? Last Visitors

Another holiday, another house full. We had a wonderfully chaotic Easter with my Mum; sister-in-law Alice; and our nice and nephew Sophie & Micheal staying with us. That equates to seven of us in a small two bedroomed flat - i.e. bodies everywhere! It was particularly good to have kids around (especially over Easter - we're still finding forgotten chocolate in the fridge!).

We now have a regular routine for visitors:- show them the best of Sydney but then go somewhere we haven't been before - just to inject some variety into the mix for Roz and I.

The trip away this time was to Port Stephens, a collection of resorts in a large picturesque bay 3 hours north of Sydney. Again we were left feeling we wanted to go back, if only we'd discovered it earlier. Blue seas, endless beaches, steep hills to climb for views across the bay. We only stayed over for one night but it was enough to be transported back to the eighties. The low to mid range hotels we find ourselves in here are all a bit dated (can't speak about the upper end - perhaps that's what you pay your money for?). That's fine when it's just for a night or two, it becomes a nostalgic experience. The evening meal in particular was a blast from the past - deep fried everything. I don't think prawn cocktail was on the menu but it wouldn't have been out of place there.

We went out on a dolphin watching boat trip on the second day. There are several pods in the bay and despite the high winds we caught sight of quite a few - what a thrill. We had intended doing some snorkeling too as there's a renowned nature reserve in the bay with lots of sea life. Unfortunately the winds has whipped up the sea bed and there was nothing to see. We swam among a flock of Pelicans instead - they were particularly unimpressed as a they sheltered by the shore from the winds.

Alice and the kids have now gone on to Hong Kong, visiting friends before returning to the UK. Mum is still with us experiencing all the extremes of weather that a Sydney autumn has to offer. We're currently in the middle of a storm that's lasted for 3 days now. We're just about to set off for Adelaide, weather permitting, for a stay with my cousin Nichola. Unfortunately Nichola and her family are stranded on a cruise ship outside of Sydney waiting for the storm to bait before they're allowed to come in to the harbour! So we don't know how things will turn out, but in true Aussie style we'll be making the most of it.

New Zealand Trip

We've just returned from a two week touring holiday around New Zealand. Ros and I hired a camper-van and greedily set off to see as much as we could in the short period of time we had to play with. The adventure started in Auckland on the northern end of North Island and continued for a short week before we caught the ferry to the South Island where we spent a long week.

The roads were perfect for driving a van around, quiet and perfectly formed. And there's so few of them that it's impossible to get lost. We were not alone, camper-vans were everywhere to be seen. As everyone knows NZ advertises itself as the home of adventure activities. We sampled: Black Water Rafting, Jet Boating, Luge, Paragliding and Sea Kayaking (twice) among more sedate activities.

If I were asked to sum the country up I'd have to say it has all the best elements of Europe packaged into a small country with English speaking, friendly, and relaxed locals. With the bonus of volcanic activity!

We finished up with a visit to Christchurch which has a strange atmosphere post earthquake. 70% of the buildings in the central business district are either flattened or unstable and due for demolition. On the positive side the people who are left have a certain defiant energy and are coming up with all kinds of innovative methods to regenerate quickly - including the use of freight containers for just about everything!

Returning to Sydney was a little strange as it didn't feel like coming home as such. The trip was more like an extension of our travels, almost a holiday from a holiday - very odd!

We briefly thought about emigrating to NZ about 15 years ago. Our trip has left us regretting that we didn't pursue the idea!

And here's a few photos to view

Final phase??

Given that we're now into 2015 with just a few months to go before we return home it feels like we're in the final phase of our Australian adventure. The thought is focusing our minds as there's just so much we still want to do. We had a long list of places we wanted to visit out here and I suppose we're a good way through that but we keep finding places we'd like to go back to a second time - they're now in the mix with all the others! Our solution to this problem? We plan to finish work a few weeks early, pack up, and do some travel before taking a final flight home. We'll 'mop up' any Australian destinations we haven't managed to get to and then perhaps a south pacific island or two. 

It's funny how we're already getting nostalgic about Sydney now that we're into this 'final phase' mentality. We're saying things like "this time next year we'll be.....". Not so sure I like it, I think we need to adopt a less introspective attitude! 

A happier Christmas

We're just settling back into a work routine this week, having taken a couple of weeks off over Christmas and the New Year.

Calum and his girlfriend Jess made the trip over to spend the festive season with us and see something of Australia. So in contrast to last year we had a family Christmas, complete with the swapping of presents etc. plus stockings for the kids (yes, despite the fact that our sons are now 22 and 23!!). We couldn't quite go as far as trimming up the flat, it still doesn't feel right in 30 degree heat, but it did feel like a joyous time this time around. We did the expat thing of meeting friends at the beach on the big day. So we joined the Forrests, Flowers, Atkins plus Goran to swim in the ocean followed by a shared Christmas dinner al fresco. All in all, a perfect day!

This was followed with a busy week showing Calum and Jess the highlights of Sydney, culminating in a New Years eve in a perfect harbour-side vantage point to watch the spectacle of the fire works. 

We began the new year with a family trip to see the Great Barrier Reef in Queensland and then Uluru in the so called 'Red Centre' of Aus. Highlights of the Queensland leg were undoubtedly the two dives on the reef itself. First up we did a Scuba dive from a pontoon anchored close to the Agincourt reef. There's nothing like joining the fish to weave in and out of multi-coloured coral stacks several metres high. It is literally another world! Then a couple of days later we went snorkeling off Cape Tribulation. The reef is less spoiled there and is teeming with marine life! We swam with multicoloured fish, stingrays and turtles. We even saw shy clown fish (aka Nemo) and reef sharks hiding in the coral. Northern Queensland has a tropical climate so it was no surprise to get some rain there most days - I guess it was fitting for what is a rain forest region. That said, we didn't expect it to follow us into the desert! The weather in Uluru was a big surprise. It was cool from the moment we touched down, by the next day it was raining and didn't really stop until after we left. According to the locals this is a once in a decade occurrence. It was a mixed blessing as we were able to do a few of the more energetic activities we'd dismissed as unsuitable for summer heat. So we were able to cycle around the rock itself and to take the rim walk around Kings Canyon for example. On the other hand we never saw the star filled night sky we were expecting and only got a brief glimpse of Uluru in all it's sunset glory. Such is life, we experienced the red desert under conditions few people get to do.

We returned to Sydney and Calum and Jess flew back home on Wednesday. So the flat is feeling a little quiet now with just the three of us. Niall continues with his tele-sales job, Roz and I are back to developing medical courses for imaginary students for a living. Next up is a trip to New Zealand -  plans already in process. 

I've put together a couple of photo sets if you're interested:

• Christmas and New Year in Sydney
• Port Douglas
• Uluru

A day at the races

Niall and I spent the day at the Sydney Olympic Park yesterday watching motor racing. A street circuit had been set up around the Olympic arena to host the last race of the V8 Supercar national series. (I’d happened upon the circuit earlier in the week while out on the bike and had fun doing a few laps on virtually closed roads.) V8 is the big thing in Australia, the nearest equivalent would be Touring Cars in Europe. The race cars use the bodies of standard saloon cars but with massive, powerful V8 engines. The noise is incredible! Despite the fact that the circuit was narrow and had short straights (think Monaco) the cars were reaching 250 km/hr -  all very exciting.

This being Australia an earlier race had featured ‘Utes’ i.e. Utility Vehicles. As far as I know Utes are exclusive to Australia, they’re essentially flat bed vans and would normally be driven by workmen (aka ‘tradies’). I don’t think racing was foremost in the mind of the engineers who developed these vehicles so stability at 200 km/hr isn't their strength! It made for an entertaining hour.

We’re into the rainy season here and we’ve had thunder storms virtually every evening for the past two weeks, yesterday was no exception. In fact the deluge came early and ruined the main race, it was abandoned half way through. We had a good day nonetheless and felt we'd witnessed another slice of Aussie life.

More visitors from home

We've just had the Cleggs to stay. Ros's cousin Rebecca and husband David have spent the last two weeks with us. With the exception of last weekend we've continued to work so Rebecca and David have been heading into the city to do all the touristy things Sydney has to offer (with Niall tagging along on several occasions). We've then been meeting up in the evenings and doing trips together at the weekend. It's always good to have friends/family from home and the Clegg's are good company anyway. If nothing else you realise how much you take for granted after living in a place for a while. We went to Shelly Beach on Saturday to do some snorkeling, for example, and they were blown away by the number and variety of fish just off the shore. We are aware that this sort of thing is special when compared to home but we're no longer amazed by it, is that a bit sad?

Since Rebecca and David wanted to catch up with friends in Melbourne we all took the trip down there last weekend. Melburnians Keith and Andrea played host to all four of us in the end so we spent a couple of days travelling down the Great Ocean Road and two days in the centre of Melbourne itself. The road trip was fabulous, as the name suggests the road hugs the coast as it winds south of the city for over 200 km from one dramatic bay to the next and so on. We had perfect weather for the most part, clear and sunny, so we were looking out over azure water as far as the eye can see with waves smashing into and over beach after beach. There are a series of stone stacks at one point, the so called twelve disciples, vast gold coloured rocks projecting upwards, the highlight of the brief trip without a doubt.

This was our first trip to Melbourne and we were struck with how European it felt. It was tempting to make comparisons between it and Sydney. Sydney has it for the natural beauty of the sea, the harbour and the beaches but Melbourne has far more sophisticated architecture and as a bonus a more efficient transport system (the lack of which is a daily frustration in Sydney). We intend making another trip back to Melbourne before we head home that's for sure, it did have a good vibe going on.

Here are a couple of sets of photos:

• Blue mountains trip with Rebecca and David
• The Melbourne trip

Central Coast

We've spent the last couple of weekends exploring the Central Coast. This is a stretch of coast an hour north of Sydney  (from the Hawksbury River north). The first weekend was spent with the Flowers and the Forrests in a hotel in Terrigal - a small resort with fabulous beaches. On the second weekend just the two of us went off camping in Budgewoi, a narrow stretch of land between a lake and the sea. In many ways the scenery is no different from other areas of the NSW coastline, in other words ….stunning! What sets it apart, certainly from Sydney, is the suburban hinterland. It might be stating the obvious but things are so much more relaxed than in the big city -  people are able give you the time of day. Things are a lot friendlier and it worries us that we are getting the wrong impression of what Australians are really like. I suppose it's a big philosophical question - what is the real Australia? Is it the rich mix of first generation immigrants  all desperately trying to get a foothold in the busy city? Or is it the relaxed, established Australians of European extraction? TV and films suggest the latter and so inevitably it was the picture we had in our minds before we came out. We're finding out that the truth is more complicated - which has to be one of the benefits of living in a place (as opposed to merely visiting).