Gained an hour on landing here in Cairns (3+ hour flight). Oh my, quite the change in temperature. It is hot 32C and humid but we are are not going to complain.

Lots of mangroves.

Our driver from the airport (not our CEO, whose name is Sam) said to expect lightning and thunder tonight. Here they haven’t had their usual amount of rain. The Tonga volcanic eruption in January probably is the cause of upset of weather. Ever other person has another reason for the unusual weather.

The British came here in 1876. They were after timber.

Coral Sea…Trinity Bay is the body of water here. Apparently there is to be no swimming in the ocean here…..not sure why. A good number of us decided to go in the pool to cool off. It was like a bath….very warm, so didn’t exactly do the trick…..wet but not cool. Too hot for me to wander around town. After our meetup, we 16 (plus CEO) people with exception of Jeanette, all walked to dinner. On the way back we walked through a night market. Nothing too exciting there but I am not a shopper.

Tomorrow on our way to Cape Tribulation, we will lose all internet connection and cell service so don’t expect to hear anything.

I have not taken much in the way of pictures but this is a beautiful very tropical city/town. It is much smaller than the other 2 major cities we’ve been.

10,109 steps

The British came to Australia in 1835.

Gold was discovered in the 1850’s about 100 miles away but then there was a land boom in 1880s when Melbourne became the world’s richest city.

The train station, St Paul’s Cathedral. Royal arcade. 1892 clock in royal arcade -dings every 15 min.

1892… the “Block” in 1902 where they did the walk and gossip was passed

The General Post Office was used until 1992

250 different languages spoke in Melbourne among 5 M population so it really is a multicultural city.

Aboriginals have been here for 40-60,000 years.

Yarra River ….. brown water. Upside down river … silt sits on the top and that is why it’s brown. Of course all the recent rains have compounded things.

I’m not exactly thrilled with this city. Maybe cuz it’s just too big although with very interesting architecture but no animals and no natural world stuff that I love. Tomorrow we fly to Cairns where we expect the weather will be hot and humid…. And then we’ll all be complaining about that…lol!

Steps today 6600 (8190 later after we walked to our goodbye to Luigi dinner). I believe several others will be leaving us too…. Karen and Steve, Julia and Danielle who are all going to Tasmania.

Another blustery day. We were to go to Arthur’s Seat Lookout but we wouldn’t have been able see anything so opted out. So….. we went straight to Brighton Beach and their famous beach boxes. Some of them built in the 1860’s, some around 1934 and 7-8 between 1988 and 2007. They have no electricity, no running water, you cannot stay in them. They are essentially just for storage…. Surf boards and other stuff you’d use at the beach. The last one sold for 360,000 AUD.

Then it was to lunch in Brighton Beach….. what a posh looking place. Kinda reminded me of Beach Drive in Oak Bay/Victoria.

Then onto the huge metropolis of Melbourne with its great skyscrapers. our hotel is called Causeway 353. It literally is in a causeway or lane hence the view is spectacular….. not!

Oops, forgot to write number of steps. Nov 19…10,619; Nov 20…10,441; Nov 21….. 9468 steps. Today not a lot of walking ….7360.

Rosebud beach houses worth 350,000-400,000 AUD ….. blowing so hard.

McCrae lighthouse

Cape Schanck … so gusty windy that even my poles would have been blown out of my hands if I didn’t have straps around my wrists. OMG we had sunshine for 10 minutes.

Passed by the the hot springs…. … ya right……pissing rain!

Did you know there are about 50 million kangaroos…., more than the 26M population.

Another London Bridge. All this on Mornington Nat Park….. above!

Fort Nepean & Ft. Pearce National Park…… next stops……more pictures to come…..

Driving along the Great Ocean Road. Welcome to wind…. First stop Island Arch and Razorback. another “wow moment”

A while later climbing windy roads… thump????

Walk in a rainforest in Great Otway National Park

Stopped for lunch in place called Apollo Bay. Wow….. the highway is so incredibly winding…. gorgeous views.

Our final scenery stop was the “12 Apostles” of which there are only 7 left. The rest have eroded away due to wind and waves.

Oops forgot to add my steps….18,026 steps on the 16th & 10,387 on the 17th.

We awoke to cockatoos tapping on our window. There are many…. Maybe 8-10. There are Roos wandering around, and deer and a couple of emus. A herd of kangaroos is called a mob!!!

We originally were to go to Mackenzie Falls but it was closed due to flooding as was the “Grand Canyon” and so we climbed to the Pinnacle in Grampian Nat’l Park. OMG I am so sore and tired. It was 2+ km up and 2+kms down and a 800 metre increase in elevation. Absolutely beautiful…. Crazy rock formations. I understand the mountains are volcanic with sandstone thrown in. This place is on the other side of where were the night before.

Then we drove into this beautiful, spotless, old town of Stawell for lunch. After lunch to a winery …..“Bests”. Then to Lake Fyans. Unfortunately again, the road to where we were to go was closed due to flooding but we did stop at another place. This lake has been flooded since the early part of 1900’s. The dead trees are still standing in the middle. We did see a couple of black swans with 3 chicks.

Then back to the motel and dinner. After we witnessed a couple of male kangaroos fighting. Talk about kung fu fighting!!! I’ll have to try separately, the video of the kangaroos fighting. If I am unable to you’ll have to ask to see it once I am home.

11,635 steps

Guess what…. It’s raining!!!

We stopped at “London Bridge”….wow!

Then the “Grotto”

Our final scenery stop was the “12 Apostles” of which there are only 7 left. The rest have eroded away due to wind and waves.

Oh my…… did we get rain….. torrential…… worse than I have ever seen.

The shower in the English gals room was spewing out of the drain rather than drain out. They decided to stay in that room with soggy carpets so for their inconvenience they were given a case of wine.

Steps today 10,619.

First stop (after 2 hours)Coonalpyn where there are grain silos that have beautiful murals of children painted on the sides. As well, the walk under the railroad tracks have individual pictures I would say were painted predominately by children.

Next stop (1 hr. more)called “Bordertown, SA… at a bakery where all purchased delicious individual pot pies. The rest area there was some really weird sounds coming from the water iris’. Someone described the sound as similar to someone plunking a banjo……badly! Apparently they are frogs.

Next stop…..Pink Lake. It isn’t very pink for us because they have had so much rain that it is flooded, diluting the waters. The pink is caused by algae excreting a dye….. only done went the salt content is sufficient.

Got to Halls Gap in Grampian National Park, dropped our bags and went for a beautiful hike to Venus Baths.

I am not sure how these pictures are going to show and cannot seem to add comments. I will attempt to send more pictures of Thant hike. Wifi isn’t great!!!