Australia 2013: Signing off......

So here we are, headed home....

The last couple of days have flown past really, we were pretty busy yesterday with a trip to Cronulla beach in the morning; again, under questionable skies, and then to the ABC building (that's Australian Broadcasting Corporation, not some iffy flea pit of a cinema in south-east London) to be part of the audience for a radio show entitled Thank God it's Friday.  This is some sort of a 'mock the week'-y sort of programme with a musical act thrown in, this week was Dragon, an ageing,  if seemingly quite good and well-liked Aussie rock outfit.  Never heard of them myself, but I enjoyed the song they played all the same.  Show was excellent even if we didn't quite get all the topical Aussie jokes. 

Then it was on to the Coopers in Newtown for Rebecca's birthday bash.  On the way we found that Philip has no sense of measurement  whatsoever, it was bloody miles despite him claiming otherwise.... nevertheless, the Coopers was a fine place with an open-air area where we camped for our tea and a good few beers before heading back for a few more at home to round off our last night in Oz. 

Our final day started with rain again and Rebecca turned up with her friend Ash for a birthday breakfast of eggy bread.  We chatted for quite some time before finalising our packing and getting all the weights hopelessly wrong. As a result Becca is bringing back a lot more of our stuff than she really needed to.

And so Jez waved us goodbye for the last time from Petersham and our travelling problems started in earnest.  Roadworks at Sydenham station delayed us for some time although we're really not sure why the dappy driver chose to go that way - they were removing a railway footbridge and you might think that the cab company would have been privy to that fact. 

Then, when we got to check the bags they rejected Fairy's art folder despite her  ringing in advance to check whether it would be OK.... evidently the arse/elbow familiarisation concept is as rife out there in Oz as it is back home.  We eventually got it sorted and it sits below us in the hold. 

As for the journey so far..... Well. Where to start.  First of all we were flying via Dubai rather than Singapore.  This pleased me as the longer stretch improved the chances of a decent kip.  And we had a feuding couple kicking verbal chnks out of each other behind us to raise our spirits. So off we went and well, the girls say I slept, but I really didn't feel it. It was a very bumpy ride, the worst I think Ive encountered in my limited flight experience. The seatbelt signs went on about three times and the Captain warned of 'weather ahead'... Then, when Wayne woke up she was even more fidgety than ever before and after five minutes of shifting and sweating she finally put the sick bag to good use.   Not good.....but more bad news was on its way.

Seems the 'weather ahead' was a thunderstorm at Dubai which had kicked up the inevitable sandstorm and landing at Dubai, and the back-up airfield was out of the question as nobody could see where they were.  So on we flew to Bahrain where we spent a good hour or so on the Tarmac while they refuelled the plane.  Then we headed back to Dubai for the connectors who were on our flight.  Further waiting there even before we were off the plane as the was a medical incident as well to contend with.  We waited ages to re-board but eventually we made it back on. 

So here we are, hopefully on the final leg back to Heathrow.  We've texted our chauffeur, John, in the hope that he can still come collect us after our extended flight.  Needless to say, just for more fun, I was out of credit on my Optus simcard so I was beginning to wonder if we'll ever get home.... So glad we got tomorrow off too, even if it is to go see me old ma and explain where it is we've been for the past four weeks... 

The Captain said he'd give it the berries for us on the way home and we are looking at seven hours before we are finally back on British soil for the first time in four weeks.  

So, where has this four-week journey taken us, just to round up this blog once and for all and relieve those few of you who have bothered of the burden of reading it.......

Sydney: Just another large city with people going about their daily routine, kids going to school, poeple going to work, catching trains, hustling and bustling. Until, of course, you get to the harbour.  Apart from Manly I never did see the north side of the main harbour area, nor did I go over the bridge;  nevertheless, the whole area is simply breathtaking and the Opera House was even more stunning than I ever imagined it would be.  Betterthan London?  You betcha!

Melbourne: aside from the Grand Prix and interesting, older town,  you have to conclude that Melbourne means one thing and one thing only: rain.  And lots of it.  Four seasons in one day,  they say, and it's no exaggeration.  If snow fell in Oz, which I'm sure it does some place,  you'd get that along with sun, wind, rain, fog, frost, sleet, hail,  plagues of frogs and all the other weather forms we endure, all within 24 hours.  

Grand Prix:  despite the weather we loved the Grand Prix.  Melbourne puts on a top show, and where  we stayed was excellent. Shame Raikonnen won though......

Jucy Rentals Campa: for me, the best bit even if the male/female battle for supremacy between Wayne and I reached boiling point whenever navigation reared its ugly head.  We saw real  Australia on our five days on the road, and my favourite bit of Oz - Paynesville and Raymond Island.  Just watch that dead right hand corner going in to the Town, one day there'll be a Jucy parked in someone's front garden despite the huge right turn sign and purely because women still cannot tell their left from their right... close  behind was Phillip Island with its penguins, the  glorious race track, it's wandering Wallabies and of course the Cowes camp site right on the beach, and I mean right on the beach.  Foster, Tathra and Ulladulla saw us come and go too.

Manly Beach:  the best beach in Sydney,  bar none.  Nice bit of town and a lovely ferry across to this northern beach.  You can take your world famous Bondi and keep it, to me it was little more than Margate on a bad day.

Taronga Zoo:  glorious views of the Harbour and home to a hundred or more weird, wild and wonderful animals, including a tiger who I bet is still trying to get its football out of the pond.....and of course the seals and sea lions, always a delight to see.

Bribie Island:  Gods waiting room  for savvy wrinklies maybe, but he musta got Michaelangelo in to do the decorating.  A glorious sandy beach stretching for miles in a small corner of a little island, which has everything you could possibly want for a holiday getaway.  Pelicans nestle on the streetlamps over the one and only  bridge just for good measure.  Happy to go there again, but stay away from number 3 Pacific Breakers.... Although I s'pose 10 million ants can't all be wrong, can they? 

Mooloolabar:  only taken me a week to learn how to spell it.  Great pizzas, great beach combing beach.  

Scarborough (Queensland not North Yorkshire): saw little of this town but instead we had the delightful family get together and probably the best barbie I've ever had. Just wish I'd known who's house I was at.....

Brisbane:  another town where  it surely knows how to rain, but despite that we had a pleasant evening after all, and got some good nightscape pictures from the bridge. 

Montville:  sleepy little tourist village which will never be the same without cries off 'its rolling forward, it rolling forward' and 'keep your foot on the bloody brake and give it some, ferchrissakes'......

The Big Kart Track,  Beerwah:  scene of the re-enactment of the closing laps of the Malaysian Grand Prix between Fairy and myself.  Well it was once they gave me a kart that could cope with my weight....

Brighton, Cronulla: short stay beaches where we've eaten and argued at, and not seen in their best light because of the weather thrown at us during the final few days of our stay. 

Petersham, Newtown, Stanmore - southwestern suburbs of Sydney where we have happily stayed, eaten and drank with Philip and Jez.  Great food and I love Aussie beer.

And thanks to Philip, Jez and of course Harry  for giving us bed, board, bacon and beer when we've been back in Sydney. They may be back over with us before much longer, and we can look forward to a few days and nights out in hopefully some half-decent weather. Remember how cold it was up at Bletchley Park, guys? 

And finally  to Becca for driving us and showing us around on her days off. She's back in London next week for a wedding; bet the short reminder of England and its delights, such as they are, will send her scuttling back with renewed vigour to look for permanent employment.  Good luck, sure you'll get there very soon! 

The Trumpet Polisher, signing off once and for all.....

And so, the end is near...........

Can't believe we only have two days to go before we are headed home.

The last couple of days have been spent in Sydney, and boy does it know how to rain here. We decided yesterday to head out to Bondi as Rebecca has been hunting down some shoes for a wedding she's going to back in the UK, and Bondi Junction was the only place they had them in her size. Sounds more like a place in Imperial India than Oz to me, but hey ho.... So I got dragged to a Westfield (never knew it was an Aussie thing) and Wayne and Becca went into full on shopping mode;  I actually thought Becca had qualified for citizenship the amount of time she spent in one shop...

Shopping done and we strolled on down to the world famous Bondi beach.  Just as we get there it starts to pelt down again. Even if the weather was more akin to Margate on a wet Monday in March,  I don't get what all the fuss is about. I know the surf is great there but for god's sake, the place is more like Scarborough than an international jet-set destination for the beautiful people. If they do go there on days like this, I doubt if they stay beautiful for too long.  We pitched up at a cafe which would equally have been at home on the rain-soaked and wind-swept coast of Yorkshire; the heaters were on outside and the food was the wrong side of iffy.  Rebecca is sweating over a short creative test for a job she's going for here, and I'm sweating under the glow of the heaters and have to bale out early.

We bus it back into town on the world's  slowest bus, and head home on the train, ready to head out again for a beer and a Thai dinner in Stanmore. The food is superb and revives our spirits.  We head home, thankfully fairly dryly, and spend the rest of the evening watching tv and trying to fathom why Jez is spending so long playing Bad Piggies...

Today is more of the same.....we head out to the City in wet weather, this time in search of treasure to take home with us for friends, and I guess family as well.  We are soon done as the Aussie souvenir experience is actually pretty good.  We whack it all in two shops and I also sate my desire for fast food with a Hungry Jacks - excellent.  Seems to be what we know back home as Burger King - only a hundred times  better.  It's still pouring,  so we head home to go out to Brighton with Rebecca to what is best described as a dessert restaurant, complete with pancakes, ice cream chocolate and unfortunately a nasty bout of sisterly acrimony..... We cut the trip short before murder is done and head back to supermarket and bottle shop for final provisions.

So, here we are, having a quiet evening (aside from Waynes eternal/infernal fidgeting on the sofa)and this time in two days time we will be on that plane home.  She'll be fidgeting on there too, no doubt.  You get to a point on most holidays where home becomes appealing and fidgeting partners aside, I'm most certainly there now.  Bet that appeal vanishes faster than a beer at a barbie, the minute I get back to Swanscombe......and fidgeting is the least of my worries.....

Easter on Bribie - Chapter 2

So here we are at the end of our time on Bribie. Tomorrow morning we head back to Brisbane and on to Sydney for the final few days if our holiday.

The rest of Easter has been a mix of busy and laid back; yesterday we had a quick hour on the beach before heading up to Scarborough (that's Queensland, not Yorkshire or wherever it is these days) for a family get-together.  Again the newbie was made to feel most welcome as I chatted to Wayne's cousins Gary and Sarah, and Clive and Barbara and her wacky sister Beryl are there too. The food was great and lots of it; I made a new friend in Ben, the very large black Labrador who, as he's a boisterous boy, was confined to the side of the house.  Reminded me of Scooby with his head the size of a football.......

From there we went on to Brisbane; I'd hoped to get there and tick off another major Australian city; however there's an extra reason for being there as one of Wayne's school friends is also on a visit to Oz, and we are all in Brisbane the same night so a meet has been arranged.  However, by the time we get there the heavens have opened and in very big style. For a second I think we are back in Melbourne....... we park and I'm dead against going any further.  But we head back over to the north side of the river and after going to the wrong hotel and getting wet we finally meet up with Janice and Tony, Debbie and Brian.  The latter couple live in Perth.  We find somewhere to eat on a pretty dead Easter Sunday evening. I get talking F1 and bikes with the boys while the girls catch up, and get on well with another 2 total strangers.  On this occasion, both are brits but neither live in the uk - Tony lives in Barcelona because of a caravan- and thats true.  I won't go into details.....  I don't want to eat after such a huge spread back in Scarborough, so order a light meal.  I've quite enjoyed cutting back on my food, but doubt if it will carry on back in the uk. On the tv in the restaurant is a tv show about near plane crashes including the one that dumped in the Hudson a few years back. I really need to see that, don't I?

We stroll back in thankfully dry weather, across the bridge, take a few snaps, say our goodbyes and head home to bed.  I just wonder, how many of the so many delightful people I've met during my time in Oz, will I ever see again?

And so to the last day of Easter and our last full day on Bribie.  The girls head out shopping after a late start and I head to the beach. By the time I arrive it's grey and windy and I sat half an hour before giving up and heading back to the unit. The girls arrive back and the sun starts to shine again....conspiracy?  I used to think that, but now I know everyone's got it in for me........

We head back out to the beach and have our final session (sadly a so-so one weather-wise) before saying our last goodbyes to Clive and Barbara.  We walk back and head out for fish and chips from the local chippie and that's our day done.  

Bribie?  Love it.  A tiny little corner of an island where the beach is long and beautiful.  It has all you need and isn't too far from civilisation.  The weather has been pretty kind to us and thankfully nobody has got sunburn.  Have to take issue with the dolphins for their no-show though......