I had hoped/planned on getting out during the morning of St. Patty’s day to see a bit of Perth, but after the long bus ride, and a final wine with my British friends Irene and Valerie the day before I simply got myself organized for my travel back to Melbourne. With the 3 hour time difference (but only a 3…
March 16: Busslelton and Margaret River
An early morning run along the Geographe Bay beach was a perfect start to another long day. The Bay is named after the French explorer ship of the same name which was piloted by Nicholas Bourdain and who mapped much of southern and western Australia (including Kangaroo Island). The sun finally seemed to be around permanently for the day, so…
March 15: Pemberton to Bussleton, Western Australia
A beautiful morning at last. And some yellow ringed-neck purple lorikeets, (which the French explorers named 28 because their tweets sounded like they were saying vingt-huit), greeted me on my little balcony over the lack as I jumped up to take some photos of the timber and cloud reflection on the glassy lake. I hurried into some togs and took…
March 14: Western Australia South Coast
We began the day in Albany and had a couple of stops in the area before heading west. First up, the Cheynes Beach Whaling Station, where commercial whaling was a serious business from 1952 to 1978. Unlike the Whale Museum in Eden on the NSW coast, this was clearly about MODERN whaling practices, and as such I didn’t appreciate it…
March 12 & 13: Perth and Western Australia
The distance between Adelaide and Perth is about 1,500 miles — equal to the distance between Maine and Miami. So, of course one flies. Australia is slightly bigger than mainland U.S., but with only 24 million people there is lots of space between the towns and cities, and many more sheep and cattle and kangaroos than people. So it seems…
March 11: Adelaide Festivals!
So my small plan today was to walk along the North Terrace Drive and see the Botanic Gardens. The beauty of Adelaide is that the founding fathers determined that there should be a ring of green space all around the city center, so there is parkland surrounding the CBD, and the roads that go along city/parkland divide are all called…
March 9-10: Kangaroo Island
Just 45 minutes by ferry (very much like the car ferries from Wood’s Hole to Martha’s Vineyard) from Port Jervis is Kangaroo Island, very much a nature-based destination, which is why I chose a two day/one night tour to see and explore it. Once connected to the mainland (2,000 years ago), the 155 km long/50 km wide island is home…
March 8: Adelaide
The hustle and bustle of leaving one place for another, and the whole airport thing is the same the world over. I had committed to myself to take public transport to the Melbourne airport, which did not intimidate me because I’d been so impressed with the metro scheme overall. But it did mean that I either needed to walk about…
March 7: A wander in Melbourne
I met Yvonne for an afternoon interlude near Flinders Street Station, and we had some wine at a bar along the river. After she caught a train home, I walked along the river, an area of Melbourne I’d not yet explored, and discovered all sorts of hidden wonders. Which made me think about the beauty of a wander when you…
March 5 & 6: Melbourne suburbs and Grampians National Park
On Sunday I took the tram and the train out to where Yvonne lives, in a suburb called West Footscray. I continue to be amazed at how east the public transport is here — a dream for life in Los Angeles! I hadn’t seen my nephew Sean since Christmas 2009, and he’s almost 18 now! Tall, handsome, and becoming an…