Oz - Home Away from Home

Our 7 week visit to Australia was all about Greg getting some quality time with his best mate and his family, and me getting to know them all.  And that's exactly what we did. We landed in Sydney to a 35 degree greeting which was a shock to the system as we hadn't experienced that sort of heat at all on our travels so far.  We were met by Nicole who took us back to their flat in Bondi beach via the nursery to pick up Elsie, their 16 month old daughter. I'd met all 3 once just before we came away at Neale and Monique's wedding. Greg had organized this part of the trip with Dave his best mate, arranging to stay with them for 7 weeks. I have to say I was a little apprehensive at meeting them again properly, not to mention staying for 7 weeks. But needless to say both Nicole and Dave were incredibly welcoming, generous and kind throughout our stay, even at the end! If they did get fed up with us it certainly didn't show. And I can certainly say I have made 2 new good friends. As I said we were here to spend time with the family, having both travelled the east coast before, and conscious of  the exchange rate being so poor, we wouldn't be able to travel around much anyway. We spent the next few weeks making the most of the beach when the weather was good and the tv/ Internet/kitchen when the weather was bad. Unfortunately we had hit a unusual Australian summer and we got quite a bit of rain. But I found this a good excuse for making cakes and biscuits! Not that I'm a massive cake baker at home, but after travelling for so long and not having my own kitchen, it was such a luxury.  We ended up being like housemates really, as during the day Elsie would be at daycare, Dave and Nicole working and us doing whatever the weather would allow. Then each evening we had a chance to catch up , chill out and drink wine. It became quite a routine. I liked Bondi, I did last time, and it was great this time getting a different perspective on the place by living with locals rather than at a smelly backpackers where the social life revolves around other backpackers. It's so chilled out, but at the same time has such an energetic vibe and it's classy. Even the local chip shop serves gourmet fish and chips, which were immense by the way. Everything you could ever want is on your doorstep, from Westfield shopping centre to market stalls, from prime surfing beaches to  flat kid safe swimming beaches, from divey bars and restaurants to luxury rooftop wining and dining. All in a few eastern suburbs. It's amazing how many Brits there are, they definately outnumber Aussies in Bondi I thought. Of course there are loads of backpackers, but mostly it's expats. In a way its a bit like clapham, but with better weather and beaches. Certainly there are plenty of beach bodies as you'd expect, but it's amazing I found people even more beautiful here than Rio even, and a lot of posers!  It was nice having an insight into being an expat in Bondi too. Dave and Nicole had a great group of friends, who we got to meet. And being all ex pats, they were all in the same boat in terms of making friends, they don't have loads other groups of mates. So if someone gives you 2 hours notice of an impromptu BBQ everyone can usually make it. It's not like London where you have to book in a glass of wine with your mate, a month in advance... It's so much more easygoing, and we loved that. We eventually decided we needed to do some travelling while we were in Oz, and staying in for a few weeks had enabled us to save a few dollars. So we flew down to Melbourne, and spent 2 nights with Pip, our new kiwi friend who had just moved to Melbourne. Pip again was an amazing host and tour guide, and spent the day taking us round some of the cool streets of Melbourne. It had such a nice vibe and we loved the city by the end of it. We finished off the day sipping beer on the roof terrace of Pip's apartment block right in the centre of town, then wine and pasta in the Italian district sat next to what looked like real gangsters, and finally ate ice-cream down at the river watching the fire balls shoot out from the casino towers. It was a brilliant day.  Next day we made it to the other side of town to pick up our campervan. Not a patch on Linda but good enough for 10 days on the Great Ocean Road.  The first day we stopped at Bells beach, a famous surf beach. We'd been driving for 4-5 hours by this point in the luxury of air con. I stepped outside and the heat hit me like opening the door to a sauna. We lasted all of 5 minutes before having to get back into the van. Luckily the heat didn't last longer than one long and sweaty day and night. The next day we arrived in Lorne, a gorgeous little seaside town where we spent he next day or so sunbathing and wondering around. The highlight of the next 6 days were the 12 apostles, 12 huge limestone rocks just a few meters from the coastline, which we had beautiful blue skies for. We also were lucky enough to see lots of wild koalas some with their babies on their backs.  The coastline and little seaside towns like Robe were picturesque and interesting all the way to Mount Gambier. But we still had about another 400km to go before we got to Adelaide, and this was a slog. Not because of the 8 or so hours of driving, but because the road was so straight and the scenery was so flat and boring. We were planning on splitting the drive over 2 days, our destination being Nicole's parents house in Adelaide. But it was so dull we decided to cut our loses and do it in a day, and I'm so pleased we did. We arrived at Tim and Jackie's at 6pm, just as they were on their way out with Nicole and Elsie to their local RSL. We had gone to the one in Bondi, it's basically a social club and they have a special offer on food once a week. In Bondi it was steak, here in Adelaide it was schnitzel, and it was bloody good.  Their house had the best location of any house I'd ever been to. It was set right on the beach, with a pool, you could just step off the garden onto the beach whenever you fancied. And for some reason despite the beach being lovely and sandy with clear blue flat seas perfect for swimming, it wasn't busy at all. Infact there were only locals walking past, no brolleys or sunbathers which made it peaceful and perfect. Over breakfast we saw dolphins playing just a few yards off the beach, and they kept popping up all day. Tim, an extremely fit granddad, spent 6 hours out on his kayak catching blue crab, and the night before we left they created an amazing feast. They invited a few of their friends over, newspaper was laid out on the huge table on the verandah, a giant wok was set on the BBQ, and a secret chilli and herb paste was made for the marinade . I was worried I wasn't going to like crab but I needn't have been, it was immense.  Tim and Jackie were also extremely welcoming and generous and we left after 3 days, well fed and relaxed. Unfortunately this didn't last long as in an effort to save money we had made the stupid decision to drive all the way back to Melbourne rather than pay the one way fee for the van and a more expensive flight from Adelaide. It was stupid because after a great trip, we had to finish it on a manic 17 hours worth of driving. We did have a nice pitstop in the Gampians though and saw loads of wild kangaroos.  So after a long and tedious 2 days we arrived back in Sydney please to be back 'home'. Over the following 3 weeks in between planning our Asia trip, pottering around the sights of Sydney (sky tower, Australian museum and harbor bridge) and Greg doing a bit of freelance designing, we got to look after Elsie! It was brilliant as she is not only gorgeous and impeccably behaved thanks to Nicole's perfected routine, but it was also a bit of an insight for Greg who up to this point has always  thought looking after small children was a piece of piss and was of the opinion that stay at home mums had it very easy.... He soon changed his tune.  We had a couple of drunken nights out too, once just us and another with Dave and Nicole and their mates. Bondi and Surry Hills have a great night scene, and if you can forget the £5 your spending for a scooner it's a really good night out. Obviously loads of back packers and expat locals, but everyone is friendly and all like a good drink which is the main thing. So our Aussie section may have been slightly less intrepid than other stops but by no means less enjoyable. We were infact in urgent need of a break from travelling. Sydney for us was a  bonding/relaxing/gastronomic Australian journey. And once again thanks to Dave, Nicole and Elsie for putting us up and putting up with us.