Today's our last day in Sydney, and our last day in Australia too. It's sad.
We've been here now for almost nine months. Blimey. Strange to think back to a night in February 2002, when Anne first suggested we abandon our plans to work in the US and go travelling instead. We were having a Valentine's meal in Tiger Tiger in Haymarket, London. We were pretty drunk. I don't think Anne really thought it through. All the wine I'd imbibed had put me in a good mood and I jumped on Anne's suggestion with enthusiasm. The next morning Anne woke up thinking, "What have I done? There goes our savings! Get me an Alka-Seltzer." Meanwhile I was busy mastering my boomerang technique. And drinking an Alka-Seltzer.
There's a lot to like about Australia, and we'll miss it. We had a great night last night returning to our local pub quiz. Along with our friend Richard we teamed up with Sim, a manager of the pub against whom we used to play every week. We won the quiz, for old times' sake, thanks largely to Sim knowing the terms for the "going" in horse racing (they're different than the UK ones).
Strange to think of all those things that we'd not heard of, or rarely heard about, before we arrived yet have been unable to avoid for the last nine months:
Phar Lap, Bodyline Cricket, Tim Tams (mmmm), "Shows", Gondwanaland, AFL, John Howard, The Movie Show on SBS (I'll miss it so), The Sydney Morning Herald, Sunrise breakfast show, terrible Aussie TV, Rose Byrne, extremely harsh immigration policies and unfair treatment of refugees, Ernie Dingo, The Age, John Farnham, Delta Goodrem (and Delta Goodrum), Tim Tams (did I mention those already?), Jimoin(!), bad bad Aussie sketch shows, Kath & Kim, CNNNN, small goods, Rene Rivkin, Manchester (meaning bedding and towels).
All these things we're leaving behind. Still, at least we'll probably never know which of Shannon, Cosima and Guy will become the first Australian Idol.
The story:
Stephen and Anne, both in their late twenties, quit their jobs and left London. They took a year off. They first travelled to Australia, with a week in Tokyo on the way. After living and working in Sydney for three months they toured Australia for five months. They then spent two months exploring New Zealand using rental cars. They ended the year with two weeks of sun in Fiji, and a short jaunt in LA and San Fran. They then returned home, to a new life!
Friday, October 31, 2003
Thursday, October 30, 2003
Anne and Stephen's Big Junkie Adventure
Yesterday, whilst walking into town via Kings Cross (the dodgy red light area), we came across a man who collapsed in front of us. Two English girls were there too, and another man called an ambulence. We tried to help him and get him into the recovery position, but our efforts were hampered a little by him having a syringe in his hand and us not fancying getting stabbed by it. The two English girls were great and when he started to come round they tried to get him talking. He'd turned blue!
Eventually an ambulence came and removed him. It was all a bit horrible. Anne and I went for a (cheap) Italian meal in Kings Cross in the evening and saw the same guy sleeping it off on a bench.
Probably a side of Sydney we'd rather not see, but then we can only afford to live in areas where that sort of thing's rife.
Moral: Don't do drugs kids.
Eventually an ambulence came and removed him. It was all a bit horrible. Anne and I went for a (cheap) Italian meal in Kings Cross in the evening and saw the same guy sleeping it off on a bench.
Probably a side of Sydney we'd rather not see, but then we can only afford to live in areas where that sort of thing's rife.
Moral: Don't do drugs kids.
A carpenter shows the way
I'm in a bad mood this morning. Anne mentioned the other day that my bed keeps collapsing, and it's been happening more and more. It disturbed my sleep a lot last night, and the lady who runs the place didn't care when I complained.
I ended up finding a hammer and nails in the laundry and having a go at repairing it myself. It was a little strange doing DIY in a rented room like that, but I think (I hope) I've done the job.
And Anne complains i never make my bed.
Anne and I were goin to go to the Modern Art Gallery this morning, before going swimming after lunch. I suggested she go to the gallery on her own, as I was ratty and I'm not good at looking at Modern Art without snorting with disgust at the best of times.
I ended up finding a hammer and nails in the laundry and having a go at repairing it myself. It was a little strange doing DIY in a rented room like that, but I think (I hope) I've done the job.
And Anne complains i never make my bed.
Anne and I were goin to go to the Modern Art Gallery this morning, before going swimming after lunch. I suggested she go to the gallery on her own, as I was ratty and I'm not good at looking at Modern Art without snorting with disgust at the best of times.
Wednesday, October 29, 2003
Anne and Stephen's big Christmas Card competition
Lots and lots of people have emailed asking for an address to which they can send us a Christmas card. Well, for the benefit of both of them here's where to send your cards:
Anne Glazier and Stephen Kent-Taylor
(Guests arriving 24 December 03)
On The Beach Backpackers Lodge
46 Buffalo Beach Road
Whitianga
New Zealand
It's important that you put the date we'll be arriving.
Please - no large expensive gifts, since we'll only have to carry them!
So come on - send us a Christmas card. There'll be a prize for the best one. Maybe. As you may be able to tell from the address, we'll be staying rather near a beach. That'll be an odd Christmas.
Anne Glazier and Stephen Kent-Taylor
(Guests arriving 24 December 03)
On The Beach Backpackers Lodge
46 Buffalo Beach Road
Whitianga
New Zealand
It's important that you put the date we'll be arriving.
Please - no large expensive gifts, since we'll only have to carry them!
So come on - send us a Christmas card. There'll be a prize for the best one. Maybe. As you may be able to tell from the address, we'll be staying rather near a beach. That'll be an odd Christmas.
The land in which time lags by twenty years
Anne and I have noticed that a lot of things in Australia are a bit backwards. The West Australians seem to be the most backwards, and seem proud of the fact - resenting the rest of Australia for being so advanced, and resenting the federal taxes they pay. (That said, we didn't go to Tassie, which may be even more backwards!)
Oz is certainly 20 years behind the UK in Government, since they seem to have an imitation Thatcher Government here. Having said that, John Howard doesn't have the strong personality of Margaret Thatcher - he's a bit of a non-entity. The "Liberal" government got in in 1996 mainly, it seems, due to its strong stance on immigration - a hot topic here. At the time, Pauline Hanson's One Nation party was polarising opinion here, and Howard capitaised on that.
Despite many Aussies being open minded, intelligent and very friendly, society as a whole seems to be quite racist, and many Aussies resent non-white immigrants. The "White Australia" policy is no more, but its spirit lives on.
The Aboriginal issue is a difficult one. When asked, most Aussies will tell you that the Aboriginals have been hard done by and have suffered greatly. However, in day to day life they're seen as a problem. Many Aboriginals are begging on the street, drunk and in the paper for crime and domestic violence. It's a horrible state of affairs - the race seems to have been almost destroyed by the policies of 150 years of European governments. There's a crisis for parents who have no knowledge of how to deal with kids because they themselves were removed from their parents as kids. Most Aboriginals aren't violent, swearing drunks, of course, but it's the minority who are visible. There are plenty of campaigning Aboriginals who are trying to implement solutions and reduce the crime rates. It gets more and more depressing to read about - there are Aboriginal kids suffering from diseases which only exist in third world countries, and should be easily curable. The life expectancy of an Aboriginal is well below that of a non-Aboriginal in Australia.
Political correctness seems to be lagging a bit here too. An Aboriginal campaigner recently succeeded in getting the word "Ni**er" removed from the name of two creeks here. This is 2003!! Can you believe it's taken this long? And that it's taken a campaign?? The same guy has been trying to get the name of a brand of cheese change from "Coon"! He's failed so far, and a newspaper article I read said his campaign was "political correctness gone mad". This country is bizarre. Anne and I are constantly shocked to see this cheese in the supermarket. (Admittedly, Coon was the surname of the guy who started the company, but I can't imagine that this would be allowed to continue in the UK.)
Greeks are called "Wogs" here. It seems to be an affectionate term, and the Greeks don't seem to mind. That took us a while to get used to.
All that said, I haven't heard about race riots here, which we have in the UK every now and then.
Oz is certainly 20 years behind the UK in Government, since they seem to have an imitation Thatcher Government here. Having said that, John Howard doesn't have the strong personality of Margaret Thatcher - he's a bit of a non-entity. The "Liberal" government got in in 1996 mainly, it seems, due to its strong stance on immigration - a hot topic here. At the time, Pauline Hanson's One Nation party was polarising opinion here, and Howard capitaised on that.
Despite many Aussies being open minded, intelligent and very friendly, society as a whole seems to be quite racist, and many Aussies resent non-white immigrants. The "White Australia" policy is no more, but its spirit lives on.
The Aboriginal issue is a difficult one. When asked, most Aussies will tell you that the Aboriginals have been hard done by and have suffered greatly. However, in day to day life they're seen as a problem. Many Aboriginals are begging on the street, drunk and in the paper for crime and domestic violence. It's a horrible state of affairs - the race seems to have been almost destroyed by the policies of 150 years of European governments. There's a crisis for parents who have no knowledge of how to deal with kids because they themselves were removed from their parents as kids. Most Aboriginals aren't violent, swearing drunks, of course, but it's the minority who are visible. There are plenty of campaigning Aboriginals who are trying to implement solutions and reduce the crime rates. It gets more and more depressing to read about - there are Aboriginal kids suffering from diseases which only exist in third world countries, and should be easily curable. The life expectancy of an Aboriginal is well below that of a non-Aboriginal in Australia.
Political correctness seems to be lagging a bit here too. An Aboriginal campaigner recently succeeded in getting the word "Ni**er" removed from the name of two creeks here. This is 2003!! Can you believe it's taken this long? And that it's taken a campaign?? The same guy has been trying to get the name of a brand of cheese change from "Coon"! He's failed so far, and a newspaper article I read said his campaign was "political correctness gone mad". This country is bizarre. Anne and I are constantly shocked to see this cheese in the supermarket. (Admittedly, Coon was the surname of the guy who started the company, but I can't imagine that this would be allowed to continue in the UK.)
Greeks are called "Wogs" here. It seems to be an affectionate term, and the Greeks don't seem to mind. That took us a while to get used to.
All that said, I haven't heard about race riots here, which we have in the UK every now and then.
Monday, October 27, 2003
Yet more movies
In Manly we hired a second video - Chicago. This had won so many Oscars that we thought we'd give it a try. It was OK, but I reckon it was too much of a stage show still. It hardly seemed like it had been adapted for the screen. Most of the song and dance numbers took place with a black background and might as well have been on a stage. I suppose that's inevitable, since they were mostly due to the characters imagining they were on a stage. Didn't think much of the songs either. The cast were good though, and it was reasonably entertaining. Two and a half stars.
On Sunday we went to the flicks to see Intolerable Cruelty, the new Coen Brothers film. It was really good! It's the nearest the Coens have come to a mainstream film, but still had lots of Coen-quirks in it. Catherine Zeta-Jones was good as the gold-digging woman, but George Clooney was just excellent in every scene he was in. Four and a half stars!
On Sunday night we settled in front of the telly to watch Raiders of the Lost Ark (or, as Aussie TV called it, Indiana Jones Raiders of the Lost Ark - idiots). I don't really think this needs much of a review, as everyone knows it (five stars!) but I'll just say how sad I was to be watching it on a tiny screen with ads every 15 minutes when I know that everyone else in the world will be watching it on shiny new DVD with Dolby Digital 5.1 sound. Sob.
On Sunday we went to the flicks to see Intolerable Cruelty, the new Coen Brothers film. It was really good! It's the nearest the Coens have come to a mainstream film, but still had lots of Coen-quirks in it. Catherine Zeta-Jones was good as the gold-digging woman, but George Clooney was just excellent in every scene he was in. Four and a half stars!
On Sunday night we settled in front of the telly to watch Raiders of the Lost Ark (or, as Aussie TV called it, Indiana Jones Raiders of the Lost Ark - idiots). I don't really think this needs much of a review, as everyone knows it (five stars!) but I'll just say how sad I was to be watching it on a tiny screen with ads every 15 minutes when I know that everyone else in the world will be watching it on shiny new DVD with Dolby Digital 5.1 sound. Sob.
Saturday, October 25, 2003
More photos
I've uploaded some more photos to the end of Big Adventure Photos 5. Annoyingly I've deleted a good photo from the PC I'm using. The lizard we saw on Mount Ainslie (of which there's one photo in the album) fanned out its neck and growled at us. I got over-excited and deleted that photo. And the recycle bin's been disabled on this PC. Grrr! I still have the photo on my camera, so I'll have to upload it next time.
Still, there are some of Canberra, and those dastardly cicadas (which every Aussie we speak to tells us that they're harmless and kids play with them and look for rare-coloured ones).
Still, there are some of Canberra, and those dastardly cicadas (which every Aussie we speak to tells us that they're harmless and kids play with them and look for rare-coloured ones).
Friday, October 24, 2003
On to Bondi
Thursday morning was our last in Manly. I started off the day badly, by waking Anne from a dream about Noah Wyle (Dr Carter from TV's E.R.). She was annoyed with me, and made that clear.
Still, we soldiered on and packed up our stuff. We've got rather better at packing our rucksacks, which is just as well since I was very bad at it at the beginning of our travels. However, I'm having trouble again, since the nice weather means my massive trainers go in my bag, rather than my small thongs. No no - you misunderstand: in Australia they call sandals and flip-flops "thongs". Took us a bit of time to get used to that.
Once the rucksacks were packed we lugged them to the ferry, then caught a bus from Circular Quay to Bondi, passing many of our old haunts on the way. We'd booked two nights in Bondi as a final beach-adventure in Australia. We had rather more time than we'd planned on this last section, so had some time to kill. This was mainly because it turned out that there was very little to see between Melbourne and Sydney unless you have a car. (Have I said that already?) Still, it's nice to take things easy for a bit and spend some time in Sydney.
When we arrived and checked in to the hostel, I thought we'd made a mistake. Most of the travellers here are so young! The travellers aged between 18 and 22 seem to have made a beeline for Bondi rather than stay in the city and they annoyed me almost immediately. Also, the couple in the room next to us are very noisy, and the girl has a potty mouth.
Aussies think Bondi is not a very good beach, and rather tacky. It is very touristy, but is a beautiful beach and the town isn't that tacky compared to tacky British seaside resorts. On Thursday night we ventured out to a bar attached to a different hostel and entered the quiz there. Despite only having a team of two, when most of the teams consisted of seven or eight people, we came third. However, there were no prizes for third place. Not to worry though, since we won a jug of beer on a "Who Am I?" round (I guessed Victoria Beckham!) and won over $30 on a "True or False" round. Yay! Since the beers we'd drunk cost $23 in total we were up at the end of the night. We returned to the hostel happy, and listened to the couple next door to us humping.
This morning we walked an hour down the coast to Coogee beach. We'd done this walk before when we first arrived in Sydney, and wanted to do it again as the views are pretty spectacular. Once there, we baked ourselves on the beach for four hours. I bundled into the sea and played in some enormous waves. I was taken under a few times and tightened my trunks as a precaution after they were nearly lost once.
A blue thing, which I thought was seaweed, floated towards me at one point. A guy nearby saw it and shouted to me to watch out. "It's a bluebottle, mate", he said, "If it stings you it will hurt." I'd read about these jellyfish and I realised he wasn't kidding. I left the water sharpish. I returned to the water later, and there were loads of these jellyfish washed up on the shore. I played in the waves a bit, but my fear of immense pain hampered my enjoyment and I returned to my book before long.
After a good, cheap lunch in Coogee, Anne and I walked back to Bondi, tired from too much sun and a little exercise.
Still, we soldiered on and packed up our stuff. We've got rather better at packing our rucksacks, which is just as well since I was very bad at it at the beginning of our travels. However, I'm having trouble again, since the nice weather means my massive trainers go in my bag, rather than my small thongs. No no - you misunderstand: in Australia they call sandals and flip-flops "thongs". Took us a bit of time to get used to that.
Once the rucksacks were packed we lugged them to the ferry, then caught a bus from Circular Quay to Bondi, passing many of our old haunts on the way. We'd booked two nights in Bondi as a final beach-adventure in Australia. We had rather more time than we'd planned on this last section, so had some time to kill. This was mainly because it turned out that there was very little to see between Melbourne and Sydney unless you have a car. (Have I said that already?) Still, it's nice to take things easy for a bit and spend some time in Sydney.
When we arrived and checked in to the hostel, I thought we'd made a mistake. Most of the travellers here are so young! The travellers aged between 18 and 22 seem to have made a beeline for Bondi rather than stay in the city and they annoyed me almost immediately. Also, the couple in the room next to us are very noisy, and the girl has a potty mouth.
Aussies think Bondi is not a very good beach, and rather tacky. It is very touristy, but is a beautiful beach and the town isn't that tacky compared to tacky British seaside resorts. On Thursday night we ventured out to a bar attached to a different hostel and entered the quiz there. Despite only having a team of two, when most of the teams consisted of seven or eight people, we came third. However, there were no prizes for third place. Not to worry though, since we won a jug of beer on a "Who Am I?" round (I guessed Victoria Beckham!) and won over $30 on a "True or False" round. Yay! Since the beers we'd drunk cost $23 in total we were up at the end of the night. We returned to the hostel happy, and listened to the couple next door to us humping.
This morning we walked an hour down the coast to Coogee beach. We'd done this walk before when we first arrived in Sydney, and wanted to do it again as the views are pretty spectacular. Once there, we baked ourselves on the beach for four hours. I bundled into the sea and played in some enormous waves. I was taken under a few times and tightened my trunks as a precaution after they were nearly lost once.
A blue thing, which I thought was seaweed, floated towards me at one point. A guy nearby saw it and shouted to me to watch out. "It's a bluebottle, mate", he said, "If it stings you it will hurt." I'd read about these jellyfish and I realised he wasn't kidding. I left the water sharpish. I returned to the water later, and there were loads of these jellyfish washed up on the shore. I played in the waves a bit, but my fear of immense pain hampered my enjoyment and I returned to my book before long.
After a good, cheap lunch in Coogee, Anne and I walked back to Bondi, tired from too much sun and a little exercise.
Tuesday, October 21, 2003
Film fun
We watched two films in our luxurious Canberra apartment. Of course, these were on network TV, meaning they were littered with ads and lasted twice the time they ought.
The first I'd seen before, the all-star A Time To Kill. This is a long John Grisham adaptation and quite competent. It was odd, coming so soon after watching Rules of Engagement which also has Samuel L Jackson in court for murder (only to decide it was justified) . Three and a half stars.
Second was Nicholas Cage in The Family Man. This was Cage in his family-friendly mode. I'd thought that he might bring an edge to this soppy tale of a Yuppie loner shown what his life would be like if he'd married. He didn't really. It was a bit sickly. Two stars.
Shae and Drew have a video - yay! We hired and watched About Schmidt the other day. I missed this at the flicks and was pleased to finally see it. I have to say I found I was a bit distracted at the odd odd role Jack Nicholson plays. It's very different to his usual roles (most of the time) and I found myself being drawn out of the film occasionally with this thought. I liked it a lot though. It's a funny tale, though also quite sad. I can't remember if Nicholson was nominated for an Oscar for this - he should have been IMO. Four stars.
The first I'd seen before, the all-star A Time To Kill. This is a long John Grisham adaptation and quite competent. It was odd, coming so soon after watching Rules of Engagement which also has Samuel L Jackson in court for murder (only to decide it was justified) . Three and a half stars.
Second was Nicholas Cage in The Family Man. This was Cage in his family-friendly mode. I'd thought that he might bring an edge to this soppy tale of a Yuppie loner shown what his life would be like if he'd married. He didn't really. It was a bit sickly. Two stars.
Shae and Drew have a video - yay! We hired and watched About Schmidt the other day. I missed this at the flicks and was pleased to finally see it. I have to say I found I was a bit distracted at the odd odd role Jack Nicholson plays. It's very different to his usual roles (most of the time) and I found myself being drawn out of the film occasionally with this thought. I liked it a lot though. It's a funny tale, though also quite sad. I can't remember if Nicholson was nominated for an Oscar for this - he should have been IMO. Four stars.
Friday, October 17, 2003
Bundanoon fun
We left Canberra on Wednesday, after an enjoyable week. The city gets a bad press, and I think a lot of it is justified, but we saw some great stuff there and had a good apartment so we left happy. As a final reminder of just how backward the so-called city is, we caught a train from the only station: a tiny station from which three trains a day go to Sydney (usually) and no more trains go anywhere. At the moment there are only two trains a day. The city's there to impress visiting dignitaries, and what they want with decent public transport?
Whenever Anne tells me we're going to a place with a funny name, I make up a similar sounding funny name which I then proceed to call it. This amuses Anne no end, and she demonstrates her amusement by gritting her teeth and rolling her eyes. Occasionally she says just breaks down in tears. What fun. Anyway, when we decided we were going to stop at Bundanoon for a couple of nights between Canberra and Sydney it didn't take much imagination for me to dub it Brigadoon. I'm so funny.
For those of you who aren't big fans of Scotch Mythology or Gene Kelley musicals, Brigadoon is a legendary Scotch town which only appears for one day every 100 years.
So, imagine our glee when we got off the train after two hours to be greeted by a sign declaring: Bundanoon is Brigadoon. They have a Brigadoon festival there each year! See here for more info!
Ready Brek Glen
After dark on Wednesday evening, Anne and I grabbed our torch and trekked out to Glow Worm Glen. It was a frightening walk through the forests of Moreton National Park, but we were brave. We reached the end of the track and saw the rocks around us alight with glowing glow worms. It was quite a sight, and we were both very impressed.
On the way back we saw two possums, but also some horrid insects on a tree. We thought they were cockroaches. Yuk!
When insects attack!
On Thursday we were up early for a trek through the park. The first part of the walk was the track to Glow Worm Glen. We were glad we didn't walk there in the day first, as if we had we probably wouldn't have gone after dark. Everywhere we looked there were these roach-like things we'd seen the night before. They were hanging from every tree. We soon realised they weren't alive - they were just empty shells. Each of the shells had a hole in its back - something had clearly emerged from said shell. There were lots of small holes in the ground too. These roach-like things had clearly left the ground, climbed the trees, and let loose!
It wasn't long before we discovered what had emerged. These big horrible colurful insects with large wings kept falling on us. I swear they were out to get us! We were walking a thin path through the trees and were a bit frantic. It was like a scene out of Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom.
(I'm thankful for my knowledge of films from which I can draw analogies, since it means I don't have to quite so good at, well, you know, describing things in, er, kind of like, er - words. You know?)
On we trekked. A big insect hit my foot and Anne said I screamed like a girl. I was offended, so after that I made sure that I roared like a wookie whenever I was scared. I figured this was much more masculine.
The walk was pretty spectacular. We descended into a deep glen (after being awe-struck by the views over it) and came to a waterfall. After that there was a steep trek up a hill. We rested at the top, exhausted.
As we neared civilisation again we met a man who told us that the big horrid insects were cicadas. We were surprised, as we'd heard of these, but never seen them. Apparently they run on a seven year cycle, so the ones emerging from the ground now were laid there seven years ago. I named this process Cicadian Rhythm (which is very funny and clever, if you know a little bit about body clocks).
Anne is chased (NB: Not Anne is chaste)
A little later, Anne was chased by a cicada. It first flew into her bum. (Sorry - I don't mean literally into her bum. It bumped into her left buttock.) "Run", I screamed helpfully. Run she did.
She couldn't see the evil insect, so I shouted directions. After running 20 meters or so she started to slow don. "Don't stop!", I shouted (laughing), "It's directly behind you!" It soon started flying alongside her, so I told her to cleverly lose it by turning round and coming back to me. She wasn't happy. She got away without serious injury though, so I'd say she should thank me.
All the Aussies we spoke to that night had no problem with cicadas at all, saying their coming means summer will be here soon, and that a cicada won't hurt you. In our defence I'll say that most Aussie wildlife seems to want to hurt us, so we weren't taking chances.
Stephen attacked!
I had a nasty experience that evening. Anne and I were sitting in the hostel lounge by the fire, chatting to a Kiwi woman. I felt something on my shin, and ignored it, assuming it was just an itch. Later, I felt something on my thigh (under my trousers) and realised it was no mere itch. Not wishing to cause a scene I casually rose and went to our room. When I got there I threw off my shoes and ripped off my trousers (stop picturing that, ladies!) I shook my trousers and out of the leg popped a bloody great cockroach! Yuck! After killing it (cruel, but understandable) I danced around in disgust for a while and scratched every part of my leg.
Full circle
Today we caught a train to Sydney. Nice to be back! We'll be here for a fortnight, after which we're flying to New Zealand.
We're staying with Andrew and Shae for a few days first. Readers will remember that we stayed with them when we first arrived here in February. It's like coming home (except they've moved flat since then).
Whenever Anne tells me we're going to a place with a funny name, I make up a similar sounding funny name which I then proceed to call it. This amuses Anne no end, and she demonstrates her amusement by gritting her teeth and rolling her eyes. Occasionally she says just breaks down in tears. What fun. Anyway, when we decided we were going to stop at Bundanoon for a couple of nights between Canberra and Sydney it didn't take much imagination for me to dub it Brigadoon. I'm so funny.
For those of you who aren't big fans of Scotch Mythology or Gene Kelley musicals, Brigadoon is a legendary Scotch town which only appears for one day every 100 years.
So, imagine our glee when we got off the train after two hours to be greeted by a sign declaring: Bundanoon is Brigadoon. They have a Brigadoon festival there each year! See here for more info!
Ready Brek Glen
After dark on Wednesday evening, Anne and I grabbed our torch and trekked out to Glow Worm Glen. It was a frightening walk through the forests of Moreton National Park, but we were brave. We reached the end of the track and saw the rocks around us alight with glowing glow worms. It was quite a sight, and we were both very impressed.
On the way back we saw two possums, but also some horrid insects on a tree. We thought they were cockroaches. Yuk!
When insects attack!
On Thursday we were up early for a trek through the park. The first part of the walk was the track to Glow Worm Glen. We were glad we didn't walk there in the day first, as if we had we probably wouldn't have gone after dark. Everywhere we looked there were these roach-like things we'd seen the night before. They were hanging from every tree. We soon realised they weren't alive - they were just empty shells. Each of the shells had a hole in its back - something had clearly emerged from said shell. There were lots of small holes in the ground too. These roach-like things had clearly left the ground, climbed the trees, and let loose!
It wasn't long before we discovered what had emerged. These big horrible colurful insects with large wings kept falling on us. I swear they were out to get us! We were walking a thin path through the trees and were a bit frantic. It was like a scene out of Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom.
(I'm thankful for my knowledge of films from which I can draw analogies, since it means I don't have to quite so good at, well, you know, describing things in, er, kind of like, er - words. You know?)
On we trekked. A big insect hit my foot and Anne said I screamed like a girl. I was offended, so after that I made sure that I roared like a wookie whenever I was scared. I figured this was much more masculine.
The walk was pretty spectacular. We descended into a deep glen (after being awe-struck by the views over it) and came to a waterfall. After that there was a steep trek up a hill. We rested at the top, exhausted.
As we neared civilisation again we met a man who told us that the big horrid insects were cicadas. We were surprised, as we'd heard of these, but never seen them. Apparently they run on a seven year cycle, so the ones emerging from the ground now were laid there seven years ago. I named this process Cicadian Rhythm (which is very funny and clever, if you know a little bit about body clocks).
Anne is chased (NB: Not Anne is chaste)
A little later, Anne was chased by a cicada. It first flew into her bum. (Sorry - I don't mean literally into her bum. It bumped into her left buttock.) "Run", I screamed helpfully. Run she did.
She couldn't see the evil insect, so I shouted directions. After running 20 meters or so she started to slow don. "Don't stop!", I shouted (laughing), "It's directly behind you!" It soon started flying alongside her, so I told her to cleverly lose it by turning round and coming back to me. She wasn't happy. She got away without serious injury though, so I'd say she should thank me.
All the Aussies we spoke to that night had no problem with cicadas at all, saying their coming means summer will be here soon, and that a cicada won't hurt you. In our defence I'll say that most Aussie wildlife seems to want to hurt us, so we weren't taking chances.
Stephen attacked!
I had a nasty experience that evening. Anne and I were sitting in the hostel lounge by the fire, chatting to a Kiwi woman. I felt something on my shin, and ignored it, assuming it was just an itch. Later, I felt something on my thigh (under my trousers) and realised it was no mere itch. Not wishing to cause a scene I casually rose and went to our room. When I got there I threw off my shoes and ripped off my trousers (stop picturing that, ladies!) I shook my trousers and out of the leg popped a bloody great cockroach! Yuck! After killing it (cruel, but understandable) I danced around in disgust for a while and scratched every part of my leg.
Full circle
Today we caught a train to Sydney. Nice to be back! We'll be here for a fortnight, after which we're flying to New Zealand.
We're staying with Andrew and Shae for a few days first. Readers will remember that we stayed with them when we first arrived here in February. It's like coming home (except they've moved flat since then).
Monday, October 13, 2003
Adventures in an odd odd place
On Saturday afternoon (after a morning spent washing clothes) we went to the Canberra Museum and Gallery. I was hoping for some information on the decision to make Canberra the capital and on the building up of the capital. Not here sunshine. This was more a gallery than a museum, and the factual stuff that was there seemed mostly to be apologising for Canberra being rubbish. Shame.
That night, whilst watching TV, we heard an almighty roar in the skies above us. It was quite frightening. It happened again, and I removed a mozzie screen from the window so we could look out. I saw flames in the sky in the distance. Then a bloody jet flew over with flames coming out the back of it. It was really low - I could almost see the pilot! I figured it had its afterburners on, since I remembered the term from an old arcade game, and that seemed to fit. The noise was amazing!
We checked the ABC - no news. Later on the ABC reported that Canberra residents had been phoning the police and the ABC, afraid of a terrorist attack. Turns out the jets were getting rid of fuel in order to land, having been involved in a celebration of the centenary of the High Courts(!) The organisers had neglected to warn the police they'd be flying flaming jets over the nation's capital. Amazing that in the current climate they thought nothing of doing this! Aussies were hiding under their tables in fear, we read the next day!
This was a particularly bad weekend to give Aussies a scare, as it's the anniversary of the Bali bombs, and there's been a lot about that in the press here. There's also been lots about the World Cup. You can't escape from stuff on the World Cup. Now, I may not know a lot about sport, but I do know that the World Cup was last year, and the next one will be in three years. Silly Aussies.
War Memorial
On Sunday morning, we got up early and had pancakes. (Told you we were treating ourselves!) We then walked (for miles!) to The Australian War Memorial, and proceeded to walk up Mount Ainslie, which sits behind it. It wasn't too strenuous, and the views from the top were great. Canberra's a very pretty planned city - it's just a shame everything's so spread out. It must cover a similar area to Central London, but with a tiny proportion of London's attractions. (It has no celebrity museum in a box for a start. I think every capital city needs one of those.)
Back down the mountain (hill) and we went into the War Memorial. It's very big, and houses a museum, with galleries on different wars and conflicts the ANZACS have fought in. We were there to look at a collection of colour photos from WWI, but arrived in time for a free 90 minute tour, so went on that. It was really interesting, and the museum was really good. The good thing about Canberra being such an odd place is that it has to work hard to convince people to come here. This means that a lot of the museums are very good. And free!
(Stephen v Messy Louts) v (Eisenhower v Rommel)
I was particularly interested in the WWII gallery in the museum, as I'm reading Stephen E Ambrose's book on D-Day at the moment. This tells the story of the beach landings, mainly from the Americans' perspective. (As with Band of Brothers and Saving Private Ryan, complaints that this makes it look like the Yanks won the war for us are silly, since it's just their side of the story.)
It's a really interesting book, and has had me rapt. It makes me think that perhaps my troubles aren't as bad as they seem, and that perhaps I shouldn't get so annoyed with travellers who don't wash up their dishes and leave the communal kitchens in a mess. I still will though.
It's hard to relate to what the soldiers had to go through in the Normandy invasion. Bloody entertaining and exciting though.
That night, whilst watching TV, we heard an almighty roar in the skies above us. It was quite frightening. It happened again, and I removed a mozzie screen from the window so we could look out. I saw flames in the sky in the distance. Then a bloody jet flew over with flames coming out the back of it. It was really low - I could almost see the pilot! I figured it had its afterburners on, since I remembered the term from an old arcade game, and that seemed to fit. The noise was amazing!
We checked the ABC - no news. Later on the ABC reported that Canberra residents had been phoning the police and the ABC, afraid of a terrorist attack. Turns out the jets were getting rid of fuel in order to land, having been involved in a celebration of the centenary of the High Courts(!) The organisers had neglected to warn the police they'd be flying flaming jets over the nation's capital. Amazing that in the current climate they thought nothing of doing this! Aussies were hiding under their tables in fear, we read the next day!
This was a particularly bad weekend to give Aussies a scare, as it's the anniversary of the Bali bombs, and there's been a lot about that in the press here. There's also been lots about the World Cup. You can't escape from stuff on the World Cup. Now, I may not know a lot about sport, but I do know that the World Cup was last year, and the next one will be in three years. Silly Aussies.
War Memorial
On Sunday morning, we got up early and had pancakes. (Told you we were treating ourselves!) We then walked (for miles!) to The Australian War Memorial, and proceeded to walk up Mount Ainslie, which sits behind it. It wasn't too strenuous, and the views from the top were great. Canberra's a very pretty planned city - it's just a shame everything's so spread out. It must cover a similar area to Central London, but with a tiny proportion of London's attractions. (It has no celebrity museum in a box for a start. I think every capital city needs one of those.)
Back down the mountain (hill) and we went into the War Memorial. It's very big, and houses a museum, with galleries on different wars and conflicts the ANZACS have fought in. We were there to look at a collection of colour photos from WWI, but arrived in time for a free 90 minute tour, so went on that. It was really interesting, and the museum was really good. The good thing about Canberra being such an odd place is that it has to work hard to convince people to come here. This means that a lot of the museums are very good. And free!
(Stephen v Messy Louts) v (Eisenhower v Rommel)
I was particularly interested in the WWII gallery in the museum, as I'm reading Stephen E Ambrose's book on D-Day at the moment. This tells the story of the beach landings, mainly from the Americans' perspective. (As with Band of Brothers and Saving Private Ryan, complaints that this makes it look like the Yanks won the war for us are silly, since it's just their side of the story.)
It's a really interesting book, and has had me rapt. It makes me think that perhaps my troubles aren't as bad as they seem, and that perhaps I shouldn't get so annoyed with travellers who don't wash up their dishes and leave the communal kitchens in a mess. I still will though.
It's hard to relate to what the soldiers had to go through in the Normandy invasion. Bloody entertaining and exciting though.
Friday, October 10, 2003
Luxury!
We're staying in Canberra for a whole week. Most backpackers wouldn't do this. Australia's capital has a reputation of being dull. Partly this is due to lack of nightlife, which many backpackers crave, but we eschew.
We're here a week because we got a great rate on a $110 a night apartment! All the backpackers' hostels were full of school groups, so we looked elsewhere and found an apartment instead. With the dates we originally wanted they could only give us the apartment for six nights at $660. A week's rental is $440. They wouldn't be flexible and give us six nights for $440. Monkeys.
The woman on the phone kept warning me that this was only a two star apartment. I became concerned. Is it clean?, I asked. Yes, I was assured. Can we cook there? Does it have a TV? Yes again. So what's so bad about it? It doesn't have a phone, I was told.
I think this woman didn't realise that we're not used to the luxury of two star accommodation.
We arrived at the apartment and were overjoyed. It has a lounge/kitchen, a small dining room/hall, a bedroom and a bathroom. That's two more rooms than we had in Sydney and we were there for three months! Plus, there's A BATH in the bathroom. When Anne saw this she jumped up and down, whilst still wearing her 18kg backpack. She complained her back hurt for two days after that.
After a coffee, we rushed to the shops and blew our budget in the supermarket. We bought wine (red AND white!), ice cream, fruit 'n' veg, cereal, yogurt, olives, hummus and nachos. Budget be damned!
Anne had a bath that night, with a special fizzy bath tablet from The Body Shop. It was a bit like dropping a big Berrocca into the bath. She lay back with a glass of wine while I fed her olives. (Obviously I averted my eyes - she was nudie, and we're not married.)
The next night (Thursday) Anne cooked a fab curry (Chicken Tikka Massala) with trimmings! We had yogurt (with cucumber), banana, chapatti and rice. And wine! Glorious. I felt like I was home in Ealing.
We treated ourselves on Wednesday night, and left the washing up. We're used to having to wash up straight after dinner, so this was a luxury. We left it on Thursday morning too - we're so naughty! Imagine our horror when we returned from swimming on Thursday afternoon to find that the maid had done all the washing up! We felt terribly ashamed! (And Anne noted that the maid hadn't actually done the washing up very well.) The maid even cleaned up a dead moth that had been annoying us on Wednesday night and I'd squashed with a copy of Empire. She must think we're scum!
Capital City
So what's Canberra like? This famously purpose-built capital is a very odd place. It's so spacious! You have to walk miles (or kilometers) to get anywhere. I think the place is designed for drivers, as there are loads of car parks, and sometimes not many pavements. Anne and I trekked the 5km from where we're staying (near the main shopping area) to the Parliament and couldn't figure out how to get there. We ran out of pavement and ended up legging it across a busy dual-carriageway, over a wall and up a steep lawn.
We had a short look around the Parliament, but we're going back on Monday for a tour so I'll write about it after that.
Today we went to The National Museum of Australia (a 3km walk, in a different direction from the Parliament). I figured we'd seen about all there is to see of Aussie history and museums in our travels, and it proved to be so since there was little new here. Fortunately the museum is in a really striking modern building and had some good displays, so it didn't matter. We spent three hours there.
And it was free!
In the middle of the museum there's a big courtyard with an odd display and an empty tunnel. Anne and I tried to figure out what merit this courtyard had, before deciding it had none. We decided that Australians just have too much damn space, and sometimes feel obliged to fill it, just for the sake of it. The same principal could be said to hold for their capital city. Why does the Parliament need to be 5km from the city centre, and the main museum distant from both?
At least it's keeping us a bit fit. Which we need considering the tub of ice cream that's sitting in the freezer back in the apartment.
We're here a week because we got a great rate on a $110 a night apartment! All the backpackers' hostels were full of school groups, so we looked elsewhere and found an apartment instead. With the dates we originally wanted they could only give us the apartment for six nights at $660. A week's rental is $440. They wouldn't be flexible and give us six nights for $440. Monkeys.
The woman on the phone kept warning me that this was only a two star apartment. I became concerned. Is it clean?, I asked. Yes, I was assured. Can we cook there? Does it have a TV? Yes again. So what's so bad about it? It doesn't have a phone, I was told.
I think this woman didn't realise that we're not used to the luxury of two star accommodation.
We arrived at the apartment and were overjoyed. It has a lounge/kitchen, a small dining room/hall, a bedroom and a bathroom. That's two more rooms than we had in Sydney and we were there for three months! Plus, there's A BATH in the bathroom. When Anne saw this she jumped up and down, whilst still wearing her 18kg backpack. She complained her back hurt for two days after that.
After a coffee, we rushed to the shops and blew our budget in the supermarket. We bought wine (red AND white!), ice cream, fruit 'n' veg, cereal, yogurt, olives, hummus and nachos. Budget be damned!
Anne had a bath that night, with a special fizzy bath tablet from The Body Shop. It was a bit like dropping a big Berrocca into the bath. She lay back with a glass of wine while I fed her olives. (Obviously I averted my eyes - she was nudie, and we're not married.)
The next night (Thursday) Anne cooked a fab curry (Chicken Tikka Massala) with trimmings! We had yogurt (with cucumber), banana, chapatti and rice. And wine! Glorious. I felt like I was home in Ealing.
We treated ourselves on Wednesday night, and left the washing up. We're used to having to wash up straight after dinner, so this was a luxury. We left it on Thursday morning too - we're so naughty! Imagine our horror when we returned from swimming on Thursday afternoon to find that the maid had done all the washing up! We felt terribly ashamed! (And Anne noted that the maid hadn't actually done the washing up very well.) The maid even cleaned up a dead moth that had been annoying us on Wednesday night and I'd squashed with a copy of Empire. She must think we're scum!
Capital City
So what's Canberra like? This famously purpose-built capital is a very odd place. It's so spacious! You have to walk miles (or kilometers) to get anywhere. I think the place is designed for drivers, as there are loads of car parks, and sometimes not many pavements. Anne and I trekked the 5km from where we're staying (near the main shopping area) to the Parliament and couldn't figure out how to get there. We ran out of pavement and ended up legging it across a busy dual-carriageway, over a wall and up a steep lawn.
We had a short look around the Parliament, but we're going back on Monday for a tour so I'll write about it after that.
Today we went to The National Museum of Australia (a 3km walk, in a different direction from the Parliament). I figured we'd seen about all there is to see of Aussie history and museums in our travels, and it proved to be so since there was little new here. Fortunately the museum is in a really striking modern building and had some good displays, so it didn't matter. We spent three hours there.
And it was free!
In the middle of the museum there's a big courtyard with an odd display and an empty tunnel. Anne and I tried to figure out what merit this courtyard had, before deciding it had none. We decided that Australians just have too much damn space, and sometimes feel obliged to fill it, just for the sake of it. The same principal could be said to hold for their capital city. Why does the Parliament need to be 5km from the city centre, and the main museum distant from both?
At least it's keeping us a bit fit. Which we need considering the tub of ice cream that's sitting in the freezer back in the apartment.
Sunday, October 05, 2003
Goodbye Melbourne
We're currently in Melbourne again. That's the third time this trip. And the last time (this trip). We leave tomorrow at the crack of dawn. We're getting a bus to Albury, just over the border into New South Wales.
We're still suffering from our colds (but gradually getting better) so haven't been overly active here. We've done a fair bit though. We've booked our Christmas and New Year accommodation in New Zealand (that'll be peak season, so we were warned to pre-book). In order to do that we've been reading guide books and trawling the net.
(If anyone has any NZ advice for us we'd welcome it. We're spending five weeks on the south island and four on the north.)
We went to a market in Camberwell today (a suburb of Melbourne). We were told this was an "Arts and Craft" market, but it turned out to be closer to a car boot sale. Ho hum. Still, we looked around at the tat and the people trying to get 20c knocked off the prices. We did a car boot sale in London before we left, so that my mum didn't have to store quite so much junk at her house. The people who frequent those places are animals who will buy any old crap, so long as you'll bring the price down!
I bought a book there for a dollar. It's the first volume of Clive James's autobiography, Unreliable Memoirs. I used to have a copy, and read it once. I remember it was very good. I started reading it for a second time a few years ago, but lost it at King Cross Station in London. I left it at the ticket office, but they didn't have it when I rang up. (I bet the ticket-selling lady nicked it. I'd had a row with her about the crap service she was giving so she probably wasn't feeling charitable to me. Cow.)
(Anne says there' a lesson there for me.)
(Don't trust ticket office staff.)
Anyway, it's good to have the book again. After my recent experience with Nicholas Parsons I'm wondering whether the copy I bought for a dollar today is the exact same copy I lost a few years ago. Could be.
This afternoon we checked out Federation Square in central Melbourne. This is a newly-opened monstrosity that will look out of date within a year. Many of the locals don't like it. I think Melbourne wanted something modern and beautiful to compete with the glorious Sydney Opera House. They didn't get it.
We didn't want to judge the contents by the architecture, so we had a look in the buildings. The Australian Centre of the Moving image is big and spacious and modern. There's not a lot in it though. It looked like there some interesting lectures and screenings coming up, but the displays in the basement and foyer were rubbish. They were so up their own arses (that's a art-critics' term). The ACMI seems to think that a moving image just needs to be moving to be interesting. I rather think that a moving image needs more than that. People ceased to be interested by mere movement in their images years ago. (Now 3D - THAT's interesting.)
(Mind you, Anne and I just caught ten minutes of a Martin Lawrence "comedy" in the hostel TV room. That made the ACMI works of art look fabulous.)
We then looked round an Australian art gallery. Some of the art was pretty good, but most of it was modern rubbish. You may label me a Philistine when I say that most modern art is rubbish, but I'm pretty much on the money.
After criticising most of the art we saw, Anne and I realised that we were still feeling pretty ill, and probably not in the right frame of mind for an art gallery. We returned to the safe cocoon of the hostel. Anne's now preparing a Thai green curry for my tea.
We're still suffering from our colds (but gradually getting better) so haven't been overly active here. We've done a fair bit though. We've booked our Christmas and New Year accommodation in New Zealand (that'll be peak season, so we were warned to pre-book). In order to do that we've been reading guide books and trawling the net.
(If anyone has any NZ advice for us we'd welcome it. We're spending five weeks on the south island and four on the north.)
We went to a market in Camberwell today (a suburb of Melbourne). We were told this was an "Arts and Craft" market, but it turned out to be closer to a car boot sale. Ho hum. Still, we looked around at the tat and the people trying to get 20c knocked off the prices. We did a car boot sale in London before we left, so that my mum didn't have to store quite so much junk at her house. The people who frequent those places are animals who will buy any old crap, so long as you'll bring the price down!
I bought a book there for a dollar. It's the first volume of Clive James's autobiography, Unreliable Memoirs. I used to have a copy, and read it once. I remember it was very good. I started reading it for a second time a few years ago, but lost it at King Cross Station in London. I left it at the ticket office, but they didn't have it when I rang up. (I bet the ticket-selling lady nicked it. I'd had a row with her about the crap service she was giving so she probably wasn't feeling charitable to me. Cow.)
(Anne says there' a lesson there for me.)
(Don't trust ticket office staff.)
Anyway, it's good to have the book again. After my recent experience with Nicholas Parsons I'm wondering whether the copy I bought for a dollar today is the exact same copy I lost a few years ago. Could be.
This afternoon we checked out Federation Square in central Melbourne. This is a newly-opened monstrosity that will look out of date within a year. Many of the locals don't like it. I think Melbourne wanted something modern and beautiful to compete with the glorious Sydney Opera House. They didn't get it.
We didn't want to judge the contents by the architecture, so we had a look in the buildings. The Australian Centre of the Moving image is big and spacious and modern. There's not a lot in it though. It looked like there some interesting lectures and screenings coming up, but the displays in the basement and foyer were rubbish. They were so up their own arses (that's a art-critics' term). The ACMI seems to think that a moving image just needs to be moving to be interesting. I rather think that a moving image needs more than that. People ceased to be interested by mere movement in their images years ago. (Now 3D - THAT's interesting.)
(Mind you, Anne and I just caught ten minutes of a Martin Lawrence "comedy" in the hostel TV room. That made the ACMI works of art look fabulous.)
We then looked round an Australian art gallery. Some of the art was pretty good, but most of it was modern rubbish. You may label me a Philistine when I say that most modern art is rubbish, but I'm pretty much on the money.
After criticising most of the art we saw, Anne and I realised that we were still feeling pretty ill, and probably not in the right frame of mind for an art gallery. We returned to the safe cocoon of the hostel. Anne's now preparing a Thai green curry for my tea.
Breakfast kings!
We've done well for breakfasts lately. A lot of the hostels we've stayed in have given us free breakfasts, so we've saved a little cash there. Better stll, Eagle-Eyed Anne spotted an offer in a backpackers' magazine which gave us a free cooked breakfast every morning in the Phillip Island hostel! I was SO proud of her. This on top of the fab cabin we were given. As I've said, we were both ill the whole time we were there, but we lived like (ill) kings. Compared to our usual travelling lifestyle, that is.
Saturday, October 04, 2003
More photos
I've uploaded more photos. There's a new album - Big Adventure photos 5 (link on left). Some of Ramsay Street and me holding a wombat. Also, Anne on a bike! None of my rock climbing, since I took Anne's APS camera rather than my digital one. Also, none of the Little Penguins, since you're not allowed to photograph them (flashes upset them). To see the penguins go to the Phillip Island web site, here.
Friday, October 03, 2003
Cabin Fever
It's as well we got a nice, luxurious cabin here on Phillip Island, since we've both been ill the whole time we've been here. Anne and I both have bad colds and feel really grotty. Being able to cook in our cabin, and not having to use communal loo and showers is a godsend!
The weather's been a bit poo too, so we've spent a lot of time in the cabin with the heater on. We've watched TV, we've read books and newspapers, we've done crosswords, Anne read a Marian Keyes (chick-lit) book in about four hours, and I played a lot on Metroid Fusion on my Gameboy Advance!
This is what we travel for.
Not that we didn't get out at all. We went for walks when the rain held out, and popped to the chemist to get decongestants. We even borrowed a couple of bikes and went for a ride! Anne's second time on a bike in 14 years wasn't a disaster. She's quite slow and unsteady, but amazingly I was a patient teacher. If I was that good when she drove a car she may not mind getting behind the wheel. I have to say though, Anne's an intelligent girl (a doctor of genetics!) but when it comes to cycling she's a little retarded. I suppose she needs time to build up her confidence, but I had to leave wheelies, endos and riding-no-handed until next lesson.
Today, we checked out of our lovely cabin at 10am, and now we're hanging around the hostel's communal area, waiting for the bus home this evening. We're sniffing, blowing our noses and complaining. At least we have a few days in Melbourne now to recover.
We've done quite well illness-wise while travelling I suppose. We've only been ill a few times, and nothing more serious than a cold.
This is the NEWS
We've read a lot of newspapers while we've been here. This is good - we don't get the time to read them cover to cover at home. Some Aussie papers are quite poor though. The Sydney Morning Herald is good, and I look forward to getting back to New South Wales (next week) and getting that again.
Importantly, the SMH(!) has a good cryptic crossword. The level of difficulty was about right for us, and we even completed it a few times.
Once we left NSW in June we got The Australian, the national (Murdoch) paper. This was OK, but a bit bland at times. The weekend edition was good, and had The Editor, a digest of the world's press similar to the one they used to have in The Guardian on a Saturday. I was disappointed to find when I went home for a wedding in August that The Guardian no longer have that section. Why did they get rid of it??
When we got to Western Australia we tried The West Australian but we found that to be rubbish, and the letters page was full of bigoted ramblings, so we went back to The Australian.
The Australian has the cryptic crossword from The Times in the UK, and we started to get pretty good at that one!
We were happy, when we arrived in Adelaide, to be able to get Melbourne's The Age. Whilst not as good as The SMH it's not bad. The cryptic crossword can be a bit easy though.
As for the news, well Aussie news has been pretty similar to that everywhere else (an unpopular war, lying politicians, etc). Perhaps a little more openly racist though.
The weather's been a bit poo too, so we've spent a lot of time in the cabin with the heater on. We've watched TV, we've read books and newspapers, we've done crosswords, Anne read a Marian Keyes (chick-lit) book in about four hours, and I played a lot on Metroid Fusion on my Gameboy Advance!
This is what we travel for.
Not that we didn't get out at all. We went for walks when the rain held out, and popped to the chemist to get decongestants. We even borrowed a couple of bikes and went for a ride! Anne's second time on a bike in 14 years wasn't a disaster. She's quite slow and unsteady, but amazingly I was a patient teacher. If I was that good when she drove a car she may not mind getting behind the wheel. I have to say though, Anne's an intelligent girl (a doctor of genetics!) but when it comes to cycling she's a little retarded. I suppose she needs time to build up her confidence, but I had to leave wheelies, endos and riding-no-handed until next lesson.
Today, we checked out of our lovely cabin at 10am, and now we're hanging around the hostel's communal area, waiting for the bus home this evening. We're sniffing, blowing our noses and complaining. At least we have a few days in Melbourne now to recover.
We've done quite well illness-wise while travelling I suppose. We've only been ill a few times, and nothing more serious than a cold.
This is the NEWS
We've read a lot of newspapers while we've been here. This is good - we don't get the time to read them cover to cover at home. Some Aussie papers are quite poor though. The Sydney Morning Herald is good, and I look forward to getting back to New South Wales (next week) and getting that again.
Importantly, the SMH(!) has a good cryptic crossword. The level of difficulty was about right for us, and we even completed it a few times.
Once we left NSW in June we got The Australian, the national (Murdoch) paper. This was OK, but a bit bland at times. The weekend edition was good, and had The Editor, a digest of the world's press similar to the one they used to have in The Guardian on a Saturday. I was disappointed to find when I went home for a wedding in August that The Guardian no longer have that section. Why did they get rid of it??
When we got to Western Australia we tried The West Australian but we found that to be rubbish, and the letters page was full of bigoted ramblings, so we went back to The Australian.
The Australian has the cryptic crossword from The Times in the UK, and we started to get pretty good at that one!
We were happy, when we arrived in Adelaide, to be able to get Melbourne's The Age. Whilst not as good as The SMH it's not bad. The cryptic crossword can be a bit easy though.
As for the news, well Aussie news has been pretty similar to that everywhere else (an unpopular war, lying politicians, etc). Perhaps a little more openly racist though.
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