Phil & Claire Down Under

Around the World in 112 Days

2010-03-15T13:32:00.053Z

We were fortunate enough to have an opportunity of travelling around the world on holiday for almost 4 months. This was largely made possible by spending most of our time in two houses that we had swapped in Australia. There are several online sites to choose from to do this but I chose

www.homexchangevacation.com . I chose this one because you can see all people registered for swaps and do searches on people in the area you are interested in that are interested in your area. This saves allot of time viewing ones that do not want to swap in your area. The only thing you cannot do on this site before registration is contact members or upload your details. They charge £16 for 3 months registration, which is plenty of time to sort one out. I didn’t expect many people from Australia would want to swap with people in the UK during winter so I emailed about 150 people initially. I had excellent response but most wanted to exchange during our summer but I still ended up with two people interested in swapping during our winter that didn’t overlap, one in the Melbourne area and one in Townsville, north Queensland. It was funded by moving out of our house and renting it out for 12 months while we lived in our rental properties that we had accumulated over the last 10 years. While we were living in these properties we renovated them, replacing windows, floors, kitchens, bathrooms and redecorating them. We ended up in Jim and Shirley’s house that had been vacant for 6 months before moving back into our house again. The motivation to do this was to reduce capital gains tax when we eventually sell the rental properties and is what MP’s call “flipping” when filing their expense claims.

While looking for cheap return flights to and from Australia I realized that a round the world ticket with 5 stops was very little more than a return ticket as you still have to stop on the way there and back anyway. Also it would break the journey up and give us a chance to stop at places that we had not visited before. It was tempting to try and fit New Zealand in with our trip but as Australia is so big decided to concentrate on seeing as much of it as we could while there. Travelling eastwards the main first stop choices were Hong Kong or Singapore, neither of which we had visited before. As we both fancied a stopover at Bali we chose Hong Kong as it’s a more natural route. Bali is close to Australia being only about 2.5 hours flight and so is a long way to travel from England but quite easy while you are already visiting Australia anyway. Also it is cheap for hotels and food and drinks so we had a week there and only 3 nights in Hong Kong.

There is plenty to see in Hong Kong as it consists of 236 separate islands off the south China coast but we found that 3 nights was plenty enough for us to see most of the main attractions. Our hotel was not right in the action and therefore costly in money and time travelling in and out all the time. My advice would be to get something either on Hong Kong Island or directly in Kowloon town. Not being so keen on Cities, it’s not the sort of place that we would strive to go back to although I am pleased to have seen it and we enjoyed our stay. Everything in Hong Kong is expensive and they have some of the most expensive real estate in the world.

By the time we arrived in Bali where the lovely heat hit us upon exiting the plane we had just about got over our jet lag and had settled into our new time although Claire left her watch on UK time for the whole holiday. We were luck with our choice of area and hotel in Bali not having been there before and we both loved our week there but maybe should have had it on the way back instead of on the way there. We couldn’t help comparing it to Goa for some reason but it is cheap but more expensive and much busier on the roads than Goa. The roads of Goa seem dangerous but the traffic is slow and not so heavy so I think it is safer than Bali. It is very hot in Bali being almost on the equator and you soon get used to sweating constantly. The original and busiest tourist town Kuta was horrendous for us but I guess the young and single still prefer it to anywhere. If you are not single, avoid it like the plague. We didn’t get chance to see very much of Bali during this stopover but we both loved it there and hope to return for a little longer another time. We had a motor bike while there but Claire was so scared on the back she stopped going out on it so I would rent a car next time, even though for me the bike was fantastic in the sun.

We began our first house swap in Berwick, a distant suburb of Melbourne but it took about an hour to travel in to town. This house came with a lodger called Jeremy who is a nice guy but much younger than us with different values. We knew the house would come with a lodger but we made a mistake in taking it because we like our own company and space more than anything; for this reason we rarely go on holiday with other people. However, the car was converted to LPG which made travel a very cheap option and we wanted to explore as much of Australia as possible anyway. We decided to only use the house as a base and spend most of our time travelling so in a way it forced us to see more than we would have naturally. We did have a very enjoyable 3 days when visited by our friends Ian and Jane who were staying in Sydney during our first house swap and the weather was good to us during this time. If they had stayed for another 2 nights we might have seen the Great Ocean road in the sun. We managed to travel the entire coast between Adelaide and Sydney visiting most other attractions in the area as well. We stayed in Canberra on the way back from Sydney which surprised us as we liked it so much. When seeing TV programs about it or listening to others who have already visited it we were not expecting it to be our type of place and nearly missed it because of this. We also loved Philip Island and the Mournington peninsular and visited these both 3 times. The Great Ocean Road is beautiful but unfortunately it rained during our drive through which so the photos didn’t do it justice. Likewise, it was overcast during our entire 4 night stay in Sydney over Christmas and for this reason we revisited towards the end of our stay. It took me a while to adjust to the wide open roads with ridiculously low speed limits and I managed to get banned from driving twice in Victoria in the first week along with hefty fines. Once caught, I slowed down and drove to the speed limit all the time but had a postal camera fine from the day before I was caught. Unfortunately this affected Arlene, our house guest, upon her return until it was finally sorted. While looking through the many speeding fines that came in the post there were two others for Arlene, one for 106 kmph in a 100 limit and one for 110 also in a 100 limit. Both fines were over $200 which is really a stealth tax. They actually enforce the speed limit when over 3 km per hour over the limit which is less than 2 mph in real money. I was given 4 weeks before the ban would be enforced but we had 5 weeks remaining with this swap; for this reason we changed our flight to Brisbane to a week earlier to allow me to drive a hire car in a different county down to Byron Bay to visit our friends Mick and Lynn that we met in a previous Goan holiday.

Our visit to Byron Bay was one of our best times during our entire holiday, mainly due to the hospitality of Mick and Lynn. Their son Jeff, the lead guitarist for Parkway Drive is getting us into the front gate as VIP guests at their London venue which is part of their 2010 world tour in April. I don’t think that it will be the last we see of these guys.

Our next house swap was in Townsville, north Queensland and we had about 10 days to get from Brisbane to it and had pre booked a 3 day cruise around the Whitsunday Islands so had to plan around it. With help from Mick and Lynn we marked the map which they had given us and managed to visit most places including Fraser Island which is a sight for sore eyes and a must to see if you are in the area being the world’s largest sand Island. The Whitsunday’s are also spectacular and well worth a visit if you are around that area. The biggest problem with Queensland for me is that to go in the sea you have to wear a stinger suit to stop the jelly fish killing you. In a hot country when walking along the beach, it’s nice just to dive in the sea now and then to cool down; it doesn’t work if you have to carry and wear a body suit every time you do this. At least at Byron Bay it’s only the sharks you have to worry about along with all the other deadly creatures that want a nibble on you. Brisbane was my favourite city in Australia as there seemed something happening around every corner and the weather was good to us during our 3 stays there in total.

Our second house swap was with Geoff and Denise who own a lovely 5 bedroom Queensland weather board house with lovely grounds that includes a pool. This was a luxurious stopover for us only marred by the dreadful weather that we had during the first 2 weeks. Unfortunately this stopped us travelling as much as we would have liked because we didn’t want to get caught out with floods. We did manage to drive all the way us the coast to Cairns and Port Douglas which are both lovely. If we were doing it again we would actually stop in Port Douglas where there is plenty to do in this pretty town. However it does help if you enjoy the heat like Claire and me as it’s very hot that far up in the tropics. The wet weather did however give us chance to catch up with the film world visiting the summer every day. We also had 4 nights on Magnetic Island which is very nice for a break but you do need to take a car with you as its expensive to rent them over there and although small too far to walk. One of my biggest regrets is not getting around to diving at the Great Barrier Reef. However, I did snorkel around it plenty of occasions and we did the usual glass bottom boats etc. A big thanks to Geoff for contributing so much to this blog in the form of comments as well as all his advice and recommendations about where to visit. Also a big thank you to Jean and Graham (Denise’s parents) for looking after us and being so nice. Hope to see you in England sometime soon.

At the end of our Australian vacation we had almost a week to kill and so decided to fly back to Sydney and see it in the sun, then drive the last bit of coastline that we had missed, to Byron Bay. I’m pleased that we did this as that particular stretch of coast line is very beautiful and varied and of course it gave us another excuse to stay with Mick and Lynn before flying over the Pacific to California.

The last part of our holiday in the States was a mistake really, that area should be seen in summer when it’s hot. Although warmer than in England at the same time it still gets cold during the winter months, especially when travelling over mountains or at height like the Grand Canyon. I feel that we would have seen so much more around Arizona and Utah during our stay if it had been summer time. We had 2 meters of snow at the Canyon rim as it’s over 1 mile high. We didn’t have the clothes for this trip and so stayed mainly around the lowland desert area of Las Vegas to maximise our warmth. Claire quite got into gambling during this time and I am a little worried that if we go near it again, she will spend a fortune. When we went back to LA we were lucky enough to be there on Oscar night which was very interesting to say the least. We both also really enjoyed our day at Universal Studios which is well worth a trip.

This will be the last entry of this blog as we are back home now and it was always only meant as a travel blog so I would like to thank everyone for staying with us and all your comments. They are very important while travelling around because it does take quite an effort to keep it going with posts every day if at all possible because without them you would have no way of knowing if it was worthwhile. I think it would be a good few years before we will be in a position for another holiday of this magnitude, if ever, but we do hope to have an extended holiday at some point around Asia again. I am still on an LA time clock and not yet able to sleep through the night but I guess that if anyone is around on Wednesday I will manage to drown enough sleeping potion to get back to normal. If asked, “Would we do another house swap again in the future”, the answer would be “Yes”. It is a great way of having an extended holiday and keeping the prices down while staying in a much more luxurious place than a hotel room. It is important to check out and chose wisely who you are swapping with. It’s always best to try and swap with people similar to yourselves, similar ages with similar values.

Thank you very much everyone for staying with us during this adventure and hope that it’s not too long until our next one. The next stage of our lives is to get jobs so we can pay off our horrendous credit card bills as we spent far more than we budgeted or intended to. Rock on Parkway Drive!

Back to Reality

2010-03-13T06:35:00.002Z

Well finally after all these weeks, I’m back home. Thanks to Emma next door, we came back to a very warm, clean home, with milk for a nice English cup of tea and some fresh bread for toast. Actually, big thanks to Emma (and Jason) because we couldn’t have done this house swap without them. Emma has brilliantly project managed our house, not just cleaning but sorting and collecting post, paying bills, paying fines and keeping everything generally in order. So thanks Emma, we owe you big time!!!

Phil managed to slob out on the reclining sofa when we arrived home without any problems but jet lagged as I was, I decided on keeping going. Not sure whether this was a good thing or a bad thing but I over-rode the tiredness and nauseous and kept on going. So much so, that come night time I was running on overtime. Just wish I had some of Lynn Ling’s magic valium 5mg pills because cum evening I would have swallowed them.

The night after landing, I woke up at 8.15am because I had to take my car into the garage. Phil was still dopey from sleep but I needed him to pick me up and then take me to Tesco’s for some supplies so he had no choice. I went over for a cup of tea to Emma’s to catch up with cul-de-sac stuff and before I knew it, time had passed and it was nearly lunchtime. Phil cooked steak and kidney pie with veggies and some mash potatoes and boy, how lovely it was.

I can’t quite remember the afternoon; washing, ironing, paperwork, phone calls and general catching up stuff. After being away for nearly 4 months, we (or I) are just touching the surface. There is much more serious stuff to sort, like end of year accounts (times 4) and loads, load more.

My car failed its MOT big time. In fact, so big time, that the guy at the garage suggested that I actually scrap it and buy into the government scrap age scheme and trade for a new one. Unfortunately this is not an option. A) I can’t afford 5 grand to buy a new car, even bearing in mind the scrappage discount and B) Phil wants to teach Georgina in the Ford KA because it’s a great car to learn to drive in and it won’t matter if she crashes it. And lastly, which I guess is Option C) that even if I could afford a new car then I’d go for an automatic which wouldn’t help Georgina learn to drive. Luckily the MOT doesn’t run out until the 15^th April which gives me time to find a garage which does body work and welding and pay the 500 quid that it will cost to put it through the MOT and make it road worthy.

As you can tell, it all hasn’t gone smoothly since arriving home yesterday. While Phil slept almost continuously, I got to work on the many jobs to do. Emma (and I can’t thank you enough Emma) had opened and sorted all of our mail so bar the action stuff, all I had to do, was file the ‘nothing to do’ stuff. In order to do this, meant I had to lift down the big filing cabinet front the spare room, which I did with caution, but unfortunately I hurt my back. Do not feel sorry for me though, because I do not deserve any sympathy; when we flew out way back in November I hurt my back in the same place lifting the same cabinet up on top of the cabinet and my back hurt for weeks after. When will I ever learn that I am not as young or as strong as I used to be???? Boy, it hurts like crazy, but I can’t afford the Chiropractioner and if I don’t do anything stupid, it will heal in time.

This will probably be the last posting from me on this particular blog, which has actually really been Phils' blog and not mine. Phil, no doubt, will want to do a closure blog on down under giving a summary of our long trip so I will leave the last words to him. It is his due; god only knows he has spent at least 2 hours a day downloading photo’s and drafting some kind of posting and we have been away for 110 days, so that’s a load of hours, Well done my boy, you have more perseverance (or is that patience) than me! I think it’s been worth it, but not so sure about our followers? For us, our blog is a personal journey and something to reflect back on in many years to come and something to show the grand kids (if we have any that is).

And so to the big trip and my final sum up. Was it worth it? Yeah. Would I do another house-swap? Yes, definitely. Although I say this with some trepidation. The first house swap in Victoria wasn’t entirely successful. I didn’t like Berwick particularly and it was too far from Melbourne; also, a 6 week stay was way too long and well, as charming as Jeremy the dreadlock drummer boy was (aka the lodger) I felt that we were intruding on his space and we indeed, felt like the lodgers. Or is that intruders? There’s loads of other stuff and I don’t think it worked out with Arlene in our house, our first house swapper. I say that because I don’t want to give a one sided version but I will leave it to Phil to expand on this.

As for our second house swap in Townsville. Well, yes, for us this worked like magic. The white house was luxurious, Phil had a great car to drive and we particularly enjoyed the company of Jean and Graham. Okay, the cyclone happened, the pool overflowed and in general, the weather didn’t work with us but all in all, we had a great stay. We will definitely stay in touch J&G and the

Jordans

and if they ever come back to the

, then they will have a base to stay. Mental note to oneself when (and if) I ever get over this jetlag, I must send some information to Jean about Paris, which I promised I would do. And I will do guys, maybe not this week but soon!

And so, am I glad I’ve done this trip I hear you ask??? Well, the answer to that is both YES and a bit NO. I’ve learnt with Phil over the years, it’s best not to raise objections when he first has an idea. I said nothing when he first talked about house swapping across laptops in the NH house and before I knew it, he’d made contact with Arlene and Geoff and had booked fairly cheapish, all-around-the-world tickets. I wasn’t too worried about the house-swap deal because, after all, over the years, living with Phil, we have house flipped so often, we don’t have anything of value and a home is just a place to lay your hat. My main concerns with the house-swap, was that our house wouldn’t be good enough for our Australian guests. It didn’t matter so much with Arlene & co (the first house swap guests) because they only stayed 2 nights but G&D’s house was so luxurious and spacious, I am not so sure that they got the best deal. Phil did all the negotiations and didn’t lie, but even so, I’m not so sure they were comfortable even though Geoff said they were.

We had some great times. I particularly enjoyed Byron Bay and meeting back up with Lynn and Mick, Fraser Island was fab as was the Whitsunday’s and I loved Queensland. Las Vegas took a bit to get used to but three visits and I just about got it, just wished I had a shed load of money to gamble because by the time I left, I was well and truly into it. It was good seeing Jane & Ian in Melbourne and I personally thought Sydney was spectacular. If I had one regret it would be that we didn’t do

USA

at the beginning of trip instead of the last leg and left Bali until the end so we could top up our tans and relax for a week in the sun. Hey ho. From talking to the neighbours, the

winter has been severe and we have got off very lightly.

I felt guilty about leaving the kids and the parents (even they are all grown up) and lots of friends are struggling in the recession that it felt a bit indulgent to go away for so long. As all my closest girlfriends know, I was anxious about this trip before I went and wasn’t really looking forward to it. It really wasn’t so bad, and all in all it was a great experience. As my good friend Lynn Ling said, you only live once and you must enjoy what you’re doing because you never know when your time is up. And she is so right.

So what now? I will let Phil have the last word, because after all this is his blog. When and IF, I ever recover from this jet leg I suppose I will create a new blog detailing the day to day life of a weary middle aged woman getting to grips with reality, sorting her life out and trying to find someone to employ her and getting back into the grips of a 9-5 routine. It will, of course, be a private blog and not open to the public, don’t want any future employer to Google me and put them off! So, I shall email an invitation to my usual followers, but if I don’t include you (apologies for any exclusion) then please email me for access.

My last word: thanks to Emma for all your help; thanks to everyone (especially Geoff) for all your comments. And thanks to everyone that followed us, not just to friends and family in the

but also to all the new friends in

Australia

that we have met. We’ll do our best to keep in touch. For now, I must go to bed, it’s nearly quarter to 6 and I’ve been up all night. So goodnight and all quiet from me until my new blog next time next week.

zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz

Home Sweet (small) Home

2010-03-12T12:13:00.006Z

Well we finally made it back home after our last flight from LA to Heathrow with everything on time. We seemed to be at the airport for about 4 hours too long; I don’t like them getting you there so early for international flights. You seem to be hanging around endlessly, hour after hour so that you can sit on a plane waiting endlessly for hour after hour. Maybe the journey home is always much worse than the original journey to go on holiday. Having hardly slept all the way back we were shattered when we arrived at Heathrow at around 10am as to us it was 4am, probably your lowest point of the day.

LAX airport has most of the shops and restaurants at the front end and only a snack bar at extortionate prices once you have gone through security so it’s best to prolong security as long as you can. We arrived before check in had started so had to queue for about 30 minutes; you can see Claire in the queue with her green coat on if you look carefully. I sneaked off to have a look what was around. About half of the food hall area is under renovation so our choice was limited to Mc Donald’s, Mexican, Sushi, Chinese buffet that looked like it had been there all night without a sign of staff and a proper Diner. We chose Mc Donald’s for some bizarre reason, maybe we weren’t hungry or just wanted one last all American meal. We only had a chicken burger without fries or drink but it was cheap at about $3. They seem to charge a lot for the fries and drink, more than the main burger I think. Anyway, it was just as awful as the normal burgers, if not worse so we won’t be eating there again for several years I hope.

No sooner on the plane and in the air when the hostesses served drinks and food anyway. Have you noticed lately that they will only normally serve you one drink at a time each when they are free? By the time they have got half way down the isle you are ready for another one and can’t attract anyone’s attention until after drinks and the food has been served. Anyway, BA gave everyone two drinks to start with which seems to make much more since. It still wasn’t enough for us but much better than if we had only had one each. I managed to watch “Gran Torino” with Clint Eastwood on this journey; I have wanted to see it for ages. He might be getting old but he hasn’t lost it, good old Clint. The only trouble when watching films on planes is the sound system, I can hardly hear anything they say as its poor quality and maybe my ears have deteriated a little over the years. It was all that loud music as a teenager that did it, and in those days there was no upper decibel limit. I remember after watching Black Sabbath my ears were ringing for two days. They used to have more than one group on at a venue in those days which they should bring back really; we haven’t a lack of groups around. On that occasion, we had Quintessence, Curved Air (Sonia Christina and Darryl Way) and then Black Sabbath with Ozzy. The air was so thick with Joss sticks you could hardly breathe. They also used to have at least two films on at the cinema and maybe news and a cartoon thrown in; you seemed to get more for your sixpence in those days.

We arrived at Heathrow as scheduled and were picked up by our taxi service perfectly. He had Claire’s name on a card but had already sent a text in case we missed it. It is an excellent service and so much more convenient than getting the coach which stops at all the airports in the country on your way back. From Milton Keynes to Heathrow they charge £60 which I think is a real bargain. They charge £65 for a pickup as they have to pay for parking and waiting, and again, I wouldn’t want to do it for that price. The company is at www. airportconnectmk.co.uk . I see that they have been adding more tax to petrol prices while we have been away; no change there then, I suppose its easy money and it has to come from somewhere.

We arrived home and were almost surprised to see the cars still sitting there. The first room I went in was the kitchen and couldn’t believe how small it looked. I carried the bags upstairs and our bedroom was even smaller; the bed didn’t even look big enough for one. I think spending so much time around Australia, where the houses are officially, the biggest in the world and spending time around the USA in hotels and motels has effected our expectations. We decided on an easy day for our first day home but Claire still managed to unpack and wash, file all the post except for the stuff that needed some action. I wonder what she will be doing when not on an easy day.

Our body clocks were low all day and we both nodded off here and there but by the time the evening set in where we should have been going to bed, we woke up and wanted food. We didn’t go to bed until about 2am and still couldn’t sleep for a couple of hours. Anyway, we snatched a few hours and were up by 8.30am to take Claire’s car into the garage for her MOT. A quick trip around Tosco’s to get more supplies to return to find that Claire’s car would cost more than its worth to get through the MOT. Even if we spent money on it this time, it would need even more next year and their advice was to get the £2000 government scrap for it and buy a new car.

Still not quite with it today I’m afraid so will sign off now and have a go to sum up our holiday another day when we are back to normal. Anyway, it’s nice to be home, I think.

Show me the way to go home.....

2010-03-10T03:08:00.001Z

Not very much action and not a lot to write home about I’m afraid. After all the excitement of Sin City, Hollywood and the Oscars, today has been very quiet, which is just as well I guess because we have a long flight ahead of us tomorrow. The helicopters woke me up very early this morning and I left Phil to sleep and went down to spend some time on the lobby floor. The free tea and coffee was open and I hung around waiting on the washing and drying. Luckily the internet café was open at 7am so I spent some time in there surfing everything and nothing while I was waiting on the laundry. This is the first time we’ve stayed in a Big 6 motel and it has been an experience. Our particular motel just off Hollywood Boulevard is great for the location but it is not the most luxurious, far from it.

Sure the rooms are big (no vomit stains on the carpet which is always a plus) and the sheets are clean and we have hot water. And that’s about it. The front reception staff spend almost all their time kicking out the undesirables (not me) from the lobby who try their luck on the free coffee, internet and I guess, at other times, if they make it into the lift (that is if it’s working of course) to a free bed. I saw all of these things with my very own eyes this very morning as Phil lay in bed sleeping. I will not be sad to leave this particular motel.

When Phil was in the wide awake club I packed up our staff and we both loaded up the car, both not too sorry to be leaving Motel 6. As usual, the LA traffic was horrendous and it took us an hour to travel to the airport hotel that we had booked, even though it was only 25 miles away. Phil is a very experienced driver but I could tell he was anxious winding his way over 6 or 7 and sometimes 8 lanes of the freeway, and boy, so was I. To be honest we could have seen a lot more of LA but the traffic congestion was crap and at the last leg we are a little jaded. It would have been better to do LA at the start of our journey and do Bali at end as a little relaxing treat. Never mind, we live and LEARN. It was a huge relief to reach La Quinta Inns & Suites just a stones throw away from Los Angeles airport. I wasn’t worried because I’d chosen this hotel and had done my research. Trip Advisor reports were excellent and they weren’t wrong. The rooms aren’t huge but they are modern and well equipped and well, although we’ve yet to sleep in the big king bed, so far, all is so good.

We left the luggage locked up with security and drove a couple of miles to the car rental place to drop off the car. The sat nav directed us but I’m sure we would have made our way without it. The return procedure was very easy and we were done and dusted in a few minutes. So very different of our experiences of car rentals back home in the UK. We could have got a courtesy bus back to the hotel but the sun was shining and we decided to walk. Unfortunately it was further on foot than it seemed in the car and took us nearly an hour. Never mind, at least it gave us some exercise for the day. Breakfast-cum-lunch was a one dollar double cheeseburger from Burger King. Not good for the cholesterol but easy on the wallet but no worries; we were desperate and starving. I seem to have lived on cheeseburgers for these past 3 weeks and it wouldn’t bother me in the least if I never eat one ever again. In fact, when I get home, which won’t be a moment too soon, I’m giving up red meat for at least a month!

Check in at La Quinta was friendly, easy and quick; in fact I’d go as far to say, that it was the best customer service we’ve had in LA. We were way too early for check in but we had the room keys and were already unpacked by midday. When I say unpack, that’s really an exaggeration; we don’t really unpack, it’s more a case of getting out the toilet bags and the laptop. When you’re in and out as much as we are, unpacking is just a waste of time.

As I said earlier, I was pleased with my choice of hotel and so was Phil. Only 85 dollars a night which includes free internet, breakfast, a good choice of movie channels and we also have an ice machine and laundry just outside our room. What more could a girl want? The big plus for Phil is the fridge and for me the coffee machine which means I can make a cup of tea as soon as I open my eyes. If you come to LA and have an early morning flight this is definitely the place to stay. We are right next door to a Ramada and a Hilton but these are twice the price.

Phil, quite quickly, got stuck into a movie but I managed to persuade him to take the shuttle bus down to Manhattan Beach. He was reluctant, but eventually agreed and we caught the 1.38pm red bus down to the beach. It only cost 3 dollars a piece (return) and took about 20 minutes. The Manhattan Beach Boulevard was interesting and we ventured down to the pier but it was blowing a gale so I let Phil get a couple of photo’s then we quickly scampered back up the hill to the main strip. Some how and I don’t remember quite how it happened; we ended up in a real local spit and sawdust bar which was pretty awesome. One beer turned into 2 and a complimentary bowl of peanuts and a pleasant way to spend an hour or so. The plan was to eat, but once again, we couldn’t find a restaurant to tempt us so we hopped back on the red shuttle bus which took us in a roundabout way back to La Quinta. And, yes I am plugging it, because it’s a real find. And no I’m not on a commission!

And so, here we are, on the eve of the last day on our around the world trip. As the title of this blog suggests, I am tired and I am ready to go home, and so I think, is Phil. It’s been a truly great ride but we are weary from being on the road. How is that, I’ve been on vacation for almost 4months and I’m more knackered than I was before I set off? How does that work? I have already got my book out and am writing ‘to do’ lists although I think by the time we hit home, the jet lag will have set in and there won’t be much ‘doing’ on Thursday. I am looking forward to sleeping in my own bed, catching up with friends and family, eating home made food and getting back into a routine. Maybe it will only take a few days and I will be fed up of the weather and the rut and will be wishing I’m back travelling (grass is greener and all that). Who knows? Forgive us if we are quiet for a few days, we fly tomorrow and it may well be that the next posting from us will be on Friday (UK time).

We’ve survived this long, so lets just hope we get home safely. As the song goes, “ Show me the way to go home!”............

Universal Studio’s

2010-03-09T03:49:00.013Z

Once we had got the satnav going we set off for Universal Studio’s which was only a couple of miles away but with plenty of turns to make. The choice of parking is $20 for Premium parking where you are closer and easier to the attractions or $14 for standard parking. Take the standard because everyone parks in the same car park. Before you even get into the studios there are plenty of shops, restaurants and other things to do like a cinema. They even have a Flip Flip shop and a Hard Rock Café; I particularly liked the “Bubber and Gump” shrimp Co as they played Forest Gump all night every night on one channel while we were in Vegas.

We arrived at the Studio gates and the standard price is $69 each but we had an $8 off ticket so we queued up for a while but it didn’t move so we opted for the self service ticket machine but couldn’t use the discount voucher. Our first stop was The House of Horrors but you have to walk through which is worse than a ride because it’s very dark and you don’t know which way to go. We were frightened as things kept touching you and making loud noises and sometimes jumping out in front of you. I won’t be going on that again!

Claire looked good on the Terminator bike and the Simpson’s grabbed me before we went on the Simpson’s ride. They shuffle you from room to room for a while with mild entertainment and then the ride proper starts. It’s one of those where they move your seats around violently whilst showing a big screen where you keep falling and crashing into everything. I must say that they have improved since the first time I went on one of those and I had my eyes shut most of the time at the beginning. Claire loved it but I won’t be going on that again!

They still had the Jaws shark hanging up which they had when I was here last time 30 years ago. They also had a Jaws ride where he keeps attacking the boat but that has finally disappeared. You have to go down plenty of escalators to get to the lower level where all the scary rides are. On the way they had an Apollo 13 set which I liked. The Jurassic Park ride looked the scariest where you go on a boat and get soaked with an 84 foot vertical drop at the end to escape the raptors which have escaped. Most of the Dinosaurs seemed to squirt water all over me; somehow Claire escaped most of them. Luckily our boat wasn’t full so we could sit in the middle so at least we weren’t sitting on a wet seat but every water jet seemed to be aimed directly at me. For me this was the best ride except for the end where you drop down. To make things worse, just before the waterfall drop a T Rex is trying to bite you from above so you are ducking underneath him and are taken by surprise when you fall. They have the customary photo when you are at your worst, screaming with your eyes closed so we didn’t buy it even though we had a laugh looking at it. Thinking about it afterwards, I should have taken a picture of the photo so I could post it.

We also went on the Backdraft feature which was good but you had to stand the whole time but at least there was lots of fire to warm us up as it was a cold day with winds from snowy mountains. We went back up the escalators to the top level and Claire couldn’t walk past the Irish pub but they charged $10 a pint. Naughty Claire stole the pint glasses that they were served in because she thought that the price must have included them. We relaxed and killed 30 minutes before going in the Terminator II 3D show which was excellent. They show it every hour and have actors mixed with 3 large 3D screens and your seats move, you get sprayed with water and spiders run up your legs. Lots of explosions and ducking going on but they have done a very good job of it with Arne riding around the stage on his bike at the beginning and actually drives through the screen where you are transported into the action. Oh, we also went on the Shrek ride earlier where the seats also move around and you have water jets and things tickling your legs. All the rides here are very good and we had an excellent day in the cold.

By this time we were starving and went for lunch at Tony Roma’s which was good value for money and we ate it all. We then had the long walk back to go on the tram which drives you around the Studio’s showing you the sets. Unfortunately they had a fire a while back and lots of it was being rebuilt so it should be even better in a few months time when it’s finished because they have incorporated lots of new technology. There were some good bits like the Mummies Tomb where you appear to turn around inside the cave. Also they have a flash flood and water comes cascading down the hill and I got soaked again. I particularly liked the crashed plane set where they had used a genuine aeroplane and stripped it down to look like a crash and they still had burning parts and lots of detail.

We were worn out at the end of the day because you are walking around all day in the very fresh air and then we had to wait for about 15 minutes while the satnav played up again before finding our way home. Before we left this morning there had been a problem next door with the water and electric supply and workman had been working on it all day. It had been caused by a large tree at the side of the road that had overgrown roots that had broken some main supplies over time. Our elevators are not working so; being n the fourth floor had a lot of climbing up and down to do. We went back to our favourite bar called Little Devils for a couple before retiring to our room for the evening. They have an incredible choice of beer to try and I found one called Bear Republic racer 5 which is an American IPA which is 7% ABV and not bad for $4 a pint. I would come back here again!

Caught up in the Oscars

2010-03-08T04:42:00.020Z

Luckily we arrived in LA quite early because we were so close, but not without its problems again. The traffic started when the satnav said that we still had 67 miles to go which was the beginning of LA. It was slow going all the way in so we had no problem with speeding fines here. Our friend eventually got us to our Motel 6, which is one of the cheapest that you can get and started out with that name because it was only $6 a night to stay there. That was many years ago and now they cast a little more, especially near to Hollywood Boulevard where we are. Once we arrived, Claire didn’t like this one so we reset the satnav and headed towards her next best choice the Best Western which was only about 2 blocks away but with the traffic took about 30 minutes. They were full up so we drove across the road to a Comfort inn and they only had one room left but it was $151 a night. We looked at the room and didn’t like it even though it was quirky with a spiral staircase and lounge downstairs so we hit the road again for our first choice of the Motel 6. We were nearly wiped out trying to get into the car park but somehow managed it without a scratch.

Once checked in we walked for 30 seconds and we were on Hollywood Boulevard but it was closed with police everywhere and roadblocks on every road onto it; that’s why it took us so long to drive anywhere. We asked a policeman why it was all closed off and he said because the Oscars were on tonight. We asked how to get across the road and he said that we had to walk about 2 miles around a block just to get to the other side of the road; bizarre, that’s why we just winged it and ran across the road. Once there they don’t make you go back but they are just very cross with you, but we are used to that. We noticed all the helicopters hovering above the street and all the strange people everywhere. I’m sure I spotted Elvis down the street and Claire thought she saw Tom Cruise coming out of the Scientology test centre. He must have failed!

All those star things were on the ground that we walked on with famous names and I saw Douglas Fairbanks Junior who I used to like when I was a child along with Tyron Power who used to play Zorro. All the girls used to love them and them and there has only ever been one Zorro. Just like the only Tarzan that counted was Johnny Weisemuller. My Dad always used to call me “Boy” just like Tarzan did to kids so I always felt a connection. I guess that in Germany the word for boy is “Junge” which means boy and that’s why he used it. I saw one homeless guy wipe his feet on one stars name so I guess he didn’t like him.

We stopped for lunch at “The Pig and Whistle” where we had traditional pub fair and both enjoyed it; a great change from the normal burger and fries. It was great to watch all the strange people walk by and all the cars that were allowed down the street; I guess that they were the project managers and organisers because they were all in DJ’s and dresses and we didn’t recognise them. The drinks are expensive on the main strip like you would imagine so we walked back and found a bottle shop and headed back to our Motel. Straight out again on the strip and we stayed for the evening in the “Lucky Devil” where they had an amazing assortment of different beers; I chose an IPA which was 7% and only $5 a pint and we could watch all the cars go by with the extras in; by this time the real stars were in a traffic jam. Maybe they we the producers, all the technical staff and all the tagger’s on but it was a traffic jam again. I was hopping to see Ricky Gervais but we had to settle for snoopy and friends. We also had a mad religious man with a sign that he waved in front of everyone and made them feel uncomfortable and when anyone said anything to him he was very aggressive. We saw the whole world go past us in that bar, even what looked like a very old Marilyn Monroe stroking somebody’s dogs. Speaking of dogs, everyone has a small dog on a lead around here; I have never seen so many.

We had a great night just watching everyone go by and then headed home to watch the stars and results on our TV just a stones throw away while we sampled our bottle shop wines. Lets hope “Avatar” wins through; the best film of the century!

The Imperfect Tourist

2010-03-07T00:44:00.009Z

Not much to report since last time really, Claire took one of me in my hotel robe whilst putting the blog on, we showered and headed off for a walk around the Downtown area. We spotted the Lady Luck Hotel and Casino that is not on the main road and had a walk over to investigate but she had run out of luck and had closed down. There doesn’t seem like very much happening off Fremont Street other than normal shops and loads of Pawn shops with long cues outside; what do they do in there. I’ve seen them on American films and people seem to take in watches and other valuables and exchange them for not much money. I think that they get so long to pay the money back with interest otherwise the shop keeps their goods. I wonder if you can buy the goods in the same shop; maybe all the people queuing up are buying rather than selling. But why would they be queuing up? There are also shops advertising that they cash cheques with other peoples name on. How the hell does that work that must be illegal, surely? The normal shops are even cheaper than the ones on Fremont Street, like 50% cheaper or more; it’s amazing the price differences around Las Vegas, ranging from extortionate to almost free.

We had an early buffet lunch at our hotel, The Golden Nugget on Fremont Street but didn’t over eat so we would have room for dinner that night to celebrate our wedding anniversary. I wanted to go back to Todd English’s place in Caesar's Palace but it was too much hassle to get there and back so we decided upon the Asian restaurant in our hotel as we hadn’t tried it yet. It looked nice with illuminated table surrounds but it was only open in the evenings and we tend to eat earlier these days. As soon as we had ordered I discovered that the illuminated tables were for parties having a Japanese Steak Bar experience. Sod it. I love those and the chef prepares and juggles his cleaver whiles chopping the food. Its good entertainment while you have fresh food prepared in front of you. Our food came and looked good but it tasted quite bland, which surprised me for such a posh and expensive restaurant. Usually American places seem to go overboard with flavour. Without the soy sauce on you could hardly taste anything which was a shame but we still ate most of it anyway. We took the rest of the wine away with us and drank it at the outside pool by the fire thing that I published photos of before. Unfortunately, I forgot to take my camera out that night, which doesn’t happen very often as I am the perfect tourist and carry it everywhere. Never mind I have put some boring ones on from our journey through the desert.

We set off and the satnav did well and got us out of Las Vegas quite easily but once we were on our road, it said, “Drive for 209 miles”. You only really need them to find your way to and from your hotel in the cities; it’s pretty straight forward otherwise. We were trying to find the place that we stopped in on the way here and I got the cheap shirts that actually fit me. After a struggle we finally found them and I bought another 4 so that I can throw away the old ones that I brought with me. There haven’t been many pictures of me on this trip as Claire broke her camera early on and has to pinch or borrow mine when she can. When we are out it’s usually around my neck so she can’t pinch it.

We had not rushed around today so decided to stay over here at Barstow where the outlet shops are and checked in at the local Days Inn. They are cheap and cheerful and as usual Claire had found a discount voucher that saved us around $10 and we get continental breakfast thrown in. That is another time when a satnav comes in handy, you type in the address for a motel from the discount book and it takes you there. If you don’t like it you put another one into the satnav and go there; it’s so much more efficient than stumbling across something and you get discount thrown in. This one advertised that is was in close walking distance to local restaurants. Well unless we ran across the main highway there are only two in sight, a Mc Donald’s and an Alien Fresh Jerky; what the hell is that? I fancied trying it but the name put Claire off. Why would you call a place by that name, even if it’s going to put one person off; surely the name should sound attractive so you want to try it.

Not sure exactly where we will be tomorrow but we should be somewhere near Universal Studios and Claire already has a Motel programmed into the satnav ready for a quick getaway. It’s a Saturday today which is always the most expensive night to stay in a Hotel so that’s one reason for staying here tonight and we do get free wifi, HBO and breakfast; we also have a fridge and a King bed so it’s not bad for under $60. I hope we have more to report tomorrow and I must remember to take my camera with me.

Gamblers Unanimous

2010-03-05T17:39:00.020Z

We didn’t seem to stop today; we started by walking to the strip and catching the monorail from the Sahara to the MGM Grand Casino. Its $5 for a single trip and $14 for a day pass and as we were only having a maximum of 2 journeys it made sense to pay for a single journey.

The first few photos are of the Fremont Street light show that we watched the other night. Its quite spectacular with the whole of Fremont Street a part of it; all 5 blocks, as it runs along the sky between the buildings. You can only catch a small part of it on a camera and not much more with your eyes otherwise you will fall over swinging your head backwards and forewords. You end up just watching one way because some things are repeated along the strip and it’s the only way anyway. They also have amazing surround sound that sweeps through the street. I’m so pleased that you all talked us into coming back to see it, and for us, it’s better than the main strip anyway. We like it in the Golden Nugget so much that we booked two extra nights so that we wouldn’t be travelling around on our wedding anniversary. Today we had quite an early start and decided to go to see some of the casinos and hotels on the main strip.

I was a little worried about Claire’s injured foot and thought it best to get a taxi to the strip, but Claire would hear none of it and wanted to exercise it anyway. Claire had read that the monorail started at Sahara but as we had only seen it n the opposite side of the strip and I had not seen it crossing over I didn’t believe her. Anyway we walked to Stratosphere again and had a little look around and a gamble. No sign of the monorail so we grabbed a $1 hot dog for breakfast and walked down the road to Sahara on the other side. As we J walk and don’t wait for the green man we ended up being trapped on the road by the railings and had to jump over quickly. Easier said than done, poor Claire is a bit short and I’m not as fit as I used to be; it’s a shame that nobody was videoing us as you would have had a big as a laugh as we did when we ended up in the soil and plants on the other side.

We liked Sahara and remarkably Claire was right, the monorail does start from there. We bought our ticket and didn’t have to wait long because they leave every 6 minutes. I spent the whole time taking photos out the window that didn’t come out and looking for where it crossed the strip to the side that Id seen it on. Six stops later, I was disappointed and confused as it never did cross the strip, so what was the monorail that we had seen on the other side that made us look for it in the first place?

The final stop is by the MGM and we had a look around there before crossing over to the side where we had seen the damn train in the first place. The only thing we could find was signs, for what they called, the tram so I guess that was it. We spent hours walking around and having a gamble in each casino in turn; MGM, Excalibur, Luxor and the Tropicana. As we have got used to Down Town Las Vegas and the prices there, they all seemed a total rip off and hugely expensive. Most the black jack machines don’t allow, splitting pairs or doubling down which is the main way that you almost keep pace with the banker. You never win, but you cane avoid loosing quickly by sensible strategy. Sometimes things seem to go right and you start feeling like you really have the measure of it, then suddenly it all switches and you are chasing shadows. But to take away standard functions that are your only tools spoils your fun. All the casinos on the strip are spectacular and have something to offer in their own right; all have marvellous facilities, and I guess rooms, but for gambling, why are the main crowds not down town? If they are genuine gamblers, why don’t they go to Fremont Street where the odds are so much better and the minimum stakes lower? They still have massive upper limits, so it can’t be that the serious gamblers want to bet higher than the maximum. It is difficult for me to imagine just how much money changes hands in this town, it’s almost obscene. There are beggars everywhere along the strip, in particular across the bridges over the busy highways; but I haven’t seen one Downtown. Some of them look for the sympathy vote and sit quietly with their heads down looking as sad as possible, while others are amazing, I have never seen beggars like them. One was shouting, “You go and have a good time, don’t worry about me; the important thing is that YOU have a good time, and don’t be wasting your time with idiots like me”. Another had a sign that said that he was a rich man in disguise because it paid well; it’s worth crossing the bridges to see all the different styles. All the rest are selling bottled water for $1 a go. The other people after your attention on the strip, are little short Mexican’s that all have a huge pile of, what look like the old fashioned cigarette cards, but advertise escort girls. They click the top three or four cards against the pack as loud as they can, before thrusting them towards you in the hope that you will lighten their load. I wasn’t sure why they all seemed so short; but I guess that all the taller ones have proper jobs.

We soon got bored of the strip this time even though I’m really pleased that we made the effort to see the places that we had missed the first time because of the silly shows we committed to. We hailed a cab from one of the casinos and headed back downtown where we belong. Maybe we should have hailed one on the street because the cab screen was charging $6 before we got out of the hotel ground. I knew it would be more the other way back; we only paid $10 with the tip coming from downtown last time we got one. The taxi bill was $24.25 by the time we were back; two and a half times as much as coming the other way, I hope he enjoyed his 75 cents tip. I think he started to feel guilty on the way back because he switched his machine off. Either that or he could sense the heat from Claire.

Anyway, because we had had a little go in the main strip casinos, we thought that we had better try the other ones out on Fremont Street. It’s strange, again we could sense the difference between casinos on the same street, the Golden nugget where we are staying, is a little snootier than any of the others and the further you go down the street the more relaxed and rough they get. Even on Fremont Street, some don’t allow double down or splitting pairs; amazing, it must decrease your odds by about 4 or 5%. I guess you guys notice differences between places in the games that you play? I’m quite pleased that tomorrow, Friday our wedding anniversary, is our last day as Claire seems to be getting to like this black jack a little too much and its getting harder and harder to drag her away each time. She hardly drinks her drink when she is playing, and you know as well as I do, that’s a little odd.

Have you noticed how many spray can artists there are in Vegas? I have never seen them before; you see, paints, chalks, cartoon portraits and even sand artists everywhere in the cities but not spray can artists. Also, every other city in the USA that I have ever been to, and most others around the world, seem to have graffiti everywhere around the streets. I guess that they must see more of a profit in the artist stuff in Las Vegas than hanging around under bridges. Have you seen any graffiti in Las Vegas?

The last picture is of one of the restaurants in Caesars Palace called Olives. The famous American chef is Todd English and he had a restaurant on the Queen Mary II where we got married. Although the normal restaurant food was spectacular on the boat, we treated ourselves to his fare once as it was a special occasion. Happy anniversary Darling, where you taking me tonight?

Gamblers Anonymous

2010-03-04T01:07:00.000Z

Well here we are back in Vegas for the third time. I have to say, I am liking it more each time we visit. I feel more comfortable staying here in downtown and staying at the Golden Nugget is a real treat. Phil got it for a bargain price and we made the decision this morning to stay another 2 nights. Phil phoned the reception to arrange the extra stay and to double check that we could get the same room in the golden tower for the same bargain internet price. Fortunately he talked to a really dippy girl on reception that must have been new who confirmed that we could have it at the same price but when she realised the extra nights included Friday night she put Phil on hold; it was obvious that she had made a mistake but her supervisor must have said, because she’d already agreed verbally she had no choice but to let us have the same deal. We are not complaining!

I’m really getting into this gambling game, much more so then Phil would really like! I like the slot machines but I’m really enjoying the blackjack machines at the bar. Phil’s only giving me 5 dollars here and there and mostly I’m breaking about even. If I had money of my own, I’d be in the casino all day and all night. I can understand how easy it is to become addicted.

Last night we spent a few hours at the bar, gambling and getting free drinks. We cashed up at 8pm and went out to see the Fremont Street light show. It was great although I guessed it only lasted about 10 minutes. Unfortunately I missed the step on the way back into the casino and twisted my ankle. It was the same ankle that I hurt when I got chased down the hill by wild dogs in Thailand so there was already a weakness there. It hurt like crazy and we had to go to the shop inside the hotel to get some painkillers. And just so you know, for the record, I wasn’t drunk! The staff at the Black Jack bar were kind and got me some ice to put on my ankle. We had a few more games before retiring to bed around 10pm which I guess, is when the real action starts.

Phil is sleeping like a log and it was difficult to wake him up this morning. Even though my foot was throbbing I got dressed and hobbled out on to Fremont Street to source some tea and something to eat for breakfast. I was starving because we’d only had the one buffet meal the day before and eventually got us some tea & coffee from McDonalds and a tray of Dunkin Donuts. Not the healthiest of breakfasts but then, from what I can tell, nothing in the USA is healthy. After sorting out our extra nights we got showered and went out to see if we could found a place to do some laundry. They do have a facility here in the Golden Tower but it’s not a do-it-yourself service but room service and it’s expensive. I read on the internet that there was a place near to the hotel on 4th Street. We walked and we walked but we couldn’t find it.

The further you venture downtown, the dodgier the people are. They look just like they do in the movies and I certainly wouldn’t want to wonder far from Fremont Street at night. In the end we gave up the laundry search, or launder mat as they call it over here and brought some detergent from a store on the way back to the hotel. Just like it was in the old days, I left the washing to soak in the bath and we headed back to the casino for some pre lunch-cum-dinner gambling. I guess we are still ‘newbies’ in the gambling world and one of the bar staff came and gave us a sort of telling off, telling us that you can’t gamble for 25cents a go and expect free drinks! A lesson learnt I guess, it didn’t make Phil feel comfortable, not knowing the ropes; the secret we’re learning is, not to be stingy old buggers like us and to tip more! After all, America is the tipping capital of the universe.

Because the waitress in the buffet told Phil that it was good to get to the buffet at 3.15pm so we could get both the lunch and dinner menu for the price of the lunchtime menu we had a couple of beers and waited until the bargain hour time. We were both starving by the time we got to the restaurant and stuffed ourselves silly. Well Phil did but I didn’t, the dinner which was another 8 bucks extra wasn’t all that different from the lunch menu. Like everything in Vegas, it’s a con and O-T-T, unless of course, you win mega bucks. And then I guess, you’re quid’s in and nothing in the world will make you grumpy.

The original plan was to head out to Los Angeles but we’re delaying this move because the rooms are more expensive than Vegas. To be honest, we’re both ready (me more so) to go home but it’s so expensive to change our flights that we may as well stick it out for the last few days. Yeah I know what you’re thinking, it’s a hard life, but what choice do we really have? There’s going be enough shit to sort when we finally get home so we may as well delay the inevitable until we really have to. Australia seems a million days ago and I miss the local folks. America doesn’t really do for me, it fact it never has really and I think we made a mistake by making this last lag of our journey so long. Do I sound like a moaning minney? Yeah, probably, but you know me, I just tell it how it is. Right now I’m looking forward to sleeping in my own bed, although saying that, it shall seem small with the big boy after sleeping months’ in queens and kings all this while.

Just to put things into perspective, which I need to do for my own sake every now and then; I had an email last week from Lynn Ling inn Byron Bay to tell us that Dillon, the DVD editor who toured with Parkway Drive had been killed. He’d travelled with a couple of local lads to Bosnia to jump a bridge. Apparently the locals told him it was too cold and too dangerous but he jumped away. He never came up and the last we heard was that his parents were there but his body hadn’t been recovered. Lynn also told me that the docs said her dad would never recover from his recent lung infection so more sad news there. I’ve learnt a lot from Lynn, she’s a wise gal and in the last line of her email to me, her message was, “keep enjoying what you’re doing because you never know when you’re time is up”. How right she is.

The Worlds Largest Golden Nugget

2010-03-03T01:24:00.019Z

We used our Lake Mead Park pass to get to Las Vegas by the scenic route. I couldn’t talk Claire in to having a go on the helicopter so we set off quite early around 10am. We thought we would have a drive around the other side of the lake to see if it was any different but ended up just stopping once at Las Vegas Lake which is at the end of Lake Mead. It looks like it could do with a little more water at the moment as it all looks a little dried up. But this is a typical landscape around here but usually black mountains in the background.

As we almost went straight to the Golden Nugget on Freemont Street, Downtown Las Vegas, where we have booked the next 2 nights we thought we would have to leave our bags and go for a walk as it was only around 11am and check in wasn’t until 3pm. There was quite a queue and only one person serving so it seemed to take ages to get to the desk but to our surprise they let us have our room. Again it was valet car service where you park at reception, get your bags out and give your keys to the valet service and they park it for you. If you want your car back in the mean time you just give them your ticket and they fetch it for you. I think they expect a tip of about $4 plus each time they give you your keys back. I compared prices for a room at the hotel on a few different websites but the one Geoff gave me came out cheapest at $39 a night plus tax but with no resort fee. For that you get a room in the oldest tower and sheets etc are basic but we upgraded to the Golden tower for $59 a night which we thought was very good. The room is lovely with a King bed, Egyptian cotton bed sheets and a 42” TV screen. Also this block is in a quieter part so you can’t hear the street noise. We have lots of room and our window overlooks the pool which is great.

We had a wander around to familiar ourselves with the surroundings and the pool area is better than it looks from our window; they have black jack tables out by the pool and the huge circular fish tank. It has water falls to the front and lounges all around as well as on two levels above the tank. They even have one of those water slides, that start at the top and winds its way around, through the fish tank and dumps you in the pool. There is another small pool on the top deck and cabanas that can be rented or reserved. By the main pool they also have a large spa and a fire that you can sit around if you are cold all the time like Claire. The main pool goes all the way around the fish tank where they have sharks and rays amongst other things.

We went for a brief walk around outside to see if there was anything around Freemont Street but it all get a little rough the further you seem to go. We were looking for somewhere to eat lunch but didn’t succeed and ended up going back into ours and eating at the buffet on the second floor. I think that I am a little slow as I didn’t realize that they had the world’s largest golden nugget in a glass safe there. When I had heard talk of the largest Golden Nugget in the world, I thought they were talking about the hotel chain. It’s not a very good picture but it weighs 61Ib and is in its raw state. A glass safe doesn’t sound like a very good one to me; I wouldn’t be surprised if some of these dodgy locals have a go at it one of these days.

I think that Claire likes it in this hotel even better than Treasure Island and Fremont Street suits us better than the main strip. I’m sure we are in the minority but its not so load and big and not so many people; also everything is much cheaper here. The lunch buffet is $11.50 each and you can have as much as you like; they have a great choice and we both didn’t find anything that we didn’t like. They have crab cocktail, shrimp cocktail, salads, fruit, Chinese food, Italian food, roast beef, roast chicken, more than I can mention and a marvellous selection of hot and cold sweets, my Mum would love it here. I tried the bread and butter pudding with bourbon sauce and it was delicious. A tip for would be dinners is that the dinner starts at 3.30pm where they change all the dishes over ready for the evening and there is even more choice but the price goes up by about $10 each. If you get there for about 3.15pm you pay the lunch price and you sit for a while and order a drink, have a nice seafood salad and by the time you have finished that all the dishes have been replaced for fresh dinner dishes. Oh, I forgot they have 2 soups and the one I tried was great. Naughty Claire even went around the cheese board, getting lots of different cheeses and biscuits piling her plate high. I said that she would never eat all that but then most of it seemed to slip off her plate into her saddle bag for later.

Anyway, the light show starts at 7pm and is on every hour after that so we should manage to stay up for the first showing. I don’t know why but we are still both tired all the time and it seems to be getting worse rather than better. I think that it must be all the packing up, travelling around, unpacking again and finding our way around; its quite tiring and stressful moving into a new place until you settle in.

Last night I had a go at proper black jack on a table as the minimum was $2 and they gave me 2 $5 vouchers to use. Trouble is every time you used a voucher, you had to match it with $5 of your own so I used mine cautiously. Luckily, both times I used them I won so it boosted my money very nicely. I only started with $20 and played all evening, we both got free drinks and I got two spin the wheel tickets where Claire won $2 and $5. We had a great night even though it all went back in the end except for the spin the wheel money. On the way out, I put a quarter in a poker machine and came away with over $6 so we weren’t far off even by the end of the night. Here at the Golden Nugget, they have machines by the bar where you can play poker and black jack amongst other things for 25 cents a go and while you are playing them you get your drinks free so we already had some fun today; I could hardly drag Claire away for lunch, she really go into it and also did better than me. Beginners luck; lets see what happens tonight!

Boulder City and Lake Mead

2010-03-01T23:55:00.016Z

As this hotel is so cheap we did decide to stay another night after all. I got talking to a guy at the bar called Paul who gave us some tips to start with while his wife won $300 at poker but it ended in a session. The drinks seemed to be flowing fast and furious and we were soon incapable of gambling any more so ended up at the bar all night. Paul tried to talk us into staying a night at Boulder so we drove there today to have a quick look. It’s a quite old fashioned town but smartly laid out and I guess that it was thriving in the 1930’s when the dam was being built.

Before we set off to Boulder we spotted a walking trail in the general direction of the lake so headed down there to see if we could get a better view of the lake. It was a nice walk on a very pleasant day and it takes you through two tunnels. We could see that the path was endless and went through several more tunnels, probably around the corner so you could see the dam but Claire didn’t like the tunnels because rats kept running by her. They weren’t real rats but small stones that I kept throwing by the side of her, but don’t tell her else she will be cross again. We had about an hours walk so it was long enough to start the day and enough to blow the cobwebs away.

We drove to Boulder City which was only about 2 miles away from our hotel. There are statues along the street and every other shop is called Boulder Dam something. I’m not sure why they renamed it after Herbert Hoover but I guess that the locals would rather still have it as Boulder Dam. Apparently, gambling and drinking was banned in Boulder City during the construction of the dam so as not to get in the way of progress. To this day Boulder is one of two places in Nevada that does not have a licence to gamble and drinking was only permitted in 1969. We found the Boulder Dam brewery and went in to sample their wares. It’s the first time that Claire has ever had a beer with a slice of orange in it. We liked Boulder, but as its only 2 miles down the road it’s not worth moving hotels for, it would be easier and cheaper to get a cab in for the evening.

On our way back we spotted a little turning that headed in the direction of the lake so we took it and paid the $5 entrance fee. You can drive all around the lake on these small roads I guess, but we only went part the way to get some better photos. I believe that you can drive to Vegas down that road as well so we may try that when we set off tomorrow. One of the turnings goes down to the harbour that we could see from our walk and we were hardly on the pier platform before we could see fish everywhere. A lady was feeding them and almost putting the bread in their mouths. The ducks wanted to get some of the action and sometimes would climb over the fish to get the bread. There were so many fish all along and every time you stopped they would swim up to you to see what you had for them. If you put your hand in the water they would come right up to you and I guess that you could pluck them out. I guess that even Jose from Rexam could catch some fish here.

Travelling back to Vegas via Border City

2010-03-01T01:21:00.007Z

The storm that they promised didn't amount to much other than wet, sleety snow all night and cold winds which made it miserable so we packed our bags and headed back towards Vegas intending to stop on the way because of the Nascar race that is on over the weekend. We stopped off at a place called Williams for some lunch as we didn’t set off very early. Claire was back to wearing two coats again and I had long trousers and my jacket on. The further we travelled the better the weather became but there was still some snow in Williams. It’s an old fashioned looking town on Route 66 where we found a little place to have lunch. They had half Chinese food and half American so I tried the Chinese which was good and fresh cooked. Again, Claire didn’t really enjoy her burger, but I did warn her.

The rim of the Canyon is about a mile high and that’s why the weather is colder than at sea level. Also the air is a lot thinner there and I could notice it, especially when walking up stairs or slopes. I woke up both nights with my mouth completely dry as I must have been breathing through it to get more air in without liking my lips or swallowing. By the time we were only ½ mile high the snow had gone and the weather got better all the way. The Hoover Dam was much easier going coming back and we only had to stop once. Claire had noticed a Hotel on the Vegas side of the dam on the way there so we stopped to check the prices out. It’s called the Hotel Hacienda and Casino and they must adjust their prices to get people to stop here rather than driving the 30 miles to Vegas. We are paying $25 a night for 2 Queen Beds which is the cheapest that we have found on out whole trip. You have to pay extra for the Internet but meals are also cheap so we have booked in for one night if not two.

They even give you 2x $5 vouchers to play Black Jack so I may even get a proper game. They have one table, which seems full all the time for $2 minimum. I don’t know why they don’t let people play what limit they want because there was nobody playing the $5 or $10 tables. We had a drink at the bar and they are only charging $3.25 for a beer so it’s cheaper all around. We have a very large room with some views over the lake. If we stay and extra night we might try the helicopter ride over the dam and lake at $29 as Claire has never been in one before. At least it’s warm here again so I can get back into my shorts and short sleeved shirts and Claire can take one of her coats off.

Hopefully we will get a few more photos tomorrow and have a little more to say; it’s always difficult on a travelling day. If it had been better weather we would have driven around the Canyon to the North side where all the other main natural attractions are but its no fun in the weather that we had there when we left. We were very lucky this time to have clear skies for our photos yesterday as they would have been rubbish today. In retrospect, maybe we should travelled the other way around the world and came her in November and then gone to Bali on the way back so we would have had warmer weather here and had a suntan for our return home. We are both getting a little home sick now and have been talking about returning a little earlier but we will see how things pan out over the next couple of days. If anyone has any suggestions we would be grateful.

The Grand Canyon

2010-02-28T00:59:00.023Z

We must be the only ones in history that bought a Canyon $25 pass to gain entry to do the laundry but there is nothing on the outside and we are both out of clothes. We hadn’t realised that Arizona is an hour ahead of Vegas either so we lost another hour. With all the promises of storms Friday evening and Saturday we were very fortunate to have nice blue skies while travelling along the Canyon taking photos. Almost the second we finished and got in the car to drive back it came overcast and dark. I have worked out that last time I came here 30 years ago; we went along the North rim because we had come from Bryes Canyon; I guess that is why I don’t remember the Hoover Dam.

They have found stone arrow heads dating back 12,000 years ago but it was discovered by white man, well the Spanish, in 1540 and I have included a picture of the information board in case anyone wants to read it. I tend to photograph these as I go along so I can read them later, also it gives good markers to where the following photos were taken until the next board. As I have said before, places like the Canyon are so huge that photos just can’t do any justice to what it looks like when you are here. Last time, in the 30 minute helicopter ride, I shot 5 or 6 films of 36 exposures because I couldn’t believe my eyes and I don’t think any came out as good as they did this time. I am looking forward to having another look at them when I get home as I have never got them out again in 30 years; if I can find them.

We went out to dinner last night as we were starving travelling all day and not even having breakfast. We found a hotel that had food called the Canyon Star where we both had the steak which was very nice but we couldn’t eat them all; we should have ordered one with two plates. Trouble is we are not used to eating a big meal late a t night, I guess if we had them for lunch we would have been ok. Our waitress could hardly speak English which made things a little worrying as we didn’t expect to get what we had ordered. Also she seemed to drop everything but the price; first Claire’s sour cream for her baked potato, then my knife, then my credit card and finally the pen. I didn’t think that she was entirely cut out for witnessing. Having said that the food was very good and about the first time that our vegetables were not been under or over cooked in our entire journey. Today we were back to tourist food and had to settle for the Mexican because most of the others close at 2pm and we weren’t back until closer to 3.30pm. As dinner started at 5pm at the earliest we thought we would give it a try. Claire only ate about two mouth-full’s but I managed about ¾ of mine being heavy on the pepper sauce. They did bring complementary Nacho’s with a large bowl of salsa which was nice but Claire doesn’t like those either. We should have tried our restaurant which was the other one that was open (also McDonalds) and had more varied food but Claire didn’t fancy the menu. Never mind at least the beer was good and she is loosing weight, especially with all the walking we did in Vegas. I can’t say the same for me as my palate is much more varied; I made a conscious effort when younger to try and like as much as possible so that I would be a little happier on average. If you like everything then you will always enjoy whatever you have. Trouble is there are side effects!

Anyway the pictures speak for themselves and I won’t waffle on much more. The picture of the raven about half way through came out well; it looks almost magical. He flew down right in front of me when I was just about to take a photo; I guess he thought that I looked like the kind of guy that would have some food. Which reminds me of when we had lunch with Ian and Jane in the Dandendongs, or whatever they are called, and only Jane ordered desert. The waitress that brought the huge chocolate fudge cake over to our table looked at us all, smiled and handed it straight to me.

Arizona in winter

2010-02-27T04:02:00.009Z

Thanks for the comments yesterday; in hindsight we shouldn’t have gone to any shows, it would have saved us 3 days. One getting the tickets and the next two evenings going to the shows, we would have been better of seeing the evening sights. Never mind we may get a chance on the way back as we have been thinking of staying in a cheap place in Downtown Vegas for a couple of days. Also I think that the water show at the Bellagio would have been in colour if I had caught it on the hour. It seemed too much trouble to get our car out when we had to wait for the valet service; maybe it will be easier in a downtown hotel. Also, everything is so much cheaper there which suits me. I didn’t really fancy the $10 Black Jack in our hotel, it would no longer be fun for me; I actually enjoyed playing the 25c machine and winging free beers; if I can get Claire playing our night will be free except for tips. We bought a pack of cards and have been practicing in our room. We have both worked hard for our money over the years and I don’t like the idea of just poking my notes straight down the drain.

The Satnav didn’t play up today and was almost straight into action and I couldn’t believe that it even knew its way around our hotel grounds which are a nightmare as they lead into Mirage and very hard to find your way back if you go wrong. No, it seemed to have been to Treasure Island before and knew all the little tricks and back allies. It also got us out of the spaghetti junction style highway system so you can actually go in the correct direction right from the start. It certainly seemed a lot happier in Vegas than in Sydney where it was worse than useless.

Once on the right road it was quite a boring journey but the landscape did change quite a bit with flat desert, rising mountains, snow capped mountains and even Boulder Mountains. We had to drive over the Hoover Dam which used to be called Boulder Dam and I can’t remember doing that crossing 30 years ago but I see that it was built in 1936 so who knows; maybe I can have a look back through my photo’s when I get home. It was a nightmare as they have over 20 miles of roadwork with speed limits of around 15mph; at one stop alone we waited for 30 minutes. I need to look at a map to see which way we went to Vegas from the Canyon last time.

The closer we got to the Canyon the more snow was around until we finally arrived and there were piles of snow everywhere; we should have got a bigger car with all wheel drive. The motel that Claire had picked out which was next to the Imax we couldn’t find. I know it sounds odd but we drove all around the Imax place without finding it. We found a sign advertising it and showing the way but it lied. We ended up in another one that was in the discount book next door called Red Feathers. Our room is the same size and identical layout to the one we had in Treasure Island but the furnishings and not quite the same quality and we have 2 Queen beds rather than one King bed. Also I noticed a sign on the inside of the toilet lid that says that the water is recycled so you shouldn’t drink it. Must remember that in the night when I’m really thirsty.
Claire was very pleased that she bought her new green pullover and coat otherwise she would have been freezing like I was in my short sleeved shirt, shorts and sandals. She was also very pleased that she hadn’t totally missed all the snow that we had in England. I did get some strange looks when I turned up in reception to check in though.

There is no laundry around this area we had to get our pass and drive into the national park to the campsite laundry but unfortunately, by the time we got there, it was too late as they closed in 15 minutes. That means we will have to take some time out of our sight seeing tour tomorrow doing domestic stuff. We have not decided yet on where to go tomorrow and will be talking about it with the maps we picked up over dinner tonight. Last time I did the helicopter ride and loved it but don’t want to spoil any more of my memories. We quite fancy a walk down the canyon and I was reading some of them but at this time of year they recommend the use of crampons for the journey back up. Does that mean that you slide down without them? Anyway, I’m not sure if crampons will fit properly to our sandals. They say that they have had 2 meters of snow in this area and we have another snow storm on its way. I’m sure that its colder here than it was in England; did anyone see icicles as long as those in England?

Last Night in Vegas

2010-02-26T06:15:00.015Z

We still seem to be sleeping really well but somehow feel tired all the time. The curtains seem to black most light out, the bed is massive so you don’t feel each other move around, combined with a few drinks your out cold. We started off by walking north towards Circus Circus so Claire could look in a shop that she had spotted. She managed to buy a nice green coat and a green pullover and we carried on towards Circus Circus. We were going to get a taxi to downtown and Freemont Street but once we were out of the hotel area we couldn’t flag one down; its not like New York. We carried on walking passed Circus Circus where I had played $1 Black Jack yesterday towards the Stratosphere. It was about $30 to do the ride but I felt like I might have a heart attack if we did it and wimped out.

Anyway we ended up walking all the way to down town Vegas and onto Freemont Street; I guess that not many people walk over here because nobody would believe us. It was a nice sunny day and lovely in the sun so we enjoyed the walk. Mind you we were knackered by the time we got there and didn’t even fancy walking the street. The best time to come here is at night when they have the laser show on apparently but we have no time left as we have to be back for The Phantom of the Opera. Claire had read about the Golden Nugget so we went in for liquid refreshment and some lunch as we were starving by then. We stopped for a drink at one of those bars where they have Black Jack on a screen in front of you and it was only 25c minimum, which is more my style. Because I was playing it we got our beers free so it was a double whammy. I had about 3 drinks and only lost one dollar so that made it even better but Claire didn’t fancy any of the food places in there so we walked all the way back to where they had steaks and a beer for $10. By the time we had got there Claire didn’t fancy that either but she settled for a pizza while I went for the steak. The steak was good but the rest not so and Claire’s pizza tasted sweet somehow which you wouldn’t expect for a cheese one. By the way, yesterday we ate at Margaretville and my steak was one of the best that I have ever had. I had Teriyaki steak and it melted in your mouth, mmmm! Claire had a plain sirloin but hers was a little tough but still it had no fat or gristle on it. And the Margarita that I had was even stronger than the ones that I make at home. When in Rome!

We got a taxi back and got ready quickly as time was moving on and we only had 30 minutes of Happy Hour left at our favourite bar where they all know us now. We walked across the road to the Venetian where our show was on but all the traffic seemed to be stopped other than a convoy of trucks all blowing their horns. It must be for the Nascar race that is on here over the weekend so it was a good job we came home when we did, it was bedlam out there. All I will say about the two shows that we spent 4 or 5 hours at the timeshare to get cheap is that we came out early from both of them; I will leave Claire to explain why.

I couldn’t leave Las Vegas without getting a couple of pictures of the water show outside the Bellagio first so made the long walk there while Claire came back for an early night. Trouble is, when it’s dark and too far away for the flash you need a long exposure and then the water has gone before the photo is taken.

Summing up, I don’t really think that Vegas is our cup of tea; we both are not real keen on Cities and Vegas is probably the craziest and noisiest that you will find. I loved it when I was here for two nights 30 years ago when I was 25 but both Vegas and I have changed since then. In some ways, I remember it as being far more spectacular then than it is now; I guess that I was young and in those days expectations weren’t so high. Walking along the strip at Las Vegas at night reminds me of the scene from “Total Recall” when Arnold first gets to Mars!

Life in Vegas

2010-02-25T01:08:00.001Z

Of all the gin joints in all the world, Phil had to book us in for our first night in Los Angeles at the Tradewinds Airport Hotel. It was awful and if you don’t believe me, check out the reviews on TripAdvisor http://www.tripadvisor.co.uk/Hotel_Review-g32525-d630507-Reviews-Tradewinds_Airport_Hotel-Inglewood_California.html. Being a conscientious traveller I always try and review the good and the bad but Tradewinds was just plain ugly. I felt really sorry for Jeanne the lady next door from Tahiti who had left her husband and her son who beat her with a broom. She was trying to get to New Zealand to see her daughter and was having trouble getting her bank to transfer funds to the USA. I helped her complete a fax to her bank with the scant details that she gave me but there wasn’t much else I could do to help. It wasn’t the best introduction to LA but never mind I’m sure we will get to explore some of the nicer sights when we head back to catch our flight home.

We decided to stay away from the main strip when we first got to Vegas which I’m not really sure was the right thing to do. But it was getting late when we hit the city and we weren’t sure if we’d park the car okay. As it turned out, it was no problem and we have been quite happy staying at Treasure Island. You really need to stay on the strip to pick up the vibe of Vegas. Luckily we got a good deal, and we are right in the heart of things, just across the road from The Venetian. The Trump is just behind us and The Mirage is next door. All of the main hotels are simply spectacular but Caeser’s Palace is the one that took my breath away. A real WOW factor with a capital ‘W’. I can’t believe that we have been here for 4 days and Phil hasn’t been tempted to place a bet at one of the many tables. To be honest, I think we both feel intimidated by this place, it has overwhelmed us.

Yesterday was indeed a grim day. I can’t tell how awful the time share experience really was. When Phil spoke to the lady about cheap tickets we both thought that all we had to do was a tour of the Venetian. Of course, we hadn’t read the small print and it was only when we got to the sign up desk to fill out a personal questionnaire and pick up our name badges that we knew we were in trouble. Unfortunately Phil had already handed over 106 bucks which was non refundable so we had no choice other than to get on the courtesy bus along with a load of other suckers which took us to the time share place, which was about 5 miles from the strip.

We got off the bus and were asked to sit in the lobby where we were assigned our own personal salesman. Scott was friendly enough but after getting a sandwich and a coffee and going in to a conference room to await our presenter saleswoman, I knew it was serious shit. Unfortunately the sales presentation was interactive with the audience with some really bum wincing American stuff. It was friendly enough but after 2 hours of sales talk and a PowerPoint presentation, it started to get tough. I told Scott on introduction that there was no way in the world that we would be buying a timeshare and were simply there for the cheap theatre tickets but he insisted on doing his stuff. It was hard to get cross because he had a huge smile stuck to his face for the whole 5 hours we were with him. The apartments were cool enough and we asked a few questions just to be good sports but the financial stuff was tedious and there was no way we were going to sign. Scott didn’t really put the pressure on but his boss had to sign us off and he was quite direct and was quite rude to us in the end. Before we get on the courtesy bus we had to be interviewed by another cop like guy who after the interrogation offered another low offer. What bit of “no” did they not understand??? We finally got our vouchers for the box offer and got dropped off outside our hotel. Needless to say, it was straight to the bar for happy hour for a few drinks to relieve our stress!

I am sorry to repeat Phil if he’s already said all this but it really was a horrible day and certainly not worth the agony for the cheap tickets. We met a charming couple in the bar from the mid west and swapped our LV experiences. Brad introduced his wife to Phil who promptly insisted on giving him a hug because she thought he was cute! Phil, not used to such praise was in his element but later on I had to explain that she thought he was cute because he reminded her of her dad who was 63! We went back to the room to freshen up and then went back down to the casino but Phil had to go to the reception and we lost each other for nearly an hour. A bad ending, to a bad day.

It may sound like we aren’t enjoying our time here, we are, its just so much to take in. Las Vegas in not like anywhere else in the world. Neither of us are city folks but if you get the chance, you must come and visit and see for yourself. That said I won’t return by choice. I can’t believe that Phil hasn’t been tempted to have a gamble at one of the tables but between you and me, I think that he is a little afraid. Friends and family tell me the snow is back in the UK so I hesitate to mention the weather in Las Vegas. It’s cold and as ill prepared as we were in Oz for the changing temperatures are even less equipped here. Phil isn’t feeling it so much although he’s coughing and wheezing like a man twice his age, but after the climate in Queensland, I am freezing!

We had a good day today and after a Starbucks breakfast from the café in the lobby we did a 3 hour walk of the strip stopping off at the big hotels that we hadn’t seen inside. A tip from Tom was to have a drink at Margaritviaville and we went there for lunch. We both had fat juicy steaks with chive mash; Phil tried a margarita which was brave of him because it was very strong. It’s the first decent enjoyable meal that we have since we left Australia. I can recommend it but guess it’s probably got a more lively buzz if you go in the evening. After lunch we ambled downtown and ended up in the Circus Circus casino where we placed a few dollars on the slot machine. I guess we spent around 10 dollars in total, not much, which as just as well because we lost it all.

The wind was up when we came out and we walked straight to our room to freshen up for the theatre. I would have liked to dress up but a) I have nothing suitable, and b) its way too cold out there. Phil has already gone down to the casino for Happy Hour and I must publish this post and join him before going across the road to the theatre to see our first Las Vegas show

Ever had a bad day in Vegas?

2010-02-24T06:44:00.020Z

We seem to sleep so well since we have been over here, I start to wonder if we have sleeping sickness from Oz. Even though we were in bed by about 10.30pm we didn’t wake up until 9.15am; I did watch “Forrest Gump” but Claire was asleep straight away. We ventured out and were undecided if to go to the Mirage first or the Venetian but we crossed the road to the Venetian because they have all the best shows and at the moment that we wanted to see. We walked into the door where they had touts that seduced us into going on a tour of the hotel so that we could get our tickets cheaper. Instead of $145 a ticket we could see two shows for $100 but we had to spend two to three hours in a presentation. We went for it and it wasted our whole day, so don’t waste your time making the same mistake as us. It was a time share and with very sophisticated hard sales techniques that got stronger as time went on. After we had wasted several hours the prices were announced at $41000 for two weeks ownership with almost $1000 a year fees that would increase with time. The $41000 buy in fee went down with each manager to $5000 but they never changed the maintenance or changing fee. If they had come down to a free buy in fee, I still wouldn’t buy in because the maintenance was the catcher, so beware!

Again we haven’t really eaten anything sensible, only the sandwiches that they gave us on the tour. But we have however had a few drinks and talked to other trippers. Claire did start a blog earlier but our connection suddenly disappeared and she lost the lot. That's why I am doing this at the end of the day just to keep it going. I booked one extra night today in this hotel before we move on so that we can see the shows that we earned today by suffering the talk. It seems that this place will continue expanding and going up in price, that’s why we have a “Trump” building next door. Anyway it’s not for us because we don’t really like Cities and I don’t think that Claire will ever come back here by choice.

This place is a den of iniquity and I’m not really sure I like it either. It seems very seducing into making you spend loads of money that you haven’t got. I really hope that we start to like it better before we leave, otherwise I don’t think that we will ever get back here again. This place seems to have plenty to offer, but far more to take, so be sensible and act like you would everywhere else. But hey, I guess that lots of people have had worse days in Vegas than we have! The last photo tells it all and I guess that Claire will eventually tell her story.

Every Day is a Shopping day In Vegas!

2010-02-23T06:41:00.008Z

As I predicted, the old shoes that gave Claire blisters was by the bin this morning. In fact, her new flip flops were also by the bin until I complained but I guess they will be forgotten somewhere on the way anyway so my cause will be lost. I’m part of the “old school” that doesn’t like to throw anything away when it still works, but especially not things that are less than one day old.

Claire wanted another day shopping today so we packed up and drove to the outlet shops where there are about 150 designer outlet shops in an area that you can walk around, if you can find it. We followed the map and spotted “The World Market Center” but it soon became obvious that we were in the wrong place. The wind must be a northerly because it was so cold and we got back in the car to find the proper centre, with the heating on. When I say heating, the car has, “climate control” and you just set the temperature that you want and you get it wherever you are, hot or cold. I like this car the longer that I drive it but it really wants to be driven fast which I must refrain from because we don’t want any more tickets. We soon found the proper outlet centre and parked up there where we spent endless hours shopping. Not my favourite pastime but Claire found a cardigan that she is happy with. She didn’t however, find the thick tights that she also wanted to wear in the evenings. I find it hard to believe that in 150 top stores, they don’t sell thick tights but, believe me, I looked as well. Claire did find a nice leather jacket with an institched hoody that I really liked, that was reduced from $150 to $39 but she didn’t get it because the arms were too long and the body too tight. However, when we got home, she said that she wished that she had bough it and rolled the sleeves up. I really hope that we don’t have to go back to that place again. By the way, we still haven’t eaten any normal food since the Indian in Australia; the best that we could find today was a pizza slice.

We drove in the general direction back to the strip, which was made easier because we have booked into “Treasure Island” for 3 nights that is not far from the high tower where you do the drop from and it can be seen from almost anywhere. The traffic lights are horrendous here and you seem to spend most of your time waiting at them, but at least you get time to think where you will go at the next set. We turned into Treasure Island and got the Valet to park the car while we waited in line for an hour to check in. The room is lovely on the 11th floor but no fridge so we have to buy drinks from the bar at full price. You can get ice and cool drinks in the sink but its not ideal and there are no visible bottle shops on the strip; as they keep your car keys when you get her its not easy to drive anywhere during your stay.

Anyway we are here now and tried the buffet dinner which was very average and was hard work to find what was worth eating. Surprisingly, it was the local American food counter that seemed best with, corn bread, brisket, mashed potato, turkey and beef gravy that won it for us but there was much to try before we got there with little room left. I think that was the first time we have had decent food since Australia. We had a little play on the “pokies” or “slots”, according from where you are from and between us we lost about $2.47 so it wasn’t a disaster. Tomorrow we hope to try the Blackjack tables and maybe roulette. I have always fancied a go on the craps tables but have no idea how to play so maybe we need to ask in the bar in happy hour where you get two margaritas for $9.50 between 4pm and 6pm; wow, they give you a buzz. The second to last picture is from our balcony that sort of overlooks the strip, where they seem to have fireworks now and then. The last picture is inside the casino area where they have a funny bike that I guess is from a film that we haven’t seen yet. Now we are settled for a few days it should be easier to communicate so you should have better pictures and words tomorrow as Claire has promised to do the next one.

Caesars Palace Shoe Shopping Centre

2010-02-22T02:35:00.015Z

This is a very short entry with lots of pictures so should be easy reading. Claire was trying to keep a low profile today so that the Las Vegas Mafia wouldn’t spot her. We had a late night for us last night not getting back until 1am but I guess that most people here have only just got started by then. We both slept great and the sun was shining when we wandered out for a walk but it was still quite cold when not in the sun. Claire was pretending to be freezing so that she could keep her hood up all day and nobody would recognise her. Also Claire’s boots were hurting her and we seemed to hunt endlessly for a comfy pair for her. It’s quite a long walk from our hotel even to the strip so her feet were already sore when we got there. We ventured into Caesars Palace and walked around 2 levels which seemed around the size of Milton Keynes shopping centre. We looked at a map and found an ATM to start with and then headed towards the Shoe shop called “The Walking Company”. We had a quick look in a posh shoe shop where I looked at a pair of pumps for her only to find that they were going for the bargain price of $545. Claire spotted some flip flops on a stall and bought a pair for $10, changing into them immediately. The first pair she found were both left feet and I called them “flip flip’s”. Also I can’t tell you the effort I went to before finding an ATM, you would imagine that of all places, Las Vegas should have them everywhere so people can get at more money easily. They all seem to charge to draw money out as well and do the old trick, of not letting you draw much in one go so that you go back and pay the charge more often.

We found the shoe company and Claire seemed to like all the shoes in there which is very unusual because she usually can’t find anything that she likes. She ended up buying two pairs because she couldn’t chose between them. The first pair she got were UGG shoes with fur in the bottom; we travelled most of the way around Australia where they are made and she ends up buying them from Caesars palace. The second pair were even more unusual and made by the Walking Company so were really comfy to walk in. Claire changed from her new flip flops into her new favourite shoes and imagined that everyone was looking at them and admiring them as she walked along. I wondered why she carried an empty back pack all day. I guess that all her old shoes will be in the bin when I wake up.

We stopped for a quick Corona in a Mexican bar within the Caesar Palace grounds and were joined by one of those “funny guys” in a costume that was having a bad day. He phoned his wife to tell her that he had only made $3 all day, and we could see them in his second hat. However, he neglected to tell her that he had spent the rest on rum and coke.

LAPD and the Godfather’s wife

2010-02-21T08:24:00.022Z

Poor Claire was freezing in the backpacker’s paradise squat suite but managed to finish off her 3 books in 1 that didn’t actually get wet in the downpour in Woopi as we had a little shelter and the wind was blowing in the right direction. When we nipped to the bar to claim our two free glasses of champagne we realized that it wasn’t your average backpacker’s that were staying there, more your average dropouts. They weren’t proper backpackers like you get in Australia at all; we were probably more like backpacker’s than any of the others there. On our way back to our room, Claire got talking to an old Chinese looking lady that was staying next door to us who had been crying and looked very sad. She turned out to be in a desperate state, in the middle of a divorce and on holiday from Tahiti. To cut a long story short, after 3 or 4 knocks on the door that evening and lots more tears, Claire gave her $20 to help sort her situation out. I heard some commotion outside and went to investigate. There were 3 LA policemen going around with the manager trying all the doors near us with a master key. The lady next door had gone missing and I started to worry about her and after thinking for a while in the room, I went out to talk to the manager. I thought either she had done something silly or had been evicted as she had no money left for the room. It turned out that the police were looking for someone that had sprung parole and the old lady was ok until the morning when her rent ran out.

She knocked on the door again later but Claire was asleep in front of the TV and I was on the way too so I told her to go back to her room and promised to see her before we left in the morning. My, that was a long Friday but we both slept straight through until a knock at the door woke us both at 6.30am. We didn’t answer it but got up shortly afterwards to get a cup of tea from the café area. They had also put on snacks in the bar the night before but it was the usual, chips, nacho’s, rice fried potatoes and cake. They also have free muffins with tea had coffee in the morning so you could live quite cheaply there, if not that healthy. Claire and I had decided to pay for one more night at the backpackers for the old lady so she had another day to sort herself out and she was very relieved and grateful. We are both a little soft in the head when it comes to things like that but would rather be charitable to people we meet than donate to unknowns on a regular basis.

We got the free shuttle back to the airport to pick up another free shuttle to pick up our rental car. The car is a Nissan and it doesn’t have a key, you just have to have the key fob in your pocket and it starts with a start button. They were very understanding of our position as we are not sure if we will need to come home early so they have let us rent the car until out flight date but will also let us bring it back earlier if we need to reschedule our flight earlier. He even said that if we only have the car for one day, he will only charge us for the one day so that’s a weight off our minds. Hopefully my Aunt Daphne is on her way to recovery now and we can come home when we were scheduled to.

We eventually got the satnav going and were on our way driving through LA which is massive; I believe that the city of LA is the same size as Denmark so we would have struggled to negotiate it without it working. It wasn’t long before the traffic snarled up and our route had been cut off by a truck accident but the satnav took it in its stride when we got off our proper route. It took literally hours to get out of LA and we were in desert with scrub and Joshua trees. We were both starving as the last proper meal that we had was the Indian in Brisbane on the Thursday and it was now Saturday and we also had at least two Friday’s, if not more. We had eaten airport stuff but were in need of something proper. We stopped of at a town and headed straight to Denny’s as I remember it from 30 years ago as being great and they were “always open”. Unfortunately, either Denny’s or I have changed in the last 30 years; probably both. It was mainly the usual staple diet of America, burgers with different stuff in them all with crinkle cut chips. Never mind, maybe we will find something proper to eat on Sunday. We also spotted an outlet clothes mall so had a look around there where I managed to get two cheap shirts but Claire couldn’t find anything she liked.

We stopped again for petrol and water and picked up some leaflets and booklets with discount vouchers for hotel in Vegas so Claire could chose where she wanted to stay the night. We didn’t stop and change the satnav again but Claire managed to get us there from the instructions on the voucher. We decided to stay in Vegas rather than LA for the weekend but refrained from stopping in a casino hotel until the week when it’s cheaper. Claire chose a Best Western, just off the strip and with the voucher we are only paying $40 a night which I can hardly believe; maybe we won’t stop on the strip after all.

Just before we got to Vegas we spotted, what looked like clouds but turned out to be mountains; I don’t think the photo shows quite how it looked. Claire had a power nap in the car and I almost did too with the cruise control on driving through the desert for hours are quite tiring. Once unpacked Claire wanted to go out but I thought it would be better to have a quiet night and go out tomorrow but Claire insisted. We got the free shuttle to the Hard Rock Casino and Claire hated it, saying, “Why did you bring me here, you know I’m a country girl”. It was a difficult question to answer, but I suggested that we went to the Hard Rock Café, rather than the casino; boy how things have changed in the last 30 years. Claire didn’t seem to like the café either, until it all stopped and the staff broke into YMCA; I thought they were going to sing, “Happy Birthday”, it was ridiculous! The main staff member stood on the corner of the hand rail and did all the motions and it wasn’t long before the crowd joined in; even Claire got up and danced with the hard core punters.

We left happy, but now we needed something to eat so dashed across the 12 lane highway to the new Italian restaurant on the other side of the road. We seemed to walk all the way around it but couldn’t find the entrance. Maybe we drank more than we thought but asked someone and they pointed to an unmarked door. We went in and sat at the bar but ordered an awful Italian white; I had forgotten that all Italian wine was rubbish. Never mind, Claire seemed to like the old fashioned band on stage and it wasn’t long before she moved to the front table and started to dance. The first dance was short lived but she soon found her soul mate that was about the same size as her and was waiting for her husband to come out a meeting. There was a spark between Claire and her new found friend but it was difficult to catch it in a snap shot so I switched the camera over to video. It was all too late, the song came to an end and the meeting must have ended because all these, well dressed Italian men came out at once. François was Claire’s new best friend’s husband but he could hardly look at us. His wife changed and stayed by his side, the band stopped and sucked up to him, as did the staff and manager. She introduced him to us formally but he could barely bring himself to smile. I think Claire’s new best friend was the Godfather’s wife! What a shame we didn’t have time to give her our blogsite address; but then again, I guess they already know about it!

Long Friday at the Backpackers LA

2010-02-20T00:30:00.006Z

Wow, Friday was a long day and it’s still not over yet. Thursday night we popped out for an Indian just down the road called Indian Taste Buds and we both agreed that it was one of the best meals out that we have had since we were in Australia. We woke early Friday morning around 6am, packed up, checked out and got a taxi to the airport where we discovered, whilst checking in, that we hadn’t an American visa. Neither of us had thought too much about the last leg of our holiday as it was an Australian holiday mainly with a couple of stopovers. We both understood that all our visas and airport taxes were part of the original around the world package that we bought but it didn’t include the USA visas. In the old days you had to send your passport off for a visa weeks before your holiday so I had visions of and extended stay at the airport. Luckily you can now apply free online so we headed off to the internet café and it was all sorted out in about 15 minutes.

By the time we had got through security etc, we barely had time to get something to eat and one drink at the bar that Claire had to leave most because we had started to board. We took off around mid day Friday 19th Feb but we were scheduled to arrive in LA at 7am Friday 19th Feb, before we had even left, and it was a 13 hour flight with Qantas. They were very good but we had a little trouble with a passenger 2 row in front when he moved back into the empty seat in front of us. Just one of those selfish prat’s that can’t keep still, constantly getting up and down, blocking the gangway, in and out of the locker and moving his eat backwards and forwards. As we were arriving so early and we knew we would be knackered I decided to book a cheap hotel so we could crash out when we got there. Trouble is you can’t usually check in until 2pm and we needed to get the room by 8am. I phoned before booking online and they advised me to book the previous night and the same night to be sure our room was available, which I did, and he also assured me that we would be ok not checking in until 7am and that I should ring the number that I had called on to get picked up from the airport. So get this, we left on 19th Feb on a 13 hour flight and had to book a room for 18th Feb so we would have a room when we arrived; I felt like we had been through a time warp.

We arrived a little early at about 6.30am rang the hotel and were picked up about 15 minutes later. The immigration in the USA used to be horrendous but this time it wasn’t too bad. We arrived at the Tradewinds, backpackers Hostel and I handed the paper over at reception and the lady said that we had booked for 18th and it was now the 19th and as we hadn’t checked in our reservation had been cancelled. I explained that I had rang before we left and actually booked 2 nights. She did try to help then and only charged us for one night but we had to wait while our room was made up. Claire wasn’t very happy with our accommodation as it was “mingin” and the ceiling seemed discoloured and there was a damp musty smell. We did somehow manage to get a few hours sleep and then had a walk around in the local area but it seems a little dodgy to say the least.

We want to get out of here as soon as possible but Claire wants to get the bus to Las Vegas and I want to get a car so we have our independence and can stay where we want. We can’t get the wi-fi in our room so have to take the laptop to the reception area with all the dropouts. Anyway, I will finish on a happier note with a picture of the Robb family on holiday in the Dominican Republic. Wish we had gone there now, its freezing here and Claire is wearing two coats, even in the room and its still only 4.30pm on Friday.

Goldilocks and the little drummer boy

2010-02-19T00:00:00.000Z

THE LOST BLOG

“Who’s been sleeping in my bed?” Wasn’t said by the three bears but by Goldilocks as she arrived back at her house swap having been away for the last 10 nights. It wasn’t just the way the bed was left, not in its usual, “just right” fashion that it was always found in, it was the stale smell of smoke that hung in the air and bedclothes. The other giveaway was the tin lid full of ash left by the side of the bed and the drug pipe contraption left in the en-suite. Goldilocks lovely clean towels looked like they had been used to wipe down the stray dog that you just rescued from the canal. Her new unopened body lotion half gone and left inside the shower. The half bar of soap now no more than a slither, the toilet roll had disappeared along with its inner cardboard roll, and also the spare one under the sink; but the toilet certainly wasn’t found as it was left without going into too much detail. But the worst thing was the stale smoke hanging in the air, closed curtains and ruffled bed clothes.

It wasn’t too long, whilst bringing the luggage into the house that the door banged with the garage door left open for light. Banging doors have the tendency to wake sleeping people even if it’s about 2pm but it was New Years Day after all. It therefore wasn’t too long before the little drummer boy showed his face and dreadlocks wishing us a Happy New Year; what a nice gesture, especially a little after the crack of noon. “Got any smokes”, was our second greeting. “We don’t smoke” Goldilocks answered. Perhaps he thought we had made a new years resolution which would save his life from eternal withdrawal, or even the short bike ride into town. “Can I borrow the car to go and get some?” was his third and final muttering before disappearing through the still open garage door.

Goldilocks thought that there might have been a party in the ironing room because all the chairs were in unusual positions and when one was replaced back to its resting place a massive iron mark was revealed on the carpet. I somehow can’t imagine an ironing party especially not over Christmas, but I could imagine a masochistic branding party for some reason. I guess we will never know. The drummer boy returned with his hands full of his fixes and headed back to his sanctuary. We had intended to go straight out and get supplies before the shops shut but delayed this slightly in favour of some urgent internet activities. That’s when the other occupant of the smoke room emerged to have a smoke outside; maybe she wanted some fresh air to go with her fag. She disappeared back in there again and hasn’t been seen since; she may be still in there for all we know. The other thing that disappeared was the drug pipe smoking contraption that was left in our en-suite that we had placed by the sink next to the rotting fruit in the kitchen. Goldilocks reflected that maybe she had come back just a little too early.

Goodbye Australia, Hello America!

2010-02-18T06:41:00.000Z

Before leaving Woolgoogla we had one last supper at our favourite pub the Seaview Tavern across the road from the Diggers rest for a quick one on Tuesday evening. The special meals there are very reasonable from $10 each which is not bad for 3 lamb chops. I think Phil was secretly hoping that we’d bump into Trev and his dog again but they were nowhere to be soon. Perhaps one night of our company was more than enough? It was early to bed and on Wednesday morning we packed our bags and left the motel just after 10am. Phil & I didn’t realise just how close Byron Bay, our final port of call, was to Woolgoogla but that was okay, we just took our time driving some of the journey on the highway and turning off at various creeks, rivers and pretty little towns. Some were what we have come to call them, ‘one horse’ towns but nonetheless they were all very pretty. It was just before 4 in the afternoon when we pulled into Byron Bay and we stopped off at a bottle shop to get some supplies before finding our way to Mick & Lynn’s where we’d arranged to stay the night. Byron Bay was a lot quieter than the last time we visited but the town was still buzzing even though it was late afternoon.

I’m not sure if Mick & Lynn actually invited us or whether we invited ourselves but either way it was great to catch up with them before leaving Oz and gave us a chance say goodbye. When we arrived Mick was busy doing stuff in the garden and Lynn was making her way back from a meeting in Coffs harbour. I admit, I did feel a little guilty landing them with us two reprobates as Lynn has been very busy at work lately and has had to travel to Sydney a couple of times since we were last in Byron Bay to visit her dad who has been poorly in hospital. Lynn made good time and got back home not much after 6pm but of course, we’d already got stuck into the beer by this time so we were a little ahead of her. The weather was warm and the mozzies were out in force but we had a great evening catching up on the under-cover back deck. Mick cooked steaks and sausages on the barbecue which we had with one of Lynn’s special salads and some very garlicky bread. And very nice it was too. Jeff was back from his tour so he also joined us for dinner. The red wine flowed and we finished the evening with a glass of cointreau and ice. Needless to say we all were a bit groggy the next morning, all bar Lynn, who was out at first light picking up supplies from the local farm market.

Whilst Lynn put on the coffee machine, Mick cooked up sausages, eggs and bacon on toast which went down very well after the night before. Jeff came by to pick up his surf board and Phil couldn’t resist taking a photo of him riding away on his bike with his board under one arm. God knows how he got on getting out of the drive and riding up the hill to the beach but I guess, where there is a will there’s a way. Before leaving, we gave Mick & Lynn back their map which we had borrowed; they gave us some invaluable travel tips when we came in January and with their advice we saw sights that we simply would never have found under our own steam. I am certain that we shall meet up again, whether it is on our native land, in Europe or in other far remote places on the planet. Thanks once again for putting us up guys, it was great fun as always!

We said our goodbyes and left Byron bay around quarter to ten. The plan was to leave early so that we could drop off our bags at the Soho www.sohobrisbane.com.au and then return the car. The roads were busy but we were soon in Brisbane. Unfortunately we’d completely forgotten all about daylight saving time in Queensland which meant we gained an extra hour! This didn’t matter much because the crappy sat nav was temperamental so we went round in circles but finally we found our hotel, got to a petrol station to fill up with fuel before eventually getting to the Europa office to return the hire car. This is third time we’ve been in Brisbane so we were easily able to find our way on foot to the centre of town where we stopped off for a drink and a toilet break before going back to the hotel to check in and get our room key. We always stay at the Soho in Brissie when we’ve been here and I’m sure Phil thought the reception staff would recognise him when he checked in, but of course they didn’t!

We couldn’t be bothered to walk back into town for something to eat, so lunch was a quiet affair at a little restaurant-cum-cafe just down from our hotel on Wickham Terrace. It was edible, cheap and cheerful fare but nothing to rave home about. For some reason we were feeling pretty jaded so we went back to our room to catch up with emails and book a hotel in Los Angeles. Our flight leaves Brisbane at midday but we don’t arrive in LA until 7am, bizarrely because of the time zones, we arrive in the US before our flight departs from Australia! Worst thing is, although it will be morning time when we arrive, in Oz time it will be 1am. The plan is to go straight to the hotel to get some sleep before deciding what and where to go from there.

Well this is our last evening before we leave Australia tomorrow. Am I sad? Well no, not really, it’s been a ball down under but the time has come to move on to pastures new. I think we’ve done pretty well driving practically the entire boomerang coast. I am sure there is much we have missed along the way and I would have liked to have got to Darwin, but all in all we haven’t done badly for first timers. There have been some highs and a few lows, although not too many of the latter I’m pleased to say. The highs include, connecting up with Jane & Ian in Melbourne, Philip Island, driving the Great Ocean, Road, seeing Sydney in the sunshine, Fraser Island, cruising the Whitsundays, chilling out at the white house in Townsville, Magetic Island (even if it did rain half the time) and staying at Byron Bay with Mick & Lynn. One thing I will miss is the friendliness of the Australian people; I just love their laid back approach to life, their directness and the way they tell it as it is. Out here, life is certainly a beach! We’ve met some great people along the way, and some hopefully that we will keep in touch with when we return back to England. As for the lows, well we have been unlucky with the weather at times, the speeding fines and bans weren’t planned and we had some miserable moments in Melbourne. The worst though was receiving news from Jim to say that Daphne had fallen and broken her fema resulting in surgery and worst still, hearing news of her subsequent heart attack. This is just a brief mention of some of the good and the bad so far, we will, no doubt, have much more time to say on the whole trip when we get back home and have time to reflect.

For now it’s, “Goodbye Australia, Hello America”!

Blood Red Rocks

2010-02-16T21:17:00.024Z

I spotted this moth outside our room yesterday afternoon and I thought that someone might be able to email it to David “Moth” Brown to see if he recognises it. David was the first, if not still the only, professional Lepidopterist in England and is part of our “Wednesday night crowd”, although he doesn’t come as often these days as he has moved away from Milton Keynes. I went outside because I thought that someone was being strangled, to see what all the commotion was about, but it was a flock of noisy Parrots in the trees outside. I think that they fly from tree to tree all day, on the same route, checking out what has ripened since their last visit as they were back at a similar time today.

In the early evening, we decided to have a walk to the closest and probably only pub in town but we had only just got there when the heavens opened; boy did it come down. Claire remembered that she had left her 3 books in one with 1244 pages outside but it was too late to go back. Within 30 or 40 minutes the rain had stopped and the clouds went a funny colour and we could also see a bit of a rainbow. The rain brought everyone undercover and we started to talk to Wooda who had brought his owner “Trev”, I think. I am so useless at remembering names I should take a pencil and paper around with me, or at least a pen and write it on my arm like we used to at school. Wooda is a lovely dog and Claire and I gave most of our meal to him which he woofed down. We talked to Trev over several drinks and he had been in Australia for most of his life. When he first came here, from England, he joined the Australian Army and is now retired living on his pension but he still owns a motorcycle shop across the road. He also spends his time picking up rubbish from the beach because he said that he is a born beach bum and likes to keep them clean. I guess Wooda helps him where he can.

We did book in for an extra night here as we feel so comfortable both in our accommodation and the town so we could have an extra easy day without packing again. I didn’t think that I would find much to write about today so maybe it would be time to show “The Lost Blog” but I seem to have taken plenty of photos’s again somehow so decided to bullshit a little around them. Yesterday, we noticed that this blog had gone up to number 114 in the top blogs list but its gone back down again today; maybe it was time for the lost blog after all.

We had a quick drive up the coast to Red Rocks and there is an inlet from the sea that is very pretty. We tried to find the waterfall walk that Trev told us about but the road turned into a gravel track and you can’t take hire cars onto an unsealed road. Perhaps we could have parked up and walked but the road split into two and we didn’t know which one to take. At Red Rocks we walked quite a way around the inlet and it is very pretty but the clouds haven’t completely cleared yet so it was a little cooler but still very humid. They have built some board walks over some of the marshy ground so it is more accessible. I love board walks and every time we walk over them I can’t help singing, “Under the Boardwalk” to Claire. The boards ran out and the trail got a little tight where trees and bushes were constantly brushing you so Claire bottled out because she was frightened of the spiders, snakes and ticks. However, she promised to walk around the other way towards the sea, so we turned back.

It is a lovely little coast line and we found out how Red Rocks got its name with the bright red rocks going into the sea; there are also islands off the shore which are part of the Solitary islands that run along this coast. Trev told us that this area has the most temperate climate in all of Australia and the weather varies little throughout the year. It certainly is a lovely spot and we are not so far from Byron Bay now where we will be travelling to tomorrow. Even though Lynn has to drive down to Coff’s Harbour tomorrow to work, they have still invited us over for a BBQ; what a great couple, we do appreciate it. Mind you, I bet we will be feeling a little worse for wear the following morning when we have to drive back into Brisbane to hand the car in. I have a feeling it won’t be the last time we see this family and anyway we will be going to London in April to see their son Jeff Ling playing lead guitar for “Parkway Drive” during their new world tour; check them out, they are a great band.

From the top of the red rocks that we climbed up via a path you could see the inlet that we had walked part way around earlier so we could see that we had quite a good walk. There seems to be nice beaches all along this coast and of course no stingers. When we got back to the park area I spotted a little waggy tailed bird that kept jumping down to the ground and flapping about, then flying back to his perch where he ate his prey whilst wagging his tail again; he reminded me of Wooda with my rissoles. We also spotted one of those Juicy campers that we had talked about earlier with a tent on the roof; I’m not sure if they are all like that because we have only seen them driving around in the past, never camped. It looks like you use the camper to live in and you sleep in a tent on the roof; or maybe it’s a guest bedroom.

We headed back to “Woopi” for a late RSL lunch special, priced at $10 which includes a drink of your choice. I wish we had discovered these places a little earlier on in our journey as it would have saved us a fortune. I had chicken Schnitzel, chips and salad while Claire tried the Lasagne; excellent value for money, that’s why all the oldies always come here.

The final shot is of a memorial plaque by the indigenous people of this area, which is on top of the red rocks, and tells the terrible tale of the second way that the rocks got their name.

Scotts Head, Coff’s Harbour and Woolgoolga

2010-02-15T22:38:00.027Z

Our Valentines night at the Motel went very well; Claire did have the Lobster Mornay but I went for a steak. They had an old guy playing music and I can assure you, he sounded much better than he looked and played all our old favourites from the 70’s and all our modern favourites too. Anyway we got talking to Ray and Narelle on the table behind us and shared another bottle with them after we had finished. It was their wedding anniversary so congratulations guys and thanks for making our night. They will be visiting England in July as its Ray’s 60th Birthday and he wants to go back to visit the village where he was born for it. They also seem to have set themselves as much travelling as we have just been through visiting England, Ireland, Scotland and Wales. Hopefully we will catch up with them on their way around and remember guys; you are welcome to stay with us on your way around anytime.

We started by driving around the corner to see the river by the club but the weather seems to have caught up with us. It has been moving up the coast faster than we have so the pictures never seem the same without a little blue in the background. There is also a saltwater lake somewhere around but I think we missed that. Anyway it was back onto the Pacific Highway for a while before taking the tourist route again starting at Stuarts Point which is quite small and consists of little more than a holiday camp, a bay and a pony, what they call in America, “A one horse town”. The next stop was Grassy Head but that was about as big as Stuarts Point without the horse. However, things change when you get to Scott’s Head as it is a small town or large village; again, nice beaches with a few shops.

We did drive through Nambucca Heads but we didn’t find anything immediately and as it was drizzling by then we carried onto Coffs Harbour where we would get lunch and probably stay the night. We also had trouble finding our way around there too but found a street of restaurants along by the Jetty but it was Monday and very few were open for lunch. We drove to the Jetty where I took a photo and spotted the harbour so we drove around to that and there were a few café’s open so we managed to get lunch. Claire chose the Wild Harvest as The Lonely Planet said it was good even though the other café was full of people and half the price. The guide books are not always right and we only managed about half of our meals. That clinched it really, we decided that we wouldn’t stay there but head on to the place beginning with W and having a lot of “O’s” in it. There seemed an unusual amount of seagulls around which also put Claire off the place. However, as we were trying to find our way out we stumbled across the main town area which seemed a lot nicer than the other bits. It seems a little disjointed and well spread out, not so good to get around by walking if you fancy a drink.

WoolGoolga is about 20km north of Coff’s Harbour and is much more to our taste. We started by giving a drive around to see what our choice of Motel’s were and what else was around. We found what looked like an old dysfunctional lighthouse on the top of a hill that doubled as a lookout. It seems that lots of whales come along this way at the beginning of the summer but they have all long gone now. According to the information on the signs there are also Manta Ray’s in the area. We chose Digger’s Rest Motel which was right across the road from the local RSL with a helicopter outside. It’s only $78 a night and has a small pool and free wireless internet so we can do a little research for LA at the weekend. Yes, we are coming to the end of our Australian visit and are on our last leg. Claire bought a new book that is actually 3 in one so that should keep her busy for a while. I think we may even extend our stay here for another night so we can sort out our bags ready for being on the road full time. The room is fine with a double and a single bed, en-suite, fridge, kettle, toaster and ironing board so again, Claire can keep herself busy. And you never know, I might even get time to have another look at my OU books before we move on. The other bonus was that the clouds broke up as we arrived here and the sun came out so we might be just far enough north now.

Woolgoolga, or “Woopi” as the locals affectionately call it, is known for its surf and Sikh community. There is a large temple here and an even more impressive Indian Restaurant with Elephant statues outside. Come to think of it, there as many Indian restaurants here as we have at home but I bet they don’t have as many Indians. All this talk of food has made me peckish again; just time for a very civilised cup of afternoon tea and a cream bun outside in the sun.

South West Rocks, rocks!

2010-02-14T21:15:00.024Z

As we didn’t manage to stay at the Beaches resort in Crescent Head yesterday we decided to eat at their Thai Restaurant called Yummy Thai. Strangely, we spotted the man that checked us in from Crescent Head last night eating with his family but he looked the other way when he saw us. It turned out to be a good choice and very nice it was too; Claire even asked for a doggy bag as we couldn’t eat it all. As you know, Claire usually, well always, has the Thai Green Chicken Curry but she has gotten a little fed up of it lately and when we ate in Mum’s Thai in Sydney she preferred my Drunken Duck. She has vowed never to order the green curry outside Thailand again. We shared a couple of spicy dished that were both lovely but there was too much. When we had finished we asked for the rest of one dish to be bagged up and got talking to David, whose long time girlfriend Dang, is the chef. They also have two dogs called Ding and Dong so you have, Dave, Dang, Ding and Dong living together, which I thought sounded like the name of a 60’s Band. When they had finished Dave got us a glass of New Zealand white on the house and joined us for one. A very pleasant evening, thank you guys!

We started the scenic drive to South West Rocks via Gladstone, which saved going back onto the Pacific Highway. Once at Gladstone, the road winds alongside the Macleay river, which was another wide one. The rivers over here seem gigantic against the ones we get in England and you always seem to be going over huge bridges. We had a quick detour to Hat Head which again has long lovely beaches, but I guess that we have put quite a few on this blog and your getting a bit fed up with them by now. I forgot to say yesterday that the beach at Crescent Head squeaked like the ones at Byron Bay, Fraser and the Whitsunday’s.

We arrived at The Costa Rica Resort Motel, that Claire had booked the day before, and were a little disappointed that it was quite a way out of town, but it’s nice anyway. It also has a small pool, tennis courts, a restaurant, a dive centre and even a squash court so its really well equipped if you were staying a little longer. It’s probably best when you are on the road in a car to find one when you get there, but Claire was a little disappointed yesterday not to get into the one she wanted and was playing safe and booked something that looked good on paper. They let us check in at noon so we ventured off to see the town and beach where I guess the place got its name from. It’s a very pretty town with little sandy bays all along. The Heritage Guest House was recommended to us after we had already booked the other one and it’s exactly in the right place. There is also an aptly named Chinese restaurant called South West Woks but it looks like it needs a little TLC. We wet our whistle in the Seabreeze and had the Sunday roast special at $10 which was excellent value for money and right on the front. We had intended to try the Surf Club but it was closed.

We then drove around the corner to see the Trial Bay Gaol where this funny little bird with a crescent on its head watched us carefully. The Gaol was built in the days when the main highway linking Sydney to Brisbane was the sea and Trial Bay was ideally situated to offer the ships a place of refuge. The Bay required a breakwater to ensure protection during storms so the Gaol was built specially to house prisoners specifically to construct the breakwater. Unfortunately, progress was slow because the local granite was exceptionally hard and because of storms and gale force winds and after 10 years it was only one seventh of its intended length. By this time ships had become sturdier so the breakwater was abandoned and the Gaol was closed in 1903. It was opened for a short time during the First World War to house about 500 German soldiers and decommissioned 4 years later and today it is in ruins.

The other sight to see around this area is the Smoky Cape Lighthouse so we headed off there. You park by Captain Cook Lookout and start the very steep hill up to the Lighthouse with the views getting better with every step. I caught some movement out the corner of my eye and managed to get a couple of shots of this green or brown snake as it slithered behind some rocks. I’m not sure if it was poisonous or not but I didn’t want to get too close just in case. Once at the top you could see beaches all along the coast stretching for as far as the eye could see but the distance shots don’t come out very well in this humidity. We had a little walk along a park type footpath that leads to a track that goes down to the beach but it looked a very long way down and I bet that it would be even further up again. Excitement over for one day, it was off back to our room to get ready so I can take my wife out for a romantic Lobster Valentines meal. Happy Valentines Day Everyone!

Port Macquarie to Crescent Head

2010-02-14T03:08:00.016Z

The internet connection across the balconies worked, but only just; I did manage to speak to Georgina this morning to wish her a Happy Birthday, but it did keep cutting out. While I was talking, Jimmy tried to call me but didn’t try again until we had finished. The Robb family had a great time in the Dominican Republic but it was raining buckets when they first got there. Everyone that they spoke to said that it had been like that for the previous two weeks so they though it might ruin their holiday but they were lucky, the next day was glorious sunshine which remained for the rest of their stay. Congratulations to Lloyd Blakey and his wife who just gave birth to a little boy, I think called Oliver but the connection was as bad as my memory. Lloyd is the youngest son of Peter who is Jimmy’s partner (in business) who I used to work with as well. In fact the pair of them used to be my bosses at different times. Probably the best ones that I have ever had to be honest, that’s why we have stayed friends for so many years. Jim said that he couldn’t believe that it has been 7 years since Lloyd had their first and it only seems like yesterday. Well I can remember the day when Shirley brought Dan and their new born Tom to work, when Jim stood Dan on the desk and he pointed to Tom and looked at me and said, “Tom!” Where does the time go? I guess that Jim and Shirl’ will be the next Grandparents, hey Guys?

Although I managed to talk on Skype it was almost impossible to upload the blog; probably the worst connection I can remember, but my memory is not that good, especially when it comes to bad things. Anyway I gave up and put the details on the data stick and we headed off, ending up at Port Macquarie which is a very pretty place but we did manage to get the blog on. It wasn’t a place that we felt that we would like to stay in as it’s a bit too big and some of the Motels we tried were very pricey. We therefore headed back to the Pacific Highway, which is the main road between Sydney and Brisbane, turning off at Kempsey, the home of the Akubra (those hats with the corks around the rim), to Crescent Head which is a little discovered surfing spot. Having said that it looks like it’s quite up and coming and the house prices seem very high. The Motel that Claire fancied was closed for lunch and a sign said back at 3pm when check in starts. It was only 12.15pm and I said to Claire that we would hang around for about three hours to be told that they were sold out. Anyway we headed of towards the beach, found a pub and quenched our thirst. I changed into my trunks in the toilet, a bit like Superman does, and we headed off to the beach which was lovely. There is an old wooden bridge across the river to get to the beach in the first place and then its sand all the way, as far as you can see. I even had my first sunbathe since we got here and the sea shells doubled as eye shades because Claire has stolen my sunglasses. It was also a delight to go into the sea without a stinger suit as they don’t get down this far; however, they may be crocodiles, sharks, sea snakes and other nasties where a stinger suit is little protection. Claire said that when I went in the tide seemed to come in a little.

We had a quick drive around and drove past a small golf course where the views were good and carried onto the lookout point where they were even better. The lookout point looks like an old water tower but it looks like some locals have got into the graffiti thing. We headed back down to our Motel so as to be the first there at 3pm exactly to be told that she had just let the last room. How did I know? How did I also know when the ATM machine would only let me have $200 that I would be charged before it came on the screen? Because if you only withdraw small amounts you stand more chance of paying the $2 charge more often. Anyway, we walked across the road to Claire’s second choice, “Wombat Beach Resort” but the reception door was also locked. As we were looking around for a notice, the door opened very slightly and a lady stuck her head out. “Sorry”, she said, “One of my birds has escaped out of its cage”. We had to creep in quickly so it wouldn’t escape. She is a nice lady but they don’t have broadband only dial up connections and also no air condition but it was already late in the day to start driving to another town so we are staying here the night. They do have a pool and spa and a communal laundry so Claire was straight off to check that out. With this heat and humidity, you seem to use up clothes so fast and as we didn’t bring many clothes, Claire has to wash every other day. She loves it really, at least she doesn’t have lots to do at once and it gives her something to do while I download the photos and write this blog for you guys.

One last thing, when I saw the funny comments from the Portuguese or Spanish guy called Gerry the other day; I thought that it was one of those loonies that you get putting comments on blogs now and then so I was a little rude. I hadn’t much chance or will to read it properly. Mainly as I can’t read Spanish and don’t have much internet time, but Jim told me that it was Gerry McCain, Madelyn McCain’s father. So sorry Gerry, and good luck with your quest, it might be worth copying the text and translating it online if someone gets the time. I also understand why his photo is not very smiley, so very sorry again. We now have our first celebrity as a follower; how cool is that, good job I didn’t let Claire delete it like she wanted to.

Sydney to Brisbane, North New South Wales

2010-02-12T21:38:00.016Z

At least we never had another fire alarm while we were in “H” so we slept quite well. Claire woke up a few times but it’s so dark in there that you seem to sleep better somehow. We checked out and somehow got our satnav back into action in the first time in about 3 weeks and as usual it seemed to play up to start with giving conflicting advice so you don’t know which instructions to ignore. Sometimes it agrees with the signs and sometimes not so we tend to trust the signs more than the satnav. Anyway, it managed to eventually get us on the highway where we had to pay the toll fee and then it told us to keep right but the signs said to keep left so we followed the signs and ended up back in the traffic again. It was like a nightmare, I don’t know what’s happening in Sydney at the moment but it’s full up. We covered the first 20km in about the same time as we covered the next 200km so it was not a good start to the day. What didn’t help is that we have a crap car which we couldn’t get going to start with so I had to go back into the hotel to tell him. He said that I need to start the car with the clutch in, it’s a safety device. Great, I can’t say I’ve seen that one before, you really would have thought it would be something you should be told when you pick it up. The couple that was being served when I went back laughed as if everyone should know that but I haven’t seen it before. Just as I managed to get it going and fought with the seats to get any where near comfortable the laughing couple came out the lift to their hire car. Within seconds their car’s alarm was going mad but we left before it had stopped, or indeed I had stopped laughing.

The main road between Sydney to Brisbane is called the Pacific Highway. The first part of the journey north from Sydney, there is not many sensible places that you can turn off to see the coast as it’s quite far away and no closer roads so we stuck to the highway until we turned off in Newcastle. That also is quite a long drive to the coast along the river but very pretty and I got lots of photo’s. It’s long and sprawly and we didn’t fancy staying there so got back on the highway to go a little further. We grabbed a Happy Jacks which is part of the Burger King Chain and again stopped of at Bulahdelah where we had a drink while the cheeky magpie watched us the whole time. There are a few lakes between there and the coast, I think called Myall National Park but we weren’t sure if we could get through without having to come back the way we came as our maps were rubbish. It was also getting late in the day so we decided to head to Taree where the main road got back to the coast again. Having driven through, we decided on the Midland Motel because it was by the river and had free broadband. As we were checking in we spotted a swimming pool which is always nice but we never got chance to try it. There were a couple of nice bikes outside and I looked for Billy but couldn’t see him. It’s been a really hot day again today and the humidity seems to be getting up again, plus the aircon in the car is rubbish. I never realised that we would get a manual car otherwise I would have upgraded as we have it for 7 days. I can’t say that I’m very comfortable in it but that’s probably the longest drive we will have until we get to Brisbane.

All we did was walk along the river, found a pub and tried very hard to replace the sweat of the day. It was a hotel with a bottle shop next door so we had everything that we needed except for milk in the morning. It’s funny over here, you need a licence to sell alcohol, which is quite expensive and you need a different licence to sell alcohol to take away. That’s why there are so many BYO or Bring Your Own restaurants everywhere, which sounds good but beware, they have a corking charge which varies wildly. When we got back we tried to set up the modem and cables which they handed us over with the keys without success and as the phone didn’t have a cable to the socket I had to walk over to reception. Four or five visits later, the guy from reception phoned the owner that used to live in Newport Pagnall came out and plugged a long cable from the next room, across the balconies into our system and it worked. I must remember to unplug it before shutting the door tonight.

We were woken at about 6.30am by the roar of the 2 bikes staying at our Motel; wow they sound even better than they look, but Claire didn’t think so. Its another glorious sunny day here but we are expecting more rain which is chasing us up the coast from the south but we will do our best to keep ahead of it. Claire managed to get a better map so we should be able to explore a little easier now we know where we are.

Anyway it’s now the 12th of February in England so Happy Birthday Georgina! You can start driving as of today because you are 17 and should get your independence once you have passed your test. I remember when I passed my driving test, I was over the moon, it was better than any other exam or test I have ever taken; I couldn’t stop jumping up and down while I ripped off the “L” plates from my car. I drove off on my own and got lost in the country side and it took me ages to find my way back.
Happy Birthday Georgina, have a great one!

Sydney in the sun

2010-02-11T21:48:00.022Z

When we were here at Christmas we didn’t see the sun the whole 4 days so it was nice to see it how it should be seen. What a difference the photo’s make when you have a nice blue background. As Claire said we saw 3 airports that we haven’t seen before yesterday, Townsville, Coolengata and Sydney. We drove into Sydney and Townsville last time. Coolengata looks even better from the air than it does from the ground, a real pretty place. As it was raining most the time we were here last time, we took all the modes of transport that Sydney has to offer, the monorail, boats and tourist bus, just to keep dry. We headed off on foot so that I could get plenty of pictures on the way, over Piermont Bridge and along Cockle Bay to Darling Harbour as far as we could walk. Look at the second picture, our apartments are to the right of the Novotel in the middle, it’s called the Oaks Goldborough. We are on the side that you can see but only on the second floor so we cant see the harbour, just trees. Then we had to take the roads for a while, but kept close to the bay to Walsh Bay which is really pretty where the rich live and moor their boats outside. There are 4 or five fingers and the last couple you can start to see Sydney Bridge. If we lived here, our boat would be that little dingy on the end.
Its quite a long walk right around to Circular Bay but its pretty and lots of ferry trips go from there. Most people walk over the Sydney Harbour Bridge, but we walked under it where you can see the Opera house. We just arrived at the piers to find that a ferry was leaving in 5 minutes to Manly Island so we rushed and got a ticket, got on but all the good seats were already taken so we stood at the bow. Good choice, as you can see both sides from there, most the seats you could only see one side. We were straight off and I could take even more pictures of the Bridge and Opera House from different angles. Its quite a quick boat and only takes about 30 minutes so we were soon there. We headed down what looked to be the high street without cars to another beach then looked for a pub to replace some liquid that we had lost. Although it’s not so humid here it’s still hot, especially in the sun and there was very little breeze.
We popped into the New Brighton Hotel for a quick one but it wasn’t long before 2 guys that had been drinking all morning started to talk to us. I can’t believe that I didn’t take a photo of them, it was only when we had left that I realized that my camera was still over my shoulder like the perfect tourist. Richard or “Kavy” looked a bit like a sea captain with a wirey beard and we didn’t catch the other guys name, but he was a really nice guy originally from Hungary that has been here for 21 years. We all got on and they started to help us decide where we should stop on our way up to Brisbane. We were just about to go and Kavy insisted on buying us another drink so we stayed a while longer. Then, of course, we had to get them one back and on it went. It ended when one of the bar staff came up to Kavy and told him to finish his drink and be on his way. He couldn’t believe it and asked why, and to our surprise he had been to the ladies toilets and scared a few people. His excuse was that the toilet that he used was the gents the last time that he was in there 20 years ago. This didn’t seem to satisfy the barman so they had to get on their way. That was our chance to escape so we rushed off to the beach and then crept back to the main street where we found a nice place to eat. Trouble was, it turned out to not be such a nice place to eat food wise, it looked nice but the food was dreadful and now I will have to take Claire out to eat tonight as well because we couldn’t eat it all.
After our late lunch we headed back to the ferry to come back to Sydney and luckily the ferry had just started to load up so we got straight on. It wasn’t long before we were back and started the long walk back again, which somehow seemed a lot hotter later in the day. We were glad when we gat back to Cell block H and headed straight down to the pool for a quick dip and spa. Bubbles seem to take all your aches and pains away, especially when the water is hot like it was. We weren’t supposed to go back to our apartment until you have completely dried and changed clothes but I hadn’t taken any with me so had to come back in my wet trunks and a towel; good job there wasn’t a fire alarm like last time we were here.
Talking of alarms, we had only checked in yesterday, dumped our bags and headed off to stock up the fridge when the fire alarm went off; we weren’t even there 30 minutes this time. Lets hope we get some good sleep tonight as we start our new drive tomorrow.

Getting from A to B courtesty of Virgin Blue

2010-02-11T07:28:00.002Z

I felt a little sad leaving the white house; staying in motel after hotel for weeks on end, it’s been nice to settle down and unpack. No 73 had become our haven, our home from home, and yeah, I was sad to leave. We had a very pleasant ‘last supper’ with Jean and Graham but I felt a little sorry for Graham when Phil ordered a second bottle of wine because Graham, our driver, had to get up early for work the next day. Jean and Graham have had quite a lot on their plate but next week they off for a 10 day break on Fraser Island where hopefully they can relax, chill out and forget all their worries.

Talking of worries, we received some bad news from home. Phil picked up an email from Jim who returned from his holiday to find that Aunt Daphne suffered a heart attack in the hospital last week. She has been moved to another ward which apparently she is happier in as she has access to a TV and there are other people she can talk to. The doctor’s have yet to decide what treatment Daphne needs but the heart attack will no doubt have been a set back to her recovery. Thank goodness she has Jim because we feel pretty useless out here. We have our flight booked to LA on the 19th Feb which we will confirm in the next couple of days but Phil has decided that we won't book anything or make any plans until for the US until we’re are actually there. For now all we can do is send positive thoughts and sit and wait to hear from Jim.

As Phil said, Tuesday was cleaning in the morning and then the cinema in the afternoon. I was pleased that I woke up early yesterday morning because it gave me time to strip the bed, put the sheets in the washer and get them dried and ironed before we left. Just in the nick of time and I turned off the iron just minutes before Jean arrived to take us to the airport. Townsville airport was small, efficient and civilised and we enjoyed a very good flat white coffee with Jean before saying our goodbyes. Our flight to the sunshine coast was with Virgin Blue, plenty of leg room and we landed at Coolangatta at half past twelve. Lunch was a beer and a Hungry Jack’s and then in no time we were back on a Virgin Blue flight to Sydney. It was a shame that we couldn’t get a direct flight but the 90 minutes flew by and we reached Sydney at 4.30pm. We collected the backpacks and jumped in a taxi which took us the ‘The Oaks’ at Darling Harbour. Our room wasn’t as good as last time and Phil phoned reception to see if we could change but just our bad luck, they were fully booked so we were stuck in room 245. It wasn’t so bad but we were slightly miffed that we are paying double the amount that we paid at Christmas for an inferior room.

After dumping our stuff we headed to the harbour for a drink and then went to the little back streets at the back of The Oaks away from the harbour to get some supper. We stopped off at Mum’s Thai restaurant which is a restaurant in the lonely planet. We had tried to eat here at Christmas but the restaurant was closed for the holiday period. Phil went for the house special dish of drunken duck and I went for my usual, green curry. Phil’s dish was tasty and hot but mine was a little bland. I am going to have to be more adventurous and try some other dishes. I am becoming tired of my own palette! After dinner we popped into the Chinese supermarket for some breakfast supplies, and then it was back to cell block 245 for some TV and some shuteye. Weird, we had a whole day in transit, mostly spent sitting our backsides and we were completely knackered.

Back to Sydney

2010-02-09T21:19:00.008Z

We fly back to Sydney this morning where hopefully we will see some blue skies this time.

Monday we drove to Charter Towers but unfortunately it was shut. It only looks like a snip on the map and it’s the next place inland from Townsville but Australia is a big place and the journey there is over 130km. Quite a few places don’t seem to open until Monday evening around Australia but it seems that few are open in Charter Towers. It’s another of those old fashioned towns that is like Australia used to be so worth a trip if you don’t visit on a Monday. I saw a sign on the way back to another waterfall but it was an extra 110km so we didn’t bother; we needed food which we bought from Woolworth’s. Another BBQ of T bone steak, new potatoes and salad; Claire’s favourite. The T bones that we have seen over here are cheaper than most other cut because they cut the fillet part off to sell separately only leaving the corner bit on the steak. Another difference that I have noticed over here is that they grow their spring onions with really long white bits and not much white where at home we prefer the reverse. Anyway the old Stock Exchange building has lots of shops and Claire wanted to eat in Henry’s but it was closed on Mondays. On the way there and back I noticed, what first looked like pointed stones sticking out the ground which I thought were unusual. Having thought about them for a while Claire had a power nap, I thought they may be some sort of grave stones because they looked so regular in shape and size. On the way back I took about 6 or 7 photos of them as I was driving past but the photos didn’t show them but by then I thought they must be termite mounds. Anyway the next Creek was called “Anthill Creek” so I guess that answered my thoughts. They have these huge trucks along this road that they call road train's and are over 50 meters long with 3 wagons on the back.

Tuesday Claire cleaned inside while I gave the outside a seeing to, starting with the BBQ. It was brand new when we got here and only been used once or twice from the look of it but we used it almost every day we were here; I love it. All I did really after that was to sweep all the decking down by the house and pool and hose the car down. I was saturated with sweat by the time that I had finished because of the humidity here. There were also a lot of branches everywhere from the cyclone that passed over so I moved them to the pile of branches already started. When I picked one up, a lizard ran up the branch and along my arm before jumping for cover when I nearly jumped out of my skin. Which reminds me, that Monday night I couldn’t sleep because it was too hot ,and when I went to the toilet I discovered that Claire had left the windows open in the toilet so I closed them. Any bugs and mosquitoes would come in with the smell of carbon dioxide from our breath and eat me alive. I thought of what to say to Claire in the morning and realized that a snake could even have come in. I was grumpy when I woke up and poor Claire got the worst of it. Anyway, I don’t think she will be leaving the windows open anymore because when she had her arm in her handbag in the morning, a cockroach ran up her arm, which made her jump and shake as she ran away, and it didn’t do much for the cockroach either. We sprayed the room, closed the door and left it for a few hours and found the roach dead under the bed later. So remember don’t leave windows open in the tropics because the air conditioning doesn’t work properly.

Once our cleaning duties were over we headed off to reading Cinema for the last time to see 3D Avatar. Which Claire new nothing at all about and all I knew was that Avatar is one of the Hindi Gods that comes down to Earth in human form. I also new that it was written and directed by James Cameron the biggest budget film and already the biggest box office hit since Titanic which was also directed by Cameron. You had to where those silly plastic 3D glasses and we had a laugh just watching the previews in 3D. Claire said, “It’s not a kids film is it?” And I replied I don’t think so but the kids would probably like it as well. It was a long film, almost 3 hours and it blew us both away from start to finish; probably the best film I have ever seen and Claire thought it was one of the best she had ever seen and she doesn’t normally like sci-fi films. I have never seen anything like it before; spectacular! It also had a hint of what I imagined happened here in Australia 200 years ago and they even called the indigenous people Aborigines at one point. I have since looked it up on the internet and found that James Cameron who wrote the script for a series of three films in just two weeks has already announced the first sequel. You have to go and see it if you haven’t already and don’t be afraid to wear those silly glasses. It’s definitely worth the extra cost to see it in 3D as it really comes to life. Claire kept dropping her glasses every time something was flying towards her. They even got a professor of language to develop the alien language of over 1000 words so I guess that the “Trekies” will have a new one to learn now. It also reminded me a little of an old film called “Enemy Mine” which is also one of my favourites. Get yourself out there now and watch this one!

For our last evening we had arranged to take out Graham and Jean for our last meal because they had been so kind to us. They invited us around for a meal at their house and twice drove us around Townsville to show us the sights. Joan is giving us a lift to the airport in the morning so we felt we needed to pay them back in a small way and have a good time ourselves at the same time. Back to everyone’s favourite restaurant, Michele’s. We had a lovely meal even though Claire spilt her red wine all over my trousers which again reminded me of Mark Avery. We all had a lovely meal and a great time and poor old Graham drove again. One of these days he will get to drink with everyone else. Cheers Graham, hope we see you all again sometime! Also a big thanks to Geoff and Denise who made this swap with us and we hope that we have left your house how we found it for your return. We will miss this lovely house but all good things come to an end. Goodbye Queensland!

EMU & WILD TURKEY (Dreamtime)

2010-02-08T22:48:00.004Z

Long ago in the Dreamtime, the Emu and the wild Turkey were sisters. As children, they went everywhere together, they played, hunted and danced together, and they sang through the gullies and the bush. Boarta the Turkey was older than Woorpun the Emu. Because she was older, she always told the stories of their adventures. Emu didn't seem to mind. She was taller, and could run faster, and fly higher than all the other birds. Because the Emu was the larger and faster of the two, she was the queen of all he birds. But as the days passed, and the sisters grew older, so they grew apart.
One day as Boarta the turkey was gathering food near the river, she saw her sister flying high above her. Wooripun the Emu was twirling and whirling, and because Boarta the turkey knew that her sister was showing off, she said,
'Just because she has bigger wings than I, it
doesn't make her the queen of all the birds.'
One day, turkey was returning to her camp with some fish that her friend Pelican had just caught. Turkey loved fish, and thought that it was very good of Pelican to give them to her. As she approached her camp, her sister Wooripun came parading past. When Emu saw the fish, she stopped.
'Fish! Oh, how I do love fish! They are my
favourite food in all the land! Are you going to share them with me?'
Turkey was furious! Here was her sister whom she now hated, asking for her share of fish! Wooripun would have to be taught a lesson. One she would never forget! So Boarta lied to her sister, "If you like fish, why don't you catch them yourself? I do. It's really very easy. And anyway, you can only eat fish, if you catch them yourself. Otherwise, a bone will catch in your throat, and
will choke you!' Wooripun the Emu thought that this sounded a bit silly. but her sister was older, and knew more than she did, so what she said must be right.
The Emu followed Turkey back to her camp, her eyes never leaving the fish in the dilli bag. Then turkey sat down, and began to eat. she didn't offer Emu any, but ate it all by herself, saying,
'Fish is such lovely food. I don't know what I
would do if I couldn't catch fish!'
Emu sat and watched. She was very hungry. So she
said to her sister,
'Will you teach me to catch fish? I know I could if
you showed me how.'
the turkey finished eating, and agreed to show Emu
how to catch fish.
'I am one of the best fishermen in the whole
land. I am good because my wings are small. You
couldn't fish with those big clumsy wings of
yours.'
Wooripun the Emu looked at her sister Boarta's wings. They were small, and fitted snugly against her body. Turkey told her that if she wanted to be a good fisherman, she would have to cut off her beautiful big wings!
'Cut off my wings? but I need my wings for my
long journeys. How will I fly without them?'
So Boarta the Turkey told her that it would be really simple to cut them off, and then if she ever needed them, they could always be stuck on again. And what was more, without her wings, the Emu could catch all the fish she ever wanted. Emu could resist no longer. She loved fish, so her wings would have to come off. And, as Turkey said, she could always have them back when she wanted them. Turkey would arrange the ceremony for cutting her sister's wings. All the animals gathered for the ceremony. The old Wombat brought the special stone for Wooripun to use. Emu was ready. She could almost taste the fish! As soon as her wings were gone, she would rush to the river, and begin to fish. The animals formed a circle and Emu stood in the centre. With two quick blows with the special stone, Turkey cut her sister's wings off!
The animals had never seen an Emu with no wings. She did look a bit silly! They began to giggle. Emu just stood there. What were they laughing at? Was it her? Then she realized. It was her! They were laughing at her! She looked down at her beautiful wings, lying on the ground. Turkey had tricked her. She would never fly again. The animals rolled about laughing. That would teach Emu that she wasn't queen of the birds! Poor Emu, she wanted to die. She stumbled away into the bush to hide her shame. She would never forgive her sister. A long time passed before the sisters met again. By then, the Emu had ten children. One day, she was out hunting with two of her children when she saw her sister Turkey in the distance. Emu put her head in the air and started to hurry off, but turkey, who had seen her, called out to her,
'Sister, how does it feel to be queen of the birds, and have no wings?'
Emu stopped. The words stung her. She looked at Turkey, and then at her ten children. Emu was wingless, but she would have her revenge somehow.
She said to turkey, 'I feel for you. I have forgiven you your mean deed. Now I have these two lovely children to comfort me. But I feel sorry for you.'
This surprised Boarta the turkey. Why should the Emu forgive her? Emu explained to her sister,
"Look at your children. You have so many, and they are so small. Do they get enough to eat? Look at my two. They are big and strong, but then I have only two children, and you have ten. Oh, I do feel sorry for you!'
Turkey looked at Wooripun the Emu's two children. Indeed, they were big and strong. Turkey hated to think that her little sister would have bigger and stronger children than she. While she was wondering what to do, Emu called out,
'I know what I would do. I'd pick out the healthiest two, and keep them. Then I would kill all the rest, so they are not a disgrace to you.'
Turkey said nothing. She gathered up her children, and walked away. Perhaps Emnu was right, perhaps her children were not eating enough. The next day, Wooripun the Emu, and two of her children were feeding at the waterhole again. They hadn't been there long when Turkey arrived with only two of her children. Emu looked at them,
'What happened to the rest of your poor starving children? Did you leave them at your camp?'
Turkey spread her wings, gave a little flap, and said to her sister,
'I have killed them. Now my two children will grow up to be as big and strong as yours are. Now we will have children of the same size, but I will still have my wings.'
Emu gave a little low whistle, and as she did so, eight little striped feathered chicks ran from the bush, and joined their mother. Turkey let out a cry. She had been tricked into killing eight of her children. Then Wooripun the Emu said to her,
'You have your wings, and I have all my children. You tricked me because you were jealous. I lost my wings because I was greedy. Now I have tricked you, and your envy has cost you eight of your children. Let us stop now, and live our lives in peace.'
And ever since that time, the Emu has had no wings, and the wild turkey has only laid two eggs, a permanent reminder of their greed and jealousy, long ago in the Dreamtime.

Boring stuff

2010-02-08T21:55:00.000Z

We were absolutely cream crackered when we finally got off the boat and it was just after 6pm by the time we got back to our room. Luckily the noisy neighbours next door had departed so that was a huge relief. The plan was to get showered and changed and head out for an evening meal but Phil took so long downloading his many photographs and writing the blog that it was dark by the time he was finished. It was far too late for me to venture out but I was a little hungry so Phil went out to the night markets just down from our hotel and got us some takeaway noodles. They weren’t the best I’ve ever tasted but they did fill a hole.

I let Phil sleep in on Sunday morning because we weren’t in any great hurry to check out, and for once, the check out time was 11am; this is unusual for Oz, in all the many hotels/back-packers/motels we’ve stayed in, we’ve had to be out by 10 o’clock. I did the usual packing up while Phil took his laptop downstairs and posted the blog and checked the inboxes. It was another hot & humid day and not the best for the long journey back to Townsville. Still, we were paid up and on the road just before 10.30.

We both thoroughly enjoyed our time in far north Queensland but on reflection (we seem to do a lot of that these days) we both agreed, that we should have driven straight to Port Douglas and stayed a night there. It would have been good to explore the town in the evening and it was a shame that we didn’t drive a little further and to see Daintree and Cape Tribulation. But hey, we did what we did and can’t change it now. In hindsight, we think we also would have preferred to stay at Palm Cove instead of Trinity Beach but the apartment at Trinity was fabulous so maybe it’s not such a big deal.

There is not much really to report really. After leaving Cairns we drove for an hour or so and stopped off for a snack from a Sub-way at Innisfall. Someone (and I can’t remember who) had recommended that we stop off and take in the sights of Babinda but as we drove through the town we couldn’t see anything to stop for; maybe we missed it and should have turned off the highway to explore a little further. Never mind, whatever there was to see in Babinda, we missed it. We drove for another hour or so and decided to stop off and take a look at the little village of Cardwell. The sun was shining and the sea was glistening so we parked up outside the Cardwell Village Beachcomber Motel with a stubbie and admired the views.

Phil had the idea of stopping in Ingham for lunch as the last time we were there we couldn’t get in to the town as it was closed off because of a bomb scare at the bank. However, it was gone 2pm by the time we arrived and everything seemed to be shut which wasn’t altogether surprising because it was Sunday. I will still full up from my tuna baguette so I wasn’t fussed but Phil moaned a little as I steered him away from the Chinese restaurant which was the only eatery that seemed to be open for business.

Our last stop on the journey was at the Frosty Mango where I went to the loo while Phil queued for a mango ice cream; it tasted pretty disgusting to me but Phil seemed to enjoy it and it seemed to fill a tiny gap. The roads were very quiet and in no time we were back in sunny Townsville. We stopped off at Woolworths to get some supplies before pulling into the gates of the white house just after 4pm. I’d put the recycling bin out before we left and someone and I’m guessing it was Andrew next door had put in back in the front yard which was kind of him.

Thankfully the house was just as we left it although the grass seemed to have shot up in the few days that we’ve been away. It grows like crazy out here. I’m a little concerned about the fallen tree but Geoff says not to worry as he expects to spend all weekend tending to the garden when he gets back. Maybe if we get time, we shall get the mower out so as to save him a job when he gets home. Just a thought, but no promises Geoff if you’re reading this! Gardening is not really Phil’s or my bag, we tend to do a big tidy up in the autumn and then leave our garden well alone, all bar clearing leaves few leave blowing, until the Spring. If I had my way, our whole back yard would be laid to decking, paving slabs and gravel.

I unpacked and put away while Phil prepared the salad and new potatoes and cooked the steaks on the barbeque. A simple supper but just the sort I like. I phoned Jean from Skype but the connection was crap. Skype has been invaluable to us on this trip but sometimes the connections falls out so often that it makes you loose the will to live. Anyway, Jean was out cleaning her daughter’s house and said she’d call me later. Which she did, I just wanted to tell her that we were back in town and we arranged to go out to dinner for one last supper before we depart from Townsville on Wednesday.

Boring stuff from me today I’m afraid but my DH is fast asleep in bed so hence the reason for my entry. Hopefully, more stimulating stuff from the boy himself tomorrow.

The Great Barrier Reef

2010-02-06T22:40:00.024Z

The Great Barrier Reef is the world’s biggest single structure made by living organisms and is composed and built by billions of coral polyps and can be seen from outer space. Although it can be seen from out of space it is best viewed from underwater. It is composed of over 2900 individual reefs and 900 islands stretching over 2600km and covering over 344000 square km off the coast of north east Australia. We visited Moor Reef today which is a tiny part of the Barrier Reef but we have also visited the Whitsunday Islands and Fraser Island which is also part of the entire structure.

I will start by finishing of yesterdays blog as it came over really dark in part of the sky and the winds got up like we were expecting a storm. I only felt one drop of rain as the wind seemed to push the clouds away from Cairns. I saw the odd giant bat, which I guess were fruit bats landing into a tree on the other side of our road. Once the storm seemed to pass, I couldn’t believe my eyes as tens of thousands of bats took to the skies and flew back the way that they had come from when it got dusk; it was a real spectacle. I have never seen so many of them at the same time and all over a large town. I don’t think I saw so many of them when I visited Carlsbad Caverns. There must be lots of fruit around here to support so many of them. I took dozens of photo’s and even a video but as it was dusk I couldn’t capture anything sensible to put on the blog. I could only get a shot in focus by having the lens in wide angle so you can’t see them properly; I need a better camera. The guide books didn’t say anything about this; spectacular. Claire didn’t like them because she thought they might land in her hair.

Anyway, we did go out and discovered that there are some night markets right next to our apartment block which leads through to a food hall with mainly oriental food like you find all over the world. Claire was starving but I made her wait until we had booked a trip to the Reef for today, but it was worth it, you can’t come here without going to the Great Barrier Reef. We ended up booking up a full day out with Sunlover Reef Cruises that normally costs $180 but if you book through The Bellview on the Esplanade (85-87) you can get it at back-packers rate of $130. Having successfully booked the trip I promised Claire that we would eat at the Ozzy chain of steak houses called ‘Outback Jack’s’. I have never eaten there before but I remember seeing them around the USA and I think I have seen them in London as well. I don’t usually like these chain places but have wanted to try this one for years anyway. The steaks were all right but we were both a little disappointed, they are quite expensive but I don’t think such good value for money, you might be better off with a family restaurant in Australia. Never mind, the meals were nice but not as good as we expected; for example Claire had a baked potato with hers and it was one of those ones that have been kept hot for ages and has that old baked taste and texture to it.

When we got back to the hotel to try and extend our room, we couldn’t because the reception was closed. We struggled to get in but one of the doors opened with our room key. We weren’t long to bed because we had to be up early for the trip and we had to put the blog on and book an extra night in the hotel. We got to sleep fine but unfortunately we had, what looked and acted like a couple of West Indians next door who were very noisy. I already knew at around 10pm when they came in, that we were in for trouble with all the door banging and shouting; no attempt to consider anyone else. We were both awoke at 1.30am after they had been out and arrived home again with shouting, swearing, door slamming etc. I even heard a yahoo, a woof whistle and more doors slamming. I couldn’t work out why they were going back out their front door and letting it slam at 2.30am unless they were looking for something to steal. They came back and went out again at 3am where more shouting and door slamming followed. It was like a nightmare; in fact I had a real time nightmare about them but in my dream they were coming in and out of our apartment by climbing over the balcony. I even got up to have a look at our balcony once. It’s a shame that 99% of West Indians give all the rest a bad name! Luckily we still woke up by about 7.30am to quiet but I didn’t have time to write the evening or morning happenings, we barely had time to add an extra night in the apartment.

We arrived at the Reef Terminal at our schedule time of 9.15am but somehow didn’t leave port until 10.30am because the pilots were late. I guess that you should arrive normally at around 9.45am for a 10am start so don’t listen to the advice you are given. Once we were off, it was half speed ahead until we were out of the port area then the Captain put his foot down and we were really off, trying to make up for lost time. We cruised past a couple of islands before reaching the outer Reef where there is a Pontoon that was full of sea birds, a helipad, a seaplane, a glass bottom boat and a semi-submerged vestal waiting for punters. You have another wait while the crew tie about 15 ropes to the Pontoon and then hose and scrub down the entire deck of bird poop before allowing anyone off; man it was hot, but at least they have air conditioning inside. But of course we were outside catching some rays.

Lunch was at 12.30pm and we couldn’t get onto the Pontoon until around 12 noon so Claire and I opted for a beer and lunch before we ventured onto the Platoon. Lunch is included and was quite good with ample salad, fresh prawns and meats, rice, Chinese beef curry, hot mixed Chinese/Indian veggies and lots of fresh fruit. I guess that they were mainly catering for the 85% Chinese people that were on the trip. We have seen lots of Aborigine people in the Cairns area and none of them have been drinking, they all seem like normal people so that makes me happy. They really seem much more integrated than elsewhere but there were none on the trip except for the odd staff member. Tea, coffee and water was included in the price but beer, wine and soft drinks were extra. All the snorkelling kit, the glass bottom boat and the semi-submersible were also in the price but the seaplane and helicopter rides were extra like you would expect. It’s really quite good, you could go on the glass bottom boat and submersible as many times as you like and most people seemed to be snorkelling most of the time.

Man it was hot if you were outside, even in the shade so Claire and I tried a nice ice cream which really hit the spot. We both enjoyed the trip but for us it was about 2 hours too long so take a good book with you. We arrived back at about 5.30pm and I could feel my face burning again, even though I had spread sun block when we first got there and I’m quite used to it so beware! I really enjoyed the journey back looking at the Islands and mainland, trying to imagine how they were formed and what it was like for the indigenous people who first arrived here. A really successful day and I’m glad we made the effort to stay an extra day.

Geoff and Denise emailed me this morning but I have not had time to respond yet as I have to go to reception to get the wi-fi connection, but they have left our house today to spend the last 4 days in London; a good idea as it gives them a sensible time to explore and makes it easier for their return journey from Heathrow. It sounds like they have had a good time and crammed even more into their stay than we have, visiting Shrewsbury, Edinburgh, Stratford upon Avon, York and Bath amongst others; good job the snow had gone else you might have had some fun driving guys. Geoff said that they were disappointed with Stratford but were blown away by York; well, even though Stratford is close to us we have never been there but I used to go to York quite often when I shared a flat with Steve as it’s his home town. It’s a great British town, as it Bath, but one that doesn’t seem to hit the guide books is Chester, well worth a visit if you get time. It, like York, has a Roman wall that you can walk around but in Chester it goes full circle and has really good shops. Have a good last few days guys and a good flight home back into the north Queensland sunshine. We had better get back to your house and clear our devastation and get the hell out before your return next week, fair dinkum. Only joking, thanks so much, we have loved it in your house, truly, madly & deeply. Cheers mate!!

Cairns in summer

2010-02-05T22:14:00.023Z

Boy it’s hot up here, we can hardly muster any energy together to do anything, it seems such an effort to go out in the heat of the day. Anyway we left Port Douglas this morning and headed back towards Cairns down the Captain Cook Highway but turning off before we got there to Kuranda village in the middle of the rainforest. It’s also where you catch the train or chair lift to see Barron falls. We were both famished and in need of a second breakfast as I only had a salad yesterday and a small bowl of coco pops for my first one. What a stroke of luck, the first shop that I saw after getting out the car into the hot blanket air was the local German Tucker shop. We had to wait while they cooked for a while as we were first there so we wandered around all the little shops for a while getting even more hungry. They were worth the wait, one of the best hot dogs that I have ever had and Claire likes a hot German sausage now and then. It even came with onions and sauerkraut; mmmm delicious!

They had lots of art shops, clothes shops, markets and coffee bars but the heat gets to you real soon. Claire didn’t like the crocodiles in the hat shop. We decided to drive up to the falls rather than the train because we knew that it would be cooler in the car and we wouldn’t have to wait around in the heat. It was only a short drive to the car park but quite a long walk through the rain forest along board walks in the tree tops but man was it hot. This area belonged to the Djabugay Aboriginal people but we didn’t see any of them around. It was well worth the hot sweaty walk as the views were spectacular and it’s just another one of those times when a photograph is inadequate, you have to see it for yourself. Claire even said that it was the best waterfall that she had ever seen and I’ve taken her to a few. I must say that the rain forest is the thickest that I have ever seen, it would be difficult to make a path through it. Why is it not called a jungle, there were those vines that Tarzan used to swing on everywhere? What is the difference between a rain forest and a jungle? We thought that we heard Tarzan call but it may have been the wildlife within the thick of it. We also crossed the railway line but the train was nowhere to be seen, good job we came in the car.

Excitement over, back into the car to finish off our drive to Cairns and find a room for the night. We found the heart of the town and parked up for a couple of hours while we walked around finding things as we went. Down by the sea on the esplanade is a huge lagoon where everyone goes because there are no stingers; could you imagine wearing one of those stinger suits in this heat? Claire had to dip her foot in to see if it was warm; I didn’t need to as I could see the first signs of a simmer. The beach is more mud than sand so I guess the Lagoon is an even better idea. If they had imported a load of sand to dump on the beach it may get washed away with the currents and tides, that’s probably why there is so little there anyway. By now the German sausage was wearing off so we looked for somewhere to have a drink and a bite to eat. We found the Cairns RSL which are usually good value so headed there where we met Arlie who is off to Alice Springs tomorrow to see an old mate that he last saw in 1972. Also Max who had come up from Brisbane on the train and bus to see his sick Mother in the old peoples home. We couldn’t resist the roast Lamb, roast potatoes, roast pumpkin, carrots, peas, broccoli, cauliflower and corn cob. I can’t believe that we ate a roast dinner in this temperature but once you have been in the air conditioning for a while it gets a little chilly.

We both like Cairns already so we had a walk back to the car so we could cruise around and look for somewhere to stay the night. Claire spotted a boutique hotel just before we got to the car and went in to see how much it would cost. It’s called the Il Palazzo boutique hotel and is really nice and not bad for $120 a night. They have a pool and internal courtyard inside the building, the rooms are spacious and lovely and they have fully equipped kitchens and laundry in the bathroom so Claire will be happy. I just had to nip the car back into the underground car park and pay before carting all the bags up in the lift. The lady owner seemed very nice and is from England but has been here for 13 years. She came out to visit her daughter when she came out to learn to fly and they have both been here ever since.

We dropped our stuff of, switched on the aircon and headed out to discover more of Cairns. We headed the other way towards Cairns Yacht Club where all the top end hotels and bars are. We stopped for a drink and expected the cost to be high but were surprised when I got change from $10 for 2 schooners. The more that we have seen of Cairns the more we have liked it and along the Esplanade there are lots of bars and restaurants so we may even venture out tonight when the sun has gone down to catch up with a bit of night life as we are right in the heart of Cairns. The Irish lads that we met on the boat around the Whitsunday’s said that Cairns was a crazy place at night, just like one big party, sounds like our kind of town.

Talking of parties; HAPPY BIRTHDAY LYNN LING! Have a great party on the beach at Byron Bay! I can’t believe that you are 47; you must have been on that TV program 10 years younger, several times. You still look really great! Rumour has it that you have some surprise entertainment on the beach; Rock on Parkway Drive! Hope you don’t have too many unwanted guests. Have a great one guys, we may even see you briefly if we drive up from Sydney to Brisbane!

Port Douglas, North Queensland

2010-02-04T22:42:00.017Z

The Bruce Highway runs all the way from Brisbane to Cairns and then changes into Captain Cook Highway from Cairns to Port Douglas and beyond. Captain Cook Highway mainly follows the coast from Trinity Bay where we are staying and makes a really great run in a car with constantly changing views of the coastline and sea. There are also Islands here and there which also adds something. We stopped at Clifton Beach and Palm Cove which is quite upmarket set alongside the coast. There are lots of expensive looking hotels and apartments, a very pretty stop with plenty of restaurants and shops here and there. A couple of distant Islands had clouds forming above them and they looked just like gently erupting volcanos.

Port Douglas is another pretty town, seemingly with the sea all around it. Again, there are lots of shops, pubs and restaurants everywhere. We had a walk around town first trying to pick out our favourite eating place for lunch as we were up early again this morning. I think I had the aircon on to low and we were both freezing which makes a change around this part of the world. It is so hot and humid around here that it is ridiculous. Within a minute of stepping out of the aircon room or car I get small beads of sweat on my forehead and arms and within another couple of minutes it starts running down my back. It feels just like someone has thrown a hot wet blanket over you when you step out; likewise when you go back in again it feels like you are being hosed down with cold water. I don’t know if it’s me, but I can almost see the humidity in the photographs; they look sort of misty.

We drove up to the lookout point with spectacular views over 4 mile beach which we gave a miss because of the heat. Also it’s not the same, not being able to have a quick cool off in the sea whenever you want to. There are stingers in them there seas, along with crocodiles and other nasties that all seem to want to eat you or at least nibble on you. I couldn’t understand how Koala bears had evolved to hang in the nook of a branch and sleep for 21 hours a day and then eat for the remainder but now I know; it’s just so humid that you don’t want to do anything. I guess hanging in a shady tree with a breeze is about as close to air conditioning as they can get.

The place that we had chosen for lunch has the slightly off putting name of “The Tin Shed” but is has a great location, reasonably priced food and drinks and lots of fans so it was a great choice. The other place that’s supposed to be good but a little more pricey is Bill Clinton’s favourite called,”The Salsa Bar and Grill”. I just had a crab, prawn and mango salad which was delicious, I will be trying that one at home on some unsuspecting guests once I have perfected it; it should make a perfect dinner starter. I have no idea why Claire ordered the hot chicken Madras with rice, chutneys and Nan bread or how she managed to eat it but I guess we eat curries all the time when in India but the difference is the humidity here. Anyway, very tasty with great views and service, well worth a try if you are in the area. I noticed that on the dinner menu they do a chicken Oscar, which is a chicken breast topped with, prawns and scallops with a seafood sauce. I wish now that we had stayed for a night in Port Douglas as they have so much choice and lots to offer.

We had one last drive to the end of the port and then had a leisurely drive back along the picturesque coast road as Claire was keen to get out in the sun by the pool to top up her suntan; I think the curry must have gone to her head, I will be staying in our lovely apartment until the sun goes down. As Claire said yesterday we chose well to stay here in the Coral Sands beachfront apartments, they have lots of original artworks, plenty of space and it very well furnished and equipped. If they have room and you come off the street, they give a 20% discount so that is worth knowing when you are in the area. We have even been talking of staying an extra night here tomorrow but I guess we should move on and see somewhere else. We will be heading into Cairns first thing tomorrow but will wait to see if we like it before deciding where we will stay.

One last thought for one of my hero’s, Steve Irwin who died on September 4th 2006 at Batt Reef off Port Douglas after a stingray barb went through his chest into his heart while filming a documentary called, “The Ocean’s Deadliest”. On a lighter note, the latest sports news; Crocodiles 0 Stingrays 1.