Ausralia visit 18 02 07 -13 03 07
This was my second visit to Australia ,to meet Son No 1 ,he has now lived there for seven years and in all very happy with the life there.and is now an Australian citizen.
This year I flew by Virgin Atlantic the only problem if it is a problem Virgin does not fly direct to Melbourne you need to fly into the Sydney hub then fly on via Virgin Blue.  I made this decision to fly Virgin after all my problems with BA last year and I will never fly with that company again . To give just one example on the flight home the aircraft damaged the gantry and we where held for 2 hours after a 21 hour flight before the problem could be fixed,  the only announcment that was made was that the flight had landed , my taxi left the airport after some time thinking I was not on this flight and I had to pay again to get him to return (I was not the only one in this situation others had lost ongoing flights.When we got to the luggage hall all our suitcases had been put in one large pile in the corner,  can you imagine a 747 flight luggage in one heap and no one was there to sort it ) the onboard service was not up to standard nor was the meals . I should add I fly Economy pluss.
I found the service on Virgin  far superior,  the cabin crew where more friendly, service was good and the food better even fresh fruit was offered during the flight. These are the things that make a long flight more acceptable .
I arrived early in the morning at Sydney`s International airport and it is a short bus ride to domestic ,the onwards flight takes only one hour Virgin Blue has certainly taken Australia by storm and they must be the largest internal flight operation. My family where there waiting for me it has been a year since I last saw them so as you can guess big hugs all around .
One thing you notice flying into Melbourne is the parched ground ,Melbourne has been in drought conditions for a very long time and it is proposed to go to level 4 soon . We in the UK think we have a water shortage but it is nothing compared to what the state of Victoria is suffering . All you can see is brown earth and the trees have a very dull look from the air.But driving from the airport,  Melbourne appears on the skyline the very same way that Singapore does. Suddenly you see a vibrant tall city .
Steve lives in a district called Mentone it is to the east of the city anmd it takes around 25 minutes by train to the center ,he commutes into the city every day for work .Mentone is a typical city suburb but nothing like we know in the UK ,they have rows of small shops everywhere. They do have some large shopping centers and I wonder how long it will be before they follow the UK and Europe and the small shopping centers start to empty and when this happens it will be a shame and the local towns will loose their identity and charm.Â
I am quite lucky as I do not suffer from jet lag but I always take it steady for a few days and also very careful sitting in the Sun for any length of time .I took five books with me and I can relax in the garden and read .Where Steve lives they have a good size pool so cooling of is not a problem Also in the house are Fiona,Andrew and their daughter Bella and two dogs one a Colly male and a husky female. I have always taken my running gear with me and this year I took the husky with me on a run I think she thought she was leading a sleigh teem and I enjoyed the experience but experienced many strange looks .Cooly is an older dog so all he got was a steady walk later in the morning . I also went to Bella`s school for assembly,  it was very different from English schools The Australian`s like the Americans are very proud and fly their flag  and schools sing their anthem we just do not do this in the UK.  Why don`t we  ?
Last year we spent a weekend sightseeing in Sydney .This year Steve had booked a 6 day holiday on the Gold Coast this is just south of Brisbane .We had an apartment that was great,  two floors and a balcony overlooking the whole district and only a short walk from the beach, opposite was a large shopping center not that we wanted to shop .The temperature was around 30o but the humidity was around 90% (very sticky and wet ) by this time I had started my tan so I could spend more time out in the Sun .I spend several hours each day on the beach, but it is a surfers beach and very dangerous for swimming and is only allowed in marked areas the reason is the continual rip tides running (this beach has lifeguard`s on duty every day and we saw in the short time we stayed there swimmers being brought in after getting taken by the tide )The Gold Coast has a continual row of high rise buildings down the whole strip of several miles and where there is vacant plots more building work is going on in fact it seems there is a new building going up on every spare plot of land . It will soon look like Benidorm in Spain and the planners will need to take care not to spoil what they have there.One problem they have in the afternoon the high rise buildings cause the beach to be in the shade.
 Fiona flew up on the Thursday and during the next few days friends arrived first where Shane and Rebbecca who stayed overnight ,Shane is a surfer, then Fiona`s friends stayed the day with their children . So it was a good holiday within a holiday meeting new people.
Steve also took me into Melbourne once again to see some of the sights and the essential tram ride round the city (free of charge) that afternoon we met another of his friend (Nick) and visited quite a few of Melbourne`s historic places .This also lead into a drinking evening and during the course of the rest of the day and met more of Steve and Fiona`s friend`s and drank quite a few beers (Scot,Rosie ,Rosie`s husband Bill ,Tony,Krista,Grant and,Leroy where among the many people I was introduced to that evening)
Andrew,Steve,Grant and Stacy and their friend took me to a Aussie rules football match on the first Saturday this is something I wanted to go to last year but didn`t get round to it . It was a cup match between Essendon and Carlton and I picked up the rules quite quickly.Unfortunately Essendon the local team Andrew ect supported lost and even I with not much knowledge of the game could see they didn`t play well . But looking around it was a family affair many families with very young children I could not see that happening in the UK.
Part of my keep at Mentone is I buy the food and cook .I think if we could buy the meat and groceries at their prices we would be laughing everything is so low cost and of good quality .The meat is especially good and a large joint of beef say around two kilos cost the equivalent in UK pricing to six pounds and this would serve nine people or more. Also the fruit I was buying peaches ,apricots ect nearly every day and the taste was better than what we can purchase in the UKÂ IÂ put this down to the Sun and being fresh from the growing areas. When I cooked for the friends that arrived I tried to do something English (Toad in the hole or Sausages in batter ) among other things again new people arrived this time Adam and Bridget with their Son and Grant and Stacy also came round for mealsÂ
On my last weekend I flew up to Sydney to visit Glenn Clarke ,Glenn is the owner of a electronic component company that I dealt with as an account manager with the last company I worked for .Glenn I am pleased to say wanted to keep in touch and this was very pleasing as I had a great affection for his company that I had been working with for over thirty years and had seen it grow conciderably especial since Glenn had sole control of the company
He drove me over Sydney harbour bridge to a park called Ku ring gal chase park and a point called West Head from the cliff face you have great views of the river estuery and Lion Island . We then drove back to his office before going back to his home to meet his children Cameron and Ashleigh. Noreen his wife was back in the UK visiting family.  On Saturday morning he drove me and his children to the Blue Mountains and places called The Three Sisters. Katoomber,Leura.Mt Victoria,Bilken and Windsor before returning to Sydney. Both of his children kept me talking all day and Ashleigh continualy told jokes.
 I caught the plane back to Melbourne on Sunday and on the way to the airport Glenn drove me to see Bondi beach, this was a disappointment and not half so glamorous an you see on TV  and films .It is quite small and the city is right on the beach in film it looks like the Gold Coast and it was also packed with people mainly backpackers. But it is somwhere I was pleased to have been. Â
I regret to say like all holidays it ended to soon and there where sad farewells at the airport. The flight home was good and the stopover on both trips was at Hong Kong , if you havn`t been there it is big we had two hours there and it took me 35 minutes just to walk the lenght of the building we where in .
Back home now to cold weather and back to work but also planning for next year .  Â
March 21st, 2007 at 9:15 pm
top work on the aussie story dad…enjoyed the read..
March 21st, 2007 at 10:31 pm
Hey Mike,
Nice work – great capture of your visit!
Fee
xx