Port Douglas

A quieter day today. Woke after 9.00am and remembered we had to pick up a hire car at 10.00am. Groan! We showered and gulped some coffee down and ventured out into the already searing heat. Car was a little Toyota Yaris Automatic but it had air con (the main consideration in these parts) so it would do.

We were going to Port Douglas to look around the Sunday Market, but our stomachs called out to us so loudly, we took the car back to the apartment and visited the local deli first for bacon, two eggs, toast and very good strong coffee. Suitable replenished we set off on our day’s activities.

First call Port Douglas. A forty minute drive along a very narrow, bendy coastal road where the speed limit drops to less than 30mph in places. Otherwise known as the motorway by some of the locals, and they are not being sarcastic! Parking was free, no traffic wardens in sight (or tax collectors as Den calls them).

The market was your typical Sunday affair with stalls selling jewellery, beach gear, hats, soaps and lotions and other essential items required on a Sunday. Den bought a kangaroo leather hat, and I bought some aloe vera magical potion to soothe my increasingly painful sunburn and insect bitesL. After an hour in the sun, it was inevitable that a visit to a bar was required to rehydrate. We duly found a dubious looking Irish bar which, however, served very cold lager. A friendly bar manager from St Helens of all places, kindly told us the English Premier League football scores. The icing on the cake was that he did indeed support Liverpool, so we were also able to have a good laugh at his expense.

The rest of the afternoon was taken up with a visit to the Mossman Gorge, part of the Daintree National Park. Lots of trees and other rainforest stuff, plus a river running through in which we were able to cool our weary feet. It was very hot and humid, so we decided against the 2km walk and made our way back to the car park.

Back at the apartment it was time for the obligatory dip in the pool. But, hey, what was this?? There were some other people there, at least two. Didn’t they know the pool was for our exclusive use? Dinner was at a local restaurant on the ocean front with Den eating a burger (again) while I chose to eat the local produce (fish)

Still not decided what to do tomorrow. A bungee jump may be an option (For Den), while I will satisfy myself watching everyone else have a near death experience.

No you can't fit it in your suitcase and take it home



A typical Palm Cove street



Mossman Gorge, Daintree



Honest hun, there are no crocodiles....



Ahhh back at the pool

Snorkeling on the Great Barrier Reef

God its hot here, bloody hot, or as they say in North Wales when the clouds part, and the sun beats down on them, “What’s that?”

We signed up for a boat trip out to the coral reefs, 20 miles off Port Douglas.

Weather was fantastic. The only problem was that I was pretty scared. I have never been a strong swimmer and the thought of leaving a perfectly good boat into water that is deeper than the shallow end of the local swimming pool had me in a fluster, even before I jumped and breathed in my first mouthful of salt water.

It turned out my problem was I needed a shave and this was stopping me from getting a proper face seal with the mask. In the end I slapped a load of Vaseline over my upper lip. Granted I looked a bit of a k**b but it just about did the trick. Unfortunately I was a k**b a second time when I didn’t hire a waterproof camera so I don’t have any good pictures. Even so, we have our memories and they are enduring.

It’s something everybody should do, so many colourful fish and the odd Shark or two. Both Lucy and I had a great day. Unfortunately we were both K**bs later that day, me for the third time. Sun tan wise, I did not bother with pink, I even bypassed angry red and went straight to purple. Ooouuucccchhh! Lucy just kissed the back of my neck.

Lucy is out of it still. She can’t get used to the time zone and was awake till 03:00hrs. We had to be up at 06:25. Anyone who knows Lucy can hear the alarm bells ringing as they read. I bought some beers from a local store and cooked a BBQ and thought it was time to update the blog. Thanks to anyone who reads this, especially our kids. My style of writing may not be great but this is in reality a diary for us to look back at in the future. This is a once in a lifetime holiday so I am trying to keep it alive any way I can.

Just have a little patience

Today has been a great day. Palm Cove is beautiful, the apartment we are staying in is spacious, clean with gorgeous views. It has its own 20 meter swimming pool which we seem to have all to ourselves. This evening we had a BBQ by the pool and tomorrow we go snorkeling on the Barrier Reef .

But absolutely best of all, It has taken me four hours of non stop refresh on the internet, but I have got FOUR tickets for Take That next July 6th (If my boss is reading this I want a half day off ...)

Oh  and if James or Neil are reading this then Dennis wants that day off too. Can you put it in the holiday  spreadsheet guys? As you can imagine Dennis is over the moon about the concert Lol Lol Lol

International jet setting......

Airport, 12 hours flying, another airport, 2 hours flying, yet another airport, Palm Cove

Knackered.

G'night poms

Big Buddha Final Day in Hong Kong

07:30hrs and some Chinese woman is talking yada yada yada (or whatever the Chinese equivalent is). Lucy is shouting “shut up” in her sleep. I can sleep anywhere so I just turned over. It suddenly dawned on me after half an hour, that this woman was actually rather close to us, and then her fella decided to join in. The only words I made out were “World Series”. That’s when I decided this was the last time I use a radio alarm clock on this holiday to wake us up. Typical Lucy. Sets an alarm and just sleeps through it leaving me to make the morning coffee. This should not happen on holiday.

After a breakfast in the hotel buffet of chicken’s head or feet (wasn’t sure which  it was)  and coffee we got a bus to Kowloon train  station where we were able to check in our luggage at the Qantas desk.

Everything else we needed for the flight was put in a holdall and left in left luggage (Remember the last sentence for later).

Yippeeeeeeeeeeeeeee! The sun came out.

How much more lovely this place looks when it’s sunny and hot. We got a ferry over to Lantau Island and a bus to see the Big Buddha. Chinese bus drivers are ace. How come there are not more of them on the F1 circuit I don’t know, unless, as I suspect, they all die (with their passengers) before reaching F1 status.

When we got to our destination it quickly became pretty obvious that the Chinese are following the American theme park business model. They have a shop area that resembles “Main Street USA” in Disneyworld. There was one shop that dealt only with everything to do with Chopsticks. Guess what gift I got for both my daughters? J.


Buddha sitting on a hill near Main St USA



I had a bit of fallout with Lucy while climbing the 400 steps up to the Buddha statue. I found a flaw with my camera. If I turned the camera to take a portrait picture instead of landscape, the image went black in my display screen. I was gutted and showed Lucy. She could not really see what the problem was. I had a go at her for being stupid and blind, and buggered off on my own.

We met up later and I asked her to look again. She insisted that the image remained the same. Yes, well it would to her wouldn’t it? It wouldn’t to me though as I was wearing polaroid glasses which affected how I saw the image. Sorry was not good enough; she took the piss out of me for a good hour afterwards.



F**king Hell......



We decided to get the cable car back to the airport. It took about 30 minutes and the scenery was breathtaking at times. Attached are a couple of pictures so you can see how high it is. It was at this point that we had to get an underground train from the airport under the sea back to Kowloon station to pick up my hand luggage holdall and then get another 30 minute train back to the airport. Work that one out! (Lucy : In my defence the  guide book I was using did say that the cable car ride had stopped in 2006 after an accident….)

Flight at 11:45pm is another long one to Brisbane and then onto Cairns. Not sure we’ll manage tomorrow’s blog after all that.

PS Have you ever arrived at Hong Kong airport and suddenly realised that you forgot to buy a new Versace dress, a pair or two of Jimmy Choos or a Cartier watch? Never fear. There will be at least three branches of each on every shopping floor after you have passed through Security. Want to buy some deodorant or some toothpaste as well? No f**king chance!



Who left the zoom on ?



PPS. In summary I have to say that HK as a first stop on a round the world trip was an excellent choice. Lucy and I have been on many city breaks over the years but this has to be the best for many reasons. It is very clean, the people are very friendly and eager to help and the public transport is reliable, efficient and cheap to boot. Most importantly you always feel safe, even when walking down dark alleys in the evening.

On the downside, well there is only one. Lucy and I pride ourselves on the fact that we always try the local food when we go abroad. Here we cheated and stuck to Starbucks, Subway and an American Diner.



Local cuisine



There is something about eating chicken with the head still attached that we never quite took to. Sorry Dong.



Anyone for chicken head with chips ?

A Ride on a Bus - Day Two Hong Kong

Well now we know what jet lag is. We both woke at 2am and were wide awake till 4:30am. Took the time to chat on Facebook (Have a good holiday Tomas) and shop around for a new watch. I gave up on that because it’s actually cheaper to buy them in the UK. Gone are the days when you can go to places like Hong Kong and Taiwan and pick up cheap electrical gismos and watches. These countries have grown economically over over the years, whereas we, the mighty power that we once were are now just about still on par with them.

We woke again at 10:50am feeling drained, hungry and miffed that we had wasted so much of the day.

                                                      See the bags under my eyes?

Hong Kong is fantastic if you want pigeon or chicken complete with head attached for breakfast, but I like something a little less full on, like coffee and a bacon butty. That’s just what we got in the end, (after an hour of walking around the streets) thank god for Starbucks is all I can say.

Next up, a bus ride to The Peak. This is the highest hill overlooking Hong Kong Island.

I am still laughing at Lucy. It’s a narrow road that winds up the 550 meter high rugged rock with huge drops the other side of the two foot wall that the double decker bus almost scrapes along as he speeds up around blind bends oblivious to the other cars and lorries coming down the hill. I recommend this ride to any fairground ride junkie. Fantastic. Lucy kept her eyes shut most of the time and moaned loudly every time we went around a curve.

Unfortunately it was another warm grey day so the view was spoiled by the hazy mist that obscured some of the buildings in the distance. It’s still a view to behold though, and the ride down again on a cable tram was ok and very steep, but Lucy enjoyed it so as you can imagine I snored all the way to the bottom.

Did the obligatory shopping malls and went to the cinema to see “Inception” (Does the top stop spinning?) Great movie.



 Went back to the Star Ferry terminal and watched the light show from that side of the harbour before getting a boat back to Kowloon, eating a huge  t-bone steak at an American Diner and going back to the hotel to write this blog.



We are both very tired but will stay up till 1.00 am to see if that helps us sleep. It’s another long flight tomorrow, but that’s not until 23:00hrs.

Next stop Aus.

Den

2 comments:

Nick said...

Hmmmm, must be something about the flight and HK!! It's the only time I've ever had jetlag when I went there....and I flew Business Class. Lookin good though guys : )

26 October 2010 22:20

Zoe said...

Whats with the grey beard Dad??! Lol

Journey to the other side of the world

I awoke to see two large eyes, a huge smile and felt some gentle muzzling on my neck. So I kicked the moggy off the bed and woke Lucy to see if she wanted to make me a cup of coffee.

Breakfast at Chez Gerrard in town and everything is going well on day one. Taxi is due at 3.00pm. United are one up at Stoke, here we go. Five past three..ten past three, (Stoke equalise.. ). Lucy rings Star Taxis and they know nothing about picking us up even though we had email confirmation and a ref no. Lucy is fuming, tells the taxi firm to sod off and I am hiding behind the couch as she tries to book another. Come on fellas, we rule the roost only when the scary ones allow us to eh?

An M25 traffic jam later and we are fast tracking into the business class lounge. Jesus. Free food everywhere, free Champagne, wine and comfy armchairs, oh how the other half live. Boarding is quick and when I handed the stewardess the ticket she curtseyed as she directed me upstairs. God knows what she would have done if I had had a first class ticket. As the wife is with me I don’t want to find out.



Not so sure about the beard. The breakfast was great though



The seats are fantastic, I have loads of space, lockers, a plug for my laptop and a tv with loads of music, games and videos to chose from. My seat stretches out into a flat bed.


Whose are those size ten feet ?


Wow, after a lovely meal with real crockery and a few free beers I decided to pop downstairs and take a look at the plebs all scrunched up and dribbling on each others shoulders as they try to grab a few minutes of restless sleep, then I stretch out, ask the stewardess to put my blanket over me and fell into an untroubled sleep.

Next stop Hong Kong…

Den

Untroubled sleep? Not quite, still better than cattle class, but I was drinking tea with the cabin crew at 3.00am so only got a few hours shut eye.



eleven hours later... bad hair day



Hong Kong is amazing. All noise, bustle, cars, buses, people, neon lights, more people and oh so many tall tall buildings.

We took the bus from the airport which dropped us at the YMCA Hotel.


View from our hotel room


At check in we got a free upgrade, so we have a bedroom and living/office area (from where I type now) and amazing views over the harbour.


Tea at the Peninsula


We took a few steps outside the hotel and walked into the Peninsula Hotel, allegedly the most famous hotel in Hong Kong. We partook of its famous High Tea including delicate finger sandwiches (crusts cut off naturally), melt in the mouth pastries, cakes and scones with clotted cream and jam. Rounded off with tea, served in gold plated tea pots and a piano tinkling in the background.

All in all, a very satisfactory start to the honeymoon. Its 8:30pm HK time and I admit to feeling a little jaded. Must try to stay awake till at least 10.00pm

Lucy





Last day at work

Well it must be close now as I just finished work and am now off for 6 weeks. I bet my boss is wondering how the hell he let me get away with booking all this time off when we are at our busiest period of the year so far. Suck eggs fella, I am gone…..

I would like to say I have packed, but with two days to go I have not got a clue what I am taking. Well, when I say I don’t have a clue……. I have packed my camera, my video camera, my i-pod, my laptop and my e-reader, 3 pairs of cargo shorts and 4 t-shirts and sandals. Oooohhhhhh! And 41 pairs of undies (7 for £3 from Primark) and 41 pairs of socks (Little trainer type socks 15 pairs for 35p from Primark’s little brother). None of that washing stuff crap for me.

Am I excited? Good god I am. Wayne Rooney signed a 5 year contract today. Oh well, back to the packing.

Den

Two weeks to go and we are nowhere near ready...

Well we are sort of ready. All flights sorted, passports up to date, a few hotels booked but I am fast running out of time. Dennis meanwhile is content to play golf, play with his new camera and generally  do anything that means he is too busy to help me ! Only joking love........

Anyway, this is the first blog post on my very first blog. I hope we will have  time to update it on our wonderful journey round the world.

First stop Hong Kong for three days, then Cairns (Great Barrier Reef), Sydney including a couple of days staying the in the Blue Mountains with Wibble our Redcafe friend, onto the South Island of New Zealand for seventeen days of touring, up to Auckland for a flight to California with three nights in San Francisco and finally three nights in Las Vegas before we get our last flight to London and back home to winter.....