Yoooohooooooooooooooooo

Baldrick · Yoooohooooooooooooooooo

Hi y'all, I'm back from my sojourn in upsidedownland. Had a wonderful time. Not scared of flying anymore....petrified.

If only I could remember how to attach a pic or two....Help!!

chimp

Any picture hosting site Balders - I use photobucket - so how about a trip report without pics?

lil eva

Hi Balders.......glad to have you back and hope you had a great time

Baldrick

For many years I’ve been in the thrall of the fear of flying. It began in about 1976 when I went with 'er indoors to Paris. That flight in a BAC 1-11, was, for me, a nightmare and one I decided that I had no wish to repeat.

So when she said she’d like to go to Australia to join in the celebrations for a friend’s wedding anniversary, my initial reaction was, ‘You go and I’ll stay’. It therefore came as no little surprise to me when I found myself booking flights for two.

The runway at Perth is not the smoothest in the world, or it may have been an over-enthusiastic pilot, but we sort of landed only experience the joys of Australian quarantine officials. I hate to be rude here but dull, humourless jobsworths seems an apt description of them.

So, what of Perth? A huge sprawling friendly city and one that’s getting bigger by the day. We were staying with friends at Scarborough, about half a mile from the beach (and where sadly, we saw a young Humpback whale which had beached itself after being attacked by killer whales: it later died) The restaurants are amazing, both in their variety and the portions. One particular place on the beach near us, took my prize; a café named Trigg Island. Wow!! If you go to Perth then try it. Also, visit King’s Park where you can look down on the city and the Swan River…gorgeous.

Fremantle, though, is the place we loved.She for the shopping and the market and me for the feel of the place. It’s difficult to put it into words but it felt right. Does that make sense?

We saw friends at Leeming, just to the south, and went to a couple of National Parks in addition to several winerys. But really our time in Perth was too short and I’d like to return to explore the region in more depth.

After a week in Perth we flew over to Melbourne to spend the next two weeks with more friends. One memorable night out was enjoyed by us at Grossi Florentinos, a superb Italian Restaurant where the food and the service were (to quote Michael Winner) ‘historic’. The highlight, though,was a four day trip about 300 miles eastwards along the coast to our friends’ holiday home at Wallagaraugh. It’s quite close to Mallacoota, a wonderful spot. Trips to Eden and on the return trip a stop at Lakes Entrance and its Ninety Mile Beach…..quite staggering. If you have it, try Google Earth for those places, you’ll be amazed.

Having returned to Melbourne, we went to the south-west and to Anglesea for a family get-together with daughter, son-in-law and assorted relatives. A quick trip along the Great Ocean Road to Lorne (the road is everything they say it is) and back to Melbourne via the Queenscliffe - Sorrento ferry (well worth the money) in time for our return flight via Hong Kong. Here we had a spot of unalloyed joy: earlier in the day I’d tried to check in online with Qantas. Their web-site was playing up and while I was fairly sure I’d managed to check in, the site had allocated she and me seats at each end of the aircraft. So, at the airport, I spoke to a very nice man and told him my tale of woe. ‘No problem’, said he and promptly upgraded us both. Super wide and comfortable seats and enough legroom for a 7’6” giant. Both my son and son-in-law were not impressed as they are very frequent flyers and have never had so much as a sniff at an upgrade. (Tee hee)

I think that the trip cured my flying-phobia to the extent that I’m only scared now instead of being shit-scared but I will make the trip again….oh yes!

Some points here.

If you go, and hire a car, then make sure you have a Sat-Nav with all the Australian maps thereon....I’d still be trying to negotiate my way round Melbourne without one.

Secondly, Australian drivers seem to be under the impression that it’s ok to undertake…anywhere and at all times. This can be very disturbing to us orderly Poms.

And lastly, everyone is very speed limit conscious due to the Oz police enforcing the traffic laws with a vengeance.

chimp

Excellent trip report - sounds like you had a great time - i'm not a great flyer myself, but good for youf for taking the plunge - seems like the rewards at the end were worth it

Baldrick

See pho.tos attached

lil eva

Thanks for your trip report Balders.........makes mine seem pretty tame lol!
Great pics too.......thanks

Chrissy Canadian

i'm glad you had such a great holiday, baldrick