The start of our Australian Advenure finally arrived and it was time to start the long trek to Perth Western Australia, where we are to pickup the vehicle that will carry us on this adventure and from where the adventure finally starts. However before we get there we have some twists and turns to navigate.

Pacific Northewest Weather

The first of those twists and turns was not anticipated. The Pacific Northwest turned on a winter storm with record snow fall that somewhat screwed up our initial travel plans. The snow looked quite beautiful laying over our garden, but the fact that it closed our driveway and forced us to shovel a long path to the nearest road down which we had to wheel our luggage was less beautiful.

Newcastle Family

That same winter storm forced us to leave SEATAC a day earlier than planned and to endure a 24 hour layover in Los Angeles before finally embarking our flight to Sydney.

Our first port of call in Australia was Newcastle about 100 miles north of Sydney. Nina has family there and we always try and pay a visit to catchup. On this visit we did a short tour of the city to re-acquaint ourselves with our teenage stomping grounds. The city has changed dramatically since we were teenagers; no longer a grimmy steel town, now an afluent coal port. The great beaches have always been one of the cities prime attractions and the walkway you can see in the following photos is a memorial to local citizens that died in WWI.

Canberra and the Australian War Memorial

Over tha past year Nina has been working long hours on a family project which involved transcribing nearly 100 letters and 30 postcards that her paternal grandfather wrote to her grandmother during his service in England and France during WWI, a service he did not survive. This transcription is now in the form of a book an electronic version of which can be found at this link To My Darling Wife

Nina and her family have agreed to donate those letters and postcards (along with a copy of the book) to the Australian War Memorial in Canberra. Thus one of our duties during our stay on the East Coast was a drive to Canberra to make the donation.

Nina and I have not been to Canberra in over 20 years so it was a welcome opportunity to see the Nation's Capital again.

Sydney

After our "out of town" duties we finally got a few days to spend time with family in Sydney and to re-acquaint ourselves with the flavor of this hectic city.

Perth

We spent three nights in a hotel in downtown Perth before collecting our vehicle. This gave us an opportunity to get a feel for the city and collect our thoughts before starting our adventure for real.

Perth is a small city by any standard, a nice mix of old and new architecture, a few nice parks close to the city and some wonderful trees, very quiet in the sense that both vehicle and foot traffic feels light compared to a place like Sydney.

Somewhat to our surprise the city seemed to close down after 6:30 pm, cafes and cofee shops all closed and the streets seemed deserted. We have been told that the city night life is north of the Central Business District.

The picture that looks like a penguin in a canoe is a representation of what the local aboriginal people thought when they first saw a European sailing ship.