EC-Rider Travels

There seems to be so much to see in Canberra that we decided to abandon our plan of going via the Blue Mountains on the way to Sydney, in favour of a second night here. The apartment we were in was not available for a second night (which we all agreed was quite a relief!)…

After a delicious breakfast with Kellie-Anne and nice chat … we managed to extricate ourselves and headed off towards Canberra. We decided to take the scenic route, though Maude on Googlemaps perhaps took this a bit far and we went a little more scenic than intended! At one point, down a wonderful dirt track, reminiscent…

Today I said farewell to Melbourne where I have spent the happiest month thanks to the extraordinary kindness and hospitality of Tim, Sarah and Caroline Dehn. I felt it was a little like leaving home! Luckily the apron strings are being only gradually severed as Tim, Sarah and I are taking a road-trip up to…

So nice to be back ‘home’ with the lovely Dehns. I have to confess I spent much of the Wednesday on admin booking my last flights and also a trip to Heron Island to try and see a little of the Barrier Reef – another thing on my bucket list. In the afternoon I headed…

Alice and I went for a great walk this morning along the Hobart Rivulet and into the Cascade Gardens leading to the Cascade Brewery, Australia’s first and oldest brewery, established in 1824. There was much wildlife about including a very small wallaby called a pademelon. (I thought that was the name of the egg, which…

On Sunday Alice and I headed to Bruny Island, about an hour and a half drive, including a short ferry ride over to the most idyllic island off the South Eastern coast of Tasmania. It is separated from the mainland by the D’Entrecasteaux Channel named, as is the island, after the French explorer, Antoine Bruni…

I have had the most lovely three days exploring Hobart, a city so much larger and sophisticated than I thought as indeed is the island of Tasmania. I imagined it to be the size of the Isle of Wight when it is in fact quite a lot bigger than Scotland! Everything is just bigger and…

I happened to mention last night, my love for animals and this morning dear Justin took me to the Bonorong Wildlife Sanctuary where they rescue and care for injured animals and, where possible, release them into the wild. So at last I saw my first echidna, wombat and Tasmanian devil. We joined a guided tour…

Monday was a bit of a hallelujah day as my Indian visa arrived and was ready for collection from the unbelievably chaotic VFS office. This has been a long ol’ saga, with Sarah doing so much groundwork for me before I arrived, she was virtually on first named terms with all the staff! Determined to…

Up at 3.45 and on to the Hop on Hop Off bus. It was absolutely tipping down, so with no chance of a sunrise, our driver made the briefest of stops at the ‘sun-rise’ platform and then kindly went straight to ‘the rock’. On the way the bus came to a grinding halt and the…