Australia

So I guess this was our return to civilization the land of the white folk, where we could understand the native speak and drive on the right side of the road (that of course being the left)

Given that the slightly knobby geezer in STA travel had given us super bozzy flights we were forced to change them and in the course of doing so we gave ourselves an overnight in Perth. Now in retrospect this may have caused us a great deal of budgetary concern in the months that followed as the only reasonable accommodation that we found on the web was a backpackers type place. We had avoided this up until now as the hotels everywhere had been more than reasonable.

The place according to Shabana´s looked more like a homeless shelter. The room had 2 bunk beds in and smelled of unwashed people. Not a good sign. The next day was even worse as i went to look at the free breakfast and was confronted with a whole bunch of people that were walking around with transparent bags that contained a plate, bowl and cutlery, it was like a shelter. I guess being in your 30´s gives you a slightly different tolerance for budget traveling.

Still we went out in search of food as per, and it being a Friday night we were soon awash with pissed up teens wearing next to nothing. Were were back in the 1st world with out a doubt. We did enjoy our dinner though, a far cry from the spice and exotic of the far east. Fresh chips, olives, nice bread and lamb.

The next morning we headed out to Cottesloe beach just to have a quick look before having to board our plane to Melbourne. The sun was shining and the beach was a long line of golden sand, the water a deep blue. Something that we saw many times in our trip. Freezy cold though but the aussies are made of stern stuff so it didn't stop them from surfing away. We stopped for fish and chips our first taste in the battle between Australia, New Zealand and the motherland.

The fish we had was a yellowfin whiting, 4 small fillets and a light, crispy and virtually unheard of back home, a seasoned and tasty batter. It was awesome! The chips however throughout the rest of our time in Aus and NZ were McCains frozen chips. After such nice fish it was a tragedy.

We scarpered back to grab our bags and head to the airport where we encountered the first of our Quantas experiences. Before now I had thought that Quantas had a good rep, man how wrong i was.

Our flight was cancelled and we had to be put in a hotel for 7 hours while we waited for another flight, if it wasn´t for me arguing with the ground staff we would of been on a flight to Sydney at midnight and then have to change planes to go back to Melbourne at like 6 in the morning, as it was we got a direct flight about 11.30pm.

We arrived dazed and confused and managed to get a few hours sleep before going to investigate the city. The weather according to Shabana was freezing, in actuality it was about 15 degrees which to her is. So we spent time looking for warm clothes and wandering the city. We did stop in the Greek area of town for a kebab. Now this was not like Friday night in Walthamstow. This was probably the best kebab in the world. Great chunks of tender lamb, chargrilled and served with salad, a great tzatiki and a fresh pitta bread that was more like a naan. It didn´t look like a big serving but it was enough to fill me up and Shabana forced herself to finish 3/4s before admitting defeat but she was no way leaving it unfinished so she wrapped it up in the napkins and put it in her pocket to finish later.

The next day we were off to see her Uncle and Aunt that lived further out of Melbourne and to meet her 3 cousins for the first time. I didn´t put any of their pictures here but we had a great time over the next 5 days and we were sorry to leave them all. We did go and see a stretch of the Great Ocean Road and enjoy some more fish and chips (not as nice as Perth) with Uncle Brian a long time family friend which was also a great sight. The road was cut by the out of work soldiers that had come back from WWII without jobs and carving out that road was the work of champions without the modern tools of today.

Another minor delay on the short flight to Sydney and then we were there. Shabana´s take on it was that it is just another city, you could look at the shops and the people and be almost anywhere in the world. We walked down through the city and arrived at the bay looking at the Opera House and Harbour Bridge and all of a sudden you couldn´t be anywhere else in the world. It is truly an awesome building and in the evening sunshine it takes on a totally different colour than the stark white you often see.
Its been a while since i saw the photos as i am way behind on these blogs but there were loads and loads of people that did the bridge climb and walk along the top, but at $100 and more it was too expensive for us to consider.

The next day we went to the zoo, and saw loads of the iconic Australian animals unfortunately we went in the lower entrance and by the top we got to the top we had missed our opportunity to have a photo taken with the Koalas. There were also awesome views of the city back across the harbour from the zoo.

We stayed with a old family friend of Shabana's dad overnight and had a much needed authentic Fiji Crab curry as well as some life saving Dahl cooked by Bimla, this was the first of many curry requests Shabana managed to get in as we met Fijians and family in NZ, Hawaii and America.

The next day we hired a car and headed north up the coast to see where we could get to, apparently not as far as I thought and we ended up in Pacific Palms, where we found a cabin/caravan park and had our first Aussie Barbie complete with sausages although we didn't get any shrimp :( . The water on the coast was as cold as it was in Western Australia but that still didn't stop the beaches looking amazing. We hung out there for a few days not doing too much before heading back south and the wine area.

With the weather sunny and bright we entered the Hunter Valley area, and stopped at the extremely useful information centre which not only gives you info on all the stuff you can do and see in the area but also special rates on the places that are not booked up. We stayed in an actually working winery and got a free tour and some tastings. The countryside was like being in France, rolling hills, little lakes and ponds and grapes and cellars everywhere you looked. Australian wine is also by the by very drinkable and we did partake of a tipple or too. With time so short we were forced to quickly visit both the cheese factory and the olive place where somehow we managed to get completely stuffed on free samples. It's a shame we had to go because it would have been so nice just to get some picnic stuff and find a spot to just relax and let the Australian sun pass by.

We headed towards the Blue Mountains and on the way stopped at Featherdale Wildilfe Park to get a much closer look at the Koala bears and assorted other aussie animals. Now as you know Koalas are cute but seeing them up close was like seeing a bunch of tiny furry (like sheep's wool not fur), very sleepy old men. We also saw loads of wallabies one of which had a joey (baby) in her pouch which popped it's head out and had a look about once in a while. The funniest part was being scared witless as a giant emu managed to creep up behind us without us noticing and on turning around I was virtually face to face with a 6ft tall bird with a malevolent look in it's eyes, it took another step forwards and then turned on it's heel walking away. I'm sure i could hear it say "just cos i have the brain the size of a pea, doesn't mean i can't scare the shit out of you".

A few hours drive west of Syndey lies the Blue Mountains, winding roads and small towns, and great views into the valleys below. We stayed in Katoomba and visited Scenic World, the site of an old coal mine which now has cable car and an incredibly steep railway thing which plays the Indiana Jones theme tune as it drops like a stone down though a pitch black tunnel. They also have walkways through the rain forest going round the old mine workings which was a really nice afternoon stroll. We drove around the mountain road and saw the 3 sisters at Echo point and then drove back through Leura and had a tasty little Mediterranean lunch of sandwiches, spinach pie, olives, sun dried tomatoes and salami, we managed a quick stop in the famous little sweetshop and got a couple of goodies for the trip back to Sydney.

Our last day in Aus and we once again stayed with Bimla and family and went to see Bondi Beach. A huge half moon shaped bay stuffed to brim with eateries, surf shops and hundreds of people. It would be cool to have a beach so close to home but can you imagine half of London trying to get on it as soon as the sun started shining. We stopped by Bill Grangers for a spot of weekend brunch and his ricotta hotcakes with honeycomb butter were light and delicious.

So in the mad dash across Australia we missed Uluru and the Great Barrier Reef, but with so little time and so much to see elsewhere it will have to wait for another day before we can see those icons.

Australia was currently winning the fish v fish battle but was a distant second on the chip front.
Let's see what New Zealand was going to show us. Bring it on Kiwis.

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