A Couple of National Parks east of Melbourne

Wilsons Promontory National Park is one of the most iconic national parks in Australia.

A big anvil of mountains and forest thrust out into the Southern Ocean surf.

It has some of the most beautiful beaches in Australia.

On the land are samples of Australia’s most beautiful fauna.

And beautiful forests.

Further east is the Buchan Caves National Park a fine example of national parks of the 1920s with an arboretum of international trees to compliment the amazing caves and natural forests.

The Royal Cave is beautiful:

The arboretum with its mix of deciduous trees from around the world and Australia’s non deciduous trees offers an amazing mix of colour in autumn.

And the beautiful fauna

These parks are in the Gippsland region of Victoria. A region of abundant natural beauty.

Amalfi Coast just after dawn

It wasn’t long after sunrise as the ferry from Tunis headed into Salerno. It was Sunday morning and I was hoping to have the chance to ride the famous Amalfi Coast Road without its infamous bumper to bumper traffic.

The wish came true for most of the morning and a long stretch of the road.

But by 11 the traffic was thick and it was time to leave the coast road and into the mountains.

The mountains above Amalfi as beautiful as the coast with small villages, wonderful views and mountain walks.

From here its a lovely ride through the mountains to Ottaviano at the base of Mount Vesuvius.

And onto Naples its beautiful trattoria and fellow guzzista.

TUNISIA

I couldn’t help but be excited as the ferry pulled into the Port of Tunis.

I have crossed from Europe to Africa once before, into Morocco but had been warned that Tunisia was more complex.

And it was!

Working through bike importation and insurance and customs and immigration took nearly half a day

One night in Tunis was plenty and it was an early start south to the coastal city on Monastir and a little residence in the Medina there.

The public beach was a short walk from the Medina and it was a perfect evening for a swim.

The main plaza of Monastir is between the old fort on the beach and the Medina. Horse carriages carry tourists around the old city and the plaza lined with lovely restaurants.

Heading south along the coast, the next stop was Gabes.

The fields were green and the olive groves bountiful along the coast.

Gabes is a busy fishing and boat building port. Once a very popular tourist destination, it has some lovely hotels at very reasonable rates.

After Gabes it was time to head inland toward Duze, the gateway to the Sahara.

Tracking inland, it didn’t take long for the lands to turn dry and rocky.

The famous mountain village of Matmata, with its houses and hotels built underground was the perfect stop before swapping the Breva for camels and venturing into the Sahara.

Matmata has a vibrant market but unfortunately civil unrest followed the pandemic has meant a lot of public tourist infrastructure has suffered.

So it was time for a Sahara fuel up before heading to the Sahara.

Douz is the door to the Sahara.

Its a vibrant town, with lots of bikes preparing for adventures into the Sahara.

But the mighty Breva is not made for the desert so Douz was the place to garage the Breva and saddle up Camels.

After an amazing couple nights sleeping under the stars in the desert, the Mediterranean was calling again.

The next route was through the arid centre of Tunisia to Hammamet.

Its a long ride to Hammamet which called for an overnight stop in a little art guest house in Gasfa.

It had been a whirlwind tour through Tunisia and Hammamet was perfect place to relax for a couple of days before returning to Tunis to catch the ferry back to Italy.

It was sad to get on the ferry from Tunis to Salerno. I felt I had underestimated what Tunisia had to offer and the 10 days I had allowed for Tunisia was not enough.