The Whitsundays

After the first day of the Ashes, it was time to jump on a place up to Hamilton Island.  We stocked up on provisions in Airlie Beach and made our way out to Whitsunday Island to camp for a couple of nights.  The campsite, which was a couple of yards from a pristine beach, was made up of a bit of flat land and a composting toilet - felt like the edge of the world.  The campsite was only really accessible by boat and there was only one other couple there.  Along with some bushwalking, the highlights are the wildlife - wallabies, iguanas (good news I'm told because it means that there aren't any snakes in the near vicinity), various birds and the loudest insects I've come across.  Oh, and the turtles popped up for air near the beach.  We had a great time, but two nights was well judged - we were ready for a warm shower and fewer insects!

We returned to good news from the Gabba - despite the fact that it was a draw, the Aussie press have slaughtered their team.

The Gabba

Simon and I took in the first day of the Ashes at the Gabba (with a guest appearance from Ant who flew up from Wagga Wagga for the day).  It's not your typical cricket ground - looks a bit too uniform and ordered to have the character which other Test ghrounds have.  Sadly England showed a little of the old brittleness faced with average Aussie bowling, but we had a good day out all the same.  Finishing with beers by the river as the sun went down.  Tragically, we left the sombreros in the pub.

The Aussies from Brisbane whom I have met have been a little negative about Brisbane - I wouldn't be so down on the place myself.  It's not Sydney or Melbourne, but is wonderfully less pretentious than either place and has some fine eateries and a nice setting.

Melbourne Museum

We stopped by the Melbourne Museum yesterday.  It contains some of the usual depressing story about how the white folks turned up and got rid of anyone or anything local which was inconvenient.  Sometimes that was by deliberate means (primarily shooting), but introducing a few new diseases was also pretty effective.  One chap (the wonderfully named Mr Batman) tried to buy the land of modern day Melbourne from the locals in return for a few household appliances - doesn't really work where the land belongs to your nation, so buying and selling is not on the agenda.

The museum also reveals a bit of insecurity vis-a-vis Sydney - various comments strewn around the place about how Melbourne was the top city in Australia...  As always with these things, it was also slightly selective - very proud of being the first place in the world to introduce the secret ballot, not so much detail on the "White Australia" policy or the fact that aboriginal peoples were listed as "fauna" in the census until the late 60s.

Yarra Valley

Saturday took us out to the Yarra Valley - the wine region just an hour or so's drive from Central Melbourne.  I went out there with Simon three years ago, but the place has been transformed by the recent rain.  Wonderfully green.  We popped to Domain Chandon for lunch, which produces for all intents and purposes Champagne - they just can't call it that because they're in the wrong bit of the world.  It was then on to a couple of other wineries - finishing at Yearing Station.  Simon bought a fine bottle on the understanding that he'll open it in about 10 years (when it's supposed to get even better) as long as Eve and I come to visit.  That was later revised to 8 years when we realised that there was no Ashes series in Australia in 10 years.

Gino

After the wettest season they've had in over a decade, the sun has been beaming ever since we arrived.  It's been up in the 30s the last couple of days and summer looks like it's settling in (although I'm told no weather patterns never really settle in here - the classic four seasons in one day).  It could all only mean one thing: the time was nigh for my well overdue haircut.  Simon booked me in with Gino (whom apparently he visits once a month - which explains why his hair never seems to grow).  Gino is a great hairdresser and a good questioner, but sadly a poor listener.  The haircut was great, but the conversation was a little circular.  For example, after explaining that we had spent 2 months in China, he then asked me if we had flown straight to Australia from the UK or whether we had broken up the journey.  Mmh

Melbourne

From Tassie we flew into Melbourne (on Wednesday).  They've been having a poor weather run we were told - but at least the drought which has been going for the last decade or so is almost over.  We were told that one solution proposed was to pipe in water from Tassie - not sure that got very far.

Tassie

After a couple of days in Sydney, it was off to Tasmania.  Generally derided it would seem by the Aussies for being full of inbreds, it's a beautiful part of the country (most of it is yet another World Heritage Site) with wildlife galore.  The first animal (a possum) we saw for approximately 2 seconds before it disappeared under our front left wheel.  After driving for a couple of hours through thick fog and driving rain, we got to our cabin in the woods - open fire, jacuzzi bath - the works.  Self catering has massive benefits for me with Eve working her magic in the kitchen.  We woke up the next morning to find a wallaby feasting on the plants on our front lawn.  We also saw a fair few wombats on our treks.

Two days of trekking around Cradle Mountain later (with some parts being more akin to rock climbing) and it was off to Wine Glass Bay on the other side of Tassie (I'm sure that's some kind of World Heritage Site too).  Thankfully, no wildlife was harmed in the making of that journey.  The beach was beautiful - almost as clean as the one at our fancy hotel in Cambodia - although the staff did sift the sand there to keep it clean.  I kid you not.