Whitsundays Holiday - Part 5

Final post about the holiday - continued from here.


Day 6 – Friday 17th October

We’d been hearing weather reports forecasting very strong winds arriving on Friday, and as the route we needed to follow would be taking us into the teeth of it we decided to get going extra early in case we had to motor the whole way. We skipped breakfast and raised anchor at 8am (which is the earliest you’re allowed to move in a chartered boat). We were due into harbour at 10am.

Shortly after leaving our anchorage at Chalkies Beach (10) we sailed through the Solway Passage (11) between Haslewood and Whitsunday Islands. While doing so we noticed the water acting bizarrely: the tide being squeezed there created awesome whirlpools and standing waves! It was a bit freaky but the boat glided through just fine.


You can sort of see the water acting wierd here...

The wind was picking up a bit, but it wasn’t quite on our bow and we were able to catch enough to sail along without needing the motor. We emptied our toilet tanks well offshore (gross, but you have to) and tacked back and forth a couple of times to clean the side of the boat… the smell is unbelievable until it’s all gone! We followed the southern coast of Whitsunday Island until we reached Hamilton Island, and sailed widdershins (I’m guessing that’s not the right mariner’s term) around it to reach the harbour (1). It was 9am – we’d made excellent time!


We radioed the marina and they told us to go away until 10 as our berth wasn’t ready. Go away? Go where? It was windy and choppy out in the bay so we headed for the lee of the nearest little island, dropped anchor and cooked our last breakfast aboard. Then at 10 we went back to the marina, found our berth and tied up. The rep from the boat company was there and he debriefed us and made sure we hadn’t lost anything while I scurried around cleaning and packing and trying to figure out what to do with all the food we had left!

Finally we ended up ashore on Hamilton Island with a pile of bags and food, and called for the courtesy shuttle to take us to our accommodation for the next two nights.


Our apartment - very nice!

Day 7 and 8 – Saturday 18th and Sunday 19th October

Hamilton Island is a popular holiday resort. It has a special place in my heart because back in 2005 when I flew to Australia to meet Milord after 6 months of an online relationship he took me there for a few days. That was in late winter (although it’s the tropics so not exactly cold) and we stayed in an exclusive child-free hotel with private pool and restaurant. I was thoroughly blown away and couldn’t wait to go back!

This time we were there in summer during a school holiday and we were staying in a serviced apartment block with awesome views across the sea. Oh, the humanity! Families and kids and screaming babies and teenagers having loud parties (don’t hate me – I’m just not used to it). The experience has put me off resort holidays for the rest of my life (or until we have little kids anyway).

We were utterly exhausted after our trip and all we wanted to do was loll around in a non-rocking environment recharging – which was lucky really because the weather was awful! The high winds arrived bearing rain, but our balcony was in the lee of the building so we could have the sliding doors wide open to the warm wet air and watch the rain pounding down on the soggy families below. We stocked up on beer and wine and read books or snoozed as the mood took us.


The view when the sun comes out.

We generally cooked in the apartment, but for our last night on the island we had a couple of drinks in a pub overlooking the marina and dinner in a very nice restaurant nearby. For our last day the sun came a few times and I attempted to even out my sailing tan, and then Milord and I made our way to the airport and flew back to a beautiful scorching hot Sydney Sunday evening, trying to get our heads around having to go back to the work the next day.

It was an amazing holiday. I felt like we’d been away for a month rather than a week! Expensive and exhausting, but a real change of pace and scene. I look forward to doing it again in a couple of years (unless we have kids of course – I can’t imagine having a baby or toddler on a boat).

Sydney - Botanical Gardens

The other day it was just too nice to go to the gym, so I went for a walk at lunchtime instead. What can be hard to believe when you are surrounded by high rise buildings in the centre of Sydney is that there are acres of trees and gardens nearby - the Botanical Gardens.


How big is that tree?!

It took me about 15 minutes to reach the closest gate and step inside the gardens (entry is free). Immediately I could feel my spirits lifting as I moved into the shade of an enormous fig tree. There are indigenous plant areas, rose gardens, herb gardens, Chinese gardens, ponds and fountains, reached through beautiful avenues of trees. Rolling green lawns all sport "Please walk on the grass" signs, and are populated with tourists, schoolkids and suits picnicking, socialising or quietly reading a book.


I was listening to a dramatised audio book on my mp3 player (The Chronicles of Narnia. I've got the lot and am working my way through them - I think I was listening to Prince Caspian that day) and I let my feet take me where they fancied.


I meandered along in a general downhill direction until I reached the sea (the gardens are on the edge of a bit of Sydney Harbour) then headed back towards the city. It was glorious and I could have relaxed under a tree for the rest of the day! Sadly I had to go back into an air conditioned office, but it had been a lovely break.


These are "flying foxes" - big ginger fruit bats - which hang out in many of the trees of the gardens.

Whitsundays Holiday - Part 4

Continued from here.

Day 4 – Wednesday 15th October

We got underway shortly after breakfast and our morning “sked” – a pre-determined radio call from our boat provider checking on everyone’s plans for the day. They’d call every morning at 8:30am, and again at 1pm in the afternoon to see what we were up to.


We were on our way to Chalkies Beach (10) on Haslewood Island, where we’d had brilliant snorkelling on our last trip. Chalkies has a challenging anchorage because the bottom plummets away to 100m not far away, but provided you are among the first few boats to drop anchor you’re ok. We sailed there passing Whitehaven Beach (9), a beautiful, long, perfectly white expanse of sand – and a popular day trip from the nearby resorts by boat, helicopter and sea plane. We got to Chalkies by late morning and at high tide, threw on our masks and fins and swam towards the reef.


And swam, and swam and swam… where was the reef? Milord got fed up and headed back to the boat to pick up the dingy and I carried on. After about half an hour I still hadn’t found the reef and I was getting a bit freaked out so I turned and swam towards shore, navigating around a rocky headland. Around this point I realised I was swimming into the current too, which while not very strong was still unpleasant. Milord finally returned with the dingy as I staggered angrily onto the sand, and we went back to the boat for lunch and a rest.

Low tide happened at about 2pm, so we buzzed across in the dingy and found the reef right where we thought it was – it had just been too deep to see! We snorkelled around for a while complaining about the visibility… and suddenly it got so bad that I couldn’t see anything at all – not even my hands! We got very uncomfortable and high-tailed it back to the dingy, dodging corals that loomed out at us at the very last second. Brrr - creepy. That was it for me, I’d lost all desire for snorkelling, although Milord had another go the next day.

We had a glorious sunset over the sea, and cooked steaks with salad.

Day 5 – Thursday 16th October


A lazy start and a gentle sail over to Whitehaven Beach (9), where we had bacon and eggs sandwiches before taking the dingy to the beach. Commercial day tripping boats are restricted to either end of the beach, but as a private charter we could anchor anywhere so we picked a secluded patch. We buzzed ashore, anchored the dingy in the sand and took a long walk on squeaky clean bright white sand. They say the beach is pure silica, and it certainly is stunning. We put our towels down in a patch of shade under a scrubby pine and went for a swim in the crystal water, followed by a bottle of cold champagne. There was enough breeze to keep the flies away and to stop it being too hot.


After about half an hour we walked back to our dingy, just in time to stop it floating away on the rising tide! Luckily the breeze had been on-shore! Then back to our boat and back to Chalkies (10), where we dropped anchor almost exactly where we’d spent the night! We grabbed our books and relaxed in the shade of the awning.



I read several books on our trip. Kat had sent me a novel set in Venice (she and I travelled there together a few years ago and loved it) which I enjoyed – the author managed to really evoke the spirit of the place. As much as I tried to eke the book out I finished it in a couple of days and I would have gone insane but happily the boat had a small library on board. What a bizarre collection! A Shakespearean play with handwritten notes all the way through. The “Backpacker’s Bible”, which I thought would be a travel book but turned out to actually be a Bible… for backpackers. And a few novels. Kat, I left your book aboard in the hope that someone enjoys it!

During the afternoon I got very hot and decided to go for a swim. As I was about to dive into the water I looked down and did a double take. The sea seemed to rushing past like a fast river! I dipped in a toe: yep, the current was wild! I gently lowered myself down the ladder and laughed as my body was pushed horizontal in the water. Milord brought me my fins and I powered up to the front of the boat and hung onto the anchor line letting myself flutter in the current. Then I let go and the water swept me along the side to the rear where I grabbed the dingy line before swimming to the front again – it was great fun! Milord put his fins on too and came to join me and we played in the current for ages. I wouldn’t have liked to have been in that current without my fins though!


For our last night aboard I tried to use up as much food as possible by making a spicy pork stew with lots of vegetables, and we drank the last of the wine. Sadly I’d got the catering a bit wrong and we ended up with lots of food left over and ran out of booze – we had to ration ourselves over the last couple of days! Milord was quite indignant.


I love this pic of me. I look so tanned and relaxed and ungroomed... even the scar running down my cheek doesn't bother me too much.

continued here.

Whitsundays Holiday - Part 2

Day 2 – Monday 13th October
Continued from here:


The sun finally rose after an interminable night in Cid Harbour (2). It had been a very hot night, but because it kept raining we were unable to have our hatches open so it was rather stuffy in the cabin. Milord snored and twitched until I was ready to kill him and I had managed to get sunburnt the day before which didn’t help, as every time I moved in my sleep that woke me up too!

(How silly is that? Lily-white after a Sydney winter we walk into the tropical sun without any sunscreen or even a hat. Born in Africa, living in Australia – I have no excuse! Milord also has no excuse, and his burnt baldness was bright red for days until it started to peel. Nice.)

Milord volunteered to move into another cabin for the rest of the trip, which made a great improvement and will go on the to-do list for next time! The beds on a boat are just too small to share with a large man.

Apart from that our anchorage had been perfect – out of the wind and practically no rolling.


I made coffee and orange juice and unearthed provisions from the bottom of the chest fridge, and Milord cooked us bacon and egg sandwiches on the deck barbeque. Although we had the occasional rain shower it was pleasantly warm and we were sheltered by our awning. We tidied up, consulted the charts, packed away the awning, raised the anchor and headed north again.

We were headed to Butterfly Bay on Hook Island for a spot of snorkelling, which involved us sailing past our proposed night anchorage in Stonehaven (3) on the way. We got to Butterfly Bay (4) a couple of hours later, took the dinghy to the reef and dropped its little anchor on a patch of sand, and slipped into the sea.

Diving in the Whitsundays is horrible. The islands are close to the mainland so there is plenty of runoff carrying silt, plus the tides get compressed and churn up a lot of muck too. The visibility is not great – probably about 5m (15ft), so once you get to 5m it’s pretty murky down there! We dived on our last trip and didn’t enjoy it, so this time we had decided just to snorkel.

The reef and fish are superb, although the visibility isn’t very good. The water was 26C which is a little chilly – we didn’t wear wetsuits but a shortie wetsuit would have been nice - I might have to buy one! I did wear a “stinger suit” which is a full-body swimsuit that protects you from sunburn and coral. I’m glad I had that, because whenever I went swimming without it I came up in little incredibly itchy welts on my body that lasted a week, possibly caused by bits of jellyfish or nymph anemones. Luckily I’d thought to pack antihistamine ointment and pills.

We snorkelled for about an hour and we saw huge napoleon wrasse and a school of baby barracuda in addition to the normal oodles of fish among the coral. It was pretty good.


Then back on board for a shower, and we headed back to Stonehaven with a ham and cheese roll and a beer in hand.

Dinner was barramundi (fish) on the barbeque with salad and white wine, watching a spectacular sunset. Our anchorage was a bit rolly and gusty, but we hoped things would settle down in the night.



...continued here.

Morning Walk

As I've mentioned before, I walk to work most mornings lately if I can.

And boy do I need the exercise - I've been steadily gaining weight again and I have crept back up to where I was in February! I joined a new gym close to work yesterday so hopefully that will help me get things back under control.

This is my route. It is about 4.5km and takes me just under an hour at a gentle pace. I have been known to jog it in 30min. By the way, if you look at the bottom left of the map you will see a suburb called Marrickville - that's where our new house is. It's going to be too far to walk, so maybe I'll catch a bus halfway and walk the rest when the time comes...


After about 10 minutes of walking through narrow streets crammed with tiny houses I come to a big road crossed by a pedestrian bridge. This is my view on the pedestrian bridge. That's the Sydney Harbour Bridge in the distance to the left - the Opera House is out of sight around to the right. The gorgeous suspension bridge is the Anzac Bridge, and there is a walkway/cycle path on it that I use.


If you look carefully here you can see two sculptures of soldiers flanking this side of the Anzac Bridge. One represents an Australian soldier and the other a New Zealand soldier, and the whole thing is a memorial to the men who fell in Gallipoli in Turkey during a botched landing in WW1. Anzac Day is a big thing over here - much bigger than Rememberance Day. Look at that traffic - it was really bad this morning - it was good not to be in a bus today.


Loads of people use this path on the bridge to walk or cycle to work. I take it pretty easy in the mornings, so everyone passes me and I get to ogle lots of bums in cycling shorts.


The view from the middle of the bridge is rather good. Here is the Sydney Harbour bridge again with the sun rising behind it.


The Anzac Bridge even looks good underneath I think:


Then I make my way along through Pyrmont to Darling Harbour, where an old road bridge has been pedestrianised, and that takes me into the heart of the city. This is the Pyrmont pedestrian bridge... the structure above me carries the funny little monorail they built as a Millenium project in Sydney. Don't bother going on it, it doesn't go anywhere near the things you actually want to see as a tourist, and is a waste of money - apart from this stretch across the bridge it doesn't even have interesting views!


Once over that bridge it is a 5 minute walk through the city to my office block.

I listen to classical music on the way in in the morning - ABC radio has a lady DJ on in the morning with the most honeyed voice, and she plays some really interesting classics. What a chilled out way to start the day.

So what's your route to work like? If you post about it leave a comment here and I'll come over for a look.

Second Anniversary!

Today is the second anniversary of my arriving in Oz to stay, and of moving in with Milord. Funny to think that just two years ago I was on my way to Sydney with just what I could carry and a tummy full of butterflies!

I won't deny that my first couple of months were perfectly miserable as I came to terms with a new land, new town, new man and jobhunting. I suffered from insomnia caused by stress and his snoring so I was tired and cranky and lonely and it wouldn't stop raining so every day was a bad-hair-day! Milord was in the throes of a divorce and had a heap of emotional baggage to work through... And "Aussie English" is different enough to "Saffa English" to cause some major mis-communications over the most trivial things!

Even at our worst I always knew he was "The One" for me though, and I stuck with it because I knew that underneath the baggage was the bloke I'd crossed the world for. I found my feet, got used to the snoring, learned to translate Aussie, found a job, got my visa, and we began to pull in the same direction. Since then we've only improved, and I can honestly say that the past year has been brilliant relationship-wise (and Milord had his snoring fixed - whoohoo). We have big plans this year including buying a house and starting a family. We might wed, although Milord is still a bit gun-shy since his divorce so who knows!

On the subject of marriage - this past Saturday friends of ours got married. They are Irish living in Sydney, so a mob of friends and family came out from Ireland for it and they also invited many new friends from here. They hired a farmstay property down a dirt road in the middle of nowhere as the venue, two and half hours drive from Sydney. It turned out pretty well, as the party carried on until nearly dawn but we didn't disturb anyone else.

Unfortunately the day was really wet, but we managed to get everything under cover and it didn't affect the spirit of the day - in fact it was a good thing as it kept the flies away during the vows (note to self, farm=flies)! It was a lovely ceremony, the bride was radiant, and we had a brilliant party afterwards. A lot of folk were camping including us, so that was interesting in the rain and mud!

I went to bed at 2am, and Milord followed at 4am. We slept surprisingly well but were woken by the chickens and roosters at 8am. We got up in the rain, rolled up the tent and were headed home by 9am. Once home we showered and went back to bed for a couple of hours, then had a lazy afternoon washing muddy clothes and bedding while sipping wine and reading books and newspapers.

A lovely weekend, but we're still a bit tired today. We will be going out for dinner somewhere near home tonight, but as we're tired and broke it won't be terribly flashy.

PS. I fitted back into a dress I hadn't worn in a over year for the wedding, and I got a lot of compliments! I cheated a little with control-top knickers, but that's allowed eh? Hopefully someone will have taken a decent photo that I can post soon ;-)

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!

Holidayitis and Fridayitis

I am counting down the hours until today ends and I can get back on holiday with my friends Kat and Paul who are over from the UK. They should be climbing the Sydney Harbour Bridge pretty much as I type this. It's sunny outside, but a bit breezy - I hope they enjoy it! There is rain forwast for later, hopefully after they finish!

They arrived on Monday and we picked them up from the airport in the morning, came home for a freshen up and a champagne brunch, then headed into the city. We walked through Balmain to the ferry stop and caught a ferry which travelled under the Harbour Bridge and past the Opera House to the city ferry terminal. From there we walked along the water until we reached the Opera House where we stopped for a bottle or two of wine in the sunshine.


We continued into the Botanical Gardens and followed the bay around to Woolloomooloo where we stopped at a pub for lunch and a few drinks. Then we headed through the city to the waterfront and our favourite bar... eventually catching a taxi home where we had a barbeque and everyone had an early night!

On Tuesday milord took us flying in a 4-seater plane. We were lucky enough to be able to fly into the harbour and do circles over the Opera House - absolutely spectacular!


From there we headed out to the coast, buzzed Manly and Bondi beaches and then headed inland and north to the Hunter Valley wine region. We landed at Cessnock airfield, had lunch at the nearby cafe and called for a taxi to take us to the car rental depot where we picked up a hire car. Milord used to live in the area, so he directed us to his favourite wine estates then watched us wine tasting as he can't drink and fly! We had a lovely time trying out the local wines, then dropped in on a friend for a visit before being dropped back at the airfield by Kat and Paul who were going to stay in the area for a couple of nights.

Then 3 days of work... ugh.

Tonight after work we are all meeting up in the Horizon Bar of the Shangri-La hotel - on the 46th floor it has amazing views of the city and harbour. After that we are going for dinner at Cafe Sydney, where we have a table on the Balcony and can see the Harbour Bridge and Opera House all lit up. On Satuday we'll be doing some sightseeing, then we are off to Watson's Bay for a late lunch and intend to catch a water taxi back to the city to see it lit up from the sea at night...

On Sunday afternoon we fly to Port Douglas (green arrow) for 5 nights.


This is further north than I've been before, and it should be hot and humid - the forecast today is for 31C (that's 88F) and I'm looking forward to it! We will be doing a safari into the Daintree rainforest and spending a day on the Great Barrier Reef among other things. It all sounds gorgeous!

I am not too thrilled to be getting into a swimsuit at the moment, but I will simply stand tall and hope nobody says anything!

Holidayitis

Here I am at work for 3 days in between my holidays... it is perhaps understandable why I am having trouble getting into the spirit of things! It is also maybe understandable why I have fallen off the diet wagon and gained a bit of weight back. I have decided that I don't care, and that I will start over again once my holiday is over. It's my last holiday of the year and I am going to enjoy it! Hurts to update my ticker back to where it was 2 weeks ago though :-(

A couple of pics for you guys - both taken in my back yard. The parrot is a Rainbow Lorikeet and it is eating the new shoots on the tree, and the possum is a Brushtail Possum and it lives in a box in the same tree.



We used to have a few possums living in our roof cavity, but had them removed last year. You are not allowed to take them off the property so we had a possum box installed for one of them to move into. I guess the others found another roof to live in!

Funnily enough, a couple of weeks after we had the possum box set up I was standing outside with a cup of coffee when I noticed lots of flying insects buzzing in and out of the box, and my first thought was "Oops, I wonder if the possum is ok, that's a lot of flies." shortly followed by "Bees! Augh!". A swarm of bees had evicted our possum and were busy building combs inside the box! As the tree overhangs our outside living area, and Milord and I are very allergic to bees, and our yard is small, and there are lots of kids in the area we had to take drastic action and have the swarm destroyed. A funny little man came along and sprayed the box full of white powder and all the bees dropped dead. I asked him if possums would be able to move back in and he looked at me for moment then said "Well, they won't have any fleas!" So it's been about a year and finally a new possum has taken up residence. He's still very shy, but I put fruit along the branches sometimes and he's getting used to us.

Possums are very territorial and we hear them fighting and chasing each other across our tin roof in the night. They're nocturnal so you don't see them during the day at all.

Australia - Impressions

These are my impressions, formed when I stepped off the plane in Sydney after 7 years in England after growing up in South Africa

1. So where are the good looking people then? Gee the British heritage shows strongly, I was expecting tall and gorgeous, and they're the same weedy chinless bunch I just left behind.

2. Blue sky, wide streets, clean and shiney. Nice city.

3. What the hell are those girls wearing? Ew. They must all get dressed in the dark every day. I don't care if it's in fashion, no one in their right mind dresses that unflatteringly. It's called a mirror, darling.

4. Why is everybody overweight? I thought this place was sporty and outdoorsy, but anyone over 30 has really let themselves go. Where is the eye-candy? Wah!

5. Gosh that's a lot of Asians. Where am I? I feel confused. And very tall. At least they're not overweight...

6. Argh look out! My god don't you people understand following distances?! And how about indicating when you're changing lanes? And what's with hogging the fast lane while doing the speed limit? Move over dammit, I'll get a ticket if I want one!

7. That lady in the shop just spoke to me. And she made eye contact. She actually sounded like she cared how I was... that's nice. Not very efficient, but nice.

8. How much for a bottle of wine? I can get it for less in London! Yes, the exact same bottle of wine. That's silly. What do you mean you don't stock anything except Aussie and NZ wine? I want a nice dry soave, or a light French sav, I'm tired of the fruity local stuff... No I am not paying that much for an imported bottle of champagne!

9. My god this seafood is amazing!

10. These suburbs are wierd. Pokey old terraces you couldn't swing a cat in... I came here to get away from this! Damn they're cold in winter, where's my coat? And scarf. And gloves. Didn't think I'd be needing them again.

11. It's lovely and safe here. In my suburb anyway ;-). No bars on the windows, people leave their front doors wide open when expecting friends. Fab.

12. Another barbeque? We had one yesterday and the day before. And the day before that. Yes it is nicer than being inside, you're right.

13. I still think a gas barbeque is cheating. And you only use the hotplate side - isn't that frying rather than barbequeing? Where's the skill in that? Sure is quick and easy though. Just as well considering we barbeque every night!

14. Let's go to the beach! There aren't any nearby? Oh because we're in a harbour, ok. So let's drive an hour to get to one... orange sand? Interesting.

15. Fancy a swim in the sea? Only between the flags because of the rip tide, I see. With the other thousand people just there. And look out for sharks... maybe I'll just lie here.

15. What do you mean I can't lie in the sun?! Skin cancer. hmm. You may have a point. Gee I've never been so pale.

16. Driving over the harbour bridge gives me such a thrill! Look look look there's the Opera House. Isn't it pretty?

17. You people are too laid back for your own good. Give me a deadline dammit! And how do you expect me to meet it if you don't do your work? Hmmm?

18. Wow that's a lot of road tunnels.

...more to come

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