This is the place to find the updates on our travels: where we've been and (in due course) a little bit about the places.
My current trip has taken me to Norway's northern cities of Tromsø and Narvik. Tromsø is the largest city in northern Norway and is known as the 'Gateway to the Arctic'. Its geography is dominated by the Storsteinen mountain which has a cable car from which dramatic views of the island of Tromsø
can be gained. I have visited Tromsø once before in the summer and was able to capture these views but this time the cable car was not working and in any case, the weather was much poorer (and still no Northern Lights!) Also dominating Tromsø's skyline is the Arctic Cathedral. Last time I tried to get a blue hour shot but we had to leave before sunset. This time however, timing was good and some very dramatic blue hour images were obtained. Incidentally, this far north, the blue hour lasts longer than nearer the equator: at this time of year, an hour and a half.
The Tromsø gallery can be seen here
Following Tromsø, we stopped at Narvik - a first visit for me. Narvik is a relatively new city which was founded in 1899, specifically to serve as an ice-free, year-round deep water port for exporting iron ore from the Swedish mines in Kiruna. A railway (the Ofoten Railway) was built from the Swedish border to the city for transporting the ore and due to its strategic importance, it was famously targeted during WWII. Today that railway has been re-purposed as a tourist attraction which some dramatic views over the mountain terrain. The city of Narvik itself is not particularly picturesque compared with say Ålesund
or Bergen. It does boast a cable car but as for Tromsø, it was also not working (and neither were the Northern Lights).
The Narvik gallery can be seen here
I am now in Norway on a cruise searching for the Northern Lights. The route follows the Norwegian coast starting with Molde, sailing past the rock ‘Torghatten’ and the Seven Sisters mountain range then north to Tromsø, returing via Narvik and Ålesund. It’s early spring and the weather is still cold with snow on the ground in parts.
Molde is a picturesque town which is well known for its proximity to the Atlantic Road, an 8km stretch of coastal highway which links Molde to the town of Kristiansund via some incredibly engineered bridges and tunnels.
Some views of Molde, the Atlantic Road and vistas along the route can be seen here
Our last leg of the trip still had a distance of some 130km to travel but first our friends in Flinders took us on some coastal walks around their neighbourhood. The weather unfortunately wasn't great but this is the thing with travel photography: you have to make the best of what you are given. After the coastal walks, we paid a brief visit to a winery as there are a surprisingly large number of vineyards in this area, so capturing these was part of the culture.
Lastly, before joining the M11/M1 motorway to Melbourne, we passed by Arthurs Seat: a high viewpoint with a good view of the coastline in this part of Australia - at least it would have been with good weather.
The route into Melbourne flowed pretty freely and then there was the detailed navigation into central Melbourne. There are multiple and complex street signs along this route including a number of seep and traffic light cameras and specific rules about driving on the same road as trams. Google Maps was the saviour and we arrived with high stress but without incident.
Images of the area around Flinders can be seen here.
Leg 7 could have been a relatively short leg on our way to stay with friends at Flinders on the way to Melbourne but we took a detour to visit Cape Woolamai on Phillip Island, making the route overall a little over 200km. There were no cafes for breakfast open in the sleepy town of Fish Creek so we pressed on to the larger town of Inverloch for breakfast and on further to Wonthaggi where shops and supermarkets were plentiful. The learning point is that it is very difficult to tell which towns have which facilities in advance of a visit.
After Wonthaggi, our waypoint was Cape Woolamai on Phillip Island. The weather wasn't great so landscape images were not ideal but we did get to see some of the coastline and the Island's chocolate factory. Pressing on to Flinders, we were able to take views looking back across the bay towards Phillip Island.
Images from leg 7 can be viewed here.
Leg 6 started with finding a car wash in Lakes Entrance to remove the red dust after the 85km of gravel track through the south part of the Alpine National Park. A most impressive jet wash with individual selections of pre-wash, main wash, foaming brush, rinse and wax was located, for AUD8 (£4). The first port of call was the beginning of some pristine sand called 90 mile beach. Despite being the height of summer, it was almost deserted. One fisherman demonstrarted innovative skills using a drone to deliver bait over the sea.
Stop no. 2 was Port Albert, a very small but historic port and fishing village with buildings dating back to 1856. On a coastline with few attractions, this was a hive of activity by comparison.
Not too far from Port Albert was Agnes Falls, a surprisingly large waterfall with just a handful of visitors despite being Sunday afternoon.
From Agnes falls, we took a decision to visit Wilsons Promontary - a large peninsula at the southern end of Australia, pointing towards Tasmania. This added 2 hours and some 130km to the trip but 'as we were there', decided it needed a visit. The weather worsened a little during this part of the trip resulting in some rather flat landscapes, but the penultimate beach at the end of the road (Squeaky Beach - so named because of the sound made by the sand underfoot) was voted Australia's best beach in 2024 and a top beach in 2025 globally.
The final destination for this leg was back inland at Fish Creek, one of the larger towns in the area with a pub/hotel and a small number of shops. Total length was 412km.
Leg 6 images can be seen here.