We were up bright and early after a night of hardly any sleep due to an invasion of mozzys! I came of worse i think with about ten on my arm...nothing compared to the 42 on my legs in Peru though so not so bad.
So, we were up and packed, bed sheets stripped (one of the thrills of living in a hostel you have to put on your sheets and remove them too) and downstairs at 545am. At about 645am we were finally picked up. It was the day of the xmas carnival and loads of roads were closed, so they say it seemed a bit early to me but we've waited longer for a bus!
We were met by out guide for the week, Max. He was a lovely Australian guy that lived in Adelaide so he knew his stuff! We picked up all of our group which we would be spending the week with there were 13 in our group 2 French, 2 Dutch, 3 German, 1 Swede, 1 French Canadian, 1 Canadian and 1 Irish guy and of course us two English! The drive from Adelaide to Alice Springs was some thing like 3000 km, which is a lot of driving and poor Max had to do it all. So right from the start he told us to get to know each other and make the most of the long hours in the coach...so it began...no one really talked to any one except for me Brett and Mike the Irish Guy and later on in the day Brad (Canadian) and throughout the whole time Max. The others were very shy and it took a lot of peeps until the last few days to come out of there shell. So it was pretty much the 4/5 of us for the week.
The first part of our drive was long with a few stops a long the way. One of the more memorable stops was our half hour stop in a pub in a town with a population of about ten people! The Pub did wine tasting so of course Brett & I were first up for that, followed by Mike and then Brad the others kind of watched on as it was only about 1130am! Oh well! We tasted/drunk a few glasses of wine and bought a few bottles for the evening! It was back to the bus for more driving.
We drove through the Clare Valley on route to our first stop of the night at Quorn. We were in dorm accommodation and there were 8 to a dorm. It was nice enough and
Max kindly informed us this was the best of the bunch - joy!
When we filled out the forms for the tour I stated I was a vegetarian as i knew they'd try and feed us meat all the way. SO our first meal of the day was a BBQ with burgers and salads and they'd forgotten the veggie food but lucky for them I wasn't a real veggie and ate the burgers mmmm. With all the cooking and cleaning it was a case of every one helping to prepere to cook and clean. So day 1 lunch we (the 4) helped prepare cook and clean...
After our lovely lunch we were on to the first of our many treks of the day...we were going on a lovely 10K walk up Dutchman's Stern to see the Flinders Ranges. So we began the gentle stroll which then just went up, up, up and up until we reached the very top and had the amazing views of the Flinders Ranges. But what comes up must go down so down we went. This was at about 2/3pm in the arvo lovely and hot, there is nothing like a walk in the middle of the day to try to kill you off! I so thought my (LONG)walking days were over... I'm sure all the walking wasn't in the Itinerary! It was worth the view and a good walk to work off the lunch! On the way down we saw wild kangaroos coming out for their daily feed which was a nice sighting!
We headed back to the hostel and Max told us to get some alcohol from the local pub (if we wanted to of course) so we went to the local pub in the town which had about 3 pubs and a population of about 1000 people. As we turned up there seemed to be quite a crowd in and a load of Harley Davidson's out the front. There was a group of about 30 that had driven on their bikes from Adelaide to Quorn which is some drive. They were staying overnight and heading back the next day. They were a real friendly bunch. So, we had a few beers me, Brett, Mike & Brad. The Dutchess came out for a couple along with the frenchies (Steph & Gabby). I had been secretly asked by Max before we went to the pub if I would eat sausages which were camel, steak which was kangaroo and Emu he tried to sell them to me as just steak, sausages and burgers but i could just tell i was being told a little white lie. I refused so he went out to get me a veggie burger. So, i mentioned it to the others so we had several bags of crisps just in case! And it seems I may have met my match in fussiness as Brad i think is much worse than me. So, we headed back to the hostel to help prepare the food. All the others were freshly showered and sitting around having a few chit chats with a few in the kitchen. So we helped to prepare the food and the boys BBQ'd the kangaroo, camel & Emu mmmmmmmmmmm. Brett, Brad, Mike & I had our vino bought from earlier on in the day so continued with the drinking and had a few bottles of wine. We had our dinner and would you believe I tried the Emu, kangaroo and the camel and it was pretty gross! But at least i tried it! After dinner was all cleared up we 4 headed back to the pub. It was pretty lively in there, the Harley guys were in there and had said we could go for a trip on there bikes the next day, we politely refused. The owner of the pub next door was in there he closed his pub and came to the one we were in as there was more going on and told us that the following night (sunday) all the pubs close at 8pm, however if we come in the back way we can come in for a lock in!! SO, by the end of the night the locals were dancing on the tables and we'd had quite a few so headed back to prepare for our 5am wake up call the next day :-)
to be continued.......
Saturday, 22 November 2008
Adelaide
We arrived in Adelaide after an hour and a halves flight. This country is just huge and you don't really get it until you begin to travel around it. We were all booked in at our hostel called Annies Place which seemed to be in the middle of no where. We had a private room which was nice enough. I'm not too sure about there level of cleaning standards but it did us fine. One of the walls was papered with black and white prints of male and female models naked from the waist up...interesting! They clearly had a thing about seeing you naked as the bathroom we had had a lovely large window with no blinds or netting so if you had a shower you had it in full view of the apartments opposite and any one near by!!
We arrived at out hostel quite late and had been told that it was a lively one with lots to see and do, there didn't seem to be any one around. So we headed in to town to get some food. There wasn't a single person around, it was like a ghost town. we finally came across some restaurants and had some food.
The following day we headed out to the Barrossa Wine Valleys which was just lovely. We went via the largest rocking horse in the world. The horse was huge. They had a shop here and every thing was made from wood all children's toys etc.. From here we headed to our first of four wineries for the day. We went to Jacobs Creek, Wolf Blass and 2 more very well know ones, if I hadn't drunk a little to much wine I may remember and i have travellers brain so don't stand a chance! The wineries were fab and it was the usual smelling, tasting, drinking. On the way back from the winery we stopped at the Whispering Wall. Which was basically a huge dam wall about 300 metres long and you could whisper and be heard by the person standing at the other end. At any point whilst on the wall you could be heard by all so you had to be careful what you said on the wall!
As it was Friday night they had there one night of late night shopping...until 8pm so we headed there to get a few bits for the outback tour we were heading on to. I saw a beauty place and couldn't resist getting a pedicure now that my toe nails are finally long enough for some paint...although they still don't look quite right and this is still from the Salkantay Trek in Peru!! We got our things and headed back for a pub dinner and then home to re pack and prepare for our early morning pick the following day. Two days in Adelaide was plenty enough for us!
We arrived at out hostel quite late and had been told that it was a lively one with lots to see and do, there didn't seem to be any one around. So we headed in to town to get some food. There wasn't a single person around, it was like a ghost town. we finally came across some restaurants and had some food.
The following day we headed out to the Barrossa Wine Valleys which was just lovely. We went via the largest rocking horse in the world. The horse was huge. They had a shop here and every thing was made from wood all children's toys etc.. From here we headed to our first of four wineries for the day. We went to Jacobs Creek, Wolf Blass and 2 more very well know ones, if I hadn't drunk a little to much wine I may remember and i have travellers brain so don't stand a chance! The wineries were fab and it was the usual smelling, tasting, drinking. On the way back from the winery we stopped at the Whispering Wall. Which was basically a huge dam wall about 300 metres long and you could whisper and be heard by the person standing at the other end. At any point whilst on the wall you could be heard by all so you had to be careful what you said on the wall!
As it was Friday night they had there one night of late night shopping...until 8pm so we headed there to get a few bits for the outback tour we were heading on to. I saw a beauty place and couldn't resist getting a pedicure now that my toe nails are finally long enough for some paint...although they still don't look quite right and this is still from the Salkantay Trek in Peru!! We got our things and headed back for a pub dinner and then home to re pack and prepare for our early morning pick the following day. Two days in Adelaide was plenty enough for us!
Wednesday, 5 November 2008
Melbourne
We left Sydney at 8pm on an over night Greyhound bus. It all seemed like a good idea at the time of booking. By doing it this way we would save on a nights accommodation have the full day in Sydney and then be ready to go exploring Melbourne the following morning. How wrong we were. Before the bus arrived I said to Brett there must be a few buses going out as there were so many people, oh no, all those people were for our bus. Our bus was full and for the first time we were allocated seats. Our seats were right at the very back just in front of the toilets. The toilets stank of course, enough to make you gag. The guy in front of me immediately put his seat back so I had no leg room and the guy in front of Brett did this too, so Brett spent the twelve hours with his legs out to the side. With all the long bus journeys we had done in South America you would think that we would be used to the long journey's by now. We only had twelve hours on this bus and it seemed like forever. There was clearly not going to be any getting used to this trip. We pretty much stayed awake for the whole trip. Every time we kind of dozed off we were at another stopping point for people to leave and board the bus. We also had a 3am hours break for the driver which was fun!
So, the plan was to arrive at 8am in Melbourne, refreshed from a good nights sleep. The plan had gone wrong...we arrived extremely tired with no energy to be doing any touring. Of course the hotel we were in was miles away and the check in wasn't until 3pm - these are the times I wonder what the hell we are doing!
We arrived at our hotel, yes it was a hotel as it worked out $20 cheaper for us to stay in a hotel than a hostel...4 star too!! Any way we checked in and I asked the receptionist if there was a room available now as we'd been on the over night bus etc she looked at me like i was mad, then after no talking and about five mins she handed me a room key and said here you go there will be no extra charge. Yay we had a room, so of we went, we were asleep within minutes!
We woke up at about 2pm and felt a 100 times better by the time we got up, showered and out of the hotel it was bout 4pm. We'd wasted a whole day. We headed out into town and toured as much as we could within the time we had. We finished our evening in Little Italy and had a lovely Italian dinner.
The next day we were up and out bright and early. It was a public holiday in Melbourne because of the Melbourne Cup so it was pretty busy out on the town. There is a free tourist tram that takes you round the town so we headed out on this stopping at a few stops along the way. We went over to the Docklands to go on their new big wheel the same as the one we have in London but of course we are a week early it still hadn't opened yet. So we went back to town and watched some of the Melbourne cup on the big screens. We had a fun packed day and night but need our beauty sleep as we had an early start the next day for The Neighbours tour!!!
My alarm went of at 645AM. This is VERY EARLY for us travellers! I snoozed the alarm and it reminded me of my working days, lets hope we get that lotto win before we return! We had to check out and be ready for our pick up by 7.30am!
Off we went on the Neighbours themed bus with old episodes of Neighbours playing. We saw Scott & Charlene's Wedding, Toady & Dees Wedding and death and lots more. These were the neighbours days I remembered. The tour guide was very enthusiastic and was telling us about the latest filming and stars that had happened over the last few days. If I had known about them I may have paid more attention but as I am more of a Home and Away fan these days it by passed me.
First stop was Erinsborough High then we went on to the studio and were showed all the famous shops, garages and cars and the famous bus stop that every one leaves from. Then it was on to the street, which was by far the best part! It looked just like Ramsay Street - funnily enough! We had lots of photos and more info about the area. We then went on to meet the famous Neighbours celeb...I was hoping for it to be Jason (Donovan) or one of the hunks from back in the day but Oh no it was a women who I don't even know and can't remember her name. I had my pic taken with her though. She has since left the show. I think on the show she may have had a fling with Lou and has lots of kids...a prize for the correct answer!!
The tour was fab and well worth doing. We got dropped of in St Kilda and spent the afternoon looking around the funky shops and having some food. It was then back to the hotel for us to get our things to head to the Airport for our flight with Tiger Airways who we had never heard of to head to Adelaide.
Next stop South Australia, Adelaide....
So, the plan was to arrive at 8am in Melbourne, refreshed from a good nights sleep. The plan had gone wrong...we arrived extremely tired with no energy to be doing any touring. Of course the hotel we were in was miles away and the check in wasn't until 3pm - these are the times I wonder what the hell we are doing!
We arrived at our hotel, yes it was a hotel as it worked out $20 cheaper for us to stay in a hotel than a hostel...4 star too!! Any way we checked in and I asked the receptionist if there was a room available now as we'd been on the over night bus etc she looked at me like i was mad, then after no talking and about five mins she handed me a room key and said here you go there will be no extra charge. Yay we had a room, so of we went, we were asleep within minutes!
We woke up at about 2pm and felt a 100 times better by the time we got up, showered and out of the hotel it was bout 4pm. We'd wasted a whole day. We headed out into town and toured as much as we could within the time we had. We finished our evening in Little Italy and had a lovely Italian dinner.
The next day we were up and out bright and early. It was a public holiday in Melbourne because of the Melbourne Cup so it was pretty busy out on the town. There is a free tourist tram that takes you round the town so we headed out on this stopping at a few stops along the way. We went over to the Docklands to go on their new big wheel the same as the one we have in London but of course we are a week early it still hadn't opened yet. So we went back to town and watched some of the Melbourne cup on the big screens. We had a fun packed day and night but need our beauty sleep as we had an early start the next day for The Neighbours tour!!!
My alarm went of at 645AM. This is VERY EARLY for us travellers! I snoozed the alarm and it reminded me of my working days, lets hope we get that lotto win before we return! We had to check out and be ready for our pick up by 7.30am!
Off we went on the Neighbours themed bus with old episodes of Neighbours playing. We saw Scott & Charlene's Wedding, Toady & Dees Wedding and death and lots more. These were the neighbours days I remembered. The tour guide was very enthusiastic and was telling us about the latest filming and stars that had happened over the last few days. If I had known about them I may have paid more attention but as I am more of a Home and Away fan these days it by passed me.
First stop was Erinsborough High then we went on to the studio and were showed all the famous shops, garages and cars and the famous bus stop that every one leaves from. Then it was on to the street, which was by far the best part! It looked just like Ramsay Street - funnily enough! We had lots of photos and more info about the area. We then went on to meet the famous Neighbours celeb...I was hoping for it to be Jason (Donovan) or one of the hunks from back in the day but Oh no it was a women who I don't even know and can't remember her name. I had my pic taken with her though. She has since left the show. I think on the show she may have had a fling with Lou and has lots of kids...a prize for the correct answer!!
The tour was fab and well worth doing. We got dropped of in St Kilda and spent the afternoon looking around the funky shops and having some food. It was then back to the hotel for us to get our things to head to the Airport for our flight with Tiger Airways who we had never heard of to head to Adelaide.
Next stop South Australia, Adelaide....
Tuesday, 4 November 2008
Back to Oz...Sydney & Bondi
It was time for me to go home, well back to Australia. My couple of weeks in the UK had flown by and I was looking forward to seeing Brett but not wanting to leave my family, especially the new addition, Alexander and my home comforts. Reminding myself and every one else that I only have three months to go, it will fly by!
Of we went to Gatwick with Janet being our chauffeur for the evening and Mums supporter. I had checked in online so only had to be at Gatwick an hour and a half before take off. I had a very quick check in and then we headed to Starbucks for my final hot chocolate. Not wanting to delay the farewells any longer I headed for the departure gate. It was horrible saying Goodbye to Mum at the airport again, but easier than the first time around. I really don’t have that much longer to go and it really will fly by. We had our teary goodbyes and I waved Mum and Janet goodbye and headed through. On my own again with only about 28 hours of flying time ahead of me.
Those of you that know me well know that I love to be organised and love my diary and planning so for a while now I’ve been looking at treating me to a lovely leather filofax and where better place to buy one than at the airport duty free. I spent all my time in the filofax shop, looking at the different ones and all the fun things that go in them and finally picked my lovely pink leather filofax and matching pink pen. I know it sounds very loser like but I was soooo excited about getting it and then updating it on my long 28hour plane journey! It has an address book in there and every thing! Mum knew about my little loser dream here and treated me to it as an xmas pressie - thanks Mum!
I had to fast walk it to my gate as it was the final call and I had lost myself a little in the shops! I was probably the last to board the very busy plane and was not too impressed at only have the one seat as I had three to myself on the way over. I was on a window seat with a rather oversized man next to me who had a bit of a pong and was insisting on chatting to me whilst leaning on to my side of the seat,, this was going to be a long flight to Dubai. I didn’t sleep a wink from London to Dubai so was shattered after the 8hour flight there. We had a couple of hours at Dubai airport before boarding again I wandered round the shops, again getting lost in the time until I heard my name being called to board the plane! This time we were on a bigger plane and I had a lovely Australian couple sitting with me, the man moved seats as there were a few spares so me and his wife had three seats for the two of us - nice. I managed to fall asleep before we took off and woke up as we landed in Thailand. We had to get of the plane again, go through security again and re board again. More people joined us so this time the plane was full and we were back to the one seat each. Luckily I pretty much slept for the whole ten hours to Sydney. We were a bit delayed but we finally landed and got of the plane. I felt like I had never left Sydney and it was all a bit of a dream that I had been home and back again within just over two weeks. I was a little worried that immigration would question me about flying in and out of the country and have some thing to say, but I went straight through,. I then had to declare my three chocolate oranges, advent calendar from Mum and a huge tin of biscuits from Mum for Brett. I was all prepared to have my bag searched but then just laughed at me and sent me straight through where my bag fell straight off the luggage belt and I was through to meet Brett. It was soooo nice to be back with him, it felt like I’d never left him.
I had left London on Sunday night at 8pm it was now Tuesday morning at 8am in the morning. I felt quite awake. We headed for the train station and had about a half hour journey to our hostel. I had a quick shower and change and we headed to Darling Harbour for me to get some decent food.
We spent the day wandering around Darling Harbour and seeing a few of the sights but b about 3pm I was ready for a rest. So we headed back to the hostel I tried to stay awake as long as possible but by 8pm I hit that wall with a bang and fell asleep until 5am the following morning! Which was the pattern for a couple of days.
We spent the day at Taronga Zoo which was lovely. We saw the koalas and Kangaroos and dangerous spiders and did lots of walking. The weather was overcast with bits of rain here and there. So we couldn’t just chill on the beach like I had hoped.
On the Friday we did the Harbour Bridge Climb which was fantastic. Typically the day we chose to do it the temperature had risen to a hot 32, it was very humid and a nice wind of about 50knots. We got all kitted out in our lovely all in one suits and headed on the discovery climb to the top of the bridge. It was expensive but worth every penny. We climbed through the arches and up to the top hearing about the history of the bridge and all about Sydney. Our guide was fantastic and kept it all very interesting. It took about three and a half hours. The views were absolutely amazing. It was so hot doing it but we had a nice 50knot breeze. When we were walking down the other side the wind was so strong we were literally being blown against one side of the walk way. It was so high too and made me go quite dizzy at times with my fear of heights. But definitely worth it, you can’t go to Sydney and not do it. We’d definitely recommend it.
After the bridge climb we headed for Bondi Beach to spend the weekend with my cousin Claudia and Jimmy. We had a lovely home cooked meal by Claudia and headed out for some cocktails in the evening. But unfortunately I hit that wall again so we headed back at quite an early 10pm. We were all up bright and early the next day for a swim in the sea. It was very cold but very refreshing. I got completely taken out by the waves but it was fun. Back at the apartment we had home made juices and breakfast before Jimmy had to go to work. Brett, Claudia and I went for a walk along the beaches and saw the sculpture exhibition which was fab. We had a lovely lunch overlooking the beach and then headed back for our afternoon nap before our big night out which was our last night out in Sydney. I had a whole outfit including shoes courtesy of Claudia. We had a lovely home made spag bol and vodkas before heading out to the bars of Bondi. We had a lovely evening with lots of drinking and fun with their friends. We staggered home and managed to get through a loaf of bread in toast, followed by a swift move for bed.
C & J were up bright and early the next morning for their morning surf. Brett and I didn’t make this one! By the time they were home we were up and ready for our breakfast outing. We went to a lovely little place overlooking the beaches of Bondi!
A fab ending to a lovely time in Sydney,. Bretts time being longer than mine where he got to know the golf courses and driving ranges of Sydney!
Next Stop Melbourne…..
Of we went to Gatwick with Janet being our chauffeur for the evening and Mums supporter. I had checked in online so only had to be at Gatwick an hour and a half before take off. I had a very quick check in and then we headed to Starbucks for my final hot chocolate. Not wanting to delay the farewells any longer I headed for the departure gate. It was horrible saying Goodbye to Mum at the airport again, but easier than the first time around. I really don’t have that much longer to go and it really will fly by. We had our teary goodbyes and I waved Mum and Janet goodbye and headed through. On my own again with only about 28 hours of flying time ahead of me.
Those of you that know me well know that I love to be organised and love my diary and planning so for a while now I’ve been looking at treating me to a lovely leather filofax and where better place to buy one than at the airport duty free. I spent all my time in the filofax shop, looking at the different ones and all the fun things that go in them and finally picked my lovely pink leather filofax and matching pink pen. I know it sounds very loser like but I was soooo excited about getting it and then updating it on my long 28hour plane journey! It has an address book in there and every thing! Mum knew about my little loser dream here and treated me to it as an xmas pressie - thanks Mum!
I had to fast walk it to my gate as it was the final call and I had lost myself a little in the shops! I was probably the last to board the very busy plane and was not too impressed at only have the one seat as I had three to myself on the way over. I was on a window seat with a rather oversized man next to me who had a bit of a pong and was insisting on chatting to me whilst leaning on to my side of the seat,, this was going to be a long flight to Dubai. I didn’t sleep a wink from London to Dubai so was shattered after the 8hour flight there. We had a couple of hours at Dubai airport before boarding again I wandered round the shops, again getting lost in the time until I heard my name being called to board the plane! This time we were on a bigger plane and I had a lovely Australian couple sitting with me, the man moved seats as there were a few spares so me and his wife had three seats for the two of us - nice. I managed to fall asleep before we took off and woke up as we landed in Thailand. We had to get of the plane again, go through security again and re board again. More people joined us so this time the plane was full and we were back to the one seat each. Luckily I pretty much slept for the whole ten hours to Sydney. We were a bit delayed but we finally landed and got of the plane. I felt like I had never left Sydney and it was all a bit of a dream that I had been home and back again within just over two weeks. I was a little worried that immigration would question me about flying in and out of the country and have some thing to say, but I went straight through,. I then had to declare my three chocolate oranges, advent calendar from Mum and a huge tin of biscuits from Mum for Brett. I was all prepared to have my bag searched but then just laughed at me and sent me straight through where my bag fell straight off the luggage belt and I was through to meet Brett. It was soooo nice to be back with him, it felt like I’d never left him.
I had left London on Sunday night at 8pm it was now Tuesday morning at 8am in the morning. I felt quite awake. We headed for the train station and had about a half hour journey to our hostel. I had a quick shower and change and we headed to Darling Harbour for me to get some decent food.
We spent the day wandering around Darling Harbour and seeing a few of the sights but b about 3pm I was ready for a rest. So we headed back to the hostel I tried to stay awake as long as possible but by 8pm I hit that wall with a bang and fell asleep until 5am the following morning! Which was the pattern for a couple of days.
We spent the day at Taronga Zoo which was lovely. We saw the koalas and Kangaroos and dangerous spiders and did lots of walking. The weather was overcast with bits of rain here and there. So we couldn’t just chill on the beach like I had hoped.
On the Friday we did the Harbour Bridge Climb which was fantastic. Typically the day we chose to do it the temperature had risen to a hot 32, it was very humid and a nice wind of about 50knots. We got all kitted out in our lovely all in one suits and headed on the discovery climb to the top of the bridge. It was expensive but worth every penny. We climbed through the arches and up to the top hearing about the history of the bridge and all about Sydney. Our guide was fantastic and kept it all very interesting. It took about three and a half hours. The views were absolutely amazing. It was so hot doing it but we had a nice 50knot breeze. When we were walking down the other side the wind was so strong we were literally being blown against one side of the walk way. It was so high too and made me go quite dizzy at times with my fear of heights. But definitely worth it, you can’t go to Sydney and not do it. We’d definitely recommend it.
After the bridge climb we headed for Bondi Beach to spend the weekend with my cousin Claudia and Jimmy. We had a lovely home cooked meal by Claudia and headed out for some cocktails in the evening. But unfortunately I hit that wall again so we headed back at quite an early 10pm. We were all up bright and early the next day for a swim in the sea. It was very cold but very refreshing. I got completely taken out by the waves but it was fun. Back at the apartment we had home made juices and breakfast before Jimmy had to go to work. Brett, Claudia and I went for a walk along the beaches and saw the sculpture exhibition which was fab. We had a lovely lunch overlooking the beach and then headed back for our afternoon nap before our big night out which was our last night out in Sydney. I had a whole outfit including shoes courtesy of Claudia. We had a lovely home made spag bol and vodkas before heading out to the bars of Bondi. We had a lovely evening with lots of drinking and fun with their friends. We staggered home and managed to get through a loaf of bread in toast, followed by a swift move for bed.
C & J were up bright and early the next morning for their morning surf. Brett and I didn’t make this one! By the time they were home we were up and ready for our breakfast outing. We went to a lovely little place overlooking the beaches of Bondi!
A fab ending to a lovely time in Sydney,. Bretts time being longer than mine where he got to know the golf courses and driving ranges of Sydney!
Next Stop Melbourne…..
A small detour...Australia to London...return...
I do love a surprise and peoples reactions when you surprise them and I had some of the best reactions ever on my surprise visit home.
When Kelly & Rich told us they were having a baby way back in January I was absolutely thrilled for them both but a little sad at the same time that I was going to miss out on my sis being pregnant and the birth of my niece or nephew. Kelly told me to go and enjoy our dream and the baby would still be there on my return and I will have some wonderful stories to tell him or her. So of we went. When I got the first pics through of Kels lovely little bump I sat in the internet café and just burst in to tears, so happy for K& R but so upset that I was going to miss it all. Brett & I had talked about coming home when the baby was born and had looked at flights but it was too expensive. We thought it would be so much cheaper and that we would both be able to come home for a few weeks and that would be it. When we saw the price Brett had said that I should go and he’ll stay in Oz but I didn’t want to leave him and fly on my own. Once these pics came through Brett was very insistent that I book a flight home other wise I would be an emotional wreck and a bloody nightmare - he knows me too well. So, way back in June we booked me a little flight home and didn’t tell a sole. I was excited but we were just at the beginning of our trip and I didn’t want to wish our time away. The only other person that knew was Emma, she was going to pick me up from Heathrow.
The day finally came for me to head off home and it was horrible. Surprise Surprise I was ill with a raging temperature and a sore throat. I find airports quite an emotional place for some reason and the moment we were at that airport and for that whole day I had been in and out of tears. I even called the airline to get a quote to get Brett to come too. I felt awful for leaving him and basically just didn’t want to. Brett literally had to push me through security crying my eyes out to get me to go. I could have easily stayed. You’d think we were going to be parted for months not weeks. I finally went through crying like a baby and felt awful, not just fro leaving Brett but awfull ill so I stocked up on painkillers, throat lozenges and water.
The flight was long and painful I was going from hot to cold and just felt awful. I couldn’t eat or drink as the pain was too much. I even had the air hostesses concerned about me. When we landed in Thailand I was allowed to stay on the plane I don’t think I could have got off even if I had to. I was lucky that I had three seats to myself so I could lay down and sleep pretty much all the way.
We finally landed in Heathrow and I was still ill and quite emotional it was all very weird to be back home. My bags came through super quick and I was greeted my Em & her Mum which was lovely. I felt like I was in a dream but was so excited about getting home to see Mum & Kelly.
I had spoken to Mum a few days before to find out her plans for the week so I knew she’d be home straight from work and could cancel what she had planned and spend the evening with me,
It was so nice to drive up to the house. I went in to the house and Gypsy went mad she started running around like the crazy dog that she is and was so pleased to see me. So, I went outside to get the rest of my stuff and locked myself out of the house! This was not part of the plan! I only had an hour to go until Mum was home from work. I didn’t quite no where to be when Mum got home. I wandered round the garden for a while thinking that she would come home put the car away and in that time I could come round from the side and be sitting on the bench. In the end I just sat on the door step and waited and waited and waited. I then began thinking that maybe I had it all wrong and her pilates was a straight from work class and that I could be sitting here for hours! Then, from no where Mums car appeared round the corner, it suddenly slowed right down and I could see Mum staring at me, clearly thinking. The car then came to an abrupt holt and I heard Mum scream OH MY GOD IT IS SARAH! She jumped out the car and gave me a huge hug, keeping with the emotional theme I was in tears and then Mum was asking… Are you OK? Is Brett OK? Where is Brett? I just said every things fine you didn’t really think I’d miss it all did you! Finally back in the house Mum just kept staring at me in disbelief that I was actually there. I was so pleased she didn’t know and that I gave her such a great surprise. Next part in the plan was to go and see my sister. Kelly birthday had been the week before and I had told her that I had sent a package to Mums house and that it would arrive in the middle of the following week, I didn’t want to make Kelly jump or frighten her with her being over 9 months pregnant. So, me and Mum drove round there and just before the house I got out the car. Mum went in and told Kelly that the package had arrived and she would go and get it and that she was to sit down and close her eyes. I came in and just said Hi Kelly, she just opened her eyes and stared at me saying Oh my God Oh my God it Sarah ….then stood up for a huge hug and a few tears. It was sooo nice and I was so glad Kelly was still pregnant so I could see her with her lovely bump and spend some time with her before he baby was born. When Rich arrived home from work I opened the door to him but he had already thought he had seen me from the window but wasn’t sure. We were there for a few hours before heading home. That night Mum just kept staring at me saying I can’t believe you are here. It was so nice, we spent the evening together catching up before bed. I had the luxuries of a brand new bed it was bliss! I was wide awake at 5am the following morning and had a quick skype call with Brett.
I hadn’t told any one I was home. So it was fun to answer the door to Mums visitors and give them a little surprise. We went and saw Nan & Grandad and my Aunty Maureen was there so I gave her a little surprise when I walked in!
I spent the next few days with Mum & Kelly. I did a bit of shopping and re stocked on a few essential items like under wear..I knew I was coming home so saved re stocking to go to my fave underwear places - I'm sure you wanted to know that!
My first few mornings home I was awake at 5am and on skype to Brett I soon got over the early mornign starts!
I spent the day with Kelly on the Monday just catching up, doing a bit of house worka nd bascailly willing the baby on. She was induced the following day so Ispent the next week playing the waiting game waiting for news, it was a long week. In between the waitign game I had one of my fave meals of all time my Nans Chicken Pie. when Brett & I have been missing home we often list the first meals we'll have on our retutn home and one on the top of that list is Nans chicken pie and it was as yummy as ever!
Finally the day came round and Kelly had a beautiful baby boy called Alexander Graham. He is the most handsom little baby boy I have seen and he was worth every penny to come home to meet. I am so glad I came home to meet the lovely little man and to be with my sis and bro in law at such a special time.
So, I spent the next few days seeing Kelly, Rich & the baby in between surprising my sister in law Toni on her birthday by turning up at the house with some flowers hand delivered from oz! Followed by an evening out with Em to Frankies for our little LPR treat night which i suffered for all of the next day!
On the Sat, my friends had very consideratly planned a little get together so I showed up to see them all and give them all a little shock! I do love a surpirse!
On the Sunday it was the turn of the Clark family, it was Tonis little family get together for her birthday and a chance to meet the new man in her life. I just hung back and let people see me standing there and waited to see the shock on their faces. When I arrived Eve answered the door and knew i was in the Uk but hadn't told Allan so I just walked in to the kitchen where he was and stood there he stood and stared for a bit then realised it was his favourite daughter in law...another good surprise.
I was down to my last week and basically spent the week hanging out with my little nephew and my sis along with seeing a few peepes in between. The week flew by and before I knew it was my last weekend.
I spent the Sat day and evening with the Borg family and the Sunday too and when I had to say goodbye it was horrible. Alexander had gone to sleep and I have a picture of him like that that stays with me on my trip. saying bye to Kelly was hard too there were afew tears to say the least. That was it my 2 precious weeks was up and I was heading to the airport with Mum and Janet to say Goodbye once more. You'd think i would be an expert at it now but no way! It was horrible to say good bye but worth so much to have come home. I was so looking forward to seeing Brett but at the same time I didn't want to leave. But not long and I will be home again!....Next stop Dubai, Thailand then Australia!
When Kelly & Rich told us they were having a baby way back in January I was absolutely thrilled for them both but a little sad at the same time that I was going to miss out on my sis being pregnant and the birth of my niece or nephew. Kelly told me to go and enjoy our dream and the baby would still be there on my return and I will have some wonderful stories to tell him or her. So of we went. When I got the first pics through of Kels lovely little bump I sat in the internet café and just burst in to tears, so happy for K& R but so upset that I was going to miss it all. Brett & I had talked about coming home when the baby was born and had looked at flights but it was too expensive. We thought it would be so much cheaper and that we would both be able to come home for a few weeks and that would be it. When we saw the price Brett had said that I should go and he’ll stay in Oz but I didn’t want to leave him and fly on my own. Once these pics came through Brett was very insistent that I book a flight home other wise I would be an emotional wreck and a bloody nightmare - he knows me too well. So, way back in June we booked me a little flight home and didn’t tell a sole. I was excited but we were just at the beginning of our trip and I didn’t want to wish our time away. The only other person that knew was Emma, she was going to pick me up from Heathrow.
The day finally came for me to head off home and it was horrible. Surprise Surprise I was ill with a raging temperature and a sore throat. I find airports quite an emotional place for some reason and the moment we were at that airport and for that whole day I had been in and out of tears. I even called the airline to get a quote to get Brett to come too. I felt awful for leaving him and basically just didn’t want to. Brett literally had to push me through security crying my eyes out to get me to go. I could have easily stayed. You’d think we were going to be parted for months not weeks. I finally went through crying like a baby and felt awful, not just fro leaving Brett but awfull ill so I stocked up on painkillers, throat lozenges and water.
The flight was long and painful I was going from hot to cold and just felt awful. I couldn’t eat or drink as the pain was too much. I even had the air hostesses concerned about me. When we landed in Thailand I was allowed to stay on the plane I don’t think I could have got off even if I had to. I was lucky that I had three seats to myself so I could lay down and sleep pretty much all the way.
We finally landed in Heathrow and I was still ill and quite emotional it was all very weird to be back home. My bags came through super quick and I was greeted my Em & her Mum which was lovely. I felt like I was in a dream but was so excited about getting home to see Mum & Kelly.
I had spoken to Mum a few days before to find out her plans for the week so I knew she’d be home straight from work and could cancel what she had planned and spend the evening with me,
It was so nice to drive up to the house. I went in to the house and Gypsy went mad she started running around like the crazy dog that she is and was so pleased to see me. So, I went outside to get the rest of my stuff and locked myself out of the house! This was not part of the plan! I only had an hour to go until Mum was home from work. I didn’t quite no where to be when Mum got home. I wandered round the garden for a while thinking that she would come home put the car away and in that time I could come round from the side and be sitting on the bench. In the end I just sat on the door step and waited and waited and waited. I then began thinking that maybe I had it all wrong and her pilates was a straight from work class and that I could be sitting here for hours! Then, from no where Mums car appeared round the corner, it suddenly slowed right down and I could see Mum staring at me, clearly thinking. The car then came to an abrupt holt and I heard Mum scream OH MY GOD IT IS SARAH! She jumped out the car and gave me a huge hug, keeping with the emotional theme I was in tears and then Mum was asking… Are you OK? Is Brett OK? Where is Brett? I just said every things fine you didn’t really think I’d miss it all did you! Finally back in the house Mum just kept staring at me in disbelief that I was actually there. I was so pleased she didn’t know and that I gave her such a great surprise. Next part in the plan was to go and see my sister. Kelly birthday had been the week before and I had told her that I had sent a package to Mums house and that it would arrive in the middle of the following week, I didn’t want to make Kelly jump or frighten her with her being over 9 months pregnant. So, me and Mum drove round there and just before the house I got out the car. Mum went in and told Kelly that the package had arrived and she would go and get it and that she was to sit down and close her eyes. I came in and just said Hi Kelly, she just opened her eyes and stared at me saying Oh my God Oh my God it Sarah ….then stood up for a huge hug and a few tears. It was sooo nice and I was so glad Kelly was still pregnant so I could see her with her lovely bump and spend some time with her before he baby was born. When Rich arrived home from work I opened the door to him but he had already thought he had seen me from the window but wasn’t sure. We were there for a few hours before heading home. That night Mum just kept staring at me saying I can’t believe you are here. It was so nice, we spent the evening together catching up before bed. I had the luxuries of a brand new bed it was bliss! I was wide awake at 5am the following morning and had a quick skype call with Brett.
I hadn’t told any one I was home. So it was fun to answer the door to Mums visitors and give them a little surprise. We went and saw Nan & Grandad and my Aunty Maureen was there so I gave her a little surprise when I walked in!
I spent the next few days with Mum & Kelly. I did a bit of shopping and re stocked on a few essential items like under wear..I knew I was coming home so saved re stocking to go to my fave underwear places - I'm sure you wanted to know that!
My first few mornings home I was awake at 5am and on skype to Brett I soon got over the early mornign starts!
I spent the day with Kelly on the Monday just catching up, doing a bit of house worka nd bascailly willing the baby on. She was induced the following day so Ispent the next week playing the waiting game waiting for news, it was a long week. In between the waitign game I had one of my fave meals of all time my Nans Chicken Pie. when Brett & I have been missing home we often list the first meals we'll have on our retutn home and one on the top of that list is Nans chicken pie and it was as yummy as ever!
Finally the day came round and Kelly had a beautiful baby boy called Alexander Graham. He is the most handsom little baby boy I have seen and he was worth every penny to come home to meet. I am so glad I came home to meet the lovely little man and to be with my sis and bro in law at such a special time.
So, I spent the next few days seeing Kelly, Rich & the baby in between surprising my sister in law Toni on her birthday by turning up at the house with some flowers hand delivered from oz! Followed by an evening out with Em to Frankies for our little LPR treat night which i suffered for all of the next day!
On the Sat, my friends had very consideratly planned a little get together so I showed up to see them all and give them all a little shock! I do love a surpirse!
On the Sunday it was the turn of the Clark family, it was Tonis little family get together for her birthday and a chance to meet the new man in her life. I just hung back and let people see me standing there and waited to see the shock on their faces. When I arrived Eve answered the door and knew i was in the Uk but hadn't told Allan so I just walked in to the kitchen where he was and stood there he stood and stared for a bit then realised it was his favourite daughter in law...another good surprise.
I was down to my last week and basically spent the week hanging out with my little nephew and my sis along with seeing a few peepes in between. The week flew by and before I knew it was my last weekend.
I spent the Sat day and evening with the Borg family and the Sunday too and when I had to say goodbye it was horrible. Alexander had gone to sleep and I have a picture of him like that that stays with me on my trip. saying bye to Kelly was hard too there were afew tears to say the least. That was it my 2 precious weeks was up and I was heading to the airport with Mum and Janet to say Goodbye once more. You'd think i would be an expert at it now but no way! It was horrible to say good bye but worth so much to have come home. I was so looking forward to seeing Brett but at the same time I didn't want to leave. But not long and I will be home again!....Next stop Dubai, Thailand then Australia!
The East Coast to Sydney
We left the home comforts of Brisbane and headed on our trip down the east Coast...........to be continued....
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