All Adventures

Although it is Emily’s birthday month, Tuesday has been all about me :) It started off with this card Emily wanted to mark my retirement, so although she had to work today, she told me to get my glad rags on, grab my ID and be ready to leave at 6. I had no idea where we were going, but kitted out and ready I was at 6…. All I knew was that we were not going to the Sydney Opera House because I had tried to get us tickets a while back, and everything was fully booked. We took

As anyone that knows Emily will attest, she does not celebrate a birth DAY she celebrates a birth MONTH, and as we are officially in May, that month has started! I didn't specifically time my trip to coincide with her birthday, I timed it so I knew I would be retired and free as a bird...it is just serendipity that I am here in May. I am thankful too that the weather is not too hot - it is hot by UK standards, just not melting hot which is the Ozzy standard for summer. On E

Emily was up and out early doors this morning as she had to go into the office which is about an hour away, meaning that I was up at early doors too! I put my big girl pants on as I had to navigate the whole travelling by myself in a big city thing...I swear Emily was more worried than I was - I mean, how lost can you get in Sydney? Quite lost as it happens. I took the train to downtown (trusty Citymapper glued to my phone) and managed to get off at the right station for a w

I didn’t not write a blog yesterday as it was an easy day, and not many scrapes to be got into… I know that will not last! I was awoken, not by a dawn chorus, but by the neighbour hoovering the garden…. It is not even astroturf…. Enough said. Emily was working from home for the day, and in her lunch hour we went on a walk (forced march!) down the street in Newtown so I could get a better look around, and I was enticed by promise of a fantastic bakery at the turning point…. T

Today has been a bank holiday, so after a fabulous sleep, Em and I did what all Aussies do on a BH and took an Uber to the beach! Got to say, I am just not sure what all of the hype is about Bondi Beach - it's nice and all, but it is just a beach, and not all that big either. we have better beaches in the UK - but what we don't have is the weather... It is Autumn here, and I was swimming in the sea! Pretty cool. We did not swim at Bondi, we did the Bondi to Coogee walk - i

But have I though? Flight from Edinburgh was fine - except that I got there at 2.30 for a 6.20 flight to London… that pretty much set the tone for the whole journey. I could only check in for the first 2 flights, the 3rd flight was not open, so it meant I would have to collect my luggage in Guangzhou (China) and re check it. No problem. When it came to my second flight from Heathrow, I was at the gate good and early (Emma Gooch would be proud!) and was quietly minding my bus

As it was out last day, we tried to cram in everything that we had outstanding on our list. Miller Miller falls was first on the list and getting there felt like driving on the San Bernadino in the Swiss Alps it was so convoluting and clung to the side of the mountain, with very steep drop offs, and very little in the way of protection barriers – although it took us longer than expected (not driving miss Daisy, but always safety first) it was worth it. It is where the herbal

This may be a short blog – there are just no words to describe how lucky we were today. We were picked up at 7am (eek!) to transfer to the harbour and join our boat. Our trip was organised by Sightseeing Tours Australia and they could not have been more helpful, from the time of booking to us being dropped off. We requested prescription goggles for Emily, and they were provided at no extra charge. We also booked the additional Top Deck experience – mainly because this offer

So, a couple of days to catch up on. Before we left Townville we made a visit back to the ferry terminal – why, I hear you ask? Because Emily adored the muffins they sold in the café – the best she has had since coming here, and she wanted one for the road. The coffee was ok too, so I was ok with it. The muffins were a kind of cross between a muffin and a scone – a scoffin as it were, and as she got one for me too, I can testify to their tastiness. The drive up from Townsvill

Yesterday we went to Magnetic Island – and today we went back! The two trips could not have been more different. Day one – we were up and set off to the ferry terminal, but somehow we found ourselves at an electrical store that was having a huge ‘end of year sale’ (yep, the Oz financial year ends at the end of June) and a Go Pro, magically ended up in my hands and I was at the check-out – how did that happen!? Anyway, we got to the ferry terminal and duly bought our tickets (

Wow, what an adventure we have had! No wifi for a couple of days so I have not blogged, so grab a cuppa and catch up! First of all, we stayed in a cave in a rainforest for two nights! Yep, a cave. Admittedly it was a man-made cave, but oh my goodness it was special. (What3words inciting.flaunts.retrieve) We only slept inside, everything else was outside. This was the view from the loo; This was the view from my shower; And this was the view from the ‘kitchen’ area; We sho

I wasn’t planning on blogging tonight as I did not think I would have anything to say – but that was until we got lost in the bush and went in the wrong direction for over an hour! We left our hotel by 8 am this morning as we had a 5 hour drive to the next resting place of Rockhampton. We have used Apple maps since we got here, mainly because the instructions are clearer, and it has not let us down yet. Today we chose the ‘fastest route’, and although it was the fastest, it d

What an adventure we have had today! We took a bus out to the Noosa Everglades. There are only two everglades in the world – one in Florida, and one here, so we felt very honoured to be making the trip there. We took a flat-bottomed boat upriver to the base camp, and we canoed from there – only about 5k, but it was glorious! It was incredibly quiet apart from the birds chirping, and it was really pretty – I took millions of pictures as Emily paddled up front – don’t get me

Today we got up at 5.30 am to watch the sunrise at Byron Bay Lighthouse (what3words;railings.tucked.trolleys). If we thought that being winter and the off season here would mean we were the only ones there, we were mistaken. The actual final section of the road to the lighthouse was closed off, and the last little car park was chocca, but people were parking as and where they could fit, regardless of if it was in a designated space. We copied and tucked our car out of the

Blog 12; Chased by a native beach creature… We were up and out by 7 this morning as we had a 6 hour drive and wanted to give ourselves a chance to explore. It was a bit early to have our first embarrassing moment, but, none the less, we had it at MacDonalds of all places. Not being familiar with what Maccas (affectionately known over here) had to offer, we pulled up at the drive through and when asked what we wanted, Emily (driver, so in charge of ordering) explained we wer

This is going to be a very short blog, as all we did today was drive the almost 6 hours it took us to get from Jervis Bay to Newcastle. To be fair, we only picked this place because of its name, so we did not have high hopes, but I am jumping ahead and should start with breakfast. Huskisson/Jervis Bay is by far the nicest place we have been to date, it is quaint, friendly and a little niche. I was confused by the ‘no gang tats to be on show’ sign at the entry to the bar las

It was the final day of bagpipes with breakfast – and today we were treated to vocals too. Despite its quirks the Mariner Court Hotel was good value and in a super location. Before we left the Sydney area, we took a trip to Bondi Beach baby! (What3words:hooked.hope.cropped) The sand was powder soft and the beach was lovely but much smaller than I expected. We parked in the middle section, and I suspect if we were at either end, the perspective would have made it seem longer,

Quite a short blog tonight as we have not had so many mis-adventures today. Let’s start with clearing something up – the Scottish bagpipe music at breakfast yesterday was not a fluke – we had the same today. I love the pipes as much as the next man, but starting your day with a mournful wail is not the way to do things… We took off for the Blue Mountains today – it is a vast area, and there is so much to see that we could only see a tiny bit of it. We sat down and picked al

After a great sleep Emily felt much better this morning, and we got up to partake of the ‘breakfast included’ option – honestly, I don’t know why it happens to us, but we just seem drawn to oddly surreal places... breakfast was accompanied by Scottish music – including renditions of Auld Lang Syne! I am not sure if they have a large Scottish clientele, or perhaps the staff just like bagpipes… We met some ladies at breakfast that we also met in the taxi queue after the Opera

We did not blog yesterday – not because we were locked in the hotel room room (we found the key) or that we were stuck in a car with a broken key (I fixed it), we were poorly ☹. Well, I was off colour, but Emily was proper poorly. We should have given everyone we were camping with a wide berth when they said they had all had a 24 hour bug…. Anyway, the day still happened, even if Em was pretty out of it. When I spoke to the car hire folks about the car and the key, they said