The Wobbly Tour 2007
 

After much saving up and a bit of organisation me and Sparks were off once again to meet our Antipodean cousins. There is a reason for the title of this thread and it goes something like this:-

After a pre-holiday visit to Grego, my niece and new nephew, Grego asked if we would like to take my 4 year old niece with us to Australia. She's a lovely, sweet little girl with great capacity for being a little tinker at times. A little tinker she was, that day, and Grego had had enough. I said that we would take her to Australia and leave her at the zoo with all of the Koalas, Wombats and Wallabies.

"What's a 'Wobbly?' demanded the little princess......

We tried to stifle our laughter and explain what a Wallaby is but I'm afraid that the laughter got the better of me, hence, the title of this thread......It still makes me smile.:)

Australia is a place which I have never really had a particular desire to visit. The truth is that I really didn't know that much about the place. We rarely see Australia on the news and my earliest realisation that Australia is actually there was from watching Skippy the Bush Kangaroo on the telly as a child, and later, listening to the strange accent of Rolf Harris 'can you tell what it is yet?' Over the years, I formed an opinion that Australia was sun scorched, dry and not very interesting. Soaps like Home and Away gave the impression that everybody spends their time on the beach surfing and that there was really little else to do.

Recently, I started reading up a bit about Australia and found a varied history and interesting wildlife. My desire to visit this place grew.

So we set off on the 28th December for our long flights. We had an overnight stay in Hong Kong before flying into Sydney. We finally arrived on New Year's Eve, first thing in the morning. Our hotel room wouldn't be ready until the afternoon so we ditched our bags and went for a long walk.

Our first port of call was Darling Harbour where we sat at a cafe with coffees and a big breakfast. The sun was shining and it was so bright on our tired eyes. The breakfast was massive, in fact, all the portions of food that we had were massive, but with thick meaty bacon and runny eggs it was just the tonic. I have to hand it to the Aussies......they aren't afraid of a proper runny egg.

After breakfast we went to the tourist information centre and bought some tickets for the Explorer Bus. This bus takes you to all of the major sights and you can hop on and off wherever you choose. We got off the bus at the Harbour Bridge and decided to walk across it. We got part of the way across, looked to our right and there it was...... The Opera House.

The Opera House isn't just a place of entertainment, it is an icon. Built on the site of an old tram shed and designed by a pretty much unheard of Danish architect Jorn Utzon, the Opera House presented quite a challenge to its builders and financiers. The problem was its' roof.. Nobody realised at the outset that the roof would be nigh on impossible to build. The project was supposed to take roughly 6 years to build but it took about 5 years to work out the principles of how to do the roof. In total the project took about 14-15 years and an appeal fund was set up raising money for the Opera House. The Opera House Lottery raised the balance of A$ 102 million as the final cost... The architect Jorn Utzon never got to see his finished design, he was dismissed in 1966 after a change of government. Today, the Opera House is one of Sydney's main tourist attractions. You know you're in Sydney when you see the Opera House.

Here are some pics of Darling Harbour and the iconic Opera House taken from Sydney Harbour Bridge..:D

Re: The Wobbly Tour 2007
 

Great pics Lettie, I'd forgotten about the wobbly's too!

Re: The Wobbly Tour 2007
 

great pics lettie, hope you n sparks enjoyed the whole trip, and gave the Cricket a miss.lol;)

Re: The Wobbly Tour 2007
 

Welcome back.:)

It seemed you were both away for so long, that I was going to start enquires as to if you'd been deported.

FREE THE TOLPUDDLE TWO- AND SEND 'EM HOME!

Re: The Wobbly Tour 2007
 

ooo my most favorite place in the world ......darling harbour i could not get enough of it, did you happen to do a boat trip thats interesting too.hope you both have recovered you looked absolutly shattered yesterday.

Re: The Wobbly Tour 2007
 

Welcome back both of you. Nice piccys, I hope theres a lot more to come!

Re: The Wobbly Tour 2007
 

After crossing the Harbour Bridge, we jumped back on the Explorer and got off in Chinatown. We called at our hotel and the room was ready. We planned to have showers and get back out there but the best laid plans went slightly amiss. After our showers the weariness of jet lag overtook us and the urge to have 5 minutes shut eye was over powering.

We woke up several hours later, it was 8.30pm on New Year's Eve.....
"Bloody Hell!!!!!! We could have missed it, I cursed.

After dressing quickly we made our way up to Circular Quay, stopping for something to eat on the way. Never have I seen such a crowd, there were thousands of people crammed in every available space, awaiting the countdown to New Year. Alcohol was not allowed and the crowd, although high spirited, was well behaved. We managed to find a place to squeeze in so that we could watch the celebrations. People were chatting to us, many had come from Sydney's suburbs, smaller towns a couple of hours drive away and other Australian cities. People were really friendy and surprised to hear that we had come from England and only got there that morning. Official figures said that there were well over a million people there that night.

New Year was counted down and then the fireworks started. It was absolutely amazing. They were exploding off the top of the huge hotels in the city centre, the Opera House, Darling Harbour and up the river but the star of the show was definitely the Harbour Bridge (known affectionately as the coat hanger). It was spectacular and I really doubt that we will ever see another firework display that will beat it.

The next day we mooched around the city then went to Sydney Aquarium and Wildlife World. We spent several hours admiring the corals, tropical fish and other Australian wildlife. I will mention the wildlife later in the travels as we had plenty of enounters with it......:) Needless to say, it was a nice way to spend the day and we were still recovering from the journey so it wasn't too energetic.

When we awoke on the 2nd January it was absolutely persisting down. We were going to Sydney Cricket Ground to watch the first day of the last test match. The rain just poured and poured but luckily, in true Brit style, we had waterproofs. We got to the cricket ground and waited for the rain to stop, it finally did, and we got to see some cricket. England were batting, and to be fair, we probably saw the best day as far as England were concerned. The Barmy Army were sat quite close to us, they were well behaved but very tuneful. We were wetting ourselves laughing at some of the songs, especially the one about 'Matilda,' but I can't give you the lyrics on here without being banned..:D

After the cricket we went to get some photos of our 'star,' The Harbour Bridge. This bridge is huge!!!!! It never really looks that big on photos and on the telly, but it is massive. The arch stretches for 1,650 feet and we walked every single foot of it. The arch weighs about 30,000 tons with rivets in it the size of halved grapefruits. I loved looking at the bridge and could have happily stared at it all night. It was nearly time to move on though, so we went back to the hotel and hit the sack..:)

Here are some pics.... There's Circular Quay, Sydney Cricket Ground pre-match, our flag flying proudly, and The Coathanger...Sydney Harbour Bridge taken in the evening.

Re: The Wobbly Tour 2007
 

Trouble now lettie is every firework display you go to will be a little disappointing, there really is none as good as Sydney's on new years eve, they show a bit on TV here but you'll know now that they don't show a lot of it, where did you take the last 2 pics? the bar near the opera house? had a few good :drink: in there :)

Re: The Wobbly Tour 2007
 

Did someone mention rivets :)

http://www.accringtonweb.com/forum/a...1&d=1170171808

Re: The Wobbly Tour 2007
 

The last 2 pics were taken from the Opera House. The weather had been somewhat moody, as you can see by the clouds. It was nice and warm though..

Re: The Wobbly Tour 2007
 

Ok, thought you might have taken them from the bar a bit further down the quay, good night out there when its warm and they have a band playing outside

Going Bush.
 

After 3 nights in Sydney we collected a rental car. This car was to be our home for the next 10 days or so. We drove out of Sydney and headed for the Blue Mountains.

The Blue Mountains area gets its' name from the bluish haze which hangs over them. The haze is caused by light hitting the oil and dust particles from the multitudinous Eucalyptus trees in the area. This area was explored by Europeans Blaxland, Lawson and Wentworth in 1813 but relics suggest that Aborigines have been present in the area for up to 14,000 years. Within a few years of exploration by the Europeans, a road had been cut through the Blue Mountains. This must have been quite a feat as the greenery is darned near impenetrable bush. They did have a reason for building a road through. From their vantage point in the Blue Mountains, the explorers could see plentiful grassland on the other side. this would sustain cattle and grow crops. Unfortunately, the grassland was not as bountiful as they had hoped, subject to harsh weather conditions, flash floods in some areas, and not a drop of rain for years in others.

It was noticably cooler in the Blue Mountains and the clouds had followed us from Sydney but the smell of the Eucalypts was wonderful and brightly coloured Parakeets squawked as they flew from tree to tree. We pitched up at our motel in Katoomba, a small town which reminded us both of Hebden Bridge. We walked down to Echo Point in order to get a few views of the area. Although it was cloudy and slightly misty it still looked spectacular. The Blue Mountains are of no great height and from a distance look lovely and green, but from Echo Point we could see rocky pinnacles and sheer cliffs.

The most famous of the pinnacles are known as the Three Sisters. Aboriginal Dreamtime legend has it that three sisters Meenhi, Wimlah and Gunnedoo from the Katoomba tribe fell in love with 3 brothers from the Nepean tribe. Tribal laws forbade them to marry, so the three brothers tried to capture the three sisters by force. This sparked a tribal battle and the three sisters' lives were endangered. A local witchdoctor turned the three sisters into rocks in order to protect them. He intended to reverse the spell after the battle was over but unfortunately died in battle. Nobody else in the tribe could reverse the spell so the Three Sisters still stand there today at 922m, 918m and 906m tall.

We climbed down the steep stairway to the Three Sisters and then decided to take a walk on one of the many paths and explore the area. Wouldn't you know it........As soon as we got far enough away from civilisation to be drenched.. It peed down again!!!! :rolleyes:

Here are some pics from the Blue Mountains, the Three Sisters, sheer cliffs and impenetrable bush.

Re: The Wobbly Tour 2007
 

Keep it coming, i'm enjoying reading this, brings back memories, i can smell it now :)
Did you get to go on the worlds steapest railway?

Re: The Wobbly Tour 2007
 

Hehehe, the railway bit will be in the next episode. Needless to say, I didn't attempt to take photos on the train. I was too busy holding on to my bag, hat and sunglasses..:D

Re: The Wobbly Tour 2007
 

LOL, I was on the front seat when I did it with a video camera in my hand :D
I'll not say any more i'll leave it for your next episode

Snakes in the grass.
 

We had a meal that night in Katoomba, it was really strange because everything closes so early. I kid you not.......it must have been only 8.30pm when the restaurant started closing up. We were the last people in there and they were literally sweeping up around our table. We didn't mind though, the food was brilliant.

The next day we went to Scenic World. This is a combination of the steepest train in the world and cable cars which take you to the valley floor. The Scenic Skyway cable car has a glass bottom and you can see the valley floor below. I have an irrational fear of heights but I did manage to stand on the glass and look through it to the dense bush below us.

We took the train to the valley floor. It was a hell of a ride and pretty fast. It was like being on a roller coaster where the only direction is down. I was sandwiched between Sparks and another man and I hoped that I wouldn't end up on the other fella's knee. The train was originally built to provide access, for the miners, to the mines in the valley. This was once a rich mining area and there are still entrances to the mines down there which have been restored.

A large boarded walkway takes you through the forest where you can view mining memorabilia and all of the different ferns, shrubs and large trees that make up the bushland of this area. It was a nice walk, lovely and cool down there as the sun was out and it was hot above us. We returned to civilisation via another cable car. There are loads of viewing points from which to gaze at the Blue Mountains. We were walking along a little path when Sparks spotted a snake, fast asleep in the bush just beside us...

"Bloody hell.... trust me to be wearing sandals." I said.

Many of the snakes here are venomous, I did take a quick photo but didn't hang around for too long. There were 3 cases of snakebites which hit the news whilst we were in Oz, one unfortunate lad died, he was just 16. :(

We went back up to Echo Point to use the loos and managed to get in on a wine tasting in a shop there. We found some lovely local red wine and bought a couple of bottles. It didn't matter now if the restaurants close early, we had a bottle of good stuff to keep us going..:D

Here are some pics... The Scenic Skyway, can you spot the sleeping snake? Katoomba Coalmine and a lovely little waterfall we happened across.

Re: The Wobbly Tour 2007
 

Great photos lettie, and also sounds fabulous. I as a child visited the Blue Mountains with our family back in the early 70’s.
The cable car looks massive. I’m almost sure it was a lot shorter than that, perhaps about a quarter of the size shown here and very rickety. I remember you could look through the floor as you could because the base of the car was made of steel mesh and I found that quite scary. :eek:

http://www.accringtonweb.com/forum/a...3&d=1170353782

Keep em coming.
:)

The long drive..
 

The next day we set off to start our long driving tour. We were heading for Albury on the NSW/Victoria border. We got up early and set off at about 7.30am. The wonderfully colourful Lorikeets were in fine voice and flying from tree to tree in a marvellous early morning show.

We drove all day through rural towns like Bathurst, Cowra and Young and the larger town of Wagga Wagga. We periodically stopped for refreshments and by tea time we had reached Albury. The roads were long and straight and we drove for miles without seeing another car. The landscape changed drastically from the lushly forested Blue Mountains to flat farmland. As we got closer to the Victoria border the land became drier and drier. What was once grassland had turned to dry, yellow, patchy scrub with red sandy looking soil visible in patches.

We got out of the car at Albury/Wodonga visitor centre and it was so hot that we could barely breathe. We stayed overnight in Albury before crossing the border into Victoria. We were on our way to Ballarat, a once prosperous gold mining town where we would stay for a couple of days. There were places to stop en route though and we had a nice breakfast and coffee in Rutherglen. Rutherglen is slap in the middle of a very lovely wine making region and wouldn't you know........We managed to find a brilliant bottle of wine there. It's a small town but immensley proud of its' wines.

We drove on through the dry Victorian countryside. Victoria is in the grip of a drought at the moment. It has lasted for roughly 2 years and some crops have started to fail. Bushfires are ravaging Eastern Vic and have decimated massive areas of land. The rain has failed and to make matters worse, the snow failed in Eastern Vic last winter..... This place is bone dry but despite this, any visitor can see that Victoria is a beautiful place.

We passed through another gold mining town Bendigo. You could tell that there was a lot of money here in the 1800s. Fine buildings and lovely parks with statues of Queen Victoria. It's these familiar things which make Brits feel right at home in Australia and I did feel at home. We stretched our legs round Bendigo before completing our long drive to Ballarat.

Here are a couple of pics. Rutherglen's boast, and Bendigo.

Gold!!!!!
 

We duly arrived in Ballarat and found our motel about 4km from the town centre. What a prosperous place this was, the houses were huge and ornate with wide avenues and grand old buildings in the town centre. Due to the drought, the once lush gardens were dry with yellowed grass and patches of soil showing through. The motel manager said that they had 40mm of rain a few days before but because the place was so hot and dry nobody could tell where the water had gone. The dry earth had just sucked it in.. We assured him that he would have rain for the next couple of days because we had brought some with us and it had followed us around the country..:)

We gamely walked the 4km into town that evening and found a brilliant Italian restaurant which was BYO (bring your own).... We had brought our own, a cracking bottle of wine which the waitress opened for us.:D We were mid way through our meal when the heavens opened.. It absolutely persisted down, we were in t-shirts and sandals (customary dress in Oz). The restaurant called us a taxi to take us to the motel where we gave a nod to the manager before hitting the sack, it was still raining..

The next morning we awoke to a dry but cloudy day and decided to visit Sovereign Hill on the outskirts of Ballarat. Ballarat was once a sleepy pastoral town with not much going on when, in 1851, there was an almighty cry of 'Gold!!!!!'

Within a few months tent cities had sprung up all over this district and prospectors had come from all over the world to find their fortunes. Coverage of the event in British newspapers meant that a large percentage of the newly arrived immigrants were English. People sold everything they had to travel to Australia in order to make their fortune. Many of these miners were professional people who had never mined before and the conditions were incredibly tough with hard physical labour, a harsh unforgiving climate and no guarantee of a find..

There were some spectacular nuggets found here and the lucky finders of these nuggets prospered. Some of the gold was found in creek beds by panning but when that ran out, deep mines were built which followed the quartz seams to the gold. It was an exciting time and Ballarat prospered. Within 20 years it had become a small city with rich ornate buildings. The gold rush petered out in the late 1870s but Victoria had truly prospered as gold had been found in many of the other districts too.

Sovereign Hill is a living reminder of those days and offers visitors the chance to explore this fantastic period in Australia's history. It is an 1800s village with blacksmiths, coachmakers, bakeries, a post office, newspaper, shops, miner's huts, mines and a Chinese village. The Chinese also got in on the gold rush and many of these early miner's families still live in Victoria. The people who work here are all in period dress and mingle with the visitors. They have a small creek where you can go gold panning and a fantastic mine tour which shows what the conditions were like for these miners in the shafts and tunnels. It was a superb day out and the cost of the ticket also covered entry to the Gold Museum across the road, which focuses on the use of gold throughout history. We spent the full day at Sovereign Hill and the Gold Museum and thoroughly enjoyed it.

That evening, we couldn't be bothered trying to find a restaurant for food so we spent A$10 on a fish and chip supper and ended up with 2 massive pieces of fish and enough chips to feed a family of 6 people, all for the equivalent of £4.30.... I love this place..:D

Here are some photos of Sovereign Hill.

A biblical plague.
 

We left Ballarat the following morning and drove south to the Great Ocean Road. We were staying at Apollo Bay which is a small beach town/tourist resort. After finding our motel we went for a walk around town before setting off in the afternoon to explore the Great Ocean Rd.

The Great Ocean Rd is stunningly scenic. There are lots of lookout points from which to admire the amazing rock formations structured by years of erosion. Due to the nature of erosion, the Great Ocean Rd is still work in progress (if you would). We visited the 12 Apostles which are free standing rock formations jutting out of the ocean. I think that there were only actually 9 rocks, so I wouldn't like to speculate on the name 12 Apostles. There are only 8 now as one of them collapsed in 2005 and is just a pile of rubble now. This is not the first time that the rocks here have eroded to the point of collapse. More famously the London Bridge or London Arch, as it is known, collapsed in January 1990 stranding 2 tourists on its' outer arch. So as you can see, this is an ever changing coastline. On our way to the Apostles we had spotted an Echidna crossing the road. These are like large hedgehogs but with a difference.

Millions of years of isolation have given Australian wildlife the freedoms to adapt to their harsh surroundings. There are animals here that you would not find anywhere else in the world. The Echidna is what is termed a monotreme, meaning 'one hole'. They have one hole, called a cloaca, which serves for both excretory and reproductive purposes, an anomaly of the animal world. When monotremes were first discovered, nobody knew how to classify them. They lay eggs (a reptilian trait), but they also suckle their young (a mammalian trait). So they were classified as monotremes because nobody could decide whether they were reptiles or mammals. The more famous of the monotremes is the Platypus, also a native to Oz. I was really happy to see an Echidna, just going about its' daily buisness, but I worried about it all day because there was other traffic on the road and I did so hope that it had crossed the road safely.

The Great Ocean Rd is a very beautiful coastline and well worth a look if you are in the area, however, there was just one thing that hampered our day.....

FLIES!!!!! It was a biblical plague.. According to the locals, the flies are multitudinous this year due to the drought. The good news was that there were no mossies, because there is no water there is nowhere for the mossies to breed, but the flies are relishing the current conditions. They were everywhere and although they are harmless they are annoying. We developed what is known as the Aussie wave where you are constantly flapping your hands in front of your face to keep them away. It was total misery, they were crawling all over everyone and I swear that one of them crawled under my sunglasses and tried to suck the juice off my eyeball.

We tried to keep a stiff upper lip (we had to otherwise the flies would have crawled into our mouths), but we had to brush the little blighters off each other before getting into the car. It was hell.

We had an evening meal in Port Campbell before driving back to Apollo Bay. It was dusk by this time which can be quite a dicey time to drive in Oz. The animals can be quite active at this time of day and they often end up on the roads. Some of these kangaroos are massive and fast moving. They do a hell of a lot of damage to your car if you hit one. We were a few miles away from Apollo when I spotted a face at the side of the road......

"WOBBLY!!!!!" I shouted (rather loudly), almost causing Sparks to jump out of his skin....:o

There was a Wallaby by the side of the road, eating supper and minding its' own buisness.

I could not have been more thrilled to see a Wallaby in the wild, and we saw 2 more before we reached our destination. All the way home I had been checking the road for a squashed or injured Echidna. I never saw it, so I assume that the little fella made it..:D Happy days..

Here are a few pics of the Apostles...

Re: A biblical plague.
 

No Dearest... Almost causing Sparks to swerve the hire car across the road into an innocently bystanding eucalyptus tree! :rolleyes:

Re: The Wobbly Tour 2007
 

Really interesting, Lettie.

Waves and wrecks...
 

The next day, after a hearty breakfast......and I'm not kidding, the breakfasts in Australian cafes fill you up for the day, we decided to visit the Otway Lightstation. This is about 14kms from the Great Ocean Rd down a heavily wooded road just teeming with wildlife. There were koalas fast asleep up the trees and it was lovely to see.

This lightstation is the oldest working lighthouse in Australia, it became operational in 1848 and is on a cliff edge where the Bass Straight meets the Southern Ocean. This coast is renowned for its' shipwrecks and has far more than any other stretch of coastline in Australia, the sea bed must be littered with bits of boat and the bodies of the prospective goldminers, convicts and other immigrants. After the lightstation was built, it was often the first sight of land that the migrants, who had been sailing for months, saw.

Apart from the flies, which were still in abundance and intent on following us everywhere, despite repellent, Otway Lightstation was a joy to visit. There is an old Telegraph Station here, a Radar Bunker, a small museum with a little collection of the local Aboriginal artifacts and plenty of information depicting the lives of the families and their children who lived here and ran the lightstation. You see, in the 1800s, this place was remote. It is now easily reachable by car but back then it was isolated. There was nobody to teach the children until the appointment of a schoolmistress sent by the government. The kids only had each other to play with and access to medical treatment and supplies must have been ever so difficult. Having said that, old pictures of the families who have lived here, showed happy smiling faces.

On our way out of the Lightstation grounds, we passed through the obligatory gift shop and got chatting to the lady who was behind the counter. We were heartily sick of the flies and Sparks had taken to flicking them away with his beer towel. Our arms were aching from constantly waving the buggers away. We asked how the locals coped with all the flies and were casually told that they just ignore them!!!!!! HOW??????:confused:

We left the lightstation and drove inland to visit the Otway Fly. This is a treetop walk through lush forest where you can view the canopy of trees and their occupants. Now I don't want to sound mard, but I have absolutely no head for heights. We did a little walk on the forest floor (and that's where I took my photos), then we came to the gently sloping metal walkway which took us up to the treetops. It wasn't so bad when we set off but it gradually got higher and higher. The higher we got, the more it swayed.... Sparks was in his element, leaning over taking photos and examining the trees, looking for wild birds etc. As for me, I was just focussing on looking straight ahead, wouldn't go near the sides and certainly wouldn't look down. I was just wondering how I was going to keep my breakfast down when we came to the end of it and the walkway started to slope downwards once more.

Now although I find these type of places hellish, I can appreciate the idea. It gives visitors the chance to look at the forest canopy up close without damaging the trees or the flora on the forest floor. Before we knew it, the day was over and it was time to go home. We brushed the flies off and got into the car and headed back to Apollo Bay to pack. We were moving on again...

Here are some pics of the Otway coast and lighthouse and some scenes from the Great Ocean Rd.

Re: The Wobbly Tour 2007
 

The following day was hot and sunny and after breakfast we headed East, along the Great Ocean Rd to the beautiful Bellarine Penninsula where we would be staying the night. We had two reasons for visiting this area, firstly, it was on the way to Melbourne and would be a convenient place to stop over. Secondly, a colleague from work moved out here 12 months ago. She moved, as a single parent, just herself and her young daughter. Of all my colleagues who have emigrated over the years, we have been the most worried about this one. She has no family in Australia and we all thought that she was incredibly brave to go it alone in order to give her daughter a better lifestyle. We had planned to meet up for a meal and a chat.

The East of the Great Ocean Rd is incredibly bendy......Fantastic scenery, but tight bends with towering cliffs on one side and lashing waves on the other. I think that this road was built by ex forces personnel who found themselves in need of a project after the war, but it is one hell of a road.:D

We drove through pretty, but busy seaside towns, Anglesea, Lorne, Torquay. The beaches were crowded with holidaymakers as January is the main school holiday for Australian children. Everybody looked relaxed and happy, enjoying the surf and sand. We arrived at our motel midway between Queenscliffe and Point Lonsdale on the Bellarine Penninsula. This lies at the western entrance of Port Phillip which is one of the most dangerous entrances to any bay, in the world. At Point Lonsdale it is only 3km across the bay to Point Nepean on the Mornington Penninsula, on the Eastern side of the bay, but it is 3 kms of swirling water known as the Rip..

This looks like an inviting stretch of water and the Rip is invisible to the naked eye but in 1967, Australian Prime minister Harold Holt went for a swim in this bay, a swim from which he never returned.... he was caught in the Rip and his body was never found. He had been PM for just less than 2 years.

However, the Bellarine and Mornington Penninsulas are pretty areas and very popular with holiday makers. We had a lovely evening meal in Barwon Heads, my friend's new home. I am pleased to say that she loves her new life and has settled in well, the best move she's ever made. :D

Here are some pics of :- The busy beach at Torquay, point Lonsdale and the innocent looking Rip, the town of Sorrento on the Mornington Penninsula.

Re: The Wobbly Tour 2007
 

Looks like you both had a fantastic time Lettie. Great photos.

Re: The Wobbly Tour 2007
 

When we left the Bellarine Peninsula we took the ferry from Queenscliffe to the Mornington Peninsula. We figured that as we were staying in East Melbourne, it may be better to approach this busy city from the east. The ferry journey with the car and all of our luggage in tow was surprisingly cheap. We had a lovely drive up the Mornington Peninsula and had a lunchtime stop in the town of Mornington (there's a fantastic chippy here).:D

As we approached Melbourne the road became predictably busier. We managed to find our hotel but had to drive around one block 3 times in order to spot the Avis place so that we could drop off the car. Fortunately the 3 times round the block was not wasted time...... we dropped the car off and headed straight for a real ale pub which Sparks had spotted whilst we had been going round and round.:D

After a couple of drinks, we had a walk down to Federation Square. Fed Square is Melbourne's newest public space. Opened in 2002 it commemorates the centenery of the federation of the Australian states. It is a modern space with plentiful cafes, a glass enclosed indoor area with arty shops, the Australian centre for the moving image and much more. There is a big outdoor screen here which televises concerts and sporting events, there is also an outdoor stage for small concerts and shows. There is always something going on in Fed Square whether it be day or night. I believe that it was slightly controversial when built as many locals believed that its' modern look wouldn't fit in with the grand old Victorian buildings which sit alongside. However, Fed Square has blended in well and in a strange way it looks right.

After poking around Fed Square, we walked over to the South Bank of the Yarra River. The South Bank houses lots of restaurants and bar type places. There is something for everyone in the culinary city of Melbourne and me and Sparks couldn't wait to get eating so we strolled back to our hotel to get scrubbed and changed for our evening meal.

We spent the following day shopping. Melbourne is a paradise for serious spenders, and what's more........The sales were on!!!

I was in retail heaven...:D Everywhere I looked there were cool clothing and shoe shops. They sell really stylish flat shoes here, something that I find difficult to buy in the UK. To make the day even better, I bought a pair of trousers in the sale for half price and found out that in Australia............. I am only a size 10!!!!!!! and even they are a bit loose. Considering that I haven't been a size 10 since I was 10, I was well pleased and decided that I really love this place.:D

The afternoon was spent at the MCG (Melbourne Cricket Ground) watching a day/night match between England and Aus. Predictably, we lost. But what the hell, I'm a size 10 here!!!!!!! so I didn't care..:D

Here are some pics.. The view down the Yarra river to the MCG in the background, inside the MCG (this place is massive), A couple of views of Fed Square, and Flinders St Station which sits just across the road from Fed.

Dizzy heights
 

I fell in love with Melbourne straight away... I wish to take nothing away from Sydney, which is also a fine city but, Melbourne just has that special something. As Australia's 2nd largest city, Melbourne is a cultural melting pot. There are fine old Victorian buildings here which intersperse with modern glass skyscrapers. All the worlds' flavours are reflected in the food and the sporting venues, clubs, theatres and exhibition centres make Melbourne a hub of entertainment.

There has always been a rivalry between Melbourne and Sydney. Both cities used to take turns at being the country's capital but Sydney has always had more attention. Realising that they couldn't keep swapping their capital between the 2 cities, the powers that be decided to build a totally separate capital, hence Canberra was built and Australian parliament moved there in 1927

Melbourne is still thriving though and is a fantastic place to visit. It is situated on either side of the 240km long Yarra River and much of the central section of the river was rejuvenated in the 1980s. Lots of restaurants, bars and entertainment centres have sprung up and a cosmopolitan atmosphere prevails.

We took a cruise down the Yarra, it is a fabulous way to see the city and its' fantastic bridges and gardens. River cruises are inexpensive and relaxing here and there are several of them to go at, each visiting different parts of the city. We had a good 3 hours of messing about by the river and afterwards we decided to try and get a good view of the city from slightly higher ground. :D

Well, they don't get much higher than Rialto Towers. This is the tallest office building in the Southern Hemisphere with 58 floors above sea level and 8 below, it is about 830ft high. We took the lift up to the 55th floor observation deck and WOW!!!!! What a fantastic view... There are a couple of large balconies to go out on but I have to say, it was bloody windy up there.. Worth it for the view though..:)

Here are some views of Melbourne from the top of Rialto Towers and a couple of river views of the city.

Re: The Wobbly Tour 2007
 

Our last morning in Melbourne was spent doing what me and Sparks do best.......eating and drinking. :D We had packed all of our stuff and left it at the hotel to collect it later. We walked through the beautiful Fitzroy Gardens past the small cafe in the centre. This cafe was lovely, surrounded by colourful gardens in a very tranquil setting. They did this fabulous fruit toast there. Each slice was massive and packed with sultanas, raisins and dates, I struggled to get 2 slices down and Sparks had to help me out. We didn't breakfast there that morning but opted instead for Fed square, the reason being that I did not want to be farting all the way to the Gold Coast off the fruit toast...:D

Fed Square was pretty lively for a Sunday morning, we had our brekkie then managed to squeeze in a wine and cheese tasting. It was all Victoria produce and it was all mouth-wateringly good, I could certainly get used to being here but I have a feeling that I would be obese in no time.

We collected our bags and got the Skybus to the airport for our flight to Coolangatta on the Gold Coast. The motel which we were going to closes their reception at 8pm and we would get there a little late. I gave them a quick call with an estimated time of arrival and they gave me the code to get into the safe box where our room key would be.

We landed in Coolangatta and collected our hire car. We were staying in the small town of Tweed Heads for the next 4 days. Tweed Heads is a lovely place but a bit confusing. You see, Tweed is in New South Wales and at the end of the road is a roundabout, across which lies Coolangatta. Coolangatta is in Queensland. NSW put their clocks forward 1 hour in the summer, Queensland do not.. Therefore, everytime we crossed the roundabout we had to go back an hour... It confused the hell out of me, I have to admit that it doesn't take much but I didn't know whether I was coming or going.

Our motel in Tweed was lovely, we found our key in the safe box with a little letter from the manager to say that she had put milk in the fridge and switched the air conditioning on. She then came out to meet us anyway and directed us to a fish shop where we could get a bite to eat. This shop was crammed with every imaginable form of sea food. Lots of big fillets of different fish, Moreton Bay Bugs, crab, lobster, king prawns, oysters etc.....they did good chips too.:D We strolled around the town of Tweed Heads the following morning. It has a clean little beach and foreshore, an arcade of shops, a hospital, 2 supermarkets, a liquor store, garage and a few restaurants, a bowling alley and a club. Across the roundabout Coolangatta has much the same. What did surprise me was that for such a small population there are 2 sex shops in Tweed and one in Coolangatta..:eek: Tweed doesn't have the holiday resort mentality which blights other parts of the Gold Coast. It is a brilliant location to stay if you want to explore northern NSW and southern Queensland, not at all touristy..:)

Here are a couple of pics of Melbourne's Fitzroy Gardens and some shots of the coast at Tweed Heads.

Hippies and hallucinogens..
 

We awoke on our first full day in Tweed Heads to a hot but cloudy day. It does rain a fair bit in this neck of the woods and is significantly more humid than Melbourne. After a breakfast of eggs and smoothies at a local cafe, we decided to head south and explore the area.

Tweed Heads is within easy reach of Mount Warning National Park and the stunning beaches of Byron Bay, so this is where we decided to go. We drove about 20mins to Murwillumbah, a small town in Mt Warning National Park with a lovely little visitor centre on the river. After spending some time checking out the area in the visitor centre, and chatting to the lady who worked there (everyone is really friendly here), we crossed the bridge into Murwillumbah. From the bridge we could see a rather unusual 'Welcome to Murwillumbah' sign. It was graffittied onto what looked like somebody's back yard wall and it was massive. We pottered around town for a little while, again, this place reminded me of Hebden Bridge, the kind of place where ageing hippies would settle. The town had a nice relaxed feel to it though and from the riverside we could see Mount Warning looming in the distance. Mt Warning is an extinct volcano which last erupted about 20 million years ago. There are walking tracks in the area which take you to the summit.

From Murwillumbah we drove south to Byron Bay, again, a relaxed town but slightly more expensive looking than Murwillumbah. The town was full of trendy cafes, beachwear shops and had a very seaside resort feel to it. We found a lovely wine shop there and it would have been rude not to go in...:D Although Byron Bay is a resort, the natural beauty of the area is outstanding. This is Australia's most easterly point on the mainland and I have to say that for a resort full of holidaying Sydneysiders the beaches were wonderfully clean and the landscape unspoiled. Our next door neighbour at the motel was from Sydney, she later told me that Byron is full of dope smokers....... I didn't believe her, this was a woman who hadn't a good word to say about anywhere ( and they say us Poms whinge!!!)

We took a walk up to the lighthouse at Cape Byron and admired the beaches and bushland below us. It is really beautiful here and what's more, a haven for wildlife. There was a school of dolphins swimming past the Cape, easily visible from the lighthouse. I could see a large turtle swimming amongst the rocks below us and you should see the size of the lizards!!!!! A big beautiful lizard walked across the path to the lighthouse, it was right in front of us and couldn't care less. I've never seen a lizard so big outside of a zoo.:eek: I have to say........I'm quite taken with Australia, it's a fabulous place.:D

Here are some pics.....'Welcome to Murwillumbah,' Mount Warning in the clouds. Byron's lovely beach, the most easterly point and look at the size of this ******!!!!!!:D

Re: The Wobbly Tour 2007
 

I'll try again....:rolleyes:

To Infinity........and beyond
 

We drove North on the following day, heading for a gander at Surfer's Paradise. Neither of us were particularly interested in dossing on a beach, there is way too much to do here. Also, I am a fair skinned freckly type and I prided myself on not being a sunburn victim on this holiday. Considering that the Aussies are very skin cancer conscious (compared to us Brits), and the shops don't sell much in the way of suncream under a factor 30........You'd either have to be pretty stupid or very unfortunate to actually burn there.

We finally arrived at Surfers after just one little wrong turn on the way. This was due to our onboard navigation system (me), failing to direct Sparks up a crease on the map sufficiently..:o We parked up and had a walk around the town of Surfer's Paradise. I can honestly say that this place is way overrated. Never have I seen a place more geared up for extracting money off tourists - well, I have, Blackpool, but Surfer's is a surprisingly small place which sprawls into other towns. Full of shops selling overpriced tat, bars, beachwear shops and tickets to tourist attractions. Don't get me wrong, if you are travelling with kids then this is the place to go. Seaworld, Dream World, Movie World.... the theme park and entertainment complexes are endless.

In the spirit of experimentation, me and Sparks went to an attraction called Infinity. It was in the town centre and out of the blazing sunshine so we thought we'd give it a whirl. Infinity is basically a sensory experience for grown ups and children alike. It is like a futuristic maze through about 20 different rooms decked with lights and mirrors to make special effects. You are given a pair of white gloves and shoe covers (so that you can see your hands and feet in the lights).....and off you go.

This is a walk through attraction and has about 20 different rooms, all with different features but all of them dark. There is an electron maze which you have to get out of, the star chamber which looks like you are standing in the middle of an endlessly starry universe, the light canyon which appears to be a bridge of lights crossing a canyon of unfathomable depth, the cyclotron which is like stepping off a cliff edge and there is even a wobbly zone with soft, bouncy flooring and a madness tune playing.. It was like a bouncy castle for adults, me and Sparks were jumping about like idiots and I nearly pee'd laughing. There are lots more different rooms but all I could say about Infinity is that it's really trippy but damned good fun..:D

After having a look around Surfer's and a walk along the prom, we drove down to Broadbeach and visited David Fleay Wildlife Park. This is a small park which is easy to walk around. There is a Koala contact zone and I really wanted to stroke a Koala, so that's why we went.

I loved it.... the koalas are sooooo soft to touch but they do have very sharp teeth and claws. I didn't want to attempt to pick one up, they are, after all, wild animals, but I did a bit of stroking and cooing..:) Koalas sleep for about 20 hours a day and spend the rest of their awake time eating (that's my kind of life!!!) Lots of people think that they are doped up from the Eucalypts which they eat, but in reality they eat a low energy diet so therefore don't need to move much. I loved them though, my favorite was a rescue koala who only had one eye and probably wouldn't survive in the wild but I thought she was lovely.

We wandered around the park at leisure, looking at some of Aussie's native species. We can now tell you that wombats are bigger than you think they're going to be, we can tell you the difference between a freshie and a saltie and we could, if quizzed, describe a cassowary.

I really enjoyed this little park and I loved the little lizards which follow you around here. They are like little dragons, we saw them everywhere we went in Queensland. They have a funny lop-sided run and look like they have little smiley faces and seem to be quite unafraid of humans. I loved it here..:D

Here are some pics, Surfer's Paradise town and beach, My favorite koala, koala friends, dingo, spot the saltie!!! would you dive in that billabong??? Wombat feeding time, the funny little lizard.

Crikey.....
 

On our last day on the Gold Coast, we decided to do a long drive north to Beerwah and visit the famous Australia Zoo. It took us just over 2 hours to get there from Tweed, through Brisbane and north towards the Sunshine Coast. The highway to Beerwah has been re-named as the Steve Irwin Highway and there are billboards every few kilometers giving the distance to Australia Zoo.

We parked up and went in, this place is massive and caters for just about everyone. There are buggys for children, vehicles for elderly and disabled, smoking areas, plentiful cafes and toilet facilities. We were given a map and brochure detailing the times of all of the shows, and off we went. After a hearty breakfast at a reasonable price (well, we needed time to figure out which stuff to see first) :D We headed for the Crocoseum to watch the famous croc show.

The Crocoseum is an arena which seats 5,000 people and hosts daily snake, bird and croc shows..... we saw all 3 shows and they were fantastic. The hosts of the shows warm up the audience with a tribute to Steve and they have various parts of the audience shouting 'CRIKEY' at different intervals. All of the shows are educational and contain information about how to deal with some of Australia's poisonous or toothy creatures, how to deal with a snake bite, how to avoid croc attack and why some of these animals attack. It was a brilliant show and taught us a lot.

We wandered at will around the zoo, visiting different animals in their specially designed homes. The animals here look really happy, they are all well fed and obviously cared for. We walked through the Roo enclosure where you can hand feed the Roos. They weren't at all timid and responded well to the plethora of visitors. I was in animal heaven when I got to stroke and hand feed a Kangaroo, they are surprisingly soft to stroke. We then went to the Elephant house and watched it's residents taking their bath.

There were many areas to this zoo, tigers, birds, otters, dingos, wombats, Tasmanian devils, koalas, lizards galore and many many more. The staff here are really helpful and will often take some of the animals for walks around the park and give visitors the opportunity to touch them and ask questions. All of the animals have names and as I said, they all looked relaxed, happy and comfortable.

There is a big visitor information section with a massive picture wall detailing the history of the zoo, there is also a tribute area to Steve Irwin where people have sent stuff to the zoo, cards, khaki shirts with messages on them, model crocs etc. It is very poignant to walk through and read the tributes. It was a full day of a job visiting this place but all I can say is that it was worth the drive. The zoo is full of smiling faces, loved animals and is a fantastic legacy to Steve Irwin who, although sometimes seen as a little mad, has obviously worked so hard to achieve this fabulous place.

After we left, we drove south to Glasshouse Mountains villiage and had a bite to eat before hiking up to one of the viewpoints. It was getting a bit dusky by then and we could hear things rustling in the bush on our walk to the view point. I was constantly aware of the things that live in the grass here :eek: and wondered why Australia's wildlife has evolved to be so dangerously venomous..:confused:

After a brilliant view of the mountains we walked back downhill to our car for the long drive to Tweed. Neither of us were accosted by the things which live in the bush but.........If we had have been, we would have known how to avoid or deal with it..:D

Here are some pics from Australia Zoo. The lovely Roos, Bath Time, Ancient Creatures, Cassowary (these can be vicious, hence the fencing), Glasshouse Mts, and the welcome sign at Australia Zoo.

Brisbane.
 

On leaving the Gold Coast, we drove north to Brisbane and put our watches back an hour.. We were really peeved to be coming here, not because Brisbane is less than wonderful but because we were all too aware that we only had 3 days left in Australia.

We arrived at our hotel in Brisbane and found it to be in a central location right above the train station. They had regular trains running to the airport and could give us a discount on the train tickets. We decided there and then that we would no longer need the car, so we set off on foot to find an Avis place where we could ditch the jaloppy. Brisbane is really easy to get around on foot. The streets are in an easy grid shape and are named after English Kings, Queens, Princes and Princesses. The Queens and Princesses run north to south and the Kings and Princes run east to west......simple.:D

We found the Avis place and arranged to drop our car off 3 days earlier than planned. After dropping off the car, we went for a walk around the city. It's a lovely, compact city situated on the Brisbane River. There are plenty of good shops, cafes, restaurants and entertainment areas. Many of the good restaurants are situated on the river with views over to the other side and the wonderful bridges.

We paid the obligatory visit to the Gabba to watch England try to play some cricket. It was a lovely atmosphere though, everybody was really friendly. It is relatively cheap to watch sporting events in Australia, therefore they are family events and everyone brings the kids. What a difference to rip off Britain where nobody but the rich can afford to take the kids to premiership matches.:rolleyes:

On our way back from the Gabba, we walked across the pedestrian bridge and through the Botanic Gardens. We had been in these gardens during the day and they were lovely. The thing is that it was now night and they were darned spooky. Unseen night creatures were rustling in the bushes and I had a feeling of overwhelming jitteriness. There has been a recent spate of rapes and attacks in Brisbane parks, whilst we were in Oz these attacks were all over the news. Me and Sparks were totally alone in there and I was beginning to wish that we had walked around on the crowded streets rather than take the short cut through the park. There was some rustling in the bushes to our left, was it my imagination, or was the rustling getting closer?????

Suddenly, the bushes parted, I nearly jumped out of my skin when a possum shot out....... It stopped abruptly when it saw us and Sparks bent down and extended his hand to it... Well, the next thing we knew, it was sniffing his fingers and then it proceeded to follow us through the park.. I tell you, he's like Dr Doolittle is Sparks, we couldn't get rid of the little ******. The possum left us when we finally exited the park, it was obviously out of its' comfort zone, I was back in mine....:)

We also spent a day at a friend's house and caught up with some of my old colleagues. It was wonderful to see them again, they have only been there for a few months but had already got into the laid back lifestyle, swimming pool in the garden, big barbie on the patio. It's a fact that people think that NHS staff go to Oz for more money but the reality is that we are actually paid less. The money there does go a bit further and the lifestyle makes up for the move. My colleagues now get less holidays and less pay, but they are happy, not stressed and don't feel like they need the holidays.. I have to say that it is all very tempting.:)

We came home from my friend's house on the train, both a little worse for wear after the wine and beers we'd all been drinking. They do like a drink in Oz..:D We had to pack our cases as we were leaving the next day. We'd had a brilliant time in Australia though but it was time to go..:(

Here are some pics of Brisbane and its' river, and of course........ a pic of the Gabba.

Depressed...
 

We called our friends from the airport the following day, to thank them for their wonderful hospitality. I don't think that I have ever been so depressed as I was that day. I had no right to be miserable, we were off to Hong Kong for 6 days and we both love it there, but I didn't want to leave Australia. Sparks also wished that we had maybe just booked a couple of nights in Hong Kong and had a few extra days in Aussie. We could have gone to Cairns for a couple of days, done a Barrier Reef tour but........it was too late to change our plans.:(

I am still miserable now when I think back to what a brilliant time we had and the horrendous work situation I came home to, but life goes on. So in memory of a fab time, here are my likes and dislikes (yes, there are a couple) about Australia.

I loved that I felt immediately comfortable there, the people were all polite, friendly and helpful. I loved the food, well, most of it......nice runny eggs, thick meaty bacon, plentiful fish, good thick steaks, smoothies and the best red wines in the world. I hated how they tend to char-grill their meats so that the outer coating has strips of burnt areas on it. IMO, there's no excuse for burning food, it tastes vile so if there are any Aussie chefs reading this STOP IT!!!!

I loved that even on rainy days we had plenty to do. We did have plenty of rain and clouds but it was never really freezing cold like here and people welcomed the rain due to recent droughts. I didn't mind that some areas had water restrictions of various grades in place. My friends showered whilst stood in a washing up bowl and used the shower water to clean cars and water gardens. It didn't bother them and they had adapted well to their lifestyle....It wouldn't bother me either.

I loved that it is commonplace to see animals in the wild, koalas, snakes, echidnas, possums, kangaroos etc.... I didn't love the fact that there are loads of venomous and toothsome creatures also in the wild, but with a bit of common sense, encounters with these animals can be avoided. I was also a bit jittery when I noticed a spider at my mate's house which could have devoured her dog... Honestly, there are some really big ones here. :eek:

I loved the 'no worries' attitude and that everyone is given a fair go. By the end of the holiday we had totally chilled and if anyone said "the train is late," "your food will be 15 minutes," "you're under arrest," our answer was always............."no worries." :D

I loved the sky, especially at night. It was always really starry when it was clear, I could have gazed at it forever. I loved the noise of the parakeets in the mornings and the colourful early morning flights. Long straight roads with hardly any traffic and the fact that during the whole 3 weeks we only spotted 1 dog turd on the pavement (and believe me, I am like Hawkeye when it comes to spotting turds).

I didn't like that there were murders on the news and there had been race riots in Sydney. A mental moslem cleric winding everyone up, a young lad dying of a snake bite, a shark attack, rapes in Brisbane and the flies but hell...........you can't like everything.:D There was certainly nothing worse happening there, than here, in fact, if I had to pit Aussie against the UK in the most desirable place to live and work, I'd go for Aussie...:D

So, I'm saving like mad to go back. I want to see the Great Barrier Reef, Uluru, Adelaide, Perth, Darwin, Kakadu, Alice Springs, The Bungle Bungles, The Daintree, Kimberley and Tassie. I have a feeling that our next trip might be a busy one:)

Here are some of us, Sparks on the beach (Great Ocean Rd), us cruising the Yarra (I am well aware that my hair is a mess, but 'no worries'), me and my favourite friends.:)

Re: The Wobbly Tour 2007
 

A brilliant account of your holiday Lettie, have you ever thought of taking up travel writing? Think you'd be good at it.

Hksar..
 

We landed in Hong Kong during the evening. The flight wasn't too bad, only about 9 hours tops from Brisbane. We took the Airport Express train into the city. This is by far the easiest way to get into the city from the airport. There are stops at both Kowloon and HK Island, where little buses line up to take you to your hotel. Kowloon and HK Island (central) stations also have facilities to check your luggage in for your flights, so you can offload your luggage way before you get to the airport. I have to say that they have really got the transport systems nailed in HK.

It's not surprising really, with a population of 6.99 million, give or take a few, and a surprisingly small landmass, it is essential that the people of HK can move from A to B quickly and cheaply.

Although we still know this marvellous place as Hong Kong, its' official moniker these days is Hong Kong Special Administrative Region or HKSAR. HK was handed back to China in 1997, much to the dismay of the people living there. You see, the residents of HK thought that their lives would significantly change under a communist regime instead of a regime based on British laws and values. In reality, nothing much has changed, one of the conditions of handover was that HK laws etc stay under the current regime for 50 years, so if there are going to be significant changes they will not be until 2047.

Therefore HK has kept its own administrative system, currency, culture, laws, immigration system etc. and remains a fabulous place to visit.:D There are only 2 Special Administrative Regions of the Peoples Republic of China, the other being Macau (which we would also visit).

So there we were, newly arrived in the Tsim Sha Tsui area of Kowloon and settled in to our hotel for a well needed kip. We had plenty of time to explore so decided to take our time and just mooch around the city on our first day there. We walked through the crowded streets as people rushed to get to work. Admired the gravity defying buildings, designer shops, quirky market stalls up the back streets, street vendors trying to sell fake Rolex (these were a pain in the arse), and the daily comings and goings of HK life. We took the Star Ferry across to HK Island which costs less than 20p, and travelled up the Mid Levels escalators to the Zoological and Botanical Gardens.

The Zoological and Botanical Gardens were opened in 1871 under the watchful eye of superintendent Charles Ford. It is an essential green space within the city and a place of peace and quiet. There is an aviary, childrens' play area, jaguar enclosure, reptiles and mammals enclosures and a fountain terrace garden and war memorial. These gardens are built into the slope of Victoria Peak, so in some areas are quite steep. The 2 halves of the park are separated by a road but there is a subway linking them. It's a nice place to visit and mosey round, especially when you don't really feel like doing much else.

That evening we found an Italian restaurant near our hotel. Maybe after a good feed, glass of red and a proper nights sleep, we would find the energy to explore some more..:D

here are some pics. Northern HK Island taken from the Star Ferry, The Botanical Gardens, Fountain and War Memorial.

High Rollers.
 

As we had plenty of time to spend in HK, we decided to go a little further afield, we both wanted to visit Macau, as we'd never been there before. It is just a day trip from HK but you do need your passport and immigration card. We went to the China/Macau ferry terminal in Kowloon and booked ourselves onto a ferry.

After passing through immigration we boarded a surprisingly modern and comfortable ferry. Seats are allocated with life jackets under the seats and a safety card in front. It was just like being on an aircraft except the seats were far more spacious and comfortable. The journey was smooth and took about an hour, there was a tv on board the ferry and a refreshment counter. We filled in our immigration card for Macau whilst we were sat in our comfy seats and before we knew it, we were there.

When we came out of the ferry terminal there were no end of taxis, tour buses, rickshaws and tuk-tuk type contraptions which would take you into town. We decided that we would walk and set off in the general direction of the centre of town. We passed the Sands Casino and the newly built Fisherman's Wharf which is a many themed entertainment centre by the water. We had grabbed a street map at the ferry terminal which showed how to get to some of the sights.

Macau is also heavily populated but has one big noticeable difference to HK... They drive like maniacs!!!!! I sincerely believe that the most dangerous thing to do in Macau is attempt to cross the road, there are motorbikes everywhere and the general traffic makes no attempt to stop, even on crossings. :eek:

We did manage to get into town without mishap, but only just.

Macau is the other Special Administrative region of the People's Republic of China and the population is about 95% Chinese. This area was leased to Portugal in 1670 and is the oldest European colony in China. It was transferred back to the PRC in 1999 but Portugese is still an official language of Macau and some of the buildings here have a definite European flavour.

Macau is best known for gambling and hospitality. There are many large ornate casinos and hotels to cater for the high rollers who come to visit. Tourism and gambling account for over 50% of Macau's GDP and the gambling revenues in Macau are greater than those on the Las Vegas Strip, but there is more to this place than gambling.

We went into town and visited the ruins of St Paul's Cathedral. Building commenced on this cathedral in 1582 and was completed in 1602. It was the largest catholic cathedral in Asia and as such, was bestowed many expensive gifts from the royalty and hoity-toity of Europe. Destroyed by fire during a typhoon in 1835, all that is left of St Pauls is the ornate south-facing stone facade of the building and some unearthed tombs behind the facade which have been preserved. There is scaffold behind the facade with metal steps which enable you to climb up and observe the hustle and bustle of the street below.

We strolled the streets, past shops and food sellers, tiny temples crammed inbetween other buildings and sunny squares surrounded by European style buildings. There was building work going on as there are some new hotels and casinos going up. One of the things that I was bemused by is that on these buildings, just like the HK skyscrapers, they use bamboo scaffolding!!!! Don't get me wrong, I have nothing against bamboo, but when you are used to seeing metal scaffolds, bamboo looks a bit too flimsy to be propped up against a skyscraper!!!!

We walked along the waterfront and got a decent (despite a bit of murky weather) view of the Macau Tower. This is based on Auckland's Sky Tower and was comissioned by Macau billionnaire Stanley Ho Hung-Sun after a visit to Auckland. Built by a New Zealand company, it stands 338m from ground to the top.

We couldn't resist a visit to Sands Casino and we had a little flutter on the many fruit machines there. I am no gambler and never play on fruit machines but this place was full of people who are obviously addicts. We won nowt worth keeping but I was amazed at the amounts of money that people were feeding into these machines with very little reward. Sands was plush and massive, whoever got the carpet contract for that place has probably never had to work since..:D

We strolled back to the ferry terminal and managed to avoid getting run over. We had a mad dash through immigration and a quick stamp of the passport before just making it to the ferry.....phew!!!

The good thing about Macau is that it is a full day out but easily accessible from HK. They have their own currency but are happy to accept HK dollars. Tourism has grown here over the last 10 years and the people of Macau are gearing up for another bumper tourist year in 2007.:D

Here are some pics from Macau. The view from St Pauls and St Pauls facade. Euro-style buildings, the Macau tower and Bamboo scaffolding..:D

Re: The Wobbly Tour 2007
 

Oh Lettie.......I have only just read this account of your trip. It is brilliant, but it made me feel sooooooooooooo homesick. I know Oz isn't really my home, but it is my second home....and I could relate to so many of your experiences........and the pics.....Ballarat, Rutherglen(the wineries there are something else).
Sedate Melbourne......frenetic Sydney....laid back Brissy....take me with you please when you go again.

Re: The Wobbly Tour 2007
 

I went into Infinity on my own....hubby would not be induced to come with me.....and if it had not been for a mother and daughter coming in I would still be there.......there was one of the rooms that i could not find the exit.....I had visions of them finding me wasted away from hunger.....then this Mother and daughter duo came in....hey presto I was outta there.
The whole place made me feel like I had been on some illegal substance....and I just know that hubby would NOT have enjoyed it at all.

Re: The Wobbly Tour 2007
 

Hehehe, we also struggled to find the exit in one of the rooms, there were 3 kids in there with us and the youngest one started crying in desperation. We did find the exit eventually but I have to admit that panic was setting in by then..:D

Frantic.
 

After our day in Macau we decided to chill out in Hong Kong and see some of the sights, take our time and do something a little more relaxing. Even though we have both been to HK before, and know that it is not a particularly relaxing city, we managed to kid ourselves...:D

We purchased our Octopus cards at the MTR station and off we went. The Octopus card is brilliant, the size of a credit card and fully rechargeable through the many credit machines within the MTR stations, it is a definite must have when travelling in Hong Kong. The Octopus can be used on the MTR trains, buses and most ferries and it saves you having to stump up cash for transportation. You don't even have to take it out of your bag, just hold up your handbag or wallet to the card reader and it will read it and deduct your fare.

We took the MTR across to HK Island and up the Peak Tram to get some views from the top. I won't go into the marvel that is the Peak Tram, as I have already described it in the 'Come on Lettie' thread, but needless to say, the views are just as fantastic now as they were then. We ambled through the Peak Galleria with its' quirky little shops and restaurants. We took in some views of the city and then moronically decided to walk back down into the city via a rather green and pleasant looking path.

All I can say is OUCH!!!!! It was so steep that by the time we got to the bottom my knees were giving way and we were both walking in that awkward way in which you walk out of the bathroom after just shedding your load, when you realise....there's no loo roll....:o Our legs quickly recovered when we reached level ground but I was desperate for a sit down. In the spirit of exploration we hopped on a bus and took the roller coaster ride over the Peak to Stanley. At least it was a sit down for 20 minutes or so.

Stanley is a small town in the south of the island with a brilliant little market, plenty of restaurants, a small beach and a new little shopping plaza. It is named after Lord Stanley who had the formidable title of Secretary of State for War and the Colonies. It's a rather pleasant little town and bears no resemblance to the sprawling metropolis over the hill. We were starting to notice the Chinese New Year decorations which were springing up all over HK, little shrines in red and gold with pigs in them.

From Stanley, we took another bus to Aberdeen. This is a working port with a slighly downtrodden feel to it but it is a fascinating place. Many people here still live on Sampans (boats), there are multitudes of government housing flats which remind me of the old deck access flats in Blackburn, but the waterfront has been renovated and is a pleasant walk. Aberdeen is also home to the Jumbo Floating Restaurant which sits majestically in the harbour and is based on an old Imperial palace. We pottered round for a bit before getting the bus back to the city.

Not content with our knackering foray around the island and seeing as there is only one place to be in HK on a Wednesday night, we headed over to Happy Valley Racecourse. Well, there must have been a special offer on that night because we got in for HK$1 each (13p for both of us) :D Horseracing is big in HK, it is the only legal form of gambling here and the revenue earned from this is immense. Racing season runs from September to June and nets a grand total of HK$91 billion!!!!!

This place was heaving, there were multiple food and drink stalls and a big screen in order to get a good view of the race. We couldn't make head nor tail of the betting slips though.....It was all Chinese to us..:D

Here are some pics, the view from the Peak, The Peak Tram making its' way up, little temple at Stanley, Happy New Year and the Jumbo Floating Restaurant.

Kids again.
 

If I could have one wish, just one, it would be to have one day as a child again and visit the place where I always wanted to go as a child. I didn't know anyone who had been there when I was a kid. Let's face it, it was the 70s and money was tight. My dad promised that he would take us there if he won the pools, but he never did win the pools.

The place is, of course........Disneyland.:D

So you can imagine my excitement at the thought of visiting the new Disneyland in Hong Kong. I was nearly peeing my pants with anticipation. Situated on Lantau Island, the recently opened HK Disneyland is easily reached by MTR. We bought entry tickets at the MTR station and boarded our train. We changed trains along the way and finally arrived at Lantau Island where we changed onto the Disney train which was waiting for us at the station.

This train was brilliant, the windows were all in the shape of Mickey Mouse's head, there were bronze statuettes of the Disney characters in all of the carriages, Disney tunes from the films were piped into all of the carriages. The Disneyland MTR station bore no resemblance to the city MTR stations, there were refreshment stalls, Disney shop stalls, the building was all made of wood and looked more like a Frontier bar than a station.

We made our way from the station to the main entrance, up a wide avenue with topiary shaped like the Disney characters, a huge fountain with Mickey Mouse surfing was at the top of the avenue. Minnie, Donald, Goofy and Pluto were all in various happy poses around the fountain. It was delightful..:D

I started the day with a ride on Space Mountain, it is the only roller coaster here at the moment. It's years since I've been on a roller coaster, I swore I'd never go on one again after going on the Pepsi Max at Blackpool, but I succumbed to Space Mountain and enjoyed every second of it. We wandered round the different areas looking at the kiddie rides, familiar characters, shops, shows, parades, eateries and immaculately manicured gardens. The whole place was wonderful but the most brilliant thing was one of the shows which we attended, 'Mickey's Philharmagic.' This was a fantastic 3D show where various implements from the show flew out of the stage at you, in the water scenes we got a bit wet, during scenes with food in them we could smell it, it truly was magical.

There is plenty of room for expansion here and signs of imminent expansion are evident from the air (you fly over it coming out of HK airport). Despite probably being smaller than the other Disneys (I can't be certain that that is a fact, I'm still waiting on my dad to win the pools so that I can go to the others), the whole place was spot on. We ended the day by watching the Disney Parade when all our favourite cartoon and film characters paraded in their floats down Main Street USA............. all on an island in Hong Kong.

I went back to the hotel feeling all warm and fuzzy. At the age of 38 I was finally a child again..........Just for one day.:D

Here are some scenes from HK Disneyland, the fountain, castle, Tarzan's house and the parade.

Homeward bound.
 

Our last day in Hong Kong was spent shopping and packing. We had spent the previous evening at Temple Street Night Market. This is a wonderful area with many different stalls selling just about everything. There are little street cafes which plonk plastic garden tables and chairs in the road and serve up fabulous, cheap food cooked in what appears to be unsanitary streetside kitchens.

We had been a bit of a curiosity that night, as we sat eating a whopping Chinese meal and supping a big bottle of Chinese beer at one of these eateries. looking around, it was quite obvious that not many westerners eat at these places. I don't know why not, the food was excellent (the best Chinese meal I've ever had), we didn't get food poisoning and it was half the price of the restaurants we'd been eating in.

We concentrated on the shopping purely because HK is such a good place to shop. I wanted a new camera and Sparks wanted billions of things..:D We had limited space left in the cases so I'm afraid that Sparks had to curb his retail therapy somewhat, but he didn't do too badly. ;)

We took a walk along the Avenue of Stars that evening so that I could test out the new camera, hopefully the pics have come out ok.

We flew home the following morning, it was so depressing. Thirteen hours on a flight back to the freezing cold UK. I was stopped and searched at Heathrow due to having a canned kangaroo in my hand luggage (a cuddly toy in a can which I'd got for the little princess). The x-ray machine had been unable to recognise it. The security people did comment on how much electrical equipment I was carrying. I had to tell them that I was carrying for Sparks as well and that he had already gone through...:o It was technically true.:D

So there we go. The Wobbly tour is finally over and we have started saving for our next trip. I have a funny feeling that we will be back to New Zealand next time as there is some cricket going on there next year.;) :D

Here are some night shots of HK with the new camera. hope they've come out ok.

Re: The Wobbly Tour 2007
 

Lettie, you have some wonderful memories to sustain you until that next trip....and all supported by some lovely pics. Thanks for entertaining us with the story of your trip.......and thankyou too, for making me remember some of the wonderful times I had in the places that you have so eloquently described.

Re: The Wobbly Tour 2007
 

Nice pics of HK Lettie. Brilliant account of your hols.