15/11/09 – Brisbane
I didn’t do a very good job of keep up with the blog while I was in NZ... actually I didn’t keep up with it at all!! I don’t even have an excuse really!!
Well lets see if I can remember what happened:
Sunday 25th October – Arrived in Chch after an alright flight. Luckily on every flight I have had (3) I haven’t had anyone sitting next to me, which I quite like. Means you can spread out more. So anyhoo, my sister picked me up in my mums car, which is a nifty wee thing. So we hooned home to see my mummy who I haven’t seen since February and who hates it when I call her mummy! Pretty uneventful for the first couple days coz I didn’t have a car.
Photo count: 61
Wednesday 28th October – Got the car yesterday.. woohoo FREEDOM – of course the first thing I had to do is put $46 of petrol in it!.... Went to start it today and there was a flat battery. Had to get the AA out & they found out that the battery had never been changed... I guess that’s pretty impressive really since the car is 1996 and dad had had it since 2002, so I guess we got a lot of mileage out of it. Two AA peeps, one new battery & $172 later I am mobile again – which is a good thing since I was driving to Nelson the next day.
Went out to Rolleston to catch up with Lauren and little Hayden who is soooooo cute... big chubby cheeks that demand to be squeezed!!!
Photo count: 114 (all of Hayden!!!)
Thursday 29th October – Got to Nelson in one piece. Love driving up the coast via Kaikoura, there was still snow on the Kaikoura Ranges which makes for pretty spectacular scenery. Trip took about 6 hours which is about the norm for that trip... see Monday’s blog for how long it took to get back!!!! Didn’t really stop that much actually on the way there. I really like going via Kaikoura coz I think you can break the trip down more: 2-2.5 hrs Chch – Kaikoura; 2-2.5 hours Kaikoura – Blenheim; 1.5-2 hours Blenheim – Nelson. I tend to stop in each of those places just for a break – get petrol in Blenheim on the way there & Kaikoura on the way back. Plus I really don’t think its as windy as Lewis Pass way. Only from Blenheim to Nelson does it get a little curly... so to speak ;)
Photo count: 90
Friday 30th October: Tayla was having a fun day at school, Aimee had a couple appointments so I said I would be a parent helper. It was quite fun actually. The kids were broken into 7 groups and they all had to go around like a circuit thing and do different tasks. I was helping out at the sandwich making station. The kids had to come and make a sandwich as a healthy snack... Tayla was so funny, she kept telling everyone that I was her Aunty Sarah: “That’s my Aunty, Aunty Sarah”. So cute, they also had to take a teddy with them. Tayla took her giant Care Bear.. haha – and that wasn’t the biggest thing there... some kid took a massive unicorn! After school we just hung out with Aimee, went to the Warehouse for some Halloween things – Tayla kept asking when it was Halloween so we could put the things up.. I had to decorate for her.. haha.
Family photo count: 439 (this includes all family photos from the trip!)
Saturday 31st October – Halloween: Finally Halloween – no one was allowed to touch the lollies – Tayla even put a “Don’t Touch” sign on them, covered them with a tea towel and basically stood guard over them! She dressed up as a witch.. very cute. We had a couple trick or treaters but only people that Aimee knew. We had a bbq with some friends of Aimee’s, watched the rugby and that was about it. Great night tho
Sunday 1st November: Alannah’s birthday – she’s 13... man she’s getting older... it’s scary. Anyhoo, Aimee, Tayla & I went for a drive today.. up to Kaiteriteri (which for some reason I call Kerikeri – which is at the top of the North Island!). It was a pretty quick drive actually, I didn’t realise how close it was to Nelson. Very beautiful up there, tho I can just imagine out busy it would be in the summer holidays... very packed. They had a flying fox up there which Aimee & Tayla went on.. so bloody funny!!!!! I had to get video of it coz it was just so funny. Other than that we didn’t really do too much... just chilled
Photo count: 51 (without family!!)
Monday 2nd November: Driving back to Chch today... ok so it took me about 6 hours to drive up to Nelson the other day... today it took me at least 10 hours... I also stopped in to see Toni & little Sam on the way back for about an hour or so... so that added to the travel time too. What I ended up doing was instead of going straight to Blenheim from Nelson, I ended up going via Picton. In Havelock you can either go straight to Blenheim or you can go to Picton via the Queen Charlotte Drive which I did and I am so glad I did. It was just absolutely stunning – and it wasn’t even that good a day... rained pretty much from Nelson to Havelock and was pretty gray most of the way down to Kaikoura. But I really don’t think that it matters what the weather is like up that way coz it was just beautiful. Every time you turned a corner you were met with this amazing scenery... massive mountains going straight into the water... it was just breathtaking – I can’t think of enough words to describe how amazing it was. I photo count would have been way higher if I had stopped around each corner!!!
Photo count: 468
Tuesday 3rd – Wednesday 4th November: Pretty much did nothing... recovering from the trip to be honest – driving all that way takes a lot out of you... little did I know tho!!! I went to the library and got a few books out, starting watching the NCIS dvds that Cathy had lent mum... but other than that did nothing.
Thursday 5th November: Guy Fawkes!!! They don’t do Guy Fawkes in Australia.. very weird. Actually its changed here too, fireworks are only allowed to be sold two days prior to the 5th – you use to be able to buy them from probably a week beforehand. Anyhoo, I decided to go for a drive around the Port Hills... it was an ok day so thought I would be able to get some good shots... actually it wasn’t that good for shots of the city – smog!!! But I ended up going as far around as the Bridal Path and then turned back to come down to Colombo Street. I was probably going to be heading back to Nelson on Saturday coz it was Aimee’s openday for her gym – it was meant to be the weekend before, hence me going up then, but it was change. She really wanted Dylan to go up & he really wanted to go up too. So I said I would take him if required.
Anyhoo... After I came down from the hills I was driving home and I noticed that the breaks were squeaking... and sometimes they would squeak when I wasn’t even breaking. Got home and told mum there was a funny noise... her response: “Oh Sarah”... so ended up taking it to the garage.... one night, a 40 minute walk home, new brake pads & $119 later the car was good to go!!!
It was all getting a little spooky... the day before I drove to Nelson last week the battery needed replacing & this time the brake pads needed replacing... it all came down to one thing... My daddy loves me afterall – and was looking out for me!!! Ok so anyway, I dropped the car off at the garage and walked home – bout a 40 minute walk... Because for Guy Fawkes the Chch City Council put on fireworks at the New Brighton Pier, so I jumped in mums car and went down – I drove coz I actually wanted to get closer but ended up parking just up from mums anyway!! So they weren’t exactly Riverfire but still a pretty good show and there where heaps of people too... unfortunately for me tho, I had left my tripod in the back of the car so I had to take photos by hand.. so they didn’t turn out the best.
Photo count: 428
Friday 6th November – my birthday. My birthday today... 37 years old!! Man only 3 years till I am 40.. very scary. So mum & I went to The Beach cafe for lunch.. I love it there, so laid back, really nice food and pretty reasonably priced too. Got the car back.. woohoo. Setting off for Nelson in the morning.... have to be up at 5.30am and drive 6 hours!!! Yeah should be fun. So today went to one of the best places in Christchurch - Nicholson Park on the way to Taylor's Mistake... best view of Sumner & Chch.... Perfect day for it too!
Photo count: 107
Saturday 7th November: On the road to Nelson. Taking Dylan up for Aimee’s open day, also coming are Aimee & Dylan’s half brothers. I haven’t met them before and we started out pretty early... lets just say they are kids!! I did manage to scare the bejesus out of everyone when I ran over a rabbit on the way up... there are plenty of jokes to be had after that!! Everyones a comedian.
So got to Nelson about 12.30ish so made pretty good time really. Aimees openday was in full steam. Got right to work and took some photos for her. Ended up having a bbq at the gym afterwards which was pretty cool.. the guys took off to watch the rugby, I ended up going back to watch the game too... Canterbury vs Wellington NPC final – Canty won of course!!! Back to the gym... everyone was gonna stay there and I was gonna stay at the house but they decided to all go back to the house so I decided to stay at the gym.. I wanted a good night sleep if I was gonna drive back 6 hours again the next day.
Well thats where the story begins.... It was pretty windy so there was a lot of creaking going on & the gym is on an industrial estate so there isn’t exactly a lot of people around either. I ended up falling asleep about 11pmish but woke at 12.35am to the sound of yahoos, fireworks & doosh doosh music... kind of freaked me out... tried to stay but ended up getting so freaked out that I nearly threw up. So I ended up going back to the house. Everyone was asleep and I thought the doors were locked so I ended up sleeping in the car... actually it wasn’t bad – apart from the only 4 hours or so sleep! Plus its something I can cross off my “never done before” list... I haven’t slept overnight in a car before so there you go. Lynette came outside & saw me bout 6.30am, the boys had got up to watch the AB’s play so I went into Tony’s room for a nap... didn’t really work. Was up again just in time to see the AB’s beat Wales.
Photo count:164
Sunday 8th October: Left Nelson about 1pm – got back to Chch about 7pm.. then spent the next day or two recovering.
Photo count: 34
Spent the rest of the time in Chch catching up with a couple friends, watching the rest of NCIS (got to mid way thru Season 5), reading, and pretty much doing not much at all.
Final photo count for 3 weeks: 3268
Well the flight from Brisbane to Melbourne went remarkably quickly – might have had something to do with the fact that we left early & therefore arrived early. We flew into Avalon Airport – which is basically across the water from Melbourne City, took about 50 minutes or so to get into Spencer Street Station.
I am staying at Hotel Enterprize on Spencer Street – so I just walked from Spencer Street Station – which looks big on the map but in actual fact is HUGE!!!!!!!! Its a good 3 city blocks long and of course the shuttle from Avalon was at the far end of the station.... One thing tho, even tho it was 10.30-11pm there was really no worry at all. There were heaps of people around and I felt nothing but safe.
The hotel – um... not really sure what to say, its quite different I guess. The room I am in is a Courtyard room and I’m on the 2nd floor!!! Its actually really quaint. The room is very basic and dated to be honest but at the end of the day I am only here to sleep really, I don’t really expect to spend too much time here.
I had forgotten how big Melbourne CBD is. There is just so many bright lights. Its way bigger than Brisbane I think but then again I think Brisbane is more compact where as Melbourne is more spread out – which is really why trams are so damn important!!
Its now 11.30pm but its really 10.30pm coz Brisbane is an hour behind. Tomorrow am off to the Day in the Life of Pompeii exhibit at the Melbourne Museum, can’t wait. I am also planning on going up to the observation deck at Rialto Towers & Eureka... charging the batteries of my cameras so will be primed and ready to go
Photo count 11 (mind you I did arrive at like 11pm!)
Day 2 – 23rd October Melbourne 3.30pm
After an alright sleep (I always find it hard to sleep a full night in a strange place), I got up and was out of the hotel about 8.15am. I thought I would meander down to the Melbourne Museum for the 10am opening for the Pompeii Exhibition. Ok so I have been to Melbourne before and have used the trams but given that it was rush hour I thought I would walk and take a few pics along the way – took me till about 9.40am to get there – its a friggin long way!! I basically walked the length of Flinders Street – which is a very long street. My feet were so sore at the end.
A Day in Pompeii – Melbourne Museum 26 June – 25 October. This was the reason that I decided to spend too much money and come to Melbourne on the way to Chch. One of those places I want to go in the world – Pompeii. Its amazing that so much has been retained because it was buried under so much ash. It was a pretty impressive exhibit – tho I am not sure it was worth the trip down here. They did have an amazing 3D movie, tho at 7 minutes I think it was too short. The one thing that really did stand out to me (and I am sure a lot of others too!) – the body casts... these were casts made of those who had been buried by the ash and died. Over the years their bodies had disintegrated and left these holes basically. Some guy decided to use these as a cast mould and the result was these amazingly realistic body casts of people who had been consumed by the ash... pretty sad.
After the exhibit I decided to get a tram into town – wanted to go to Target because I needed new sneakers... they didn’t have any so had to go to Payless Shoes (its not really important, but I thought I would put it in there). While I was in town I went to the Rialto Observation Deck... pretty impressive – you can see for ages! Not only did I get 25% off, the ticket also means that I can go back tonight when its dark... so of course I am going to. Will try to get some good night photos. Ended up having lunch up there, which was quite nice.
Was on my way back to the hotel and decided to go to the internet cafe – gotta check my FB... how can I live without it!!! Talked to Jaimie for a little bit, checked FB, checked my acc – not sure why coz there isn’t anything in it!! Then left... I was gonna come back to the hotel but then I decided to go down to Federation Sq to the Information Centre coz I wanted to find out how to get to Brighton tomorrow. Luckily there was a tram stop right across the road – I had already walked that this morning! Got the info and then of course I decided to walk back to the hotel coz there was photo ops along the way!!!! Finally got back to the hotel about 3pm – after leaving early this morning, it was like a work day!! I don’t think I have ever done this much walking ever! My feet are killing me and my knee is sore but it was a good day! The temp was just right for doing all that walking and Melbourne is pretty flat so its a pretty easy city to walk around. Tho it is also just as easy to jump on a tram and go a couple stops – you just don’t get the photo ops like you could when walking.
Currently I am sitting in my hotel room listening to a bunch of (for a lack of a better word) yobbos making a lot of noise – there was even a sports horn at one point. I also know there is A LOT of booze coz I saw them come in with it – should be an interesting evening! I have found that this hotel is rather noisy – esp on the Courtyard side – not sure what its like in the other rooms. I think coz it echo’s a lot and the noise carries a lot.
One thing about Melbourne... the men are EXTREMELY good looking... seriously, its like walking into male models all day!!! Not that I am complaining of course ;)
Photo count – so far today 441
9.22 pm
So I did a spontaneous thing. I headed out to go find something to eat and then go up the Rialto tower again, somehow I ended up at Southern Cross station on a train to Brighton Beach!!! I had planned to go tomorrow but somehow I just decided to do it tonight. Actually it worked out pretty well. I went out there, took some pics, came back into town and was heading up to the Observation Deck about 7.30ish.... not too bad I thought. Had to hang around for the sun to set but took a “few” photos.... hahaha.
Then tried to find something to eat – man its hard in this place... ended up going back to Southern Cross station to Hungry Jacks... so not my favourite but when in Rome... Finally got back here about 9pm... and unable to move!! I am in soooooooooooooooooooo much pain right now. My legs feel like they are never gonna work again, my ankles are gonna take out a hit on me I am sure of it and my knee... well lets just say my knee isn’t talking to me right now! Every time I move I think I am going to die!!!
Ok maybe a little drastic, but seriously.... you have no idea how much I have walked today!! So to give you an idea:
Ok so my hotel is the 2nd on Spencer Street south of Collins Street. I walked down to Flinders Street, all the way along to Spring Street, up Spring Street to Carlton Gardens where the Museum is. Around the Musuem then a bit thru town, and then from Swanston Street back to the hotel. Trust me its a long way!! This does not include the walking from Brighton Beach Station to the Bathing Boxes (about 15 min walk each way). It also doesn’t include the fact that I had to use stairs in a few places either (Flinders Street Station, Brighton Beach Station, Information Centre Federation Sq)... so when I say I am in pain, it really is because I am.
Photo count – grand total for today = 824
Day 2 – 24 October 8.45am Melbourne
Deciding what to do today.... since I went to Brighton Beach yesterday instead of today. Will go to St Kilda still. I am still a little sore but no gain without pain... or something like that!! I have been checking out my pics from yesterday, a little disappointed because I haven’t put my Nikon software back onto my computer so the only way I can look at them is via Picasa because they are all Raw... I am trying something otherwise I will be posting the photos when I got home!!
I think some of the ones I took last night were actually quite good, I will see if I can find one to show:
So this is one of the better ones. Of course I didn’t take my tripod – I really get reluctant about my tripod because I find it so restrictive, even tho I have bought it with me.
2.30pm
Am back from St Kilda... actually only spent about 45 minutes there... It was nice but I really couldn’t be bothered to be honest. I ended up coming back into town and wandering around for a while, had lunch and then jumped on a tram back here.
I am gonna have to be in bed early tonight since I have to be up about 5.30am in order for me to check out, get to Southern Cross & get out to the airport for my 9.35am flight... and then I’ll be home.... yay – can’t wait to get some good old Kiwi air into me. Its been a while – I haven’t been home since February and that for me is a very long time not to have been home!
Will head down to the internet cafe again today and use up my minutes.. I think I have $2 left so that should be enough to upload a couple photos and see whats happening in the world of FB.
Man Melbourne has some really amazing architecture. Its really hard not to stop every couple of minutes to take photos – ok so I don’t actually not stop but sometimes you wonder how many is too many if you know what I mean. I love taking photos, don’t get me wrong but if there aren’t the people out there that like seeing them, then is it really worth taking them in the first place...
Total photos for Melbourne - 1312
Next Stop Christchurch.... To be continued
