Bangkok

The flight to Bangkok was bumpy - certainly the worst of our flights so far but it was a short one and I'm getting a lot better at dealing with them.

The approach to Bangkok was a little surreal as the airport seems to be on a golf course and several players crossed the runway after our plane had landed.

Thai customs was as terrifying as it was last time with a very grumpy customs official who didn't even say a word whilst staring at me and looking at my passport.

We got a taxi into Bangkok and were dropped off right by Khao San Road where our accommodation was. Again, Bangkok has changed considerably from 2000 - a lot cleaner and several more up market hotels including a couple right on Khao San Road itself. Indeed, we were staying in one called the Buddy Lodge right in the thick of things.

We checked into our hotel and de-smelled from the traveling (OK that only involves changing t-shirts and putting on deodorant but we still didn't smell as bad as Bangkok itself) and then wandered out into the city to explore.

Being a jet-lagged and tired we then managed to get ourselves ensnared in a fairly elaborate charade trick which didn't really achieve much. Certainly none of the apparent participants would have been taken too much money from it. Anyway, judge it for yourself.

We were wandering towards the palace about 2pm when a guy stopped us. Naturally wary of people coming up to talk to us as everyone seemed to be trying to sell us anything we chatted briefly to this one guy who seemed on the straight. He told us the palace closed at 3:30 and we would need more time to go and see it so pointed out in our lonely planet things worth visiting right now and also a suit place called Voglee which was running a sale that had its last day today. He then told us that tuk-tuks with white license plates were government run and gave us better deals. For a trip round everywhere he had suggested (with the tuk-tuk driver waiting for us at each venue) should cost 60 baht. He also told us he was a student studying at the local university shook our hands and was on his way.

So we flagged down a tuk-tuk with a white license plate and negotiated what we wanted to do for 60 baht and off we went.

The first stop was the Standing Buddha at Wat Intharawihan - a statue that must have been a good 30/40 foot tall. Pretty impressive. The temple itself had several bhuddas. We were both worried going in - trying to make sure we were showing enough respect. We did take off our shoes as instructed and no-one shouted at us so it looks like we were ok.

Next stop was Wat Ratchathewat which has a very impressive sitting Buddha. The temple complex has several temples all of which had monks - one of whom was meditating. We think it was the one on the front of the Lonely Planet.

Next stop was getting measured up for suits. Never had a tailored suit before! Took our time selecting material and all that stuff and we got a good price in the end although we could have probably negotiated a bit more looking back.

We got our bus tickets next at a travel shop. The Lonely Planet recommends that you don't but there were several other tourists in there and we got the price that the LP recommended.

OK now compare that story to this: Another version involves a mugging so we'll leave that one!

Had a bit of a chill-out by the rooftop pool which had water features with elephants squirting water into the pool with their trunks.

Headed out onto Khao San Road for dinner and a few (too many) beers in the evening and introduced Dave to a Thai green curry.

Wasted the next day hungover apart from rousing ourselves for our suit fittings. The tuk-tuk driver made things a bit off a trial as he took us to another tailor and we ended up walking round it for 5 minutes so he could get free fuel and then walking out.

The following day was travel day but we did have most of the day to kill. We headed over to the Grand Palace. First port of call (after running the gauntlet of guides/tuk-tuk drivers etc. to get in) was Wat Phra Kaew. This is a collection of temples within the palace walls the highlight of which is the Emerald Buddha (Phra Kaew Marakot). It's tiny (only 75cm tall) compared to the other bhuddas we've seen but is much more important. It's significance derives not only from being made not from emerald but jade and it also has important history having been stolen from the Thai's by Laos and then recovered some 200 years later.

They have some impressive murals round the cloisters of the temple running round depicting various Thai myths and legends. They are called the Murals of the Ramakhan. There was restoration work going on while we there which isn't suprising given it's painted directly onto the wall and is outside subject to Thai humidity. The main scenes are painted in fairly drab paint but all the people are painted on in gold.

We were starting to suffer in the heat too by this point mainly because we were wearing trousers (you have to to show respect). You're not allowed to wear shoes in any of the temples and you can't point your feet at any image of the Buddha either.

Wat Po was closed due to some Thai ceremony. We actually went and checked because we didn't trust anyone anymore. It's like Bangkok is one big con that everyone is in on.

Had a major disaster at this point when my camera vanished at some point before getting back to the hotel. Hopefully covered by the insurance but more annoyed because it was a Christmas present. Thankfully didn't lose too many photos though.

Sulked through the afternoon (cross with myself over the camera) whilst watching pirated films in one of the bars on Khao San Road before being collected from our hotel at 5:30 ready for our mammoth bus ride down to Phuket.

Stop over in Kuala Lumpur

We arrived in KL at about 10 in the evening - about the time Watford were kicking off their play-off final so no chance to see it. I hadn't realised how far KL airport is from the city. I was a little concerned at one point that we were going to get murdered but thankfully we arrived into the city about 50 minutes after leaving the airport.

The Petronas Towers and the KL Tower were immediately obvious on the skyline. We were staying on a hotel on Petaling Street - right in the middle of Chinatown. It was about half eleven by the time we arrived and things were winding down in the night markets by this time. We were knackered and so just checked in and crashed. No luck in finding out the Watford score though. Our room was a cheap one and hence had no window which was very freaky, especially to wake up to.

The following morning we woke up and managed to get from ESPN that Watford had won the play-off final 3-0. It was the lead news bulletin too and we got to see all the goals!

We wandered out for a bit of sightseeing in a very good mood. Well, me anyway! We got a little lost wandering round the streets of KL but managed to find the monorail line which connected us to the underground. We took the underground up to the KL Tower which is a communications tower. It was hot and humid and we were struggling a little before we were called over and offered a free shuttle bus up to the KL Tower entrance. Miraculously it was actually free!

We got ourselves a ticket to go up to the observation deck. At the deck itself we were given commentary headsets (again for free) and wandered around admiring the view. KL as a city is much more modern since I was last there in 2000 and it is noticeable how many new buildings have been thrown up in that time and how many building sites are there too.

We spent about half an hour up there admiring the view (although it was a little hazy) and taking photos. When we got to the bottom we took the time to wander round the forest that has remained at the foot of the tower (it's in a couple of hectares of forest which they have kept as parkland). The walk was good and there was plenty of information about the trees and we even caught a slight glimpse of a monkey.

We then wandered across to the Petronas towers for lunch and to go up to the skybridge, but we found that the bridge was closed on Mondays. We got lunch in the shopping centre there (nice air conditioning!!) and Dave had a wander round the electronic store. We also sent a parcel each back home to lighten our bags (stuff I wanted to send in Perth!!).

Our next stop was the Central Markets, which are craft markets. We wandered round them for a while but nothing took our fancy. Our next stop was Independence Square where the Malaysian flag was raised when they were granted independence in the 50's. It isn't really a square as it's actually a cricket pitch where ex-pats used to play. It's bordered on one side by an impressive Arabic looking building which we couldn't find out anything about.

We went back to our hotel at this point (after stopping at a net cafe to read everything I could about Watford's win) for a bit of a rest (and cool down).

We then wandered out into the night markets which were right at the door of our hotel (deliberately). Had a bit of a comical moment when a guy at a stall selling football shirts asked me what team I supported. I told him Watford and he said he didn't have any Watford shirts (unsuprisingly!) but then suddenly piped up "but I have Leeds!" (for the non-football followers among you Watford beat Leeds in the final).

We did a bit of shopping - got a pair of cheap sunglasses each and a football shirt each (I got a Barcelona shirt, Dave a Real Madrid) and a few cheap DVDs and then had a good dinner and a few beers.

The next day we got up early to go to the Petronas Towers because the tickets are given away free. We got there about 9:30 (that's early for us now) and managed to get on the 2pm tour. This caused a little trouble with our day so we got a taxi to the KL Butterfly park (we were going to train and walk).

The Butterfly Park is enclosed with nets and has literally hundreds of butterflies everywhere. We had to keep on ducking every once in a while! There was all kinds of plants and several ponds with Koi Carp in them. The area itself was quite small so it only took us about half an hour to wander round.

We then walked to the KL Bird Park next door. This was also enclosed with nets but was a lot bigger. It took us over an hour to walk round and we saw all kinds of birds including peacocks, flamingos, hawks, eagles, owls, ibises, macaws and plenty I can't remember. Really impressive.

We then got a taxi back to the Petronas towers and grabbed some lunch before joining our tour group. We waited in a little room with a video all about the building of the tower, which was very interesting and several displays including one showing how a lightning strike is conducted. When our tour was called we came through to an auditorium showing the same construction film on a loop (I think we saw it three times through by the end). We eventually got called at about quarter past and were loaded into the service elevator.

The view from the bridge was pretty impressive, although not as good as the KL tower because the two towers got in the way of most of the view (you couldn't see the KL tower itself as a result). We'll have to watch Entrapment again now we've been up there though!

Part of the KLCC complex also encompasses a park with a swimming pool/paddling pool and we had a wander round this - mainly because it offered great views of the towers themselves.

There were no night markets in the evening so we just had a little wander round Chinatown and then polished off something called a Swiss Tower (3l beer tower - I'll post a picture).

We had a really early start the next day to catch our flight to Bangkok. Our taxi driver picked us up at 7 and amazingly he was early! Got to KLIA no worries and then just more sitting around waiting in airports!!

Final weekend in Perth

We had a slow start to the day as we were tired but eventually stirred ourselves to go and get breakfast, ok lunch, do a bit of blogging and post a parcel each. Unfortunately we got the order wrong because we got to the post office about fifteen minutes too late.

We then headed to Subiaco Oval to watch an AFL game between Fremantle Dockers and the Kangaroos (North Melbourne). The stadium was almost decrepit with tiny concourses and entirely concrete. Our seats were good - behind one of the goals and about half-way up the stand. The leg-room, however, was non-existent and, thankfully, no-one was sitting next to us so we could kind of sit side-ways.

The game itself was frenetic but low scoring mainly due to good defence on both sides and there was less than a goal in it at half-time but the Dockers pressure told in the second half and they ran away with it.

The atmosphere was superb and not just celebrating the goals as is the norm with Australian sports fans. Almost a full house, plenty of flag waving and lots of singing.

Caught the Da Vinci code in the evening which was better than the critics think it is.

We had a travelling day on the sunday. Our flight was at four but we checked in early so a lot of time packing and sitting around the airport. Great fun!

The Valley of the Giants

A very early start for our trip down to the south coast of WA. We got collected and dropped off in the city centre before boarding a bus and heading south down the highway out of Perth.

We were a fairly small group - a couple our age and then two middle-aged couple and a 30-something lady by herself.

We stopped briefly for something to eat at about eleven-ish and then arrived at our first destination at just after midday. This was called the Diamond Tree and was a tree that had a viewing platform right at the top for people to sit and watch for bush-fires. There was a whole range of them across southern WA. They were set up in the early 1940's and basically involved building a hide at the top of the tree and a ladder to get up the tree. Not an ordinary ladder but one where they hammered (hopefully quite hard) metal poles into the tree in a spiralling effect to create a staircase. Poles were also inserted about 2m above the first to create a kind of cage (I say kind of because if you fell off I'm pretty sure it wouldn't hold you).

The diamond tree was a type of Eucalyptus (Eucalyptus diversicolor). We stopped here for lunch and had the opportunity to climb it should we wish. Naturally I didn't want to miss the chance so climbed it. The stairs went half way up to a small platform about 25m above the ground and then a normal ladder went the rest of the way up to the hide at about 46m above the ground. The tree itself was 51m tall. All the tall trees in the surrounding area are felled or cut back and so the view was pretty spectacular.

The secret to the climb was obviously not to look down but that was fairly hard as the gaps between stairs were quite big. It was more a case of rock climbing! The girl (part of the couple ) made it to the small platform but then spent the entire time hugging the ground. I took a picture of her with her camera and I almost had to peel it of her because she wouldn't move. We eventually both got down (slowly).

From there it was another hour to the main attraction - the Valley of the Giants. This is the only place left in the world where the Red Tingle (another type of Eucalyptus) grows (due to climate change over thousands of years) and is the third largest tree species. They have built a boardwalk there now to protect the trees as their most famous attraction - a 250 year old tree - fell down after too many people walking and driving too close to it packed the soil down preventing it getting all the water and nutrients from the soil it needed. Another feature of the tree is that it often rots on the inside creating a hollow effect and the 250 year old tree was so big that you could drive a car into its hollow.

We were greeted by one of the guides who told us the history of the location and some information about the trees and also the walkway that had been erected taking us right up to the top of the canopy. The walk took about half an hour (walking fairly slowly) and it was very impressive being able to walk right up to the top of the trees.

They also had a section where you could walk through the trees on wooden boardwalks on the forest floor and several trees that you walked through or could have your picture taken in.

We had a small afternoon tea - the highlight of which was a tame crow that would eat out of our hands. He ended up with chocolate cake all over his beak.

We then headed east a small way to a bay overlooking the southern ocean called ___. It was mainly just to have a look but I got my shoes off for a paddle but then had a little disaster trying to change batteries on my camera. I dropped one and tried to grab it before it went into the water and not only failed to catch the battery I also slipt on the rock and cut my arm on the elbow. Didn't stop me having a paddle. The water was nice and warm! No-one agreed with me on this!

Had a small delay while I was bandaged up by the bus driver but thankfully I brought jeans so was able to change out of my wet shorts.

Our final stop of the day was an aboriginal culture centre at a town called __. This was also our dinner stop and I had a good dinner of lasagne, a piece of cake and a cup of tea. We were then given a quick tour round the centre by an aborigine guy called Jack. It was mostly about the region and how the cultures integrated and was pretty interesting although we were all pretty tired by this point.

We were finally dropped off at our hotel at about half ten and dog-tired!!

Rottnest Island

Caught the train down to Fremantle to join up with the Rottnest Express - the ferry heading over to Rottnest Island.

The ferry passage was nice and smooth and we sat out the back to get the sun and see where we were going.

The island itself is fairly small - about ten kilometres long and about four wide. Thompson's Bay is the main settlement on the island (and is referred to on road signs and maps as 'the settlement'. Most of the island is holiday cottages and pretty much the first building you come to off the jetty is the check-in. We went past that to the bicycle hire and hired two mountain bikes.

We headed up to a place called Geordie's Bay on the northern coastline - where there was a small clutch of holiday cottages and a place to grab something to eat. The route took us through the inland lakes which were very pretty. They are all protected areas too.

From there we headed west to the tip of the island (it's shaped something like a wedge with Thompson's Bay at the thick end on the eastern side, and the western side essentially just being a point) along the northern coastline stopping next at a small beach called Little Parakeets Bay. Small is probably an understatement as it was no more than ten metres wide and most of it was taken up with rocks. However, we did get it to ourselves though which was a bonus and we tossed the ball around for a while.

Unfortunately when we got back to the bikes we discovered that Dave's had a flat tyre. I cycled back to Geordie's Bay (while he walked the bike back) and called the 'breakdown assistance' number. They were pretty good and drove up with a replacement bike within 20 minutes so we weren;t hindered too much.

We cycled back the way we came for about 2 or 3 kilometres and then, about two thirds of the way along the northern coastline, took an inland road south past the lighthouse (Oliver's Hill) and then met the southern coastline, where we headed back east.

We stopped again at a place called Parkers Point to sun on the beach for half an hour (and have a bit of a breather). Didn't have the beach to ourself this time but only a few other people on it.

The road from there was very up-and-down and a little hard work. Just on the edge of Thompson's Bay we stopped at a place where you could apparently see Quokkas - a small rat-like Marsupial (and the reason for the island's name - Rat's Nest in Dutch). There were several information boards up telling us about the Quokkas. We were also lucky enough to see a few. Very tame little creatures - even a mother with a child.

We dropped the bikes back off and found out that the Quokkas are so tame it's hard work not to see them - and to prove the point as soon as we came out of the bike hire place we saw two hopping across the road.

We grabbed some dinner and a pint in the Quokka Inn overlooking the sea towards the mainland and then bided our time till the ferry came to take us back to the mainland.

Fremantle and the Gaol

Took the train south to Fremantle, which is a small fishing town on the mouth of the Swan River. It's about a half hour train journey and most of the latter part is along the coastline.

Wandered from the train station down through the docks to the Maritime Museum. We had only been going round for about fifteen minutes when they announced a tour of a subrmarine in the dry dock next door. Dave passed but I leapt at the chance.

The submarine was a Collins class diesel boat called the HMAS Ovens (named after an Irish fella). We were taken round by an old Navy guy who was an excellent tour guide.

We climbed the steps to the top of the submarine and down into the boat through the fore hatch, which took us straight into the torpedo room. The stairs down were fairly tight and some of the older members of the group took their time. The angle of the stairs changed half way down which made it more tricky.

The Torpedo Room was quite small and tight, and even I (at 5'9" (175cm)) bumped my head one or two times. The six torpedo doors were right at the front (obviously) and the torpedos arranged around us. Apparently one boat sunk because the torpedo man opened the door whilst the tube was still flooded. You can't do that anymore. Oh, and the torpedo guy was one of two survivors from that little accident.

The next room (through a small circular hatchway) was one of the bunk rooms. The bunks were small and arranged against the wall. Not sure how you'd get any sleep because people would be coming back and forth through it. You did have a little curtain though. The mattresses on it were all of about an inch think. Didn't look comfortable at all. There aren't enough bunks in the submarine for everyone so there was a hot-bunking system - sailors worked a 6 hour on 6 hour off day so there would always be spare bunks.

We then went through a (very) small corridor with a few rooms off which we could only look in. First was the senior sailors mess room which had a few chairs and a table. They used to have a projector for films.

The next room was the Galley (kitchen to all ye landlubbers) which was tiny. You wouldn't be able to swing a very small kitten. And they had three chefs cooking in there. Must have got VERY hot. As a bonus though, the chefs were the only ones who were allowed to wash every day.

The corrider then opened up into the bridge which was a lot smaller than I imagined but had all the usual stuff in from the movies such as the helm, sonar and the map-plotting table. They had three periscopes (normal, attack and I forget what the other was for).

The captain's cabin was next and it was also minute although at least he got his own bed. His feet stuck out into the engine room though (boxed off).

We then went through another hatchway into the engine room (all diesel engines) with a million various switches and lights, then through another hatchway into the aft torpedo room. Modern torpedos can now be fired forwards and hit a submarine behind them so this had been converted to bunks.

One final note as we exited was that the submarine was flying the Jolly Roger (skull and crossbones). This was from when a British submarine sunk a German frigate early in WWII. The British Admiralty thought this was a very sneaky and underhand way to fight a war so handed him the flag claiming he was nothing more than a pirate. The submarine captain was very proud of it as it showed he was doing his job properly and it has flown on British and Australian subs ever since.

We had a good fish and chip lunch in the fishing harbour and then headed to a shipwreck gallery full of stories and artefacts from all the shipwrecks that have occured up and down the WA coastline. It included part of the ship Bavaria that has been recovered from the deep.

We then wandered through Fremantle - past the Round House (Fremantle's oldest building and former Gaol) and then up the high street. All the architecture is very reminiscent of England with an Australian twist.

We returned to Fremantle the following day for a torchlit Gaol tour. Fremantle Gaol is pretty much fully intact as it was only finally closed in 1991. Our tour guide was a Scotsman called Terry who was excellent. We never found out if he was a former guard or prisoner though.

Our first stop was the entrance hall where prisoners were processed upon arrival and then through the shower blocks.

From there we headed into one of the cell blocks. The prison was again on three levels, only this time the 'suicide netting' was still up. Terry talked us through the prisoners day and then, as we were leaving, there was an almighty scream and a body landed in the suicide netting. Gave several people a major fright (ok including me).

We then wandered through the exercise yards where prisoners would, funnily enough, exercise. They had to sit out in the hot sun for ages before eventually a shade structure was erected, then a bit later they even got some basketball hoops and a tennis court. Apparently there are some 30 tennis rackets on the roof of the prison still.

Next stop was the solitary cells in an isolated building including cell no.1 where condemned prisoners would stay. We were all arranged around the guide who was telling us the stories of the place. All of a sudden a woman burst out of one of the cells. Not as big a fright as the first one but I wasn't too close. She then acted out the part of the only female prisoner to be executed there - for killing her stepchildren by pouring hydrochloric acid down their throats. She did a good job too (the actress that is) because the little boy standing next to me spent the entire time hiding behind his dad albeit with a big smile on his face. One small little addendum is that the picture I took of the corridor with all the doors leading of it has an orb on it.....

After that we went into the room that house the gallows. The room had a platform in the centre with the rope hanging over a pit. The trap doors were open and you could see down into the pit which was just a whitewashed room. There were barriers around to prevent people falling in. The rope was allegedly one used to actually hang people. There was an eerie presence to the place.

We wandered through another cell block where the cells were open and we could look inside. Several had very impressive artwork painted onto the walls. Fairly spartan but thats expected really.

We then went through into another wing and up stairs to the middle level to see the cell built for a serial escaper. Again we were suprised by a cell door on the third level being slammed open and an actor coming out to portray the prisoner in question. Apparently his longest stay in a prison was about a week before he managed to get out. The cell was constructed to be escape-proof and had wood lining all the walls and no window. It did work because it nearly killed the poor guy as it was a little too airtight. The prison doctor convinced the warden to let him out and then he promptly escaped again.

Our final stop was the prison chapel which remains consecrated and is still used, bizarrely, for weddings. The were several boards on the wall with the Ten Commandments, Lords Prayer and the Creed all created by prisoners. The commandment saying 'Thou Shall Not Kill' was changed to 'Thou Shall Not Murder', because obviously they killed people not more than a 100m from the chapel.

All in all it was an excellent tour, although it did let out a little late for us to get anything to eat in Fremantle - as they'd all stopped serving so we had to head back to Perth and get fed there.

Perth and Kings Park

Got into Perth about midday after a fairly good flight. Our hotel was in the suburb of Northbridge - just north of the main CBD. It's a kind of asiatown - certainly lots of restaurants including Indian, Chinese, Vietnamese and Korean although didn't get to sample any due to poor Dave's stomach only accepting Subway at the moment.

We had a quiet afternoon - a little bit of an explore and a chat to my folks (at a payphone on a street corner where I kept getting asked for cigarettes...).

On Monday we headed into the city for a wander. It's quite a small centre and only a short walk down to the Swan river. We wandered through a small park called John Oldham Park which was nestled among the highways with a small lake, a few waterfalls and plenty of bird shit.

The way we had planned on entering Kings Park was closed due to a rockfall and it diverted us via something called Jacob's Ladder. This turned out to be a scary set of steps climbing up the hill. Didn't count them but there were a fair few. Made worse by the guy doing sets running up and down them. The view at the top was well worth it though with a wonderful view over the city and Swan River.

The entry to Kings Park was down a long tree-lined avenue with several memorials on either side including one to WA soldiers in the Boer War, a memorial for the Bali bombings and a statue of Queen Victoria. The main feature, however, is a cenotaph right on the edge of the park (and hence the cliffs overlooking the city).

The main part of the botanical gardens were further down the park and were very pretty encompassing a small bridge across a gorge, and a nice rock pool/waterfall thing.

Great Ocean Road and final weekend in Melbourne

Early start to go collect the car and then headed off down towards Geelong and Torquay where the start of the Great Ocean Road is. Weather wasn't on our side though as it was grey and overcast.

From Torquay you head across a small peninsula for about 5 miles until, all of a sudden, the ocean greets you. The entrance is a wooden archway with the words 'Great Ocean Road' across the top. Just in case you didn't know.

The road winds its way up, down and around and is great fun to drive. We stopped a few times here and there to take pictures of the coast line but mainly just admired the views.

We stopped at Apollo Bay - which is about half way along the road to grab a drink (and a pee) and from there the road heads inland for a while before rejoining the ocean just before the twelve apostles.

The apostles are absolutely amazing - you really can't prepare yourself for how spectacular they look in real life - even with one of them having fallen down! Took a ton of photos before heading to the next stop which was Loch Ard Gorge. This is really a collection of gorges where the ship Loch Ard was wrecked some time in the late 1800s. There were all manner of geological formations there such as arches, stacks and a cool thing called a razorback ridge. I'll post up a picture when I can because it was too bizarre to describe and I probably lack the English skills too.

Next up was London Bridge which, just like the nursery rhyme, has fallen down, albeit only partially. Apparently it fell down in 1990 stranding two people. That would have been pretty cool if you'd got it on camera and a helicopter rescue too!

The final place we stopped at was a Grotto, with no Santa. Was quite pretty though with a rock pool under an arch.

We drove all the way back along the Great Ocean Road (with a dinner stop at Port Campbell). I think I scared Dave a little on the way as he was holding onto that handle thing you get above the doors in cars (I'm sure it has a technical name but who knows) with both hands at some point.

Got back to Melbourne at about 7ish and headed out to dinner with Caela and Irene to a fantastically-named restaurant called The Graham Hotel. Food was pretty spectacular too: Caela and I had Moroccan goat, Dave had blue-eye and Irene duck. Really nice too. Headed next door (i.e. the pub part) afterwards to meet yet more Canadians (and more bizarrely more that went to Queens (Dave's Uni)). Yet more Queens chat!

Friday - got up early to return the car and wandered through the Botanical Gardens which were very pretty, then through Melbourne Park and into Fitzroy Gardens where Captain Cook's cottage is. They bought it for 800 pounds in the early 1900s and it transported it from Yorkshire brick by brick. Tiny little place (thankfully only $4 entry fee) but really interesting even if they aren't actually sure he ever lived there. Mere details.

In the evening I dragged Dave from his sick bed to go and see a presentation in the Old Melbourne Gaol. We were taken round on a candlelit tour by Michael Gately (a real life hangman (played by an actor (obviously))) who told us some stories of the prisoners, told us about life in the Gaol and about the punishments. It was, quite frankly, a bit disappointing. Having done the tour a few days earlier I didn't learn that much new and absolutely no ghost stories. It was also hard to get any sense of ambiance with such a large group.

On Saturday Dave, Caela and I went to the MCG to see Fremantle Dockers play the Melbourne Demons. The seats were excellent and I can't tell you much about the game other than Melbourne won quite convincingly cos we got a bit drunk instead. Good fun though!

We even had plans to go out Saturday night that got cancelled cos we were a little worse for wear when we got back so we crashed and watched films then the FA Cup Final which was excellent!

Sunday we flew out to Perth and the journey goes on....

The 'G' (and other sports stuff)

Wednesday was an early start to get to Federation Square for 8:30 to be collected. We were a small group - Dave and I, two English girls, an English couple and two older Aussie guys.

Our first stop was Flemington race course, home of the Melbourne Cup. The racecourse was in the north of the city and the approach took us past several stables - a lot of the trainers are based here - and then we parked right under the stands. The guide took us round the parade ring and along the course before heading up into the stands and through the bookies area. The amazing thing about the course was the number of roses - apparently Flemington is known for it's roses and they really were quite spectacular. They looked like a few needed a bit of attention but the guide told us that the gardeners aimed to get them looking perfect for the Melbourne Cup (in November).

We were taken back through the Commonwealth games village, which is still in the process of being converted into low-cost housing and then past several of the AFL teams training grounds including the Kangaroos, Carlton (who were out training) and Collingwood.

At this point we entered Melbourne Park (which houses the MCG, the Australian Open venues and Olympic Park (where the 1954 Olympics were held and now home of the Melbourne Storm and Melbourne Victory (AFL and Football teams)). We dropped off the two English girls at the tennis centre and the rest of us were dropped off at the MCG where we joined the main tour.

We were first show a video of the MCG and the various events it has hosted and it's appearances over time. Our guide was a lady whose name both Dave and I have forgotten. She was pretty good though. She took us out to the stands (the Great Southern Stand) and told us bits about when the various stands had been built and what had been there before. Can't remember any of it though.

Next up was the members area and Dave and I managed to find where our seats were for the game we were going to see on the weekend. Just outside the members area but still REALLY good seats though. The members area was pretty special with lovely wooden-paneled dining room and various pieces of sporting memorabilia (no Ashes urn though!!!). Even more impressive was that the members toilet had a window (one-way!) so that they could continue to watch the action whilst peeing. I'm sure that would have come in very useful for my old man who has missed several Watford goals whilst answering the call of nature (including two against Crewe!) and his nephew missed a Storm try last week too. Remember the lesson: hold it in!

Took a lift right up to the top tier and (the fitter of us) climbed right to the back row to sample the view from the gods. Very impressive height and you probably wouldn't lose too much in the way of perspective from up there.

Our final stop was the changing rooms. Unfortunately the main changing rooms were closed to the tours for the time being so we went round 3 and 4 which are the permanent changing rooms of Melbourne Demons and Richmond Tigers (who's official home is the MCG). We went through the Demons dressing room which was a bit shabby to be honest and poked our heads into the Tigers dressing room which looked a lot more impressive (unlike their football). From there it was out of the players tunnel and onto the pitch. Got a picture standing on the hallowed turf. The pitch felt perfect - nice and firm with the grass a good length.

From there it was back up the tunnel and into the umpire's dressing room. Dave commented that it was very big until I pointed out that there was about seven umpires for an AFL game!

That was the end of our MCG tour and we were collected by our guide who then took us to Albert Park in South Melbourne which is where the Australian Grand Prix is run. We took a slow lap of the circuit (he was driving a minibus). The only permanent structure on the circuit is the pits (which is used as a sports hall) and it takes them seven weeks to convert the road into the race track. They even have to dig up (and later replace) speed humps. Bet they catch loads of people speeding though.

We were taken for lunch to the Telstra Dome (Melbourne's other major stadium - also an AFL venue). This was included in the price - we got seats with a view over the pitch too.

We were dropped off in the city and Dave headed back home - still feeling ill (probably not helped by the soaking that we got the previous night) whereas I headed to the Old Melbourne Gaol.

Most of the Gaol is no longer there now but one wing (Cell Block 1) does remain. Interestingly, I did find out (ok most of you will not be interested) but there (apparently) is no difference between a Jail and a Gaol. So there you go.

The inside looks like a prison from Shawshank with three levels and a metal walkway on each level rather than an actual floor. The first floor has stories of some of the people who were hung at the Gaol - including Martha Needle who poisoned her entire family with Arsenic and then her second husband's brother before being caught; Emma Williams who was pregnant when her husband tied of TB, forced to become a prostitute and eventually drowned her child in the Yarra; Frederick Deeming who killed his entire family in Liverpool (burying their bodies in concrete under the hearth) and then his second wife in Melbourne. He was only caught when the landlord noticed a bad smell in Melbourne. Of course the main 'attraction' was Ned Kelly, the famous bushranger (although no Canadian has seem to have heard of him). They have his death mask on display (as they do with everyone who was hung - for the study of phrenology) and the gun he used in his infamous shoot out with police (complete with a chip on the butt of the gun).

The second floor showed more of the life of the prisoners including accounts from prisoners and various paraphernalia including a cat'o'nine tails. The top floor had accounts from military prisoners as the Gaol was used as a military prisoner during the world wars. They also had the original beam where they hung people and the original 'triangle' for lashings.

I headed home at this point because I was wearing Dave's shoes as mine were still drenched from the Penguin viewing and he is a size smaller than me!

On to Melbourne and Penguins

We arrived in Melboure on Sunday evening to find something I hadn't experience for a while: cold!

Caela has a lovely flat in the suberb of Port Melbourne - funnily enough right on Port Phillip Bay. It's fairly close into the city centre too and on Monday morning we caught a tram up into the city for an explore. Nothing much to report though other than wandering round the streets.

On Tuesday we had a late start but were booked on a tour to Phillip Island - home of Little Penguins. We caught the tour bus at 1 and we headed out of Melbourne. The bus was full - mainly with Asian tourists and (bar two kids) we were the youngest by several years.

Our first stop was Warrego farm stead, where we had a quick half an hour to look at kangaroos, ducks, sheep and goats and have a cuppa. We then continued the drive along Phillip Bay and on to Phillip Island across a small causeway bridge. The weather was particularly grey and overcast by this point.

We stopped at a small Koala sanctuary in the centre of the island and half an hour to wander round and see a few koalas. They're difficult to spot when they aren't in a tiny enclosure in the zoo but we did see several. One was a sleep right by the boardwalk and a lady ignored all the signs saying don't make any noise by clapping her hands to try and wake it up. That Eucalyptus must be strong stuff though cos it didn't wake. We also spotted a family of wallabies which watched us intently while we were taking photos - then bounded off as soon as other people arrived.

From there we went right out to the western tip of the island where there are some rock formations called the Nobbies, which are usually where there are plenty of seals but it was the wrong season for them which was a great shame. By this point the heavens were opening and it was pissing it down.

The coach driver then took us down a twisty lane along the cliff and we stopped for some photos and to get wet. The Penguin beach is called Summerland Beach and we got a good view of it as we approached. There is one main beach and a smaller one - both with big grandstands for viewing and boardwalks snaking this way and that.

We arrived at the visitors centre about 5:30 and were told that the Penguins were expected to start arriving at about 6. By this time it was absolutely chucking it down and we'd got soaked just running from the coach to the centre. Not as bad as one poor girl who ran from the coach with a magasine over her head and forgot to collect her ticket from the driver.

We spent some time reading about the penguins and the research they did there. The 'Penguin Parade' (as it is known) has been going since the 1920s and the centre is considered one of the best research centres on Little Penguins. They often tag them to track their movement.

We wandered out about ten to five and we had special passes (cost us only $10 more) to go to the smaller beach where there was only about 20 people and less barging to see the penguins.

Almost as soon as we arrived at the viewing deck we were greeted by about fifty penguins making the run from the surf to the shore. The run across the beach is very dangerous for them and they tend to come ashore in large numbers and run across the beach - a distance of about 5/10 metres. They are then in the safety of the grass and can hide more easily. The viewing deck was about 5 metres further back and there pathway took them right alongside it for about 200 metres until they all forked off to find their burrow. Our special area allowed us to follow the penguins for some time while they headed towards their burrow at less than a metre away from them. They took their time once off the beach as they were probably tired from all that swimming and fishing.

We stayed out there for about forty minutes or so watching the penguins come in despite the weather. It was very enjoyable watching them. Sometimes a penguin would appear in the surf by itself and would wait for ages until some more penguins arrived, or make a break for it by itself. One penguin made a break, then realised that was a group further up the beach and scurried up the beach to join them. Occasionally one (or all) would get spooked and then hurtle back into the surf and safety.

By the time we got back to the visitors centre we were so wet that we had prune skin on our fingers and our jeans (and my shoes!) were soaked.

We were taken to a small town called Cowes on the northern shore of the island for dinner (not included unfortunately) but the hot food was very welcome as was a nice beer. Nothing special but then the restaurant did have to serve about 20 of us in a short space of time.

Got back to Caela's about 11 - she had gone to Sydney for work so I actually had a bed to sleep in rather than on cushions - being the good cousin that I am I gave up the bed (we were originally planning to swap who had to sleep on the floor every day) as Dave wasn't feeling well. Stood in the shower for about 20 minutes getting the warmth back into me!

Ghost stories from Manly Quarantine Station

The Admin Block

The Admin block is inhabited by a ghost of Dr Reid, who was a doctor attending to third class and third class steerage passengers. He was also considered to be a good man and conditions for those passengers improved immensely whilst he was in charge. Unfortunately, Dr Reid came to an untimely end in a ferry disaster when a large cruise ship cut in half a Manly ferry that Dr Reid was onboard. Ever since then he has haunted his old accommodation. He is often seen on the upper balcony staring out to sea.

It was likely to be Dr Reid who we encountered in the Admin Block with the strange smell and EMF readings.

Third Class Dining Quarters

The third class dining quarters is haunted by several different spirits - probably testament to the number of people who passed through. The first story is fairly tame - The Ghosthunters associated came through armed with heaps of equipment and whilst one girl was pacing the main dining room with an EMF meter, several people outside saw a man following her around the room, whereas she was completely unaware of his presence. Another case involved two rangers closing up when they saw that all the lights were on in the dining room and that there was music coming from it. As they approached the building, they realised that it was very old music. Upon reaching the door, all the lights went out and the music stopped (it's worth noting that the bottom windows are frosted so they couldn't see in). They entered the building to find no-one there.

The final stories of the dining quarters involve the cellar kitchen and two little girls. The first is a benevolent spirit that has also been seen following groups about the place asking for her mother. During filming of a reality TV program called Scream Test (which involved contestants being placed in haunted rooms with various equipment, a torch and then locked in) a contestant in this kitchen had all her equipment fail including her torch. She was then aware of all the equipment being picked up out of her bag and examined before being placed back on the ground. When the crew came to get her out, about 45 minutes later they found her calm and she told the crew she felt like the little girl was there to protect her.

The second little girl is a malevolent spirit and has on several occasions tried to strangle people. Visitors often describe being pulled to the floor so she can reach up to their necks.

The cottage

There is a cottage set aside in the corner of the station, which we didn't visit where a convict lived who was assigned as, amongst other things, a grave-digger. We didn't visit this cottage.

The story goes that a group was walking towards the cottage when they saw a mans shape in front of the cottage which they saw move towards the cottage and pass through the walls. They went to the cottage and could continue to see the shape through the windows although when they entered it vanished.

The Asiatic Quarters

We had a fair bit of activity ourselves here but the main presence here has been excised.

The best story about this 'presence' was when a member of a tour group left their lamp at the Asiatic Quarters when it went out. At the end of the tour, the guide realised this and drove down to fetch it. Feeling nervous she pulled the car up right alongside the lamp so she could open the door and grab it without getting out of the car. As she closed the door behind her she looked up to see an Asian gentleman dressed in traditional Asian clothes staring at her. She froze staring at the ghost for what seemed an eternity before recovering and driving through the ghost back up out of the station and resigned on the spot.

The Shower Blocks

The shower blocks don't have any specific ghost stories attached to them - just lots of regular paranormal activity such as all the (heavy metal) doors swinging in unison and showers being switched on.

They also had one instance where the lights were all switched on despite their being no electricity to the building any more?

The Hospital

Two buildings made up the hospital and, unfortunately for us, the second building has burnt down due to an electrical fault, and that was the building where most activity was experienced.

The activity is mainly associated with a character called the Matron and many people have spoken of feeling a presence watching them in there. The best story involves a cynical man who had spent the whole tour looking bored. In the hospital he ran his fingers across a shelf to collect dust, then remarked in a loud voice "Matron isn't doing a good job is she?". Within a minute he was starting to look pale and after a few more he had to run outside and was physically sick.

When the building was burning down, some of the fireman reported seeing a figure standing amongst the flames....

Sydney again

We arrived back in to Sydney about 3-ish on Thursday and, thanks to a last minute hotel website, got a superb deal on a two bedroomed suite right in the middle of Sydney (Kent and Bathurst for those that know Sydney at all - and yes Mum, not as good as yours).

Went and saw Mission Impossible 3 which is worth seeing but nothing brilliant.

On Friday we used up our ticket to go up Sydney Tower. It's 305m tall which makes it the tallest building on the Sydney skyline. The first part of the experience is something called Oztrek. This is a virtual exploration of Australia. First you go into these mini-theatres that use holograms to display the four parts of Australian life: City, Beach, Outback and Rainforest. They were pretty entertaining although I did have to defend my headphones from the couple next to me who didn't realise that the headphones to the left. In a good example of male chauvinism, the bloke got the headphones that was meant to be for his wife and she just watched, whcih must have been quite boring.

The second part was in a large theatre with screens to the front and side of us complete with moving seats. The show took us across Australia and also back in time to the settlement of Australia. It didn't really teach you anything but they managed to shake us up a bit.

We then went up the observation deck. Unfortunately the view was hazy and so we couldn't see the Blue Mountains or even as far as Olympic Park but we could see Manly, Bondi, the SCG and the Harbour Bridge amongst others. The Opera House was partially visible through buildings.

Next stop for me was the Hyde Park Barracks. These were designed by a Bristol architect transported for Forgery, who designed many of Sydney's early buildings. He got a pardon upon completing the barracks. For the first thirty years of the Barracks existence it was a convict barracks for convicts serving in road gangs, for the next forty years it was home to single women who arrived in Sydney from the UK on assisted passage to even the male/female balance in the colony and were to go on and serve as domestic help.

Most of the rooms were filled with various exhibits that had been recovered from the building when they performed an archaelogical dig. The top floor was reserved for rooms set aside to be as they were during convict times all strung up with hammocks. There was an eerie presence to the place until 20 Japanese tourists turned up clicking photos and talking incredibly loudly. Thankfully I managed to get some time up there before they arrived to search through the archives for Burleys (bizarrely no Roberts) and found three who, in some freaky coincidence were all called Thomas. I promise they were different ones!!

Caela was arriving from Melbourne in the evening and so we picked up a rental car and decided to head to the coast to save time. We ended up at Maroubra which is the suberb south of Coogee, where John lives in a pub playing pool for ages. Dave lost the lot just for the record. And I 8-balled John (pretty much the only time i beat him) but we spared him running round the table with his trousers on his head.

We had a slow start to Saturday but eventually headed to Bondi. The beach was very empty which was good. It was a lot smaller than expected and there was hardly any surf. We stayed for a few hours and I even managed to persuade Dave to go into the water despite John telling him about all the sharks. A lot smoother swim that at Mooloolaba thankfully!

We had dinner at Coogee in this really cool pub overlooking the water. Filled with female hockey players too which was a bonus. Dave and I then headed back to the apartment and got ready to head out to Olympic Park to watch some more Rugby League.

The trip to Olympic Park was very eventful but we managed it. We had to drive out through some heavy traffic to a place called Lidcombe and then catch a train to Olympic Park. Annoyingly I had a panic attack on the train that I hadn't locked the car (not helped by Dave saying he couldn't remember the lights flashing) which then proceeded to stick in my mind most of the evening. Naturally when we got back the car was still there and, of course, locked.

ALERT: RUGBY LEAGUE WARNING

The Olympic Stadium is an impressive venue and we got in just in time for the second half of the warm-up match between Souths and Western Magpies. The Magpies scored two tries while we were watching but still lost 18-16.

We then went to buy ourselves Souths scarves - we were going to be Melbourne fans but you couldn't buy Melbourne scarves and we did feel sorry for Souths.

The atmosphere was pretty good considering there was a crowd of 8,000 in an 80,000 capacity stadium and "The Warren" (Bunnies - gettit?) were in good voice.

The game started at a fair old pace and Souths blew a try in the first ten minutes when Luke MacDougal lost the ball whilst diving for the try and Melbourne made them pay by taking an 8-0 lead before Souths scored a try to make it 8-6 at half-time.

Melbourne then scored two almost identical tries through Inglis and Crocker from Scott Hill kicks to make it 20-6. Dave missed the second one cos he had gone to the toilet. Sound familiar Dad?

We then had a good old punch up which resulted in Crocker getting binned when all he (appeared) to be doing was holding players back. Refs eh?

Souths took advantage with two unconverted tries to make it 20-14 but Melbourne blew them away in the last 15 to make it 38-14.

ALL THOSE NON-FOOTY FANS CAN LOOK BACK NOW

Got back to the car to find it still there and then headed back to Maroubra to collect John/Caela/Pizza (not necesarily in order of importance) and got back to the apartment to find out Watford beat Palace 3-0 in the opening play-off game!!!!

Sunday was just packing and then heading to the airport and on to Melbourne......

The Blue Mountains and Canberra

We set off fairly early on Tuesday morning following the Western Freeway out to the Blue Mountains.

It took us about an hour to get into the Blue Mountains (Dave kept pointing out really nice bits of scenery just I was going round corners and couldn't look) and a further half hour to get to Katoomba which is the site of the world famous three sisters.

We parked at Echo Point and wandered down to the viewpoint. The view was spectacular and you could see a long way. It kind of looks like Yavin in the first Star Wars film. We took the walk around to one of the three sisters and then decidedly, somewhat foolhardly in retrospect, to walk all the way down to the forest floor and around to the foot of the base of the cliffs. Allegedly that's 800 steps. One way. And for some reason we ran part of the way back up.

We stopped off for lunch at this nice cafe on the way (mainly to recuperate and drink most of their water they provide free for customers - the lady actually brought us our own bottle by the end). We also had yet another case of Dave remarking how much a labrador looked like Winston. Fancy that.... a labrador looking like another labrador.

Our next stop was Scenic World which was built on the site of an old mine. It involves taking a cablecar down to the forest floor and a little walk through the rainforest and a very steep railway trip on the way up. We managed get be the only people in the cablecar on the way down which meant we were free to wander about the cabin and take lots of pictures. It was quite a steep descent but bizarrely controlled. The rainforest walk itself was pretty cool (ok so it was very cold punctuated only by Dave complaining about how cold it was) and an amazing mixture of some impressive trees (god I'm turning into my parents) and discarded mining equipment. There was also an opening to one of the mine shafts with various displays and a little bronze statue of a miner and a shaft-pony with the inscription describing the miner as welsh/australian - so we got a picture just in case the welsh part was Grandad.

We spent the night in Katoomba in a motel and grabbed dinner and a great little pizzeria in the town centre. Can't remember the name but it's opposite the real fancy hotel so I'm sure you could find it if you're ever there.

The next morning we drove the 70 or so km to the Jenolan Caves in the far west of the Blue Mountains. The last twenty km were windy cliff roads that were great fun to drive although would have been less so if we'd actually have met someone coming the other way.

When you arrive at the caves you have to drive through a huge cave archway to get to the main site which almost looks like a swiss chalet village. It soon became apparent that the cave network was so big that there were about ten different tours round different cave networks. The next one starting was to the Chifley cave and took about an hour so we decided on that one.

We had about 45 minutes to kill so we wandered through the archway which was very impressive. It was probably about 30 or 40 metres high and the same wide. There were several entrances - all locked off for the various tours. A river (the 'Styx') flowed out at the bottom down into the valley.

Our tour guide was called Ford and he led us into the Chifley cave network. There were about 20 of us all together. It was a fairly impressive set of caves including the main Chifley cave being the first cave in the world to be lit by electric light and the wiring hasn't required changing since. They've had the same bulb in (allegedly) since 1923.

The tour took just over an hour and then we headed back up towards Katoomba, stopping at a historic village. The village was abandoned in about 1923 or something like that when the western railway network went north of it towards Bathurst and Lithgow rose up to be the main admin centre of the region. Now it's just a ghost village. We arrived just after two busloads of school children so we spent all our time managing to avoid them which we did pretty well.

Our next stop was Canberra - some 300km away and we managed to make it as far as Goulburn before finding ourselves a motel and crashing for the night. Goulburn is a fairly large town of 20,000 or so but there didn't seem any real point to it. It had a central road and only one pub (???). We didn't hang around long enough to find out any more.

Our reason for visiting Canberra was to get ourselves a Vietnamese visa which are only available at consulates. We got to the Embassy about ten which was in a leafy superb of Canberra called O'Malley. We had a bit of a palava trying to sort it all out as we were about $20 short of the fee so I had to dash off and find an ATM. Thankfully all sorted and they now have our passports so fingers crossed the visa comes through soon.

Canberra itself is very weird. It looks very nice and the Parliament House looks very intriguing with a metal thing on top. The city itself is a ghost town. We wandered round it for about an hour or so and saw about three people. Maybe four. Lots of empty restaurants and cafes but no actual shops or anything. We took a few photos and decided to head back to Sydney and Civilisation.