What a Load of Bloggers: Australia January

Heathrow T4 with Royal Brunei. Two stops - one in Dubai and one in Brunei. Smooth all the way. Not a great choice of films so I watched 5 episodes of 'Succession'. I quite enjoyed watching a group of unpleasant people being unpleasant to each other - perverse really. The only disappointment about the journey was the very lengthy wait for our luggage at Melbourne Airport, after having landed on schedule. Normally for a 5a.m. arrival we would 'sail' through Tullamarine.

The cabin crew were very friendly, as were the two pilots, who let me have a peek inside the cockpit before take-off. Very little room in there and what a lot of instruments!

A couple of days in and we went for a long walk along the bay, through Sandringham and then to Brighton. Stopped for a reading break and then for elevenses. Kindle for Trish as usual. Real book for me as usual.

My introduction to the Big Bash at the Melbourne Cricket Ground. Great atmosphere.

The sport continued with a trip to the Australian Open tennis. We watched three matches 'indoors' at the Rod Laver Arena and then one on an outside court.

Took the grandchildren to see Fantastic Mr Fox at the Comedy Theatre - a very clever and imaginative presentation. Drinks and lunch afterwards at the Riverland Bar down by the Yarra River.

Had lunch with Laura, cousin Ian and his wife Cathy in Brighton followed by a stroll along the seafront.

A second visit to the Aussie Open tennis. First up in the Laver Arena were Kostyuk and Gauff in the women's QF, followed by Fritz and Djokovic in the men's QF. Gauff not at her best but scraped through. Fritz gave Djokovic a very hard game but the class of the world #1 showed through in four sets

A view looking towards Melbourne city centre from the Ferris wheel at St Kilda.

In the gondola

The Rain Room. Cameras detect your movement and stop the flow of water in an approximate six foot radius around you if you walk slowly. Move too fast and the cameras cannot respond quickly enough and you get very wet.

The Linden New Art Gallery housed in an 1870s mansion in St Kilda. Entry is free. The Linden houses a wealth of contemporary exhibits by new and not yet established artists.

We took a trip to Bellbrae on the Great Ocean Road for the Australia Day weekend and stayed at Greg and Sarah's house whilst they were away in Perth. Thank you Greg and Sarah!

Great weather and lovely cool water at Adiss Bay. Beach cricket at its scintillating best!

Relaxing at Bellbrae

Friday 2 February - early morning hike in the Dandenong range and the 1000 steps.

The steps begin about 800m from the car park. There are actually 770 steps but '1000 steps' has a catchy ring to it. The track is steep and narrow and was built as a memorial to the 625 Aussie soldiers who lost their lives in the Kokoda campaign in Papua New Guinea in WWII. The ascent is 260m (about 945 feet). The walk is beautiful and once you are at the top there are various tracks that you can take to enjoy the peace and the wildlife, including the thousands of trees and small plants, such as orchids, and animals such as wallabies, kookaburras and lyre birds. You will be fortunate to see one of the latter. I have seen one on a previous visit.

Sunday 4 February - a very hot day in Melbourne

We went to the Brunswick Ballroom to see a group of Melbourne musicians playing songs from the album Mermaid Avenue. In 1988 Billy Bragg and the US band Wilco recorded an album of Woody Guthrie's lyrics that had never been put to song. Woody Guthrie lived in Mermaid Avenue in NYC with his family at one point.

The Brunswick Ballroom is located in the old Metropolis House on Sydney Road. The friendly venue is full of character having previously been a hat factory, a nightclub, a wedding reception centre and a French restaurant.

Below: A very warm and enjoyable afternoon in the Melbourne Botanical garden with Laura.

February 9

We flew from Melbourne to Launceston for a week in Tasmania. Our drive on Day 2 was north-west to the Bay of Fires and its beautiful beach. We stopped en-route at an old mining town called Derby for tea and freshly made donuts and sat outside in the sun.

The Bay of Fires. Gorgeous almost white sand and crystal clear cool water.

On Day 3 we set off for a drive through the north-western wilderness to Strahan on the west coast. The empty and winding roads took us through miles of beautiful forest, with the occasional dramatic view from a high point. It was grey and cool in the highlands but sunny once again when we reached Strahan.

After the long, scenic drive, including the Cable Mountain National Park, we arrive in lovely Strahan, a small town and former port on the northern edge of Macquarie Bay.

We stayed at the Marsden Court apartments and were made very welcome by our host - couldn't fault the place.

Below: Views of Strahan

In the 1980s Strahan made international headlines as protesters fought for the Gordon River to be protected against the Tasmanian government's proposal to dam the Gordon River. In 1983 the Aussie Labor Party under the leadership of Bob Hawke won the national election and put a stop to the dam proposal. The waters of the Gordon and Franklin rivers are now part of a UNESCO Tasmanian Wilderness World Heritage Area, to be preserved for the rest of time. This wilderness forest is the largest temperate rainforest on the planet and is breathtakingly beautiful.

Sarah Island where the so-called 'worst of the worst' convicts were held and in appalling conditions. Our guide provided a lively and very informative talk about life in the penal colony.

The Gordon River, as seen from the stern of our very swish boat.

As well as landing on Sarah Island, we had a (too short ) walk in the rainforest at Heritage Landing. Some of the Huon pines live for 3000 years. The convicts were sent to fell them for shipbuilding. It must have been terrible working waist deep in water and wearing leg irons from dawn until dusk and after a meagre breakfast of gruel

The bridge on our swish catamaran, the Harbour Master II

Macquarie Harbour. What beautiful weather we had.

On to Hobart and another very comfortable hotel - Hadley's Orient.

The Tasman Bridge over the Derwent River.

The Soldiers of Memorial Avenue. 520 trees were planted in 1918 and 1919 - one for Aussies, mainly from Hobart, who died in World War I. Some trees have died over the years but all have been replaced.

As well as a tree, each soldier has a commemorative plaque.

We came across a piper paying homage.

Hobart Botanical Garden.

Another great drive on a beautiful day to Port Arthur. The penal colony at Macquarie Bay was deemed to far from Hobart and so the convicts were shipped to Port Arthur - another hell hole for the poor souls.

Port Arthur is a village and historic site in southern Tasmania on the Tasman Peninsula. It was a 19th-century penal settlement and is now a beautifully maintained open-air museum. Our tickets included a boat trip around the bay and a series of talks given by local guides. The ruins include the huge penitentiary and the shell of the Convict Church, which was built by inmates. Solitary confinement cells in the Separate Prison building were used to inflict mental punishment in place of floggings. Total silence was expected.