tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-46801108974051573792024-02-20T03:30:19.812+11:00The Beckett BlogTravel - Abroad and within Australia.Sandrahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13160530448348564690noreply@blogger.comBlogger84125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4680110897405157379.post-21626631268083538462018-11-29T11:02:00.000+11:002018-11-29T11:02:07.565+11:00Rovaniemi, Helsinki and Tallinn<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<span style="color: black; font-size: 13.5pt;">On arrival in Rovaniemi, we checked into our hotel right near the
city centre and later went out for dinner. Would you believe we ended up in a
very nice restaurant, run by Turkish people with background Italian music.
Delicious food though! Walking back to our hotel, we watched Christmas trees
being decorated with lights all along the street. Very pretty in the dark.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: black; font-size: 13.5pt;">Our last day in the Lapland
area of Finland and, of course, we had to visit Santa's Village just outside the
town. I had two special letters written by grandsons Huon and Mitchell, to
deliver to Santa. The whole village area is very well set up with just about
every Christmas decoration and souvenir imaginable.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEivWqpfAnZYOBCVii1tiWcIlFJGMnZAydTVTb-AcfMpZAawK707l60PbEpCTb5rD0_mLP-3lH46iV9gdiEwBrivCgB9YhCRWyAGyu9M36DLrj0m2FBTVYmq0Lycj0djnJLvHbTs_oIG4AM/s1600/santa+and+us.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="346" data-original-width="518" height="425" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEivWqpfAnZYOBCVii1tiWcIlFJGMnZAydTVTb-AcfMpZAawK707l60PbEpCTb5rD0_mLP-3lH46iV9gdiEwBrivCgB9YhCRWyAGyu9M36DLrj0m2FBTVYmq0Lycj0djnJLvHbTs_oIG4AM/s640/santa+and+us.jpg" width="640" /></a><span style="color: black; font-size: 13.5pt;">We joined the queue for Santa
and slowly made our way up through his house to where he sat. What a lovely man
he was. He was very interested in reading Huon and Michell's letters, but
laughed when he read that Mitchell didn't want 'girl Lego'. Lego is for
everyone, he said and he asked us to tell that to Mitchell. Lots of photos taken
and also a video if wanted - we did! Later on we were able to download the
photos and a video to our computer. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: black; font-size: 13.5pt;">Plenty of souvenir shops (of
course!) at Santa's Village, but also a post office for sending messages home.
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<span style="color: black; font-size: 13.5pt;">Reindeer sleds for rides - but as there was only a circuit of man-made snow, it
was a short ride. When snow sets in there are also snowmobile rides and
other very energetic activities that we passed by. </span><br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Communal knitting for charity in hotel foyer.</td></tr>
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<span style="color: black; font-size: 13.5pt;">After a light lunch, we
caught the Santa's Village Shuttle bus back to the city, packed our bags, had
dinner and sat in the foyer to wait for the time to catch the late night train.</span><br />
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<span style="font-size: 13.5pt;">The overnight train to Helsinki was quite an experience -
we had a first class 2 berth sleeper cabin booked - or so we thought.
Found the carriage number and discovered we were in the 'gentlemen's carriage'
and in two different compartments! Totally confused and with no conductor to be seen
we stood in the corridor to try and work something out. Luckily a lovely Asian
man in 'my' cabin volunteered to move into the other one freeing up a cabin for
Peter and me. It wasn't until the train had moved out of the station that a
conductress came along and agreed there had been a mistake and that we should
be together. She was all smiles when she learnt we had sorted out the problem
for her. Not good enough service, Bentours!</span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgv-odwv3sDTj8hMBrawEixvmMc8SrzPVzonCrfIFTfDSUfbnLAgdXdBKkgIZyn2IMlVHGwgu5i8MglvSnh5SJHHR2uB3pF5YZpSyjubH2qr6__D4e9cS9OVxPMfcDw0_sHQgapQMJJPRU/s1600/DSC00385a.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="972" data-original-width="1296" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgv-odwv3sDTj8hMBrawEixvmMc8SrzPVzonCrfIFTfDSUfbnLAgdXdBKkgIZyn2IMlVHGwgu5i8MglvSnh5SJHHR2uB3pF5YZpSyjubH2qr6__D4e9cS9OVxPMfcDw0_sHQgapQMJJPRU/s320/DSC00385a.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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<span style="color: black; font-size: 13.5pt;">The sleeper carriages were all
double storey and very modern with their own little shower and toilet
facilities. The ride, too, was very smooth and not at all like the very bumpy
train ride from Melbourne to Sydney on which we travelled earlier this
year. <o:p></o:p></span><br />
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<span style="color: black; font-size: 13.5pt;">After 12 hours we arrived on time 12 hours next morning in Helsinki. Luckily our hotel had our room ready for us and so we were able to have a quick breakfast before getting settled for our last days in Finland.</span><br />
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<span style="font-size: 18px;">Early next morning saw us boarding the 8.30 ferry for the two hour trip over to Tallinn in Estonia. </span><br />
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<span style="font-size: 18px;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj-fnyX-t8PZKuZdKVb_jdVMyUqfbIfe1KI9XbXPfc8KNG0MduJh-f1pqgqLlo4lDx2lyZfa_Y-Rg7F6fSRsTt2HzPSCOheb4y0mbYizhE0eaaF82GHs2NtKDRBnidu6oSjOD4zQvcshwk/s1600/DSC00423a.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="972" data-original-width="1296" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj-fnyX-t8PZKuZdKVb_jdVMyUqfbIfe1KI9XbXPfc8KNG0MduJh-f1pqgqLlo4lDx2lyZfa_Y-Rg7F6fSRsTt2HzPSCOheb4y0mbYizhE0eaaF82GHs2NtKDRBnidu6oSjOD4zQvcshwk/s640/DSC00423a.jpg" width="640" /></a></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 18px;">We and another person had a guide to show us around for several hours, then we had plenty of time to ourselves to wander through the beautiful old town area and have lunch at a traditional Estonian restaurant 'The Golden Pig'. We shared a platter of different sausages, potatoes and sauerkraut and it was delicious washed down with a beer for Peter and warm Glogg for me. </span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiGGBQIhMKXoCY0FiXstBZT4yQ6iATMSKlNvloNHf1SckTxIxVUAhYKz6a7U-vuhr29zRh9sFCGUROC83vQEQs8t757a8aD55s9ohMSWPkVa_knbkiMhVYNHTvkkY-VTDaxeNuLZM2ke_k/s1600/P1080542a.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="960" data-original-width="1280" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiGGBQIhMKXoCY0FiXstBZT4yQ6iATMSKlNvloNHf1SckTxIxVUAhYKz6a7U-vuhr29zRh9sFCGUROC83vQEQs8t757a8aD55s9ohMSWPkVa_knbkiMhVYNHTvkkY-VTDaxeNuLZM2ke_k/s400/P1080542a.jpg" width="400" /></a><span style="font-size: 18px;"></span><br />
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<span style="font-size: 18px;">We then wandered through the Christmas Market to buy a few Christmassy souvenirs. </span><br />
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After the ferry ride back to Helsinki, we collapsed for an hour, then tidied up and walked across the road from our hotel to the beautiful, and very popular, old Fazer Cafe (opened in 1891) for a light evening meal and coffee and decadent cakes. </div>
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<span style="font-size: 18px;">With all the Christmas lights up and twinkling, Helsinki was very pretty for our last day in Finland.</span><br />
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It, too, had a Christmas Market but not as big as Tallinn's market. We took it easy for our last day, just browsing for a few (very cold) hours in the half light before heading to the Airport to begin our long journey home.</div>
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<span style="font-size: 18px;">Summing up - We loved these three Scandinavian countries and bought flags to fly at home as a memory of our trip. There is a very nice and welcoming feel here. It took us a while to get used to the very short hours of daylight and the intense cold which we don't experience in Australia and it was a bit of a disappointment that the snow was so late this year - even in the Arctic Circle it was scarce but it was all something new for us and we enjoyed it. <u>And</u> we did see the Northern Lights which really was a delight.</span><br />
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<span style="font-size: 18px;">Sad to leave after such an enjoyable four weeks. Now to start saving up again for our next trip to who knows where!</span><br />
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Sandrahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13160530448348564690noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4680110897405157379.post-67625489677075615422018-11-22T23:46:00.000+11:002018-11-22T23:46:27.274+11:00From Kirkenes at the top down to the Arctic Circle.<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
We disembarked from the Nordkapp at Kirkenes (pronounced Kick-en-ness), and had an overnight stay in the Scandic Arctic Hotel. During the day we ventured out and had a browse and lunch in the small shopping centre there. Kirkenes was severely bombed during World War Two, and so all buildings are what I would call 'utilitarian' style.<br />
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After breakfast just as it was getting light at 11.45am, we were picked up in a mini-bus - along with 3 other Aussies - and were driven about 4 hours over the border to Finland and deposited in the dark at Hotel Kultahovi at Inari. This is a 'traditional' Lapland hotel where we stayed for 2 nights. <br />
Still no sign of snow, however it was very, very cold outdoors.<br />
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Next morning when it finally lightened up with took a walk around this small spread-out town.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh7aNv1pSlWNyiMjZsUonA9myvPAU_0fbF-rGn3r1R0FluCeQp1UaElKIrGEpiX5cNvAPvr7qzDIe28sOCewsM1VRvUpNS1Jf-DF07ebutu4fvGAMCx-3S8hV6HdUni_1EZIhqSH5B5e9o/s1600/P1080444a.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="960" data-original-width="1280" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh7aNv1pSlWNyiMjZsUonA9myvPAU_0fbF-rGn3r1R0FluCeQp1UaElKIrGEpiX5cNvAPvr7qzDIe28sOCewsM1VRvUpNS1Jf-DF07ebutu4fvGAMCx-3S8hV6HdUni_1EZIhqSH5B5e9o/s320/P1080444a.jpg" width="320" /></a><br />
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There is an extremely good SIIDA Museum there giving a very good display and detail of the original Sami people who lived this far up in the Arctic Circle.<br />
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Inari is a very small and remote village although the admin centre for the region, but I think the SIIDA Museum is the major attraction.<br />
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Walking back it was fun to find the iced up puddles and pretend to ice-skate.<br />
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Darkness fell very early so the afternoon was spent reading by the hotel fire.<br />
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Dinner on our last night at this traditional hotel was Sauteed Reindeer with mash, pickled cucumber and lingonberry jam. We think this might be the national dish! Delicious.<br />
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Picked up by bus next morning we<br />
were driven by very comfortable public bus (with free wi-fi!) down to Kakslauttanen Arctic Resort where we were to have an overnight stay in a glass igloo. <br />
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The main reception area is amazing built of large logs like a gigantic log cabin. Very impressive.<br />
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We got settled in our igloo, then rugged up again for a walk down to the main reception/dining room for a really lovely dinner.<br />
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Mindful of my allergy to shellfish, they kindly provided me with a chicken dish rather than the salmon with seafood/shellfish sauce.<br />
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After dinner we joined a 'Hunting the Aurora' horse-drawn carriage along with 5 others, out into the darkness to search for the Northern Lights. Very fortunate we were, as almost as soon as we reached the high area shelter - with a fire and hot drinks - the sky began to colour up with pale green movements. This continued for about an hour before we headed back down to the resort and tramped back along the frosty road to our igloo. The spectacle was impossible to photograph without nigh-on professional cameras, so we just enjoyed the experience.<br />
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In our igloo - nicely warm and with adjustable beds, we had the most comfortable position to watch the Northern Lights accompanied by the very beautiful Solveig's Song from Peer Gynt playing softly on my tablet. Just magic.<br />
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Woke several times during the night to see if the Lights were still around, but the sky had clouded over and when we walked down to breakfast there had been a very light snow fall. The first we had experienced. We have continually been apologised to by the Finns/Laplanders for no snow. They say it is three weeks late this year. Just our luck.<br />
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All too soon we had to leave our cosy igloo, and join another local bus for the trip down to Rovaniemi - the main city situated right on the border of the Arctic Circle. We knew we were getting back to civilisation (!), when we saw the Maccas/KFC/Subway signs. More on Rovaniemi and our visit to Santa Claus Village in the next post.<br />
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Sandrahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13160530448348564690noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4680110897405157379.post-16511650188266684712018-11-16T21:39:00.000+11:002018-11-16T21:39:25.009+11:00Hurtigruten ship 'Nordkapp'<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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We boarded on Saturday evening and after a buffet dinner, sailed at 10.30pm. Everyone was keen to check out their cabins and we were pleased with ours - midship and a bit larger than average, it was still small but beautifully fitted out and quite cosy.<br />
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I must say that everywhere we've stayed, the heating has at times been far too hot for us. We are continually piling on the warm outdoor clothing, then peeling off as soon as we're indoors. Just opening the front of your coat doesn't work either and you're soon perspiring in 21C degree heat.<br />
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Anyhow - shipboard life has been fine. These Hurtigruten ships daily ply the eastern Norwegian coast up and down from Bergen stopping at 34 ports along their 6 day trip (return 12 days). They are primarily freight and some vehicles and stop daily at each of these rather remote settlements up and into the Arctic Circle. Some stops are only for 15 minutes and often these are during the night. One stop per day is usually longer 3-4 hours and sightseeing excursions can be taken. Of course nowadays the trip is popular so comfortable cabins are provided for a capacity of 691 passengers. No entertainment is laid on, so you bring your books, tablets, knitting, etc., and entertain yourselves. We do get a talk daily with subjects like the Northern Lights, King Crabs, Excursions, etc.. Meals have been very good, with a lot of Norwegian Coastal foods provided. Breakfast and lunch are buffet, but evening meal is a 3 course set menu with starched linen napkins. Always beautiful.<br />
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First stop for us was on Sunday at Alesund for 3 hours. We had a walk around town but there was not much movement being Sunday. Met a man walking his Border Collie, so of course we had to greet him and his dog and talk about Charley. The town itself was rebuilt, after a fire, in Art Deco architecture and there are some beautiful buildings remaining. However modern Architects have ignored this beauty and now there are ugly concrete, steel and glass buildings. What a shame - if only they could have continued the Art Deco theme, Alesund would be stunning.<br />
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The third largest town in Norway - Trondheim - was our next stop and we took an excursion via bus around the town and up to the very impressive 11th century Nidaros Cathedral dedicated to St Olav. There is a large University here and from a high lookout there is a wonderful view of the city.<br />
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Next day was Bodo, and finally Peter had something to interest him with the very, very impressive Aircraft Museum. They had civilian and military planes from many eras and many countries with a good few from World War 2. Both the extensive modern building and the quantity of planes displayed was quite amazing.<br />
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Tromso was next and although we arrived at 2.15pm the sun had already departed and so we wandered the vibrant, bright streets of this lovely place as though it was night-time. Found a few souvenirs and other items to buy including some absolutely beautiful Norwegian knitting wool (only 2 balls!).<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Peter now calls me 'Michelin Woman'</td></tr>
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Finally on our last full day we took an excursion to the North Cape - the northern most point of the European Continent. Again at the Cape there is an impressive building with excellent facilities. Of course everyone heads through the building and out again to take photos at The Globe which had been erected in 1977 to mark the spot. We were lucky in that the weather (apart from bitterly cold wind) was quite clear, so after photos were taken we retreated inside the building to view a 20 minute film of the area in all seasons, learn about local birds, view the tiny but beautiful St Johannes Chapel and see the room commemorating the King of Thailand's visit in 1907. Immediately afterwards we looked out to find the weather had changed completely. Low cloud, fog and misty rain! We were lucky.<br />
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Back in Honningsvag on our way to the ship, there was a souvenir shop (of course!). All through our Norwegian stops, we've tried to buy a large (flyable) Norwegian flag. No luck - none available till next summer. However finally we managed to get a Norwegian Vimpel (a long pennant-shaped flag), so Peter is happy!<br />
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On our last evening on board, we managed to change our dinner seating and so were able to sit with friends we had made on the voyage. Later we sat in the Explorers Lounge for an hour or so chatting before bed time.<br />
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We had been anxiously waiting each evening for the Northern Lights to appear, and on the last evening - just as we'd settled in bed - we heard an announcement that 'a little bit had appeared'. Peter wasn't moving, but I wrapped up in my thick red coat and padded to the windows in the deck foyer. Not a glimmer was to be seen so sadly back to bed. We disembark tomorrow morning at Kirkenes to continue our trip down through Finland where we hope to have better luck with the Northern Lights.</div>
Sandrahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13160530448348564690noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4680110897405157379.post-18771352723760825822018-11-12T22:18:00.000+11:002018-11-12T22:18:53.194+11:00Bergen<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
We had been warned that Bergen would most likely be rainy as it is reputed to have 266 wet days each year and it was very grey when we arrived. However as we set out on our first day we had blue skies which lasted all day and in fact it was just a little <i>too</i> warm for us clad in our cold weather clothes.<br />
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We walked down towards the harbour and after some advice from the Tourist Bureau, walked further along and found the entrance to the Funicular climbing up the side of the steep hillside away from the waterside. <br />
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This is a very popular attraction and rightly so - the small funicula carriage slides slowly up the hillside and when at the top it's possible to see all of Bergen far below. It's a magnificent view and we were blessed with a beautiful blue sky as a bonus.<br />
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Later we walked along the old harbour side - Bryggen. I had wanted to visit the Hanseatic Museum which has been in this part of Bryggen for several hundred years. Unfortunately it closed on 1st October this year for restoration work and won't re-open for 6 years. The exhibits will be moved to another building - but these won't be open to the public until next summer. Just my luck!<br />
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These old waterside buildings are tenements with long narrow passages between them. Doorways and stairs certainly look very ancient. There are a few arts and crafts shops (including a beautiful yarn shop), some lovely clothing places and, of course, souvenir shops.<br />
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On our last day in Bergen (grey and misty rain), we travelled out to Troldhaugen about 20 minutes out of Bergen to visit Edvard Grieg's house and museum. Grieg's music has always been a favourite and I especially love his Solveig's Song.<br />
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The house is lovely and we could view the ground floor with many of the Grieg family's furniture and possessions still in situ. The walls are lined in unpainted timber and there are wonderful views from the windows.<br />
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A short walk down towards the water edge is his 'work cabin', and nearby carved high up in a rocky outcrop is the burial place holding the ashes of Grieg and his wife Nina.<br />
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Back at our hotel, we waited with a cuppa in the comfy foyer sofas until it was time to join the 'Nordkapp' and the next part of our trip.<br />
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Sandrahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13160530448348564690noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4680110897405157379.post-48874840697229916182018-11-10T04:20:00.000+11:002018-11-10T04:26:35.575+11:00To Norway<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
Left Stockholm by high speed train around 8.30am on Sunday and travelled westward over to Norway. The scenery was interesting - lots and lots of trees and some small towns and open farm country along the way. We had about a half hour wait at Fetsund and were told the signals were down, however all came good and we soon moved on. Arrived in Oslo around 3pm and found our hotel was within the Central Station complex along with numerous shops, restaurants and bars.<br />
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Woke next morning around 7.30 to find it was still dark outside although the square was beginning to have many people scurrying off to work. After breakfast we made our way to near the City Hall to join a day tour of Oslo city sights and various museums. First was the Holmenkollen Ski Jump - and although it was too overcast with low cloud to see the view of Oslo, the Ski Jump itself is quite spectacular. We think a good dose of insanity would be just as necessary as ski-jumping skills.<br />
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Next it was the the Museum dedicated to Polar Exploration with the main exhibit being the 'Fram' Amundsen's ship. The ship has been well set up to allow visitors on board. Conditions on board at the time of the expedition have been re-created and it is quite something to see. At various times on the walls surrounding the ship is an alarming sound and light show of very rough and stormy Arctic seas. Not something I'd have liked to experience.<br />
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Not too far from the 'Fram' Museum is the Viking Ship Museum which houses three Viking ships which had been excavated in the early 1900s and restored as much as possible. We had visited this Museum in 1973 and it was lovely to visit again. The Oseberg ship, especially, is to me the most elegant and beautiful man-made thing I have ever seen, and it was a joy to see it again and also the other two ships nearby. We were told another Viking ship has been discovered recently but is yet to be excavated. Exciting!<br />
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On our second day, we went by tram to the Norwegian Resistance Museum and spent several hours browsing the exhibits and reading about the extraordinary exploits - and bravery - of the Norwegian people during German occupation in World War 2. The Resistance Museum is located in a building from the 17th century, adjoining the memorial for Norwegian patriots executed during the war. Later walked down from the Akershus Fortress and found a nice cafe for lunch. We had a tram ride back to the square and a walk around some shops before returning to our hotel.<br />
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Our next excursion was the "Norway in a Nutshell" trip, so travelled from Oslo towards Bergen, alighting at snowy Myrdal to hop on board the smaller Flam train for an eye-opening trip through the mountains and waterfalls to the pretty town of Flam where we stayed overnight. <br />
Next morning we boarded the brand new electric powered ferry 'Future of the Fjords' and this quite amazing new catamaran glided quietly through the fjord waters past pretty villages and farming communities for about 3 hours to Gudvagen.<br />
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Then we had another bus ride to Voss and finally by train to Bergen. Quite a trip!<br />
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More on Bergen in the next post.<br />
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Sandrahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13160530448348564690noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4680110897405157379.post-80274944348407192502018-11-04T08:27:00.001+11:002018-11-04T08:29:02.210+11:00Sweden - a short stay in Stockholm<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
Twenty-four hours of travelling (including several hours at Dubai) gave us plenty of time for people watching along the way which I always enjoy. Interesting that those under 40 almost entirely spent their time looking at their mobile phones, whilst we oldies read magazines, actual books - and chatted with our neighbours.<br />
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On our flight from Dubai to Stockholm, one of the male flight attendants made me take a second look. (No, I'm not - as you must be thinking - having immoral thoughts in my old age). This flight attendant had the same thin build, haircut and facial features with the slightly disapproving expression of one of the characters from 'The Big Bang Theory'. When handed my drink, I actually almost replied "Thank you, Sheldon". You meet all sorts.<br />
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Finally, we arrived in Stockholm around midday with a temperature of around 10C and an extremely chilly wind. Thankfully we've packed for cold weather. We realised, soon, that hours of daylight are very much reduced at this time of the year, and after checking into our hotel, had only an hour walking around the nearby streets before the light began to fade. Back in our room with the television on, we were surprised to see episodes of the Australian Highway Patrol filmed close to where we live at home.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEje6a1lDig4WDJFJCaxL2kxUjJpgzxyHecyYy89w5lje8SdMbna2m2rL2Tzm58aSEGc_cieqpyJL_J3MUc_EdRG2Tzlj4THyQLoIrc8LUkP0qj2py85eJMLjJ_L0KlxNp6vZtQBGvAgzms/s1600/P1080103.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1166" data-original-width="1555" height="239" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEje6a1lDig4WDJFJCaxL2kxUjJpgzxyHecyYy89w5lje8SdMbna2m2rL2Tzm58aSEGc_cieqpyJL_J3MUc_EdRG2Tzlj4THyQLoIrc8LUkP0qj2py85eJMLjJ_L0KlxNp6vZtQBGvAgzms/s320/P1080103.JPG" width="320" /></a>An early dinner (Swedish meatballs in a creamy sauce with mash, pickled cucumbers and lingonberries - delicious), before these two travel shattered oldies had a very early night.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiyuqHAieNly437Y2GF1vCRHmZBJqz0ICqiI699yxE-EHIAznPuaQBQO_C5oC9IC3fcT2YpPGATBHrcOOcIuRty488iafpztEh_lzyt1qFs45SVgwvhBmEROFSc-9ueoDnVjgigbipPPT0/s1600/DSC00099.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1555" data-original-width="1166" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiyuqHAieNly437Y2GF1vCRHmZBJqz0ICqiI699yxE-EHIAznPuaQBQO_C5oC9IC3fcT2YpPGATBHrcOOcIuRty488iafpztEh_lzyt1qFs45SVgwvhBmEROFSc-9ueoDnVjgigbipPPT0/s320/DSC00099.JPG" width="239" /></a>Only two full days in Stockholm and we began with hopping on one of those big red busses which meanders all around the major sights of the city and hopping off at the Museum which houses the restored 'Vasa' ship. This was a just-built 17th century royal battleship which on the day it was launched in 1628 to much fanfare floated for only 20 minutes before keeling over and sinking. It was finally raised from the depths in the 1960s and when we first saw it in 1973, it was still very much a wreck undergoing massive treatment prior to restoration. Now it looks almost complete and is quite a sight to see. Many of the artifacts found in the ship are on display and much research has been done on the lives of the officers and sailors on board and it is all so fascinating.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhi59WU78P0vLjsdzVi-Y31E4QmRy1iFhcSUUP5tvWtcJ8-gZrf2agvdPozgyfGR1C_UqkRA6JT6oAdoU1Qlm9za6w6Z9ZddVk3hZG1Cq66GWdPtRF80VoeV_wQvygvcs6FImQBGPWC4Mk/s1600/DSC00102.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="972" data-original-width="1296" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhi59WU78P0vLjsdzVi-Y31E4QmRy1iFhcSUUP5tvWtcJ8-gZrf2agvdPozgyfGR1C_UqkRA6JT6oAdoU1Qlm9za6w6Z9ZddVk3hZG1Cq66GWdPtRF80VoeV_wQvygvcs6FImQBGPWC4Mk/s400/DSC00102.JPG" width="400" /></a>On our last day we began with a long meander through Gamla Stan (the old, original part of Stockholm). Narrow, cobbled streets with beautiful ancient houses and business premises shoulder-to-shoulder along them. Some had the most interesting doorways and some houses still have their ancient fittings like window shutters and all expertly maintained. It was a delightful morning.<br />
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Next we continued on to the Nordiska Museum built in 1907 which tells the story of Nordic lifestyle and traditions from the 16th century onward, through furniture and interiors, fashion and jewellery, glass, porcelain and craftwork. There is also an exhibition focusing on the only indigenous people in the Nordics - the Sami. It was well worth the visit.<br />
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We have really enjoyed our short stay in Stockholm - the city old and new, the friendly people and the lovely food. Whilst here I have been re-reading 'The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo' and although I did not meet Mikael Blomkvist or Lisbeth Salander (!), I loved seeing the actual setting of the Millenium series of Scandi thrillers.<br />
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Tomorrow we travel by high speed train to Oslo to continue our trip.<br />
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Sandrahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13160530448348564690noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4680110897405157379.post-25523214031551113062018-10-29T12:19:00.000+11:002018-10-29T12:19:17.979+11:00Back Home - and Next Trip<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
END OF 2017 TRIP<br />
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Not long after the last entry in our Outback travels of 2017, medical emergency occurred requiring me to have overnight hospital care at Clermont in Queensland and a trip to Emerald for a scan. After treatment and a stock of painkillers, we began the long trip home - only a week shorter than planned.<br />
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However continuing physio and clinical pilates has seen me back to normal and now 15 months later we are packing for our next trip. This is an exciting one for us and we hope to see the Aurora Borealis (Northern Lights) as we travel firstly to Stockholm, then to Oslo, over to Bergin and then by ship up the western coast of Norway to the Arctic Circle and then down through Finland to Helsinki.<br />
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Our big trip begins on Wednesday and, as usual, I'll keep my Travel Blog - http://thebeckettblog.blogspot.com/ updated as we travel so you can read all about our adventures in the very chilly north.</div>
Sandrahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13160530448348564690noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4680110897405157379.post-37451396709907269332017-08-03T22:23:00.001+10:002017-08-03T22:23:47.255+10:00Winton and Hughenden - dinosaurs and fossils<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
Somehow on all our outback trips we seem to visit Winton. It's a small outback town in mid-west Queensland and every time we visit it seems to us to be the quintessential Aussie outback town. It is also home to the absolutely amazing "Age of Australian Dinosaurs" museum. <br />
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Peter loves spending a couple of days in their Lab scraping away the rock and earth which encases the bones of these pre-historic animals, and the whole set-up now is much more than a museum and if anyone is interested I urge you to have a look at their webpage - www.australianageofdinosaurs.com.<br />
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Winton itself claims to be the home of the Australian song "Waltzing Matilda" as the words were written by Australian poet, Banjo Paterson, when visiting Winton in 1895. There was a quite wonderful museum dedicated to this song in Winton which sadly burnt down several years ago. It is now being re-built to a new, big and very swish design and hopefully will replace the old as many artifacts were able to be rescued from the fire. The locals have mixed feelings about the new design and some feel it will be a bit 'citified' for this laid-back, outback country town. Time will tell.<br />
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Locals are friendly and always up for a chat. <br />
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One is the elderly owner of Searles - a store that sells a wide variety of goods. Bernie Searle has worked in the store founded by his father in 1946 for 65 years. One eye-catching feature is a display of old Australian hats - mostly the traditional Akrubra - that certainly all had been much loved and worn for many years. Bernie noticed my interest and was happy to yarn about his big trip to Sydney and his invitation to attend the book launch of a beautiful 'coffee-table' book devoted to the Akrubra hat. Bernie and his store even featured in the book being long-time retailers of these hats. He didn't think much of Sydney, he said, too noisy and too many people and he was glad to get back to Winton after his city outing.<br />
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The town, as well as dinosaurs, also has digs for boulder opal and of course there are stores where you can buy opal either in the 'rough' or polished and mounted in beautiful designs. In one shop I heard a Canadian accent and got to chatting with another overseas visitor - they were from Saskatchewan and so we had a lovely talk about our trip there and Rouleau, the town we visited, where "Corner Gas" (Canadian television comedy) was filmed.<br />
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Winton has a Musical Fence! (You read that correctly!). It was designed by percussionist and composer Graeme Leak in 2003 and is a wire fence that can be played as a musical instrument and it is the first permanent musical fence installation in the world. Nearby is a 'drum kit' made of all sorts of metal rubbish - but it is surprisingly good to bang about on it.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiKPC-4cM_pzvQpSknRgApMu01nO6hdHFK47Ek7bBbmuVju8dEEQtVjEkoMJfqQS77PevMXMa2gsS1_OWPQuUnphREFTBrZyNfT-1Z-8vgkVj1tviEF3JKRXkIgf-Lgv1499u8D1MaF7Xs/s1600/P1060912+small.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1080" data-original-width="810" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiKPC-4cM_pzvQpSknRgApMu01nO6hdHFK47Ek7bBbmuVju8dEEQtVjEkoMJfqQS77PevMXMa2gsS1_OWPQuUnphREFTBrZyNfT-1Z-8vgkVj1tviEF3JKRXkIgf-Lgv1499u8D1MaF7Xs/s400/P1060912+small.jpg" width="300" /></a>We enjoyed our stay in Winton but then we always do! Moving on our next stop was Hughenden, for a few days - again this outback town is in 'dinosaur and fossil' country and it has an extremely good and well presented museum relating the history of the district both ancient and modern. <br />
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The friendly staff there were all dog lovers and urged us to bring Charley in too and they gave him a lovely welcome. We're quite sure all the admiration he attracts will quite go to his head.<br />
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We went fossil hunting just outside the town and after a short time to our surprise, Peter found one - a Belemnite and only about 65 million years old. Absolutely thrilled with our find and so, on our way back we called in to see the Porcupine Gorge - quite a spectacular 'gash' in the surface of the earth and a very fine sight.<br />
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Next we continued travelling east with the next stop - Charters Towers.</div>
Sandrahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13160530448348564690noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4680110897405157379.post-90468901807355042722017-07-26T23:16:00.000+10:002017-07-26T23:16:27.627+10:00Blackall and Longreach<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiKx5lHtrm4DIDPrTQBHfKgezv4GxQIXVKEhruI1Dgu5DuccYsdusZgHlXm2lccay9Oyd0HobjYhgh4YKvI_3Di5FeeEwUF32VYzMSOrvx65ldBmz-MxnEt2ZvIImprapYWnbraTJeDSlg/s1600/P1060867small.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1200" data-original-width="1600" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiKx5lHtrm4DIDPrTQBHfKgezv4GxQIXVKEhruI1Dgu5DuccYsdusZgHlXm2lccay9Oyd0HobjYhgh4YKvI_3Di5FeeEwUF32VYzMSOrvx65ldBmz-MxnEt2ZvIImprapYWnbraTJeDSlg/s320/P1060867small.jpg" width="320" /></span></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgoXFbdLpVw8z-roXzIBqSF4aUrxX3iJL7YCSq3v6z-S8bmuauGfXOiXte2VEh53DAFgjn3q2uB6R4l47Uy9iQGd6qnyQD2goCyewkTOnh4-vecScCnxkHLNF8iQCIwaG7r2v_iBehzvX4/s1600/P1060873small.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1200" data-original-width="1600" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgoXFbdLpVw8z-roXzIBqSF4aUrxX3iJL7YCSq3v6z-S8bmuauGfXOiXte2VEh53DAFgjn3q2uB6R4l47Uy9iQGd6qnyQD2goCyewkTOnh4-vecScCnxkHLNF8iQCIwaG7r2v_iBehzvX4/s320/P1060873small.jpg" width="320" /></span></a><br />
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<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">Had a couple of nights in Blackall on our way to Longreach. Must say we are always impressed at how these small outback towns promote themselves and make the most of any natural and/or historic attractions. At Blackall there is a restored Wool Scour that is quite remarkable. It is the only one left now that Australia no longer 'rides on the sheep's back'. We're still a major sheep country, but all shorn fleece is now shipped to China for the necessary washing and scouring. The Blackall Wool Scour used hot water from the Artesian Basin along with a mighty steam engine to power the whole works. It was fully restored some years ago and is carefully maintained and quite a wonder to see just how efficient was that old technology. In its day tens of thousands sheep were brought here to be shorn with their fleece graded and processed at the same place. It was baled and loaded into a branch railway line to join up with the main line down to Brisbane for shipping.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: times, "times new roman", serif;">We had a lovely day out looking over this Wool Scour and with the open grounds with a small mob of sheep - and one goat - Charley also was most interested.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">Next town was Longreach, where we also stayed for a few days. </span></div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">An original Qantas hangar.</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">The town has two major attractions - firstly<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"> the wonderful Qantas Founders' Museum. The Queensland and Northern Territory Aerial Service (Qantas) was founded in 1920 in Winton and moved its headquarters the following year to Longreach. It has an award winning, world-class museum and cultural display, with interative displays and videos, etc., to tell the history of our national airline. It also has on display a de Havilland DH-61 Giant Moth, de Havilland DH-50, and Avro 504K Dyak; Quantas' first aircraft as well as some more modern craft like a Catalina and a massive Boeing 747. Well worth visiting.</span></span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhtMvL69-HBq_JhAPcPC5vBfduyXSW-BDf9xAkDTfBu3ZuTGi-6rrOCvfrWJ_sR3aS1NTMa4kbXPpBtpmt23X8fMwwSUNaaDH5E67HPOV4-58EBmPvPZr_2oniSEvxn-G5T9hKiMopf5Fc/s1600/P1060878small.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="1200" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhtMvL69-HBq_JhAPcPC5vBfduyXSW-BDf9xAkDTfBu3ZuTGi-6rrOCvfrWJ_sR3aS1NTMa4kbXPpBtpmt23X8fMwwSUNaaDH5E67HPOV4-58EBmPvPZr_2oniSEvxn-G5T9hKiMopf5Fc/s320/P1060878small.jpg" width="240" /></span></a><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">Secondly, the town has the Australian Stockman's Hall of Fame - a massive complex detailing much of the work of Australia's early outback settler families and the essential work of the stockmen/drovers on those vast cattle stations (ranches to non-Australians). </span></div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">Beautiful old Longreach Railway Station</span></td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The vast view from the Lookout</td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: times, "times new roman", serif;">One day we drove about half and hour out of town where, in the middle of nowhere (it seems) is a mesa (jump-up) called Captain Starlight's Lookout. It's named after a bushranger character in Rolf Boldrewood's novel "Robbery Under Arms". </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: times, "times new roman", serif;">There's no pathway but a very rough, rocky way to the top. It took about 15 minutes to scramble up - but in that time Charley was up and down about 4 times. The view from the top was well worth it - in any direction.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: times, "times new roman", serif;">Three days is not long enough in Longreach!</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: times, "times new roman", serif;">Staying an extra few days gave us time to wash off some outback dust from our car and van and also do the essential clothes wash, too.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: times, "times new roman", serif;">We had a final dinner at the local pub Bistro, and next morning, packed up and were on our way again. </span></div>
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Sandrahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13160530448348564690noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4680110897405157379.post-20655882803654588772017-07-20T10:09:00.000+10:002017-07-20T10:09:15.471+10:00Quilpie to Charleville<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<span lang="EN-US">We had an
overnight stop at Quilpie on our way to Charleville. Quilpie is a nice, neat
little town and the caravan park was spacious and had very good facilities – this
includes an artesian bore which provided a very welcome hot outdoor spa for
travellers – especially me! Nicely refreshed later that evening we walked out – with Charley – to
the local pub for our evening meal which had an outdoor area for eating. It
didn’t mind a well behaved dog waiting patiently for any little treats which
might accidently fall from the table. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiFrXTkduRoiSigbyQ5Bu7NGGocpCyCAVdzMtJbzndcOHnoW1D2BshGRzLlXcEHGAipSpOkEUx0TtQz5OMOqpCMvNEk30eDAKyHJLyDUar8KlwqhuUiz1DlD-roKxjn7rnb5dGN5Nwz6sA/s1600/P1060863small.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; display: inline !important; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="1200" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiFrXTkduRoiSigbyQ5Bu7NGGocpCyCAVdzMtJbzndcOHnoW1D2BshGRzLlXcEHGAipSpOkEUx0TtQz5OMOqpCMvNEk30eDAKyHJLyDUar8KlwqhuUiz1DlD-roKxjn7rnb5dGN5Nwz6sA/s320/P1060863small.jpg" width="240" /></a><span lang="EN-US">Next
morning it was only a few hours’ drive to Charleville – a town we have visited
before and like very much. It has quite a range of interesting sights – these
range from a wonderful observatory (the night sky in this outback area is quite
brilliant), a Bilby Experience (a small, cute but endangered Australian
mammal), a drive through of a once secret WW2 American Airforce Base and a
wonderful, huge old hotel built in the 1930s by a Greek immigrant Harry
Corones. Before all that it was an important stop in droving days when the
cattle were walked hundreds of miles to the railhead here to be loaded on
trains for the Brisbane market. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US">All during
the past few weeks while travelling through the Channel Country and further
north into Queensland, I have been reading ‘Kidman – the Forgotten King’ (J
Bowen, 1987) a biography of Sir Sidney Kidman who, in the late 1890s and the
first half of the 1900s, built up an extensive empire by cattle dealing, droving
and buying properties throughout this area. He ended up either owning or
leasing more land than anyone else in the British Commonwealth and his cattle
sales were legendary. It’s an incredible story and it is so interesting to
think that he knew this land that we are travelling through very well and, in
fact, owned so much of it.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US">The park we stay at is one of the friendliest camp and several times a week the proprietors offer a campfire dinner – You pay $19 each, byo chairs, plates, cutlery and
drinks, and share in a delicious slow cooked dinner of beef stew and vegetables
followed by Apple Sponge and billy tea. A delicious meal and nice to sit and talk
to other campers by a lovely warm campfire.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<div class="MsoNormal">
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh7B9GkXKAaY6US_IP4aUGxH8Stq7B2y6IDZwpMN071_ssQKaFNmAcjcZ0dCti5FeUMrol1dlPXhyEVV-WPEanwqUcoEzTcu3StGOxexy-lIPnnfd14FBC_Smg5GaUUvF9vZw3nfp6Zmeo/s1600/P1060859small.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="1200" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh7B9GkXKAaY6US_IP4aUGxH8Stq7B2y6IDZwpMN071_ssQKaFNmAcjcZ0dCti5FeUMrol1dlPXhyEVV-WPEanwqUcoEzTcu3StGOxexy-lIPnnfd14FBC_Smg5GaUUvF9vZw3nfp6Zmeo/s320/P1060859small.jpg" width="240" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Curious kangaroos near the old airbase.<br /></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<span lang="EN-US">We renewed
our memory of past visits to Charleville by touring around the town and calling in at various
places – the observatory, the Royal Flying Doctor base, Bilby Centre and the
quite lovely old Railway Station. During the war o</span>ver three and a half thousand soldiers/airmen manned a secret American Air Base here - and it was huge - and very top secret. It was based here because it was too far for enemy fighters to reach, but could safely maintain planes to despatch to northern bases. Over two hundred and fifty bombers left Charleville (refuelling at Charters Towers) enroute to the Battle of the Coral Sea. Only about 210 made it back.</div>
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<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgSDy3asmaNl_WVxhMivII8qX2UwAyQ7aGz7Z_OZUyVJhSqIfC53B9mDJdZurnoyGT032Ce20Z0hSmxXYXrR-RVqaaymZlgOzoxRxOerNv5a7I68aGLi4yfcKjeuEvD0G0wVPOpM9qQiio/s1600/P1060860small.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1200" data-original-width="1600" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgSDy3asmaNl_WVxhMivII8qX2UwAyQ7aGz7Z_OZUyVJhSqIfC53B9mDJdZurnoyGT032Ce20Z0hSmxXYXrR-RVqaaymZlgOzoxRxOerNv5a7I68aGLi4yfcKjeuEvD0G0wVPOpM9qQiio/s320/P1060860small.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Original decor of the very big public bar.<br /></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiI0YOyfeKgOI7n574AVqHHwxuexmuvtCyYHaSp0qgXH-ohUXACd5opYNNV50Te3Wl9yYEnZnefq_b2jTM3iheHTKrhgOVEwfZNDIudjDFk7BVNc3GiSwgY36pAp2EI9Qcf6H9bctTHhdo/s1600/P1060862small.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1200" data-original-width="1600" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiI0YOyfeKgOI7n574AVqHHwxuexmuvtCyYHaSp0qgXH-ohUXACd5opYNNV50Te3Wl9yYEnZnefq_b2jTM3iheHTKrhgOVEwfZNDIudjDFk7BVNc3GiSwgY36pAp2EI9Qcf6H9bctTHhdo/s400/P1060862small.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Lounge area (with open fire) of the old hotel.<br /></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<span lang="EN-US">After some
housekeeping – the eternal washing and grocery shopping, then a lunch at the re-opened Corones Hotel, we were on our way
again this time to Blackall on our way to another </span>favourite<span lang="EN-US"> place – Longreach.</span></div>
Sandrahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13160530448348564690noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4680110897405157379.post-41009403049476762262017-07-13T19:55:00.000+10:002017-07-13T20:27:11.542+10:00Tibooburra and Noccundra<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
We rolled into Tibooburra, checked in at the local service station cum supermarket and booked into the only van park in this very old mining settlement. It is a popular place for small prospectors to come in the winter months with their gold detectors but there are some permanent prospectors who live here all year. This very small town has the reputation of being the hottest place in New South Wales but is beautifully comfortable in wintertime.<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhzjAiuP223vTeiM-J6W6D24ltQGvqYbD5cYdY90qPvVECHoJId_QfHZFlKqCinJYHPwrMINUxhZETYGs5SjvVYX2MF23Ex49Ma5BJpoGr2Z2trgAJyGwjRnm2tCib7JYnIUT3talHPwUI/s1600/P1060844small.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1200" data-original-width="1600" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhzjAiuP223vTeiM-J6W6D24ltQGvqYbD5cYdY90qPvVECHoJId_QfHZFlKqCinJYHPwrMINUxhZETYGs5SjvVYX2MF23Ex49Ma5BJpoGr2Z2trgAJyGwjRnm2tCib7JYnIUT3talHPwUI/s400/P1060844small.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The very effective town sign with silhouettes of early settlers.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
We quite like these small outback parks because as long as your dog is well behaved, they don't mind if he is off-leash - which certainly makes for a happy dog. Charley has proved to be a wonderful 'ice-breaker', as everyone, it seems, loves Border Collies and stops for a pat and then stays for a long chat.<br />
<br />
Peter went off one day with Charley and his metal detector whilst I stayed at the van with a book and my knitting. Unfortunately when he returned - no gold nuggets yet. There's not a lot of attractions in Tibooburra, but we were told that pizza night at the local pub was the place to go on Sunday evening. While waiting for our order, we overhead a young family at the next table speaking in a foreign language. Peter guessed Sweden, and was proved right later when I started chatting with them. This Swedish couple were here in Australia for a year. He was a doctor working for the NSW Air Ambulance out of Sydney and Orange. This is similar to the Royal Flying Doctor Service, but for more urban areas nearer the coast. They had some leave so had come to see the 'outback' - and you can't get more outback than Tibooburra. No television reception (only with a satellite dish).<br />
<br />
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh3TNkylenFeG4aXLY65DGu2xi3GTS3pgnxJtvIWIaCc8uP1YgIyjTpPXg8LxCJr8xZMOXHkmEP7u6X6ZFl_PYfK4VGxoKVu4QXnHoaSypt286Dw7BSomb8U3j_RNcL-1R_ZG0nIF86dnc/s1600/P1060832small.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1200" data-original-width="1600" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh3TNkylenFeG4aXLY65DGu2xi3GTS3pgnxJtvIWIaCc8uP1YgIyjTpPXg8LxCJr8xZMOXHkmEP7u6X6ZFl_PYfK4VGxoKVu4QXnHoaSypt286Dw7BSomb8U3j_RNcL-1R_ZG0nIF86dnc/s320/P1060832small.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Cameron Corner with the Dog Fence</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div style="text-align: left;">
Next day we drove to Cameron Corner - the very remote spot where the corners of Queensland and New South Wales meet the border of South Australia. It is about a 300 kilometre round trip, and the road through the Sturt National Park not only has plenty of kangaroos and emus but has some wonderful scenery and from the top of the escarpment it was just breathtaking. On reaching the Corner, who did we meet but the Swedish family once again.</div>
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<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
At Cameron Corner you can see the Dingo Fence or Dog Fence which is a pest-exclusion fence that was built during the 1880s and finished in 1885, to keep dingoes out of the relatively fertile south-east part of the continent (where they had largely been exterminated) and protect the sheep flocks of southern Queensland. It is one of the longest structures in the world and is the world's longest fence - around three thousand, five hundred miles long!</div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjr5ymda5BKsFs7yjTMFftzkCm7fVSNDQ9ITElQh7qfbUbrqzYzlCirNmmksrRBBDlE5dXFRsiCT6GvIqwa8k0dx3TDjZWgcKxdyFLFU8gN5jGAdXA9ReWPJrhj7vC5m3qc62l51K2z5yM/s1600/P1060820small.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1166" data-original-width="1555" height="239" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjr5ymda5BKsFs7yjTMFftzkCm7fVSNDQ9ITElQh7qfbUbrqzYzlCirNmmksrRBBDlE5dXFRsiCT6GvIqwa8k0dx3TDjZWgcKxdyFLFU8gN5jGAdXA9ReWPJrhj7vC5m3qc62l51K2z5yM/s320/P1060820small.jpg" width="320" /></a>Back at Tibooburra a walk around the town showed us some interesting spots - even a small very rustic drive-in cinema (not in use) and a replica of the whaleboat which explorer Charles Sturt in 1844 brought up from Adelaide with his expedition believing he would find an inland sea. He finally gave up and abandoned the boat here in Tibooburra.<br />
<br />
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiFjQGQhB-B2LjRgeR5y7viglgjFVL1_tFAyoFyI0a92dpwa2zEkg_F6uh3EpXYjucZkoKfLyNU9k65yI-fW0Dd_mfAjdLFH_cnFSCdsEa_HC_AiGdTd4RfiSx62MBfE7qWVrtnLzh2HxY/s1600/P1060826small.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1200" data-original-width="1600" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiFjQGQhB-B2LjRgeR5y7viglgjFVL1_tFAyoFyI0a92dpwa2zEkg_F6uh3EpXYjucZkoKfLyNU9k65yI-fW0Dd_mfAjdLFH_cnFSCdsEa_HC_AiGdTd4RfiSx62MBfE7qWVrtnLzh2HxY/s320/P1060826small.jpg" width="320" /></a>Also on display is a massive very ancient fossilised tree trunk found and excavated locally.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEggnK9gUdlLAOIANyRkF-tOaqzC0cqP87WBqzMNr_ULiloSE0KTMMLYEFciI45Zjd-Zb9xxILJUwQaxxbaoBfutystFxxNot5PD_YEItZEBDqvPl010yTkAHxH3hRTiNFMez8NcoJba3zo/s1600/P1060822small.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1200" data-original-width="1600" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEggnK9gUdlLAOIANyRkF-tOaqzC0cqP87WBqzMNr_ULiloSE0KTMMLYEFciI45Zjd-Zb9xxILJUwQaxxbaoBfutystFxxNot5PD_YEItZEBDqvPl010yTkAHxH3hRTiNFMez8NcoJba3zo/s320/P1060822small.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
Moving on and checking road conditions, the next stop on our trip was an overnight free-camp on the banks of the Wilson River at Noccundra.<br />
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There is no town as such just a pub with a few motel units, fuel bowsers and alongside public showers and toilets. These latter facilities are used by the free-campers who like to stay by the river about half a kilometre away. Campers have to be self-reliant - there is no power or drinking water and you're definitely out of mobile phone range. No television either! <br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj1nWKbgjAvjpPx0arZvGEJkoFb7ehX1ED6KMXclOe3aeeMsE0m97zWWPIKorCBPAYtp5PUSnUK5C9kjpssbwWQm8oqcTki43fhlxjQBGFsJngpS3cebzdLeneFVuSkgxn1FgDV2FV61Ic/s1600/P1060853small.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1037" data-original-width="1382" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj1nWKbgjAvjpPx0arZvGEJkoFb7ehX1ED6KMXclOe3aeeMsE0m97zWWPIKorCBPAYtp5PUSnUK5C9kjpssbwWQm8oqcTki43fhlxjQBGFsJngpS3cebzdLeneFVuSkgxn1FgDV2FV61Ic/s400/P1060853small.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhnGKxQ9e_nLrejQWBJSjcwEJ8yKui4QxDiWGpZv_1NGfEvxqF89xxrBsLVFffXQx5SCa5KGCZGvSD3sEEcY-lpIcf8adm0mDgOUoj2czduoDzmdcA24YZeb96UysVee3l8SfoLSQoZDuw/s1600/P1060856small.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="972" data-original-width="1296" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhnGKxQ9e_nLrejQWBJSjcwEJ8yKui4QxDiWGpZv_1NGfEvxqF89xxrBsLVFffXQx5SCa5KGCZGvSD3sEEcY-lpIcf8adm0mDgOUoj2czduoDzmdcA24YZeb96UysVee3l8SfoLSQoZDuw/s320/P1060856small.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
However you have a riverside spot with birdsong, peaceful and beautiful - and at night a campfire to sit around with stars above that are just brilliant.<br />
<br />
Travelling on next day to Quilpie on our way to Charleville.</div>
Sandrahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13160530448348564690noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4680110897405157379.post-34456841136403115812017-07-03T10:44:00.000+10:002017-07-03T10:44:15.665+10:00Whitecliffs, Broken Hill, Milparinka<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
Travelling further north, we came to Whitecliffs - a small opal mining community - and set up in the caravan park there for four days. While Peter was most interested in the mining of opal and a little fossicking, I was content to sit with a book or knitting when he joined a Mine tour one day.<br />
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgsRozxA8GrjAwhaUpiNIC8X5fSIWjX3Gb981SL0MHEdaLgeqgO-pWGQsgh5srWVifZyzRFljlX7SGeZBzf6bure1RSKaZ9IJ1M_GvZFi0i236tBVEz6WFjUTCrJuuu4zul_IRtuiMrxVU/s1600/P1060782.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1200" data-original-width="1600" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgsRozxA8GrjAwhaUpiNIC8X5fSIWjX3Gb981SL0MHEdaLgeqgO-pWGQsgh5srWVifZyzRFljlX7SGeZBzf6bure1RSKaZ9IJ1M_GvZFi0i236tBVEz6WFjUTCrJuuu4zul_IRtuiMrxVU/s320/P1060782.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Looking down at Whitecliffs</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEic0tB2A07P9N_STYoN0NjiRm-nqoHm_jgO20488OMCM1ZU5zX17b5NvAUcLeRnnuuDw8TF-wIeG_AuPTF7idVtd6fuMd513leD-CPJCoOt_WZFDNG659622NH6TYIxxK8qrGvDItGZsxw/s1600/P1060785.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1200" data-original-width="1600" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEic0tB2A07P9N_STYoN0NjiRm-nqoHm_jgO20488OMCM1ZU5zX17b5NvAUcLeRnnuuDw8TF-wIeG_AuPTF7idVtd6fuMd513leD-CPJCoOt_WZFDNG659622NH6TYIxxK8qrGvDItGZsxw/s320/P1060785.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Red Earth Goldmine shop and tour</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjbqWL0pvR-fQlhPSQ9d_TR5iU7Kdq6fO_hFlL2wJa5Q23xGZVaGngeMGsY6EOATGQwUmb8foJ9eGtO21x90GquXgN0VROmeVET7yAECr2NJ9mvQGJ9MXi-NlTeW2FQnF7SF-L-zv0tlMg/s1600/P1060789.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="1200" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjbqWL0pvR-fQlhPSQ9d_TR5iU7Kdq6fO_hFlL2wJa5Q23xGZVaGngeMGsY6EOATGQwUmb8foJ9eGtO21x90GquXgN0VROmeVET7yAECr2NJ9mvQGJ9MXi-NlTeW2FQnF7SF-L-zv0tlMg/s320/P1060789.JPG" width="240" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Pioneer children's cemetery</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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Whitecliffs has a constant changing population of campers who come - sometimes for several months in winter months - to fossick for opal in areas surrounding the settlement. There is a pub, a petrol station and a very small general store but not a lot else going for it. A 4 litre bottle of milk and a loaf of bread cost me a staggering $14.50, so I think the owners take advantage of the remoteness of the town to make a good profit.<br />
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One night we went to the local Sporting Club for their weekly 'roast dinner'. $20 each gave us a bowl of Pumpkin Soup, followed by either Chicken or Corned Silverside with white sauce, plus vegetables. Not really a roast dinner, but it certainly filled us up. Seated nearby was a roughly dressed man I took to be a truck driver however when he began speaking he had a soft South African accent. Hugh had been born there, went on to University and was now a Professor and lectured and advised on Arid Land Management. We had an interesting discussion about his birthplace and spoke of some of the places we had visited in Africa in 20..<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Peter & Charley at the Line of Lode lookout</td></tr>
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Leaving White Cliffs we drove to Broken Hill for a short stay. There we stocked up on groceries, did some washing and revisited some places we had seen on a prior visit. I love our old architecture and stopped to take some photos in the main street. Visited the Line of Lode lookout, drove past the delightful 1950s styled Bell's Milkbar and waved as we sailed passed artist Pro Hart's gallery and said a silent 'hello' when I glimpsed my Scottish grandmother's Lang family's (James Lang & Son) massive industrial lathe still on display at the Railway Museum. (All of these were visited four years ago on a much longer visit to Broken Hill).<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Argent Street, Broken Hill</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Torpy's Store in Argent Street</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Such an extravagant Trades Hall.</td></tr>
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Leaving we drove along the Silver City Highway with a brief stop at Packsaddle whose roadhouse was one of the best we had seen - clean, tidy and welcoming. <br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg0Qou5WMzN9wyshAk3MJreo9YcMqSiSSW2dL-aFWq704M-nZvySf4mk5pf0W9BUosPWVKOMJd0xtLM8J2BpdxcKcQMiju4mtrtrpcBEUG9z9ueK6dmQyywWVsZJ-8u0dosGazmi19U54s/s1600/Packsaddle+Roadhousesmall.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1200" data-original-width="1600" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg0Qou5WMzN9wyshAk3MJreo9YcMqSiSSW2dL-aFWq704M-nZvySf4mk5pf0W9BUosPWVKOMJd0xtLM8J2BpdxcKcQMiju4mtrtrpcBEUG9z9ueK6dmQyywWVsZJ-8u0dosGazmi19U54s/s400/Packsaddle+Roadhousesmall.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Packsaddle Roadhouse dining room.<br /></td></tr>
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Onwards then, to our next stop which was to be a Stationstay (camping on an outback farming property).<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The countryside near Theldarpa</td></tr>
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It was Theldarpa Station and it took quite a few hours along some rough roads to get there. Unfortunately, when we phoned the owner, he was most apologetic saying he and his family were in Brisbane for a couple of weeks. However he did tell us where to set up, find power, water and showers and toilets in the Shearers' quarters. We enjoyed the wide open spaces there, but with no-one around, we only stayed one night and headed back along the long unmade road to Tibooburra stopping around midday for a good look around the historic own goldfields town of Milparinka - a remote and very dry area.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Milparinka's old Courthouse (left) and Police Station<br /></td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The old Police Lock-up with original doors.</td></tr>
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This was once the main town for the Albert goldfields from the 1880s to the early 1920s. I quote from the Albert Goldfields information sheet: <i>"Most of those who rushed to the new fields of the Albert Gold District were ill prepared for the conditions. They started, with their picks and shovels and Miner's Right, on a journey of more than 300 kilometres into an area only recently explored, and described by [Explorer] Sturt as 'stoney, waterless waste'. Once there they set up their tents or built a hut, pegged their claim and set to work". </i>Being so remote, "..<i>.miners ran out of food and were starving</i>". Eventually a string of camels were loaded with food and provisions and sent. The cameleers were predominantly Afghani, and provided the settlement for many years. Interestingly most of the deaths were either due to scurvy (later Chinese grew vegetables in market gardens and so prevented many deaths), or, surprisingly, to drowning (flash flooding in some years). A really interesting place to visit and learn some of its history. Next stop Tibooburra (another town in the goldfield area). <br />
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Sandrahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13160530448348564690noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4680110897405157379.post-73646245377815002502017-06-23T13:29:00.001+10:002017-06-23T13:29:49.890+10:002017 Caravan Travels - with Charley<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
Our trip this year began last Tuesday with our caravan all loaded up, the car newly serviced and everything set up for an expedition to warmer climes to the north of Australia. With our Border Collie dog, Charley with us we headed north from Hastings in Victoria and had our first overnight stop at Deniliquin in New South Wales.<br />
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Next day was warmer after a very chilly night and gradually throughout the drive the sky cleared and in mid afternoon we arrived at Ivanhoe (central-west NSW). Now we were in typical outback territory - very flat landscape and ochre coloured soil. We checked in at the small caravan park that we had stayed in several years ago hoping to continue north to Whitecliffs. That time we had heavy rain and the road was closed which meant a very long drive back to Hay and then over to join the Kidman Way to go north.<br />
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This time we were luckier - no rain! Not long after we set up, another van pulled in and of course we had a chat with Sully and Wendy - also retirees enjoying their travels. Sully had worked on the railways and liked a beer and a talk. Over the road we went to the local pub for dinner that night - fantastic fish and chips, so a good start to our trip.<br />
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Next day, Sully and Wendy headed off to Menindee Lakes and we continued north to Wilcannia. We have stopped here for a couple of nights as we have a great spot by the Darling River with wide open spaces and plenty of room for Charley to run around without a lead. There are some very old, massive river gums here, but with signs saying 'Limbs may fall' we have been careful not to park beneath them. <br />
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There is also a nice little stone weir just upstream with a few pelicans and herons waiting patiently for a fish feed.<br />
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Wilcannia is a small town with a large Aboriginal population with just the basic post office, garage workshop, police station, small supermarket, etc. The one popular spot for tourists is a small, attractive coffee shop with indoor and outdoor seating. Dogs are welcome in the outdoor setting, so with a nice cappuchino, we chatted to a young family nearby about dogs. Charley is always an attraction and conversation starter. <br />
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At one time it must have been quite a prosperous locality going by a few very substantial buildings dating from around the 1880s. There is also a very large Catholic Convent here that has long since been abandoned with massive damage at one end. There is a sign saying 'This Heritage building is due to be repaired and restored in 2012/13'. Somehow, sadly, I think it has been forgotten!<br />
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Tomorrow, we'll head on up to Whitecliffs where there is opal mining, so a good look around that area is planned.<br />
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Sandrahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13160530448348564690noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4680110897405157379.post-40403577084099506432016-09-11T17:52:00.000+10:002016-09-11T17:52:30.391+10:00Italy<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
We had opted for a trip to Pompeii and this included Sorrento as well. Some very fine inlaid furniture is manufactured here and of course we were directed through the premises of one such place.<br />
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The quality of workmanship - no doubt about it - was superb but while we could admire the finished pieces, we were happy to leave and spend an hour or so browsing the small streets before it was time for lunch.<br />
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Beautiful little boutiques held some really gorgeous linen ladies clothes and some serious money could easily have been spent here, however I restrained myself and only bought a few small gifts for family.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEglHVYggDgbapqM9KZVeNneoSWHwzjqe4TSOc4qDYQilDq0uTTazm83osXfCT0w2D34mA215kQGNzkI7rzZRCsHGBsO_P_7kscvxHpVFrUooWMP0mL_MGitvG89xnmClj386ZOpfb7aJkU/s1600/DSCF2479.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="150" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEglHVYggDgbapqM9KZVeNneoSWHwzjqe4TSOc4qDYQilDq0uTTazm83osXfCT0w2D34mA215kQGNzkI7rzZRCsHGBsO_P_7kscvxHpVFrUooWMP0mL_MGitvG89xnmClj386ZOpfb7aJkU/s200/DSCF2479.JPG" style="cursor: move;" width="200" /></a>Heading back north we came to Pompeii and so joined the throngs of tourists following their little flag carrying guides through the ancient and astonishing ruins. <br />
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We had visited Pompeii in 1973 and found, that while some more excavation had been carried out and more areas opened to view, we thought that some areas where before wall frescos still had fairly bright paint, now they had faded considerably. <br />
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We were also not impressed with the giant 'antique' statues that had been placed in various areas supposedly to enhance the ruins - but in our minds were a distraction. I did my best to take photos from different angles to avoid them. It was an extremely hot day with hoards of other sightseers so after several hours of walking around, it was a relief to finally be driven back to our ship in air-conditioned comfort.<br />
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With only one more night before we finally disembarked at Civitavecchia we had a last 'dress-up' gourmet dinner, visited the live show one last time and said goodbye to the wonderful "BB King All Star" blues band which performed each evening and which we usually dropped in to listen to for an hour before bedtime. Great music from this band!<br />
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Cases packed and left outside our door for transporting off the ship, we slept well in our comfortable cabin (ahem, 'stateroom') and sailed through the night to dock in the early morning. We finally left the ship about 9.30, picked up our baggage and took the shuttle bus to the rail station for an hour's trip to Central Rome. </div>
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By 1.30pm we were checking into our small hotel and were delighted to find that it is literally just around the corner from the wonderful Piazza Navona. On our own, we 'did as the Romans did' and had an afternoon rest in the heat of the day and ventured out later to explore the Piazza and sit outside the Cafe Bernini with delicious thin crust pizza with glasses of beer and rosé. </div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Cooling off with an Iced Coffee - Roman style</td></tr>
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Later after sundown, the Piazza comes alive with the surrounding restaurants spruiking for business, street sellers trying their best to sell you 'selfie-sticks', buskers playing accordians and singing and street artists sketching. Tourists and locals promenade all around and it is just a great place for people watching. </div>
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The second last day of our trip was a day to ourselves in Rome and after breakfast on the hotel's rooftop terrace we headed out for a "Hop on, Hop off" coach tour around this amazing city. We had visited here in 1973 (as well as Venice and Pompeii) and again noticed many changes. Where were all the Vespa motor scooters (a la 'Roman Holiday') whizzing around the cobbled streets? It seems the Italians have up-graded and now either ride bigger motorbikes or drive small cars. Why was it so quiet with no horn tooting and impatient gesturing? In 1973 it was a cacophony in the city centre. No more although the traffic was just as heavy as before.</div>
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Rome still astonishes, though. Narrow cobbled streets lead hither and thither and often you turn a corner to find a building centuries old nestled in amongst modern structures. We turned another corner to find ourselves facing hoards of people gathered around the Trevi Fountain, so many that it was impossible to get near it. We remembered throwing a few coins in the fountain in 1973 - so I suppose the tradition was fulfilled as we had indeed returned to Rome.</div>
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Our walk continued and soon around another corner was the astonishing Pantheon, built by the Emperor Hadrian in 110AD as a temple but which has been a church for the past 1400 years. It is just jaw-dropping - amazing architecture and beautifully preserved and a great pleasure to visit.</div>
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Our flight home didn't leave until evening next day, so our final hours were spent - you guessed it - at the premier Roman attraction, the Colisseum. </div>
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Of course there were thousands of others all queuing up in the morning heat to tour through this amazing and iconic site. We managed to save a bit of time by booking tickets online, although we still had about a half hour queuing. </div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjjF0gBSOKOwNUkZ9iNgmk6qIj08-SUPZb1xlhNmaofFJa9dQcbl3vU-PDsKSL_nOWLcRQkqgm7lRTxcI9vQs4o15j_2YVbFdl3yh4yhSI88j1VcgfEGuXrwO4g1jLp9VvcTkXbh2F8vCY/s1600/P1060101.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjjF0gBSOKOwNUkZ9iNgmk6qIj08-SUPZb1xlhNmaofFJa9dQcbl3vU-PDsKSL_nOWLcRQkqgm7lRTxcI9vQs4o15j_2YVbFdl3yh4yhSI88j1VcgfEGuXrwO4g1jLp9VvcTkXbh2F8vCY/s320/P1060101.JPG" width="240" /></a>Much restoration work has been carried out and I was amused to find that when we visited in 1973 the place was over-run by stray cats, but these days - not a kitty to be found!</div>
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All too soon, but only after we had a farewell pizza at Cafe Bernini, we were headed for the airport and and an uneventful flight home. Leaving Rome in 30 deg heat - we arrived home in Melbourne twenty-four hours later to a very chilly 7 degrees. Back to winter weather with memories of heat and such wonderful trip experiences to make it all worthwhile. </div>
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Sandrahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13160530448348564690noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4680110897405157379.post-62902184105459801202016-09-03T18:02:00.000+10:002016-09-03T18:02:36.464+10:00Rhodes, Santorini - the last of our Greek visit<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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Rhodes – We docked in the historic harbour (one of three) which is quite close to the ancient gateways leading into the old town. It is quite lovely and our guide today took us on a brief coach trip outside the city walls then returned to show us the Palace of the Grand Masters which had been built in the fifteenth century by the Knights of St John. Later some of it had been destroyed and it was rebuilt by Italians around the mid 1930s for the use of Mussolini. He died before he could visit it (and a good thing too!).<br />
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There were numerous children busking - usually playing and accordian and sometimes singing and mostly it was "Never on Sunday" or Zorba's Song (from Zorba the Greek).<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhJFn0oAdberXtH7g7b1XuMkUcAEIsRVEpJ8XgEyn7P6fXwmg4RFNtZxew87qBBMq2Ppni8GFi0kFGD7x1znlKLWUTs8x0ISjNU0Xdpn7_LtMnPHgJ_u3hJS1Ug3tC24oefYM6DhqyE_fo/s1600/DSCF2354.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhJFn0oAdberXtH7g7b1XuMkUcAEIsRVEpJ8XgEyn7P6fXwmg4RFNtZxew87qBBMq2Ppni8GFi0kFGD7x1znlKLWUTs8x0ISjNU0Xdpn7_LtMnPHgJ_u3hJS1Ug3tC24oefYM6DhqyE_fo/s320/DSCF2354.JPG" width="320" /></a>The weather still hot and sticky but thankfully with a cool breeze always there to cool us, we were invited to visit yet another museum. This time we decided to sit out in the shade of a tree in a nearby café with cool drinks and wait. Good choice we thought.</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgs-0rfHtojA3cB4djYJZSMrS92CfK9W4dkX7gUww1jqzTMJvwGyhWDnXqJ4_i_VbQDnMjHro7zbfr9EBXbYa0gdN23a2KmSQeUWF_1in3LZ3fbTZ0jNwkjgTdJiJR6kcM48WNctZa5cCs/s1600/DSCF2364.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgs-0rfHtojA3cB4djYJZSMrS92CfK9W4dkX7gUww1jqzTMJvwGyhWDnXqJ4_i_VbQDnMjHro7zbfr9EBXbYa0gdN23a2KmSQeUWF_1in3LZ3fbTZ0jNwkjgTdJiJR6kcM48WNctZa5cCs/s320/DSCF2364.JPG" width="320" /></a>Before returning to the ship we had some free time so browsed the many small quality craft shops lining very old paved alleyways and always nearby some very ancient buildings to remind us of the centuries of history around us.<br />
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Rhodes is a lovely place – one we’d be very happy to return to some time.</div>
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Next day was Santorini - another much looked forward to island. We sailed into the caldera – the centre of an extinct volcano - very early in the morning and anchored in the only spot in this very deep harbour that the anchors could reach (top of a submerged ‘island’).<br />
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We were taken ashore in tenders and from there to coaches which took the very steep zig-zag road to the clifftop.<br />
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As you’d imagine there were quite spectacular views and even more when we reached the small, very high villages where it seemed they were perched side by side on the crest of the old volcano, some almost seemed to be slipping down the sides.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjzYeTynwqJhkhf0hj_0iVdWCUyU1_tyDZySbeFEKZ3gmYvAjVmy_E5txG-PK3HrurmCDXIaPHsWhLOSEEg6iz7WhX4MUSo1hgABaTBARmqCGj5rCT_8SzMaJrxFlauH-V6K7XJQsQwblY/s1600/P1050948.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjzYeTynwqJhkhf0hj_0iVdWCUyU1_tyDZySbeFEKZ3gmYvAjVmy_E5txG-PK3HrurmCDXIaPHsWhLOSEEg6iz7WhX4MUSo1hgABaTBARmqCGj5rCT_8SzMaJrxFlauH-V6K7XJQsQwblY/s320/P1050948.JPG" width="240" /></a>A few narrow little streets were the only places where vehicles could reach and most were like alleyways only for walking – or donkeys which are still used today to transport goods and brave riders up and down the steep alleys in the middle of towns. Again the countryside was very dry and rocky but vineyards were plentiful and here they are grown quite differently. Vines are left to grow in a mound on the ground rather than trained up wires, the reasoning being that the spread of the vine mound keeps the soil beneath shaded from the hot sun and aids water retention. A visit to a winery for some tastings and with such really nice wine and very cheap, we took a couple of bottles back to the ship.<br />
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Our time in Greece ended with Santorini with a 'sea' day and a bit of relaxation as we sailed into Italian waters.<br />
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Sandrahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13160530448348564690noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4680110897405157379.post-23351601305467797652016-08-29T19:00:00.002+10:002016-08-29T20:18:20.847+10:00Albania and the Greek Islands<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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first full day at sea, we had time to explore the ship and find our way around
then on Saturday we arrived in Albanian waters, and this stop was the
substitute for Ephesus in Turkey which had been cancelled due to political
unrest. It was a mystery to most of us – only being open to the world in the
1990s after the fall of Communism. We were taken by coach across country to an
old fort – built 1804. (There seems to be a complete disregard for road rules here especially when parking!) It was quite interesting and picturesque however the
country has a long way to go before it makes even two star tourism status.</div>
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Sunday the 7th – Corfu. Only a couple of hours sailing and we were docking in Corfu. This sightseeing tour took us diagonally
across this beautiful island to a Monastery situated high on the clifftops by
the sea. Only problem we had with this trip was the very serious guide. She had
a very strong accent and a sing-song voice with ”a” added to every word. Very
difficult to listen to for long stretches, and sadly, she tried to fill every
second of the three hour trip! Ah well.<br />
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Monday, 8 August – Olympia (Katakolon) – Great excursion
today, with an excellent good humoured guide.<br />
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We had about a half hour coach
trip to the ancient Olympic site with its excavated ruins. Despite the heat,
our guide directed us to the best shady trees – those with some excavated
remains just right for sitting on. He pointed out the uses of the various
buildings and stadiums and told some extraordinary stories from ancient
writings about the actual games in those far off times. So different from the modern games. </div>
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We were taken next to a restaurant and as well as
traditional Greek lunch we were treated to four traditional Greek dancers
showing us the old folk dances of their land. Of course, there was the ‘Zorba
the Greek’ music and dance although we were told this is not a traditional
Greek song/dance. One of the dancers even enticed Peter to join in, sadly the
ancient Greek gods were on his side as my camera chose that particular time to
run out of battery ‘juice’. His lucky day.</div>
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Tuesday, 9 August – Nafplion – We began with a walk around
the old town, then went by coach about an hour’s drive away to the Corinth
Canal. The tour included a boat ride through the very deep and narrow canal
built back in the 1890s.<br />
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It must have been a wonder of its time, and cut about
100 miles sailing around the bottom of this big peninsula. Today’s ships,
though, are too big to make use of the narrow canal and so it seems it is only
used for tourism. <br />
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Wednesday – Athens. This was to be a 7 hour excursion and
with the temperature predicted to reach the high 30s we were not especially
looking forward to the climb up the Parthenon. However all went well and we
managed the climb despite the heat and the crowds of other sightseers.<br />
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The views were superb and the Acropolis and other nearby temples were awe-inspiring. By the time we made it back down and found our coach, we were ready for lunch. Not yet though – we had an hour’s guided tour through the National Archealogical Museum and I must say it has some absolutely wonderful gold exhibits from the very earliest times of the Minoan Empire as well as stunning Greek – and a few Roman – antiquities.<br />
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One that absolutely amazed us was this jaw-dropping one of a leaping horse with a small african slave mounted on top<br />
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Lunch was provided for us at a Radisson Hotel and it was lovely
to sit and eat Greek food and chat to our fellow passengers. Our excursion
ended with an hour’s shopping time before being taken back to the Oosterdam and
cool air-conditioned relaxing bliss. </div>
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forward to surviving. It was, though, quite a lovely relaxing morning being
driven around this island and hearing its history and stories. All houses (no
higher than ground floor and an upper floor) are painted white with woodwork
trim in a different colour but usually blue. Very simple architecture but
really lovely to see when sited on the dry, and rocky hillsides with the very blue sea below. Inviting
beaches with many beach umbrellas and sunbeds – unused at the early time we
were there but very popular later in the day. We visited yet another monastery
but this one now only used as a museum as the last monk departed this life
several years ago. In the nearby square we were invited to sit and enjoy a
glass of Ouzo and a plate of Greek savouries at a shady restaurant while
chatting to fellow passengers. While I liked the savouries, I must say I didn't take to Ouzo - reminded me very much of a cough syrup my mother used to give me as a child - but good to try different tastes of the country you visit.<br />
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Nearly at an end to our Greek Odyssey now - Next episode we visit Rhodes and Santorini before we venture into Italian waters.<br />
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Sandrahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13160530448348564690noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4680110897405157379.post-55797901029616559692016-08-18T08:06:00.001+10:002016-08-18T08:06:23.655+10:00Venice<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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We found it curious that there wasn’t a direct flight from
Malta to Venice. We flew Malta Airlines to Rome then had a ‘lovely’ 4 hour
stopover at Rome airport before changing to Alitalia for the second flight to
Venice. I must say that the Alitalia staff at the airport were superb – good
humoured and very helpful, so after checking in for the second time in a day we
wandered off to have lunch while waiting for our flight. What else should we
have but pizza and a delicious gelati icecream?<o:p></o:p></div>
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Venice was our embarkation port for our cruise and we
arrived a day early and so had time to wander around this amazing city. </div>
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Our
small hotel – Hotel Ala – was quite close to St Mark’s Square and again we were
so lucky with our choice. The staff were most friendly and helpful and the
morning breakfast was just wonderful. Couldn’t have done better.<o:p></o:p></div>
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We had last visited Venice in 1973 and I must report that we
were not too impressed back then. It was overcast, drizzly rain, the tide was
very high so we had to walk across St Mark’s Square on duckboards, the
buildings all looked like they were crumbling and needed restoration and
finally piles of smelly garbage were everywhere including in the canals! </div>
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This
time however – it was just magical and we enjoyed the narrow walkways between
the buildings and watching the gondolas passing by. Again, we had the good luck
to find a great restaurant and I enjoyed a most delicious lasagne followed by a
dreamy tiramisu. It had to be a totally Italian meal – nothing else would do!<o:p></o:p><br />
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Embarkation was not until the afternoon, so we continued
with our Venice sightseeing visiting a most beautiful old chapel used as a
lacemaking centre. Stunning handwork and I bought a small piece of traditional
Venice handworked lace.<br />
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Browsed a few shops as the queues for St Marks and the
Doge Palace were miles long. Several cruise ships had arrived so you can just imagine the crowds.<br />
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Not willing to queue in the sun for two plus hours, we decided to try and remember the interiors from 43 years ago then we had a
quick lunch before taking a water taxi to ‘our’ cruise ship – the Oosterdam.<o:p></o:p></div>
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Sandrahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13160530448348564690noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4680110897405157379.post-83804073399389750962016-08-08T23:08:00.000+10:002016-08-08T23:08:57.427+10:00To Malta<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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On Monday up packed and cleared our room (home for the past
14 days) and then said our final goodbyes to the staff – presenting an
Australian War Memorial apron to the Belgium lass who came in do the breakfasts
for those guests staying in Talbot House. She had been wearing it all week, so
it had found a good home and she was delighted. After lunch we were driven to
Poperinge Rail Station and very soon we were at Brussels Airport. After the
horrific bombing several months ago increased security was to be expected and
we were glad we arrived extra early. However, with no problems we were able to
board the flight for Malta arriving quite late about 11.30pm. <o:p></o:p></div>
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Valletta looked quite magical at night, and it still seemed
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The old buildings are massive built of stone
quite a few hundred years ago and adapted through the years for modern living. </div>
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Huge buildings – most with an enclosed balcony – built ‘cheek by jowl’ and
divided by steep and narrow streets. Where our hotel was overlooking the
harbour were 163 steps up (and down!) to the nearby centre of town where we
walked to join the day tour of Malta. </div>
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One interesting and very beautiful
Valletta church we visited had a bomb dropped on it during the war. It dropped
down through its dome and rolled across the marble floor – and didn’t explode.
It is, of course, regarded as a miracle. Out in the surrounding countryside,
the island is very dry. Very little rain falls and we wonder where all its
fresh water comes from to support the massive population. <o:p></o:p><br />
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The tour included a quite good lunch before we continued on
to Mdina – a fortress town where we visited an area which was formerly an
airforce base but is now occupied by various different small craft factories –
glass, lace, silver filigree, etc. </div>
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The
church of Mary Magdalene overlooking the sea was beautifully sited on the
clifftop but the surrounding countryside was just so dry and rocky.<o:p></o:p></div>
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Back in Valletta and after an afternoon siesta, we headed
out for dinner and up another long flight of steps we found a great restaurant
with an outdoor area complete with a fantastic jazz combo to accompany our
quite delicious meal. A lovely way to
end our brief visit to Malta.<o:p></o:p></div>
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Sandrahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13160530448348564690noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4680110897405157379.post-50917629878297297342016-08-01T01:31:00.001+10:002016-08-01T01:36:12.386+10:00Talbot House - Every Man's Club<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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Peter first visited Talbot House on a private battlefields tour about 13 years ago and volunteered as a Warden for 2 weeks four years ago. Duties included welcoming visitors and offering them tea or coffee and checking people in who wanted to stay in the B&B/hostel accommodation. He enjoyed the experience then but it was hard work. However last year he asked me if I'd like to do it with him. Only in warmer weather I replied. So here we are on the last day of our volunteer duty in the European summer, and yes, it has been hard work but also most enjoyable. The paid staff take care of the cleaning, gardening and cooking the optional English breakfast, so we're left with the pleasure of welcoming hundreds of visitors through the museum and Talbot House itself. We've had great conversations with people from England, Ireland, Scotland, New Zealand, South Africa, America and Australians, too, of course. Peter says it is interesting to note that more and more Dutch and Belgium people are coming through, too.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh8SBSGu0mshkVFONbLIAy8879YDt4wEB1fGUvUQW42ebqGWaA7UkZysCY6bb-T6BgQiOdOTB25-ffiuBaSSolCBZmG76iLXswggz4W2M95YrUokf4-eEUM9EIAABXJkzXiM9hmrC587g0/s1600/P1050558.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh8SBSGu0mshkVFONbLIAy8879YDt4wEB1fGUvUQW42ebqGWaA7UkZysCY6bb-T6BgQiOdOTB25-ffiuBaSSolCBZmG76iLXswggz4W2M95YrUokf4-eEUM9EIAABXJkzXiM9hmrC587g0/s320/P1050558.JPG" width="320" /></a>We've had groups of English schoolchildren and cadet groups visiting, and in some cases, staying several nights in the rooms in the house which are set up as accommodation. The rooms are nicely decorated with two single beds - sometimes bunks - with their own wash basin. There are shared showers and toilets on each floor. A continental breakfast is included in the price - 47 Euros for a single room or 72 Euros for a double. Included in this is a Continental breakfast (assortment of cereals, breads, rolls, cheeses, cold meats, yoghurts, fruit, etc. and tea/coffee and juice). Good value!<br />
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The interior of the house is just beautiful (it is about 150 years old). It had been leased by England during World War 1 and then returned to it's former owner afterwards. However the family were continually pestered by ex-soldiers and their families wanting to see the place that offered so much comfort during the war and were very happy when eventually Lord Wakefield purchased the house as an ongoing hostel/museum. During World War 2, it was cleared out when the Germans invaded Belgium and it was taken over by them and, so the story goes, used as a brothel. We've had quite a few people who mention that their gt.grandfather had visited Talbot House during the war. Also had quite a few Belgium people who had family who had fled to England when Germany invaded, and lived out the war at Birtley in England - their purpose-built 'Belgium' town was called Elisabethville (after the Belgium queen) and many worked in a factory there making bombs.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The lovely kitchen with a massive AGA.</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh3voEfoIZ4u9VLbZi_E8aoOBM25tpNgPdBOeHqjOpC1mt_Cr8OKy9g1DVpXAkyKEJPA-4ZpAGeEiD0R1eYwC_26jIXTqgq39x5GT0lKzWoVvs9nPqJErCZmuVlluRIbshiYJJBtq37nVc/s1600/P1050482.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh3voEfoIZ4u9VLbZi_E8aoOBM25tpNgPdBOeHqjOpC1mt_Cr8OKy9g1DVpXAkyKEJPA-4ZpAGeEiD0R1eYwC_26jIXTqgq39x5GT0lKzWoVvs9nPqJErCZmuVlluRIbshiYJJBtq37nVc/s320/P1050482.JPG" width="240" /></a></td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Some of the interior rooms.</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Cuppas for all.</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Large entry hall.</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The Chapel - high up on the third floor. A special place with a special feeling.</td></tr>
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As you can see it is a beautiful house. As honorary Wardens we are fairly much house-bound though with only Mondays off. We can take short trips out to the small Spar supermarket (where they are beginning to know me!) on the corner, or to the gorgeous bakery opposite. But with tour groups coming through from the Museum building (an old Hop Storage brick building), school groups, cadet groups - some of which stay overnight - and of course, small groups of people from many countries all wanting to see through the house and climb all the way up to the Upper Room (chapel), we are kept busy welcoming and making lots and lots of tea and coffee.<br />
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The first few days we were here it was quite hot but when the weather cooled a little I baked Anzac Biscuits, Banana Biscuits and an old fashioned Boiled Fruit Cake - all Aussie favourites. All went down well with the complimentary cuppa.<br />
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The Banana biscuits were such a hit that I printed out some pages with the recipe and handed them out - for a small donation to Talbot House. Winner!!<br />
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We also have next door's cat, Benjou, who regards Talbot House as part of his territory and makes hmself at home wherever he likes.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgjEgaeNpQtyF0xfx7MjW74ByCbOUc4Davw-FPvIcvEsI3hyphenhyphenzlwV9zRkU5sX3KNVg90RhtALMIGYWEP8mt2-eaMGDb7w1CSqf-gpDlsqQOJhf_1Dh40z8DGyRePjfQOBv7MioxDp6RnhSw/s1600/P1050509.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgjEgaeNpQtyF0xfx7MjW74ByCbOUc4Davw-FPvIcvEsI3hyphenhyphenzlwV9zRkU5sX3KNVg90RhtALMIGYWEP8mt2-eaMGDb7w1CSqf-gpDlsqQOJhf_1Dh40z8DGyRePjfQOBv7MioxDp6RnhSw/s320/P1050509.JPG" width="320" /></a>Each Friday there is a market in the nearby square so we take turns to go for an hour's browse. Lots of clothing stalls, plus food stalls and small entertaining groups around. The local church bells chime a pretty tune on the hour before the usual dong, dong. Poperinge is very nice and we almost feel like locals now.<br />
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In spite of leaving tomorrow to continue our trip, we shall be quite sorry to leave Talbot House.</div>
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We've had quite a bit of work from early morning to early evening but the experience we've had has just been wonderful. Loved the feel of almost being a local - shopping at the local shops and talking to Belgium people - all wonderfully welcoming. Tomorrow we're off to Malta.<br />
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Sandrahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13160530448348564690noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4680110897405157379.post-17195427697059397142016-07-27T07:12:00.000+10:002016-07-27T07:12:26.332+10:00Belgium<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjGUGT5lBW2EBWJNclDPdqwhpkFTTb5who5ihuZdbrkyIzN2Sq6YpSInnGlizZ3m8gnqHBlpe6OAFyp3QSkuiuUhEUX4phnMjrAxh05GLkr9Toi9WOcjhlXnoQAcYvbBSG3IpdwojMo-Jk/s1600/P1050449.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjGUGT5lBW2EBWJNclDPdqwhpkFTTb5who5ihuZdbrkyIzN2Sq6YpSInnGlizZ3m8gnqHBlpe6OAFyp3QSkuiuUhEUX4phnMjrAxh05GLkr9Toi9WOcjhlXnoQAcYvbBSG3IpdwojMo-Jk/s320/P1050449.JPG" width="240" /></a><br />
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After a fast and comfortable journey on the Eurostar, we arrived at Brussels train station, then caught a local train to Brugge. By early afternoon we checked into a small hotel right in the centre of this old, very picturesque town. Just around the corner was a small market square crowded with people enjoying the sunshine and the shady trees beneath which were set out tables and chairs for the various restaurants and bars nearby. By dinner time these were extremely popular for dining outdoors and the most popular dish seemed to be a traditional one for this area - a large pot of mussels accompanied by a glass of Belgium beer. Peter thoroughly enjoyed his meal of mussels. By the time we had finished our meal it was just on dark and after a gentle stroll around the square returned to our hotel for the night.</div>
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Next morning we continued our walk through the old cobbled streets to the large market square not so far away at all. Beautiful old buildings and an excellent place to find a cafe for a cool drink and just people-watch.</div>
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At this stage we still hadn't got around to getting some Euro cash expecting to be able to pay with our Travel Money cards. Not so at this particular cafe - they required cash. </div>
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"Oh, I'll have to go to the bank ATM" said Peter. "But don't worry - I'll leave my wife here as hostage". </div>
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<i>"I'll look after her"</i> said the smiling waiter. I was happy to continue to wait and watch, but Peter was soon back and I overheard this exchange:</div>
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"Did you look after my wife?" said Peter paying the bill.</div>
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<i>"I did, I did! Why did you come back?</i>"</div>
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My 'loving' husband: "Just for my camera!"</div>
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Much loud laughter, then from the waiter: <i>"Careful - She's watching!"</i></div>
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Nearby was the beautiful building which housed the Brugge Historium - an innovative way of telling of some of the history of Brugge. In effect you walk in small groups through a series of interactive displays of almost movie-like presentations of a story set in the 15th century in the time of the painter Van Eyck. It was very well done - one of the best we've experienced. No photos were allowed as you'd expect but this diorama with chair was set up for a photo opportunity.</div>
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On such a warm, sunny day the canal boat rides were very popular and an excellent way to see more so in the afternoon we took a canal boat ride through the old waterways that weave in and around Brugge. </div>
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It was quite interesting to learn that in the fifteenth century Brugge was the 'New York Wall Street' of Europe and a very rich and powerful place. The city's very beautiful buildings were continually </div>
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maintained and repaired once the place fell on hard times with the then poorer inhabitants unable to afford to build new. As a result Belgium now has within the centre of Bruge a rare and stunning example of very old architecture. </div>
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At the end of the 'cruise' we strolled around a small, arts and craft market, browsed the gorgeous lace shops and window gazed at the stunning array of chocolate displays in the many chocolate shops.</div>
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You can see we're already loving Belgium! After another very nice dinner we were all finished for the day, so back to the hotel to pack up ready for our morning train to Poperinge and our two weeks of duty as honorary wardens at Talbot House. </div>
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Sandrahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13160530448348564690noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4680110897405157379.post-42041572100113133202016-07-20T06:46:00.000+10:002016-07-20T18:17:03.918+10:00London 2016<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
Arrived back from York Monday mid-afternoon by very fast train service (about 2 hours), and checked into our hotel for the next 5 days all prepared for our planned attack on the London itinerary.<br />
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Up first thing on Tuesday and after a filling Full English Breakfast, sallied forth for a 15 minute walk to the London Metropolitan Archives. We are trying to find out a little more on Peter's Beckett family who actually lived (at quite a few places) in this very area. Spent hours wading Workhouse and Infirmary records with a nil result. This family certainly kept their lives well hidden. Hopefully we'll find out more another day - but not on this very rainy London day.<br />
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Disappointment at the lack of results at the LMA was alleviated by a delicious dinner out at the Strand hotel followed by a wonderful performance of "Hobson's Choice" at the Vaudeville Theatre in the Strand. It starred Martin Shaw (Judge John Deed, Inspector Gently) and Christopher Timothy (All Creatures Great & Small). They, and the rest of the cast, gave us many laughs at this quite old comedy/play. We thoroughly enjoyed it.<br />
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Wednesday was the day for our trip to the National Archives in Kew. A fantastic resource centre and once you pass through security and show two pieces of I.D. (passport/driver's licence), you're allowed into the research rooms and can have access to whatever your heart desires in their vast catalogue. Heaven. Peter was searching for particular WW1 records relating to his grandfather - and found them. I, on the other hand, was attempting to find West India shipping records as Gt.gt.gt.grandfather Birkley was a West India Captain ca 1830. No luck at all. He's still a mystery.<br />
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Later that evening Peter attended a meeting of the Western Front Association at Hornchurch arriving back at our hotel late that night with a massive tome given to him as a gift to add to our luggage weight! While he was there, I walked a very short distance to the wonderful British Library and spent an hour or so at their 'Treasures of the British Library" exhibition almost drooling over the world's most beautiful and important books and documents - everything from 1,000 year old documents, illuminated manuscripts, the Magna Carta, original manuscripts from Jane Austen, Charles Dickens, etc, not forgetting some of the Beatles lyrics - Michelle - written by Paul on the back of an envelope, and also 'Hey Jude' scribbled on the back of a child's birthday card. Wonderful stuff and of course I was the last to leave being shoo-ed out at 8pm.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The cottage at Bletchley where Turing cracked the Enigma code.</td></tr>
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Thursday was our outing to Bletchley Park - the home of those amazingly brilliant code and cypher people during the 1939/45 War. Over 10,000 people worked there in top secret jobs throughout the was and interestingly 6,000 of them were women. We saw through the Mansion and all the remaining huts where such incredible work was carried out. If you've seen the movie "The Imitation Game" you'll get a bit of an idea of the whole set-up, but it is vast. We had a guide show us various areas and had an explanation and demonstration of the code-breaking "Bombe" which helped de-code some of the messages sent by the various Enigma machines.<br />
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Our last day in London was Friday and in the morning we had made a most important visit to Libertys - such a gorgeous shop (I could have stayed for hours). Fabulous wares all imaginately displayed - and of course I bought some of their wonderful Liberty print fabrics - some for daughter, Claire, to use in her patchwork, a piece for me for a summer top, and of course some lovely Rowan fine yarn for knitting.<br />
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During our London stay we have made good use of the London Underground and found London Transport's Oyster card quite brilliant and very easy to use. At the end of our stay we were able to 'cash in' what credit remained on the cards as well as the five pounds each card had originally cost us. So convenient for travellers. <br />
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Peter managed to drag me away from Libertys eventually and we travelled down to Wapping by the Thames to have lunch with our cousin Brenda at the very ancient "The Prospect of Whitby" pub. This pub was built in 1520 and is in the close neighbourhood where my Birkley family lived during the 18th century. They certainly would have known it and possibly had an ale or two or three there. The Thames dockside of course suffered greatly during the last war and many of the old streets and lanes disappeared and now everywhere there are modern buildings and apartments. I doubt the old Birkleys would recognise the place now - apart from the The Prospect of Whitby, of course.<br />
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Before heading back to our hotel we dropped into Harrods - as you do - for a bit of a browse. Masses of people there so we didn't stay long but enjoyed wandering around the toy department. Such fun toys.<br />
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We certainly seemed to pack a fair bit into our short stay in London - none of the usual tourist hotspots though - we visited new and old favourites and thoroughly enjoyed them all. Saturday morning saw us wheeling our cases over the road to the beautiful St Pancras Station to board the Eurostar train to Belgium.<br />
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Sandrahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13160530448348564690noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4680110897405157379.post-31374561428718872072016-07-12T10:17:00.000+10:002016-07-12T10:17:51.211+10:002016 Trip - In the beginning and York<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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With the weather turning cold and wintery, we were happy to finally finish up packing, do all the last minute little jobs, farewell Charley off to his holiday with Max (the Kingdon's dog), and get driven to the airport for the start of the 24 hour journey to (hopefully!) the summer weather of England and Europe.</div>
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This time it was with Emirates and two stops instead of the usual one, and a plane change as well. However we managed a couple of hours sleep on each leg, so didn't feel too flagged when we arrived at Heathrow in the early evening. My sister, Pauline, had arranged a surprise for us on arrival - a cake as a welcome gift. Peter sailed through Immigration with his British passport in about 10 minutes while I dutifully joined the very long queue of 'others' taking almost an hour to get through. Finally handed over my Australian passport and was asked if I was travelling alone. "No - my English husband is over there waiting for me". The Immigration officer then very kindly said "Oh but you should just have accompanied him through the UK/Euro Immigration Gate". Grrr - after numerous trips to the UK I could just have walked through with Peter despite my Australian Passport. You live and learn.</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgam1IdybTgOJJfqST9fSr0HnAuy7PAq-ndPxBOw7-gLkZyCEvK_w70biW6oW3bM1uTFY83pTYfv1irUQ5SAj2KivlRUMM2WCQjD3Yx4bHMgtQDtIMMjZqhD9n6y6VSirsZ3oW6i7Acuz0/s1600/445351-gooseberries-punnet.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em; text-align: justify;"><img border="0" height="133" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgam1IdybTgOJJfqST9fSr0HnAuy7PAq-ndPxBOw7-gLkZyCEvK_w70biW6oW3bM1uTFY83pTYfv1irUQ5SAj2KivlRUMM2WCQjD3Yx4bHMgtQDtIMMjZqhD9n6y6VSirsZ3oW6i7Acuz0/s200/445351-gooseberries-punnet.jpeg" width="200" /></a><br />
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Up early the next day to walk across the road from our hotel to Kings Cross station to catch the York train taking a little over 2 hours to cover the 174 miles/280kms quite swiftly. Sitting just over from us were four happy, young Japanese tourists and to sustain them on the trip north had bought bananas and punnets of summer fruit. There was a bit of consernation over one box which they thought held green grapes but tasted sharp and quite different. They asked us what they were. Gooseberries, we said, and usually used for sweet fruit pies. (I decided I had better not also add 'Gooseberry Fool' - just 'cos.)</div>
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After arriving, we left our overnight bags at our York BandB and walked into the centre of that beautiful city.</div>
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We have been here quite a few times - mainly to the National Rail Museum for <i>someone</i> who has a steam train interest - but I'm always happy to be in York, too.</div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgGWTtzZxigalvR4W3U35Z2p4LeaRhi6SoZaTNxU6IiEvlrh7tQwZSTRIf7IQ1C1c08LRfCk6f0godvUy-oY6VDfxt7BmwyYzyTSq2046WQgHNYJ8mZeDpmmzqAh5rCjPuLvsDArBjjzCw/s1600/P1050366.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgGWTtzZxigalvR4W3U35Z2p4LeaRhi6SoZaTNxU6IiEvlrh7tQwZSTRIf7IQ1C1c08LRfCk6f0godvUy-oY6VDfxt7BmwyYzyTSq2046WQgHNYJ8mZeDpmmzqAh5rCjPuLvsDArBjjzCw/s1600/P1050366.JPG" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">An 18thC Reverend's headstone used as paving. </td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhlS_QOGqgPiZtFb8xHu3g3RrzupuddIBcAcLjO9fRPViOoA9ZrS-JsUh83OuIrHTJ30huI8Gv7-05Q72W3dddJmUrT_HFGFTkxUeFkOXpTcsBSnuIWF0cIJbYoDgP1OejPGbboNGjzsvA/s1600/P1050364.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhlS_QOGqgPiZtFb8xHu3g3RrzupuddIBcAcLjO9fRPViOoA9ZrS-JsUh83OuIrHTJ30huI8Gv7-05Q72W3dddJmUrT_HFGFTkxUeFkOXpTcsBSnuIWF0cIJbYoDgP1OejPGbboNGjzsvA/s400/P1050364.JPG" width="300" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Peter adding a bit of support.<br /></td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Bettys - for lunch.</td></tr>
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<span style="text-align: left;">Lunch was at Betty's smaller tearoom in a building built before Australia was settled. </span></div>
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This historic city always seems to have something different to reveal but even just to walk the ancient streets and lanes is quite a joy.</div>
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Always each time we come, we make sure to visit the most beautiful York Minster in the late afternoon and to attend the Choral Evensong at 5.15pm each day. It is an ethereal experience to listen to the lessons, say prayers and especially to hear the full choir of about 30 sing such heavenly music. It would be a very special experience for any Christian to worship in a building which has absorbed the prayers of millions through its 600+ years of existence.</div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjn8yOf1fwYUYL_hhTCoxiT-oVjvw9_T5TPSbxHVsXAku1wY76qJ_LyNxf1RAcz1qCtP71oe1bqV91tl0nQF_KXrckDMIsW4wAuIfwAYnknDtjWJReZWb5RzRL1peMFtDJ-myOd9rgmQ2k/s1600/P1050379.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjn8yOf1fwYUYL_hhTCoxiT-oVjvw9_T5TPSbxHVsXAku1wY76qJ_LyNxf1RAcz1qCtP71oe1bqV91tl0nQF_KXrckDMIsW4wAuIfwAYnknDtjWJReZWb5RzRL1peMFtDJ-myOd9rgmQ2k/s1600/P1050379.JPG" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Waiting for Evensong</td></tr>
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Next day we were up early, ate our 'full English breakfast' and walked the short distance to York Station to await the arrival of the Flying Scotsman.</div>
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This iconic and well loved steam train would take us up to the Border city of Carlisle and then return to York, leaving at 11.15am and arriving back at 10.30pm. A long trip but exciting to be hauled by steam at a very fast pace with occasional stops for water, and also to allow regular scheduled trains to pass. We had about 3 hours in Carlisle, so had a good walk around the town centre and also visited Tullie Museum which detailed much history of the Romans and the Border Reivers. We thought perhaps it was a little 'child-centred' but it was very well done nevertheless. Back to the station and soon there was the Flying Scotsman, refuelled and watered, waiting ready to take us on board for the return trip.</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiPqa2pnUF3nMK6eqc_RrqktA831uBZzPuyUM8OPg44FNECoCLjX8b8diRgOcE-apF5iF1vgdXAUBMJXMT2-HaAudC9zfypNhRqPybq2W-AU3Q5A73hp5lADBeDZN0sK-yM-vdEZkn8sW4/s1600/DSCF1783.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: justify;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiPqa2pnUF3nMK6eqc_RrqktA831uBZzPuyUM8OPg44FNECoCLjX8b8diRgOcE-apF5iF1vgdXAUBMJXMT2-HaAudC9zfypNhRqPybq2W-AU3Q5A73hp5lADBeDZN0sK-yM-vdEZkn8sW4/s320/DSCF1783.JPG" width="320" /></a><br />
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By this time we had got to know our nearby fellow passengers and there was much talk about different experiences but mainly trains - of course! I had taken my sister's boxed cake with me and shared it around our fellow passengers. The Railway Touring Company which operated the trip served snacks throughout the journey - Danish Pastries with tea/coffee in the morning and on the return we had sandwiches and scones, jam and clotted cream again with cuppas. All delicious.</div>
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We travelled so comfortably in our restored Pullman carriage, it was quite thrilling to find that we had reached speeds of up to 80 miles per hour for long stretches. Such a beautiful train and we loved the whole experience - quite special.</div>
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Next day (today) we spent the morning at the National Rail Museum. </div>
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Well, to be honest, Peter browsed to his heart's content whilst I found a nice comfy spot to sit, mind the cases, drink a nice coffee and read for an hour or so. Later trundled over to the main York Station (we were getting to be familiar faces there!), to catch another speedy train back to London. </div>
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Now settled into our hotel and tomorrow we'll start the "London phase" of our trip.</div>
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Sandrahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13160530448348564690noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4680110897405157379.post-53480397843918713422016-07-03T17:11:00.001+10:002016-07-03T17:11:36.424+10:00The Final of 2015 Holidays and our Plan for 2016<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
Somehow I never did finish off the last bit of last year's outback trip. We did get to Moree on the way home for a dip in their thermal pools, but after that it was straight driving with overnight stops all the way home as the weather turned cooler on our way south. A good trip though and we loved out outback meanderings.<br />
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This year the plan is much different - We fly off to the UK leaving in the early hours of this Friday arriving there on Friday evening with an overnight stop in London. On Saturday we travel up to York and on Sunday we have a day excursion on The Flying Scotsman up to Carlisle and return. We love train travel and this trip on such an iconic steam train should be quite exciting.<br />
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After returning to London - we'll do some family research, meet up with a few relatives, have a trip to Bletchley Park and enjoy a live stage performance of "Hobson's Choice" with Martin Shaw and Christopher Timothy. A lot to do in the five days we have in London!<br />
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Next to Belgium by Eurostar and two week's volunteer work as Wardens at Talbot House (Toc H) in Poperinge. This was a house set up during World War 1 to be used as a comfortable and friendly place to visit by all ranks when on leave from the horrors of the trench. It is maintained today as a museum and hostel with a traditional cuppa provided for all who visit. This will be a part of our duties during our fortnight stay. On leaving we fly to Malta for a short stay, then onto Venice to board a cruise ship down the Adriatic Sea to Greece and the islands. We finish our trip in Rome from where we'll fly home.<br />
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We're looking forward to this rather varied trip - and we hope friends and relatives will be interested to read of our adventures in this year's travel blog. </div>
Sandrahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13160530448348564690noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4680110897405157379.post-11257670062062191992015-08-27T14:05:00.001+10:002015-08-27T14:08:03.035+10:00To the coast <div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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Leaving Winton we travelled eastward gradually moving from
very dry outback drought-ridden landscape into more tropical vegetation the
closer we got to the coast. Sugarcane and Mango farms are extensive in this
area. Eventually we stopped at Ayr for a
couple of days. Ayr is about 88 kilometres south of Townsville and is situated
on the Burdekin River, and, with the coast also not far away, it is very popular
for fishing. We stopped in a very nice park for several days to catch up on
some washing and grocery shopping. The park has some very large Morton Bay
Figtrees inhabited by masses of noisy birds. At night this changes to bats and
their noise – squabbling and scrabbling along caravan rooftops is quite
startling but thankfully around 10pm all settle down and everyone - birds, bats
and holiday makers - all get a good night’s sleep.</div>
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From Ayr we continued south towards the coast and eventually
came to Conway Beach not far from Airlie Beach. This area is very picturesque –
tropical and warm, and was quite a change for us after the dryness of outback
travel. Conway Bay turned out to be sited a short stone’s throw from a very
shallow bay and the park is well set up with a holiday theme catering mainly
for retiree travellers who like to fish – and there is bingo, craft days, pizza
nights and happy hours each day. For young families there is a large modern
playground area (bouncing castle, waterslide, shallow kiddy pools and a ‘train’
for rides around the park). A little too ‘Hi-De-Hi’ for us, but an interesting
stop none-the-less. One day we drove
into Airlie Beach as we had heard so much about this place on the Whitsunday
coast. We could not believe our eyes- with overdevelopment rampant, the town is huge. Masses of highrise (terraced into the hillside) houses and apartments,
multiple shopping complexes, roundabouts, traffic and people everywhere. ALL
the major fast food places had at least one outlet. Didn't see the beach at
all, but there was a massive port area with boats coming and going. We were
just shocked, and admittedly we had just spent weeks in the outback with few
(but very friendly) people, very little traffic and wonderful wide open spaces
- but still - how did they get away with it in such a beautiful area?</div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The jetty at Shute Harbour.</td></tr>
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We turned away and drove a little south to Shute Harbour and
this was much nicer. It is still a small town and very prettily situated. Do hope
it doesn’t go the same way as Airlie Beach. Finally, we stopped in Proserpine
and this, I imagine, has stayed much as it always has since its founding in the
1890s – a working town with sugar cane mill and old style shops and no pretence
at being a resort. All in all it was an
interesting tour of three very different towns all within twenty minutes drive
of each other.</div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Shute Harbour.</td></tr>
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We decided we had better start the long drive south and so
from Conway Beach we overnighted near Wallaroo, then drove into Roma to stop
for lunch supplies and also to see if the most amazing Drapery shop that I
first saw two years ago was still operating. Ace Drapers in Roma is like no
other store I’ve seen. It looks a bit decrepit from the outside, but inside is
huge with goods stacked floor to ceiling height. </div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiLTF-8QPSw9RXUz_RmYt2Qe3-ZFacg9KA5hNPJfEDL0xmvVNHvweh169ZsQdtijCLCMsrZ-SMvuE8OoWRL-vhYr2Nvs318VWE3bCrAHQOf1Qnxe34i37H92M_XlqAugfRqDMZhWBmBBxM/s1600/P1040933.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiLTF-8QPSw9RXUz_RmYt2Qe3-ZFacg9KA5hNPJfEDL0xmvVNHvweh169ZsQdtijCLCMsrZ-SMvuE8OoWRL-vhYr2Nvs318VWE3bCrAHQOf1Qnxe34i37H92M_XlqAugfRqDMZhWBmBBxM/s400/P1040933.JPG" width="300" /></a>The owner keeps buying stock
but there is no space left so boxes and boxes get stacked two and three deep
outside in alcoves along the shop front (these get taken inside at the end of
each day!). He also has several other disused premises that he uses for storage. I have
never seen so much fabric in one store in my life and it is quite overwhelming.
There would not be anything in the drapery and kitchen goods area that is not
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Of course I found some fabric to buy and some sheets
for the caravan too. The cutting table is piled high with more boxes of stock,
so the assistant had a bit of difficulty cutting lengths of material. Likewise
the cash register is also almost hidden beneath towering items - but they were still able to take payment! </div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The ribbon section alone.</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Me - searching for fabric. There is another aisle similarly packed with fabric.<br />
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At the nearby men’s wear store we found some nice shirts and
shorts for Peter and had a good long chat to the shop owner. He told us more about Ace
Drapers. Apparently half the town is embarrassed at its excesses, whilst the
other half thinks it should be on the tourist list of Roma attractions. I'm inclined to agree with the latter.<br />
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Next stop - Moree with its thermal pools. Looking forward to a dip.</div>
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Sandrahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13160530448348564690noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4680110897405157379.post-36847398203485965212015-08-22T14:41:00.002+10:002015-08-27T14:06:58.122+10:00Winton - and dinosaurs<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjD_6yPJm2mUH__Bc46bEs3hQAfmOgYQqMgj6GuLN9-RDk4VAJJFy6Rx8wjm9WotgURSlF8XKtw1Af2OwVzJ83R8M7bRdRO2HHvmhjTS_irFzDK_bp7dU_uhOZbRpSumOMLGUT8eZUsgSg/s1600/20150816_113838.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiqS5aD5M1dm0MZ5Yf8YQiXe-cgL34OvXO9QKL3YpNYfilo_TcXhicMcZK6gk6_e0hxYbAVSS_kHBa5kmRC8CF6_KMEz7Q3mGQFgYlMn1X0wLzpkCkDRFl-EX05dd2RbE-Hsth3jcQpu2Y/s1600/P1050869.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiqS5aD5M1dm0MZ5Yf8YQiXe-cgL34OvXO9QKL3YpNYfilo_TcXhicMcZK6gk6_e0hxYbAVSS_kHBa5kmRC8CF6_KMEz7Q3mGQFgYlMn1X0wLzpkCkDRFl-EX05dd2RbE-Hsth3jcQpu2Y/s320/P1050869.JPG" width="320" /></a></div>
And so to Winton. This place in outback Queensland is noted
for two things - firstly it is where one
of our most famous bush poets, AB (Banjo) Paterson composed the words to our
national song “Waltzing Matilda” and set it to an old Scottish air, and
secondly – and more recently – it is most likely the dinosaur capital of
Australia. Only about 30 years ago fossils and ancient bones were found on a
station property and the owners were sufficiently intrigued to call in the
experts from a Queensland university. Subsequent digs found masses of dinosaur
bones and most dated about 90 million years ago. David Elliot the property
owner donated the area, and the Australian Age of Dinosaurs was founded. It is growing in stages but at the moment consists of an excellent reception area/book and souvenir shop and a display with audio visual ‘theatre’ for visitors. Also offered is a tour of the Lab where lab technicians painstakingly chip away at plaster enclosed lumps of rock to expose the bones inside.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjQIaUYGfO0ZoJ28jXroneNYYTc_O22jTVMxzwVvciBUqsFrF5OghFXM0ufAtdFi8nZFnRZ2sqSdSxe40QqgSE_IJKf6lXH1BPbmPy6xTzBdetsCNiVUF2v2vfaQB4sYd53iR1RkdS8hLo/s1600/P1040902.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjQIaUYGfO0ZoJ28jXroneNYYTc_O22jTVMxzwVvciBUqsFrF5OghFXM0ufAtdFi8nZFnRZ2sqSdSxe40QqgSE_IJKf6lXH1BPbmPy6xTzBdetsCNiVUF2v2vfaQB4sYd53iR1RkdS8hLo/s640/P1040902.JPG" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Peter at work in the lab</td></tr>
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We visited two years ago and Peter volunteered for two days to work in the lab and so again he fronted up for another couple of days. The original owner of the property has taken on the job of overseeing the whole wonderful project (leaving the running of his large property to his two sons), and is the most lovely man. Down to earth, he sits and chats to everyone, including me when I was sitting in the ‘crib room’ just knitting! He recently was awarded an ‘Order of Australia medal – and for his work and support of the Australian Age of Dinosaurs it was justly deserved.<br />
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<a href="http://www.queenslandplaces.com.au/sites/queenslandplaces.com.au/files/imagecache/watermarked/exhibits/digital/DSC00871.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://www.queenslandplaces.com.au/sites/queenslandplaces.com.au/files/imagecache/watermarked/exhibits/digital/DSC00871.jpg" height="240" width="400" /></a>We parked our van in Winton just across from the Tattersalls Hotel (the “Tatts”) and travelled each day to the AAD centre on a Jump-Up (high clifftop) south of the town. In the evening pub meals were excellent and it was good to sit outside and chat to other travellers.<br />
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On our last day we drove about 200 kms to Lark Quarry where there is evidence of a hoard of dinosaur footprints which had been imbedded in soft mud, then covered in ironstone which preserved them for us to see 98 million years later. It is quite astonishing to where a large dinosaur came upon many smaller ones, and to see how the footprints scattered. The experts suggest that that panic episode only took 3-4 minutes, but that moment in time and its story is revealed to us eons later.</div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjD_6yPJm2mUH__Bc46bEs3hQAfmOgYQqMgj6GuLN9-RDk4VAJJFy6Rx8wjm9WotgURSlF8XKtw1Af2OwVzJ83R8M7bRdRO2HHvmhjTS_irFzDK_bp7dU_uhOZbRpSumOMLGUT8eZUsgSg/s1600/20150816_113838.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjD_6yPJm2mUH__Bc46bEs3hQAfmOgYQqMgj6GuLN9-RDk4VAJJFy6Rx8wjm9WotgURSlF8XKtw1Af2OwVzJ83R8M7bRdRO2HHvmhjTS_irFzDK_bp7dU_uhOZbRpSumOMLGUT8eZUsgSg/s640/20150816_113838.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The shelter built over the footprints - beautifully designed. Impressed with the whole complex.</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The imprints of dinosaur footprints 98 million years old.</td></tr>
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The area is undercover in an excellent custom built shelter and there are guided tours/talks three times each day. We took a picnic lunch and sat outside in a shaded shelter when all the visitors had left and enjoyed the desert like scenery with views of saltbush and spinifex and little native birds hanging around for crumbs. The guide came and sat with us while waiting his next group of people and a very personable and interesting young man he was, too. He considers it one of the best attractions in Australia - up there with Uluru (Ayers Rock) and the Great Barrier Reef. It's hard not to agree with him.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhhEpxSOwl04pENlx-mqX-w73iddRCcsxLTIk2bnAcF_fUBNWxL-jmiSYUcvAErREpRObHBOpHwAckpsxMEuD7x9OXg92F_Uaqlr2zqKlcmrRHNSyJstGpmSZCXoYD53jvUXPzvpWwt18Y/s1600/P1040916.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhhEpxSOwl04pENlx-mqX-w73iddRCcsxLTIk2bnAcF_fUBNWxL-jmiSYUcvAErREpRObHBOpHwAckpsxMEuD7x9OXg92F_Uaqlr2zqKlcmrRHNSyJstGpmSZCXoYD53jvUXPzvpWwt18Y/s640/P1040916.JPG" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Footprint of the huge meat-eating dinosaur which caused the panicked rush of smaller dinosaurs.</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj777JZ9pWkk9syWmdxnDOvfG1JznEgzrutdvXjzt24GWDKYqlQHOcsLb8V8vYqpZ3YabIM-o8z7GQleB7BFkPwo_ZmEQZfp8GhkS4GN8VZFxto_RFp4MojmGhrp70_QJuBdYhk4ZoSTu8/s1600/P1040922.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj777JZ9pWkk9syWmdxnDOvfG1JznEgzrutdvXjzt24GWDKYqlQHOcsLb8V8vYqpZ3YabIM-o8z7GQleB7BFkPwo_ZmEQZfp8GhkS4GN8VZFxto_RFp4MojmGhrp70_QJuBdYhk4ZoSTu8/s640/P1040922.JPG" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The small dinosaur footprint (in positive) caused by ironstone. It's impossible not to touch it.</td></tr>
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This short period of our holiday learning about dinosaurs has been fascinating for us. The almost incomprehensible time span of 98 million years brings home to me that a human lifespan is a mere speck in time but we are so fortunate to be able to visit this area which is revealing so much of life millions of years ago.</div>
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Sandrahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13160530448348564690noreply@blogger.com0