Feeling hot, hot, hot

Dubai - what can I say?

Dubai is for you if you:

- Come from the southern counties of England and think TOWIE is class TV
- Own metallic bikinis, some sort of floaty thing to put over the top and a huge gold bag
- Can be bothered to get up at 7 am to drape towels over sun beds
- Think lieing by a pool all day and every day turning bright red then burnt orange makes a good holiday.

Sadly I don't come from Essex and have never seen TOWIE, I have one black bikini, a shirt and a backpack, get up at 9 ish, can't be bothered to paint my nails and find lieing by a pool so boring.

We are not exactly a match made in heaven!

To be fair, after reluctantly leaving Sydney, anywhere else didn't really have a chance. We arrived in Dubai at 6.30 am after a 9 1/2 hour flight to Bangkok followed by a 5 1/2 hour flight to Dubai.

We arrived at our super, luxurious, sophisticated hotel to find we had been upgraded to a suite, with a massive bed, huge TV and beautiful views of the pool, Arabian Gulf and a building site! Mind you all of Dubai is a building site and it doesn't disturb us. We can't hear anything through the super thick double glazing and over the top of the air conditioning!


They start work at about 6am, but that's ok cos so do we. Since we got here we've woken up at 6 am and fallen asleep before 10! I think it's that dratted jet lag messing with our heads and bodies. The builders work til 12 noon then take a break until 4ish and finish again about 10pm.

On Monday we lazed by the pool, trying to stay awake but eventually gave up at 8.30pm! After a stroll around the neighbourhood on Tuesday morning we then spent the afternoon in the lovely air conditioned Mall of the Emirates. We were fascinated by the Arab women shopping in Prada, John Paul Gaultier, Armani, etc. Wow, they take shopping to a new level. It seemed very surreal watching people on the ski slope! We left, having bought..... nothing!





We got off the super-efficient, spotlessly clean metro a stop early on the way back at the Dubai Marina and strolled alongside the water. Remembering it is SOOOOO HOT, averaging 43 degrees every day and incredibly humid this was a big mistake. No-one walks anywhere and we got funny looks. Within minutes we were dripping and by the time we strolled nonchalantly into our posh hotel we looked like drowned rats!














We ventured out last night to see the souks, we caught a bus to Dira,n the old town and strolled around the gold and spice souks and the narrow streets surrounding the Dubai creek. We had a giggle with a spice trader, bartering for spices to take home and with two guys from Turkey and Afghanistan who insisted on wrapping a scarf round my head, I think they were just taking the mick.











The bartering was less successful in the gold souk, in fact it was a non-starter, when James heard the price of the exquisite diamond earrings, $2628 US with '70% off!' He was out the door so fast the poor bloke didn't have time to start his sales pitch!

Walking round the creek side was a revelation, we saw something of the real Dubai, rather than the sanitised, blingy version in Jumeriah. There were old wooden boats loaded with every type of cargo you could think of, porters, dealers, locals and tourists everywhere.





We took a wooden boat across the creek for 1 dirham, or 20p.










Today we went to the Dubai Mall, and were entertained by its dancing fountains, indoor souk, huge aquarium and 4 storey fountains.

We are all packed now and just about to leave the hotel back to the airport for our night flight to Heathrow. We have had an amazing 6 weeks, several holidays in one.

A city break in Perth, Western Australia.
Five days in Alice Springs and the red centre in the Northern Territories.
Nine days in beautiful tropical Port Douglas in Far North Queensland.
Nine days visiting the east coast and experiencing camping in a camper van.
A city break in gorgeous Sydney.
A hot and steamy bling break in man-made Dubai. (see above)

Hope you've enjoyed reading about our travels again. Just need to save the pennies ready for the next one!!



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Location:Al Safooh Street,Dubai,United Arab Emirates

Sydney revisited

Our five days in Sydney are coming to a close and we are turning our attentions towards Dubai. Present temperature is 43 degrees so don't think we'll be running anywhere!

It has been like visiting an old friend, our unexpected sojourn in Sydney. We've loved it, it has to be one of our favourite cities in the world. We have been so lucky with this lovely apartment, perfectly positioned to watch traffic across the bay, under the harbour bridge.

We've been busy, as usual. We've used the ferry to Circular Quay and on from there. On Wednesday we took a longer ferry trip to beautiful Manly, where we did our Christmas shopping in 2011. The weather was beautiful and we wandered round the Corso and walked around the bay.


On Thursday we walked around the bay from Circular Quay, past the Opera House and in to the beautiful park. It was about 12.30 pm and the paths were full of people running, presumably in their lunch hours. How fantastic is that, leaving work for an hour and having the time to go for a run before lunch and back to work. It's a different world! On the domain there was even a football match taking place in lunch time. We wandered through the old shopping arcades with their stunning architecture, just gorgeous.

It was quite windy and a bit nippy on Friday so we decided to walk around the bays which make up North Sydney and revisit Neutral Bay where we stayed last time we were here. It was all so familiar and made us even more homesick - for an apartment in Sydney!

Today dawned bright and hot so after a quick look round the market at The Rocks we took the bus to Coogee beach which is a lovely little resort on the south side of Sydney, we followed the shore path which took us past Bronte beach,


Clovelly beach


and Tamarama beach


on to Bondi.













Bondi is similar to Santa Monica in California, all old surfing dudes, vegetarian restaurants, yoga studios, beautiful people and, as in Muscle Beach, young bucks strutting their oiled torsos on the gym equipment!! The walk is about 7km and all the bays and beaches are gorgeous. Loads of runners running and walkers walking and big social events in every park. I love how the Aussies use public parks to celebrate birthdays and other celebrations, hanging balloons and bunting around the sun shelters and sharing the communal barbecues, it's all so sociable and friendly. We eventually caught the bus back into the city and wandered back down to the quay.

The sun was just setting as we returned across the harbour, I guess these will be the last photos I take of Sydney! I don't think we'll be back, but never say never!









Sydney - we love you!



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Location:Henry Lawson Avenue, Port Jackson, Sydney, Australia

The end of the road - at last!

Here we are sitting in the most beautiful, luxurious apartment overlooking Lavendar Bay and the Sydney Harbour Bridge. Oh bliss! We were so excited when we walked in to our top floor corner apartment with wrap-around windows of a view which, in our opinion, is one of the best anywhere.








The excitement wasn't just because of the view, it was many things:
- our own private bathroom
- a big bed with crisp white sheets
- a separate kitchen
I could go on but really it boils down to three words - it's not camping!

Turning the clock back a few days to last Thursday and Friday Hervey Bay was gorgeous, the fish and chips for Thursday tea were rubbish though! It has a pier which is 1 whole km long, from the end you can watch humpback whales, dolphins and brilliant shoals of fish. After walking along it we made our way to the marina for lunch and spent a lazy afternoon on the beach. We left there on Saturday morning rejuvenated and ready to drive again.





Another long drive ahead, we had decided to drive inland past Brisbane on the New England Highway rather than down the Gold Coast, which we visited last year, and although it has some pretty parts, there is a lot which is tacky. The countryside was beginning to change to more contoured land, interspersed with huge plains.

We were heading for Warwick, but found when we got there that our campsite was on the south side of town and we couldn't face getting back into the camper to go and explore. It was freezing! The nice lady at the campsite suggested we might want to add a jumper and 'ditch the shorts mate.' She informed us Warwick is renowned for being the coldest town in Queensland! A short stroll through a housing estate was our only exercise, we got back to the van just before it rained. Oh the joys of going for a shower in a freezing cold shower block and running back in the pitch black through the rain. This was our darkest moment!! We went to bed - early, wrapped in two duvets wondering what we were doing.

Sunday was a good day, it was still cold but there was a beautiful blue sky and the sun was bright. Before very long we past the state line into New South Wales. It was interesting to see that we had left all the tropical climate behind and arrived in an Aussie winter/spring. There were daffodils flowering, blossom on the trees and fat buds everywhere. Our first stop was Glen Innes, a pretty town with Victorian architecture where we had a lovely warming, cooked breakfast then walked up to the standing stones, a miniature Stonehenge which was constructed to celebrate the influence of the Celtic people on shaping Australia, or something like that!








Back in the van we eventually arrived in Tamworth, the 'country music capital of Australia.' We had a lovely site right next to the river, but I have to regretfully report that the novelty of camping was somewhat wearing thin. Any conversation with other campers was terminated somewhat swiftly on the grounds that its really, really boring and you lose the will to live.

We know that Aussies do their best to market their towns with big things, sheep, bulls and bananas come to mind, and Tamworth is no exception, it proudly presents a golden guitar. Lovely.


We woke up on Monday in quite a different frame of mind, the end of the road was in sight. Music cranked up, sun shining, we set off for Cessnock in the Hunter Valley, a wine growing area. It was a good day, rounded off with yummy lamb steaks cooked on the barbie. Mind you we still declined the invitation from a couple in a caravan to 'join us in the camp kitchen.' I wasn't sure if that was a euphemism for something else. Probably meant they wanted to discuss the best water pump or some other piece of scintillating camping equipment.

And here we are. Gorgeous sunny Sydney. We hadn't planned on rocking up in Sydney again but when the opportunity arose... Sydney is like a different world to the one we have been inhabiting. It has colour, an exciting atmosphere, people dressed in smart clothes, cafes, bars, parks and theatre. And beautiful apartments with proper bathrooms and beds!

Tried camping, enjoyed most of it. Would we do it again? NO, NO, NO!

PS. Our journey from Cairns was 2824 km or 1765 miles.

PPS Just taken some photos of the sun setting. Gorgeous.








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Location:Henry Lawson Avenue,Port Jackson,Sydney,Australia

Adventures in a camper van

We enjoyed a lazy day on Saturday in Hervey Bay which is a beautiful long horseshoe bay and incorporates the areas of Point Vernon, Piabla, Scarness, Torquay and Urangan. After so much inactivity we decided a long walk was the antidote so set off along the beach, past the km long pier from where you can watch humpbacks, dolphins and huge schools of fish and onto the marina where we had a very long lunch watching the pelicans.








On the way back we meandered through the campsite. I noticed James eyeing up - caravans. I stopped in my tracks, surrounded by campers and caravans. 'What are you doing?' I asked incredulously. 'I was just thinking - I might sign up for a subscription to Practical Caravanning when I get home.' he said. I just looked at him, then he laughed. OMG I thought he was serious!
We were up so early on Saturday, 6.40 am!! We hit the road by 8 am and began a long journey past Brisbane and onto Warwick. We have decided to journey inland to Sydney rather than following the Gold Coast which we drove last January. It has little gems along it but there is also a lot of tat. The roads are slower, but there is less traffic, less roadworks and the scenery is rather more interesting with quirky little towns along the way.
We drove some 500 km and arrived in Warwick at about 3.15. After the tropical climate and the gorgeous weather on the Queensland coast we have now travelled into the more temperate area below Brisbane which will quickly become New South Wales. The Lower East coast has proper seasons and it is quite clearly spring-like with lambs in the fields, buds on the trees and clouds in the sky.
Settling into our camp-site, the quietest and less luxurious so far, it began to rain! If this continues it will be time to ditch the shorts and unpack the jeans! We'll see when the morning dawns.

PS Just found this post in drafts so thought I'd publish it, even though its out of sync!
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Location:Wallace Street,Warwick,Australia

Proper campers us, you know

I feel like I should be whispering. Its 8.45 pm and James and I have just wandered back onto the campsite, having spent a romantic couple of hours eating fish and chips and indulging in a cheeky little white number. Everywhere is in darkness, people in bed, or at least hunkered down in their tents and caravans. Raucous, it ain't!

It's been an interesting week.

Monday came round too quickly, as we knew it would. Alex and his lovely girlfriend took us to Cairns where we picked up our home for the next 9 days, our campervan, which Jim has started to refer to as 'shelle, because he can't go anywhere without her!!


We said good-bye to Alex again but it didn't feel too enormous this time, hopefully he'll be home in a matter of weeks.


We've had a fabulous time in this tropical paradise but itchy feet were starting.
This campervan is 4- berth and feels enormous. When you're sitting at the front and look back it seems to go on and on. We had to sign loads of forms and got a quick lesson, from a German girl, on how to work all the various bits and pieces. We nodded and kept saying yes, but I knew that it wouldn't be until we needed the various things that we would bother to figure out how they worked!

The most important thing seemed to be to decide toilet etiquette, it being a chemical contraption which needs to be emptied, a job neither us fancied.
FYI the consensus was, only to be used when in dire straits in the middle of the night and you can't, 'ignore it and go back to sleep,' as advised by your other half and said other half can't be arsed to get up and accompany you in the pitch black to the 'amenities block.' This other half will find he has talked himself into being toilet emptying monitor when the time comes around.

Anyway on Monday we hit the Bruce Highway, the only major road in Queensland, and left Cairns behind, following the coast road, surrounded by fields and fields of sugar cane. As the sugar cane petered out a little the banana plantations began.








Some 346 km later we arrived at Townsville and found our first campsite.

Oh, I had forgotten what a little community campers are. The couple next to us, cooking their pork chops in the dark, struck up a conversation and a bloke clutching a tinnie wandered over to pass comment over the campervan vs his caravan. Jim's face was a picture, his interest in campervans is negligible and his interest in caravans is a big fat NIL!

We managed to cook without incident and wash up ok, but the mysteries of clean water and grey water remained just that! I took my towel and stuff and schlepped to the unisex shower block. Oh joys! In bed by 10.15 and -unbelievably - up at 7 and off by 7.45. And we weren't the first ones up and off by any means.

We motored along the Whitsunday coast, a pristine coastline where some of the best sailing takes place, all around the Whitsunday islands. Stopping at a little town called Bowen we made our way up Flagstaff Hill - ignored the sign saying 'no caravans' on the grounds that we're not and savoured the gorgeous 360degree views from the top.






Back in the van and another pretty boring 372km later we reached Blacks Beach in Mackay. We both feel slightly light-headed and as if we've been on a boat but guess its the rolling and lolling motion the van makes. Our campsite was right on the beach, we got there at 4pm, parked in our slot and got straight on to the beach for a massive walk before the sun went down as it does at about 6pm.


We walked for about an hour then realised it was getting dark, we had to walk back, along a deserted Queensland beach with mangroves on its edges. Great crocodile territory! After scaring ourselves stupid and practising running as fast, or faster, than a crocodile, we calmed down and returned nonchalantly to our van. We learned how to use the gas BBQ on the side and cooked a proper Aussie steak. Another early night and an even earlier morning - how come when I'm at work an hour whizzes past between me getting up and getting out of the house and here I have a leisurely breakfast, trudge up to the shower, tidy up, and tie everything down so it doesn't fall to the floor and still get on the road within the hour?

Yesterday we drove more inland for 330 km and arrived at Rockhampton. Not much to report though, other than it is the beef capital of Australia and there are statues of bulls all round town. We drove through very samey countryside, pretty much all a dirty brown. After the intense colours of the tropics this is very dirgey. It is still incredibly hot though, apparently we are now in the dry tropics as opposed to the wet tropics of Far North Queensland.
Rockhampton sits right on the Tropic of Capricorn, we had a small and pleasant detour visiting the Capricorn caves.





Another barbecue, the pipe connected for grey water and the tank topped up with clean water and we're beginning to feel like proper campers. The only bit which seems surreal is going to bed on a platform which lowers from the ceiling. We lay there like sardines and it makes me giggle.





Today we drove 396 km to Hervey Bay which is beautiful, the whale-watching centre of Australia. We've discovered how to put the awning up! Whoopee!

We're giving ourselves a break and spending two nights here. Hooray, we can leave the van parked up tomorrow and be normal tourists for the day.


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Location:Torquay Terrace,Torquay,Australia