Rail, Jail and Glass

Melbourne – 5th-8th January 2011

I am sat in our hotel room in Melbourne, having had a yummy tea; eating Aldi’s dark chocolate butter biscuits and watching Midsommer Murders on TV… life doesn’t get much better than this! Pretty much the highlight of Melbourne… only joking! But it is nice just to chill out once in a while and do something ‘normal’  : )

To be honest we are finding Australia quite tough. With the Australian dollar so strong at the moment everything is really expensive. Jon went out to buy a can of baked beans and a tub of margarine yesterday and it cost him $7… nearly £5. And it wasn’t the most expensive margarine either!!!

So the amount of things we’ve seen and done in Melbourne has been a little limited. There are quite few different attractions in Melbourne that are very similar to those in Sydney. An aquarium, zoo, Maritime Museum and an Immigration Museum for example. There doesn’t seem any point spending money repeating similar activities we’ve done or can do elsewhere.

We’ve also realised that we don’t get a lot of pleasure out of spending money on really posh things. Maybe you could say that most people would say that. But some people enjoy spending money on an expensive hotel or a fancy restaurant whereas there comes a point where from our point of view it’s not worth it. We don’t see the value of it. We went to a Greek Restaurant the other day and had a kind of chicken wrap thing. When it came, there was too much sauce in it, loads of lettuce and about 4 pieces of fatty chicken. This was surprising as I’d made my choice on the basis that it said chicken fillet. Anyway, by the time they’d added drinks and the basket of chips we had with it, the total came to about $40. I’ve never wanted to not pay for food before but I was very temped to walk out the restaurant without paying! Do people do that? I think I would have risked an attempt just to see what would happen – I was so appalled by the food. So that’s why I’d rather go somewhere like McDonalds. Yes, I know it’s the devil in restaurant form but at least you know who you’re off to meet. The food isn’t amazing, or good for you; and yes, no doubt the brand has huge impacts on the environment but I’m not terribly convinced about where the food from a lot of these restaurants comes from. Plus at least the dodgy bits of chicken are mashed up and seasoned to make them edible rather than them being huge chunks of fat that you have to leave on your plate! Furthermore, it’s always a basic price so a good way of getting your necessary calories (and then some!).

Ok, so rant being over… what have we been doing in Melbourne apart from being ripped off by Turkish/Greek restaurants and sitting in our hotel.

We, we arrived by the night train from Sydney and we got in at 7:30am. The night train itself was an experience. Can you believe that they only have two trains from Sydney to Melbourne each day and each takes 11 hours. Now I know Australia is big but its only about 500 miles between the two which meant the train was averaging 50mph. I mean, what on earth?!! Sydney and Melbourne are two of the largest cities in Australia and being relatively close you think they’d improve the link just for the benefit to tourists alone! I was sat next to an elderly lady from Sydney on the train, who was very pleasant and we chatted about a number of different topics during the journey. At one point I asked her why the train didn’t go quicker and she said they weren’t renowned for their train lines… and I was thinking, yes but why is it not going quicker?!! Maybe it’s because of the wildlife on the track etc. I say this because not only did it go no quicker than a local train but the driver seemed to have little control of the speed. Therefore during the night, when the lights were off, seats back and everyone’s trying to sleep, the carriage would slow down when we were climbing and then speed up and roll down the side of a hill. I wish I could have seen outside as I was having visions of the ‘runaway train’. Plus every so often there would be a bang and the carriages would judder. Skippy maybe?

We all awoke at about 6am though, when the sun rose and we had a spectacular view of the bush for a long while before the train started to near Melbourne. It was really beautiful and worth the journey for that. I was also glad that the lady was still alive as I woke a couple of times during the night and wasn’t convinced she was still breathing. Jon was just glad to get off as I’d mugged him off and made him sit next to the 50 year old largish gentleman in front who had shaved his head and left huge patches in various places. *Jon: He had food left round his mouth from the meal before and finger nails that looked like they hadn’t been cut in months. I was not happy about my plight.* Needless to say Jon hadn’t struck up a conversation with him and when we got off he was still muttering about the man having spent most of the journey reading a computer game magazine… “You can imagine he does nothing with his time; no wonder he is overweight…” he said.

Anyway, I’ve digressed again. Having found our hotel (Miami Hotel - which I would definitely recommend as high-class backpacker accommodation), we headed back into town and circled the city on the free tram (hurrah!) to see the sights. We then hopped off and walked through the treasury gardens before finding the perfect grassy patch to settle down for a nap in the shade. As lunch time approached it got quite busy so it seems that we picked a suitable activity to experience the Melbourne lifestyle! The weather wasn’t too hot and I was glad of the opportunity to try and get to the end of Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix. The Fitzroy Gardens next door are also really nice and in the afternoon we walked through the glasshouse (filled with fuchsias and hydrangeas – so just like home really!) and then were heading to Cook’s parents house which was transported brick by brick from England. However, when we got there, it wasn’t dissimilar to Mr and Mr Holman’s house or any of those in Croston, so we weren’t pulled in by the advert offering us the chance to experience 18th century England!

We’ve been to the Victoria Market twice whilst we have been here. We first visited on the Wednesday evening as it is a night market with food stalls and live music. We also went the next day when it was the much bigger regular market with fruit and veg and just about everything else you get in a market. It was like Ormskirk market but about 1000 times bigger. We spent a couple of hours in there and still had only seen about half of the stalls. Deri would be in absolute heaven! There were wallets galore, reading glasses by the handful and every type of fruit and vegetable imaginable! We passed through again today and what really astounded us was that the stallholders had just thrown away any fruit they didn’t want – like the bits that were damaged or had gone soft. Loads of people were sifting through to see what was left and there was tonnes of stuff wasted! Even when we walked back an hour of so later, we still managed to find a couple of peppers that were perfectly edible. Jon was really upset about it. “There are people starving” he kept saying. “They could at the very least collect it up and feed it to farm animals”.

The previous day we went to see the Old Gaol, where Ned Kelly was hung and  we learnt all about his history. The film produced about it was filmed there and starred Mick Jagger. Is that THE Mick Jagger? Did he really have a go at acting?!! Now THAT I would pay to see! We’ll have to rent it out if we can when we get home. We were also browsing in a second hand bookshop on the same day and noticed a list of the Man Booker Prize had a Ned Kelly story listed on it.  Trouble is books are very expensive here too!

Anyway, the Gaol was very interesting, if a little creepy and disturbing, but at least the climate here wouldn’t have been too cold. It sounds silly for me to be concerned about a prisoners’ wellbeing but a lot of women who came over to Australia looking for a better life ended up in jail because they didn’t find a man to marry and so either had to steal or turn to prostitution. It just seems terribly unfair. No doubt the men were all making themselves a fortune in the gold rush and were finding themselves a wife and as many prostitutes as they fancied! Grrrrr..!

We also got to experience what it would be like to locked up in the holding cells, which only closed in 1994. We were all given sheets with a fake name and offence. Mine said racially aggravated vandalism and I was hoping she wouldn’t ask me to read out my form because there was a Muslim family stood next to me and even though it was completely made up I was even embarrassed to be linked to the idea of it! So of course I was asked to read out the whole form to answer the questions needed for the Sergeant’s book. I was so embarrassed that I giggled my way through it and got told off for not taking my offence seriously! The only thing that wasn’t listed on my form was my age, so when I made up an age of 87 (and everyone laughed) the Sergeant commented that I must use very good face cream. “Yes, Sergeant”, I replied proudly : )
The final part of the Gaol experience was a re-enactment of Ned Kelly’s trial. That also gave us a real insight into the whole Ned Kelly history, plus Jon was chosen to be Ned Kelly – Dad’s always said people from Essex are crooks ; ).

The only other formal experience we’ve taken part in Melbourne is going up the Eureka tower which is the Southern Hemisphere’s tallest skyscaper (tick for Helen’s tick list) and the tallest residential building in the world (double tick!!! Yippee!). It actually isn’t that tall, maybe around the same height as the Eiffel Tower, but it had a boxed glass room that you could go in which extended out of the building by 3m. It’s the only one in the world (TRIPLE TICK!!! Whoop Whoop! Xmas all over again for Helen!). The room was made of obscure glass that turns transparent when you pass a current through it. So as the room goes out, they make it shake and put music on to make it more atmospheric. Then they give you no warning before they flash it to see-through. I have to admit that I let slip a moderate swear word which wasn’t my greatest moment as we were sharing the lift with a lady and 3 children. Hopefully they were also scared enough not to have heard! Anyway, it was pretty cool and wasn’t too bad until you laid on the glass so you couldn’t see the floor. Then there was that whole unnatural feeling rising in your stomach that made you get up after a few seconds!

Other than that we’ve been vegging out in our room the last couple of days, making the most of a 24 hours internet connection that we paid for and keeping out of the 35 degree heat. Madness as it’s still flooding in Queensland! We are going to head out tomorrow on the Great Ocean Road and then we’re trying to get a placement on a farm or homestead for a week before we leave to keep costs down and get an experience of the real Australian life.

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Sydney New Year

Sydney, 28th December –  January 5th

We had a wonderful time staying with Kate and Yuri for New Year in Sydney. With having such a depressing Christmas (minus the exciting rumbles on Boxing Day!) it was lovely to see some family. It was also fantastic to stay in one place for a while after moving around so much – especially with it being such a plush apartment. The dishwasher wasn’t working in the apartment and we were virtually fighting to do the washing up – it was such a novelty to have a lovely washbasin rather than one out the back of a van!

Kate isn’t working yet so she was able to duly dedicate her time to showing us some of Sydney’s beaches : ). We managed to squeeze in a few other sights too but with the three of us all being so laid back and trying to fit into each other’s plans we generally only got out around mid morning!

Yuri had a day off the day we arrived so we managed to walk through the main areas of Sydney including the Botanic Gardens. Some Asian lady was having wedding photos on the front of the gardens with her bridesmaids. Yuri and Kate said this was quite common but I was a bit concerned that there wasn’t a bridegroom in sight! Yuri took us to one of his favourite cafe’s on the Rocks for lunch. He said this was the place where he’d decided that he would ask Kate to marry him. Aaaaawww! There is a romantic in there! : )

Anyway, I can’t really say that we did Sydney justice in terms of seeing all the  sights when we were there. There are some things that we’d like to so when we go there the second time but on the whole it definitely seems like a better place to go and experience living in rather than being a tourist. There are few sights that are comparable in grandness to London and the culture is the same as ours pretty much; the history, our history so there is little to sink your teeth into sightseeing-wise. A lot of the things that we would have liked to have gone to see are things we have at home, like the zoo and the aquarium. They had massive queues  over the holiday period and we’re sooooo expensive because of the strong dollar so we gave them a miss for the meanwhile.

We did go to the Barracks where the convicts lived when they originally arrived in Sydney though. Kate and Jon had looked up Raymen in the Sydney telephone book and there were a handful in there. Therefore I thought we might find one in the electronic list of convicts at the Barracks. Especially as Dad’s always saying the people from Essex are criminals! : ) We looked it up but there was no one. On the other hand, there was a Greaves from Ireland so maybe Dad should consider that before he speaks in future!

Our favourite place in Sydney is definitely Darling Harbour. Yes, possibly a bit touristy, but it has a nice warm feel about it and it’s the perfect place for people watching and a few starter drinks before a night out. The Maritime Museum is at the end of the harbour and we went there twice! What’s hilarious is that I remember going to a couple of different Maritime Museums when I was younger and they were always more my brother’s type of thing. They were full of machines and boats and complicated things I didn’t understand. The one in Sydney is awesome though! Partly because there was a free display on sharks there, but also because they had the yacht that the first women to circumnavigate the globe sailed and a display about a man who’d canoed virtually all the way from Europe  through the sluice canal to Australia.

The second time we went, we paid to go on naval ship, a submarine and an exact replica of Cook’s ship – we were given guided tours of each one so I was in my element! It was really interesting to go on a Naval ship now I’m able to appreciate them. I know my folks took me on a few when I was young but you don’t really get the perspective of things when you’re a child. I just wish my Grandad Bob was still alive so I could ask him about his time in the navy. I remember he used to tell the same few entertaining stories again and again when he starting to lose his memory but I can’t recall the details. Plus, I think I would have liked to ask him what it was like on a day to day basis rather than any dramatic events. I mean, Jon tried out one of the bunk beds and there wasn’t a lot of room! At least it explains why Granddad was so anally tidy! Jon commented that he would do well in the army or navy when he saw the tiny locker and how neatly everything had to be displayed. The sad thing is that he’d probably really enjoy it too! He was absolutely thrilled when he got to go on the submarine. I was looking around thinking, ‘this is hellish – there’s no room and all the pipes are on show..’. Jon’s looking around thinking, ‘this is awesome – there’s no room (I’d HAVE to be really tidy), and look at all the pipes and cables!’

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The thing that struck us about James Cook’s boat was that it was a bit small to be sailing across the ocean in search of new lands. I’d have wanted something a bit larger and more solid I think. There was one area inside the boat where you had to stoop right over to walk – or put your hands down on the floor. This was where the officer level would have been too! If they’d been smarter they would have left that bit for the minions! There were a few cabins where these officers worked and slept. One of them was a naturalist and drew and painted the things he found – what a life! I think that was the same guy who helped fund the trip from some inheritance money he had. He was only in his 20’s!

The most enjoyable thing about Sydney was seeing Kate and Yuri. I’ve only met them both on a few family gatherings and we’ve always had plenty to talk about, being the same age etc. But it was great to really get to know them both and it was also lovely to hear Jon and Kate reminisce about their childhood together. As my brother and I don’t have any cousins it’s interesting to see what that kind of relationship is like. Turns out Jon and Kate’s relationship is pretty near brother and sister and lucky for me, Kate wasn’t shy in putting Jon back in his place when he was teasing me. It was quite entertaining really – and it turns out that Kate and Yuri have a similar relationship to ours as they are both quite opinionated. So Kate and I have developed a kind of ‘Sister in Arms' relationship, sticking up for each other against the boys.

It was also really great to see the Hankster! Hanky was visiting an old Burscough Priory school friend. It was completely random to meet up with Hanky on Manley Beach but really awesome! It turned out that his mate is Suzie Hobb’s big brother, Matt – definite family resemblance – who I used to go to modern dancing lessons with, as well as Adelle. Also, she used to serve on at the Ship years ago and used to call my Dad Uncle Bob! Of course, being the ladies man my Dad can be – he used to love it! Anyway, Matt’s married this lovely Ozzie girl, had the cutest baby together and have child just weeks  away from being born. Yet this didn’t stop them from inviting us over for a BBQ and we had a great evening experiencing life in the Sydney suburbs. The evening finished on a bit of a downer though when we went to get the night bus back into the city. After jogging our way back to the station to make sure we would be there on time, we managed to stand at the wrong stop and miss it! The next one only came an hour later and with an hours ride home we crept into Kate and Yuri’s at about 3 in the morning!

Of course the whole reason for coming to Sydney now was for New Years Eve and it was a really great night. Considering how huge the whole event is – it turned out to be very hassle free… or we just fluked it majorly! As Yuri was only able to finish work at 6pm we didn’t get into the area by the Opera house and bridge – which we were quite grateful for on the basis I think we would have fried if we’d had to wait there all day! So we paid $5 each for a ticket for the docks area at the other side of the bridge, had a nice meal and some wine at home… wandered over to Darling Harbour for the 9pm kids fireworks and then breezed over to the docks for 11pm for a couple of beers and a great view of the New Year’s Fireworks. Seriously – everyone has to do Sydney for New Year’s once – they’re the best organised fireworks I’ve ever seen and so safe too! Kate and I are already planning a reunion in about 10 years time to see the kid’s fireworks show! ; )

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10 Things We Love About NZ!

After a month in the South Island, we’ve had a loooong time to consider what we like about NZ. In fact, there’s a lot! And lot’s that we could do better in the UK. So here’s our Top 10… plus some more photos we didn’t add and a great video of Jonathan Attenborough at the Catlin’s!

1) Music playing in toilets and showers in campsites  - gives you a bit more privacy!

2) Investment in public amenities: however small the town or village… there is ALWAYS a public toilet (useful for us) and an awesome kid’s playground (also useful on occasion).

3) Clothes charity shops being made to look cool, like a boutique… and the clothes being displayed better…

4) The Department of Conservation encompassing EVERYTHING to do with the outdoors (including search and rescue) so it all works really smoothly.

5) Effective and inventive road signs to get you to slow down when driving…
Welcome to ………
No hospital, no doctor, one cemetery

6) iSites and tourist information boards making visiting places so easy… they tell you all the places you can stay, give you prices, ring up and book it for you and tell you how to get there – and all with a smile! We love you iSite!

7) Accessibility to wildlife: tramping routes make it easy for anyone to go walking in the wild! Plus they always have conservation articles in the newspaper!

8) Screen brushes to wash your windscreen at petrol stations…

9) Asking local people for local community schemes Blue Peter Style – you know with the meter to see how much you’ve raised! I have no idea why we don’t still do this – we always just apply for external grants!

10) People that invite you back to their home, even though you’ve only just met them on the beach!

Oh! and we also liked the fact we both met people we know from home… like seeing Jemma that I used to work with in the Rufford Arms as she drifted past MacDonalds in Dunedin.

Jon Attenborough discovers Dinosaur Eggs

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