Al Holden
Alastair Holden Joined: March 20th 2008
Logged in: August 1st 2011
Logged in: August 1st 2011
Travel Blog Posts
CIMG1130
Arrived Hong Kong 22nd March and departed for Home on the 26th March. Hong Kong seems to be very polluted. The photos show just how 'smoggy' it is. Because we were here for such a short time we booked two trips. Our first day, we got the Star Ferry across to Kowloon, and wandered the shopping areas before coming back in the afternoon and planning the next two days. The hotel we are staying is in the more authentic part of the Island. In a couple of years the developers will have made sure it comes up to scratch!! Everywhere there is building work, with very little space, the only way is up. Any way a regular shuttle bus runs down to the harbour and to shopping precincts The trips were: 1 The Peak Tram, up ... read more
CIMG0915
Arrived Hong Kong yesterday the 22nd Typing this piece on the 28th floor of the hotel overlooking Kong Kong harbour. Attached is the Melbourne - Sydney leg of our trip. 12th March – Melbourne This is going to be a whistle stop ride from Melbourne to Sydney, arrived Melbourne quite early on in the day with view of heading through the Eastern suburbs of St Kilda and taking in some sights before meeting up with Lins friends, Dave & Diane Mullen. We seemed to bypass most of the city and ended up on East side of Melbourne on Port Philip bay, which is their watersports playground. Met up with Dave & Di at our motel, they drove us up through the Yarra valley (wine country) to a place called Marysville. It had been decimated by the ... read more
Currently on road to Sydney Will be in Sydney tomorrow 15th March, to settle for a week. Road trip from Ocean Road has seen us go through some spectacular countryside. Met up with Lins friends (Dave & Di) on Saturday - trip to Marysville - destroyed by fire 2 years ago but making a comeback - BBQ at their's along with mossies. Did not leave enough time to go up the coast to Sydney so through to Gundagai (one horse town) last night and Woollongong tonight. (Interesting motels). Drop car in Sydney tomorrow. I will put pics up in the next few days Cheers... read more
CIMG0744
Sorry if previous blog contained duplicate pics, its getting late to do two blogs in one day!!! Actually I think there may be a problem with the website!! 5th March 2011 – Mount Gambier to Apollo Bay Today will be our first sighting of the Great Ocean Road. We stopped in Portland for breakfast. Temperature was quite cool and wind fresh. This area to Warnambool is big cattle country and dairy. For me it was good to see dairy cows in this quantity (sad I know). For my fix we stopped at Allansford, outside Warnambool, called Cheese World. There is a cheese factory with a shop/cafe/museum attached. Had a tasting and bought some of their vintage cheddar. The temperature had gone up to over 26 C by this time. Then on to our first glimpse of ... read more
Photo 32
2nd March 2011 – Adelaide A beautiful autumn morning in the city, breakfasted then out into the glorious sunshine. Walked down across the River Torrens to the Adelaide Oval. The ground is open to the general public (FOC) as part of the city charter. We were able to wander at leisure through the ground. There was an event going on, awarding the head groundsman, who was retiring. A red carpet had been laid out, which we duly walked across. The guests all had to walk across the ground to get to their lunch (we could’nt even gate crash. We had a lovely walk back along the river. The main part of the city in the grid formation is surrounded on all four sides by parkland/gardens, so it is only a short walk from the centre of ... read more
Photo 42
Sorry guys, missed a few photos from last post. (Some are repeated) At present we are today in Mount Gambier. Heading to Apollo Bay for a 6 nght stay, and a bit of a chils. (Pun) the temp has dropped loads (20 c) at moment. Need to find our fleeces out. ... read more
CIMG0456
24th February 2011 My birthday, up early and coffee on patio while Lin showered. Lin had bought some cards from home for me – a nice touch. A chill day today – into Busselton for supplies for meal tonight – we are dining in!! We went for coffee in Broadwater bay and in the afternoon headed for the beach and a nice dip in the Indian Ocean. We caught a few rays – you can’t risk too long – 90 mins max- it was over 34 C. Everybody, thanks for birthday messages, especially Euan – sorry we did not get to speak. A lovely supper for our last night before heading to Mandurah ( and the cousins) in the morning. 25th February 2011 Busselton to Mandurah. We had been to Mandurah with Chris Fewings (my cousin) ... read more
Photo 32
Albany to Busselton Our final day in Busselton was quite chilly. No rain but a fierce on shore breeze. We had a ‘chill’ day. Walked around the Middleton area, Eyre Gardens and finally a final walk round Ellen Cove. 21st February was moving day to Busselton. The trip took us along the coast through Denmark & Walpole before cutting inland to Pemberton. Then north to Nannup an interesting little town where we had lunch. The trip was mainly through National Parks and cattle country. After lunch we were only about 80k from our next stopover. Arrived in Busselton at 3.30ish. Temp 34 C, we had left Albany in temp 24C. Trip was over 370k (240 mls) but was on quite windy roads through the parks. Dumped our gear, before heading into Busselton for some food and ... read more
Photo 32
Arrived on the 15th Albany First settled in 1826, Western Australias first white settlement. We are staying on Middleton Beach which sits on the Southern Ocean – next stop south would be Antartica. The beach is a about 200 yards from our apartment, it is 3miles of pure white sand and looks out into King George Sound Weather has been mixed over the past few days. Today Sunday 20th Feb (our last day) it is 24 C and cloudy with a brisk onshore breeze (cooling). We had rain yesterday morning and last night when we walked out for fish & chips (the fish was Albany whiskery shark) very nice and drunk with a local Reisling. Our first day, (16th) after getting in supplies (Woolworths) we headed out for a tour east of Albany. Emu Point lies ... read more
Photo 32
We visited Fremantle prison the day before heading south to Albany . Built by convicts for convicts, the new type self build. Built 1852 onwards and only closed in the 1991. Pretty grim place. It was a maximum security place on its closure and apparently the place that convicted felons feared to be placed!! Before leaving Fremantle we met up with our friends Sam & Emily for a BBQ on South Beach. Hopefully the pics speak for themselves. Picked up car 15th Feb and after dropping of keys for flat headed South to Albany. The countryside varied from bush to lush. As we got further South we hit the wheat & sheep belts which looked pretty hard work. The journey was some 450k (290 miles) & took almost 5 hours. Stopped at Wiliams an old sheep ... read more
