To the hills......

Tuesday

A party of eight of us took off early to the Cameron Highlands, one of the areas the Memsahibs would go to escape the heat of the summer. The road up there was rather twisty, but we were told they were a great improvement over a few years ago!

It was certainly much cooler there, and we arrived just in time for lunch. Anne could see from my face that I was not looking forward to yet another Chinese meal, however it turned out to be quite tasty. I can’t do with the spices, so I had sweet and sour instead while Anne tucks in to her spices and garlic.

Our guide joined us to take us firstly to a tea plantation, where after a tour of the plant we sampled the tea, together with cream scones!  After other visits to a butterfly farm and a hydroponic strawberry and salad farm, which was really interesting.

Back to Ipoh- then in the evening, guess what? Dinner at a Chinese restaurant! But as always the company was fantastic, I even managed some of the spicy bits!  

Home

We've been home a week now, so perhaps it is time to finish off our blog. After an uneventful but very long flight, it was 34 hours from door to door, we arrived home at mid day on Saturday, very tired. It took four days before we were sufficiently recovered to start thinking about our next trip!
Andrew tells me that the beech hedge around our garden has just greened up, spring is very very late this year, however the garden is looking good as a result of all the rain they have had recently.


In fact it was still raining cats and dogs as we arrived home, not a great welcome!
But it is nice to be here, the house is looking good and has been well looked after while we have been away the last nine months.
During that time we have had a new roof put on, the old one, 60 years old, was worn out, and was leaking slightly in places, in fact part of the lounge ceiling had fallen shortly after we left.

The approach to our village is through a tunnel of beech trees, which are at their best at this time of the year. Some twenty years ago they were cut down, since then the council has put a preservation order on them, and they have almost grown back.

The village green is also quite beautiful at this time of the year, many of the houses are very big, having been the mansions of many very rich people from the 19th and early 20th centuries, many with live-in servants. My own bungalow is built on the land of one such house,  built for a timber importer in about 1860, so I have a number of exotic trees on my land.
We still have a railway station in Wetheral, and it was that which no doubt originally brought the nobs to live here. Of course the village has expanded a lot since those days, with infill houses on the larger plots,and new estates of 4 bedroomed houses.





It was back to work for me, to see what Andrew has been up to in the past two years while we have been away. Some things I like, some I don't. but he has done very well, and I now feel I can go away again and leave him to it. This is one of the shops, the one I started with, so it feels like home to me. We have our main office here, so I spend a lot of my time in this one.



Anne has left me to visit her mother for two weeks, so I am left to my own devices. It feels strange to have to do my own cooking etc.
We will never forget our trip, 20 months out of our lives, but we have been home a couple of times in between. During that time we have travelled 80,000 kms, (50,000 Miles), including 3000 miles off road. Betty has been fantastic, although we have made sure that she was well looked after, checked every 5000-6000 kms. She has let us down only once, when the petrol pump went, and I reckon has cost us around $30,000 to buy, maintain and fuel. That's just 35 cents a km, which I think is pretty good.
We have met so many great people as we have travelled, some of which we are still in touch with. Not least are Joanne and Percy, of Darwin, who looked after Betty on both occasions when we came home. Had they not volunteered we would have had to travel 5000kms  to Melbourne to leave the car. And of course Lee, Karen and the kids, who we spent many weeks travelling with after we met them in the Pilbara. And Mark and Judy, who we only met a couple of times, but who we have kept in touch with.We will miss them all, but hopefully we will meet again someday, perhaps visiting us here. Then of course there are our very long standing friends in Perth, David and Mildred, who we spent a month travelling in New Zealand with, and who we hope to see here sometime in the near future.
We learned that Australia is far from being all desert, and even where it is it is still interesting. Our favourite places are the ones that need an effort to get there- the Gibb River road, Cape York, and the Gulf road, and of course Ningaloo Reef, where we spent many happy hours swimming and spending time with the Jacksons. You may note that all of these are in the far north.
As for cities, well Adelaide is our favourite, followed by Melbourne. But as we hate traffic, and in that respect many of the cities are too much like home, we avoided the others like Sydney and Cairns, spending as little time as possible there. We tended to travel inland rather than the coast, the towns are far more interesting than the holiday resorts that frequent the shoreline.
Small towns- Well Alice Springs and Darwin are our favourites, both of course in Northern Territory. We have been to Darwin six times now, as we flew out and back twice, and visited a few years back also. Alice, in the red centre, has its problems, mainly with the aboriginals, but it is an attractive town with many places of interest close by.
We still don't much like Uluru, (Ayers Rock), preferring The Olgas and King's Canyon. It is far too commercial, and that spoils it for us.
When we set off on this adventure we thought it would take us six months, our actual travelling time was more like 15 months, and there are still many places we have not seen. We did manage to take in a rodeo in Aileron, just north of Alice, by we would have liked to have seen the big one in Mount Isa, the camel racing and Henley on Todd in Alice, and the Birdsville races. We just were not in those places at the right time.
So the time has come to close this blog, I shall be writing again when we decide what adventure we are to do next. I have had great pleasure keeping this account, although sometimes it has been a bit of a chore. However if I can get it into print it will be good to look back on it in our dotage, and the grandchildren will have a copy.
We wish all our readers all the very best, if you are not already in touch perhaps you would like to correspond with us through the comments box at the bottom of this page, and we will reply.

Here we go......

It’s been a busy week saying goodbye to everyone here, we finally sold Betty last weekend, although we didn’t hand her over till our last day fortunately.

 It was Mother's Day here on Sunday, and after a night out on Saturday at the community hall in Barbara's complex, her son Chris came to visit on the Sunday., and mentioned in passing that the guy he lived with was looking for a car. His pal was with us within the hour, and told us the following morning that he would take her. So we have sold her bareback, without the fridge, the roof top tent, the awning etc, as he will take all our camping gear out and put some seats back in. Lee is to sell all our other gear for us, but there is no hurry for that. It's ironic isn't it that another guy rang within the hour to come and look at her, and he might have taken everything. 

So, as I said, it’s been hectic, first thing Monday on the computer to find flights home. The cheapest with the best airline, Singapore Airlines, goes Friday at 3-45pm, changing Singapore, and stopping Munich, but no change there. We will be in Manchester at 7-50 Saturday morning, on the train at 9 and home just after 11, totally exhausted no doubt!.

 Tuesday night, out to Jeff and Kate’s house for a great roast. They are long standing friends of Barbara and Dave, and we have seen quite a lot of them since we have been here. Monday, a last meal at Barbara’s. then Wednesday a meal out with Babs and Dave and Paul and Marrianne at Manhatten’s in Mornington.

Our final night was spent at Hog’s Breath restaurant in Karingal Hub, with Lee, Karen and the kids. We had not been expecting the children, so it was a nice surprise when they turned up. It was great to have the opportunity to say goodbye to them all, we now have to decide whether we will be back in the New Year, I rather think we will.

And so to the sad part, this morning I had to take Betty to her new home, at Chris’s house in Mount Martha, and leave her there. Not a happy day, it seems so final. But it had to be, so I’m glad it’s over.

We are grateful to Barbara and Dave for putting up with us for so long, it's been over three weeks and we were getting a little despondent. They have been the most generous of hosts, and we hope to reciprocate soon.

I shall make a few final notes of this blog when I get home.

Back up to Town.

Another few days in Melbourne, a couple of shows to see, and a look at some museums that we hadn't seen last week.
But first we attended the Melbourne Rotary club, the first in Australia chartered 1921, and still a very big and active club. A lunchtime club, there are about 260 members, and with guests there were around 150 attending this meeting, which is held in the iconic Windsor Hotel, opposite Victoria's parliament.

Today's speaker was the Lord Mayor, he spoke about security, crime and cleaning up the city. Many of the problems here are the same the world over, but he has some good ideas, including having a flower seller on the Town Hall steps until 3AM so that men could take something home with them, and opening exhibitions and other attractions until late at night to take the accent off late night drinking. Also, he removes graffiti as soon as it appears, and that appears to be successful in reducing it, although we still see a lot on the train routes.





In the evening we took in a show called Last Man Standing, a musical about the life of Jerry Lee Lewis. Many old songs from the fifties and sixties, his earlier ones were gospel before he got into heavy rock. The artists were excellent, well except for the female singer who had very heavy vibrato. But a good show all the same, the pianist, Dannie Bourne, was exceptional, particularly when he played Great Balls Of Fire.






The next day we visited the Victoria Police Museum, part of the new police station in Flinders Street. They have on show the armour that two of the Ned Kelly gang from the late 1800s wore. Each set weighs about 45 kgs, (about 7 stone!) and although pretty well bullet proof actually helped in their capture as they restricted the movement and sight of the wearers.
Also there was part of the car used in the bombing of the old police station just a few years ago, in which a police woman was killed, and many injured. The perpetrator was killed in a police shootout, but others were captured and sentenced to very long terms.



Then on to the immigration museum, where several exhibits showed how the unfortunate migrants had to travel on the old sailing ships in the 1800s, sometimes for over three months in small sailing boats that rolled continually. Some did not survive, and others that did didn't find the utopia they had been told about. However, with hard work they improved their lot, and eventually were better off than at home.
More recently, in the last century, things were better, although many of the migrants had to spend time in camps before they were allowed to join the general community. Most have settled in well since, this country has been very good for them.


We had booked another show for the evening, a fairly new musical Legally Blonde, extremely active and fast.
The plot revolves around a blonde, thought to be dumb, who is determined to show the boyfriend who has chucked her that she wasn't, and went to Harvard to study law, eventually becoming a lawyer and finding love elsewhere.
A feel good show, with great artists, we presume famous here although we didn't know them. It had previously been on in London.

The Princess Theatre was established as early as 1854, and was as attractive as the best in London. With stained glass windows on the first floor, and pillars in the foyer, it was a treat just to walk about the place.
The auditorium itself was very 19th century, with stalls, dress circle and an upper circle, ornate ceilings and walls, and a large chandelier.
We were in the centre front row of the Dress Circle, we only booked last week so we were very very lucky, with possible the best view in the house.

We felt we still had more to see, so decided to stay on another day. Just along Collins Street from where we were staying is the old head office of the ANZ bank, built in Gothic Style in the 1880s.We were able to wander through the ground floor, part of which was the original stock exchange, and included the Cathedral Room, which has stained glass windows and is huge.

Below in the basement is a banking museum, containing many artefacts of days gone by including early banknotes and coins. One of the latter is a "Holy Dollar", a  coin used as the original currency in Australia, but was a Spanish coin with the centre cut out to make two coins, and used before coins and notes were minted here. We were told it is now worth over 200,000 dollars.


In the front is the banking hall, still used as such, and it is huge. Renovated in the style that it would have been in the old days, it is unlike any that we would see nowadays. It has an Atrium ceiling, and wooden desks over which banking transactions are made, and small private booths to one side. Memories of a bygone age!





Anne wished to visit a Monet exhibition in the National Gallery, so we spent a couple of hours there. I am not much interested in paintings, and except for a few of his earlier works I would not have been able to see what they depicted without the descriptions beside them. Maybe I'm a 'Palestine!' but I do know what I like.








Then it was my turn to choose, and we took a tram down to the Shrine of Remembrance, a mile or so south of the city. It is a memorial to the men and women who have served Australia in armed conflicts throughout the nation's history. Built between 1928 and 1934, it was inspired by the tomb of King Mausolus at Halicarnassus.



On the 11th hour of the eleventh day of November the sun shines directly on a stone in the centre of the shrine, and every half hour this is simulated during a very short and very moving ceremony which includes the Last Post. The few of us that were there during one of these bowed our heads in respect.





In the evening we had managed to get tickets for yet another show. This one was a comedy play in the Southbank Theatre, a new and very modern building with a theatre that held maybe 500. The play, True Minds, was a new one by Joanna Murray-Smith, and this was it's first season.
It revolves around the first meeting of a fiancée and her future mother in law, who is a "Margaret Thatcher" character, which becomes interesting when the girl's leftist parents and her alcoholic ex-boyfriend turn up unexpectedly. A simple one set play with just six characters, I think it will play around the world.

Melbourne by night is even more attractive, particularly from the bridge over the Yarra just south of Flinder's St Station, so I will leave you with that picture and one of the old trams, which runs around the CBD continually with a commentary, and is free to hop on and off. Flinder's Street Station is also a very attractive building, have a look at that too!

A weekend away with Lee and Karen and family was a lovely change, we travelled up to Dalesford, some 180kms north west on the Ballarat road.
We had booked a cottage in the town, very private and set in lovely gardens. As it was rather cold, (winter has set in here!) we were glad of a log fire, which we lit as soon as we arrived and kept in the whole weekend.

Daylesford has something of a reputation, and being forewarned it was very noticeable the number of female couples that were on the streets. The visitors book had a few comments which made it obvious they had been staying in our cottage too!

The view from the cottage is beautiful, looking over the valley and a lake below.  We took a walk round the lake to see the Autumn colours.
There are old mineral springs there, sadly neglected, which are steps leading down into a pool. Empty now of course,except for leaves.

The town itself is just about two streets, a lot of cafes and souvenir shops. And quite expensive, but it is after all a holiday place.

Anyway, it was a lovely weekend and great to catch up with our friends again. The house was great to stay in, except for the urn on the mantle, containing what looked like remains, and the resident mouse. But we all enjoyed it, including the kids.






Unfortunately Betty is still not selling, and we can't find back seats for her as she is a special model., so that is plan B out of the window. Everything is conspiring against us.
Lee has volunteered to sell the roof tent, the awning, the roof racks and tray and the fridge, which should bring in a bit. So we have reduced the car to half price, to sell with the remainder of the camping gear, and we are sitting with everything crossed that she will move now. That's plan C, so hopefully it will work.

Mornington is a modern seaside resort- well more residential than a resort really. It's some 60 kms from Melbourne on the peninsula, alongside Port Philip Bay. The beachside is interesting, it was here that Matthew Flinders came ashore in the bay in 1802, and there are memorials to that, including a large stone erection on the hill above the port.
But it was the following year that Captain Robins came ashore here from the "Cumberland" and surveyed the area and beyond, so starting the settlement that later became Mornington.

This week we have been up to town a couple of times, the first with Karen and Lee and Lee's sister and husband to the comedy club, preceded by a luscious dinner at the Scolar's restaurant just round the corner. What a great night out, although the comedians could have been better, (the compere was the best one!) the company was good.
The club was absolutely packed, we were a little late arriving from the restaurant so our seats were right at the back, but we could see and hear ok.


And yesterday we went back up there by train together, to spend a couple of days looking round the city and take in a theatre. We stayed in a hotel in the centre which was good for getting about the city, and quite close to the theatre too.
There are some great buildings in Melbourne, and over the next couple of weeks I will show you a few. This one is Flinder's street station, built in the early part of the last century, and is the main railway station in the city. Unlike London, and indeed many of the major cities in Britain, all the stations in the centre of Melbourne are linked, and a lot of the trains run through them all before leaving for the suburbs. What a great idea!


And just across the road is the Forum. When we first saw it we thought it was a mosque, we couldn't have been more wrong! It was built in the 1930s as a cinema, and still is, although now it has two screens, one above the other, instead of the huge auditorium that it was once.
Opposite is the Australian Centre for the Moving Image, where the current exhibition is of Hollywood Costumes. Celebrating 100 years of cinema, the exhibition was organised by the Victoria and Albert museum in London. Starting with costumes from Gone With The Wind and Dorthy's in Wizard of Oz, the show continues with Superman and Rocky, and on to the costumes from Margaret Thatcher and Avotar.
The displays taught us a lot about just how important the costumes are in setting the scenes in movies, and making the characters believable.






Our theatre visit was to a play which was inspired by the Movie Driving Miss Daisy. Set in the South of the United States, where in the sixties prejudice was rife, the play gradually unfolds a long lasting friendship between a prickly old matriarch and her kind hearted negro driver.
With stars like Angela Lansbury and James Earl Jones, it couldn't fail, but the script and the simple sets made it unforgettable.









Close by our hotel is Chinatown, a long street of Chinese and other Asian restaurants which we had to walk along towards the theatre. In the night, after the show, it was teaming with Asians, either going in or coming out of the various eating houses and clubs there. There are a lot of Asians in Melbourne, and this morning  when we visited the Casino on the South Bank of the Yarra, we saw many of them playing Roulette, Baccarrat and other gambling games.




As we walked along the Yarra Promenade we  came across  the three masted Barque Polly Woodside. Built in Belfast as a coaler in 1836, and sailed the world over for many years before seeing service in the second world war, she has been fully restored by the National Trust here and sits in what was a dry dock, unfortunately landlocked. What a pity, she could be taking young people on an adventure of a lifetime instead of being tramped over by tourists!

There is still a lot for us to see in Melbourne, we will return next week I think, unfortunately Betty is not moving at the moment, although everyone tells us it will, we can't wait forever for her to sell and we can get home. We'll see!

Remembering Gallipoli.

Well - Betty is looking good. She's spruced up inside and out, all we need now is someone to come and look at her and take a liking. But it's not happening, despite the fact she's showing at the top of two very good websites, and is being seen by a lot of people. Maybe I'm expecting too much, it really needs someone who wants to do what we have done, and maybe there are not a lot of them out there!





Yesterday David and I went into town by train to the Anzac Day parade, it takes about an hour to get there after it stops at every lamppost. But it's better than driving any day, parking would be difficult any day and there would be none available at all on Anzac day.
There must have been about half a million people lining the streets, they were 12 deep outside Flinders St Station, where we were stood. We were right opposite St Paul's Anglican Cathedral, on the corner of Swanston  and Flinders Streets, in the older part of the city.



The parade started at 9am, just before we arrived, and went on until 12-30, with not a lot of space in between. There were thousands marching, including many young people and children, many of whom wore their grandfather's and father's medals from the two world wars.
There were also many veterans, some from the second world war, of course they must have been in their late eighties to have fought then.
Often they had to be supported by younger members of their family, but they were determined to march.

Vietnam Veterans were very well represented, as were the later wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. In addition the current forces were out in force, there is a navy training ship here and they also were on parade, and very smart they were too.
A large contingent of RAAF passed us, most of them carrying the Aussie flags.

 There were at least twenty  bands, local brass bands, children's drum bands, school bands, as well as military bands. Some of them went round up to four times, including this drum band,  joining the parade at intervals of about three hundred metres.

 I did get a bit nostalgic when the brass bands came past, I've been in so many of these parades over the years. Maybe I may be at the Remembrance Day parade this year at home.

 There were mounted troops too, dressed as for the first war, nice too see them honouring the old contemptibles.
Anzac Day is to commemorate the landing at Gallipoli, 98 years ago on the day,they have a dawn service as that's the time that the first landings took place. As with a lot of the battles of the first war, the Australians and New Zealanders were thrown into a bloodbath, and after a number of days they were forced to retreat, with huge numbers of casualties.






Dave and I had a great time, the crowd was very friendly, cheering and clapping the older veterans, and the young children's bands. Children and shorter people were pushed to the front, so that everyone could see, and there was no pushing and pulling as we see with some crowds. Everyone was so good natured.









A number of old vehicles were also in the parade, some military and some just old, from between the wars. But all carried veterans who waved to the crowds.





After the parade we took a walk along the river Yarra, it's changed a lot since I last did it thirty years ago, as has the modern skyline of the financial district.
There were buskers and street artists along the south bank, including this chap who was painted as a gargoyle, and he was good. He was great with the kids, not at all frightening.
Once again I will leave you with a couple of pics.......