DAY 1 (Tues 24/10/06) - At last!!! I left Perth at about 1pm today. Goodbyes were said to the folks (again), brother Pete and kids and sister Gill and kids. I drove straight to Dunsborough, where my sister Mary lives. More goodbyes to Nephews Josh, Caleb and Lij and niece Hannah. I've been here before so I just took a few photos and now i'm about to get one of my last night's sleep in a real bed. I seem to have packed a lot more than I intended to because my car is full as a goog. At least I'll be comfy. Still waiting to here whether tomorrow will be Northcliff or Albany. I'll let you know tomorrow.
Day 2 (Wed 25/10/06) - Well it was neither town. I decided to travel to Pemberton. The town I lived in from 4 months to 6 years old. The drive was spectacular. Winding roads with tall Jarrah and Karri trees on both sides. Nature�s tunnel. Pemberton hasn�t changed much. It�s a small town with little specialty shops. The houses are mosty made of timber because of the large timber mill in the town. (that�s where dad used to work) The first thing I did was climb the Gloucestor Tree. It�s 200m tall and used to be used as a fire lookout. Actually I climbed it 1 � times. Some poor lady got half way up before she decided it was too high. Her husband just left her there clinging on for dear life so he could go to the top. I was the poor mug that was ascending behind her. It took nearly 30mins to coax her down. When the Husband came down he got a good telling off. When all was well I headed up again. Then I took my wobbly legs to the caravan park and spent my first night alone in my tent. It was great!!!
Day 3 (Thur 26/10/06) � After a great night�s sleep, I was up, fed, showered, packed and on the road by 9am. I drove through  to Albany via Walpole and Denmark. More gorgeous winding roads. I love driving. I stopped for lunch and then decided to drive on to Bremmer Bay. The sky is looking a bit grey so I think I�m about to find out if my tent is waterproof.
Day 4 (Fri 27/10/06) - Good news! The tent is water proof. Yeah!!! It actually only really rained in the morning but I was right next to the camp kitchen so I had plenty of shelter. I started writing again last night and got 3 chapters written. Unfortunately it was 3am before I finished and I still woke at 5.30am. I was pretty tired driving to Esperance, which is where I am now, sitting in my tent and typing this. It's only about 7pm and I'm already thinking about bed. Esperance is a beautiful town with lots of sandy white beaches. I went for a walk earlier but the wind is so strong I thought I might get blown out to sea. This is a busy camp sight compared to the ones i've been in. Lots of action around the place. I'm not much in the mood for company though. I'm really enjoying the solitude. Early start tomorrow. It will be a long drive to, hopefully, Cocklebiddy. I may be out of range for the next few days as I head accross the Nullabor but I'll update when I get a chance.
Day 5 (Saturday 28/10/06) I left Esperance at about 7am  to face the long drive to Copplediddy. I refueled in Norseman and got onto the Eyre Highway. The Eyre highway is almost completely straight. After a couple of hours it was a bit of a struggle to stay focused. The road and the surroundings began to blur into one vision. I decided to count the dead kangaroos. Morbid I know but it kept  me focused. (38 was the count, in case you were wondering) There wasn�t much sight seeing to be done so I drove straight through. When I arrived in Copplediddy, which consisted of a service station, restaurant, pub, motel and Caravan Park, I tried to pitch the tent. After half an hour I realized I was beaten. The ground was too hard so I booked a room. What luxury, indoor plumbing, a T.V (which I didn�t end up watching) and a double bed with clean sheets. Hmmmmm!!!!    Nice!!! I spent the evening chatting with fellow travelers about where they where going and where they�ve been. One guy said he had just driven straight across the Nullabor without stopping. I wont be doing that there�s too much to see.

Day 6 (Sunday 29/10/06) Oh my God!! This was the best day so far. I set off early again so that I would have plenty of time to stop on the way to Nullabor. The road was very straight and flat (again) I got to the WA SA boarder by about 9.30am and continued up the road to the first lookout. The view was fantastic. They call it the area of the shifting sand because the sand dunes literally shift position over night. You could just about see the beginning of the cliffs of the Great Australian Bight. I moved on to the next lookout and was blown away by the view of the cliffs. I hope the camera picked up how beautiful it was. The third and forth lookout just got better and better but when I got to the fifth lookout It was breathtaking. A whole row of sheer cliffs the aqua blue water. I took some photos and then just sat. It was so amazing I found myself suddenly feeling very grateful for the life I have been lucky enough to live. All those experiences (good and bad) that allowed me to be at that spot looking at one of the most beautiful sights I had ever seen. I still feel a bit tingly as I sit here writing about it. I booked another room at the Nullabor Roadhouse. Plenty of time to camp when I get to the other side.
Day 7 (Monday 30/10/06) � I left Nullarbor bright and early so that I would have plenty of time to look around. I was feeling great. I can�t remember the last time I had felt so relaxed. From Nullarbor I wanted to go to Yalata which is owned by the local aboriginal people,  but alas it was closed and boarded up. I felt like I was back in London for a second. I scooted down to Fowlers Bay. 20km of dirt track but the trusty car did very well. She�s a beaut!! From there I went through Ceduna (had to get my car searched for any fruit that I might have. They have check points to try and stop the spread of fruit fly between the states) I popped into smoky bay, which was a cute little fishing village, and I saw my first Pelly the Pelican. On the way to Streaky bay (and no! I�m not making these names up) I saw the first of the dead wombats on the road. I nearly cried at the fat furry blob. I love wombats. I also had to swerve to miss a couple of gekkos, another favourite of mine. I got to Streaky bay Late in the arvo and saw a few people who were at Nullarbor and Cocklebiddy at the same time I was. They are all retired and traveling around having a ball. Good luck to them. Streaky bay was HOT!! There was no breeze at all and the land was so dry that I could barely get the tent pegs in. (There�s a real water shortage in Australia at the moment and summer hasn�t even started yet. Oh Dear!!!) I got 2 more chapters written and read a book. This is indeed the life. Maybe I could just do this for the rest of my life. I could just go busking when I need the cash. Dare to dream Huh!!!

Day 8 (Tuesday 31/10/06) � Happy Halloween!!! A message to all those kids at Clara Grant Primary School in the UK.   BE CAREFUL with the fireworks. Let the adults set them off. (Once a teacher, always a teacher) The constant exploding of fireworks every day I DO NOT MISS!! I get to sit in the quiet, listening to the birds.
Today was a tough driving day. 130km of gravel roads and dirt tracks. I was a bit nervous at times. I didn�t want to get bogged in the middle of nowhere. My main objective was to get to a place called Point Labatt.  It�s an aquatic reserve that protects a special colony of Australian sea lions. It�s the only place in the world where these particular sea lions are found and they are on the endangered species list. There weren�t many seals there when I got there but it was still well worth the trip. I stopped at Venus bay for lunch and went on to Port Lincoln. It�s huge compared to the places around it. The caravan park is right on the water. NICE!! I went for a walk and then phoned home to check in. I feel like I�m done with sight seeing for the day so I will just update the sight and start typing up the writing that I�ve done so far. I�ve just found out that  I will be in Adelaide just in time for the Feast Festival, Movies, music, dancing YEAH!! Can�t wait. It does mean that I will have to leave here tomorrow but hey! It�s all good.
Day 9 (Wednesday 1/11/06) - Well, what a day. It seems that I must have eaten something a little dodgy (maybe it was mushrooms) because by the time I was about 250km out of Port Lincoln my stomach started to cramp and make strange noises. Uh Oh!! I had to stop at Whyalla (graphic details will not be supplied) and then again at Port Augusta. I decided that I would stop in Point Pirie because I had heard the name somewhere before. My advice to anyone thinking of stopping in Point Pirie... DON'T!!! It is an absolute hole of a place with the most unfriendly people I have met so far. The beach was all fenced off, they had disposal units for used syringes in all the toilet blocks and to top it all off there were ants everywhere. I was almost glad to be sick and sleeping most of the time. Oh.. and it rained which meant my car got a wash it so desperately needed. See.. every cloud does have a silver lining. Nothing else to say about today. Slept most of the afternoon.

Day 10 ( Wednesday 2/11/06) - Today I feel fine. I packed up quickly this morning. I wanted to leave P.P behind as quickly as possible. I drove down to Crystal Brook and had coffee and breakfast while I checked out the Adelaide map. My first big city in 10 days so I'm hoping to meet a few people under the age of 65. (No offence to the OAP's) I drove straight to Adelaide and got there at about 9am. I drove to the beach and went for a walk and then I decided to book into a motel instead of camping. I'm here for a film festival and have booked in to 3 films. There is also a Christmas march on Saturday so that will be cool. Right now i'm going to have a shower and go check out the night life. Wish me luck!!!!!!!
Day 14 (Monday 6th  November 2006) � Well, Adelaide did not disappoint. People were really friendly so it didn�t take long to make some friends. They were from all over, Sydney, Melbourne, Newcastle and one from London. My nights were full of dancing and parties and during the day it was sleep and sightseeing. Adelaide is a beautiful city. Very family orientated. The Christmas Parade (I know! Very early for a Christmas parade) was the best one I�ve ever seen. The floats were so spectacular. I�ll include some pictures in the photo gallery. The food was incredible and you can get any kind of food you like. All the restaurants and cafes had alfresco dining. The service was superb and it was really reasonable in price. The weather was perfect, not too hot but very sunny. I like Adelaide!! It was a little sad saying goodbye but I�m hoping to hook up with some of them again on my way round.
On Sunday I didn�t leave until lunchtime. I drove through the Adelaide hills. It was a slow windy drive but worth every minute of it. I went into a couple of wineries (A lot more fun when you�re not driving) Then I headed South towards Mount Gambia. I stopped off at Miningie, Cape Jaffa (where there was a sand storm), Kingston SE (where they have the BIG LOBSTER) and Robe. Robe was such a beautiful little spot that I decided to stay. I was feeling too tired to update last night so it�s now 6.30am and I am all recovered from my weekend. As good as the weekend was, I�m pretty happy to be on the road again.
Day 15  (Tuesday 7th November 2006) - I left Robe fairly early and was on my was to Victoria. I stopped off in mount Gambier. They have these amazing sink holes that have been created from volcanic disruptions thousands of years ago. One was the bluest lake I had ever seen and they made another into a beautiful garden. It was pretty amazing to see. The weather wasn�t great (overcast and drizzle) so I kept driving to Warrnambool, which is on the edge of The Great Ocean Road. It was cold and windy so I tucked my little tent in a shady corner, made a few phone calls, read a book and went to bed.

Day 16  (Wednesday 8th November 2006) - Wow!! Today was AWESOME. The views along the way were amazing. Who would have thought that mother nature could produce such incredible sights. The road to Portland was a bit windy and not along the coast but after Portland it was really hard to keep my eyes on the road. When the road went inland it was so windy that I thought it would make an excellent race track. There were koalas sleeping in the trees and the countryside was beautiful. After Apollo Bay the road was literally right next to the ocean. They had lookout points all along the road and each view was more stunning than the last, even in the overcast conditions. At the recommendation of Steve and Tam, I am staying at a caravan park just outside of Lorne and can I just say WOW!!! It is right next to a stream with cliffs and trees. It�s amazing. It has just been one of those days when you are not quite sure if it was real or you were just dreaming. Australia Rocks!!!!
There was one thorn in my otherwise rosy day. I caught some American girls trying to hit a koala with a branch because it wasn�t facing the right way for their photo. I went into the bush towards them and asked them what the hell they were doing. (in a tone that was a little more forceful than intended) They were only young and I think I scared them half to death but at least they will leave our wildlife alone.

Day 17 (Thursday 9th November 2006) - Well today was a bit of a let down after the awesome day I had yesterday. It was cold and windy and I'm a bit over the cold weather by now. I drove to Melbourne via Torquay and Geelong intending to stay but it was all too busy and too loud. I went to a bookshop and bought a few books and had some lunch but, although Melbourne is probably a wonderful city, I was in no mood for it today. Instead I got on a freeway travelling East (I figured it was the right general direction) saw a sign for Phillip Island and followed it. I'm in Cowe (on Phillip Island) about to go and see a penguin parade. They all come onto the beach just at sunset. Part of my problem today was that I didn't have a plan. I just got in the car and followed the roadsigns I liked and, as much as I hate to admit it, I am a planner. So tomorrow it's a long drive to bateman's bay so I can be in Sydney by the weekend.
Day 21 (Monday 13th November 2006) - Sorry i've been a bit slack but here's the latest. The penguins were amazing. They were Fairy Penguins so they were no bigger than a seagull. They came out of the water in groups that they call rafts (because they look like a raft in the water) and followed their track to meet up with their mate who was sitting on an egg in the sand dunes. I watched until all the penguins had come ashore and then walked back alon a boardwalk The penguin were so close and the people were being so loud that I started feeling a bit guilty for intruding on their environment so I left pretty quick after that. The next day  I went to see thne koala reserve and the Grand Prix race track before heading off towards Bateman's Bay. I didn't make it quite that far. I stopped in a little seaside place called Tethra. It was lovely.

The next day I was aiming for Wollongong. On the way there was a caravan and camping expo so I decided to stop and take a look. The tents and vans made my little dome look puny. They were like small houses. I picked up a couple of mozzie candles and went on to Wollongong. Wollongong is like a very big country town. The people were extremely friendlyand apart from the fact that it rained for most of the night it was very cool!

The following morning I was on my way to Sydney top visit my sisters, Leanne and Jacqui. Not knowing what time I would arrive, I decided it would be easier to book into a caravan park near where they live. This park was in the middle of suburban Sydney but you would never know it. It was completely surrounded by bushland and you couldn't hear any traffic at all. They had a pool and it was over 30 degrees so I went for a swim. Leanne came to visit that night and the next morning I moved into Leanne's house for a few days. We went to the Newtown Festival where her boyfriend was playing in one of the bands and then later Jacqui came over for a swim. Today I just sorted out my car and relaxed. We are going to dinner tonight and then I'll head into the city tomorrow. I am planning on leaving on the 15th so I wont update until after that.
Day 23 (Wednesday 15th November) - Well Sydney was Fab. I loved catching up with Leanne, Jacqui and the Matts. I stayed with Leanne in a huge house with a swimming pool and palm trees. We went out to dinner on Monday night and then just hung out. I didn't do the sightseeing thing this time around but I did drive under the tunnel and across the Sydney Harbour Bridge. Wow! what a buzz it is to do that for the first time. I used the time to reorganise and clean the car and do a bit of much needed shopping. My trousers are becoming a little to big Yipee!! I left this morning and drove to Port Macquarie. It is a stunning big town and the caravan park is right on a surf beach. when I arrived I put some washing in the machine and went for a swim. It's pretty warm and hopefully getting warmer. Then I lay on my mexican rug and read a book in the sunshine eating apricots. I can't believe all this will soon be coming to an end.  (but we wont think about that now)
Day 25 (Friday 17 November) - On ThursdayI travelled up to Byron Bay. It was a little disappointing really. I expected it to be a bit different because it's where a lot of stars live but it was much the same as any other town. The beach was nice and there were a lot of surfers there. I think I was too excited about going to Brisbane and meeting up with an old friend. There was also some kind of bird making a nest in some very noisy bushes all night. I felt like saying Shhhhhh!!! Anyway I went to Brisbane on Friday and had a look around the city. I was actually pretty happy to cross the boarder. NSW drivers are mad and they make driving so much harder because you can never tell what they are going to do. Anyway I booked into a motel and went to see my friend and her family which was fantastic and now it's time to make some decisions about my future (rats)
Day Whatever! (Sunday 26 November) - Well I've finally stopped moving and it feels pretty good. I moved into a house in the southern suburbs of Brisbane. (close to my friend) and I'm spending most of my time writing away. It has been easier to than Thought to write everyday. I am treating it like a job and spending up to eight hours a day at it. Catching up with my old friend Jo has been so much fun. I'm going to start playing tennis on Wednesday nights as a way of meeting some people and starting to develop a bit of a network of friends, although, people are so friendly up here that meeting people is pretty easy. I'm going to a big music festival in December to see my, soon to be brother-in-law play. It's a five day camp out festival so i'm really looking forward to that. I live with a Kiwi guy called Jody who I think may well be the most generous person I have ever met. He and my mate Jo are heavily into Dog training and trialling so i'm surrounded by dogs but they are so well trained that they are nice to be around. It's Hot up here in Brisbane which is another thing i'm really enjoying. No jumpers, jeans or shoes. Yeah!!! Jody has a pool which he is going to get cleaned up next week. Can't wait for that. Anyway i'm just plodding along now really, thinking how nice it is to be back in Australia and feeling relaxed and happy and motivated to write. I'm doing exactly what I want to do right now and i'm loving every minute of it. 
Friday 1st December - Wow I can't believe it's December already. World Aids Day - I hope everyone has their red ribbons. I've been officially unemployed for 3 months (not counting July and August - I deserved those holidays) and i'm loving it. I am writing nearly every day and i've nearly finished the latest book. Still got some work to do on the first one but I'm now thinking of scrapping it altogether. Brisbane is turning out to be a good move. I've joined a tennis club and have already been invited out with a group of cool people. I'm loving spending time with my mate Jo and her family. It's so weird to think that neither one of us has changed that much in 20 years. Jody, the guy I share a house with is totally cool. He's not here very much so it gives me lots of quiet time to write. I wrote two whole chapters today. Yeah!! I'm on fire!! I still don't know how long i'm going to stay. I feel really comfortable here so i'm in no hurry. I'll get some photos of these people that I am talking about so you can put faces to names. I'll also get some pics of Brissy (Brisbane) and the house. I'm being a bit slack I know but I WILL DO BETTER.
Tuesday  19th December 2006 - Sorry for being a bit slack yet again. So much for doing better. Well the good news is (drum roll please!!!!) I have finished the first draft of my book. (except for typing it up) Now I need to edit it, add stuff, take stuff out, check for consistancy etc. etc.. I was really blocked for about a week but once I got over that it just poured out. During the week I was blocked I went to the sunshine coast which is about 150km North of Brisbane. The only problem with Brisbane is that it is the only capital city in Australia with no local beaches. So, with tent in hand, it was up to the sunshine coast. I brought up my writing stuff but when I saw the beaches and waves I was gone. I spent three days swimming and surfing (I hired a boogie board...or body board to some) The waves were dumpers so I spent more time off the board than I did on but it was fun! fun! fun! On the way back I went to Australia Zoo. It was good, although it was still a zoo with enclosed animals (I've never been a big fan of zoos)  They had signs everywhere saying 'Home of the Crocodile Hunter' I just kept thinking 'not any more' (I know it's terrible)  My sister arrives in Brisbane on Saturday I think. Then on the 27th we are going to the Woodford Festival. It's like the Aussie Glastenbury. 6 days of music and fun. Her fiance is playing with his singing partner. I haven't heard them before so it will be very exciting. I'm still enjoying staying put but I find that I get itchy feet a lot. Fortunately there are a lot of places to see in Queensland so I can take off whenever I start feeling a bit closed in and Sydney is only a two day drive away so that's always an option. I'm hoping to have my book ready to send off to publishers by February and then I guess I'll find out whether I should stick to my day job. I can't find my camera at the moment but when I do I'll update the photos. Thanks for all the comments in the guestbook. Keep em coming. I'm glad you're enjoying the site. I hope it's not too cold in Bow E3. We hear it's been a mild winter so far. It will be a long time before I see snow again.
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