3 years 'Down Under' - Now back in the UK (and France!)

Goslin Pine photos 2

2009-04-28T09:53:00.003+01:00

The Goslin-Pine Photos1

2009-04-28T09:41:00.003+01:00

Pictures of France

All coming to an end

2008-12-03T06:30:00.002Z

Well the parentals have been and gone, all in all the time passed rather too quickly but we had a good time and I think they have gained a flavour of Australia. We visited the Blue mountains where it snowed! drove through pouring rain and flooding in Canberra and sat in the sun on the final few days! The weather was very fickle!

We are in our final days of packing up the house and organising our holidays to be taken on the way back to Blighty.

What we definately wont miss about Australia is the ineptitude of some of the companies out here as an example we were calling all the utilities to ensure that they cut off the services on a fixed date, however when we phoned Bigpond to cancel our broadband connection instead of the chap on the other end of the line asking us when from, he just left the line and cut our connection there and then! and apparently there is no possible way on the earth that the connection can be re-connected! The best they have been able to offer us is a dial-up connection so I am afraid that there will be no photos for the next few weeks.

BBQs Aussie style

2008-11-23T06:13:00.003Z

The Aussies are well known for their love of Barbies and they are usually a number of electric or wood Barbies in and around picnic spots. They are well maintained and great fun to use.

The firepit with swing over Hot plate in Mnt Kosiosko

Home BBQing

Wood burning BBQ with chimney stack as seen in Brissie

South Bank Brisbane communal electric Barbequing, Mens work :-)

Cycling the Lake

2008-11-20T01:02:00.003Z

One of the favourite weekly activites to pass the time is to cycle around lake Burley Griffith, there are a number of routes that can be done depending on the enthusiasm of the group. We used to start at in the west the carpark by Scrivener Dam (Zoo side) and then cycle either to the first bridge Commonwealth bridge or to the second Kings bridge or if we were feeling really energetic the whole lake passing through Canberra nature park/ Jerrabomberra wetlands on the east of the map (not shown). However as the weeks went on we liked to stop for coffee, which turned into lunch so altered our start locations to, the National Library and/or Yarramula Nursery, all so we wouldnt need to get back on the bikes after lunch!

Shannon and myself near Aspen Island where the National Carillion stands in white quartz and marble walls it houses an enormous clavier, or series of bells which usually chime at around 1030 it was given to the city of Canberra in 1963 and opened in 1970 as a gift from Britain to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the National Capital - Canberra.

Shannon, myself and Petrina, cycling buddies, this was our last cycle before we all leave Canberra :-(

Melbourne Cup

2008-11-18T21:13:00.002Z

Tuesday 4th November was Melbourne Cup day, even though we are not in Melbourne we had an event planned around the horse race. There was a very complicated betting system in place in the college. The food was buffet style and the fizz was cheap!
The sun was out and it was a lovely day, except that the horse I had bet on was first until the photo finish and he came third, which would have been good had I bet each way!

Much silliness!

Bush Camping

2008-11-17T22:36:00.001Z

At the beginning of November We decided to go camping in the Bush! Ben and Erica accompanied us, we took a 4 wheel drive route from the '4WD Touring - SE NSW and E Gippsland' book called the Blue Waterholes, the trek was 140km from start to finish (but not including the return road route) It was quite dusty!

Part of the trek passes the Coolamine Homestead complex which was to house the Graziers who were the first westeners to open up the NSW Alps. The homestead was used from 1880 until 1940, with its tin roof and wooden walls it must have been a challenge to keep warm in the winter months.

We arrived at the Blue water holes and set up camp then went for a walk along the Clarke Gorge, the features in this area are formed by the Limestone (karst) rocks.

Jus and I had briefly visited part of this walk before (the water was a lot lower!). Using the wobbly stepping stones was a challenge

The views were great!

The next job was to collect firewood and start the fire in the designated BBQ pit

We had some electric candles which we used with the slow shutter speed (well there was no TV!)

At 0530 the Kukkaburras landed on what was Im sure the nearest branch to our tents and proceeded to chatter and laugh! Ha ha ha. The Roos bounded their way up the path sounding to the urbanites amoung us like a VERY heavy jogger!

All Good fun!

The visitors day 2

2008-11-13T04:44:00.004Z

Manly was our destination for the next day, so again we took the ferry from Darling harbour to Circular quay where we had a spot of breakfast to take away. The ferry was very busy with day trippers, everyone wanted to be outside.
The ferry takes about 30 minutes and a great way to see the Sydney suburbs with their pools and private beaches!
Looking up Victoria Parade

We walked round to Shelly Beach which was much calmer and almost no waves. The parentals weren't tempted to go for a dip.Good views of the Opera house from the ferry.

We then decided to head out to visit Bondi in the car as we had to check out anyway, as it was getting later the beach had obviously cleared quite significantly, the wind had picked up and the spray was misting the southern edge. I think Bondi is rather hyped, it is a good beach in terms of the sand area and the waves but it is so popular you lose the picturesque nature of what I have come to think of as a typical Aussie beach.

We drove southwards along the beach road passing many really lovely beaches Tamarama and Bronte are really pretty. We decided to have dinner in Bronte in a great restaurant called Swell, lovely friendly atmosphere and white linen table cloths, I really enjoyed the 'amuse bouches' that are always unexpected yet a really nice touch for a resataurant. the food was great!

They're here pt 1

2008-11-11T05:15:00.005Z

The folks are here! they arrived and then spent a leisurely day around Darling harbour, we met up with them at 1830 on Friday ready to go out to dinner, my word it was busy! It may be that living in Canberra has lulled me into a false sense of what a night out in a city is!

We managed to find a malasian restaurant that had seats but was VERY NOISY, the food was good and although on first inpection of the number of dishes we had ordered we thought that we would never get through it all, however we were all quite hungry!

We left the restaurant to seek a quieter place to have a coffee and dessert, the evening was rather chilly (not what is expected of Sydney in Summer!)

We started the great tour of Sydney the next morning with a rather nice breakfast in Fratelli Paradiso in Potts Point and then walked around Finger Wharf where all the battleships seem to be propping up the wharf (jolly nice place to dock!)

We of course saw Russell Crowes penthouse at the end of Finger Wharf, he gave us a wave! (Mmm may have made that part up!).

We walked around the bay, around to Mrs Macquaries chair, but it had been taken over by a group of japanese who were all having their photos taken on the chair one at a time! so we dont have a photo!

The gardens were lovely and a wedding was going on in the grounds, it was a shame it was a bit drizzly at times. The rain however did disturb the 'flying foxes' BATS!who were so immobile during the rain that you hardly noticed them, it was when the rain had stopped that the commotion ensued! much flapping and wringing out of soggy bat parts occurred! They are however very bird like when they fly and I think rather cute.

We had a walk around the opera house but didnt bother to get a guided tour of the interior.

We stopped for lunch in Circular Quay and had a rather tasty bottle of NZ sauvignon blanc! We walked to the Rocks and the market was still quite busy but good crafty things on sale and no 'tat'!

The shopping was the final straw that made us all weary so it we hopped onto the ferry and sailed to Darling harbour for a quick nap then out to dinner again, somewhere quieter!

Halloween Party

2008-11-11T05:02:00.003Z

Halloween Party, a few photos, there was a mixture of costumes from the usual vampires and ghosts to Koalas and Punks!

Canberra views

2008-11-06T22:29:00.002Z

Thought I'd put some more views of Canberra, here is the lake taken from Lennox gardens, it was a lovely day, we had a BBQ watching the Toppers that were out from the sailing club and although it got a bit chilly as the sun went down it was a great clear night.
A view from the Black Mountain, the Captain cook memorial jet (just off centre) has now had its hours cut to just 2 a day (2-4pm) cutting tourist attractions is not one thing that Canberra can really afford to do!

Mount Stromlo during the Scott 24 hour race

Crimson Rosella with the Telstra tower in the back ground.

Spiders spiders spiders!

2008-11-02T21:27:00.003Z

I thought I would post pictures of all the spiders we have so far encountered in Canberra and in our travels around Australia. But as I searched 'my pictures' I realise that we haven't taken photos of all the ones we have seen! Mmm maybe it is because when we see a redback we spray it, their black shiny bodies, spindly legs and red hour glass marking make them look menacing and using the macro on the camera means that you have to actually get quite close to get a good photo, which often as not takes more than one go!

So no photos of the 5 redbacks we have had in and living outside the house nor of the lone whitetail that was wandering aroung the study.

But photos of the rather scary looking but harmless Huntsman who was positioned on the wall in the ensuite shower, we had a bit of a job fitting all his long legs into the glass so we could let him outside!

Golden Orb weaver seen in Cape Tribulation and Daintree National park, this colourful spider was just hanging out in the toilets! again not harmful.

This is the Wolf spider, we have a similar spider in UK and currently there are about 4 of these quite timid but will bite you spiders living on the edge of the patio in burrows they have dug themselves, this quite large one has even got down to the red soil beneath the concrete rubble.

Yes that is our rather fetching plastic lawn framing the spider, no need to water or mow!

Dralion Cirque de Soleil

2008-10-31T21:10:00.003Z

On Sat 25th October we saw the Cirque de Soleil perform Dralion, it was a nice evening but a little chilly, it was good to be in a big tent and we had really good seats thanks to Erica booking them as soon as they came on sale!

There was a comedy routing that kept us entertained beyween the amazing acrobatic routines.

The characters in Dralion

Many balancing and amazing bendiness feats!

We particularly liked the trampoline routines where some of the characters would throw themselves off backwards from the top of the curved wall onto the trampoline below then bounce and walk them selves back up the wall again! Very amazing to watch!

The view of the grand Chapiteau from across Lake Burley Griffith with Parlaiment lit up.

High Commission Ball

2008-10-26T09:13:00.003Z

In aid of Cancer research we attended a High Commission Ball on Friday 17th in the War Memorial, as we arrived the silent auction was on one side of the hall (which is a bad thing when one has had a number of fizzy wines!).
The hall is dominated by 'George' the Avro Lancaster B1 bomber which was built in 1942 and saw service with the No. 460 Squadron R.A.A.F. whist in Britain and flew 90 operational missions until its retirement in 1944. The missions are represented by bombs being painted on the side of the cockpit, certain pilots distinguished their missions by adding symbols such as a 'saint figure' for Flt Sgt Sant-Smith a pair of cherries for Plt Officer 'Cherry' Carter. Our table was beneath one of the wings.
The food was great:
Entree
Prosciutto and grilled asparagus with oven dried tomato, crispy ciabatta, babay leaves and olive tapanade
Main
Garlic and thyme marinated lamb rump, mash potato, roast carrot, watercress and redwine sauce
Dessert
Chocolate velvet pyramid with white chocolate creme anglais and macademia brittle
Coffee
wines -
Seppelt Fleur de Lys (VIC)
Benchmark Grant Burge Semillon Sauvignon Blanc (SA)
Benchmark Grant Burge Shiraz Cabernet (SA)

We had a band to dance to 'the Funky Fedoras' a very good evening indeed!

Governor Generals reception

2008-10-23T03:53:00.003+01:00

Last Tuesday we were invited to the new Governor General's abode, Her ExcellencyMs Quentin Bryce AC http://www.governorgeneral.gov.au/governorgeneral/ for a drinks reception, we arrived on three coaches but were a tad early so had to wait a while on the driveway, which wasn't too bad as the view was great! A lovely view of lush green lawns sweeping down to the lake Burley Griffith and the Black Mountain in the background.

Ms Quentin Bryce made a speech then toured the room meeting people for the hour, unfortunately we were not one of them.

We were taken on a short tour of the house, the house has a number of English antiques and the work from famous Australian artists including painters and cabinet makers, for which we were show the secret pair of drawers!

The house has a relaxed feel and the formal dining room has views of the lake.

We then decided to go out to dinner, so off to Manuka to the Iron Bark cafe a restaurant that specialises in traditional Aussie ingredients including Roo, Croc and Emu as well as fish and local veggies, very nice!

Aussie friends

2008-10-20T07:00:00.004+01:00

It was great to catch up with two teacher friends who had been on exchange in UK but are now back in Brisbane even though it was only a quick visit.

We had an extremely early flight back to Canberra so that Justin could ready himself for the Scott 24 hour race on the Saturday. He was in a four man team so 6 laps of 16km had to be done!

This is the sight that greeted me at 0830, obviously a 'hard days night'!

The last lap Hooray! So now finishing off 96km! Well done.

Noosa

2008-10-15T22:30:00.003+01:00

We stayed in the very nice Bella casa apartments on Hastings Street, which had a very unusual use of space, a small cupboard like area along one of the corridors had a roller shutter covering it which when pulled up had 2 bunkbeds neatly tucked in!

It was nice sitting outside on the balcony for breakfast every morning.

We walked around the National Park and saw a Koala and 2 brown snakes luckily they were quite small and only interested in sliding off the path! However just after seeing the second snake a piece of bush brushed my leg and I jumped out of my skin! (very ferocious eucalyptus they have in Noosa!) The picture is of another of the animals we saaw on our walk a rather large lizard.

Along the walk to Sunshine Beach were a number of idyllic beaches that we stopped and rested on. There was some rather unusual and unexpected wildlife on one of the beaches....the nudists (they always seem to be men, with hands on hips striding around!)

If you are going to ever do this walk I suggest carrying more water (ie more than 2 litres!) and snacks than we had with us, we staggered into Sunshine beach and both drank our bodyweight in water and munched our way through some of the great cafes there!

Sunshine coast pt2 Brisbane

2008-10-14T00:02:00.002+01:00

When we arrived in Brisbane (very early) we decided to drive a little of the area before heading into the main sights, we pootled along the coast around Manly and saw these chaps out with their radio controlled yachts having races around the bouys.

The Bougainvillea arches on the Southbank Views of Brisbane the Queens gardens with the Commissarat Stores building 1829, a large statue of Queen Victoria stands in front of the building.

Sunshine Coast pt1

2008-10-11T05:30:00.005+01:00

The plan was to go diving again possibly Vanuatu however the wrist situation put a stop to that one so we thought about a lazy beach holiday in Fiji which became too expensive as the Island resort we wanted was full, so we turned to the sunshine coast just north of Brisbane, we landed in Brissie airport at 0900 it was already 19 degrees (nice) and we spent the day sightseeing and then in the pool of the hotel, the follwoing day we walked the southbank with the lagoon and the market so many people using such a brilliant free facility, there were families having parties with the undercover seating and BBQ areas decked out with balloons.
On our way up the coast we visited the Glassmountains an group of pointy hills the remnants of extinct volcanoes, quite amazing really.
That evening we stayed in 'Aussie Bush Cabins' in Longthorne which was an interesting experince the cabins were nice and very isolated, the dust on the road ways showed the prints of a few animals that had crawled their way through the bush.
We got up relatively early to go to Crikey! Australia Zoo, which was fun we managed to stroke a very large Wombat (who was being led round the zoo on a leash) and a Koala who probably didnt even know what was going on as he was fast asleep! the Crocodile and bird shows were good in the Crocoseum the Crocmen's singing and dancing entertained the tiddlers in the audience until they bought out the crocs for the main show.

Politics Aussie style

2008-10-01T03:31:00.002+01:00

Just as we were leaving Belconnen Fresh Food markets, (where there is a great organic butchers and a fantastic fish shop), we were handed this flyer for the upcoming elections in Canberra, I will say no more!

Mountain bike mishaps

2008-09-30T09:54:00.003+01:00

I thought I'd share another gruesome picture, no this is not my knee and no I havent been trying to mountain bike with a broken wrist, but Justin however has, I think it may have been because i said dont hurt yourself otherwise we wont be able to drive anywhere!

This second photo is of himself retrieving a rocket from a very tall pine tree in Lennox Gardens!
He didnt hurt himself this time, which was good!

Floriade Nightfest

2008-09-29T01:17:00.003+01:00

The strange thing about Canberra this time of the year is that the weather is fab during the day usually blue sky and sunshine and about 19-24 degrees, then as the sun goes down the temperature plummets, so with this in mind we took (and wore) many layers of clothing to the nightfest.

The flower beds were lit up with different colour lights, the night market stalls seemed to have an abundance of soaps on sale, the Felt Stall was full of lovely things (but I managed to resist, this time!). The main events of the evening was the screening of Australian Comedy short films, (hence the need for big coats and blankets) which were very enjoyable, followed by a performance by Strange Fruit which are best described as people balancing on high carbon poles inside giant lampshades! It was enjoyable and slightly hypnotic as they swayed on the poles! It was not everyones 'cup of tea' however having a few glasses of wine myself I liked it!

Cast off, feeble hand out!

2008-09-24T00:52:00.004+01:00

Well Monday was the day that the backslab was taken off and the 7 stitches taken out, (yes the starry edges started to come in from the sides of my eyes! but I didnt faint!) Now I have a removeable wrist guard, which is very good, especially in the shower where having one arm covered up is not exactly conducive to washing! Besides from the fact my left hand was looking decidedly manky from not being washed for 2 and a bit weeks!
I have been given a number of excercises from the Physio, which although rather depressing to start with (Mon) I can already see better movement. I am determined to get back on with the sports I was doing before, I cant waste what's left of the time in Aus!
Anyho will post some pictures of all the gruesomeness soon!

weekend's activities

2008-09-22T00:52:00.004+01:00

This weekend was lovely and sunny so we decided to go for a picnic and BBQ on Saturday, a group of us went and we decided on the Cotter dam picnic area by the Murrumbigee river, it was very quiet and sunny but rather windy (even too strong for the kite).
Of course we had 'Roo sausages from the organic butchers in Belconnen fresh food market.
After we had BBQ'ed and the boys had a crafty nap we went for a walk to the Caves, which are fenced in to prevent entry which is a shame as the act of fencing in the caves effectively killed off the resident bat population who were also unable to get in and out of the cave!
Health and Safety 1 Nature 0

On the Sunday we went to the Thai embassy which was open for the day, selling thai wares and food, I bought another traditional bag made from old wedding clothes and comes from the Chaing Mai region, (the area we had visited in July) although I paid a lot more than the ones I previously bought in Chaing mai itself, I kept the bags that were intended as presents for myself! Oops

Spring in Canberra

2008-09-19T01:48:00.005+01:00

The days are warming up and Floriade is in town. It is still usually 2 or 3 degrees first thing in the morning but the days are kicking into action with about 17 degrees, today however a promised 23 is expected, excellent!

The balloons have started coming over our house again, so I thought I'd share a shot of them. At first we used to hear the roar of the burners going off and didn't realise for a while what it was (as it was usually before 0730!) so too tired at the weekend to get up and look out of the window. You also don't want to go out into the garden to look at them in your slippers and dressing gown as they can see you!!

I think I will start to put in some chillies and tomato plants into the very small veg bed so at least we may get some fruit from them before we leave.

The gum trees are flowering at the moment and it is these colours that are the inspiration for the colour scheme in Parliament house.

This is the Wattle in flower, many bees were all over it.

Both of these pictures were taken on the Black Moutain near the Telstra tower.

Cars

2008-09-16T01:37:00.003+01:00

Looking at the blog it doesnt seem as though I have mentioned one of our cars - the 'Crownie'.

So here he is made in Aug 1977, the reliable runaround!

Activities halted!

2008-09-14T22:46:00.003+01:00

Well, yes I thought ice skating would be fun, havent skated for ages but didnt used to be too shabby, so the friday before last (5th) my two pals went to Philip Ice skating rink, where we slid around an empty rink for 2 hours, Petrina really good (ex olympic champion- well something like that!) Erica 'Bambi like' at first then not needing the hand rail at all.

All was going well until 2hours 5 minutes when I just slipped backwards, dont really know why, wasn't even really doing anything remotely interesting, however my left arm thought it would twist around underneath and try to catch me!

So broke my arm/wrist - Ouch!

A plate and a 7 screws later, it is fixed! now however is 6 weeks in plaster and trying to function with one arm, quite difficult to manage and obviously not being able to drive! No tennis, biking, golf, shopping, gym - Oh woe is me!

DIY in Preuilly sur claise

2008-09-10T00:35:00.003+01:00

Trimming the Hydrangers, that had grown to triffid like proportions! Taking down the rickety defunct door shelter, but saving the tiles!
Nothing to do with DIY but spinning and dangling in the air in the local park.

preuilly photos pt 2

2008-09-10T00:11:00.003+01:00

Our initial stock pile of wood delivered by tractor and trailer by M.Claveau in Aug 06 was finally at an end, what seemed like an enormous amount of (chene) oak the first time (3 stere) that was dumped on the road outside the garage door (and cracked one of the drain covers). The wood shed looked a particularly sad sight.
However after some very confusing phone calls to the 'woodman' I managed to get him to deliver 4 stere of wood cut to 33cms, luckily help was on hand to ferry the wood from the road to the now cleaned and prepped wood shed, many thanks!
Arrival of 4 stere of wood!
Walking in Preuilly sur Claise's forest, the Pine/Ward clan.
Oh the glamourous sisters!

Preuilly sur Claise trip

2008-09-04T01:45:00.001+01:00

Just a few photos of my trip back to Blighty and France, more to follow!

Roos in our garden

2008-07-21T23:38:00.003+01:00

Whilst emerging from our beds at 0400 ready to drive to Sydney for our plane to Thailand we were surprised to see 3 kangeroos in the front garden of our neighbours house, which unfortunately means that I will have to try and wake up at this time in order to take a photo of them! until that time here is are some taken in Kosiosko National Park.

Skiing in Australia!

2008-07-08T01:38:00.005+01:00

We packed up the two cars and headed for the slopes with our skis rattling around in the back. We stayed in Jindabyne a village on a large lake with many bars and ski hire
shops but below the snowline and about 20 minutes to the resorts of Thredbo and Perisher Blue.

As the Friday was 4th July we had to celebrate Independance day for the Americans in our group and much fun was had with sparklers and 'bees'.

We managed to get up early (ish) on the Sat ready for a full day of skiing, so after brekkie we headed to Perisher, bought our lift passes and we were off! Although not many runs were open there was enough of the white stuff to have fun in the main valley, the chair lifts gave us some good views of Snow gums.

After lunch we headed for Blue Cow via the Ski tube (a clever under the mountain railway) and some really good runs.

A good day with not too many injuries only aching legs and the odd bruise.

As we returned to Jindabyne we dropped of some of the boys to watch the rugby at the Pub (NZ v SA) the rest of us joined then later.

Sunday turned out rainy and as we stood in the car park in Thredbo we decided that it was probably not worth it, so we did a tour of the valley and saw an Emu instead the slopes are near enough that we could come back for the day.

We saw the sign......Voila!

Cocktail party!

2008-06-30T06:45:00.004+01:00

The Winter Function aka the 'cocktail party' was held in the Convention Centre in Canberra, easy parking but rather a large venue for what was in the end a smallish crowd. All glammed up and intent on drinking and eating our monies worth!

The event finished rather early 2100 so we were forced onto the streets of Canberra, fortunately for those wearing high heels there was a venue really close by but unfortunately for us all the nearest place was the Casino....Oh no and the disturbing 80's Disco! but bouyed up with our fizzy wine (sorry, Champagne) we 'hit' the disco and as we (3 girlies in all our finery) went ahead of the the main group we were greeted with free champagne (which was nice!).

I had a try on the black jack table (with a friendly guide) and at one point had doubled my money.....however in what seemed like the blink of an eye it all went. So back to the disco and dancing to what I thought were not some of the highlights of the 80s!

Anyhow we managed to last until 3am (Yawning & feet killing!) and then took all Sunday to recover.

England V All Blacks or New Zealand in a weekend!

2008-06-23T23:02:00.006+01:00

We picked up the hire car from the centre of Canberra and headed with pizza in hand to Sydney airport (remembering to get petrol before we abandoned the car). The SPV's again caused a problem at check in with the girl at the desk checking with her supervisor who told us to check with immigration before she would allow us to check in! Much faffing later and grumpy faces all round we eventually manged to get the immigration officer to come up to the check in desk to tell them that 'yes it was alright' and 'no we werent illegally trying to get in and out of Australia!'
We needed a beer!
Johns parents kindly met us at the airport and we were ferried to the house in Christchurch.
Saturday the frost melted to give a great sunny day. John played host and drove us around the sights of Christchurch, very picturesque, we drove over the hills to Sumner and walked on the beach then had a coffee with the noisy seagulls! It looked a great place to live.
We had lunch outside in Le Cafe in Christchurch and watched the trams go by accompanied by a cheeky bottle of NZ white (of course!)
After taking in some of the sights we travelled back to the house to 'rug up' in readiness for the game in the evening (but first a few beers in the pub!)
The opening ceremony was all fireworks a Dakota flying overhead and 1940s singing!
the teams arrived and the All Blacks Hakka was a great thing to watch.
Mmmm 44-12 was not really what we had hoped for but the atmosphere in the stand was all good natured.

We went off for drinks after the game and found a comfy spot with a good view over the antics of the drunkards in square, inside our bar Godzilla in Japanese wreaked havoc! or was that Jez and Jus playing tip the beer on the table?!
We found that it is hard to tip toe inside a house full of sleeping parents without being silly!
Beakfast the next day was in Drexles http://www.drexels.co.nz/ Yum! then back home bumping into the England team at the airport! who were all a bit quiet, Zara Phillips and Mike Tindall slummed it on our jetstar flight.
We picked up the smallest hire car and squeezed in for the trip back to Canberra. A good weekend (very decadent though!)

The Red Centre

2008-06-19T02:14:00.005+01:00

We flew out from Sydney to Uluru (Ayres Rock) on Friday 6th June and landed with a great view of 'the rock'.

We picked up our hire car from the airport and drove to the resort.

We set off directly for the rock, it was an imposing sight amoungst all the flat terraine. Respecting the wishes of the Aboriginal people we did not walk up the rock but instead as we had time before the sunset, we walked around it, a 9.4 km very pleasant walk with many angles and faces of the rock not imagined from the many pictures we had seen before. Nearing the end of the walk we had to pick up the pace as the sun seemed to descend at an alarming speed. The sunset that day was rather a cloudy one and did not give off the great orange glow we had expected so we decided to return another day.

We stayed in the Outback Pioneer Hotel but awoke with arms and shoulders covered with bites, mozzies we thought....oh how wrong we were.

The following day we travelled to Kata Tjuta (the Olgas) which were again an impressive sight on the landscape, here we did the Valley of the Winds walk as well as the Walpa Gorge walk 10km in all, the whole area was very peaceful and very scenic.

we stayed to watch the sunset with our flask of red wine!

On Sunday we decided to get up early for the Sunrise on Uluru and were rewarded with a superb sight. We then travelled to Kings Canyon approx 300km away, the day was warmer but still only 19 degrees C, very pleasant to walk up and around canyons! there were some great drop offs and rock formations created, we did the rim walk 6km with some scambling up rocks required, the views made it well worth the effort.

More photos to come!

Signs

2008-05-28T05:11:00.002+01:00

I Thought I would add a few signs to the ones I have already posted, they were all found on our trip.

I think they have got the age wrong for this last sign!

Great Ocean Rd 3

2008-05-22T23:14:00.003+01:00

Kangeroo Island - The Remarkable Rocks, the rocks are weathered Granite Boulders on the top of a large dome of granite, the fantastic shapes are caused by the wind whipping over the boulders.

After Kangeroo Island we caught the ferry back to the mainland and sped off to Adelaide, after leaving Adelaide we headed for the Barossa wine region for much wine tasting for one of us the olther stalwart drove! Needless to say we perchased a number of bottles from of course Jacobs Creek (yes picture showing the site of the actual creek!) Yalumba and Barossa Valley Estate. Next after looking at the route back and realising that there wasnt a great deal of interest along the way we thought Ah its only 1200km and decided to drive the whole way back!

Grt Ocean Road and Beyond!

2008-05-20T00:44:00.004+01:00

Since we covered 4,000kms in the whole trip there are a few more photos from the epic journey.

EEEeeek, first we start with the 'Big' lobster the first of the 'big' things we have seen so far in Australia, maybe he was cross because I had already eaten one of his kind (very tasty he was too!)

Salt flats off the Princes Highway Vic, near Salt Creek! We avoided temptation to try and drive on it to set a land speed record in our Pajero with bikes ont he back(?!)
Parts of the coast line near the 12 (ish) Apostles perhaps these are some in the making

the Obvious sign!

Start of the Great Ocean Road trip

2008-05-11T04:28:00.002+01:00

We started with some off Roading on teh NSW Victoria Border, saw a furtive Lyre Bird
Kookaburra in Lakes Entrance
No honest we are in Australia even though the river is also called the Avon and they have a Shakespere festival!
Signs on Philip Island

Birthday celebrations

2008-02-05T23:18:00.000Z

Just thought I'd add these photos that are from the beach in Port Douglas, where all these amazing patterns of sand balls are made by the crabs burrowing and getting rid of the sand (as shown in the second picture).

We had 43 people round on Sunday to celebrate my 40th Birthday and what a great experience to have a BBQ, it was lovely and sunnny the prawns were on the barbie and I made cocktails with an Australian theme (thanks to the Diffords Guide), we had 'Sunstroke' and 'Red backs' which understandably everyone was wary of! But did taste good!

Last night we went to the revolving restaurant in the Telstra tower on the Black Mountain, what a great view of Canberra!Yummy food as well.

Justin has bought me a Balloon trip over Canberra followed by brekkie and fizzy so that will be good.

Holiday photos

2008-01-16T21:56:00.001Z

This is a Peppermiont stick insect, called so because if threatened they excrete a pepermint like liquid (we didnt test this!)
A street in Launceston
Lake Lilla in Cradle Mountain

Holiday Round Up

2008-01-14T00:42:00.000Z

We met up with Mikey and Liz at the Airport and headed into Sydney, with a fab postion obtained (thanks to Katie) in Circular Quay we got to see both sets of fireworks (9pm and 12) very spectacular albeit a bit fuzzily remembered having been sat (and drinking) in our postions since about 5pm!

Off to Tasmania, landing in Launceston, a quaint town in the North of the island (we had to go and pick up our bags from the baggage trolleys - no conveyor belt here!).
we walked to the stunning Cataract Gorge and passing the very 'British' gardens Peacocks and hydrangers and roses, there was a great outdoor swimming pool and of course the gorge itself which we paddled in (didnt have the swimmers with us!) Justin was able to get a hair cut.
We then went onto Cradle Mountain and stayed in stylish indivual lodges which had a fire and a stereo with various 'tranquil' CDs for you to use (no TV or phones here!). Dinner was really yummy accompanied with a bottle from the walk in cellar! (very dangerous!). We walked to a good viewpoint to see down to Dove lake and Cradle Mountain then we walked around the lake, this was the first bit of real exercise we had done for a long while and our leags ached the next day. Justin also regretted having his hair cut as he burnt his head!

We then headed off to Hobart, which was much more developed than Launceston, we went to a great market on Saturday and bought a few bits (including a hat for Jus!) made from Kangeroo skin (very soft).
We had a great curry in a restaurant where apparently the Indian cricket team eat when they come to tasmania, Justin was very happy having been hankering for a curry for a long time!
we visited Freycinet Penninsula with the famous WineGlass bay (another hike in the heat phew!) but well worth it, the waves were so rough that swimming was not an option, so we had a splash about instead - quite chilly, certainly not as heated as in Queensland!

Now we are back to normality (of sorts) back home

Christmas and the Barrier reef

2007-12-28T07:09:00.000Z

well a big gap since the last blog..not many internet cafes in Canberra! and our internet is not yet connected.

we had Christmas on the beach and swam in the sea (albeit between the 'stinger nets') lovely setting here in Port Douglas, very hot and humid, not very good for keeping your hair straight (hannah!)

we have just finished 2 days of diving on the Great Barrier Reef great coral, both soft and hard, many fish, parrot, emperor wrasse (big 3ft) came to say hello! we saw a white tipped reef shark (6ft) who was minding his own business laying on the sandy bottom until a gaggle of divers 'swooped' (not sure if you can swoop underwater!) but he casually looked at us and with a flick of his tail cruised into the deeper water too deep for us to follow - obviously quite clever these toothy fish!

As you can see from the picture we are wearing rather attractive 'stinger suits' to keep the deadly box jellyfish at bay. the water was 28 degrees C, so no need for a wet suit!

we are off to the rainforest tomorrow, although it is rather rainforesty here already we have had torrential rain which brought the frogs out (yep justin only managed to narrowly miss standing on a large example of one of the typical rainforest frogs (green with yellow eyes) who was sheltering on the pavement from the rain.

We'll have another day on the beach and in the pool before heading off to Sydney for the New Year celebrations. We are planning to get a grandstand view of the Harbour Bridge from either the opera house or the Botanic gardens.

That's all for now..........

Stuck in Singapore

2007-12-12T06:02:00.000Z

Well after a delayed start at Heathrow due to an ill passenger, we entered the 747 and we told that we could...go upstairs as a pair of seats were available! great! very high off the ground.
We settled ourselves down with a glass of bubbly, tucked in our cushions and reclined the 6 million postion seat.
The 3 course lunch was scrummy and then we settled down to watch the myriad of films that were available.
all was going swimmingly as the captaion managed to make up 1 hr of the delayed flight until we landed at Singapore, where we were told that we were to have a 40 min refuling and then be on our way again (we dashed to ther club lounge and had a shower), returned to the gate and boarded the plane....and sat there.....until the captain informed us that one of the doors seemed to be broken.blast! so after a number of hours onboard we were disembarked and now we will be staying in Singapore the night!
Oh well a further adventure to our trip to Aus!

Jasper secured

2007-11-20T22:44:00.000Z

Much Yowling later, (he even started doing the really low moaning sounds to add effect to his obvious misery!)
The meeting of the resident cat Missy, was composed of a brief spell of hissing then both skulking off to darkened corners of the lounge.
Poor jasper didnt really eat for a day or two, not really a problem at the moment due to his impressive girth, however he did manage some milk so he wont entirely fade away!

On returning home on Sunday at 5pm (ish) we encountered a blizzard at the top of Birdlip it was a brief reminder of the weather we would be leaving in about 4 weeks, massive flakes splatted on the windscreen - brilliant!

Poor Tiger greeted us with a pathetic meow, he had been lonely (no-one to fight with anymore), he'll be off soon to live in Bristol.

2007-11-16T15:00:00.000Z

The first consignment of 'stuff' has gone off to Aus today! so no washing machine, dishwasher and just a suitcase of clothes each to cater for the -2 degree mornings in UK and then the 30 degree days in Aus!

Jasper (cat #1) is also moving today to Kent to be looked after by the parents (thank you!), so we expect a LOT of yowling en route! hopefully there'll be no hold ups on the M25! (ha ha ha)

Location sorted!

2007-11-11T12:06:00.000Z

The destination is nearly confirmed