The remainder of our time in Christchurch

Monday March 23rd (a might cold!)

We are off to the Christchurch Antarctic Experience today, it is very highly rated and will give Baggage the chance of riding on a Hagglund, an all terrain vehicle.
We are not in a great rush, so leave the house just after 10am.
The arctic centre is out by the airport, I have driven the road out to there from our house on Mt. Pleasant so many times that I feel I could do it blindfolded.
As soon as we arrive at the arctic centre we take our Hagglund ride, one is leaving just as we are buying our ticket. The ride involves a short obstacle course with some very steep inclines, a small crevice to cross and a drop through a small pond to demonstrate the amphibious capabilities of the vehicle. It is great and as soon as we get out Baggage wants to go again.
We enjoy the Antarctic centre, you start with a visit to an recreation of Scott Base in the Antarctic where you go through a full twelve months experiences in 7 minutes. We then experience a snow storm with a wind chill of minus 18 in a cold room with actual snow covering the floor and then a virtual visit to the Antarctic including a sweeping flight over the ice in a helicopter, not bad as we never actually leave Christchurch.
We have a packed lunch outside the centre then return inside for the penguin feeding session, we have a bit of time before it begins so decide to go for another Hagglund ride, this time we manage to sit in the front cab with the driver, it is a totally different experience.
Penguin feeding happens three times a day and the penguins here are all little penguins, the same as we saw on Phillip Island, however these have all been rescued from the wild where they had experienced some form of trauma and are all unlikely to ever return to the wild again. In fact some have become so domesticated that they will sit on their handler’s lap whilst receiving their food.
After leaving the Antarctic centre we go for a short drive to New Brighton where we take a walk along the beach and onto the pier before we stop in a café for a cup of coffee and Danny and Baggage each have a caramel slice. Baggage manages a bit of her’s but she finds it too sickly so I have to finish it off for her, what a shame!
We head back to the house for something to eat, tonight Baggage is off to the local guides so we decide to go for a drink whilst she is out and head back to the Thirsty Mariner. Tonight I sample the Monteith’s Dark Ale, a heavy pint, not dissimilar from a Murphy’s, though not quite the same level of head.
Again Baggage has a really good experience at Guides, they have laid on a special New Zealand night for her as we had managed to arrange her visit before we left the UK and they all make her feel very welcome. She comes out laden with goodies, a collection of badges, a picture drawn for her by one of the guides, a flower made from a dried tree leaf again made by one of the Guides and three packets of Guide biscuits that the troop sell at events to raise funds.
When we get back to the house Baggage is not too quick to bed, she ends up going at after 10pm which in turn leads to the rest of us having a later night than we have been in order for us to get a bit of adult time.

Tuesday 24th March (Boy’s day out)

The plan for today was for us all to go to Akaroa but Baggage really does not want to, she is very tired and claims not to be feeling too well. We accept her feelings as genuine when she accepts that if she does not go out she will be staying in to do school work and not simply sitting on the computer.
Lisa decides the best bet is for her and Baggage to stay in leaving Danny and I to continue on to Akoroa as planned.
The drive to Akaroa is great, we decide to take the route through the Lytelton tunnel and then over the pass through the mountains rather than the far flatter route on the main road from Christchurch. We just have to make a couple of stops along the way for Photos.
On route as we pass by Barry’s Bay we stop at the local cheese making establishment for a cheese tasting, the cheese is really good and we end up buying a couple of slices to take back for the girls, one of a blue cheese and one a Maasdam. I also manage to eat a reasonable amount of the blue cheese whilst at the tasting!
We have a walk around Akaroa and sit in a waterfront café for a beer before having our picnic lunch, also at the water’s edge. I enjoy a half of Monteith’s Red and Danny a half of Monteith’s Gold. Whilst we are eating our lunch I am surprised when a cement truck pulls up next to us and the driver proceeds to wash out his tank and deposit the cement residue on the ground at the edge of the car park where it joins the beach. Upon inspection we can see evidence of this activity having been carried out along the edge of the car park, there is also evidence of cement mixed in with the sand at the edge of the beach. Possibly this is a sanctioned activity as it could be viewed as strengthening the tidal defences, however I would be surprised if that is the case.
After lunch we decide to drive further along the coast to see what we can find, we go about as far as we can before the road is signposted up as ‘No Exit’ though just before we get to it’s end we come across a small Mauri community, complete with the communal meeting hall and two Mauri fishermen cleaning eels they have caught and hanging them out to dry in what looks like a smoking house. It is really good to see this side of New Zealand in a way that is probably as it has been for hundreds of years.
We decide to take the low land road back to Christchurch and on the way stop for a wine tasting at Rosendale winery on the way back. The wine is really good and the proprietor would have let us taste as much as we wanted, it is a shame I was driving and therefore had to restrict the number of bottles I sampled. Danny and I both agreed the Pinot Noir from Marlborough was the best of the wines we tasted so I bought a bottle for us to enjoy with our cheese later.
As we enter Christchurch we stop off at Woolworths to get the ingredients for tonight’s dinner, we settle on chicken, pasta and a cheese sauce. We also take the opportunity to stock up on beer, I opt for a six pack of Mac’s White Beer and Danny goes for a six pack of Monteith’s Gold as he enjoyed it so much at lunchtime.
We spend the evening in, Baggage gets an early night and I catch up on producing Baggage videos ready to put on the website.


Wednesday 25th March (Whale watch)

Today we are off to do something I have wanted to do since we decided to come to New Zealand, Whale watching. Until we arrived in Christchurch I thought we were not going to be able to achieve this as we were here at the wrong time of the year, however on arriving here we found out that up the coast a bit (3 hours to be precise) at Kaikoura you can see sperm whales all year round as they feed in a deep sea canyon just off the shore and there are some permanently resident in the area.
The drive up is pretty uneventful, the scenery worth noting at some points but in the main the drive up the east coast from Christchurch is pretty flat. On this drive we encounter a single lane bridge for the first time, we will find many of these as we travel further afield but they are a strange concept on what is in fact one of the major roads on South Island. One direction has precedence the other has to give way and the single carriageway of the bridge is shared by both.
We arrive in Kaikora just after noon, our Whale Watch sailing is booked for 3:30 but I manage to change it to 1:15 as we are there so early.
We have picked a great day for it, the sky is clear blue and the temperature on the car thermometer is showing at above 20c.
The boat we go out on is a twin hull boat, specifically built for Whale Watch in this bay and it is pretty swift with plenty of viewing space on the deck and cabin roof. The way it works is the boat sails out to the area the whales were last seen in and then the captain locates the area they are currently in by listening under the water. Whale Watch Kaikora has four boats on the water and also a helicopter, there is also a Whale Watch by plane operating in the same area and they all work together to direct each other to whale sightings on the water. When a whale is seen the boats will approach from behind so as to be visible to the whale and then you get the opportunity to witness the whale on the top of the water and then the impressive dive with raising of its tail as it sets off for another deep feed.
We manage to see four whales on the surface and all four of them dive, the dive is spectacular. We also see a variety of Albatross and a New Zealand Fur seal, the latter is on the rocks where we return to in the boat at the end of our sailing.
Before we head back for Christchurch we have Fish and Chips in a local café, the food is good though maybe the fat the chips were cooked in had been a little overused. We then pick up an ice cream to round the meal off nicely.
On the way back to Christchurch at one point we note the temperature is reading 26c, extremely warm for this time of year.
We get back to Christchurch for 8:30 and again ensure Baggage does not have an extremely late night, in fact none of us do, as we are all pretty tired. Before going to bed however I have the last bottle of Mac’s Summer Ale from the six pack I bought Danny when we first arrived, a nice refreshing beer with a hint of fruit.


Thursday 26th March (preparing to move on)

Today we do not have a lot planned, we have to pack up again and move out. These days always come around too quick.
We have decided to come back here though after we leave Te Anau, we fly out of Christchurch on the 10th April so decided we would spend our last few nights in South Island back at the Nest on Mt. Pleasant. As a result of this we ask Kathryn if we can leave a couple of cases, they will contain things that we do not need to take with us and it will be good not to have them filling up the back of the car. She is pleased to be of assistance and it is much appreciated. It does however mean that packing will take a little longer than usual, now we have to divide our cases and decide what we will not require for the next 12 days, also what Danny can take back with him to the UK for us.
We spend most of the day, packing, chilling, giving Baggage school work to do and catching up with things on the Internet.
Baggage and I also catch up with recording a couple of diary entries for the website, though this does cause her to lose the plot at first as it means she has to get off the computer and that seems to be an issue to her at times.
We go back out to Speight’s Ale House for dinner, this is the third time we have eaten here in a week but the food is really good and the pricing reasonable, also the beer is really good, what more can you ask.
After dinner Danny and I go out to the cinema to see Watchmen, it is not suitable for Baggage and not Lisa’s cup of tea so we go on our own. Danny has read the comic book the film is based on I have not, consequently he has certain expectation, I have none. I love the film for what it is, a really good story, some great cinematography and a kick ‘ass soundtrack, Danny enjoys it but feels in places it lets the book down.
When we get back to the house we have a beer and then turn in for the night.
Whilst we are out Lisa has pulled her back setting the fire, I do hope it does not turn into much more than a niggle as she was almost incapacitated for three months about eighteen months ago when she pulled a ligament picking up a branch when I was felling an old fruit tree, now would not be a good time for a repeat performance.
The weather for the last three days has been just great, we could not have hoped for better. The sun has been out and temperatures have been well up in the afternoon. I am not really sure why Lisa felt the need to light the fire when we were out, though she is always much colder than the rest of us.


Friday 27th March (some stunning scenery, though very wet)

As we had done most of the packing yesterday we are able to get away by just after 9am, just as well we have a six hour drive ahead of us and intend to be making a few stops along the way.
At first the drive is not a lot different from that we experienced as we drove up the coast the other day, the landscape is pretty flat and uninspiring. This soon changes. As we rise up the Southern Alps towards Arthur’s Pass the outlook is spectacular, at this point it is still dry so we make plenty of stops for photos. As we near Arthur’s Pass however we rise up into the mist and a torrential blanket of rain, by the time we reach the mountain top village it is hammering down relentlessly.
We stop at Arthur’s pass for lunch and I am the only person who ventures far from the car as I want to take a couple of photos of the railway station and get soaked for the privilege.
The rain then stays with us all the way down out of the mountains and all the rest of the journey until we reach Fox Glacier, in fact except for a couple of short let ups it rains until we are eating our dinner when clear skies roll in and the sunset behind them is a true sight to behold.
We do not make too many stops for photos on our way out of the pass, it is just too wet. The scenery however is spectacular, the almost barren mountain slopes to the east of the range are replaced with lush green slopes to the west, probably something to do with the amount of rain that falls here!
We stop briefly at Rose, a gold mining town, for a coffee, apart from that we push on to Fox Glacier and eventually arrive here at 5pm.
Our hotel (Scenic Circle) is clean but basic, we are all in a family room which is fine as we are only here for a couple of nights and only really in the room to sleep, but if we were here any longer really would not work.
For dinner we go out to a local café, Baggage records a diary entry whilst we are waiting for our food and I have to go and get my camera when the rain finally lifts and the sun comes through from the west illuminating the mountains in a stunning orange glow. I am in fact so busy taking photos my dinner is on the table for a good five minutes before I return for it.
After dinner we return to the hotel, the sky is now completely clear, we really do hope it stays like this for our glacier walk tomorrow.
Lisa, Baggage and Danny play monopoly express whilst I catch up on my blog entries and now as I am finishing this I will get ready for bed.

Another day in Christchurch

Sunday 22nd March (In the city)

It is raining again today and we have a tram pass valid for use today as the pass we bought yesterday is valid for two consecutive days so we decide to head back into Christchurch.

As it is still raining when we get there we head for the Natural History museum. Here we spend a few hours and look at a number of exhibits, including: Native Birds, a Mummy, the Antarctic, Christchurch’s yesterdays and Transportation. An excellent museum, we all really enjoyed it, the exhibits were well presented and there was lots of interest for all ages. Baggage particularly enjoyed a children’s hands on section she spent about half an hour in.

When we came out the rain had stopped, though it was still not too bright so we decided to head for the centre of town and Cathedral Square, we also took this opportunity to eat our sandwiches in the car.

Moving around lunches do tend to get a bit boring, we buy provisions when we first get to a house, but do not buy too much variety as most of it would get wasted. Most of our pack lunches have therefore consisted of cheese sandwiches, a packet of crisps and a piece of fruit, sufficient but uninspiring, we really ought to be more creative!

We move the car to near Cathedral Square then walk in and have a look around the Cathedral. As it has still not brightened up we decide to do a circuit on the tram, taking it right around to the tram station, which is the stop before Cathedral Square. From here we walk down Regent Street, not quite the equivalent of it’s inspiration in London, but quant enough. We get a great cup of coffee here. Then on to Victoria Square and we visit the strange dandelion fountain that is outside the town hall.
On the way back to the house we stop off at Eastgate Mall so I can get a sim card for the mobile phone, whilst we are still using up the Australian credit that will not last much longer so we need a New Zealand sim to cover us for the time we are here.

On the way back we decide we will eat out as time is getting on so we head past the turn for the house into Sumner and after a quick drive around stop to eat at The Thirsty Mariner. The food is great, so is the beer, I have my first pint of one of New Zealand’s biggest selling ales TUI, a bit gassy but still much better than most I had to drink in Australia. To eat I have their curry of the day, which is a very good balti style dish.

When we get back to the house it is not long before Baggage goes to bed and before we also call it a day the three of us manage to fit in a game of Scrabble, Lisa beats me by a mere 2 points!

Settling in to a new country

Friday 20th March (A visitor arrives)
Today we collect Danny from the Airport at 2pm. As a result we stay in this morning and use the time to get Baggage to do a bit of schoolwork.

Unfortunately I am awake by 6am, I finally give up and get up at 7am, Lisa and Baggage are still asleep for more than another hour. I use the time to catch up on website work and post the backlog of my Blog.

We head out for the airport at 1pm, we stop on the way to pick up a few provisions and make it to the airport in plenty of time. On the way there we notice the car has developed a grind on the brakes, as we will be doing quite a few miles in this car we decide to return it to Thrifty for them to have a look, we are going to the airport anyway. As it is a brakes problem Thrifty do not hesitate they simply swap the car out, so we arrive at the airport in a silver Rav4 and leave in a red one.

Danny arrives on time and has had a good flight from Hong Kong, we take him back to the house and enjoy sitting outside in the sun whilst we have a coffee and he has a chance to unwind.

At the back end of the afternoon we go out for a drive and head up summit pass across Mt. Pleasant, the views are stunning and we get out and walk a few times to take in the views and capture some pictures. Considering how close we are to South Island’s largest city it amazes me that we are on such a steep mountain pass with so little protection between you and a significant drop over the edge.

We are out for a couple of hours so decide to eat out, back we go to Speight’s Ale House and again we are not disappointed.
After Speight’s I drop Danny, Lisa and Baggage back at the house and head back to the airport. When we swapped cars I thought we had managed to move everything over, but I missed the Sat Nav, binoculars and our compass, luckily when I phoned Thrifty they had found them so all I had to do was pop out and pick them up. A great way to spend an hour.

When I eventually get back to the house I have time for a quick bottle of Sassy Red before it is time to tuck up for the night.

Saturday 21st March (Art, Trams, Boats and things!)
None of us wake up too early today so when we do I decide to cook bacon and eggs as a brunch before we go out.
It is raining.

When we eventually leave we head into central Christchurch, first stop the Christchurch Arts Centre, we figure this being partially inside is a good destination for a rainy day. The arts centre is more like an arts and crafts superstore, it is a collection of over 80 individual outlets selling New Zealand made arts and crafts. We love it, buy a number of gifts and would have happily bought a lot more.

By the time we leave the Arts Centre the rain has stopped and whilst it is still gray it is quite bright.
After the Arts Centre we catch the city loop tram which takes you around the heart of Christchurch, it is a great way to get a view of the city and the driver (motor man) is very knowledgeable and gives us a idea of what we want to return to in order to see at closer quarters. When we get of the tram we head for the Avon and take out a rowing boat. Initially all four of us are in the boat, but there are only three seats and Baggage is on the floor which is not working too well so I hop out onto the bank and leave Lisa, Baggage, and Danny in the boat whilst I follow them and take some photos.

Whilst they are rowing I walk along through the Christchurch Botanical Gardens, finally the sun has come out and it is a very pleasant walk.

Before the boat is returned Lisa also hops off to give Baggage a chance to Row, though things do not go too well with her rowing and Danny steering, they seem to spend most of their time hitting the bank.

When we return the boat we all take a walk through the botanic gardens, the sun has now come out and it is particularly pleasant. There are a number of old trees that you can ramble through and sit on their bowed branches, Baggage particularly enjoys this.

We eventually get back to the house just after 5pm and Lisa cooks us a dinner of pie mash and peas, I use the opportunity of a long evening in to sort out disk space on the laptop which has been creaking for some time and to ensure all our photos are backed up.

The temperature tonight is much lower than it has been, probably below 10 degrees so we light the log burner in the lounge and put the heaters on in the other rooms.

Again I drink a bottle of the Sassy Red, Danny has been drinking the summer ale I got for him and also enjoying that.
When we go to bed I cannot settle, there is a constant creaking noise which I work out is the garage door rising and closing in the wind, eventually at 1:30am I give up and go outside and open the garage door, it will not lock closed so at least if it is fully open it cannot blow in the breeze. After this I finally settle to sleep.

Chapter 3

Thursday 19th March (another lost two hours)
Our flight is at 08:40 so we get up early and get checked in before going for breakfast. The choices for breakfast in the airport seem surprisingly limited, maybe we just look in the wrong places.
At the check-in desk there is a moment of panic when we are told the baggage allowance for this flight is significantly less than we have with us, luckily the check-in staff then correct their opinion after I explain why we have the allowance I believe we do as we are on an itinerary that includes a stop in the US.
The plane leaves a few minutes behind schedule, it is not full, this is the first time this trip we have not been on a full flight.
The flight is uneventful and it arrives on schedule. New Zealand customs and immigration is also pretty uneventful apart from the fact that they decide they want to look at the soles of our walking boots so we have to unpack the cases to find them. We struggle to find mine, which it turns out later where in a case they x-rayed and said was clean, so my word is taken that I have not been tramping through any mud and we are allowed on our way.
The hire car this time is a Toyota Rav4, 20,000km on the clock and in reasonable condition. We only just about fit all our luggage in the boot! Could prove interesting when we have Danny’s to fit in as well.
The drive to our home for the next week, which is a house on the slopes of Mt. Pleasant takes about 30 minutes, we find it relatively easily, oh the wonders of Sat Nav.
The house is a bit of a warren over three levels (4 if you count the garage) built onto the side of the mount. It is very comfortable and will do nicely for the next week. We are greeted by the owner who is a born New Zealander though of Cornish ancestry, we get a guided tour of the house and introduction to all the nuances, much easier than simply getting a key and having to find them out ourselves. The owners only live just down the road from the house we have rented and will operate it as a bed and breakfast when it is not fully let as a holiday home, in a sense our staying here therefore gives them some time off as they will not be doing B&B for the next week so no getting up to cook or having to worry about changing beds.
Our arrival in Christchurch is heralded with a beautifully warm afternoon, we sit out on one of the houses many verandas and enjoy a coffee in the sun. Due to it’s elevated position the house affords us fantastic views across the bay below Mt. Pleasant, not a bad sight for us to be waking up to each morning.
After we have unpacked we go out for a bite to eat and seek out a restaurant that was recommended to us, Speight’s Ale House, and well recommended it was too. This is our first expenditure in New Zealand and first impression is that you get very good value for money, we have a really good meal and a drink which costs $80 (inc tip) for the three of us, about £30. I enjoy a draught pint of Speight’s Distinction, and a good pint it is too, the nearest to a British pint I have had since leaving the UK.
When we have eaten we go to the local Woolworths to buy our basic provisions and of course the little luxuries, in my case these are two cases of beer (though I stress that one is for Danny!), one case is Mac’s Best – Sassy Red, and the other case is Mac’s Sun Dance. Danny is a lager drinker at home, though I hope to educate him someday and the Sun Dance looks close to a lager without buying one of the common international brews.
When we get back to the house Lisa and I start looking through some of the leaflets of attractions in the area, the house is very well stocked with them, and we let Baggage have a bit of time on some of her Internet networking sites. After she has gone to bed I spend a bit of time on the computer and enjoy a bottle of the Sassy Red, definitely the best beer I have bought since leaving the UK, I like New Zealand already!

Last post from Australia

Sunday 15th March (Hot Lap!)
This morning after we are up and breakfasted we head for Melbourne, we have to be at the Official Neighbours Visitors for 11:50 in order to do the Neighbours backstage tour.
The drive into Melbourne is much easier than it was earlier in the week, though this time we head in down the Napean Highway through St. Kilda. We make good time and are at the Neighbours centre for before 11:30.
The Neighbours tour is something we are doing primarily for Lisa, she has watched the program for the past 22 years and could not visit Melbourne without seeing where it is filmed. By going on a weekend tour we get the added advantage of a backstage tour of the filming studios as well as seeing the areas of Melbourne that are used during Filming.
The tour starts with a 30 minute bus ride out to the Melbourne suburb that is depicted as Erinsbough, the suburb in which neighbours is set (note the anagram of the word neighbours!). After looking at the school which is used for filming we head for the studios of Global Television, here we get to see all the building exteriors built specifically for the show and a good chance to look around them. We are also greeted here by Nel Feeney, who played Janelle Timmins in the show, she poses for photos and signs autographs for the many adoring fans on the bus.
After leaving Global television we head for Ramsey Street, or Pinoak Court as it is really known. It is just a small cul-de-sac that has been the basis of all external street shots for the past 24 years. Pinoak Court is a real street in which real people live, yet three days a week it converts into a full blown sound stage, the residents have to move all cars off the street and off their drives and the camera crews and actors move in. Quite what it would be like to live in an environment where you do not have full access to your own house 3 days a week I cannot imagine, the residents do receive compensation from the television company and have all signed contracts to permit the use of the street, but I wonder if 24 years ago when these were being negotiated any one expected the series to be so long lasting. Lisa was surprised how small the cul-de-sac where all the filming is done was in real life ‘it all looks so much bigger on television’.
Though the Neighbours tour was booked primarily for Lisa, and was not something I would have chosen to do, I have to confess to having enjoyed myself. Our guide was great, he was a teacher during the week and for the past two years has been chauffeuring and providing insight on the neighbours tour at the weekend, he was a genuine fan and his enthusiasm showed through.
After Neighbours we drove to Albert Park, the home of the Australian Grand Prix. We had originally booked our time in Melbourne to coincide with the Grand Prix, but for the first time in many years the season opener is not on the second weekend in March. As it is only two seeks to the Grand Prix we were not sure how accessible the track would be, in fact we were able to drive on all but a short section. For a bit of fun we drove as much of a lap as we could and filmed the result, with a bit of speeding up and some sound effects added later we then had our ‘Hot Lap’ the results of which can be seen on www.beingbaggage.com.
Due to the close proximity to the Grand Prix we were able to see the preparations for the race well underway, even the pit garages were set up with the drivers’ names above their garages.
I had always known Albert Park was in the middle of a city, though when we were there it still surprised me how the track serves as the park road for the majority of the year and runs very close to the central business district of the city.
After Albert Park we headed back to our house for a quick break before heading out again, tonight we are off to the Dromana Drive-In to see our first ever drive in movie. The weather has been on and off today, and as we arrive back at the house before going to the drive-in it is raining, though by the time we head out for the drive-in the rain has stopped and the skies are clearing.
Whether it is due to the weather, the day of the week, time of year, or just the general lack of interest in going out to the movies these days I do not know, though if it was the latter I would have expected the place to have gone bust by now, the drive-in offers three screens, watching our movie with us was one other car, and neither of the other two screens were doing much better.
We had selected to watch Confessions of a Shop-a-holic, not my first choice, but the only movie on offer that was suitable for Baggage. Dinner was supplied courtesy of the drive-in diner, though due to the timing we had to eat in the car as we were still eating when the movie started, typical diner food but not bad… As to the movie, a typical chick-flic, usual stuff, pretty happy story with a bit of a downer 4/5th in then a build back up for a happy finish. The experience of watching it from your car however was great, it is a real shame drive-in movies are becoming a thing of the past, I am sure it would have been even better if we had been one of many cars all in a row rather than one of only two in the field.
After Baggage is tucked up in bed I make a quick phone call to Danny as he is flying out to Hong Kong tomorrow as we want to wish him a good trip. We are all really looking forward to seeing him on Friday.

Monday 16th March (Sandcastles)
This morning we stay in and Baggage has to get on with some more schoolwork, today it is Highest Common Factor.
After spending a bit of time teaching her whilst Lisa is still asleep I head into Mornington to get a bit of shopping when Lisa takes over as her teacher.
After lunch we drive into Frankston to have a look at the sand-sculpting exhibition. The exhibition is great, it is based on a prehistoric theme and there must have been more than 50 dinosaurs sculpted in the sand, some relatively small and some more than 20 feet in length. The detail is amazing. The exhibition here is on for 4 months, it began just after last Christmas and runs through until the end of April, there are a team of sculptors continually working to fix any of the sculptures that suffer as a result of the elements, which over the past couple of days had been quite extreme at times. When we were there the childrens’ activity tent, which offered lessons in sand-sculpting was not available as it had to be taken down the day before due to the high winds.
When we have finished in the exhibition we head for the beach and do a bit of sculpting of our own. Lisa makes a 3D picture of Micky Mouse, I make a model of the Disney ride, Big Thunder Mountain, and Baggage wins with a model of a computer, complete with keyboard and mouse.
Baggage is off to Guides again this evening, again it is very convenient, less than five minutes down the road from where we are staying. Whilst she is out Lisa and I take the opportunity of going for a drive and a walk on the beach, the latter is however curtailed due to the cold and wind, which Lisa is just not in the mood for.
Again Baggage has a great experience at Guides she is made very welcome and comes back with another bundle of badges for her blanket. Throughout Australia she has always been made very welcome everywhere she has gone and for her the experience has always been very rewarding, an enjoyable time spent in the company of other children and a time when she can take a break from Mum and Dad.
After Baggage goes to bed I decide to phone my Mum, we have a short chat, but it is good to hear her voice. We have quite a bit of credit on our Australian mobile phone and are keen to use it up as there is not much point simply letting it lapse, therefore after my call Lisa decides to phone her as well. Even after we have both phoned the UK and had a reasonable chat we have only used $50 of the $200 we have on the phone. Mobile phone credit here is strange, we have only spent $60 in total on the phone whilst we have been here, yet the phone still has in excess of $500 in credit, split between Credit. Bonus and Text. The only one we seem to have used at all is the bonus?

Tuesday 17th March (Penguin Parade)
Our last available day in Australia, though we are here all day tomorrow we will be packing and then moving to our hotel at Melbourne airport as we have an early morning flight out on Thursday.
Today we decide to go to Philip Island, primarily for the Penguin Parade which happens every night when the penguins return from a day’s fishing to their burrows in the dunes, timing their return across the beach to coincide with sunset so they are best protected from their predators.
First stop on the island is the tourist information centre where we get all the details on what is going on. Here we have our lunch then we head on and next stop off at the Philip Island Chocolate factory where we enjoy a free sample and buy a couple of bars of chocolate as an after lunch snack. Not that we really need it as we had already stopped at a cake shop just before we crossed to the island and bought some very ‘sticky’ buns which we had eaten after our lunch.
Next we stopped off at the Philip Island Grand Prix circuit, here we played a family race on the actual track replica scalextric track, then had a walk around the museum before walking up through the gardens that overlook the track and spending a bit of time watching a number of single seaters lapping the track. It is always nice to see a race track with some activity happening on it if you cannot manage to catch a race.
Next stop the end of the island and The Nobbies, here we walk down the board walk and have a look at the rock formation that tails the island, we had hoped to see some seals but there are none ashore today and seal rock where they are congregated is 1.5km offshore. We do however see our first wild penguin in a nesting box by the side of the boardwalk.
After The Nobbies we head for Cowes to get something to eat, we chose a nice little restaurant with a varied menu and have about an hour and a half before we have to be back on the other side of the island for Penguin Parade, so all should have been fine. 40 minutes later our meal had still not come, when chased we were told it would be out momentarily, 10 minutes later Lisa and Baggage’s arrive, five more minutes and mine comes out, it should have been a mixed curry with three dishes, apparently the chef dropped one dish so I only got two, though they were bigger servings! In fact under the curry in each dish was a bed of potato, I have to question whether there was extra curry or the bowls simply had potato added to them to make them look over-full. We now had to eat in a hurry in order to head back across the island. When I paid the bill there was no compensation offered for their mistakes, therefore no tip was forthcoming!
We got to the Penguin Parade visitors centre in plenty of time to enable us to have a look at the exhibits before heading for the beach and finding a space to sit and wait for the penguins. We had been there about 20 minutes when the first penguin walked up out of the water, the penguins you see here are ‘Little Penguins’ the smallest variety of penguin. There was then a gap of about 10 minutes before we saw more penguins coming up out of the water, this time they were not single penguins but large groups of penguins, they came out of the sea, gathered at the waters edge, then waddled across the beach as a group to wander up through the dunes and locate their burrows.
After we had watched a few groups of penguins walk up out of the water we wandered back up the boardwalk, the noise in the dunes was now considerable, the penguins who had returned from the sea communicating with those already in the dunes. As we walked up through the dunes we saw a large number of penguins wandering about, or simply sitting outside their burrows.
How many penguins came out of the sea tonight I do not know, but last night 691 were recorded.
The penguin parade has been commercialised, though it has not been spoilt. You pay to enter the visitor centre ($20 each) then you walk down a boardwalk to a designated viewing area, here you sit in a stand, or on the beach in a roped off area, and from here you can observe the shoreline in the bay and watch the penguins coming out of the water. If the area had not been controlled the parade would likely have died off years ago, the penguins would have not felt safe in the bay and would have likely found a new home a long time ago. The fact that you pay money today means that there are Rangers controlling the area, ensuring nothing happens to hurt the penguins and also ensuring that everybody who attends has an equal and enjoyable time.
If you are in the area it is well worth a visit, the penguins are not trained to walk up the beach at sunset, it is their natural instinct and it is great being able to observe such an activity close up.
We finally got back to the house just after 11pm, after a few minutes in bed Baggage was fast asleep.

Wednesday 18th March (Movin’ out)
Our last night in Mt. Martha was now over and today we head to Melbourne airport, we have splashed out and booked ourselves into the Hilton at the airport tonight, our flight is 8:40am and it is just so much easier to be there the night before.
The morning is spent packing, we can have the house until 1pm so we have not done much in advance of today and it does take us the full time until 1pm to be ready to move out.
We drive directly to Melbourne airport and check in plus return the hire car. The Hilton had messed our booking up and only had a room allocated for Lisa and I, it was there mistake however so they upgraded us to a room with two double beds at no extra charge, it is a nice big room as well.
After settling in we all go for a swim, then after a bit of updating my blog it is time for dinner. We decide to wander over the road and have a look around the terminal and see what options that gives us for dinner, whilst there we also suss out the shopping options as to where we can spend our remaining dollars in the morning.
Now we are back in the room and Lisa and Baggage are watching Australia’s got talent whilst I finish this off, we will not be late to bed tonight, but also not too early as if we are we will not get to sleep anyway. In a bit Lisa and I are going to go out leaving Baggage in the room as she wants to record her summary of her time in Australia on video, reckon I had better catch up with Baggage videos to post as I have at least 3 in the can waiting for me to process them.

More from Mt. Martha

Friday 13th March (Pelican Feeding)
We decide to spend the morning in and let Baggage do a bit of Schoolwork, whilst she and Lisa are working I pop out to the post office to ship a package back to the UK.
After lunch we take a drive across the peninsular to Hastings where you can buy a bag of fish bits and feed the pelicans in the harbour. When we get there the pelicans are in residence and certainly know what is coming, as soon as you leave the fish hut with your bag of fish bits they come right over under the harbour wall and wait to be fed.
After the bag has nearly been emptied we let Baggage fish for a bit with the last few pieces, though she gets a few nibbles we catch nothing.
On the way back to the house we stop off in Mornington and have a wander up Main street, amongst other things we buy a new suitcase which we will fill with our souvenirs so far and give to Danny to take back to the UK with him after hos period in New Zealand.
Dinner is a fry up back at the house and we ensure Baggage gets an early night after her very late night last night.
Lisa and I find an old film on the box to watch, during which I enjoy a bottle of Boag’s Draft.
Today was a quiet day, we have decided to take it a bit easier this week as the last few weeks have been a bit intense and we want to ensure we are all fully with it next week for the start of our time in a new country.

Saturday 14th March (Rain!!!)
Today we woke up to black clouds, and as I am writing this at nearly 9pm it is still raining, though it has stopped for a bit in-between.
Again we spend the morning in and we let Baggage play on some of her Internet games before we get her to do a bit of school work.
After lunch we head out for St Kilda. This is where we should have been staying whilst near Melbourne, much further up the peninsular, a close beach side suburb of the city. We had booked a house in St. Kilda, but last November it was cancelled on us, so we were quite keen to see what we thought of the place.
Both Lisa and I immediately equated it to Brighton, though that might be a little unfair on Brighton as it has been a good number of years since we were there. I am sure on a warm day under a blue sky it is a fantastic place to be, we however were there on a wet day under a grey sky, and everything was grey. We walked along the beach and could see the storm coming in from the sea over the bay, it was a fantastic sight, but when it hit the rain was so intense that we took shelter in a beachside café and enjoyed a coffee and Baggage had a hot chocolate, very different from the kind of drinks we desired last week in the heat.
After the rain had subsided a bit we walked back up through the town and visited Luna Park (a smaller version of Blackpool’s pleasure beach) where Baggage had a ride on a ‘spinny round thing’
We left St. Kilda at just after 5pm and headed back for Mt. Martha, maybe the weather today did not do the place justice, but personally I am much happier here than I think I would have been there.
We had planned to go to the Drive In Movie Theater at Dromana tonight, but with the weather doing what it is were not sure, however it seemed to be brightening up at around 6:30 so we headed out, on the way there the skies darkened again and then opened, the downpour was so intense that cars were stopping at the side of the road until it subsided. We decided to give up on the idea of a drive in for tonight, we would be unlikely to be able to hear the movie over the noise of the rain pounding on the car, we will try again tomorrow.
On the way back to the house we grabbed fish and chips from the beachside shop in Mt. Martha, my reckoning is that this was the best fish and chip supper we have had in the whole of Australia.
Whilst I am writing this Baggage and Lisa are watching Robin Williams in RV (or Runaway Vacation as the Australians call it), when posted I will go and join then and open another bottle of Boag’s.
And the rain is still pounding and the wind still howling!

First couple of days from Mt. Martha

Wednesday 11th March (just chillin’)

No rush to get up today, we have decided to spend the morning sorting out ‘stuff’ and getting Baggage to do a bit more schooling and then go out for a drive in the afternoon to check out the area.
Baggage and Lisa get on with some scrap booking using the book and pages they bought yesterday and I decide to go for a short walk.
If you walk about 50 yards from where we are staying you come to the Esplanade, about another 50 yards up the Esplanade to the right and you come to a walkway down to the shore. At the point we are at the Esplanade stands about 30 feet up from the water level on the top of a gently sloping cliff, if you walk down this from the Esplanade through a wooded area you come to a path that runs along the shore line about 10 feet up from the water level, there is no beach as such at this point of the coast, but half a mile in either direction will bring you back to sandy shores. I decide to walk no further than down to the water line and back after taking a few photos as I did not suggest I would be out for any longer than a few minutes.
When I get back we have a spot of lunch and then head out for a drive down the peninsular. Popular as a holiday spot for Victorians since Melbourne became a city the Mornington peninsular has a lot to offer, whether it is sandy beaches, sailing, or just a spot of fishing you are after at no point on the peninsular are you far from the coast. We drive about 15 miles further down the peninsular and pass at least 5 nice sheltered beaches you could happily spend a day at, and the sea is so clear and blue in the bay.
When we get back Lisa takes a trip out on her own to visit the scrap booking shop, she got to see little of what there was on offer yesterday with Baggage constantly asking her questions whilst we were in there. When she gets back it is time for our first Aussie BBQ.
Since we have been in Australia we have enjoyed the great Aussie BBQ tradition only once, with Steve and Trish, we have not managed to do one on our own for various reasons. In Perth the BBQ was far too dirty, in Brisbane there was one but we just did not get the time, in Sydney we did not have one, but here there is one, it looks as good as new and we are determined to make the time for it before we leave Australia.
Sausages and Kangaroo steaks, with rolls and a bit of salad, not too adventurous, but a real feast and the BBQ is great and I even manage to cook it all to perfection, no char-grilling here. With my dinner I have the other bottle of James Squire I had bought, a bottle of Original Amber, again a very nice beer.
After dinner we make a point of getting Baggage in to bed for a reasonable night and settle her down, when she is settled we both catch up on the computer and I enjoy a couple of bottles of Tooheys White Stag, the James Squire was much nicer though.

Thursday 12th (A zoo and dance)
When we get up it is raining, not just a drizzle but pretty heavy and the sky is very dark, at home I would definitely have thought it set for the day. We did debate changing our plans but then decided not to, our days in Melbourne will soon run out and if we do not stick to what we had in mind we will end up not doing half we want to.
So we head off to Melbourne Zoo, about an hour on good roads, but on a wet day and with considerable traffic it takes us nearer to two. On the way I commit yet another toll violation, this time on the Eastlink again and then on the Citylink, however when I contact Citylink to sort it out I find them much more helpful than Eastlink and am now the proud owner of a temporary Melbourne pass that will cover all my toll charges until we leave here next week, charging them directly to my credit card, and all by linking the card to my number plate, similar to the Sydney system and very convenient.
After eating our lunch in the car we head into the Zoo. It is a very well thought out zoo and the animals have good enclosures with plenty of space, they do seem to be very well looked after. I know some people are very against zoos as they believe no animal should be caged, but if you are going to have them then this one is not a bad template.
One of our main reasons for the Zoo trip was to see a platypus, we go to the appropriate enclosure once and there is no sight of the little critter, luckily when we go back a little later he is happily swimming about and we get a very good look, even a bit of video footage which we may be able to use in a future Baggage video.
After leaving the Zoo we drive into the city centre where we find the theatre we are attending tonight to see Billy Elliot – The Musical and then park the car.
For dinner we visit Chinatown which is just around the corner from the theatre and have a nice Chinese dinner, though far from as reasonably priced as we found in Sydney.
Billy Elliot was a thoroughly enjoyable experience, I had enjoyed the film but was a bit dubious about the stage show, and it was a bit strange dealing with Australian actors putting on Geordie accents, however once you got past this it was great. The musical numbers worked really well, and for someone who lived through the Miners’ Strike of 1984 you could relate to what was going on. The young lad (12 years old) who played Billy was fantastic.
We eventually got back to the house at midnight, got Baggage straight into bed and were not far behind.

And so to Mt. Martha

Tuesday 10th March (Mt. Martha)
We left Lakes Entrance just before 10am and planned to push on directly to Mt. Martha and our home for the next week. The journey should have taken us 4 hours and it turned out to take almost exactly that, we arrived at 2:20 pm and had made a few short stops on the way.
Again a toll infringement, this time on the Melbourne Eastlink Motorway which again is now totally electronic, so another post violation payment to correct the problem. Here the system is not as fair as in Sydney, there you only paid for what tolls you actually incurred with a small administration fee to cover the post payment processing, here you have to pay for an entire trip on the Eastlink motorway, no matter how short a segment you actually drive, in our case it was simply the last 3 km of the motorway, for which we have paid for an entire trip.
The house here is again a good find, very comfortable, and whilst not as cheap as our properties in New Zealand will be, still exceptional value. The house is well equipped, very comfortable and well positioned, we are on a side road from the sea front, 3 houses back.
All the houses we are staying in for this trip have been sourced over the Internet, there is a slight worry that we may turn up at a place to find we have paid for something that does not exist, and we are currently having a bit of trouble getting our deposit back on the Perth house, but I am sure that will resolve, so far so good.
Before we leave here we will have to repack into suitcases, something we have not had to worry about since Brisbane as we have had no flights to catch, I know that in order to do that we will need a new suitcase, though that was expected and after New Zealand South Island we will no longer have that to worry about as we will be sending it back, with all our souvenirs to date, with Danny who will shortly be joining us for three weeks. As this is something we know we will have to do we unpack more here than we have been doing.
We have Internet here again, we do miss it when we do not have it, it is very useful for planning, though takes a lot of the excitement and unpredictability out of the trip as we are rarely caught unaware. Without it though we would miss a lot that we can do as we would simply never know about it. It is also very useful to keep in touch with home.
After we have settled in we head out to have a look around and get some supplies. Lisa has found an advert for a scrap booking shop nearby, reportedly the biggest in Australia so she and Baggage just have to go there, then after they have had a good luck and bought plenty to keep them amused we head to get the basics we will need for a week in this house and tonight’s dinner. Whilst out we also get all the necessary for a BBQ tomorrow night as there is a nice clean BBQ at the house and this is the first opportunity we have had to join the masses in this Australian way of life. Sausages and Kangaroo steaks, should be good.
I also take the opportunity to restock on beer, the problem is I just have to keep drinking the stuff to tell you what the different brews are like.
Dinner is convenience food, a ready made lasagne, though we do manage some fresh veg. with it.
After dinner I drink a bottle of James Squire Porter, another beer that is true to it’s name and tastes like a porter I have drunk many times back at home. A nice drink, shame I only bought one bottle.

Sydney to Melbourne

Friday 6th March
Today we had decided to spend most of the day in the apartment, our last day in Sydney so we needed to pack up again, but also Baggage needed to catch up on some schooling. We have tickets to go and see Buddy – The Musical this evening so intended to stay in until we are ready to go out and eat before the show.
We manage to catch Katie on Skype around lunchtime, early evening her time in Florida, it was good to be able to see her and talk to her as this was the first time since we left the UK.
By 5pm we are all packed up, I am totally up to date with Baggage videos for the web site and we are ready to go out.
We have dinner at the Noodle bar in Star City, not bad food but over priced due to the location, we then manage to fit in a walk by the harbour before heading into the theatre for the show. Both Lisa and I have seen the show before in the UK but we were confident Baggage would enjoy it which was the main reason for booking it, not to mention the fact that it was nice being able to book a main stream musical that we could walk to.
The show was good, this adaption not significantly different from the last time we saw it, but still an enjoyable evening.
After the show we walked back to the apartment and got Baggage straight to bed, it was after all now 10:30, Lisa and I let her settle before following her about half an hour later.
Tomorrow we are off, so what do I think of Sydney?
I liked it, off all the cities we have visited so far this is my favourite. Not as fast as Hong Kong but extremely safe and very clean. This has been the first time I have really regretted the fact that we are moving on, it would have been good to have been spending another week here, there is still plenty for us to do.
Would I want to live here? Probably not, but then I am not a city person and whilst I enjoy the heat whilst visiting I am not sure I would want to live with it for most of the year.
What did I like most about Sydney? The water, I love water and in Sydney you are never far away from it.

I had a bottle of Victoria Bitter tonight with my dinner, but by the time we got back after Buddy it was just too late for me to feel like opening one of my bottles, I will just have to take them with me and drink them on the journey.

Saturday 7th March (Moving on again)
We did not get up as early as we had intended, but even so were driving away from the apartment by 9am. As we were leaving Sydney I had the idea of pushing on to Melbourne and seeing if the house we are renting there next week is available for us to move in a couple of days early, unfortunately it is not so we will just have to head on down the coast as planned.
We hardly broke the journey as we drove down to Bateman Bay, a couple of comfort stops and a couple more to take a few photos, but hardly any time off the road.
290km later we arrived in Bateman bay, our planned first break in the journey.
A quick visit to the tourist information centre set us up with an apartment for the evening, a strange set up, it is in a residential area on the side of the owner of a local motel’s house. It will do fine for one night, probably better than a hotel room as it is a studio apartment with a separate sofa bed in the lounge which Baggage will have.
After we have settled in we decide to go fishing, Baggage has been extremely keen to try it again ever since our first attempt at Coffs harbour. We pick up some prawns as bait and then set ourselves up on the Jetty. Unfortunately between buying the bait and reaching the jetty I lose my baseball cap, a nice one I was given as a present from the Kennedy Space Centre ☹.
Our first line in the water hooks a 6 inch flat fish, getting this one off the line and back into the water is also somewhat more successful than our experience was in Coffs, however for the next two hours whilst we get plenty of bites nothing is landed.
After we are all fished out we go and find ourselves somewhere to eat. We end up in another Hogg’s Breath Café and as before the food is OK, but there could have been a bit more of it.
After dinner it is back to our apartment, we all catch up on diaries and blogs and then Baggage settles down to watch a film that was here on DVD. I guess I will just have to open a bottle of beer, tonight I will try the Red Bitter, will let you know what I think of it when I next blog tomorrow.

Sunday 8th March (another day another state)
Firstly to finish off from last night, what did I think of the Red Bitter? Well it was as most bitters I have tasted here, I would actually call it a lager, not a beer< but then when is a lager not a beer? According to an Australian (and most Americans and Europeans) never!
We had a pretty bad night last night, Baggage just could not keep quiet in her sleep and that kept Lisa and I awake, also every time she moved in the bed she was in it made a ridiculous amount of noise. Not totally sure what she was talking about but it involved a number of names and descriptions of what was going on, unfortunately neither Lisa nor I could really remember what she had been going on about this morning, and Baggage had no idea she had been so vocal. It was a shame, the apartment itself was very comfortable and the area it was in was extremely quiet.
We set off at nearly 10am, not sure when we started how far we would go, the idea being to at least get as far as Eden, then maybe further depending how we were getting on.
We got to Eden before 1pm so decided to take a break here and grab some lunch then push on. We found a nice deli that did great sandwiches for our lunch.
As we were leaving Eden Baggage really lost the plot. After about 30 minutes Lisa had calmed her down, then after we took a five minute break to stretch our legs she lost it again. The basic plot was that I was not being fair with her, the reality probably more to do with the fact that she was very tired and fed up with sitting in the car for so long. The journey down today was not the best of runs, from a driver’s point of view it is great, up and down twisting mountain sides, for a passenger, particularly one in the back it is a series of nauseating twists and jolts.
We pushed on though and finished our journey for the day at Lakes Entrance, only 270km left to go to Melbourne so we decide to stop here for two nights and then finish the journey in one run on Tuesday.
First impression is that this a pretty nice area, nestled between the lakes and the sea and stretching along the shore, not a bad place to spend a couple of nights.
Once again a visit to the tourist information centre pays off, we sort ourselves out with two nights in a holiday cottage in a holiday park, this will do just fine and will give Baggage a bit more freedom, which is what she probably needs most at the moment.
A short drive takes us to our accommodation, just off the centre of the town, comparing it to a UK facility it is more akin to Centre Parks than Butlins.
After offloading the car I head out for a few basic supplies, Lisa starts to sort our accommodation out and Baggage rents a go-kart to run around the holiday park for an hour.
For dinner we head back into the town and find a nice little restaurant that offers a traditional roast with real vegetables on the menu. We all opt for this, and afterwards both Baggage and I round it off with an extremely indulgent slice of cake.
When we get back to the cottage we all watch the first episode of Billy Connolly’s world tour of Australia, Baggage loves it, especially the on-stage segments where the language is particularly inappropriate for her to be watching.
Tonight I drink my final bottle of beer, a bottle of Melbourne Bitter, well we are close enough to Melbourne now aren’t we. As with all other lager by another name.

Monday 9th March (Lakes Entrance)
No rush to get up this morning, though when we have Baggage is desperate for us to go out and play a game of mini golf as that is where her new friend has gone before they head back to their home in Melbourne. We oblige and play a round of mini golf along the esplanade from where we are staying.
After the golf we rent a peddle boat for Baggage and Lisa to have a play about in the lake then head for the beach. The arrangement here is that the estuary runs along the lakeshore, however this section of lake is only separated from the sea by a narrow stretch of land (established sand bank). You can cross from the esplanade to this sand bank via a bridge, then you can walk down onto the beach. The beach front at Lakes Entrance is part if the 90 mile beach that runs down this section of the coast, starting in New South Wales and ending in Victoria.
We decide not to go in the sea, but instead play on the beach for a couple of hours whilst Baggage builds (with a little help!) a couple of reasonable sized sandcastles. The idea with the first one was that it would be a fortress for the sea to break down when the tide returned it up the beach, we just did not realise how slow the tide would return it and gave up before it was breached.
I then left Lisa and Baggage on the beach whilst I went for a walk through the shops and whilst there replaced by lost baseball cap with one with Australia across the peak, well you just have to don’t you!
Back to the apartment for lunch, then Baggage does a bit of schoolwork before we allow her to head to the pool for a swim.
After she has had a swim Baggage is very keen to have another fish before we have dinner, this area is renowned for its fishing, so why not! We head down to the water and set up on a jetty. Unfortunately tonight an hour yields no catch, but she enjoys herself.
Appropriately dinner is served up by a visit to a fish and chip shop and we take out back to the cottage. Episode 2 of Billy Connolly in Australia follows and I enjoy a bottle of stout with it. So far stout is one of the few styles of beer that seems consistent with its UK counterpart.
I have enjoyed my day in Lakes Entrance, a very chilled place and a fantastic location. Port Macquarrie remains my favourite place in Australia so far, but I could lose myself here for a week or more. There is loads to see and do, mostly natural, the place is very un-developed and to enjoy yourself there are miles of sandy beaches and some fantastic walks among the lakes, not to forget the fishing! When we arrived yesterday the town was buzzing, but this is Labour Day weekend, a long weekend for many workers, the town was buzzing with people making the most of their last long weekend of the summer, by tonight the town was almost empty and many of the places that were open yesterday evening, this evening were shut up as if they had long since been closed at the end of their season.
Earlier today whilst at the beach I saw and overheard a police sergeant being interviewed by a TV camera crew. On Saturday two young lads got into trouble off the beach here whilst trying to retrieve a ball that had got into the sea. A rip current had taken them, one was pulled out of the water and resuscitated then transferred to Melbourne, the other has not yet been found! One family who had come for an enjoyable day out on a holiday weekend are left devastated, yet to look at the beach today it all looked so safe and well patrolled.
Tomorrow we head for Mt. Martha just below Melbourne where we have 8 nights before we fly out of Australia and head for Christchurch New Zealand.
I finish off the day with a bottle of Wahoo, named after a popular Internet tool?, not a bad beer, but again really what I would call a lager. Oh for the taste of a good British pint!

The Blue Mountains

Update: Perth Traffic Penalty
A letter has arrived in the UK advising me that due to the circumstances of my parking infringement Perth Council will let me off this time, but they will be watching me!

Thursday 5th March (The Blue Mountains)
Today we were off to the Blue Mountains, we got out of the house at just after 8am, the drive to Katoomba where we were headed is just over an hour and a half and we stopped once on way at a little cake shop for a ‘mid morning’ snack.
The Australians certainly do like their bakeries, both sweet and savoury products. The selection of cakes was extensive, both Lisa and I experimented whilst Baggage went for the safe option of an iced doughnut.
At Katoomba we headed directly for Echo Point and the view of Jamison Valley and the Three Sisters. The valley is spectacular, though whilst stood at the vantage point I did hear a couple of Americans comparing it unfavourably to the Grand Canyon, I will be able to draw my own conclusions before this trip is over.
After viewing from above we set off down the Giant Staircase for a closer look at the Three Sisters and a view of the valley from a different vantage. I did hear someone say that the Giant Staircase is in excess of 300 steps, mostly cut out of the rock by a Park Ranger in the ‘30s, we probably made it down about half of them before we turned back, however the climb back up was plenty to cope with, none of us are at the peak of our physical fitness.
A picnic lunch which we had bought with us and then we headed for Scenic World, why do such areas have to be so commercialised. Scenic World is basically a means to get down to the floor of the Rain Forest and enjoy an extended boardwalk, it offers a hillside railway to take you one direction and a cable car to take you the other. There is also the Skyway, a glass bottomed cable car that takes you across the corner of the valley to offer truly unique views.
Considering the fact that we were there out of season it was extremely busy, there were a number of coach parties, a large percentage of which were Korean tourists, and as with Japanese Tourists they seemed to want to be photographed in front of everything that might have been considered remotely interesting.
We opted to take the scenic railway down the side of the valley and then the cable car back up. The railway claims to be the steepest rail incline in the world and drops you to the foot of the track, at times almost vertically. The origin of the railway was that it was originally installed to help with the mining of the valley before it became a protected area when it’s coal reserves were considered too valuable not to pull out.
Once down on the boardwalk we took the mid length walk which ended up back at the cable car so that we could use that to ascend back up the valley walls.
After we had visited the valley it was time to travel across the top of it on the Skyway. Lisa had been dubious as to whether she should do this as she does have a definite fear of heights, however she had decided to put this to one side and take the ride. The reality was that it was not too bad for her, her main fear having been over the glass floor, which turned out not to be over the entire floor area, simply a viewing platform you could walk on through the middle of the car. The views from the Skyway were well worth the ride, though as with most such things, if you had been up for the effort of a three hour trek into the valley you would likely have seen much more than if you followed us and the vast majority of visitors and simply took the sanitised route.
After Scenic World we left Katoomba and started the drive back, we broke our journey at Wentworth Falls. Here we took a walk down to a viewing platform above the falls, apparently a route walked by Charles Darwin a couple of hundred years ago.
On the way back into Sydney we stopped at McDonalds for a quick and easy supper, finally arriving back at the apartment at 7:30. Time for a blog (this one as am finally up to date) and a bottle of Wheat Sheaf. Not a bad stout, a beer that for me is actually what it says on the label.
Now for a bit more mindless TV, though tonight it is the US reshoot of the UK hit show ‘Life on Mars’!

Another Museum!

Wednesday 4^th March

The plan had been to go to the Blue Mountains today but we decided to defer until tomorrow as we had all had a long day yesterday and the idea of an early start was not very appealing. Instead we decided to go to the Powerhouse museum; there is a Star Wars exhibit along with the museum’s regular offerings.

We walked over to the Powerhouse after breakfast, it is about a 30 minute stroll from the apartment. The Star Wars exhibit was great, original props from all six of the movies coupled with specifically recorded sequences giving you a bit of background behind what you were looking at. Spread over two separate floors in the museum we spent over an hour in the exhibition.

The Powerhouse is a great museum if you have children, though Baggage did not really appreciate it, possibly she is a bit tired as she just seemed to want to bomb through it and get out and back to the apartment as soon as she could. We did however spend a reasonable amount of time in the design, transport and automation exhibits before she really did give up on the place.

The design exhibit was built from a number of students final design projects and was being sponsored by Dyson, one design that really did capture my imagination was that of an outboard motor that was powered by a rechargeable electric drill, the idea being to deliver a capable motor, capable of about 1.5 hours use, without the usual level of cost that is involved. Conceptually it was great and the final product well produced, how practical though I could not say without giving one a test drive.

After the museum we headed back for the apartment, we had the food in for dinner so decided the best bet was simply to chill for the rest of the afternoon and get up to whatever we wanted. At last it gave me the opportunity to catch up on my blog and publish another episode on Baggage, both of which were well behind.

Dinner was an easy beef stir fry and then Baggage was able to get an early night, though as seems to have been the case recently when she gets an early night she really struggled to get to sleep.

Lisa and I settled in front of mindless Australian TV, the apartment we have only has about 5 channels, strangely enough all are then repeated in HD, and as is usually the case we could find nothing worth watching on. At home many an evening we sit down and say there is nothing worth watch on, here there really is not. I guess if you live here you subscribe to a TV service that delivers programmes worth watching, SKY is fairly big over here so maybe that would be a better option, but in many ways it is nice not having anything on worth watching as most evenings the only reason we turn the TV on has been for a bit of background noise to help baggage sleep.

Tonight I drank my last bottle of Barefoot, I was going to open up one of my more recent additions, but a refreshing Barefoot was in order. Will have to try the new brew tomorrow night now.

Around Sydney

Monday 2^nd March (Bridge Walking)

Today we decide to walk across the Sydney Harbour Bridge, Lis

a had originally wanted to climb the bridge, but we decided that we would give that one a miss after we saw all the paraphernalia it involved and after all you can walk the bridge and then climb the pylon for a fraction of the price and without getting all kitted up. I was only keen on the bridge climb until I found out I would not have been able to take my own camera along.

We took the ferry across to Milson’s point and then from the

re walked up to the start of the walkway across the Eastern side of the bridge. In all it takes about 20 minutes to walk across the bridge at a leisurely stroll , we took longer than that due to the constant stopping for photographs as the views from the bridge are great. Once on the Circular Quay end of the bridge we took the option to climb the pylon that has been opened to the public. There is a small admission fee but it is worth it as it gives you a great insight into the way the bridge was built and a good deal of history about the bridge across the intervening years. Again the views from the top of the pylon were great, I was so glad I had lugged my zoom lens along with me today.

After the bridge we walked up through The Rocks, one of the oldest areas of Sydney and headed for the Sydney tower, why not end a day where you have been taking photos off high places with photos from the highest place of all. When we got there Lisa and Baggage decided they would rather shop than go up to the top so I made the ascent on my own. Baggage would have gone up with me if I would have done the Skywalk with her but unfortunately the idea of being outside of the top of the tower, even if attached on a safety rope was not something I was keen on and she could not go unaccompanied until she is 18, so she had just better come back here in 6 years time. I am not sure she would not have hated it when she got out there anyway!

As expected the view from the top of the tower was great, and we had picked a good day for it as there was practically no limit to visibility, the only negative was that all viewing is through circular windows and in places they could do with a bit of a clean.

After the tower we caught the monorail back to the apartment where I made the first of our two apartment cooked meals, eggs, bacon, sausages, tomato and chips – very adventurous.

Whilst out today Baggage took a good deal of video with her camera as I decided that a good IT project for her would be to create her own film, My Day out in Sydney. Well she now has the material, tomorrow morning I will show her how to edit it and we will see what she can do. She is quite interested in the idea anyway, and it did get her using her camera more.

Guess what, Barefoot Raddler again tonight!

Tuesday 3^rd March (Bondi)

Today Baggage is going to Guides and she is doing this in a suburb of the city tonight so we decide it will be a good day to get the car out, go to Bondi Beach, then on to Botany Bay before we end up in Earlswood where she is expected at 7pm.

We spend the morning in the apartment and Baggage has a go at editing her video spectacular, with a little instruction she get on with it herself and makes a pretty good jo

b of it. She screens it to us before we head out.

We leave at about 11:30 and drive the 30 minutes to Bondi Beach. We have a packed lunch on the grass bank above the beach before heading down onto the sand. The weather is great for the beach, warm but not too hot. We do not let the cooler temperatures kid us though and all put on plenty of sun screen.

The three of us spend almost an hour and a half in the water body boarding and swimming into the waves before Lisa and I get out. Baggage stays in for well over another hour, only coming out briefly to eat a Calippo.

Unlike Surfers Paradise, Bondi is not too over commercialised, it is built up and the entire frontage has been developed

, however there are no hi-rise blocks and you do not feel you are on the Costa Del Oz.

Lisa had wanted to hire a board here but she has not been feeling too good, coming down with a bit of a cold, and you have to hire from one end of the beach but today surfing is limited to the far end so in the end she simply could not be bothered with the 30 minute round trip to get a board and then get it to where she could use it. She settled with the body board instead.

The only plus Surfers Paradise had over Bondi in my opinion was that the water was much warmer at Surfers, whilst not on a par with the Atlantic of the Devon Coast the water off Bondi was still quite bracing when you first ventured in.

We finally left Bondi at 4pm

and headed round to Botany Bay, at first we drove into the headland that makes up the national park, but did not find much to see there, then we drove on and round the corner and found a delightful part of the bay just before you get to the totally spoilt area which today is the home for Port Botany and an extremely large chemical plant.

We found a nice fish and chip shop in which to have dinner, and once again great value. For $30 we all have a meal and drink, not bad at all, and the food is very good.

We get Baggage into Earlswood for guides at just before 7pm and when she is settled we leave her and go to find a food shop where we can restock our provisions. We find a Woolworth not far away and restock the essentials plus visit Woolworths Liquor store where we restock the drinks selection. A couple of bottles of white wine to chill and three new beers to try: Sheaf Stout; Red Bitter; Melbourne Bitter.

Whilst waiting for Baggage to finish at guides we discovered the delights of Exeloo. This is an automated toilet system that when you enter it tells you what to do, when you lock the door it plays you music and when you wash you hand it flushes for you before releasing you and bidding you farewell. The only downside is that your time in it is limited to 10 minutes, after which it will automatically open the door as it assumes you are up to no good. Not a good choice the morning after a violent curry! Whist we were there we also witnessed it cleaning itself, not sure if that was because it felt particularly dirty after we had both used it?

In fact Lisa was so taken with it that she just had to show it to Baggage after we got her back following her time at guides.

It took us 20 minutes to drive back across Sydney to reach our apartment and then it was time for Baggage to hit the sack, it was pretty close to 10pm by the time we got back here. I took the opportunity to blog for a while but was not long after her in turning in. I did manage one more bottle of barefoot before I called it a day.

Arriving in Sydney

Saturday 28^th February (Sydney)

We did not hang about this morning, got up, packed car a quick breakfast and on the road.  We left the hotel by 8:30 and arrived at the apartment in Sydney before 12.

The drive up was great, as we came through the mountains south of Sydney the views are breathtaking.  Our approach to Sydney bought us in over the Harbour Bridge, a great way to enter the city.  Though in order to cross it I had to commit a toll violation, the bridge, and many other Sydney roads, is now exclusively e-toll, you need a tag in your vehicle.  Luckily however the system is better construed than some e-toll systems I have encountered, a quick phone call and registration on a website and we are covered for the tolls we have already incurred and any we may run up during the next week.  An easy solution, my credit card is now assigned to my car registration for a two week period.

In Sydney we opted for a city based apartment rather than a house in the suburbs, and it does not let us down.  Our home for the week is one row back from Darling harbour in the Watermark complex, right next door to Sydney’s  casino complex, Star City.  The apartment is great, very comfortable and well presented, we will have a good week here.

We settle in and whilst Lisa is unpacking I head out for provisions.  There is an IGA store about two blocks away and a conveniently placed liquor store on the route back.  I get the basic provisions from the IGA then pick up a six pack of Barefoot Raddler (I said I liked it) on the way back.  By the time I get back the apartment is pretty ship shape so we have a bite of lunch then decide to go out for a walk.  We head down to Darling Harbour then take the monorail into the city, have a look around there then head to Chinatown for some dinner.

Whilst in the centre of Sydney we have a bit of a scare, Lisa and I split up to try and find a tourist information centre, but due to a miscommunication regarding where to meet up again we lose each other for about an hour.  Quite what she would have done if we had not found each other I do not know, found a local bobby I guess, after all I had all the money, the return monorail tickets and the only keys to the apartment, without which she could not even have come in and knocked on the door as the apartment is 6 floors up and the ground floor doors all security accessed.

Dinner was great, we sat at a Chinese street café and had a mix of dishes to eat from, Lisa and I shared Duck and Sweet & Sour Pork and rice whilst Baggage had a noodle dish.  There was far more food than we could eat, yet it was one of the cheapest main meals we have had since arriving in Australia.

On the monorail again and back to Pyrmont where we started then we walk back to the apartment getting back here just after 9pm.  Baggage gets a reasonable night, well earlier than last night, and I find time on the computer to put together a further chapter in her video diary.

First impressions of Sydney:  I like it, the city is very clean and full of life.  There is not the hustle and bustle of Hong Kong, but there is not the underlying smell to contend with either.  Again as we have found everywhere since we left the UK, public transport works, there are good networks within the city to get you around and it is relatively inexpensive.  The skyline is not as impressive as Hong Kong, there are not the need for so many hi-rise buildings crammed into such a small space, space after all is something Australia is not short of, yet what is there works and is supported by the two iconic Sydney landmarks, Harbour Bridge and the Opera House.

 

Sunday 1^st March (Pinch & Punch)

Our first full day in Sidney, we decide to head back to the harbour and visit the National Maritime Museum.  Only a short walk from the appartment this is an ideal way to spend a Sunday morning.  We all enjoyed the museum and coupled it with a visit to the replica of the Endeavour, the ship Cook sailed in when he claimed Australia for the British throne.  Lunch at the museum then we caught the ferry round from Darling harbour to Circular Quay, the nearest stop for the Sydney Opera House.

Sydney Ferries are good value normally, but at the moment the value is exceptional, on a Sunday, for just $2.50 each any family travelling with a child can have unlimited rides on Ferry, Bus or Tram within the city.  At today rate that is a little over £1 for the entire day.

On the way from the Ferry to the Opera house we witness a fusion between the traditional Australian culture and rock culture, just outside the ferry terminal sitting on the quay is a busker with a didgeridoo which he is playing through a rock amplifier to a pretty heavy backing track, the end result is pretty good, I can just picture Billy Connolly on his Tour of Australia sitting down with this guy and having a go.

After walking around the outside of the Opera House and Baggage doing some sketches of it we decided to take the tour of the building, this allows you to go behind the scenes and see what running a venue like the Opera House is all about (or so they say!).  The tour is well put together and well worth it, after all why visit what is probably the most recognisable building in the world and simply look at it from the outside. A walk around the halls, behind the stage and into some of the many theatres is combined with a video screening giving you some background on the opera house, how it came to be built and some of the controversy surrounding it.  We even got to see a snippet of a rehearsal, Mingus Big Band preparing for their performance in the Concert Hall, the House’s biggest venue, that evening.

From here we take the ferry back to darling harbour and then walk over the Pyrmont bridge to Harbourside where we grab a quick supper before returning to our apartment.  Once back Lisa sorts Baggage out whilst I pop out to get a few more provisions, at least enough for two meals as that is all we think we will be cooking to eat in the apartment whilst we are here.

Eventually I collapse into a living room chair with a bottle of Barefoot Raddler, make that two!

Brisbane to Sydney

Wednesday 25^th February (Moving on again)

Up and out of Emily house for 10am, today is the fist part of our drive down to Sidney.  Not sure how far we will go when we start out, will see how far we have got by the end of the afternoon.

First stop Surfers Paradise and we buy a body board and go into the surf, has to be done!  We spend about an hour in the water, the tide has just turned, at first it is great but towards the end of the time an undercurrent makes it very difficult to stand after you get off the board.  We all catch a good few waves though and have a great time.  Almost surfing at Surfers Paradise.  As to Surfers Paradise, unfortunately the popularity it has gained, probably as a result of the enticing name, means that now it is anything but.  The beach is great, but just back off it are the high-rise apartments, we will see areas much more akin to paradise on our drive on down the coast.

After Surfers Paradise we drove on down the coast and stopped for lunch at a nice little estuary, did not make a note of it’s name however.  We then pushed on to Byron Bay, just in time for an ice cream.  Byron bay was very nice, not too over developed, quaint shopping areas and a gorgeous beach.  It was still before 4pm so we decided to push on to Coffs Harbour for the night.

We eventually arrived in Coffs just after 7pm, and after a quick drive around ended up settling on the Country Comfort (Coffs Harbour International) Motel, a little basic but fine for our needs.  As we had made good time and had not seen Coffs having arrived after dark we decided to stay for two nights then push on down towards Sydney on Friday.

We ate in the hotel restaurant, food was OK and considering the fact we were all tired was the best option, will not eat here tomorrow night though.  Beer to accompany dinner, a couple of bottles of VB.

In total we drove 408 km today, not bad, about 2/5 of the total journey from Deagon to Sidney.  Considering the fact that this is the main route from Brisbane to Sydney I am surprised by the roads, by the time we are in New South Wales we are mostly on single carriageway with passing places and some of the bridges we pass across are extremely narrow.

 

Thursday 26^th February  (Coffs for the day)

No rush to get up in the morning, so by the time we do get out of the room we have missed breakfast in the hotel.  A quick stop at McDonalds to get breakfast but we are also too late here as they have sold out of their breakfast items.  I end up having a burger, Baggage also has a burger (though hers is chicken) but Lisa cannot face a burger at that time of days so settles for a slice of Banana cake for the McCafe.

Next stop Coffs Harbour Jetty.  Coffs is a strange place, if you stay on the Pacific Highway it really does not make an impression, just another built up area you pass through.  Yet as you head down to the water you enter a totally different area, not over developed and spoilt, in fact very natural in places.  Strange, normally it is the waterfront that will get over developed.

The jetty is lovely, extending well out into the bay and the area around it particularly nice.  The beaches are great.  Plenty of photo opportunities.

After a look around the jetty area we decide to look into getting a fishing rod as Baggage has shown interest in doing more fishing since she went fishing with Emma and Steve on Monday.  We bought a telescopic rod as it could be packed in the suitcase and all the necessary accompaniments, then headed off for the Marina.  We fished for about an hour, Baggage really enjoyed it, she was doing everything, baiting the hook, casting out and the reeling in, the only time she was keen to hand the rod over was the one time we caught something.  Our only catch was about an 8 inch long Black Bream, unfortunately it had swallowed the hook so to release it I had to cut the line.  Whilst this was our only catch however there were plenty of fish around, most of the baited hooks that Baggage dropped into the water were attacked and had the bait eaten off them.  A good number were dragged well under the water, but still no fish was on the line when withdrawn.

After our fish it was the end of the afternoon so we decided to get something to eat, we ended up in the Hog’s Breath  Café and had a good meal sat only just back from the beach.

Finally got around to having the bottle of Blue Tongue, though not as expected.  When we had dinner at Hog’s Breath I had a bottle with my meal, very nice it was too, will definitely look out for that one on the shelf again.  When I was finishing off for the day however I decided to have the bottle I had bought with me, which was now in the room fridge, where I had put it last night.  The only problem was that it was not Blue Tongue, it was in fact a bottle of Barefoot Raddler, however I was not disappointed, this is a lemon and lime infused beer and was extremely refreshing, just what was required tonight.  I had looked at both the Raddler and the Tongue when I bought the beer back in Sandgate and must have picked up one, but recollected another, then never checked the label until I came to drink it!

Friday 27^th February (Driving to Nelson)

Today we have to move on a good deal closer to Sydney.

When checking out of the hotel Nelson is recommended to me as a good place to look at on the way up the coast, when we checked the map we found this would be an ideal place to head for and break our journey, about 5 hours on from Coffs Harbour and about 2.5 hours short of Sydney.

First stop on the journey was Port Macquarie, immediately Lisa and I fell in love with the place, very under developed yet in an ideal location with a stunning seafront arrangement, fantastic beaches and a river estuary.  The housing was all fairly low level and the town centre very well laid out.

We stopped at a number of places along the coast within the confines of Port Macquarie before we decided to take a longer break at a rainforest on the way out of the area.  Here we strolled for about an hour on a boardwalk through the rainforest, enjoying walking below the forest canopy in the relative cool compared to the temperatures outside.  We heard many birds calling whilst in the forest but saw no sign of wildlife, guess we just did not know where to look.

From here we headed on for about half an hour to Cathie Creek where we stopped for lunch, we found a great little takeaway, I had a steak, cheese and bacon pie, Lisa had a chicken and gravy roll and Baggage had a portion of chips.

We now pushed on to Nelson and arrived at 4pm.  To sort out where to stay we paid a visit to the Information Centre and ended up booking into the Oaks Pacific Blue resort.  We got there around 5:30 and it was great, the largest pool in the whole of Australia, 800m in a circle around the centre of the resort putting all the central accommodation on an island.

Initially we were placed in a room facing to the outside of the hotel, however this was made up as a twin room and we had wanted a king so when I asked about this I was told they would come in and remake the room.  About half an hour later the receptionist turned up at the room and was very apologetic that they could not do it as housekeeping had left for the night and we were moved to a superior pool side room that was made up as a king and then given a complimentary bottle of wine as a way of apologising that we had to move.  The pool side room was great.

Whilst all of this was going on Baggage was very happily playing in the pool with a group she had met, who turned out to be a group of Newcastle based Jehovah’s Witnesses who visited that hotel every year.  She played in the pool with them for nearly two hours before we finally got her out for dinner.

We ate dinner at the hotel, there was a very good buffer, and as usual with buffets I ate far too much!

Beer tonight was a draught of Hahn Super Dry, not sure what was dry about it though, tasted pretty wet to me!