Here we are in Cook. One of the most isolated places on the planet. The scale of the train becomes apparent to us even though it is lost in the photo. This town was once full of people. It had a swimming pool, school and hospital although ironically, no railway station. Then one day it was decided to close it down. Everyone left except for four people who service the trains with water and fuel.

Under the baking Sun, those people have maintained their home well and seem to like their gardens.

Here is a picture of the pool, now filled in with a tree growing in it. We put our clocks forward two and a half hours for the new time zone. No pain no gain. What a remarable adventure it has been. Expecting to arrive in Adelaide in eleven hours. Beautiful.

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Separated now from the train we check into this Adelaide hotel and move our clocks on two and a half hours. This is the old treasury building. Gold from Kalgoorlie was locked up here in the vaults. From the neat but ever so slightly condfined train compartments and environs, we are now in the biggest suite here.

Perfect room for the next three days. We took the free tourist bus around the loop and then went exploring the main streets and did some shopping. Liz made a great schnitzel with pots.

Another photo to reflect on.

Called in to the famous market here. Are you asking 'I wonder what is on sale there'? Well click on the picture of this chap snuffling about and find out!

Everything is the answer!

Free things, there are in Adelaide, everything we visited and the trams (up to a point) and some buses. Water fountains, phone charging stations and everywhere spotless. There are some interesting buildings, such as this one. Adelaide is divided in two areas, North (Residential) and South (Business). Both laid on a grid system. However the names of all the roads change half way down. They had too many founding fathers and not enough roads!

Laid a plan today: Museums, buildings and galleries. The Adelaide Art Gallery is a mixture of items past and present and did not inspire us as some we have visited. However the photo shows 'Absence Embodied' by Chiharu Shiota which was stunning, taking up a whole room of course.

In the exhibition at the MOD gallery find out about how things may/might be different in the future. Will we all work together. Does it make any sense to plan ahead for 60,000 years? Well does it?

Nice idea that you are given a key and after each room you can answer a (rather leading?) multiple choice question. At the end you put your key in the last port and it 'tells you about your self'. In this room you take a sticker and place it where ever you like. You could fit it in a shape , over someone elses, form a large group of one colour, or hide it somewhere obscure. Naughty people who stick it over the CCT camera are thrown out.

Getting ourselves to the Botanic Gardens took us along the river banks. Here people gather, either alone or in small groups, to do relaxing things. Reading, picnics, coffees and once, just chilling out with a shopping trolley.

Full of trees, there must be hundreds of different ones here from all over the World. Many of them are true giants. But we are amazed by the noise as we approach. Sounded like hundreds of birds.

Our amazement was stretched to the limit by what we saw.

X marks the spot. These trees are crammed full of Flying Foxes. Never seen the like. Something has disturbed them as there is a racket of squeaking. A large number of them are flying from tree to tree. The main attraction is the Amazon Lilly Pond, which was wondeful. Ended the day at Glenelg Beach, a great seaside town with food from all over the world! Lots of twentysomethings playing beach volleyball and life saving drills and diving in from the jetty, for which there is a $400 fine.

Gaol tour today was surprising because although in use in the early 1800s it continued to be in use up to 1970 as did (apx) capital punishment which was delt out here. The surveillance cameras, now antiquated, even look out of place against the much older walls. Seems like if you behaved yourself things could be moderately tolerable, although the cells, if the door was closed, had not much light. However if you were naughty, a ton of bricks awaited you.

Among the many exhibits, some were interactive. Here the challenge was failed and seemed far from possible.

Many poor souls are buried here, in the outer courtyard, with only the date and a number, having met with the noose within the walls. They have a series of escape room here, we did not try them because we were already signed up for 'Black Queen' with the chain Adventure Rooms.

Escaped, so we did. This room was in our all time top four. We immediately booked another one 'Jail Break' and after a short space of time and some refreshment, we returned to try it. we got close to the exit after an hour, they gave us some more time and some help, so we were able to finish it under our own steam. This company runs rooms all over Australia and we may well visit again in another city. The rooms are always the same on offer, but they have at least six so we have enough to shoot at.

Souvalaki lamb kebabs with salad for dinner at home. Then some packing as we are starting another road trip in the morning to Robe in the state of Victoria. Here is our destination, the first house to be built in Robe.

{BREAKING} Earthquake felt in Melbourne overnight. We do not arrive there for six days. Small tremours expected for next few weeks.

Lovely car is the Mitsubishi Outlander, super comfortable, can seat six and with customisable home screen on the dash. We tested the audio with Santana, terrific music for travelling at mainly 110 KPH on a largely empty road, watching the scenery gradually change. Our first objective is to reach Tailem Bend located on the lower reaches of the River Murray, bordering Lake Alexandrina which is the first point we can turn Southeast. The Adelaide–Melbourne railway line also cuts the corner here. Now the roadside fauna changes to small but diverse and perfectly formed shrubbery (Ni!).

As we progress even these bushes disappear replaced by salt lakes. On our right far in the distance a huge strip of land forms a long green lagoon with an untidy shoreline on our side. It is not inviting, but perhaps the green is a sign of primitive life?

Getting hit by large cars doing 110 KPH is an everyday occurrence for the larger wildlife trying to cross the road. But not so much for the beautiful pod of Pelicans that flew across the road at a respectable height on our way. (I know I could have said ; a pouch, a scoop or a squadron. But of course not, a fleet, since they were not fishing as a group.)

On we went and soon found 'Robe House' where we found our key in the door. If you watch Antiques Roadshow you will be familiar with most of the large brown pieces of furniture we have to explore in our lovely accomo. Robe in general is a windy town and that makes the doors here whistle sometimes. But it is ok, nice ventilation in fact. Robe could be described as 'rural'. Few are about on our walk past the harbour and that is because they are all in either in the only restaurant that is open or the wonderful supermarket.

Our main worry now has to be the Australian cheese crisis. In an earlier effort to procure some cheddar we had overlooked the word 'Extra' in front of 'Mature'. Oh dear, it was way over the top for me. Today I thought I had cracked it seeing a nice size block with 'Cheddar' printed in large letters on it. But wait! On tasting, it was rather strange. Looking at the packet it discloses the reason (proudly). Made from plants with the emphasis on coconut oil. Yuk.

Not to worry, most of our ventures into the supermarkets have been, mostly, exciting and edible.

Saturday is busy in Robe, especially with an organised run around the industrial estate and back. We make it up to the lookout point where the views are great and you can find your bearings. Then down a dirt track into a conservation area. Lastly we head for the long beach, 12 kms of clean white sand that you can drive on. And plenty of people do, especially with their big wagons with the customised insides for all the beach gear and bed. In the photo, why do all the trees lean over the road?

And here we are, making a reccy at the start of the long beach.

No problems matey. The sea is a bit cool, what with Antartica being just over the horizon. LOL.

Do you like the view? This enormous horseshoe of a beach curves around far out to sea. Mitsubishi Kilometers So Far (MKSF) 379.

We leave tomorrow morning with a full tank and half a Kilo of sand spread over the car interior.

Yearning for more walking, we let the Sun pass its zenith and take the coastal path. Here we look over the huge bay towards the full length of the beach we left earlier. Conditions could not be more different. The wind swept ocean crashes over a vast maze of submerged rocks before breaking on the sandstone cliffs. Over time it etches out caves. Eventually the roof collapses eating into the land. Photographs can not capture the scale of this place. But one taken by Liz does show how interesting the rocks are here.

Blue is the colour Mount Gambier is the name. Out of town, this volcano crater lake is vivid blue in Summer. The town is very large, has an Aldi and the famous Marcos coffee shop where they took so long to make my French Toast I got a refund. The road we continue on is straight and empty. It is like driving through a botanical garden, the trees on either side are diverse and very beautiful, but then things suddenly change.

On either side are tall straight trees, obviously planted. Then our sat nav says we are in the National Forest. As we go on for K after K suddenly those tall trees are replaced with some only two feet high and with old stumps in between them. Past that there are medium height trees. Then brown areas, the size of Lytham with only stumps. We wonder what they could be doing with all this timber. Yes it is very straight trunked but what about all the branches?

Next stop Portland. We opt for a good looking restaurant and we are not disappointed. Out of the window we see the harbour and wonder what the huge (I mean huge) piles are made of. 'Woodchippings' says our waitress. Yes, when we look closer we see the timber being delivered and stacked in planks and yes, milled into chippings to be sent around the world.

Zygophyllaceous usage indeed, most impressive and constructive use of the available land area and Chambers Dictionary. If you have not found the daily Easter egg, it would be a capital idea to take a close look today.

Anyway, after 706 MKSF and London Philharmonic's Quadrophenia we arrived in Port Fairy. We rest up in this beautiful apartment, fully fed and watered. Wondering what tomorrow may bring. It will not be vegan cheese, my tour manager has left that in Robe. Bonza!

Kudos to this youngster who spends all day and every day surfing here ⛥ He is certainly the best on this East Beach and I do not mean in Lytham.

On another beach there is a life saving surf school, this is probably in school time and the equipment belongs to the community.

Along the edge of the water where the river meets the sea and where the boats moore up are these properties. All shapes and descriptions and ages.

Labyrinthine walks are the order of today. Slightly out of town, at Tower Hill Reserve, there are some volcanic formations which have been developed into interesting walks. Here in this protected wild environ, you may see things you may otherwise miss. We are once again fortunate to have the place almost to ourselves. The others here are quiet and not frightening the wildlife away. Those groups arrived just as we were leaving. This trail was breathtaking.

And if you would like to take it too, just click on the photograph above.

Strategic planning meeting at the end of the day. Memo: The game is Lev Psakhis - Cicak , Lugano 1988. A brilliant win for Lev but almost 100% tactics from move 13 onwards. MKSF 419.

[BREAKING] A catastrophic fire danger warning is in place for Victoria, the Wimmera district, while an extreme fire danger is forecast for the Mallee, Northern Country and Central districts, (all not near us). Danger of dry thunderstorms that produce thunder and lightning (which set fires), but where most of its rain evaporates before reaching the ground.