Not that it hasn't been fun keeping you up to date on my health odyssey and my other adventures, but I really want to change my focus away from the cancer experience. It will continue to be very much a defining element in my attitude to life, but it should be in the background now, so I can jump into new things with both feet.

Those of you who got notifications of new posts here will hear about the new blog posts in the same way, unless you tell me to take you off the list. Anyone who wants to be added to that list, just drop me an email.

The existing posts here will remain and, of course, I welcome any readers who may benefit from my experience. Thanks to you all for taking the time to share my life here.

Today, Bob and I did a much more local spin. He's downstairs in the batcave and I'm two floors up tucked into bed with my laptop. And we're talking with Skype -- at last, we've solved the intercom problem! Now I can bug him to stop surfing the net and put the kettle on without even getting out of bed. Gotta love it!

The flight to Sydney was quick and smooth, only about three and a half hours, just time for a quick dinner and lame movie. The hotel in Sydney -- same as last time and I won't honour them by advertising their name -- exceeded its bad impression from last time. Took ten minutes or more to check in (nobody in line at nearly midnight and we were reserved for three people), then we found the phone didn't work and there were only two towels. We got the room changed and were settled again just in time for the fire alarm to go off -- false alarm and at least it wasn't raining outside.

Now it's Sunday morning, oops, just after noon, and a glorious hot day. Claire is off to Manly to say goodbye yet again and we are sightseeing on foot in the city, meeting friends of Janine's later today for tea.

Friday
Thursday morning we had booked Friday's wine tour, so we were picked up just after 9 in pouring rain and high winds. Great weather to spend touring the countryside and drinking wine. We visited three Swan River Valley wineries in the morning, stopping at the third for a delightful lunch, then sampled two more wineries in the afternoon before dessert at a microbrewery. We finished up at the chocolate factory where our driver insisted we sample excessively. An excellent tour, but oh, the calories! If we can manage it this evening, we plan to do some final shopping around the corner from the hotel. Tomorrow is our last morning in the wonderful city of Perth -- great place to visit and lovely people everywhere we've been.

The rest of Monday we continued to see how the Nullarbor Plain changes over its thousands of kilometres. Saltbush seems to be the only growing thing that can hold on in most areas, but even that gave up to red sand in some places. From time to time we would see towers that could have been for transmission I suppose. Once we saw one that had been given up to bird nests. Near that track every few kilometres was some kind of maintenance building flanked by a solar panel array.

Monday evening we stopped at Kalgoorlie for a bus tour of the mining city Kalgoorlie-Boulder, home of the largest open pit gold mine in the world, which we saw lit up and doing business as it does round the clock. The city has a marvellous number of restored and protected turn of the century buildings.

Overnight we entered the marginal plain area and another world. As we neared the end of the plain we had seen cattle, then finally real fields of grazing sheep. The landscape then changed again to rocky hills, lushly forested -- saw another kangaroo. We followed a river known for its whitewater rafting at other times of the year. The sudden appearance of water puddles and reservoirs was startling after so much desert. We pulled into Perth just after 9 am.

We had a wait at the train station for our ride and waited again for our hotel room to be ready, but meanwhile found the local internet cafe and started to explore the central business district, which we seem to be right in the middle of. Later in the afternoon, we found two major outdoor malls within a block of the hotel, swarming with people. We dined at a Belgian cafe across the street: Belgian beer, mussels and of course waffles with double cream for dessert.

On Wednesday we were picked up about 8:15 for our bus tour of Perth. Our driver was very entertaining and knowledgeable about the sites and history. Best spot was our stop at the botanical gardens in King's Park, where we had lots of time to take a treetop walk overlooking the city. Very nice gift shop there, too, with excellent prints and pottery. The afternoon part of the tour took us to the ferry docks for a cruise on the Swan River to Fremantle (about an hour and a half), past the millionaires' houses on the river. Fremantle is an interesting collection of period buildings, souvenir shops, restaurants and markets (none open today). Lots of bookstores. We came back by bus, taking a scenic route along the coast for a bit to see some of the beach stretching along this part of the Indian Ocean.

Sunday

For our last day in Adelaide we set out to see the zoo. I decided to walk because one of our hosts from last night's dinner had shown us the route. It was a quick 20 minutes across parkland and along a shady path. Mom and Claire joined me eventually after taking the bus. It's a lovely zoo, small but well kept and with lots of animals in clear view. We saw their bird show, which consisted of two blue and gold macaws in free flight over the main lawn.

Claire and I then set off for the city centre, waited a bit for a bus, then decided to walk along the River Torrens. We chanced upon the Migration Museum, so Claire went off exploring while I toured it for an hour. Excellent presentations! Lots of info and artifacts about people who migrated to Australia over the past two centuries, lots of personal stories. Part of the complex is the former Destitute Asylum and a hospital for indigent mothers. Very poignant stories depicted the orphans and women unfortunate enough to find themselves there in the 19th century.

I met up with Claire again and did a quick tour of the State Library, which was nearby, and the South Australia Museum. In the latter I only had energy for a quick tour of a photography exhibition. The library had in its lower level a small gallery full of aboriginal paintings, so we did a quick scan there as well before grabbing a cab back to the hotel. Still time there for a beer and catchup on email before our ride arrived for the train station. At the station we had lots of time to rest and people watch -- who should show up but three people from last night's dinner to see us off! Cathy, our hostess, plus June and Bill from Florida, came and chatted with us until we boarded the train.

Monday

After an exquisite dinner last night, we fell into our bunks quite readily, especially knowing the wake-up coffee or tea was to be at about 6:15. After a sumptuous breakfast, we spent much of the day crossing the incredible Nullarbor Plain, an apparently limitless stretch of desert, punctuated with saltbush (a grey shrub about 8 inches tall at most) and very occasionally a scrawny tree-like effort. We stopped at Cook, once home to 300 people but now a ghost town with a couple of people running a sparse gift shop. Got a good view of a low-flying wedge-tail eagle before we got back on the train. Under a couple of surprisingly green bushes further on we saw kangaroos, but otherwise no wildlife and very few birds.

Wednesday
Met Claire at the train station just as we walked in. She had to take the bus (two buses and a cab, actually) to get to Circular Quay and do an errand in the city. We had lots of time for coffee and a chat before we made our way to the platform to board the train. The sleepers for Red Kangaroo service are quite tiny but adequate. We settled and got moving, then went along to the lounge car, where we could see out both sides -- great views. After we left the city and outskirts (about an hour), we gradually ascended into the Blue Mountains, leaving the pouring rain behind, too, for forested steep countryside with houses and villages here and there. There are 10 tunnels through these mountains, according to the audio tour, but some are quite short. Several breathtaking panoramas go by -- you can see for miles in places. Just before it got dark, the train started downward out of the mountains, into hilly pasture land, still with lots of trees, then finally before we couldn't see any more, almost flat farmland.

The dining car offered several choices, plus wine and beer, from cheerful, friendly stewards -- I heard one singing as he went by. Other passengers were chatty and good natured.

Thursday
We woke about daybreak to see flat, scrubby land with patchy trees here and there and a few sheep. Easy to see clumps or pairs of kangaroos bouncing away plus a couple of emus.

We stopped in Broken Hill about 7 am, long enough to peruse the vendor stalls at the station (all white, mostly old women selling home-made or cheap goods). Then we went further on the recommendation of the steward to peek into the Palace Hotel, a large Victorian building that had seen better days on the main street -- wall to wall painted murals in the front foyer and up two levels of stairs. We bought sandwiches at a coffee shop and headed back to the train.

The rest of the day took us through everchanging landscape, some desert and farmland, some scruffy trees, all under brilliant sunshine. We saw hills in the distance and gradually caught up to them. Got into Adelaide about an hour and a half late, but our pleasant driver was waiting with his van. The hotel is comfy, but Internet access very expensive, so we may wait until the next opportunity. Had a yummy dinner this evening; Mom had kangaroo filet.

Friday
We were picked up early Friday morning (left our luggage there so we could travel light) and taken to the domestic air terminal. As we had lots of time, the driver took us through the main area of Adelaide, pointing out a few sights. Not much happening as it was Good Friday. We waited at the terminal, watching various other tourists and holidayers arrive, then boarded a small prop plane holding 19 of us for the 30 minute flight to Kangaroo Island. Our driver met us at Kingscote Airport on the island and we boarded a mini-bus for our guided tour.

Our first wildlife sighting: wallabees. Regrettably, they were roadkill. Once we reached the Flinders Chase National Park, we saw the carpark kangaroos -- they hang around hoping to be fed -- then started to see more roos and wallabees throughout the day. The island is small enough that we covered three exceptional spots on the coast as well as much of the inland area. Our lunch stop included a walk in the eucalyptus woods to see koalas. Lots of wallabees there, too, plus a tiny but spectacular blue wren. The koalas were introduced to the island and are eating too many trees, so there are debates about culling them. Clearly a problem with something so cute. Best stops for me today were the New Zealand fur seal colony at Admiral's Arch and Seal Bay, home of the second largest breeding colony of Australian sea lions. We're resting now at Kangaroo Island Lodge, flying out tomorrow to return to Adelaide.

Saturday
We spent the day seeing the city, including the beach at Glenelg, then had dinner with Mom's 5W friends in a suburb of North Adelaide. Great evening!

At the museum, we started with the indigenous peoples area, a very extensive section where we spent at least two hours, plus more after a snack break. Lots of interesting artifacts from years ago, but also plenty of art and commentary from today's aboriginal people in Australia.

From there we went to the birds and insects room, very interesting especially since we had seen several at Claire's show. From there we found biodiversity, which dealt with animals and ecosystems, etc. Failed to find a wombat. Down one floor, we found the minerals display, including the Albert Chapman collection, a wonderful variety of brilliant rocks. After a coffee, where we watched the torrential rain outside, we headed for the skeleton room -- wombat, there, but sans skin of course. Finally, we mosied through the store, buying souvenirs made in Peru (!) plus rocks to take home. Walked back to the hotel in the rain, but it was still warm.

It's Wednesday morning now, still raining and very gusty. Claire called to say the ferries were cancelled so she must make her way to meet us at the train station via an express bus. Needless to say, the lineups for the buses are considerable. We're all set to move on to our next adventure in Adelaide.

Claire took us in by the employee entrance and we went down right away to see the first Bird Show, for which she was assisting (catching and releasing birds for the presenter). The show is given in an amphitheatre overlooking Sydney Harbour -- fabulous view! After the show, we dashed over to the food place to grab lunch before the seal show, actually starring an American sea lion. Then back up a very steep walkway where Claire's boss gave us a very special personal tour. We walked into an enclosure where they normally entertain school groups and made friends with an old lady grey kangaroo, very sweet and gentle. Next he brought out an echidna, Australia's answer to the North American porcupine. In spite of her armour, she also was really sweet natured and tolerated a sort-of pat. To top things off, out came a baby koala, just a soft and fuzzy as the stuffed kind. We each got to hold her and give her lots of pats, which is actually part of her socialization for future encounters with kids. There were wombats there, too, but they were sleeping, so we left totally high from this special experience with the three stars.

Mom and I cruised through the zoo a bit until it was time for the next Bird Show, starring our very own Claire as presenter. She was outstanding! She had pretty good cooperation from most of the birds and at the end one of the trainers came out to tell everyone how much Claire had contributed and to lead the audience in three cheers.

Finally, Claire led us through the backstage area to meet the avian stars (plus the rats who had a walk-on in the earlier show). It was very clear then how difficult it is going to be for her to leave this marvellous experience behind. Everyone was friendly and commented on how much she will be missed.

We left her there very misty-eyed and walked down to the waterfront to get the ferry back to Circular Quay. On the quay we revived our sore feet, people-watched and downed a refreshing shandy or two. Dinner was fish and chips from one of the quay vendors -- yummy.

From there, we went on a coast drive, seeing Bronte Beach, another I can't remember something like Tamarama, then the famous Bondi Beach. We stopped to commune with the magpies and drink in the views. Ultimately we got to Watson's Bay, from which you can see across to Manly. Came back westward through Rose Bay, Double Bay and Paddington, seeing lots of ritzy houses. Then back to Chebi's in Surry Hills, where we had a reviving cold drink in the tree-shaded garden and heard a kookaburra. Chebi went for sushi, etc. and came back with enough to feed eight. We met Mark, her ex-lodger, just moving out after 15 years. Spent the rest of the afternoon nattering about this and that and seeing some of Chebi's prints. She dropped us off at the Internet place right near our hotel. After this morning's rain, the rest of the day was pretty perfect sunshine.

We made our way back to the quay where we caught a train to the Darling Harbour area, walking a considerable way, at times with some doubt about our direction. At last we found the Powerhouse Museum where we went through the Lord of the Rings Exhibition -- excellent! By this time we were flagging, so we took a cab back to the hotel for a reviving cuppa.

Claire came with me to the Internet place to catch up on some mail, but she has gone now to catch a bus back to Manly. Tomorrow Chebby is picking us up for breakfast.