Theres Another Sand Dune in the Van.

6633 kilometres... 4121.5 miles... Its been a fabulous trip... amazing places, dark skies, fabulous wildlife, some catching up with old friends, new friends made...lots of stories to tell and memories to mull over.

I won't miss the constant refrain 'theres another sand dune in the van' as Dr Fred once again sweeps the floor of the van...

Or the sand in the bed ... but its all worth it for the sunshine - long white beaches - dark red earth - and pure blues skies...

I have loved the different colours and and landscapes we have encountered.. as always our trip takes in a lot of rock but this has been incredibly varied and on a completely different scale to what we see in the UK.

The echidnas continued to be elusive but we had some wonderful moments observing the local native wildlife... only picture I got of echidna ... stuffed in visitors centre!

Its been uplifting to have the stunning light and warmth from day one.. even when we stepped out of the airport, Mars, venus and the moon in perfect alignment sitting there to welcome us - the moon upside down just to remind us we are in another hemisphere...

After the last two years this sense of rejuvenation is incredibly welcome and we are lucky to have been able to scratch the travel itch!

The van itself was pretty much what we expected -basic - but it delivered what we needed - an easy, safe, dry (mostly), place to sleep - we have lived outside almost exclusively... dusty, dirty, sandy... our hygiene standards have eroded somewhat🤣🤣🤣 -I have always maintained a thorough strip wash suffices but really nothing beats a long hot shower or dare I suggest it a bath!!

We have no idea how long we travelled with the giant spider 'pet' - or how it may have lurked about in the night - clambering with its then intact long legs around the van.. it doesnt bare thinking about... we were sorry to have maimed it upon capture but it shouldn t have resisted..

South of Perth has a fabulous coast line. Lots of sleepy towns and good swimming spots - often in places the sea was too wild for me to be confident but Greens pool, Peaceful Bay and Bremmer headland were all nice calm seas and lovely to swim in. Nothing beats the snorkeling on the Ningaloo Reef in the indian ocean though.

There was a lot of mountain, rock, crag climbing.. lots of granite domes and boulders... cliffs to conquer and a fair amount of bush walking.. it was hot - and I know it will be hard to imagine the extent of the heat in a few weeks!

We were made so welcome in Kalbarri and the crayfish feast and party for Dr Freds birthday were fantastic.

The Eclipse was the icing on the cake... we had a fabulous week in Exmouth..

We spent the last couple of days in Perth with friends. We visited the Western Australian Art Gallery and were wowed by the year 12 art exhibition... so much talent and quite a lot of politics.. joyous to look at.

The rest of the gallery was ok but the Japanese artist Yoshitoma Nara wasn't really my thing...

and while I loved the lift

the exhibition Yeahnahnesia was interesting - strange - but not particulary appealing to me.

I'm going to post thisas phone keeps crashing more highlight another day ...

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. The big quest for the 2nd half of the week was to find some deer antiers! The chap that owned the house dropped in to visit - he was a very friendly fella and was chatting about how this was the time of year when all the Stags lost their antlers (he collected them and sold them) so after that we were on the serious lookout. It's always been Fred's mission to find some dropped antlers.... The Monro baggers continued with the mission to bag the remaining three Monros... there is discussion as whet...

Vigo

We left the ship to explore Vigo. Its a much larger place then we expected... although tbh I hadn't given ut a lot of thought. Its a real mish mash of old and new and having got a map from tourist info we decided to follow the walking trail to the Monte Castro... the highest point of the town. Most of the town was pretty much as everywhere else... lots of traffic... lots of people... one or two interesting buildings and a lot of shopping. We headed to the art gallery - this has been a year of gallery visits so we we seen o reason to change now. The Museo de Marco is housed in the towns ex prison building and its very grand. In fact, I think that on this occaision the building might have been more interesting than the art.... Although the visiting exhibition by Susanne S D Themlitz was strangely compelling. It was a huge varied collection of eclectic items... found, salavaged, manipulated and arranged in lots of ways - weirdly inspiring - and mostly enjoyable to look at...

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 b...

Planet Ruby Starrs

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