Tuesday 29th January. Nunneries, temples and trams

We had decided to visit the Chi Lin Nunnery (Buddhist) and Sik Sik Yuen Wong Tai Sin temple (Taoist) which are in the north east of Kowloon so braving the rush hour melee on the metro we set off.

Ch Lin was quite beautiful and serene. It's quietness was even more surprising given the surrounding skyscrapers and roads. There were a number of extraordinary altars featuring the Buddha and several of his followers but sadly we were not allowed to photograph these.

The gardens featured a lot of bonsai trees which were much larger that the usual plant pot size.

By contrast Sik Sik Yuen Wong Tai Sin was loud, noisy and very busy with vast numbers of pilgrims lighting their joss sticks and waving them at various altars. Lots of people had brought offerings to the various gods (I'm sorry I am no expert on the Taoist religion), including one woman who appeared to have brought a cooked chicken. Several people also came to have their fortunes told using chim (bamboo "fortune sticks") which are shaken in a quiver type box until one falls to the ground. This is repeated many times and the results are interpreted by a fortune teller. However, many people seemed to be adopting a DIY approach to fortune telling and one chap was making detailed notes after each stick fell to the ground. All absolutely fascinating.

We had decided that it was now time to unleash the LLW on the shopping malls and I had done some (extremely unselfish research) and identified a highly regarded shoe shop in a smart mall in the centre of  Tsim Sha Tsui district. However, when we arrived there the LLW was much more concerned about finding a cafe for some refreshment and to rest her tired feet. Having accomplished this and ensured she was suitably reinvigorated with a couple of glasses of wine we set off for said shoe shop only for the LLW to declare that nothing on sale was suitable for her extremely discriminating taste. Well I did try!

Off then back to Hong Kong island and a planned ride of the famous old double decker trams which move slowly and not so serenely from west to east and back again. It was great but very busy, and having opted for the upper deck we had a terrific view of the chaotic bustle that is HK. Back on the Star Ferry to Kowloon before returning to our hotel for a short break (we must have walked at least 6 miles today). Our dinner this evening with be our last on this holiday which has been fabulous and we have enjoyed every minute of it.

Monday 28th January Hong Kong

We started the day in Hong Kong with a walk along the Tsim Sha Tsui promenade in Kowloon which has wonderful views over the skyline of Hong Kong island. The weather was slightly cool with a misty haze over the island but ideal for walking. We passed the Avenue of the Stars where Chinese film stars are remembered. Then we were stopped by a teacher with a small group of school children who was keen to allow them to practice their English on us; this seemed to be quite commonplace around Hong Kong. On then to the famous Star Ferry which plies between Kowloon and Hong Kong island. Fabulous views in all directions as we crossed the short distance between the two.

We walked all around the main financial district viewing some amazing architecture including the HSBC building and the Bank of China (photo below). On the way through the CBD we stopped at a huge very upmarket food hall which seemed to sell everything from the most expensive wines to live lobster specially flown in from Boston - its a strange world!

Our next plan was to take the 15 bus up to the lower station of the Peak tram and take in the views from the summit. We headed in to Central Metro station to purchase our Octopus cards and yes they do exactly the same as Oyster in London. The underground concourse at Central is huge and we seemed to walk miles before finding the bus terminus where we duly boarded the 15. So focused were we upon the sites that we did not notice the bus pass the Peak Tram station so we enjoyed (?) a bus trip up to the top - a very hair raising ride on a double decker bus (all HK buses are double deckers). The views from the summit were wonderful and well worth the ride. After a quick lunch and beer at a very nice restaurant at the top we did manage to get the tram for the ride down. The architecture of the tower blocks all the way up and down the mountain is quite extraordinary and sometimes it is difficult to understand how they remain standing.

By now we had walked many miles and it was time to get back to the hotel for a short rest before heading out for the evening. We set off to visit the Temple Street Night Markets before dinner. Quite literally everything seemed to be on sale there and it was really buzzy and busy. Along one side of the market were huge numbers of small restaurants with their owners touting for business on the pavement. However, we decided to give these a miss and find a restaurant closer to our hotel for a meal. We ended up at a fairly upmarket Cantonese restaurant and had a good meal including the most enormous plate of scallops.

Walking back to the hotel we experienced the HK skyline at night for the first time and as you can see it is quite something. HK is clearly still a very successful city and lots of wealth was on display wherever one looked. One thing that did surprise us was that there seemed to be very few tourists from Europe or the USA and by far the majority (I guess more than 90%) appeared to be from mainland China.

Sunday 28th January. Leaving the southern hemisphere

The promised rain arrived during the night with crashing thunder, violent lightning and a torrential downpour. By morning the storm had largely passed but it was still raining. Given that we had some tricky navigation to find our way back to the car rental depot and that the weather was clearly not about to improve we abandoned any ides of scenic routes and took the direct route back to Sydney.

I made a new friend at a petrol station when another customer asked me if I knew whether or not the local Woolworths ( a large OZ supermarket chain) was open today. I explained that I was from England and that sadly Woolworth's were definitely no longer open there. He then explained that his daughter was working in a pub in London and was very keen to know my view on whether London was a safe city or not. I told him that London was a great city and he should not worry. After a reasonably long conversation I made it back to the car where the lovely lady wife was looking concerned at the length of my absence.

On then to Sydney Airport and to find the car hire depot which when we left it seemed to be in an area of small one way streets intersected by several very busy roads populated with drivers who would rival those in London for aggressive driving. The LLW has clearly honed her navigational skills of late and we had a faultless journey back to the car hire place. Will probably now dispense with sat navs  and in any case the LLW has a much nicer voice than that woman on the sat nav.

Loads of time to spare when we arrived at the airport and now enjoying the lounge facilities before our Virgin flight to Hong Kong.

A very good flight slightly spoiled by a very irritating entertainment system and the LLW came close to throwing things on a couple of occasions  Pretty much on time into Hong Kong and we quickly found a taxi which very speedily took us to our hotel in Kowloon just across the water from Hong Kong island! Our first sight of Hong Kong was of course at night and it is quite spectacular.

Saturday 26th January Australia Day

Before we left Jervis Bay the charming owner on our motel (who was a Kiwi and looked as though he had at one time been an All Black second row) recommended Supply Jervis Bay for breakfast so off we went. So popular was it that no seats were to be found so we ordered our take aways and sat on a bench looking out across the beautiful white sands of Jervis Bay

After leaving Husky we decided to take a cross country route to our next destination of Kaloomba in the Blue Mountains. Very soon we left the coastal plain and were climbing steeply to a magnificent viewpoint at Cambewarra lookout. Sadly it was quite misty and looked as though it may take a while to clear so we soon resumed our journey via Kangaroo Valley (none to be seen) and Moss Vale. The scenery was magnificent with lots of tree ferns and little sign of the extreme drought which has affected the coastline plain and the interior of Australia. It sounds as if the dry period is about to end as we had watched the local news on television and heard about serious flooding in Queensland which very much reminded us of our trip there two years ago.  Apparently the rain is on the way south and will reach the Sydney area tomorrow.

We stopped at Fitzroy Falls but were not prepared for the awesome (in the true sense not the Antipodean one) and very vertiginous views. Really quite special and we saw a Kingfisher catch a fish in the stream just before the falls. The falls fell a huge distance but there was very little water which I guess just shows how dry it has been even in the mountains.

On then towards Kaloomba and it was quite slow driving with plenty of twists and turns. We had a short pit stop at a very nice and very popular cafe at Picton before arriving in Kaloomba mid afternoon. The view across the blue mountains from Echo Point is quite staggering and in spite of the fact that I had seen numerous photos of it previously, I was astounded at the vista. Echo Point is very close to the famous Three Sisters rock formation and has tremendous views in all directions. Again, extremely vertiginous but definitely not to be missed.

After checking in to our hotel we drove through the town looking for somewhere to eat but nothing really appealed ( nor did anything in our guidebook) so we decided to return to the hotel and ask the very helpful owner for her recommendations. She immediately recommended the RSL club ( Returned and Services League of Australia Club)  for a good quality but informal meal and said that they had a Chinese restaurant plus local dishes. Off we went and we received a very friendly greeting from a lady who explained the options. In essence there was a fabulous eat as much as you like buffet with a wonderful Chinese section which we decided to concentrate on. A good bottle of Margaret River Chardonnay from WA and we were well set. It was truly excellent and I must admit that we returned for seconds although clearly lots of other patrons thought thirds and fourths were in order. 

Back at out hotel were we watched some of the ladies final from Melbourne before falling asleep!

Friday 25th January. Very white beaches at Jervis Bay

We stayed at the Holiday Inn at Sydney airport and set off to collect our hire car. After going around the houses a bit we picked up the car just down the road from the hotel. A white Suzuki Swift and white seems to be a very popular car colour in OZ.

The traffic lights in the Sydney area are just awful and cause no end of problems. The Sydney traffic is quite bad but not London standards and if the traffic lights were this bad in London then nothing would move.

However, we eventually cleared the Sydney area and it was plain sailing down past Wollangong and along the NSW coast.

Again it was very hot and as soon as we arrived at Jervis Bay we went down to Hyams Beach for a lovely swim. According to the Guiness book of records, the sand at Hyams is the whitest in the world.  We are not sure about that but it was certainly very beautiful?

We were expecting the area to be very busy since its Australia Day tomorrow and Monday is a Bank Holiday. The area around Jervis Bay is a favourite holiday and weekend playground for Sydneyites.
However, it's not currently very busy and as you will see from the photos the beaches are not exactly crowded.

After checking in to our hotel and we walked down through Huskisson village and swam again at Huskisson beach which was just as lovely. Big waves and lots of fun.

Dinner was booked at the Gunyah restaurant at the Paperbark Camp, Wollamia which is in the bush just outside of Husky. It was great; perched high above the ground and well below the canopy of gum trees, we had a great view into the bush. The food was terrific and we thoroughly enjoyed the evening and even saw a Kangaroo on our way back.

Thursday 24th January. Leaving Tassie

The must see attraction in Launceston is the Cataract Gorge and since we had run out of time to see it yesterday evening, we decided to view this morning before leaving for Hobart  Airport. Some very steep streets out of town to reach the car park near the gorge but after that it was easy going and the area is very scenic with attractive, but natural looking planting surrounding the river and a pleasant path all the way round for exercise.    There is a fairly shaky suspension bridge over the gorge which we crossed and a small chair lift which runs horizontally across the gorge (which we did not use). Some brave soles were swimming in the pool which is part of the river (which I'm sure was very cold) rather than using the excellent swimming pool located on the lawns just below the cafe. Since we had skipped breakfast we had a coffee and croissant with a fantastic view across the gorge.

Time to move on and we set off on the main road to Hobart which was fairly flat and straight. Everywhere we looked the countryside was parched and either a brown or very sandy colour. Clearly no significant rain for some time and listening to the local radio station yesterday we heard that the drought is forecast to continue for the foreseeable future.

Before returning to Hobart airport we planned to visit seven mile beach and this require a detour along a B road via Richmond. As soon as we started on this road there were more wallabies dead on the road. Apparently this happens at night and the authorities are running a campaign to limit speed at night time.

Richmond was a very pleasant small town and we stopped for a quick snack. Obviously it is a popular day trip with all of the usual shops plus it is in the centre of the Coal Valley wine area and featured a number of wine shops and vineyards. 

Seven mile beach was truly vast and also very, very windy. Not suitable for swimming but very good for blowing someone's inflatable miles along the beach (via the sea). You can just about see them retrieving it in the photo.

Off to the airport, left the Kia Sportage at Hertz and checked in reasonably early for our flight. Who should be on out flight but "Punter" Ponting that well known Tasmanian. If you don't know who Punter is ask your cricketing friends!

Wednesday 23rd January. Strahan to Launceston

It was the most beautiful morning in Strahan and we woke early to see the harbour at its best with stunning reflections everywhere. Risby Cove really has been a lovely place to stay and we would love to return. These photos were all taken from our appartment where you see Rosemary standing.

The drive from Strahan via Zeehan, Rosebery and Cradle mountain was wonderful and the weather stayed sunny, warm and clear so we saw it at its best. We stopped for a coffee in Roseberry which was originally a gold mining town but now mines zinc, lead and copper.  It was an interesting little cafe and one of its specialities was the West Coast Kitchen Sink Burger the ingredients of which included egg, bacon, pineapple and beetroot! A very interesting combination.

Toward the end of the drive we took a small detour along the beautiful Tamar Valley which is the largest wine area in Tassie. As you can see the views were wonderful. We had not booked a hotel in Launceston so headed for the local Information Office where a very helpful lady outlined various options and we decided upon the Sebel which is close to the seafront and the restaurants.

Tuesday 22nd January. Strahan and the most amazing coincidence

A beautiful morning in Hobart and we wandered around the town for a while picking up some provisions at an excellent small supermarket and having coffee and cheese and chive muffins for breakfast at a small but very busy cafe.

There was surprisingly busy traffic leaving Hobart but we were soon on the open road and the recent heat wave was very apparent with all of the vegetation being very parched and there was a lot of evidence of the recent serious bush fires.  There was also much evidence, sadly, of wallabies killed by passing cars

The drive over the mountains was lovely but I guess it suffered in comparison to New Zealand where at every turn there is something more dramatic. We had some heavy rain as we drove over the mountains and the vegetation was very much rain forest with lots of stunning ferns including tree ferns but much shorter than those in NZ.

As we descended from the mountains into Queenstown the rain cleared and we saw the devastation wrought by the copper mining in the area. All of the vegetation on the mountainsides has been destroyed and the landscape looks like something from Mars. We stopped in Queenstown for tea and cakes at a cafe called Serenade which was recommended in our guide book. Very basic but excellent tea and cakes and the owner was very interested in where we had come from and whether they had Subarus in the UK!

Queenstown really does have the air of a frontier mining town.

The drive from Queenstown to Strahan was absolutely lovely and the sun came out to greet us as we arrived in the west coast wilderness.

We immediately thought that Strahan was delightful and our hotel at Risby Cove with individual units right on the waterfront was perfect. Even though the units were built of corrugated iron they looked very pretty.

We had booked for dinner in the hotel restaurant and what followed was the most amazing coincidence. Those of you who read our blog about 2012 may recall that when we were in France in September we were walking down a street in Beaune, Burgundy when who should we meet but Cindy Leslie who Rosemary worked with at Denton Hall and who we have known for 30+ years. In the past few years Rosemary has met regularly with Cindy and another ex colleague Lynn McCaw for drinks in London (usually champagne at the Ritz I will have you know!).

Having just ordered our meal who should walk into the restaurant but Lynn McCaw. The opposite side of the world in one of the most remote areas of the antipodes and there was Lynn; extraordinary!

She joined us for dinner and we had a great evening with excellent food and wine

Monday 21st January. On to Tassie!

We had another early start as Virgin Australia had decided to reschedule our Hobart flight to 07:40 so up just before 5 am! In line with our philosophy of travelling light, which has served us very well so far, we planned to leave one of our cases at the Holiday Inn, Sydney Airport where we will be staying on Thursday night. So we asked the taxi driver to stop off there and luckily this time our driver spoke very good English and was really helpful.

An excellent flight even if it was on Wa Brazilian Embraer plane ( didn't mention to the lovely lady wife that we were flying on a Brazilian plane).

Our hire car was duly picked up at Hobart airport and as soon as we arrived in Hobart we knew we were going to like it. A small, fairly compact city built around another glorious natural harbour and it literally sparkled in the beautiful sunny, warm and fresh weather.

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We checked into our very smart hotel, the Henry Jones Art Hotel, left our car and set off to explore Hobart. The guide book (newly purchased) was again very helpful with a suggested walk around the historic areas and the waterfront

After a brief pit stop for an excellent antipasto platter and a rocket salad (with a glass of a Tassie pinot gris) we had decided to take the ferry to the Mona (Museum of Old and New Art) which has become quite famous in Australia and later on the return ferry we met two Australian ladies who had travelled from the Melbourne area just to see it.

As you can see from the photo below, the building is rather strange and inside it descends into the depths with  badly lit rooms (badly lit on purpose). The exhibits were mainly very modern art with a few egyptian antiquities and other artifacts. It was certainly interesting but I can't say we particularly enjoyed or appreciated it.

We thought the exhibit in the photo below was one of the more interesting ones. This is a type of waterfall with various words, which are meant to be representative of the modern world, being projected onto the cascading water.

An excellent fish meal a the Blue Skies restaurant on the harbour front rounded off a great day in Hobart.

Sunday 20th January. Manly beach

The day started with a bargain buy; day long passes for buses, trains and ferries at only $2.50 each! We headed off to have a look at Surry Hills which our guidebook said was a trendy and upmarket area with lots of cafes. It didn't seem to be very upmarket to us and what few cafes we found were closed on Sundays.

The management committee was convened and after much debate it was agreed to take the ferry to Manly. The beautiful, long, beach was heaving with people and we had arrived at a surfing competition seemingly for the whole family. Just at we arrived the under 11s surfing relay race for girls was announced and clearly competition was taken very seriously. The lovely lady wife had to be forcibly restrained from entering the under ??s event.

It really was busy in the town and we were concerned about finding somewhere for Sunday lunch but we found a very pleasant, out of the way, "ouzeria" for a very good Greek meal.

Yet another huge cruise ship had arrived this time at Circular Quay and it was so big it blocked the view of the Opera House from a large part of the quay. We shall be writing to the Chairman of Carnival Cruises to protest.

The temperature today has been around 23C but quite humid so it felt hot. We were both amazed to realise that it was 23C cooler than Friday but still felt hot.

After a short break in our hotel we went to the aquarium on the assumption (correct) that Sunday evening at 6pm would be fairly quite. Very interesting and the large tanks were very impressive being submerged in Darling Harbour. It's a weird experience walking along the glass tunnels and seeing large sharks and rays swimming above your head.

Saturday 19th January. Cooler Sydney - phew

We woke to some cloud and some sun but happily much lower temperatures ~23c. This was a great relief as quite simply the human body does not function very well when the air temperature is 10C about normal blood temperature. At least we could now walk around the city and this is exactly what we did taking in the botanic gardens and much more.




When we were last in Sydney just over two years ago, we saw lots of Flying Foxes (large bats) roosting in the trees in the Botanical gardens but none this time. Apparently they have been badly damaging the trees and the park authorities now have a concerted programme to keep them away and to rid the park of bats.





We rode on the monorail which does a fairly short loop around the western part of the centre and were surprised to read that this will be closed at the end of June 2013. Apparently the monorail has proved very expensive and has attracted significantly fewer passengers that originally envisaged. It was purchased by the Government of New South Wales in March 2012 specifically so they could close it and facilitate redevelopment at various sites along the route.

We had planned to visit the aquarium but the queue was quite long and I could see the lovely lady wife becoming impatient and getting close to throwing things so we moved on!

The P&O liner Pacific Dream was parked outside our window last night and until ~17:00 today when it decided to leave - see below.

 

The visit to see Verdi's A Masked Ball had been booked before we left the UK (seems like a long time ago now) and we set off early to walk down to the Opera House and enjoy the atmosphere. It was Saturday evening and the night life in Sydney had started early and was already in full swing - parties everywhere. Great views from several vantage points around the Opera house and the interior is almost as impressive as the exterior.

It was a very modern production and whilst I would have a preference for more traditional costumes etc, we thoroughly enjoyed the performance by a truly international cast.

The nightlife had ramped up a notch or two by the time we walked back to the hotel and it was clear that Sydney would be well awake for many hours after we had gone to bed.

We both agreed that Sydney is a truly great city; it really has everything except of course the extensive history and old buildings of European cities. Whilst expensive, Sydney must be one of the best cities in the world in which to live.

Friday 18th January. Searing heat in Sydney

It was an excellent flight from Auckland and as it was busy they had changed the plane to a 747; we were seated right up front in the nose just below the pilot. We took a taxi into the city and encountered the taxi driver from hell who not only hadn't a clue where our hotel was but hardly spoke any English.  Even showing him the map which showed approximately where the hotel was didn't seem to help. However, after going around the houses a few times we did arrive at the Langham and sorted ourselves out before heading off to explore the city. As soon as we left the hotel it was clear that this was not going to be a day for walking very far or staying in the sun. As we landed at Sydney airport at 08:00 the pilot announced it was already 29C and by the time we left the hotel it was mid 30s C.

By the time we had walked down to Circular Quay it was already time for a cold drink in the shade and we contemplated the most sensible activity for the day.



Our conclusion was to board the ferry to Watson's Bay and this was a big success; an air conditioned boat with plenty of outside room to admire the views before retreating inside again. At Watson's Bay there was a cooling breeze coming from the sea and as long as we stayed in the shade it was very pleasant. A light lunch at Doyles could not be resisted and afterwards we caught the ferry back to Circular Quay as as we approached the heat became very obvious.




Normally when standing at the bow of a boat travelling at some speed  you feel a cooling wind. Not today! The wind felt like a blast from a sauna; it was quite incredible. The walk back to the hotel which was no more than 15 minutes felt like an eternity as we dodged from one piece of shade to another.



Back inside our air conditioned hotel, we logged on to the web and saw that the BBC had reported

"The Australian city of Sydney is experiencing its hottest day on record, with temperatures reaching nearly 46C. A temperature of 45.8C was recorded at Observatory Hill in the city at 14:55 local time (01:55 GMT)."

Observatory Hill is where out hotel is located (the hotel is the Langham and was formerly called the  Observatory) and 14:55 is just about the time we were walking up Argyll Street back to the hotel.

Time for a short rest before we headed out for the evening. Rosemary had arranged to meet up with Anthony Alexander and his wife Louise. Rosemary had worked with Anthony at Oppenheimers and Denton Hall some time ago and met with them socially on a number of occassions in London. They now live in a beautiful appartment in North Sydney with a wonderful view over the harbour. We had an aperitif enjoying the view before heading of for an excellent meal at Manta on the wharf at Woolloomooloo. A lovely evening