Profile
Blog
Photos
Videos
Hi all!
Well it's been a while since our last blog - all thanks to the fantastic time we had down under - what a great couple of weeks to add to our travel story.
We arrived from Santiago on Monday 13th December and stayed with family friends Ali & Tony (previously pommies but now well and truly Australian) in Gymea, a suburb quite a way south of the centre. A slice of home from home was absolutly fab, and we were welcomed, and fed lasagna and bbq tucker within our first day - imagine how happy Paul was!!! Lots of chatting, beers, bubbles and wine, and good times followed. Tuesday we went into the city which was just as beautiful as I remembered from the last time we were there... mooched around, marvelled at the bridge and the opera house, soaked up the sun in observatory park, coffees on circular quay people watching (lots of that to do as there were lots of excited aussie sheilas going to the Oprah Winfrey gig which was on at the Opera House that day - a really big deal over there... Then later on we sunk a few glasses of wine at various happy hours in the Rocks and Darling Harbour people watching the christmas party revellers - good fun to watch! Still felt strange that Christmas was getting ever near yet we were basking in the aussie sunshine - brilliant!
On Wednesday 15th we flew to Melbourne and picked up our high ace Toyota campervan which was home for the week - so much fun! Melbourne was a great city that we got just a day to check out - not quite enough time for such a cool place, but time enough to walk around the city laneways, walk along the Yarra river and admire the views, eat seriously yummy sushi, walk through Carlton gardens, soak up the sun on the parliament garden area, and just generally enjoy the vibe of the place - somewhere we'd certainly go back to. But the campervan beckoned, so we drove out of Melbourne via Geelong (beautiful town on the ocean) and arrived at Queenscliff lighthouse in time for sundowners (wine in the camper!) The next few days were an amazing time of driving the beautiful Great Ocean road and enjoying all the stunning little towns along the way, camping (either campgrounds or free camping), walking along stunning coastal paths, koala spotting, lighthouse admiring, eucalyptus smelling, and truly and thoroughly enjoying just a handful of wonders of Australia. The scenery was beautiful, weather was hit and miss at times - we had both sunshine and some rain, but it was a great time to be driving on our own, setting our own pace, cooking our own food and drinking too much but very good wine - I have discovered I really like Austalian Chardonnay - educational indeed..... I hope some of the pictures I will try and upload in a few moments do the trip justice.
On our return to Sydney we stayed once again with Ali & Tony, in their swagman which is a 28 foot mobile home - somewhat dwarfs the toyota high ace we had! Again spent time with their great family - sons Steve and wife Carly and Chris and girlfriend Ellie - good dinner table banter, lots of laughs and giggles! On 23rd we met up with Gem & Andy (for those that might not know my big sis and bro in law) - lucky timing we were both on Gymea train station platform at the right time, so whilst we knew they were arriving that day it was luck that landed us in the same spot at the right time! Super excited to see my big sis, and instantly bombarded her with lots of questions, stories and tales..... Enjoyed a good couple of days on Cronulla beach around this time too - good spot to lay back, people watch and soak up the sun..... On Christmas Eve the 4 of us headed into the city and whiled away a couple of hours at the Opera bar admiring the beautiful sights and enjoying a couple of glasses of the bubbly stuff - what a way to spend Christmas eve.... hot, beautiful - brilliant! We then headed to our friends Kate, Chris, Evie and bump for the remaining 4 days of our time in Oz and for a spectacularly relaxed and wonderful Christmas. Beers on the patio, more BBQs, and then a magical Christmas day - morning excitement for Evie (2 and a half) unwrapping all that Santa delivered (including 1 seriously cool kitchen unit!), bacon sarnies, gifts, and then scrummy christmas lunch, beers and relaxing around the pool at Kate's in-laws - what a fab day. Never spent Christmas day in my bikini before yet I would readily do so again!!! yes please!!! We then went to our family friends again (Ali & Tony) on Christmas late afternoon - evening, to spend more time eating, drinking, laughing and playing funky xmas games!!! Brilliant day!
Boxing day onwards was nicely chilled out with more pool time, sussing out good coffees in Cronulla, food, drinks, learning new dice games (one of our xmas gifts - cheers K&C), and enjoying ourselves so much we truly didn't want to leave. Really felt lucky to be in such a good place, with good weather and the joys of Christmas with some spot on substitute families, and joys of spending time with friends. We thank them all for having us... xxx
The hardship of leaving (and saying teary goodbyes) was softened by our luck at the airport checking in for our flight to Bangkok - we got upgraded to biz class - what a result! Welcome glass of bubbly, off the menu food choices, again a touch too much wine and a flat bed - what treats! Good to get some decent sleep on board as after disembarking we spent the 5 early hours of the morning sleeping (or not in my case) on the airport seats of Bangkok airport waiting to sort out our onward travel plans..... what a steep fall from luxury travel back to the backpacker lifestyle! Hope not to have to do that again any time soon.....
Anyways, we are now on Koh Phangan at a very chilled out and quiet spot - Smile Bungalows on Bottle Beach on the north of the island. We'll be avoiding Hat Rin and the NYE party like the plague - Thailand is an easily accessible holiday spot for lots of Brits as we are seeing...... enough said. But the spot we are in is really beautifil - we have a cute little bungalow with gorgeous view down the beach and sea... delicious food, good chilled Chang beer and laid back vibe. We are just waiting for the cloud to disappear and reveal the sun and all will be good.
Well, hope everyone had a truly brilliant christmas at home - full of the festive joys and all that they bring.
Wishing everyone a brilliant and revelry filled New Year's Eve, and minimal if at all New year's Day hangover.
With much much love as always, Lol & Paul, aka Proper Lauren and the Bender, xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
(Paul missed his morning wake up calls - BEEEEENNNNNNDEEEEER xxxxxxxxxxx)
- comments