Advertisement
Published: March 2nd 2011
Thursday 23rd December 2010 Our cab didn’t turn up - the hostel hadn’t booked it for us as promised - so we hailed one from the street as running short on time. Arriving at the airport we were told we didn’t have a visa for AUS. Well, actually, they said Richard did have one already, which didn’t make sense at all since as it was news to us that we needed one in advance and we hadn’t applied! Luckily we managed to sort it out online with customer services costing £50, we still weren’t convinced we needed it but they wouldn’t let us board the flight without it, so it wasn’t the time to start investigating!
When we arrived at Sydney airport we collected our Greyhound coach to Canberra. 10 minutes after leaving the airport the coach broke down in the M5 tunnel. With no air con it was extremely hot and we weren’t allowed off the coach without them closing the tunnel, so we had to wait for almost 2 hours to be towed out in order to switch coaches. Coach number 2 survived and it was lovely to see a friendly face as Domi met us
at the bus terminal in Canberra. A short drive to our hosts house, we we’re greeted by Chris and the exceptionally cute Mabel at the front door. After a tour of Chez McKinnon, we trashed the spare room by unpacking.
Domi’s the chef but Chris certainly has some skills in the kitchen cooking us a gorgeous salmon dinner.
Friday 24th December 2010 Following a day spent travelling it was time for some much needed exercise so we went for a run up to the top of a nearby hill for an excellent view over the valley.
Back for breakfast with bacon and egg muffins (no bacon for Joanne) and then Domi took us to the doctors for malaria tablets and our third set of injections. Deciding to pass on the 3rd rabies injection due to time lapse between the previous jabs, we had our last Hep B injection and got a prescription for Malarone, the expensive malaria tablets, which cost us over £500, ouch!
Domi ferried us around to buy a chemists worth of cosmetics and repellents as the one’s you get in countries where you need it are rubbish! Domi couldn’t resist buying
a flashing gnome for Chris with Christmas a day away.
Late afternoon we headed to Domi’s grandparents’ for drinks and nibbles, returning for an early night because we didn’t want to upset Santa – thanks to Domi we both had a stocking.
Saturday 25th December 2010 Christmas day and Santa had been. He bought Joanne a dress, ear rings and head phone tidies and Richard stubbie holders, shortbread, minties and head phone tidies. Must have both been well behaved this year!
Joanne bought Richard tickets to the 2nd day of the 5th Ashes test in Sydney, while Richard really pushed the boat out giving Joanne a whole pack of hair bands and a fly swat. Having Mabel around made it feel like Christmas, and a laid back atmosphere made it feel like home.
Christmas dinner was cooked on the “Bar-B” and consisted of prawns, scallops and Morton Bay Bugs, a first for Richard and Joanne – which are like ugly looking lobsters but really tasty.
In the usual Christmas style we all watched bad TV in the evening and had a few drinks.
Sunday 26th December 2010 We were treated
to raisin toast for Breakfast, and Richard was so enamoured he didn’t stop going on about it all week, he thought it was the best thing since... well, sliced bread. Joanne insisted it’s available in Tesco but Richard was having none of it.
As Richard was at the house the cricket ban was lifted from the TV and so, ready for some banter, the Boxing Day test was switched on... unfortunately (for them) Australia succumbed to the English onslaught and Richard didn’t have it in him to rub salt in the wound while he was being provided with free beer!
We were invited to a party at Rachel and Dave’s. Snacks, BBQ and croquet were the order of the day – with a little slave labour added in to earn our keep. Richard and the other guys helped Dave move some brick columns from some recent building work and couldn’t understand why they were turning them twice before lifting, until one roll revealed a poisonous red-back spider, which was pretty cool to see, even though he ended up on the bottom of a shoe.
Monday 27th December 2010 Our day started with a visit to
Black Mountain Tower, with 360⁰ views over the city and massive manmade lake. Our hosts pointed out where they lived as well as the parliament buildings we’d seen yesterday, Brumbies’ stadium and other landmarks including some of the areas devastated by fire.
We drove into town and walked around the lake with an obligatory ice-cream, seeing the sculpture park near the old and new parliament buildings which line up with the Australian War Memorial at the end of Anzac Parade on the other side of the lake.
Popping into Canberra centre for lunch at Sammy’s (an Asian influenced restaurant) we all had a wonderful meal and argued over who would pay the bill – eventually we won – we were being treated to free food and lodgings after all. Bellies full we returned home for some more English TV on Aussie soil.
Tuesday 28th December 2010 Another packed day organised by Domi and Chris. Today we headed to the Botanical Gardens and opted for a stroll through the rain forest section which was cooler due to the protection of the tall canopy. Surrounded by humungous plants, a fine mist filled the air, all adding to
the ambiance.
After a wonderful picnic of crusty bread, cheeses, cold meats, salad, cous cous and an array of fruits prepared by the wonderful Chris and Domi, we took everyone to the Zoo for Mabel’s first ever visit. Joanne got up close and personal with the Aussie animals, especially the emu and wallabies in an open roaming enclosure. Mabel was amazed when she saw a Giraffe – In fact Domi seemed pretty impressed too.
Domi and Chris left us after a few hours to sit down while we cheekily followed a group who had paid to feed the big cats, and caught lions and tigers in action on camera.
Wednesday 29th December 2010 We considered going for a run, but turns out we were too lazy, so we just chilled out around the house all day watching bad T.V. and playing with Mabel – Ah... Christmas!
While we chilled, Joanne copied our entire catalogue of photos and videos onto DVD’s to send home as a 3rd back up – you can’t be too careful with such precious memories – Chris even offered to keep everything backed up on his computer – so we’re well
and truly covered.
A couple of Chris and Domi’s friends popped over during the afternoon and we enjoyed wine, cheese and biscuits as a lovely send off.
Thursday 30th December 2010 Chris made a special run to the supermarket to get some raisin bread for the last breakfast – Richard couldn’t have been more pleased!
In town we posted our Christmas presents back to England as there was no room in our backpacks, then said our tearful goodbyes after such a wonderful week with great friends... we especially miss Mabel and hope we can repay their hospitality soon.
Travel to Sydney was much smoother than the trip in reverse and as luck would have it Dave (Joanne’s relative) was at a meeting in the city late so he picked us up from the bus station saving us a train and bus to his house.
Seafood dinner at a local pub was just the treat and we chatted with Dave all night catching up as it was 10 years since Joanne saw him the last time she travelled in Australia.
Advertisement
Tot: 0.221s; Tpl: 0.011s; cc: 10; qc: 55; dbt: 0.1449s; 1; m:domysql w:travelblog (10.17.0.13); sld: 1;
; mem: 1.1mb
Mark
non-member comment
What a wonderful way
to spend Xmas with old friends!