So what have I been doing since I left you, well after a very tearful farewell from New Zealand ... I was very sad to leave and had tears rolling down my cheeks on the way to the airport I am not afraid to say ... I boarded my plane to Melbourne and just under 4 hours later and a time change of 2 hours backwards I arrived at 5pm into Melbourne and the furious heat of 33 degrees and glorious sunshine ... at last I thought!
I hoped in a cab to Linda's house in Coburg, North Melbourne (I met Linda through Jenny when she lived in London) I have to say this was a little like taking my life in my own hands as I have never seen driving like it not only the speed but the weaving in and out of 5 lanes of traffic I didn't think I was going to see much of Australia.
That evening Linda and I cracked open a bottle of fizz and generally spent the evening trying to stay cool. But what a difference 12 horus can make, we awoke the following morning to lots of clouds, the temperature had dropped to the mid 20s and it was really humid. Linda took me into central Melbourne on the train to show me how it all worked and to the book store so I could pick up a copy of the Lonely Planet guide (cheaper than New Zealand but blimey still sooooo expensive). After this we went to one of the famous Melbourne Lanes for coffee and cake and whilst there it started to rain so we headed home as soon as we were done.
The rain didn't let up for the rest of the day or the following day which doesn't exactly make walking round a city fun or even worth it so we had a lazy day and went to the cinema, did a bit of shopping and generally pottered about.
Luckily by the Saturday the sun had come back and I was up bright and early and off into Melbourne. I started by doing the Lonely Planet walking tour of Melbourne which started at Federation Square and ound through the Lanes taking in points of interest. I added in a few detours here and there to the State Library, the Gaol where Ned Kelly was hung, the Town Hall, Hoseir Lane (famour for its graffitti - apparently Banksy has been here with his parachuting rats but I couldn't find them anywhere) the Parliament buildings, St Patrick Cathedrall and after 6 hours and very sore feet I hopped back on the train at Flinders Street station back to Batman Station (Linda keeps correcting my pronunciation of Batman as I'm sure you can imagine I have a certain theme tune in my head everytime I think of it).
That evening Linda's friends Jan (who is from the UK) came over for dinner and after quaffing rather a lot of red wine we hit the hay. Up early the following day so I could catch my train down to Mornington, via Cheltenham and Chelsea, on the coast where I was met by my lovely friend Jenny and her sister Lee.
The week down there were spent walking, swimming seeing a few sights most notably Sorrento where Mia (Jenny's Mum), Jenny and I stopped for a Snot Block. A what I hear you cry? This is the technical term for a famous Sorrento Vanilla Slice.
The beaches here are quite cute with beautifully coloured and painted beach huts or beahc boxes as they call then here and you wouldn't believe the price of these things ... $295,000!!!! Each morning we would walk dow nthe cliffs and along the beach to a great cafe in the harbour called The Rocks appart from one day when Jenny and I drove out to Portsea which is on the southern most tip of the Mornington Penninsula and walked along a very wind swept, desserted beach.
I had my first encounter with a large Huntsman spider at the cottage, luckily it was from a distance as they are pretty big but also completely harmless so that's fine by me. It rained a bit towards the end of the week but I'm getting used to that happening to me.
My last night in Mornington most of Jenny's family came to stay and we had a big meal together which was really nice before Anne and I took ourselves off to watch Silent Witness ... well with the opportunity to have a Harry fix who was I to say no ;-)
Early Saturday morning I had another tearful goodbye with Jenny and then caught the airport shuttle bus back to Melbourne Airport ready to catch my flight to Canberra.
A glorious 4 hours or so were then spent killing time in the airport as I couldn't get a bus that would get me there nearer the time and then I was off and an hour later arrived in a VERY wet Canberra .. did I mention
there's a drought in this country, at this point it has rained more in Oz than its been sunny!!!!
Amy, Harry and Isobel all met me at the airport which was lovely and Harry and Isobel had both made me presents which was so sweet and will be going in my journal. That evening we had a lovely dinner together and after 'your friend' as Isobel kept calling me to Amy had read Isobel a story and Harry had gone to bed too, the grown ups cracked on with the wine.
The following day it was still raining (arrgghhhh) so Amy and I took Harry and Isobel to Questaco which is the science museum in Canberra and there we met Gretta, Stuart's sister and her family. After a few hours of pushing buttons, pulling knobs, lots of screaming and running around we headed home and quite frankly I was exhausted (no one else was). After lunch some of Amy and Stuarts friends came over with their kids and we had a very civilised afternoon chatting, sipping beer and watching the kids entertain themselves and to top it off the sun came out.
Monday was Amy's first day at work and Stuart was taking the kids off to school so once everyone had been discharged I got up and then headed off into Canberra centre to find the Museum and an hour and twenty mintues later I found it sitting by the big lake in the centre of Canberra. Canberra is a bit of a strange place its been designed which you can tell as the streets are all nice and wide and there is lots of space everywhere but it does feel a little clinical at time I found.
The Museum was great though and gave me a good basis of Australian history such that it is and certainly all the things before we started sending convicts over here which I knew very little about and also how the Indigenous People (Aborigines and Torres Strait Islanders) were opressed and through to the Apology given by the Prime Minister here which I hadve to admit the video of it was done so well and with such beautfiul music I burst into tears ... yes folks still embarrassing myself by crying in very public places on my own!!
I spent about 3 hours here in total and by the time I came out it was throwing it down again so I caught the bus back. That evening we all headed out of pizza which was a lovely end to my 3 days with the Jones clan.
We are now at Tuesday 17th Feb (Becky I'm sorry I forgot to wish you a Happy Birthday so will publicly do it now, hope it was a good one) ...I caught an early morning flight from Canberra after Amy dropped me off on her way to work and arrived in Sydney again about an hour later. I have to say though what a view on landing!!! It was spectacular even if it was a bit overcast and I think the picture says it all.
I hoped on a train to Central Station then and arrived at my hostel the Railway Square YHA about lunch time and what a lovely hostel. Its in the old Railway sheds and some of the dorms are actually in old rail carriages I didn't get to stay in one of these but my room was clean, quiet and lovely and cool.
The afternoon I spent getting my bearings and aquainting myself with a little bit of Sydney as I'm finding it takes a bit of time to get used to places an the best way to do it is to just wander roudn with no particular agenda. I got some food in and just felt exhausted so was in bed asleep very early ready to start the day nice and early the following day.
I slept for nearly 12 hours!!!!! So not quite the early start I had planned but it was a beautfiul day (FIANLLY) so I set off to do the Lonely Planet walking tour of Sydney which started and Central Station and took me down to Hyde Park and the Anzac Parade, I then did a divert off to the Museum where I spent a good hour and a half and I actually think this museum's Australian History section was better than Canberra as I think Canberra assume an element of knowledge where as Sydeny treats you as the idiot you are ;-)
After this I headed up past St Mary's Cathedral, to Macquarie St and the old barracks and colonial buildings along the street inculding the Mint and Sydeny Hospital. About half way down is the State Library and opposite that is the entrance to the botanical gardens which is where I decided to stop and have my sandwich and I could just about make out the harbour from where I was sitting.
I walked down through the gardens and along the harbour front and then came into view one of the most iconic views I have seen on this trip so far ... the Opera House and the Sydney Harbour Bridge ... and what was my first thing that came into my head other than WOW? "I thought the Opera House was on the other side"
I then walked along Circular Quay and up to The Rocks which is where the first convicts were landed. A great area, steeped in histroy which you can see in the old buildings which of course are now all posh boutiques and coffee shops.
My final stop for the day was to head up on to the bridge. I decided not to do the bridge climb as it was $189 and for $9.50 you can climb the Pylon which is one of the stone pillars at the end of the bridge ... all 200 steps but for the views it is definitely worth it ... it was at this point the battery on my camera gave up the ghost ... what great timing! Luckily I had my Blackberry with me so managed to get a few shots on that.
When I got to the bottom I was no longer glowing or perspiring I was full on sweating from the heat, wlaking and lcimbing and never have I seen a sign so inviting ... "come and try one of our 100 beers" Yes Please!!! So I sat a drank a very well deserved scooner (hope I've spelt that right) of a pale ale I can't remember the name of now, I had tried several before I made my mind up ;-) Lastly I took the long walk down George Street back to the hostel where I had stir fry and flopped into bed exhausted again.
Thursday I decided was a day for the beach so I hopped on the open top bus tour round Sydney, just to check I hadn't missed anything and this gave me a good look round Kings Cross which isn't too dissimilar to the one in London certainly in terms of its late night reputation and then I was on my way to Bondi.
Hmmmm not convinced I see the attraction of Bondi myself its just a giant strip of sand crammed full of people posing for each other. Oh well I had my second alfrescoe lunch sat on the beach by the path wall for a bit of shade and then I set along the Coastal walk to Coogee (5km one way), this took in a number of other little bays with beaches and I have to say I think Tamarama was my favourite although not great for swimming (if you want swimming then Clovelly is probably the best). There was a lot of ups and down on this walk but again it was well worth it especially when I reached Waverley Cemetery which has a wonderful walkway over the cliffs and you can sit and watch the waves crashing, fabulous!
Once at Coogee I grabbed a gelato and headed for the beach to watch the world go by for a bit before heading back. Round trip it including the gelato stop it took 3 hours and once again I was suitably knackered but in a really good way and it had been such fab weather it made it all the better. I am loving all this time by the sea I'm getting I have to say.
On the way back I stopped off for some Chinese food, big mistake, it was nowhere near as good as Fang's cooking as I knew it wouldn't be and left me with a thirst I couldn't quench. After doing some laundry and uploading some photos it was off to bed again ... its tiring all this travelling!!
Friday I was up early and ready to go at 7.30m for my Hunter Valley Wine Tasting Tour. This was great although the weather let us down a bit but a few glasses of wine later ... weather? What weather? The first 2 estates we went to were great - Tallawera Grove and Iron Gate - in particular the second of these where I picked up Lulu and I a little bottle to celebrate with when she gets here on 27th. At Iron Gate the guy explaining the wines got us to try this reserve Chiraz hat he had and after 2 sips he then gave us some chocolate brownie to eat adn then said drink the wine again ... OH MY GOD!!!! It was heaven.
Lunch was next which was good job as we'd tried about 14 different wines by this stage and then after lunch Mariska (dutch girl I met) and I went off to try some cheese and I bought a very smelly one which is stinking out everywhere I go despite being in its wrapping, a plastic bag and a zip lock bag ... yep it hums but its so yummy!! And I also got to try some McGuigan wines which is one of the labels I drink in the UK so they gave me a list of all the ones available in the UK and where I can get them.
The last estate was a bit of let down after that it was called Ernest Hill and nowhere near as good as the other estates we'd been to. Then we were off back to Sydney and on the way back we watched "A Good Year" one of my favourite movies and suitably about wine. Back in Sydney the weather was fab and after dinner I spent the evening sorting stuff out ready for my trip to the Blue Mountains the following day.
I caught the 10.18am train from Central Station to Katoomba which is the 'capital' of the Blue Mountains according to Lonely Planet. The train journey was fairly ordinary the fun started when I arrived in Katoomba just over 2 hours later. What a weird little place!! Its like the 1920s/30s arrived and Katoomba got stuck in a time wharp which then attracted a rather 'bohemian' element shall we say. I had booked myself into a guest house and decided to push the boat out and have a room and bathrrom to myself ... BIG MISTAKE!!!! Imagine a bad old people's home crossed with Faulty Towers and this pretty much sums up where I was staying.
Shown to my room ther wall paper was peeling off the walls everywhere (not just in my room), there was damp on the ceiling, the window was nailed shut and there was a really nasty smell in the room even before my cheese had 2 days to fester in it, everywhere you stepped the floor boards creeked, my room was next to the communal toilets and showers (this proved interesting later), I was too affraid to plug anything into the electical socket for fear of electricuting myself, 'chintz' is the only way I can describe the bedding, curtains, carpet and wall paper and not in good way, there was a VERY old lady in the TV room who didn't look like she was going to make it through the night judging by the number of blankets she was wrapped in, her rather grey complexion and the stack of pills on a trolley in front of her and to top it all off there was a man staying there who I never saw but would puff and pant do much when he got to the top of the stairs (just outside my room) it sounded like he was doing something other than climbing the stairs and he liked to talk to himself ... I was gutted.
But Idecided best foot forward and quickly changed and headed out to sus out Katoomba ... well that took a whole 10 minutes or so (its not a big place) and as I couldn't face going back to the guest house there was only one thing for it I needed a drink. I had found the rather lovely looking Carrington Hotel by this stage so decided to plonk myself on there terrace and catch up on my journal and form a plan of action. Well this proved fascinating on the people watching front especailly the wanna be rock star and his rather fed up girl friend who were having a domestic over several glasses of wine, it then got even funnier when I very 'normal' Aussie couple on their 25th wedding anniversary trip got chatting to them and the introductions happened - Normal couple something like Chris and Jane, Wanna be Rock Star and girlfriend, Romeo and Charleen - well it was all I could do not to spit my wine everywhere I had so wished someone had been there to enjoy it with me.
3 glasses of wine later and full of dinner I decided it was time to brave the room and surpisingly once grunter had finished and I had put my ear plugs in I slept really well. Was up and out fairly early the following day and after picking up the best Almond croissant I've ever had from the organic bakery and garbbing water, fruit and a sandwich I headed out to Echo Point and the Blue Mountains. WOW!!!! Breathtaking does not do it justice again I'll let the photos do the talking.
So I strated the first of my walks which was recommended in a local guide which took me down the Giant Staircase to the first of the 3 sisters (legend has it that 3 sisters who wanted to marry 3 warriors from a different tribe were turned to stone by a medicine man whilst the matter was dealt with but he was killed and the sisters have remained in stone to this day). I then carried on down all 900 steps of the great stairway and was very wobbly legged by the time I got to the bottom. After that I carried on along Dardanelles Pass and on to Fedral Pass, past Katoomba Falls until I reached the Scenic World railway (5km). This walk was beautiful I was pretty much on my own most of the way just listening to the birds, cicadas and wind in the trees and the sun was shinning it was a glorious day. I then walked round the rather boring scenic world walk ways which was full of very noisy tourists running around and bascially scaring off any wildlife at this point I decided to head off down one of the other tracks that no one else really eemed ot be going down and what a good choice that was.
After about 30 minutes of quite strenuous walking/climbing I arrived at a break in the path which looked out overthe valley and the mountains beyond, a perfect spot for lunch, the best one yet!! I then walked back and got the railway back up to the top and from there walked the 2 or 3 km back to Echo Point where I picked up the hop on hop off tour bus (yet another mistake) which was rubbish I had hoped it would take me to the Jenolan Caves which had been recommended it was then I discovered that they are 1.5hrs away and its a day trip! Thsi was not made clear anywhere that I looked so I was a bit annoyed but it did get me back to Faulty Towers. Quick shower and I headed off to The Carrington again for a pre dinner drink and then to the Old Bank pub for the best veggie pizza I've had (pumpkin, spinach, goat cheese, pesto and pinenuts) and a really good salad. Despite drinking just over 1.5ltr of water during the day this obviously wasn't enough as the wine went straight to my head giving me a head ache and I thne drank another litre of water with dinner!
Slept well again and in the morning caught the 9.20am train back to Sydney, checked back into the Railway Square YHA where it was like bedlum as ACDC have been playing over the weekend and on Monday night so there were people and bags everywhere.
I then met Helen Marsden a girl I met through Laura who I used to work with at the Guardian (some of you may have met Helen at my leaving do). We caught the bus down to Circular Quay and had a lovely lunch down there looking out to the Harbour Bridge. At one point some people called out excitedly to a guy walking past saying "great show last night can we have our pciture with you". Helen M got very excited at this point thinking it was someone famous she got out her camera and was umming and ahhing about asking for her picture with him too thinking he must be with ACDC ... luckily she didn't quite get to that point because when we asked the people who he was they said he was a referee for cage fighting ... we did laugh.
It was baking hot day so we decided a gelato was in order before Helen had to catch her bus and after she left I hopped onthe ferry over to Manly for a quick wander round. The ferry took about 30 minutes and was a lovely way to see Sydney and Manly itself is actually really nice, The Corso which is the main walkway form the ferry terminal to Manly Surf Beach (they even have a Little Manly over here which is where I stayed in New Zealand with Jeanne and Howard) is lined with palms and funny looking pines and has cafes and seafood restaurants intermixed with surf clothing shops and boutiques.
I wandered round for about an hour and then caught the ferry back basking in the sun as I went. Quiet night again as an early start the following day and my first tiem driving since I elft home, I was certainly a little apprehensive.
That's all for now folks, sorry its been so long in coming and promise I will add the photos soon once I have time to do so.
Take care, love to you all
Hxx
