Australia

May 2026

Hurstbridge Melbourne

May 6. Up at 3am, back to Christchurch airport landing under 4 hours later at 8am in Melbourne…reuniting with old London friends Richard and Tracey I’ve known since the 80s…Richard meets us at the airport. We hang out at their place in Hurstbridge, a green quiet neighbourhood which possesses the most comfortable bed we’ve slept in. Hours catching up, Polly the dog and Lilly the cat winding round our ankles. Richard takes us for an evening drive to Kangaroo Ground Memorial Tower on Eltham Yarra Glen Road, shire of Nillumbik. A war memorial with a fire lookout, views to Kinglake National Park escarpment, the mountains beyond…Healesville, the Dandenongs, Port Phillip Bay, the You Yangs and Mt. Macedon, fascinating names. Richard’s determined to find kangaroos, it’s dusk, soft golden light…Brenda – ‘Family’ plays on the car radio. We drive wooded local roads…a lone house surrounded by fields and Dave sees our first kangaroo, on his hind legs alerted by the car, watching us approach. I get out of the car but don’t go close…it drops to all fours picking at the grass before bounding off to the tree line. On the other side of the track around 20 more stop grazing to watch us. I don’t have my SLR to zoom but we’ve seen them and we’re thrilled. We sleep long and I dream of kangaroos.

Melbourne City

May 7. Wandering in to the kitchen to see Australian King Parrots investigating us through the sliding door. Listed as a “backyard bird” flame red and green. I walk outside, they’re bold, I get close before the boldest hops away along the fence. At the local railway station white cockatoos fly between trees and pretty pink and grey Galahs sit in a line. Common birds here but exotic to us. We take an hour train ride with Richard in to central Melbourne, getting a quick breakfast at Flinders Street station, full of gambling slots at the back. Richard’s booked us on a 3 hour walking tour with the theatrically trained Leslie who’s great fun. Walking from the library to the jail where Ned Kelly met his end, the theatre, park, the Parliament buildings, the Royal Arcade where Dave and Richard see British comedian Jimmy Carr, here on tour. Sad I missed him, I would have thanked him for the hours of laughter. Walking tours are a great introduction to a city…we’re learning its history; the original people, the geography, the colonisers,

After leaving Leslie we wander the graffiti alleys; Duckboard St, Hosier, AC/DC Alley. Repeating artworks of white narrow faced bulldogs in spiked collars are the first street art I’ve become excited about in a while. They’re not tagged…looking online we learn they’re by Louis Moore/prfx. I want one. There’s a lot of other great art but these stand out.

To the State Library, one of the best libraries I’ve been in anywhere. Great design and a fascinating collection of art and books…the infamous outlaw Ned Kelly’s handmade armour on display. New discovery Vali Myers, a flame haired face tattooed artist dancer muse…I endeavour to learn more about her, inspired by her creative journals.

A walk along the riverfront before an evening light display in the immigration museum where waiting in line for the loo in front of mirror covered doors, I look like a giant flanked by a group of tiny Singaporean ladies all under 5 feet tall. They’re fun, we laugh at our reflection. Back on the train, meeting Tracey, their daughters and grandchildren for dinner. 7.5 miles walked, a fun dinner, a lot of laughter.

Glenrowan

May 8. White cockatoos are scattering rubbish from the bins, squawking, flying in to the trees…yellow head plumage splayed, a wide wingspan. On the road with Richard passing Growling Frog golf course…he tells us kangaroos sometimes graze there. By Whittlesea and rusting metal kangaroo statues on a roof. Car radio tuned to PBS Riddim Yard. It’s raining on and off. Farmland, sheep, cows…goats clamber on a shed. Cypress trees shed bark, shaggy yukkas, pine, conifer. Sloping hills and sparse copses of widely spaced trees, scattered volcanic rocks. You can see for miles across the land. Taking Beveridge Road where we find Ned Kelly’s home, still pretty isolated but fields are being bulldozed for a new housing estate opposite. Parts of the original homestead persevered parts rebuilt. Kelly left here age 10 when the family moved to Avenel. We stop at Avenel Roadhouse, a truck-stop selling hot food with a man selling “yummy food” from a table opposite. Kangaroo salamis, black pudding, homemade marmalades…his accent country guttural. Driving by Euroa, Wanaratta, Bengella. Clouds drift over fields….miles and miles of open land, few grazed by cattle…a railway line to Sydney. This country is vast. Then acres of solar panels…thousands.

At Glenrowan Ned Kelly statues dominate and although a tiny town there’s several Kelly attractions, a few bars and shops. We walk a Kelly gang discovery trail, historical markers detail their last stand against the police, a gun battle in 1880. The Kelly gang wore bulky handmade armour, forged metal bucket heads. The story is bonkers.

To Kellyland where Jesse started working age 12, bought it from the owner, refurbished and expanded to create an even bigger animatronic reenactment of the Kelly Gang’s last night. It’s eccentric and engaging; we sit on pews as a projected face on a storyteller spookily recounts the tale as rats pop up out of crates and police detectives discuss tactics. A window opens on to a bawdy bar scene, Jesse appears and leads us in…Ned rouses support, an old man rocks in a chair…pipe smoke in the air, another pukes in a barrel. Led outdoors by Jesse to witness the final shoot out and whilst fake rain mists our faces and fake gun shots rend the air with alarming realism, Jesse’s cat nonchalantly wanders straight in to the gun fight to sit at the feet of the Kelly Gang and stare. That cat had us laughing like drains. Led back inside to the hanging of Ned as he drops through the ceiling above on a rope. It’s clever, it’s a lot of fun and a huge amount of effort has been put in to this place.

Melbourne Neighbourhoods

May 9. Breakfast at The Old Post Office with Australian friend Doug. We met in London several years ago through mutual friends Peter and Gareth. I’d got my wires crossed, thought Doug lived in Sydney so it was pretty surreal to learn he lives close to Hurstbridge. It’s fun to catch up, like me he loves art. He tells me about the Heidelberg /Heidi art movement and Sunday Reed…learning from other people’s passions.

Driving around Collingwood with Richard to see the music venues; The Tote, Gem Bar, Nighthawks and Bendigo Hotel…he features upcoming bands/gigs @noiseyneighbours (Facebook and Instagram). Being surprised by a huge Keith Haring mural…the only Haring mural in Australia. Tram cars on top of a roof are an alternative venue space. Band posters for Anti Itch Cream, a restaurant called ‘Thin Slizzy Pizza’.

In Abbotsford seeing Lulu’s Tavern, visiting Dutch Vinyl where Richard buys a 1983 U.K. pressing of X Mal Deutschland ‘Qual’. Dropping in next door to a graffiti spraycan supplier Bodega Paint and talking to the blokes in there, trying to find out more about Louis Moore but they’re not familiar with his spiky bulldogs. Driving through Northcote passing Rowdys. Through Thornbury by Shotkickers. PBS radio in the car playing back to back Samba records.

To Desert Highways for an afternoon gig to see The Stripp’s album launch live show. Packed out, great sound for an instore…fantastic stage presence and an exciting lead singer, Bek. We chat with the guitarist Jason who tells us they leave for a European tour tomorrow. They’ll go down well.

An eccentric excursion to see the Elvis Presley memorial grotto in Parkville cemetery. Built by the the President of Melbourne’s Elvis Presley fanclub on Elvis’s death. Dinner with Richard and Tracey at Bridges Restaurant, a huge barn like building also used for functions, weddings but tonight offering a steak special. I have a halloumi and ancient grain salad with cranberries…one of the best things I’ve eaten whilst away.

Sydney

May 10. Leaving Richard and Tracey, we’ve enjoyed a fantastic 4 days with them, we’re sad to leave. Richard drops us at the airport for our flight to Sydney. We originally planned to drive the coast from Melbourne to Brisbane but distances in Australia are massive and we want a few days to explore inland.

From the airport, two changes on the immaculate three tier trains in to Sydney, we’re staying at the Kurrajong Hotel in Erkinsville near Newtown. A top floor room of a 3 storey bar and restaurant, newly refurbished, beautifully designed. Four train stops (35 minutes) in to the centre of Sydney. Harbour walk, Sydney Opera House (I thought it was bigger), onto Sydney Harbour Bridge, the most ridiculously sized cruise liner blocking the view, it’s obscene.

Around the market in The Rocks; under the bridge where we eat pizza from one of the food stalls overlooking the harbour. It’s Mother’s Day, families eat together, kids play on the grass. Gorgeous weather…crowded everywhere.

One of our favourite street artists Vhils, on a set of steps in The Rocks. Thrilled to see this. It’s a portrait of Jack Mundey, the environmental and union activist from the 1970s. Vhils is a Portuguese street artist who chisels and drills away the surface area revealing stone or brick underneath to create fantastic portraits on walls.

The main drag, George St leading to Regent St, shoppers jostle wide sidewalks, trams glide by. Old architecture and sleek glass towers, upscale designer stores and tatty small outlets. Rows of Thai food places lead to Chinese. It’s crowded and noisy yet I’m used to much more back in New York City….away from that life I find I’m not seeking it elsewhere. We walk back to the hotel.

Erskinville/Newtown – Sydney

May 11. A trip down memory lane for Dave (who has a terrible memory) in nearby Alexandria trying to find where he worked 36 years ago at Polygram Records. We walk further than expected along busy main roads, noisy traffic, to wind up wandering an industrial estate…he thinks he finds it but he’s not sure and doesn’t really remember. I get unreasonably grumpy. We try out a cafe where someone told us there’s a Van Gogh thing going on…it’s a printed Starry Night vinyl floor and hundreds of fake sunflowers mobbed by influencers posing for photos. I get grumpier.

The mood improves when we reach King Street in the creative neighbourhood of Newtown…a long strip of shops, restaurants, cafes, pubs, record stores, reams of used and vintage clothing places, quirky furniture, street art, LGBT flags in windows, students and artists…it runs a long huddle of small storefronts through the heart of the Inner West. It’s bohemian and eclectic with some attractive Victorian and Edwardian architecture. It’s got the alternative community we feel at home in. It’s originally believed to follow a line of ancient Aboriginal track. We get a coffee and cake at Corellis Cafe.

I’m fascinated by the trees in Australia…towering Eucalyptus, massive Moreton Bay Fig, Sydney Red Gum, Bottlebrush with bright brush-like flowers, Palms, Wattles and the stunning Paperbarks shedding their thick papery bark in clumps. We see them everywhere.

And the narrow single storey houses with their decorative ironwork, close to the pavement, always long and low, dark…to keep cool in brutally hot summers.

Dinner at Fullmoon Thai Erskinville with the wonderful Sanjee. We’d only met on a video call back in England when staying with my cousin Dave who’s been hanging out with Sanjee for 9 years. Sri Lankan but living in Australia for many years, it’s great to finally meet in person. She’s fabulous; interesting, caring and funny…it’s frustrating meeting people you have an instant connection with…but so far away.

Sydney – Art and Botanical

May 12. Heavy rain but cleared by midday so we take the train from Erskinville to St James where banners advertise the Art Gallery of New South Wales. We change our plan and head there. The gallery is excellent. We explore the old wing learning about Australian artists, excited also to see a favourite British artist Francis Bacon. Heading next door for the Aboriginal artists…beautiful works on large canvas, repetitive dots meticulous. Paintings on bark. Large blue sculptures by Francis Uprichard loom outside as Australian White Ibis (nicknamed bin chickens) scavenge around the cafe tables for food.

Nearby we explore the Botanical Gardens. Free to enter, huge in scale leading down to the harbour. A drink and cake at the Leaf Cafe where a Noisy Miner bird swoops on to our table to peck crumbs from our plates. Australian White Ibis are everywhere, graceful in flight, reminiscent of Asian paintings…noisy scavengers on ground.

The lawn of huge fig trees, the Eucalyptus Grandis (Flooded Gum or Rose Gum) a dominant tree in tall wet rainforest. A Fiscus tree restricted to Lord Howe Island gifted to the gardens, 10 or more main trunks rather than a singular trunk…it’s rooted one side of the path and spread in an arch to root on the other. It’s so big I can’t get a good photograph. But my favourite is the red coloured bark Agathis Robusta (Queensland Kauri Pine) believed to be 200 years old; its trunk so hard to the touch it feels like steel. A shy groundsworker called John invites us to leave the path so we can touch the tree…it towers above us.

A flock of white cockatoos fly in to roost, the noise of them deafening…squawking loudly in flight, around 60 landing in the branches. We look out across the garden walks to the harbour, the water lightly chops, deep blue.

From the gardens to Customs House at Circular Quay (not far from Opera House harbour), where there’s a 3D model map of downtown Sydney under thick glass in the main lobby. We walk over it figuring out where we’ve been but it’s difficult to see it through the scuffed glass reflecting the glare of overhead spotlights.

Sydney Ferry across the Harbour

May 13. Lazy lie in, we need it. Walking to the station a young man with a long red mullet greets me “G’day.” At Circular Quay we wander to Museum of Contemporary Art, Fashion week is on, some fabulous outfits line up to get in to the VIP section…some ridiculous…it’s all fun. Parts of the museum closed but still a full admission fee…on to a ferry ride instead. Across the harbour to Luna Park, a young boy crying, pretty much everything closed. It’s heading to be one of those days but we get some amusing photos.

I’ve noticed public phone boxes around Australia, they’ve disappeared from London and New York…those I saw in Sydney were free to use. What an excellent service to offer…people living on the street having free access to a vital lifeline.

A 15 minute walk away, we find Wendy’s Secret Garden in Kirribilli, a place our Melbourne friend Doug had tipped me off about. It’s beautiful and does feel secretive tucked away spilling down a hillside via sections of wiggly paths towards a view of the harbour. Local residents maintain the park, some of their houses overlook it. A bush turkey is grazing at the top when we exit, his paddle shaped fan of a tail.

The coffee shop we want to go to closed at 2 so we’ve missed it. We’ve found a lot of places close early in Sydney, we’re used to the 24 hour lifestyle of New York…I’m not knocking an easier pace to life. Calling it a day, though we haven’t done much but it’s been over a month of travelling…we need to factor in some rest days, we’re both knackered. We take the train from Millson’s Point over Sydney harbour bridge, the views aren’t great because the windows are blurred; tinted or old. Getting off at Redfern intending to explore the neighbourhood, but there’s not much there…small convenience and takeaway shops, several bottle shops (alcohol sellers), lots of pubs surprisingly busy at 3pm. Dave buys a sandwich from a small coffee shop where we get in to a conversation about The Smiths. I relive my youth playing Strangeways Here I Come in the early hours of the morning after returning from clubbing in London.

Sydney to Dubbo through the Blue Mountains

May 14. Early start, picked up a rental car from downtown Sydney then headed out in to the morning commute on a straggle of complicated concrete highways, missed driving over Sydney harbour bridge getting funnelled through the tunnel instead.

Driving the Great Western Highway to Katoomba and the Blue Mountains. We buy hot drinks and pastries from Black Cockatoo in Katoomba, a busy mountain town, steep streets and cool air. It feels fresh. At the lookout point, we gaze out across the Three Sisters rock formation…miles of dense green forest. I take a group photograph for some civil engineering students from Sydney.

Through Mount Victoria…two large wood built hotels with balconies overlooking the road…one open one boarded up. The road flanked by short scrubby trees, all the green at the top, mountain trees. Dirt tracks exit the road ‘resident access only’. We drive through an area of silver bark charred black. Frazey Ford – ‘Done’ and Lucinda Williams – ‘Fruits of My Labour’ play on the stereo. Through the Vale of Clwydd descending in to the coal mining town of Lithgow where the steam train runs the Zig Zag Railway. We’re in the Central Tablelands of New South Wales. Through Marangaroo a small viaduct near the road.

By Wallerawang, more roadside warning signs for kangaroos and koala. Outside Capertee crows pick at a dead kangaroo. A sign for ‘Driver Reviver’ rest area ‘Stop. Revive. Survive.’ Jake Xerxes Fussell sings: “Have you ever seen peaches growing on a sweet potato pie…wake up woman take your big leg offa mine.” More kangaroo roadkill and surprisingly a black pig. Limestone Creek where scraggly dead trees hold their heads above the water. Fittingly Early James “Real Lowdown Lonesome” comes on the playlist. The sky is vast and blue.

Into acres of vineyards, signs for various wineries. Over Mullamuddy Creek. Driving Castlereagh Highway, through the outskirts of Mudgee where schoolchildren in school uniform with bush hats play ballgames. Through flat fields we go slow on the Gollan Road…bumpy rough filled potholes, joining Muronbong Road.

Ten minutes before Dubbo we take a dirt track leading off the main road to find a Bottle House shown on Google maps. We’re greeted by the owner Brian, now 84 years old. He built his bottle house with help from his grandchildren…a decorative addition to his land. By word of mouth (then google maps) people started showing up to see it “It gets like Woolworths car park some days.” He bought the land as an empty plot 35 years ago, planted all the trees, built his sheds, his house. He’s expanded on it since tourists started pulling off the road; sells antiques and oddities from his own collection. There’s a AUD $6 fee (cash) to walk the grounds and see inside the Bottle House…a beautiful work of art.

Checking in to The Shearing Shed Motel in Dubbo, a friendly lady on reception gives me a bottle of milk for my tea, they do this at all the motels we stayed in across New Zealand and Australia. A big room with industrial carpet, large bed and a huge bathroom with shower stall and a deep bathtub raised on a dias. That’s a motel first.

Dubbo to Lightning Ridge

May 15. Leaving at 9am the motel car park already emptied out. On to the highway through fields of gold-green grass. A rusting wind turbine, a field full of junked cars, scrap metal. It looks like America. Over Coolbaggie Creek driving further in to the furthest Outback we’ve got time to reach. We drive through Gilgandra a high street of low level buildings with projected overhangs, protection from rain and the harmful rays of a strong sun. Signs for road-trains; trucks pulling extra loads 3 trailer lengths. Through Gulargambone. Not far from Coonamble two Emu peck at the dirt in a roadside field.

Entering Coonamble we see the steel rungs of rodeo stands, ads for the roadhouse; each June this turns in to a big rodeo town. At a rest stop there’s a large padlock on the toilet roll holder. Stopped at The Hazel Cup Cafe for a slice of Lamington cake (soft sponge covered in desiccated coconut) and a smoothie which I’m disappointed to receive in a huge plastic cup, but the straw is paper. We need to ditch disposable plastic crap. Driving out of town over a dried up river bed Ghostwoman ‘Do You’ on the Spotify Daylist. Another dead kangeroo.. we reckon that’s 50 on the road just this morning. More emu wandering roadside…often in pairs.

Heat haze tricks the eye in to seeing a mirage of a large lake on the horizon line near Gulwarney. Two camels are laying down in the shade of trees behind a wire fence. We pass through Walgett on in to Lightning Ridge, an active Outback opal mining town with claims still being purchased. We check in to the quirky comfortable Sonja’s Bed & Breakfast…chat with Guinevere, Sonja’s entertaining mum then have a drive around. Pretty much everything is closed at 3pm, we wander into a gallery…we’ve seen the artist’s work on walls all over town…it’s well done but I’m not a fan of humorous art. In an opal shop we describe Whitby Jet to a friendly lady working there.

We drive around the Red Door sightseeing route marked at intervals by salvaged red car doors; it goes through an historic mining camp. People are living there now in hand built homes with water catchment tanks. Pretty much every pickup has bars across the grille, spotlights, large radio aerials.

We head out to First Shaft Lookout to watch the sun go down, sitting in the boot of the car alongside a handful of other people doing the same, the couple next to us in fold out chairs with a bottle of wine. We hang around to watch stars appear. It’s an unlit loose gravel road driving back…we go slow wary of kangaroos bounding in to the car.

Back to the B&B and up on the roof we stargaze, the Milky Way clearly visible. The B&B looks like a spaceship at night.

Lightning Ridge

May 16. A welcome chill out day, reading our books…I watch the last episode of Bill Bailey in Western Australia (British comedian/Netflix). Another reminder of how vast this country is, the statistics are wild. We decide not to do the touristy stuff, we’ve been in enough mines and caves in other countries. The tour prices are steep and include stopping off at several pubs, seeing the bush landscapes…the first we have no interest in the second we’re already seeing.

Buying some takeout lunch from The Opal Cafe, a visit to Stanley the huge scrap metal statue of an Emu….successfully cajoling Dave in to Dave Standing Under Giant Things…more amusing when it’s this huge and he looks this grumpy. A perfect day of doing very little at all.

The Road to Glen Innes

May 17. Leaving Lightning Ridge the roads are loose orange, on Angledool Road turning sand coloured and ridged, the car slides around. More Emu…we pull over, a group of six run in to the bush. A few minutes later two kangaroo bound alongside. It’s amazing to see these symbols of Australia in the wild. On the outskirts of Collarenebri the road turns blacktop, brief respite before another rough road to pay respects at the Aboriginal cemetery. The original keepers of this land, where the local Gomeroi/Murri communities decorate their graves with personal tokens and pieces of broken coloured glass known as crystalling. There’s a family here paying their respects so we don’t go behind the chain link fence and I don’t take photographs.

Anti Nowhere League ‘I Hate People’ comes on the playlist; ironically there’s no-one around. For miles along the side of Gwydir Highway to Moree there’s tufts of raw white cotton blown off trucks. Moree is one of Australia’s premier cotton growing regions. We pass a road-train truck hauling huge rolled cotton bales three trailers long. Signs for Goondiwindi, Mungindi, Warialda. In Moree we stop at Cafe Omega for smoothies, eat homemade cheese and tomato sandwiches in the car (again). Moree is a pretty big town; a museum, botanic gardens, sportsfield…but we’re passing through. The road is now smooth rolling blacktop for miles, green scrub, weathered trees.

Through Warialda; a school, a fire station, a church. Horse riders in Delungra…open prairie, flaxen grass. We stop for petrol in Inverell. 30 kilometres from Glen Innes between Chinamans Gully and Ghost Gully there’s wind turbines cresting the hill, the first we’ve seen. Near Matheson there’s controlled burns at the side of the road, fire trucks and services keep lookout. To Coles supermarket to buy fruit. Staying the night at another motel; New England Motor Lodge supposed to be open til 6pm, dark and closed at 4pm. No answer to the night desk phone on the wall. Finally get a code to get in. The town is shuttered, an occasional car drives through. There’s no-one around, no hope of dinner at the motel as the restaurant is closed. We head for one of the only open places we can find “Wogboys Woodfired Pizza”…neither of us can believe it’s really called that. Get there, it’s closed. For the first time in years we end up reluctantly eating a particularly crap MacDonalds; luke warm fries, a very thin hamburger.

To Mullumbimy to Georgie Mike & Jules

May 18. Torrential rain. There’s a bunch of standing stones in Glenn Innes which leads us to think the flags we saw around town yesterday are Celtic hence no English flag. There’s a sign exiting Glen Innes saying “See you next time!” Dave muttered “No you fu**ing won’t” It’s been an odd experience… in the words of The Jam, a Strange Town.

Driving out by Beardy Woods, Beardy River and Beardy Plains. Over Awkward Gulley. Dave spots a colourful bird, a Gouldian Finch. Back on the Gwydir Highway we start to see ferns and palms among the gum trees; a huge transition from the dry scrub bush of yesterday. We stop at Raspberry Lookout because many years ago an old friend used to call me raspberry (cockney rhyming slang Raspberry Ripple/Cripple/I’d had my motorbike smash) if you knew him and you know me it was genuinely funny especially as it took me several months to cotton on. English humour.

Heading towards Heffron’s Lookout, roadside boulders weather smoothed and rounded over thousands of years. The long view obscured by mist, the immediate view, it hanging low in trees, atmospheric. By Coombadjha Road, Cangai, The Mann River, Diggers Creek. The Brian Jonestown Massacre ‘Anenome’ on the stereo.

Huge road-train trucks wind around these mountains spraying rain in their wake…gleaming monsters. Jackadgery Creek, Jackadgery Gap, Purgatory Creek Road, Flaggy Gully. Out of the mountains, the view flattening to pasture, cows under trees, through the small houses of Grafton. In Maclean we stop at Botero Cafe for coffee…grey persistent rain…it’s lost its mystery. Petrol AUD $2.25 a litre unleaded. The media scare of fuel scarcity here hasn’t transpired. We’re on the M1, going to Byron Bay.

Bryon Bay is wet and grey, loads of clothing shops and surf brands, cafes and restaurants. We wander to the beach where our umbrellas get turned inside out in the wind. It is a beautiful coastline, we’ll revisit in a day or two. Trying to find postcards, sending them is a dying art. Taking Coolamon Scenic Drive, signs for ‘Koala Zone.’ Mist trapped by treetops which meet over the road. It’s beautiful. Into Mullumbimby, passing a school, a bowling club. To the post office and a walk around the town and even in heaving rain this is a pretty place…well laid out, attractive buildings.

Georgie and Mike turn up to guide us to their amazing house out of the town up on a hill in rainforest. Haven’t seen Georgie and their son Jules for 8 years haven’t seen Mike for almost 18. We catch up over homemade goulash as the rain roars outside beating on the corrugated roof.

Mullumbimby/Bangalow

May 19. It’s great hanging out with Georgie and Mike, Jules has grown in to an articulate witty 17 year old. He heads off to school, we have a lazy breakfast, discuss the world as Mike flips records on his turntable. Outside is vibrant green after the heavy rain…everything is alive. They had a cyclone here a year ago…huge floods, a river running down the mountain. Bushfires a year or so before that. The power of nature. Flocks of birds emerge from the tree canopy, Dave tells me to shake out my shoes for spiders. He’s been saying this since we got to Australia…I swear he’s going to put one in there to prove a point.

With Mike driving we head to Bangalow for a walk around this pretty village; Federation era shopfronts, tree-lined streets. High quality shops along Byron Street and a gallery hop, there’s some beautiful Aboriginal paintings in one. Flicking through vinyl in Flo Records, a healthy lunch at Woods bursts with flavour. You can tell there’s money here.

Ice-cream in Byron Bay and down to the beach where Georgie names the mountains. Up to the lighthouse officially the most easterly point of the Australian mainland. Meeting Jules from school and driving in to a spectacular sunset…a wide stretch of fiery red and bruised blues. Another home cooked meal and a wander on to the deck to see a sky packed full of stars…the best stargazing so far right where we’re sleeping.

Murwillumbah and Cudgen Kingscliff Beach

May 20. Georgie and Mike drive us on the Tweed Valley road, green mountains backdropping the scenery. We visit the Tweed Regional Gallery & Margaret Olley Art Centre in  Murwillumbah. It has gorgeous views across a pastoral landscape. Olley (1923-2011) was an Australian artist who produced hundreds of still life and interior room paintings in rich colours. There’s a recreation of her interior rooms, based on photographs of the terrace house and adjoining former hat factory in Duxford Street she bought in 1964, in Paddington, the Sydney suburb. With its coloured walls as backdrop and packed with thousands of objects, Olley gathered these for her inspiration…her paintings reflecting the joyous clutter of her life; pottery, flowers fruit, chairs.

We drive through Tumbulgum, I try several times to pronounce it correctly…we’re laughing in the car. To Cudgen Headland Surf Life Saving Club for lunch, a members club where non members can register. We sit at a high table overlooking a stunning view of Kingscliff Beach. Georgie points out the deep tannin colour in the break of the surf and tells us it’s from the Tea Trees. A Grey Butcherbird lands on a nearby table looking for scraps.

Back at the house Georgie cooks and Mike flips vinyl again, playing us another great selection of jazz.

To Brisbane

May 21. Back on to the M1…the only other I’ve travelled on being the main artery to the north of England. Leaving Georgie, Mike and Jules. Goodbyes are bloody hard…so many years already passed between seeing them. We’ve had 3 days to catch up in their creative household; lots of laughter, thought provoking debate, music and art. It’s just not been long enough.

We’re heading to Brisbane, a flight to China tomorrow, things to double check before travel, Dave got us checked in online which wasn’t straightforward. But first a visit to the Museum of Contemporary Art to see the Olafur Eliasson ‘Presence’ exhibition, it’s extraordinary. He’s a favourite artist.

Lunch outside at the museum restaurant and a walk along the south bank of the Brisbane river looking across to city skyscrapers. The area is a cultural hub; several art museums, theatre, a rainforest walk, another impressive library which surrenders walls to the open air at various points. It’s a really well designed waterfront.

Australia has been fun…great times with so many friends. Beautiful birds and animals. Cities, rainforest, arid bushland. We’ve travelled miles and only seen a small part of this vast country, a wonderful experience. Tomorrow we fly to China.

Stay

Sydney The Karrajong Hotel.

Dubbo The Shearing Shed.

Lightning Ridge Sonja’s Bed & Breakfast

Glen Innes New England Motor Lodge

Brisbane Airport Ascot Motel

Eat

Hurstbridge Bridges Restaurant

Hurstbridge Post Cafe @hurstbridgepostcafe

Sydney Newtown Corellis Cafe.

Sydney Erskinville Fullmoon Thai.

Sydney Erskinville Cuzzy’s Kebab

Katoomba The Black Cockatoo Bakery

Coonamble The Hazel Cup Cafe

Lightning Ridge The Opal Cafe

Moree Omega Cafe

Bangalow Woods Station Street

Kingscliff Cudgen Headland Surf Life Saving Club