Linda's Magic Workshop - Linda Britt Design

FaceBook Friends Meet!  Linda and PennyJane We rented a car at the airport, took their map and sketchy directions, and drove to the Albany Hotel by a circuitous route!  It was evening, dark, lots of traffic, unfamiliar territory and I needed a magnifying glass to read the street names on the map!  After a few wrong turns and stopping 3 times for directions we escaped the industrial area and arrived at a very nice hotel in a nice part of town about 8 p.m. Albany Hotel Where was dinner?  We were directed to the closest food - Subway - a few blocks away and walking seemed a good idea.  After dinner and some wine, we tucked in for the night. The morning brought beautiful weather, a buffet breakfast and a walk in the park across the street.  Our first stop was Healesville where we would spend the next two nights.  We passed many vineyards in Yarra Valley with pastoral views.  At a little park, we found several Superb Fairy Wrens and a winding path leading to a river. 

Quite the Store Sign Driving on the left side of the road (or from my perspective – driving on the wrong side of the road) and shifting on the ‘wrong’ side of the wheel would have made me a little crazy.    It was a very good plan for Peter to drive and me to navigate through the freeways and roads on our Australian travel.  It also provided me the opportunity to take a few roadside photos to share with you.  Never have I taken a trip where there was NOT road work in progress.  Tanzania, Ecuador, Kansas City, California – it does not matter!  There is always road work.  Australia was no different!  New retainer walls were going up as we drove to The Blue Mountains and the stonework was beautiful – big slabs of stone!   I live next door to a national forest and I am used to tall pines.  Tall tree ferns and tall thin eucalyptus trees were different and beautiful in the Australian national parks. Creative advertisements on store fronts and graffiti on

  It was a great idea….renting a mini-van equipped with all the camping gear, pots and pans, refrigerator, microwave, sink and range.  We would get off the plane, take a taxi and pick up the van and be on our way to Kakadu National Park.   And that really is what happened.  This is going to be a long post because a lot of other things happened too! We enjoyed the drive stopping at Mary’s River where we saw our first ‘in the wild’ kangaroo and the termite nest. Very Tall Termite Nest That is also where the T-belt warning light came on!  Trust me – that is not a good sign as I quickly found out in the manual.  The T-belt light is the timing belt and if that goes, the engine goes!  As there were no places to stop and call the rental company we drove on in the hopes that we had time to get to someplace that could help.  The further we drove, the more comfortable we became and Peter said, “Let’s go down this road a little ways”.  It was a sandy billabong road with abou