Camping and Candlelit Carols

When I first heard about what my latest adventure was going to be, I wasnt exactly sure. Camping. With most of my previous camping experiences being not exactly enjoyable, I wasnt looking forward to a weekend in a tent. My fears were heightened when we awoke on the morning of departure to heavy rain. It was the first bad weather I had seen since I left Britain and we were about to go camping....brilliant.

We were camping at Horseshoe Bay, which is a gorgeous little beach village about an hour and a half drive from my sister's. It wasnt the most comfy drive of my life though, we had packed so much stuff that none of us actually had anyroom to really sit down properly. The kids had their feet up on top of boxes and duvets, Katy was squeezed inbetween them hugging her knees and I was sat crossed legged in the front seat as I didnt have a footwell, with blankets and towels piled so high on my lap I couldnt actually see out of the window. This was also after the drama of actually getting in the car because we didnt think we could get the car up the steep drive. We solved the problem by me and Katy waiting at the top of the road in the rain while Boot managed to get the car out. So we were now completely squished into the car and soaking wet. Fabulous.

Luckily though, the rain stopped about ten minutes after we arrived so we put the tent up, unpacked all our stuff, grabbed a fish and chip lunch and then headed down to the beach. We had the entire beach to ourself so spent a great couple of hours playing about with the kids, running around and jumping in the waves.

The beach frolicking really set the tone for the rest of the weekend. We were joined by some friends later that day who have two kids the same age as Scarlett and Josh, so we took turns in taking the kids to the playground and staying by the tent and having a few casual drinks looking out across the sea. The next day we left the guys and kids at the beach while me, Katy and Sam snuck away to have a coffee. My first cup of proper coffee in weeks and it was goooood! We stopped off at a bakery on the way back though and we all had a cake/donut/eclair picnic on the beach. That evening was barbie time and then just chilling by the tents with some ciders. It was pretty stressful, let me tell you!

So as you can probably guess, I had a pretty good weekend. We were lucky with the weather and although it was a little chilly it only rained overnight so we werent stopped from doing anything. We packed up sunday morning and headed home with two tired little kids in the back of the car, but not without one last trip to the bakery....



Sunday evening was then time for some festive fun. Me, Katy and Scarlett headed into the city for Carols by Candlelight. Its an open air concert on the banks of the River Torrens, which becomes candlelit once the sun goes down. There were so many people there and everyone was getting into the christmas spirit and singing along. I have been struggling with feeling festive because it feels like its the middle of summer at the moment, but last night really got me excited. Looking out over the park and seeing thousands of people all waving their candles was an incredible sight. I admit I did even get a little emotional and the homesickness kicked in a little. It will be strange not being with some of my loved ones this christmas, but then getting to see how excited the kids are already I think christmas morning will be amazing. 8 more sleeps!!!!

Birthday Celebrations

So I have been in Australia nearly a month now and things have finally started to calm down. Last week I even had a couple of days which could be described as quite....I know, it had me fainting in shock too. So as it goes, I dont have a whole lot to report. I did have a couple of exciting days though, because it was my birthday!!!! It only seems appropriate to divulge my aussie celebrations to you all.

On the morning of my birthday I was woken up by the kids who I think may have been even more excited than me. Josh was jumping up and down on my bed shouting birthday cake. He knows about the important things in life obviously. Then I did a few skype calls to the family back home so they could se me open my cards and pressies. It was my first birthday spent away from home, so a little strange. But, it was also my first birthday spent with my sister in over a decade!! Katy took the day off and after a lazy morning in PJ's, we headed out for a girly afternoon. She took me to the cinema, but not just any old screening, the GOLD CLASS screening. It had to be one of the most awesome birthday treats ever. I was sat in an electric reclining armchair in a room with only about 20 other people watching the lastest bond film. Then we had drinks and food delivered to us at various intervals during the film. Our menu was as follows:

Trailers: glass of sparkiling rose
30 mins in: BBQ chicken pizza with sweet potato fries and onion rings with various dips
1hr in: another glass of sparkiling rose
1hr 30 mins in: churros and melted chocolate

What more can I say really.....fab, fab, fab.

We spent that evening at home as Katy and Scarlett werent feeling that well, but they both somehow managed to recover enough to help me eat my choccie mud cake....mmmm.

My second birthday celebration was a few nights afterwards when we went out for dinner at Hog's Breath in Glenelg. Its the first time all five of us had gone out together and we all had a great time. I even got a slice of chocolate brownie brought out with a sparkler in it as a surprise. Well when can a girl ever get enough of choccie cake...

So that was my birthday over and now getting geared up for christmas. Really struggling to feel festive when it is so hot but Im sure the kid's excitment will quickly be passed on.

Sydney baby!

My latest adventure was an amazing four days in Sydney with my sister. It is an incredible city and it was a brilliant place to spend my birthday weekend. We arrived around 9pm on Thursday, dumped our cases at the hotel and headed out to explore. By 10pm we were in Darling Harbour and drinking a pitcher of sangria...shocking I know.

Friday was the tourist day, starting off with breakfast pancakes at Bondi Beach. After spending a few hours sunbathing and people watching (and by people I of course mean hot surfers and life guards) we headed back into the city. Not wanting to waste holiday time we didnt bother getting changed and headed to Circular Quay still in our beach gear. The usual tourist pictures of the Opera House and Harbour Bridge were then captured in numerous poses and positions before we felt the calling of alcohol once again. I must say I felt a little under-dressed sat in the Opera Bar in beachwear, but after a few glasses of wine I just didnt really care.

It was around 5pm that we both had the amazing idea of heading back to the hotel but stopping at every bar we passed along the way and having a different drink. We had a cider at an italian bar at the Rocks and then a beer at an irish bar on some random side street. At this place we also managed to steal a couple of santa hats because a group having their christmas party had left them behind. It only seemed appropriate to continue the bar crawl sporting said hats.

I would try and relay the route to you, but surprisingly it all goes a bit fuzzy after the irish bar.... I do remember that we didnt want to waste money on dinner so we had our evening meal in mcdonalds at which point I became increasingly concerned that I wasnt wearing underwear so after a quick detour back to the room to get changed we headed back out into the city. We spent a fair chunk of the evening in a student bar called Star Bar. It was happy hour so as the drinks were cheaper, we bought two each time instead of two...logical. I have vague memories of getting tequila shots bought for us by a random guy from which we ran away and being asked to drink a glass of water at the bar before they would serve me another shot. Aussie's are strict on that kinda stuff!! We eventuallly made it back to the hotel with my sister wearing my shoes and me in bare feet (don't even ask) and collapsed into bed. I was especially impressed that even whilst drunk I had enough self-control not to eat the gingerbread house that was on display in reception no matter how amazing it smelt everytime I walked past. An achivement worth recognition, don't you think ;-)

 

So we awoke on Saturday morning and I had the worst hangover I have ever had! We had prepaid to go to Sydney Tower where there is a revolving restaurant that overlooks all the city. The food was absolutely gorgeous and I had been looking forward to going for ages. However, my body decided to punish me and so I spent the entire time trying to keep down what little food I had managed to eat...very sad times. I couldnt manage doing anything strenuous that afternoon so we hopped on the ferry to Manly and sat at the beach for a while doing yet more people watching and just letting the world pass by. I started to feel human again by late afternoon so we headed back to the city and spent some more time in Darling Harbour. We drank some gorgeous cocktails in Cohi bar before meeting up with some friends for dinner. There was also and amazing fireworks display around 9pm as the countdown to christmas had begun!



 

 



 

 

After and alcohol-free detox day I was ready on Sunday to do some more exploring. We met a family friend from home for brekkie and he showed us around his part of the city. I especially enjoyed the visit to the macaroon shop and the gingerbread macaroons..yuuuuuummmy! More tourist times followed with a walk around the botanical gardens. Gorgeous settings but sadly the colony of fruit bats that I really wanted to see had been moved on so I had to make do with some funky-looking birds instead. Not quite as David Attenborough worthy, but cute nonetheless. It was walking back to the hotel that I saw a pretty awesome sight. We heard music behind us so we turned around and saw an old guy dressed in what can only be described as the clothes oxfam rejects. He was riding on a mobility scooter to which he had fixed a speaker and amp to the back and a massive elvis ornament to the front. He then was just riding around the city blaring out elvis music as he went. Very bizarre.

 

 

Monday was our last day and as the weather was terrible we headed to the aquariam. It has to be one of the best I have ever visited and got to check another thing off my wishlist: seeing a duck-billed platypus!! It was then time to head to the airport. Ok, so we were four hourse early but Katy had won quantas platinum membership for the year, so as were allowed into the quantas club lounge it only seemed appropriate to make as much use of the free food an alcohol as we possibly could. My highlight would have to be the chocolate orange bread and butter pudding. Yummy, yum, yum, get in my tum!

 

And so the flight home....and shall I just make you aware that we got a business class upgrade for the first time. Woohoo! Pretty awesome birthday pressie from my amazing travel consultant of a sister. Strawberry juice on take-off, followed by pre-dinner wine, a roasted duck salad and chocolate torte for dinner and yet more wine. Not bad for an hour and a half flight. Lets just say, I don't do economy anymore......

Exploring the outback

So this weekend was time for a road trip! Me, my sister and Oliver packed up the car and headed off on Saturday morning. The novelty of koala spotting as we drove through the hills quickly wore off however, as driving through the outback is DULL.... There is literally nothing to see, just vast plains of desert-like ground scattered with rocks and a few bushes. There was even tumbleweed, which I didnt think existed outside wild west movies. Even the towns were pathetic. We stopped off in Karoonda for lunch and the town centre consisted of a cluster of about three shops, a cafe, a servo (aussie for petrol station) and some public toilets. Banging.

There was some drama however, as the road we needed to take was closed. So we took the directions of the policeman and headed off into unknown. Our conversation about the film wolf creek wasnt best timed as the directions took us down a dirt track for about 30km, and we didnt pass a single car, see a single building or see evidence of any other people. We had no phone signal and no one knew which road we were on. Brilliant. I have never been so excited to see a proper tarmac road ever in my life, civilisiation was getting closer.... So we made it through and reached our destination of Renmark.

Renmark is in the riverlands, and the place we were staying was the Wilkadene micro-brewery which sits on the River Murray and is owned by my sister's best friends. Minutes after we arrived we were sat on the deck in the sunshine, overlooking the river with beers in hand. That set the tone for the rest of the weekend really. After copious amounts of beer on saturday afternoon a group of us decided to go for a swim in the river, armed with a beer jug of course. I was a little dubious at first as the river is seriously green and icky, but I soon gave into peer pressure and jumped in. It was later discovered that my confidence was more due to the fact that my beer had been spiked with vodka... Saturday night was then a barbeque and party inside the woolshed with neighbours and friends also invited. The poms were a tad outnumbered and so we had to put up with a bit of abuse, but all in all it was a wicked night. Sunday was a gorgeous day, about 38 degrees, so after a tour of the house, brewary, farm and house boats we went out onto the river in a couple of kayaks. It felt really surreal to be floating along seeing pelicans in the water beside you, a monitor lizard climbing up a tree trunk and even a kangaroo sitting on the river bank. Love, love, loved it. We then headed back home and had a lazt afternoon waiting for the boys to finish work so we could head out on the speed boat. Now, this bit I didnt exactly enjoy... Tom thought we should all try tubing, which is basically lying on a large ring and being pulled behind the boat. I knew it wasnt excatly my thing but thought I should give it a go anyway. It was AWFUL!!!! Holding on for dear life while being dragged along way too quickly by the boat is defintely not for me. I lasted about three minutes before the terror became unbearable and I retreated back to the safety of the boat. I realised its actually much more fun watching other people do stupid, crazy things while you sit on the back of the boat taking photos and laughing at them. But, no regrets. Its another thing ticked off my aussie to-do-list.

 

 Next on my schedule is another trip, but a bit further this time. Tomorrow me and my sister are flying to Sydney for four nights for my birthday. Bring it on!

Aquatic adventures

Well, my first week here in Oz has continued to be crazy busy and I have managed to tick two things off my bucket list: scuba diving and swimming with dolphins!

So my discover scuba diving experience course was spread over two days. On the first it was theory and training in the pool. Having only ever done basic snorkeling before I was a little scared about what I was getting myself into, especially when I had to sign a waiver to say that I understood there was a risk of death. Brilliant. But once I got into the pool, all of that went out my head and I realised just how much fun it was. Surprisingly, I found most of it pretty easy and by the end of half an hour I was happily taking my respirator out and doing mask clearances underwater. However, my nemesis was then to be revealed to me....fins. Now I know walking about in fins is usually pretty tough and most people look pretty stupid waddling about on land wearing them, but usually once you are in the water with them it is ok. For me, this really isnt the case. My gracefullness whilst wearing scuba gear is non-existent. I provided endless entertainment to Oliver and my instructor just trying to move around the training pool. At one point the instructor had to literally grab my ankles and pull my feet down for me because they kept floating up above my head. Not a good look.

Anyway, all in all training went pretty well and I was really excited to go and do the dive the next day. We went out to some sunken concrete blocks just off Glenelg beach to check out the little marine habitat that has been created there. Now, according to the instructor, it was a quiet day. But surprisingly, I thought it was AMAZING!! My excitement could easily be gauged by the volume and frequency of squeaks that could be heard emitting from my scuba mask. There were lots of fishies, crabs, starfish, sponges, shrimpy things and loads of plant life. I think my favourite was a black and white stripey fish which I think was called a magpie perch.Definitely caught the scuba bug now and really want to do another dive. Well, I'm here for three months so fingers crossed....

So the next marine mission I undertook was to go out on a catamaran called 'Temptation' to go swimming with wild bottlenose dolphins. This wasn't quite the relaxing experience I had hoped though as the morning was conducted more like a military operation. After sailing for 45 mins or so we found a pod of 12-15 dolphins. All of a sudden the guys on the boat just started shouting instructions at us, as we all had to get into the water as quickly as possible before we lost the pod. With shouts of "Get in now", "Quick, move", "All swimmers in the water now" and jumping into really cold water while the boat was still moving, I felt like a marine. Anyway, after all that the first drop was a disaster. With all the commotion going on, I had no idea what I was supposed to be doing and forgot to put my snorkel mask on and put my head in the water so completely missed the dolphins swimming underneath me, much to the entertainment of my sister who was still on the boat and pissing herself laughing at me. Undeterred, I now knew exactly what I was supposed to be doing and so the next time the dolphin spotting was awesome! Basically, you jump off the boat and hold onto one of two ropes that they run from the back of the boat. You then float in the water and wait for the dolphins to swim past you. Even if they arent close enough for you to see them underwater, you can still see them coming to the surface and arching over the waves. We were out on the boat for about three hours and we saw four separate pods of dolphins. To be lying on the surface of the water and see three wild dolphins swimming directly underneath you is indescribable. At one point there was a dolphin swimming so close beside me that it was almost within touching distance! It was an incredible experience. We even manged to see some fairy penguins bobbing about on the water on the way back to the marina.

So with all that excitement over the last few days, tonight is a bit more relaxed. I'm going to Scarlett's childcare christmas party. The kids are going to all sing carols and christmas songs to us before a visit from Santa. But of course there is the Aussie twist of a sausage sizzle afterwards. Well why wouldn't you be having a BBQ at a christmas party......

Journey, arrival and allergic reactions

I can't believe that I have only been in Australia four days. I have managed to cram so much into such a short space of time, I'm wondering how on earth I am going to fill the next 12 weeks as there surely can't be that much left to do...like that is actually true.

But first the journey, which was surprisingly uneventful. 24 hours from take off to landing, with 20 of those spent sat on a plane. My time was filled by sleeping, eating crazy amounts of pretty awesome plane food and watching four films: madagascar 3, brave, dark shadows and last but not least magic mike. Well helloooo very naked Channing Tatum. Although, I think the Singaporean lady sat next to me was slightly disturbed when she glanced over at my screen and saw what very much resembled soft porn...aw well.

So I arrived at Adelaide airport to find my sister and my neice waiting for me at arrivals holding a banner saying "G'day Auntie Amber" that Scarlett had made for me... and I'm very proud to say that despite this I didn't even cry. Now that has to be classed as a pretty decent achievement, well for me anyway. Friday passed in a jet-lag induced haze of tiredness and relief and having finally made it to 8pm I crashed into bed. And then it was Saturday and time to get my first experience of Aussie life. It was the middle of November and I was lying beside my sister's pool drinking a glass of wine, waiting for my sister's friends to come over so that we could get the bbq going and cook up some snags. I managed to struggle through the day with great difficulty, just in case you were wondering. I did, however, experience my first beef sausage. Unusual, but not as disturbing as I thought it might be so would be happy to eat one again.

Now for Sunday, whoch has been my favourite day so far. Me, Oliver, my sister and Scarlett headed over to Cleland wildlife park. This is basically a massive area of bushland that they have fenced off and filled with laods of tame aussie animals. I spent the afternoon feeding kangeroos, walabies and emus, chasing after bandicoots and hunting for wombats and tasmanian devils. The highlight of the day had to be cuddling a koala though. For just $30, I got to hold a Koala called Belle. I felt like an excited child in the queue waiting for my turn and believe me, it was worth the wait. She was such an adorable little thing and had the softest fur to stroke. Apparently they sleep for 19 hours a day and spend the remaining 5 hours stuffling their faces with over 1000 leaves....hence my cousin has renamed me 'the koala'. The koala experience didnt pass without a bit of drama however, and believe me this is a pretty good story. My problems began when we were walking through the long grasses, which triggered of my hayfever. By the time we reached the koala shack, I was sneezing pretty often but as the koalas are very-noise sensitive I had to try to stifle them as much as I could. Having passed Belle back to her keeper, I felt a massive sneeze building so I moved outside to move further away from her so I didnt startle her. This plan worked but to the detriment of me, which was that holding back the sneeze and then letting it out so violently managed to cause a massive nosebleed. My sister realised first and rushed off to find some tissues but only managed to find a first aid box full of bandanges, so picture me sat on a bench outside a koala enclosure, holding my nose with gauze strips and hysterically laughing at the absurdness of the situation. It was unforgettable, thats for sure. So anway, it eventually stopped and we carried on with our day talking about how awkward it could of got had the nosebleed started whilst I was holding the koala. Hilarious.

 

 

The last couple of days were less dramatic, but busy all the same. Scarlett has become my new shadow and is at my side at all times. We have been in and out of the pool, hit the beach and watched countless episodes of the wiggles and the faries. Its amazing to be able to spend some time with her and Josh, as well as my sister and her husband. What would we do without family.... Today was my scuba diving training day, which I really enjoyed. I'm off out on my diving expedition on thursday, so I will keep you posted. Bring on the fishies!!!

24 hours to go...

This is it...I'm actually leaving tomorrow! Argh!!

So the last three weeks has been a crazy whirlwind of visiting friends and family all over the country. Why I left all the visits to the last minute and didn't disperse them throughout my seemingly endless summer, I have no idea. But, I guess it took the realisation that I actually only had a few days left to get my arse in gear. Anyway, my busy schedule meant that as of lunchtime today I had absolutely nothing packed. Now, most people would probably panic but you know me better than that. After a couple of hours working around my room in a circle taking everything out of each drawer/shelf/cupboard that I think I'm gonna need and running my ideas past my fashion guru, Elysha,I'm pretty much all set. Or so I thought.....

...Mum then enters the room with what can only be described as a sack of presents. Granted, some are for my birthday, but most of them are for my sister's family. It seems Grandma got a tad carried away in buying the grandkids presents... Now the only way I see to solve this "tetris-style" packing problem is to enlist the help of Dad, a.k.a the 'packer king'. I have no doubt that by shutting him in a room with everything along with my suitcase and trolley bag, magic will happen and I shall be ready for the off!

Returning to my checklist, I haven't really got that much left to do. So my evening shall be spent with a long soak in the bath, a glass of wine and snuggling down in bed to watch a film. Well..I am on holiday afterall....

So, the P.O.A for tomorrow. Well leaving home in the early afternoon and heading down to London. My flight is due to leave at 10pm in the evening, and I land in Adelaide at 9am Friday morning, local time. Fingers crossed for a stress-free journey. But it is me afterall, so expect some travel-related tales to be posted pretty soon. I'm sure my people watching opportunites will be immense.


Bye cold, rainy England.....Hello AUSTRALIA!!!