Blogs from Canberra, Australian Capital Territory, Australia, Oceania - page 8

Well, we are finally home, and have hit the ground running. We have decided that rent is too expensive in Canberra so have settled in to live with Mum until we can find a house to buy. Please all keep your fingers crossed for us - we hope that we have found one and will be putting in an offer during the week :) Now, I need to apologise, as there were two quite special occasions on our traveling adventure that I ommitted to include in the travel blogs... Llandudno, Wales and Antwerp, Belgium. It was just after we had left Ali and Jan in Stratford upon Avon that Joel and I continued on our road trip up to the beach town of Llandudno in north Wales. It was beautiful, the sun had decided to come ... read more

Wednesday 26th October started very cloudy but at least it wasn’t raining. We had an evening engagement with Caroline and Andy of Kangaroojack fame to look forward to but the rest of the day was so far un-scheduled. We strolled into Yass dressed in our anoraks – not because it looked like rain but because it was so cold! Yass is a nice town so it was a pleasant stroll and it gave me the chance to buy a few bits and pieces. We bought a national newspaper with a splendid picture on the front of the Queen receiving flowers and gifts at The War Memorial yesterday. Frustratingly, as with the many TV news reports we’ve watched, we must have been “in shot” but we couldn’t make ourselves out. It would have been great to be ... read more

As we got two extra days in Australia we decided to go down to Canberra and visit Tim and Alison and their son Toby. We met Mr and Mrs Aust in London through ice-hockey, and we haven’t seen them for 6 years. We started our stay in Australia by losing Per’s wallet… and it is still lost . Anyway we drove straight down from Sydney to Canberra and arrived just after lunch time and had a great lunch. After a shower and washing some cloths we went out for dinner at a sailing club. We had dinner looking out over one of Canberra’s man-made lakes. I have always wondered why Canberra is the capital of Australia and not Sydney or Melbourne. Alison explained that in the 1920s Canberra became Australia’s capital city and the reason for ... read more

Second Stage It was Friday, I had booked the day off, and again I was up before my alarm. I dosed from 03.30am and eventually slid out of bed at 04.00, as I needed to be away, nice and early. I had promised Caroline that I would make her a cup of tea before I left, though she declined the offer. Today I was driving down to Bega, as the second stage of the truck was finished and was ready to collect. I also had last Friday off, and did the same thing, but the box was still in manufacture and wa nearing the powder coating stage, Peter Moore of Carragher Steel, invited me down to have a look at the box, before the final stage, as things could be adjusted, before the powder coating, just ... read more

We've now made it to Blackpool, where I used to live 25 years ago, it now seems so small but I suppose I was younger/smaller then! It was fantastic meeting up with Katherine and Bryan and we had a walk down to the sea front last night and a wonderful dinner out, checking out the sights and the illuminations, certainly a blast from the past for me and good to show Ged where I used to live! Still trying to work out how to upload some photos and having some difficulties but will keep trying. Spoke to Mum and Dad on our night out last night while we were travelling along the prom on a tram, Dad used to work on the trams, but we were a bit disapointed that by the time we got on ... read more