Been here a month...

Saturday 28/2

Another week has passed of our All Aussie Adventure! The room at the back of the apartment block was certainly a lot quieter than the room at the front and there was quite a nice, but distant, view of Cremorne Point and Sydney Harbour, which was nice when the Queen Mary 2 cruise liner came to visit in the week. She was huge! I was hoping to be able to go and get some photos, but she was only in port until Thursday night.

Last Sunday afternoon we went across the road to the Hayden Orpheum Picture Palace, a restored Art Deco cinema. It is really special inside. The decoration is beautiful in all the screens. The big screen apparently has an organ that plays between selected performances. We saw the Reader, for which Kate Winslett won an Oscar. She deserved it, it was a really good film However, for me, the cinema was the star and I shall be happy to travel out this way to watch a film rather than one of the big multiplexes in the shopping malls.

The rest of the week has been fairly normal. Work has been going okay, although I did have a very frustrating day when everything went wrong. You know the kind of day I mean – we all have them now and then.

Alicea has gone down to Melbourne this weekend to visit her friends and to arrange the transport of the furniture that she has had in storage for the last few years to our flat next week.
So I'm on my own and have to amuse myself for a couple of days.

I joined a gym in the week and went for the first time today. When I got back to Cremorne I discovered that I couldn't get back up to our room as the fire brigade were trying to free seven people that were trapped in one of the lifts. So, I treated myself to a large breakfast of Eggs Benedict with mushrooms and rocket instead of ham at an Italian cafe across the road. It was great and there was loads of it.

After finishing breakfast I went back to the apartment block but couldn't get to our apartment as the firemen were still working on the lifts and the firedoors only opened from the inside so there was no access from the stairs. So, I caught a bus to Sydney and went to Paddy's Market. The market was a fair walk from Wynyard, where the bus stopped, but I had a large breakfast to walk off so I didn't mind.

The market is pretty big selling clothes, toys, electronics, mobile phone accessories and it has a large fresh fruit and veg section. I spent an hour or so wandering up and down the aisles looking at all the wares for sale.

Once I had done, I went across the road to Chinatown where I found a food court with about a dozen small outlets selling all sorts of oriental dishes at very reasonable, no let me rephrase that – very cheap prices. I had a tofu and vegetable Laksa, which was nice but the portion was huge and, having had such a large breakfast, I couldn't finish it. Still at $6 (about £3) I didn't mind too much.

I then walked back to Wynyard and caught a bus back to the apartment where the lift saga had, thankfully, ended and I could now get back to our room.

Another Update

Sunday 22/2
Gosh, its been a while since I've updated this. I've now been at work for two weeks and I'm gradually getting used to the Aussie office's way of working. We've also moved from the hotel we were in to a managed apartment block in Cremorne. We've also bought a car, a fridge and a television. Also, Alicea has been to see her Mum.

So, where to start.

I started work on the 9th and was out meeting clients that very day. Talk about hitting the ground running! The guys in the office are friendly and easy to get along with. During the last couple of weeks I've been out so see a couple of different clients and starting next week, I'm going to be fairly booked with work for the next month or two. I also met with the area's functional leader for a coffee at his hotel during a stopover on his trip back from New Zealand to Singapore.

During the week I started work, Alicea hired a car and drove the ten-hour trip to Moama to see her Mum. By all accounts it was a good trip and, thankfully, her Mum has not been affected by the terrible fires that have been burning in Victoria.

We also left the hotel in North Sydney and moved to a managed apartment block in Cremorne, which is a short bus ride away. Despite still living out of suitcases, it is nice to be able to cook and have laundry facilities rather than having to eat out all the time and traipse down the road to a laundrette with bags of dirty clothes. The apartment block is right on Military Road and the room we had was facing the road and very noisy. We managed to negotiate a move to a room at the end of the first week to a room at the back, away from the road. However, we have to move again next Friday.

Last weekend, we took a taxi out to Artarmon and had a look at some cars. We were interested in either a Honda City, a Honda Civic or a Mazda 3. The specifications on each were very similar and we test drove the Mazda and were quite impressed. Early the next week, Alicea went and test drove the Hondas and after deciding that the City was a bit sluggish, we bought a Civic. The price difference between the second hand cars and the new ones wasn't huge so we decided that we would be better off getting a new one and benefiting from the extra warranty etc that we would have. We should be picking it up at the end of this week ready for the move to Crows Nest at the beginning of next week.

This last weekend we went hunting for a fridge and a tv for the new apartment. Just down the road from us in Cremorne is a “seconds” electrical shop, so we popped in there to have a look at what they had. After noting a few prices we then went into the city and caught a bus to Rozelle and checked out Retravision as we had some vouchers for there. Then we caught a bus back to the city and went to Harvey Norman, a large electrical retailer here. From there we caught a train to Chatswood where we had a look around some of the retailers in the large shopping malls there. While we were there we found a fabulous Asian grocers that I think I will be visiting quite often.

Eventually, we caught a bus back to Cremorne and went back to the “seconds” store where we bought a Whirlpool fridge-freezer and, after some conversations about the differences between LCD, Plasma, Full HD and HD we ordered a 32” plasma tv.

In the evening, we walked down to Neutral Bay where we went to an Indian restaurant called Mantra whose complete lack of service and incompetence in bringing what we ordered to the table was made up for with the excellent food

Oz Diary - week 1

Monday 2/2
The flight was good, despite being delayed by 2-3 hours. Despite this, Singapore Airlines handled it quite well. I was sent a text early in the morning to say that it had been 'retimed' and when we arrived at the airport we were given food vouchers.

Leaving the family was really hard and very upsetting, as you can probably imagine. It was something that we had all been dreading and the tears flowed quite freely as the bags were being put in the taxi.

I managed to grab a few hours sleep on the flight to Singapore, which is quite unusual for me, I guess that was down to exhaustion, both physically and mentally as things had been pretty full on in the days up to leaving, with packing everything for shipping, selling and giving away our belongings and saying all our goodbyes.

The 747 was pretty comfortable with a good amount of legroom in economy, but the food wasn't that brilliant. It was spinach with everything! I don't mind it as an ingredfient, but big sloppy piles of it? No thanks! And spicy beans in the confined space of an aircraft? That's just asking for trouble! Apart from that it was fine.

Once in Singapore, we only had a couple of hours before our connecting flight to Sydney instead of the 5 that we originally had. We went for a shower, checked some email and then it was time to board the A380.

I'd been looking forward to a flight on one of Airbus's new monsters since they were announced and had booked us seats on the upper deck as I thought it would be a novelty to sit upstairs in a plane (at least in economy). The seats were comfy and well spaced and the entertainment system was great. There were even places to plug your USB stick into so you could do some work on the preloaded offfice software or watch a movie from your iPod on the large widescreen monitor mounted on the seatback.

The food was better on this part of the flight, but I wonder why I always end up with a vegan meal on this part of the journey? I always have to request milk for coffee and miss out on croissants for breakfast. It has happened on all the flights from Singapore to Australia.

We arrived in Sydney on time and caught a taxi to the hotel in North Sydney. We then went for a wander about and looked at the area where we are thinking of finding somewhere to rent, Crow's Nest. It looks great with loads of restaurant to keep Gaztronomy busy and a fabulous wholefood store that had more kinds of tofu than I knew existed! Oh, and it also sells Tiptree jam!

From there we caught a ferry across the bay and went to the Rocks and had lunch. We then popped back to the hotel for a snooze before popping down to a local Thai restaurant and then returned back to the hotel where I spoke to my parents on Skype. The wireless internet connection at the hotel is very weak and the sound was difficult to hear sometimes and the session kept dropping but it was good to see them.

So, that was the first day of our new life Down Under. The important stuff like finding somewhere to live etc starts now...

Tuesday 3/2
So, it's been a couple of days now and we've been in touch with just about every real estate agent we've passed trying to find somewhere to rent. We've been to see a couple of places, one of which was in such a state of untidyness you could hardly see the floor! Once you could see through the mess it was quite a nice place, but just a bit too close to the main highway for our liking.

We've a couple of others to look at over the next day or so, but I guess it is just a matter of calling or visiting the agents every day to try and catch the new properties as soon as they come on the market.

On the plus side, we now have a bank account set up and credit cards ordered. We've enquired about mobile phones and it looks as though we'll both be moving into the 21st century and getting Apple iPhones.

I've got to pop into the Medicare centre and get that sorted and we still have to sort out some medical insurance. There is still a lot to do, I guess it takes more than just a couple of days to start a life from scratch just as it took a while to try and put it on hold when we left the UK.

Wednesday 4/2
First thing this morning we went to the RTA (Road Traffice Authority) to find out about getting our UK driving licenses converted to NSW ones. We picked up some forms and discussed the type of id that we required. We then went to the Medicare office where I signed up using my passport. Alicea, being a returning resident has to provide a wealth of documents to prove that she is coming back to the country – obviously the Ozzies don't like nationals who leave and then come back. Somewhere between these two offices I lost my “Grumpy” hat and sunglasses.

We then went to look at some more flats, one of which we have submitted an application form for.

This afternoon, I popped into the office to see the people I'll be working with next week. They seem like a nice bunch. While we were there we scanned and emailed all of the documentation for the flat application to the letting agent.

In the evening we caught the bus up to Crow's Nest and had a look at another place. It was okay and we are considering submitting another application for it. We ate at the New Orleans Cafe where Alicea had fish and chips and I had a chilli with corn bread. It was all very nice.

Thursday 5/2
Late last night we realised that we hadn't sent our passport details to the letting agent so we made plans this morning to go to a local print/copy shop to see if they would do it. They did and only charged us $5 for making several document copies, printing some letters and faxing them to the agent.

We then grabbed some breakfast and caught the train from North Sydney to Chatswood where we were planning on doing some shopping. While waiting on the platform my phone rang and it was the agent saying that we had got the flat we applied for yesterday. Result! It's not a huge flat, but it is really nice and well positioned for Crow's Nest which is where we wanted to live.

Once at Chatswood, we made our way to the large shopping mall there and I bought some sandals (I was bullied into it...) a suit and a hat and sunglasses to replace the ones I had lost.

Then we made our way back to North Sydney where Alicea went to sort out her Medicare and Driving License and I went back to the hotel to arrange the deposit for the flat.

In the evening we went to Capitano's, an Italian restaurant in Blue Street where we had pasta. After starting with a chilli and garlic pizza bread, which was excellent – if the pizza's have the same base as the garlic bread, then I can't wait to try one - Alicea had a chilli prawn pasta and I had fettucini con melanzane (aubergine) both of which were really nice, in fact the tomato sauce I had was one of the best I've tasted.

Friday 6/2
Up early this morning to catch a taxi to Neutral Bay to visit Stuart Hollman the Financial Advisor to start the process of through moving our pensions over from he UK to Australia.

We had some breakfast at a little cafe nearby and then went to the real estate agents where we picked up a few details about the flat and checked to make sure that the deposit fax had arrived (it had).

The, after a walk around the shops, we went to see Stuart who told us all about the Australian Superannuation system and any tax impications we face. He's a nice guy and we spent an hour or so while he took all our details so he can put together a proposal which he will send to us in the next week or so.

We then caught a bus to Crow's Nest and had a wander around a couple of furniture shops looking at sofa's for the new flat. Alicea had seen an advert showing a sofa with underseat storage and we were trying to find out where we could one. Eventually we found that the store that made it was out at Chatswood, so after a sandwich, we caught the bus to Chatswood and once there, we bought a sofa corner unit. The design is quite clever and the sofas can be converted from a corner unit into beds or chais-longues (sort of). They won't be delivered until 1st May so we've a while to wait.

While we were looking, the real estate agent called to say that the flat would be available from 3rd March, so we have to organise somewhere to stay until then.

Sunday - Up Black Crag

Up early again and breakfasted before leaving for a relatively short walk around Tarn Hows and up Black Crag.

The walk was good and, despite the instructions being slightly wayward, we made it to the top where we were rewarded by fantastic views. It was very blustery and it looked as though the weather was going to turn a bit nasty, so we began our descent.


It started a bit slow as Alicea's dicky knee was playing up, but we made it and by the time we got back to the B&B the sun was out, so that shows how good our weather forecasting skills are!

We showered, changed and then drove into Windermere for lunch, which we had at Francine's, the place we stopped for coffee yesterday.

From there we went to Bowness on Windermere where Alicea bought a Paddington Bear that she'd had her eye on. We then went back to the B&B via the ferry.

This evening we went for dinner at the Drunken Duck. The meal was really good, although Alicea said the venison she had for her main course was overcooked. That aside, we both enjoyed the evening and returned to the B&B where we watched the Big Sleep with Robert Mitchum before falling asleep.

Saturday - Two go a-wandering

We were up fairly early as breakfast is served between 8 and 9am. I slept reasonably well - we had both wound down last night by watching Withnail and I on the DVD player in our room as the TV signal is really week. The B&B has a pretty good selection of films etc to choose from.

Anyway, after breakfast we got all our gear together for a walk, including me changing into the new shorts(!) that I'd bought yesterday. Then we were off, firstly heading into Hawkshead (about a mile away) and then a round trip to Latterbarrow, one of the hills in the area. It was a reasonably steep ascent to the top, but once we were there, the view was magnificent.


We made our way down and after some difficulty finding the right path to continue, we made our way into some woodland. Here, amongst the pine trees, I discovered some Cep mushrooms growing. It would have been wonderful to have been able to pick and use the, but they would have spoiled by the time I'd got them home.

Once back in Hawkshead we had a sandwich and a coffee and then walked back to the B&B stopping again en route for some more refreshment. We calculated that we had walked around 7 and a half miles.

We sat in the lounge while our room was finishing being cleaned, then we showered and got changed and drove to Ambleside for a wander around and to see if we could find somewhere to eat. In the end, we ended up in an Italian restaurant in Windermere.

From there we drove back to Hawkshead via the Windermere ferry and once back at the B&B, we watchedthe Long Good Friday before going to sleep.

Friday - In the Lakes

We drove up to Manchester last night and stopped in a Travel Lodge just outside Altrincham. It was a long trip as the traffic was really slow so I'm glad we did it then rather than driving the whole way today.

This morning we breakfasted in the Little Chef adjacent to the Travel Lodge and then made our way ever northwards.

We stopped in Windermere to have a coffee and a look around and went to the Beatrix Potter Centre.

We then left, heading for Hawkshead and the B&B we are staying at for the next few days. On the way we stopped at the Drunken Duck Inn where we had a lovely lunch in their restaurant.

When we arrived at the B&B there was noone to greet us and our keys were left in an envelope with directions to our room. And a very nice room it is too with a fabulous view.

After settling in we took a drive down to Hawkshead, which is a very quaint and pretty village, where we wandered around the shops, stopped at a pub for a drink and eventually went to another pub for dinner where I had veggie sausage and mash.

Tomorrow, weather permitting we are going to go for a walk up one of the hills. Fingers crossed!

On the way home

I'm currently sitting in the departure lounge at Brussels station waiting for the Eurostar.

We got up and breakfasted early(ish) and a taxi took us to the station in Bruges where we were to catch the train to Brussels. The train was on time and the hour long journey passed quite quickly.

Brussels Zuid and Brussels Midi are the same station, which is worth knowing as none of the timetables showed Midi when we were checking the times in Bruges.

We had time in the station to grab a coffee and get a Subway to have for lunch on the train. Then it was through security and passport control to wait for the train to arrive.

On your bike!

We breakfasted in the hotel before wandering into the city centre where we were going on a bicycle your for the morning.

The city centre was pretty empty which gave us some great photo opportunities of Markt and Burg squares compared to the busy crowds yesterday.

There were about eight or ten of us on the tour, from the UK, US and Australia and we were led by Jos. He was a great tour guide, very knowledgable and very funny.

The tour was great, very relaxed and very entertaining. We ended up at the oldest pub in Bruges for a drink with the group before returning back to where we began. If you're in Bruges then I definitely recommend this tour.

After leaving the group we went for lunch at a small Greek/Turkish restaurant where Alicea had lamb and I had falafal. My falafal was really nice. However, Alicea didn't enjoy her lamb. I also tried one of the local trappist beers, which was 9% alcohol!

In the afternoon we went to the Groeninge Museum where they have a large collection of paintings by Flemish artists. It was quite good and as a bonus, we got a discount by showing our hotel key.

We also sat and listened to a busker playing some clasical music in a nearby park and bought his CD.

For dinner, we went to an Italian restaurant which wasn't bad. Then, we wandered around before returning to the hotel where we sat in the garden and had a drink before retiring.