Well, Steve48 did. He’s just back from Western Australia where he dropped by the (self-proclaimed) principality of Hutt River Province. He got to chat to HRH Prince Leonard, and Crown Prince Ian, his son. Sadly, Prince Leonard’s wife, Princess Shirley, passed away a few months ago, so he didn’t get to try her scones.
Princess Shirley insisted I eat one of her scones when I visited the principality back in 2004. Scone making is an honoured profession amongst the first ladies of Australian politics. Flo Bjelke-Petersen, the wife of the notorious Queensland premier, Joh Bjelke-Petersen, was famous for her pumpkin scones. Princess Shirley’s scone were your stock-standard scones, albeit created by royal hands. If I were to be honest they were a little bit dry, but nothing that a blob of jam and a generous squirt of cream from a can couldn't fix.
Steve48 can’t speak highly enough of his visit to the province. I suspect he was spared HRH Leonard’s long-winded spiel on the constitutionality of his decision to secede from the rest of Australia because he was paying to much tax. And avoided being taken line-by-line through the thesis about the said secession written by a PhD student in Norway. If you can avoid this, then I'm with Steve. Hutt River Province is a great place to visit.
Steve also went for a bit of a spin up the Western Australia coast. Didn’t see any live kangaroos. Just dead ones lining the side of the road. He obviously followed local advice and didn’t drive after sunset. Then he’d have realized why there are so many dead kangaroos by the side of the road. He did learn one salutary lesson though. Don’t get caught speeding. He was. And his holiday budget was suddenly £425 lighter. Ouch.
Elsewhere on Just Back From, jeb1904 has returned from South Korea and a visit to the North Korean border. And Lucyb19 is back from camping in the Colorado Rockies during a meteor shower. You can read both their tales here.
Keithruffles has stirred things up over at the Forum by asking about the places he should have travelled to by now. His question was prompted by a friend being amazed that Keith hadn’t been to Paris or Berlin or Amsterdam. He has been too busy exploring the outer regions of the world and asked myWanderlusters what places, closer to home, he should investigate. Make your suggestion here.
While you’re over at the Forum, Kathryn is looking for tips on visiting Madagascar, Mik has 36 hours to kill in Bangkok and emilystiles11 is looking for things to do in western Canada that don’t involve snowboarding or skiing. You can help them all here.
Experiences this week has been colonized by jysting. Jysting has set his sights on becoming a travel writer, and Experiences is certainly the places to show off your writing chops. There’s certainly something for everyone. His experiences cover Australia, Africa, Europe and beyond. Make sure you check out Liam Kennedy’s tale about arriving in Dehli and Sundail’s adventures biking the Costa Brava in the middle of summer.
Finally, to Photography, where gorgatz take us to the Philipines, Donna McDowell takes us to Portugal and SMJM takes us into the heart of Mongolia. Satkinson’s set of photos from Cornwall are stunning to – up to her usual very high standards. You’ll find them here.
Me, I’m off to find a scone. Enjoy.
