Cycling holiday

A little while ago Mum and I went on a cycling holiday around Suffolk. We chose Suffolk because it is a relatively flat county and as we are not expert cyclists a flat place is what we wanted!!

It’s not completely flat, there were enough hills to make our thighs groan and us having to get off the bike and walk up. We drove to Needham Market where we left the car for the week as we cycled from B&B to B&B in a circular route back to Needham Market. Of course, this meant having to carry our luggage with us, but we packed as little as possible and let the bikes take the strain!

Seeing as we have had a rather wet summer, it was a lovely surprise to get a week of hot sunshine with only a smidgen of rain. We cycled from place to place enjoying the views and checking the map as frequently as possible!! (we never did have to turn back on ourselves after making a mistake!)

Dad even surprised us one day by driving the few hours from home to join us for a days cycling, which was great – not just for the pleasure of his company but also because it meant that we could get a photograph of the two of us cycling down the road!!

All in all it was a lovely holiday – we visited Aldeburgh (the carnival was on!), Orford Castle, Lavenham and Framlingham Castle.

and saw many pretty buildings along the way. We mainly stuck to the small roads and managed to avoid getting run over!! We did have one or two near spills though – particularly as we cycled down a few byways that had mostly sand for a surface. This meant that the back wheels had a tendency to slip and slide – neither of us quite went all the way over but it came very close indeed!!!

Occasionally we ended up collapsed in a little heap as you can see. We did tend to revive after a good nights sleep and a hearty breakfast!

First Time Traveller

These last few months have been rather fun for me as I watch my youngest brother make his plans for travelling abroad.

It's not for the first time as he has been abroad for holidays to France and Italy, but this time he will be going to India for three months to volunteer at an orphanage called The Love Care Centre.

Matt leaves on September 5th and comes home in late November I think and these last few weeks he's been getting all his shots and making sure that he has the right bits of kit and all that sort of thing.

It's been fun to watch because of the all the hope and promise that is bound up in a young adult life that could go anywhere. Matt has decided that he is a traveller and wants to do more travelling eventually and so who knows where he might go next.

He is worried about his future of course and whether travelling will mean that he wont be as settled later in life, but instead of being rich in the monetary things, Matt will end up being rich in the things that matter; character, experience, knowledge of other cultures, not to mention the sheer terror and fun of doing something that takes you out of your comfort zone!

Although I have travelled myself, albeit not in the sense that I mean here as I have never gone out of my comfort zone (not truly, despite being terrified to go to Copenhagen and be away from my family for the longest time ever!) as I have only gone to places where I know that I can get by. Going to India is very definitely outside my comfort zone and I very much doubt that I would ever do that, but that's ok because there are plenty of other places that I can explore!

So, all I can say to Matt is....have a great time, write it all down, and tell me all about it when you get home!

Hmmmmm

It's been a while (not including last night) since I've posted! But at least I have a way to go before matching Mum's gap between posts, which is about eight months! (I wonder when the next post will appear!!)

But what do you do when you think that you haven't got anything to say!? Waffle on about everything and nothing and send everybody to sleep or just leave it until you do have something to say, only by which time everybody thinks that you have abandoned your blog and so they wont visit again!

Anyway....have been back from Australia for just over two weeks and two things are apparent to me; firstly - was it really only two weeks ago? It feels more like four weeks! Secondly - I miss being on holiday! All that lovely sunshine and utter lack of responsibility!

Coming back from a holiday (particularly a far-flung one) is strange, there is the usual let down of having to go back to work again, but also there is that sensation of wondering whether you have actually been at all!! If it weren't for my tan, you'd hardly think that I'd been away at all. I almost have to say to myself, emphatically, "yes, you have been to Sydney, Adelaide, Melbourne and the Whitsundays".

I have had lots of lovely comments about my holiday photos and there are some that I am particularly proud of - here are a few!

Firstly - proof that was I indeed there and it wasn't all a figment of my imagination!!

Took this one on the ferry heading towards Sydney, I think that it was the day I went to Darling Harbour.

Sunset off Brighton (!) Beach in Adelaide where the temperatures hit 40 degrees!

Waterfall in the Blue Mountains just north of Sydney.

How's that for a little selection of the 800-odd photos I took in three weeks!!

Final Australian message!

You may have been wondering where I have been for the last few days? Well, I was in the sub-tropical Whitsundays on Hamilton Island and for some odd reason the one computer available to use kept blocking the use of blogger. Which was really annoying, but now I am at Sydney airport waiting for my flight home.

Actually, that is a bit of an understatement - do you remember that I mentioned that I had a voucher for the Qantas lounges at the airport? (if you look a few posts back you will see that I had trouble with my television screen on the way over and so they gave me a few vouchers). Anyway, I am now in the Business Class lounge and I can see over the top of my screen to the centre of Sydney! Can't see the bridge or the Opera House, but it is enough to know that they are there!

I am looking forward to coming home, although I am not certain how the flight will be as my back is a bit sun burnt! I went sailing on Friday and didn't notice until I got home that my back was a bit pink! Whoops - I thought that I had put enough suncream on, but clearly not enough!

Anyway - I am going to go and make use of the free tea, coffee, food, wine, etc that seems to be available in the Business Class lounge - what luxury!! Mind you, I don't think that I will be drinking anything alcoholic as that really wouldn't be a very good idea just before a long flight!

Melbourne

Am now in Melbourne for a few days! Arrived on Thursday and leave on Tuesday for the Whitsundays.

Still trying to squeeze in as much as possible, went for a tour of the Great Ocean Road on Friday - didn't get off to a great start as the minibus suffered a blown tyre on the freeway!! But the driver (and a few passengers) managed to change the wheel and we were off again - lots of twisty and windy roads with fantastic beach views!

Yesterday went to the City Museum and the immigration museum; second museum about immigration that I have been to - I just find the whole subject so fasctinating - what courage it must have taken to sail thousands of miles to create a new life for yourself.

Today I am busier still, popped along to the Queen Victoria Building where there is a very big market - all kinds of things - fruit, meat, seafood, clothes, tourist stuff, etc etc - even took a photograph of a pile of baby octupus all ready to cook! (ewgh!). Have just been to the Old Melbourne Gaol - fasctinating stories, visited the Watch House where we all got treated as suspects!! Had a photo taken of me holding a serial number! Will put that one up as soon as I get back home!

Now I am in another natural habitat - Victoria State Library - I don't suppose that many tourists know that these libraries provide free internet access!! Then this afternoon I am off to Melbourne Museum and then on the way back to the hotel I plan to stop for an iced chocolate drink at KokoBlacks - a well known chocolate haunt for Melbournians!!

The Grand Prix is on in Melbourne at the moment, but it does not appear to disrupt city life too much - only when the spectators are coming and going from the racetrack, then you see them in their droves - all wearing those laminated passes around their necks!!

Still hot!

It's still hot in Adelaide - I think that the forecast for today is 36 degrees! Fortunately I have been sensible and stayed out of the sun as much as possible whilst drinking like a fish! (water that is, not alcohol!)

The wedding is now over, Sarah is now Mrs Halliwell! We all had a great time, even though it was hot - lots of photographs have been taken and I will share some of them with you when I get back to the UK as I have too many to try and upload and pick through for your viewing pleasure! (I think that I now have about 500 photos on my camera!!)

The wedding ceremony was quite different to what you might expect to see in the UK - the rings were "warmed" by the wedding guests, Sarah and Phil shared wine and said vows - it was all very unusual but at the same time very moving. Sarah was certainly very emotional at certain points during the ceremony.

Anyway - I am still in Adelaide and go swimming with the dolphins tomorrow morning before flying to Melbourne on Thursday where I have a tour of the Great Ocean Road on Friday.

Hot Hot Hot

Adelaide is currently experiencing a serious heatwave at the moment - it is about 13 degrees centigrade above the average in March! Today is 40 degrees which is actually hotter than Alice Springs in the middle of Australia which is at a mere 35 degrees! And let me tell you, it certainly feels hot!

Still, it is nice and cool here - I have found my natural habitat - the State Library of South Australia!! (they let you use the internet free here!) Still, I think that everybody simply ambles from one air conditioned building to another!

For those of you that don't quite know what is happening when - the wedding is tomorrow (Sunday 9th March) in the late afternoon; it will be held at Tapestry Wines in Mclaren Vale about 45 minutes outside Adelaide. We are all a little concerned about the weather, especially poor Sarah as she will be wearing a wedding dress - quite how heavy the dress I do not know, but I do know that the men will be wearing suits! So, it is a good thing that the venue is heavily shaded!

This time I am staying with my Aunt and Uncle in a caravan park that is right on the beach! The cabin is tiny (I think that my hotel room in Sydney was bigger than the whole of this cabin!), but it does have air conditioning!

Like I said - hot, hot, hot!

Adelaide

Am not in Adelaide just yet - my flight is this afternoon! I am a bit worried about the Adelaide weather - the temperatures for the last few days and today has been in the 30's!! I hope that I am up to that kind of heat!

Oh well, it's a bit late now as I am off to the airport in about an hour and will be met by my Aunt and Uncle at the other end with plans for a dinner at an Italian restaurant tonight!

The opera on Wednesday was wonderful - a fantastic, modern version of La Boheme - both moving and funny with superb music - those opera singers certainly know how to maximise lung volume!

Visited the Blue Mountains yesterday and descended the Giant's Steps - vertigo inducing for those that don't have a head for heights - I have taken lots of photos just for you Mum! The mountains were lovely and cool in the shade with the fragrance of eucalyptus hanging in the air.

Well, I had best be off now as I am running out of my allotted time for the internet and before I head for the airport I need to get some souvenirs from the Tourist Information Centre - which is where I am sitting at this very moment.

Singapore!!

Well, this is it, I have made the first leg of the journey - next one starts about 45 mins late as the plane has been "retimed" as they call it!!

So far so good!! The anxiety experienced yesterday I could have done without!!

Singapore has been the best bit so far though as I have just had a lovely refreshing shower and rather forceful massage!! I clearly needed it though as my back and shoulders feel all liquidy!! It was jolly painful though, at least it got rid of all those kinks that developed as I tried, and failed, to sleep on the plane!!

Am really looking forward to getting to Sydney though as then that is the end of this journey that seems to be rather arduous! Ooh, I have just realised that there are rather a lot of exclamation marks in this post!! (look another one!)

Still, that does rather reflect my excitement and the fun that I am having - I mean - look, I am on the internet in Singapore (!) am I really? Of course, I can't really say that I am in Singapore, cos I wont get to see any of the city proper - I don't even go through customs so I feel a bit of a fraud there!

I will see if I can find an internet cafe or two during my travels, so keep checking back to see if I have written anything interesting!

For the moment though, I need to jump back on another plane and keep going!!

Update: well that was daft of me - I bought some water and some face wash at Heathrow after I'd gone through security and was expecting to be able to take them all the way to Sydney - but, no - there is another security check in Singapore - never mind the fact that I haven't left transit or left my bag unattended...oh well, I suppose those rules are there for a reason - good job it wasn't a bottle of wine or something like that as the water and face wash got summarily thrown in the bin!!

car-less!

My car is in the garage today for it's 80 thousand mile service plus an MOT, so I had to catch the bus to work!

It was actually quite a pleasant journey just sitting there watching the scenery go by and enjoying the sunshine on my face. The trouble was it took an hour and two buses to get me to work, whereas my car takes me to work in about 20-30 minutes depending on traffic.

If it didn't take quite so long then I think that I would actually consider taking the bus to work as it really was rather nice not to have to think about traffic and to just sit there pondering things as the world went by!

Do you know...I actually saw bits of the town that I hadn't seen before, so that was rather interesting.

I shall get my car back this evening though (not toooo expensive a job fortunately) and will enjoy the freedom of being able to jump in the car and go where I like even if I don't actually do that very often!

Planning, planning and more planning!

Just how much can I plan for a holiday in Australia!!? I am doing so much research at the moment that it is getting a bit daft, but having said that, I have relatively little time in each city that I want to be able to know what I am doing as soon as I check into the hotel.

There is no point getting to the hotel and then deciding what to do, which is why I love the internet, I can plan bus times, book tickets and generally find out what is what! That way, I should be able to fill each and every day with something good! I have been using a couple of travel advice websites and have found some good information.

For instance, I wanted to do at least one good walk that would give me some flavour of Sydney and I have found quite a lot of walks available, but the one that most people seem to recommend is the Spit Bridge to Manly, so I have now discovered the right bus to get to Spit Bridge and the ferry that will take me back from Manly to Circular Quay which is where my hotel is near.

At the moment, I am focusing on Sydney and have hardly begun to look at Adelaide, Melbourne or the Whitsundays. The Whitsundays I am not so bothered about as that will be my last few days on holiday where I shall laze on the beach or go snorkeling! But I need to look at Adelaide and Melbourne - not long to go now!!

I just love planning a holiday like this, it really adds to the anticipation, although I think that my colleagues at work are going to have to peel me off the ceiling by the time the last week comes around!!

Annoyed

Hmmmmph!

I just had to do a bit of ranting and raving! This morning, I decided that I would indeed splurge on a ticket to see La Boheme at the Sydney Opera House.

But can I get a ticket? Noooooo - the website is stuck in a loop that keeps sending me back to the page where I have to put in my address!

And believe me - I tried several times! So, I have now fired off an email to the Booking Office and am hoping that I can still get a ticket as they are scarcer than hen's teeth!

It is not like booking tickets for a show in London, because I can't just telephone the Booking Office and ask what is going on as they are all tucked up in their beds (or, more likely, out partying the night away!!)

Anyway, I am determined to get a ticket, so I will probably try again at some point and will let you know how I get on!

After all, I can't go to Sydney without seeing a show at the Opera House!! ;-)

UPDATE: I have now got a ticket! It was just a stupid website! The problem was that I was ignoring the address box that said "State" because underneath, it said for Australian addresses only. But when I clicked on it, it did give the option to put Wiltshire in and when I did that, everything went smooooothly! How perfectly irritating!! But many many thanks to Ann, who is now rubbing it in!! ;-)

Australia

Given that I am visiting Australia this year, I thought that this would be a particularly apt choice! This section includes both fiction(F) and nonfiction(NF) and I think that I will leave a few spaces for some books actually bought in Australia!

• 30 days in Sydney: the writer and the city* (NF) by Peter Carey
• The dig tree: the extraordinary story of the ill-fated expedition* (NF) by Sarah Murgatroyd
• The explorers* (NF) by Tim Flannery
• Beneath the Southern Cross (F) by Judy Nunn
• Silver Bay (F) by Jojo Moyes
• Black kettle and full moon: daily life in a vanished Australia (NF) by Geoffrey Blainey
• Convict women (NF) by Kay Daniels
• Silver in the sun (F) by Tony Parsons

*already sitting on my shelves!

Bruges in pictures!

I mentioned that I had some pictures didn't I? Well, here are a few - a very few!

An ice-wizard....

An ice-elf (?)....

On board the ice-ship....

Buying some chocolate!....

Didn't I say that the ice-sculptures were amazing!! And those pictures are just a very tiny part of the whole display!

By the way - you see that pile of boxes to the left of Mum - don't worry, she wasn't buying that much!! Those are just the display boxes so that people can see what sizes the boxes are. There is a nice story to this chocolate shop though...Mum had just four Euros left and so she plonked those on the counter and asked what she could get for that! The man asked Mum what she wanted and she said anything...so he duly picked a selection and started weighing it up.

At first the bag came to just over six Euros, so he took one or two out, and then it came to just over five Euros and he shrugged and with a wink said that he couldn't be bothered to take any more out!! Good value for money there!!

Bruges

It has been one very long day today!! Mum and I have only just got back from Bruges, yes you read that right! We were in Belgium today! One of Mum's colleagues organises a regular Christmas shopping trip every year and last year they went to Bruges, and clearly they went to Bruges again this year!

Unfortunately the weather was somewhat against us as it was very wet, we all got rather soaked, but nevertheless we had a great time. The day started with us having to get up before 6am in order to make sure that we were in time for the coach, which left at 6:45pm and everybody was advised that coach would NOT wait.

The journey there and back went very well indeed, we made our trains and were not held up anywhere by traffic, so that was all very smooth, we stopped at a supermarket in France and bought far too much wine!

Bruges isn't all that far away, much to my surprise! We arrived just after 12 noon and then had the whole of the afternoon (until the coach picked us up at 4:30pm) to explore the town. Like I said, it was a rather wet and horrible day, so we weren't really able to see as much as we would have liked, but Bruges is most definitely worth a second, longer visit.

The first thing that we did once we got off the coach was to go and see the Ice Sculptures - this is apparently an annual display of ice carving. And - wow - it was just amazing (will post some photos when I download them!) - there were hedgehogs, toadstools, the most enormous carvings of wizards and other fantastic beings. There were even two slides!! One within the shell of a snail (for children) and one much larger one for anyone who dared and I did! It was actually a slide-tunnel, so as you were sliding down you were totally surrounded by ice - it was just incredible.

It was very very cold though, so Mum and I didn't stay that long. We headed for the town centre and found some lunch in what we'd call a simple cafe and would perhaps be rather looked down on if it was in the UK, but there is a very different cafe style on the continent and this little cafe was clearly very popular with the locals and Mum and I had a Belgian beer and a simple meal.

Thus fortified we then set off to explore the town as much as we could in the little time we had and the horrible rain. Needless to say, we didn't see that much, but I am definitely going back again - for a long weekend next year perhaps.

However, we did make sure that we bought plenty of chocolate!! I also bought some Christmas decorations and a lovely candle holder, so I am very satisfied with the trip! We were extremely tired when we got home though!!

So....I am now off to bed!!

Dartmoor Photos

Hi all - I said that I would post some photos from Dartmoor when I had a chance. Well, I totally forgot and now I am not going to get the opportunity until the weekend to turn my home pc on to upload a few photos, so I have stolen a couple of Mum's photos and posted those below!!

Dad and I, plus dog, are on top of Bellever Tor.

My successful attempt not to fall into the river at Dartmeet!

Adelaide Arts Festival

I am getting all excited about Australia again. The inital excitement, or as some might say - hysteria, had worn off and the amount of time doing research had diminished quite a bit!

But now I am all hyped up again because the programme for the Adelaide Festival of Arts has just been released!! I have yet to look at the Fringe website, but I am sure that that will be just as exciting.

My biggest trouble is that I only have about five days in Adelaide, and this includes the wedding!! Still, at least I wont ever be stuck for things to do whilst in Adelaide, as well as the fee-paying performances there are also several free things such as light shows that are projected on the major buildings in Adelaide (I hope that I have good blackout curtains in my hotel!).

Woohoo, only four months to go! P.S. Have just realised that while the Festival programme has been released, the Fringe programme does not get released until January!

Dartmoor

Have just spent the weekend with Mum and Dad down in Dartmoor! The traffic down on Friday was horrendous, but the journey back today was quite good!

The weekend was lovely - will post pictures when I get a chance! The weather was lovely (bit wet and misty the first day though) and the B&B was just gorgeous - I highly recommend the Beechwood B&B in Postbridge, right in the heart of Dartmoor. They could not have been nicer people (plus two cats!) and they looked after us very well indeed.

As you might imagine, we did quite a lot of walking, which the dog enjoyed of course! We did a nine mile round trip on Saturday and the dog got very muddy indeed. The funniest thing on the walk was that we went past a farm that happened to have some turkeys in a pen near the road and Mum decided to call out "gobble-gobble" to the turkeys - and they responded!!! Mum did it again, and they were even more vocal the second time - it was so funny - I have discovered that Mum speaks Turkish!! ;-)

At the end of that day we collapsed in a heap back at the B&B and fortunately, Mum had the foresight to book an evening meal at the B&B so that we didn't have to looking for our supper. We had a simple sausage and mash accompanied by some rather unusual ciders - Dad had the normal scrumpy, Mum had pear cider and I had cranberry and apple cider which was a bit sweet, but very nice.

As Sunday dawned really bright and clear we decided to walk back up the first Tor that we did on the Saturday so that we could have a better view as it was a bit misty the first time we climbed up! The dog got another nice run about, I think that she was a bit surprised to be out walking again!

After that we wandered over to Dartmeet and walked along the river a bit before going on to Princetown and visiting the prison museum - very informative and interesting, just a bit eye-opening as to what prisoners will do in order to create a weapon or escape route! There were some weapons made out of bits of glass or plastic attached to wood or some other handle with lots of string or cloth, all very ingenious but rather dangerous!

By then it was time for me to think about going home, so we went back to the B&B (Mum and Dad are staying until Tuesday) for a cream tea before I jumped in the car and headed home in order to get a good night's sleep before going back to work on Monday - it's a big day for me, but I'll explain why tomorrow!

Luggage

By now many of you cannot have escaped the fact that I am going to AUSTRALIA in March - yay! ;-)

I decided that I would need some new luggage as all I have at the moment are suitcases that are still good, but they don't have suitable wheels or pull-ability! So, I found a cracking deal on the Debenhams website and have ordered two red Tripp cases, one for the bulk of my luggage and one for my hand luggage. (They arrive in about five days!)

While that is very nice, that is not actually the point of this post. The point is....last night I came across the fact that you can get your luggage sent ahead of you, now, I knew that you could do this if you were moving abroad and simply had to send everything ahead of yourself.

But did you know that you could do this with ordinary luggage, or things like that ski/surf/golf equipment that you just didn't fancy carrying around the airport! So, I had a quick look to see whether it would be worth sending my luggage ahead to Sydney so that I could walk off the 'plane relatively faster than anyone else (would still have to go through all entrance checks and everything!).

Well, you could have knocked me over with a feather!!!! I can indeed send my luggage ahead to Sydney - at the cost of.....wait for it.......£300-odd pounds!!!!!!!!!!!!! Well, that very quickly put paid to that idea, I will simply buy a book at the cheap price of £5.99 (or whatever!) and entertain myself whilst waiting in the queue!

Australia fun stuff!

I have been having fun with google maps!! I can make my own maps, so now I am about to make you all quite green and show you where I am going!

I hope that it works as I have been playing around with it and I am not entirely sure how it will end up!! Also - it takes a few seconds to load, so before you think that it hasn't worked - be patient!! If you want to find out more, you simply click on the blue balloons and see what I have written!! Good fun eh?! (Incidentally, it actually appears to work slightly better if you open the map by clicking "view larger map" so that you can actually see everything!)

Of course, I am hoping that when I get back from Australia, I can make another map that will include a bit more detail about what I actually did!!


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