Bijou Vans-R-US

We've now now set up camp in our little van – christened PIG, for no better reason than we were “slightly disappointed”(putting it mildly) that it wasn’t a bit smarter and a lot better equipped! (2 teaspoons, 2 knives, 2 forks – 2 mugs etc etc. - you get the picture) The fact that it needed it’s leaky hot water system replacing before we could set out, didn’t endear it to us at all.

Having now managed to stow away all our “stuff” (with the help of a few cardboard boxes under the sofas  - very little cupboard space), and get to grips with how to make things work,(you can’t actually plug the kettle in to the electric point, as the lead won’t reach without the help of an extension lead – no available workspace!!)  we are slightly fonder of it than yesterday, and fully expect to grow to love it over the next 6 weeks.

When we return home, we shall probably start new careers redesigning camper-van interiors. Andy – if you fancy bringing a few tools out and doing a bit of DIY, we’d be delighted to see you!

Hot off the press - now have a new challenge. Drying out the duvet!!!

Caught the edge of a cylclone last night -  Note to self:-  impressive rain and an open overhead vent do NOT make for a dry bed!! Derrr!

NZ - First Impressions

 First impressions of NZ ;

 Relief at more manageable temperatures – first couple of days have been nice and warm, but not baking like Oz.

It’s FULL of bungalows. And they’re TINY & most have tin roofs!

The accent takes some pinning down – a cross between Australian and South African we reckon.

“kin yi giss where it is yit?”

MUCH more reasonably priced wine and beer. Hurrah (Rick is still in shock after Oz prices!)

From the ridiculous to the sublime!

Last night, we had an "eat it up supper, comprising of all the leftovers from a week's self catering before leaving Cairns! Very strange meal indeed

Whilst tonight, we have finnally arrived in NZ, and celebrated with a lovely meal at Mecca - half Kiwi and half Indonesian resturant. yum

Sue's Pan fried red snapper fillets on lemon mash with lime hollandaise & fennel salsa



Rick's Lamb rump on bed of couscous with a tomato & herb sauce

Now, That's more like it!

Tomorrow we pick up the camper van and start exploring. Will let you know where we get to.......

Goodbye OZ, Hello NZ!

Well, too soon we’ve come to the end of our week here North of Cairns, and are soon setting off for NZ – still without seeing a roo!  The closest we’ve come is a group of little wallabys,sharing  a pasture right next to the main road with half a dozen horses.

Apart from our brilliant day on the Barrier Reef, we’ve also visited Kuranda village up in the hills – heading up there by cable car over the rainforest canopy – but the most spectacular bit of the day was the trip back down again on the Scenic railway – a staggering feat of engineering, cutting a railroad into rock faces and over gorges on so many flimsy-looking bridges.

Have also spent lots of  time here  just taking it easy, enjoying the pools and beaches & generally being lazy. Being the rainy season this also meant some time watching the rain come down, but it’s warm rain so, No worries!

We gave ourselves a treat on our last day here; hired a car and headed north to the Mossman Gorge, on the SE corner of the Daintree Rainforest & National Park.

Some of our day was spent  with a lovely Aboriginal guide called Harold – Wawubuja in his tribal tongue. Our guided walk was fascinating – saw all sorts of plants in the rainforest which could easily prove fatal! Often growing close by a natural antidote – if only you knew which one it was!  A real privilege to spend a few hours hearing about the spiritual sites, rituals and customs of his tribe – the Kuku Yalanji.

The rainforest here is magical, with sparklingly clear streams and rivers, huge strangler figs, towering  red cedars, massive ferns & vines, all covered with epiphytes. And the beaches – wow - Awesome.

We’ve had a really good first “taster” of OZ, and will look  forward to returning for an extended stay another year.  If we do, we’ll be making sure we fit in a bush camping trip with Wawubuja near his home village of Laura - just as long as we don’t have to eat whitchetee grubs!- (prob not the right spelling)

So….packing up and flying off in the morning.  Can’t wait to get exploring in the camper van.

NZ here we come

Matt's very own bit of Upolu Reef

Matt never did get out to Australia,or visit the reef, but we thought this would be a place he would have loved, so decided to bring a part of him here with us to leave  forever in this beautiful natural environment.

 One of the lovely crew from Ocean Freedom took us over to an isolated part of Upolu Reef, where the coral is so near the surface you  can almost touch it. What a wonderful place for him to be a part of.

A Day on the Reef

What a day we’ve had out here! Joined our boat early – a 3 deck catamaran capable of carrying 70+ guests but fortunately there are only 30+ today, so large crew to passenger ration which was great for us. Lots of enthusiastic informed attention and guides. The sea was glassy on the way out - cruised for over an hour to pass through the inner reef and reach the outer and moor at our first snorkeling point – the Wonder Wall on the outer edge of Upolu Reef. The water is warm - like a tepid bath and visibility was excellent. The sea is alive with all shapes and sizes of coral/fish/starfish/ sea cucumbers. Spotted a Hawksbill Turtle guiding effortlessly through the water & followed him/her as it feeds,  surfaces  to breath and do other turtley things. Magic!  Small sharks here also, but mainly really pretty fish of all colours & sizes. Several sessions of snorkeling throughout the day, interspersed with rest stops and views through the glass bottomed boat.

Lunch was a smorgasbord of prawns, smoked salmon, cold meats and salads. which slipped down well after all that exertion, although after consuming enough of the Coral Sea to satisfy our liquid requirements we didn’t need anything to drink.

Moved to a different location after lunch, to a part of Upolu Cay which is SO shallow, you can stand on the sand in-between the reef sections & the views of the corals are spectacular!.

All in all a really special day – even more so as when we arrived back to shore, we discovered it’s been raining heavily on land for most of the day – and we missed it!  

Early to bed tonight – we’re both knackered. Tomorrow we’ll give ourselves a well deserved day off.

Mango Lagoon, Cairns - Let it rain, this'll do nicely!

Wow – the temperature difference on arrival in Cairns was vast. Is about 30+ degrees and very humid. Lovely sunshine when we got here, and now settled into a lovely apartment for a week’s  relaxation and a bit of an explore  in between tropical storms. As you can see……..

 

…….this place is lovely, so don’t worry too much if we have to put our feet up and catch up on a few books because of the rain

And with this apartment, we can catch up with some home cooking for a change

Last night’s menu was:

Brushetta with spinach, feta and cashews;  then

Pan-fried Nile Perch fillets spiced with chilli, garlic, & cumin;  and a few veg

And today, after a day spent taking it easy, doing a few lengths in the pool,  and exploring the local beaches, Ricardo is about to try his hand cooking! On the menu tonight: some very nice Porterhouse Steaks with a nice salad,  after a few huge local prawns. Yum.

Tomorrow we’re booked to spend the day on the reef.  Can’t wait

Melbourne

Well – our stay in Melbourne was brief, but sociable, with just one full day to explore the city.

Our first night was spent catching up with Anna and Andy in Bar-Humbug

Of course, predictably it was a late and rather “over-indulged” night, so our tour of Melbourne’s Golden Mile the next morning got off to a bit of a slow start! Had an interesting couple of hours checking out the Immigration Museum – Surprised to find out how “picky” and prejudiced  Australia was when selecting immigrants – only really got more “PC” relatively recently (1960’s & 70’s). Before then, if you were black, yellow or with no English,- forget it!

Our next stop was at the Old Treasury building, where we were adopted by a wonderfully quirky volunteer guide, Anita,  who was a dead-ringer for Dame Edna.  She took us under her (substantial) wing for a couple of hours of fascinating tales of Melbourne’s development, scandals, prosperity c/o the goldrush and political wranglings with Sydney over who best deserved to be the Capital – both  settling on Canberra in the end, as a half-way compromise. Only the Ozzies would dream that one up! Once Anita  “let us go” we scampered back to the hotel, packed up ready for an early flight next day, then out to spend the evening with James, who we’ve known since he was a wee lad in Cambridgeshire, and now lives in Melbourne with his lovely Malasian lady.

Enjoyed a wonderful meal at Pure South in the smart heart of Melbourne. Thoroughly recommend it, food just too gorgeous to brag about!

Thanks to James and his lovely lady for getting us home . Now it’s goodbye Melbourne and hello Cairns

Where are the Kangaroos then????

So WHERE are all the Kangaroos then???  We’ve been driving for 2 days now, through some really remote scenery, and never a sniff of one!

But we did see warning signs…. 

Fascinating story at the Killer Whale Museum in Eden about “Old Tom” –  the leader of a pack of Orca Whales who worked in “partnership” with the local Whalers; driving the huge whales into the bay here for the whalers to catch & kill! They  were then “rewarded” by getting first pick of the tasty bits to eat – normally feasting on the lips and tongue (which are favorite delicacies for Orcas apparently) before the whalers towed their prize in to shore to strip off the blubber. Is the only known partnership between Orcas and man, and went on for several years until Old Tom died of natural causes. Quite spooky.

 

Overnighted at Lakes entrance – a very miss-able, but convenient stopover! But were rewarded by finding  The Fisherman’s Seafood Café.  Brilliant supper last night ….



Pistachio-crumbed Flathead tails,tomato,cucumber,avocado salad + ouzo aioli for Rick

And

Crab-stuffed Atlantic Salmon slow-baked in creamy garlic sauce with salad for Sue

YUM

Next stop Melbourne

On the road to Melbourne

We've now hit the road and left the big city behind. We're amazed how green and rollong the countryside is - like a bigger scale England, but with a beautiful coastline and beaches you see in magazines!

Sydney - a vibrant city

The first thing that hit us about stepping off the plane in OZ was the heat! HK had been a step up from chilly Harrogate, but - oh my! It's warm here! The locals say they're having a bad summer....they should try England for that!

Our favourite bits have got to be the Botanical Gardens; the Opera  House; the Bridge (although why anyone would pay £150 to walk over it when you can cross it, walk under it, sail round it on a ferry, is beyond us. Tight old Elliotts!); and the delightful old quarter called The Rocks. We did a lovely walk round Manley which is a ferry ride North of Sydney and full of boats and smart houses with views to die for; and also found great pubs and good food.

Here's a few pics of our time here:

We met up with Matt's old friend Matt Walters one evening, and his lovely Fiance Anna - spent a really nice eveing with them  in Rose Bay






And, lastly.....of course


We found some brilliant places to eat!

Our definite favourite was Spice I Am - THE MOST amazing, fast, delicious, stupidly cheap and speedy place we've ever found. If you're ever in Sydney, check it out!

Bye Bye Hong Kong - Hello Sydney

So…. Our last morning in HK was spent packing, organizing, and mainly eating!

To make up for last night’s inexplicable transgression into McD – (can’t believe I even admitted to that one!!) – we had a substantial (and much needed) lunch  in  Tutto Benne – Italian food found on our favourite Knutsford Terrace, captured our attention today.

First, a Spinach and Fig Salad with Blue Cheese Dressing for me; and  a Chicken Caesar Salad for M’Lord.

This was followed by Veal Consomme for me, and Clam Chowder for Sir ….. no pics for this course – hard to make soup look exciting - but was yummy!

Prima piatti was Chargrilled Salmon with Bearnaise Sauce for me – done to perfection – pink inside and succulent

And Veal Scallopini with Mushroom, Sage and Marsala Sauce for Monsieur – he didn’t talk much, so guess it was OK!

Pud was a small but perfect square of Choc and vanilla cheesecake with fresh fruit on the side,   followed by coffee

All for $246 HK – around £22 for both of us  (excepting beer and wine of course  - which always has the potential to rack up the prices!)

 A most satisfactory end to a really great 4 days in Hong Kong

Hope we’ve now managed to rescue our reputation after yesterday’s unaccountable slip into the comfort, ease, but plastic and e-numbered McD!

Sadly, although we tried hard, were both unable to bring ourselves to dine a la Chinese at any point during our stay! Tried to get excited about a few menus / resturants, but all looked  just SO plastic, unappetizing and . artificial. Both feel really quite guilty – but not enough to overcome our base instincts. Maybe we still have a learning curve to conquer here!

So, have now just arrived in OZ – after a very stressful afternoon yesterday spent trying to obtain last minute visas, as only discovered they were necessary once we tried to check in, just 50 mins before the gate closed! Arghhh!

What WOULD we have done without the laptop / internet to bail us out. Thank-you Mr Gates.

Leaving you with our last shots of HK ride to and airport.

 E

Now hoping to sleep  as soon as we can get into our hotel room,  then  explore Sydney before  catching  up tomorrow with Matt Walters and Chris Yong – Matt’s friends from AMV.

Travelling in style

Thought we'd spend some time finding different modes of transport, so today, we have mostly been travelling on escalators! This city has the most amazing system of escalator ladders which bring the population down to central HK from 6am to 10am, then they reverse for the rest of the day, and take people upwards until midnight! What a system! You can go miles.

Also visited the Peak (highest point) by funicular-style tram train, to look down on the skyscrapers from above. Wow! Were so taken with all the ups and downs, missed out on meals - ended up grabbing a McDonalds before the "Symphony of Light" show across the bay! Really must try harder tomorrow!

But we Did get a good flavour of HK the last couple of days....

2 highs and 1 low

Todays first highlight was meeting and being befriended by a lovely elderly HK gentleman (who was Korean origionally) who spent an hour filling us in on the culture and politics of modern HK; then sending us off to find the tram system which showed us the whole of the HK island waterfront for less than £5 and lasted 4 hours. Magic!

The low was trying to kill myself by hurling myself down a flight of steps whilst attempting to take an artistic shot of yet another high rise building with the new camera. Derr!!!  The bruises will heal soon !

No snaps today (you'll be relieved to hear - took lots, but not yet got to grips with new technology)

Food update:
Lunch - negligible -  just a McDonald's coke and coffee. (Really didn't need any extra calories today).

Measly lunch!(Chips were Rick's!)

On the other hand....Supper  was the best Thai meal we've ever had outside of Thailand. Just back from eating and in need of sleep.
If you're ever in HK, go to A Touch of Spice, Knutsford 10. www.kingparrot.com/ - food is brilliant.

Set supper for two gave a huge selection of....



...amazing  tastebud experiences



Blog in smog, ferries, food, and retail therapy

Started the day down the Nathan Road to the famous Sta Ferry - first real glimpse of HK through the smog. Oh, the pollution - but, what amazing energy and industry! Impressive.

Lunch taken in Po Lin Monastery, Ngong Ping.

Soup of the day (don't ask!) -->

<--Followed by Spring rolls,

Mixed Veg & Bean Curd (why DO they eat that?), Black Mushrooms (as slimy as they look) Pak Choy & Rice

Huge Buddha (up 264 steps) on a hill overlooking the monastery was much more impressive than the lunch!

After that, a trip back to earth by Skye Rail (see slideshow - was pretty high!). Then a bit of retail therapy at Tung Chung Mall - bought a new camera - hurrah! If I can figure out how to use it, see if you can see an improvement tomorrow. Last journey of the day back to Kowloon was by MTR - the very slick rail system.

Supper tonight more than made up for lunch -we found a  tiny Thai / Indian / Malay resturant called Spice at 1 Knutsford Terrace, off Kimberly Road, Kowloon.

For starters, Mixed Pakora and Malay Chicken Satay - Yum

Then Mayal Fish Curry and Sticky Rice for Rick, Chicken Tikka with Chick-Pea Curry for me - oh yes!

And finally, our day in pics, from ferries, to temples and cable cars:

Soft landing in Hong Kong

We certainly recommend Virgin Atlantic Premium Economy:  Big reclining seats, real cutlery & plenty of refils!
Still no sleep for Sue today, but hey - what's new! Was only 11 hours.

Rick very happy to receive a glass of bubbly or two pre-flight.......

And on arrival,  it just got better and better. Upgraded to a super suite on arrival, with free internet access, plus breakfasts, afternoon teas and cocktails each day thrown in. Just arrived in time to sample cocktails tonight. Lucky that!  Met a super irish couple in the cocktail bar who live in Perth (handy for our next adventure), then finished the day with room service's Huge Smoked Turkey Club sandwich. Yum!



We LIKE the Novotel, Nathan Road, Hong Kong.    Night night!

Full English, then we're really off

As you may know, we have a passion for food. Let's face it - who doesn't? Over the next ten weeks, we wanted to share a few of our adventures with you - great places to eat, weird and wonderful recipes, interesting food stories, lots of pictures, and goodness knows what else. Food gives you such a great insight into new cultures - and we hope this blog inspires you to explore the foods of the world too!

But we'll never forget our roots: we left the UK on a full stomach after a cheery breakfast...

Wakey wakey!

And a farewell lunch with Sarah at The Vine in Kentish Town - you never do know when you might eat again!

Final meal on British soil for ten weeks!

We hope you enjoy our blog and that we manage to keep you up to date with our progress across the globe. We're off now to catch our overnight flight... Next stop: Hong Kong!

With love, Sue & Rick

An interesting pud in the Bull and Last

After some consideration, Rick decided he rather liked the New Season Yorkshire Rhubarb & Almond Crumble... with Horseradish Ice-Cream! It was absolutely delicious: surprisingly creamy with a peppery kick. The Bull and Last is a fantastic gastropub on London's Highgate Road that makes all its own ice cream on the premises. If you're in the area for a wander on Hampstead Heath, make a point of popping in for a pint, lovely wines and something to eat. And some ice cream! www.thebullandlast.co.uk

And we're off !

...... or at least, nearly. First stop: London! The journey down provided some interesting economics...
Taxi to the bus stop: distance 1 mile, cost £5
Megabus Harrogate to London: distance 180 miles, cost £6.50! How does that work??
Spent the day in Hampstead, walking, exploring Kenwood House, enjoying coffee and the papers and, of course eating some good old-fashioned English pub grub at the Bull and Last in Kentish Town... lovely!

Here's the day in picures...