One heard three times today: "Australia is a young nation, so... [insert some whinging here]."

Well, yesterday (Sunday) we had one thing to do: go to the Buchan Caves in eastern Victoria. It's one of the few nature thingies you can do regardless of the weather--and good for that, as it has just been pissing down rain on Saturday since we left the Prom. Fields were all flooded, rivers were surging, and potholes were sprouting.

Buchan Caves were fairly interesting; we did the Royal Cave tour. With six inches of rain in the past few days, they were wet as well--the water had percolated the 30m or so into the cave system, with dripping water …

Yes, that's what I think I did to my modem when I plugged it into the lovely phone line at the St George Motor Inn in north Melbourne last week.

But all is better now; an quasi-cheapo PCMCIA modem now does the work. Still, I still think the old modem could be OK, and perhaps it's the phone system here in the past three hotels. They all emit an odd warbling tone for the dial tone--and then just go silent while you dial. Even now, I can't dial my very national ISP, Telstra BigPond, on this particular phone line. So …

Wonderful day hiking around at the Prom (Wilson's Promotory NP).

We rented a cabin in the park for tomorrow night, at the very southern tip of the park--and the Australian mainland! Should be fun, though it is a 19km hike in.

Parrot

Yet another Strange Wildlife Sighting today: while waiting in the parking lot, Chris got a jump from a rosella that landed on the radio aerial! The rosella--a kind of parrot--then hopped onto the rear view mirror on my door. I snapped a few pics, then it flew off. It wasn't more than two feet away.

That's one thing …

A few pictures from the last few days: a visit to the Dandenongs east of Melbourne, fitting a snorkel to the Landcruiser for deep water crossings, and general random pictures.

Dandenong Ranges NP

Dandenong Ranges NP

Parliament Gardens, Melbourne

Birrarung Marr

Birrarung Marr

Birrarung Marr

Birrarung Marr

Southbank, Melbourne

Wombat, Healesville Wildlife Sanctuary

Healesville Wildlife Sanctuary

Snorkel fitted

Snorkel fitted

I bought books

Anything goes

I tease a swan.

Not enough boy flowers at the Melbourne Flower Show for you, Dan?

A great day in Melbourne: Garden Show and Melbourne Museum

We took a day trip down the Great Ocean Road southwest of Melbourne.

everywhere else, but not

I walked down Chapel Street in Melbourne tonight

A fast internet connection

A day wandering around before we take the afternoon ferry to Melbourne.

Bad.

...

Warm summer day.

Poking around the mountains and parks of northern Tasmania.

Around Cradle Mountain National Park

Along the unsealed roads of northwestern Tasmania

Wet and cool. Chris and I took a cruise up the Gordon River into the rainforest. It was misty and mountainous; reminded me of pictures of China's Three Gorges. Cruise was OK, but at 5 1/2 hours it was about 1 1/2 hours too long.

Strahan Village

The best part of the cruise was right at the beginning: when we went out of Macquarie Harbour into the ocean through the 60m gap called Devil's Gate. The tide was going out, and we glided out. into the Southern Ocean. Out in the Southern Ocean a couple of miles, a …

Breakfast at the Oatlands Lodge was quick, we then headed out on the road across the Central Highlands, following a route described in the big "Explore Australia by Four Wheel Drive", a big bible of a book we picked up somewhere in Sydney.

Nothing but a Telstra phone booth here.

Interlaken was our first stop; it looked like a town between two lakes and I had vague visions of a Swiss like village. Sorry, no. It was in high grazing country, with sparse eucalypts and fields, the village was no more than a few sheds and some battered weatherboard houses …

Driving day to Strathgordon

Fantastic hike at Mt Field

Hartz Mtn National Park and Tahune Airwalk