Q is for Quirky signs: An echidna on the road

A gate on a walk - reclining kangaroo is a delight

Travel delivers some quirky moments and not least of all these come from the caution signs on the highways here in Australia - with their images of the weirdly wonderful animals of this great continent - kangaroo, emu, echidna, wombat, koala.

So I have been watching the verges for glimpses of the wildlife, there have been loads of kangaroos but no sign of the others.

Yesterday as we were driving to the summit of Mt Buller, I saw my first Echnida, just off the road, about a rugby ball size, short quills, with its strange little face and it's long snout of a nose.

No sooner were we out the car than it sensed danger and started to burrow furiously, hiding its face underground!

Fred and Guy tried to encourage it to surface without any luck, we all hooted with laughter when the Echidna came up for air - its stuck it's long nose out of the ground and took a breath. So odd, so how about a wombat next?

Postscript: on the road today I noticed a dead animal on the roadside, we turned around and it was a wombat, much larger than I expected, full bodied and strong looking. Would have preferred to see it alive though.

F is for Fry's Hut: a mountain man tin and log hut in the High Country

Built in the mid 1900's, Fred Fry lived as a mountain man, an isolated life until his death in the 1970's and he is well remembered for his building talent and he influenced the style of many of the heritage huts here in the High Country. We walked the 3km Heritage Trail in the Howqua Valley, saw the remains of the gold mining from the mid 1800's ending at the hut. I must remember to get Inel to sketch it for me in my journal, the lines are remarkable.

So while I was finishing high school, here was this man, in his tin and wood hut, living the simple but rich life, too marvellous.

F is for Family: a surprise visit!

A late night intrusion here at our timeshare near Mansfield in Victoria.

Inel, Guy and Joss had arrived after a 7 hour drive from Cowra, NSW. So special.

We ran around here in the High Country, tasted Tin Shed ciders; visited Dalzotto, of Masterchef fame for me, in the King Valley for crisp, cold Prosecco; walks are the lake, along a heritage trail and up the summit of Mt Buller; made good food; found the King Parrot and of course loads of coffee and wine.

We saw them off at 5am this morning and look forward to our return visit at the end of February.

G is for Grasstree: a Western Australian icon

A road trip can surprise. I assumed the landscape would be dominated by the wondrous gum trees that Australia has, until we stumbled on this scene along the Indian Ocean Highway. A vast plain of Grasstrees and as the info board says, they can survive for over 500 years. Such an interesting sighting indeed.

B is for Birding: my first flock of the huge Carnaby's Black Cockatoos

Driving back from Jurien Bay today, I was feeling dejected about not having sighted any of the Black Cockatoos that are endemic to Western Australia.

We went off Highway 1 to have ice-creams in Gingin, oh my best ice-cream to date, marketing blurb from Connoisseur Ice-creams says it all:

Within the Murray River lie ancient pink salt flakes. We mix them into our classic gooey caramel sauce, and whip it generously through rich caramel flavoured ice cream. It’s then locked away inside a layer of premium milk chocolate and macadamias. We think the salt flakes are happier here.

Anyway, as we were leaving town a flock of Black Cockatoos flew over, noisy and bold. Fred leapt out of the car and did his best to get some photos before the flock moved off again to the next field.

Yay, I now have the Carnaby's Black Cockatoo on my life list!

P is for Pinnacles: a place to breath deeply

Nambung National Park, Western Australia.

The approach to the park gives nothing away, scrub saltbush and white dunes, low hills.

We paid the entrance fee and walked to the start of the Desert Trail through the Pinnacles.

It's a vast area, denuded of the coastal scrub and these stones stand, silent, sometimes looming, sometimes ordinary and sometimes extraordinary in form, erosion creating this place of magic.

The end of day warmth in this quiet, rather surreal landscape, turned the sand a buttery colour, even the wind dropped.

Nankeen Kerstrels scrapping high above us in the deep blue sky were the only distraction.

I am constantly reminded of the wonders of our natural world and I am in awe. Scientists find it hard to explain the Pinnacles. I do not ask these stones to explain themselves but just stand and look.

S is for Stromatolites: Lake Thetis, the weird and the wonderful

Microbial communities? Been growing for about 3500 years?

So Fred looks around and sees rocky lumps....but how interesting, never heard of Stromatolites until this morning at Lake Thetis, near Cervantes. The little Red-capped Plovers seemed to love the high levels of salinity too.

We also met a rather handsome lizard this morning - in fact Fred was getting to close and it turned around and hissed at him, showing his namesake, a blue tongue. Our host at Isabella's Cafe told us the tail mimics the shape and size of the head as a survival strategy. Wonderfully weird.

Bobtail Skink - locals call them the blue-tongued lizards.

G is for a Green Sea: Indian Ocean from Thirsty Point, Cervantes, WA

Windswept, jet lagged and happy to be exploring.

As I plan our trips I google images of the places I am thinking of visiting, Pinterest searches too and I was wondering about the remarkable sea images that define this Turquoise Coast north of Perth in Western Australia.

Our drive along the Indian Ocean Drive, some 250 kilometres north of Perth, delivered beautiful scenery, white sand, and this green sea. All I could say was wow.

A is for Airport: Leaving home for 3 months

We start our year of travel leaving Johannesburg for Perth from OR Tambo, and my alphabet listing will start too, airports, flight kilometres, cities, countries, the possibilities are endless and how I love the action of tracking and listing while I travel.

Takeoff

by Timothy Steele

Our jet storms down the runway, tilts up, lifts:

We're airborne, and each second we see more-

Outlying hangars, wetlands with a pond

That flashes like sheened silver and, beyond

An estuary and the frozen drifts

Of breakers wide and while along a shore

One watches, cheek in palm. How little wight

The world has as it swiftly drops away

How quietly the mind climbs to this height

As now, the seat-belt signed turned off, a flight

Attendant rises to negotiate 

The steep aisle to a curtained service bay.

"The east and the west are mine, the north and the south are mine"

Song of the Open Road

BY WALT WHITMAN

From this hour I ordain myself loos’d of limits and imaginary lines, 

Going where I list, my own master total and absolute, 

Listening to others, considering well what they say, 

Pausing, searching, receiving, contemplating, 

Gently, but with undeniable will, divesting myself of the holds that would hold me. 

I inhale great draughts of space, 

The east and the west are mine, and the north and the south are mine. 

I am larger, better than I thought, 

I did not know I held so much goodness. 

All seems beautiful to me

Soon I will start our year of travel and as the one line says from the wonderful epic poem by Walt Whitman, "The east and the west are mine, and the north and the south are mine." 

Down south calls first. 

Our three months in Australia and New Zealand. 

I am divesting myself of the holds that would hold me, saying farewells, completing my work commitments, arranging my affairs, preparing to lock up and go.

Postscript: a foot on the path

 "The journey of a thousand miles begins with one step."

Lao Tzu

My shoes have been taken out of the cupboard, my rather grubby looking white socks have been put onto feet that are healing very well and I am about to set out for a quiet walk around the Rondebosch Common.

I love how the weather here in Cape Town has helped me rest up and take stock. It has been overcast, windy, some rain and quite cold, so perfect to snuggle under my duvet and quilt.  Today though is clear and I am drawn to be outdoors.

And rest up I did, apart from the weather, my cough and cold also forced the quiet downtime. It was a pleasure to quietly read, work on my knitting for Shawni and watch endless cooking programmes on TV.

This year of walking, starting on the 9th January with the declaration to attempt to do the 301 km in 10 days by August, has been a joy. Right until the last day I did not know if I would accomplish this very personal challenge. 

I appreciate that I was fit enough and that I tapped into an endurance I did not know I had. Fred has always been the strong, fit and physically capable person in my life and he showed up, walked and loved the experience too, which made for special shared times, both on the Ultra Walk but also throughout the year. 

As I close this section of my blog and organise for a printed copy, I am turning my attention to the travels that we are organising for the 2 years of celebrating my build up to 60. 

Let the new journey evolve. Many more miles to come....

a foot on the path, beauty and surprise of Namaqualand

301km. It's done and I am done.

I cannot pretend that I stepped lightly along the coastal road from Eland's Bay into Lambert's Bay and onto the beach to complete the Eco Ventures 301 Ultra Walk with Fred and our fellow walkers.

But step I did.

We crossed the line, the champagne was poured and we played around in the icy surf taking pleasure in the moment and revelling in completing this crazy adventure.

So for the last time:

• Walking log: 25th August

301km of 301km. 

10 day Ultra Walk completed. 

A tough and challenging journey, many highs and as many lows.

Much pain and much laughter.

Stories, music and meeting locals along the way.

Seeing nature at her most beautiful.

Walking through blazing heat, through the cold, against strong winds, dark mornings and bright midday's, uphills, downhills, flat roads, back roads, farm roads, sandy roads, tar roads, bad roads and good roads.

I am proud of this dedication, our commitment to the preparation and am just a little in awe of having finished.

Remarkable.

It's done and I am done.

Fred's photos have been a joy and to end he snapped this final photo as the closing image for 'a foot on the path'.

Seagulls are calling

We have left the Cederberg and moved south yet again for the last walk, swopping mountains for the Atlantic Ocean. We are in Lambert's Bay for the last 2 days.

Our achy bodies and feet still wake us up really early and I can hear the ocean from my room and the seagulls are calling already.

It's odd to think this is the last early morning routine, getting our daypacks ready, taking supplements and meds, waiting for Frik to knock on our door to sort out plasters for our feet, coffee and a rusk, bundling into the vehicle and heading off in the dark to start the day's walk.

We drove down the coast towards Eland's Bay to get walking. There was a light rain as we stretched and started off following the coastal road. The overcast conditions certainly make it easier to walk even though it felt cold at times.

Our breakfast stop after 11km was a real treat at The Plaaskombuis about 9km before Lambert's Bay, as Denise said we have now had stewed peaches for dinner and breakfast, they were rather nice with the boerewors.

Kitta Burger regaled us with stories of the family on this farm, 6 generations, while serving the porridge, breakfast and mugs of coffee.

So much of this trip has been about the companionship, either while walking, in the vehicle or over food, this collage of photos brings back so many moments along the way. An extraordinary journey for us all.

301 moments.