sharing stories… sharing lessons… shoring up the future
Our time in Barossa has been fantastic – a visit to remember. As older age sets in and minds fail though, we just wonder if it will eclipse the memory of Barossa, Sandhurst. The next day it’s the road to Quorn for preparation before the Oodnatta track. Our route takes us through the Cockatoo Valley.…
Coonalpyn, South Australia (population: 193) is the perfect setting for our ANZAC Day celebrations. It’s one of those occasional towns in the plains that sweep up to Adelaide. We eat lunch in the shade of an enormous grain silo, its mural depicting a couple’s farming life. Its camp ground and caravan park is next to…
Koalas growl and bellow grunts in the night, some quite close. It turns the hair of the England-based contingent. ‘There’s no way that an animal that makes that noise isn’t a threat to life! Those cuddly, dopey furballs must turn into werewolves or worse in the dark I’m not staying here.’ We’re not. Day two…
The Great Ocean Road was where this idea all started. A thought tossed across a pub bench in an English country garden; about doing it on motorbikes, in sunshine, with John, the former leader of the Royal Signals White Helmets Motorcycle Display Team. In reality, it’s been a cold, damp, overcast day, with intermittent showers,…
After our adventures in the Victorian high country and a great drive down the winding Tambo Valley road, our next interesting stop is the Mornington Peninsula. We’ve split the drive, camping overnight in a non-descript and forgettable campsite amid rain showers. The only high point was our muted celebration of an addition to the extended…
Out of Canberra and off to the Victorian High Country. We pass through Bredbo. A neat, well-patronised Australian country town. Pie shop. Café. Pub. Pie shop. Café. Aromatherapist. No cars outside the aromatherapist. But Cooma is our destination. Its more crowded, but after much driving we find a café that could be anywhere and just…
Personal admin in army terms is a euphemism for a bit of shut-eye. But we need to do a bit more than this after some four days on the road. We’re in Canberra at Cotter campground for two nights. At night its chilly! Its valley location is a sink hole for all the cold air…
As I write this, we’re on our way to Jindabyne, Thredbo and the Victorian high country. But let me let you first about Sydney. Land Rovers seem to be a bit like magnets. They attract other Land Rovers. Chris heard about our trip, got in touch and turned up at Jeanie’s paddock with his Perentie…
Some might remember the $180 million Australian tourism TV advert that was approved by the managing director of Tourism Australia, Scott Morrison, launched in 2006 and subsequently banned in the United Kingdom for inappropriate language. Its relevance today is nothing to do with tourism, but it’s a catchy phrase that captures what you might be…
On a long drive there are always those places that you get curious about. Or, in some cases, wish you had never spotted. For visitors to Australia, thoroughly terrified by the signs on every beach, some are quite off-putting. We pass the National Reptile Park. ‘Why on earth would anybody want to go there?!’ The…