We left Melbourne. Headed south along the Mornington peninsula. There are two ways to get to the Great Ocean Road. We took the long way. Nach. Truth be told, I didn’t want to drive back through Melbourne from St. Kilda. It’s a beautiful drive along Port Phillips, the HUGE bay that Melbourne sits on. It was Friday. Before Valentine’s Day. We checked at the info centre for a place to stay. Nothing. Hotels.com showed nothing. Aaaargh. Park bench again?  

Susan checked once more and found a Best Western 60km back towards Melbourne. We took it. 

Next morning we looked out the window to what looked like a bike race. Hundreds of guys in their spandex colours. But it was just the regular Saturday morning bike ride. 

We crossed the harbour mouth by ferry and wandered west along the coast. The scenery is spectacular. We managed to find Koalas in the wild, kangaroos in the wild. we’re on the lookout for wombats.  

Along the coast we had the ocean to the left, rain forest to the right. It’s really quite a windy road. 

we only plan a few days in advance. this can be a double edge sword kind of proposition. it leaves our options open, but it also leaves us vulnerable to having to book hotels at the last minute, at a high price. so far when this has happened, we just go somewhere else and get back on course later.  

   
 The first time we came through was after a train ride from Sydney. Hotels were $500 a night and up. Apparently some high falutin tennis match was happening, hence the hotel prices. We went to Tasmania instead. Then we came back. 

We’d heard stories about Melbourne.  Snooty service, high prices, unfriendly locals. We planned to stay 3 days. Give it a shake. We left after 6. We found the locals friendly, helpful, and very approachable. It was Chinese New Years. 

Big cities have such a cool vibe. So many places to walk about. Public transit that’s easy to use, one you’ve figured out the app and have a pass card. 

We saw penguins one night. Opera along the yarra river. Wandered their very cool lane ways. Visited an awesome library. Watched people play chess upside down. It’s either an Australian thing, or an apple thing. And of course took long walks on st. Kildas beach, as per our dating profile. 

  
Tasmania 
Ever since Susan read a book about Van Diemen’s Land she’s needed to go to Tasmania. So we did. the entire time we were there i had the U2 song going through my head.  
We rented a camper complete with hot water, shower, toilet, fridge, stove and enough room to stand up and move around. This allowed us to free camp. the first night we free camped, it rained. Actually, to say it rained is an understatement. it was Biblical in proportion. lightning followed half a second later by camper shaking thunder. rain hammering down harder than we’ve ever experienced. and this went on for three hours.  
we were quite worried we’d be flooded in, the road from the free camp site to the highway would be washed out. But at 3am, what can you do about it. except experience it.  
the next day was still rainy (as it was for another 3 days), the road to the highway was fine, and the highway was passable. a few downed trees and patches of standing water to contend with.  
In two weeks we covered very little ground, but saw a lot. we ventured up the east side, and down the middle. fires raged in the north and west, so we stayed away. the two big cities in tasmania (launceston and hobart) were charming and fun.  
On the last day in Hobart we headed to Salamanca market. We were detoured by one of Australia’s warship in the harbour offering tours. We got into the ops centre. A mix of OCC and ATC. With radar screens tracking air, surface, and submarine traffic. The seaman I talked to was very open about what everything was, what they did. I asked a lot of questions. 

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The plan was to stop in Hawaii (Waikiki to be specific) to get over jet lag.  It’s pretty easy to just chill in Waikiki for a week.  We landed at 2:30 in the afternoon, and got to the condo by 3:30.  we had a deli snack tray left over from the flight.  we added a large longboard lager for me and a mikes hard lemonade for susan.  At some point she said “Holy schmidt, this schtuff is eight  point scheven pershent alcohol” and was passed out by 6:00.

In her defence, that was 11:00 Pm from whence we came.  Well past our normal bedtime.  And Mike’s hard lemonade only comes in venti size.

So, while we were in Waikiki we managed to fit a lot of sightseeing in.  it wasn’t all just about lying around moaning about how bad our jet lag was.  Day one we took a bus to china town and walked home.  this is a good 10km walk.  it’s hot.  it’s sunny.  and there’s hot a hell of a lot to see in-between.  though christmas decorations in tropical heat do seem odd.

day 2 we took a bus to pearl harbour.  fascinating and very well done presentation.  i’d been there years ago an found it quite informative and surprisingly balanced.  i pray that in 50 years there will be a similarly balanced presentation for 911.

we got a Seamo Betta prescription snorkel mask for susan.  no mo contacts.  she loves it.  we tried it out in hanouma bay for the first time.  and again 2 days later.  then we bought wet suite vests.  we can stay in the water a lot longer with them.

Now as for jet lag, there seem to be three components.  everyone thinks of sleeping.  there’s the sleeping part (getting to sleep and staying asleep).  Alcohol and pills help here.  Not together tho.  Then there’s the waking part.  (waking up and staying up) coffee helps here.  BUT the third and seldom acknowledged part of jet lag is the whole regularity thing.  I hoped Exlax would help, but alas, 3 days in and… enough said.

We hemmed and hawed about going to Australia or visiting another island. Buddy wayne and bob’s advice was the big island would be worth visiting. So, off to Kona we flew.  There’s this website you might have heard about.  it’s called Airbnb.  we booked our first place in Kona, and it has turned out to be great.  comfy chairs, private garden patio, kitchen, beach chairs and towels, and quiet as anything.

we have snorkelled twice.  the first time at Puʻuhonua o Hōnaunau a.k.a. place of refuge, or two step.  there were a lot of schools of fish, a riot of colour.  when we snorkelled at hanouma bay in oahu we thought it was pretty good.  well Puʻuhonua o Hōnaunau was spectacular in comparison.  two days later we tried a closer beach at kahalu’u beach.  There weren’t the same numbers of fishes, but the variety was far greater.  the water was shallower, so the fisheys were closer.  there were eels and a turtle too.

Everything we looked forward to was a bust.  Everything we dreaded turned out to be fantastic.  Our world was turned around.  Just slightly.

Back in January of 2014 I was given 2 free flights anywhere Westjet flew.  I thought of it as a retirement present.  The only catch was I had to book the travel before February 28th, the day I retired.  We finally settled on the Caribbean, and Barbados seemed a good starting point.  As for when, well October seemed good, after thanksgiving, before christmas.  Three weeks of sun and fun sounded good to us back in January.

And that’s where things stood until the time for our trip neared.

I don’t think i’ve been so aware of seasons as I have been in the last five months.  When we arrived here in early April there was still six feet of snow around the place.  Four days of continuous rains melted it all, flooded many areas, and washed out bridges.  Now, in September the effects are still with us.

Within a day of the snow melting the first purple crocuses appeared in the garden.  Like magic.  Amidst the rubble of the winter the first signs of spring emerged.  Over the next month leaves budded out, grass greened up, flowers emerged, and the first produce from local farmers started to make it to farmers markets.  Their offerings have changed through the summer.  Potatoes, carrots, cabbage grew in size each week.  Tomatoes became plentiful.

In April and May I could hear frogs every night.  Little peepers started up at 8:50 every night; like clockwork.  Their chorus ended in June.  A ten minute drive from the house took me to a parking spot on the Shepody march.  There wasn’t a light visible for miles.  Fireflies entertained me at night while I focused my telescope on Saturn.

August brought sandpipers.  Small world travellers smaller than my fist.  They stopped on their way from their summer place in the arctic to their winter home in South America.  While they were here they gorged themselves on mud shrimp and doubled their body weight.  They arrived in the tens of thousands, put on spectacular flying displays, then left as the winds shifted from the north.  Four days of continuous flying took them to South America.

A small flip of sandpipers.

These little guys amaze me. Flocks arrive late July by the thousands, eat mud shrimp, fly to South America. Truly Wild.

Two days ago we were sitting outside looking onto a huge maple tree in the park.  Two of the branches had a few red leaves.  This is the surest sign that summer is drawing to an end. But not yet, i hope.