Sep
29
2010
Kind of Ausrtalia’s version of the Grand Canyon – but apparently older being almost 290million y/old!! – is a 2hour train journey west from Sydney. The train by the way is a triple-decker modern contraption with seatbacks that flip over to make a 4 seat facing eachother layout: jolly clever! And it only cost $16 for both of us one-way.
‘Blue’ Mountains because the vegetation gives a blue glow.
And its home to Scenic World, which is a system of Cable Car, Fenicular train and Skyway which has a glass floor, which is a bit bizarre when travelling 300m up!! The Cable Car has the most vertical descent of its kind in the world, as does the Fenicular (which was once the old coal mining haulage train ‘back in the day’ !). And this system of travel takes you down into the famous local rainforest near a place called Echo Point, where theres a really good wooden walkway for 2.8km around the national park. A particularly exertive walk for us both today as we spent 5+ hours yesterday putting together flat-pack furniture at Rob & Annie’s and a variety of underused muscles are now unhappy!! Another good 5K walk tomorrow should them out!
In a couple of days’ time we going to take a day trip to the Jenolan Caves – not only the oldest caves in the world, but also the first to have an audio guide track available in Klingon….there was a USS Jenolan in an episode of Star Trek TNG you see so they have been honoured with an officially translated guide! Seems that Star Trek is following us like the earthquakes on our travels!!
Sep
24
2010
Australian War Memorial
A visit to Canberra would be incomplete (esp when staying with Navy peeps!) without a trip to the Australian War Memorial. About 1 1/2 km long, its a good stroll, taking in the various memorials to individual branches of the Austrlian and Kiwi services, culmanating with the actual War Memorial at the top, dedicated to those who fought and those who never came back. Its not too somber a place considering its relevance and has a really good view down the parade towards the Parliament House (as referred to in an earlier blog as Govt. House!).
Whilst there, we found on one of the rolls of honour from WWI, the name BINYON, H H, who served in the 9th Regiment Light Horse Div. As well as
BINYON, H H
being a bit of a surprise, it will entail a smidge of further research.
Sep
22
2010
WEDNESDAY 22ND | Having had prelim root canal work done while we were in Wellington, NZ, I – that’s me, Mike! – had to go for op.2 of 3 yesterday!!
We had carried the prelim x-rays and printouts since then and goes without saying that they were a little dog-eared! The 1+3/4 hr, yes 1+3/4hr appointment was better than expected/feared/not looked forward to, mainky thanks to some well-drilled injections! So, less money and less tooth later I leave knowing that in a fortnight I have to go through the final cleaning and then a crown!!! – Don’t nobody say nothing!
We got take-away pizza that night!
THURSDAY 23RD SEPT: as well as being Mike’s sister’s 44th (!!) we spent the morning doing exciting things like sorting things to pack for the next leg of our journey. We’re gonna leave Canberra and Ian & Mel behind and head back to Sydney, where we’ll spend 3days and nights in the Blue Mountains. Then the Aussie bank hol w/e in Sydney going to the Manly Jazz Festival and Oktoberfest (oh well!!); before catching a flight to Brisbane. Local flight is quicker and cheaper than Greyhound!
After sorting a few odds ‘n’ sods, we were chauffer-driven generously by Mel to a couple of local-ish vineyards to sample and purchase their wares. Unlike California which generally charged $5, the tastings are free so we felt more compelled to buy a bottle.
Mmm; Cheeky!
A medium bodied Shiraz from the Yass Valley Vineyard (L); and then a Prosecco-like sparkling Semillon, chilling nicely as we type thank you very much !, from the Shaw Vineyard Estate – both outside the village of Murrumbateman, nr Canberra.
Sep
20
2010
Not as dodgy as it sounds; honest!
Finger Wharf is a very des-res part of Sydney’s harbour, being over 90years old and once a run-down jetty, now home to a trendy hotel with pricy drinks (!!) and some jolly nice waterfront apartments. We were lucky enough to have the use of one of these apartments for the weekend and as it is totally unfurnished except a couple of blow-up beds, it got the title of Squat!
Friday night we met up with Rob & Annie (Shriv 2006) and reminisced over a few local brews.
Saturday we went to Coogee Beach which is a smaller and less touristy version of Bondi Beach. Rob’s kids (4 and 7y/o) loved it and managed to get a fair covering of sand on them! A couple of cakes later and all was well with the world! Sat arvo was spent idlly wandering around Sydney, esp the Paddy’s Markets buying odds and sods, before meeting up at the Fitzroy Pub for a rather good Beef Rendang curry and Laksa curry…its the first place we’ve been where you order and pay for food at the kitchen door!!
Sunday started early (children!) but it did allow us to watch the Sydney Marathon go by from the comfort of the airbed!! Why anyone would want to run a distance they could easily drive is beyond us!! But they did; and it seemed to go on all day, poor sods! A lazy but good bacon and eggs was followed by a trip to the park for the kids to run around and exhasut themselves: it also meant having to play Cops and Robbers which meant imaginary guns and special powers!!! And it was while here that Rob, Jane and Mike all got dive-bombed by an Indian Minor bird – good job those guns were imaginary!!
It was hell!!
Sunday afternoon
went all Manly: a 1/2hr ferry to the north Sydney surf-town of Manly. And within minutes of landing we were in the Bavarian Bier Cafe enjoying a lemon Hefeweizen, yummy, which was about to start its annual Oktoberfest! After that we found the local brewpub 4 Pines which was in the middle of its own Oktoberfest so had a Red Bier – also rather agreeable. A quick stroll around Manly proved it to be a real “surf dude” zone even at 5pm on a cloudy Sept Sunday! Nice looking town with plenty of coffee shops, pubs n bars, and ofcourse surf shops: like awesome dude!
And Lo, it was good.
Sep
15
2010
Sounds like a Harry Potter book, but we thought as the weather was so nice
"old" Govt House
yesterday we’d go and have a look at the two Government Houses in Canberra – the Old and the New.
Situated on the same avenue facing eachother, the Old is the more stylish of the two buildings made of white-washed brick complete with a workers’ garden and tennis courts!! The New is of a design straight from a Blue peter competition!! with a centre-piece that resembles a lighting conductor in disguise. While we were there a graduation ceremony was in progress so we were slightly under-dressed compared to everyone else: oh well, over it now!! Bizarrely, the car park which is directly underneath the building, has abosolutely no security whatsoever!
tents of anger!
And the “tents of anger” is an aboriginal protest against Aussie land-use, and consists of about half a dozen tents on the lawns outside new government house. Its a fair shout.
Today we should be going to a thing called Floriade, which is an outdoor event in Commonwealth Park, Canberra. Its a kind of garden-festival with a few fairground rides, a bar (!!) and evening entertainments inc live bands, films and comedy.
Sep
13
2010
Almost 19C today!! We both made the most of it by stopping by the tourist info centre and then heading off to Canberra’s Botanical Garden. Lots of
Eucalyptus trees, a rock garden, rainforest walk. Made the best of it as the weather forecast for the next couple of days is depressing!!
Sep
13
2010
So the few days in Sydney have ended and we successfully met up with Ian on Saturday before the AUS v NZ rugby match. We had to meet in the Lord Nelson pub (!!) which brews its own beers – an especially good one called Three Sheets. Another three and we would have been!
So we headed off to Canberra Sunday afternoon and 3 1/2 hours later we were tucking into some very acceptable OZ Sauvignon Blanc!!
Sep
8
2010
Short and succinct plan for today is to do the ‘tourist’ thing and go see some of this city’s famous bits. Would like to walk the harbour bridge – may depend how much it is though. And how windy it is!!
We had a sunny walk around the Botanical Gardens yesterday so thats enough of the sophisticated stuff, mybe time to also check out the swanky Rocks and Darling Harbour areas.
Sep
7
2010
So with the recent tectonic distractions behind us ( we were in the hotel when three 5.4R aftershocks hit [laundry-time!!] ) we have now safely arrived in Sydney, where we’ll be staying for the next 5days before going to spend time with old Shrivenham friends Ian & Mel and Rob and Annie.
Tuesday was spent settling in and sussing the area out. The Base hostel is in a great central location (they always are) and there are more coffee shops per mile than anywhere else we’ve been so far.
Within an hour of checking in we had found Chinatown and shared a BBQ Pork lunch special, before finding the ‘free bus’ and riding the entire looped journey to see Who What Where and Wow!!
Sep
3
2010
Unfortunately the past few days have been in patchy internet areas, so here’s a synopsis (big word, hey?!!) . . .
Sunday Sug 29th:
Our second day in chilly Franz Joseph was a full day…Hiking the FJ Glacier!
Not cold; not cold!!
We literally got kitted out in snow boot + crampons, chunky socks, waterproof trousers and jacket, hat and shades. The walk to the base of the glacier was just under a mile, followed by some serious hiking and squeezing!!
The glacier changes quite swiftly from ’smooth fresh’ ice to heavily compacted ice formed into crevices – some were about 12 times our height and we had to go through them sideways with backpack over one shoulder! Oh yeah, and it was cold the ice!!
From the base we hiked up to almost 2500ft above sea level where there was a great view of white: white ice, white snow, white clouds!!
Some of the ice-steps were a good knee-height which meant plenty of acheing limbs for the next couple of days; and in fact one of the crevices was so low we had to go through on hands and knees, which sounds easy enough, but ice also has a tendancy to be wet and slippery, meaning one foot forward, one foot back in some places!
That was one amazing day, esp as Jane is not that mad on heights!
Aug 30th – Wanaka on a Monday >>
Now this was one beautiful little town, right on a lake side. Even better if one was a skiier, as thats all this town exists for! The hostel was a good one with some seriously dodgy karaoke that night (fortunately Mike didnt get a
How many animals, y'all?
song!!), although it was an early night as we had a 4hour drive south the next day.
31st August, Tuesday… this was a fairly long journey day, with us both being able to smirk somewhat at those with hangovers!! First stop was the Wanaka Puzzling World! A rather quirky, yet amusing, one-off place with all sorts of visual effects, trickery, optical illusions, games, puzzles and a 2-storey maze!!
A lot of 3D stuff and a really bizarre tilted room where water went uphill, you stood upright but at an angle etc etc!!, and a room where you were tall at one end and small the other! Apparently Peter Jackson used these effects in “Lord of the bloody Rings” ( we call it that because practically everything on South Island has something to do with that boring film!! )
From there it was a straight drive to Queenstown: “Adventure Capital of the World” . . .
. . . arrived here with enough time to check in (took about 3/4hr!) and get settled in. Settling-In started in the hostel bar at 830pm with cheap drinks and ‘pub-games’!! From there up to the ‘world-famous’ World Bar, which serves cocktails in teapots for sharing!! We all got 100 free drinks to get us started – about 4 each!!
Wednesday First of September: As expected plenty of hangovers for
..with salt AND vinegar?!!
another long day ahead! A full 12hour trip to the country’s best beauty spot, Milford Sound and Mitre Peak. Well it would have beautiful had it not been raining and covered with clouds! So the coach journey was long and the boat trip on the Sound (actually a flooded fjord) was wet…but we did get to an underwater observatory where we could see the sealoife up close…was a bit wierd though as we both realized that we were the ones in the “Human-arium” as the fish were free to swim around, and it was us behind perspex!!
Second of September, a Thursday. A slow day. Well, for Mike anywho!
Like awesome; dudette!!
As snow-sports and Mike don’t mix, and Jane has always wanted to give snowboarding a try, it is Jane today being the adventurous one, taking snowboarding lessons and having a ‘day on the slopes’ !! That has given Me, Mike, a day at the laptop getting Facebook and our website updated!! As it turned out the server was having a wash and brush-up so was offline. Went for a walk instead!
Tonight was spent on the hostel’s locally-famous Big Night Out pub crawl… 10 bars, 6 drinks, pizza and all for $20 each.! Deal, or what?!!