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Published: September 17th 2006
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Brisbane from afar.
The view of the city from the top of the hill where my Aunty Maureen lives. Well hello and apologies for the delay in diarying, but we've been on the move fairly rapidly and changed our plans endlessly! We left Brisbane after a lovely few days with my Aunty and family during which it started to rain with some pretty heavy downpours - we were just getting used to pouring the washing up water on the garden as well! Brisbane and surrounds were seriously in need of water so we couldn't begrudge them a single drop. We headed to the Gold Coast, Australias answer to Blackpool , and stayed in a hotel for 3 nights in the middle of Surfers Paradise. Unfortunately we hadn't realised it would be so noisy and what with groups of paraletic party animals staggering home making a racket, stag/hen/birthday parties and the motor bike gangs roaring through it didn't make for much sleep!! Still, we had a good time and took Kiera to Dreamworld theme park where she got to go to Wiggles World - Yippee!!! We also got to go inside the Australian Big Brother House (how sad are we??) but it was actually really interesting to see how they film it etc. Definately not an ounce of privacy even in
Cousins!
Tayla, Nikki and Lachlan ready for school. the toilet or shower.....
In between the rain storms we also wandered around Surfers, looked at the spectacular beaches and had not too bad a time. The highlight was meeting up with Steve, Susan and Megan Reid who Rik worked with at Odiham and another Armourer who took redundancy and ran! Unfortunately things have not worked out with their immigration but they seem to be having a good time anyway and we had a great meal and a few drinks at the Hard Rock Cafe. We then headed south down to Tweeds Head which is the border of Queensland and New South Wales and spent the next few days hopping down the coast ever further south. The coastal beaches were all now surf beaches with amazing waves but as neither of us surf and the currents or 'rips' are strong, we haven't ventured in. Mind you, this far south we now have sharks to contend with in the water so by the time you've read all about the dangers of those, the currents carrying you out and how you might kill yourself smacking your head on a surf board, it doesn't instill much confidence! Anyway, last weekend was a bit
of a turning point because we realised we were bored with the coast. What an awful thing to say in a place like Australia, but I think we are so full of images we are becoming complacent. We were supposed to be spending the next 3 weeks driving to Sydney but with the rain and nothing that we wanted to see, we completely changed our plans!
With a brief overnight stop on the way at Port McQuarie (a lovely place) we drove to Sydney and booked into the Mercure Sydney Hotel right in the heart of the city. Another fabulous deal from Accor for around 40 pounds a night. It was in a great location complete with pool and gym, so if you ever come to Sydney, I would highly recommend it. We started out Wednesday morning doing a circuit of the Monorail which isn't vast, but you get some good views and its goes over Darling Harbour which is nice. It was then into the Powerhouse Museum, a design and technology museum which was fantastic value for precious little money. They had some amazing designs from jewellery to furniture and Kiera was enthralled; funnily enough she now wants to
The Gold Coast
Having a spot of lunch! be a Designer! They also had great exhibits on Space including a mock up shuttle, all forms of transport and I suppose anything else you could think of. One of the staff told us where we could go to a machine to get free chocolate so we hot footed it down there, pushing school kids out the way as we went. I have never been SO DISAPPOINTED IN MY LIFE!!! We stood for about 15 minutes listening and watching the film about how chocolate is made, where it comes from etc to finally get 4 tiny droplets of chocolate....... Like Rik said we would have been better off buying a Mars Bar from the machine. Anyway, I learnt a valuable lesson!! After lunch in the food court at fabulous Paddy's Market, we then walked through Darling Harbour , spent some time enjoying the scenery and ambience and then Rik & Kiera went to the Aquarium which was spectacular by all accounts. I am a bit aquariumed out so decided to sit and have a coffee and read the extortionately priced International Express instead. After a long day, it was a swim and room service when we got back.
Thursday saw
Early Morning
Rik in pensive mood us visiting the Opera House, which we were both a bit disappointed in close up, although the views from afar are amazing and we then wandered around The Rocks, an area across the other side of the harbour inlet which used to be a place of ill repute and much debauchery apparently! Not much evidence of it now, but we stumbled across the Westpac Bank Museum which was really good and had lunch in a nice little bistro. After lunch we walked across the Harbour Bridge for the amazing views and obiligatory photos and then went to the Observatory on the recommendation of Rachel, one of Riks sisters. What a fab afternoon, even though none of us are bidding astronomers, and we got to see some 3D films in the theatre on travelling to Mars and the planet system. The highlight was then all of us being able to look at the Sun through a hugh telescope and actually see the flames on it! The astronomer suggested that on return to the UK we get Kiera into a science club as she asked so many questions - he didn't know she is just incredibly nosey, but it is something we
Port McQuarie
A lovely place, bit rainy though. will think about.
Friday then saw us take the ferry to Manly which was lovely. We did a little bit of walking around the headland and had lunch before heading back over to Sydney city and a wander round Paddys Markets. Incredibly cheap and tacky, but a good laugh.
Yesterday was back into the camper and up into the Blue Mountains and a place called Katoomba. The drive into the mountains along the highway was uneventful as the road is a big concrete mess and any views are obscured. Katoomba itself is nice with some absolutely amazing views of the mountain ranges. Unfortunately my video camera soundtrack will just be millions of Japanese jabbering away as the place was packed with them - wonder if they are all on the aussie equivalent of a Sun holiday?? Rik and Kiera went on the Skywalk which is basically just a huge cable car with a glass bottomed floor traversing the valley! Mandy, I couldn't bring myself to do it........
We then headed out and are now in a place called Bathurst for a couple of days, which is the oldest inland settlement in New South Wales. It was gold mining country around
That Bridge!
Family photo with the famous bridge. here and there is still lots of evidence of the old pioneers. The streets are very pretty with wide road and ornate buildings.
Anyway, I have gone on long enough now. We were supposed to be going along the coast to Melbourne, but have now decided to go inland to Canberra, across country to Adelaide and then down the Great Ocean Road to Melbourne. We then get to visit every state!!
Pauly at Greenline: any info on Adelaide gratefully received.
Take care all of you, thanks for your messages and emails and will write again soon.
Lots of Love the Cannons xxxx
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Sam England
non-member comment
Hi there!
Hello the Cannons! Glad to hear that you are all well and still enjoying your trip. It is always exciting to get your travel blogs and photos. We are fine here, I am part-time now and enjoying every minute with Lucy. Shane is well and life is just bubbling along merrily for us thankfully. Thank you so much for your post cards. Very nice of you to think of us when you're so far away. Take care all of you. Love to Kiera and Rik. Sam Shane and Lucy xxx