Countdown to the Next Adventure

I'm soooo desperate for an extended adventure - some sunshine - a different landscape and the sea.... so 4 more sleeps and we head off into the yonder blue heading for Perth Western Australia.

Of course there is an Eclipse involved - the basic premise for us planning such a big trip - the irony is that the build up, the expense, the 24 hour flight plan, living in a campervan for months (which tbh is no hardship) could technically be blamed on a one minute natural phenomena! A stunningly beautiful one but this time very short and hopefully sweet - and of course its very weather dependant!! If its cloudy - unlikely where we are going but I wouldn't care to be complacent - there is limited viewing! hence making a holiday out of the occasion - lots of other exciting things to do and see around the coastal areas of WA.

This will be my fifth eclipse - I have been very lucky and the weather has always been kind allowing me some beautiful experiences - the finest nature can offer - It was a very close call when we travelled to China - getting up with a (nasty) packed breakfast at 3.00am onto a coach heading for a designated viewing spot.... black skies and complete cloud cover - everyone trying to be optimistic - ''it will be atmospheric'' a constant refrain - but just as it started to matter the clouds parted the sun was visible and we were able to watch the slow but steady bite as the moon crossed get more and more until we had final totality, the birds were obviously confused and the bats came out in large numbers -6 minutes of total cover and then a stunning diamond ring effect as the moon just slipped past totality.

diamond ring effect Turkey Eclipse 2006 (not our photo our cameras are not good enough)

Every eclipse I have seen has been a different experience - last time I saw one in America it was daytime and we were sat in a meadow surrounded by wild flowers. We were in Australia 10 years ago and out early morning up on a hillside in the outback with long stretching views across a barren landscape - Turkey we sat on the beach and watched the shadows come over the sea - but each time was a glorious life affirming experience and leaves you planning for the next one!!!

Next blog should be either on route or from oz!!! Its all a bit internet dependant and I think it will be mainly pictures but any comments gratefully acknowledged....

Scotland part 2

The second half of the week continued in much the same vein. We had one rainy afternoon which was actually quite nice to be holed up in the house with the rain lashing the windows. It probably wasn't quite so nice for the two visitors that came on their bikes but they're tough cookies - and its only water- but I did feel sorry for them having to cycle six miles back down the track in the wind and rain, but given Scotland, it wasn't as bad as it could be.

Funchal

So after three days at sea we finally hit Funchal in Madeira. An escape from the ship, and I have to say it was very pleasant indeed. First of all the weather is really splendid. Especially when you know that everybody else in the UK is suffering grim storms and vile winds.. Over here it is between 22 and 25 degrees is really quite warm. Funchal is a pretty city. It's built on a hill it with lots of lovely white houses with stunning red roofs. In order to get the best of it we walked along the sea front until we got to the cable car and we took it up the hill. It was a really good ride much longer than we imagined and it's quite weird because it goes right through the town - completely over everybody's house... So not only do you get a lovely vista of the bay but you can view the beautiful rooftops and get to look in everybody's gardens and to look at their picnic sets.. clean washing nice plants... scratty backyards.... We got off th

ROCKS - in which I share the Hopetoun and Esperance pictures....

I'm about to post a load of pictures of rocks... look away if you are not interested...There are more but its faffy making them smaller to upload so I'm doing it a bit at a time... Enjoy mount Barren rocks on summit Mount Barren Views... Cave Point - unreachable cave Small reachable Cave scree to unreachable cave Frenchmans Peak Cave Frenchmans peak View Frenchmans Peak Summit Esperance Headland Boulders Esperance Headland with fisherman for scale Eperance other headland cave Esperance other headland...

Planet Ruby Starrs

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