First Leg

Well, Samantha and Matthew delivered me to Manchester Airport

 (See Photo) well in time to catch my flight to Heathrow and I had my bag checked in, through to Hong Kong, in no time at all. I had feared the worst being a Bank Holiday weekend and having not been able to check-in, on-line. However, fears were groundless and I was sitting in Costa having a coffee some 15 minutes after I arrived.

As ever, the BA flight (an Airbus A321) was late departing, by about 35 minutes although we were only about 15 minutes late by the time we got to Heathrow.

I see the craze for placing animal figures around has spread to Heathrow with this very decorative elephant taking pride of place

The BA flight to Hong Kong also departed late (Boeing 747-400) but it meant the flight time was marginally shorter and we arrived in HK only 4 minutes behind schedule. HK weather is warm, (31 Degrees) but raining as we arrived. Ho Hum, you can’t have everything.

Found my way to the hotel via the Hotel Shuttle bus Service and checked in with no problems. However, I paid for an extra half day so that I won’t need to leave the hotel until 6 PM on Monday 30th since my flight out isn’t until late evening. See Hotel pictures below.

So this is it, I am definitely on my way after all the months of planning and waiting. Mind you, part of me now doesn’t want to go. Fate, being the fickle creature she is, decided that I should meet a very lovely lady a few weeks ago and it was just impossible to re-arrange things, so I am having to go walkabout without her and that has certainly taken the edge off the trip. However, this wonderful woman has agreed to travel out to join me for three weeks in October/November so, I have that to keep my spirits high while I am travelling alone.

Hope to do a bit of exploring tomorrow and may be able to provide a further update before I set off for New Zealand on Monday. However, off to get myself a beer now before turning in. It has been a long day.

AusTravel 2010 - Under Starter's Orders

Today is the 27th August 2010 and in approximately 4 hours time I will be departing for Manchester airport at the outset of a journey to New Zealand and Australia which should be the trip of a lifetime. I have been the recipient of so any good wishes from friends and family that I would like to say to them all. Many thanks and see you in time for Christmas.

I had hoped to insert a video clip for you here but unfortunately there has been a problem trying to upload it to the blog server. Hopefully, I will be ble to get this resolved soon.

So, today, I travel via Manchester and Heathrow to Hong Kong where I wil be having a 2 night stop over before continuing to Auckland in New Zealand by 31st Aug.
It is a lovely day, the sun is shining and the temperature is very acceptable. Hopefully, checking in a Manchester won't be too traumatic, given that it is a Bank Holiday weekend. I will check in again sometime later and keep you updated.
Keep watching for reglar updates. Alway dependent of course, on Internet availability.

Campervan Travels

Once again I am later than I had intended with this post; so much to do, so little time!!!
However, as promised I will be trying to show you some of the things we got up to when we hired a camper van for a week and did a quick whiz around the Fleurieu Peninsula, Kangaroo Island, into Victoria on The Great Ocean Road and then back to Adelaide via Bendigo.

Having picked up the van in Adelaide we took a leisurely trip down to Normanville at the south end of the Fleurieu Peninsula where we booked into a camp site in order to be ready first thing in the morning to catch the ferry across to Kangaroo Island (KI). Matthew, of course, was having the time of his life. Mind you, I am not too sure what his secret signals mean.

Although rather dark, this is the view we had from the lounge of the ferry as we traveled across to KI. A pleasant trip of about 3 hours.
Having landed we hightailed it to the far side of the island and, having paid the required entrance fee to the Flinders Chase National Park, set about viewing some of the world reknowned sights such as this view of Admiralty Arch.

Although they are difficult to spot in this photo, there were hundreds of grey seals sunning themselves on the rocks.
Moving on, we visited a fairly remote beach which had a children's play park where a certain person immediately regressed to her childhood

I am afraid that I am jumping forward a great deal here but having visited numerous other places on KI we ended up at Penneshaw in readiness for catching the ferry back to the mainland but where we were fortunate enough to witness the feeding of what seemed like hundreds of pelicans that flew in from all points of the compass.

The guy doing the feeding was wearing the hat as protection from the marauding seagulls which were also trying to get a free feed. The other thing we were able to take in that evening was a tour of the local penguin colony, but I am afraid that photography was extremely limited and only with red light.
The following morning saw us back on the mainland and heading East to hit the Princes Highway were we would head south in order to get to our next planned night stop at Robe. However, without warning we suddenly discovered that we needed to cross the Murray river via a ferry.

Once safely across the river we hit the Princes Highway and made rapid progress southwards. We stopped in Robe for a spot of lunch and then continued to find a camper site in Mount Gambier.

The following day saw us continuing south through Portland to Warrnambool for our next night stop in readiness for a trip along the Great Ocean Road. The sight we wished to see most on this spectacular coastal route was the 12 Apostles. A bit of a misnomer these days, as only 8 of them remain. The other 4, having succumbed to the relentless pounding of the elements. The photo below shows most of the remains and gives some indication of the sort of weather we were having.

A bit further on from here we entered the Otway National Park and took the opportunity to visit Otway Fly. A magnificent tour through the treetops of the sub-tropical rain forest, with an observation platform towering above the canopy. It was only when she reached the top that Samantha remembered that she suffers from vertigo and consequently took some time to descend without having to look down. It was comical to watch but, of course, not funny for her.
 

 
  Following this trip through the treetops, we travelled on through Geelong but turned north before we hit Melbourne. The main reason for this was that the Asian Flu virus was rife in the city at the time and we decided to give that a miss. We travelled through Ballarat and up to Bendigo we we came across a magnificent statue to Queen Victoria, so of course, the "children" had to be photographed in front of it.
 
 

We spent a few hours in Bendigo where there was a classic car display taking place in what appeared to be the central market place. We also took in the local museum which told of the history of the Chinese miners in the area and Matthew got to practice some of his oriental poses. Ah So, glasshopper!!!

Although we were somewhat short of time we also took in what was essentially a scientific interactive museum aimed at children, where Samantha and Matthew lost their heads, as you can see below.

 By this time we were on the road back towards Adelaide although still with a couple of days travel ahead of us. We stopped off at a camper site in Ouyen, where apparently, on 28th May 1848, "not a thing happened." Naturally, Matthew thought this was hilarious.

Trying to explain the immense distances one has to travel in Australia has proven to be quick difficult on our return and I have had the same problem since my first trip in 2000. The following shot of Matthew posing beside the empty road might give some feeling for the distances involved.

Naturally, for a (then) 8 year old lad, all of the travelling proved to be quick tiring but Matthew managed to find a very effective way of passing the time.

On the last night before getting back to Adelaide, we stopped at a camper site at Tailem Bend, overlooking the Murray river where Matthews inventive imagination and a few bits and pieces he found lying around, enabled him to conjure up a complete pirate scenario. You have to use a little bit of imagination!!!

We where by now almost a the end of our holiday but found time for a visit to the Adelaide Zoological Gardens, in order to get a closer loo at some of the indigenous wildlife. However, we came across this Kookaburra just sitting in a tree in complete freedom. It didn't seem at all phased by me taking it's picture.

 However, in the zoo, this Tasmanian Devil certainly lived up to it's reputation and displayed a none too friendly disposition.

 The Kangaroos, on the other hand were all too friendly, as long as they thought you had something for them to eat. Matthew was tickled pink with this.

However, it was all I could do to stop Samantha from trying to smuggle one out, to bring home with her.

 That brings to an end this short and rather curtailed account of our 2009 trip down under. I need to thank my sister Valerie and husband Nick for their very generous hospitality, without which the trip would not have been possible.

I know that we all had a marvellous time in South Australia and I hope that it was an experience that Mathew will remember fondly for many years to come.

It is however, almost time for me to set off on my next Antipodean adventure when I fly out on 27th August, for a 3 week trip around New Zealand followed by 12 weeks around Australia.  Returning to the UK on 13th December.

Watch out for the updates, which I intend to be posting on a regular basis. Thank you for your interest and see you soon.

Taking the 'kids' Down Under - 2009

They do say that, 'Time flies when you are enjoying yourself'. So I must have been really enjoying myself of late since it really doesn't seem like a month since my last posting. So, if anyone is actually reading these ramblings, let me apologise for the delay.
My last post concluded the trip to Aus taken by Christine and me during February and March 2000. Christine and I had another tip to Queensland in 2006 when we once again met up, and stayed for a time with Oraline, Christine's pen pal of some 40 odd years. That trip was all too short at only 2 weeks but in May/June 2009 I was able to take my daughter Samantha, and grandson, Matthew on a 3 week trip to South Australia where we were well looked after by my sister Valerie and her husband Nick. For the next couple of posts I will be offering a largely photographic record of that trip. That should just about get me to the launch of my next trip down under when I fly out from Manchester on 27th August.

The following view will, no doubt, be familiar to many travellers and is a view from the Heathrow terminal building as we were waiting for our first flight (to Singapore) on 22 May 2009, having driven down from Saint Anne's on the Sea.

The flight to Singapore, was uneventful but, as ever with long haul flights, hardly a relaxing experience. However, we arrived safely and while Samantha and I were feeling some what jaded, Matthew was still bouncing although looking a bit 'frayed around the edges.' He did however, manage to find the children's play area and so burnt off a bit more energy.

Departing from Singapore following our 5 hour stop over, the flight to Adelaide had quite a number of spare seats, so we were able to spread out a little. A situation which Samantha took real advantage of, as you can see below.

Arriving at Adelaide Airport on the morning of 24th May was a welcome relief although the place seemed to have had something of a refurbishment and expansion since I had been there in 2000. However, they are obviously still 'big' on the Flying Doctor Service.

Sister Valerie and her son Ben had been good enough to meet us at the airport and then ferried us and our luggage to Valerie and Nick's home in Willunga. This is their Bed and Breakfast business but they had very kindly set aside 3 rooms to accommodate us during our stay. I would like to say that I was personally extremely grateful for their generosity as without it, the trip would probably not have been financially viable.
The view below shows "Willunga House" which is a state heritage listed Georgian stone residence built in 1850 and, as such, is one of the oldest buildings in town.

The house is situated in St Peter's Terrace just off the main crossroad, shown below.

We took the rest of that day to unpack, settle in, get acquainted with our surroundings and generally catch up with family gossip from opposite sides of the globe.
The following day, Nick drove us about to see some of the local area and we headed for the coast which was all of about 10 minutes drive away to a place call Aldinga Beach, where Matthew demonstrated his amazing strength by holding up the cliff

This beach is the source of Nick and Val's business card design when they used the remains of the original jetty as the background. Can you tell what is is from the views below?

Following a couple of hours touring around we all went back to a family celebration for Nick's sister-in-law's birthday. Naturally, I am far too much of a gentleman to divulge her age. However, we were, once again, made to feel very welcome and were royally fed and watered.

Tuesday 26th saw us make an early start when we all went into Adelaide for a general tour about. We had a sumptuous breakfast in the market and then a wander about to view some of the stalls. The size of the shell fish amazed me but, I was assured that this was just average.

Leaving the market, Matthew was fascinated by some of the street art and spent much of his time 'interacting' and dashing about from one to the next.

We were delighted to see how clean and free from rubbish the whole area was with a general air of being cared for that seems to be missing in so many UK cities and towns.
Below are views of the Arcade, which we naturally had to visit

On Wednesday 27th Nick and Valerie once again took us to see some of the 'local' tourist sights and we visited a delightful little place called Hahndorf which, as it's name suggests has a distinctly german flavour as you can see below.

Whilst there we were treated to the local delicacy of 'pot belly' pie for lunch, following which we vowed to return.

The following day, Nick and Valerie had to get back to their business as they had paying guests, so I borrowed their car and took Samantha and Matthew for a visit to 'Victor Harbour' a small coastal town at the end of the Fleurieu Peninsula, overlooking 'Encounter Bay'. This was named after the encounter on 8th April 1802 between Matthew Flinders and Nicolas Baudin, both of whom were charting the Australian coastline for their respective countries (Britain and France). Apparently, the encounter between the scientists was peaceful, even though their countries were at war at the time.
While there we took to opportunity to visit Granite Island, which is noted for it's penguins, although we didn't spot any during our visit. We travelled across the causeway to the island on board the horse-drawn tram.

The island is a beautiful spot to explore although small enough to circumnavigate in about one hour. As I said earlier, we didn't get to see any of the penguins, but we were lucky enough to spot a seal swimming around one of the inlets, Matthew saw it first but, unfortunately we were not quick enough to get any decent photographs. So, you will have to make do with this view of a seal carved out of the rocks next to the causeway.

Returning to Victor Harbor we had a late lunch of fish and chips. However, I was totally over faced by the mountain of chips with a red snapper balanced precariously on the top.
We had a leisurely return trip to Willunga and that evening Samantha and I sampled the delights of one of the local hostelries, the "Bush Inn" where it was 'open mic' night (sort of a do it yourself karaoke session) this provided us with entertainment of dubious quality but endless amusement.
That's all for this time folks. In my next post we will set off on our camper van trip which included a whistle stop tour of Kangaroo Island.

See you soon.

Sydney

As I mentioned in my last post, we were on a camper site not far from Botany Bay, in the Rockdale area of Sydney, and after a 15 minute walk, I was standing on the shore of this famous place almost 230 years after James Cook's first landing of HMS Endeavour on the continent of Australia on 29th April 1770. However, I am sure that Cook would have had trouble recognising the place in the year 2000 since, as you can see from the photo below, the airport now extends well into the bay itself.

However, after a short tour of the area, I returned to the camper van where I had left Christine resting and then proceeded to scout out the location of the railway station in preparation for getting into the centre of Sydney the following morning.

Friday 25th February and a late start for us this morning as we had wanted to avoid any rush hour. Unfortunately, that didn't work out too well as the 09.40 train turned out to be crowded. Only a 20 minute journey but it didn't help Christine's claustrophobia at all and she was very relieved to exit the train in Sydney, at Circular Quay. The first stop was the nearest cafe for a calming cup of coffee and a chance to relax.

Once revived we set off around Sydney Cove to an area known as "The Rocks" which apparently was the area of the first European settlement in 1788. Here we had a good view of the Opera House situated across the cove on Bennelong Point. It will probably be considered heresy for me to say so but, this internationally famous icon didn't look quite as impressive as it had appeared on television. However, Christine was quite happy to pose in front of it.

We decided that we ought to get a closer view of the Opera House so wandered back around Circular Quay and along the Concourse where Christine was in raptures over the 'retail therapy opportunities'. From this side of the harbour we had an excellent view of the Bridge  

Following an excellent lunch in the Concourse Cafe we boarded a bus to the Hay Market where we finally managed to purchase the 3 boomerangs we had been instructed to get, along with an Australian Rugby League cap for a friend back in the UK. Christine was having a bit of a hard time with all the walking, having previously injured her knee and ankle in a fall so we terminated the day early and had an early night.
The train journey the following day was relatively relaxed and far less crowded. We once again had a saunter around the Opera House and relaxed over a cup of coffee just watching the world go by before boarding a "Captain Cook" ferry for the cruise around the harbour. We found this quite informative with a running commentary pointing out various landmarks and interesting snippets about the main areas to be seen. The photo below shows 'yours truly' against the background of an Australian Navy ship during our trip round the harbour.

That evening we had a meal out in Brighton-Le-Sands, right on the edge of Botany Bay. We managed to get into one of the very popular seafood restaurants where Christine tucked into half a lobster mornay while I had grilled barramundi fillet, in lemon sauce, both of which were superb. We rounded off the evening with a stroll along the foreshore, with what seemed to half of the local population, before having a couple of drinks and then getting a taxi back to our camper site.

27th February was our last full day and Christine was determined not to return home without having acquired some Opal jewellery. We would have need a considerably larger bank balance than we had to purchase some of the spectacular things on offer but, she finally settled for a pendant and matching earrings. Mind you, that was enough to finish off our dwindling budget. Having settled the final 'must have' expenditure we wandered back the 'The Rock' area where we were entertained by a street jazz quartet whilst enjoying a spot of lunch and then stumbled across a craft market, where Christine was in her element but, not knowing which stall to turn to next. See below.

Rose at 06.00 on the 28th Feb in order to get everything done before departing the camper site at 07.45 and navigating our way to the Maui depot to return the camper van which had been our home for the last three weeks. Everything was dealt with quickly and we were transported to the airport by taxi by 09.15. Plenty of time to relax as our departure tome was not until 13.10. The photo below is the final one of our trip as we were making our way through the air terminal to the departure lounge.

It only remains to say that we both had an absolutely marvellous time. Although much of the trip was in the way of a whistle-stop tour, we had covered an enormous distance, seen some amazing scenery and wildlife and met many wonderful people. It left us with an urge to return as quickly as possible to see more of this truly fascinating country.

Since then,Christine and I returned for a short (2 week) visit to Queensland in June 2006 and I was able to take my daughter and grandson for a three week visit to South Australia in May/June of 2009.

I will be posting a short account of those visits over the coming weeks prior to my departure on my extended solo trip beginning at the end of August.