RPJS
Lieutenant Commander
- Joined
- Jul 29, 2002
- Messages
- 1,572
It all seems a very long time ago now but I'm still walking around with a grin on my face, anyone who has been down under will understand why, anyone who hasn't all I can say to you is GO.
21st December 2006, the wife (Sue) and I board a plane out of Heathrow bound for Melbourne as part of the 35000 strong Barmy Army, 34hrs later we arrived. It's the begining of summer in Australia at this time of year, 35+ temp, with this in mind my case is packed full with shorts, T shirts and factor 50 sun cream, we walked out of Melbourne airport and are meet with a temp of 13 and it's pi$$ing down with rain, this cold wet weather was going to have an effect on our first few days.
4.00am 23rd December, We check into our hotel in Melbourne, the 5 star Carlton Crest, we got given a twin room in thier 3 star annex (I'd booked a 5 star double) a quick phone call to reception and we would move to a new room in the morning, this was the start of a series of events that would prove to be the only low point of our holiday, at this time you must remember that I had been on a plane for almost 11/2 days and my brain was not as it should be. 3* rooms in Australia do not have a safe and so I decided the next best place was the fridge:% so my wallet ends up at the back of the mini bar.
This is the view from outside our hotel into Albert Park, the road makes up part of the F1 circuit.
24th December, we move to our new room, remember that wallet in the fridge, I didn't:%.
We had made arrangements to meet Mr & Mrs Dunnarunna (Aldo & Kerryn) today and the first 10000 mile+ iboats get together takes place at a great little cafe bar on St Kilda beach, a great afternoon sat outside eating, drinking, laughing and then came the rain:|. (so much for an Aussie summer8))
25th December, Christmas Day, Today was going to be hard for Sue, this was the first time she had not been with her family for Cristmas and the death of her Mum was still very much on our minds. The Barmy Army had arranged a huge BBQ, the biggest party Melbourne had seen for a while, in a park in the middle of town.
Bring on that Aussie summer again, it was the worst Christmas day in Australias history, regardless of the weather we still had a great party.
I took this photo from the bar, I was dry, warm and happy. Here's a short video of what happened to the people under the white umbrella you can see in the photo. (the language in this clip is a bit ripe at one point)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hv372-HpRtA
26th December, The Boxing day test match.
The Barmy Army in the MCG.
O/K thats enough said about the cricket.:'
'(. I'm sure dunna, Tritton and Kiwi Phill will have plenty to say.)
29th December, we should have still been watching the cricket but for reasons that are to tramatic for me to recall we had a day off.
About 20000 thumb twiddling England fans decended on St Kilda, the Aussie summer at last showed it's face with temps around 38, a great day was had by all. (rumour has it that we drunk the town dry).
The view from St Kilda back to Melbourne.
30th December, Sue had mentioned to Aldo that she would like to meet a Koala so he & Kerryn picked us up from our hotel to take us out of town to a wildlife park, we got to see just about every type of Aussie wildlife inc Sue's koala, another great day, fantastic weather and great company. A big thank you at this point to Aldo & Kerryn for making us so welcome.
That evening Aldo & Kerryn along with 2 of thier friends from Perth came to the hotel for a meal, here we get onto one of my favorite subjects "seafood" the hotel put on a seafood buffet, I was like a kid in a sweet shop not knowing what to try first so I made the decission to try it all, I think Aldo had the same mindset, numerous visits to the buffet were made and come the end of the night we were fit to burst.
I know at this point I should offer photographic evidence of the meeting but a combination of poor picture taking skills and me looking like a bloated whale with wind in every photo taken of me I'm afraid you will have to make do with Aldo & Sue.
The end of the evening was time to say goodbye to Aldo & Kerryn. People say time flies when you have fun, the time Sue and I spent with Aldo & Kerryn seemed to go so quickly. This get together was the start of a great friendship.
This brings me to the end of part 1, part 2, our time in Sydney, will follow soon
21st December 2006, the wife (Sue) and I board a plane out of Heathrow bound for Melbourne as part of the 35000 strong Barmy Army, 34hrs later we arrived. It's the begining of summer in Australia at this time of year, 35+ temp, with this in mind my case is packed full with shorts, T shirts and factor 50 sun cream, we walked out of Melbourne airport and are meet with a temp of 13 and it's pi$$ing down with rain, this cold wet weather was going to have an effect on our first few days.
4.00am 23rd December, We check into our hotel in Melbourne, the 5 star Carlton Crest, we got given a twin room in thier 3 star annex (I'd booked a 5 star double) a quick phone call to reception and we would move to a new room in the morning, this was the start of a series of events that would prove to be the only low point of our holiday, at this time you must remember that I had been on a plane for almost 11/2 days and my brain was not as it should be. 3* rooms in Australia do not have a safe and so I decided the next best place was the fridge:% so my wallet ends up at the back of the mini bar.
This is the view from outside our hotel into Albert Park, the road makes up part of the F1 circuit.
24th December, we move to our new room, remember that wallet in the fridge, I didn't:%.
We had made arrangements to meet Mr & Mrs Dunnarunna (Aldo & Kerryn) today and the first 10000 mile+ iboats get together takes place at a great little cafe bar on St Kilda beach, a great afternoon sat outside eating, drinking, laughing and then came the rain:|. (so much for an Aussie summer8))
25th December, Christmas Day, Today was going to be hard for Sue, this was the first time she had not been with her family for Cristmas and the death of her Mum was still very much on our minds. The Barmy Army had arranged a huge BBQ, the biggest party Melbourne had seen for a while, in a park in the middle of town.
Bring on that Aussie summer again, it was the worst Christmas day in Australias history, regardless of the weather we still had a great party.
I took this photo from the bar, I was dry, warm and happy. Here's a short video of what happened to the people under the white umbrella you can see in the photo. (the language in this clip is a bit ripe at one point)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hv372-HpRtA
26th December, The Boxing day test match.
The Barmy Army in the MCG.
O/K thats enough said about the cricket.:'
'(. I'm sure dunna, Tritton and Kiwi Phill will have plenty to say.)29th December, we should have still been watching the cricket but for reasons that are to tramatic for me to recall we had a day off.
About 20000 thumb twiddling England fans decended on St Kilda, the Aussie summer at last showed it's face with temps around 38, a great day was had by all. (rumour has it that we drunk the town dry).
The view from St Kilda back to Melbourne.
30th December, Sue had mentioned to Aldo that she would like to meet a Koala so he & Kerryn picked us up from our hotel to take us out of town to a wildlife park, we got to see just about every type of Aussie wildlife inc Sue's koala, another great day, fantastic weather and great company. A big thank you at this point to Aldo & Kerryn for making us so welcome.
That evening Aldo & Kerryn along with 2 of thier friends from Perth came to the hotel for a meal, here we get onto one of my favorite subjects "seafood" the hotel put on a seafood buffet, I was like a kid in a sweet shop not knowing what to try first so I made the decission to try it all, I think Aldo had the same mindset, numerous visits to the buffet were made and come the end of the night we were fit to burst.
I know at this point I should offer photographic evidence of the meeting but a combination of poor picture taking skills and me looking like a bloated whale with wind in every photo taken of me I'm afraid you will have to make do with Aldo & Sue.
The end of the evening was time to say goodbye to Aldo & Kerryn. People say time flies when you have fun, the time Sue and I spent with Aldo & Kerryn seemed to go so quickly. This get together was the start of a great friendship.
This brings me to the end of part 1, part 2, our time in Sydney, will follow soon
