Australia

It's a week since we got back from our trip to Australia for Nick and Shona's wedding.
We've both been working really hard to catch up from a break from work that neither of us could really afford. However, as I have recently decided, you never regret doing things like this, you only ever regret not doing them.

Which explains why, at the beginning of May, we're actually going back to the UK for a weekend! Time-wise it's all we can afford, but we don't want to miss things just because we live so far away. We're also very lucky in the respect that so far we really haven't had to compromise too much. We both feel like it won't always be this way, so we might as well enjoy it while we can.

So, anyway what was the trip to Australia like?
Well, unlike our usual holidays, we didn't actually do as much sightseeing as when we normally visit somewhere - especially for the first time.
Instead, because there were so many old and new friends there we spent the majority of the time socialising - with some necessary sightseeing thrown in.
I'm uploading the photographs to flickr now, but I've got work to do, so no time to pepper this post with shots, so if you're interested you'll just have to check out them all here.

So, we flew to Hong Kong, Adelaide and finally Melbourne, but because China and Australia's time zones only differ by 2-3 hours (depending on DST) there was no real jet lag. We then took public transport (which in Melbourne is pretty damn good) to meet Wei Ni and Sam, our friends who live in Elsternwick, a suburb in the south of Melbourne. It's a great little place, about twenty minutes (bit longer by tram) from the centre of Melbourne and the Yarra river. Traditionally it is a Jewish neighbourhood but clearly not exclusively as the main street, Glen Huntly Rd had cafes and restaurants from all over the world - from Afghanistan to Turkey. We stayed with Ni and Sam on the Saturday evening and had a good meal in a place down next to the river and had a walk along next to the casinos and hotels.

Then on the Sunday morning we headed into the city and then to the northern suburbs to meet Shona and the Newcastle contingent on Brunswick Street for Brunch. From there we had a brief visit to Little Creatures - a great bar in a remodelled warehouse run by a local brewery. We then had a race to the shared house to select the best bedrooms. It was a great place to stay with three stories, plenty of communal space and a couple of terraces and a garden with prerequisite gas grill.

We spent a great four days in that house with little shopping trips to Brunswick and Lygon Streets, both have great independent shops, cafes, bars and restaurants. We hosted a great BBQ party with more friends and family of Nick and Shona coming over. And went out for a female / male pub-crawl culminating in a few games of lawn bowls and a barbecue (again, of course). But mostly we just spent time reacquainting ourselves with old friends and making new ones. So, in that house were Me and Caroline (obviously), Marty and Hazel, Mark and Frances, Rachelle, Maeve and Jimmy and Robin and Anna. I knew all of the girls, either from school or when visiting Shona at uni in Leeds and had met a couple of the boys before in Leeds too. But for everyone there were people that they didn't know and so we had a lot of fun. The communal shopping trips and cooking (I made the cocktails) were a highlight.

After five days and four nights of partying and holiday fun, we left what was beginning to feel like the Big Brother house and in a convoy of hire cars, made our way to Daylesford, a spa town in Victorian wine country for the wedding itself and another shared house. Daylesford is a very attractive holiday town with old (in Australian terms :-) buildings and lots of shops that only a wealthy and part-time population can support. Ideal for a short break for us and the wedding for the Easts. We arrived on the morning of Thursday 1st April, which was the day of the wedding itself. After settling into the house with an immediate and delicious lambs leg barbecue thanks to the culinary skills of Marty, we set off for Lavandula where the wedding would take place.

It was a fantastic day, spent outside in the warm autumn weather with the smell of lavender and some emus and a donkey wandering around. From the photographs you can see how good and more importantly how happy everyone looked. The ceremony was relaxed and enjoyable and Jimmy and Maeve did a great job with a song they had arranged at the end. Nick and Shona spent the whole time smiling, which apart from laughing, teasing and bickering with each other is all we saw them do all trip. I think that's probably quite a good start to being married, but I'm no expert on that. The day ended in a great little bar with a lock-in doing shooters and speaking Austrian (no 'L') to the barman - obviously Caroline was doing the speaking, I was just nodding sagely to show I understood. Sadly the lifts back to Daylesford ran out at exactly the wrong time, so Caroline and I, Keith and Elena ended up walking the 5k home at about 03:00. It was less unpleasant than it sounds especially since I wasn't sporting a pair of heels (girls, I salute your endurance) and put paid to any hangover we might have had. There were some funny characters in that bar including a passive aggressive drunk who assured anyone listening (i.e. no-one) that he could buy the entire bar anytime he chose. And an unhelpful artist who claimed that Derby was the artistic centre of the UK!

Over the next few days we remained in Daylesford and enjoyed various antics including Belgian beer and gourmet snacks in the aptly-named Breakfast and Beer. We had a picnic at Hanging Rock. Visited a winery. Wandered round a craft fair and a farmer's market. Got amusingly lost in the country lanes whilst discussing the German language's propensity for using very literal nouns and generally had a great time.

By Easter Sunday it was time for us to move on to Sydney, which for some reason my fingers think is spelled Sydeny. We got a much appreciated lift to Tullamarine airport with Shona's mother and uncle and then made it to Sydney in a very unstressful journey. Well, I wrote unstressful, and then have returned to this point after remembering a particularly stressful moment involving a worried looking Australian seat neighbour pointing out a black and red spider on my leg which I ineffectually swiped at with my book and then had to sit belted in for a descent concerned I was about to receive a life threatening spider-bite somewhere around my lower extremities. Other than that it was totally relaxing... At Melbourne airport we'd had a quick flick through the Reiseführer (thanks Stephan) and selected a hotel for one night in Sydney before meeting with Natalie and Duncan (friends from Caroline's time at uni in Manchester) on the Monday.

We got to the hotel which was just at the base of the South side of the Harbour bridge. Fantastic location, just slightly unfortunate to have selected rooms in Sydney's premier Oirish pub (The Mercantile Hotel if you're interested). Actually, since it was a Sunday they closed fairly early and we were so beat after an early start that it didn't make so much difference. We spent the rest of the afternoon scouting the Rocks (old part of Sydney) and taking pictures of the bridge and the opera house. Then in the evening we headed to the pleasingly dingier part of the city called New Town (how come New Towns are always in worse repair than Old Towns?) We met up with Beijing socialite and Sydney-sider Fergus Ryan and some friends and had some great Thai food and enjoyable chatter.

Monday was our first chance to explore, so we used the expensive but ultimately good value travel tickets we had bought at the airport and took the ferry to Manly. The ferries were probably my favourite thing about Sydney. Living in Brussels and Beijing, two great cities without much water, have taught me how much I appreciate a great big river / coast and so at my insistence and without much complaint from Caroline, we took ferries just about every time we could. From Nat and Duncan's fantastic waterfront apartment in McMahon's Point (Northside of the bridge) that was easy. Manly was a cracking little beach community and felt like a living, warm, sporty, vibrant Whitley Bay (so not much at all then :). We slept on the beach, made salmon bagels and watched some beach volleyball - the ingredients of a great day. When we got back to the city we found a rooftop terrace where we ate (good steak) and had probably the cheapest meal of the holiday with views of the opera house and a good bottle of red wine, so that was a good find, before meeting up with Natalie and Duncan, who despite just arriving home from an Easter trip to Bris Vegas, had generously agreed to host us for three nights.

The next day we met up with Robin and Anna, the Tozers (had to mention their surname as Caroline is a big fan). We spent the afternoon with them at Darling Harbour and it pleasantly evolved into a brief but focused pub crawl. It was a great day, although on reflection we were a little bit sheepish to then return home to a great meal cooked by Duncan for us, especially after our hosts had both been back at work. By Wednesday we met up with my Uncle (Mother's cousin technically, but you know how families work) Ken. He's lived in Australia for a good few years now. Whenever I see him at home, I'm always struck by how Australian he sounds and yet meeting there surrounded by Aussies, I could clearly hear the geordie inflections - it's all relative (pun unintended) innit. We checked out the Archibald Prize for portraiture which was a good hour of culture (the only one on the trip?) and then had some lunch. It's always good to catch up with people so far away from home and as you can see, we did a lot of that on this trip. Ken had to go and do some shopping as he lives in a small place further down the coast and only comes to Sydney under sufferance to get necessary supplies. Caroline and I walked back to the NSW Gallery and had a brief sleep on the grass in the sun outside. Only afterwards did I remember the spiders potential, but Caroline made me feel like a wiener (we don't know anyone from there I don't think) for worrying so I quickly forgot about that.

We then walked back to Circular Quays through the Botanical Gardens and had a great hour checking out the flying foxes, cockateils and other exotic flora and fauna. I'm never excited by the prospect of botanical gardens whenever Caroline suggests it, but I don't mind recording here (negating any potential for winning arguments) that I always enjoy it. Especially these ones that pretty much border the city centre on one side and the harbour side on the other. We had an iced-chocolate (if you don't know - find out) at the Opera Bar and then went back to McMahon's Point to get changed. After an intrepid journey of train and bus we arrived in Botany Bay at the great town house of Liam and Alyssa, two friends we had made earlier at the week at the East's wedding. We had a good meal at their place and fussed over their new cavoodle.

The next days after a goodbye and thank you brunch with Natalie and Duncan, we flew back to Melbourne for our final three days. We again relied on the kindness of our friends and stayed with Ni and Sam in Elsternwick. There was an enjoyable trip to the museum when we mused on the lack of Aboriginal exhibits and I again experienced the depressive qualities of too much coffee when I'm out of practice. We had dumplings in Chinatown (?) and a night out in Melbourne's bars which ended much sooner than I appreciated. We visited Chapel Street which was fantastic for general pootling in vintage shops and cafes (so much like the rest of Melbourne) and ate the best Italian food I have had outside of Italy - the trattoria L'Aperitivo on Glen Huntly Rd in Elsternwick. Seriously, if you get the chance just go, the pasta was home made and sensational, it's 10:30 but my mouth is watering now just think about it. We also managed to squeeze in a brunch and park visit with the newlyweds and assorted friends and family.

Finally, at 23:55 on Saturday 10 April we caught a flight back to Hong Kong, collected an iPhone for a friend and thence to Beijing. Where we jumped straight into a taxi and headed for champagne brunch. This does on reflection sound hardcore, but by coincidence a good friend was in Beijing from Canberra of all places and we had a limited time to see her and wanted to make the most of it. We were rewarded with a great event in the form of a wedding proposal and so our first trip to Australia ended with a plan to return there in exactly a year's time.

It was a great trip, the highlight was definitely catching up with old friends and making new ones and the wedding was a fantastic day worth all the travel on its own.

To make brief mention of a contentious point, I enjoyed both Melbourne and Sydney. But I'd be lying if I didn't say that Melbourne didn't edge it on liveability and for being more redolent of a European city (as opposed to the UK or US which Sydney reminded me of). It wasn't a scientific study and is only my opinion based on one brief trip - lovers of Sydney, don't think less of me, I know how important this is to you all!

Spare a thought for many of the UK-based guests who are scattered over Australasia and Malaysia, truly Asia. Unable to return home yet because of a volcano!