Sunday, 27 April 2008
Fortitude Valley, Brisbane, Queensland
Saturday, 26 April 2008
Lone Point, Queensland
Thursday, 24 April 2008
On a bus for seventeen and three quarter hours.
Tuesday, 22 April 2008
$10 Polystyrene Shoes
I can see you Launa.
Ibis Hotel & Visa Trouble.
Monday, 21 April 2008
Roarrr!!!
Sunday, 20 April 2008
Back in Sydney...in the rain
Thanks to an aussie rail network worthy of British Rail we have found ourselves stuck having to stay in Sydney, we were due to be going up the coast for a few days but it was just not worth the hassle. We had to move down from the glamorous radisson hotel (have a look how sturdy the wardrobes are there) to the 16ft by 16ft box rooms of the ibis hotel which is located between a knocking shop and an off licence.
Sydney in the rain is looking more and more like Rhyl. We went to the NSW Art Gallery today which in very much in keeping with it's surroundings - it's really crap too.
Hope Brisbane come's up trumps.
Saturday, 19 April 2008
Happy Birthday to me!
Thursday, 17 April 2008
Tuggerah Lake, Second Week
Sunday, 13 April 2008
Tuggerah Lake, The Entrance, NSW
We are staying in a beautiful log cabin on the banks of Lake Tuggerah where Sandra goes out every morning to feed the pelicans and the ducks who are so tame they eat out of your hand. Over the road is the beach - raw and unspoilt white sand and the rolling greeny blue waves of the Tasmin Sea.
The closest shops are half an hour's walk away along the banks of the lake and thepeople couldn't be anymore friendly; the bloke in the offy didn't want to see us struggling so he dropped the beer off after work for us ('Greg with the grog')
It goes dark at half in the afternoon, and i mean pitch dark as there are no street lights and you can barely see six foot in front of your face. As a result our body clocks have changed and we are going to bed at nine and waking up at six. The telly here has only three channels and is pretty crap. Jamie Oliver even turned up on one station so we went to bed at eight that night.
The views and the wildlife are amazing so we go and buy a couple of disposable cameras> When we put them into be processed i am just to ask for the one hour's service the woman says "You do know that that is going to take atleast seven days lovey, it's got to be sent to Melbourne."
We spend our days between walking the lake and sitting on the beach. Despite it being Autumn the temperature is somewhere between eighty and ninety and my skin has even turned from it's slighlty transparent blue to a lobster red.
The manageress of the park we are staying on came over started telling us about a national park up the road. It was stunning she said but her mind went blank when she tried to recall it's name. At that point a small boat moored up at the banks and she called over
"Louie, What's the name of the park up north?"
Louie emerged clutching a fishing rod. He was a tiny man wearing vests and sunglasses, he was weathered by years in the sun and only had one massive front tooth.
"The one where those guy's out walking found that bloke who'd hung himself?"
She shot Louie a look to shut up.
"Anyway, if you just stay on the road it's about 5-6 minutes max on..."
"And then of course" it was Louie again "That was where they found the body of that fifteen year old about six months ago."
We've got another week here so we are going to avoid going to the national park.
And talking to Louie again.
Illegal in New South Wales
Also we went to the zoo on Sydney harbour for Sandra to enquire could she hold a koala like the man in the leaflet was doing before we handed over our 30 bucks each. The woman said "it is against the law for anyone to hold a koala in New South Wales. It is no Sandra's plan to shake one out of a tree so it falls into her arms.
We also stayed in the Rydges hotel were San found that there was ample room for her to perform a head stand in the wardrobe.
Tuesday, 8 April 2008
Sydney, NSW
Monday, 7 April 2008
Stay Classy San Diego!
We couldn't go past this place (above) without going in: 'Jimmy Love's.' We bet he would have loved it too... we had to make the waitress stand out in the middle of fifth avenue and dodge the traffic to take that picture.
I had almost forgotten we were in America but was quickly reminded when we walked past a bar and heard a young college student dressed in baggy shorts and a hoddie introducing himself to a girl. "Hi i'm Lance, i'm Irish."
Just to recap: we are twenty miles from the border of Mexico.
San Diego Zoo
San Diego, Ca part 2
However, what Sandra didn't notice when booking the hotel is that it is directly over the road from the city's block of strip bars. Sadly, she wouldn't let me go in.
We did find a brilliant mcdonalds style place over the road called Jack in the Box' which was staffed entirely by mexicans and made proper burgers which cost about the equivalent of a quid. The best bit was when they tried to pronounce my name when my order was ready: "Quuuaa-ean?"
For the first time on our trip we have found a hotel room that contains no furniture or storage that Sandra can fit into, although i did try to talk her into climbing into a drawer after a few beers but she wouldn't fit.
San Diego, Ca Part one
The journey down to the coast to passes through Compton and Long Beach which you gangster rap fans will know as major gang land areas of L.A, it is slightly disappointing to note that they look a bit like a sunnier version of Digmoor. Out of the city, the journey becomes much more beautiful as the Coast Highway runs along side the magnificent Pacific ocean and the heat begins to rise.
San Diego is absolutely stunning, bright clean and a feeling of real safety. The area has a massive naval base which makes it feel quite conservative and middle class but it also has a huge population of Mexican migrants, students and surfers. The attitude of people seem quite at odds with the rest of the country and it seems much more laid back.
Our hotel is located about ten minutes in a cab from downtown & Sandra picked it for our stay based on the fact that it's name contains elements from both of our surnames.