Port Douglas

It appears I have forgotten to blog about Port Douglas. I was fiddling with my photos and never quite got around to it!

So, Kat and Paul had spent a couple of days in the Hunter Valley and Blue Mountains, and came back to Sydney on the evening of Thursday 11th October. On the Friday they did the Harbour Bridge climb and some other sightseeing, then met me in the bar of the Shangri La hotel overlooking the city and harbour after work. The bar is on the 36th floor and the view is amazing! After a couple of cocktails there Milord joined us and we went to dinner at Cafe Sydney, my favourite restaurant in town. It's on the 5th floor of the old customs house, and we sat outside on the balcony - this was the view from our table:


On Saturday Kat and Paul went sightseeing in town while Milord and I caught up on paperwork, then we all went for lunch in Watsons Bay - a very pretty beach looking back at the city. We had lunch at Doyles, a famous seafood restaurant right on the beach. Milord and I shared the seafood paella which was awesome! Several bottles of wine and a pub crawl later we caught a ferry home at sunset, then went out to dinner with other friends as well... I didn't last very long that evening, but Milord carried on until 2 in the morning and was not very well the next day!


We flew to Cairns on Sunday afternoon, picked up a hire car and drove an hour north to Port Douglas. Kat had chosen a very nice self catering apartment within 10 minutes walk of everything including shops, beach and marina. We dropped our bags and went exploring - ending up in a very nice restaurant for dinner, then had an early night as we would be starting early the next day.

On Monday we did a safari in the Daintree Rainforest with one other couple. We saw lizards and ferns and cycads and aerial plants... it rained all over us several times too - guess that's why they call it a rainforest! We were on the go from 7am to 5pm, with a stop for morning tea and a very nice lunch. We also went for a ride on a "crocodile boat" along the Daintree River, but didn't see any crocs among the mangroves. Apparently that means they're off lurking in the sea... nice. We walked on the beach at Cape Tribulation, and also took a walk to a high waterfall through some lovely ferns and trees. Turns out the bugs in the forest like me just as much as their town counterparts - next time I'll cover myself in repellent!


On Tuesday we went on a 4-story boat cruise to the Great Barrier Reef. The boat goes to a permanent platform which has underwater viewing rooms, semi submersable trips and lots of safe snorkeling. Rob and I didn't see much of this, as we'd signed up for 2 dives so spent most of the day on the dive boeat instead! It was pretty good diving - probably our best in Oz so far - but not a patch on the Red Sea. Kat and Paul looked at the fishies while staying dry, and we met up for the trip back to land again in the afternoon.


Wednesday Kat and Paul snuck out of the apartment early to walk on the beach and lie by the pool. We didn't realise and spent hours whispering and tiptoeing around waiting for them to wake up! We only realised what they'd done once we had crept out leaving a note in search of breakfast and found them by the pool! We'd made plans to visit an old mate of Milord's, Adrian, for the afternoon and night, so after leaving Kat and Paul by the pool and a lovely brunch on the beach Adrian picked us up and took us back to his place in nearby Wonga Beach.

It was a very interesting afternoon. Adrian has sort of dropped out of the rat race and is a hippy handyman. He has built his own beach house using construction site cast offs and pieces from Thailand and Bali... very funky. While we sat on cushions in the garden various friends and neighbours dropped by, and it turned into an impromptu party. I wandered off to bed around midnight, and Milord wasn't far behind... Thursday was a slow start, and then Adrian drove us back to Port Douglas and the three of us went for brunch overlooking the marina. Kat and Paul had gone off to the Kuranda Sky Rail, so Milord and I spent the rest of the day by the pool, resting.


Thursday night was our last night and we booked into Nautilus - a swanky restaurant tucked away in a grove of coconut palms and open to the elements. That was actually kind of annoying, as the only light was candles and they kept blowing out! The food and wine were superb though. We were the last diners to leave.


I really enjoyed Port Douglas, and I will definitely go back. They say it's too hot and too wet in summer, but it is an excellent winter/spring destination.

We flew home on Friday, and had a quiet night in. Milord cooked us his famous lamb curry and we copied photos from cameras and burned them to dvd. Kat and Paul picked up a hire car on Saturday morning and headed south for the next week, all the way to Melbourne. Sounds like a fab trip and I look forward to hearing all about it!

Juice Fast

Back to reality after a week away in Port Douglas. It was rather lovely there, tropical, hot, humid and very laid back. The town is great and heaving with super bars and restaurants, all 10 minutes from where we stayed. We did a safari in the rain forest and spent a day out on the reef doing 2 dives, and otherwise slept late, ate and drank too much and relaxed by the pool in the shade. It got up to 30C every day, and didn't drop below 25C at night... glorious after the long Sydney winter.

We are now home and back at work. Kat and Paul hired a car and are on their way to Melbourne via the coast road. It sounds like a lovely trip, I shall have to do it someday. They were whale watching off Eden yesterday. Wah.

The good news is that somehow I managed to not gain any more weight while we were away, which is amazing! I was 73kg on Sunday and 72.8 Monday morning.

I have, however, decided to do a bit of a detox for the first time in my life. Now, I ordinarily disapprove of anything extreme in the diet arena, but having read up on juice fasting it doesn't sound that bad. You're still getting all the nutrients you need, the body just doesn't have to do much for them. And obviously you cut out all fats, dairy, meat, caffiene etc.

I'm doing a combination of the "Master Cleanse" lemonade fast (fresh lemon and lime, maple syrup and a dash of cayenne pepper), and a normal juice fast (anything). That's really because it's very easy to make a batch of the lemonade syrup to bring to work and then dilute hot or cold as I fancy! At mealtimes I supplement that with a freshly squeezed juice from one of the shops near here. And if I get a big craving then I can have a cup of miso soup for the saltyness.

It's been just over 24 hours now and I feel fine, not rumbly at all. Although, considering that the juice I had for breakfast today (squeezed at the deli over the road from my office) contained 2 apples, 3 carrots and a bunch of celery I should be ok! That's more than I eat in half a day usually...

My scale said 72.3kg this morning. I usually have a bit of a loss on a Tuesday after the excesses of a weekend, so I'm not too excited yet. We will see what tomorrow brings... And besides, this is a detox, not a diet ;-). I will of course be thrilled if I lose any weight! My initial goal is 48 hours, but if that turns out easy I may keep on going.

Milord is doing his own version of detox/dieting, which seems mainly to involve skipping dinner and having lots of fruit during the day with a light lunch. This means that no one is cooking near me in the evening, which makes things a lot easier!

Side effects so far: a slight headache, and a furry tongue. I will pop out for some sugar free gum soon, as dragon breath is not really my thing!

Back from New Zealand

Well, we are home from New Zealand, specifically Auckland and Queenstown. Auckland because I needed to pick up my permanent migration visa from the Australian consulate (yay!), and Queenstown because you may as well do a little skiing while you are in the country, right?

We took Friday 31st August off work, and flew at midday from Sydney to Auckland, which took about 2 and a half hours. We arrived at Heidi and Craig's house at 6pm and after a drink we all headed into Mission Bay for dinner. Heidi is 4 months pregnant, so we had a designated driver all night ;-). Heidi and I headed to bed about midnight, leaving the boys drinking red wine... Milord was a little under the weather the next day!

On Saturday we flew to Queenstown where we were met by our package rep and taken to our accommodation, which was a nice little one-bedroom apartment very close to the centre of town. It was surprisingly warm as we got off the plane, and we were a bit concerned to be told that the snow was melting and awful and that one of the ski areas was actually closed! Then it turned cold and began to rain, and poured all afternoon long while we tramped around under umbrellas stocking up the kitchen and bar. Luckily it seems the rain was snow further up the mountains, and by morning the ski fields were ready for us.

We spent the next three days skiing at The Remarkables ski area, which takes about an hour to get to from Queenstown centre, depending on snow chains and the like. We had decided that we were not interested in driving on ice, so took the ski shuttle bus to and from the snow every day. It worked out perfectly.

I was pretty nervous to begin with, as it had been 5 years since I'd last skied. Turns out it really is just like riding a bicycle, and after a wobble or two I was fine. We booked a couple of hour-long private lessons, and it was helpful to have any bad habits pointed out. m'Lord has done less skiing than I have, so his wobbles lasted a bit longer, but by the end of 3 days I was struggling to keep up with him on the easy runs.

Now, I had been wondering how the run difficulty levels (green/blue/red) compare in New Zealand to Europe, and this is my impression: NZ green is a lot like an EU easy blue. NZ blue covers everything from the EU medium blue to EU red.

What confused me completely, and I don't know if it is the norm, was the fact that only the green runs were groomed (compacted) at the The Remarkables. This meant that every other run was deep powder or very lumpy and as a consequence was pretty tricky to get down. Poor Milord with his bad knees couldn't cope with ungroomed at all, and I fell over so much I resembled a snowman! This from a girl who could get down any groomed red run and most mogul fields without falling a few years back. I was actually very disappointed, as the only good surface was limited to two rather short and crowded green runs. I would be interested to know if there was a reason why they didn't groom any other runs - were we out of season or did a compacter break down? Most annoying, and I'm not sure I'd go back again.

We had a final day in Queenstown where we didn't ski, and on that day we did the Shotover Jet boat ride in the morning. There are a number of jet boat operators, but the Shotover one goes up the Shotover River canyon, which is narrow with steep high walls and rapids. The boat goes within inches of walls and rocks and shoals, and everyone screams as they veer away at the last second then spin a 360 in a handspan of water. I did the same boat ride a few years ago in summer, so had the foresight to don my ski jacket and a woolly hat as we got soaked and it was freezing! We loved it.

Then we rode a gondola up to the gondola station high above Queenstown and had lunch in a bar overlooking the valley. We could see paragliders swooping past, and boats like tiny specks on the water, and even found ourselves looking down on an airliner coming in to land. There is a bungy platform over 47m of rocks and trees, and we watched a few mad people throw themselves off it. I bungied there the last time I was in Queenstown, and while it is a rather funny story I will never ever bungy again! Milord wasn't particularly tempted either. We walked up the hillside for a bit, and then both did a tandem paraglide down into town. This is also something I did last time, and it is just as thrilling as before! What a rush!

Queenstown is a lovely place, rather quaint and thronging with bars and restaurants, and full of boarders and skiers and backpackers. We enjoyed bar hopping and trying a new eatery every mealtime.

We flew back to Auckland on Thursday 6th, and as we arrived at Heidi's mid-afternoon we found the local supermarket and shopped and cooked up a roast lamb dinner for them. With lots and lots of vegetables as we were in withdrawal after a week of bacon and eggs and restaurant meals! On the Friday we wandered into town and picked up my visa at the consulate - which was rather an anticlimax after the year of effort that has gone into getting it, it took 5 minutes! We went up the skytower and had a bottle of wine overlooking the city to celebrate, and Heidi and Craig joined us at the Viaduct for dinner.

The rest of the weekend was nice and lazy as it rained and we were all tired and broke - and m'Lord and I have both been to Auckland before so have done the touristy stuff. We watched lots of rugby on TV as the Rugby World cup started last weekend, and read books and caught up on sleep. On Saturday Craig hosted a boy's poker night, so Heidi and I and another girlfriend went out for dinner and a movie, and we all watched the All Blacks totally thrash Italy at rugby. Milord and I flew back into Sydney late last night, and I would be happy not to be in an airport or aeroplane again for the rest of the year!

The good news is that I somehow only gained a kilo over the holiday - amazing considering what we ate and drank - 73kg today! We are detoxing for the next few days, so I hope to shake it off and get back on track soon. Veggie stirfry tonight!

Unclean!

As I mentioned earlier, last weekend Milord and I went away for the weekend to the Love Shack. This is a tiny little bungalow on a ridge in the middle of nowhere a couple of hours north of Sydney, with a big spa tub on the veranda overlooking dense bush (and a dam and a herd of cows, luckily no flies in winter). It was lovely, and we slept and ate and drank and read books and napped and spent hours in the hot tub on the veranda.

On Monday I came up with a number of little red bumps on my tummy and inner arms, but figured the bugs had got at me while strolling to and from the hot tub, as I am a bug magnet. If I am in a room with 20 people, the mosquitoes etc will all make a bee-line (heh) for me, so I always end up bitten. I'm also quite allergic to bug bites, so red bumps are nothing new.

By Monday night I had a few more, and on Tuesday I had even more. Now, it's not unusual for bites to take 24 hours to come up, but this was getting weird. I washed all our clothes and bedding in case we'd brought something home, but still I was getting the odd bump come up. They weren't like any bug bites I'd had before either... not itchy, no white pus head, and quite tender to the touch. The occasional one would swell up huge, go deep red and be really painful... I had one of these under my armpit (plague! ding-ding - bring out your dead!), and one just at the edge of my nipple (ow ow ow), and let me tell you it wasn't much fun!

I was also feeling decidedly run down, with aches, lethargy and a slightly sore throat. m'Lord suggested chicken pox or an allergic reaction, and began to urge me to the doctor. The thing is, I don't go to the doctor unless I'm dying, and spots and a sore boob really aren't all that bad!

So yesterday I googled my symptoms (as you do) and came across Hot Tub Folliculitis. It seems there are these bacteria (from someone's skin) that thrive in a hot tub and can cause a skin infection with my exact symptoms. Gross. I have to say I thought that hot tub was a bit dodgy at the time... the water was murky and had a funny taste. We threw loads of chlorine in it on Saturday once we saw what it looked like, but I reckon the damage was done the night before.

I contacted the owners to tell them to scrub the tub and they are in full denial. They say they emptied and cleaned it the day before we got there. Hmm. Didn't look like it, but whatever. I was just trying to save the next guest some trauma.

I bathed in antiseptic last night, and while I still have the bumps they feel a little better. The nipple one has gone down thank goodness (I kept cradling my sore boob unconsciously, which is not really work-friendly).

On a happier note I've lost a little more weight - this morning I was just under 72kg. Bring on the weekend, I am guilt free! I am SO looking forward to that first glass of wine tonight ;-)

Update: My mate Gillian has just told me off for "giving a bad review for the Love Shack which may be found by an internet search". Just for her I will add that this was not a doctor's diagnosis and may have been caused by something other than the hot tub, and m'Lord didn't manifest many bumps and they're not as bad on him.

The Last Time I Skied

Milord and I are now booked to go skiing for a few days in September while we are in New Zealand to pick up my visa. We're a bit nervous about it as it has been more than 5 years since either of us skied!

While browsing through some old emails I came across this account of the last time I went skiing in 2002. I'm going to post it for later comparison! It also recounts the passing of my 30th Birthday, always a major event ;-).

19 March 2002:

"A good friend of mine once stated that any woman who passed the age of 30 without being married was a lesbian. So you will all be glad to hear that I have now reached that significant age without the benefit of matrimony, and am awaiting the change with interest. I have had a very short haircut so far, but the ‘comfortable shoes’ have yet to materialise!

As I was in France skiing over my birthday, I had a party in London the Saturday before. Jon and Tara kindly let me use their flat, and 12 of my closest friends came along for oodles of snacks and much, much champagne. Cheers to everyone who came for making it such an enjoyable evening! (and to those who couldn’t make it, you missed a great time!) It was a lovely chatty, boozy, laid-back evening, and at around midnight we all staggered over the road to an indie club where the music was excellent. Then back to the flat at 3 for more champagne… I had one of the worst hangovers on record the next day! 9 of the 12 stayed over, and we limped down the road to the greasy spoon for a fry-up at about midday on Sunday. I had meant to produce breakfast, but was too ill to face it! I still felt terrible on the Monday, and work was a trial!

On Friday the 8th Paul, Tara, Jon and I went to France to go skiing in Les Arcs. We travelled by train, which is not bad – it means you get 2 extra days skiing, as the train arrives at 7am on Saturday, and leaves the following Saturday at 10pm. I managed to drink far too much far too fast on the train there, and was not feeling well when we arrived in Les Arcs. Paul and Jon had stayed up most of the night sponsoring the bar, and were not too good either! But as we could only check-in at 5pm, we bravely hired skis and launched ourselves at the chairlift.

I decided to try out snowblades (v short skis, turned up back and front) for the week, while the others took skis. They’re cool, you can get down any slope, no matter how steep or icy, as their turning radius is so small! On the downside they react to the surface a lot, and I never felt quite safe at high speed.

Paul, Tara and Jon are very good, and very fast, skiers. I had spent a large amount of time in the gym before the holiday building up my leg muscles, in the hope that I could keep up through brute strength. It seemed to work a bit, as I was not too far behind at each stop (and my legs didn’t get sore - bonus)! I will never be as fast as they are though, even on proper skis – my sense of terror kicks in too soon at high speed!

I’m a bit of a lazy, social, fair-weather skier, and 8 days in a row of 6 hours a day is a little too much skiing for my liking. I took a day off after 3 days, and an afternoon off a couple of days later, and towards the end of the week tended to head for home an hour or two before the others. Unfortunately there is not much else to do in a ski resort, and I was bored silly! If I go skiing again it will be in a big group, with at least one other lazy person to chill out with.

Les Arcs is a superb skiing resort. We were very lucky with the snow too, as they had a huge snowfall the week before, and the piste was still 1m thick at the bottom and 2m at the top. It was getting pretty thin at the bottom by the time we left, and I felt sorry for any novices trying to dodge the grass! There are about 4 villages that you can ski between, and one of them is very high up and always had excellent snow. It was very sunny for most of the time (we all got sunburnt on the first day, and now have sunglass-tans!) and surprising warm. This is the latest in the year I have skied, and the sun is getting strong!

I had a great birthday – I didn’t even notice it! The best way to spend your 30th I say! (or the beginning of your fourth decade as someone said – sounds even worse!)"

Mum's Visit Nov 2006 - Part 2

Mum's Visit - Part 1
Mum's Visit - Part 2
Mum's Visit - Part 3

Milord decided he fancied coming with us to the Hunter Valley (5), so we did a bit of sightseeing on Monday waiting for him to finish work, then travelled there in the evening. We stayed in his (and his ex’s) golf apartment, which is pleasant and quite central. It needs a bit of TLC though, so on Tuesday mum and I had a bask by the pool while m'Lord shopped for paint etc, then we all mucked in and gave the place a slight makeover. Most of the effort happened on the balcony, with pressure hoses, paint and furniture oil in full flight. Inside we had a spring clean and touched up paintwork – it all looked far better in the end although we were all covered in paint! It’s been on the market for over a year so hopefully this will help. (Update: the place sold within weeks of our make-over!) On Wednesday Milord volunteered to be chauffer and tour guide, and we had an excellent wine tour and lunch in the region. Everyone is so friendly, and being out of season we could have a good chat with the staff and try everything ;-). We also spotted a couple of galahs (big pink parrots) in a tree at the golf course.


On Thursday the 16th we all travelled to the Blue Mountains (6) via the scenic, winding back roads, and checked into a somewhat scruffy and grubby but very cheap cottage in Blackheath. Not m'Lord’s style at all, but he wasn’t supposed to be along on that leg of the trip so I hadn’t allowed for his sensibilities! Then a quick sightsee to the nearest gorge, before heading home to play with the log stove which made it all warm and homely.

Friday morning early Milord headed back to Sydney on the train to go to a birthday lunch/dinner/boozeup, and mum and I went for a glorious scenic walk along cliffs at Katoomba overlooking a vast gorge where we could see flocks of cockatoos flying through the trees below. We walked to where there used to be coal mines, and travelled to the valley floor on a thrilling almost vertical railway that used to carry ore to the top. We had very interesting roam around in the forest and saw a rare lyre-bird, then took a cable car back and walked back to the car. After a late lunch we went exploring in a vast rhododendron garden … being so high up it stays pretty cold in spring and they were just finishing, but we could still enjoy acres of colour.


On the Saturday morning m'Lord came back very hungover on the train, and after a fry up we headed off for the Gardens of Stone national park which I’d read about somewhere. We’d hoped to go walking but couldn’t find any trails so Milord ended up doing an extremely exciting impromptu 4x4 drive through some fantastic scenery. It’s the first time we’ve tested the car (big 4wd Lexus) off-road and we were pleasantly surprised! We were in the bush for hours, and it was fascinating to see the GPS showing us meandering around in uncharted territory… Then back to the cottage for a jug or two of g&t and a roast dinner.

Sunday was a slow start, with the smell of ash from the back-burning around a nearby bushfire that had been raging for nearly a week. The clouds of smoke over the ridge were truly ominous! We went out to do a walk along the nearby gorge, only to find it completely filled with smoke… we decided to head home to Sydney instead and had a quiet night in. I later heard that the fire jumped the back burning and entered the gorge, which is a shame.


On Monday 20th mum and I went for a little scuba dive off Shelleys Beach near Manly to brush up her skills as she hadn’t been diving in the sea for over a year. Shelleys is very sheltered and no deeper than 10m where we were so nice and safe, but very very boring to dive. It was good to be back in the sea though, and mum soon got the hang of things again.

Mum's Visit - Part 3

Mum's Visit Nov 2006 - Part 3

Mum's Visit - Part 1
Mum's Visit - Part 2
Mum's Visit - Part 3

On Tuesday we flew to Uluru (Ayers Rock) (7), got picked up by a “safari” outfit along with 12 others and headed off to the rock. It was very hot, about 45 deg, so we just did a gentle walk around the base before heading off to watch the sunset change the colours of Uluru. Turns out I’d found a rather, ahem, budget outfit, so we got to watch other tour groups sipping champagne from crystal while the 14 of us shared 2 bottles in scruffy plastic mugs! That kind of set the tone for the rest of the evening (rather blah dinner and no booze to be had), although we had the bonus of our own tent/hut with light and fan when most of the group bunked down in dark dorms. We were the only English speakers in our group, then rest being mostly young Germans and a couple of Japanese – pleasant enough but we didn’t exactly click!


The next day we woke before dawn and set off to watch the sun rise over Uluru and the Olgas (a nearby mountain outcrop sort of similar). We did a walk in the Olgas, through amazing deep red mountains and rock outcroppings. It was hot at 8am, and by late morning when we left the safari and checked into our room in the resort it was scorching! We gratefully collapsed in our en-suite air-conditioned room with a bottle of cold wine and two fresh fruit salads and had a much needed nap, before going to sit in the shade beside a very welcome swimming pool for the rest of the afternoon.

On Thursday we lazed around the resort until midday when we flew to Sydney airport, met Milord and flew immediately to Brisbane (8) to spend the night with his mum. She is in the middle of a chemo course (she has lung cancer) so was very ill, but managed to stay up quite late chatting to us, and our mums were pleased to have met each other.

Friday we flew to Townsville (9), near Cairns, and spent the afternoon in a pub/restaurant on the beachfront. It was so pleasant there that we had lunch, stayed for more drinks, and when the kitchen reopened we had dinner there too! Then boarded our dive boat and headed off to sea… It’s a somewhat slow boat so took 8 hours to get to the first mooring, through some rather heavy chop and swell. Mum gets seasick, so had dosed herself up for days to deal with it, but lying down in the corkscrewing dark was all too much and she ended up bent over the rail in the darkness with waves breaking over the deck for all 8 hours! When I found her in the morning it was all she could do to sip a glass of water, and she skipped the first dive of the day and instead had a bit of a snorkel.


Luckily the weather and waves were kind from then on, and mum recovered enough to get her appetite back and join us on the rest of the dives. It is definitely the best diving I have done in Australia, reasonable visibility and lots to see. We also did a night dive, which was not as creepy as I expected, and also not as interesting as most of the fish are asleep! Our final two dives were on the wreck of the Yongala, which has been in 25m of water since 1911 and is so overgrown with coral that she looks like a wreck-shaped reef! It’s an excellent site and we’d like to go back, but maybe on a faster boat for a daytrip ;-). We had a nice crowd of 10 other divers with us, from Sweden, America, Oz and England, and the crew were excellent. A bit no-frills, but I can certainly recommend them!


We spent a glorious night back on dry land in big beds that don’t rock with en-suite and air-con in Townsville on Monday night, and flew back to Sydney on Tuesday 28th where we collapsed.

The last few days were very relaxed as we were all exhausted. Poor Milord had to go back to work, and mum and I did some gentle sightseeing for the last couple of days including climbing up one of the Harbour Bridge pylons for amazing views. We had a mob of people over on Thursday night for a barbie to meet the parent ;-), and mum flew home on Friday night.

Mum's Visit Nov 2006 - Part 1

Mum's Visit - Part 1
Mum's Visit - Part 2
Mum's Visit - Part 3

Last November my mom came to visit for the whole month. I was able to take the entire time off and we did a blitz tour of South/East Ozzie. Here is the travelogue:

Mom arrived from the UK at the crack of dawn on Nov first, and after a shower and champagne brunch we took her out for the famous Saffa introductory tour of Sydney (1). This involves a stroll through Balmain to the ferry stop, a ferry ride under the Harbour Bridge and past the Opera House to Circular Quay, then a walk beside the water past the Opera House (with pub stop) and Botanical Gardens to Lady Macquarie’s Chair viewpoint and Woolloomooloo (another pub stop). Then a leisurely walk through the middle of town to the Darling Harbour waterfront and a late lunch overlooking the water, then a taxi ride home. Then more wine sitting in the garden…We managed to keep mum up til 9pm, which is pretty good going, and she says she slept quite well til 3am… We have a lot of big crow-like birds here called magpies (which tootle) and currawongs (which have a moaning caw) that like to congregate in the garden at daybreak… mum didn’t appreciate that one bit although she got used to it by the end!


The next couple of days encompassed the Aquarium, Fish Markets, Sydney Museum, various lunches and barbeques, and culminated in a belated birthday dinner for mum in the lovely Café Sydney which is on the fifth floor of the old Customs House overlooking the Opera House and Harbour Bridge, lit up at night.

On Sat the 4th mum and I flew to Tasmania and drove to the Cradle Mountain National Park (2), which is lovely and rugged. It reminded us a lot of Scotland in fact, and even snowed to reinforce the impression! Yes, snow in November! We stayed in a lovely little cottage with a huge gas fire, so had a pleasant place to warm up and dry off in after going walking during the day ;-). We spotted wombats grazing, and also spent a bit of time at a Tasmanian Devil info center and got to stroke one… turns out the ravening beast image is not true at all, they’re really shy and only eat dead things. They’re about the size of a Staffordshire terrier, with heavy neck and shoulders, very interesting. We also saw a few wallabies, one of which kept turning up on our porch hoping to be fed!


After 4 nights on Tasmania we flew to Melbourne, and drove due west a couple of hours to the coast, then spent the next two days driving east along the Great Ocean Road (3), which is stunning. Cliffs, rock formations in the surf, winding roads through mountain passes, rainforest and rolling green hills dropping down to holiday villages on white sandy beaches.


We also saw koalas perched in gum trees munching on leaves, completely unfazed by us underneath! We reached Melbourne (4) on Friday night, had a really blustery walk along the beachfront near kite-surfers while looking for a sheltered pub and ended up in a very funky backstreet bohemian area called St Kilda out of the wind watching the weird world go by ;-).

Back to Sydney on the Saturday, and Milord and I went to the U2 concert that night, which was as well done as ever, although they’re getting rather too political these days for my taste and kept losing the momentum. On the Sunday m'Lord took us flying in a little 4-seater plane over the Blue Mountains, then along the coast past Manly Beach and the Heads, and we were able to fly up the harbour and do a few circles near the Harbour Bridge and Opera House, which was fantastic! Our neighbours threw an impromptu barbeque that night and invited us, which was very pleasant. The neighbourhood possum also made an appearance, walking along the tops of the fences!



Mum's Visit - Part 2

South African Holiday Part 1. Sydney – Saldanha

Part 2 - Saldanha - CT
Part 3 - Cape Town
Part 4 - Pretoria - Kruger
Part 5 - Kruger Park
Part 6 - Kruger - Sydney


Milord and I have just come home after a couple of weeks in South Africa. We spent a week in Cape Town, and then a week in Pretoria and the Kruger National Park. It was very rushed, as it was his first time and I wanted to show him everything, as well as catching up with my friends and large family.

On Friday 2nd March we flew from Sydney to Johannesburg. It seems there are only a couple of carriers who fly direct from Sydney to SA, so we picked Qantas into Jhb. It’s a bit more expensive than dog-legging, but I hate transit so chose to go direct. The flight left Sydney at 10:30am, and landed in Jhb 14 hours later at 3:30pm (just before midnight Sydney time). Yes, I know, the time difference does my head in too!

My cousin Lisa picked us up from the airport, and took us home for the night. She stays in a lovely little townhouse in a secure development with her 5 year old son Jack. That night Lisa kindly offered to host a gathering, and a mob came around. Those who came over were my cousin Cal with partner Bear and children Cieran, Connor and Justin, my cousin Kean with fiancee T, my aunt Hilary, Lisa’s boyfriend Schalk, and my old friends Chris, Madeleine and HJ.

It was great fun see everyone, and I just didn’t have enough time to talk properly to each person. Milord handled it all very well, although when the rugby was switched on he jumped at the opportunity to quietly chill out in front of it. I had to shake him awake to be sociable!

We were asleep by midnight I think, and as is my rather annoying habit in a strange bed I was awake with the dawn. Luckily so were Lisa and Schalk and I joined them for a coffee as the day started, which woke Milord too. By the time Hilary arrived to take us to the airport we were ready to go back to bed!

We flew Kulula to Cape Town (it was delayed by an hour), and it was a fun flight. They are trying to be a comical airline, and the usual patter was embellished with humor like: “In the event of loss of cabin pressure oxygen masks will fall from the ceiling. Today your oxygen will be provided free of charge courtesy of the crew.” Their sandwiches were surprisingly good too.

Part 2 - Saldanha - CT