The Big 3-0

Well, it's been a month since I last had a chance to update my blog, and as we're in the middle of packing up the house it's going to be a short update. So, what has happened in the last month?

Well, first of all I celebrated my 30th. Lucy kindly bought me a lovely cake, made from ice-cream & complete with a photo of Spot! Did feel kind of strange when I was digging my spoon into a part of his head! And I also got a helicopter flying lesson - a fantastic surprise. Unfortunately, I'm going to have to wait for a while to make use of that. As part of the celebrations we headed off to Byron Bay for a long weekend - we didn't have any idea how long that would turn out to be.

Arriving on the Saturday morning, things got off to a great start when we were given the wrong room key & walked in on a middle-aged couple in the middle of some weird sexual act. I've got the image imprinted on my mind - scary - but very amusing! Spent some time walking along the beach, checking out the bars and restaurants, ate a massive pizza & of course took the 'happy bus' to Nimbin in order to buy some special cookies.

In fact, even on our last day in Byron - when the rain started - we had a lovely time just chatting, reading & chilling in a cafe for much of the day waiting for the bus to the airport & our flight back to Sydney. Unfortunately, things started to go a bit wrong from the moment we got to Ballina airport (a tiny regional place that makes Teesside look massive). Fog had descended & the rain had got heavier - which made landing a large plane on a small runway - without radar - near impossible. The result was that our flight was cancelled (only the tiny regional express planes were moving)...initially we were ok with the thought of checking out a new place for the night. Then came the bombshell that the next flight we could get on was 2 days later.

I'm sure Ballina is a lovely place when the sun is shining. Unfortunately, it was raining....heavily. And trying to find something to do was a bit difficult, so we ended up paying visits to the RSL for food (very good as it happens), the cinema (Chuck & Larry was much better than I expected it to be) & the toy shop to buy a game of Battleships to pass the time. What made matters worse was that the weather just did not seem to be getting better & I was starting to think we might not get out a 2nd time around - so a back up plan of bus (12hrs) or train (11hrs) to Sydney had to be looked at - I just couldn't have spent another day there. On the morning of the flight our host informed us that her husband's flight had been moved from Ballina & so we were not entirely confident that we'd be leaving...fortunately our flight was ok. Think I would have slit my wrists if it had been cancelled. Think I'll stick to driving to Byron from now on!

Apart from the trip to Byron, we have been keeping ourselves busy with preparing for our move (lots of paperwork, a medical & now packing up the house) & spending time with John & Vicky on their recent trip (really nice to see a familiar face). At times it feels as though we're in a world of our own here on the Northern Beaches. In fact, the last time I went into the CBD was to see Maximo Park (who were VERY good) a few weeks ago - I definitely don't miss that journey into work each day.

Oh - one other thing that we did was attend the 'Dog Day Out' at Manly Lagoon. Basically a day for dog owners to bring their dogs along for a variety of events... Lucy & I just had to go and watch. Somehow we won the raffle - which consisted of a variety of dog food - which we donated back to the home (don't think we could have eaten it ourselves!) - and received an invite to go along & see the home and what they do there. If only we could buy the beagle that has been sitting in the Mall's petshop for weeks....

Good news on the MBA application - I got into the AGSM & so will be here for another 15-18 months... the downside to that is that I'm currently going through the immensely tedious visa application process. If it's like this for a student visa, I'd hate to think what it's going to be like if we apply for permanent residency.

Finally, Monday is our last day on Queenscliff Road....in fact, our last day in Oz for a little while as on Tuesday we're flying to New Zealand. A month touring around in a campervan....let's hope we have a bit more luck with the weather. And then following that we're heading to SE Asia (Singapore, up through Malaysia to Thailand & then Laos & Cambodia...depending what we can fit in). If anyone has any suggestions on places to visit then I'd be happy to listen.

Might be a while before I get a chance to update again, but I'm going to try and do a couple of updates whilst we are away. Due back in Australia at the end of November / start of December.

House Party...

Had our first house party on Saturday night. We celebrated a combination of things - my 30th, our first wedding anniversary & our first year in Oz. About 20 people turned up in total and we managed to churn our way through a LOT of wine, beer & sausage rolls. I felt ok until the tequilla shots came out... followed closely by the chilli schnapps (never take a recommendation from a cab driver!). Mind you, in comparison to Lucy (who was put to bed by her Irish friends) & Gish (who managed to pass out in the spare bedroom & do his usual trick of puking on himself) I was in good nick!

Can't quite remember how they happened, but when I woke up I had bruises all around my left elbow & knee... vague memories of a trip into Manly too. Not sure why the pubs wouldn't have let in a bunch of hammered people? And why does the house smell so bad?!

Moral of story - if you're going to have a party....don't have it at home!

A year already?!

Having spent Sunday recovering from Saturday's house party, we had our 1st wedding anniversary to celebrate yesterday. I can't believe it's been a year since we said "I do"... the time has really flown & we have packed so much into the last 12 months. If the rest of our marriage is as exciting & fun-filled then it's going to be an awesome time.

To celebrate the anniversary, we went out for dinner to Garfish - a little place in Manly. Oysters followed by snapper pie (which was excellent but really feeling the garlic cloves!) washed down with water - we abstained from booze due to our bodies taking a battering on Saturday (and I'm not just talking about the bruises on my elbows!). Afterwards, we headed to the Manly Boatshed for comedy night... not sure I'll be heading back in a hurry, although the last bloke was good, it just didn't compare with "Up The Creek" in Greenwich.

This is the week that was

Had a busy week with another trip down to Sussex Inlet - this time we stayed over & had a nice meal in the RSL, did a bit of wildlife spotting (birds, kangaroos & possums) & enjoyed a lovely boat ride with Greg - you'd never guess how big the place was without the viewpoint from the boat. Also gave Lucy's mum (Celia) a change to see the place & catch up with John (who had visited her in the UK many moons ago).

On the way home (well almost) we headed to Canberra & I have to admit that I liked the place much more the 2nd time around - perhaps it's because we had more time there, or maybe it's because Lucy & I didn't have an argument, but either way we enjoyed the brief visit - even the James Cook fountain / jet was working (not that impressive though). Spent a few hours looking around the impressive Australian National Museum (everything in Canberra seems to start with Australian National), although if someone could explain what that 'courtyard of dreams is' then I would appreciate it! Next, we headed to Parliament Hill. Now, I have to admit that I didn't expect to be impressed by the new building... but I was wrong! It is new, but then so is the country (at least the European history) and so the building feels appropriate. Everything is built on a grand scale, entirely with Australian materials (apart from some of the marble) and there has to be an advantage to having a building designed with a modern parliament in mind - the extra media facilities & offices etc. We also had an excellent tour guide who was up on her Parliamentary knowledge - both of Australia & elsewhere. Afterwards, we were able to contrast the new with the relatively old by taking a look at the Old Parliament building - amazing how they managed to get anything done in there! Then it was a bit of thai food before the 300km back to Sydney.

On Friday evening, Lucy & I headed to the Hordern Pavilion to watch the Arctic Monkeys. Now, after been slightly disappointed by them at Glastonbury, we hoped that the smaller venue would give them a helping hand... and I have to say that they were much, much better. Admittedly, they were helped out by the fact the very poor support act (Operator Please) made them look good! (The converse was true at Glastonbury with Kasabian appearing beforehand). Somehow, I ended up at the very front - started to be pushed forward from the off & just went with the flow - and spent a very hot & sweaty 90 mins in the 'mosh pit'! The Monkey's still have a bit of work to do on their stage presence, but their music is good (love the lyrics) & they seem to have done ok with the 2nd album.

Saturday we were up early for a tour of the Opera House - and that provided a fascinating insight into the workings of the building & the history behind it. The guide was superb & of course the building itself is stunning. We also had our questions answered on why there is a series of plastic rings hanging from the ceiling of the concert hall (it's to do with the acoustics) and I'm sure we'll try and go back to see the mightily impressive organ in use.

Our favourite place - Angel - for breakfast on Sunday, with views over Freshwater Beach (I had eggs Benedict with Ocean Trout - lovely!) and then on to Palm Beach for a bit of a walk. In fact, a bit of a trek up to Barrenjoey lighthouse to partake of the tour (bit of a waste) & enjoy the fantastic scenery. Stopped off at the surf-club to allow Lucy's mum to have her picture taken with the 'Summer Bay' sign & then home via the ever busy Newport Arms.

Back to the Hordern Pavilion again on Sunday evening - this time for the Kaiser Chiefs. Thankfully, I managed to miss the 1st support act (it was Operator Please again) and caught the very good 2nd support - Wolf & Cub (who sounded very similar to Wolfmother & had an interesting line-up... 2 guitarists & 2 drummers). Having missed out on seeing the Kaiser Chiefs at Glastonbury, I was very keen to catch up with them here.... and they were superb. Once again, I ended up 'moshing' and the music was perfect for that - think I was bouncing up & down to every song. Surprisingly, 'I Predict a riot' wasn't part of the encore (Oh My God was the big one there) and the fans here seem to enjoy the songs from the new album more (they certainly got the biggest cheers). Ricky Wilson might not have the best voice (Lucy's view) but he certainly knows how to get the crowd going - and enjoys a bit of crowd surfing too! Thoroughly enjoyed myself - even if it did take me 30 minutes to get out of the car park afterwards! One word of warning though if you go to a KC concert... bear in mind that a lot of Leeds Utd fans will be present & whilst I've nothing against that, they should remember that heat + sweat + football tops does not make for a very pleasant odour!

Think that'll be it for a while on the gig front - unfortunately we miss The Killers as we'll be in Asia at the time - let's see what the year end brings.

What to do with my Sunday evenings?

Well, it had to happen sometime. After 100 days, the seventh series of Australian Big Brother has come to an end, avoiding a repeat of last year's 'T-bagging' incident ....and with a member of the fairer sex winning for the first time. I have to admit that both Lucy & I became avid viewers of the show over the course of the series - mugs aren't we?! - and whilst not watching every night would try to make sure that we were home for the Sunday night eviction. Not sure I'd be doing the same with that annoying Charley character from the UK show.

A couple of differences from the UK show - Friday night games (similar to 'It's a knockout' with the winner effectively gaining immunity from eviction the following week), Sunday night evictions (rather than Friday in the UK), a complete minger to present it (her name is Gretel, but one of this year's contestants kept calling her Hansel!) & a much narrower range of people (tend to be blonde & aged 19-25). Also had a 'couple' put in together at the start (& then her ex turned up!).

For me, Travis was the star of the show - almost a caricature of what you would think an Aussie bloke is like - with his habit of putting an 'o' on the end of everything, and also wearing a singlet at all times! However, both Aleisha & Zach (who made me laugh with his camp comments) both deserved to make it to the final, and just 500 votes separated them.... the 'counting' with all those adverts was very, very annoying though.

However, the funniest moment of the show was on the final night when Michelle (a really annoying contestant) was seen shouting after John Howard (PM) in the street... saying that she loved him and that he was 'sick' (it's the first time I've heard anyone on TV cheering for him!). When interviewed on the show she then said she loved him because 'he looked like an ewok with Mr Magoo glasses!'. Could not have summed it up better myself!

Guess I'll have to find something else to keep me occupied on an evening... Australian Idol anyone?!

Harry Potter & the exceedingly dull movie...

Went to see the latest Harry Potter movie on Saturday evening & somehow (magically perhaps?) it made two hours seem like five! A slow plodding movie for the majority of the time, perhaps seeking to look at the relationships between the characters rather than concentrating on the wizadry, left me feeling bored. The only things of interest in the entire movie was amusement at the fact that each of the characters now look about 5 years too old for the parts they are playing (they'd better get a move on with the last 2 movies), and as each scene passed Harry looked more and more like Bibbs!

There was also a striking resemblance between Dudley Dursley & one of my former Uni housemates...

I've also just finished reading the book - the final installment in the series - Harry Potter & the Deathly Hallows. Much, much better than the movie with a good blend of character development & plenty of action to keep the characters busy. Although, the epilogue is so sickly sweet that it makes you want to hurl. I won't give away any of the plot (it wouldn't be fair) but would definitely recommend it if you've read the previous books, and the ending might come as a surprise to some.

Weng Weng & YouTube

I was driving around Sydney a little while back, listening to the radio and they were talking about an addiction to YouTube. In particular, they'd found several videos of a Filipino actor called Weng Weng. So I checked them out, and I have to admit they are VERY funny. Turns out Weng Weng holds the record as the shortest actor in a leading role (2ft 9in!). He plays a sort of James Bond role in 'For Your Height Only' & 'The Impossible Kid'.... watch as he beats up 10 'normal' sized men & then jumps into bed with a hot woman! Unfortunately, the little fella is dead now so no hope of him reprising the role after his internet success.

Also on subject of YouTube... if you use iTunes then I would thoroughly recommend subscribing to the 'Best of YouTube' video podcast. There's some excellent stuff on there with particular favourites a little girl threatening to "kick a monster's ass before it kicks hers", a telephone conversation with a call centre trying to explain why 0.002 cents is not the same as 0.002 dollars & a treadmill music video (one of many amusing videos by Chicago band OK Go).

Finally,came across a show on ABC radio, which was very much like the 'Legends' program on Century Radio in the UK. However, instead of Bernie Slaven, Eric Gates & Malcolm MacDonald, they had 3 NRL players (can't remember their names). Brought back memories of home.....

Road Trip

Having arrived back in Sydney to be confronted by yet more rain & wind (only 4 days without rain in 2 months), Lucy & I decided to go in search of some sunshine (or at least less rain!). Initially, we thought of a trip to Fiji or the Cook Islands – however it turns out that the deals advertised by STA Travel etc are not anywhere as near as cheap as they make out (one trip to the Cook Islands was shown as from A$ 690, but when we priced it up came to over A$ 2,200!). Next thought was that we are in a great country, so why not find somewhere here with sunshine…. Cairns & the Great Barrier Reef was our original intention…. Then we looked at the map and realized that would be a 6,500km round trip – that might take more than a week! So Fraser Island became our target – with a few stops on the way.

Setting off from Sydney on a Sunday morning with a car full of camping equipment & red wine our first stop was Coff’s Harbour. On the way we passed our first piece of ‘Australiana’ – a replica of Ayre’s Rock (or Uluru as they call it now). Arriving in Coff’s around 5pm, we pitched the tent (yes we were staying in a tent for part of the trip) - Not for the first time on the trip we were asked how we were going to sleep in a ‘little tent’ - seems that every Australian either owns a very large tent, caravan or camper van. Some of them have gone to ridiculous lengths – converting buses and even articulated lorries into camper vans! We went for a little wander into town – passing the pet porpoise centre on the way – and grabbed some dinner at a very decent Thai restaurant. Just as we were to find on the rest of the trip, there wasn’t much open after 7pm and so we had an early night.

Next day our first port of call was the Big Banana – the large concrete Banana which started off the craze for all the ‘big things’ in Australia. There’s now a big pineapple, big rocking horse, big wine bottle & even a big spliff (that one is in Ninbin if you want to pay it a visit). After fighting our way past the American tourists who were buying bananas like they were going out of fashion, we treated ourselves to banana & honey smoothies before heading up through the banana plants for a lovely view over the coast.

Getting back into our ‘little car’ (it’s a Golf) we proceeded to Byron Bay – stopping off to take a picture of the Giant Prawn on the way. At Byron we stayed in a funky, hippy style of place called the Arts Factory – this place was there at the birth of the whole Byron ‘thing’ in the 60s. Have to admit that it brought back memories of Glastonbury as we headed to the little campsite at the back of the place (a few less people though). If you are heading to Byron would recommend checking this place out (you don’t have to stay in a tent!) as it’s complete with a library / book exchange, decent bar, cool cinema & has lots of activities going on. For instance, the night we were there a talent contest was held – don’t know where they plucked the people from but they were all very good – including the poets. You can even stay in a tepee or a converted double decker bus if you feel like it! And if you are running short of cash you can even work for your board. Had a good night there shared some of our wine with a German girl called Yana. and then headed to the cinema to see Zodiac (which I’d seen before, but seemed more thrilling the second time around).

Without even seeing the main town or beach of Byron, we continued our journey the next day, taking us to Hervey Bay – the northern most point on our trip. To put the size of this country into context, we were approximately 1,200km north of Sydney and we were still 1,700km from Cairns (as the road sign kindly told us). On arriving at Hervey Bay we had a struggle putting the tent up as the tent pegs just would not stay in the ground – so we spent our time hoping that the wind would not pick up! And the place was not exactly the most lively of the trip, although our tent was pitched about 10yards from a beach with white sand & crystal clear water….a few pelicans checking the place out too. We found a place called ‘Blackdog’ to eat on the first night (good place – interesting take on asian food), and I made use of the bbq facilities to do a stir fry, teppanyaki style on the Wednesday night (actually the great thing about all of the camp sites we visited was that they had seating areas and bbqs so that you didn’t have to spend all of your time in your tent / trailer).

Now, we were confronted with the only real disappointment of the trip…. The reason we were in Hervey Bay was it’s proximity to Fraser Island – we couldn’t take the car to explore as the whole place is made of sand, no tarmac roads, and so only 4wd are allowed – even then they are frequently stuck. Unfortunately, we had neglected to book one of the excursions to the Island – thinking that it would not be too difficult to get on one in the winter – we hadn’t taken into account the whale watching season. As it turned out, we had a lovely day on the Island anyway, heading over on the passenger ferry to Kingfisher Bay & doing a couple of the walks, including one to an old Commando training post. The whole place was picture postcard perfect – white sands, clear water & not a cloud in the sky – we had found the sun we were searching for!

Saying our goodbyes to Hervey Bay & Fraser Island, we turned south & headed for Noosa, stopping at Rainbow Beach on the way. Now, I have to say that the beach was nice, but does not deserve the ‘rainbow’ tag – three slightly different shades of sand were present, but that probably had more to do with the tide than anything else. However, the Carlos Sandblow was very impressive – views of the ocean on one side, the valley on another & a large sand-dune that was gradually blowing inland. Arrived in Noosa Heads & checked into the grand old Hulse Lodge YHA – providing us with our first bed of the trip. The rooms were nothing flashy, but the grub served was good and the other facilities were much appreciated. After a quick walk around town – perhaps the most ‘touristy’ of the places we visited on the trip – we had a few beers in the hostel bar and chatted away to a German primary school teacher (don’t think we found out her name) & a girl from Preston called Donna…. Had a bit of a sore head the next morning. Friday, we headed out to the nearby national park for a spot of walking – which was lovely – and then headed to the cinema to watch Transformers! A lot of tongue in cheek humour, a stunning ‘love interest’ and some great special effects, made it an enjoyable movie – but I wouldn’t go out of your way to catch it – if you do though you might want to buy a Chevy Camaro. Product placements (all the cars / trucks were made by GM (and not Porsche & Lamborghini as in the cartoon), Mountain Dew robots, etc) abounded but the only really bad part was that they never once uttered the phrase “Robots in Disguise”…. Very disappointing.

On Saturday, despite getting up at 6am, and walking 10km through the national park, we failed in our quest to spot a koala – think we’ll just head for the zoo next time! – and after getting over our devastation (we did however see a whole bunch of turkeys walking around) we headed to Brisbane to meet up with Ian & Sarah (who had stayed with us in Sydney for a while back in Feb). Stayed in another cool hostel, complete with cool / interesting bar called Birdee Yum Yum (like the bar I mentioned in Hong Kong it had bird cages, but there were full of dolls in various compromising positions), swimming pool & hot tub. Turns out it was in the ‘Valley’ which is the hot-bed of Brisbane night-life – and after past experiences with trying to get a taxi in Brisbane that wasn’t a bad thing. Had Yum-Cha for lunch & then walked along Brunswick Street (must be the local weirdo hang-out) for a beer & a game of bowls (which we didn’t have time for by the time we got there). A nice trip along on the river on the ‘jetcat’ before heading out for the night. Started off at the hostel bar with pitchers of cider for $8… by far the cheapest booze I’ve encountered in Oz. Then headed to a Lonely Planet recommended restaurant called The Vietnamese Restaurant…. No surprise that it served Vietnamese food. Headed to the bottle shop on the way & got a bit of a laugh from the guy behind the counter when we bought a 4 litre box of white wine for $10 (didn’t taste quite as bad as you would guess – certainly not after the 3rd glass) & again when we entered the restaurant with box in hand. We ordered the set menu for 4 & I think we ended up with enough food on the table for 24 people…. Lovely food, but made all of us feel a bit guilty when we had to leave so much. Where is Bric when you need him?

After filling our faces we headed out, but much to our disappointment we were faced with queues to get in just about everywhere – and cover charges to get into a pub, what is the world coming to? After not been classed as cool enough to get into the upstairs bit of GPO (a converted post office which I visited last July following the Bledisloe Cup game) we headed to the downstairs bar for some pretty average margaritas (too much salt, not enough tequila) and some ‘breaks’ music. One of the Djs was accompanied by a trumpeter which was quite cool. Quickly becoming bored of this place, we headed back along the streets, trying to avoid the crowds (thinking about it, Oxford St & Kings Cross in Sydney has a similar thing – why do they like queuing for a beer?) to find somewhere else to hang. One place (The Beat) seemed pretty interesting, but when asking the doorman what type of place it was, his brilliant description (“Downstairs techno, straight, Upstairs chart music, gay) made us move on & so we ended up back at the hostel bar. 2 things about this place that I would remember if you ever decide to own a bar…. 1) Never put the only ATM in a position which effectively blocks the only entrance to the place, 2) If you only have one toilet in the place, do not position it so that you have to walk across the packed dancefloor to get to it, especially not if you’re selling pitchers of beer at $8 a shot! Anyway, we had a good time. It was great to catch up with Ian & Sarah (although I did miss Sarah’s “Shut Up”) & sort of nice to be back in a City with all of the amenities that go with that (i.e. places are open after 7.30pm).

Woke up with an awful hangover on Sunday – felt relieved that we hadn’t got into the dodgy rum shots again - not good at the best of times but especially so when we had 30 mins to get out of the room and start our 10 hour journey to Port Stephens. Quite why I had decided to plan such a long journey for that day I’m not sure, but to be honest it wasn’t that bad. The roads in Australia can be a little monotonous, but listening to podcasts of the Chris Evans show (good old BBC) made the time practically fly, and we made it to Port Stephens – or more accurately Shoal Bay – around 8pm. For the first time in a week we watched a bit of TV – I fell asleep during X-Men. This morning we were feeling refreshed (although having a dicky stomach from the cheese sandwich of the night before – if you ever see a cheese called ‘tasty flavour’ then avoid it – not sure why we didn’t think that in the 1st place!). Can’t really say we did an awful lot in Port Stephens, but it was another lovely day, another pretty beach and another stretch of crystal clear water. Would also recommend the accommodation we had as good for a group of friends or family to go and chill… easily room for 6 if not 8 and only $79 for a night. Stopped off at Nelson’s Bay lighthouse (small, informative museum & great views) & had a fantastic Venison in red wine & prune sauce pie from ‘Red Neds’ – yet another great Lonely Planet recommendation (fast becoming our bible here) before deciding against a small (96km) detour to Tea Gardens (to look for Koalas – probably wouldn’t have seen any anyway) & headed back to Sydney. Got home about 3.30pm & now washing to do & things to clean before Lucy’s Mum arrives later in the week.

So, end of road trip summary – 6 towns, 8 days & 2,795 km - had an awesome time - meeting up with friends, seeing some wonderful scenery, particularly the beaches, & most importantly it didn’t rain for the whole 8 days!!! More than can be said for the UK by the looks of the news tonight!

Almost a shame to be back in some ways, and certainly looking forward to our next trip around Oz (there’s plenty of it to see) and then NZ & SE Asia. Bring it on!

The Look of Love

Having had the December performance cancelled at the last minute, on the 14th July, we finally got to the Opera House to see the legend that is Burt Bacharach. First off, we had dinner at Guileeme at Beneelong (the restaurant in the Opera House & winner of 3 hats in this year’s good food guide), complete with a great view to the Circular Quay on one side & Lady Macquarie's Point on the other. Did have a bit of a goldfish effect though, with passers by gawking in! Fantastic food (I had tuna infused with basil followed by beef tenderloin, whilst Lucy had smoked salmon roulade followed by kingfish) & wine meant the place lived up to it’s reputation (the service was patchy – but the sommelier was great) and really set the store for a great night.

Entering the concert hall for the first time my first impression was “Wow, that’s a lot of pine”!! And my second thought was “What are those weird things hanging from the ceiling?”. However, it worked & the whole place is designed very well, not a bad view in the house & the acoustics are superb. To be fair, age has definitely dimmed Burt’s voice, but the singers he brought with him were very good and his musical talent shone as he played with the Sydney Symphony Orchestra. Burt also followed in the foot-steps of Pink, criticising George Bush on stage (he certainly deserves it) and as all good entertainers should he left the audience wanting more! Most surprising aspect of the night was that fact that Lucy & I were not the only young people there…. In fact there was quite a few!

Burt (I feel that I’m on first name terms with him now) went through all of the old classics, with “Rain Drops Keep Falling on My Head” seeming a particular crowd favourite…. And the rousing rendition of “What the World Needs Now” brought in the whole orchestra and provided a suitable finale. All worth waiting for!

Will someone please turn off the rain...

Well as most of you know reading this will know, 2 minutes after been told I'd be living Citigroup, I set off on vacation. 3 weeks later & I'm back in Oz to write all about it. I had a great time seeing friends, family & Spot!, watching the Test match at Durham, 5 days in a Glastonbury field (which was awesome and has an entry all of it's own) and my first (& last) trip to Blackpool. Managed to pack a lot in, but at times it was draining trying to fit everyone in....and to be honest both Lucy & I actually missed Sydney a fair bit.

So much happened in the 3 week period that the only way I can really think of to get it all down is to write it in a diary style...with the events of each day set out. Here goes:

Wednesday 13th June: Trying to suppress a smile as I am told I'll be leaving Citi for good I head over to the Olympic Stadium to watch the 2nd game in the State of Origin Series. Axe, Raefer & Gish drowning their sorrows as a very defensive game saw Queensland take an unassailable 2-0 lead in the series. Not a happy time for NSW, but at least the SeaEagles (my adopted team) full back played well. Head home to tell Lucy the good news... not sure she believes me!

Thursday 14th June: Despite Lucy worrying about my inability to pack for the trip with a hangover I'm ready in time for the car to pick us up at mid-day. All goes to plan as we raid the food in the airline lounge & set-off on time. Get on the plane to be disappointed Blades of Glory is not showing on the entertainment station. Watch a few episodes of Peep Show & Simpsons, then the 'kids' movie Night at the Museum (not great) & the Justin Timberlake movie about a kidnapping Alpha Dog (which was excellent) before falling asleep 5 minutes into Babel. Lucy watches The Lives of Others (superb movie) & as usual gets about 12 hours of sleep. Food definitely not as good as on past occasions.

Friday 15th June: Arrive in London - no rain...hurrah! As usual Heathrow does not offer the most friendly of invitations to visitors. I find it hard to believe that this is the first sight that so many visitors have of the UK....definitely in need of a revamp. Check-in to the Sanderson Hotel (Citi discount meant we got a VERY good rate) & chill out in the spa area as our room isn't ready. The Spa has lots of white drapes & soothing music, perfect to relax in - although we did end up watching a little bit of UK Big Brother (awful) whilst lazing on a day bed. Got into the room around noon, and whilst cool in design it was pretty small - prefer the St. Martin's Lane (part of the same group).

Headed over to the City to catch up with Jonesy. Fail to take into account how far the walk is & so it takes a while. Jonesy has skillfully decided to meet in a place with no mobile reception so that when I get lost (it has been a while!) I can't contact him! Also dark and dingy on our first day of sunshine in weeks! Get to La Tasca 10 mins late, and it's great to see my old mucka. People like Jonesy always brighten up your day... Had a beer or two & a bit of tapas as a few others (Snixon & Max amongst them) join us. Have to say our goodbyes as we are heading out for dinner with Adam & Helen Paul.

Great to see the two of them - especially Paul Adam - and we start off the evening in one of the hotel bars (The Long Bar) which as usual is filled with suits & hookers. Head for dinner to Lindsay House in Soho, and whilst not as good as the last time, it's still pretty damn good. Afterwards, we headed back to the hotel for drinks in the other bar (much better, but I forget it's name) and then got a call from Jonesy & Lushworthy that they were on the way. Think Jonesy had carried on all afternoon - and he was in a fantastic state. The 'group' wasn't allowed into the hotel bar, so we headed to a place in Soho - just down the road - leaving Jonesy to remonstrate with the door staff. He spent the rest of the night answering every question in song! Think everyone had a great, if very drunken night, and made me think of some of the things I miss about London. After closing we headed back to the hotel, where the doorman tried to stop Lucy from getting in (he thought she was attacking him with Jonesy earlier!).

Saturday 16th June: Wake up to find Captain Spank has visited me during the night & left me with a very sore head...have the train journey home to face & to make it all the better the rain is back. Journey goes without a hitch and Lucy's Mum (Celia) & Dad (Bill) are there to meet us at the station. Again, it's good to see familiar faces...and we're soon back in Thornley with a cup of tea in hand! I head over to my Mum's and it's good to be home - although nothing much has changed & it's only a few weeks since I saw my Mum in Sydney! Of course it's particularly nice to see Spot & he proceeds to follow me around everywhere I go (he's definitely one thing I miss about the UK). We then have a family meal at The Old Farmhouse in Middleton St. George. Lucy's family are there too, and it's lovely to see everyone... in fact only the third time I've met her brother (who I'm sure would love it here in Oz - especially with all the utes & caravans on show!). Good pub food (although mine did have to be sent back after I queued at the bad for an age) and just to nice to catch up with everyone.

Sunday 17th June: Lucy heads to the duck park with her niece & nephew whilst I spend some time with my family. Fortunately, the rain holds off as Dan (my brother) & I head to Durham for the Test against the West Indies. We sit in the stand next to the Barmy Army & around us we have Superman, Batman & Krusty the Clown. Behind us we have a bunch of people with very broad Geordie accents. One of the girls (a wife of one of the blokes) keeps trying to get her ample assets out on show, whilst the others have a conversation about a recent trip to Australia. Q: "What did you like most about Australia?" A: "Getting on the plane home, but at least the food was good.... they had some excellent kebabs". A long way to come for a kebab! Despite a day with constant cloud there are plenty of red-faces by the end of it - although probably as much to do with the drink as the sun-burn. England look in good shape to win against a poor WI side.

Monday 18th June: I head to the cricket again, this time with Lucy (yes, I'm very lucky to have a wife who likes sport!). Better seats today (although not so much craic around) as we are sat beneath the player's balcony (just about anyway) & our wedding venue - Lumley Castle - is in the background. Again England are in great nick & good to see Andrew Strauss come through his recent period of bad form. Again the overcast sky leaves a lot of people with sunburn (including Lucy's nose!). And again, the food at a sporting event is AWFUL! The baked potato man tells me the baked beans are a little cool as he hands it over... they taste as though they have just been tipped out of a tin... the radioactive cheese is not much better.

Tuesday 19th June: After spending a day at the cricket with Dan, I want to spend a day with Kirsty (sister) & have much deliberation we decide on Blackpool (as neither of us had been there before). A lovely drive over the Penines (despite a spot of rain) and soon we are in Blackpool. Now, I've heard differing reports about the place, but having been there for a day I would sum the place up in one phrase - "It's a hole". We walked along the sea-front, decided against going up the ridiculously priced Tower & ended up having awful fish & chips in Harry Ramsdens. The only good things were the Pleasure Beach (although half the rides were shut) which had some cool rides (the other half of the rides felt as though they were falling apart) and the novelty joke shop next to the car park..... of course it was also nice to spend some time with Kirsty. I did for a moment think that at least the nightlife at Blackpool would be good fun.... but I'm not so sure & I didn't stick around to find out.

Wednesday 20th June - Monday 25th June: Glastonbury - Awesome (more below)

Tuesday 26th & Wednesday 27th June: Spent recovering from the Glastonbury experience. Slept a lot, dried out from all the rain & hoped that I wouldn't get a cold. Nice to not really have much to do & so I could just chill out. Went to see my Nana - who doesn't seem to be getting better with age - had a good curry at home & slept at my Mum's with Spot at the end of the bed (he followed me around again & even sat in his travel box for the first time in an age - maybe he wanted to come with me?).

Thursday 28th June: Said my goodbyes & headed to London (Lucy stayed behind for an extra day) to catch up with friends again. The floods in Yorkshire & a broken-down freight train near Berwick meant that my train was delayed by near 3 hours and that put paid to any plans I had of having lunch in the City. Still, it was good to catch up with Millsy, Bric, KB, George & Bus... all people I hope to see in Oz one day. Ended up getting back to the hotel (Hilton Docklands - very average) late & lost, ordered a club sandwich & hit the sack.

Friday 29th June: Moved my things to the Hoxton Urban Lodge - great place in a very good location for anyone looking to party in London. Rooms were small, but well designed & only £220 for 3 nights so cheap as chips for London. Then made my second (or third) error with distances in London & decided to walk to Butler's Wharf for lunch. Fortunately, left plenty of time & so got to catch up with Bobbie P, Coyney, Ringer & Bus for a bite to eat at the Chop House (top food). Again, great to catch up with such good friends (shame DC couldn't make it), have a laugh & talk about past experiences as well as the future (a few of us are in a similar situation at the moment). I did my best to convince them to come and visit Australia, but not sure I had any takers! Had a drink in a 'proper boozer' in Borough Market (love that place) and then headed back to the City.

Went to meet Lucy at Kings Cross & then reconvened at Le Coq D'argent. Good to see Scouse for a quick beer (he must go back to Glasto) & then Popey & Lushworthy turned up (suitably inebriated). Had several more beers, enjoying the view over the City, and then headed to Gaucho in Bishopsgate for some grub. Popey skillfully got hammered - at one point he was doing glasses of wine using his biceps - & left before the bill came (does he always do that?)... was also amusing to see Popey & Bus compete for a girl (who already had a boyfriend)... have to admit that Bus was the more composed of the two. Food was good (as always) & the wine was top notch (although not sure we needed so much!).

Saturday 30th June: Woke up with a sore head (again!) and as we had had to cancel our trip down to Bric's place (bit of a mix-up with Lucy's train the previous day - and a shame as it would have been good to meet up & see Jo & the kids) we had an afternoon of pottering around London. We headed over to Twickenham for the Rod Stewart concert arriving around 7.30pm, missing the support band who we assumed would be unknowns (turns out it was The Pretenders!). Just about the worst rain of the week brought back memories of Glastonbury, and we felt relieved to be under cover. Rod appeared on stage with an umbrella & belted out all of the old classics - leaving Maggie May to the encore - but a very average sound system and a lack of atmosphere left me thinking that stadium gigs really are over-rated (U2 were the last I saw in a stadium and they weren't the best).

'Made a pact' with Lucy to not attend any more stadium gigs. With Twickenham proving such a pain with regards traveling back to London, we practically sprinted out of the door as Maggie May finished (missing the fireworks) & headed for the train station. More rain, but at least we got on the first train & were back in London by 11pm. Headed to Fabric (thoroughly recommended if into dance music) were unusually we spent most of our time in room 3 (the upstairs one) listening to a set from Terry Francis (one of the long-time residents). Finished off our supplies & had a great time before tiredness got to us. We felt guilty leaving at 3.30am as people were still queueing to get inside!

Sunday 1st July: Unsurprisingly, we had a bit of a sleep in! Headed to John & Vicky's for lunch in Blackheath. Survived John's driving over speed bumps & made it to their lovely house safely! Good to see that the refurbishment of the place is going along nicely... and we were treated to a really good roast dinner, whilst tucking into some real ale & wine (not mixed together!). John & I joined Citi together some time back, and their wedding was the first 'proper' occasion that I attended with Lucy! Will be nice to see the two of them in Oz in what is now a matter of weeks.

Afterwards, we headed to Shakespeare's Globe (really good place to visit if you ever get the chance - that and the Regent's Park Open Air Theatre are London treasures) to watch a performance of Love's Labour's Lost. We had groundling tickets (i.e. we had to stand) which in my opinion are the best to have, but on a steamy afternoon it was very tiring attempting to stand for the whole performance. The over-bearing stewards who told you off if you leaned against the back rail, or put a foot on a step, didn't help the situation... but we managed to get through it (better after the interval) & enjoyed a really good performance. It's good to be so close to the actors & the stage, and also nice that they don't have to rely on expensive sets & props. Had dinner at the Hoxton Grill (within the hotel) - simple food done well.

Monday 2nd July: Checked out of the hotel, our journey almost at an end, and headed over to the Wharf for lunch. We had hoped to see KB (but he had to attend a funeral - which hopefully went ok, or at least as good as could be hoped), but at least we were able to catch up with George & have a really good chat over some pasta & a bottle of wine (Carluccios as good as ever). Then headed over to Fulham for a last gasp catch-up with Coyney (shame we didn't get the chance to catch up with Stef) and a spin around London in his new car (which now has a front-end again).

Back to the hotel safely in time for our car to the airport. I do like the check-in procedure when traveling Virgin Upper Class - it's almost a drive through affair where they drop you off, take your bags and escort you to the security gate. Headed to the Virgin Clubhouse - which is a bit of a Jetson's affair - and had a bite to heat before settling down to watch Dan Snow's new show 20th Century Battlefields (it was the Vietnam episode - as always enlightening - but also amusing to watch such a massive person fitting into the Vietcong tunnels).

Plane was delayed a little (possibly due to the rain that was falling.... again) but we were in the air by 11.30 & soon watching movies. This time Blades of Glory WAS showing (very amusing) and I also watched Smoking Aces (a very good movie in the vain of Lucky Number Slevin) & Ghostrider (a pretty average Nic Cage movie) before again falling asleep whilst watching Babel (will make it through one day). Brief sleep and then hit Hong Kong!

Wow - bit of a mouth full there, hope you didn't fall asleep whilst reading it... Apologies for the format, but as you can see I really did have a lot to get through, and it took me an age to write - so hope you enjoy! I had an absolutely fantastic time at home, great seeing everyone (& I mean that) and just reminded me of what a great place London is... however, it is good to be back in Oz!