The New Pond

After a month's hard work, digging, moving boulders, planting, and saving fish that kept trying to commit suicide by jumping out of the birthing pool (their temporary home), the new pond was finally finished!! I'm thrilled with it and still can't believe it is at the end of my garden. The fish have settled in and don't seem at all traumatised by the experience.

Sydney

Monday 1st October
Flew to Sydney, both the Virgin Blue internal flights we have been on, have been excellent. Got to YHA Central at 3pm and went for a walk down to Darling harbour then in opposite direction looking for a supermarket, which we finally found on Broadway. Walked miles as usual! The hostel is good, basic but clean. It is right in the middle of Chinatown. Weather here beautifully warm at 26 degrees, with 32 forecast for Wednesday. Have no real plans for each day except doing Maritime museum and perhaps the Bridge climb if it isn’t booked up, we are right in the middle of their Spring break school holidays!

Tues 2nd
Booked bridge climb for Friday, £72 each. Walked to Circular Quay and did the obligatory photos with the opera house and the harbour bridge in the background. Walked through Botanic Gardens to Mrs McQuarie’s Chair, a lookout point out over the harbour. Did the Police and Justice Museum again for Dave’s benefit, I didn’t mind as I enjoyed it last time. It was built in 1856 and functioned as a Police station and Courts until the 1980’s. The Courts dealt with cases relating to the harbour such as smuggling, illegal immigrants and theft, as well as public order offences of drunkenness and vagrancy. It was one of the busiest courts in New South Wales at the end of the 19th century, handling up to 120 cases a day. The dock in the court is an enclosed cage which held up to 15 prisoners at a time. The dock comes from the Flemish word ‘docke’ which means birdcage. We then walked back, have probably done about 7 miles today.

Wed 3rd
We spent the whole day at the Maritime museum in Darling Harbour. A tiring day, as temps in the 30’s. Started with the destroyer “HMAS Vampire” which was decommissioned from active service in 1986. It is 118m long and has 3 gun turrets which have a range of 19km, and until 1970, 5 torpedoes. It had a crew of 300 men and 20 officers. Its top speed is 30 knots. I enjoyed this, it was similar to HMS Belfast. Next was “HMAS Onslow”, a submarine in service until 1999. This was incredibly poky, and required lots of climbing through hatches and up narrow ladders and corridors. Dave managed to knee me in the side of my head very hard, following me too close down a staircase. We both thought there would be a height restriction for personnel, but the last captain was 6ft 4”. Poor bloke, as the bunks are only 6ft long. Most submarines do ‘hot bunking’, where 3 crew share the same bed space in 8 hour shifts, unusually this sub had bunks for all of its 68 crew. I find subs interesting, but I don’t enjoy them, they are so enclosed. I can’t imagine how terrible it was to be under the sea for 6 weeks at a time. Needless to say Dave loved it!! Asking as many questions as possible to maximise our stay inside!!
As James Cook’s “Endeavour” was away sailing we did a restored 19th century 3-masted, 167ft (51m)barque called “James Craig”. This vessel was a bulk cargo carrier and still sails regularly, though now with a crew of 48, unlike in the 19th century when the crew was only 17!
After spending 5 hours outside on the ships we went inside to do the museum but were quite shattered by this stage and didn’t really do it justice.

Thurs 4th
Another jam packed day. Walked down to Darling Harbour and did the Wildlife World. This was brilliant. It is a showcase of Australia’s flora and fauna and is split up into 9 habitats over a km of walkways. There were butterflies, spiders and other critters, snakes and reptiles, nocturnal animals, wallabies, koalas, birds, a wombat and a rain forest. The information available on each animal was fascinating. Despite the appearance of giant insects in horror movies, the reason why insects don’t grow larger than a human fist is down to physics. When an insect doubles its length, its weight increases 8 times, whilst its strength only increases by a factor of 4. This becomes a problem for any animal carrying around a heavy external skeleton (exoskeleton). By the time an ant got to human size its lack of muscle power would make even small movements impossible and the exoskeleton would crush under its own weight. Also insects don’t have lungs or an efficient circulatory system to take oxygen to their tissues, instead air passes through holes in the sides of their body and passes down tubes to the deep tissues. As an insect increases in size, its volume increases faster than its surface area making it more difficult to get air into the tissues. A giant insect would therefore suffocate even out in the open.
They had several red backs and funnel web spiders in burrows. The snake exhibit was great, consisting of several pythons and other venomous snakes of Australia. In the world listing of the most venomous snakes Oz has the most of any country in the top 30. Ranked at number 1 is the Inland Taipan, No.2 the Brown Snake (same one we saw at Gina’s), and No.3 the Coastal Taipan, the Tiger snake at No.6 and The Death Adder at No.18. We saw all of these today.
The whole place was laid out beautifully and I would recommend it as a must for anyone visiting Sydney who likes animals, way better than the zoo.
Next it was off to Hyde Park Barracks, and the most boring museum I’ve ever been in. I thought it would be full of artefacts from its past as a prison for convicts, and later for female immigrants, but instead it was mainly about the convict ships of the 18th century. The focus seemed to be on archaeology and what they had found excavating the site, not really our focus of interest. The only bit I liked was the top floor which was laid out with hundreds of replica convict hammocks. It would have been better if there was more along this theme.
Quick stop at the Hard Rock Café to get Dad a pin badge with Sydney on it, very out of the way in Wooloomooloo, where I stayed, when I came here before.
Walked back via the Anzac memorial which also had a superb museum underneath it.

Fri 5th
The only thing planned for today was the bridge climb. We caught the bus to Circular Quay and then walked to the Rocks and the base of the bridge. The bridge commenced in 1924 and completed in 1932 taking 7 years and 356 days. It is the largest single-span, steel arch bridge in the world. It is an incredible feat particularly considering the rudimentary safety equipment they had in the 1930’s. Surprisingly only 2 men fell to their deaths during the construction. The top of the bridge is 134 m above Sydney harbour. In 1998 they opened the bridge to climbers and over 2 million have completed the climb of 1439 steps. The first hour was taken up with preparation and training. They breath test you for alcohol and put you through a metal detector. No watches, cameras, or bags are allowed, they give you a jumpsuit to wear and anything else is tied to you, such as sunglasses, radio to hear instructor, hats and jackets. There is a ball and chain ratchet device on the belt harness (the same as crew use on boats to stop them getting washed overboard), which is attached to a steel line at all times. The actual climb took 2 hours though a lot of that time was spent looking at the view and allowing slower members of the group to catch up. The first part involved climbing through girders at the base and walking on narrow platforms to get to the start of the arch. At all times you could see the ground and harbour 60m below through the wire mesh of the walkways and I found this the worst bit. There were then 4 ladders of approx 30 steps each then you were at the base of the arch. The actual arch was great, wide, SOLID, steps that just led you gradually to the top, where the views were amazing. It was a fabulous day, light winds and 20 degrees. We had a good instructor who was encouraging, professional and full of info. I didn’t find the climb physically hard at all, but it was definitely a mental challenge. I did love the climb, I really felt like I had achieved something special. The whole experience was superbly organised and very slick.

Sat 6th
Our last day!! Went back to the rocks and did the pylon museum which is located in one of the pylons of the bridge, it tells the history of the bridge’s construction and has a lookout on the top, where we got some great views of other climbers doing the bridge climb. We then walked back, pottering through the Rocks market and shops to the hostel to await bus to airport. Weather very squally today with high winds and temps of 32. We’ve had a great holiday!

Adelaide

Friday 28th
Up at 5am to catch the flight to Adelaide, it was a short flight, only an hour and a half. Went up to Mount Lofty (727m high) to try and get a panoramic view of Adelaide, but weather was poor and visibility was reduced, but still managed though to get a good idea of the views. It was incredibly windy! Went to the Central Market back in the city which is a really old indoor market which dates from the1900’s and which specialises mainly in cheeses, meats and produce, but also has some clothes and other bits and pieces. Drove the 2 hour journey to Clare, along very straight roads with little traffic or signs of civilisation. Clare is a massive wine region and a fair sized town, population 5000. Everywhere you drive, you see vineyards stretching as far as the eye can see. We stayed on the outskirts of Clare in a large bungalow, set in 25 acres of land and in the middle of nowhere. It is a beautiful property with wonderful views, but I wouldn’t like to live here, way too isolated, and a total red back spider/ brown snake (both highly venomous) area.

Sat 29th
Had a leisurely morning then went out to lunch at a local winery, had lessons about the proper way to taste wine, glass that is smaller at rim than base to direct vapours up into nose, swirling wine around glass to get air into it to release vapours, only having glass half full to allow vapours to release, smelling wine first, then finally taking a sip, swilling it all around mouth before spitting it out into the spittoon provided. Visited Martindale house, which is one of the few stately homes of Australia and only 9 miles from their house. It was where “Picnic at Hanging Rock” was filmed in 1975. It is a gorgeous house that was built in 1879. The ceilings and furnishings were beautiful and the whole house had a lovely feel to it. It was very quiet and no-one followed you around to check up on you. Most of the rooms were open and you were allowed to sit down there on the original furniture. I appreciated that level of trust. The main staircase and hall/balcony was my favourite bit.

Sun 30th
The fire brigade got called out to a large fire on a neigbouring property. Apparently fires here go into the ground and can burn tree roots so trees fall over days later and also because they go into the ground they can pop up later on. This fire today was one that had been lit 3 weeks ago!!

Ballarat photos

Melbourne

Friday 21st Sept 2007
Left at 15:00 for Gatwick, had a good journey there, no traffic surprisingly for a Friday night. Flying with Emirates, first to Dubai (7 hours), with a 3 hour layover and then onto Melbourne. Dubai is the busiest and largest airport I’ve ever seen, but with hardly anywhere to sit. First flight wasn’t particularly good, though they did provide a decent gluten free meal, but next flight was excellent, and I did manage to get about 3 hours sleep, despite being wedged into the centre aisle like a sardine. The entertainment system was great with your own screen, but able to watch what you wanted and pause it without having to wait for films on a loop. Watched some good films, a Kevin Costner one about an assassin called “Mr Brooks”, “Chaos” with Wesley Snipes, both good and “Ocean’s 13” which was mediocre. Finally arrived in Melbourne at 05:30, local time, after 31 hours of travelling.

Sunday 23rd
The weather has been very similar to back home. The houses here are all mostly single storey and look quite Victorian in style. We went for a drive around the suburbs just looking at houses and admiring the frontages with metal lacework. The sense of space here is what first makes an impact, it is similar to the States in this aspect.

Monday 24th
Managed to sleep for 10 hours last night, despite having slept in the afternoon yesterday. Felt fairly normal, had a leisurely morning, went for a mini explore of Brunswick Travelled to Healesville Sanctuary an hour West of Melbourne. Saw all the animals indigenous to Australia. It was laid out beautifully with tracks through woodland. They had a Birds of Prey show, but it wasn’t a patch on the Hawk Conservancy. For me the best part was the kangaroos and koalas. It kind of reinforces that we are here, seeing such unusual animals. Looking forward tomorrow to going off and exploring Melbourne.

Tues 25th
Dave and I got a day pass ticket and went into Melbourne on the train, took 25 minutes to get to Flinders St. We walked up to the Melbourne museum first. It had a terrific body exhibition with plastinated body parts (the same as the exhibition I saw in London years ago), and many other interesting facts. The animal section was great as well with every species stuffed and on show, many dinosaur skeletons and an amazing spider and bug section with about 50 different tarantulas. There were beetles that were 10 inches big. Though the bug bit was quite horrible, it was also fascinating. We then rode the trams for a bit, as Dave had never been on a tram, or so he said….I think it was just an excuse for him to have a powernap!! Pottered around the shops, walked miles, went to Hard Rock Café to get a couple of pin badges for Dad’s collection, and had a look around there.
Felt v tired today. Probably travel catching up with us.

Wed 27th
We went to the Old Gaol, which I didn’t expect much of, but it was excellent. We were there for 3 hours. The cells were only 5ft by 9ft, but they all had interesting billboards in them. When first incarcerated, prisoners were held in solitary confinement, for varying periods of time, sometimes years. When exercising they were made to wear hoods. The gaol was the site for 136 executions, including Ned Kelly. The scaffold and trapdoor were still in place. At the time the prison was built, phrenology (the study of skull shape and its affect on character) was just coming to the fore. Every person who was executed had a death mask made so that scientists could analyse their skull shape. Next up was the Aquarium. It was really good, better than the one in Cape Town. The main shark feature instead of being a moving walkway was a giant bowl and you could just sit in it as long as you liked and watch everything swim over the top of you. They also had spiders, frogs, crabs and usual aquarium stuff.

Thurs 27th
Drove to Ballarat, which was 110km out of the city and took about an hour and a half to get there. Ballarat was the centre of the gold mining in Victoria in the 1850’s. There is a whole town called Sovereign Hill, which has been realistically re-created in the authentic style of the time with churches, foundaries, schoolhouses, shops, banks, post offices, saloons, hotels and various houses that different classes would have lived in from the very poor to the well off.
They had also restored part of the original mine and we did a tour of that, which was good. All the staff are in 1850’s costume which adds to the atmosphere. A great deal had been done to ensure authenticity. Unfortunately it was not a particularly nice day, cold and very windy, with dust being blown into our faces, but it did add to the atmosphere. The last 5 days have gone by quickly. Off to Adelaide tomorrow.

Australia 2007

August 2007-Mum's tandem

13th July 2007-40th birthday

How can I have been alive for this long??!! I feel exactly the same as I did 20 years ago. Had a lovely weekend, worked on the actual day and had a party on the Saturday, which had more children than adults, present. We got the tuffet out as usual, which went down an absolute storm, and spent the whole time in the garden. On the Sunday we went to the Hawk Conservancy. I held an owl as did Daniel. I liked the Bald headed Eagles best.

June 2007-Mum and Dad get bikes

Mum and dad have decided to get bikes, a little scooter for mum and a 125 classic style bike with lots of pipes for dad. Will the streets of Orba ever be safe again!!

10th wedding anniversary 7-3-07

I can't believe we've been married this long. Persuaded Dave to go away on a dancing break....had a great time!! Stayed in a fantastic hotel, Littlecote House near Hungerford and managed to do a passable Waltz and Quickstep. I would love to pursue the dancing further but its fitting it in to our busy lives. Also learnt to do archery...good fun

Pen Y Fan

Off on a short trip to the Brecon Beacons. Did a 9 mile horseshoe walk in a clockwise direction, starting from the Taf Fechan forest, South of the Neuadd reservoirs, up Graig Fan Ddu first and along a great ridge to Corn Du, then Pen Y Fan. Didn't see that many people. The weather held until we got to the top of the Fan and then closed in for the descent. The first part was great as we were taking our own route and didn't see anyone, but after the Fan the path was man made and quite boring, like a motorway across the mountain and a gradual descent past Cribyn and Fan Y Big.
Stayed in a lovely hostel, Llwyn y Celyn, just up from the Storey Arms on the Brecon road. It was very quiet and Dave's first hostelling experience which he enjoyed.

Glenn Dugh Lighe

Brunachan

Bothy Photos

Bothying in the Highlands

Travelled up to Scotland on the Friday, took 10 1/2 hours, for our bothy experience. Bothies are small stone or wood cottages in the middle of nowhere. Most of them were old sheppard accommodation and now serve as mountain shelters for walkers. They are very rudimentary places with no water, toilets or electricity. You get your water from nearby rivers and collect firewood for cooking. It was the isolation and being away from technology in beautiful surroundings that appealed to me most, and of course being one of my little adventures, my bitesize travelling buddy, Nicky came too. Walked into the first bothy, Glenn Dugh Lighe, near Glenfinnan in the dark and nearly missed it completely. It was an easy 3 mile walk in though, with very little climbing, which was good as we were well weighted down with our backpacks. Passed an uneventful night sleeping on the floor.

The second bothy, Brunachan near Roy Bridge was more isolated and required a river crossing. Luckily the river wasn't too high, being just above the knees at its highest point, but was fairly wide and fast flowing, made more difficult by the fact that we were carrying so much wood, I felt like I could topple over at any moment!! Nicky did well, having never done anything like this before. I much prefered this bothy though, the scenary was amazing and it really was in the wilds. It was slightly larger than Glenn Dugh Lighe. We had company that night with a man who had done the Ben Nevis race that day and his friend who was the General Secretary of the Mountain Bothies Association. They were amaxed that Nicky and I were bothy virgins as we got too quickly with sawing wood, lighting fires and laying out sleeping areas.

I enjoyed the bothy experience, and I'm glad that I've finally done it after talking about it for many years, but it isn't something that I would particularly like to repeat. The isolation and mountain walking was great, but I prefer the relative luxury of hostelling. You still meet some interesting, like minded people in hostels, but don't come home stinking of bonfires!!

July 13th 06

Dad and I in Benidorm

I've had a lovely birthday, missed seeing Dave but got to see him on the webcam in the evening.
Had an all over body massage as a birthday treat...fantastic. In fact, I've had a great relax all week. We had a good day in Benidorm wondering around the street markets and 'tack' shops. Benidorm is a great place, full of character and history as well as catering for the holiday maker. I can see why it is so popular with the British. We tend to keep away from the beaches, but if you want a good handbag, shoes or clothes its the place to go!! I managed to restrain myself from buying any further additions!!

This is the life

July 10th-Off to Orba

Arrived in Orba, as expected, temps of 35 degrees centigrade. Great to see mum and dad again. Though I see them most days on the webcam, its not the same, as seeing them in the flesh. I have no plans for the week except to catch up and do lots of reading.

Back home

We got to the airport in plenty of time, (despite the shuttle bus driver getting lost!), 3 and half hours before the flight, and still nearly missed it, due to the horrendous queues in Washington's Dullas airport. We queued for 90 mins to check in, then an hour to get through security. We even had to take our shoes off!! Flight was quick at only 6 hours, we then waited over an hour for our suitcases... which never arrived. This happened to us last time we travelled back from Washington!! The electronic tagging system informed us that they had not even made it onto the plane, they were going to put them on a later flight and courier them down to us. Luckily, they did arrive later that evening.

We've had a hectic, but thouroughly enjoyable 10 days, despite the terrible weather. We've seen some fantastic things. The highlights were Niagara and the War memorials of Washington DC.
Britain has experienced a heatwave whilst we've been away. Everything in the garden has flourished and the pond looks great!! Its good to be back home.

Natural History Museum

For a complete change of scene, we hiked off to the Natural History museum. This museum holds more than 126 million specimens. They have an enormous stuffed African elephant in the entrance and many original dinosaur bones. Often in museums, they only have bone fragments, not complete skeletons and moulded plastic skeletons. Most of these were real bones, with an Allosaurus with a fractured clavicle and scapula!!
We also enjoyed the insect exhibit, seeing tarantulas, black widow spiders and scorpions. We have always noted how well laid out American museums are, and these 2 were no exception. After 4 hours we were quite museumed out, but I would like to return and do these again.