Hobart, Tasmania
We were due to stop at Burnie in Tasmania as out first stop however the wave height and wind speed meant aborting that plan and heading straight for Hobart. An unscheduled sea day was actually most welcome giving me time…
Melbourne, Victoria
Melbourne has become one of my favourites cities and I was determined to be well enough for a mooch round. Astrid had gone on a tour and Ben had left early to go to the casino. Regrettably Ben asked me…
Kangaroo Island
Perhaps I exaggerated the effectiveness of German nursing as the MF took a turn for the worse. I decided that a day on the ship would be best although watching Tess of the D'urbervilles may not have been the wisest…
Adelaide, South Australia
As they say "never judge a city by its container port" except in the case of Adelaide. In Perth they could sell condos and charge a premium for "container port views" but alas in Adelaide they could not. This is…
Albany, Western Australia
Albany, Right in the southwest corner of Australia is a small former whaling town called Albany with a modest population of 37,000. Albany has a different climate to the rest of Western Australia with much more cloud and rain. I…
Perth, Western Australia
The ship docked at Fremantle which is an urban area within greater Perth. Well what a lovely surprise Fremantle was. Even the container port could be described as 'rather fetching". We stopped here for an overnighter and thought we'd do…
Exmouth, Western Australia
The low expectations theory certainly worked yesterday in Exmouth as we resumed the Australia circumnavigation. With only 2,500 residents Exmouth is very small and I was reliably informed that the nearest McDonald's restaurant was a mere 800km away in Geraldton.…
Bali, Indonesia
We arrived at 10am on the island of Bali which is a huge tourist destination for Australians. Again located in the Lesser Sunda island chain Bali has a population approaching 4.5m and the island is ten times the size of…
Komodo Island, Indonesia
Komodo Island lies just 8 degrees below the equator and is famous for its large lizards but it could be equally famous as the sweatiest place on earth. It is one of the 17,508 islands that make up Indonesia which…
Darwin, Northern Territories
We had three days sailing after leaving Cairns, first through the Barrier Reef before rounding Cape York at the top of Australia, through the Torres Strait which separates Australia and New Guinea, over the top of the Gulf of Carpentaria,…