As  I am  writing this, we are five hours into our nine and a half hour flight to Osaka (about half way) and I am writing this post for something to do as much as anything else. The Star Class cabin in this Airbus looks rather neat with five rows of leather covered seats using the old Qantas business class seats, There is a little more legroom than domestic business class although there is a long box under ...

So far we have travelled from Melbourne to Sydney and we are sitting in the Qantas First Class Lounge and waiting for our flight to Osaka. We certainly won't be having this level of luxury for the rest of the trip. We had an early start - up at 5.00 am and then a 6.30 am check in for our flight to Sydney. It's exciting to be on the way! First stop to Osaka and next to Russia! ...

Most of our group left Broome over the days of June 15 - 17 to either return home or to go on to Perth for an extended holiday. Because we could not get a one way rental on the bus, a few of us had to return it to Darwin. We took four days to complete the return trip, stopping at Fitzroy Crossing, Kununurra And Katherine. Whilst at first it may appear that this would be a long and boring trip, we did apprec ...

We had a longish and mostly uninteresting drive of 360 km from Fitzroy Crossing to Broome on Wednesday. After an hour and a half, we pulled into one of the roadside stops for morning tea. As usual at this type of roadside stop, there were about nine or ten caravanners stopped there but one left just after we arrived so we were able to use a table. These places get very worn and dusty with all the traffic bu ...

Our traveling day to Fitzroy Crossing was a very long one of 660 kms. We were all ready to leave at 8.00 am and set off down the highway. For the first 300 kms, the scenery was very interesting with rugged bluffs creating a backdrop to the scenery along the road. In the afternoon, these had disappeared as the landscape became flatter and took on the appearance of a giant flood plain. We stopped for lunch at ...

On Friday, we had a rest day and the people in our group went on a number of individual activities. Jill & Ruth went on a day tour to El Questro and enjoyed the day. The walk up Emma Gorge and the boat cruise down the Chamberlain River were their highlights of the day. I went on a two hour flight with three others down to the Bungle Bungles. Over all, we flew 600 kms out of Kununurra, across Lake Argyle ...

On Wednesday, we packed up the bus and were on the road by 8.00 am to drive to Kununurra. It was a day of continuous travel for a little over 500 kms, but with a few breaks it was quite a comfortable trip. On leaving Katherine, the scenery was quite varied and on reaching the area around the Victoria River, it became spectacular. The broad valley of the Victoria is dominated by high bluffs that are a deep r ...

On Monday we had an easy traveling day from Batchelor to Katherine (approx 190 kms). We left at 9.30 am and drove for half an hour or so to Adelaide River where we visited the war cemetery. This is the 4th largest cemetery managed by the Commonwealth War Graves Commission and it provides a beautiful and peaceful resting place for those killed in action in the WW2 conflict in Darwin. I am always impressed wi ...