I enjoyed my sleep in a proper bed last night, knowing it was the last for a week. I checked out of Elphin Villas and paid for my phone calls, having finally secured a fortescue campsite booking just minutes before.

The airport shuttle picked me up from my door and took me 20k out of town to the airport, where a nice chap picked me up and have me my new hire car, a Hyundai i20. It reminds me of the Micra I first drove, as she is also red. I will call her Lily. Another lovely chap approached me in my car in the carpark and, having over heard directions is been given in the office, asked if I wanted to follow him as he was going the same way. The Tasmanians are currently at the top of my list for hospitality!

I headed back into town via Bunnings (a massive B&Q type store) to Rays Outdoors and Coles (Tesco/Sainsburys equivalent) to stock up for my trip.

My journey took me north to Lilydale (hence car name!) but once I arrived I couldn't for the life of me remember what the tourist info lady said I should see there and the sign posts weren't giving anything away! So I continued through the dry landscape with fields almost white having been bleached by the harsh sun. Apart from this feature and the wriggly tin roofs on house I could have been in England. I saw an amazing variety of wildlife, possums, kangaroos, wallabies, wombats, snakes, unfortunately they were all road kill, there seems to be a lot around here. On one corner, within about 20 meters of road there were 4 dead animals. It makes driving more challenging as they aren't small creatures!

As I approached Scottsdale the scenery became more like that in the Scottish highlands and not surprisingly the two main peaks here are called Ben Nevis and Ben Lomond! The ladies in the Scottsdale info centre were a real double act and cheerfully sold me a vehicle pass for the national parks. I was set to go! They recommended I take a short detour to see the memorial carvings in Legerwood. So I did. Just off the main road are a line of trees that were planted in 1918 and had to be cut down. So, someone has used each tree to do a WWI themed carving representing all the locals whose lives were lost during the war. A real tribute to those men.

At this point time was ticking on and I decided to drive to St Helens via Mt Victoria Forest Reserve and Ralph Falls. The map showed it was a gravel road, hey ho, it looks a lot shorter than going back out onto the main road... That was the scariest bit of driving in my life! The gravel road varied, as they do, from good firm gravel to a few 'OMG whose idea was this?' moments. Now, those of you who know me well know that I am not a fan of heights and in particular, sheer drops. Oh, this road had them in abundance. To add to the fun, the road climbed up and up and up to the top of the mountain, so the unprotected drop offs got bigger. And it was single track, just to enhance the excitement rating, I met three vehicles, one of which was an unoccupied write off, which was reassuring! And the wildlife... I stopped for two snakes (big uns, about 5 feet long) and a wallaroo (could have been kangaroo or wallaby but quite frankly I didn't care when I'm trying to avoid falling off a mountain). AND the potholes, that you could loose at least two small children in! At one point, somewhere near the top there was a sign kindly telling me that the stone wall was hand built in the 1920's, like I cared! Shortly after this amazing feat of mankind there was a layby, on the drop off side, which I stopped in and was eternally grateful I wasn't in a left hand drive car. I gave myself a good talking to and not knowing what the road ahead was going to be like, but not having enough space to comfortably do a three point turn in a car I'd known for only a few hours I decided to continue. I need a nice, non exciting year now as I'm already over my annual adrenaline allowance for the year! I decided not to stop at Ralphs Falls or St Columba Falls or Halls Falls (sorry Freds!) but continue on the normal main road, oh, how happy I was to see that?!

I stopped at the Holy Cow cafe in the Pyengana Cheese Factory, where I had intended getting a milkshake, but decided against it due to the self created nausea. I did some cheese tasting, decided that their award winning cheddar was the only interesting one and treated myself to a chunk. Onwards then to The Bay of Fires via St Helens. I wanted to stay at Cosy Corner North campsite, but there was no room, not surprising when you rock on up at 5 pm on a Sunday evening! No room either at Sloop Reef, unless I wanted a spot that would turn my tent into a paraglider almost instantly. So here I am, having walked all around it, by the sea (yes, I have sea views from my tent) in Cosy Corner South. It has drop toilets and that is all. No water, showers etc... It's free and although there are lots of people here it's well spaced out and quiet. I walked down the beach and got very excited to see what i think was a big ray swimming up and down the shoreline. I had supper and am ready to sleep, under the most incredible display of stars I've seen outside of Africa.

Please don't worry, I have no intention if driving along a road like that ever again, I thought Hard Knox Pass was exciting enough!