New Zealand

I arrived in Christchurch this afternoon after a comfortable flight but terrible landing! I must admit I was a little disappointed to have to fly but the economics and timing did not permit a sea voyage this time.

I did however appreciate the speed at which we covered the 1500 miles!
Photos to follow...

South to Wandong

Wandong sunset from Mount Piper - an inactive Volcano

Foot Fungus!
One man and his dog.
One man and his beer.
During the day of Saturday February 7th 2009 intense winds pushed bushfires through the hills north of Melbourne. Tragically many farms and houses were engulfed by flames within a short space of time and many people and animals lost their lives.

Luckily, despite fleeing at the last minute, all survived from the Dowse family but here are some images which demonstrate the intensity of the fires. Above is remnants of the family cars alloy wheel, melted into a pool and solidified into this shape.

Below - the countryside regenerating.
The family home after the fires.Above, note the glass has melted. Even the oven door glass melted leading to an estimate of the temperature in the house above 1000 degrees.

Below the countryside regenerating and remnants of an old tractor.


The only vertical part of the house structure which remained viable following the intense fires was this pillar. The brickwork was crumbling and was pulled down.

South again

Cousin Rosalie from Utrecht, Holland. We met in Byron Bay for a few days.
French style - unparallelled
Byron Bay to Nimbin bus experience.
Palm Beach north of Sydney
Bathurst.
Mount Panorama Racing Circuit, Bathurst. Built in 1935 as a scenic drive and race track it is still open for scenic drives when no race meeting is being held. So I managed 2 laps at speeds of up to 100...kph!
The National Motor Racing Museum, Mount Panorama.
The ultimate UTE - built for the round Australia Rally in which it won its class.
Racing version of my Corolla! (Right)
I was looking for an engine to replace my Corolla's 1.6. How about this 6.0L Jaguar V12?

Southern Queensland briefly!

Mount Glorious - this was part of an old farm and it is hard to believe the land was cleared around 100 years ago. It has now regenerated and is dense rainforest.
A nettle - very similar to that seen at home and a similar sting too!
A first for me - the banjo.
Leaf caught in tree looks a bit like a tongue - with a bit of imagination!
Rainforest on Mount Glorious, where I stayed with Noah from Tazmania and Ritchie. It is 45mins from Brisbane in good traffic but is in lush rainforest. They grow a lot of veg, herbs and enjoy lofty views of the hills and forest.
Fungus
Large slug with a red spot. Possibly poisenous. I didn't manage to get a shot of the snakes I saw on the path. It was overgrown because of recent rainfall and I was treading carefully. I saw a small dark snake slide away from me and just as I was about to move on a second black coloured snake curled up on my foot. A little wriggle of my toes sent it off which was quite a relief. On talking with a local he seemed to thing it was either a young red belly or a Rough Scaled snake which are common in this area. I finally have seen a snake in Australia!

Queensland countryside - Somerset Dam - North West of Brisbane
Sunshie Coast - Maroochydore and Alexandra Headland with Maloolabar in the distance.
The seas were wild. A cyclone crossed the coast about 100 miles North of us but we felt no wind. There were ferocious seas though and the beaches were closed to swimmers. The surfers had a good time but the sad news was a young lifeguard drowned during an Ironman competition when his surf craft hit him in the head. Tragic.
Wreck off Dickies Beach above and body boarders getting ready for the raging surf.

Visiting Mike in Maroochydore was to mark the Northernmost point in my journey up the East Coast. As I am off to New Zealand in 2 weeks I can only see a few places... but great places they are as I hope you can see from the photos!

Northern New South Wales

I took a detour across the Clarence River on this free ferry. I was a little low on petrol but it was only about 25 kms on the very quiet side before I came across another free fery back to the highway.
The Ulmarra ferry - diesel motors propel winches that pull the ferry across on 2 large steel cables that lie under the water.
Old wooden bar/cafe in Ulmarra
Coffs Harbour beach, great body surfing again!
Above - one of the may picturesque roads
Below is Coffs Harbour jetty. Seagulls as ever with a taste for fish and chips.
Outdoor Cathedral - rather tranquil!

Bora da Duncan!

I am glad to hear you are enjoying the photos. I should be posting a few more after the weekend so will have you in mind. Iechid da!

Sydney

View of Sydney Centre from North Head, near Manly
Crazy Aussie Hippy Van

Old Parliament House
Royal Botanical Gardens
Sea Plane
The bridge and Opera House
Harbour Bridge and Manly Ferry
Opera House again
Bondi Beach surf competition. Spent my birthday evening on Bondi and went for a late swim. I have no birthday pics yet but should be able to take them from another camera at some point.
Manly Beach
Manly Beach Sea Pool - just as I remember from my last visit 23 years ago!
The triangular flats. Great balcony space.