Hey Now, Hey Now, Don't Dream its Over

Liz on Red Bull ???

When we arrived on Dec 21st we stayed in an apartment on Bondi beach, just 10 mins walk from Carmel’s house............ We have done cliff top walks visiting different local beaches, gone swimming in very dangerous currents; in fact we have walked so many miles up and down the hills of Sydney that we have both got "buns of steel" as Carmel calls them!

Everyday has been a breakfast experience, we have had so many delicious breakfasts in numerous cafes all over the Bondi area, we tried to pick the best breakfast but after a while they all blended into each other (in the memory that is!). Carmel cooking us a fine breakfast!

We have visited the Circular Quay and the Opera House and Sydney Harbour Bridge; & taken umpteen photos, well you can't have too many pics of the Opera House and it looks different from every angle. We spent a day at Watson’s bay to see the start of the Sydney to Hobart yacht race; We visited another area of Sydney called the Rocks, where we ate Kangaroo and drank real Ale!; this is an old area of Sydney where many slums used to exist prior to the construction of the Sydney Bridge, it is now an arty area with a great street market, and of course lots of hills.

Arty Statue in The Rocks District

We hired a car for 3 days and went to the Blue Mountains where we walked in the Rain Forest, also to Palm Beach where we slummed it with the rich and famous in the posh suburbs. we spent another amazing day in The Royal National Park south of the city. We have eaten meals out in a variety of nationalities of restaurants including Thai, Brazilian, Italian, Japanese, Moroccan, French;
Our adventures have not just been confined to day time; the Sydney festival started on the 5th January and we went to the opening night of The Sydney Festival where we saw Brian Wilson of Beach Boys fame, also the multi- international group The Pink Martinis in The State Theatre.

Monday 7th Jan
Today we moved out of our Bondi apartment to spend our last 4 nights in Australia in the City (CBD – Central Business District) and give ourselves a luxurious treat, we booked into the 5* Sheraton Park Hotel, which faces Hyde Park. This area is a complete contrast to the village like atmosphere of where Carmel lives. It is hectic and vibrant, with a mixture of old and modern architecture.
We met Carmel at 6pm and got the train to Darling Harbour. A bit touristy but a very impressive area. We had dinner at the famous Nick’s Fish Restaurant and afterward sat on a bench with ice creams and watched the world go by. We ended the evening with a night cap on the Sheraton balcony bar, overlooking Hyde Park people watching. (Liz gave them a royal wave off the balcony.)

View of Hyde Park from the balcony

Tuesday 8th Jan
Apologies for going on about breakfasts so much, but the breakfast at the Sheraton was something else! one could feed a 3rd world country for a day with the range of food on offer here, from the usual bacon eggs etc. to freshly made pancakes & omlettes to cereals, fruit, rice dishes yohurt and even a full honeycomb for people who wanted honey on their breakfast or in their coffee!

Wednesday 9th Jan
After Breakfast we met Carmel at The Circular Quay, Customs House, but she had to do a days work work, so Keith and I went to the port and got ourselves a ferry to Manly for the day and got yet another angle for photos of the Opera House and the bridge. We had a bucket of King Prawns with a pint of Toheys beer on a roof top bar overlooking the beach for lunch.

We met up with Carmel again at 6pm to go into the city to go to the cinema. First we went to a Spanish restaurant and had Tapas. The cinema experience was in Gold class, to see "Atonement". (see Carmels blog for a film buffs guide to gold class!)

Thursday 10th Jan
Carmel met us at our hotel and we went and had 'Yum Cha', which is basically Chinese food brought to your table on trolleys, and the staff try to pursuade you to try their wares. You select your choice, then someone else comes along with another trolley of food, eventually they go away, you pay for whats on your table, and its a great way to do a buffet! (and luckily for Liz , nothing was raw!!) Then we shopped til we dropped.

In the evening we went to eat in the mainly Italian area of the city just below Hyde Park, we actually ate in a Moroccan Restaurant, although on the menu there was kangaroo, crocodile & local fish dishes.

CHEERS!

Then to The Speigal Tent to see "La Clique"

Friday 11th Jan
Carmel joined us for our final breakfast in Auastralia, at The Sheraton,

The Roof Top Pool at The Sheraton

We sat in the lounge reviewing the holiday and all the great things we'd seen and done. Sadly at 2pm we had to say our goodbyes and we got a taxi and headed to the airport for our 24hr journey back to the uk!

Thanks a million Carmel for a Fab holiday and our first Oz experience!!

Bye Bye Carmel.............X

Amusing signs & posters in Oz

As usual on our travels we find all sorts of interesting and amusing signs, like the Oz version of "No Entry" or the safety instructions in the Blue Mountains forest trail.

In the uk the only time you are likely see shop names like these, would probably be on the hairdressers, but in Sydney they like using word-play signs on all sorts of business's, like this one for a burger shop, or these two signs, one is for a sex shop "Tool Shed" the other though similar in style is actually an off licence!

Hope these signs amuse you as much as they did us!

Liz also found many signs with names of people she knows & loves, for exampleand but sadly we didnt see any signs for "Sheila's Wheels"

Four Seasons in one Day

I can't believe we have not posted a new blog since New Years Day!!...... but we just haven't had a spare minute. We hired a car for 3 days to see some areas outside Sydney.

Northern Beaches

On Day 1 we went up the coast to Palm beach, where Home and Away is filmed (whatever that is?) This is a very swanky area full of million dollar mansions. The atmosphere on the beach here is very different from Bondi, it is full of families coming down to the beach after work and school to do some surfing, and chillin.

Day 2 we drove to the Blue Mountains about 200km west of Sydney. This area is beautiful, if you click this link you can see Carmel's blog with her account of our trip.

Liz in the rainforest in the Blue Mountains

Day 3 we went South of Sydney, towards Woollongong, to the Royal National Park. We had a full day in the most beautiful unspoilt area of countryside a huge area of rain forest and bush right on the coastline. It has been a protected area for over 100 years so no houses or people living or camping in the national park. We followed the map to a parking area near the coast and as we came into the parking spot a large lizard or small croc. ran across the road, when we parked we followed the trail through a small wooded area to the most perfect beach, white sand in a sheltered cove, with a lagoon behind it that stopped 3 metres from the sea. In the park we went to Wattamolla Beach and picnic area, it is just the most perfect swimming and sunbathing spot, you could swim safely in the deep freshwater lagoon or play in the surf on the shore or you could lie on the beach or shelter in the trees alongside the lagoon. We could have stayed there for hours! Eventually we moved on to the furthest edge of the park where the gum tree forest turns into temperate rain forest, so that half the trees are palms and other tropical vegetation, it is an incredible place to be in, not just for the views but the sounds as well insects and parrots make an incredible din.

The stunning view at the National Park

Pelicans enjoying the lovely day

We eventually headed back to Sydney as we had an important task to do, to take Carmel to buy her 1st BBQ! The shop we went to was BBQ Heaven everything but the outdoor kitchen sink, prices ranging from a few dollars to thousands of dollars for a BBQ that resembled a fully fitted kitchen. She felt that now she owned a BBQ she really was Australian!! (Her next door neighbour assured her you are only a real Oz when you own 2 BBQ's!) So we spent the rest of the evening in Carmel's lovely back garden cooking on the Barbie and drinking a few beers!

Keith demonstrates his BBQ skills

On Saturday we spent the evening in the Domain in the centre of Sydney, for the Opening Night of the Sydney Festival, (Crowded House wrote, "4 seasons in one day" about the Domain) all events on the 1st night are free & we arranged with Carmel and a group of her friends & colleagues to go and see Brian Wilson of the BeachBoys fame, supported by (an oz rock star) Paul Kelly. The weather was a bit changeable, just as we settled down to picnic and party, the heavens opened! Undaunted we used brollies and bin liners as waterproof poncho's and danced the night away to great songs from the classic BeachBoys catalogue inc. Good Vibrations and Sloop John B! Although the rain reduced the crowd slightly in numbers, by the end of the gig the Domain was almost full, with more than 100,000 people dancing in a natural amphitheatre in the heart of the city. We tramped out of the park a bit wet but very happy and looking forward to an early start the following day to go boating and BBQ ing on the Hawkesbery river at 7am!

Bopping to Brian Wilson in The Domain

Under a Blood Red Sky, The Crowd has gathered in Black and White

The Hyde Park Waterfall

New Years Eve has arrived at last; We walked through Hyde Park (Sydney) to get to the event.

Carmel and Liz in Hyde Park (Sydney) on the way to The New Yeras Eve Party

We have been so excited because Carmel had booked us an exclusive table in the Botanical Gardens area of the harbour. In the area called Mrs Macquarie’s Chair . There were tables laid out for just 1,000 people with a Champagne reception, a 3-course meal, a bar, a disco, and a midnight snack!! Right on the waterfront overlooking the Opera House and Sydney Harbour Bridge. It is estimated that over 1 million people descended on the centre of Sydney for this night’s event.

This is the view from our table!!!

We felt very VIP because we didn’t have to queue with all the hordes that were carrying their picnics, beers, children and grannies (everything but the kitchen sink was being wheeled and carried) into the park. We got there at 5.30 for doors at 6.30 but by this time the rest of the vantage points in the gardens were declared full and people were being turned away, some people had been down on the waterfront since dawn just to get a prime viewpoint!

Carmel and Liz havin a natter before the party started

As we entered the cordoned off area, there was a red carpet and free glasses of champagne and we were given vouchers for our 3 course meal, we could collect each course at the allotted times. Carmel was very excited when she discovered the chocolate dessert was gluten free and she somehow managed to blag a second portion. We had a great view of all the parties, which were going on on the hundreds of boats in the harbour. As its very environmentally friendly here, staff came around to your table clearing away debris every few minutes, there was even a 5 dollar deposit on the wine bottles so you were encouraged to take them back (we almost had enough deposit for a goodnight out when we’d finished!)

There was an amazing atmosphere; everyone was really friendly and chatty. We sat on a table next to a German couple who had flown in to Sydney for 1 night, just for this event and an Indian family behind us had brought lots of snacks which they insisted on sharing with us in return for chatting to us about all the places they had lived in around the world (including Birmingham!) I would have loved to have known everyone’s ‘story’ that night.

At 9pm they set off the children’s fireworks, which was a magnificent display and gave us a taste of what was to come. As we partied on the mood of the lighting changed through sunset and dusk and into nightfall.

Our view of the Opera House and Sydney Bridge

Carmel got her little note book out and we all had to say what our new years resolutions were, (hee hee) Keith was very reluctant but we finally persuaded him to join in and he eventually said he was going to stop drinking!! Then he quickly added that he was only going to stop drinking red wine, (I think he panicked).

New Years Resolutions

Everyone looked beautiful and most people were dancing, and after several bottles of wine we thought the disco was fab too as we were all dancing to “Come on Eileen”!!

The crowds of picnickers on the hill behind us were doing the Mexican wave and cheering all the time. Then at seconds to midnight everyone dutifully counted down to midnight and the fireworks started, which just took our breath away. In the paper this morning it said it was the biggest firework display Sydney had ever seen.

New Years Eve Fireworks

On the bus journey home (which was rammed) we had the statutory Irish lad leading the whole bus in sing-along. With very drunken renditions of…Danny Boy, Whiskey in the Jar and When Irish Eyes Are Smiling.

2008 has arrived and Everything had started looking blurred to Keith

When we got back to our apartment at 3am there was a party on our roof, which was in full swing and the dance party on Bondi Beach was still bouncing. The lift was swimming in lager when we got in to the building and lots of dead party poppers and champagne corks all over the area outside our apartment window, it looks like a proper new years eve celebration was had by one and all!

3am And the New Years Eve Party was still going strong on Bondi Beach

HAPPY 2008 TO YOU ALL!!!

Sitting in the morning sun, waiting for the evening to come

We were all up early on Boxing day morning to go and watch the start of the Sydney to Hobart Yacht race. It was a beautiful sunny day and it seemed that everyone else had the same idea as us, so there were crowds of people trying to get the best vantage point on the route from the harbour to the open sea.
Rather than go with the crowds to the headland, we decided to get our own prime viewing point in the world famous Doyles Fish Restaurant at Watsons Bay. From our dinner table we saw the flotilla of yachts leave the harbour with dozens of boats and helicopters in tow. Two fish courses and a bottle of local Sauvignon Blanc later, we wandered up to the headland to see the views across the bay after the crowds and yachts had left!
As usual with us our trips everything seems to revolve around where and what we eat! On Friday evening we found a great Brazilian Restaurant above north Bondi beach, which was not licensed, so it was BYO (bring your own) so we took 3 bottles of wine & enjoyed great food.


Last night we had a Bondi Flying Pizza experience at the north end of the beach there is an Italian restaurant of note, we had tried to get in a couple of nights ago but there was a 3 hour wait (no bookings taken) so me n Liz arrived at 6pm to get an early table, we still had to wait 1 1/2 hours, Carmel joined us at 7.30 just in time to get the table (we were 3 G&T’s ahead of her by this stage) unlike the Flying pizza we could stand outside in the sunshine whilst we waited for our table.
We had been snorkelling during the day, we met up with Carmel and 3 of her friends very early in the morning and did the cliff top walk to Bronte beach, had breakfast and walked to the next bay (Clovelly) where there was an area for snorkelling. En route to this beach Carmel’s housemate Ruth took us to see her family tomb in the cliff top cemetery. Where there are generations of her family buried and where she will be too!
We spent today wandering around an area in the Harbour called ‘The Rocks’. There are loads of hilly winding streets with wonderful old buildings and markets and a great atmosphere but even more impressive are the real ale pubs here. We had lunch in the The Australian Hotel (which means pub), Keith had Kangaroo pie, Liz had kangaroo pizza and Carmel had Kangaroo salad!!! Bouncing!
This week Keith will be mostly buying new shoes, ok (I brought the wrong shoes with me), my old flip flops from Corfu (which are called thongs over here) slide off my feet more times than they are on them, so in a moment of stubborn independence I decided to go off on my own and buy some more. I soon realised that the pair I had bought were too tight across my toes and within 200 metres I had rubbed the top of my feet raw! Not wanting to admit that I had made a mistake in buying the wrong size, I insisted they would wear in. So the following day in protest at Liz’s best advice about what shoes to buy, I walked mainly barefoot & blistered the soles of my feet instead. (And he went and bought a second pair of ill fitting shoes!!)

Today I bought some quality walking sandals (third time lucky!), and now everything is right with the world again!

I'm Dreaming of a White Christmas

The Christmas message brought to you from Sydney Australia
by my husband and I (HRH Elizabeth England)
Our apartment pictured above is the building with the red roof!

It is Christmas Day and Keith has already been for a jog along Bondi beach, we have both been for a walk down to Bondi where there are crowds of people gathering on the beach all with Santa hats on getting ready to party!! (they do an orphans Christmas party for all those away from family at Christmas).
We have just had pimms and lemonade at Carmels house. Now we are off back to our roof terrace to bbq the fish we bought yesterday. It is tradition to get up in the middle of the night and get to Sydney fish market at the crack of dawn to buy your Christmas fish. So by bus, train and tram we arrived at the packed market at 6am. We bought King prawns, Tiger prawns, sword fish, trout and barramundi (Yum) No turkey!

We had an uneventful 24 hours of flying, we left Manchester at 10am Thursday morning which was -2 degrees, then 12 hours, 4 films and 3 meals later we landed in Singapore 26 degrees hotter! We had 3 hours to browse the shops in the airport before taking off for another 7 hour flight and 2 more meals to Sydney. Getting into Oz is quite strict, you are not allowed to bring in all sorts of things including wood & food (little did I know when I told the customs official that we had nothing to declare that most of Carmels Christmas pressies were edible! Chocolates, cakes and coffee!) still we got through unscathed.
Carmel met us at the airport and this was the start of a grand tour of exotic breakfast locations over the next few days. The first morning we went for breakfast with her close friend Matt to Brown Sugar. There is a great attitude to breakfast here it really is the best meal of the day. We had poached eggs, spinach, hash browns, bacon, cooked tomatoes and seeded bread and great coffe (I have a ‘flat white’ Carmel has a ‘long black and of course Keith has a ‘short black’!! The next morning we went to Gertrude and Alice book shop café for breakfast, then yesterday was Katipo café and so on, fab!!
We spent Christmas eve in the Opera bar at the Opera house drinking wine and soaking up the atmosphere. It is the most beautiful harbour very vibrant and lively.
It is great to be spending this time with Carmel.
Need to go now and light the Barbie
Happy Christmas everyone!!

“Going to the land down under”

Well we are off again!
In just 1 weeks time, we will be setting off on our latest adventure. We are travelling to Australia to see Carmel in Sydney for Christmas!!

CARMELY CHOC

Since we last blogged in September we have both been very busy, working full time! (Even Liz is working for O2 for 6 months) and Keith has increased the amount of gigs he has been doing in the UK.

We have also been to lots of gigs including Crowded House, The Fast Show, Frank Skinner (don’t mention Frank Skinner) we should ‘ve gone to see The Police as well but Sting had a sore throat (ahh bless!) so it was cancelled.

Also Jema made Keith a grandad for the 3rd time. She had a beautiful little baby girl called Arwen on 25th October, which was also the same day that Pippa was 18 !!!!

CAITLYN, FINLEY AND ARWEN

HAPPY 18TH BIRTHDAY PIPPA !!!!!!!!!

We are flying with Singapore airlines from Manchester, leaving on the morning of Thursday 20th Dec at 10am and arriving in Sydney on Friday 21st in the evening at 8pm. We have both got our groovy flight socks, our blow up travel pillows and travel tooth brushes, so we are prepared for anything!!

Liz is preparing for at least 24hrs without a cig. (no she’s not going to sleep all the way) she has armed herself with patches, lozengers and nicotene gum, though she’ll have to watch herself in Singapore because chewing gum is banned. And the good news is Sydney has the strictest antismoking laws in the world, not only indoors, but outdoor bars and restaurants don’t allow smoking and even Bondi beach!!!! Is no smoking!! Not that I’ll ever mention it.

Emails have been frantically flying backwards and forwards between Carmel and Liz for the last few weeks to plan our trip. Liz has put all the activities Carmel has booked, onto a spreadsheet (OCD) So nothing can possibly go wrong (mmm) Carmel has booked a variety of shows and gigs because we will be there during the Annual Sydney Festival which is a major Oz holiday event. We are staying with Carmel for the first 10 days because her house mate is away for Christmas, then we have rented a beach side apartment til we leave on 11th Jan. It has a roof top terrace with BBQ! And we are planning on doing a couple of trips overnight possibly to the Blue Mountains or the Hunter Valley Wine region, we will see?

For New Years Eve we have booked a table in a restaurant which overlooks the Harbour Bridge and Sydney Opera House, so we will get a birds eye view of the fireworks (if there are any left after the accident in the firework factory in Sydney last week!)

So consequently we have done absolutely NOTHING Christmassy this year, we have not sent cards or bought pressies or put decorations up, or anything, it’s been very weird. So instead, we will be spending all the money we would have spent on a UK Christmas having a fab time in Oz

(Yes Paul....LIZ 'N' KEITH ARE GOING TO BE IN CORFU - Oorstraylia?

HAVE A WONDERFUL CHRISTMAS AND A HAPPY NEW YEAR TO YOU ALL !!!!!!!!!