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 ...

Alesund

Our final destination stop was Alesund. This is a very pretty town in southern Norway built on a peninsula. All the houses are painted pretty colours and a lot of the architecture is all very Art Nouveau based. This is because the town itself was completely burnt to the ground In 1904 by a fire for which they never found the original cause. The whole town had to be rebuilt and this became a huge National Effort and a lot of prominent and up and coming architects flocked to the town to stick there 20 pence in. Consequently the town is very heavily Art Nouveau which was very fashionable at the time. There is this wonderful Museum just off the harbour which is a very beautiful Art Nouveau house. It has amazing panelling, doors, wallpaper, and it's all furnished with beautiful art Nouveau Furniture. It also house a collection of of enameled Art Nouveau Trinkets,boxes, spoons, jewellery, very very beautiful. There is an interesting collection of old books and paintings a...

Isle of Bute

Another Landmark Trust tick - this time Ascog House on the Isle of Bute - stunning as always... a very comfortable warm accommodation for the usual 8 suspects. This time we had a wee tower house for Dr Fred and myself - a lovely bedroom up the stairs with a big window and a bathroom al to ourselves - having said that all the other bedrooms in the big house were large and serviced by two bathrooms so there was no hardship for any visitors! The grounds of the house were very extensive with ponds and secret passages - hidden paths and we even spotted a deer late afternoon - there were lots of old features - ornate staircases and a lovely hidden door which I did a quick sketch of. Bute provided quite a lot of entertainment as well - the weather was kind and we did a a muddy wander down the south of the Island taking in St Blanes Monastery and Kilcannon Bay. The views were spectacular and it was fabulous to be out in the fresh (and it was fresh on the tops) air and we...

The Blue Dot

Excellent evening spent at the first Blue Dot festival held at Jodrell Bank. Clever use of the radio telescope as back drop for the main stage... there were some major teething issues which hopefully will addressed if this event happens again - mainly access and parking.. it was a nightmare approach to the festival and fortunately as we were only doing one night we decided to ditch the car and chose to walk the last mile and half into the site... what a relief as if we had queued we would most certainly missed Public Service Broadcasting which was one of the reasons we were going.. anyway we caught them and then enjoyed fantastic set by Underworld - danced much of the night away in the rain - my trusty solfest poncho almost kept me dry.. it was a splendid evening and the telescope looked brilliant when lit up when it got dark. There was a rather fab "installation" called a luminarium, lack of site information - another hiccup meant we were really lucky to catch it just ...

Planet Ruby Starrs

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