Follow the sun: Sunny Sydney & The Blue Mountains

Follow the sun: Sunny Sydney & The Blue Mountains: We arrived in Sydney on Sunday 21 st and checked into the hotel which happened to be very close to two of the most prominent icons in Sydn...

Sunny Sydney & The Blue Mountains

We arrived in Sydney on Sunday 21^st and checked into the hotel which happened to be very close to two of the most prominent icons in Sydney, the Harbour Bridge and Opera House, we could not have asked for more. By strange coincidence it was the same hotel, although under a different name, that Patrick stayed in on his first trip to Sydney! The room had a fantastic view – see picture! – and was very close to The Rocks where we went for dinner on our first night. The only blot was that somewhere between the debacle at Perth Airport and returning to the room after dinner Nina lost a very expensive earring, more importantly a present from me. All efforts to find it have been unsuccessful so I can only assume that someone was lucky enough to find it but not honest enough to hand it in, maybe they now have a very nice pendant…what was that notice up in the winery…oh yes ‘we believe in Karma’ well so do I! .. Nina will just have to wear the remaining one and be “uneven” (no change there)!

However, this trip/travel has highlighted that it is not necessarily the material items that matter but enjoying where you are and who you are with.

On the Monday, we ventured to Bondi Beach. This was a funny experience as Patrick had been there many years ago and rated it with less than one star – in fact, I think he was only coming this time as I hadn't Although, due to our limited choice of TV channels in Hong Kong, we had watched virtually every episode of Bondi Rescue so both felt we knew every inch of the beach and those life guards already (well Nina did!). We took the bus from Circular Quay and arrived at Bondi in the sunshine.

It was a really lovely place and far better than we were expecting, clearly it had received a face lift and botox since Patrick had previously visited, which we worked out to be some 12 years before.  There was even a stall to purchase “Official Bondi Rescue Merchandise”. I dragged Nina away….who was scanning the beach to see someone famous….

Both Bondi Beach and the walk round to Tamarama Beach had great views all along the Cliffside and the weather was really perfect which helped.

The surf was really good, but Patrick felt he didn’t want to show the professionals up by dipping his toes in…

On our way back, after a magnum (ice cream, not champagne as bit early in the day) we got off the bus a few stops early to walk through the Botanic gardens and see more of Sydney. It was a strange experience as we had both been to Sydney before with work but not together. So it felt like we knew it…..to the point of disagreeing on which way to go.  But it also felt very strange not to be expected to go into work particularly when you see the JPM logo on top of the office block next to the Westfield tower.  This obviously has many positives which you can all guess, but on the down side does remind us that we do not have any money coming in, which in itself is also strange and a little scary if you think too much about it.

Moving on, we did take the time to meet up with a few friends from work, Patrick had lunch with Steve and Phil and Nina with Jane. It was a nice time but did reinforce our current thoughts that any return to corporate life right now, would be too soon, we still want to see what else is out there.

On Wednesday, we explored the Harbour and Gardens more extensively and just enjoyed the free time and sunshine. In the evening, we made our way to the other side of Darling Harbour to a place called Pyrmont to meet up for dinner with Jane and Dave. This was a really enjoyable evening with some excellent food and wine– in fact we were the last to leave! – and it was a great way to end our time in the City and as always lovely to catch up with friends.

The Blue Mountains

When Patrick first visited Australia he had decided to hold off on visiting the Blue Mountains as he wanted to wait until we could visit them together….and we are both glad he made that decision.

You see the pictures and read the write ups but you still don’t quite know what to expect – and this was the case.

The drive out of Sydney up to the Blue Mountains was pretty packed with traffic going to and from the City (in fact Sydney CBD traffic system is dreadful – too many traffic lights and one way systems result in traffic moving at less than 10kmph most of the time……the only consolation is that there is no chance of being fined for speeding!). The journey was mainly dual carriage way with very little to see, which we were not expecting, I think we both had in mind a journey with lots of lovely views and scenic, but this was not the case.  However eventually we turned off for Leura which was where our accommodation was based. Leura was a lovely town and we think the best in the Blue Mountains!

Our accommodation was unique and full of character, you could not have experienced a bigger contrast to the Sydney hotel. We had champagne, chocolates, a spa bath and even decanters of Port and Sherry! It was very special.

On Friday, we decided to leave the car and take a short walk around the area to get our bearings and by luck came across a walk which seemed fairly interesting, this was really our first glimpse of the Blue Mountains. What we did realize was that the signs indicate the length of the walk not the amount of steps or incline associated with it! It turned out we were walking through Gordon’s falls named after a British soldier. The falls were very pretty but the view from the lookout point was incredible – it set the benchmark for the other sights and in Patrick’s view was not beaten!

After coming to the end of the walk, we discovered the Everglades Gardens which are part of the National Trust, so decided to grab a coffee and a rest whilst admiring the flowers and views. It takes a while to adjust to the fact that the plants are budding as it is spring but the time of year in our heads is autumn.

After the gardens, we decided to take the car and venture further afield and took the “Blue Mountains Drive”. This was a great drive but the views are shielded behind the trees so basically you are driving along a tree lined road, so need to stop every now and then and get out and take a peek at the different viewpoints! We saw the Three Sisters at Echo Point and stopped in Katoomba.

In our minds, Katoomba was the main town in the Blue Mountains as this is the one mentioned in most guide books etc., but if you are planning a trip we would suggest skipping this town, which actually seems to be what most others either have done or are doing. Walking down the high street, the number of closed shops and business premises indicated that economically, it was not doing very well especially compared to Leura.

We also drove to Lithgow on Saturday afternoon as it was another key town on the map in the region, however we think we must have hit it at a quiet time, either that or they had closed the town as there was hardly any people and everything looked shut. The only place with any activity was the centre with Coles, Target and Liquorland….lovely! We’d seen enough of those already.

The actual views of the mountains are stunning and not like anywhere else we have been, irrespective of the towns, it’s worth a visit.

We also followed the tourist trail to Scenic World which was a set of cable cars and a railway. The motto of our trip is to do something in a place that you can’t do anywhere else – (hmm that’s Patrick’s line and I’m not sure where his mind is …) anyway a cable car was ticked in Singapore which left the railway. However, the queue for tickets was ridiculously long and slow moving, so after some questioning we found out that we could walk to the bottom of the valley and get the train back to the top and pay then! Bargain…….surely just a few steps down?

About 1.5 hours later with achy legs after descending many, many steps, a number of boardwalks and negotiating various cliff side paths we found the bottom of the train line.

Although quite short the journey back up in the train was worth it, the track is approx. 320meters long but descends 250meters so at points it is vertical and most of the journey up feels like you are about to tumble out of your seat onto the person in front! It was a great ride and the history surrounding the site was impressive. The site was a previous mine in the late 1800’s and early 1900’s and to see it you could only image the terrible conditions at the time, but the ingenuity to build such projects with limited tools by today’s standards was extremely clever. I think it must be an age thing where the older you get, the less distant things in the past seem……the mine was in use less than 100 years ago, and you compare that to sitting at a table with a laptop typing these thoughts and thinking how far the world has come …yet at the same time could it be too far, with so much information and the ability to do more or less anything, could this also be a bad thing? We leave you to ponder… while we open the wine!

Back to the Blue Mountains, where unfortunately, our few days had come to an end and on Sunday 28^th Sept, we returned to Sydney for one more night.

We have to mention the returning of the car to Hertz, as the gentleman in the pound did try to highlight a minor dent, which Patrick was having none of, especially as they had not even bothered to check anything when we picked it up, he then called his supervisor which was quite funny as it was obvious Patrick was starting to get more irritated by this time and stated this is nothing to do with us! The crazy thing was he overlooked the cracked indicator cover, the split rear bumper and the separation of the front wing from the main chassis, all of which had been there before we took the car, but nothing had been noted, in fact the car had seen a lot of life in its short 31,000km.

Anyway lucky for them the supervisor just waved the guy away and said it was nothing, good job!! 

Upon returning to the hotel we were pleased as they had upgraded us to a bigger room on a higher floor which had an even better view of the harbour, this also meant we had plenty of space to pack again. This time ready for Thailand so trying to think of warm summer clothes rather than jeans and jumpers!

The flight from Sydney to Phuket was via Jetstar (the low cost division of Qantas) and we had a new Dreamliner plane which was very good for the 9 hour flight. Unfortunately, the plane was an hour and a half late taking off but as we had access to the Qantas Club Lounge, it was not too much of a hardship – and a great way to leave Australia after having spent 2 months travelling around.

We feel we have seen a good part of the country on both the East and West coasts, although it’s so massive you could easily spend even longer, however we had some wonderful times and had the opportunity to catch up or stay with some really good friends.

Now Phuket beckons for the month of October and although we have only been here a few days we are both hoping the rain will stop at some point as ‘some’ of you may be pleased to know it’s absolutely chucking it down and has not stopped for the past 36 hours, hence we found time to update the blog!

Here’s to a dry update next week!

Peachy Perth

We left Port Douglas at a ridiculous 4 am (not used to these early mornings now) to catch our flight from Cairns to Perth with a pit stop in Brisbane. All was fine until we began our landing in Perth when we got to within 50 ft of the runway, the engines started to roar and instead of going down, we started to lift off again! After the recent events it was a little unnerving as the plane did a loop and started it’s second attempt, after much turbulence and what seemed like a very long time we eventually landed.  We have since been advised that Perth is known for bumpy landings!

Anne and Geoff were waiting for us at the airport, long time and very special family friends of Nina’s family.  They have been really wonderful during our stay with them and completely spoilt us with lots of home made cooking, wine and great company. In fact it was a difficult decision to eventually move on!

While there we began the week with a tour of Kings Park, courtesy of Anne, Geoff and Steven, with lovely views over the city and river.

We also went to Hillaries Boat Yard which had an amazing selection of yachts and a beach lagoon similar to Airlie Beach and Brisbane.

On Thursday, we ventured to the City on the bus and spent the day walking through Perth and getting a feel for the city. It is a nice place and obviously undergoing development, particularly on the river front. We visited the bell tower which houses bells from St Martins in the Fields, London and it was an interesting trip ….although we started the tour backwards and interfered with the local closing routine!

Friday was spent in Freemantle which was a really interesting town with many old buildings, massive docks and a very hungry seagull! 

All the shops were decked out in the purple colour of the Freemantle Dockers AFL (Aussie football) team as they were preparing for the end of season semi-final to Port Adelaide. Unfortunately, the enthusiasm did not pass beyond Saturday night as they lost.

However, our Saturday night was more enjoyable as Anne and Geoff hosted a BBQ for their friends and we were able to chat with others who had migrated to Western Australia. It was very interesting listening to the different tales and comparing the West coast with our experience of the East coast of Australia and it highlighted how massive the country is and how they have such different priorities. 

The BBQ was excellent and Geoff excelled with his perfectly cooked steak!

The next day we ventured back to Hillaries to meet Aaron, an old friend of Patrick’s. Or rather a friend who he has known a long time! Aaron used to work at the bank, before changing career and joining the UK police before emigrating to the outskirts of Perth to take up a role with the Western Australian Traffic police. So we had plenty to catch up on and it was interesting to hear his experiences in WA as well. We had lunch in a little café along the quay, although the staff were a little too keen and kept asking for our order every few minutes, but eventually realized that we had far too much to talk about to over lunch …..  

It was great to see Aaron again after all these years and given the size of Australia, it was even more fortunate that we were able to meet only 30minutes down the road from where we were based.

Our trips to Freemantle and to see Aaron were made a lot easier by the generosity of Anne who kindly lent us her brand new car – it had only done 1500kms and was 2 weeks old! Needless to say we were very careful. In fact, Anne was kind enough to insist that we use it to visit the Margaret River, thanks Anne!

From Monday to Thursday, we ventured to Busselton and stayed at the Abbey Beach resort. Which is a very small town but boasts the longest wooden jetty in the Southern Hemisphere at 1.8kms long! 

In fact it is so long that a train operates to take people out to the end of the jetty where there is an interesting observatory, which goes down to the sea floor, so you can see the fish in their natural habitat ! In fact, we were very lucky as it had been closed the day before due to bad weather and poor visibility. We saw a variety of fish and coral even with the murky sea.

After driving for some hours to reach the Margaret River, we decided to leave the car for a day and hired bikes from the hotel to cycle 11kms to the town centre. The bike path was along the coast and had amazing views of the bay. The bikes were rather cranky and the hotel actually advised that we didn’t need to bother to lock them as no one would “bother to nick them” and they were right! Although they were more comfortable than Port Douglas!

The next day we ventured to the town of Margaret River and walked along the river which was very pleasant. 

On the way back we did stop at one of the many wineries and purchased a box of Sauvignon Blanc – which we luckily got the chance to sample before we left and thought it was pretty good! The winery had lovely gardens and various works of art ….even in the toilets with appropriate paintings for the respective clientele….although there was a little notice of “please don’t steal our property….we believe in karma”, which was enough to make you think twice if you had been inclined!

During our last few days, we caught the bus to Kalamunda which was the town closest to Anne and Geoff’s and spent a few hours checking out the shops, then on Saturday we went to a local weir which is famous for it’s pipeline which starts in Perth and travels 600+kms to Kalgoorlie. It was built in the early 1900’s to support the goldmines with all of the cement imported from England and Germany. It is amazing to think of the engineering abilities of these pioneers when the technology and tools were so basic compared to today, along with the terrain being so challenging. This was one of the hottest days during our stay, considering it was only the start of spring the temperature reached 32c and the sun was really intense.  

To highlight the challenges this weather brings a group of hikers had become lost on one of the treks and 2 helicopters had been tasked to find them – thankfully they did find them, much to their embarrassment they were delivered to the pub we had stopped at, by the police!  The walk is called the Bibbulum Trek and starts in Kalamunda and goes on for 1100kms to Albany – maybe we will leave that one for now.

All this time, we have been pampered and spoilt by Anne and Geoff with some wonderful dinners and lots more wine…and we had joked that Anne needed to keep it up to maintain her tripadivsor star rating. As they had been the perfect hosts, we created a spoof tripadvisor Certificate of Excellence award, which we felt they truly deserved!

It was really quite emotional leaving on Sunday as we had such an excellent time with them all.

However the emotion turned to something else when we had to comply with the inflexibility of Virgin Australia’s baggage policy and move around half or our luggage from one case to another – due to their ‘ridiculous’ weight restrictions!……needless to say Patrick was a little peeved, which some might say was an understatement,  but they will probably not be on his preferred airline list any time soon!

I can’t type what he said……

Anyway, it certainly didn't affect our time in Perth as it was brilliant.

Reef Encounters

Sharks, Turtles and Patrick in an extra small lycra “stinger suit”…..the Great Barrier Reef has it all.

We booked a tour to the Low Isles on the Wavedancer catamaran and it was amazing!

The trip out took about an hour and a half, the sea was calm and the island was beautiful.

We saw a shark! But only a baby about 12inches long…and we saw several turtles. The highlight was snorkeling over the reef and seeing the coral, fishes and a turtle hiding under the coral, it was wonderful. The only drawback was the stinger suit…which was a little tight fitting (these were issued on board the ship before we were shuttled to the island and I think the crew member was “’aving a larff!” and issued Patrick an extra small suit which he had to swap with my small suit, so we were both rather snug, but glad of the suits as the water temperature was quite cold. After 45 minutes, we were freezing….elated at the sights we saw but frozen to the core!

The package included a great lunch back on the ship and warm coffee.

By the afternoon, the wind had picked up which meant the catamaran could put up its sails and motor back. For those of a certain age, think “Duran Duran Rio Video”. We were sat at the front as the boat was crashing and rolling through the waves with a few splashes keeping us cool in the sun……until along came a huge freak wave! It was a complete shock and drenched all of us at the front of the boat, well mostly Nina who looked like she had been dipped overboard, much to the amusement of others on board! Still it was a great day even though we were left very soggy, thank goodness for spare pants!

Whilst Port Douglas is a pleasant place to be based, we have ventured north to Cape Tribulation and Daintree Forest, with stunning scenery along the way and spectacular beaches which are so clean and inviting. So had a good day out exploring the area.

On Saturday we ventured south to Cairns which had a very nice boardwalk along the front which linked to the Marina. The town was not really somewhere we would go back to again but the beachfront was lovely with an amazing stretch of sand where the tide was out as far as the eye could see.

We also stopped at Palm Cove on the way to check this area out and decided it was worth a second visit as it was a beautiful beach cove with some lovely café’s and restaurants, so we stopped on the way back from Cairns for a drink and happened to be in time to witness 3 different weddings taking place along the beach, which was quite interesting to watch and wonder just how much each one had cost and how long they had been planned…  I’m holding Patrick back from adding ‘suckers’.

Although it has been good to travel around via car, we were fortunate to stay next to the 4 mile beach….and in true Aussie style it is called this because it is 4 miles long! So we ventured out on a pair of bikes and cycled from our villa to the centre of Port Douglas. The challenging part was the receding tide had left high ridges of sand along the beach and this coupled with an exceptionally hard “razor style” saddle left one with a rather sore ‘bum’ but I have to say the ride was worth it!

Rocky and Airlie Beach

Well what a difference 1,000+ Km’s makes! The air temperature is much warmer and we have been greeted with warm sunshine. The drive to Rockhampton was really easy with some fantastic and variable scenery. We picked the car up from Brisbane and luckily they had run out of Nissan Dualis’ so we were upgraded to a Toyota Rav4 which was larger and could accommodate all of our luggage!  I feel the need to mention here that we have been dragging around at least one suitcase with a multitude of ‘just in case’ items, which have not yet been of any use, the only items which get unpacked at each location are our prized photos of the lovely Hannah and James, along with one or two other family ones which become very important when you are away from everyone.  

Our stay in the Motel in Rockhampton was good (clean and basic but had all that was needed – a comfy bed!) and ensured we were able to rest before the next leg of the journey to Airlie Beach.

Airlie Beach is a cross between Noosa and the Gold Coast…..beautiful scenery again but the town has a very different vibe more akin to Surfers Paradise but it was a nice break for a few days.  We were planning to go out to the Great Barrier Reef – but didn't quite get round to it as we thought it may work better to wait and go from Port Douglas. So instead we found the Lagoon beach and decided to enjoy the sunshine and with this comes the need for refreshment (so Patrick thinks) so I was sent off to find one of his favourite milkshakes being a triple scoop thick chocolate and coconut ice-cream milkshake a.k.a. a liquefied bounty bar! Beautiful and only a couple of heart attacks in liquid form, not that he was anywhere near as bothered as he should have been.

Monkey Business!

Patrick was also able to bring himself to ask a local for directions, and they soon built a good rapport!  Personally I think they had a lot in common!!

 

The apartment in Airlie Beach was spacious but tired compared to the other places we have stayed which was a shame as the views and pool were very nice – although the pool was “refreshing” – can’t really type the words I used at the time!

We were treated to the spectacle of wild cockatoo’s which Nina found highly amusing as approximately 10 birds all flew to our balcony and she has not seen me move quite so quickly.

On Saturday, we left Airlie Beach at 8am and arrived in Port Douglas at 6 pm after completing over 750kms – thankfully, we both shared the driving and Nina created an impression with a lovely blue car with lights on the top….but “oooh they must like me as they flashed me!”….followed by “Oh….they are turning around and coming after us”. At this point, Patrick advised to turn right at the junction that by chance was within 100m!......and we hid down the lane like some fugitives, pretending to enjoy the scenery, which luckily was a lovely beach which was completely unexpected as we were so close to the main highway. Some things are meant to be.

Bonnie and her motor!

We also made a scheduled stop at Townsville by the Marina to have coffee and lunch. The park area was really nice with a war memorial in the centre. With the current events round the world, these memorials seem more pertinent – this one had 4 words “We called They served” – what would be the response to that calling today? Makes one think.

However, we couldn't think for too long as we had another 350 kms to do……it felt a bit like the Le Man race - pit stop, swap drivers and try to go as far (and not too fast Nina) as you can before dark!

We arrived at the apartment and in true Aussie style, the reception was closed and we had instructions to get the key and let ourselves in. This was a bit odd as the apartment had all the lights/fan and TV on…..we were half expecting to see someone sitting in the armchair or worse still in bed! Thankfully no one was there so we started the usual unpacking ritual.

The apartment was better than Airlie Beach but was close to a road and this coupled with the dawn chorus from the local wildlife meant we had a short night’s sleep. So on Sunday we moved to a villa which backed onto a golf course and is much quieter.

  

As we missed the trip to the Barrier Reef at Airlie, we are planning to do this here and are in the process of reviewing the options as there are multiple cruises from Port Douglas and Cairns – it is a good job the Barrier Reef is so large – 2,000 kms long and 65kms at its widest point, over 400 different types of coral with 15,000+ species of fish and is the only living organism visible from Space (I've read the blurb). Fingers crossed we can get a trip in.

Gold and the Sunshine Coast, without the Sun!

This week we have visited both the North and South coasts from our Brisbane base.

On Sunday, we met up with Elaine and Dave who are old or rather long-time friends of Nina’s family. Strange how although travelling means you leave some family and friends behind, you can actually end up meeting with others that you may well of not seen again, which is really good.

It was probably the first time Nina had met with them in over 20 years, even though they only immigrated to Australia about 13 years ago.   We made our way to Landsbrough train station where they picked us up, once Elaine and I established that it was in fact quite easy to recognise each other and they kindly took us on a tour of the Sunshine Coast, which included lunch at Mooloolaba Surf Club.

Whilst eating lunch, we saw some action on the beach and noticed a lifeguard dragging a young girl from the sea, after a few moments pause she was put into the recovery position and we watched as no movement was made… then we all breathed easy when she thankfully came round after a few minutes of inactivity, she walked away from the beach, a little bedraggled and embarrassed but otherwise OK.  If you have the Discovery Channel and watch Bondi Rescue, then this was our very own Mooloolaba Rescue. Patrick did ask Dave if this had been setup for our benefit to show that Australia really is like the TV, but he assured us that it was not.

The location and views were stunning and full of natural coves and long beaches with great waves. Patrick was obviously really impressed and really enjoyed this area. 

(This is outside the Loo with a A View on Mooloolaba Beach)

After lunch, we headed back to Elaine and Dave’s house to meet up with their children Ellie and Ryan (and Miko and Simba – the dogs). Their house was lovely and in true Aussie style included a swimming pool!! So much space, I think our old HK apartment could have fitted in their front room.

We then headed to Moffat Beach which was a small and pretty cove with a park area and a few coffee shops, where we sat and watched the world go by – no dramas this time but it was a lovely relaxed atmosphere and everyone was enjoying the sun and surf.

Part of our plan for the week was to do some whale watching and Elaine told us that we could do this from Mooloolaba (and at a discount to Brisbane rates!) she kindly suggested we stay with them as it was about 2 hours from Brisbane, so Patrick made a booking for Thursday and we decided we could combine our other plan of visiting Noosa, which was in a similar direction.

So we bid them farewell at the train station with a view to seeing them Thursday.

On Tuesday, as Brisbane is situated between the Sunshine Coast (to the North) and Gold Coast (to the South), we decided to catch another train down to Surfers Paradise on the Gold Coast. This was another 2 hour journey but was great to see the countryside on the way down. At Surfers Paradise, we caught the new G-Link tram (only opened on the 21^st July) and travelled to the furthest station – Broadbeach South and then walked back along the beach to the main part of the town. The town itself had a mix of shops and entertainment which was as diverse as the shops…..from Condom Kingdom to Starbucks! However, whilst pleasant, it wasn't as nice as the Sunshine Coast.

Non-Whale sightseeing.

We had planned to go Whale watching on Thursday and to visit Noosa on Friday whilst staying overnight at Elaine and Dave’s so hired a car, a Mini Cooper S no less from Hertz (I hope Helen (Patrick’s sister & Hertz manager in France) is pleased!). All ready to see the whales on Thursday afternoon, but unfortunately the weather had started to change and the wind had picked up and the Whale trip was cancelled so we re-booked for 8am Friday and decided to visit Noosa Thursday instead. At Noosa Head we parked in the country park and set out on the coastal path. The scenery was amazing and Patrick was sure he saw 2 whale fins appear in the water. I’m pretty sure he was imagining it …but no surely he would not make up such a vision!!! 

During our walk there was a point called “Hell’s Gate” and you could see why as the wind whips in from the sea channeled between two massive rocks which creates a very blustery and breath-taking scene.

However we did make the 7km walk and we were then glad to be able to take the short trip back to Elaine and Dave’s who had prepared a lovely barbie accompanied by some very nice Australian wine.

The next morning to our dismay, the weather had deteriorated further and to accompany the wind, we now had severe rainfall and early on Friday morning (actually I think it was still the middle of the night), the Whale Co. called and cancelled again. So we had to re-visit our plans and decided to visit the Sea Life Centre in Mooloolaba (I think this is such a cool name! that’s Patrick).

All day Friday, the rain continued, not that we were too bothered as we were inside with many other drowned out families and touring pensioners. However, the Sea Life centre was really interesting with several shows and talks which included sealions, otters and jelly fish. The otters were funny and very inventive. Their keepers used to keep them inside at night but one morning, the otters were found in the outside enclosure which surprised and confounded the keepers so they setup surveillance and watched as the otters would put their claws underneath the door and lift it up for the other otters to go through. Having seen this the keepers adjusted the door to make sure there was no gap at the bottom to stop the otters…..this worked for 4 days but then the same situation occurred again. During the 4 days, the keepers noticed that when the otters returned to the inside enclosure, they were limping but not always the same leg and all checks of the otters could not identify a physical reason. So with a little more surveillance, they discovered the otters were collecting pebbles under their feet (hence the limp) and dragging them to just under the door so that when it closed….hey presto….there was still a gap and they could get out at night and have their fun!!  I’m sure there is a teenager or two that has done something similar, in fact I’m sure I remember a similar story with a window being left ‘on the latch’ by my sister for my brothers, I’m sure it must have cost them a fortune!

Anyway back to Oz.

(The Otter Brothers - Chaos, Mayhem & Lou a.k.a Mooloolaba Escapologists)

After our day’s entertainment, we returned to Elaine and Dave’s for an Indian takeaway – which was lovely and very tasty – really appreciated their hospitality, especially Ryan who was bumped out of his room for us, thanks Ryan!

Weather wise it rained all Friday night and continued into Saturday morning when we returned to Brisbane, seems more like England I have to say, but I’m sure it won’t last.

Whilst the rain could have been quite depressing, for one resident on the Sunshine Coast, the world has become a much brighter place as they have won half of the AUD 70million Powerball Lottery Jackpot which is the largest win in Australia’s lottery history! (The other half was won by a syndicate in New South Wales)

 (Another happy Queenslander - a "smiling" stingray)

Our next two days will be spent packing and getting ready for our trip up to Port Douglas with a drive of 1700+ km, stopping at Rockhampton for a night and then Airlie Beach for four, hopefully with some nice beach weather, before going on to Port Douglas.

The EKKA and Zonta-ing

Wow….the EKKA was amazing and we had a really good day out. There was a mixture of funfair rides, agricultural shows and an amazing array of animals from cattle to cats. We did wonder what the day had in stall for us as we left Roma Station with crowds of people, similar to the HK rush hour, but then the penny dropped and we realized we had chosen to visit this annual show on a public holiday! We have all the time to plan but still manage to choose one of the busiest days in Brisbane, heading out with 60,000 residents doing the same thing.

On arriving via the EKKA express (a train journey of about 5mins from our departure at Roma Street), we negotiated the funfair and fast food outlets which by the way were amazing. At most events, your fast food options are usually an over-priced burger or an even more over-priced cheeseburger! Not in Oz, you could have half a roast chicken, lamb shank or a “Dagwood” – which is a very large battered sausage on a stick that has typically been dunked in tomato ketchup, Hmmm!

Anyway, back to the show and our first visit was to the cattle sheds. We were able to walk through the sheds and the cows looked in very good health, large and nearly all munching their food (just like most people). The only disconcerting part was that they were all facing the other way ……and we had to walk through the middle – which felt like running the gauntlet past the backend of approximately 150 cows. I know my maths is not that brilliant, but I understood the rules of probability enough not to hang around!

After the cattle, we entered into the main arena in time to watch the Annual parade which was a showcase of every animal at the EKKA. This included racing horses which were fun to watch as they didn’t really understand what was going on and just wanted to be let loose and run riot, which provided a challenge for their riders.

Throughout the day, there were various shows and entertainment and we were lucky enough to come across a tap dancing show by a group called “Those Tap Guys”.  5 guys who put on a show which amalgamated all the genres of tap dance from the classics e.g. Singing in the Rain to modern songs e.g. Beyoncé – Put a finger on it! It was a really brilliant and included some humor and fun – they were clearly enjoying it as much as the audience.

From dancing to diving, where a group of stunt divers were plunging into a 2.4metre pool from 80feet up…including one which set himself alight before diving into the pool, but not before we could all feel the heat from the fire down on the ground….so I’m sure he was glad to hit the water and put out the fire.

Our last show was the log-cutting competition where 2 teams compete to chop a number of logs. It sounds easy but the speed and skill of these teams was incredible – one false move and it would have been the self-amputising competition. The climax was for 2 loggers to climb their trunks using a set of planks, these were wedged into cuts which they made as they climbed to the top. To do this they had to do the same procedure twice each side of the log. To add spice to the competition, the two finalists were father and son – so it was evident that it meant more than just winning the event.

The show carried on into the evening and we left about 7pm, with achy feet and rather chilly as the heat from the sun had disappeared and a cold wind whipped up from nowhere, so we headed for the train after purchasing a big (cannot buy anything less than half a kilo) bag of macadamia nuts and covered in a nice sticky sweet toffee to take home and replenish after having had a really enjoyable day.

Zonta International.

As we have been in Brisbane for 3 weeks, we decided that it would be good to do some volunteering and we found an opportunity to support the Zonta International organization in assembling birthing kits!

Sounds a bit odd I know but we got up early (7 am) which felt like being back at work and used our super City Cycles to get to the venue – a school on the South Bank and offered our services!

The target was to assemble 12,000 birthing kits which comprised of 1 x plastic sheet, 5 x gauze's, 3 x pieces of string, 1 surgical blade, 1 bar of soap and 1 pair of latex gloves, all inside a small plastic bag with a self-sealing top similar to a sandwich bag. These kits were destined for Papua New Guinea where the local services and care is very limited and 1 in 12 women encounter issues during childbirth.

Surprisingly, we started at 8 am and were finished by 11.30 am – so I think they had a good number of volunteers, but I’m sure the organization and preparation for the event took much longer.

So we did our bit while here and it felt very productive, although Patrick decided he was not very dexterous at some of the tasks and remarked that he thought a chimpanzee may have been more efficient. But that’s not true as he did do well in between chatting up the local ladies!

Joking aside we did meet a few nice people and it was good to find out a little more about life in Brisbane and Australia in general and see if there was anything else we should do while here.  

Next stage is to plan our journey for the following weeks when we will be travelling north, hopefully to more warm weather and staying at a few places along the Sunshine coast.