It was lovely to be able to return to NZ briefly to catch up with family and to celebrate my mother's 94th birthday in Auckland at the start of 2026. My eventual departure for points West from Raymond Island was somewhat delayed, due to a meet-up with my good friend John Brennan in Smoky Bay (SA - where he was helping to run one of the two caravan parks for a couple of months) - as opposed to me dashing across the Nullarbor Plain to perhaps only get one night to catch up wit

Following two months of rehabilitation after my knee operation, staying at my long-suffering friends' (Henri and Kate Nord-Thomson) place on Raymond Island, I had a final session with my physiotherapist, a couple of decidedly lackadaisical orthopaedic specialist follow-ups and a final appointment with my GP. Apart from some residual swelling around the knee, all was good to go. So having purchased a special South Australia Parks Pass to enable me to cross the Simpson Desert

An unfortunate end to my SECOND attempt to get to Cape York...

Tassie Tiger sculpture, Waratah Example of pretentious rubbish - literally and figuratively! Welcome back to my travels in Tassie! There...