Walking in Australia - Part Two

This is the second part of our Australian walks. There is a separate post for our time spent in Tasmania

Tasmania

4th September. 6.6. miles

We climbed Mount Wellington.

5th September. 5.8 miles

A visit to a museum, a walk on the beach and a nature reserve.

6th September. 4 miles

Bruny Island.

7th September.

Shopping in Hobart and the harbour. 8.1 miles

8th September.7.9 miles

Only 3 days back in Sydney. Monday saw temperatures of 28c and after such a wet winter, it seems that everyone pulled a sickie and pilled down to the beach. 

We planned a circular walking route from North Bondi to Rose Bay, with lots of stops for drinks, food, ice cream and reading as well as a swim in the sea (for me).

9th September. 8.1 miles.  

A day in Sydney and Darling Harbour.

10th September. 6.9 miles.

A day in Sydney, the Australian Museum and Botanical Gardens.

11th September. 8.1 miles.

Just a day of travelling.

We've walked a total of 168.1 miles. With all the walking being mainly coastal we've also climbed the equivalent of 523 flights of stairs.

I've got just over a week until my sponsored walk for Bowel Research in memory of Stephanie. I'm clocking up the miles in Dubai also. I'm just under 3/4s of the way to my target goal and I'd appreciate it if you would share this link on our socials.

Week 37 2025 - One Daily Positive and Project 365. Australia to Dubai.

Our few days in Australia was mixed. We had temps of 28c on Monday and had a dip in the sea. Then more torrential rain, just like when we arrived. The sun broke through the clouds on Thursday afternoon just before we flew to Dubai.

Whilst we were sad to be leaving our son, as we probably won't see him for 2 years now, we were also glad to be going back to our own home and very much looking forward to some heat in Dubai.

Sunday 

Day 250 Up early and out on a photo walk. Sadly my ‘big’ camera was still on moon settings with a long exposure, so no photos came out. Into Hobart for coffee, shopping and lunch. Flight at 7.30pm to Sydney, back at our apartment at 11pm.

Monday 

Day 251 A dip in the sea at Rose Bay with shark nets. Temp 28c and a circular coastal walk north of Bondi.

Tuesday 

Day 252 I visited the koalas and sea-life centre. Peter went for a walk and read his book. Last minute souvenir shopping and over to see child 3 for the evening and out to dinner.

Wednesday 

Day 253 It absolutely chucked it down, full waterproofs on and we opted to go to the Australian Museum for the day to keep dry. it was fascinating and I was particularly taken with the taxidermy of every animal you could imagine, including the DoDo and other extinct animals, which was sad. We then headed out to the Botanical gardens when the rain eased, but we were fooled and had to take shelter for an hour under a rock on the harbour front. Our last night with our son and we joined him and his girlfriend for dinner.

This photo was taken in colour.

Thursday

Day 254 Our son took our bags to his last night and left us a key as him and his girlfriend flew north this morning to a wedding. it was chucking it down and we caught the bus to Bondi Junction for a coffee, then another bus to our son's where we spent the day, repacking, reading, blogging and having lunch. Off to the airport at 4pm for our 14 hour flight to Dubai.

Friday 

Day 255 Arrived at 4am, luggage was in arrivals before we were. Sorted a SIM, got a coffee and arrived at our accommodation at 7am. We dropped bags and changed and went out to our old neighbourhood then onto Ibn Battuta Mall where I had my nails done while Peter drank coffee and read his book.

Saturday

Day 256 After breakfast we headed out to The Beach for a swim and sit and read our books for a while. Back to the apartment for a shower and get ready for the Wanderlust Brunch at JW Marriott Hotel. I had lots of sea food, several cocktails and lots of desserts. Back to chill in the apartment then off to visit a couple of Peter's ex colleagues for more drinks.

Things to make you smile:

On the plane we were sat in front of the galley. The air con was leaking and making a funny noise. The air steward without listening to me properly said 'madam that is the sound of the engines, if we turn the noise off that is irritating you we will fall out the sky' Another air steward quickly put her in her place and offered to move us.

Things that made me happy:

Spending time with child 3 and his girlfriend, seeing koala's and a fantastic 3 weeks of walking, reading, coffee and chilling out.

On the blog this week:

Post Comment Love - Link up with any post written this week.

Word of the Week - Tasmania

The poo machine

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Post Comment Love 12th-14th September 2025. Goodbye Australia - Hello Dubai.

Welcome back to #PoCoLo with Stephanie from Bosworth.Life and I.

Post Comment Love #PoCoLo is a friendly weekly linky where you can link up any blog post you've written this week. If you're new or a regular visitor we're sure you'll find something of interest.

We'd also appreciate your help spreading the #PoCoLo word on Twitter, tag us and we'll RT. You can find us on twitter here: Stephanie - @BosworthLife and Suzanne - @ChickenRuby 

I'll be catching up with reading your posts, sharing and commenting over the next few days. 

We've had an amazing 3 weeks in Australia visiting our son and his girlfriend. We left on Thursday for a 14 hour flight to Dubai where we are visiting our old neighbourhood and seeing a couple of friends if time permits.

We're hoping to acclimatise to the time difference over the 5 days we're here as previously when we've stopped over in Kuala Lumpur or flown straight home, it's taken nearly 2 weeks to adjust to the 9 hours lost. There's only a 6 hour difference with Dubai, so it should help.

We've gone from 16c and rain to 40c and humidity. Australia has just come out of winter, but had almost 3 months of solid rain. We've walked around in full waterproofs, we've climbed a mountain in the snow and on Monday the temperature was 28c and I was swimming in the sea.

Apart from our visit to Tasmania for a few a days, all our time has been spent locally, exploring previous places we've enjoyed, discovering new walks and my highlight as always (apart from seeing child 3) are the koala's.

Want to find out more about Post Comment Love #PoCoLo? 

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Word of the week - Tasmania

Tasmania is a 2 hour flight from Sydney. Child 3 booked the flights and car hire and his girlfriend booked the accommodation.

We arrived in Hobart at 9am, collected the hire car and by 11am we were climbing Mount Wellington. In the snow. Our son's girlfriend had never experienced snow and she was super excited at the age of 30 to build a snow man, throw snow balls and just enjoy the walk and the snow.

There was lots of reading and I swopped a book in the accommodation.

We visited MONA to see the Poo Machine.

We took a ferry to Bruny Island. The next bit of land from here is Antarctica.

The wildlife was very obliging lining up under their sign.

No idea when we'll see child 3 next. We're planning to travel out here alternative years until we are no longer capable. We're back in the UK on Tuesday, then I start a new job the following Monday. 

The poo machine - at Mona Museum, Tasmania

We visited Tasmania's Museum of Old and New Art (MONA) home to Cloaca Professional — also known as the poo machine, which was used to promote Bowel Cancer screening in Australia.

Like England, Australia offers a free National Bowel Cancer Screening Program (NBCSP) but they start testing at the age of 45, unlike England where the age is 60 and in Wales aged 50.

The machine is hand fed by staff twice a day and you can follow the food through the containers with contain human digestive juices and enzymes to break the food down and turns into faeces.

I was invited by the NHS to take part in the screening. I am 54. My test was negative.

I'm fundraising for Bowel Research UK in memory of Stephanie who died from Bowel ischaemia in October 2024. It kills 3,000 people a year and is difficult to diagnose. 

Bowel Research UK also funds research into Hirchsprung's disease which our 3 year grandson was born with.

If you can spare a pound or two or share this post I'd be really grateful. Just Giving.