Sunday, 30 January 2011

Tablecloth handover and Blue Mountains

We ventured out to the suburbs of Sydney today to catch up with some cousins hadn't seen for about 40 years,  Obviously none of us had changed one iota.  My aunt had asked us to drop it off as we were going to Sydney.  Here is the official handover to Lorna.  The tablecloth turned out to be a beautiful hand painted cloth - see below.


           




















Once the official business was over we were able to catch up and were treated to a lovely BBQ before heading out to the blue mountains. 

This is Lorna with her daughter Thea.  The forest background is actually Lorna's back garden



Here we are enjoying the barbie





This is Thea with her son Harper


Here the intrepid explorers Lorna, her sister Mary and Sue are risking life and limb in the blue mountains.

This gives some idea of the scale of the forests in the Blue Mountains, wander off the beaten track here and you might never be seen again.  We are safely back in the hotel now and off to Sydney again tomorrow. Do we take the ferry down the river and under the harbour bridge or do we take the train and come out by the opera house?  Decisions, decisions?

Saturday, 29 January 2011

Super Sydney

We have finally made it to the legendary opera house and beaches in Sydney Harbour.

Here are pictures to show we managed to climb the steps to the entrance of the Opera House but we chickened out of the walk up the bridge




After that we caught a ferry over to Manly Beach and were able to walk along the edge of the South Pacific and watch the surfers and the volleyball players.  Not a budgie smuggler in sight - all the cool dudes seem to wear long shorts over bathers with a rim of the bathers showing, rather like the jeans and underpants look favoured by the young


Not sure which is bluer - the sea or the sky!  The black dots are surfers



There is a short pedestrian precint that links Sydney Harbour with the Pacific Ocean.  It is full of cafes and buskers and people having a good time.  It is a bit Brighton meets the South Pacific with palm trees



We like some of the road signs - this one seems to cover every eventuality



We are off to the blue mountains tomorrow to meet up with a long lost relative and hand over a tablecloth and 4 napkins that an aunt insisted I deliver as I was going to Australia.  I don't like to tell her that you can get tablecloths down the Manchester aisle in most shops ( see earlier blog)

My favourite shop signs today have been

"Burger Me" over a cafe

"Athletes Foot" over a sports shoe shop

Friday, 28 January 2011

Marv'lous Melbourne

We have had a couple of awesome  (Aussie word for the day) in Melbourne'  We arrived in time to celebrate Australia Day in style.  The Tennis Open is also held here but tickets are like gold dust so we didn't watch any matches although we did walk past the Rod Laveer Stadium where it was all happening.


Australia day is just like one big street party with parades and BBQs and fireworks.  Here are some of the highlights.  Even the dogs join in



This is a couple of Aussie girls helping out with a photo with Radish the sheep who has joined us on our world tour and is sending photos home to help a class with their geography.


Here is Martin with a new friend who despite his scary look was very happy to tell us his life story and have a photo


 The highlight for Martin was the vintage car rally in the park - it seems cars don't rust out here so look good for longer

This is the start of the fireworks over the station - a very grand Victorian building






I have had lots of commenbts that my Australia vocabulary list didn't include "budgie smugglers"  up till now we have been the only people on the deserted beaches in WA but are now near Bondai and Manly beaches so might need to add this to the lexicon.  Another oddity is "blue" is red .  Their budget airline is Virgin Blue (whose planes are of course red!)


Off to check out the beaches and budgie smugglers of Sydney

And in answer to Sheila's message I haven't swapped Martin for Bruce yet!

Tuesday, 25 January 2011

Goodbye to Perth

We have now moved on to Melbourne, a 3.5 hour flight and 3 hours time difference.  It was sad to say goodbye to Ron and Bob who had looked after us so well and made us so welcome.  It was probably time to move on as Martin and Bob were starting to dress in the same colours - see below


One of the features of Australia seems to be that they like to advertise their businesses with a large animal on the roof of the buldings. One of my favourites was the large yellow duck called Clarkie (same as a grandson)



For the linguists amongst you here are the Aussie expressions we have picked up so far:

thongs = flip flops
 I was worried when I saw notices in bars saying "No Thongs"  How were they going to check?

soggies = cereals 

A healthy start to the day is a bowl of soggies as opposed to a .........

Bonza brekkie  = the full English

snags = sausages

Example: chuck another snag on the barbie

flat white  = milky coffee (somewhere between a latte and an Americano with milk)

tinnie = can of beer

Lollies = sweets

There seems to be a chain of English Lolly shops selling sherbet lemons etc


Manchester = household linens

Most supermarkets have a Manchester aisle selling sheets and towels etc


Tomorrow is Australia Day although no-one has really been able to explain what exactly they are celebrating but it is a national holiday so throw another snag on the barbie and break out the tinnies

Friday, 21 January 2011

Home and Away

We are now back home in Stoneville again after our short break in Ledge Point.  We were next to the Indian Ocean and went down to see the sunset the first evening.  This is Sue getting her toes wet



The beaches are absolutely fabulous and mostly deserted - here are a few shots of some others we visited.  Sue did manage to get stung by a small jelly fish here but an application of vinegar from the local bar seemed to cure her.  We  hear some beaches keep a store of vinegar available as it is the best antidote to stings.

This was Cervantes Beach = not sure why the Spanish theme but we had a Seville and Barcelona street here too in the small seaside town.

One of the most amazing places we visited down here was the Pinnacles - a weird area of  sandstone rocks set out over a large area.  Only discovered by the tourist board in the 1960s.  Martin looks as though he has gone native here and is certainly having a "Bonza time" here.

One of the more unusual sights here was a man going on a camping holiday around Australia with 2 camels.




We have not had many comments on the blog yet so do get in touch if you are following us.  Only 3 more days in Western Australia then off to Melbourne - 3 hour flight and 2 hours ahead.

Monday, 17 January 2011

Skippy

Have had our first encounter with a kangaroo wth a baby in her pouch.  They were having a drink of water next to a pub.  The baby roos do seem to be all arms and legs and really a bit big for mum to have to carry around.



We are off for a holiday from our holiday tomorrow to Ledge Point which is next to the Indian Ocean so watch out for pictures of Martin on a surf board.  Where we have been staying is a bit inland but has a beautiful 50 metre pool in the local town.  As you can se from the picture below it is relatively quiet.






Had a very traditional weekend with a curry on Friday night where the staff were amazed that Martin could eat a Vindaloo and kept coming out to see how he was getting on.  On Sunday we went for Sunday lunch at the Rose and Crown pub in Guildford. See photo below.  The temperature was about 37 degrees but Aussies still seem to like their roast lunches.





  Afterwards we went to the cinema (if only to get out of the heat) and saw the King's Speech.  Very apt as the speech therapist was an Aussie from Perth.  The locals certainly seemed to enjoy the irreverant pokes at the monarchy

Friday, 14 January 2011

Yorkshire Post

Went to the historic city of York in Yorkshire today. Lots of sheep around but much warmer than Yorkshire back home. York was one of the first inland towns and a lot of the buildings have been preserved to retain a 19/20th century feel.  especially liked the sign above the door on this old hotel




Not quite York Minster but a real English feel to the old churches.

Off out for a curry tonight as the temperature has dropped to mid 20s.  Positively chilly!

Wednesday, 12 January 2011

Frying tonight

We are back in the Perth area and it is getting hotter by the minute.  WE keep hearing about the floods in Queensland but it is drought country here with  arsonists and bush fires the main danger.

Albany was lovely.   We drove 300 miles back up here without seeing a single cloud in the sky.  We stayed at the Dock Rock motel - so called because of this strange rock.





WE did all the touristy things down there and went on this ship which brought the first convicts to this area.  The Major in charge of the group had 11 children so he was populating the area quite well himself.



Monday, 10 January 2011

Thursday 6th January - Perth, WA


 A couple of the super modern buildings in the Marina area of Singapore
 My new Australian Jaccaru hat - better than the baseball cap


We have been away over a week already and only just got around to creating this blog. Sue survived the long flight from Heathrow to Singapore and we had a couple of nights there to get used to the time difference. An interesting place to visit - very clean, almost crime free and lots of history that's well preserved. Hot and sticky at this time of year though. It seemed strange to be in the heat and have the best Christmas decorations we have ever seen all around Singapore City. Had a Singapore Sling in Raffles and tried to eat our body weight in the free peanuts to offset the cost of the drinks!

Arrived in Perth on Friday 31st December.  Sue was stopped by customs as the sniffer beagle smellt that an apple had been in the bag and that is equivalent to bringing in the worst type of contraband.  Very strict the Aussies about smuggling in fruit.  We went straight into a long New Years Eve, but we made it past midnight. We are staying over 30km outside the city, but can use the mate's Ute whenever we like so we can get around. It is stinking hot here and does not cool down at night, but we had a respite yesterday when it rained all day and the night temperature dropped to 20 degrees and that was manageable.

One of the best places so far has been Freemantle which is near Perth and is where the first convicts were sent.  The first job they had to do was to build their own prison and this was used up until 1970s. Note clear blue sky - temperature was about 35 degrees.


We are now down in Albany which is the Southwest point of Oz and it is a bit cooler here.  The beaches are white sand and the sea is turquoise.  Apparently at one time the sea ran red with the blood of the thousands of whales that were caught and processed here.




Here Sue is with the Utility vehicle.  We feel a bit like a pair of hillbillies - no comments please.



This beach was where the settlers found fresh water back in 1781 and is amazingly quiet and unspoiled.