Author: Franco

Mussel Sausages

We’d survived our first ever night in a camper van. Getting up in the  morning felt considerably better than had going to bed last night. It’s wonderful what a night’s rest can do. Things may be better than we at

Posted in 2017 New Zealand, 2017 The Antipodes

Rattle, Rattle, Rattle

We awoke after half a night’s sleep, having arrived at 01:30. It also took me ages to get to sleep. The room and bed were perfectly comfortable but I just seemed to wake up. The coffee at breakfast couldn’t have

Posted in 2017 New Zealand, 2017 The Antipodes

Across the Tasman

Our flight to New Zealand would be at 19:00 this evening. The rental car, complete with Strine Satnav, was due back at around 15:00. Given the 30-minute drive to the airport (theoretically), filling up with fuel then searching for the

Posted in 2017 New Zealand, 2017 The Antipodes

Traffic Disruptions

Today we bad farewell to David and Kay at Warragul. Their hospitality has been fabulous and we really admired all the love and sweat that went into hand-crafting their mud brick house. Now it’s time to make our final stop

Posted in 2017 Australia, 2017 The Antipodes

Duck Hunt

Well wha’d’ya know? We had rain again overnight which persisted into the morning. The pattern continues. If I ever meet the person responsible for the rumour that Australia is a warm, dry country, I’m gonna strangle them. Yesterday, David and

Posted in 2017 Australia, 2017 The Antipodes

In Search of Donkeys

I’m beginning to detect a pattern. Once again we had some rain overnight at Warragul which persisted in drifting across Wallaby Wood into the the mid-morning. The rain was supposed to stop but the temperature was not expected to rise

Posted in 2017 Australia, 2017 The Antipodes

Tree Ferns

We had spent our first and very comfortable night in David and Kay’s guest room in their mud-brick self built mansion. There had been a briefly uncomfortable feeling as Buddy, their dog, had peered longingly at us through our French

Posted in 2017 Australia, 2017 The Antipodes

Mekung to Durnham

Today we left our self-catering cottage in Metung to head for our friends, David and Kay, in Darnum, near Warragul, Victoria. This is a stepping stone on our way back towards Melbourne where we will catch our flight to New

Posted in 2017 Australia, 2017 The Antipodes

Bad Signs

Today we bad farewell to Francine’s brother and sister-in-law, with the requisite weepy eyes, of course, and headed for Metung on the south coast, where we have a self-catering chalet booked for the night.Regrettably our old weather jinx was in

Posted in 2017 Australia, 2017 The Antipodes

Powder Magazine Walk

Francine has been digging around in a pamphlet containing walks in the vicinity of Beechworth and has settled on one taking in Ingram’s Rock, where wild flowers are mentioned. The written route of the walk is actually a circular walk

Posted in 2017 Australia, 2017 The Antipodes