Now before you go tearing around the house in distress thinking Oh no the Mungins have Swine Fever , I shall swiftly allay these fears and report the title refers to a food substance. The food substance in question seems to be a much loved ( and is quickly becoming so by us too) Aussie patisserie otherwise known as Vanilla slice. Now maybe some of you Brits will have partaken of this treat as youngsters but as we came from a Celtic background Mr.Kiplings were the order of the day usually in the form of Fondant French Fancies, which i still love !
We were first introduced to the " Vanilla Slice" whilst holidaying on the houseboat and these had come lovingly made by our host and her friend .
So when I asked the children today what they would like for a treat before swim school they replied "Vanilla Slice". Hohum I thought . Will I be able to buy these in the 6 bakeries we have in our stretch of shops called Middle Brighton ( I haven't counted the restaurants and cafes as yet as I am still making my way down these!)? Anyway I digress , a lot! So I wander down the street and enter the first bakers and spot straight away the vanilla slice, although these are iced on the top in pink and I haven't had any like these thus far . I order 2 thinking well they are for the kids and if the other bakers don't have any I shall have to come back and I am the only person in the shop at 9am and I have been staring at the cakes for 1/2 hour and if I don't buy something they'll think I've escaped from somewhere!
So i move on and when I come to the next Bakers lo and behold what should I aspy from outside ,as I didn't want to be the only person in the shop again staring at cakes , but vanilla slice in a form I recognised so in I went and bought 2 more !! Well I suppose Grant and me should really have 1 each as well.
Now finally I passed the really posh bakers . They all have pretty nice cakes in the window but this is the one where Grant bought some quiche and a couple of pecan tarts and it cost us 20 quid cos they didn't have any prices on em . Well in the window they had Vanilla slice - fancy style with layers of puff pastry a bit like a meuille Feuille so I thought in for a penny in for a bankers overdraft and went in and ordered 2 more !
At this point I'm beginning to wonder about my line of thinking but as usual a great idea comes to the rescue and that is we will have a Vanilla slice tasting competition and that way we will always know where to buy are Vanilla Slice from (hoping its not gonna be the last bakers as they are double the price of everyone else's.
So finally I go into Brumby's and ask for Vanilla Slice without even looking to see if they have any as I am now convinced everyone sells the stuff. " Do you mean Snot Blocks the woman asks laughing ( she probably spotted I'm foreign" ,"Excuse me I reply," Well that's what we always used to call em in the old days says the lady and we still get the old ones coming in asking for em like that !
Yum yum so now i have 8 Vanilla slices and the name Snot blocks in my head and my stomach is churning and i am thinking what the hell am i gonna do with 15 quids worth of snot block cos there is no way I can get over the mental picture that conjours up .And then I remember they are not for me anyway they are for the kids and Grant .Aaah rescued again!
Wednesday, 29 April 2009
Saturday, 25 April 2009
General Update
Beam Me Up, which I'm sure over the next few weeks will become a worn cliche. Just finished what is unfortunately becoming a very typical Saturday in Melbourne. Despite it being Anzac Day, which is taken very seriously here, we managed to find a local restuarant open for brunch. One linguine and tuna later we went looking for a car, then into the CBD for dinner in the famous Italian enclave of Lygon Street. 2 stubbies of VB, one bottle of Merlot, olives, and a Rigatoni and Italian sausage later we find a Spanish tapas bar for Chouros and a long black. On the way back to the tram, everyone else except for me somehow managed an icecream!! God, get me back on my bike.
In the search for the car we ended up buying a Toyota Corolla. This is exactly the car we needed: quiet, dependable, economical, sensible, dull, brown, civil service like, brown, quite, sensible, probably even a safe purchase. I prefer spending big money on bikes rather than cars but I think we went a bridge too far here. Secretly I wanted some big 4x4 despite horrendous green credentials, and nearly bought a Euro cool SAAB, but everyone here strangely poo'pooed it. Anyway there we go, I've now got a car I can probably hand onto the grandchildren, who if they have any sense won't want it.
On a final note, Caitlin's team, St Kilda have won yet again. Is there no sense in this world!
OK, on a really final note, I've found the truly wonderful world of Skype, and have started video calling a variety of people. Feel free to find and call me on Skype before I go the way of middle aged Italian woman and switch the video picture off.
In the search for the car we ended up buying a Toyota Corolla. This is exactly the car we needed: quiet, dependable, economical, sensible, dull, brown, civil service like, brown, quite, sensible, probably even a safe purchase. I prefer spending big money on bikes rather than cars but I think we went a bridge too far here. Secretly I wanted some big 4x4 despite horrendous green credentials, and nearly bought a Euro cool SAAB, but everyone here strangely poo'pooed it. Anyway there we go, I've now got a car I can probably hand onto the grandchildren, who if they have any sense won't want it.
On a final note, Caitlin's team, St Kilda have won yet again. Is there no sense in this world!
OK, on a really final note, I've found the truly wonderful world of Skype, and have started video calling a variety of people. Feel free to find and call me on Skype before I go the way of middle aged Italian woman and switch the video picture off.
Friday, 24 April 2009
To blog or not to blog
The title refers to the ongoing argument between myself and Sulky as I now like to affectionately call him, to his back anyway. I never seem to get a chance to get onto the computer these days let alone onto the blog site and so have a lot less to talk about then the blogs himself. However I'm not going to let small facts like this stop me !
I went to the shops today to get some fresh supplies and have decided it is time to blog about the fruit!( was actually Friday but see above for reasons I'm now writing!) It's all ripe ,it's all huge and it's cheap. I have to say we now eats grapes by the kilo as can't seem to get enough- no I'm not pregnant! Even managed to get kids to try fresh figs , one wanted more ,the other regurgitated and I shall leave you to decide which child was which.
I also have to say the fish is great here too although at the moment most is new to me and a lot of sampling will be needed before I work out which I like best . Current favourite is Rockling but with Barramundi, Snapper, Marlin, John Dory, Blue Grenadier, Blue Eye and Redfish to name but a few , who knows what will end up on top. Can I also add that you can roll up at the fish and chip shop and choose from the fresh fish (like a fishmongers ) and then decide how you want it i.e they will even just grill it for you.
Personally I like my fish and chip shops in Edinburgh, where it's often quite hard to recognise what fish it started life as as cos of the amount of batter disguising it, and you can usually follow up with a deep fried Mars bar . Oh and don't forget the famous brown sauce. The tomato ketchup here they have put into small plastic conundrums as they don't seem to do sachets. Let's just say that when the kids first asked me how to open these I proceeded to lecture them on the straightforwardness of their appearance only to open them the wrong way up and squeezed ketchup all over my youngest' arm which she found hilarious!
A visit to the doctors was also interesting as here you pay for everything or so it seems to me anyway. The doctor was very sweet even if he did resemble Harold Shipman although the resemblance stopped when he took out his pen and asked the girls what their favourite animal was and then drew a pretty good depiction of these. I shall be expecting similar when I next go for a smear test ! Still we got an appointment within 2 days of phoning and paid only the equivalent of a vet consultation in the Uk!
And for my last observations on Aussie life I would like to take you to the local swim school. Bizarre place ! Basically was made up of 3 pools ! One fairly normal baby pool you'd expect to find in UK , then next one up which was about 10m long and 6 lanes wide divided up into about 6 areas with the areas being changed every 5 minutes, even I didn't know how they decided who was using which bit , and then a 25m length section about 2 lanes wide, the oddest thing I've ever seen ! They also had 1 guy teaching that looked like a grandad and one lad who looked like he should have still been in school with a couple of more conventional teachers around too. Despite all of this there was the usual amount of children crying cos they were scared of the water and parents giving the teachers advice from the sidelines ! Not that much different from the Uk then .
Anyway I shall now return to bed after my secret visit to the blog site in the middle of the night ,having been woken up yet again by possums doing who knows what and hope they have finished and settled down for the night. Shame they don't hibernate in the winter.
I went to the shops today to get some fresh supplies and have decided it is time to blog about the fruit!( was actually Friday but see above for reasons I'm now writing!) It's all ripe ,it's all huge and it's cheap. I have to say we now eats grapes by the kilo as can't seem to get enough- no I'm not pregnant! Even managed to get kids to try fresh figs , one wanted more ,the other regurgitated and I shall leave you to decide which child was which.
I also have to say the fish is great here too although at the moment most is new to me and a lot of sampling will be needed before I work out which I like best . Current favourite is Rockling but with Barramundi, Snapper, Marlin, John Dory, Blue Grenadier, Blue Eye and Redfish to name but a few , who knows what will end up on top. Can I also add that you can roll up at the fish and chip shop and choose from the fresh fish (like a fishmongers ) and then decide how you want it i.e they will even just grill it for you.
Personally I like my fish and chip shops in Edinburgh, where it's often quite hard to recognise what fish it started life as as cos of the amount of batter disguising it, and you can usually follow up with a deep fried Mars bar . Oh and don't forget the famous brown sauce. The tomato ketchup here they have put into small plastic conundrums as they don't seem to do sachets. Let's just say that when the kids first asked me how to open these I proceeded to lecture them on the straightforwardness of their appearance only to open them the wrong way up and squeezed ketchup all over my youngest' arm which she found hilarious!
A visit to the doctors was also interesting as here you pay for everything or so it seems to me anyway. The doctor was very sweet even if he did resemble Harold Shipman although the resemblance stopped when he took out his pen and asked the girls what their favourite animal was and then drew a pretty good depiction of these. I shall be expecting similar when I next go for a smear test ! Still we got an appointment within 2 days of phoning and paid only the equivalent of a vet consultation in the Uk!
And for my last observations on Aussie life I would like to take you to the local swim school. Bizarre place ! Basically was made up of 3 pools ! One fairly normal baby pool you'd expect to find in UK , then next one up which was about 10m long and 6 lanes wide divided up into about 6 areas with the areas being changed every 5 minutes, even I didn't know how they decided who was using which bit , and then a 25m length section about 2 lanes wide, the oddest thing I've ever seen ! They also had 1 guy teaching that looked like a grandad and one lad who looked like he should have still been in school with a couple of more conventional teachers around too. Despite all of this there was the usual amount of children crying cos they were scared of the water and parents giving the teachers advice from the sidelines ! Not that much different from the Uk then .
Anyway I shall now return to bed after my secret visit to the blog site in the middle of the night ,having been woken up yet again by possums doing who knows what and hope they have finished and settled down for the night. Shame they don't hibernate in the winter.
Sunday, 19 April 2009
The beautiful game
So we've been to see our first Aussie Rules game. Caitlin was ecstatic as her team (not exactly a top rank team) have won yet again and are the unlikely leaders of the ladder at this early stage in the season.
I think everyone enjoyed it, despite it lasting over 2.5 hours. Its 4, 20 minute sessions, but with 20 mins at half time, and each quarter lasting in reality about 25-30 minutes the overall time soon racks up. The discrepancy between 20 mins and 25-30 is time out while the ball isn't in play. The game is so fluid and the ball in play so regularly its actually hard to spot the "dead" 5-10 mins. Clearly a key feature of the game is to reduce audience dead time, and any attempt to rub your eyes, never mind go to the loo means there is a chance you've missed something.
The game is odd in the sense that its called Aussie Rules, but its sold very much on its brutal go for it, no rules attitude, yet it needs no less than 9 (yup 9!) officiators for want of a better word. That's one ref, 2 linesman, 2 goal refs (there are 4 goal posts each side and a complex set of rules governing what points you get), and 4 supporting refs wandering the field. Remember with a pitch about 30% bigger than a soccer pitch, no offside rule, and long range kicking being a key skill, the ball can have travelled 150 metres in a few seconds.
The Ethiad Stadium we went to is seen as an "intimate" close to the action kind of place, and we certainly enjoyed. The fans are also generally good natured if a little animated, and typically Aussie blunt at times. The reasonably strict controls on alchohol at matches, and the real family atmosphere (a good 20-30% of fans must be under 12 but are no less fervent) explaining some of this. It'll be interesting in 2 weeks when we go to the MCG. The stadium is twice as big and has 2 big league teams who are both a little on the ropes at the moment.
Finally, and if anyone is interested, Caitlin's team gave the other lot a good drubbing, and the score (which is difficult to follow) was St Kilda Saints 17.9 (111), Fremantle Dockers 4.4 (28).
I think everyone enjoyed it, despite it lasting over 2.5 hours. Its 4, 20 minute sessions, but with 20 mins at half time, and each quarter lasting in reality about 25-30 minutes the overall time soon racks up. The discrepancy between 20 mins and 25-30 is time out while the ball isn't in play. The game is so fluid and the ball in play so regularly its actually hard to spot the "dead" 5-10 mins. Clearly a key feature of the game is to reduce audience dead time, and any attempt to rub your eyes, never mind go to the loo means there is a chance you've missed something.
The game is odd in the sense that its called Aussie Rules, but its sold very much on its brutal go for it, no rules attitude, yet it needs no less than 9 (yup 9!) officiators for want of a better word. That's one ref, 2 linesman, 2 goal refs (there are 4 goal posts each side and a complex set of rules governing what points you get), and 4 supporting refs wandering the field. Remember with a pitch about 30% bigger than a soccer pitch, no offside rule, and long range kicking being a key skill, the ball can have travelled 150 metres in a few seconds.
The Ethiad Stadium we went to is seen as an "intimate" close to the action kind of place, and we certainly enjoyed. The fans are also generally good natured if a little animated, and typically Aussie blunt at times. The reasonably strict controls on alchohol at matches, and the real family atmosphere (a good 20-30% of fans must be under 12 but are no less fervent) explaining some of this. It'll be interesting in 2 weeks when we go to the MCG. The stadium is twice as big and has 2 big league teams who are both a little on the ropes at the moment.
Finally, and if anyone is interested, Caitlin's team gave the other lot a good drubbing, and the score (which is difficult to follow) was St Kilda Saints 17.9 (111), Fremantle Dockers 4.4 (28).
Saturday, 18 April 2009
Grumpy Old Man
I know this is going to come across as middle aged Grumpy Old Man, and is nothing really to do with Australia, but an event today is enouraging me to put pen to paper on my rants about Sat Navs. There are 3 things that really annoy me about these things:
1. People lose any kind of sense or context of where they are. You leave your house in the UK to see friends - wherever, somewhere, it doesn't really matter. 3 hours later: Tom, Emily, Sean, or for the terminally bored John Cleese, or Billy Connolly tell you you've arrived. Unfortunately if I showed you a map of the UK, you'd first say "where is that?", then have a complete inability to point on the map to where you are, or where you've come from.
2. Local knowledge/power is lost. If you're ever in a traffic jam, typically caused by an accident (and lets face it, in the South East of England this is a daily occurrence), you head off the main road for the secret rat run you know, and hey presto, 5 mins later than usual your at your destination, having whizzed over 2 bridges sneering down at the jam on the major road. Nowadays though, everyone types in "Find alternate route", and Tom/Emily/Billy sends everyone to your rat route, creating 2 jams instead of one, and getting you stuck in the process.
3. Finally, and along with a lack of alchohol, the trigger for this rant, the ability for anyone to become a taxi driver. You just roll up for a job in a new place/city, stick the Sat Nav in and you guessed it, Tom/Emily/Billy makes you an instant expert. Unfortunately today the cabbie had no Sat Nav! We gave him directions to a place 8k from where he picked us up, so its not like local knowledge is an issue. 2 minutes later he asks me which choice of 2 routes he should take. I think he is casing me for the extent of my knowledge, in case he wants to take us (on the meter) by the scenic route. However, it turned out to be much worse than that. We ended up driving miles past where we wanted, telling him then where to go, and closer to our ultimate destination having to give him turn by turn instructions. I've only lived in this part of the City for 4 weeks fer chrissakes! Luckily he heard my mutterings in the back and decided to stop the meter about 2/3 of the way through the trip.
Sorry about all this - I'm off for a drink.
1. People lose any kind of sense or context of where they are. You leave your house in the UK to see friends - wherever, somewhere, it doesn't really matter. 3 hours later: Tom, Emily, Sean, or for the terminally bored John Cleese, or Billy Connolly tell you you've arrived. Unfortunately if I showed you a map of the UK, you'd first say "where is that?", then have a complete inability to point on the map to where you are, or where you've come from.
2. Local knowledge/power is lost. If you're ever in a traffic jam, typically caused by an accident (and lets face it, in the South East of England this is a daily occurrence), you head off the main road for the secret rat run you know, and hey presto, 5 mins later than usual your at your destination, having whizzed over 2 bridges sneering down at the jam on the major road. Nowadays though, everyone types in "Find alternate route", and Tom/Emily/Billy sends everyone to your rat route, creating 2 jams instead of one, and getting you stuck in the process.
3. Finally, and along with a lack of alchohol, the trigger for this rant, the ability for anyone to become a taxi driver. You just roll up for a job in a new place/city, stick the Sat Nav in and you guessed it, Tom/Emily/Billy makes you an instant expert. Unfortunately today the cabbie had no Sat Nav! We gave him directions to a place 8k from where he picked us up, so its not like local knowledge is an issue. 2 minutes later he asks me which choice of 2 routes he should take. I think he is casing me for the extent of my knowledge, in case he wants to take us (on the meter) by the scenic route. However, it turned out to be much worse than that. We ended up driving miles past where we wanted, telling him then where to go, and closer to our ultimate destination having to give him turn by turn instructions. I've only lived in this part of the City for 4 weeks fer chrissakes! Luckily he heard my mutterings in the back and decided to stop the meter about 2/3 of the way through the trip.
Sorry about all this - I'm off for a drink.
Friday, 17 April 2009
The XXXY Files
Case number 118 118- This case intrigued me from the minute I moved into the new house in Brighton. Sulky had gone off to his plush hotel in Sydney,leaving me Mouldy alone with the 2 children "setting up home" on our airbeds and 1 blanket .It was only when I attempted to go to sleep that night the strange sounds began to penetrate the house .
The noises resembled the sounds of a cat burglar trying to enter the house first trying the roof and next the windows. My eldest and me spent a very restless night only finally falling asleep when we decided that the burglars had spent so long casing the joint that they must have decided there was nothing worth stealing.
Sulky of course was having none of it that is until he had to spend a weekend on his own whilst we were on the houseboat. Let's just say he now believed the noises were more of a supernatural variety thus explaining his reluctance to go out and see what the cause of the sounds were and instead spending the nights ' hiding under the duvets' yes we had indeed now got duvets since Sulky was back, and hoping for the speedy return of Mouldy whom he hoped would keep him safe at night .
The final solving of the case came 2 nights ago when hearing an almighty crash on the roof, both of us ventured outside with a flashlight only to discover a possum looking back with a "What's your problem expression on it's now not so cute face"
Despite the solving of this case it didn't stop the pair of us from being woken up last night with what sounded like an Evander Hollyfield and Mike Tyson rematch done with possums ,from going on above our bedroom roof only ending in a knockout by one as the now unconscious possum slid down our glass skylight and the other did a lap of victory at top speed across the roof !!!
Any of our visitors in the autumn should take heed of this blog before booking flights!
Case number =666. This case started very innocuously as we sat enjoying lunch on Hampton street a few weekends ago .I say enjoy but alas both kids were in hyper mode and they had brought wheels. Constant apologies were the order of the day until one elderly couple began to make conversation . It started with the introductions of this seemingly normal couple ,"Hi I'm Steve and this is my wife Anne". On discussing holidays they proceeded on giving us a long list of sites we should see in Queensland and nearby also mentioning a hotel we should look at in Cairns. It was only on finishing the conversation that we both realised we would be in Sydney the following Easter weekend . " Wouldn't it be funny if we bumped into each other " I remarked innocently ,not realising the eerie occurrences that were about to ensue.
So after arriving in Sydney day 2 we decided to visit Manly Beach by ferry from the Circular Quay. It was packed but by some strange coincidence whom should we see on the way back but the same Steve and Anne from Hampton. We laughed a little at the coincidence and wondered what were the odds but then the tarot cards threw another hand. That night we arrived at our chosen restaurant, Doyles overlooking the Quay ,which we had booked Day 1. Who should sit not 2 tables away an hour later but Steve and Anne . Now this was getting spooky . Again we exchanged pleasantries nervously eyeing each other and wondering who was stalking who!
Finally we arrived on day 4 to get our flight back to Melbourne and yes as you have guessed whom should be on the same flight as us but Steve and Anne .This time Steve gave us his phone number despite Grant saying to me keep your distance ,obviously fearing once again of the supernatural. As we sat down on the plane whom should sit in the seats behind but Steve and Anne who had booked in about 2 hours before us. I'm still waiting for them to materialise as we sit down one night for a meal although Sulky is no doubt worrying that it may be instead when I am out one night and he has gone to bed !!!!
The noises resembled the sounds of a cat burglar trying to enter the house first trying the roof and next the windows. My eldest and me spent a very restless night only finally falling asleep when we decided that the burglars had spent so long casing the joint that they must have decided there was nothing worth stealing.
Sulky of course was having none of it that is until he had to spend a weekend on his own whilst we were on the houseboat. Let's just say he now believed the noises were more of a supernatural variety thus explaining his reluctance to go out and see what the cause of the sounds were and instead spending the nights ' hiding under the duvets' yes we had indeed now got duvets since Sulky was back, and hoping for the speedy return of Mouldy whom he hoped would keep him safe at night .
The final solving of the case came 2 nights ago when hearing an almighty crash on the roof, both of us ventured outside with a flashlight only to discover a possum looking back with a "What's your problem expression on it's now not so cute face"
Despite the solving of this case it didn't stop the pair of us from being woken up last night with what sounded like an Evander Hollyfield and Mike Tyson rematch done with possums ,from going on above our bedroom roof only ending in a knockout by one as the now unconscious possum slid down our glass skylight and the other did a lap of victory at top speed across the roof !!!
Any of our visitors in the autumn should take heed of this blog before booking flights!
Case number =666. This case started very innocuously as we sat enjoying lunch on Hampton street a few weekends ago .I say enjoy but alas both kids were in hyper mode and they had brought wheels. Constant apologies were the order of the day until one elderly couple began to make conversation . It started with the introductions of this seemingly normal couple ,"Hi I'm Steve and this is my wife Anne". On discussing holidays they proceeded on giving us a long list of sites we should see in Queensland and nearby also mentioning a hotel we should look at in Cairns. It was only on finishing the conversation that we both realised we would be in Sydney the following Easter weekend . " Wouldn't it be funny if we bumped into each other " I remarked innocently ,not realising the eerie occurrences that were about to ensue.
So after arriving in Sydney day 2 we decided to visit Manly Beach by ferry from the Circular Quay. It was packed but by some strange coincidence whom should we see on the way back but the same Steve and Anne from Hampton. We laughed a little at the coincidence and wondered what were the odds but then the tarot cards threw another hand. That night we arrived at our chosen restaurant, Doyles overlooking the Quay ,which we had booked Day 1. Who should sit not 2 tables away an hour later but Steve and Anne . Now this was getting spooky . Again we exchanged pleasantries nervously eyeing each other and wondering who was stalking who!
Finally we arrived on day 4 to get our flight back to Melbourne and yes as you have guessed whom should be on the same flight as us but Steve and Anne .This time Steve gave us his phone number despite Grant saying to me keep your distance ,obviously fearing once again of the supernatural. As we sat down on the plane whom should sit in the seats behind but Steve and Anne who had booked in about 2 hours before us. I'm still waiting for them to materialise as we sit down one night for a meal although Sulky is no doubt worrying that it may be instead when I am out one night and he has gone to bed !!!!
Wednesday, 15 April 2009
The Long Weekend
For anyone getting worried recently by the mock Gothic style that's appeared, I'm back to provide sanity to the blog.
We've just come back from a long weekend, taking in Sydney and the Blue Mountains. Having had 3 days in Sydney I think pretty much everything in my previous blog about Sydney was pretty accurate. Only thing to add is that it is almost impossible to get a decent cup of coffee there. They may think they do coffee, but then the Americans think that as well.
We actually spent most of our time in Manly, perferring it to the rather more obvious and in yer face delights of Central Sydney.
If you're beginning to think I didn't enjoy my time, Sydney gave us access to the Blue Mountains and we drove up there for the day in a hire car. Somebody at AVIS must be reading my blog, because instead of another 3.5l monster car, I got a 2 door Hyundai thing. Still it had a manual gearbox.
Sharon was hopelssly underwhelmed by the sights in Sydney, probably from an over saturation of iconic photos over the years, and me gibbering about the bay view. I got my own back in the Blue Mountains though, acheiving the impossible, and rendering her speechless with her first view over the Blue Mountains from Katoomba.
Unfortunately, regarding the view, I'm rendered pretty speechless as well. We took photos and I can describe what I saw, but I just don't think I can do justice to the experience.
Katoomba was good although clearly touristy, with everyone wanting photos of the 3 Sisters and goes on the cable cars or Mountain Railway. I'd forgotten about this, the worlds steepest incline passenger railway, which takes you from the plateau to the forest floor. You climb into seats on a mini railway type set up at a reasonable incline and then the cable lets it run. Just after leaving the platform you drop over the edge and start running down a pretty steep slope. Sharon is a bit stressed at this point, and I joke about "wait 'til we get to the steep bit". Unfortuantely 3 seconds later we did, and you think you're about to tip over its so steep. All the time going down I've got this Indian behind me with the most charictured accent reciting endlessy "Holy Shit, Holy Shit".
We wandered on from Katoomba to Blackheath and Govett's leap. This was like Katoomba but with even greater views and with no cable cars no tourists. Huge ampitheatres with 300foot vertical cliffs to the valley floor with waterfalls tumbling over the tops and freefalling until they hit the forest 300 feet below. The falls would have been truly spectacular, but this is Australia at the end of the summer!
There was some mad path desperately clinging to the rock face that helter skeltered down to the valley. We went as far as a lookout, and although the rest of the family wanted to continue, self preservation and vertigo got the better of me.
Managed to work on International relations on the way back to Sydney. We got stuck in a traffic jam for 1.5 hours and the guys next to us start complaining that they lived 5 hours north and they got nothing like this. The scale of the Country got the better of me, and I replied with "I'm from Melbourne, and we don't get this either, New South Wales is shit isn't it". At which point they reminded me that 5 hours North was still NSW!!
Now back in Melbourne, and as the coffee kicks in I can't sleep!!
We've just come back from a long weekend, taking in Sydney and the Blue Mountains. Having had 3 days in Sydney I think pretty much everything in my previous blog about Sydney was pretty accurate. Only thing to add is that it is almost impossible to get a decent cup of coffee there. They may think they do coffee, but then the Americans think that as well.
We actually spent most of our time in Manly, perferring it to the rather more obvious and in yer face delights of Central Sydney.
If you're beginning to think I didn't enjoy my time, Sydney gave us access to the Blue Mountains and we drove up there for the day in a hire car. Somebody at AVIS must be reading my blog, because instead of another 3.5l monster car, I got a 2 door Hyundai thing. Still it had a manual gearbox.
Sharon was hopelssly underwhelmed by the sights in Sydney, probably from an over saturation of iconic photos over the years, and me gibbering about the bay view. I got my own back in the Blue Mountains though, acheiving the impossible, and rendering her speechless with her first view over the Blue Mountains from Katoomba.
Unfortunately, regarding the view, I'm rendered pretty speechless as well. We took photos and I can describe what I saw, but I just don't think I can do justice to the experience.
Katoomba was good although clearly touristy, with everyone wanting photos of the 3 Sisters and goes on the cable cars or Mountain Railway. I'd forgotten about this, the worlds steepest incline passenger railway, which takes you from the plateau to the forest floor. You climb into seats on a mini railway type set up at a reasonable incline and then the cable lets it run. Just after leaving the platform you drop over the edge and start running down a pretty steep slope. Sharon is a bit stressed at this point, and I joke about "wait 'til we get to the steep bit". Unfortuantely 3 seconds later we did, and you think you're about to tip over its so steep. All the time going down I've got this Indian behind me with the most charictured accent reciting endlessy "Holy Shit, Holy Shit".
We wandered on from Katoomba to Blackheath and Govett's leap. This was like Katoomba but with even greater views and with no cable cars no tourists. Huge ampitheatres with 300foot vertical cliffs to the valley floor with waterfalls tumbling over the tops and freefalling until they hit the forest 300 feet below. The falls would have been truly spectacular, but this is Australia at the end of the summer!
There was some mad path desperately clinging to the rock face that helter skeltered down to the valley. We went as far as a lookout, and although the rest of the family wanted to continue, self preservation and vertigo got the better of me.
Managed to work on International relations on the way back to Sydney. We got stuck in a traffic jam for 1.5 hours and the guys next to us start complaining that they lived 5 hours north and they got nothing like this. The scale of the Country got the better of me, and I replied with "I'm from Melbourne, and we don't get this either, New South Wales is shit isn't it". At which point they reminded me that 5 hours North was still NSW!!
Now back in Melbourne, and as the coffee kicks in I can't sleep!!
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