Long weekend!

Warning - long post!

To say that we had heavy rain over the weekend is a euphemism. We had flash flooding, gale-force winds and even a death! Luckily we were snug in our little wooden cabin on the side of a hill. But I’m getting ahead of myself.

We arrived at King Parrot Cottages on Saturday morning to find about 40 –50 wild King Parrots ‘grazing’ away on our ‘front’ lawn. Their bright colours are quite startling. We started to unpack and so did the skies. By mid-afternoon everything was soaked and my brother-in-law and I had gone through our first 6 pack of beer. We started the BBQ (under cover) around 6pm and then played cards into the night.

The rain got worse. All night we thought that the wind was going to rip the roof off and the rain was going to wash us down the hill!

The next morning it was still raining. By 11am there was nothing better to do than crack open our first beer and a pack of cards. But by 1pm, the sun started to shine through – barely. We made a deal that if it had stopped raining by 3pm, we would take our bikes out for a ride.

At 4.30pm we came limping back into the cabin – cold, wet and very muddy! We showered with our gear on to get the worst off and the snuggled up to our beers in front of the open fireplace.

By this time the ladies were a little unhappy with us, so we took them into ‘town’ for dinner at the local pub. The food was delicious and so was the atmosphere. Being a Sunday night though, most of the food was sold out – like the homemade apple and pecan pie!

Monday’s weather was perfect! We took a drive down to Lorne on the Great Ocean Road for a walk along the beach. We had a picnic in the sun and played ball with the kids for a bit. We then drove up to the Erskine Falls, which are apparently the most visited falls in Victoria.

By the time we got back to the cabin, I realized that I had caught a bit of sun. Which meant that we needed some much-needed medicine – JD and coke.

Tuesday was a nice lazy start with a hot breakfast and a slow drive home. The long way round ‘cos of the fallen trees and flooded roads.

Chat soon,
DelBoy

Foto Friday (on Sunday)

OK, so it's a little late, but these things take time to do.

This week's pic was taken, you guessed it, at Niagara Falls. I have stitched together 6 photos to get the final product. As you can see, it was sunset - around 8.30pm I think.

Chat soon,
DelBoy

Foto Friday

This week's pic was taken in Fairfield, Connecticut from my friend's back yard. We'd just finished having a braai and were about to go inside when I noticed the colourful sunset.

Chat soon,
DelBoy

Foto Friday

Another Niagara Falls shot. This one was taken from the 'Maid of the Mist' boat which takes you right into the spray of the falls. The photo is of the American Falls.

Chat soon,
DelBoy

Too... many... totems. Must... post... pics!

I've fallen in love with them! Totems are art forms produced by peoples indigenous to the North West Pacific coast. The generally tell a story: myths, important events or ancestral lineages. Read more on Wikipedia or on SFU's website.

Chat soon,
DelBoy

Vancouver - City of Totems

Four days into our visit to Vancouver and I'm loving it! The people are friendly, the weather has been great (28C today!) and the scenery is magnificent!

Today we went across to North Vancouver (North Van as it is known locally) to visit the Capilano Gorge. We walked across the Capilano Suspension Bridge and visited the local park. Also was lucky enough to see maybe half a dozen totem poles.

We arrived on Sunday but were too tired to do much after our long stint flying and sitting around in airports. Plus the fact that United managed to send Josh's pram to Dallas, Texas (!!??) instead of Vancouver. (They delivered it to us tonight at 10pm!) We did some food shopping and went for lunch at "Frenchie's Diner", a 50s-style American diner. Food was good, service sucked!

The place we are staying, Penny's Place, is really nice. It is a small apartment with kitchen, large bedroom and bathroom and 100 times nicer than Loftstel! The area is really nice too; quite arty with loads of restaurants, take-aways and organic food shops. Think Portobello Road in London or Brunswick Street in Melbourne.

Monday was spent visiting Stanley Park, one of the biggest urban parks in the world. We walked for about 5 hours, stopping for lunch and ice-cream. We also did some geocaching. There are some magnificent totems on display in the park! (See photos)

Tuesday was spent on Granville Island. Shopping, eating, chilling and drinking beer from the local brewery were the order of the day. Nice and relaxing! Oh, and the beer was good too!

I'd recommend Vancouver to anyone. It has something for everybody.





Chat soon,
DelBoy

Niagara Photos

Some of our Niagara photos. Enjoy! We certainly did!

Chat soon,
DelBoy

Red-eye

It's just after midnight and we're sitting in JFK Airport in New York. We arrived here an hour ago from Buffalo. Our next flight is in 5 hours, so we're spending the night in the airport. Luckily the wireless is free. Unfortunately, I have 20 minutes of battery left on my laptop with not a power point in sight!

Toronto was nice. Niagara Falls were amazing!!! We visited the Canadian side on Friday and the American side yesterday (Saturday). The view from Canada is much better as you can clearly see both the American and Horseshoe Falls from here. We took some awesome photos (coming soon) and to top it all, we took the 'Maid of the Mist' ride from the American side to within spitting distance of the cascading water!

Photos will be up soon.

Chat soon,
DelBoy

Foto Friday

One of my favourites so far from New York. The Manhattan Skyline, taken on Monday.

Chat soon,
DelBoy

New York pics

Some photos to whet your appetite.

Chat soon,
DelBoy

New York - Day 3

Day 3 of the big trip "home". Be aware, this is a loooooooooong post!

After a 10 hour flight and a 1 hour bus trip (next time it will be a taxi!), we finally checked into our 'loftstel'. It may have looked good on the net, but it's a hole! It's disgustingly dirty! The bath still had hair and a dirty ring in it from the previous guests! Anyway, we're cutting our stay short and checking out tomorrow!

After checking in at 4pm on Saturday, we went out to buy some food, came home, cooked some dinner and then went straight to bed at around 8.30pm.

Next morning we were up at 5.30am! We had some breakfast and then made the journey to Grand Central Station. (New Yorkers will tell you that it's a terminal, not a station 'cos all trains terminate here!) We caught a train out to Fairfield in Connecticut to visit an old friend of mine. We spent a fantastic day with them, braai-ing some juicy lamb chops and eating ice-cream on the beach. Unfortunately, reality came rushing back when we had to come home to our (still) dirty apartment.

Today was a sightseeing day in the Big Apple. Our first stop was Chinatown. Smelly fish markets and crowded veg stalls abound. We dodged our way down Mott Street and took a left into Godfatherland; Little Italy. Our $11.00 breakfast of coffee and... well, just coffee, was going to have to last until lunch time.

Next we caught the subway to the ferry terminal at South Ferry, hoping to sail out to Liberty Island and Ellis Island. But neither Deb nor I was willing to brave the 3 hour queue that had already formed! We took some photos, then walked the five blocks to Ground Zero.

This was quite a sight. Not only was the place crawling with workmen rebuilding the area, but the number of policemen, memorials and tourists (did I forget to mention that it is school break over here) was amazing.

Our next stop was Central Park for lunch, but we couldn't find anything to eat. After a short rest in the park, we caught the bus and the subway back down to Times Square for a bite of McDonald's (it had to be done!). We did some shopping on 5th Avenue before walking south to the Empire State Building.

The 3 of us headed straight to the top - 102 floors up! What an awesome view from the glass observatory. We caught the elevator down to the 86th floor to view the city from the outdoor area. Again, eye-popping.

After dinner at a local brewery and a quick stop at Madison Square Gardens, we caught the subway home for a 10pm finish.

More adventure tomorrow.

Chat soon,
DelBoy

Around the world...

Not yet, but before I die I want to visit every continent. I'd be lucky to get to Antarctica.

OK, so I was a little bored and I've plotted every city that I have visited onto a Google Map.

It took ages and I'm not even sure they're all there. Call it a work-in-progress!

If you're interested and have Google Earth, click here.

Chat soon,
DelBoy

Travel plans

The travel plans are coming along quite nicely. Our flights from London to Melbourne are all booked and paid for. Our accommodation along the way is also all booked and deposits paid.

We first fly to New York on the 30th June. We spend 5 nights here, hopefully celebrating the 4th of July in style! We then fly to Buffalo and spend 3 nights based here but visiting the Niagara Falls area.

From Buffalo we fly back to New York for 1 night before travelling across to the west coast for 6 nights in the Vancouver area. Hopefully we will get to visit Vancouver Island and even Whistler would be nice. All depends on the finances.

Seven more weeks!

Chat soon,
DelBoy

Foto Friday

It's back! Foto Friday returns with a panorama from my recent travels.

The town of Soufrieres on the island of St Lucia. Behind the town is a smouldering, active volcano. To the right are the two famous "Pitons" after which the local beer (tastes like Corona) is named.

The island is a magnificent green jungle! Loved it!

Chat soon,
DelBoy

Travel talk

While I sort through my 700 photos, I thought I'd tell you a little more about the good, the bad and the ugly from my trip.

The good:
The food - American's sure know how to eat! Cheap food, fast food, HUGE portions!
The shopping - one word: "cheap". Everything. But especially food and electronics. Ipods over there are half the price they are over here. Same with digital cameras and laptops. I was in geek heaven!
Miami Beach - We spent 2 days here before sailing off to the Caribbean. It's unlike any other city I have visited. Very Latino. Some shops even have signs in the window which read "English spoken here!"
Convenience - London has some 24 hour corner shops and nightclubs, but Miami had 24 hour restaurants, bars, pubs, clubs, shops, pharmacies and more.
Beaches - In the Caribbean. Not one bad experience. They were all amazing, but my favourites were Barbados and Half Moon Cay in the Bahamas (a private island owned by the cruise line)

The bad:
Madrid Airport - Even though we were in transit, we had to pass through passport control. Fine, except that I had bought a litre of Jim Beam in the UK duty free shops and since you can't travel with more than 100ml of liquid through European airports, the b@$t@£d$ at customs took it off me! "Drink it or we must destroy it". I was tempted, but it was 8am! On the way back to the UK, a bunch of South Africans on the flight were caught out 'cos they didn't have Schengen visas to enter Spain! But they weren't actually entering Spain, they were in transit to the UK!
US Taxis - Besides the rip-off prices (all up we spent around US$250 in airport transfers), we always had trouble finding cabs that would carry us 'cos we had a baby and they won't take you without a baby seat in the cab. :-(
Pedlars - the only thing that I didn't like about Barbados. On the beach you never got a minutes peace and quiet. "You wanna buy jewlry ma'n?", "You wanna go snorkelling ma'n?", "You wanna...?"
Sea sickness - Not me. But while we were out on the dive boat, 3 of the other divers fed the fish. LOL

The ugly:
Iberia - We travelled with the Spanish national airline. Never again! The service wasn't bad 'cos it was non existent. The food wasn't very nice. There were no TVs in the back of the seats, only communal ones. My earphones didn't work anyway, so it didn't matter. There wasn't even any running water in the toilets on the way back from the USA! Somebody threw up in one of the toilets and the stewards left it. You can imagine the smell permeating through the plane!

I have posted some photos on my photoblog to whet your appetite while I resize the rest for the web.

Chat soon,
DelBoy

Back in town

I'm back. Back to work tomorrow. Soooo looking forward to all that catch-up. Emails, paperwork, orders. I have to recruit new staff and my assistant manager is leaving too for greener pastures.

Now that you all feel sorry for me (not!), I'll tell you what a fantastic time I had! Beautiful white sand beaches, warm Caribbean waters, 5* service on the cruise ship, free food served 24-7 (I ate pizza at least once every day!), cheap booze. It all adds up to a great holiday, great tan and an extra 5kg on the waistline!

I scuba dived on one of the best wreck dives in the world and I even managed to do some geocaches!

I promise that the pics will be posted soon.

Chat soon,
DelBoy

Bon voyage

I'm outta here again! Tomorrow is my last day at work before we fly to Miami and then head off on our Southern Caribbean cruise.

Today was spent geocaching. For those that don't know, it's a techy way of hunting treasure. Check out this website for more info - geocaching.com. Today I hid my first cache.

Last week I went to watch a football/soccer game. It was the first time that I saw my side (Tottenham Hotspur) play. What an experience! I'm not really a soccer fan (more a rugby man), but the atmosphere was fantastic! The crowd, the noise, the lights - wow! I'll post some photos when I get back from my holidays.

I'll catch you all soon guys. Don't miss me too much!

Chat soon,
DelBoy

Tallinn photos

As promised.

Fat Margaret
Statue of Eve
A church
Another church
Town hall
Town square

Chat soon,
DelBoy

Tallinn

We got back from Estonia yesterday. Fortunately, it wasn't as cold as it has been over the past few weeks. Sunday was the coldest, dropping down to about 3 degrees C. Better than last week's -17C!

The city of Tallinn, capital of Estonia, is magnificent. A beautifully preserved Medieval City. Church spires stretch up into the sky at regular intervals, all surrounded by a very well preserved city wall. Standing guard is 'Fat Margaret', a tower which used to be the gateway between the city and the ancient port.

The port is now one of the busiest on the Baltic Sea, with more visitors arriving in Tallinn by sea than by any other means. Helsinki is a mere 80km away by ferry.

We also had some fantastic food - from fat, juicy steak to delicious pork fillet. And as for desserts. Wow! According to legend, marzipan was invented in Tallinn.

After a 48 hour whirlwind tour of the city (including a rather depressing zoo), we headed home with sore feet and a little bit of a sun-tan!

Photos to follow.

Chat soon,
DelBoy

Holiday snaps Part II - Cape Town

I'm finally getting through the 1100 photos (yes, I found more on my camera), so it's time to post a few more pics.

Part II is a short summary of our trip to Cape Town. Unfortunately, the weather was pretty overcast for most of the time, but below are my favourites.

If you missed part I, click here.
St James' Beach

Kommetjie

Hout Bay Harbour

Table Mountain from Signal Hill

Table Mountain from Blouberg Strand

And, of course, a couple more panoramas:
The Sentinel and Hout Bay

Table Mountain and Lions Head from Signal Hill


Chat soon,
DelBoy

PS: Wedding photos still to follow cuz!