Our Walkabout

Planet View: S32°44.645’ E151°06.005’ Street View: S32°44.645’ E151°06.005’ Leaving the warmth of the Newby’s home to venture back out into the rainy weather of the surrounding Sydney area took some extra enthusiasm.  We headed north through Sydney to reach the Hunter Valley wine region around midday.  Knowing that the Hunter Valley is best known for […]

In-between attempting to escape the rain that had been plaguing us during our trip through the Victorian high country we spent some time exploring the wines of King Valley and gourmet food establishments dotted through the Milawa region.  In King Valley we stopped off at Wood Park Wines, Brown Brothers and Sam Miranda as well […]

Planet View: S41°27.471’ E147°08.395’ Street View: S41°27.471’ E147°08.395’ The Tamar Valley, spread on either side of the Tamar River near Launceston, is home to some of Tasmania’s best wineries, most of which produce only enough wine for the Tasmanian market, so quite a treat to visit.  On advice from Mike Frost and Chris Chen (a […]

Planet View: S42°05.184’ E148°13.942’ Street View: S42°05.184’ E148°13.942’ We headed east to Freycinet Peninsula in the search of fresh oysters for Dad’s birthday.  Traveling through the state’s warm center the terrain was very different than the cool forests we had previously been camping in.  Rolling golden hills with roaming livestock reminded us a bit of […]

Planet View: S37°54.534’ E144°59.236’ Street View: S37°54.534’ E144°59.236’ After a jam-packed few weeks with Gina and Chris we took a little time to lay low in Melbourne, joining Ben and Bronte in their new apartment on the beach at Brighton.  We also spent a night in Torquay with Ben, Bronte, Greg, Jarrod and Stacey at […]

From Nora Creina it was a short drive inland toward the Victorian border to the town of Mount Gambier.  We stayed the night at Al Earl’s farm south of Mount Gambier near Port MacDonnell, Lisa and I were at Saint Marks with Al all those years ago when we were studying together at the University […]

I forgot to mention one of the highlights of the Nullarbor Plain as we came across a few days ago: the longest golf course in the world.  Stretched across a couple of thousand kilometers, the Nullarbor Golf Links has a hole at each town and a few scenic sights along the plain.  It’d be a […]

It was more beautiful beaches, great wineries, quaint country towns and some fantastic mountains as we headed across Western Australia’s Great Southern region over the past week or so.  From Windy Harbor in D’entrecasteaux National Park we headed back inland, across Shannon National Park and toward Denmark.  The famous Valley of the Giants Treetop Walk […]

From our awesome spot alongside the Blackwood River on the edge of the Margaret River region we said goodbye to Sergey and continued east into Western Australia’s Southern Forests.  The Southern Forests are an array of towering eucalypts that stretch from west of the quaint, inland timber town of Pemberton to the beginning of the […]

Planet View: S33°59.247′ E114°59.536′ Street View: S33°59.247′ E114°59.536′ What a beautiful area of the country!  After a week or so in Fremantle with our brilliant host Sam Harkin we made our way to the Perth airport to pick up a mate of mine with whom I studied in the States and started our journey 300 […]