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Published: February 22nd 2009
(N) We went to a carol concert in Auckland’s Town Hall, with all the usual favourites, the only twist being that instead of huddling to keep warm we were using the programmes as fans to keep cool. This time last year, in 2007, it was also a hot Christmas for us on the Thai island of Koh Lanta, but the music then was completely different, being a mix of cheesy Christmas pop and an infrequent ‘call to prayer’ from mosques, many of the island’s inhabitants being Muslim. Paula’s friend Charlotte from school was over to visit New Zealand, it was great to see her, she was with us for the carols after a quick Japanese meal out.
The weather in Auckland is still great, no place for a coffee better than on the waterfront, which is where we went on Saturday afternoon. The next day we had friends Peter and Sharon from church for lunch.
Another Saturday afternoon, while Paula was busy in town, I went off to a local’s favourite beach,
Piha, about 45 mins from Auckland with some of the guys from work. What is great about the place is that it hasn’t been developed, it’s just
Nick enjoys the Saturday sunshine
Auckland Harbour (before Christmas)a wide stretch of black-ish sand with great waves. We took some food and beer and lazed around for a few hours.
It was a busy time at work with the company keen to hit its target, so all of us at head office were assigned a couple of supermarkets to visit a couple of times till the end of the year, to make sure that products are actually on shelf and not left out at the back! All the effort was worth it, the final figure for the year was a record.
(P) The
ASB Securities Christmas Party was held in the renowned Japanese restaurant
Soto: for starters was an energetic display of Japanese
taiko drumming (not your average English Christmas entertainment!) and in place of turkey and all the trimmings was sushi and teriyaki-marinated chicken - suited me fine. Not sure what Nick would have made of it.
Before flying off to Australia on December 20th, we gave
Louise a call in England to wish
her and Pete well on their
Wedding Day and wished we could transport ourselves back there - even if just for a few hours - to join in the celebrations.
Christmas Displays in Brisbane
Outside the former Treasury...now the Casino! In reality, a 3-hour flight whisked us off to
Brisbane in the land of Oz. We flew with Emirates: the in-flight magazines were very much aimed at the loaded frequent traveller to the Middle East: one publication entitled ‘The Emirates High Street’ even had (serious) adverts and (very serious) prices for products from the ‘usual’ Mont Blanc pens and Swarovski-encrusted memory sticks to the perhaps less common in-flight purchases of a Luxury Yacht ($450,000) and a 1957 Mercedes Benz SL190 (only $95,000) - we were almost tempted.
The hostel where we stayed in Brisbane (
Bunk) was a stone’s throw from Chinatown and two stones’ throw from a cluster of bars that spilled out onto the streets in the balmy evenings. On our first night we dressed up ever so slightly for the evening…but alas, we were turned away from a club because Nick was deemed “too smart” for having a proper shirt on and not wearing trainers! It seems that particular place wanted to distinguish itself from the majority of other bars whose plaques outside clearly stated things to the effect of “no scruffs and no riff-raff”. ‘Bank’ bar however (where we ended up) played music almost as
Nick at Brisbane Museum of Modern Art
This is supposed to represent a view of New Zealand - the north island is the (political and cultural) heavyweight; the south has more natural beauty. good as at a Grey college bop from our Uni days!
I braved a jog along the riverfront on our first morning and saw market stalls setting up on my right and the sun glistening on the water. The sun’s rays were so strong even at that time of the morning that I opted for the cooler tree-lined paths back to base. For brunch we arranged to meet at the recommended
Gunshop Café with Taco, a Japanese friend we made whilst travelling in Vietnam a year-ish ago. The food was hearty and delicious, Nick opting for a Croque Monsieur and I for rye bread topped with Vodka Trout (well, it was almost lunchtime). Afterward, we walked along the
South Bank of the curvy river passing a Nepalese Pagoda and the star attraction, a mini-beach - well, an outdoor swimming pool with sand on the edge - which was a brilliant place to relax and cool down. Crossing back over the river, we continued past mangroves into the
Botanic Gardens - a pleasant contrast to the heated concrete of the commercial high-rises [The greenery was proof that it must rain
sometimes but posters back at our hostel warned us that
Gold Coast map
Yes, it's all the coast! Taco and Paula there the state of Queensland was experiencing a Level 5 drought so shower time was to be MAXIMUM 4 minutes(!)].
By this time we were very ready for a pit-stop during which we learned the difference between a cappuccino (rounded frothy top sprinkled with chocolate) and a
flat-white coffee (flatter top, milkier). Our walk then took us through shoppers’
Queen Street, no weather to even consider long sleeves but undeterred carol singers donning furry Santa hats belted out the favourites whilst standing on a giant tiered Christmas tree. Understandably, al-fresco dining is a big thing here and we noticed the irony of Christmas songs and Santa outfits in this climate more so than last Christmas in Thailand (where as mentioned the music we heard wafting about town was either dance party grooves, pop or the Muslim call to prayer). After a spot of culture at the
Museum of Modern Art we rounded up at Chinatown for dinner and rested our weary legs.
We had a fairly early start the next day for a day-trip to
Surfers’ Paradise on the
Gold Coast. Despite the long stretch of beach, most sun-worshippers were clustered in an area about 100 metres wide
and swam within the same limits, closely overseen by a Baywatch-type Aussie dude. Fortunately we found a space to pitch up camp in the shade of one of the few trees and avoided a guaranteed frazzling on the open sand. Braving the waters, we understood soon enough why the swimming area was so narrow - the undercurrent was so strong that you were swept several metres along the beach with every wave, but it was great fun catching and riding on them back to shore. As the sun went down, we were drawn in by the Irish pub sign of a leprechaun clutching his surfboard, and partook of beer and stew as an Irish take on the ever-popular Aussie meal of pie ‘n’ beer.
Having fuelled up with brunch we set off on a (nother!) walking tour of Brisbane city. It took in
St. Stephen’s Cathedral (where we went for a Christmas day service), the City Hall’s Clock Tower,
Post Office Square (more picturesque than you might imagine),
Anzac Square with an eternal flame and the nearby
Shrine of Remembrance. The grand old Treasury building now houses the Casino - I guess the only business with ample cash to
Christmas Day Group Photo
At the Thompson's house, Brisbane maintain such a site these days… We ferried to the suburb of
Bulimba to hunt down a recommended colonial-style tea shop; we settled on afternoon tea then headed back to base to meet The Family. It was great that we could all meet there, Huw, Georgie and Ben (Nick’s Dad, Mum and brother) were over from Blighty and Alex & Cevan (Nick’s sister and hub) came up from Sydney. The consensus was to spend Christmas Eve in Surfers’ Paradise so off we went again and spent the day, feeling far from Christmassy but having a whale (‘scuse the pun) of a time.
Tradition was not entirely bypassed as Cevan had arranged the DVD so we could gather round that night to watch
The Snowman &
The Night Before Christmas, a Rowlands Christmas staple.
On
Christmas Day morning we gathered to exchange presents over a glass of bubbly (courtesy of Georgie), Nick and I holding back slightly before heading to church! We all descended upon Cevan’s family home not far from the city and whiled away the day sitting outside eating, drinking and being merry, some playing footy in the huge garden and dipping in the pool.
Boxing Day was yet another scorcher and consisted of a jog, braving the sales in town then recovering over afternoon drinks on the South Bank, finishing with a gig at the
Brisbane Jazz Club overlooking the river .
On our last day in the area we drove to
Steve Irwin’s Australia Zoo and so did everyone else, judging by the traffic we fought through to get there (You could sense the vastness of Australia when road signs quoted “Sydney 1600km” and I must point out that the road we took was seriously called “Bruce Highway”). We saw a great variety of animals including koalas, kangaroos, crocs, snakes, wombats, dingos, elephants, emu, Tazmanian Devils (black with red pointy ears), kookaburras and one very rare Komodo dragon (“Crikey!”)
On the 28th, we travelled from Brisbane to Sydney not by plane like the rest of the family, but via an epic
16-hour train journey, crossing one time-zone as we did so. The whole reason for doing this, and actually paying more than a plane ticket for the privilege, was for the expected views along the coast out to the Pacific Ocean. At least, that was the idea. But even a cursory glance at
What you lookin' at?
Kangaroo taking five, Australia Zoo the railroute on a map would have shown that all except a few miles of this journey takes place at least 10 miles inland, and no matter how good your eyesight you would not have been able to contemplate the deep blue. Nevertheless, it was a very pleasant surprise that the landscape was not parched, but very green with cows and horses grazing on farmland not unlike home.
Our first port of call in Sydney’s suburbs was at the home of Ray, Nick’s school friend. He, along with his wife Yolanda and daughter Laura (1) made us very welcome. Our stay included a drive to (and sampling among) various wineries in the
Hunter Valley, watching
Play School and at dinnertime fulfilling Nick’s ambition to throw a shrimp on the barbie.
From our base in the city, The Dunkirk pub, we could easily walk to Alex and Cevan’s flat and to the major sights: Darling Harbour, the Opera House, ‘The Rocks’ part of town. We spent New Year’s Eve on a cruise around Sydney Harbour. The whole experience - the boat, the food & drink and not forgetting the views - was amaaaazing! We caught sunset over the Harbour
Bridge and Sydney Opera House and our boat was part of the light and firework display in the harbour as 2009 arrived.
*****
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