We look at the calendar and realise that time is quickly running past, it is now 15 months since we arrived on these shores from the UK. We have seen some family over here but really miss the contact we had with friends and family. It is about time we considered a trip back home to see everyone. The fact that none of my family are ever likely to come and visit us in this country makes the return home more important.
We have decided that we will return to the UK in July, flying out at the end of June and staying for three weeks. Moira is going to see if work will let her work in the UK on a overseas visit, Oxfam might be into letting Moira work in the UK for the experience. Sounds like a plan to me.
Flights are just amazingly expensive, I didn’t care when we flew out, after all the flights were one way and were paid for by Oxfam. Now this is my money and I have worked hard for this. Our savings are going to take a bit of a battering. Still we are going to see our family and you can’t put a price on that. But $2,500 dollars each is a hell of a price!!
The travel agent tells us for an additional $20 each we can have two days in Hong Kong. Now i am not one of those people who usually use a travel agent, I much prefer letting Moira search the internet and find the cheapest flights. The she will book them and ensure the reservations are correct and we have all our itinery sorted. She even writes up a list of documents I have to bring with us, usually passport and money. This time though I thought I would leave the job to someone else and let a travel agent ease the stress. Usually caused by finding a flight three pounds cheaper than on you have been watching only to discover the price has gone up on both when you try and book, what a nightmare online booking can sometimes be. Any way our agent has promised to check out accommodation in Hong Kong as well so he is proving very useful.
The fact of the trip has also raised another very important issue, mainly concerning my passport which is due to expire in October of this year. Australia will not let people travel on a passport with less than six months on it if it is not an Australian passport. So before we can go away for this holiday I have to apply for my new passport. That will leave me with another conundrum as my visa will be on the old passport, I am sure they will allow me to transfer it across but how long will that take and more importantly, how much will this cost me. So the passport application is in and I am investigating how much the visa will rob me of.
Still it will be nice to see everyone again. Internet and phone calls can only fill so much of the void left when you don’t have friends and family living down the road, but we are in a much better environment when we can skype people and call on our mobile, constant texting and facebook is shrinking the relative distances between relatives. Which just goes to show that we are evolving in this digital age and we should take advantage of it.
This weekend is labour day weekend. Another reason for those wily aussies to get another day off work. The story behind the day is that workers at Melbourne University were demanding that the day be split into three, 8 hrs for work, 8 hours for play and 8 hours for sleep. There was such strong feeling that this should be how the working day in Australia should be split that the workers in the University downed tools and refused to return to work until legislation was written allowing this. Nowadays this split is not really adhered to as we all work longer hours and spend less time at home, even sleep is being missed, I seem to be functioning on less sleep the odler I get, I can happily enjoy 5-6 hours and then be fully refreshed for work. Still the holiday has been established and is one of the ten public holidays in most states. Ironically students attending the very birthplace of this traditional holiday are not allowed to take labour day off, but they are students so cannot be classed as working anyway.
Tuesday, 2 March 2010
Tuesday, 16 February 2010
Australia day
The one great thing about summer over here is the extremely gratuitous amount of public holidays. Starting with Australia day on the 26th January, soon to come is Anzac day and Labour Day as well as Easter. Obviously this is paid for with a long wait in winter where there are no holidays. However for now we’re blessed.
Australia day is the one day of the year when Australians get to celebrate something they are really good at, basically being Australian. They all sit down and fire up the barbie then spend the day drinking beer. Well most do, some of the younger and more bogan of the population will go to the pub and spend the entire day filling themselves with alcohol. Usually they can be seen around closing time staggering down the street, Australian flag draped round their shoulders, or worse vomiting into the gutter. The day itself is dedicated to Australian culture and in between beer and meat pies, BBQ’s and Southern Cross flags every Aussie gets a day off work to celebrate.
We decided that this year we would do something different, so we had a BBQ on Sunday instead and then on Australia day we went to the tennis. The Australian open was into its final week and we had seats in the main arena. We had two women’s matches and one men’s, the sun was shining and it looked like a great day. Rod Laver arena is where the tennis takes place each year and we got there nice and early, around the outside of the arena there are screens and the crowd can watch the tennis just like they do on “Henman Hill/Murray Mount” in Wimbledon.
Looking around the arena it became obvious I would only have one thing to worry about, do I buy a large oversized tennis ball or do I go for the towel. This is an important decision as the choice of souvenir sends out a strong signal to other spectators, do I want to be seen as childish and fun or serous and in need of a towel. The choice was obvious to me.
Tennis is great fun to watch, all the bouncing of the balls and whacking of the racquet. Getting drinks from the bar was a logistical nightmare as the doors were only opened for a few minutes each time the players switched ends. So usually there would be three games missed when going for a drink. We timed this fine and avoided leaving when something important was happening. The women’s matches all went to the limit, with three sets being fought out. Whilst every effort was done to reduce the disruption caused by the spectators getting drinks there was no way of stopping the disruption caused by the jet display team. They flew over the arena and around the arena as part of Australia day celebrations and the tennis players were not too happy to see them as the sounds was quite deafening. The tennis was great but we really wanted to see Andy Murray play, his match was in the evening and we had day tickets, but we thought that we would go into the public park and watch on one of the screens. However when the tennis was over rain started to fall and we decided that it would be better to watch the Murray match from the safety of our front room.
The pity of the day was really that we didn’t get to see anyone who got into the finals, Andy Roddick was kicked out in the following round and Justine Henin didn’t get much further. Still the day was good fun and a lot easier to get into than Wimbledon.
I still use the towel when I am at the beach!
Australia day is the one day of the year when Australians get to celebrate something they are really good at, basically being Australian. They all sit down and fire up the barbie then spend the day drinking beer. Well most do, some of the younger and more bogan of the population will go to the pub and spend the entire day filling themselves with alcohol. Usually they can be seen around closing time staggering down the street, Australian flag draped round their shoulders, or worse vomiting into the gutter. The day itself is dedicated to Australian culture and in between beer and meat pies, BBQ’s and Southern Cross flags every Aussie gets a day off work to celebrate.
We decided that this year we would do something different, so we had a BBQ on Sunday instead and then on Australia day we went to the tennis. The Australian open was into its final week and we had seats in the main arena. We had two women’s matches and one men’s, the sun was shining and it looked like a great day. Rod Laver arena is where the tennis takes place each year and we got there nice and early, around the outside of the arena there are screens and the crowd can watch the tennis just like they do on “Henman Hill/Murray Mount” in Wimbledon.
Looking around the arena it became obvious I would only have one thing to worry about, do I buy a large oversized tennis ball or do I go for the towel. This is an important decision as the choice of souvenir sends out a strong signal to other spectators, do I want to be seen as childish and fun or serous and in need of a towel. The choice was obvious to me.
Tennis is great fun to watch, all the bouncing of the balls and whacking of the racquet. Getting drinks from the bar was a logistical nightmare as the doors were only opened for a few minutes each time the players switched ends. So usually there would be three games missed when going for a drink. We timed this fine and avoided leaving when something important was happening. The women’s matches all went to the limit, with three sets being fought out. Whilst every effort was done to reduce the disruption caused by the spectators getting drinks there was no way of stopping the disruption caused by the jet display team. They flew over the arena and around the arena as part of Australia day celebrations and the tennis players were not too happy to see them as the sounds was quite deafening. The tennis was great but we really wanted to see Andy Murray play, his match was in the evening and we had day tickets, but we thought that we would go into the public park and watch on one of the screens. However when the tennis was over rain started to fall and we decided that it would be better to watch the Murray match from the safety of our front room.
The pity of the day was really that we didn’t get to see anyone who got into the finals, Andy Roddick was kicked out in the following round and Justine Henin didn’t get much further. Still the day was good fun and a lot easier to get into than Wimbledon.
I still use the towel when I am at the beach!
Thursday, 11 February 2010
New Year - Part 2
With all the fun of Christmas over we had the new year to look forward to. Fireworks at 9:15pm in the heart of Melbourne before we drink till midnight and see in the new year. After the hot days we had experienced through the Christmas period, including a couple of days where he parent just called chilling in the aircon as an activity, the temperature was dropping. Black clouds on the horizon was not looking good for fireworks but we would persevere and see them. We had friends round to join in the fun, feeding all with a huge chilli and rice dish before we braved the rain. The fireworks were due to start at 9:15 and the rain started at 9:00. As the only person there with an umbrella I was quite happy to wait for the fireworks however as the rain soaked through their clothing the other members of the party grew more despondent about staying. When the announcement came that the fireworks were to be delayed we simply turned and left. We played games, board and wii, until midnight when we all watched the fireworks in Sydney harbour on the TV.
In the new year we hired a car and set off into the Grampians, he rain from the previous days was stopping and the weather was turning for the better. The Grampians are one of the mountain regions of Victoria, although we are stretching the term mountain here. These large hills are full of panoramic beauty and spectacular lookout points. And being Australian most of them can be reached by car. The only downside was that it was a six hour drive to the cabin.
When we pulled up outside the cabin the first thing that sprung to mind was how close the cabins were to town, we were staying at a town called Halls Gap, three shops, a pub and a car park, along with fifteen restaurants and hundreds of cabins. This was a small sleepy town alright, full of tourists trying to get away from the general population by hiding out in one of several hundred cabins. Our spirits were lifted even higher when we pulled up and saw the table sized BBQ sitting outside our cabin, a few minutes playing and we had confirmed that we had gas, and all our limbs remaining.
Moira and I sat outside the cabin watching small colourful birds playing in the braches of the bushes outside, although the cabins were crowded there was a sense of privacy afforded by the clever use of foliage. As we did there came a call and we turned to see several Kangaroos sitting and grazing at the side of our cabin. As we watched we spotted many more hopping around in the forest behind our cabin and we sat and watched. Soon they were joined by wild deer who seemed also not to be bothered by our presence. Even when some of the children staying at the site came over to see the kangaroos just kept a careful distance. After a while we moved over and ate our BBQ dinner and in doing so we saw all the kangaroos come thundering through the forest on their way back up the hills.
The following day we drove round some viewing platforms and saw the sights of the region, Mackenzie falls, the Balconies (formerly the jaws of death, wonder why they changed the name) and the pinnacles. The latter was a spectacular walk through valleys and climning gullys until you reached one of the highest points in the region. Very energetic and made us all feel as though we had deserved our beer in the evening.
It turned out that the Kangaroo show was a nightly event, each night they followed the same pattern, slowly working their way through the forest and down the hill, past our cabin and down to a meadow by the road. There they all stood around grazing and scratching, the roo equivalent of a local pub I suppose. Then after about half an hour a mad dash back up the hillside.
Over the three days we spent in Halls Gap we managed plenty of walks as well as lots of wine tasting and more BBQ meals than you can eat in three days (three to be more precise). Everyone had a wonderful time and I would totally recommend this area of Australia to anyone. This place was so beautiful and we managed to see wild roos, wild emu’s, wild echidna and wild bogans.
After the holiday it was back to work for me whist the others enjoyed the final days of the visit. Moira had a birthday meal at Riva, a fantastic restaurant by the sea. Then before we knew it they were on a flight home.
It is weird how cramped a room can seem when there are four people trying to share a single studio flat, and then how empty it seems when the people you love are no longer there.
In the new year we hired a car and set off into the Grampians, he rain from the previous days was stopping and the weather was turning for the better. The Grampians are one of the mountain regions of Victoria, although we are stretching the term mountain here. These large hills are full of panoramic beauty and spectacular lookout points. And being Australian most of them can be reached by car. The only downside was that it was a six hour drive to the cabin.
When we pulled up outside the cabin the first thing that sprung to mind was how close the cabins were to town, we were staying at a town called Halls Gap, three shops, a pub and a car park, along with fifteen restaurants and hundreds of cabins. This was a small sleepy town alright, full of tourists trying to get away from the general population by hiding out in one of several hundred cabins. Our spirits were lifted even higher when we pulled up and saw the table sized BBQ sitting outside our cabin, a few minutes playing and we had confirmed that we had gas, and all our limbs remaining.
Moira and I sat outside the cabin watching small colourful birds playing in the braches of the bushes outside, although the cabins were crowded there was a sense of privacy afforded by the clever use of foliage. As we did there came a call and we turned to see several Kangaroos sitting and grazing at the side of our cabin. As we watched we spotted many more hopping around in the forest behind our cabin and we sat and watched. Soon they were joined by wild deer who seemed also not to be bothered by our presence. Even when some of the children staying at the site came over to see the kangaroos just kept a careful distance. After a while we moved over and ate our BBQ dinner and in doing so we saw all the kangaroos come thundering through the forest on their way back up the hills.
The following day we drove round some viewing platforms and saw the sights of the region, Mackenzie falls, the Balconies (formerly the jaws of death, wonder why they changed the name) and the pinnacles. The latter was a spectacular walk through valleys and climning gullys until you reached one of the highest points in the region. Very energetic and made us all feel as though we had deserved our beer in the evening.
It turned out that the Kangaroo show was a nightly event, each night they followed the same pattern, slowly working their way through the forest and down the hill, past our cabin and down to a meadow by the road. There they all stood around grazing and scratching, the roo equivalent of a local pub I suppose. Then after about half an hour a mad dash back up the hillside.
Over the three days we spent in Halls Gap we managed plenty of walks as well as lots of wine tasting and more BBQ meals than you can eat in three days (three to be more precise). Everyone had a wonderful time and I would totally recommend this area of Australia to anyone. This place was so beautiful and we managed to see wild roos, wild emu’s, wild echidna and wild bogans.
After the holiday it was back to work for me whist the others enjoyed the final days of the visit. Moira had a birthday meal at Riva, a fantastic restaurant by the sea. Then before we knew it they were on a flight home.
It is weird how cramped a room can seem when there are four people trying to share a single studio flat, and then how empty it seems when the people you love are no longer there.
Tuesday, 2 February 2010
Christmas and the New Year - Part 1
Well Christmas has come and gone and I have been very lax with the blog, having said that I have been extremely busy looking after visitors. I had the in-laws coming into town for the holiday period and such we had a lot of impressing to be done. They arrived on the 23rd having taken a break on the way down in Bangkok, so they were not going to be a jet lagged as some visitors. Moira jhas spent the last year carefully planning the visit and had filled a spreadsheet with vital plans for the time they would be spending over here. We had booked cricket for boxing day, trips down the coast and were finishing in the new year with a three day trip to the Grampians.
Christmas eve was fairly low key, good food and wine and talks about the trip down. An opportunity to share the three million photo’s we had taken since landing. Presents were placed under our tree, a real one this year decorated with a variety of gaudy silver starts and baubles and a selection of Koala bears. The look spoke of tradition with a hint of Australia.
The first hurdle was the fact that we were four people living in a single room studio flat, one benefit is that it is large enough to pull a partition wall across that splits the room in half thus giving the parents an idea of privacy. The second biggest hurdle was going to be lunch.
For Christmas lunch we prepared a seafood starter, Melbourne having some of the best seafood in Australia. We perhaps made a slightly large amount but there would be no hungry people at our Christmas dinner table. The main course was a traditional turkey with all the trimmings, plus an additional selection of Emu meatballs. Everyone agreed that they were extremely dry but the experience was what was counted. Presents had been opened and we got down to the somewhat serious task of entertaining, this consisted of playing board games, cards and drinking an enormous amount of alcohol. Just like Christmas back home, except no TV. It’s very easy to go without TV when you have good company to pass the time with.
Boxing day and we all set out to the cricket, the MCG (Melbourne Cricket Ground) is one of the jewels of the city and we had so far not been to this stadium, missing out on St Kilda’s trip during the AFL season. Australia against Pakistan was an exciting match, well it would be if you were a follow of the sport. I am not really but the experience of watching the two teams in one of the best grounds in the world. We managed to find ourselves sitting in the same area of the ground as two people from England who the in-laws knew and the day ended in a restaurant on the south bank. All in all a very nice experience.
The following day we tried to take a trip down the coast to Sorento, a coastal town renowned for good views and quaint restaraunts. We drove down the coast quite a way before Tom Tom instructed us to take the main highway down the peninsular. This was a big mistake as we found ourselves in train of traffic, pretty much everyone in Melbourne had decided that this would be a good idea. With the temperature in the 30’s it seemed everbody thought going to the seaside a great idea. We were a little panicked as we had booked the colonial tramcar that evening and we had to be at the stop for half eight or they would leave without us. Needless to say once we finally arrived we had enough time to call into a chippy, buy and eat some chips then pretty much set off again. We made good time on the way back and had plenty of time to get ready and meet the tram.
I have spoken about the colonial tramcar restaurant before but in essence this is a 1930’s tramcar that has been converted into a travelling restaurant. Food is simple and most of it is prepared in a restaurant and picked up on route, the steaks are cooked on the tram to your liking. Once on board the booze is free and as the tram makes its way round the city you are given a tour of Melbourne whilst you eat your meal. Moira went for chicken which was a mistake but everyone had a great time and we were surprisingly drunk by the time the three hour trip was over, the staff just do not stop filling your glass.
Next we took the parents on their Christmas present, a wine tour of the Yarra Valley region. This covers some fantastic wine and is a really must do experience when visiting Melbourne, a single day tour to four or five vineyards including Chandon (Moet & Chandon subsidiary). The parent s loved it, this was our second trip, and need-less to say that evening we enjoyed some of our best wine of the holiday, everyone is always buying souvenirs on these trips. At this point i’ll leave the story and save the trip to the Grampians for next week.
Christmas eve was fairly low key, good food and wine and talks about the trip down. An opportunity to share the three million photo’s we had taken since landing. Presents were placed under our tree, a real one this year decorated with a variety of gaudy silver starts and baubles and a selection of Koala bears. The look spoke of tradition with a hint of Australia.
The first hurdle was the fact that we were four people living in a single room studio flat, one benefit is that it is large enough to pull a partition wall across that splits the room in half thus giving the parents an idea of privacy. The second biggest hurdle was going to be lunch.
For Christmas lunch we prepared a seafood starter, Melbourne having some of the best seafood in Australia. We perhaps made a slightly large amount but there would be no hungry people at our Christmas dinner table. The main course was a traditional turkey with all the trimmings, plus an additional selection of Emu meatballs. Everyone agreed that they were extremely dry but the experience was what was counted. Presents had been opened and we got down to the somewhat serious task of entertaining, this consisted of playing board games, cards and drinking an enormous amount of alcohol. Just like Christmas back home, except no TV. It’s very easy to go without TV when you have good company to pass the time with.
Boxing day and we all set out to the cricket, the MCG (Melbourne Cricket Ground) is one of the jewels of the city and we had so far not been to this stadium, missing out on St Kilda’s trip during the AFL season. Australia against Pakistan was an exciting match, well it would be if you were a follow of the sport. I am not really but the experience of watching the two teams in one of the best grounds in the world. We managed to find ourselves sitting in the same area of the ground as two people from England who the in-laws knew and the day ended in a restaurant on the south bank. All in all a very nice experience.
The following day we tried to take a trip down the coast to Sorento, a coastal town renowned for good views and quaint restaraunts. We drove down the coast quite a way before Tom Tom instructed us to take the main highway down the peninsular. This was a big mistake as we found ourselves in train of traffic, pretty much everyone in Melbourne had decided that this would be a good idea. With the temperature in the 30’s it seemed everbody thought going to the seaside a great idea. We were a little panicked as we had booked the colonial tramcar that evening and we had to be at the stop for half eight or they would leave without us. Needless to say once we finally arrived we had enough time to call into a chippy, buy and eat some chips then pretty much set off again. We made good time on the way back and had plenty of time to get ready and meet the tram.
I have spoken about the colonial tramcar restaurant before but in essence this is a 1930’s tramcar that has been converted into a travelling restaurant. Food is simple and most of it is prepared in a restaurant and picked up on route, the steaks are cooked on the tram to your liking. Once on board the booze is free and as the tram makes its way round the city you are given a tour of Melbourne whilst you eat your meal. Moira went for chicken which was a mistake but everyone had a great time and we were surprisingly drunk by the time the three hour trip was over, the staff just do not stop filling your glass.
Next we took the parents on their Christmas present, a wine tour of the Yarra Valley region. This covers some fantastic wine and is a really must do experience when visiting Melbourne, a single day tour to four or five vineyards including Chandon (Moet & Chandon subsidiary). The parent s loved it, this was our second trip, and need-less to say that evening we enjoyed some of our best wine of the holiday, everyone is always buying souvenirs on these trips. At this point i’ll leave the story and save the trip to the Grampians for next week.
Sunday, 10 January 2010
Some Pictures form the grampians
Ah the holidays, we had an excellent time with Moira's parents over visiting. We managed to get out of Melbourne to the grampians, and here are some pictures of the holiday. More stories to come!
Kangeroos and Deer grazing down by the cabin
Enthusiastic Chef in the house
Macenzie Falls in the Grampians
Indiana Clarkson and the rock of height
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