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South Coast WA 2026

April 2, 2026 / terry

11 March 2026 – We got away today, the start of what we hope is a five or six month trip, taking in the Eastern States, a month-long side trip to New Zealand and a 4-wheel drive trip to Cape York. However, the specter of the Iran War driven fuel crisis hangs over us. Prices are spiraling and bowsers are running dry, mostly due to crazy people panic buying. We past one station at Bannister trying to sell ULP for $2.85 a litre, no doubt coming out of the same tank that they were charging around a dollar less only a few days ago. Out government keeps saying they are on the lookout for cases of price gouging, but taking some kind of action seems to be a different thing.

Our first committed date is April 18, when we are due in Melbourne to fly to New Zealand. Therefore, we decided to spend a couple of weeks on the south coast of WA before committing to the drive East, giving the World time to settle down.

Our first night was spent at a charming little free camp at the Boscabel Hall, about 3 kms of Albany Hwy. The old weatherboard hall is still in use but the nearby tennis club is well past active use. I chuckled at the inventive list of players chalked up on the board.

12 March – We awoke to a little river of water flowing through the van. We thought we had previously pinpointed a leak to a very slow seep from one of the kitchen tap connections but slow enough to put a take-away container under it to catch the odd drip. But this was more. I eventually tracked it a pipe disappearing up from the shower closet to behind the fridge, no doubt feeding the shower. It looked like removing the fridge was needed, a job well beyond this 73 year old body.

I Googled up the Albany Caravan Repair Centre with little hope of an early resolution and the knowledge that Albany is in the middle of their Bicentennial Celebrations. “Can you bring it in today?” the nice lady asked.

We packed up and headed south, amazed at our good fortune. We fueled up at Mt Barker, waiting in a line to the one operating bowser and paying $2.19 a litre. It seems to be going up by 10c a day. Once at the repair place, we got the news that the job was simple enough, as long as the fridge would slide out without disconnecting the gas pipe. If that happened, they would need a plumber to reconnect and certify. Even worse, the van was not allowed to leave the lot until that happened. Fingers crossed.

The day was spent wandering Albany, trying to keep out of the cold gale force wind, going through the museum near the Amith replica and a spot of shopping. When we got back to the van, we were thrilled to find the gas had remained connected, we had leaks fixed and a new mixer tap in the kitchen.

In need of a place to stay, we drove about 35kms west to Cosy Corner Campground, a beachside camp spot, only getting an overflow spot, but at least somewhere to sleep. If the weather was better, it would be a nice place to stay, especially for $10 a night.

13 March – With the weather forecast promising light rain and strong winds, we planned an easy day. Christine baked a lovely loaf of bread and some Anzac Biscuits, while I went for a walk to look at the windswept beach, getting no serious urges to try out the fishing in the conditions.

We drove west a bit to check out some of the other nearby spots, the best of which was Hartman’s Beach, accessible by 4WD down a very steep gravel track. There we spoke to a Darwin couple who were fishing without success. Amazingly, they had relatively little knowledge of the war in Iran, or exactly how things were being affected.

14 March – We decided that a move further inland might help escape the persistent strong winds. The rain would likely keep up but the wind was making things uncomfortable. Our route took us back to the Albany ring road and along the South Coast Highway to a stop at Manypeaks for fuel. Our strategy is to run on the small sub-tank and keep the large main tank in reserve. The one outlet in Manypeaks had ULP but no diesel, the owner telling us that the fuel that normally lasts a week sold out in days.

Our target for the day was the tiny hamlet of Wellstead but the turn-off to Cheynes Beach lured us to do a 20km side trip and check out the location, which we had never visited. After 10km, we came up behind a strange jeep-like vehicle with three occupants, sitting at the rear of a long line of very slow moving vehicles, converted VW Beetles, and a great many vintage Chamberlain tractors. It must have been some kind of rally. The road was winding and hilly and there was little chance of passing anything. We faced doing the next 10km at about 20km/hr. We took the option of turning around when a driveway presented itself and drove back to the highway.

The light rain continued. About 20km out of Wellstead, the road was being renewed, giving a kilometre or so of orange clay covered surface, all nicely wet from the rain. The car and caravan turned orange, covering everything in a nasty sludge.

Once at Wellstead, we filled with water, the local Wellstead Bush Camp only having bore water, and booked in for a couple of nights. We did what we could to clean the van and car of the worst of the mud and settled down to watch a bit of footy. The rain persisted, especially if we tried to do anything outside.

A highlight of the Wellstead Bush Camp is the camp kitchen, with its wonderful cosy ambience and collections of old memorabilia, car parts, locks and keys, kerosene lanterns and much more. It would be a wonderful place when the weather was right and the camp full of people. Right now it was deserted.

15 March – The rain persisted throughout the night and greeted us again in the morning. Today is our fifth day away and fifth day of grey skies and drizzle. The forecast suggested some lifting around noon so we packed a bit of food and headed off to explore a few areas. We checked out the Pallinup River, which had a lovely free camping area on the north side of the bridge, but the river was little more than a few smelly pools. On the south side, the river broadened into a good reach that was probably worth fishing, but access to the few camp areas was too rough for our van.

We moved on to the next spot, Miller’s Point Reserve off the Bremer Bay Road. We have been to this spot a couple of times before and done well for fish, although recently thre have been concerns for the health of the Beaufort Inlet because the bar to the sea has not opened for more than seven years. There were only a few vans present and some lovely camp sites so we made the decision to come back tomorrow with the van.

We drove back to Wellstead and on through along a 20km gravel road to Cape Riche. Here there is another nice camp, about half full, with good beach access and some lovely white sand beaches, rocky headlands and clean water. Access with our van could be a bit tight. We set up a hotplate and indulged in a couple of fried sausages and onions in a wrap, washed down with a coffee.

Back at Wellstead, we decided to top up with fuel, a good decision because the lady in the shop said the price was rising tomorrow, not her choice, but that of the owners. It is the way of it at present.

When we returned to camp, we had a nap and then watch the Gold Coast demolish the Eagles.

16 March – My back was protesting through the night and in the morning so we decided to stay on for another day and let it rest. This proved to be a good decision because the rain returned and settled in, giving us our wettest day to date. We did nothing. Read, lazed, watched a truly awful old movie called “My Super Ex-Girlfriend”, surely Uma Thurman’s worst performance. By the late afternoon, the sky had cleared and we finally began to get views of the Stirling Ranges, still cloud covered, but at least partially visible.

17 March – We only travelled 50km today, to a place called Miller’s Point, a camping area on the Beaufort Inlet, where the Pallinup river enters the sea. The estuary is noticeably low after a long hot summer. The bar has not broken through for 8 years or so and the water in the estuary is murky and a bit green, certainly not inviting as a swimming possibility. I have seen calls for the bar to be opened to help restore the estuary.

We found a lovely camp spot with views to two parts of the inlet. I headed down to fish with little confidence, given the appearance of the water. However, I was very pleasantly surprised to catch three nice bream, two just size and one quite big one. I was shadowed by a large pelican the whole time I fished. He knew the difference between me reeling in to re-bait and reeling in a fish. When I had a fish on, he would get in front of me, trying to snatch the fish of the line as it came in. I had to have a little pile of rocks to ward him off. Later, I found that picking up a thong was enough. Obviously, it had experienced the old thong treatment before. When I released the small bream, I had to throw them far enough away so that the pelican wouldn’t get them. Let him catch his own.

18 March – We left the van closed up and drove the 50km into Bremer Bay to explore and do a bit of shopping. It is a pretty little town situated on the shores of the Wellstead Estuary. This estuary appeared to be open to the sea, at least a little, with a noticeable current flowing in. The caravan park in town was around half full and looked beautiful, with the estuary just across the road.

As is the case with most towns that are on the end of a road, prices in the shop were high, as was the fuel cost. There was a tanker in filling the bowser tanks so at least they are getting supply.

We drove out about 8kms to the Fisheries Beach Small Boat Harbour, passing another even nicer looking caravan park along the way. The tiny harbour was protected and had three or four fishing boats at anchor. It is also the departure point for the Bremer Bay Orca Watching Tours, and judging by the number of cars in the carpark, a successful operation. All in all, Bremer Bay looks to have possibilities for another visit with a small boat sometime in the future.

Back at Miller’s Point Camp, I tried the fishing again, catching three more good sized black bream, so a few fish meals were assured.

19 March – A restful day, doing a few minor repairs, reading and listening to all the talk of fuel supply problems on the ABC. So far, we have not been affected by supply problems but the cost is certainly having an effect. We did a bit of forward planning to settle some dates that we would commit to the Nullabor crossing if thins allow it.

One of the things we did was get the generator out. We haven’t used it yet. It is not needed for general power needs because our solar has kept us going so far. With no access to mobile phone in this camp, we have relied on our Starlink service, which is very good but a little power hungry. Also, we were curious to see whether the generator would supply enough power to run the airconditioner in the van, should conditions demand it. We were very happy with the results, The Redback 3.5kVA proved very quiet and only showed 50% load with the caravan (including battery charger) and airconditioner going. It is good to know it is there. Later in our trip, we plan to live off grid a lot and don’t want to miss any creature comforts. Some people love to rough it like bushies. We have moved beyond that point.

20 March – Today was a relocation day. We packed up and headed off for the 50kms to Jerramungup. We hadn’t planned to do much there, saving shopping and fuel purchase for the larger town of Ravensthorpe. However, much to our surprise, one of the two fuel outlets in Jerramungup was selling fuel at 30c/l cheaper than the other or those in Ravensthorpe. There was a well-stocked supermarket too, and it proved a good choice because little did we know that there was currently no supermarket operating in Ravensthorpe. “Jerra” also had a dump point, but no water fill that we could find.

The drive to Ravensthorpe, another 100kms further along, was through country with little to recommend it from a beauty perspective. Ravensthorpe itself is a difficult place enjoy, it being built on a series of hills, no doubt due to its mining origins. We found the watering point, exchanged a gas bottle with a very friendly chatty fellow, topped up the fuel again and turned south towards Hopetoun. About 20kms down the road, we stopped for the day at the ruins of an old mining town called Kundip, quite a lively spot back before the Great War but now just a series of tracks and clearings that make a good free camp area.

21-23 March – We drove south to Hopetoun, doing a little more shopping for things we forgot in Jerramungup and having morning tea out on the harbour breakwater. The breakwater provides a sheltered place with a jetty and a launching ramp and looks to be an excellent spot for rock wall fishing.

From Hopetoun, we turned west and drove out across a good bitumen road to the Fitzgerald River National Park, a large park covering an area of outstanding floral diversity and having a number of small mountain ranges, with some spectacular peaks. We stopped at the entrance to the park to check that we had the right booking details and parks pass before heading up a 17% incline climb up the sides of Mount Barren. The car struggled and we crawled in low gear to a lookout and pull-over area. On getting out, I could smell burning. Oops, the hand brake was on. No wonder the climb was hard.

We checked out the views and admired the plants, especially the abundant royal hakeas, that stand tall and get their display from the many hued leaves rather than flowers.

Our camp site was at the Hamersley Inlet, the estuary of the Hamersley River. The inlet has a reputation for good fishing, bream, whiting, flathead and cobbler, but the water levels are currently so low, and the water so saline that there was little possibility of that. The salt was crystallizing out on the sand and rocks. There was very little bird life and no sign of any fish. We resigned ourselves to taking in the sights in the surround area.

The next few days were forecast as overcast and wet and we started to notice the power drop, especially as we like to do things like watch football on TV through the Starlink. The generator came into use to take the place of the sun. We haven’t had to use it much but it is good to know we can catch up on power when we have to.

Christine baked her most successful bread rolls yet, using a 50-50 mix of white and whole meal flour. Other than that, we went for a drive, walked a fair way and caught up on some writing.

I took the 3km walk to the ocean at the mouth of the river. It was easy, sticking to the edge of the estuary. Early in the walk, I was surprised to see an echidna walking within three metres of the water on the salt flats. He curled himself into a tight ball on my approach and headed back towards the bush after I passed by.

For the return trip I chose the marked walk trail, which proved quite tortuous, going up hill and down dale, but at least giving some terrific views across the inlet.

24-25 March – With the batteries low we decided to book in for a night at the caravan park in Hopetoun, especially as its right on the beach. We were given a lovely secluded spot right on the beach access path so we upgraded to two nights. We plugged in, did a load of washing and used the dryer then tried the beach for some herring. I managed one lonely one, frustrated at the surf action taking the line into weeds.

The next day I tried my luck at the breakwater, on the protected side. No herring, only a sweep and a wrasse, so I decided to try the beach again. The conditions were kinder and I easily caught 8 herring, enough for tea with some to pickle for snacks with evening drinks.

The weather remains grey, drizzly and cool. Frustratingly, the seaward horizon is blue sky, but the clear weather just does not come into the land.

26 March – We drove a whole 85km today to the little town of Munglinup, where they have a free rest stop opposite the roadhouse. We had a very lazy day, watching a movie, reading and seeing all the comings and goings of the passing traffic. The wind was up over 20 knots and causing minor dust storms in the unsealed pull-in area. We had wisely parked at the bottom of the cleared area, well away from everyone else but to windward, so we did not experience the red storm that erupted every time a road train breezed through the parking area. Some did not even stop. I think they were getting revenge on caravanners.

27 March to 3 April – With the high winds continuing, we relocated to Esperance for a few days, to see out the coming severe weather in some comfort. The tail of Cyclone Narelle was due to come down through the SE Coast on Saturday night, bringing strong winds and a fair bit of rain. We chose the Pink Lake Caravan Park, about 2kms from the Pink Lake but they had to name it something. It is a lovely park but we were given a tiny site more suited to a camper van than a caravan and car. We squeezed in.

Esperance meant access to a Bunnings for a few fixit bits and a Woolworths to replenish food stocks. Esperance has grown a bit since we were here last and looking prosperous. There are tourists everywhere and lots of cafes and coffee shops.

Saturday morning showed the cyclonic rain more to the west, Albany to Bremer Bay copping the brunt of it. It was a matter of enjoying the fine bits and hunkering down during the rainy/windy times. It is the South Coast after all.

The ABS warning light has been coming on a fair bit when the car is first started, probably a warning of bad things to come. We decided to extend our stay in Esperance and try to source some help, although worried about the approaching Easter break.

On Monday morning, we took the car to BSL Mechanics, highly recommended via Google Reviews, and especially praised for helping out desperate tourists. The earliest booking we could get was for the Wednesday, with a prognosis of a failing accumulator pump ($1000) being the most likely.

We spend the remaining time driving along the West’s version of the Great Ocean Road, featuring some amazingly beautiful beaches and sparkling turquoise water. Sunday was warm and calm, and it seems like most of Esperance was on the beaches, many even swimming. The water was way too cold for us oldies. Some claim that Esperance has the best beaches in Australia, and I would agree that they must give the title a big shake.

Esperance

The Pink Lake was not pink, mainly because it had very little water in it. It is only occasionally pink, when a special algae blooms. There was one just out of Dowerin, so we got used to seeing the effect over the last 20 years.

Another day we headed out to Beadon Creek and tried fishing, managing only three yellow-eyed mullet and a herring, but all small so returned. Once again, the location and the ability to drive right down onto the beach made it so enjoyable.

On Tuesday we went to the movies, Esperance boasting a three cinema complex. We watched “Reminders of Him”, a bit of a tear jerker and very well done.

Wednesday finally came and the car was looked at. The diagnosis was much better than thought, with a gasket showing a slight leak and loss of pressure. That replaced, the light remained off and they could find anything more. The bill of $200 was a big improvement on the $1000.

On Thursday, we tested the car with a trip out to Cape Le Grand National Park. This would be a beautiful place to camp, but it is insanely popular and bookings up to six months ahead are necessary. Little wonder. The beaches are even better than the Esperance ones, and the imposing mountains of granite dominate the landscape. It is a very spectacular place. Even better, the car behaved itself.

Esperance is the end of our South Coast trip. On Good Friday, we set off to cross the Nullabor, the recent drop in fuel prices and Government efforts to guarantee supply making us fairly confident that we can proceed, although with a bigger budget than planned.

Sri Lanka – Part 4 – East Coast and Kandy Rail Trip

June 26, 2025 / terry

Day 13 (June 18) – Polonnaruwa and Pasikuda Beach – Today we changed location, moving to the central east coast at Pasikuda Beach. Along the way, we stopped for a significant tour of the ruins of the ancient city of Polonnaruwa. Built between the 10^th and 12 centuries AD by South Indian invaders, then later re-occupied by Sinhalese, it was the capital of the Sri Lankan Kingdom. Centered around a vast man-made lake that fed a huge irrigated area, the ruins consisted of a palace, royal audience chamber and a great many temples. The earlier buildings were the most remarkable, being of carved stone with perfectly interlocking pieces. The later buildings were of brick. The scale of the city suggested a major civilization, and Sri Lanka was known as a major trading and exporting nation at that time. Excavations of the ruins have found Chinese coins, showing the extent of the trade. By the 14^th Century, the city had been abandoned, the capital moving closer to modern day Colombo as a more defensible location against the threat of Tamils from the North and Southern India.

The weather was hot and the sky cloudless, a far cry from other days on the trip. We hadn’t packed hats, an error that had not bothered us to date, but today we needed them. There was a hat stand near the entrance to the palace ruins and the bargaining started. We rejected $2500Lk ($12.50) opening bid for each poor-quality cap on offer and countered with 1000Lk for two. After a bit of two and froing, we decided to walk in the shade and set off through the gate, the hat seller still calling offers after us. On our return, we had fresh bids, but we ignored his right up until we got in the car and he was tapping on the window accepting the 1000Lk ($5) offer. Nilanker was well amused. He probably knew we were still robbed. Christine was even upset with me because I got a red “Adidas” cap that she thought looked too much like a MAGA cap. A few days later on we saw hats at several stalls priced at 450Lk each, about $2.50. Nilanker liked that.

The tour of the ruins was interesting but we were just about done with ruins and temples. It was also very expensive at $US30 a person, as most tourist sites are for foreigners. The site would demand a great deal in terms of restoration and maintenance and it is clear the Government sees tourism as a way of financing the task. Even so, it has been a topic of discussion amongst the few other tourists we have managed to talk to. Sri Lanka is regarded as expensive compared to other SE Asian countries.

We reached the coast and found our accommodation, bearing the promising name of Blue Sands Resort. Tripadvisor rates it as a 9.1 with wonderful stuff said about the staff. The “staff” was one person and he was very nice and helpful. We were the only guests once again and the room gave beautiful views of the beach, only separated by a scrubby field filled with goats and cows. We had access if we walked down a nearby laneway. Once again, the TV didn’t work because the bill had not been paid. It is a common thing when the tourist numbers are down.

The ”resort” did not have any restaurant facilities other than breakfast but two nearby options were given, Laya Waves just a few doors down and the Cinnamon Café. Nilanker took us 4 kms or so back into town to a “foreign beer” shop where we stocked up on a bit of beer and even a bottle of wine, a Chilean Red. Alcohol in any form is a luxury item here.

The beach near our hotel.

Later, we wandered down to the beach, a broad expanse of white sand and clear waters. A sea breeze was in, cooling things slightly but making the sea a bit too choppy for swimming. The only things on the beach were dogs and boats, colourful things with outriggers (not the dogs). After a cooling paddle, a couple of locals herded 20 or so cows onto the beach to move them along and graze them in the land in front of our resort. It looked to be some kind of common for grazing. We strolled into the Laya Waves Resort, flashier than ours with a nice pool to enquire about dinner for later. It had a nice looking restaurant but the only person we found to ask about dinner was at reception. She assured us that dinner was on.

The Blue Sands Resort (well almost)

In the evening, we enjoyed a couple of beers on our balcony, watching the palm squirrels play then headed back to Laya Waves Resort. The restaurant was in darkness. We should have taken this as a warning. The receptionist scurried around and dragged a man away from playing on his smartphone so he could turn the lights on. Not a good start. We should have left.

We ordered a chicken dish each and Christine asked about wine. What was she thinking? However, he went off for ten minutes or so and returned with two bottles, a rose type thing and a Spanish white that Google said was a cab-sav of reasonable quality. The price was only around $14, so we took it. It was bad, really bad, gone off type bad. We relocated the bottle and the glasses to another table for the hour it took for the meals to arrive. Mine consisted of dice sized chunks of chicken that had been roasted for the entire hour we waited. They were hard, so hard it was difficult to tell the flesh from the bone. Christine’s was slightly softer but in large chunks. She had butter rice, which was truly horrible. My French fries were just passable. The waiter took the hint about the wine and did not charge us.

Day 14 (June 19) – Polonnaruwa and Pasikuda Beach – The next morning we enjoyed a good breakfast at the resort and got Nilanker to drive to the Pasikuda Beach, about a kilometre away. This beach is also beautiful but more developed, with a string of high class hotels, most with pools out front, some bars and eateries and an offering of water sports. We spent quite a while in the perfect temperature water, just soaking. We exchanged pleasantries with a woman who asked where we were from and then we asked her. The eyes lowered and she paused before saying, “Russia”. We let that go and had a conversation as much as her English would allow. Her expression was a give away, or perhaps she had experienced negative comments before. Later, when we walked along the beach, we noticed that almost everyone other than locals were Russian. Nilanker says the Russians only come for the beaches and almost never travel to inland tourist locations.

Lovely Passikuda Beach

We did talk to a pair of New Zealanders, part of a group of six travelling in a minivan with a guide. That would be a good way to go because the costs of tours like safaris would be better when shared. They too had the experience of staying in hotels with no other guests.

We ordered a chicken burger and hamburger at a beachside bar, probably our first burgers ever in Asia. They were relatively cheap ($7) and absolutely delicious. After a good afternoon nap and catching up on emails etc, we waited for the heat of the day to ease and headed off to try the Cinnamon Café, the other nearby restaurant. What a contrast to Laya Waves. The lights were on, a few other people came and the food was beyond comparison. We ordered a whole grilled mullet (which was a wrasse, not a mullet) and Sri Lankan Style Cuttlefish. Both would have graced any restaurant anywhere. The fish, while far from the best species, was saved by the way it was cooked, coated in a rich spicy gravy. The cuttlefish was so tender and the curry filled with many different spices, but with the chili held back so it was edible and all the flavours could be appreciated without a volcano going off. All in all, the stay at Pasikuda Beach has been very enjoyable. It would be better to spend the extra money on one of the 4 or 5 star hotels right on the main beach and then it would be absolute heaven.

Day 15 (June 20) – Trincomallee – We drove the 100km to Trincomallee, mostly close to the coast. Almost all the land we travelled through is “dry zone”, with lower rainfall and low thorny scrub. Cattle were common in largely unfenced lands so we had to wait at times as they strolled across the road. In one place, a large herd of buffalo were relocating so we had a long wait. The presence of heavy electric fences in some parts were an indication of elephants and warning signs on the road were common, but we didn’t see any. A few significant rivers enter the sea on this coast, including the Mahaweli Ganga, Sri Lanka’s longest, which we had last seen in Kandy. Large mangrove lined inlets are common and the size of the fishing fleets suggested they were productive.

Beautiful views from various points around Fort Frederick

Trincomallee is a large natural harbour that has been a focal point for shipping and trade for millennia. Like most ports in Sri Lanka, it had been occupied by the Portuguese, Dutch, French then the British. It was the home port of the British naval force in WWII after the fall of Singapore. We visited Fort Frederick, the Dutch-built fortress that had a commanding coverage of the harbour. It was very hot and walking around visiting the various gun points and places of interest was sweaty work. The views out across the harbour were spectacular, a feature being the beautiful turquoise water, very deep under cliffs, but crystal clear. We visited the Hindu temple, quite crowded due to several large school groups who had come from as far away as Kandy to visit. The Hindu Temples certainly dazzle with the artwork and myriad colourful sculptures. We did note, however, that this was to be our last temple for the trip. We were soaked with sweat and quite happy to leave and get to our hotel.

The Hindu Temple at Fort Frederick and views of Tricomalle from an old gun emplacement

The Blue diamond read up really well on the web, beach access, private beach, restaurant, swimming pool etc. Hhmm! Our third floor (no lift) room had good views of the water but….. beach access was restricted because we had to go through another hotel and they were embroiled in an ownership dispute with the court had locked the grounds. The security let us through on one occasion but rejected us the next time. It was a bit of a walk around through the fishermen’s area, smelly and with snarly dogs. The private beach bit was pure fantasy. To enjoy any kind of facility at the beach we relied on the good graces of another hotel, which was obtained by spending money there. It was ok but not optimum. The beach itself is beautiful, white sand, clear water and swaying coconut palms.

The beach near the Blue Diamond Resort

We enjoyed a nice meal at the beach hotel and the proprietor kindly walked us home through the fishermen’s area and past the snarly dogs. He wasn’t even after a tip. He said we reminded him of his mum and dad.

Day 16 (June 21) – Trincomallee and Nevelli Beach – Nilanker took us north about 10km to another beach area, Nevelli Beach. It is a bit more touristy, and even quite full of locals given that it was a Saturday. Many boats lined the beach to ferry people out to Pigeon Island, a National Park about 3km offshore. It had been on our itinerary to go there for snorkelling but we canned it, after reading the reviews on Google. It seems that much of the coral is dead and turtles and reef sharks are the main marine life. We figured that spending over $100 on a mediocre snorkelling experience with all that we have to offer back home was not good value.

However, we enjoyed a wonderful swim in the clean water and low surf, watching the boats come and go and soaking in the 30 degree water.

The Blue Diamond Hotel, Trincomallee

Back at the hotel, we met Anna and Martin, a UK couple who are at the start of a 30 day or more stay in Sri Lanka. They were happy to pick our brains for the things we had found on our journey. They have finished up a lengthy working stay in Zurich and decided to just spend some time trying to live cheaply in SE Asia. Later that evening, we headed out with them to a wonderful eatery called Black and White Kitchen. They served a large variety of Sri Lankan food, some of it quite new to us. It was ridiculously cheap, the four of us spending 2,700Lk ($13) all up. When we got back to the hotel, we headed to the little restaurant for a beer. There was a game set up called Karen Board, a snooker type game but using round counters flicked with the fingers instead pool. Martin and I tried it, slowly getting the rules right under the direction of the staff. Then we sat down for a pairs competition with the two staff. It was great fun and something really different.

Day 17 (June 22) – Negombo – The day was a long drive, by Sri Lankan standards, some 260km across the island east to west and back to our starting point, Negombo. It was interesting watching the vegetation change as the climate became wetter to the west. Although we followed a main arterial highway, the traffic was heavy with tuk-tuks, motorbikes, trucks and the dreaded buses. We seldom got up a full head of speed because of the amount of slow moving traffic. The only exception was a 40km section of high speed toll road that allowed 100km/hr and was devoid of tuk-tuks.

Nilanker did drive a little faster than normal as we neared Negombo. The lure of seeing family again must have been an incentive. We found ourselves back at the Optimum Residences, with some nostalgia. It remains the best accommodation we have encountered, and we were warmly greeted by the staff as returning customers. The big surprise was that it was quite crowded, with several families and couples in residence and playing in the pool. It made for a pleasant change and suggested that the predicted tourism influx in July was starting.

Day 18 (June 23) – Colombo – The Optimum Residences have a wonderful breakfast. We now know that it is a showcase of much of Sri Lanka’s street food favourites, and they are now ours. The string hoppers, coconut sambal pancakes, potato curry and lots of other delicious things we normally wouldn’t dream of eating for breakfast. We followed that up with a swim, having the morning to wait before moving to Colombo.

The drive to Colombo was not an improvement on the last time we did it, heavy traffic, crazy tuk-tuks and streets cluttered with goods of all descriptions. The driver found Central Street and motored down towards 132, the location of the City View Port Hotel. As we got closer, we didn’t get warm vibes. It was in an area of commercial warehousing with no shops or restaurants in evidence. The hotel proved to be good enough and worthy of its 3 stars, but the location was a shocker. Trying to walk around the neighbourhood was an exercise in dodging trucks unloading pallets of goods.

We needed to go to the rail station to pick up tickets to Kandy. How hard can it be? Go outside and hail a tuk-tuk. The lady at reception suggested it should cost 200Lk to the station. We finally got a tuk-tuk, gave him instructions and settled on 300Lk. We logged the trip into Google maps and watched in dismay as we headed in the opposite direction. The issue was that the driver had almost no words of English, to match our zero words of Sinhalese. We got through to him that he was going wrong so the solution was simple, throw an immediate U-turn in front of all oncoming traffic. We got him back on track and after several more U-turns and incredible near misses, we arrived.

Chaos reigns supreme in the streets of Colombo

A nice man at the station took us in hand and verified our on-line bookings, activating them so we could use digital tickets the next day to go to Kandy. The next step was fighting off the tuk-tuk drivers and T-shirt sellers that surround the station. We escaped over a bridge and headed into the depths of downtown Colombo. What an eye opener. The streets are chaotic and the difference between sidewalk and roadway is blurred. We navigated through many different types of streets before we returned to the hotel.

Having established that there were no decent restaurants near-by, we sought out a wholesale sweet shop and bought a packet of potato crisps and some wafer biscuits. The wholesale part didn’t mean bulk. They will take anyone’s money. The crisps were combined with a can of beer each at the hotel and that was dinner. We figured we probably had calories in reserve anyway.

Day 19 (June 24) – Colomb to Kandy – We lodged our main luggage at the hotel and caught a tuk-tuk to the station. This time, there was no problem and we went roughly the right way, with only one U-turn in front of oncoming traffic. The train was easy to catch, largely because there was a nice man who targeted all foreign looking people and made sure they got on the right train and found their carriage. Everything was done with gestures. Once settled on the train, the man appeared again and put a paper in front of us saying that he was deaf mute and represented a charity group, along with a list of people who had donated 1000Lk. A good Samaritan or a good scam? We’ll never know but we paid up.

Fort Railway Station (Colombo)

The train trip was everything we had hoped. The first 60% was interesting enough, with small towns and villages seen from a different viewpoint than when viewed from the road. However, once we started the climb into the mountains, the scenery became really spectacular. Fortunately, we were on the right hand side of the train and had a commanding view of the mountains The forests were thick and jungle-like, with a big variety of ferns, vines, and palms.

Some of the wonderful mountain scenery from the train

We arrived at Kandy and once again negotiated a tuk-tuk to the hotel. This time, the hotel we had chosen was in a retail part of town with an abundance of restaurants. The hotel itself had a roof-top bar and a flash restaurant on the ground floor. It was a good choice. After settling in, we took a walk around the streets, hoping to see a market to buy some T-shirts for the grandkids but there was a complete lack of tourist stuff in evidence. We did come across the Queen’s Hotel, the equivalent of Singapore’s Raffle back in the days of the Raj, but now looking a little worse for wear. Still, we enjoyed a couple of beers while soaking up the old world charm of the building and admiring all the memorabilia. We chatted at length to a British ex-pat now living in Sri Lanka and listened to him extol the virtues of life on the island.

The Queens Hotel, Kandy

Walking around Kandy is much easier and more pleasant than Colombo. The streets are wider, have sidewalks that aren’t covered with goods and ramshackle shops, and the population is much smaller.

Kandy Lake, old government offices and a Sri Lankan curry meal

We ate a lovely dinner of Sri Lankan curry back at the hotel and even managed some rare reasonably priced wine to go with it.

Day 20 (June 25) – Kandy to Colombo – We had travelled light up to Kandy, but had packed bathers in anticipation of a swim. However, the weather put us off, with grey skies and mild temperatures. We lazed around after breakfast before checking out and wandering the streets, We went a different way and found a big market with many T-shirts on offer. Of course, we were attacked as soon as we neared the market with offers of “best price” and “superior quality for you madam.” Eventually, we haggled our way through buying five T-shirts and made our escape, filled with the knowledge that we had paid too much, but at least we had put up a good fight.

We stopped at a bakery called Ceylon Tea House and had, of all things, a hot dog and lime juice to ready us for the trip down the mountain on the train. The tea house was another piece of old Ceylon, with many wonderful old photos adorning the walls. As we neared lunchtime, it filled with locals.

Another tuk-tuk bore us back to the train station and we found our train and seat without the aid of the deaf man. This time, we had 2^nd class, meaning no air conditioning and the windows open. Air conditioning is not necessary, but the noise as we passed through tunnels and cuttings was deafening with the windows open. We still enjoyed the trip immensely. It is a 3 hour train trip we highly recommend.

Outside the rail station, we tried for a tuk-tuk and gave him a card showing the hotel. Of course, few tuk-tuk drivers can read but he nodded wisely and set off. Soon it was clear we were badly off course. We got him to change direction and went for a while with us giving him turn instructions from Google Maps. Finally, he pulled over and surrendered. That was it. No more. We paid him 300 or the promised 400Lk and set off on foot. Fortunately, we knew the way from the previous walk and found our own way home.

We retrieved our bags, used our booked room to shower and relax before getting picked up by a car for the trip to the airport at 9pm.

The trip has been amazing. The advice we received that it is too hard to do Sri Lanka without a tour is largely correct. Tourism is simply not that well established and what there is largely caters for local tourists or Indians. The Russians come in numbers but are only interested in the beaches. I do think that having a private car and driver gave us more insight into life in Sri Lanka than we would have gained as independent tourists and the cost was roughly similar to going on an organised tour. It is our first experience of touring with a private car and driver and it is well worth considering.

Sri Lanka Part 3 – Central Area

June 21, 2025 / terry

Day 8 (June 13) Ella – Looking at the itinerary, we thought we were in for an easy day, after the rigours of the safari. We had three tours, and all three were just local sights to view. Easy. Not so!

The Nine Arch Bridge on the Kandy-Ella Railway is one of the iconic sights in Sri Lanka and a mecca for train spotters. Built in 1912, it is a stone bridge of 9 arches (surprisingly) over a deep ravine. To access it, we parked on the road and walked down. “Just a little bit more..” was always the answer to “Are we there yet?” Eventually, we emerged from the rainforest walk onto the bridge to join many others, including a large school group. Some had come from the other side by tuk-tuk ride, from a place that cars could not access very easily. We took our pictures and a train arrived, also stopping on the bridge for a while to allow passengers to alight and take photos. It is a beautiful bridge by any count.

The Nine Arch Bridge

I was worried about Christine’s ability to climb back up. The steps are killing on the knees going down but the climb up is physically demanding as well. We set off and got to the point about 40% of the way up where there was a tuk-tuk waiting. For $5, it was a bargain. Nilanka couldn’t fit in and the tuk-tuk had no hope with three in it, it barely made some sections with us two. It was the best $5 we have ever spent.

Then it was off to Little Adams Peak to take in the views. Just a easy walk for 2kms then some steps. He actually meant 650 steps, each one felt about 1 metre high. Christine stayed at the end of the 2km walk where there was a restaurant to keep her happy with a lime juice. Nilanka and I ran to the top. It was brutal. I kept having thoughts like “there are no medivac choppers here” or “I can always Google the view”. Once at the summit, the view was amazing and the fact that I had done it was rewarding. On the way down, I mentally assessed each person coming towards me as a “fail” or a “maybe”. Nilanka and I had icecreams as a reward for our effort.

On top of Little Adam’s Peak and Ella Rock in the background

Flesh eating fish

The final spot was at least easy going. A small pretty waterfall is considered a good swimming spot. We couldn’t be bothered with bathers so we elected to just paddle in the lovely pool. Nilanka said there was a better pool and another fall accessible by a climb up the hill but we both voted down any idea of more climbing. Instead we paddled. The small sucking fish came out in force. These are the same fish sold for aquariums as “algae eaters” but they are quick to target the dead skins cells on people’s feet and we soon had them all over us. Christine hated it and escaped to a rock, while I didn’t mind it and happily let them chew all the old rotting flesh off my feet.

Once back in the town we sought out a restaurant and had a Vietnamese banh mi and an Italian Milanese roll just to spread the love around food wise and had a much needed afternoon snooze.

Downtown Ella

Day 9 (June 14) – We packed up and after breakfast, Nilanka took us to the Ella Railway Station. A cricket ground is situated next to the station and 6 teams were lined up listening to the opening speeches for a cricket carnival. The ground looked brutal, with the bare earth pitch situated so close to one boundary that bowling was only allowed from one end.

We waited for the train and watched the crowd grow larger, a mix of locals and some tourists, mostly European. Finally the train hove into view and we scrambled to find ur carriage. Fortunately, we did not have luggage, with Nilanka driving to our destination, Nanu Oya. The whole thing is about the journey, with this one of the World’s great journeys, offering spectacular views and a climb over the mountains at around 3000 meters. On advice from tourist blogs, we skipped the air conditioned 1^st class and opted for the 2^nd Class Reserved seat. This allows the windows to be open for a better view. Down in 3^rd class, the young backpackers even hang out the windows and doors for speccy photo opportunities but those days are over for us. The views were both interesting and spectacular, with deep ravines, soaring forest covered mountains, rice paddies, vegetable gardens and small villages. We made a few stops at stations along the way during the 3 hour trip. The final half hour saw the weather start to close in, with thick mist turning to light rain. The temperature dropped too, signalling the higher altitude of our destination.

Ella to Nanu Oya

Once off the train and back in the car, we drove a short distance to the town of Nuwarra Eliya, where we did a hurried walk of the town in the increasingly heavy rain. The market was a highlight. The vegetable grown in this highland region are the finest I have seen anywhere, and they are grown in small plots in people’s yards or small holdings. A huge variety is grown and everything looks amazing, with not a plastic wrap in sight. As we walked, we noticed that most locals were dressed in puffer jackets, and some with scarves and beanies. They knew what was coming. The clothing stores tried hard to sell Christine a jacket, because she still just had a blouse on and nothing warmer.

We left the town and drove up a steep hill to our accommodation, selected to give commanding views over Lake Gregory. Alas, all we could see was white. Once settled in to our room, we headed down stairs to the lounge to watch the AFL and relax in comfort. We were the only ones staying in the guesthouse, which was a beautiful building with rave reviews on Trip Advisor. This has been common for us, such is the depth of the “off-season” and the general decline in tourism in Sri Lanka. Even the proprietor was away, leaving one poor young man to be everything, receptionist, cook, housekeeper etc. He was a very friendly little guy with three and a half words of English but Nilanka managed for us.

We caught up on stuff on our computers and watched the Dockers make hard work out of beating the Kangaroos as the temperature steadily fell away. We both started to shiver badly. The problem is we had no real warm clothing. We asked for a heater, and a small oil column heater was trotted out and soon had us managing. Outside it was near gale force wind and hammering rain, along with a mist that meant that maximum visibility was less than 50 metres. Welcome to tropical Sri Lanka. We had planned to go out for dinner, but the weather rules that out so we order in a Pizza Hutt. Amazingly, we had a choice of that or Dominos and the cost came out at something like $15 delivered. Not only that, it was really delicious. We crawled off to a very early bed after securing extra blankets. It was one of the crazy nights where it got warmer as the night went on.

Day 10 (June 15) – Kandy – We were not sorry to see the back of Nuwarra Eliya, given that the visibility was not much better in the morning, although the temperature had risen a few degrees. Our drive took us steadily down, dropping around 1500m to Kandy. Most of the drive consisted of switch-back hairpin bends, negotiating around the tuk-tuks and motor bikes, which are restricted to 40km/hr. We were allowed 60km/hr and Nilanker never exceeds any speed limit, nor passes on an unbroken line. Most traffic is the same, a far cry from Australian drivers. The police are a very visible presence, and the on coming cars flash lights to warn of the police ahead. The buses are an exception. Their aim seems to be to get from point A to point B as quickly as possible. Any slow down of traffic ahead earns a loud blast of their twin horns. Nilanker’s skill in negotiating all this is amazing. There is no way I would contemplate driving here. I love it when someone decides they are going the wrong way. Simple. You do a three point turn on the highway. The cars that can get around you do so, the others stop and let you perform the action. No one gets out of their cars and bashes your windscreen in or kicks the front fender.

Kandy on a Sunday is very crowded, especially as the road we came in on is filled with international colleges that specialise in upskilling secondary students so they can get a better university entrance score or secure an overseas student visa. The sidewalks (and road verges) were teeming with young people heading too or from classes and progress was very slow, even though the police had taken control and directed traffic.

Eventually, we made our way to the Temple of the Tooth, Kandy’s most famous site. Kandy was the capital of the Kingdom of Sri Lanka before the British took over in 1815. The temple was the previous palace of the Sri Lankan King. Now it is a Buddhist Temple that houses the most famous of relics, a molar from Buddha himself. The relic has been a well documented symbol of Buddhism in Sri Lanka for many centuries, and its possession meant power. Many times it was taken and many times it was hidden away from threat. Even in modern times, it was endangered in 1998 when Tamil separatists known as Tamil Tigers, bombed the chamber that housed the relic. Now it has been moved deeper within the temple and is subject to very high security. Even entering the temple grounds, we had to enter through separate male and female gates so we could be frisk searched.

The temple is very grand, reflecting its former role as a palace. It displays a well presented history of the tooth relic and a great many items associated with its history. It is a very sacred place for Buddhists, as meaningful as the Vatican to Catholics and the collection of murals and ceiling art is on the same level.

From there, it was off to our lodgings, Jack Tree Lodge. Once again, we were the only guests in a very beautiful guesthouse. The people were so friendly and accommodating, but a few more guests would be nice. The other great thing about the accommodation is that it is perched on a high ridge, so amazing views are gained on both sides. We lazed around for a couple of hours before heading out to a Cultural Dance Show. Such shows are to be endured. The content bares an amazing similarity right across SE Asia, and usually involves much drum banging and elaborate costumes. This one was no exception, topped off with some impressive fire dancing, and it was actually very enjoyable. We sat next to a UK couple around our age who were just starting their own tour, in the opposite direction to us.

Nilanka took us up to a restaurant high on the hill with excellent views over the city. We paid a bit more than our usual conservative meal budget but enjoyed a wonderful meal in beautiful surroundings.

Day 11 (June 16) – Sigiriya – We left Kandy with the sense there was more to explore and made the decision that it would be our return destination at the end of the tour. We have built in some time to free explore and we will take a train from Colombo to Kandy to soak up a bit more of this interesting city. The drive out of Kandy was another very long switchback descent for 50kms or so before emerging onto the plains, still dotted with isolated mountains. It was three temple drive. We keep saying we have seen enough temples but each one is so very different they are worth seeing, a bit like a cathedral tour in Europe.

A large Hindu temple in Matale was a working temple, although under reconstruction. The amazing array of colours and ornate decorations were worth seeing and to have some explanation of the workings from Nilanka was useful.

The second temple was an archaeological site a fusion of Hindu and Buddhist influences dating from the 9^th Century AD. It was very well preserved, probably because the huge stone blocks were carved from a hard granite-like stone rather than the usual softer sandstone.

The third temple was both a working temple and an archaeological site, probably the most famous in Sri Lanka. An enormous rock overhang high on a hill contains numerous buddhas, including three huge reclining buddhas. Unfortunately, to reach it we had to climb. Christine elected to take us by the cobbled pathway rather than the stairs but I’m not sure which was worse. The old legs are starting to protest more on each climb. However, the temple was worth the pain, a glorious testament to the importance of faith to mankind. The cave walls are covered with a staggering array of paintings, many depicting stories from the life of Buddha. Again, it is reminiscent of some of the great cathedral ceilings of Italy. I did find myself wondering if the original painters 1100 years ago found themselves painting over neolithic artwork from prehistory. The overhang is so huge it must have support early human life.

The Cave Temple

Our accommodation is called the Goddess Gardens, sounding more like a house of pleasure than a homestay. It is actually well named, with gorgeous gardens over a large area, beautiful pool and large well appointed rooms. Nilanka had not been there before and we joked about what we might find as we bumped our way across paddy fields and farmlands to the hostel. For once, we weren’t the only ones staying, with one other room occupied. We lazed away the afternoon with a swim and a snooze, before electing to stay in and eat at the hostel.

Goddess Gardens

Day 12 (June 17) – Sigiriya – Today was one of the highlights. We had a booking with a Sri Lankan Village tour. On the way, we stopped at various places to take in views of the famous Sigiriya Rock, or Lion Rock, a towering slab of granite that looks like it is the plug of an ancient volcano. It is amazing to think that a fortress and rock temple was once constructed on the top. You would have to pity the workers. It is possible to climb it, but the fee is high and so I elected to climb the slightly smaller neighbouring rock called Pidurangala later in the day.

Sigiriya Rock

The village tour is highly touristic but still a wonderful experience, the lunch being the highlight. First, we were loaded into a cart being pulled by an ox along a dusty track to a nearby lake. The ox was a large brahman type bull with horns so ingrown they crossed over. The yoke simply sat between his head and the large hump that they have on the rear of the neck so the keeper ensured that we sat in the right spot to balance the load and put a slight pressure on the neck. The cart was wooden and unsprung, so it was not the most comfortable of rides. The connection between the keeper and the ox was wonderful, the beast looking over often to get directions, and receiving affectionate pats for good work. There was no tugging of leads or touching with sticks at all.

Ox cart rise and wetlands safari

From the cart, we off loaded onto a small catamaran pontoon paddled by two young men. They paddled us around the wetland lake for some time, working hard in the stiffening breeze. We spotted a good variety of bird life, the highlight being a pair of eagles nesting in one of the trees. They one made Christine a beautiful garland out of a water lily while I was fashioned a weird hat out of a lily pad.

Eventually, they dropped us off on the other side of the lake to a pair of girls who took us into a traditional village house. The half walls were earth/brick while the long pitched roof was made from plaited coconut fronds. It was cool and comfortable. The kitchen was at the rear and consisted of a wood fired earthen stove with holes at the top for placing pots in. As heat was needed to different areas, the burning sticks underneath were moved around. It was highly efficient.

Preparing traditional Sri Lankan food

They demonstrated a variety of cooking techniques, getting us to join in with some of the preparation, while they prepared potato curry, sweet potato curry, an amazing coconut sambal, coconut roti, fried snake beans and, my favourite, a wonderful dish made with wild mangoes, which were little bigger than roma tomatoes and very flavoursome. They used hand grindstones to grind millet and flat rock with a round rock to grind ingredients for the sambal. The fish was river fish, Tilapia, cut into portions and deep fried with a rich herb coating.

Finally, we sat down with Nilanker to a meal that would grace any top restaurant anywhere, such was the variety and quality. That all this was done on a simple wood stove with very basic cooking equipment was amazing. It was a highlight.

After a bit of a snooze back at the Goddess Gardens, I left Christine to swim in the pool and headed out with Nilanker to climb Pidurangala Rock. I was not confident that I would complete the climb, the reviews saying it was very difficult. They weren’t wrong. The steps were steep and very narrow, requiring a sideways foot placement at times. I rested quite a lot to keep the breathing under control but eventually the steps gave way to a broad ledge containing the ruins of an ancient buddhist monastery. Remains of stone walls showed where small cells were constructed under the overhang to house the monks and a earth brick and a mortar covered reclining buddha dates from the 5^th Century AD.

From the monastery, the path was mostly a matter of climbing over rocks, sometimes with the aid of a stout rope. There were quite a few tourists on the rock, climbing late to catch the sunset view. I was pleased to see that most were a lot younger than me.

Monastry ruins. View from Pidurangala Rock across to Sigiriya Rock

Emerging from the rocks onto the top was one of the “Oh wow!” moments as the full vista was exposed, the glorious Sigiriya Rock not far away and the backdrop of other peaks and mountain ranges. A couple of other Aussies of retirement age picked up on my West Coast Eagles shirt and we exchanged a few comments. They apologised for being Collingwood supporters.

The climb down proved much easier and I reached the bottom feeling a lot better than I did with the Little Adams Peak climb in Ella.

The Sigiriya area is very beautiful and rightly holds its place as one of Sri Lanka’s key attractions.

Sri Lanka Part 2 – South Coast

June 17, 2025 / terry

Day 5 (June 10) – Galle – We stayed at the Finlanka Hotel in Hikkaduwa, about 20 km north of Galle. It is a pretty place with lovely gardens and nice pool, a thing that seems to be the norm even in cheaper hotels in Sri Lanka. Once again, there were few, if any, other guests.

The night was interesting. The close presence of the Colombo-Galle rail line was not a real issue, just the Earth shaking every hour or so. Far worse was the lovely lights wrapped around a tree in the garden outside and set to blink on and off every 7 seconds. The curtains did not cover the top portion of the windows so it was bloody annoying. Fortunately, we both had sleep masks.

We also awoke to rain, the first so far. Today was a special holiday for the full moon. A holiday is celebrated every full moon but this was special because it celebrated the coming of Buddhism to Sri Lanka. It also meant that most restaurants were closed and those that opened would not serve alcohol. We pretended that it didn’t matter.

At breakfast, the owner apologized for the lack of the usual full Sri Lankan breakfast due to the holiday and proceeded to bring us separate plates of more food than we normally eat in a week, fruit platters, eggs on toast, hot dogs in buns, cakes, muffins, fruit smoothies, a pot of tea. It just kept coming and we hardly made a dent in it.

We headed off to Galle, with the holiday meaning that the roads were even more crowded than usual. Along the way we saw numerous long queues of people. These were places serving free food as part of the holiday. It seemed to be a lucky dip as to what you got. Some dished out bread and bananas, while the next had curry and rice, or even icecreams in cones. The lines showed just how well free food pulls a crowd.

First stop was the Japanese Peace Monument, an enormous Buddhist stupa donated by the Japanese after the tsunami. The Japanese gave a lot of support to Sri Lanka following the event and the gratitude is obvious. The location gave wonderful views over Galle Harbour. Inside the temple, people were asked to pray for peace between the Ukraine and Russia. Hard to argue that one.

Next, we headed down to the Dutch Fort. This is the amazing fortress that overlooks the Galle Cricket Ground, the scene of two test matches with Australia earlier in the year. We got used to the sight of people sitting on the walls of the fort watching, and little wonder, given the small size of the ground and the expense of the tickets. We had imagined we were seeing the remnants of the fort. Far from it. The fort is a large walled town, still complete and still working within, much as with places like Dubrovnik in Croatia. The walls are constructed of limestone, coral and earth ramparts, so thick that no cannon could ever have hoped to do any damage. The fort served to protect the Dutch interests up until the British take-over in the early 19^th Century, which was largely done without a shot as the Dutch had been conquered by Napoleon at the time. As a fortress it is very impressive. As a focal point for the local population and social gathering place, it is equally so. This was the place to be, even in stormy weather.

Dutch Fort, Galle, ext to the cricket ground

The crowds were out and about on the walls of the fort. We enjoyed a walk of three sides, Nilanka meeting us with the car at the three quarter way, a good idea because the heavens opened shortly after. Driving through the town, we stopped at the Dutch church, a building showing all the austerity of the Dutch Reformation compared to the Catholic churches of Europe.

With few eating options, we did manage a couple of rolls with interesting fillings from a bakery before getting home. The afternoon was spent with a well earned rest and a swim. In the evening we wandered down to the main road to find the one establishment open for food service, a hotel, and had a wonderful Sri Lankan Pork Curry. Of course, we couldn’t wash it down with the usual beer and had to make do with watermelon juice (true).

Day 6 (June 11) – Being the only ones in the hotel, a full buffet breakfast was not served. Instead, plates were brought out every few minutes. A big plate of diced paw-paw, watermelon and two bananas came first and we just started into the shared plate when mine arrived. The first one was Christine’s. Before we had made a hole in that when two types of pancakes, banana and egg, arrived, along with coconut roti and curry dipping sauce. There was also a plate of string hoppers, little saucer sized things made of fine noodles. We were working hard, trying to show our appreciation by consuming stuff when four spiced sausages arrived and distracted us from anything else remotely healthy. This was washed down by a pot of tea, along with a paw-paw and banana smoothie. I was bursting at the seams, but Christine still managed a piece of vegemite toast. I felt guilty so I had two pieces of tea cake. All this and we actually refused the eggs and omelet offering.

Most of the day was spent driving. We only covered around 160km in total but progress is slow. Speed limits away from actual motorways are low, 40kph for tuk-tuks and motorbikes, 60kph for cars and trucks, 250kph for local buses. The buses are terrifying. They come at you, lights flashing, horns blaring and suspensions collapsing. They rule the roads. The police were very much in evidence, with pull-overs seen every few kilometres. Our driver is very conservative and we like it like that.

Along the way, we stopped at a lovely lighthouse, the southern-most point in Sri Lanka. There were a couple of young boys flying a kite in what was close to gale force winds. They appeared to be struggling with the spool of heavy fishing line. I held the line to feel the strength and it was similar to a 4 or 5 metre tiger shark grabbing a fish and taking off. They were slowly making ground with their hand spool so we left them to it. We climbed a slippery slope to the beautiful Coconut Hill lookout, a wonderful view of the coast from a precipice totally lacking in guard rails or walkways. Welcome to the real world.

Once we arrived in the Tissamaharama area, we traversed a long earth causeway with a large lake on one side. This is part of an elaborate irrigation system constructed around the 3^rd Century BC by the Tamil Kingdom of Ruhana. There are five such lakes dotted around the area with an intricate system of canals to create a large irrigated area. It still being a festival holiday, the canals were filled with people of all ages, bathing, cooling off or simply finding a good place to socialize.

We visited the Tissamaharama Raja Maha Vihara, an ancient Buddhist temple from the 3^rd Century BC, a colossal structure built from tiny bricks.

The road sides held a lot of small stalls, with one or two tables and piles of shallow earthern ware pots piled up. We stopped at one and sampled their product, little tubs of a curd made from buffalo milk covered with palm honey, the sap gathered from the flowering of a local palm. It was a complete 10/10 taste sensation. The honey is becoming less common as bees honey displaces it, probably making more money. The curd has a slight tang but is a very fine yoghurt by any standards.

Then it was the afternoon at the hotel, a very nice resort called the Pahalage Boutique Villas, which would have been fine except that it was very much in off-season rebuild mode. Many rooms were gutted and there were workers around, the only staff seeming to be the one manager. We were not impressed, despite their every effort to accommodate us. We had to ask for such simple things as a second towel and a kettle. Yes there was on-line TV where we could have watched the cricket. No, they hadn’t paid the subscription so no TV. We chose a meal each from the menu, no doubt so they could use Uber Eats to order in (yes, they have Uber Eats in Sri Lanka). It was not a big issue because we were only staying the one night but it was annoying, and messaged the tour company to tell them, saying we wanted to be assured that all future bookings were in hotels that were fully functioning. They came back within twenty minutes saying they had changed our next hotel in Ella. According to our driver, the off-season has the advantage of not having to fight crowds at all the attractions but the hotels are in go-slow mode.

Day 7 (12 June) – Tissamaharama to Ella – It was a very early start at 5:45 to head out to Yala National Park for a safari. Having located a friendly ATM to stock up on huge piles of cash to pay for the experience, we rendezvoused with our guide and his slightly beaten up Toyota Hilux with a six pack of high seats mounted in the ute well. It all looked like overkill until we saw the state of the tracks. A 4WD is definitely needed with a driver sufficiently experienced to negotiate the huge holes and ruts in the track. We hadn’t even reached the park entrance before we saw a tree full of monkeys, gray langurs, and a large (even by Australian standards) crocodile in a roadside pool. Once in the park, the utes spread out across the tracks, each jockeying for position to find the best animals. There was no shortage. Every water hole held buffalo, the excitement of a mongoose snuffling along by the side of the track soon became commonplace, herds of deer graced the grasslands and many pools harboured more large crocodiles. Both the Estuarine Crocodile (like ours) and the Marsh Crocodile are in the park. It looked like the Marsh Crocodile had a slightly shorter mouth. The highlight, of course, was a family of elephants coming to a waterhole to bathe and feed on the lilies. No bulls were in sight, all mothers and calves, but a couple of the mothers were huge beasts. The bird life too, was amazing, with some enormous hornbills, hundreds of beautiful bee eaters, bright iridescent blue kingfishers and a fantastic display of water birds.

Marsh Crocodile, Spotted Deer, Russet Mongoose, Water Buffalo

We spent four hours being thrown around in the back of the ute, but it was worth every minute. We couldn’t help but compare it to the wildlife safari in Borneo where actual wildlife was very scarce, even birdlife. We saw more each hour than we saw in 2 weeks in Borneo. The nature of the park helped. Yala is dry land bush, with low thorn scrub and a few large trees. There are wide open grass areas so spotting the animals was easy. None of the animals had any fear of humans at all. We did not manage to find either a leopard or a bear. The lack of leopards was puzzling because Yala has the highest concentration of leopards anywhere on the planet. Oh well, we can always Youtube it.

Bud uruwagala Rock Temple

After a quick shower and change back at the hotel, we hit the road again heading north into the mountains to Ella. The dry land country changed back to the rain forest as we climbed. Along the way, we stopped at another archeological buddhist site, theBud uruwagala Rock Temple, with an enormous 7m high carving of Buddha, along with some smaller carvings of Hindu Gods. These dated to around 700AD.

Near Ella, we stopped at a roadside lookout to take in the beautiful Ravanna Waterfall, a drop of around 25m and quite spectacular. There were lots of tourists here, and we watched in amazement as people left a handbag unattended right next to a red-faced Langur monkey who looked ready to steal everything it could. Don’t people watch Youtube? Why would you have anything to do with a monkey?

Ravanna Waterfall, Ella

Our hotel proved good enough, at least it was populated with people and a few guests. Best of all, it was only a short walk to the main street of Ella. Ella is the first full on tourist place we have seen, the magnificent views and walks bringing people here. The climate is wonderful, with mid 20s and cool nights. We are over 2000m in elevation and it helps. The main street is all bars, restaurants, health spas and curio shops. We don’t find the same hard sell you get in other Asian places. Even the many tuk-tuk drivers are quiet and take a polite “no thankyou” as final.

Sri Lanka June 2025 Part 1

June 11, 2025 / terry

Day 1 (6 June) – Perth-Singapore-Sri Lanka. It is back to the international travel for us, off to Sri Lanka this time. The whole thing went very smoothly, with a bus and train trip to the airport, which is the first time since the train line opened that we have left during civilized hours, and a very quick flow through the formalities of immigration and security. Christine did get carted away for an extra scan because she had a knee brace on, but she didn’t get the full body frisk she was hoping for.
The Singapore Airlines flight to Changi was as good as any economy class can be with a good standard of food and a very generous red wine serving. The in flight movies are becoming tiresome though. As we have found with other airlines, you get around 3 minutes of ads before a show starts, which means if you surf through a few choices before settling on one, you can be subjected to the same pointless set of ads each time you change your mind. Then the announcer keeps interrupting the movie to advertise their in-flight duty free shop. It helps to have a few backup things on your own device.

Negotiating our way through Changi airport was easier than many other times because we were true “transit” and didn’t have to do immigration. It was only a short walk to the skytrain link from terminal 3 to Terminal 2 and we were soon settled in for the 2 hour wait for the next plane. The aircraft was big, but packed to the brim and many passengers had 3 or 4 items of hand luggage. How does this happen? We are always so careful to follow the rules but we are a minority it seems. With a time change coming up in Colombo, we adjusted our watches and tried to ignore the fact that we would really get there around 3am and had a small meal on the plane, refusing the main offerings. Then it was more dozing, watching stuff on the seat back screen and being aware of a gradual but persistent loss of mobility and feeling in the legs. Somehow we made it and got through Sri Lankan immigration and customs with no issues. They make a big thing of having an Electronic Travel Authority system where you have to go on-line and fill out lots of stuff only scammers should know. The main part is paying the $US52 each. Of course, Australians are visa free entry, you just need the ETA. The guy at the immigration counter didn’t even read it.
We were met by our driver, Nilanka, and taken a short drive to our stay in Negombo, the Optimum Residences. It was very late when we got there so we were shown straight to our room and we collapsed in a blissful sleep.

Day 2 (7 June) – Negombo – We expected to sleep late but ended up being first to breakfast at 8am. Able to scope out the surroundings in daylight, we found the Optimum Residences to be composed of two buildings of rooms and one large family home and office all set in beautiful gardens. The breakfast lounging area is next to a lovely swimming pool, with another outside our room. The rooms are basic, clean and comfortable. Breakfast was a wonderful buffet of mostly local foods and fruit, with enough variety to satisfy most tastes.

With breakfast out of the way, Nilanka arrived and we planned our day. Still needing some catch up sleep, we opted for afternoon excursions and we spent the morning in the pool or dozing. We were surprised to find the AFL matches on TV via ABC Australia so we watched Geelong demolish Gold Coast.
In the afternoon, it was off in the car to find an ATM. All our money is on a card (Wise) which has international currency exchange built in. We had very little in the way of Australian cash and no Sri Lankan Rupees. Concern set in when we got knock backs from three ATMs, uncertain as to whether the fault lay with our card or the ATM services being offered. Finally, we found a money changer and changed a $A50 note to give us something. Then we tried a supermarket where we could try out the card with purchases. No problem. Just cash withdrawal did not work.
Moving on we went down to the beach area, quite crowded it being a Saturday, and tried a restaurant with the card. Again no problems and they suggested that we try the ATM down the road, which was probably more tourist oriented. To our great joy, it issued us some cash. The bulk of our purchases will be with card, but cash is still needed at times.

We spent a lovely couple of hours at the beach side restaurant, sampling some delicious cuttlefish, a not so good but still filling local dish called kottu, like a noodle stir fry but with sliced up roti substituting for the noodles and, of course, quite a bit of beer to wash it all down. There was a lot of activity on the beach, with volleyball games and food trucks. The sea was quite unsettled but there didn’t seem to be much interest in swimming. As the restaurant began gearing up for live music and young people, we found our driver and headed home, happy that we were solvent again.

Day 3 (8 June) Negombo – It was a very early start with Nilanka arriving at 5:45 to pick us up to go to the fish markets. The early start is because they only run until around 7am, to ward off the heat of the day. They were amazing markets, with a lot of quality fish on display, all recently caught. Most fish were the same or very similar to our own northern species. There were a lot of bonito displayed and a few very large yellowfin tuna. Prawns were also a feature, from tiny river shrimps to large fresh tiger prawns. We saw no squid at all, but a great many cuttlefish. Apart from the obvious smell of fresh fish, the place not difficult to put up with, as many Asian fish markets are, probably due to the lack of dried fish, which is at a different market.

We walked onto the nearby bridge to watch the local fishing. It was well organized. The tide was running out hard and each fisherman had a little container attached to a cord to hold their live baits. Most used rods and reels with a simple rig to run a live bait down into the current. We saw one happy guy cart off three very large mangrove jacks towards the markets and there was also a beautiful barramundi around a metre long tied up on a cord and swimming in the current to keep it alive and fresh. It is a sign of a healthy fishery, with so much available in the markets and still available to catch locally.
Then it was back to the guest house for breakfast. We have researched many of the offerings that were unfamiliar and we found that much of the breakfast was made up of Sri Lankan street foods, pan roll, string hoppers, pittu and sweet pancake. Everything we tried was delicious and not too spicy, although I think the chili had been wound back a bit for the international guests.
The rest of the morning was spent relaxing in the pool before the Eagles – North Melbourne match. We watched the first half in our room then moved to the restaurant for lunch and to continue the game. The staff rushed around to get the TV working and to place an air con unit in front of us. We were in heaven, despite the eventual score. We feel like royalty sometimes. The staff can’t do too much and always with a big smile.
In the late afternoon, Nilanka picked us up and took us to Angurukaramulla Temple, a large Buddhist Temple complex that had an amazing visual display depicting the life of Buddha and the growth of the religion. Negombo is largely a Catholic city, but Buddhism will be dominant as we move on.
Next, it was the site of the old Dutch fort, much of which is now used as a prison. The original fort dated from the 1600s and built by the Portuguese, destroyed and rebuilt by the Dutch then taken over by the British. It is a story repeated throughout Asia.

Nearby is the fish drying area, where a big expanse of flat beach is devoted to drying fish on reed matting. It is heavily salted and sun dried, before packaging for distribution around Sri Lanka and beyond. There were anchovies, scad, mackerel and tuna being dried. Remarkably, the smell was quite bearable. I was amazed that the whole thing wasn’t a mass of birds feasting on the fish, but apart from the odd egret wolfing down some, the crows left the fish alone and there are no gulls anywhere in sight. I think it is the only place in the world I have been without gulls of some form.
We cruised the beach area again, very crowded on a Sunday evening, with many locals out in their finery. We stopped at a restaurant called Fish and Chips, partaking in a wonderful prawn curry and crab curry each. The main dish was supported with bowls of sambal, fried onions, potato curry and another sauce we couldn’t identify. Very, very delicious and rather messy to eat. We left feeling full. The evening was spent watching the Men’s French Open Final.

Day 4 (9 June) Colombo and Hillanka – We are on the move. The decision to stay three nights at Negombo was a good one. While the city itself is not a “must see” place, the chance to really relax after a very hectic few months has been good and the Optimum Residences is a fantastic place to stay.
It seemed to take an age to get out of Negombo, fighting tuk-tuks, motorbikes and pushbikes all the way. The lines on the road seem to mean nothing. It is not uncommon for several vehicles to make a new lane straddling a double white line. It isn’t a matter of the odd near miss, everything is a near miss. We have not seen any actual contact to date. Once on the motorway (toll), the 30 odd km to Colombo soon disappeared.
Colombo is a mix of old, messy, crowded and grubby, along with ultra modern stunning high rise buildings and wide open plazas down on the beach front. Our driver took us around all aspects. At one stage, we got caught in a traffic jam due to a Hindu parade, part of a festival. We toured the Huge Gangaramaya Buddhist Temple. While the many carvings and buddhas were stunning, the thing of special interest was the collection of donations made over the years and stored for display. People donated something of value as an act of devotion. Nothing is sold, but everything is displayed. There were a couple of 1930s Rolls Royces, numerous mounted elephant tusks, some mazing ebony furniture with ivory inlays, a whole showcase with Rolex watches just piled in and a ridiculous amount of jewelry. There was even a case of guns that looked like a weapons buy-back program.

The Colombo Museum was interesting. It is laid out in a chronological order, starting with pre-history and working through to British colonialism. What I learnt was the extent to which the Dutch rule had an influence, lasting over a Century and having a significant impact on architectural styles and furniture fashions still in use today. We stopped briefly at Independence Square, a monument to the end of British rule in 1948.

Getting out of Colombo and heading south proved harder than Negombo. The traffic was insane but eventually, we made it to the Ahungalla area on the beach and stopped at a Turtle Conservation Project. There are many of these operating and appear to be a tourist thing at first glance. However, the logic makes sense. Five species of turtles nest regularly along the open beaches of the coast. The eggs were hunted for food to the extent that actual hatchings and natural attrition due to predation could not keep up and all species were threatened. The system now is that there are many hatcheries set up along the coast, and people can dig up the eggs when the nesting is observed, take them to a hatchery and get paid for them. The hatchery places them in temperature controlled sand pits and releases the hatchlings in darkness to promote survival. As well as this, they take in injured turtles until ready for return to the sea. It was interesting to see fifty or so day-old hawks bill turtles all on the seaward side of their pond trying to satisfy their natural instinct to reach the ocean.

We stopped for a short while at a monument built by the Japanese in memory of those lost in the Tsunami of 2004, which resulted in over 30,000 deaths in Sri Lanka alone and many more in Indonesia and Thailand. The site was where a train was inundated. The pictures on display brought back memories of those very sad times.

A short distance away was the Madu River mangrove complex, a huge expanse of shallow water teeming with life. We took a “boat safari”. These tours annoy us. They are always horribly over-priced and we see far less than the average day in Shark Bay. However, this was a surprise. Within minutes, we were up close and personal with a large water monitor swimming across the river. Then we started spotting the numerous brilliantly coloured kingfishers, being lucky enough to see one snaffle a fish from the water. We saw many white-breasted sea eagles, darts, egrets and amazing tiny terns, that followed in the boats wake and dived to grab any small fish disturbed by the propellor. It was all action. The boat stopped off at an island where cinnamon is grown. We always thought it was the outer bark taken, but it is an inner layer of bark that is carefully sliced off, as demonstrated by an old man. The smell is amazing. Another interesting feature is that the river is criss-crossed with large ropes strung at the water level. These act as speed bumps, because the boats are forced to slow and raise their outboard motors to get over them, thereby reducing the wash that causes bank erosion. All in all, it was a fun tour and worth the money.

By the time we settled in the Finlanka Hotel in Hikkaduwa, we were all in. We dragged ourselves to the beachfront two hundred metres or so away and ate an unsatisfactory meal (our first poor meal in Sri Lanka) at a waterside restaurant and consumed a very satisfactory beer. Early to bed.

Melbourne 2025 – 2 Weeks of Sport

January 19, 2025 / terry

Week 1, 6-12 January.

Softball State Championships U14, Waverley Softball Centre, Melbourne, Victoria

This was to be Kelsie’s third championships, following Canberra and Birisbane in previous years. This time, it dovetailed perfectly with our annual trip to the Australian Open tennis so we organised an AirBnB house in Glen Waverley to share with Tevor, Emma and Ashton, close to the Waverley Softball Centre and reasonably convenient to shops and train. We all travelled on the same day, us on Virgin and Trevor on Jetstar, but managed to land in Melbourne within a few minutes of each other.

We had organised a hire car for the week from a cut rate mob call Goldstar, which proved to be a bit of an ordeal because an airport pickup actually meant getting a shuttle bus out to the back blocks of Tullamarine to get the car. Despite the delays, we still managed to get across town some 40 kms, find the house, settle in and do some shopping for food before the sun went down in this crazy land of day-light saving. The house was a very 60s style place with four bedrooms and three bathrooms, which proved very comfortable despite being rather light on for essential items such as wine glasses and teaspoons. I am not sure how they advertise the place as sleeping 8 and then provide only 5 forks and 2 wine glasses.

Each day revolved around the softball fixtures. Our first day was an opportunity to explore Melbourne, with two late games scheduled, so we drove to Glen Waverley station, parked and took the train in to Richmond. It was Day 2 of the AO Qualifying Round so we all settled in to watch a few matches, including a bit of Leyten Hewitt’s son Cruz, do a bit of shopping in the AO Shop and generally soak up the atmosphere. Trevor and Em left to get some time to themselves while we took Ashton across the rail line to the MCG to the Australian Sports Museum. The display highlights many great moments in Aussie sports, with a big focus on the role of the MCG itself. Ashton revelled in the hands-on activites and sports quizzes, and showed off his expertise and knowledge of all things sporting (like his father). At he end of the museum time, we caught up again with Tevor and all travelled back on the train in time to change into softball support clothing and head to the first matches.

Trevor, Emma and Ashton went back later in the week to do the tour of the MCG and a BBL Match. Ashton even managed a photo with Gillchrist.

At the softball, WA had solid start, with a narrow 1 run loss to NSW Country and a big 19-4 win over ACT. It is wonderful to see Kelsie adopt a leadership part, playing at short stop. It is a great group of girls and are fortunate to have a talented coaching team.

As the week progressed, fortunes fluctuated, with losses to NSW Metro, a frustrating draw against Qld Country and wins against Victoria, SA and Qld Metro. The match against Victoria was clinical, resulting in a mercy walkoff at 17-0 and we managed a win against Qld Metro without a base being gained. A very disciplined effort.

On the Friday night, the team and supporters gathered at the Wheelers Hill Hotel, a beautiful setting overlooking the Dandenongs, to socialise together. Most of the parents have found accommodation nearby in Glen Waverley. We hardly recognised some of the girls out of their softball uniforms and relaxing in “civies”.

With the round matches over, WA was placed a very creditable 3rd, one place up from 2024 and two places up from 2023. The team has built well since Kelsie has been playing.

The first of the finals was a semi final against SA. It was a nail biter, with SA getting a solid start against us of a couple of runs and holding it for the first few innings. Eventually, WA followed up with a big innings, including a big three base hit from Kelsie, and squeeked home by a single run to claim a spot in the Preliminary Final.

The Preliminary Final went very well with a convincing win over NSW Navy, our nemisis in past competitions. Our pitcher, Gracie was the difference. No team can get a handle on her. During the round games, pitchers are restricted to three innings, but in the finals, there are no restrictions. The coaches managed her well, bringing Jade in when we had a comfortable lead, then bringing Gracie back for the final innings to make sure of it. Kelsie had a cracking two base hit and another run scoring walk. The team was Grand Final bound against the other NSW team, NSW Sky.

However, the weather looked bad. Thunderstorms were forecast, something that shuts down all outdoor events these days. The radar showed a large mass moving east through Melbourne. Later, we found that Melbourne received 25mm of rain in 30 minutes, causing considerable local flooding.

We all huddled under shelter and watched shade shelters crumble in the high winds and heavy rain that soaked the ground and made the diamonds resemble shallow lakes. Organisers hoped for a start around 5pm so the girls packed up and headed back to the their hotel to try and dry the equipment out. We decided to abandon the match and head into Melbourne to our new location for the Australian Open, and to live-stream the game later, if and when it happened. It was sad to miss, but with more rain on the radar we were not sure of the outcome.

As it happened, the rain eased enough to allow play around 5pm, once the lightning threat had disipated. Both teams would battle with wet and slippery conditions, especially the pitchers. We got a good live-stream up in our apartment, thanks to Softball Victoria and settled in to watch, not supremely confident because our girls had already played once whereas NSW Sky was fresh for the day. We got off to a shakey start, finding oursleves 3-8 down after two innings. Then a brilliant 7-1 third innings set up an amazing 1 run win.

The girls were over the moon, as were the supporters. Kelsie, as Captain for the game, went up to present the medals to her team and accept the trophy. Despite an uncharacteristic below average batting performance in the early matches, she continues to shine as an on field leader and adapts to the needs of the team. Her batting in the finals certainly came good when it was needed. Great job Kelsie.

Week 2, 13-19 January – Australian Open

Our apartment is really well located, at 220 Spencer St, right opposite the Skybus terminal at Southern Cross Station, making for an easy leave at the end of the week. It is a studio apartment on the 38th floor with all the necessary things, except a decent mattress. Why people leave sagging dead mattresses on beds in rentals is beyond me, it colours the whole review and rating when a couple of hundred buys an acceptable mattress from Ikea every year if needed. There was a sofa bed offering but they are terrible to sleep on so it ended up with the sofa bed mattress on the floor each night. Not ideal but the location makes up for it.

All around the neighbourhood are eateries, mostly Asian of some form with a great many Vietnamese and Korean. In the evening, the air is full of the smell of sesame oil and Asian spices. We have two choices to get to the tennis, walk down Spencer St to Flinders and ride the #70 tram to the gates, or walk a short distance to Bourke St and tram to Swanston, followed by a walk down Swanston then follow the Yarra along Princes Walk. The latter is more walking but much more pleasant than fighting the crowds on the tennis tram.

We did well on Day 1 (Day 2 of the Open) just buying a ground pass and getting in two magnificent matches with Aussies playing on Court 3. We saw both Tahlia Gibson and James Duckworth score much needed first round wins.

Day 2 we had seats in John Cain booked, but elected to go back to Court 3 to watch Emma Raducanu down 26th seed Ekaterina Alexandrova. It was an excrutiating match, with neither player holding serve much at all and both sets going to tie breaks. Then we headed to John Cain to see Taylor Fritz demolish fellow American Jensen Brooksby.

Wednesday was wet, which we didn’t know when we allocated it a non-tennis day. We spent the time wandering the shops, with lots of cheap clothes on offer at the Spencer Street Outlet Centre. In the afternoon, we headed to Docklands to catch the Banksy Exhibition. It is the largest privately owned collection in the World and was brilliantly displayed, each collection supported by video explanations of what had inspired the pieces or collection. I loved the “Dismaland” display with its Disney take-off of a chaotic theme park. The entire display was incredibly funny, thought-provoking and imaginative, all in one. The sections devoted to Banksy’s Ukraine and Gaza visits were particularly poignant and a reminder that the bad things aren’t going away anytime soon. Banksy’s work simplifies what politicians make so hard. Just fix it.

On our last day of tennis, we headed to Court 14 to watch the talented team of Kimberly Birrel and Olivia Godeke defeat a pair of Serbs in the women’s doubles. The great thing about the outside courts is being able to sit right up to the court and feel the power of the shots up close. The Aussie girls were the under dogs so their delight in winning was felt by the crowd and it was fun to be sitting only a few seats away from the families and coaches. It was a far cry from the big arenas. We stayed on to watch the Aussie men in Blake Ellis and Thomas Fancutt take on some higher ranked opponents but sadly, they couldn’t match the efforts of the girls. From there we headed to John Cain to see Elena Rybakina easily defeat 17 year old Iva Jovic, a possible star of the future.

On our final day in Melbourne, we took the train down to Mordialloc, a seaside location on Port Phillip. Azba, Mike and Evie drove up from their house is Mornington to meet us and we had a good catchup as well as an amazing seafood meal in the Tommy Ruff Fish Bar. This place certainly knows how to serve fish and seafood at reasonable prices. Christine’s seafood chowder was a standout dish. Az and Mike are keeping well, busy as always, and nearing the completion of their home build, a long term project. It is always good to catch up and follow their life’s journey.

It has been a two week stay for us, but seems longer. It was a very relaxed time and the move back to central city for the tennis was a good one, better than staying out and training in as we have done for the last few years. The vibrancy seems to have returned to the city, after the Covid exodus, and it is fun just to move around and discover hidden gems in the many laneways and malls. We may be back next year but who knows. A lot depends on the Softball and other adventures.

Sabah, Borneo 4-14 September 2024

September 15, 2024 / terry

Perth to KL 4-5 September

We felt like we were participants in the television reality show “The Great Race”, where contestants always seem to be running madly around in circles with their heavy backpacks on, trying to solve cryptic clues and receiving lots of knock-backs.

Our contest began as we drove to Perth Airport Long Term Parking through continual rain. These days, we do relatively little night driving, there being little need, but the conditions made the traffic on Tonkin Highway challenging at times. We made the dash for the shuttle bus stop, gained the sanctuary of the shelter and saw the read-outs of flight times. “Delayed” by two and a half hours. Our Malaysian Airways flight was scheduled for 1:25, but now listed for 4:15am. We were comfortably early at 10:45 but we now faced a long wait of either staying awake or somehow sleeping in an airport seat. There was also the worry about meeting our connecting flight to Sandakan in Sabah on time.

Already a tad irritable, the blood pressure rose when faced with a $13 a glass charge for a red wine and then copped the cheek of a “eftpos only” sign accompanied by a 1.6% surcharge on eftpos. I later found that the practice of charging a surcharge when no cash option is offered is illegal, but then the girl behind the bar is not the owner of the business, so what can one do?

The flight at least took off on time according to the new time and they had the good sense to delay the serving of a meal and darken down the plane so everyone could get some sleep. Christine slept quite well, I managed an hour or so between movies and the time passed tolerably well in the cramped economy class conditions. Breakfast was served with the rising of the sun but, it being Malaysian Airlines, chicken rice for breaky is a bit hard to take.

We had been told to head straight to the transfer counter at KL. We weren’t the only ones missing transfers, with another couple looking for a London flight and another now heading to Singapore to try to get a Hanoi connect. We eventually found help and were told they were holding the gate for us at B9. We were in building C so we had to find our way down to get on a bus to take us to B Block. All this time, we had still not entered Malaysia, a point that worried me. We were rushing from place to place, getting on buses, asking for lots of help. The system seems to be that you only ever give someone 60% of the answer, enough to make them think they know what you mean but leaving 40% unanswered. That’s how it was. We went from one place to another, finally coming to a point where going through immigration was inevitable. “That flight has gone,” we were told. I wasn’t surprised. We entered the country, and found yet another help desk.

The Malaysian Airlines people were very sorry and helpful. Within minutes, we were handed vouchers for more meals than we could eat, accommodation at a 4 star golf resort and transfer vouchers, along with boarding passes for the Sandakan flight the next day. Armed we these, and what we though were clear instructions for locating our luggage, we headed off again. The luggage proved a bigger puzzle, until we eventually found another very helpful girl who told us to go to carousel G, where our luggage was. After 20 minutes at Carousel G there was no sign of our two blue bags, even though our Tile Tracking App told us they were right close by. Finally, we walked right around the huge carousel to see them sitting off to the side, waiting for us.

We followed the instructions to find the transfer to our hotel, getting it 60% right before having to seek new instructions and then waiting an hour after missing a coach by mere seconds. By the time we arrived at the hotel, we were wrecked, happy to indulge ourselves in the luxurious surroundings and expansive buffet lunch.

View from our hotel window over the gold course

KL to Sandakan, Sabah – 6 September

We rose early, had an over-indulgent breakfast then were taken by private car to KL Airport. The formalities went without a hitch, boarding was on time and things were looking up.

At Sandakan, I was surprised to find we had to pass through immigration once more, despite it being a domestic flight, but the authorities had their reasons. This too went smoothly and we found a driver waiting for us on the other side of customs. The tour company had arranged for us to have a private tour to make up for some of what we had missed. Our guide was wonderful, an older man who used to be a guide may years before but now did free-lance driving. He still had the knowledge to make the afternoon really enjoyable.

We visited the Sepilok Orangutan Rehabilitation Centre. This facility is dedicated to caring for sick, injured or orphaned orangutans and allowing them to return to the wild. Some animals choose not to leave, and continue adult life in the forests around the centre, benefitting from the food and medical availability. The success rate of a wild return is 66%, and since opening in 1964, the centre has catered for 760 orangutans. The first thing that struck me was the incredible height of the timber in the rainforest, with huge ironwood, ficus and teak trees abounding. The understory was almost impenetrable but we had the benefit of an elevated boardwalk.

We watched one female orangutan at a feeding platform doing her thing with the assortment of fruits and vegetables before heading to another area, that acts as a nursery area for the young ones or nursing mothers. This was a highlight, watching the juveniles play, and the obvious loving bonds between two females, one which had a young one and the other that seemed to want a bit of a cuddle. We could have sat for hours and just watched the family interactions.

The Sepilok Orangutan Rehabilitation Sanctuary

Walking back along the boardwalk, we encountered a female orangutan with baby walking towards us. On instruction from staff, we just kept to one side of the boardwalk and the pair passed by quite happily.

From the orangutan sanctuary, we made our way to the Sandakan Australian War Memorial Gardens. The gardens are set on the site of the POW camp, and although little remains, there were a few bits and pieces scattered around, each documented for its significance. It was from here that 2,434 POWs were sent off on the infamous “death marches”. Three marches were organized late in the war to carry supplies to embattled Japanese troops in Ranau. Only six survived, and only because they escaped. The rest were so malnourished that they could not complete the marches, or died shortly after reaching the camp in Ranau.

I found the site particularly emotional, because my father had been stationed here after the liberation. As a Japanese interpreter, he had a part to play in the interrogations of many that were later convicted of war atrocities. He was never one to talk much about it but I was always interested in the story. I can recall seeing a photo of him on the beach at Sandakan but its whereabouts is now a mystery.

Sandakan with a view from our hotel window

We checked into the Hotel Elopura (the ancient name for Sandakan). This proved to be a 2 star hotel trying to be a 4 star but not making the grade. Still, the shower was hot, the location excellent with street markets one side and waterfront eats the other. The food on the street is incredibly cheap. The challenge is to find a place that has acceptable food and cold beer. We are in the heartland of muslim Malaysia, so alcohol is not readily available. We found a seafood restaurant that sold beer, so we skipped the food and had a relaxing cold Anchor Beer. The menu was tempting, a whole mud crab in chilli sauce only costing 35Rt or $A10.50. Where in Australia could you get that? In the end, we had our beer and moved down the boardwalk to Bistro 88, where we had a huge bowl of fried squid, followed by a plate of pepper sauce chicken wings, with a few more Tiger Beers for 57Rt, less than $A20.

Borneo Natural Sukau Bilit Lodge – Sept 7,8

It was another early rise (getting sick of them) for breakfast overlooking Sandakan Harbour before getting on the tour bus for the trip to the rainforest lodge. Along the way, we stopped at a proboscis monkey sanctuary. These strange looking creatures feature a large overhanging fleshy nose, making for a really comical appearance. I am not sure to what extent it was an actual sanctuary rather than a tourist orientated feeding situation although it did provide for a population of monkey whose habitat has been largely destroyed by palm oil plantations. The monkeys typically live in a mangrove forest on the edge of rivers and the boardwalk out to their living area was alive with birds, mudskippers and insects. There were also long-tailed macaques, a very common type of monkey that has no fear of humans at all and are well known to steal what ever they can.

The Proboscis Monkey Sanctuary

We pushed on and arrived at the rainforest lodge, situated on the edge of the Kinabatangan River, Borneo’s longest river. The lodge consists of a large open communal area and numerous individual chalets, all built on stilts and connected by high wooden boardwalks. The all-timber chalet was spacious, air-conditioned and equipped with a good ensuite bathroom. It was very comfortable and quite charming, set amongst rainforest with its resident population of mischievous monkeys. At times, the monkeys would descend on the eating area trying to steal food. Despite the pleas of the locals, some silly tourists insisted on leaving food where the monkeys could get at it, thereby encouraging their behaviour. The food was one thing, but phones, cameras and wallets are a bigger concern. They take anything.

TheNatural Sukau Bilit Lodge

The main activity consists of getting into long boats and being driven along the river spotting for wildlife. The main targets were long tailed macaques, red leaf monkeys, proboscis monkeys, hornbills, crocodiles, orangutans and elephants. We managed most, but failed with the elephants. There were a total of three cruises scheduled, but we begged off the 5:45am start and slept in. When there was word around of a herd of elephants some 30km down river, an afternoon trip was organized. We travelled at high speed down the river, entered a small quiet tributary and cruised the banks. A group of fishermen gave us the news that the elephants had moved on. We would have been happy to shrug our shoulders and say “C’est la vie” but the guide tried to make up for it by subjecting us to another hour and a half of cruising the river, occasionally stopping to watch yet more monkeys play.

Searching for wildlife on the Kinabatangan River

The food at the lodge was all local, and incredibly good. They did have difficulty managing the concept of “COLD” Tiger Beer but were very obliging when groups of Aussies basically commandeered the icecream freezer to chill drinks.

On the second day, we drove to the nearby Gomantong Cave System. These are not so much a cave system in the normal sense, but rather enormous cavernous overhangs, with several pothole entrances in the roof. The caves are heavily populated by bats. Swifts also return every year to build nests along the walls and roof and there is an age-old tradition of harvesting the nests after the young are raised for bird’s nest soup. The nests sell for over $1000 a kilo so the dangerous practice of climbing long slender ladders to get to the nests is justified. The place just reeks of toxic bat droppings. The ground literally crawls with huge cockroaches and the walls are home for big centipedes with extremely long legs. Some of the ground is moist and home for small crabs. We watched one dragging the body of a baby swift way as its prize. Fortunately, we were forewarned and wore helmets for the bat droppings and mask coverings to make the smell bearable. The boardwalk to reach the cave was more of a highlight, with the rainforest harboring beautiful insect life, some amazing butterflies and a lovely family of red-leafed monkeys. We also saw an eagle return to a tree clutching its prize of a bat.

The Gomantong Cave

Afte the cave, we returned to the lodge. The lodge was a wonderful place to stay, even though the whole nature wildlife experience was rather underwhelming. For some reason, bird life is scarce by Australian standards and I missed the constant chatter they create. Excluding a number of monkey species, there is little diversity of other animals and a river cruise does not compare with a similar cruises along a river in the NT. Another very upsetting aspect was the rubbish in the river. There were plastic water bottles everywhere. At one point, where a major snag had created a raft of branches, I estimated more than 500 bottles had been caught up. The local people claim to protect the natural forest for tourism and part of their cultural connection. They need to do something about the rubbish.

On the second day, a group of young travellers arrived, most with various European accents. I took notice of quite a few of the young girls, for all the wrong reasons. They had come to a local community where all the women are dressed to cover up and they chose to parade around in skin-tight two piece fitness wear. It must have been insulting for the local people, and I certainly found it very disrespectful. Not all of our Australian tour group were seniors like us, but everyone dressed respectfully and in keeping with the needs of the day’s activity. Being Australians, we did rather insist on finding a way of keeping beer cold, a challenge the locals seemed happy to help us with despite their own lack of alcohol.

Kinabalu Pines Resort – Sept 9

We both woke up with the good old Bali belly, or at least the Borneo version of it. I was only affected in the bottom end but Christine worked both ends. We had some Gastro Stop, which stayed the runs and another guest supplied some anti-nausea meds so we were able to pack and take to the bus in a reasonable condition. The day consisted of lots of driving, around 6 hours of it, taking Route AH150 across Sabah towards Kota Kinabalu. On the Malay Peninsula, intercity roads are extremely good, usually dual carriageway and formed to smooth out the hills. In Sabah, they are working on it, but the main arterial route has a long way to go before it is finished. Travel is slowed by the 50 kilometres of roadworks and the ever present palm oil trucks, not to mention the large potholes. We bumped our way eastwards, stopping a few times at road houses for toilet breaks or snacks. The bus refuelled at one point, everyone amazed at the 75c per litre. Apparently, fuel is subsidized by the Government. As we headed east, the country became increasingly mountainous, slowing our progress. The palm oil plantations gave way to thick jungle, making one huge green carpet around the chain of mountains that leads to the imposing Mt Kinabalu.

Our first real stop was at the Sabah Tea Plantation under the shadow of Mt Kinabalu. Here we had lunch, something that did not interest us much, apart from a bit of soup and tiny tastings of the five courses offered. The heavens had opened, the first rain of the trip, and it made up for the rainless days, pouring down in a true tropical downpour that lasted half an hour or so. We did buy some tea from the shop, being very impressed with all the tea we had sampled in Sabah, so much so that I have turned to drinking my tea black.

Sabah Tea Plantation

The tea house was in a district called Ranau. This was the end point for the infamous Death Marches, and there are several memorials around telling the story of those who suffered and died. Later, we shared a dining room with a tour group of Japanese, and I found myself wondering whether the tour programs are adjusted for them or whether there is the same focus on the atrocities of WWII.

After the tea house lunch, the plan was to visit a “Fish Spa”, where people dip their feet into the river and have all the old and loose skin eaten away by fish measuring up to a foot long. We questioned whether this would actually be fun, as did most of the others on the tour, and so none of us seemed upset when we were told that the heavy rain had caused localized flooding and the experience was off the agenda.

We settled in the evening at the Kinabalu Pines Resort, a series of chalets and a restaurant offering magnificent view of Mt Kinabalu. At 4050m, it is a serious peak and forms a strong part of the local cultural beliefs. Although shrouded in cloud, we got enough of a view to give great promise to the vista in the morning. The temperature too, is much lower, with the resort being around 2000m above sea level. It is strange to see hydrangeas, lilies and portulaca growing in the garden beds after so much jungle growth. Our room was not even air-conditioned and didn’t seem to need it.

The Pines Lodge and Mt Kinabalu

Dinner at the restaurant was a huge disappointment. Feeling much better and ready for something substantial to eat, we found the food to be terrible, the first bad experience we have had in Borneo. Even the steamed white rice was unpleasant. The Google Reviews backed up our opinion. Nice place, poor food.

Kota Kinabalu 10 -13 September

We had a later than usual start at 9am, heading off to the Ranau Death March Memorial. There are four gardens, Australian, British, Bornean and Contemplative, each dedicated to one of the three groups that suffered so much under the Japanese occupation of 1942-45. We sat and watched an old Channel Nine report on the death marches, back when a group of Australian men and women re-enacted the same march of 260km in 2005. The footage included interviews with two of the only six people to survive the experience and it brought tears to everyone’s eyes. The tissues were out in force. After the film, we inspected each of the four gardens. It was a moving moment. Everyone felt the same way, a sense of shame and disappointment that more is not made of this terrible event back in Australia. Perhaps it is because it was part of a stuff-up on the part of the Australian and US leaders. There was a clear opportunity for a rescue mission early in 1945, but it was abandoned after some wrong intelligence that said the prisoners had already been moved. General Blaney blamed MacArthur, General MacArthur blamed Blaney. More than 2,500 Australians and around 500 British died.

Ranau Death March Memorial

From the war memorial, we headed to the Kinabalu National Park for a walk through the Botanic Garden. With over 250 orchid species growing, it would be an amazing place in flowering season, but despite the lack of colour, it was still extremely beautiful, with some of the fern and moss communities on the streamside boulders being truly amazing. Our guide, Sarah, was quite an expert on the flora of the area and especially knowledgeable about the medicinal properties assigned to many of the plants through the old tribal cultures. Sarah is obviously very proud of her culture and has done a terrific job of promoting her people throughout the tour.

Mt Kinabalu National Park

Lunch was at a mountain-top restaurant, which proved to be a big improve on the Pines Resort, especially a deep fried mushroom dish, a some delicious crispy skin chicken. There should have been a wonderful view but the heavens opened once again, reducing visibility to mere metres and making for a mad dash back to the bus. It was a long slow drive down the mountains to Kota Kinabalu, with a brief stop at a souvenir market outlet.

Kota Kinabalu is a medium sized town of around half a million people. It is modernizing but still has big areas that look like the 1970s, interspersed with modern blocks of offices , hotels and residences. Unlike the areas we have travelled through, Kota Kinabalu has a heavy Christian population (Catholic) and a large ethnic Chinese Malay community, so food offerings and entertainment is more diverse. It has a healthy tourist trade, with a number of top hotels and resorts. Ours is the Shangri-La Downtown, and claims to be 4 star but is definitely only a 3. It lacks a swimming pool and even a dedicated bar. Quite a number of people in our tour had issues with their rooms, demanding changes, but not always getting complete satisfaction in a highly booked hotel. To not have working air-conditioning in this climate is not on. We had no complaints though, other than the organization of breakfast being a bit of a shambles. There are usually three to four tour groups in and to try to service them with one egg chef is crazy. There are big bottle necks in the self serve process around the single toaster that requires two passes to brown the bread. I assume it has been this way for a long time and it is a fairly simple fix.

Views of Kota Kinabalu

Around Kota Kinabalu

The first day of activities in Kota Kinabalu was a boat ride out to the tiny Manukan Island, around 8km off shore. We set out in two open boats, each holding 14 people and motored into a choppy sea in 15 knot breezes. In no time at all, we were totally drenched, some even resorting to donning a mask and snorkel. The water kept coming aboard, the only saving grace being that it was at least lovely and warm. Most had opted to wear day clothes with a change of bathers. We needed to have boarded in bathers.

Once at the island, we found a pretty little resort with a nice sand beach, and marked off snorkelling areas over extensive coral. However, the on-shore breeze stirred everything up and made a low surf line across the beach, so only swimming was really feasible. Once in the water, the sand gave way to a rock rubble bottom, so the best idea was to swim out to deeper water. The water was around 30 degrees and most of the group enjoyed a good swim. Before long, the looming threat of a thunderstorm appeared and we made for the shelter of the restaurant to have a beer, which being the only place on the island, cost more than double what it did elsewhere. The wind increased, shutting down the beach, but the rain skirted us, leaving us free to enjoy a good lunch of barbecued skewers, satay and seafood. After lunch, a second squall arrived and near horizontal rain poured through the open air restaurant area, making us evacuate to an indoor area to await a boat home.

Manakn Island

Our guide had arranged one boat with more cover, a very good sea going powered catamaran. It would not take the whole group so 8 people opted for the open boat again, in much bigger seas. They probably fared better, because the skipper of the small boat took it slow, while the catamaran skipper opened up both engines and people seated on one side still got drenched. We were all able to laugh about the whole experience.

On our second day in Kota Kinabalu, we visited the Mali Mali Cultural Village up in the foothills of Mt Kinabalu. This proved to be the highlight of the tour. It is a living display of the old lifestyles of five of the tribes of Sabah, with reconstructions of the houses and long-houses used in older times, although some still exist today as part of a preferred lifestyle. As we were introduced to each tribe, there were people present to demonstrate cooking, making of rice wine, fire making, rope making and other traditional skills. Despite the fact that most of the 2 hour tour was spent in heavy rain, it was informative and entertaining. Much was made of the head-hunting lifestyle of the past, which, in some cases, did not completely disappear until after WWII. One of our guides said his grandfather had been a head hunter and still retained his heads. The head hunting was a way of life, attacking other groups within the tribe as well as other tribes. A man could not marry unless he had proved his strength by taking heads, with a desirable bride demanding as many as 20 heads. Some tribes only took male warrior heads, while others took any head, man, woman or child. They were dangerous times.

Mari Mari Cultural Village

The final tribe was the Murat, the most feared of the head-hunting tribes. As we approached their hall, I was sent out to greet the head man, with instructions to keep my hands at my sides and speak directly, telling him where we had come from and why we were visiting. If he was feeling generous, he would spare our heads. I must admit, this guy looked fearsome. It was a laugh.

The tour finished with a cultural dance display. These are never our favourite thing, but this display was entertaining, the music being quite infectious and the dance skill amazing, especially the last one where warrior men moved their feet incredible fast across a grid of clashing bamboo sticks.

Mari Mari Cultural Dance

The meal the followed was all local traditional food and was delicious.

We had a few hours each day of free time in Kota Kinabalu. It is much like any Malaysian city, with a few shopping malls and a great many small shops. On the waterfront, there is a restaurant/bar strip that saw most of our group gather together each evening, much to the delight of the owners of the one spot we had somehow settled on. We even found ourselves buying pizza, a welcome relief from curry and rice, which proved to be a first class pizza by any definition.

The fresh markets are often a place to be avoided in Asian cities, but Kota Kinabalu’s was very clean and lacked the pungent smell of others. The fish market was filled with very fresh looking fish of all types, along with a wonderful assortment of equally fresh looking shellfish.

Overall, the experience has been a positive one and certainly represents one of the best value tours one could hope for. Some of our tour had bad experiences with Malaysian Airlines, with return flights cancelled and new flights occurring two days later with a return to Sydney via KL then Hong Kong. The extra two days was at the travellers expense and Malaysian Airlines told them to use travel insurance. Some people were critical of the tour operators, Trip-a Deal, but we found them to be very helpful and more than accommodating with us. Their responsibility for flights ends once the flights are booked, they are very clear on that. However, in our case, they laid on a private tour to make up for what we had missed by being a day late. Malaysian Airlines too, treated us very well to accommodate us in KL.

Sarah, our guide, and Muss, our driver, were both first class. Sarah had an encyclopedic knowledge of the various cultures of Sabah and a great sense of humour. Muss was a very careful and patient bus driver in some very difficult conditions. He also went out of his was to assist us all with storage of cold drinks in eskies and stopping at the best places to purchase alcohol, very necessary when looking after Aussies.

Sarah, our guide and Muss, our driver

The tour was very busy and rather full on. A complete relax day in the middle would have been good. The guide was worried about the day we had to drive almost right across Sabah, a whole 280kms. However, it did take 6 hours but no one seemed overly bothered. We noticed that the tour operates in either direction. We came to the conclusion that it wouldn’t matter which direction you went, if anything, having the knowledge from the Mali Mali Cultural Centre early in the tour might have been a plus.

The group we were with was a diverse one, with mostly couples around our age or slightly younger, as well as a few young people and even one teenager. We found that there was a lot of mobility with no one forming little sub-groups and a lot of social mixing in the times we had to spare. We were all Aussies, from every state bar the NT and SA, and we were the only Western Australians.

The biggest disappointment was the lack of wildlife. Sabah is promoted as a wildlife destination, and it has some of the last remaining rainforest communities on the planet, but sighting wildlife in the heavy jungle is difficult and a waiting game. To be honest, we see far more wildlife floating down a river in the Kimberley or NT than we did here.

The flight home went without a hitch, with only a 2 hour transfer in KL and an arrival in Perth around 1am.

Would we recommend it? Yes. Great value for money at $4600 for 2 people which included all the airfares, accommodation and most meals.

Melbourne, Canberra & Sydney – January 2024

February 2, 2024 / terry

14-21 January – Australian Open Tennis

We headed to Melbourne for the annual bout of the Australian Open. Melbourne does the event so well that it is hard to say no. The organisation is amazing, the tennis fabulous and almost everything is affordable, except for the drinks of course. We chose to fly Virgin and found it much changed since Covid. The positive is that the flight left on time. However, the food offerings were very limited and very poor value for money. The entertainment system is a WiFi based bring your own device, whcih it always was, but it used to work. Ours didn’t doing everything except allowing a press on the PLAY button. Luckily, we had brought our own downloads. The Skybus from the airport to Southern Cross Sation still works well and we were soon on the train to our accomodation.

We organised an AirBnB in Murrumbeena, south of the city and only a 300m walk to a train station on a line that took us direct to Richmond station for the tennis. It was a basic place, a little small, but having all the neccessary things for comfort. The biggest issue is with Murrumbeena itself. The place is dead. There is no supermarket and most of the shops are shut, even boarded up in some cases. It is a mystery as to why it is like this because the next train stop down the line is Carnegie and supports a bustling and vibrant restaurant and cafe strip that is never empty. We had to walk about a kilometre down the road to shop.

We organised three days of tennis, booking tickets in the John Cain Arena for each day. John Cain is excellent value, because reserved seats on the ends which are in permanent shade are only a little more than a day pass. Between that and a selection of matches on outside courts that don’t require booking, we saw many of the Aussie stars in action along with some big name international players. It was excellent tennis.

John Cain Arena

Kia Arena

In off tennis days, we wandered around Melbounre, had lunch at Mr San Ramen (a favourtie), travelled down to Mornington on the train to catch up with Azba and Mike (and Evie of course) and caught up with Simon and John in Brunswick. A highlight was going to an iMax version of the Queen Rock Montreal Concert of 1981. It was a memorable experience.

Mr San Ramen

No visit to Melbourne ever fails to impress. The transport system works a treat and is cheap, the food offerings are amazing and so varied that every taste is satisfied, while the organisation of sporting events is superb. The weather is usually the downside, but we were lucky and had mostly mild temperatures with only one day of rain.

Train Trip Melbourne to Canberra

With Week One of the Australian Open over, it was time for us to relocate to Canberra for the U14 Regional Softball Championships, starring the gorgeous granddaughter Kelsie. We shunned air travel and opted for the XPT daytime train Melbourne to Sydney. It does not stop in Canberra but gets close in Yass, with a one hour coach transfer to the nation’s capital. The trip was wonderful, with good scenery, a comfortable train, and a buffet car for snacks and meals. The trip takes 8 hours, quite long by world standards but there are frequent stops along the way. We added an extra 80 minutes due to a delay shortley out of Melbourne when someone had stolen the copper wire feeding the signals. We had to wait for two oncoming trains before proceeding at a slow speed for 20 kms. Despite the long journey, we were never bored, watching the scenery glide by, dozing a little, or watching some downloads. The train is 40 years old and lacks such things as wifi or usb charging ports. Fortunately, we were prepared and had charging pads and fully charged laptops. The ride was smooth on the Victorian side, less so once into NSW. At one point, passing throough some hilly country and climbing up, the train passed through a tunnel, then looped around and passed back over the tunnel again a couple of times as it gained altitude. It is a trip we could recommend and much better than flying if time is not an issue.

The coach transfer from Yass to canberra Central was not so comortable, with hard cramped seats and no noticeable suspension. At least it was only an hour so we were soon in Canberra and into an Uber for transfer to our AirBnB house in Hawker. The house was chosen for its closeness to the Hawker Softball Centre and its ability to accomodate us, Trevor, Emma and Ashton, as well as Simon and John who were flying up from Melbourne. Trevor and Emma arrived shortly after us and we gathered some supplies from the nearby Woolworths before settling in for the night.

24-28 January – U14 Regional Softball Championships – Canberra

The first day was a rest day for us spectators while the team settled in and familiarised themselves with the diamonds. The team is staying in cabins in a caravan park somewhere, so contact is limited to a few brief moments after games, just as it should be. Coach coaches, family watches and supports. Trevor and Emma met up with Rob Keane, a friend from high school days and now living in Canberra who offered the use of a car for our stay, an offer we gladly took up, the public transport being ordinary at best. We organised to retrieve the car while the others headed out to cover some of the ‘must see’ attractions in Canberra, something we did not need to do because of previous visits. The car would be particularly useful because the shops, although close by, are at the bottom of a steep hill, requiring a tough walk back carrying supplies. Simon and John arrived around midday and settled in, our group complete.

The rest of the week was all about softball, with each day revolving around the scheduled matches. Trev and Em and Ashton managed a few more sights in down times and we did take one trip into town, finding it just as dead and dull as we have in previous visits. The softball was great fun, the standard being so much higher than the normal club matches. Kelsie was brilliant, fielding very well at 2nd base and more than holding her own with the bat.

Trevor summarised each day on his Facebook posts.

Day 1. Great day from the girls – took NSW Sky down to the wire, going down by one with a series of great defensive plays. They got the bats going in game 2, winning by 10 over ACT. Great to see them putting what they’ve learnt in their training into action on the diamond! Kelsie was clean in the field and had a solid day with the bat, particularly in game 2!

Day 2. Another 1-1 day, with a great win over SA as we got on top of their best pitcher early with some power hitting. A loss to NSW Navy was a good learning curve, and the girls will be stronger having faced some quicker pitchers. Kelsie has a great hit to RF but was caught, a mixed bag at 2nd and a rest for the majority of the NSW game. Sitting 4th after day 2 with VIC and QLD Metro to come on Day 3!

Day 3. Began with a win against Vic, although not overly convincing. Then played a great game against QLD Metro, but going down by one, 7-6. It leaves us needing a win against QLD Country tomorrow and NSW Sky beating SA to make the top 4. The girls will give it everything. Kelsie’s had a great day with the bat, and was flawless in the field. She has also destroyed two socks and plenty of bark off her knees and elbows as her compulsive sliding and diving habits continue…

Day 4. Great victory today, and things fell our way! We are into the minor semi (3vs4) tonight at 7pm EDST (4pm WST), with the prize a spot in the preliminary final tomorrow! Kelsie was great in the field at 2nd base, and did her bit with the bat. Had a nice hit that was caught at CF.

Unfortunately, we lost the Elimination Final against Queensland Metro by a narrow margin, putting us out. THe girls played a terrific game and Kelsie excelled, taking two amazing catches and a couple of excellent takes at 1st Base. The girls can be rightfully proud of their performance across the carnival. The parents and families certainly were impressed with the dedication and effort of all the team members.

Australia vs South Africa – Women’s T20 International

With a lay day to to not making the Preliminary Final, we took the chance to go to the cricket at Marnuka Oval. With a small crowd of around 2000, good seats were easy to find and excellent value at $20. Unfortunately, the cricket was not so good, with a lack lustre performance by Australia and an easy win to South Africa, their first after a 6-0 head to head. It was a relaxing day, compared to the tension of watching close fought softball matches all week.

29-30 January – Train to Sydney

With the softball over, we all went our different ways, Trevor and Em to Perth via Sydney, John direct to Perth on the same flight as the team, Simon to Melbourne on the Sunday and us to Sydney via the Southern Explorer, run by NSW Railways. It is a four hour trip through the Southern Highlands and offeres some scenic delights. There are vast areas of woodlands, beautiful farmlands and a number of quaint small towns, as well as a couple of regional centres such as Goulburn and Bowral. It was a comfortable and enjoyable trip, and not overly time consuming when one takes into account the requirements of air travel and the convenience of finishing the trip at Sydney Central Station, only a short walk from our accomodation. We stayed at the Wyndham Hotel, which features rooms with a kitchenette, allowing basic meal preparation. It is very well appointed, if not a tad small, but is very well located witht the Museum underground station 300m away.

Once settled in, we headed out to catch the underground to Circular Quay for a ferry to Manly. When in Sydney, fish and chips at Manly is a must do, and the perfect weather made sitting by the water at sunset enjoying a feed a wonderful experience, except for overeating. When will we learn that one serve shared is enough for us these days?

The next day was a full day to sight see. It started out wet, but the weather steadily improved and gave us plenty of time to walk. We followed a chain of parks, starting at Hyde Park, and followed through the Royal Botanic Gardens on a series of pathways that would lead us to the Opera House. The BOtanic Gardens are a must visit location in Sydney, with beautiful plam groves, garden beds and ferneries. At one point, we passed a bench and there was a very classy looking Italian leather handbag lying abandoned. There was no one around so Christine guarded it while I set off to find a staff member for help. I soon found a gardener, who radioed for a ranger. Hopefully, someone’s bad day would turn out for the better.

As we neared the Opera House, I was stunned at how small it looked. However, it turned out to be an illusion caused by our elevated approach, and once down at ground level, it assumed its imposing look once again. The walk around to Circular Quay was crowded with tourists from a large P&O cruise ship in port. We stopped at a cafe to have an iced coffee and watch the passing parade. We had planned to catch the ferry to Parramatta, just for the ride and to see the sight of the middle and upper harbour. By the time we got to the correct wharf, we found we had over an hour to wait, so we grabbed a kebab (shared this time) for lunch while waiting. A check of the timetable revealed that the trip to Parramatta would be 3 hours return, so we changed instead to the ferry to Pyrmont Bay (Darling Harbour) via Luna Park and Balmain. The views were spectacular, and at $2.50, would have to be the best value harbour cruise anywhere in the world. We just stayed on the ferry and returned to Circular Quay and an underground back. A wonderful day.

: Maritime Museum, Darling Harbour

: Luna Park from the ferry

: Opera House from The Domain

: Royal Botanic Gardens

: Sydney’s famous ferries

: Museum Underground

: Fish’n Chips at Manly

: Manly Sunset

This has been our fourth visit to Sydney and our best, even though very short. Every other time has been hot or we have had somewhere we had to be but this time we got to just walk and and sit on ferries. The central streets of Sydney hold little appeal. The open spaces, beaces, parks and harbour are all delightful.

Tomorrow, it is a flight home. It is an easy train ride from Museum Station to the airport with our backpacks at a civilised time of 10am so things are working out well. Hopefully, the flight won’t be cancelled. Note: THe train to the airport took about half an hour, including the walk, and the plane was on time. We caught a train to Kinglsey to get home.

Grenoble, Dijon and Strasbourg, 2023

July 18, 2023 / terry

9-11 July – Grenoble, France – We thought our train trip from Toulon to Avignon was bad. Today’s bus trip from Avignon to Grenoble was as bad, if not worse. While we were waiting for a local bus, Christine got a text message to say “Sorry, but your Flixbus has been cancelled. You can have a refund, or book another one free of charge.” We checked on the App and the next bus was not until 2:25pm, two hours later than the first. No big deal, except for a longer wait. We booked the next bus and rode out to Le Pontet. We couldn’t quite believe the scene. No big bus station with shade and seats; just four lanes for buses, each with a tiny glass shelter. A tiny forlorn sign said “Flixbus”. The temperature was already around 35 degrees and we faced a couple of hours wait. A short walk towards a nearby lake yielded a park bench under a tree. Luxury! The lake proved to be a cable water ski park so there was some entertainment. Then Christine noticed on the App that the new bus was now delayed by an hour and a half, giving it a 4pm time and a 7pm arrival. This was awful. I noticed that there was also a sign for BlaBlaCar, another bus company. We checked and they had a bus listed for 12:35, so we booked it, either prepared to wear the 50€ from the re-booked Flixbus or try to reclaim it somehow. At 12:10, a different bus with AO written on it arrived so I went up to check. Sure enough, it had “Flixbus” written on a piece of cardboard in the windscreen along with “Grenoble”. I checked and, sure enough, this was our “cancelled” bus. I tried to explain, but they wanted to see a ticket and our ticket was no longer on the App. They said, “No ticket, can’t do.” I walked off, very frustrated. After a few minutes, the driver called us back. He had a young woman in tow who spoke English. We managed to produce a text message saying the first bus was cancelled, so they took that as enough proof and let us on the bus. Christine then started work on a refund for the second Flixbus, finally getting a promise of one, after much texting. Travel in France is not going well.

Grenoble itself proved to be very beautiful. The city is in a deep valley on the junction of the Drac and Isere Rivers, surrounded by the Alps. The prominent feature is the Chartreuse Massive, immediately overlooking the city. In the distance, the higher peaks, including Mt Blanc, still had scattered patches of snow on them, although the searing heat of the next week would no doubt account for that.

Our apartment was in the Quartier Lafayette, right in the middle of the old town, a cluster of walking streets, plazas and cobbled alleyways. The nightlife was vibrant, although not disturbing. Our apartment was in a building that was originally a 15^th Century Hotel and some of the features had not really been updated since then. Unfortunately, the claim on the AirBnB site that it had air-conditioning proved to be false; it had a small water cooled thing, that worked passably once I had pulled the filters out and got rid of years of accumulated gunge. Still, it was a matter of careful management of the windows, blinds and curtains to keep the apartment bearable as the daily temperatures soared above 37 degrees each day.

The River Isere (top) and the Jardin de Ville (below)

Arriving on a Sunday, everything was very quiet, with few of the numerous eateries open. A nearby bar did sell drinks and the odd snack so we relaxed there, before finding a small supermarket. We found that Monday was also quiet, with many attractions closed and only about half the eateries open. There is also a prolonged siesta period from about 2pm to 6pm, the hottest part of the day so much of the time was spent in the apartment trying to keep cool. People in Grenoble spend a lot of the day doing nothing.

We did take a cable car up the mountain to the Bastille, a 19^th Century fort built above the city. The car consists of five plexiglass bubbles, each taking six passengers. We got a superb view of the city and the river as we rose up, the old part of the city standing out with its terracotta roof tiles compared to the glass and cement of the newer city. The Cours de Jen Jaures was a feature, Europe’s longest straight avenue at 8kms long. From the Bastion, we could just make out Mt Blanc to the east, the visibility being a bit down, but the Chartreuse and other massives could be seen clearly in all their glory. The ride down somehow seemed quicker, not possible really, but in no time we were back at street level.

Our GPSMyCity App gave us some features to look for and we spent a pleasant time wandering the streets, although we could feel the heat rising as the day wore on. The Jardin de Ville was a pleasant park to sit in and watch the world pass by. The park was being set up for some kind of performance, with marquees and a large stage area. Working our way through the posters, all in French, revealed a pop music festival each night for five days starting tonight. Best of all, it was free.

Views from the Bastion, with the Chartreuse Massive bottom left

With the heat getting a bit much, we grabbed a beer in the square near our apartment before retiring for the day in front of the water cooler and Netflix. When the evening came, the temperature drops a few degrees and we set off back to the Jardin de Ville for the music. There was a fair crowd and a line of food trucks, along with a large bar area. It is terrific to see a well organised event being put on for free, and to see the crowd being well behaved. However, the music was not really to our liking, and exceedingly loud, so we spent a bit of time there, a bit more wandering, then back to the apartment and Netflix. The square outside was packed with people seeking to escape the heat. Air-conditioners seem rare, especially in the old parts of the city, where installation is difficult. When I got up to go to the loo around 1am, the crowd had hardly diminished. Fortunately, double glazing and wooden shutters keep the noise out.

Our second full day was even hotter, the temperature soaring to 39 degrees. We seemed to have exhausted the possibilities for the town, having seen most things, and even a check at the Tourist Bureau failed to find more. The old town area is so pretty that just walking is enough in itself, except in the heat that we were experiencing. Amazingly, as we headed down Rue Lafayette with our bags towards the train station the next morning, a little tourist train like the one in Avignon and Toulon came around the corner. We had not found any mention of it anywhere.

Grenoble is serviced with an excellent tram.
The concert at the Jardin de Ville

Grenoble is a very pretty and laid back city. Its tram system is easy to use and very regular, making moving around easy. There are plazas and cafes everywhere. If the weather had been kinder to us, we would have had a much better time.

12-14 July – Dijon – We took a Flixbus to Dijon, requiring a change of buses in Lyon. After our dreadful experience with Flixbus in Avignon, we were wary, but things went well. The change in Lyon was only 50 minutes, which was good because there was little to recommend the bus station in Lyon. There is a large inside area with shops and eateries, most of which were closed. It looked like the cleaning staff had been laid off some months ago and the overwhelming stench of urine in the bus loading area told of its use by the homeless when the bus stands are closed after midnight. It would be a good place for the local fire brigade to practice hosing things down. Once we got on the second bus at Lyon, the smell changed to vomit and there was a sign on the toilet door saying it was closed, suggesting someone had an unfortunate ride before the bus got to Lyon.

Apart from all that, the trip was smooth, the bus sticking to large motorways. It mostly followed the Rhone Valley, with vineyards and fruit orchards mixing it with cereal crops. In the one vista, it is possible to see wheat, barley, oats and sunflowers, alongside fields of grazing cattle. The variety of agriculture is amazing after the wheatbelt of WA. In some cases, the farms can manage two crops in a season, so I saw an instance of a seeder working a paddock alongside another field of golden barley, ready for harvest.

We had booked an apartment right outside the Gare de Dijon Ville, a bit of a risk, as the areas surrounding central train stations can be rather poor and dirty. The reviews suggested the only issue was noise at night from the trains, something that never bothers us. The reviews were right, the area is clean, interesting and so convenient. The Flixbus dropped us in front of the station, we walked through a tunnel under the train line, across the road and we were home, a neat two bedroom apartment with good facilities, except for a crazy bathroom. The bathroom and toilet were separate, but the doors opened against each other, so to move from one to another, you had to squeeze out of the toilet, close one door, open the bathroom door and squeeze around into the bathroom.

After unpacking, we walked 400m down the road to a small supermarket which supplied the basics, then back to a restaurant/bar across the corner that had a very friendly owner and a lovely cold beer. The temperature was a very nice 28 degrees. All was good with the world again.

A walk into the centre of town the next morning was a delight. One of the symbols of Dijon is an owl, after a small statue on one corner of Notre Dame Cathedral that carries the usual promises of good health etc is you hold it with your left hand while placing your right hand over your heart. They have an “owl” walking trail made with lovely little brass plaques imbedded in the sidewalk so we purchased a booklet for 4€ at the Tourist Bureau and followed the trail for most of it, reading about the various features. We stopped in one area that was surrounded by glorious 15^th Century buildings. The fact that we can still describe 15^th Century buildings as ‘glorious’ after three months is testimony to them. We sat at a café and ordered orange juice, but nothing on the food menu appealed, that is, until I saw the woman next to us get served a toasted sandwich that looked like heaven on a plate. I called the waiter back and asked for the menu again, then basically said, “I’ll have what she had”. We shared a fried ham and cheese sandwich, with bread sliced about 2cm thick, filled with crème fraiche and served on a bed of lettuce with a scoop of chilled crème fraiche. It was amazing. A simple dish made into something special. We later found that this kind of sandwich is called a “croque” and is like “pub grub” in this part of France.

Les Halles (Market) is at bottom

On our way home, we went back to Le Halles, a large covered market that we had walked through earlier. Although mostly closed, the stand we wanted was still open, the lady cleaning the benches. We bought a large pastie looking thing that had caught our eye, with thick pastry encasing pork, legumes, cheese and vegetables. By the time we had done the circuit and arrived back home, we had walked nearly 6kms, a good effort and a hedge against the lunch and the thing we had purchased for dinner that night.

On our second day, we walked down to Lack Kir, a small reservoir about 1.5kms away. The rivers around Dijon have long since been totally tamed and made into canals with small weirs to control the flow and locks on the canals. There is a canal port of sorts a little way out of the town centre with barges and canal boats. Lake Kir is a popular recreation park and has a nice sand beach for swimming, along with attendant life-guards in a tower and beach changing huts, all very European. We expected a big crowd, with the day being the French National Day, 14^th July, or Bastille Day as the rest of the world calls it. The crowd was not there, although there were a lot of crowd control fences ready to deploy and a lot of workers getting the place ready for the evening onslaught. The lake had been chosen as the site for the fireworks so a big crowd was certain.

Dijon Beach, not exactly Bondi

We sat for a while enjoying the tranquillity and the cool breeze, a rare thing lately, and watched the joggers, prams and elderly all pass by. I am sure that people-watching burns calories. When it was time to head home, we ignored Google and followed the river, there being a formed trail along the banks. It was a beautiful walk, passing several weirs. We stopped a number of times to watch the fish, later identified as roach and tench, glide around amongst the lily pads. We saw one angler, working the river unsuccessfully with a small lure. It was a surprise when our lovely walk brought us within a hundred metres of the local supermarket, a wonderful way of getting back to the apartment.

Dijon has been a very relaxing city, and one of the easiest to move around in. We probably took the architecture for granted, having seen so much over three months, but there is much to admire, more on a small scale than the large grandiose centres we have admired in other cities. We push on now to our last stop, Strasbourg.

15-17 July, Strasbourg, France – The train trip to Strasbourg from Dijon took three and a half hours, was very crowded, and horribly expensive at close to $A100 each. We assume the expense is down to the National Holiday Weekend, with many people travelling. All seats were taken and finding room for baggage was a challenge, with more people than usual having large suitcases. Other than those issues, the time passed easily and relatively peacefully.

Strasbourg in a white winter

Emerging from the station at Strasbourg is like entering a fairyland. There are gorgeous stone buildings and medieval half-timbered houses galore, lovely canals and wide pedestrian-only streets take up most of the CBD. It is one of Europe’s most favoured Christmas destinations, and it is easy to see why, with every streetscape resembling a Christmas Card. Pictures of the old city after a snow-fall are enough to tempt us back in the winter.

It was about a kilometre walk to our apartment, and we kept stopping every few hundred metres to say “Oh, look at that!” as each scene unfolded. After three months, we have declared our last city on our trip the most photogenic yet, surpassing even York and Lincoln. Our apartment was situated between to main thoroughfares, with a little courtyard and bar/restaurant outside. The night noise was not too bad, certainly once the windows were closed and the ear plugs in, and the interesting daily life of the alfresco bar was good people-watching stuff. The apartment had a toaster, excellent coffee machine and a fan. Perfect.

After unpacking, we headed downstairs for a croque, the type of toasted sandwich we discovered in Dijon, made with very thick bread, cheese and ham, topped with more cheese and bechamel sauce then oven baked so everything melts and slightly chars. I am sure they are very good for you. Of course, a beer lubricated it. Then we had a bit of a kip, before heading out later in the evening for some sightseeing. Nearby is the star attraction of Strasbourg, an area called La Petit France (Little France). The area dates from the 15^th Century and was once very much a trades area, with tanning, metal works and milling all being important, the steady and reliable flow of the River Ill providing lots of water power for the mills. It also formed the front line of city defences, with the river and canal creating effective moats, protected by walls and fortresses. Despite changing allegiances many times throughout history as the fortunes of the Papacy, Holy Roman Empire, French Empire and German expansions ebbed and flowed, the city was seldom over-run.

La Petite France is breath-taking in its beauty. It is like being in a fairytale land, with crooked lopsided buildings and gorgeous stone arched bridges. The crowds were heavy, and the sidewalk cafes were really cashing in. People were stopping all the time for selfies or group photos. It was a lot of fun.

La Petite France

The next morning we walked the other direction to Notre dame Square to take a Little Train Tour. After seeing so many great cathedrals in our time in Europe and UK, it was a little surprising to be so taken aback by the sight of the cathedral as we rounded the corner. Perhaps it is the glorious pink sandstone that does it, of the sheer extravagance of the embellishments that adorn every surface. It is one of the best. For a long time, it was Europe’s tallest building, the spire being a landmark all over the city.

Views of Notre Dame

The square was packed with tourists, a huge line waiting for entrance to the cathedral, the main attraction being the 330 step climb up the spire to get good views of the city. The line put us off, even though I am sure the climb would have been easy. We boarded the train, only 8€ f6r 45 minutes, and waited, chatting to a NZ couple who are currently living in Switzerland. Suddenly, there was a large influx of people, all from a Viking River Cruise, and they packed the train, turning a very comfortable jaunt into a cramped affair. The route followed much the same path we had walked the previous night, but the English commentary gave us insight into what we encountered. The narrow streets were even more crowded than before, and the train had to do a lot of ‘tooting’. Many of the people seemed to be off the cruise boat, waving to others they knew on our tour. Strasbourg is pretty much the beginning (or end) of Rhine Cruising, the Rhine being on the outer suburb of the city, and forming the border with Germany. It is wonderful to think that when we take the bus ride to Frankfurt in a few days, we will have pretty much covered the length of the navigable part of the Rhine on this trip.

La Petite France

From the Little Train, we made our way down to the pier landing to catch another tour, this time with Batorama on a canal boat. We chose the open type boat and the longer tour, taking in a circuit of the old city, and another tour through the Neustadt, or new city, built by the Germans when they took control of the city in the later 19^th Century. The tour of La Petite France, our third, was so different, because of the change in perspective. The structure of the canals and the shape of the river became more apparent, and we negotiated locks both upstream and downstream along the way. It was very peaceful (I nearly nodded off a couple of times) and we gained more knowledge. The Neustadt area is filled with grand stone buildings with a distinctly German character, then further down river, the ultra modern European Government sections, with huge glass-steel buildings, dominate the river and skyline. Strasbourg is the home of the European Court of Justice, the highest authority in the EU.

The EU buildings in Neustad

All toured out for a while, we headed home for lunch, and a little nap, before going out again in the evening. We found we had misjudged the Sunday, the supermarkets all closing up at 1pm, so dinner had to be eaten out, a rare thing for us. Hankering after a pizza, we searched many places without luck. It seems the French don’t run to pizza, offering Tarte Flambe, a pizza like dish from Alsace, but much thinner than the Italian dish. We finally located an Italian Pizzaria and shared a delicious Calzone, a pizza-like dish that is turned over on itself like a pastie and baked. We were in heaven.

Our final day in Strasbourg is really our last day of our amazing European trip, barring the last leg of a Flixbus trip north back to Frankfurt for the flight home. We did a crawl through the many tourist shops surrounding Notre Dame Square to make sure the grandchildren all had their little gifts from Gran and Pop and took a tram ride out to where the Intercity Bus Station to ensure that it was a nice place to wait for a bus (which it was). We walked a bit, ate a bit, drank a bit, and generally did what we have been doing for three wonderful months. We are both ready for home (maybe not the icy cold weather we keep hearing about) but we have enjoyed every minute of this amazing trip.

Provence, France, July 2023

July 13, 2023 / terry

3^rdto 5^th July – Stansted to Toulon – The flight from Stansted in the UK was pretty much as expected, awful. There seem to be systems in place at Stansted Airport to make people walk as far as possible to get on a plane, and there is a great deal of lining up to do. We paid extra to get ‘fast-tracked’ through security and immigration, but that it a relative term. It was off-putting to stand in the ‘Fast-Track’ queue and watch other people walk through the normal gates alongside us. The plane was half an hour late taking off, but it didn’t get cancelled, so that was something. We had a toasted roll on the plane, mine was too hot to touch on the outside and semi-frozen in the middle. Ah well, you get what you pay for and Ryan Air is quite cheap.

At Marseille Airport, immigration breezed us through very quickly. I really don’t think they looked at us or the passport at all, it was just stamped. The lack of any signage at all made it difficult to find the bus that took us to the Airport Station, about 4kms away, where and got on a train for Marseille. There we waited for around an hour before catching another train to Toulon.

Toulon surprised us when we exited the station to a spacious and very clean plaza. We had one long street to walk down and soon found our apartment. It was a bit of a dive, comfortable enough, but not one of our better choices, with a spiral staircase that looked like it was made in the 15^th Century, a bed threatened to suffocate us we fell into it so far, and, worst of all, no toaster. On the other hand, the location was excellent, with easy access to the shopping areas, the medieval part of the city filled with plazas and cafes, and the beautiful port area. Toulon boasts that it has the prettiest harbour in Europe, and it may well do, because it is certainly attractive. It is busy too, with large sea-going ferries heading to Corsica and Sardinia. It is France’s main naval base, with the huge nuclear powered carrier Charles DeGaulle home ported there. Small cross-harbour ferries are very regular, and there appeared to be a number of marinas and resorts on the other side.

We settled in to the apartment and headed out to find some refreshment and a supermarket. We found the first one in a pretty little plaza, with a fountain bubbling away. There are plazas everywhere in the old part of the city, most filled with alfresco cafes and having a fountain of sorts. I assume the large number of fountains comes from the abundance of groundwater, the surrounding nearby mountains being limestone and therefore a good soak and storage for a water supply. We sat a little too long and enjoyed two beers, but the supermarket finally drew us away. While shopping, we met a young Australian couple who have been travelling for 7 months. They had been in Marseille and said the rioting there made it quite uncomfortable, affirming our decision to change our stay to Toulon.

The next morning, we set off to wander the plazas and beautiful walking streets of the old town. There are many grand stone buildings, including the large Opera House, and a great many medieval apartment houses, tucked into tiny alleyways. The streets are easy to walk on and clean, a rare find in Europe. Our walk took us down to the port area, where we spied the little Toulon Tourist Street Train. It looked like a bargain at 8€ each for an hour of commentary tour. It was a terrific way to get a snapshot look at Toulon, taking us along the port and explaining the various parts, the local and inter-island ferries, the naval bases and old ship building areas. We did a tour of the Mourillon Beaches, a series of four beautiful beaches that looked very inviting. We also got a good idea of the layout of the commercial and shopping districts, surprised at just how extensive the city is, and how busy, away from the relative quiet of the historical centre with its lack of cars.

Top – a strange but beautiful ending to a building
Bottom – One of the beautiful beaches

Once back at the port, we headed for a seafront restaurant offering Moulles et Frit (Mussels and Fries) in a variety of flavours. Christine chose a basil and goats cheese base while I went for a carbonara base. Two huge tureens of mussels arrived with sides of frits and bread to soak up the juices. We filled our bellies while watching the ferries come and go and the interesting passing parade of people. The rising heat sent us back home for the day, venturing forth a little later to pick up a small pizza for dinner.

Top – Moulles et Frits
Bottom – one of the big ferries to Corsica and Sardinia

On our last day, we set off to investigate the Lafayette Market, a street market that runs along Cours Lafayette for four blocks. It is mostly fresh fruit and veg, all of superb quality, and it explains why the offerings in the nearby supermarkets are so scant, with the market running in the morning six days a week. Christine did manage to find some casual shorts at the clothes stalls. We were also excited to spy a little cart, selling a local street snack called cade. We had been on the lookout because it sounded interesting. Cade is basically a thick pancake made of chickpea flour, salt and water, then fried on a hot griddle to give slightly charred surface. It was delicious and makes the perfect snack to eat while wandering the streets.

The Tourist Bureau is at the port end of Cours Lafayette and from there we bought an all day bus pass, enabling us to take the #40 bus up the mountain to the cable car station. A two car system runs up to the top of Mount Faron, 584m above the city and is part of the public transport system and so included in the all day ticket. The car was rather crowded on the way up and there were the usual gasps and concerned looks when the car first took off and bounced a little on the cable. An interesting feature was the panel of glass in the floor of the car, especially when we were passing over an area of housing. The ride certainly produced the views we were hoping for, being able to see right across the harbour to the small resort towns opposite. There are a few walk trails and eateries at the top, but little was open, except for the restaurant and café at the cable station. We just enjoyed the view over an orange juice, soaking up the cooling breeze and the scenery. The trip down was better, with only a few people in the car, so we were able to pick out the scenes we wanted to focus on.

In the afternoon, we had planned a bus ride to the beaches, but after a siesta, we emerged to find a very fresh breeze had come in, that would have been onshore, so we abandoned the idea. We have thoroughly enjoyed our short time in Toulon and regret that we did not have longer. What we have seen of the French Riviera looks wonderful, and it could entice us back some time to explore more of this interesting coast.

6 July Toulon to Avignon – We had our first big travel error today. We got to Toulon Station with no issues and waited for a track announcement for our train to Marseille with a transfer to Avignon. When it came time to board, we headed for the gate and the lady scanned our e-tickets. No! We got a barred entry. She checked the tickets; right train so tried again. Tried to do a manual thing via the web site but no go. Finally, she called another person for assistance, who straight away noticed the problem. Our ticket was for 7^th of July, not 6^th of July. Damn! They suggested we head for a ticket machine or go online to see if we could change the date. Off we went, first to the ticket office where the man explained that he could not change a ticket, we needed to do it online. We went to an online machine and tried, getting some assistance to change it but it proved hopeless, the only offering was to take a 1^st class ticket change for more than a new ticket would cost. We had to swallow the 68€ cost and buy new tickets. We went back to the ticket office where the man explained that he could not sell us a ticket, we had to buy it online (I’m not sure what he COULD do). With time ticking down, Christine secured two new tickets online and we headed for the gate. Just as we approached it, with 10 minutes to spare and quite a few other people, they closed the gate. That action was followed by lots of shouting and some people just pushing past the ticket inspectors towards the train. They shouted back. We found a sympathetic person who looked like she would let us get on, but again, our tickets refused to validate. Finally, after much exasperation, it was discovered that Christine had purchased tickets on another, slower train, departing from Platform C, not Platform A. We headed off towards Platform C, which required no ticket inspectors of any kind and got on the train. I am sure the French think there is a system but in reality, there is none. We have never had a ticket checked on a train in France and we probably could have saved a lot of money by just getting on the Platform C train.

Fortunately, the change of trains in Marseilles went smoothly and we were on our way to Avignon, running along the shores of Marseilles for a while. The sea was dead flat and it all looked very inviting, with lots of yachts and a couple of cruise ships in port. Hopefully, we have seen the end of the civil disturbances, although French authorities have issued warnings for July 14&15, the French National Bastille Day.

The arrival at Avignon was easy, that is, until we exited the station. We had received instructions from our host that we could catch the #5 bus from the Post Office, just inside the city walls. The city walls presented across the road from the station, the only trouble being that the station plaza had been dug up completely and a makeshift walkway led to the road, the long way round. We crossed the road, made our way back up to the gate and through the walls, which were quite spectacular but we are rather used to amazing city walls by now. We found the stop for bus 5 and settled down to wait. I saw a sign in French that I interpreted as saying the bus stop outside the station would cease to operate as of tomorrow. A local woman confirmed my reading of it, but expressed a worry that there weren’t any buses coming. Eventually, she went off to check and came back telling us that we had to move to the train station stop. We followed her, and waited a long time, before finally catching the bus. We crossed the Rhone River and the bus dropped us in the historic town of Villeneuve les Avignon at a stop right outside our accommodation. By the time we got inside, we were quite exhausted from what had been a really horrible day of travel. Wherever possible, we will stick to coach travel from now on, the cost and crazy service of the French trains being too much for us.

The apartment was very comfortable and cool, a blessing since the heat outside had risen to around 32ºC. We walked down through the village to a small market store to get something for dinner and had a beer at the Aubergine Restaurant in the Central Square. The village is very beautiful, all old stone buildings. Villeneuve les Avignon sits opposite Avignon across the Rhone River. When a bridge was finally built over the river around 1300AD a tower on the Villeneuve side controlled access and the city gained power. It became even more important when the Popes relocated from Rome to Avignon for much of the 14^th Century and many Cardinals built palaces in Villeneuve. There was quite a power struggle between the King of France and the Papacy that involved the two towns as a face-off point. All this has resulted in a glorious hilltop town with some very famous buildings, the most dominant of which is the Fort of the Abbot, The Fort of Saint Andre, a huge bastion that overlooks the town. The Chartreuse, another famous complex within the town is a former Carthusian Monastery. It all made for a wonderful place to stroll, shop, and seek refreshment.

The Fort of the Abbot, Tower Phillip le Bel, antiques market

On Saturday morning, an enormous antiques market was held in the front of the town, with hundreds of sellers displaying an amazing variety of goods, from old furniture to pieces of armour and old weapons, antique jewellery, and a great many paintings. We wandered up and down the stalls, seeing many very interesting items, but fortunately, having no means of transporting anything so buying nothing. It was a good thing really.

The town square and courtyard of the Chartreuse

We spent a day in Avignon, using the bus to travel the 4kms back into the city. The bus dropped us at the Porte d’Oulle. Avignon is one of the few French cities with a medieval wall still intact and much of the city it encloses is still composed of medieval buildings. The heat was starting to climb so a tree covered line of cafes enticed us to sit for a while with an orange juice. It took two places to get served, the first woman glaring at us like we were poison and preferring to wipe down tables rather than approach us. When three young men who came in and sat down were immediately served, we took the hint and left. The next place was fine.

Nearby, a TV crew was set up and doing an interview with a woman seated at a table. There was also a ticket booth nearby and a lot of billboard posters advertising various performances of comedy, dance and theatre acts. We managed to work out that the Festival Off, an annual arts festival, was beginning the following day and promotion was in full swing. Everywhere we went, walls were smothered in advertising and groups of performers travelled around the city advertising their productions with little pop-up theatre acts. There was operatic singing, acrobatic performances, tap dancing, mime, and groups in period costume (no doubt feeling wonderful in the heat). It was endless and we had trouble refusing the numerous flyers being thrust into our hands, knowing that they would just head for the rubbish bin.

The two level carousel, a wall full of flyers for the festival and the city walls

We made our way through the city to the Place du Palais, a large plaza that is the centre piece of the old city. It is overlooked by the Palais du Popes, where seven Popes lived during 14^th Century. A tourist train runs from there every half hour or so but it had already filled, so we walked back down the nearby Place de l’Horloge watching more street theatre and the marvellous carousel, the only two level carousel we have seen.

Back to the Palais du Popes, we boarded the train, finding ourselves sitting in front of a family from Sydney and so we compared travel notes. The trains are the best way of quickly touring small cities, especially medieval ones with their narrow streets. The ride took us high up the hill above the Palais du Popes to the Garden area (Jardin des Doms) to get some panoramic views of the river and beyond. We got some great views of Villeneuve across the river and the famous Bridge of Avignon, actually named Pont Saint-Benezet rather than Pont d’Avignon that the famous nursery rhyme refers to. These days, it only crosses half of the narrower arm of the Rhone, the rest of it collapsing back in the 18^th Century. The train wove in and out of the walls as it moved from one feature to another and we thoroughly enjoyed an informative hour-long tour.

The Palais du Popes, remains of the Pont d’Avignon and the little tourist train

By the time the tour was over, the heat had risen to around 35ºC so it was time to seek refreshment then head home to the cool. Once again, we stopped at a place, gained the attention of a girl as we sat down and waited. We did talk briefly to an English couple and that must have put the girl off because she ignored us. So did the man that said he would be back, but preferred to clean tables. We must have the wrong clothes on or perhaps these people are still angry about the loss of the submarine contract. Who knows, but we went back to the place where we had orange juice and had a beer.

As we prepare to move on to Grenoble, under the shadow of the Alps and Mont Blanc, we look in horror at the weather forecasts, with the next three days heading up to 38ºC. We anticipated this and made sure we only took apartments with air-conditioning for the rest of our trip north to Frankfurt, our flying out destination.

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