Road trip - the Great Ocean Road

We practically dance when we get off the plane in Adelaide. We are back in civilisation! We grab our hire car and make for the nearest beach. Glenelg is what we came to Australia for, white sand, turquoise water, cute surfers.




After mooching around in the surf for a bit, we hit the road for our first night in Hahndorf, South Australia. Hahndorf is a quaint little town, that was originally settled by Germans, and you can get exciting things there, such as the Bavarian bum burner.




Having burnt our bums quite spectacularly in south east Asia, thank you very much, we eat in the bustling restaurant twinned with our hotel, where the food is outstanding (a recurrent theme in Australia, as we will discover and I will blog separately) and I have something distinctly lacking in Asia, a CHEESEBOARD. The wine isn't bad either.




We move on the following day to Langhorne Creek for a mammoth wine tasting session, which I've written about separately. From Langhorne, we undertake the three hour drive to Robe, a picture perfect seaside town, where it's 35 degrees and we hit he beach, before eating possibly the best lobster known to man.




After Robe, we head to Port Fairy, and as we stop to take the obligatory photo of Vicky under the 'Welcome to Victoria' sign, it starts to bloody rain. We are at first unsure as to what this moisture hitting the windscreen is, as we haven't seen rain for weeks. By the time we arrive in Port Fairy, it is belting down, so we have comfort food and hole up in our apartment in our PJ's. How rock n roll are we?




The highlight of the drive from Port Fairy to our next stop, Apollo Bay, are the amazing rock formations, including the 12 Apostles, that run along the coast for this part of the trip. Even in the pouring rain (yes, still) they are beautiful. Less beautiful is the human condom/poncho I have to wear to stop getting soaked, and which, for reasons of vanity, I took off for the photos.








On this drive, we also see cuddly little koalas in the trees, which necessitates several shouts of 'koala, pull over'. We make several, probably illegal, road manoeuvres in order to see the little beasts, and are rewarded with some awesome photos.




The twisty turny driving in the pouring rain puts us in a foul mood, so we crack open a lovely bottle of red wine when we arrive in Apollo Bay, before summoning the towns only taxi driver to collect us. He turns out to be a grumpy old bugger, who gives us a good telling off for not being outside our apartment on THE DOT of 6pm. We spend the rest of the evening (after a delicious scallop pizza) slagging him off spectacularly to the locals. Only the following day do we realise that word probably got back to him (hey, it's a small town) and we are therefore without transport for our second night in Apollo Bay.Which actually turns out OK, because, having spent the afternoon in the hot tub, we meet some lovely Brits (including a total hottie) and spend the evening barbecuing and playing drinking games with them.








Subsequently, the following day when we drive to Lorne, I am feeling somewhat grotty, and although Lorne is very pretty and I haul my sorry ass up to take some pictures in the evening, I'm ashamed to say that the highlight of the visit is discovering that one of the Aussie TV channels is showing Pillars of the Earth. I think by this point both Vicks and I are desperate to get to Melbourne and decamp for 10 days.




Ahhhh, Melbourne. The skyscrapers coming into view put a spring in our step, we negotiate the traffic systems and after driving around St Kilda twice, find our hotel. Our little car has driven 1200 kilometres and we haven't crashed it once. We settle into the apartment that will be home for the next ten days, and prepare ourselves for Neighbours night.........
- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

Going to church in Melbourne

Despite my best intentions before I left I'm sorry to report that I hadn't manage to go to church once until this Sunday. And it certainly didn't turn out like I anticipated...

The apartment we are staying in here in St kilda has a church directly opposite, its a beautiful old building with nice grounds so a lot of the hotel's artwork is photos of it. Given it is so convenient I really had no excuse not to go along for their informal service at 11.30 on Sunday. I was expecting a lively, young and large congregation but what I actually found were 4 men from the local social care centre, a man significantly impaired by years of drug and alcohol abuse who may have been homeless, a woman in her 50s and a similarly aged vicar called Father Jim. Over introductions one of the guys from the care home said that that morning a 25 year old woman called Noeleen had been found dead in the social centre from overdosing and had been taken away in a body bag. He himself was clean but struggling to return to anything like a 'normal' life. It was a shock for me to see what years of substance abuse do.

Father Jim gave a lovely and personal talk about God's plan for individual's lives and how you know you're following that plan when you're a blessing to others. I was struck by how faithful that small group of very disadvantaged men were, and by the end of the service I could just about get past the smell and the dirt and the slightly unnerving behaviour, and I'm very grateful for that opportunity for many reasons, not least because I realise how much God's given me to enjoy.

H came with me for my second visit to Christ Church St Kilda on Christmas Day morning (9am!!) and it was a bit more conventional but still special. Father Jim spoke about aspirations and not letting world values, particularly materialistic ambition, become consuming. I found it relevant and inspiring and I'm very much looking forward to church in Sydney and New Zealand!

I hope you had a wonderful Christmas Day too... and if you went to church it was a highlight of the day for you also.

Australia so far...

What can I tell you about Aus...? It's just like England but laid back, friendlier and a LOT hotter!!!

We started off in the Ayers Rock Resort which H has already told you about. Outback craziness aside the rock itself, Uluru, is an awesome sight. Our trek around the base was beautiful, I never believed a rock could have personality but that one certainly has something special. We missed Kings Canyon, Kara Tjuta and other places that are well renown but what we did see was well worth the trip to the Northern Territory.... Our travels were never going to be about seeing everything a particular area or country has to offer, it's far more about the breadth of experiences we'll be able to enjoy by packing so many destinations in - and on that basis I'm more than satisfied with our fleeting visit to the Uluru National Park. After our brief stop off in Alice Springs (home of the Flying Doctors and Australia's first telegram station) we flew back to Adelaide, hired a car and hit the road bound for Melbourne.

After a couple of stops in foodie Hahndorf and wine region Langehorne Creek we reached the beginings of the Great Ocean Road. Highlights for me included a blisteringly hot day in Robe where we had delicious lobster, London bridge and the 12 apostles, seeing koalas in the wild and singing along with H to our cheesy cd of popular hits - having our own car was great! And the fact that it was automatic was also a very good thing. I was however quite homesick during the week we travelled from Adelaide to Melbourne and I have no idea why. Speaking to my parents and Adrian helped and H was brilliant fun and always on hand with a hug, so I was fine I just wasn't as happy as I should have been... Until Melbourne's glistening sky scrapers came into view!

St Kilda, where we're staying in Melbourne is a home away from home. It's a great area choc full of restaurants, bars, shops, gelateri and über hip/beautiful people. It's on the coast, it's green and it's 10 mins from the city on a tram (!). The homesickness lifted the minute we arrived and settled into our apartment. We've been here for 6 nights so far and I love it still.

Christmas is very nearly here and I'm so happy to be spending it in Australia. The people here are so friendly, the weather is beautiful and our prolonged stay in Melbourne has given us time to settle and recharge. I feel very lucky indeed.

Have a wonderful Christmas Day!!!

Wine tasting in Langhorne Creek

Last time we Skyped with Vicky's parents, they were concerned that the blog kept referring to boozing. So we decided that in for a penny, in for a pound, and went wine tasting in Langhorne Creek, South Australia.

Vicky kept making noises about going hiking, which I pretended to ignore until I realised that we were going hiking around wineries, sampling the produce along the way. Then I couldn't get my sensible shoes on fast enough. We drove over to that evenings stopover, Cleggett Wines, the home of white Cabernet Sauvignon, which has a huge studio room for overnight guests, and a cellar door for tastings. We met the delightful owners, Anne and Mac, and Anne poured us a couple of their wines to try - they make a fantastic 2011 white Cabernet Sauvignon and a really good sparkling bronze (rose) Cabernet Sauvignon. We asked for a bottle of that in our fridge for when we got back from our winery tour of the area.



The Cleggett winery - www.cleggettwines.com.au




Anne and Macs beautiful back garden (vines in background), which our room looked out over.

We then headed over to Newmans, which is mainly a horseradish farm, but has also branched out into selling wine. I love horseradish and they produce a pretty spectacular dip, so ignoring the fact that fridge space wasn't always going to be forthcoming and it was going to be 30 degrees, I bought some of that, as well as a charming Pinot Gris.



The cellar door at Newmans www.newmanshorseradish.com.au


At this point, we agreed it was sensible to pop back to Cleggetts to drop the car off so we could carry on with our quest, then wondered down to The Winehouse, where the lovely Deb let us sample several of their wines, including a great party sparkler and a lovely Gypsy Jack Shiraz, which we bought a bottle of and were SO grateful for when we arrived in a wet and miserable Apollo Bay a few days later. The people in Langhorne Creek are so friendly, Deb dropped our wine back at Cleggetts for us and Kate at The Winehouse gave us a lift to the next winery, Bleasdale.




With the delightful Deb at The Winehouse www.thewinehouse.com.au

At Bleasdale, we were introduced to Robbie, and ended up having a good chat with him about wine, Australia, the UK, and inexplicably, bread sauce. Several samplings in, and with it being so close to Christmas, we wrote out a bread sauce recipe for him, which I hope is actually legible. They make a really good sparkling Shiraz, so we got a bottle of that, and some of their Verdelho, which was also excellent. www.bleasdale.com/au



Still standing!




Robbie (holding bread sauce recipe) with British accountant and non bread sauce connoisseur, Anthony.


We then hike-staggered back to Ann and Mac's place, where they'd left a huge plate of cheese in our room. We cracked the sparkling rose, and made noises about going to the pub for dinner. I went for a 'little lie down' only to awaken at 9 30pm. Damn that daytime drinking. Needless to say, we'd missed dinner.

We left Langhorne Creek after breakfast the following day having had an ace time, an amazing nights sleep, and with a car full of wine. Bonza. The Great Ocean Road awaited us.


- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

Location:South Australia

Not an Outback kinda girl - Ayers Rock and Alice Springs

Maybe I'm a snobby Pom, but I don't really take to the Northern Territories. For one, it's a pain in the ass to get to. After three flights and very little sleep, we arrive at Ayers. It's WEIRD. There is nothing for miles and miles and miles, apart from our resort, where we're in a dorm (well Toto, I guess we're not at Marina Bay Sands anymore) and there is literally nothing to do but view the rock, laze by the pool or get drunk. As its 3pm and a scorching 43 degrees, we decide to Rock tomorrow, Vicks lazes by the pool and I go and drink beers and shoot pool with the locals. We do mange to stir ourselves to take some sunset picture of the rock and the other nearby mountain range, The Olgas, and barbecue some kangaroo.










The next day, we decide to hike the base route around Uluru. I am wearing sensible shoes and several layers of sunscreen, but am also wearing a vintage dress and necking water like there's no tomorrow. It's 10 kilometres round and about 40 degrees and the last 45 minutes or so are a killer. However, it's stunning to see this wonder of the world so close up.









Vicky wears sensible hiking clothing.




Not sunburn, just a fine layer of orange dust from the Red Centre of Australia.


We spend the evening barbecuing more wildlife and trying desperately to get us an Internet connection so we can get the hell out of here by plane and fail. So the following morning we ship out to the posh hotel's pool before getting the six hour coach to Alice Springs.

Alice is also a bit odd. We spend a bit of time wondering the backstreets, as neither of us can apparently read a map, before finding the main, slightly rough, centre of town. It's a Sunday night and the local sport seems to be getting drunk and shouting at each other in the street. We deal with this how any good Brit would, by finding a bar and necking gin and tonic. To be fair, the locals re friendly enough, but the town centre is deserted and a bit scary. We polish off a bottle of wine and get a taxi back to our hostel.

Now we're at Alice Springs airport wondering if we've arrived in a nation of alcoholics (there are several people in the cafe drinking rum and cokes at 11 30am), or whether being in the Northern Territories where there isn't much else to do is what makes them all determined to get wasted at every opportunity. We are very much looking forward to getting our flight to Adelaide and civilisation.

The Great Ocean Road awaits us.

Je ne comprendhe pas 'slumming it' - Singapore

Our visit to Singapore started brilliantly when we were upgraded to business class at Bangkok airport. 'oh god, business must have run out of champagne' was Papa's charming response when he heard this news. Well, we did our best. Less brilliant was the torrential rain upon landing, having not seen rain for a month, we were taken aback.

But we manned up and entered the bonkers luxury that is Marina Bay Sands. Just the structure itself is impressive (as is the cost of the minibar - youch) and the view from the pool on the roof is to die for. Possibly quite literally if you fall out of the infinity pool, 57 stories up.




Marina Bay Sands





The infinity pool on the 57th floor

A little swim, then something to eat, which becomes a recurring theme during the three days we're in Singapore.

The following day, we leave behind the rooftop pool and the mall stuffed full of designer shops and head out to see the ex-pats. Mike and his wife Cassie are charming and fun, they take us out for dim sum and reassure us that it's not just us that get looked at like we're freaks when we ask the locals for something verging slightly off the norm. Us soft Westerners thought that staying in a five star hotel meant that when you asked you got, but here in Singapore, asking for a caesar salad when it's not on the pool bar menu, but is on the room service menu throws the staff into panic. Cannot, cannot, cannot.




Mike explains the 'cannot' culture to us.....





........while Cassie, Vicks and I neck mango margaritas

On this visit, and never one to say no to a dare, I try durian fruit. 'Tis truly evil.








Having recovered from the durian by the following day (and with the help of aforementioned cocktails) we decide that we should really leave the hotel rooftop, so go for a nosy at the Gardens on the Bay, opposite our hotel. it's very pretty and we finally discover what the strange purple towers are that we've been able to see from our hotel room - they are living walls of plants.



As a treat for our last night in Singapore, we head to the rooftop restaurant at Marina Bay Sands for a couple of sunset cocktails and some nibbles. We get a little pissed, flirt with some random guests, including the chef and have the most amazing meal.





The food is seriously, properly good, I'm going to blog it separately, as it deserves a page all of its own. There was foie gras! There were scallops! We didn't even have to promise them our firstborns in order to pay the bill.







Foie gras and rose wine after a month of noodles. There are no words.

The day after the night before requires sustenance and sitting down. Fortified with Bloody Marys, we take a sightseeing tour of Singapore. Which turns out to be a mistake, as it's raining torrentially, we can't see anything or hear the speakers, and spend our time mournfully looking at the water gushing down the stairs from the open top deck, and willing Raffles to get closer so we can dart in for a Singapore sling.

The Long Bar at Raffles is weird. I expected a posh bar with a dress code; not a bit of it. There are peanut shells all over the floor and the waiter is surly (cannot). Although I don't know what the inside of the hotel is like (they only let paying guests in, not riff raff like us), it seems that the Long Bar is resting heavily on its laurels as the bar where the Singapore Sling was created. They do make a pretty mean one though.










And before we've even blinked, it's another airport for the first of three flights that will take us to Uluru. That bloody rock had better be worth it.

Arriving in Singapore in style

We got upgraded to business class on our flight from Bangkok to Singapore and it was lovely. H was in her element and we enjoyed every minute of it. Three glasses of champagne are a treat anytime but these tasted especially good, I think I've put my beer drinking days behind me! We're very grateful to Cathay for their generosity!

Despite our good work on the wine front, we arrived in Singapore safe and sound and our hotel is lovely. We swam in the huge infinity pool on the 57th floor this evening and looked out over the bay from a bubbling, blissfully warm hot tub. Unfortunately it was raining and it's forecast to rain the whole time we're here which I'm really disappointed about but we're thinking of other things we can do - and of course there are lots because its a brand new city!

The marina bay sands is huge and architecturally very special so now that we've recovered from the cost of it all I think we'll really enjoy it... 5 star luxury aside, the most important thing this hotel offers is free wifi in our room so we feel connected with the outside world. I never would have guessed how essential wifi has become!

We always knew Singapore was going to be a treat and its not let us down. Best of all I get to meet up with an Accenture buddy who's working out here, Mike Sweeney is planning to take us for BBQ seafood on the beach and I can't wait to catch up with him.

Leaving Asia

As we come to end of the Asia leg of our trip, it seems like a good time to reflect on what we've seen so far...

The first thing that springs to mind is the local people we've met, so friendly and positive, much more laid back than anywhere in Europe or the US (except on course on the roads where you'd think everyone's life depended on getting to their destination NOW! Slightly counter productive given mayhem and accident potential that approach produces). The smiley, welcoming nature of the people we've met was most notable in Cambodia where despite their countries tragic recent history and poverty, everyone we met was keen to chat, and not just so that they our sell us something!

Seeing how faith is practiced here has also been fascinating. I've seen churches in all the countries we've been in even though 90%+ of the populations here are Buddhist, so that's been very encouraging for me personally. The most striking aspect of the Buddhist faith in north Thailand and especially in Lao is how beautiful and ornate the temples are. There is often one in every village and even when the vast majority of people live in small, slack like homes the temple will be the only brick building and be decorated so lavishly it leaves you in little doubt that their faith is central to their lives and community and it takes priority over their standard of living and what we would consider basic essentials.

The final thing that I think I'll remember this month in Asia for is the food (of course I'll remember the Dengue Fever too but as H has fully recovered I won't dwell!). One of the best things we did was right back at the start when we took a Thai cookery course and I can't wait to use my recipe book once I'm back home! We've eaten amazingly well and done our best to try all the local specialties. I'll admitted that I've succumbed to a couple of pizzas and a burger but on the whole we've kept it real and eaten authentically. We've also drunk our way through Indochina sampling all the local beers, they're often the cheapest thing on the drinks list so really it was just economic prudence :-)

First leg of the Grand Tour completed.

So, we are back in Bangkok, having spent a month traversing across south east Asia. Being British, and therefore weather obsessed, we're pleased to report that it's a balmy 32 degrees and I'm currently sitting by the pool in my bikini writing this. Oh, sorry, did someone mention they're scraping ice off the car windscreens in London?!

Our trip across Thailand, Laos, Vietnam was very special, in spite of the hospitalisation due to dengue fever. There was a lot of travelling, and a lot of activities to partake in, mainly fantastic, sometimes exhausting, generally brilliant. Northern Thailand was wonderful, so much more chilled out than Bangkok, although I have a small issue with the Buddhist monk who gave us all a cotton bracelet for luck and healthy and happy travels in the monastery above Chang Mai, maybe my bracelet was prayed over by the monk who was on his i-phone during evening prayers? Or maybe I shouldn't have done Gangnam style in the cave temple in Laos.....





Sunset over Chang Mai from the Buddhist Monastery.


After Chang Mai, we moved on to lovely, lovely Laos. Beautiful country, wonderful people, and two days on a boat travelling up the Mekong river. I've written quite a lot about Laos in a previous post, so won't bore everyone by reiterating it here.

Vietnam: well, what can I say? We arrived in Hanoi to cloud, humidity, bonkers traffic and a thousand honking horns. Vicky went out to buy a new day bag, and had to abandon mission when she couldn't cross the intersection to get to the bag shop. After the tranquility of Laos, this was what I believe is known in common parlance as a head f**k. The following day we were off somewhere far more civilised, an overnight stay on a boat in Halong Bay. Incredible food, stunning scenery, did we really have to go back to Hanoi?





Ladies who sail (and drink $100 worth of cocktails)

Back in Hanoi, we saw a very dead Ho Chi Minh in his mausoleum, and only got told off three times there, for wearing sunglasses, talking, and not moving fast enough. Honestly, Communists alive are no fun, but dead, they're even more bossy.

It was at this point I started to feel dreadful, and now we faced the train journey from hell. We got the overnight train from Hanoi to Hue, four in a cabin, me with a raging fever, blinding headache and throwing up every twenty minutes. Our tour guide Kung, a total legend, came in every four hours, bathed me with cold towels and gave me paracetamol, which I'd promptly vomit back up. Upon arrival in Hue, the doctor was summoned and misdiagnosed respiratory tract infection. I dosed myself up on his quack drugs, spent all day in bed, and prepared to undertake the four hour bus journey to Hoi An.

Hoi An, beautiful little town, picturesque French colonial buildings, and a great hospital. On our second day, thanks to the power of the Internet, I realised I have all the symptoms of malaria. Instant panic: I don't want to go home/die/not be able to have a beer. The subsequent trip to the hospital reveals I have dengue fever and have to be instantly admitted. I scream and cry as they put the cannula in my hand to attach the drip, then have to phone my parents to tell them I'm in hospital in Vietnam. It could be worse, I tell them. It could be prison. Again, I've already written extensively about the hospital, so I won't repeat it here.

Discharged on the Sunday, we charged to the shops, restaurants and beach to make up for lost time.




Eating my first Asian meal (stuffed squid) in DAYS.

We then flew to Cambodia to meet up with rest of the group. The temples at Angkor Wat were one of the things I was most looking forward to, and I was determined not to miss them. I even managed a beer on my first night in Cambodia (yay me!) the following morning we got up to do the temple fatigue tour, four in one day. And then, despite a very early start the day after, we headed to pub street for shots, shits and giggles. Messy.

A tired and slightly hungover group assembled in the hotel lobby at 4 45am on the morning of Thursday 29 November for something very special. We were off to see the sunrise over Angkor Wat. Words cannot describe how beautiful it was, so I've posted a picture below:





Then off to another bloody temple, which actually turned out to be my favourite, the 'Tomb Raider' temple, where they made the film.











Then finally back to the hotel for breakfast, bed and recovery from the early morning, before a trip out to a massive, massive lake and floating village.





Our boats private masseur. 12 years old and utterly adorable.


Poor bastard will be a handbag before the year is out.


Then a final dinner in Cambodia, with the two ladies who had had a birthday on the tour getting cake and behaving very ladylike with it.




After a $5 pedicure, it was time for more beer, then back to the hotel. Sleep, a flight to Bangkok, and all of a sudden it was our last night as a group. Tears, laughter, hugs, and promises to keep in touch all round.



I can honestly say, that our group was fantastic. Despite the disparity in ages, our oldest member being in her 70's, and the youngest just 24, we had a total ball. Dave, Diana, Pat, Bob, Taryn, Simon, Juliet, Sam, Paul, Rebecca, and a special shout out to our tour guide, Kung, you made a good trip simply GREAT. Thank you all.