cards for any payments on-line or even over the phone. Friday morning we left Ecucha headed for the Big 4 Park in Wodonga where we would meet the new campervan and its driver for the exchange. We arrived about noon. That gave us two hours to get lunch and begin unpacking the current campervan. Almost exactly at 2:00 the driver arrived with our new campervan. We went through the inspection and began to transfer our clothing and supplies from one to the other. Con, the driver, pitched in and within an hour we were moved and he was on the road. We spent the evening putting everything into cabinets and rearranging until we were happy with the way everything was stored. The new campervan is different, a 5 passenger van instead of 4. Both in New Zealand and here in Australia, our campervan was a 4 passenger vehicle. This one is the same size as the one we had before but it has two bench seats up front and a dining table/bed that can be set up there. Everything is arranged differently so we really do have a new house. Driving this vehicle the next morning I found it performed much better than the one we had previously and glory be, it had cruise control! I love cruise control. In fact I almost always drive with the cruise control on, even in light city driving. Cruise control would have been of no use whatsoever in New Zealand but here in Australia I can see long drives in the outback coming up in our itinerary and had been wishing we had cruise control. Besides the cruise control, this campervan has better suspension so it doesn’t rock and roll so badly and the engine/transmission combination is much peppier than the previous van. We are much better off with this vehicle. Not only that but Con told us to stop at the office in Sydney and they would wash the campervan for us and exchange the linens for a fresh set! I’d say that Britz really does take care of its customers.

A good drive from Adelaide takes us to Renmark on the Murray River. The Murray is the largest river in Australia. North of Adelaide it has high cliffs which overlook its large valley. Our park on Monday night was right on the river. In fact they had canoes which we rented to do some paddling on the Murray. There are larger boats on the Murray, the river has many houseboats plying the waters. One passed while we were launching our canoe. Meanwhile, in the campground, children were playing in one of the neatest waterparks I have ever seen. This park is small, operated by the park, but it really entertains the children. There are a number of small slides, maybe eight feet high. A series of cone shaped containers are constantly filled with water until they become so full that the level of water above the pivot point on which the containers turn makes the container unstable and it suddenly flips over dumping its contents on anyone below. This is all topped by a huge bucket which behaves much as the cones. There are two large flows of water filling the bucket. Just before it becomes unstable a drain hose starts turning a water wheel which sounds a bell. Then the bucket turns over dumping its entire contents onto a roof just below the bucket. From there the water splashes in all directions but mainly in the direction the bucket pours. The entire surface of the water park is splashed in that direction. Children line up in front of the bucket as the alarm begins to sound. All this is accompanied by many screams of excitement and joy. We’ve seen the same in another park here. It all looks like great fun but it may not pass the lawyer test in the US. From Renmark we continued driving along the Murray River on the Sturt Highway. This highway is named for the first European to lead a party from Adelaide to the far side of the continent through the outback and return safely. The Sturt Highway took us from the state of South Australia through New South Wales back into Victoria. We spent the night at the Ibis Caravan Park in Kerang. Yes, there are Ibis roving the grounds of the Ibis Caravan Park. In the morning we discovered that our refrigerator had gone on the fritz. We had thawing meat and warm contents. I picked up the phone to call road service only to find that the phone had no time left on the contract. We would have to drive to a dealer where we could purchase a voucher to reload the phone with time so we could report our problem. Sixty kilometers later we arrived in Echuca and found a Coles Grocery. The friendly staff there sold me the needed voucher and then showed me how to add this to the phone. That done, I called the road service number. An hour later we were at a shop in Echuca getting an analysis of our problem. The conclusion, the compressor is not operating. The solution, we’re waiting to learn as I write this. The refrigerator has been in and out of the cabinet repeatedly so this isn’t its first failure. The technician that looked at it said replacing the compressor isn’t usually done due to the cost which is about $1400 for this small refrigerator. We found a nice holiday park for the night but will have to move to another site if we decide to stay tomorrow night. We have depleted the free internet allowance for today, we get a renewal in the morning and then I think we’ll head for McDonalds for more internet time.

Not the answer to your problem but might help others. I prefer to have several short cords instead of one huge long one. If you have one long cord and you need three feet more, you are using the huge long extension cord. I have a 15 foot 50A cord, a 30 foot 50A cord and a 30 foot 30A cord. That way I can go an additional 45 feet and still have 50A service. Beyond that, I can go 30 feet further but with 30A service. Choices are good and packing up a 30 foot cord, even 2 of them is easier than a 100 foot cord. Another reason for this method is that the length of a cord introduces resistance that drops the voltage delivered by the cord. Using the least amount of cord necessary delivers the greatest power to your coach.

I agree with Brett. We were full time for 10 years before buying a house and going part time. Now, at the beginning of each trip we spend several nights in the motor home while parked in our driveway. That gives us a chance to live in the coach and use the contents. The items we use frequently and have forgotten to pack are quickly apparent. Beyond that, we've always said that if we forget something Wal-Mart will have it. There will always be something that you forget to load. You can make a long checklist if you do that kind of thing, it might help. Every trip is different, some we need snorkeling gear, some we need winter coats, for others we might pack special hiking equipment. With a large motor home you can take it all but that creates packing problems. The thing you need most will be at the back of some compartment behind six items you won't use on this trip. Enjoy the experience!

Our campervan has several nagging problems and one big problem. The big problem is the gray water tank which doesn’t seem to vent except through the shower drain. The drain on the gray water tank is very slow and the valve has stops at two open positions but no stop for a closed position. So it takes forever to drain the tank and then when the tank is empty you just have to guess when the valve is closed. I talked to the technician and explained the problem. I also mentioned that the hose for the gray water has a very old ragged looking fitting and I wanted that replaced as well. They cleaned the tank and replaced the old valve and the fitting on the hose. We had several weak gas lifters that hold cabinet doors open. If you held the door in a spot for a moment they would hold the door there but if you needed it fully opened you had to hold it my hand. They replaced the lifters and found the problem with one of the latches that was malfunctioning. We also had plastic glasses which were cracked. One of them leaked and was unusable, the others were just a few uses of being in the same condition so we got replacements for those. All this took about two hours. In the meantime, Louise and I were deep into our computers, using the free internet at the Britz office. We managed to get caught-up with much of our work. Once repairs were done we closed down the computers, checked all the work and then set out on our way to our next destination. We’re heading back east toward Canberra, the capital of Australia. We put the name of a town along our intended route of travel into the GPS and off we go through northern Adelaide. About 15 kilometers of city driving, stop lights and the occasional round-about and we’re onto the expressway. This turns into an elevated highway for about six kilometers and turns us out into the countryside. About 20 kilometers out of town the four lane separated highway becomes two lane but retains the 110 km/hour speed limit. On good highway, the campervan can be safely operated at 110 km/hour or about 70 MPH. The problem is that there are many stretches of road that have roads that are less than good. Several days ago I posted some brief information about the roads we are encountering. The campervan drives like a truck. The suspension feels like a truck and its handling matches. The pavement is often lower along the shoulder of roads which makes the campervan lean toward the shoulder. All this rocking and rolling rearranges many items in the storage areas of the campervan. We often think of the airline caution, “Objects in overhead compartments may have shifted during flight.” Even with all this, the roads in Australia are a definite step up from those encountered in New Zealand. Roads in Australia are wider than those in New Zealand. We’ve encountered a few narrow bridges but no single lane bridges which were common in New Zealand.

Adelaide is the largest city in the state of South Australia. It is the smallest of the five cities in Australia with a population over one million. It is located on the southern coast of Australia in the State of South Australia. The Murray River is the largest river in Australia and its mouth is just east of Adelaide. It was the Murray River that we crossed on a Ferry on our way into Adelaide. We have arranged to have some repair work done on the caravan at the Britz office in Adelaide on Monday morning. Somehow that has a familiar ring to it, where have I heard (or written) that before? Since we were arriving on Sunday, we needed to find a place to stay for the night. Louise set the GPS for the Big 4 Holiday Park in Adelaide. This time it didn’t work. There were two choices and neither was exactly correct so she picked the closest. When we couldn’t find the park, we drove on a bit further then pulled over and Louise called Big 4. They told us to put the address in the GPS as 6 Military Highway instead of the 1 Military Highway that is their actual address. Seems this was a common problem as they gave us the solution without hesitation. We were about 10 kilometers away! Sometimes mistakes turn out to be good events and this was the case here. Looking for a place to turn around I came upon a shopping center with a K-Mart. I had a list of things I wanted to get for the caravan that would make life a little better. The heat pump in the camper is working for a source of heat but it runs constantly and then kicks in and out making a bit of noise and vibration each time. It isn’t helping my sleep. Britz rents an electric heater, small floor model, for $7 per week which would be $70 in our case. I found one in K-Mart for $19 so that was a deal. It works great for the small space in the caravan and is not so noisy. Britz also rents bag chairs, for sitting outside. I picked up a pair for much less than they charge. I got some cleaning supplies so I can keep the windows clean and a container to store the gray water hose which they had lying on the floor in a storage compartment with the fresh water hose, a broom and bucket. That compartment is also where we store our duffel suitcases so I wanted to keep it clean and not have gray water leaking out onto all those other things. I couldn’t find a lens cap for my main camera lens. The one I’ve used for years finally broke. A small spring retains the lens cap in place holding it against the threaded inside surface and the plastic support pin that anchors the spring broke. I’ve checked several photo shops, everything is digital, most cameras they sell are compact digital cameras. I’m going to have to find a real camera store that sells to professionals. Personnel in the stores I checked gave me several suggestions, all in downtown Adelaide and I’m not taking the caravan there. The Big 4 Holiday Park in Adelaide is located right by the beach. We were separated from the beach by a row of dunes but could hear the surf in the park. Beach parks are always sandy and there is no way to keep the sand out of the caravan. We sweep several times a day when we are in these parks. I have a small rug for use outside the camper but even that doesn’t do the job to get rid of all the sand on our shoes or feet. It was windy at the park when we pulled in and overnight it rained. This wasn’t just a light rain, it rained and blew hard. There were puddles in the roadways when we left in the morning. I had watched a group of four young people set up a tent in the evening. I wondered how they slept during the night. Their tent was still up and there was no sign of them stirring in the morning so I guess they were finally getting some sleep.

The campground at Mount Gambier was in a difficult location to find and when we did, it wasn’t the best place to stay. They let us choose our own site which was their way of not having to listen to us complain about the assigned site. We found no level sites and settled for one that was nearly level. It was at the bottom of a slope and back away from the road for some distance. This became a concern when I heard it start raining during the night. As the night went on, the rain continued in spurts. By morning I was quite concerned about the possibility of getting stuck. I rousted out Louise early that morning so as to get out before more rain made the ground even softer. As it turned out, we were able to pull out without difficulty. I had promised Louise breakfast at McDonalds and programmed the GPS to take us there. It worked flawlessly. We found a parking place and Louise went in to order breakfast. I set up the computer to test the internet connection. McDonalds in Australia provides free internet. Yea! The connection was good and we could both get on at the same time. We ate breakfast and worked on the internet while sitting in the caravan for about an hour. Then we went to find a place to activate our phone. I went to a Coles Supermarket to ask how to do this. They gave me instructions and a phone number. Fortunately we had parked right by a phone booth and we got the activation done. I was now feeling a little better about communications here in Australia. From Mount Gambier we continued on the coastal route but now needed to move on to our next stop, Langhorn Creek. We could get there in a day but it would be very late in the day so we set our goal for a town just a little short of Langhorn Creek. We covered 300 kilometers, about 180 miles and stayed the night at Meningie. Our top speed on these roads is around 80 km/hour, about 45 MPH. The roads are curvy, hilly, narrow, rough and have little or no shoulder. We are rocking and rolling even at that speed. Louise has done wonders finding rattles in the caravan and we’re traveling with mostly engine and tire noise. This trip also involved significant winds, crosswinds that shift the caravan side to side. The route is northward just inland from the coast and the wind is strongly from the sea to our west. When we have trees along the road it cuts the wind but when we don’t it is a constant battle to keep the cararvan on the road. Meningie would be a delight once we reach there. The campground is right on Lake Albert, which is really a lake off of a larger lake which is behind a barrier island along Encounter Bay. The lady in the office is a delight and we book a site despite the note taped to the office counter that indicates their internet service is out of service. The note looks months old so I don’t think they are really trying to get it fixed. We parked so we could look out the rear window of the camper to the lake. Then the rain began. The far shoreline of the lake disappeared periodically as passing showers swept through the area. By night the rain had stopped. Sunday we’re off to Langhorn Creek to visit the Bleasdale Winery. There is a long story to go with this choice of winery, suffice it to say that Louise has family connections to the Blasdell name and the family organization includes many variant spellings of which Bleasdale is one. Through the family association, Louise was advised of this winery in Langhorn Creek and wanted to visit there to investigate the connection. We’ve encountered a number of people here in Australia who when we mention Langhorn Creek know all about the Bleasdale Winery and its history. Founded in 1850 by … Potts and named for a Reverend Bleasdale who was a vinter and inspired Potts to try his hand at wine making. Potts named the winery for Reverend Bleasdale. On the way we encounter one surprise, the road we’re following comes to a river and there is a ferry. We wonder if the ferry will accommodate us but arriving there we see several large camping trailers on board. Then on the far shore we see a tractor trailer pull onto the ferry, we’ll have no problem here. In fact, the ferry was free. We cross and are on our way. By 11:00 a.m. we’re at the Bleasdale Winery. We get a tour, meet the fifth generation of the founder who now manages the winery. After tasting a number of excellent wines we purchase a selection (including an excellent 18 year old Port) and set out on our way. Our next stop will be in Adelaide, a short distance to the northwest. If you are counting states, we been in Tasmania, Melbourne is in Victoria and Adelaide is in South Australia. We’ve been here just two weeks and we’ve been in almost half the states in the country. It sounds more impressive than it is, we’ve only seen a tiny fraction of this very large country.

Reason #1 is to take glare off the dash. If your dash doesn't reflect sunlight and interfere with your vision while driving into the sun, then you don't have this problem. Louise is really sensitive to bright light and she said we needed one so we got it. Also, our dash is smooth and objects tend to slide off it. So reason #2 is to make the dash a place to put objects, maps, GPS, stuff. Reason #3, if you have pets, having a dash cover will protect the dash from sharp toenails. I've seen dogs and cats that love to be on the dash looking out the window, not while traveling but in camp. A cover protects the dash from the wear and tear of daily living. Remove it and the dash looks like new. This would apply to fading, drying and cracking from heat and direct sunlight.

Leaving Melbourne we head southwest toward the coast and a road called the Great Ocean Road. It is a little more than a hundred kilometers to the coast. When we reach the Great Ocean Road we find a curving, hilly, narrow road. Reaching the ocean, we are rewarded with wonderful views of a spectacular coast. We spent three days on the Great Ocean Road. We found so many viewpoints that we were unable to stop at all of them. The coast in this area between Melbourne and Adelaide is rugged limestone which is being eroded away by strong waves. The nature of the limestone is to collapse once undercut by the waves. This produces cliffs all along the seaside. As the erosion proceeds, some areas are stronger than others and this leaves sea stacks, cliffs isolated from the shore. Some of these are small others quite dramatic, large and rugged. A region with many of these sea stacks has been named the Twelve Apostles. This area is quite popular with tour busses visiting along with hundreds of independent travelers. We joined the procession to view this concentration of sea stacks. There are multiple viewpoints as these cover a distance of over a kilometer. From one viewpoint only a few can be seen. Visiting multiple viewpoints allows one to see most if not all of them. We had wonderful weather, clear with a nice breeze. During our visit, helicopters flew a steady parade of sightseers by the cliffs. Their base of operation was right at the parking lot so people could simply walk from their car to the cliffs or to the helicopters. We walked to all the viewpoints and spent time enjoying the show. The waves formed powerful breakers against the rocks. The sound and the fury of the waves on the shore always amaze me and I lingered at each point to absorb all the action going on. By the time we finished this section of the drive, we had traveled only 100 kilometers and it was now time to find a campsite. Our second day we stopped for a rest stop in a small town along the route. Beside the public restrooms, there was a viewpoint of the wetlands and a small river. There were birds everywhere so we decided to take some time to identify a few new birds. But first we fixed a lunch and ate. Then it was off to walk the trail down to the river. A young lady next to us was arriving at the same time we started out and she noticed the bird book I was carrying. We struck up a conversation, she was from Quebec and was very interested in birds. We shared conversation at the viewpoint then she went on her way. A couple that was eating lunch on the deck at the viewpoint struck up a conversation and we spent another 15 minutes visiting with them. They were native Australians from near Adelaide. He was a mine safety advisor and we discussed our mining museum experience in Beaconsfield several days before. He remembered the details of the incident with the two trapped miners and we learned a great deal from him about mining in Australia. He has worked mines in many areas we will be visiting and his suggestions gave us ideas of where we could see more of the mines in Australia. Now we began our walk down to the river. By the time we had completed the walk we had identified five new birds and had a good look at our first Crimson Rosella, a spectacular red parrot. Half our day gone, we resumed our trip along the coast. This day there were arches and shipwreck sites and stories. At one point we walked down steps along the cliff to an inlet where we set our shoes aside and walked barefoot on the sand. Then it was off to another campground. Our campgrounds have been good places to stay but the internet access leaves much to be desired. At Apollo Bay, a change in the internet altered the password shortly after we checked in and we were not informed. With the office closed for the evening, there was no way to use the internet service. In Port Campbell the service worked occasionally and then would log of and we could not get back on until the next morning. Mount Gambier had a subscription internet service that cost $7 per hour or $20 for 24 hours. There were longer term options at better rates but I needed to know how widespread the service would be before committing to a long term contract. As a result, my postings have been delayed repeatedly and I remain posting our travel information with a time delay.

Arriving at Britz at 7:45 a.m. we found the place locked up. It was not only locked up, the parking lot was gated and there was no place to leave the luggage when we got out of the cab. The driver suggested that we go to a shopping center a block north of the Britz office. We found a bench near the mall entrance and piled our luggage there. Here we were homeless, we just needed to find a shopping cart for our possessions! I waited while Louise went inside to find a cup of coffee. When she returned I set off for the Britz office. There were two agents working the desk and I was the third customer in the office. It took about ten minutes to get to the desk. After that, things went pretty smoothly. I selected a strong insurance policy as I had in New Zealand. The rental will last almost 80 days and involves traveling great distance on the left side of the road. Given these factors, I prefer to limit my liability rather than risk a large loss as a result of an accident. I discussed some of the problems we had with our campervan in New Zealand and they checked to make sure those things were addressed with this van. Then I got an orientation to the van. This one was similar but different in a number of ways. First, it was longer. There was a bench seat behind the driver’s seat and there were additional cabinets in the kitchen area as well as the rear. There is an air conditioner/heat pump unit in the roof, a higher ceiling and a TV! This caravan has dual tires and is geared much lower than the one we had in New Zealand. After the orientation I went to the shopping center to pick up Louise and our luggage. I parked the van at the outer part of the parking lot and retrieved the luggage one or two bags at a time. When I got to the last bag Louise came with me to see our new home. She looked it over and approved so I guess we’ll keep it. Now we are ready to stock this van with groceries and other supplies. There was a Coles Supermarket in the mall so we went in to get our groceries. I checked at the desk and picked up a prepaid phone for $19 Australian. Later I would activate it but not on the internet. The Telstra web site is for Australian residents, it doesn’t work for international travelers. Fifteen minutes on a pay phone (yes they still have pay phones here) and we have a working phone in Australia. Louise took her time and picked up the needed food items to get us started on our way. The cart was full to overflowing and the register tape could be used as a tail for a large kite! $220 Australian later we were ready to take on Australia in our caravan. We put an address in the GPS and we were on our way. Our first destination is the home of a couple that we met in New Zealand. Ian and Debbie shared many interests with us and they invited us to come visit them in Melbourne when we got to Australia. We kept in touch by e-mail and everything was set. We were about ten minutes from their house and drove there to meet Ian. We parked the caravan in their driveway and plugged in. Debbie was working and we wouldn’t see her until the evening. Ian fixed lunch for us and brought out his maps to talk about our coming travels. Debbie came home from work and we all settled around a table on the patio for more conversation. Debbie prepared a delicious dinner, a rack of lamb better than anything I’d ever had. After dinner we sat and talked for several hours before retiring for the night.

Day six was a late start as we planned a late night activity. Mt. William National Park in the northeast is known for its abundant wildlife. Most marsupials are active at night and the information on this national park suggested spending time after sunset observing the wildlife. Many of these animals we had seen along the roadside, killed by automobiles. Now we wanted to see them live. We hiked to the top of Mt. William in the late afternoon and returned to the car as the sun was setting. Along the trail we had seen much evidence of wombats but never saw a single one on this beautiful hike through the forest. Wombats are burrowing animals, the largest burrowing animal, they are the size of a small pig. As we left the parking lot for a twilight/night drive I noticed a snake on the road. I stopped the car, grabbed the camera and went to get a photograph. As I approached the snake rose up and spread its head like a cobra. It wasn’t a cobra, I later learned it was a tiger snake. This is one of three snakes on Tasmania and all are poisonous. I was aware of this so didn’t approach any closer. Before I could get the camera focused in the dim light, the snake was off into the forest so I didn’t get a picture. We continued our drive and were not disappointed. We saw numerous forester kangaroos, found only in this part of Tasmania. These were the first kangaroos we had seen up to that time. We caught a wombat in the open and got a quick look before it hurried off into the dark. We saw wallabies, possums and a Tasmanian devil or two. A real surprise was a bandicoot, a small rat-like animal, stopped right in the middle of the road in front of us. We got a real good look at it before it fled into the dark. As we were leaving the park, a truck passed us and roared off into the night. Just a few kilometers down the road we came upon a possum standing over its dead mate. The truck had apparently struck one of the pair and the second was staying with its mate. We approached with the car and the live possum didn’t move. Finally as we started to maneuver around the pair the living one fled into the woods. It was a most distressing sight and it stayed with us during the ride back to the hotel. Faced with a 130 km drive home in the dark and not wanting to be responsible for killing another animal, I kept our speed around 60 km per hour (under 40 MPH). Despite this, only one car passed us until we were almost in Launceston. The area was so remote that there simply wasn’t much traffic out late at night. Day seven was our day to return to Mainland Australia. The ferry was scheduled to leave at 6:00 p.m. and boarding would start at 4:30. We started to the ferry about 10:00 a.m. and decided to stop in Beaconsfield at the mining museum. Beaconsfield has been a gold mining site for many years. As the mines developed, they went deeper and deeper underground. Periodically one mining company after another would fail only to be replaced by a company which thought they could do better. The old mine was finally closed in the early 1900’s. Eventually the shaft started to collapse and with it part of the equipment building also collapsed. The remaining building would become the museum and the collapsed ruins can now be toured as part of the museum. Inside the museum are many artifacts from the early days of mining. In the 1940’s a new shaft was opened into the mine and mining resumed. In 2008 the ceiling of one shaft collapsed on some workers. One was killed and two were trapped in a small work cage which was smashed when it was buried under many tons of rock. The two miners stayed alive for 14 days while rescuers did everything they could to get to them. They were rescued and the entire event is documented in an excellent and moving exhibit in the museum. That mine has now joined the fate of many others and is closed. We had lunch after visiting the museum and then drove north to the ferry stopping at one last national park, Narawntapu National Park. This was the first park to adopt a native name. We drove into the park, visited with the ranger on duty and then continued on our way. The one hike we had considered would take too long to complete. Time was now short enough that we headed for the Spirit of Tasmania Ferry. Our trip this time would be an overnight trip and we planned to start the night with a nice dinner in their premier restaurant before retiring for the night. On both our trips we reserved a room in part so we could leave luggage to roam the decks of the ferry and in part to provide sleeping quarters for this overnight voyage. We both got a good night of sleep before the ferry arrived in port at Melbourne in time for the 6:30 a.m. disembarking. We had a cab called and were on our way to Britz to pick up our campervan for most of our remaining stay in Australia.

Our second day we drove south to Hobart and Tasman National Park. There we saw interesting natural features, tessellated pavement, sea arches and a blowhole formed when waves cut a tunnel through the cliff front so that water comes bursting through with each wave. At Eaglehawk neck we walked from one shore to the other in five minutes. A low sandy neck of land connects the area to the south to the north mainland. On the southern peninsula lies the town of Port Arthur which was a penal colony in the early days of British occupation. Eaglehawk neck housed a security patrol which was responsible for catching any escaped prisoners. There are many sites to visit on the Convict Trail which looks at the history as a prison colony. We visited just the single site at Eaglehawk neck before turning back toward home. We ended up arriving after dark. As dark set in, I chose to follow a large tractor trailer truck into the outskirts of Launceston. I figured we could let him take care of any animals, clearing the road for us. Anyway, we arrived home without incident. On our third day we decided to take life a little easier and stay local. We drove into Launceston to the Cataract Gorge on the Esk River. The Esk drains a large area of upland Tasmania bringing the water to the Tasman River through a deep narrow gorge. Past floods have been as catastrophic as recent floods in Colorado on the Big Thompson River. A dam for a power station was significantly damaged several years ago in one of these floods. We walked the area and enjoyed the natural beauty and learning about the history. We visited with several people along the trail and at one viewpoint spent time visiting with a couple from mainland Australia. The man was a descendent of one of the convicts imprisoned at Port Arthur. They were visiting Tasmania for the first time and he was quite excited about his ancestor and learning about his life. Once released from prison he had made a nice livelihood in the oyster business. Our fourth day we drove east to Freycinet National Park. This park is the site of a famous beach at Wineglass Bay. We planned to hike to the beach. The trail took us up and over a mountain pass then down to the beach. There was a nice overlook on the Bay from just above the pass and we paused there to enjoy the view before descending to the beach. The descent was steep with uneven steps made of blocks of granite which were placed at intervals on the steep trail. We are especially slow and deliberate as we descend such trails as a slip means falling forward down the hill. Once we reached the beach, we stowed our gear on a large rock and went for a walk along the beach. There were a dozen or so other people on the beach enjoying the view, the breeze and the waves. One hardy soul waded out into the surf briefly and then returned. The weather was cool, ideal for hiking but not for swimming. Returning from the beach we encountered a wallaby with a young joey in its pouch. Both were grazing on grass, the joey was eating the tops of the grass while the mother was pulling up the grass and eating the base of the blades of grass. The joey never came out of the pouch while we watched it but did retreat into the pouch with a nose or a foot poking out at various times. It was a vigorous hike and well worth the effort. We returned home about dark. As a respite from the previous day hiking, we spent our fifth day exploring the Tamar Islands Wetlands. We anticipated a short walk on a boardwalk. It turned out to be a series of boardwalks and trails taking us across four islands in the Tamar River. The area was rich in water birds and we spent several happy hours identifying birds we had never seen before. The star of this area is the black swan. We saw hundreds of them in the water and surrounding dry land. We arrived at low tide and before we left, areas which were vast expanses of mud became covered with water. Wading birds and ducks were abundant in the shallow water of low tide. As the tide came in the cast of characters changed to the birds that feed in deep water. The islands provided us looks at birds that are land dwellers so we saw a nice variety of birds.

Our wake-up call on Monday, March 3 was set for 6:00 a.m. so we could get a cab to the Spirit of Tasmania terminal by 6:30 a.m. Boarding would start shortly thereafter. Everything went on schedule and we were the first to board. The ride to Tasmania is scheduled for 9 hours and we arrived at 5:00 p.m. Avis Rental Cars has a facility in the terminal in Tasmania and we were second in line to get our car. The process went much faster than at an airport in the US. We were on our way by 5:30 p.m. The car was a Mitsubishi and had wipers on the left side of the steering wheel and turn signals on the right. Louise began counting how many times I turned on the windshield wipers when I wanted to turn. She thought it was hilarious, I had a different opinion. Roads in Tasmania are similar to the roads in New Zealand. We had been advised not to travel at night in Tasmania because of the wildlife; wallabies, kangaroos, wombats, echidnas, bandicoots and of course the Tasmanian devil. On our drive to our hotel we saw the evidence lying dead along the roadside. This made us extra cautious as we drove on. We arrived at our hotel, the Tamar Valley Hotel near Grindelwald. We checked in and asked about the restaurant which was about to close as we arrived. They called over to the restaurant and directed us how to get to the restaurant. We had a good meal and went to our room. We had reserved a cottage which had a kitchenette. The room was quite nice, actually a suite with two rooms plus a bath. On the back side is a deck the full width of the cottage. It was an ideal place to call home for our stay in Tasmania. There was abundant wildlife on the grounds of the resort. The night we pulled up to our cottage there was a wallaby female and a juvenile grazing on the grass. We could see several rabbits and some spur winged plovers which we had seen on the Coromandel Peninsula of the North Island on New Zealand. A chicken-like bird that we later identified as a Tasman hen was pecking at the ground. The next morning I got out the Birds of Australia book to identify several ducks. There were both Pacific black ducks and Australian wood ducks constantly roaming the grounds of the resort. Also in the morning I saw a number of black rabbits. Grindelwald is located along an ocean inlet which brings tides up the Tamar River all the way to Launceston, the second largest city on Tasmania. We were about 20 km north of Launceston which was a gateway to the east and west as well as roads to the south. The resort has a golf course and our first day we decided to play a round of golf. The course was interesting and playing with rented clubs made it especially challenging. Also challenging was the presence of the above mentioned wildlife and their accompanying droppings. On the course we saw most of the above mentioned wildlife including the wallaby which was in the woods adjacent to one tee box.

We spent three nights in a hotel in downtown Melbourne which gave us two full days to explore the downtown. We walked to the Carlton Gardens Park the first day, a good six blocks from our hotel. The grounds were lush and green with huge trees of all kinds growing along the walkways. The park is closed to bicycles so it is walkers only. They do allow families with young children to bring their bikes to the park. We saw groups of people playing various games, exercising, doing yoga, and just enjoying a walk in the park. The park grounds were the site of the 1886 World’s Fair and the Royal Exhibition Hall still remains. It is a massive stone structure which now is used for occasional activities. One of those is a backdrop for wedding photographs which we saw in abundance. Next to the exhibition building is the Victoria Museum of Science and Culture. Victoria is the state in which Melbourne is located. Victoria covers the southeastern edge of Australia. To its north is New South Wales and to its west is South Australia. We walked all around the museum before we found the entry doors. From the entry we could see large dinosaur skeletons and we had seen an indoor forest exhibit in our walk-about. The admission was $10 per person but as seniors, we got in free! We spent most of the day the exploring the museum. There were many interesting sections of the museum but one of the most interesting was the hall which dealt with the native Australians. Their culture was explained and the interaction with the Europeans described the impact on native people. The exhibit was well designed and was hosted by a virtual Aborigine. At each section he introduced the section and explained it significance to native people. The exhibit was excellent and explained in native terms the nature of the clash between cultures. It also highlighted the many injustices imposed on the Aborigines. On our way back to the hotel, we walked a different route. All around us were construction cranes, evidence of a growing city. We happened by the public library which is located near the campus of the Technical and Arts University. The lawn was filled with groups of people. This was a gathering area for people of all ages. Clearly this was the place to be at 5:00 in the afternoon in Melbourne. We stopped at a nearby bar and had a nice dinner. Then it was back to the hotel for the evening. We spent the morning of the second day at the Queen Victoria Market. This is a two city block market with everything from fish and vegetables to clothes and souvenirs. We browsed, talked to some merchants, enjoyed watching the crowd and bought a few souvenirs. We got several slices of pizza from one of the vendors and had lunch outdoors at a table on the sidewalk. In the afternoon we hopped on a streetcar that circles the city. It is free and you can hop on and off anywhere along the route. Louise had picked out the Fitzroy Garden Park that she wanted to visit so we got off there and spent an hour or so walking among the giant trees. Each one was more splendid than the last. These were truly beautiful and amazing trees. One of the buildings in the park was Cooks Cottage, a part time residence of Captain Cook. Once back on the streetcar we rode past the Victoria Government and Treasury buildings, the waterfront and stadium before getting off to walk back to the hotel. We found a different bar and got dinner that night. Dining in Melbourne has been a challenging experience. There are many merchants selling food but there are no restaurants like we are used to in the US. The bars come closest and so we dine there. In all these places you place your order at the counter and then it is handed over to you or delivered to your table. That is where the service ends. If you want something else, another beer for instance, you go to the bar and get it. The guide book says there is no tipping in Australia and I can see why, there is no service in Australia. It seems to be a self-service culture. The hotel has internet, free in the lobby and you get 30 minutes every 24 hours! If you want wi-fi internet in your room, it is available for $24 per day! Keeping up with things may be more of a challenge in Australia than in New Zealand which is exactly the opposite of what I was anticipating.

Thursday, February 27 would be our last full day in New Zealand. On the top of our list was turning in the campervan. We packed up all our belongings in our suitcases and I dropped Louise at the Sudima Hotel which is right at the Christchurch airport. The Britz office was just around the corner, walking distance from the hotel. The process of turning in the campervan was much easier than I had anticipated. Being there early helped. The agent dig through several dozen contract packages before pulling ours from the stack. One customer ahead of me had just finished his paperwork. I waited about three minutes for my turn to begin the process. While waiting, I placed a number of food and cleaning items on a shelf that Britz has for people to leave any leftovers. As I pulled items from the bag Louise had put them in, several were picked up by people browsing the shelves of items left by others. One lady had a nice stake of items set aside and eagerly took the bag I used to bring in our goods. It is a nice way to share left-over goods with others who are going to be stocking their campervan. Once the agent was free, I turned in my keys and my original contract. He looked up the Britz paperwork and set about noting the date, time, mileage, etc. Then he went out to the campervan and I expected a return with a list of things that needed to be remedied. Upon his return he said the campervan looked good and our deposit would be returned. This was a pleasant surprise. In all, I probably spent 15 minutes getting paperwork taken care of and then was out the door on the way back to the hotel. Our bags were stored and we settled into a couch in the TV lounge to wait for check-in time to arrive. We have been a month without TV and the TV was on CNN News. The volume was muted so we could only read the trailer to see what was in the news. Louise asked a hotel employee if the volume could be turned up and after three people tried we got sound. We learned of the issues with Russia and Ukraine as the issues were reaching a crisis level. We also caught up on much other news from a US source. Louise had packed a lunch with some of our last supplies from the campervan and we consumed that while using the hotel wi-fi to catch up with e-mail and other internet business. When the 2:00 p.m. check-in time arrived we were allowed to go to our room. We spent much of the afternoon working our luggage into air travel condition. Checked baggage weight limits and restrictions on what could be in our carry-on baggage dominated our efforts to get everything packed properly. With no scale to weigh luggage, we simply had to work from feel. Once that was done we had a relaxing dinner in the restaurant and then turned in for the night. Our flight was scheduled for 6:00 a.m. the next morning so we set the wake-up call for 4:00 a.m. The wake-up came plenty early. We dressed, gathered the bags and headed for the lobby. As promised the shuttle driver was waiting for us and we were off to the terminal. I had missed the weight on the checked bags by 2 kilograms. I pulled several heavy objects from one bag and put them in the other and we were good to go. Our flight took about 4 hours and we were in Melbourne at 8:00 a.m., two time zones west accounts for the difference in time. Processing through customs and collecting our baggage took about an hour and then we contacted the shuttle which had been arranged by our tour service. We waited about 40 minutes for the shuttle to show up. The ride to our hotel, The Ibis Hotel in downtown, took about 30 minutes. We were there before noon and check-in time was 2:00 p.m. so we put the bags in storage and went to find lunch.

Wish I knew how to adjust the size of the font. I've made it larger but it doesn't match the font I originally posted for the whole posting. Don't know why it wasn't the same. Anyway, we're seven hours behind the clock for central standard time, it will be eight hours with DST. Then turn the calendar ahead one day and you have our time. The net is that we are 17 hours ahead of CST, 16 hours ahead of CDT.