Emerging from the Tarkine wilderness it was something of a shock to land in Stanley, a quaint seaside village in the shadow of a massive round headland, but there was something missing…people! Despite all the beautifully maintained victorian cottages and well kept gardens there was no sign of life. It reminded me of the Scottish […]

Realising Maatsuyker wasn’t going to happen and having had a chat with Macca it was time to say goodbye to Cockle Creek. In relative terms this was going to be a big days drive, north to Hobart and then west clear across Tasmania to Strahan midway up the west coast. Six and a half hours […]

…Well, Australia anyway! It’s easy to get seduced by the unspoilt nature and pristine waters of Tasmania’s north east coast but as I travel south from St. Helens and pass through Beaumaris I’m reminded that for all its beauty from time to time Tasmania has a dark and malignant past. A young life taken, a […]

On disembarking it quickly became obvious I was in another place, and time. It was only around 7.30pm but the streets were deserted and from what I could see Devonport seemed to be in a time warp, somewhere back in the ’60’s. I had no plan and decided to head to the Mersey Bluff lighthouse […]

The 40th parallel runs dead centre through Bass Strait and true to form it lived up to its reputation for extreme weather with gale force winds, driving rain and pounding seas. Indeed this was the Roaring Forties! By all accounts we were heading into some heavy weather. I’m not sure why but I’ve always enjoyed […]

I discovered the final of the Bells Beach surfing competition was going to be held on [date missing], which was surprising because it’s usually held over Easter and this was two weeks later. As a keen geriatric surfer this was an opportunity not to be missed as I regard this as the premier event on […]

Leaving Wilsons Promontory I knew something had changed when I noticed the sun setting over the water! Of course, I’d rounded the bottom of our big island and was heading West! Generally speaking, after the splendour of “The Prom” the landscape heading west is pretty uninteresting, dominated by flat farm land, including wind farms (which […]

By chance I discovered that Green Cape lighthouse was going to be closed for at least 7 months for maintenance and the last available tour would be at 10.00am on 15/4! As Green Cape was 5 hours south on Milton I decided to leave the night before and overnight in Narooma, I figured it would […]

As previously mentioned, with me back on the road and the kids planning their own overseas adventures it did feel like we were all heading in different directions and it was going to be a new experience for Marianne to be on her own, so understandably we were all feeling a bit uncertain about what […]