On the Last day in Tasmania we got up early to start the long drive to Lake Gordon and Lake Pedder. With stops for pies and water (and filling up the tire with air), we managed to make it in 3 hours. For Andrea and I, it's the best of both worlds here, i get awe inspired by the nature around and Andrea feels the same about the Dam and what a monument of engineering it is. It's a world heritage area which has some amazing views for miles of mountains and untouched temperate rain forest (apart from the dam). Both of the lakes are enormous. Driving about here was good too as we tended to see another car every hour and the roads were nice and bendy. I can imagine it'd be great drive on a motorcycle. Getting to the Dam, and a well earned toilet break, we realised just how tall it is. The problem for Andrea was getting down to the dam as it meant that she needed to navigate the metal stairs with holes in. Andrea hates these at the best of times, but when you've got a big drop below you it made it doubly so, at least she didn't have her heels on. ;) The dam itself was impressive, but...err...it was just a dam. The views were amazing here too. Hitting the road again, after catching our breath from the stair climb, we started to head back on our journey to the airport. We stopped at a place called Strathgordon which i think serves as tourist accommodation for the lakes and a place for some of the workers at the dam to stay. Population 75 ! The fact that they have a wikipedia entry shows how boring it must be, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Strathgordon, although not boring enough to include a picture ;)
The driving today was that Andrea would do the more built up areas that needed navigation, and when it hit the country roads i'd take over. It makes it sound like we'd be swapping all the time, but it was only the once each way. We had an hour to kill on the way back so we stopped off at Russell Falls, it was a 20 minute hike into the rain forest to these amazing waterfalls. On the way there was some wallabies munching on the vegetation. It's still strange to see these really weird creatures in the wild in Australia. The visitor center was asking for people to keep an eye out for platypuses(? or platypi) as they wanted to track their numbers and times. We spent ages looking for the things, but to avail, they just weren't gonna perform for us today. ;( The waterfalls were really good though, even Andrea was bowled over at how beautiful it was...too cold for Andrea to mimic the Timotei advert though.
After this stop, it was pretty much straight back to the airport with a detour 'cause Andrea took the wrong lane somewhere. My fault of course as i was navigating so should of told Andrea "Colin McRea" Popplewell where to go! ;)
My personal view of Tasmania, is that the place is amazing and pretty much untouched by tourists. Its leaving me wanting to come back again. :)
Thursday, July 12, 2007
Wednesday, July 11, 2007
Tasmania Devils and Ghosts
Just got back from a long weekend of 900k of driving. We went to Tasmania and had a great time. Tasmania apparently causes sniggers for Aussies because its shaped like the bikini area and apparently you are not to ask for a map of the area!
We arrived Friday evening at Hobart Airport and got into our zippy (but with a slow puncture) manual Toyota Yaris and after having the initial problem of, ehrm how do you drive a manual car? we were away. We seem to have come to an agreement throughout this journey that as i get car sick reading, and Simon thinks i cant read a map that if we dont know where we are going i drive and when its in the dark or the return journey Simon drives. I also admit im a rubbish passenger, i want to shout BREAK all the time.
Anyway, Friday we booked into a really tacky Best Western that was half price so we got that for $80(£35) and went for food at the really happening place (thats what it said on the signs) Glenrochy. It was a dead town and the only real lights in the place was for the dominos pizza that Simon zoomed in on. In the end they took so long makin his food and ended up burning it, he got a free pizza.
We got woken up at 1 in the morning by the loudest alarm i have ever heard in my life. Simon was running round the room naked saying what shall i do, what shall i do. It switched of after a bit. We think it was a car's alarm that was parked directly outside our room. Simon normally sleeps through anything so it was funny to see him rattled by it.
Saturday morning was spent at Salamanca Market in the middle of Hobart. I got a little obsessed with the stalls selling wooden bowls and kept wanting to buy things. We ended up buying a wooden ashtray bowl thingy. Totally impractical and will probably hate it for $35 and a pink and black polka dot bowl that smells of something.
In the afternoon we made our way slowly over to the SE area of Tasmania to Port Arthur Pennisula and took in the amazing???? pavement lookalikey stones near the waters edge at EagleHawk. At this stage we started to think about where to stay for the evening and wanted to ring up Best Western to get the half price hotels(but no mobile phone signal) or reading the lonely planet guide when we realised that we were packed directly in front of the hotel that we wanted, coincidentally. We managed to book the Lufra Hotel for bargain price of $65 and it had a sea view which apparently is the best view in the world, but even better then that was that it had electric blankets.
For the rest of the afternoon we went to the Tasmanian Devil Sanctuary, which really had nothing to shout about apart from Tasmanian Devils, which of course Simon being the soppy man that he is just loved them. They were very funny when they got feed as there are really cheeky little things pinching food of each other, but they are fierce as anything, i wouldnt like to come across one of them on a dark night.
In the evening we decided as we didnt have time to do Port Arthur during the day we would do a ghost tour instead around the prison town. Lydsey our guide took us around some of the buildings and of course told us how ghosts had been seen in different areas. What was so entertaining abut this, though was that Lyndsey decided that 3 of the women of the group had to be a lantern holder, and one of them was me and because we were at the front of the group me and Simon had to lead at times. At one instance Lyndsey had told us about a ghost in one of the buildings and then me and Simon had to walk up to the front door, open the door and walk inside. I made Simon go in first, lol. Lyndsey played a trick though on us and knocked on the door really loudly that made both of us jump.
What we didnt realise at the time was that Port Arthur was the source of a horrendous massacre in 1996 but there was no reference to this what so ever. I suspect our guide had been around at the time of this occuring but from a ghost story point of view they definatly dwell more on the ghosts from the 19th century which i gather from what ive read, understandably the guides find it difficult to talk about what happened in 1996. Our guide had even got married in the beautiful church thats in the town a couple of years ago.
Whilst I was driving to Port Arthur, Simon shouted STOP, very loudly and being the good driver that i am braked hard (he doesnt listen to me though when i say BREAK) only to see a Kangaroo jump across the road. How Simon saw it im really not sure. Further down the road we also had to stop for a little cute bandicoot.
Sunday was another get up early day and drive through Hobart and go SE, to go to the Tahune Airwalk park. We walked around the treetops and then Simon stood on the end bit that bounces up and down, i kind of did but got scared. The best bit though of the walk was walking across 2 swing bridges.
In the evening we stayed in Hobart (at another Best Western) and had a great mexican meal. I would say the food we have had in Tasmania is the best food we have had in Australia. Venison Sausages on Sat night, and massive mixed fahitas on Sunday and lots of rubbish throughout the days.
We arrived Friday evening at Hobart Airport and got into our zippy (but with a slow puncture) manual Toyota Yaris and after having the initial problem of, ehrm how do you drive a manual car? we were away. We seem to have come to an agreement throughout this journey that as i get car sick reading, and Simon thinks i cant read a map that if we dont know where we are going i drive and when its in the dark or the return journey Simon drives. I also admit im a rubbish passenger, i want to shout BREAK all the time.
Anyway, Friday we booked into a really tacky Best Western that was half price so we got that for $80(£35) and went for food at the really happening place (thats what it said on the signs) Glenrochy. It was a dead town and the only real lights in the place was for the dominos pizza that Simon zoomed in on. In the end they took so long makin his food and ended up burning it, he got a free pizza.
We got woken up at 1 in the morning by the loudest alarm i have ever heard in my life. Simon was running round the room naked saying what shall i do, what shall i do. It switched of after a bit. We think it was a car's alarm that was parked directly outside our room. Simon normally sleeps through anything so it was funny to see him rattled by it.
Saturday morning was spent at Salamanca Market in the middle of Hobart. I got a little obsessed with the stalls selling wooden bowls and kept wanting to buy things. We ended up buying a wooden ashtray bowl thingy. Totally impractical and will probably hate it for $35 and a pink and black polka dot bowl that smells of something.
In the afternoon we made our way slowly over to the SE area of Tasmania to Port Arthur Pennisula and took in the amazing???? pavement lookalikey stones near the waters edge at EagleHawk. At this stage we started to think about where to stay for the evening and wanted to ring up Best Western to get the half price hotels(but no mobile phone signal) or reading the lonely planet guide when we realised that we were packed directly in front of the hotel that we wanted, coincidentally. We managed to book the Lufra Hotel for bargain price of $65 and it had a sea view which apparently is the best view in the world, but even better then that was that it had electric blankets.
For the rest of the afternoon we went to the Tasmanian Devil Sanctuary, which really had nothing to shout about apart from Tasmanian Devils, which of course Simon being the soppy man that he is just loved them. They were very funny when they got feed as there are really cheeky little things pinching food of each other, but they are fierce as anything, i wouldnt like to come across one of them on a dark night.
In the evening we decided as we didnt have time to do Port Arthur during the day we would do a ghost tour instead around the prison town. Lydsey our guide took us around some of the buildings and of course told us how ghosts had been seen in different areas. What was so entertaining abut this, though was that Lyndsey decided that 3 of the women of the group had to be a lantern holder, and one of them was me and because we were at the front of the group me and Simon had to lead at times. At one instance Lyndsey had told us about a ghost in one of the buildings and then me and Simon had to walk up to the front door, open the door and walk inside. I made Simon go in first, lol. Lyndsey played a trick though on us and knocked on the door really loudly that made both of us jump.
What we didnt realise at the time was that Port Arthur was the source of a horrendous massacre in 1996 but there was no reference to this what so ever. I suspect our guide had been around at the time of this occuring but from a ghost story point of view they definatly dwell more on the ghosts from the 19th century which i gather from what ive read, understandably the guides find it difficult to talk about what happened in 1996. Our guide had even got married in the beautiful church thats in the town a couple of years ago.
Whilst I was driving to Port Arthur, Simon shouted STOP, very loudly and being the good driver that i am braked hard (he doesnt listen to me though when i say BREAK) only to see a Kangaroo jump across the road. How Simon saw it im really not sure. Further down the road we also had to stop for a little cute bandicoot.
Sunday was another get up early day and drive through Hobart and go SE, to go to the Tahune Airwalk park. We walked around the treetops and then Simon stood on the end bit that bounces up and down, i kind of did but got scared. The best bit though of the walk was walking across 2 swing bridges.
In the evening we stayed in Hobart (at another Best Western) and had a great mexican meal. I would say the food we have had in Tasmania is the best food we have had in Australia. Venison Sausages on Sat night, and massive mixed fahitas on Sunday and lots of rubbish throughout the days.
Monday, July 02, 2007
Sand and Wine
This weekend we took advantage of the weather and hired a car, this time to head north to aussie geordie land...Newcastle :) It's about a 2 1/2 hour journey up there and we took the scenic route up route 1 and across to Gosford and up to The Entrance and north. By sheer fluke, this took us right past Lake Macquarie which is the largest salt water lake in Australia. It's probably the same size as the entire lake district or something, nature seems big here. We stopped off half way up the lake for a bite to eat (we made sandwiches, had apples, and stuff!!!) at Norah Head. We wandered down the beach so we could walk off the ham and cheese butties and get some shells in the process. In the rock pool was a massive pelican, Andrea called him "Sid" and fed him some crumbs from our butties. Sid had the most amazing eyes and was about the same size as Andrea, but not quite as big as me ;)
Burning daylight we headed to Newcastle. We're not really interested in Newcastle as it's quite an industrial town and there's not a lot to see....except for the Pasha Bulker in which some (I might be making this up) drunken sailor drove it into the beach. I mean the guy must of been really desperate for a kebab. It's been pretty big news here and thousands of people have been going up to see it and the attempts by the authorities to move it. As i write this now though, it has just been moved off the beach and onto deeper water (where it'll probably sink or something). If this was in Britain, the burger and ice cream vans would of taken full advantage of the crowds going there to watch. Much to the disgust of Andrea's belly, there was nothing here except for a Hare Krishna taking the opportunity to spread the word and give away free books. We also saw the Channel 10 network doing a news broadcast from the site though, which was nice.
We stopped over at Nelson Bay in Port Stephens. We'd heard a lot about this place as it was a hub for backpackers to go off elsewhere, much like Airlie Beach. So we found the cheapest possible Motel...very classy as it had genuine brick walls on the inside of the room! No bloody heating though as we found out. Anyway, we were both starving so had to hit the town. At 8:00 this place was a ghost town. Half the restaurants were closed, the only pub that was open was like some labour club. We ate at one of the few places open and then just went to the supermarket for some munchies (past the tramp and the tumbleweed) ;)
Up early the next day, having a one of Red Ned's pies for breakfast. This guy professes to have over 50 different pies and has won the best pie award in Australia, Andrea asked for a "cheese and onion" pie, but just got a gruff "no" in return. Andrea settled for a Kangaroo pie i had a mince beef and cheese one.
From here we traveled south to Anna Bay to see the massive sand dunes which are the largest in the southern hemisphere, they even had camel rides but it was too cold for that. It's also a place to see whales migrating at this time of year, but the sea was far too choppy to see anything.
On our journey west we mulled over the idea of heading north a bit to go to a place called "Stroud" which is twinned with my home town, but it was too much of a drive out of the way and some fancy wine tasting in the Hunter Valley beckoned. Even though we weren't going to actually buy anything we still managed to come out of the place with some cheese, chocolate and 8 bottles of wine. The place is full of really good vineyards, hotels and restaurants. Andrea said that i went all posh when discussing the wine with the sellers, i was just going along with it all and saying the words they wanted to hear :) We even saw some Passion Pop going cheap (if that's possible) ! After that it was the long journey back to Sydney stopping off for fish and chips and a traffic jam. We didn't realise it until the next day but the car absolutely stunk of fish, dropping the car off at the hire place i kinda left before they went inside it ;)
Burning daylight we headed to Newcastle. We're not really interested in Newcastle as it's quite an industrial town and there's not a lot to see....except for the Pasha Bulker in which some (I might be making this up) drunken sailor drove it into the beach. I mean the guy must of been really desperate for a kebab. It's been pretty big news here and thousands of people have been going up to see it and the attempts by the authorities to move it. As i write this now though, it has just been moved off the beach and onto deeper water (where it'll probably sink or something). If this was in Britain, the burger and ice cream vans would of taken full advantage of the crowds going there to watch. Much to the disgust of Andrea's belly, there was nothing here except for a Hare Krishna taking the opportunity to spread the word and give away free books. We also saw the Channel 10 network doing a news broadcast from the site though, which was nice.
We stopped over at Nelson Bay in Port Stephens. We'd heard a lot about this place as it was a hub for backpackers to go off elsewhere, much like Airlie Beach. So we found the cheapest possible Motel...very classy as it had genuine brick walls on the inside of the room! No bloody heating though as we found out. Anyway, we were both starving so had to hit the town. At 8:00 this place was a ghost town. Half the restaurants were closed, the only pub that was open was like some labour club. We ate at one of the few places open and then just went to the supermarket for some munchies (past the tramp and the tumbleweed) ;)
Up early the next day, having a one of Red Ned's pies for breakfast. This guy professes to have over 50 different pies and has won the best pie award in Australia, Andrea asked for a "cheese and onion" pie, but just got a gruff "no" in return. Andrea settled for a Kangaroo pie i had a mince beef and cheese one.
From here we traveled south to Anna Bay to see the massive sand dunes which are the largest in the southern hemisphere, they even had camel rides but it was too cold for that. It's also a place to see whales migrating at this time of year, but the sea was far too choppy to see anything.
On our journey west we mulled over the idea of heading north a bit to go to a place called "Stroud" which is twinned with my home town, but it was too much of a drive out of the way and some fancy wine tasting in the Hunter Valley beckoned. Even though we weren't going to actually buy anything we still managed to come out of the place with some cheese, chocolate and 8 bottles of wine. The place is full of really good vineyards, hotels and restaurants. Andrea said that i went all posh when discussing the wine with the sellers, i was just going along with it all and saying the words they wanted to hear :) We even saw some Passion Pop going cheap (if that's possible) ! After that it was the long journey back to Sydney stopping off for fish and chips and a traffic jam. We didn't realise it until the next day but the car absolutely stunk of fish, dropping the car off at the hire place i kinda left before they went inside it ;)
Wednesday, June 27, 2007
javaList.add("Simon");
I'm guessing that what I'm trying to say is that i finally managed to get my Sun Java certification. I took the exam yesterday and it was pretty rock hard even though i knew what to expect. It was also a little weird as once you have finished the exam, the screen tells you it's printing your results. I went back to the reception and the receptionist trundled off saying that she'd get them for me. She was only about 10 seconds, but it felt like an hour...boy. Luckily it was a pass :) Woo ! 'Cause it was a Tuesday it was pub quiz night too, so we had a drink to celebrate with a little trivia, i just had to resist the urge to say "Compilation fails" to the questions. Oh, as a side note, Andrea was in the dance off and i think she did much much better than my "dad dancing" :)
Anyway, to do a Gweneth, I'd like to thank Andrea for being such patient girl and supporting me throughout...thankyou poppy xx
Right, where's the job listings :)
PS: I'm sure that Tim, Martin and Rob could do a better geeky heading for this post ;) Just as long as it's not VB or VB.Net ;)
Anyway, to do a Gweneth, I'd like to thank Andrea for being such patient girl and supporting me throughout...thankyou poppy xx
Right, where's the job listings :)
PS: I'm sure that Tim, Martin and Rob could do a better geeky heading for this post ;) Just as long as it's not VB or VB.Net ;)
Friday, June 22, 2007
The most geekiest thing we have done so far on this trip
We went to the Sydney Opera House to see a classical orchestra. It wasnt just normal classical music though, nope it was the music from computer games. Have a look at this link for more info: http://www.sydneyoperahouse.com/sections/whats_on/features/play/
It was in the biggest concert hall and was packed full of geeky gamers and me. It was amusing to see some people with their girlfriends, as im sure some of the girls had been dragged there. I will be honest though ive never seen a classical orchestra before and ive never had a desire to, so this was a perfect way of me seeing it. We were both really looking forward to it, and it wasnt a let down. We had front row seats which was very good for watching the action, it did mean though we were practically sat on the bass's knee and the view of the screens was a bit distorted by the music stand (what they put the music sheets on) for the bassist. It didn't matter though because it was all about the music. The most amusing one was super mario (to be honest it was one of the only ones i had heard off). Heres an example of what it was like. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u2QWwXFOsoI If you watch this, you will see that about a minute in, they put mario on the screen and everyone started cheering. Simon cheered for Zelda and Gaycraft. The other thing i noticed was that like myself, i suspect a lot of people have never been to a concert before and therefore we do not know the correct etticate and this means that we werent entirely sure when to clap or when the interval arrived we all just sat there waiting for something to happen. I also ran out at one point for the loo and then wasnt let back in until a suitable time.
Now as we were having a posh sydney opera house evening we thought we would have a posh meal beforehand. So we ended up going into a bar and because it was full they directed us up to a beautiful bar upstairs with great views of the bridge. The bartender informed us that because they were between menus but the chef would be happy to sort us out for something. So we stupidly agreed, after a while the chef came out to talk to us and suggest some nibbles for $30. So we thinking oohh like tapas bits and bobs sounds good(£15) . So this is a meal that a chef makes for us especially which involved: some sorbet in a shot glass, cold soup in a shot glass (which i think is posh), a little cold toast thing with some ham on, and some minging bean thing on a spoon and for the great finale was (homemade apparently) a tiny amount of vanilla icecream. Needless to say we walked straight out of there and straight to a takeaway for our tea.
Last weekend we bought some champagne (sparkling wine) called Passion pop (i liked the name and it was $5). It tasted like Peach sparkling water and was worse quality then Lambrini, but i liked it and so did Diana.
This evening whilst waiting for Simon i ordered some wine at a bar and the guy started talking about the quality of wine and made a comment on how when he was a teenager and first started drinking Passion Pop was their choice of wine cos it was cheap and nasty. I didnt tell him that i had been drinking it only the previous weekend.
Just found this: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y8Kyi0WNg40&feature=active_sharing - thought it was quite amusing (its only 5 secs long)
It was in the biggest concert hall and was packed full of geeky gamers and me. It was amusing to see some people with their girlfriends, as im sure some of the girls had been dragged there. I will be honest though ive never seen a classical orchestra before and ive never had a desire to, so this was a perfect way of me seeing it. We were both really looking forward to it, and it wasnt a let down. We had front row seats which was very good for watching the action, it did mean though we were practically sat on the bass's knee and the view of the screens was a bit distorted by the music stand (what they put the music sheets on) for the bassist. It didn't matter though because it was all about the music. The most amusing one was super mario (to be honest it was one of the only ones i had heard off). Heres an example of what it was like. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u2QWwXFOsoI If you watch this, you will see that about a minute in, they put mario on the screen and everyone started cheering. Simon cheered for Zelda and Gaycraft. The other thing i noticed was that like myself, i suspect a lot of people have never been to a concert before and therefore we do not know the correct etticate and this means that we werent entirely sure when to clap or when the interval arrived we all just sat there waiting for something to happen. I also ran out at one point for the loo and then wasnt let back in until a suitable time.
Now as we were having a posh sydney opera house evening we thought we would have a posh meal beforehand. So we ended up going into a bar and because it was full they directed us up to a beautiful bar upstairs with great views of the bridge. The bartender informed us that because they were between menus but the chef would be happy to sort us out for something. So we stupidly agreed, after a while the chef came out to talk to us and suggest some nibbles for $30. So we thinking oohh like tapas bits and bobs sounds good(£15) . So this is a meal that a chef makes for us especially which involved: some sorbet in a shot glass, cold soup in a shot glass (which i think is posh), a little cold toast thing with some ham on, and some minging bean thing on a spoon and for the great finale was (homemade apparently) a tiny amount of vanilla icecream. Needless to say we walked straight out of there and straight to a takeaway for our tea.
Last weekend we bought some champagne (sparkling wine) called Passion pop (i liked the name and it was $5). It tasted like Peach sparkling water and was worse quality then Lambrini, but i liked it and so did Diana.
This evening whilst waiting for Simon i ordered some wine at a bar and the guy started talking about the quality of wine and made a comment on how when he was a teenager and first started drinking Passion Pop was their choice of wine cos it was cheap and nasty. I didnt tell him that i had been drinking it only the previous weekend.
Just found this: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y8Kyi0WNg40&feature=active_sharing - thought it was quite amusing (its only 5 secs long)
Wednesday, June 20, 2007
The most difficult thing i have done so far on this trip
Was get my haircut by someone other then Jane. It was a bargain,($40 instead of $80) as it was at a hairdressers that has just been open for a month and I got a free mirror to take home with me. I havent had my hair cut since October and as well as being really long it was really stragly and hanging. Ive had a lot chopped off and my hair just feels so much lighter. Gonna get my self weighed tomoz, i bet ive lost weight.
Special evening tomoz we are going to Sydney Opera House so we are going for a nice meal first. So my hair cut couldnt have been better timed.
The girl who cut my hair was called Kate and was Korean who didnt particular speak much English so would try and do small talk (like they do) and it consisted of. So do u like dancing? and where do you live, how far is it on the bus. Really nice girl though and im chuffed with my hair.
Looks a bit stragly at the ends in the pic, cos i have just had a bath and got the ends wet - whoops
Thursday, June 14, 2007
Driving in our family reliable Hyundai Elantra
After driving around in circles trying to find the shopping centre and ending up on the opposite side of the city, i drove back to the apartment block and parked outside the apartment. Simon later on in the evening discovered that I had actually parked in a non parking zone (20 foot away from parking zone) and said i should move it, I said he should move it. So we didnt move it until we then agree to both go down. The problem is that round here its really difficult to find a car park space anywhere. So we both went to go downstairs but the lift wasnt working and there was no way i was walking down 9 flights of stairs so we didnt move it. Simon then said ok we will move it in the morning as we were gonna get up early. So of course we didnt get up early and there was a parking ticket for $180 (90 quid) and it had only been on the car 20mins when we picked it up. What was really annoying was that the car hire for 3 days had only cost us $180. So whos fault was it. Mine for not parking it in the right place, or Simon for saying he would move it in the morning and didnt get up in time.
Why do the Australians love our Queen - because you get a day off for it being her birthday. If England did this then everyone would love the Queen.
Quiz night - I love tuesday Quiz night, it is the funniest quiz i ever been to and ever likely to. At one stage we all sang happy birthday to a girl and then we all realised that she was breast feeding her little boy at the time. At the end of it she just stood up and nodded laughing. The quiz master was very embarrassed. At the end of the night because 2 teams came joint first they had to have a dance off. 1 person from each team had to get up and start dancing to some corny music. So 2 girls got up and started dancing, they were funny but.. suddenly the boys got up from there table. There was about 10 people dancing very stupidly on the stage. Very very funny. This girl is extremly funny http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2P4YGrfKLzg Shes in the team 'Show us your pussy' and seems to have thrown down the gauntlet as to how funny it can get at dancing. Brayn from our team apparently did the best dance the other week which we unfortunatly missed. It involved him and the other guy doing a bit of a strip whilst dancing.
When we left mum gave me something very important. Her small handbag umbrella. This has turned into one of the most useful things that we own. Its not stopped raining for the past week now and its not like Manchester drizzle miserable rain it absolutely gushes down.
Why do the Australians love our Queen - because you get a day off for it being her birthday. If England did this then everyone would love the Queen.
Quiz night - I love tuesday Quiz night, it is the funniest quiz i ever been to and ever likely to. At one stage we all sang happy birthday to a girl and then we all realised that she was breast feeding her little boy at the time. At the end of it she just stood up and nodded laughing. The quiz master was very embarrassed. At the end of the night because 2 teams came joint first they had to have a dance off. 1 person from each team had to get up and start dancing to some corny music. So 2 girls got up and started dancing, they were funny but.. suddenly the boys got up from there table. There was about 10 people dancing very stupidly on the stage. Very very funny. This girl is extremly funny http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2P4YGrfKLzg Shes in the team 'Show us your pussy' and seems to have thrown down the gauntlet as to how funny it can get at dancing. Brayn from our team apparently did the best dance the other week which we unfortunatly missed. It involved him and the other guy doing a bit of a strip whilst dancing.
When we left mum gave me something very important. Her small handbag umbrella. This has turned into one of the most useful things that we own. Its not stopped raining for the past week now and its not like Manchester drizzle miserable rain it absolutely gushes down.
What's that Skip?....
...Andrea's broke her shoes again and they need fixing!"
Well, this weekend was a bank holiday here so we took the opportunity to hire a car and go off into some of the yonder down under. By the way, the holiday was for the Queen's Birthday !! As you may (or may not) of heard there was some pretty bad storms here over the weekend, Thursday, Friday and Saturday were terrible.
Saturday the weather wasn't good and Andrea was in the mood to get some shoes (i wasn't tho, sorry). Anyway, she was planning to end up at a Broadway shopping center right by central station in the center, but somehow ended up at Bondi Junction. That's the exact opposite of where she was supposed to go, trust me. She said it was due to the fact that she couldn't turn left. She never got any shoes.
Sunday the weather got a little better and we headed south to Botany Bay. Andrea felt it was important to visit the place where captain cook landed in Australia as she's been getting a bit of stick from work for saying "Who's captain cook? Did he discover America?" After wandering round there for a bit we headed back to the visitor center where one of the workers there offered to give us a lift to the cliffs on the coast to do a bit of whale watching. We saw one spurting his water out and surfacing briefly, but the weather was so bat at this point that spotting anything at this point was hard. Leaving botany bay, we headed into the Royal National Park for a little drive. Audley was out first stop for some bad chips and a coffee. Sitting down there we were joined progressively by loads of cheeky cockatoos which were trying to pinch our chips. We then kept on driving through the park taking in the scenery and headed back to the flat to get ready for an all you can eat meal (The diet was on holiday too!).
Monday we went out to the Koala Sanctuary as we'd heard that you can touch and stroke them there.
It was small, but a great place to visit. They had kangaroos which you could feed and stroke, some of them even had little joeys in their pouches. Then we moved to the Koalas which you could also stroke. They were happy as long as they had some eucalyptus to munch on. The Cockatoos we could of missed easily as we see them all the time squawking and stuff. As we went up to their enclosure, they started talking to us with sayings like, "hello", "goodbye", "can i have a cracker", "hello darling", and wolf whistling. Head over to our photos for a better look. From there we moved onto a small town called Windsor which seemed to be a bit of a biker haven. After wandering around here for a bit we just headed back to the city stopping at Burger Fuel for the best burgers ever !
Our diet started back up on Tuesday...promise :)
Well, this weekend was a bank holiday here so we took the opportunity to hire a car and go off into some of the yonder down under. By the way, the holiday was for the Queen's Birthday !! As you may (or may not) of heard there was some pretty bad storms here over the weekend, Thursday, Friday and Saturday were terrible.
Saturday the weather wasn't good and Andrea was in the mood to get some shoes (i wasn't tho, sorry). Anyway, she was planning to end up at a Broadway shopping center right by central station in the center, but somehow ended up at Bondi Junction. That's the exact opposite of where she was supposed to go, trust me. She said it was due to the fact that she couldn't turn left. She never got any shoes.
Sunday the weather got a little better and we headed south to Botany Bay. Andrea felt it was important to visit the place where captain cook landed in Australia as she's been getting a bit of stick from work for saying "Who's captain cook? Did he discover America?" After wandering round there for a bit we headed back to the visitor center where one of the workers there offered to give us a lift to the cliffs on the coast to do a bit of whale watching. We saw one spurting his water out and surfacing briefly, but the weather was so bat at this point that spotting anything at this point was hard. Leaving botany bay, we headed into the Royal National Park for a little drive. Audley was out first stop for some bad chips and a coffee. Sitting down there we were joined progressively by loads of cheeky cockatoos which were trying to pinch our chips. We then kept on driving through the park taking in the scenery and headed back to the flat to get ready for an all you can eat meal (The diet was on holiday too!).
Monday we went out to the Koala Sanctuary as we'd heard that you can touch and stroke them there.
It was small, but a great place to visit. They had kangaroos which you could feed and stroke, some of them even had little joeys in their pouches. Then we moved to the Koalas which you could also stroke. They were happy as long as they had some eucalyptus to munch on. The Cockatoos we could of missed easily as we see them all the time squawking and stuff. As we went up to their enclosure, they started talking to us with sayings like, "hello", "goodbye", "can i have a cracker", "hello darling", and wolf whistling. Head over to our photos for a better look. From there we moved onto a small town called Windsor which seemed to be a bit of a biker haven. After wandering around here for a bit we just headed back to the city stopping at Burger Fuel for the best burgers ever !
Our diet started back up on Tuesday...promise :)
Friday, June 08, 2007
Fire alarm(s)
The weather here today has been pretty bad, all rain and wind. I'm sat here at the moment writing java application for Andrea. I've been band from telling anyone from what it is because Andrea fears it will damage her reputation...however, if you pester her, i'm sure she'll cave in. :)
Anyway, whilst sitting here in the room coding away, the fancy fire alarm goes off. This time it was telling us to evacuate and then buzzing loudly. Obviously the proper thing to do here would be to do what it says, but it's chucking it down outside so i go and look out on the balcony in the bedroom at the building and see if i can see any fire/smoke. Andy, the new guy from 'nam then knocks on my door and says "what's going on", i said it's the fire alarm and then move to the other balcony in the dining room to check that side of the building. This time Diana, Daniels girlfriend, comes out of his room too. Now i have two people who really don't speak that good English following me round the flat. Opening one of the windows and peering down for a better view of the potential fire, i notice that both Andy and Diana are at my side also looking down. Diana then says "any fire", and i said "no, just Gustavo's cooking", at which point she erupted into the highest pitch laughter i've EVER heard. Andy had a blank look on his face, either it wasn't funny or it went right over his head. Anyway, I think Diana would make a cracking fire alarm as long as you don't mind loosing all your windows.
I'm back in the room now and the alarms off, so after writing this i'll be back to my coding. Ooo..whilst my editor in chief is away, Diana is like Andrea's mini-me ! Of course, Andrea hasn't got a laugh like that tho (thank heaven).
Anyway, whilst sitting here in the room coding away, the fancy fire alarm goes off. This time it was telling us to evacuate and then buzzing loudly. Obviously the proper thing to do here would be to do what it says, but it's chucking it down outside so i go and look out on the balcony in the bedroom at the building and see if i can see any fire/smoke. Andy, the new guy from 'nam then knocks on my door and says "what's going on", i said it's the fire alarm and then move to the other balcony in the dining room to check that side of the building. This time Diana, Daniels girlfriend, comes out of his room too. Now i have two people who really don't speak that good English following me round the flat. Opening one of the windows and peering down for a better view of the potential fire, i notice that both Andy and Diana are at my side also looking down. Diana then says "any fire", and i said "no, just Gustavo's cooking", at which point she erupted into the highest pitch laughter i've EVER heard. Andy had a blank look on his face, either it wasn't funny or it went right over his head. Anyway, I think Diana would make a cracking fire alarm as long as you don't mind loosing all your windows.
I'm back in the room now and the alarms off, so after writing this i'll be back to my coding. Ooo..whilst my editor in chief is away, Diana is like Andrea's mini-me ! Of course, Andrea hasn't got a laugh like that tho (thank heaven).
Wednesday, June 06, 2007
Regarding geeks...
Well, last week it was the Google developer day throughout the world. I was one of the lucky ones able to go to the Sydney one. Throughout the day all the food and drink (including beer and wine after) was free ! Woo ! Arriving there it was obvious that Google spared no expense, wifi access, recharge points, Google bean bags for blogging on, big plasma TVs showing live searches and other Google stuff, a Nintendo Wii, oh and did i mention the free food? Breakfast consisted of a danish and a strong coffee.
At first glance, you could be fooled for thinking it was singles night at the local club: 1000 people, 5 of which were girls! All pasty looking chaps that looked like they haven't shaved for around a week let alone seeing any daylight ! You know that PC vs Mac advert campaign that's showing on TV; I like to think that i fell into the "groovy" Mac side of geeks, even though i don't have a Mac.
When i got there, there was some faces that i knew from the Ruby geek meets, and also some people from Andrea's company...i clung to them as they we're "kinda" normal.
A schoolbell sounded and it was time for class. Going into the main arena, there was tonnes of Google welcome packs which included a Google Pen, stickers, and the most amazing notepad i've ever seen. I did my duty and stole another pack for Andrea too(Sorry Tim). The presenter was a bit like an Aussie Clive Anderson but funnier, he's quite popular down under and has a radio show and a "new inventors" show on TV which is like dragons den but nicer.
I wont go into the lessons as most of them we're boring. Some of the speakers were very good, others were terrible and sleep inducing. For morning break i had a cookie and another coffee. Lunch i had some Chinese noodles, a ham salad roll, a pie, and lots of coffee and soft drinks. Afternoon tea, i had an apple (:O) and more coffee. After the day had ended, beer beckoned with nibbles a plenty. As you can see, i fell of the dieting wagon today (that's what being a geek does to you).
Well, it wouldn't be a decent blog post about the Google day if i never posted something that i learnt, so here goes...
I hope you're all suitably impressed and wooed by my geekyness ;) Looking forward to next years Google developers day anyway.
Update: I appear to be famous...
checking the schwag or "Where's Simon"
and...
Not sure where to go? (incase you are in any doubt, i'm the short one)
At first glance, you could be fooled for thinking it was singles night at the local club: 1000 people, 5 of which were girls! All pasty looking chaps that looked like they haven't shaved for around a week let alone seeing any daylight ! You know that PC vs Mac advert campaign that's showing on TV; I like to think that i fell into the "groovy" Mac side of geeks, even though i don't have a Mac.
When i got there, there was some faces that i knew from the Ruby geek meets, and also some people from Andrea's company...i clung to them as they we're "kinda" normal.
A schoolbell sounded and it was time for class. Going into the main arena, there was tonnes of Google welcome packs which included a Google Pen, stickers, and the most amazing notepad i've ever seen. I did my duty and stole another pack for Andrea too(Sorry Tim). The presenter was a bit like an Aussie Clive Anderson but funnier, he's quite popular down under and has a radio show and a "new inventors" show on TV which is like dragons den but nicer.
I wont go into the lessons as most of them we're boring. Some of the speakers were very good, others were terrible and sleep inducing. For morning break i had a cookie and another coffee. Lunch i had some Chinese noodles, a ham salad roll, a pie, and lots of coffee and soft drinks. Afternoon tea, i had an apple (:O) and more coffee. After the day had ended, beer beckoned with nibbles a plenty. As you can see, i fell of the dieting wagon today (that's what being a geek does to you).
Well, it wouldn't be a decent blog post about the Google day if i never posted something that i learnt, so here goes...
I hope you're all suitably impressed and wooed by my geekyness ;) Looking forward to next years Google developers day anyway.
Update: I appear to be famous...
checking the schwag or "Where's Simon"
and...
Not sure where to go? (incase you are in any doubt, i'm the short one)
Saturday, May 26, 2007
Champagne, Poker and Millions
Im sick and bored of aussies taking the mick out of my accent. They seem to accept Simons accent but i just constantly get the mick taken out of me. We went to the quiz on Tuesday and the whole table took great delight at trying to impersonate me. The quiz was very good we came joint third, we always do so well at the first half but then fall apart at the second, it did make me laugh that nick(the guy from work who winds me up) that he had a 5 pointer question and only got 2 out of 5 and he was so adament it was correct.
Yesterday was a very interesting day at work, we went out to celebrate some news and we went for a very posh meal at a german restaurant. I had a single fig for the first starter and then a scallop, and a little bit of sorbet to clear my pallet and then i had a port scratching type of meal. Desert involved us sharing 4 deserts that each contained 6 little dishes. All this was washed down with a large quantity of champagne. We then went back to the office and decided as we really couldnt do any work we should do the crossword and then played Poker again all washed down with more champagne. I beat the guys because we were all fairly drunk and i kept making big bets because my brain was not working and i kept calling their bluff and therefore kept winning hahahaha.
After that me and Nick met Simon and Nicks friends and went to a pub that was doing free champagne. I had a very good day but I have a very bad head today.
Daniel collared Simon after the crossword and asked him if he could help him. The guy helpin him with his essays whilst very good was not intelligent enough to do one of the essays for him and could Simon help. It was to write a critique of this book: 'The nonviolent Atonement'. Heres a review of it: http://www.westmont.edu/~work/articles/nonviolent.html I cant even understand the first paragraph. Needless to say Simon did have a look and decided that not a chance, there was no way he would even be able to get past the first pages never mind read the whole book.
Yesterday was a very interesting day at work, we went out to celebrate some news and we went for a very posh meal at a german restaurant. I had a single fig for the first starter and then a scallop, and a little bit of sorbet to clear my pallet and then i had a port scratching type of meal. Desert involved us sharing 4 deserts that each contained 6 little dishes. All this was washed down with a large quantity of champagne. We then went back to the office and decided as we really couldnt do any work we should do the crossword and then played Poker again all washed down with more champagne. I beat the guys because we were all fairly drunk and i kept making big bets because my brain was not working and i kept calling their bluff and therefore kept winning hahahaha.
After that me and Nick met Simon and Nicks friends and went to a pub that was doing free champagne. I had a very good day but I have a very bad head today.
Daniel collared Simon after the crossword and asked him if he could help him. The guy helpin him with his essays whilst very good was not intelligent enough to do one of the essays for him and could Simon help. It was to write a critique of this book: 'The nonviolent Atonement'. Heres a review of it: http://www.westmont.edu/~work/articles/nonviolent.html I cant even understand the first paragraph. Needless to say Simon did have a look and decided that not a chance, there was no way he would even be able to get past the first pages never mind read the whole book.
Monday, May 21, 2007
Andrea never gets drunk.
As there is a pub quiz looming tomorrow night which will be the first one for some time. Back when Andrea won $20 on the spectacular scratch card, we also discovered that it would be a cheque that would be sent to us from the company that does the cards. Andrea had to fill in a form giving her all her details. Well, the cheque arrived and it was quite funny. Andrea was drunk enough to not spell her name right :) She even admitted it which was a complete first for me as "I never get drunk" is one of her favourite sayings.
I also find it quite amusing that the Fame Trivia Company's slogan is "We keep them coming back". Probably due to errors on the cheques ;)
As far as the flat is concerned, Luke will be leaving us in a couple of weeks. He seems an alright guy, but i certainly wont miss his eating habits and just about swearing at anything. Daniel already has a new person lined up to share the room with Gustavo, fingers crossed there. Daniel currently is in a situation, he currently has 6 assignments to do for college, two business based ones and four theological ones. They are already overdue, so Daniel decided to advertise for someone to do them for him on the Internet and at the church !). He's paying good money for them ($3000). Anyhoo, the guy that's doing them has just turned up and will be staying here for a couple of weeks, he's a Brazilian called Keri who might just be "the only gay in the flat". He seem like a good chap anyway and even asked Andrea if she is Brazilian !...(Andrea's currently doing a gay hand gesture at the moment).
I also find it quite amusing that the Fame Trivia Company's slogan is "We keep them coming back". Probably due to errors on the cheques ;)
As far as the flat is concerned, Luke will be leaving us in a couple of weeks. He seems an alright guy, but i certainly wont miss his eating habits and just about swearing at anything. Daniel already has a new person lined up to share the room with Gustavo, fingers crossed there. Daniel currently is in a situation, he currently has 6 assignments to do for college, two business based ones and four theological ones. They are already overdue, so Daniel decided to advertise for someone to do them for him on the Internet and at the church !). He's paying good money for them ($3000). Anyhoo, the guy that's doing them has just turned up and will be staying here for a couple of weeks, he's a Brazilian called Keri who might just be "the only gay in the flat". He seem like a good chap anyway and even asked Andrea if she is Brazilian !...(Andrea's currently doing a gay hand gesture at the moment).
Saturday, May 19, 2007
Not a lot happening at mo
May is a very quiet month, after Simons birthday we have not done much. Mum went home ages ago, we never did write the blog entry for the last couple of days when we went to the Blue Mountains with mum, needless to say we had a good laugh.
Simons birthday was spent at the pizza place in Darlinghurst and then we went to Hard Rock Cafe on the saturday night with the 5 of us from the flat. We did then go on to the pub to watch the Fa cup final for Man Utd and Chelsea only to find out we had got the wrong week. whoops i blame gustavo.
I made a prat of myself at work, this week in that they asked me what country did Capitain Cook discover, i said America and they said noooooo Australia you wally. Needless to say they now take the mick out of me. Simon has no sympathy for me he says i bought it on myself and I should have known. In my defence, i knew America was discoverd by Columbus its just that with travelling through America via Hawaii and Fiji, Captain Cooks name was mentioned and the name just got translated into my head as the same name. No excuse but thats the way it is.
Simons birthday was spent at the pizza place in Darlinghurst and then we went to Hard Rock Cafe on the saturday night with the 5 of us from the flat. We did then go on to the pub to watch the Fa cup final for Man Utd and Chelsea only to find out we had got the wrong week. whoops i blame gustavo.
I made a prat of myself at work, this week in that they asked me what country did Capitain Cook discover, i said America and they said noooooo Australia you wally. Needless to say they now take the mick out of me. Simon has no sympathy for me he says i bought it on myself and I should have known. In my defence, i knew America was discoverd by Columbus its just that with travelling through America via Hawaii and Fiji, Captain Cooks name was mentioned and the name just got translated into my head as the same name. No excuse but thats the way it is.
Thursday, May 10, 2007
Happy Birthday Simon
Its Simons birthday today, hes 29 ;-)
Can anybody reading this add a comment on to it, saying happy birthday. I think Simon's finding it a little strange having his birthday in a different country.
Of to Hard Rock Cafe with everyone on Saturday to celebrate and tonight me and Simon are going for a romantic meal in Darlinghurst to the Italian place that we like from when we first arrived in Australia all them many months ago.
P.s. Simon from me, Happy Birthday, love u xxxxxxx
P.p.s And Stella love the Union Jack shorts, he put them straight on this morning.
P.p.p.s. Happy Birthday Tim
Can anybody reading this add a comment on to it, saying happy birthday. I think Simon's finding it a little strange having his birthday in a different country.
Of to Hard Rock Cafe with everyone on Saturday to celebrate and tonight me and Simon are going for a romantic meal in Darlinghurst to the Italian place that we like from when we first arrived in Australia all them many months ago.
P.s. Simon from me, Happy Birthday, love u xxxxxxx
P.p.s And Stella love the Union Jack shorts, he put them straight on this morning.
P.p.p.s. Happy Birthday Tim
Wednesday, May 09, 2007
It was "this" big !
Well, here it is, Andrea's amazing fishing skill netted her this shark ! As you can see, it's a fearsome beast around 3 meters long and teeth the size of steak knives! At least thats how it sounds when Andrea chats about it ;)
Can't get around the fact that she caught it, well done Andrea :)
Can't get around the fact that she caught it, well done Andrea :)
Tuesday, May 01, 2007
Im not scared of a shark, but i am of a snake
Just wanted to add some more stuff about Whitsundays, to Simons and mums comments for my memorys.Whilst i can honestly say it was an experience, it was a long 2 days but extremely memorable and would not have missed it for the world, i loved it. I will particularly take away with me the memories of the yacht and how damn small it was. Heres the layout. Mums bed was tiny, she really did sleep on a shelf. I felt really bad on the first night when we were sat there before going to bed feeling very windswept and very salty from the sea after having no shower after snorkling. But even the 2 nights sleep was an adventure and we are still managed to sleep. Simon seemed to have had the best kip out of everyone on the boat.
On the first snorkling trip, Simon didnt mention we saw a massive fish that was so tame that when jimmy threw bread in he knew that it would come and see us and sure enough it did. I dont think Mum got to see it as she was to busy trying to snorkel without putting the breathing thing in her mouth, couldnt quite get to grips with the concept at all.
The other thing i want to mention is my shark. Aparently i wasnt being stupid when i was saying to Rowen that i couldnt decide if there was anything on the end of the line as it felt so light. Brendan at work says that apparently they can feel weightless when you catch them and it certainly did. When i shouted to everyone that i thought i had caught something i was thinking oh what have i caught the dingy or the anchor or a washing machine, or a shoe, this could be really embarassing. I didnt think it would be a shark even though a little earlier me and Simon had spotted a shark in the water about a meter long. We dont think that was the shark i caught as mine was smaller then that.
Thats twice now ive tried fishing with just a line (no rod) and a piece of bait on the end and twice ive caught something. Thats 2-0 to me. Simons is gutted, he wins though for when we went Crab catching in Wales last year, though i was pitifully bad at that apart from catching dead ones.
Mum made me laugh, she was shouting at the boys saying.. oooh look at that my daughter the girl has caught a fish and none of your guys have even using a rod. It was the most verbal i had heard her for the 2 days apart from screaming every time we got thrashed with a big wave. Which reminds me i must put that picture of mum in the lovely yellow rain mac she was wearing on the way to Whithaven Beach.
Which i will say it again, is the most beautiful beach i have ever been to, and will always cherish having been there with Simon and my Mum. Im very lucky.
On the last day of the Yacht, before docking back at Airle Beach and after the unsuccessfully snorkling trip we went on to an Island called South Mollie which we were given the opportunity to either go on another bush walk up to a viewing point or go and sit round the swimming pool with cocktails and a toilet (that was the best bit). Hrmmm i had a hard think about this and decided to go for the bush walk. Naw did i eck i went to the swimming pool and found great amusement with the parakeet that likes to drink from your glass. Simon went on the bush walk with the other 4 but came back a little later with brook and said they had only gone half way and decided that cocktails and swimming pools were to appealing and they had been to one view point anyway. On their way back they came across a snake that was reared up at them ready to strike. I dont know what i would have done if i had been there, fainted or regretted not going to the toilet instead :-). They got rid of it by stamping on the ground, and it scuttled of.
So in the past 3 days we managed to see.
A massive big fish (think it was called Elvis)
Turtles
Sharks
Lots of different variety of fish
Simon had a shrimp stuck to his lovely stringer suit
Killer (possibly) Jelly fish
A massive dragon lizard (Whitehaven Beach)
A snake (green and brown)
A really cute parakeet
An ants bum
Mosquitos (damn - again)
Thursday, April 26, 2007
Yaarrrrr!
Yo Ho Ho Ho, a pirates life for me. Well that was the image i had in my head before we went on this sailing trip (along with scurvy and lots of rum). Andrea and Elayne had images of the QE2, strawberries and champagne. I can say now, it was a lot closer to what I imagined.
It was a 3 day sailing adventure around the Whitsunday islands. We were greeted at the marina by Rohan (the skipper) and Jimmy(the deckhand), i'll get onto these two in a moment, they deserve their own section. Simply getting on the boat was a problem for the ladies, then the other bombshell came for them...not allowed to wear shoes on the boat. There was another group of 4 people coming with us, two Aussies and two kiwi's. We were given a brief guide of the rules whilst on deck, and then taken downstairs in pairs to our rooms. We could only go in pairs 'cause there really wasn't enough room downstairs. Andrea and my room (well i thought it would be Andrea and Elayne's) was right at the bow(front) of the ship. Gonna use nautical terms at it sounds like I learnt something. Anyway, here's the layout. Even with short arses like Andrea and myself, we could actually reach the end of the bed with our toes when on it. Tim, you really would of had a problem, not to mention a very sore head 'cause of it being so low. That tiny little bit of grey just above the cooker on the port side was where Elayne would eventually sleep. She said it was very comfy, but i think she was just being polite.
The first day we set sail for some snorkeling at Blue Pearl bay at Hayman Island, then snorkeled somewhere else probably just off the west coast of Hook Island. We saw some pretty nice fish and the most amazing coral whilst snorkeling throughout our trip here, far better than anywhere else we've snorkeled. Finally we set anchor for the evening at Nara Inlet on Hook Island. Definitely, no snorkeling here as it is a hammerhead shark breeding ground...gulp! Due to the fact that we were at the marina for 8 in the morning, sailing all day and stuff, you're pretty exhausted by the time sun goes down, so after some food and drinks it's pretty much time for bed. Sleep the first night was ok, a little weird getting used to the noises and the rocking but ok nonetheless. The skipper went to sleep in the main sail, whilst jimmy had this special seagoing tent/bivouac to sleep in on the deck. After a little rain in the first evening, the skipper got out of the sail and slept in the saloon section of the boat with Elayne, and also Brook (one of the 4) who couldn't sleep because of a power struggle for the duvet with her boyfriend.
Let me give you a little description of the skipper and the deckhand. Both, have lived their whole lives at sea. The skipper seemed to come from a very well to do family and was only 21, although experienced. Jimmy, was a 30 year old veteran fisherman, used to the really bad seas around Antarctica for months at a time. Jimmy had some pretty amazing tattoos. As you can tell these two were from completely different backgrounds, Jimmy spent most of his time shouting at Rohan for being a complete idiot. Fishermen can have some quite colourful language at times, probably not far off Dockers and Americans. Rohan is Jimmy's boss tho! you could never tell. Somehow, Rohan just took it all on the chin, i think he's a deep respect of Jimmy.
In the morning (around 7), it was up for small hike on hook island which would take in some aboriginal cave drawings and a great lookout. Andrea got bit in the cave 'cause of all the bugs there. Then back on board for breakfast. This day was going to involve a lot of sailing as everyone wanted to go onto Whitehaven beach, there was also a warning, it will be a rough journey for around 2 hours. When a sailor says this, he means it. You can't stay downstairs in rough weather unless you were a fisherman like Jimmy (who was studying), or stupid like me (who was just reading). Apart from the rocking around, i knew something was afoot when the skipper shouted down for Jimmy to get the waterproofs. I could see that the ones on deck were getting hammered by the waves, but it wasn't until i started to feel a bit sick and had to go up did i realise that they looked like drowned, miserable, rats. I could see all the romance of sailing shatter in Andrea's eyes.
When we got to our destination, it was a bite to eat, and then a dingy ride over to the beach on the other side of the peninsula to Whithaven beach. Then another hike, this time a longer one, which took in big Lizards and Green Tree Ants. Let me tell you that I licked an ants bum and it tasted of lemon sherbert, even Andrea did ! Elayne never, 'cause she never wanted to return to England and have that story to tell. If ever you're downunder, try it, it's quite weird...i wouldn't go putting them in your gin and tonic tho. Even wikipedia doesn't acknowledge that fact, hrm...might edit that page. The thing that tickled me about the ants was that when your finger got close to them, they reared up and got all aggressive probably saying stuff like "come and have a go if you think you're hard enough".
Whitehaven beach looked amazing from the air, but on it was amazing. Simply the best beach I have ever been on, and not a person or building in sight. The sand is that pure, that they use it for making lenses on mega telescopes (The Hubble was one). We played tri-nations beach cricket, and I can say that we did England proud that day. The Kiwi's and Aussies are a bunch of pansies. After the beach, it was a sail back the way we came, this time with the waves not against us, to anchor up on the west side of Whitsunday Island. This was to prove quite an interesting night.
After a little food and drink whilst watching the sunset, it was time for a spot of fishing. Now I love fishing lots and have done it most of my life (except not in Manchester), Andrea wanders along, on fire from catching her first ever fish in Fiji, and goes and catches a shark ! I caught nothing all night by the way. When i get permission to upload the picture of the shark (Andrea says she needs airbrushing like a top model) i'll put it up for all to see. The shark has already grown a foot since Andrea caught it...she'd make a great fisherman. By the time we're in England, expect I expect for her to expanded it to Jaws or Flipper size.
That night it blew an absolute gale ! The ship was rocking heavily, creaking, the wind truly howling. Most of us didn't get much sleep. The skipper, again made is way downstairs for the evening to sleep in the saloon with Elayne and Brook. The rocking was so bad, that at some point Rohan fell off his bed and straight down ontop of Brook! I don't quite know how she took that. Jimmy, the trooper he was, stayed tied onto the mast on deck, he said that he spent most of the night floating in the air :D.
The day after was some extreme snorkeling in the sea (i was getting washed away with the current so Jimmy had to pick me up in the dingy), a bit of food, then the journey back with a little sparkling wine. The trip back was great, nice winds and waves, sun beating, ipod playing on deck...it was almost as Andrea and Elayne imagined it :)
It was a 3 day sailing adventure around the Whitsunday islands. We were greeted at the marina by Rohan (the skipper) and Jimmy(the deckhand), i'll get onto these two in a moment, they deserve their own section. Simply getting on the boat was a problem for the ladies, then the other bombshell came for them...not allowed to wear shoes on the boat. There was another group of 4 people coming with us, two Aussies and two kiwi's. We were given a brief guide of the rules whilst on deck, and then taken downstairs in pairs to our rooms. We could only go in pairs 'cause there really wasn't enough room downstairs. Andrea and my room (well i thought it would be Andrea and Elayne's) was right at the bow(front) of the ship. Gonna use nautical terms at it sounds like I learnt something. Anyway, here's the layout. Even with short arses like Andrea and myself, we could actually reach the end of the bed with our toes when on it. Tim, you really would of had a problem, not to mention a very sore head 'cause of it being so low. That tiny little bit of grey just above the cooker on the port side was where Elayne would eventually sleep. She said it was very comfy, but i think she was just being polite.
The first day we set sail for some snorkeling at Blue Pearl bay at Hayman Island, then snorkeled somewhere else probably just off the west coast of Hook Island. We saw some pretty nice fish and the most amazing coral whilst snorkeling throughout our trip here, far better than anywhere else we've snorkeled. Finally we set anchor for the evening at Nara Inlet on Hook Island. Definitely, no snorkeling here as it is a hammerhead shark breeding ground...gulp! Due to the fact that we were at the marina for 8 in the morning, sailing all day and stuff, you're pretty exhausted by the time sun goes down, so after some food and drinks it's pretty much time for bed. Sleep the first night was ok, a little weird getting used to the noises and the rocking but ok nonetheless. The skipper went to sleep in the main sail, whilst jimmy had this special seagoing tent/bivouac to sleep in on the deck. After a little rain in the first evening, the skipper got out of the sail and slept in the saloon section of the boat with Elayne, and also Brook (one of the 4) who couldn't sleep because of a power struggle for the duvet with her boyfriend.
Let me give you a little description of the skipper and the deckhand. Both, have lived their whole lives at sea. The skipper seemed to come from a very well to do family and was only 21, although experienced. Jimmy, was a 30 year old veteran fisherman, used to the really bad seas around Antarctica for months at a time. Jimmy had some pretty amazing tattoos. As you can tell these two were from completely different backgrounds, Jimmy spent most of his time shouting at Rohan for being a complete idiot. Fishermen can have some quite colourful language at times, probably not far off Dockers and Americans. Rohan is Jimmy's boss tho! you could never tell. Somehow, Rohan just took it all on the chin, i think he's a deep respect of Jimmy.
In the morning (around 7), it was up for small hike on hook island which would take in some aboriginal cave drawings and a great lookout. Andrea got bit in the cave 'cause of all the bugs there. Then back on board for breakfast. This day was going to involve a lot of sailing as everyone wanted to go onto Whitehaven beach, there was also a warning, it will be a rough journey for around 2 hours. When a sailor says this, he means it. You can't stay downstairs in rough weather unless you were a fisherman like Jimmy (who was studying), or stupid like me (who was just reading). Apart from the rocking around, i knew something was afoot when the skipper shouted down for Jimmy to get the waterproofs. I could see that the ones on deck were getting hammered by the waves, but it wasn't until i started to feel a bit sick and had to go up did i realise that they looked like drowned, miserable, rats. I could see all the romance of sailing shatter in Andrea's eyes.
When we got to our destination, it was a bite to eat, and then a dingy ride over to the beach on the other side of the peninsula to Whithaven beach. Then another hike, this time a longer one, which took in big Lizards and Green Tree Ants. Let me tell you that I licked an ants bum and it tasted of lemon sherbert, even Andrea did ! Elayne never, 'cause she never wanted to return to England and have that story to tell. If ever you're downunder, try it, it's quite weird...i wouldn't go putting them in your gin and tonic tho. Even wikipedia doesn't acknowledge that fact, hrm...might edit that page. The thing that tickled me about the ants was that when your finger got close to them, they reared up and got all aggressive probably saying stuff like "come and have a go if you think you're hard enough".
Whitehaven beach looked amazing from the air, but on it was amazing. Simply the best beach I have ever been on, and not a person or building in sight. The sand is that pure, that they use it for making lenses on mega telescopes (The Hubble was one). We played tri-nations beach cricket, and I can say that we did England proud that day. The Kiwi's and Aussies are a bunch of pansies. After the beach, it was a sail back the way we came, this time with the waves not against us, to anchor up on the west side of Whitsunday Island. This was to prove quite an interesting night.
After a little food and drink whilst watching the sunset, it was time for a spot of fishing. Now I love fishing lots and have done it most of my life (except not in Manchester), Andrea wanders along, on fire from catching her first ever fish in Fiji, and goes and catches a shark ! I caught nothing all night by the way. When i get permission to upload the picture of the shark (Andrea says she needs airbrushing like a top model) i'll put it up for all to see. The shark has already grown a foot since Andrea caught it...she'd make a great fisherman. By the time we're in England, expect I expect for her to expanded it to Jaws or Flipper size.
That night it blew an absolute gale ! The ship was rocking heavily, creaking, the wind truly howling. Most of us didn't get much sleep. The skipper, again made is way downstairs for the evening to sleep in the saloon with Elayne and Brook. The rocking was so bad, that at some point Rohan fell off his bed and straight down ontop of Brook! I don't quite know how she took that. Jimmy, the trooper he was, stayed tied onto the mast on deck, he said that he spent most of the night floating in the air :D.
The day after was some extreme snorkeling in the sea (i was getting washed away with the current so Jimmy had to pick me up in the dingy), a bit of food, then the journey back with a little sparkling wine. The trip back was great, nice winds and waves, sun beating, ipod playing on deck...it was almost as Andrea and Elayne imagined it :)
Sunday, April 22, 2007
Flying over the best beach in the world
Well we finally made it to Whitsunday Islands, the town we where in is called Airlie Beach and the hotel is called Sunlit Waters. Me and Mum had discussed this beforehand and looking at the pictures decided it was going to be a cheap and cheerful place but not the best. We were really surprised how nice the apartment was, the view from the balcony was amazing. I was really please because since mum had been here the weather had been rotten and all we had been doing was travelling and whilst seeing Brisbane and Surfers Paradise was good, the apartment and the view just made the holiday. I would say the only down side about this apartment was that the owner was a bit of a perv and had a tendency to wander around all day seeing if you wanted your umbrella up or down and that meant he could look at you sunbathing or peep into the apartment and the fact that the hill the place was on was one hell of a hill and as it was so near to Airlie Beach centre you could not justify a taxi so walking up was very painful. This part of the holiday is about pure relaxing sat around the lagoon (you cant go in the sea because of the jelly fish), sat on the balcony or sat at the pool. Bliss
On the 2nd day we went on a Seaplane. This was to take us around the islands for an hour, and go over the great barrier reef and see Whitehaven beach(one of the best beaches in the world and it was gorgeous). Whithaven beach is something like 95% pure white sand and was just stunning to look at.
This was absolutely amazing, we were fortunate in that because it couldnt land on the sea as the waves were to big, they didnt pick up any other passengers so it was just us on this plane. Us 3 and the 2 pilots in a 10 seater plane. It was scary when it took off and extremely scary when it got a bit of turbulance but we did it and we didnt scream.
When we flew over the barrier reef we saw a reef shaped like a heart, this was very special and is on all the postcards, i was really pleased to see that.
Airlie Beach is definatly a backpacker town, we have advised gustavo to go as he will be in his element with all the girls out to have fun. Me and Simon had great fun in the evenings watching the pissed up people get more and more drunk, fall ill and then suddenly become lively again for the limbo dancing.
On the 2nd day we went on a Seaplane. This was to take us around the islands for an hour, and go over the great barrier reef and see Whitehaven beach(one of the best beaches in the world and it was gorgeous). Whithaven beach is something like 95% pure white sand and was just stunning to look at.
This was absolutely amazing, we were fortunate in that because it couldnt land on the sea as the waves were to big, they didnt pick up any other passengers so it was just us on this plane. Us 3 and the 2 pilots in a 10 seater plane. It was scary when it took off and extremely scary when it got a bit of turbulance but we did it and we didnt scream.
When we flew over the barrier reef we saw a reef shaped like a heart, this was very special and is on all the postcards, i was really pleased to see that.
Airlie Beach is definatly a backpacker town, we have advised gustavo to go as he will be in his element with all the girls out to have fun. Me and Simon had great fun in the evenings watching the pissed up people get more and more drunk, fall ill and then suddenly become lively again for the limbo dancing.
Friday, April 20, 2007
Mum and Surfers Paradise, Brisbane
Well mum arrived, it was so nice to see her and it felt like i had only just recently seen her. I think Simon finds it hard with 2 Popplewells. Everyone in the flat gave her a really nice welcome and on the first evening they all cooked a meal and we sat down and ate that together at the table. Daniels girlfriend who doesnt speak a word of english was sat with us as well, so it was difficult but amusing.
Since Mum arrived it has been the worse weather, cold and rainy. It was unbelivable how bad it was. We took her to Manly on the first day accross the sydney (or as mum likes to call it the Stanley) harbour on the very rocky ferry and on the 2nd day we went shopping. We were gonna go to Blue Mountains but the weather was just to bad. We therefore decided to bring the holiday forward a day and go to Surfers Paradise on the Gold Coast. This was not planned but we were chasing the weather so we changed the flight to Brisbane and then got on a train (with a bus diversion and a traffic jam cos a car was on fire), down to Surfers Paradise. We got a really nice room in a hotel just off the beach, small but amazing views. We then immediately went down to explore the beach, pretty much sat on it and it started to rain, seems like the rain had followed us. It did stop though fairly quickly. We spent the evening at Hard Rock Cafe, i got some pins being the saddo that I am.
The next day we were off back to Brisbane on the train after spending the morning sunbathing and perving at the 60 year old Lifeguards. Thats me and my mum not Simon. Me and Simon was gonna do surfing lessons but the weather turned so we left for Brisbane.
Brisbane is a nice city no beach but a big river running through it, me and Simon left mum sunbathing at the hotel swimming pool and went exploring and ended up walking miles along the river and found a really nice fake beach. Its like a small Sydney. The evening was spent at the casino but to be honest we were all knackered from the travelling around. Since mum arrived 2 days ago we have done. Plane, Train, Taxis, Buses, Walking, Monorrail, Ferries and Catamaran. We are all a bit exhausted from packing up and moving around roll on the Whitsunday Islands.
Since Mum arrived it has been the worse weather, cold and rainy. It was unbelivable how bad it was. We took her to Manly on the first day accross the sydney (or as mum likes to call it the Stanley) harbour on the very rocky ferry and on the 2nd day we went shopping. We were gonna go to Blue Mountains but the weather was just to bad. We therefore decided to bring the holiday forward a day and go to Surfers Paradise on the Gold Coast. This was not planned but we were chasing the weather so we changed the flight to Brisbane and then got on a train (with a bus diversion and a traffic jam cos a car was on fire), down to Surfers Paradise. We got a really nice room in a hotel just off the beach, small but amazing views. We then immediately went down to explore the beach, pretty much sat on it and it started to rain, seems like the rain had followed us. It did stop though fairly quickly. We spent the evening at Hard Rock Cafe, i got some pins being the saddo that I am.
The next day we were off back to Brisbane on the train after spending the morning sunbathing and perving at the 60 year old Lifeguards. Thats me and my mum not Simon. Me and Simon was gonna do surfing lessons but the weather turned so we left for Brisbane.
Brisbane is a nice city no beach but a big river running through it, me and Simon left mum sunbathing at the hotel swimming pool and went exploring and ended up walking miles along the river and found a really nice fake beach. Its like a small Sydney. The evening was spent at the casino but to be honest we were all knackered from the travelling around. Since mum arrived 2 days ago we have done. Plane, Train, Taxis, Buses, Walking, Monorrail, Ferries and Catamaran. We are all a bit exhausted from packing up and moving around roll on the Whitsunday Islands.
Saturday, April 07, 2007
Normal Service will resume shortly
Well, with Andrea's mum arriving in sunny Aussie land, it's all been a bit frantic. The biggest problem is that she seemed to of brought the lovely Manchester weather with her. We've already heard that it's pretty good there at the moment. Here, it's been...sh*t ! Rain, gales, more rain. So in true Popplewell fashion, we're chasing the weather north to Brisbane and the Surfers paradise for a couple of days and then onto the Whitsunday islands for around a week. We've decided not to take the laptop with us, so unless we get really bad withdrawl symptoms and have to dive into an Internet cafe, you're not gonna hear from us ;( We'll be giving a full update when we get back.
I can't believe we're having a holiday from our holiday !
NB: Oh, and for those in the know, sorry about the image...i was hoping of photoshopping Andrea's piccy onto that one above. Tim, Tony, Martin, & Pop you're free to have a bash...i'll put it up if you do ! woo ! What prize shall i give? ;)
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