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Hi all! Just a short message this time. Since last time we have travelled via La Paz (gorgeous city, what a setting!!) with the bus to lake Titicaca (Copacabana and then Puno), with the train to Cuzco, walking the Inca trail to Machu Picchu, back with the train to Cuzco, flying to Lima and onto Quito where we are now.

The journey has been amazing to say the least. Especially the Inca trail was just stunning. And unforgettable experience! Yet another one during our travels. And right now we are on the doorstep of the next big thing: The Galapagos Islands! We leave Quito in 3 days and will spend 8 days on the boat cruising along the islands and watching what is said to be amazing wildlife. I can’t wait!!! :-)

As said, more stories will follow soon. Not enough time right now to write everything down and upload the tons of pictures we have made so far. The Internet connections in South America are not flying and sitting more then an hour in an Internet cafe is already pushing my patience to the limit! But not to worry! I will be home soon and will upload and write more then. That’s a promise!

For now, please take care and keep smiling! X

Posted in Ecuador | 2 Comments »

Hi all! It´s been to long again! Last month has been hectic! After we got back from Uruguay, I had another check up with the eye doctor in Buenos Aires and it was all good to travel on. And so we did! A day later we left BA with the overnight bus to go to Iguazu.

On the way to Iguazu we stopped for one night to break the bus ride. We stopped after a long 12 hours in a Iguazu Tigre bus full of cockroaches (ARGGG!!! HORRIBLE!!). Instead of relaxing, we decided to stay away and take another bus for an hour to visit some Jesuit mission ruiens. Lovely step back into history. Very impressive what these missions were able to set up back in the 16th century!

The next day we took a bus for the last 5 hours to Peurto Iguazu. Relieved that we made after all the uncertainty with my eye trouble and finally had some nice weather (it was sunny and +20 degrees), we treaded ourselves to an icecream! How nice!

Unfortunately the next day the weather had changed and we visited the Iguazu National Park in the rain, but still had a wonderful time. What an amazing site!! Just unbelieveble! The waterfalls are so enourmous! The amount of water that goes down is stunning! The view on the biggest fall so close by! Just amazing!!!

And it wasn´t just the water and falls that amazed us for 3 days. The park´s wildlife is just as amazing! We saw many colourful butterflies, tucans (the big and small kind), guinea pigs, a crockadile, lots of different birds and even monkeys! Sal got so excited when she spotted them! It´s so nice to see monkeys in the wild! We even saw a mamma-monkey with a little one on the back!

The plan after Iguazu was to travel through Paraguay to northern Argentina and then up to Bolivia. Well… that plan didn´t really work… To get to Paraguay we had to travel through Brazil and we didn´t know that Sal, being Australian, needed a visa for both those countries. That itself ain´t a problem, but it does come with a price and we thought it was a bit crazy to pay over US$ 100 to stay in Brazil for less then an hour (just in the bus getting to Paraguay) and one or two days in Paraguay… so we changed the plan (as we have done so often this trip) and decided to stay in Argentina and travel via Resistencia to Salta in the north-western top of Argentina.

Well, that plan worked up to Resistencia. When we got there (after another 10 hours in the bus) we tried to find accomodation in Salta, but that turned out to be impossible due to Argentine holidays. So instead of staying 3 days or so in Salta, we decided to head for Bolivia as soon as possible and only stay in Argentina one more night. After a lot of phonecalls Sal finally was able to find us some accomodation in Humahuaca, close to the Argentine-Bolivian border.

Humahuaca is a gorgeous little town. Very much how I pictured little towns in Argentina to be like! Cobble stones, small streets, church in the middle, dust, cacti, more dust, locals having a nap on the street corner. Just gorgeous! And at 3000 meters we were also getting used to the high altitude earlier then we had planned.

The next morning we were heading for the Bolivian border, where we planned to take the train to our first stop in Bolivia; Tupiza. We crossed the border without any problem and after a bit of a hectic que at the train station we were able to buy 2 tickets to Tupiza. In Tupiza we planned to do a couple of hikes at altitude (Tupiza is at 2950 meters) in preparation for the Inca trail early August, before travelling on.

Well, that preparation didn´t go as planned… The first day we took it easy, slept late and did a lovely hike in the afternoon for about 4 hours. Lovely as it took us through a canyon and the scenery was just stunning! Red hills covered with cacti, we pictured ourselves in a cowboy movie! Thinking we could be jumped by Indians at every corner of the very narrow canyon. So the hike was nice, but what was not nice was that Sal got a bad headache by the end of it…

We knew the altitude could bother us, but as we had been at 3000 meters for 2 days already we thought we would be alright. We were wrong! We were both out of breath very quickly when the hike took us uphill. I also didn´t feel my best and we decided to call it an early night.

The next day started well, with both of us feeling good, but with how we felt the day before in mind, we decided to just take an easy strole and not strain ourselves so much. That started off well, but Sal started feeling bad again quite soon. So we went back to the hotel and Sal felt sicker and sicker. We stayed at the hotel that afternoon and night and the day after Sal only left the bed to go to the toilet. Not good. We were puzzled by what caused her to be so sick. Could it be the altitude? Or was it just that she ate something bad? She did have a bad veggie lasagna the night before…

Additional problem was that we planned to leave Tupiza on a “southwest circuit” tour to Uyuni and that left the day after she had been in bed all day… Luckily, and with some help of some medication, Sal felt well enough to give it a go and hup on the 4×4 to do the tour.

At the moment we have just arrived in Uyuni and finished the 4 day tour. Sal made it through it! It wasn´t easy on her, but she hung in there and got through it, while still being able to enjoy the tour. And the tour was very enjoyable!

OK, maybe not all the time spend in the jeep… about 9 hours a day was a bit much, but it was worth it! We saw the most amazing landscapes! Deserts, lagunas, vulcanos, flamingos, thousands of llamas and to top it off the largest salt planes in the world, Salar de Uyuni! A 4 day tour we will definitly remember for a long time!

Now we are waiting for the bus to take us to La Paz! Very strange to actually be in La Paz tomorrow morning. Especially as I left Australia and said goodbye to Sal´s sisters, I told them we would meet again in La Paz, and that just sounded so weird at the time, and now it will actually happen! Looking forward to see them both at La Paz airport on the morning of the 25th!!

That´s it for now! Hoping to upload some photos in La Paz!

Take care you all and keep smiling! X

Posted in South America | 2 Comments »

Yes. Now… My eye inflamation has returned. Damn. Luckily we were in Buenos Aires when it happened, and not in the middle of nowhere far from medical facilities. And luckily it´s just a minor inflamation and they are able to tread it right here and now. Luckily the eye doctors in B.A. are as good as in Holland. Luckily we can still keep travelling, and visit Iguazu (although we know for sure tomorrow afternoon after the next visit to the eye doctor *fingers crossed*) Well… considering all, I guess I still have to call myself lucky! :-)

Either way, lucky or not, haven´t been able to write much here or emails to people. Sorry for that. Hopefully when my eye is better again I will find some more time…

Travel wise all is going well. After Pucon we have travelled through Valdivia & Puerto Varas in Chile, then onto Bariloche in Argentina with a rainy and cloudy lake crossing. Then up to San Rafael, San Luis, Cordoba and finally east to Rosario and Buenos Aires. From there we took the boat to Colonia in Uruguay and the boat to Montevideo where we are now before going back to B.A. tomorrow.

As said, as the eye doctor gives the green light, we will be travelling onwards to Iguazu, and then through Paraguay up to the north tip of Argentina (Salta/Jujuy) and then into Bolivia to meet up with Sal´s sisters in La Paz on the 24th! We will have a busy schedule!

Again, hope everybody is still well! Keep smiling and still missing you all! X

Ps. Will write some more about the travels when my eye is better again!

Posted in Argentina, Health | 2 Comments »

It´s been a while since the last story, lot`s to write about again!! Probably will have to come back and finish this story properly though!

Easter Island was next on the list after our week in Santiago and as most travel books will tell you, it´s quite a mysterious place! A strange landscape, inactive vulcanos, a facinating birdman culture and the gigantic “moai” statues top it off! And it isn´t just the cheer size of the statues that make you wonder!

We were not perticulary lucky with the weather… not strange, as May turned out to be the wettest month… after my eye problems I just rebooked the trip and didn´t do enough research to get a “better” month… Still, the temperature wasn´t that bad with around 20 degrees. Plus we did got quite lucky with the weather when we did a tour to see the most important sites on the south coast of the Island. Only one “hard” day when we said off for a 5 hour hike and ended up walking over 4 hours in the rain… pooring rain I may add!

After Easter Island we flew back to Santiago and after one night there, we started slowly going south… South where the cold is. Bit by bit we are getting further. Now in Valdivia and the day after tomorrow we will go to the southest point we will go in Chile, Puerto Varas. From there we will take buses and boats to Argentina and continue to travel up towards warmer weather!

So far it´s all been fun travels! No horrible stories just yet! *knock, knock on wood* From Santiago we travelled to Talca for wine tasting and visited an amazing national park (name will follow!). We did a 7 hour (!) hike, through a gorgeous forrest along big mountains and ended up (half way after 3,5 hours) on a view-point out on the Andes! Oh my… gigantic would be the only word to describe it! Just amazing! What a sight! Not sure if the pictures will give the correct view, when I get time to upload them, but either way, it was a very special experience! Not to mention the busride back to Talca! 2 hours in a little bus, smelling off diesel and oil, with a frontdoor that won´t close, with high speeds on gravel roads through the hills with thick mist, crappy seats, etc. Just another fun experience!

After Talca we took an 8 hour busride to Pucon. Pucon is a weird European (Swiss/Austrian/Southern German) looking town. Very different from the rest of Chile we have seen so far. The town lies in the shadow of an active and amazing vulcano, Vulcan Villarica. We saw it glowing in the dark when we arrived and saw the cheer size of it the next morning! Very impressive. We read in the Lonely Planet that it`s possible to climb it and look down into the cartor and see the lava! So we checked with the girl at the hostel and a couple of hours later we booked the climb for the next day. 5 hours up, 2 hours down… Well, that was if we would have made it to the top… as you understand, we didn´t. Not because we didn´t wanted, or couldn´t… well… having that said, it was very hard going! We started at 1400 meters and got to 2200 (3 hours later!). The top is at 2847, so we had still somewhat to go, but the decent would have been to dangerous because the top of the vulcano was covered in ice… Sad, but it was definitely another interesting experience! Sal couldn´t be more happy that the adventure ended a bit early. After the first hour she already had enough, but still made it through the next two! Amazing! Talking about determination!!!

The day after the vulcano climb we decided to take a well deserved Spa day! As there is so much vulcanic activity in the Pucon area, there are also a lot of natural “hot” springs. Warmed up by mother earth itself! Never having been to one it turned out to be a very relaxing experience!

Oh, never got to finish writing that post to the blog, but before I left I got the final diagnoses from the doctor, confirming I have Bechterew`s disease. Not a big shot when the news came, but still not all that nice. Knowing there is no cure for the disease, it`s now all about dealing with it. The way to deal with it is taking medication every day (one little pil, travelling with A LOT now!) and stretch excersizes to keep my back flexible.

All going well on that part so far! *knock, knock again* In Santiago we had a somewhat challaging effort to find me a yoga-mat to do my 26 different exercises (takes 45 minutes each morning, all are a lot like pilates kind of exercises) as some places have either rock hard floors, or rocks on the floor! So I now travel around South America with my yoga-mat. Sometimes the exercises prove a real challange, mainly when we have to get up really early, as I have to deduct a least 45 minutes, plus shower, getting dressed, packing up, etc. So for example, when we did the hike around Talca, we had to take the 07:15 bus… taxi to the busstation left at 06:45, … yes… that`s means a very early morning! But, proud to report I haven´t missed a single mornings exercise just yet!!!

Often doing the exercises also means moving bedside tables, other furniture or sometimes just moving the entire bed to make room for my mat! Interesting. Tonight our room is so small that I won´t be able to do my exercises in the room… so for the first time during the trip I will make an early morning public appearence in the hallway of the hostel!

That´s all for now! Hopefully I will be able to upload some more pictures soon! The “South America collection” has all the pictures so far! Click here!

Take care and miss you all! X

Posted in Chile | 1 Comment »

South America! We finally made it! Strange feeling when we finally got on the long flight from Sydney via Auckland to Santiago in Chile. Something both Sal and I had looked forward to, finally happened! The first days in Santiago have been kind of slow. We arrived in the early afternoon on Tuesday, but were to tired from the flight to actually do anything… we forced ourselves to stay awake and went into town for a bit, just to make it to the evening and fight the jetlag, but even so we went to bed early and didn´t leave the hotel the next day until about 15:00 in the afternoon!

But even though we got up late, we did do much more then the day before! Went strolled around the city center a bit and went up the Cerro San Cristóbal (a hill close to the city) to have a look over the city… well… we missed out on quite a bit. Santiago is situated between big hills on one side and the Andes mountains on the other, so the smog the city produces doesn´t resolve very quickly… so during normal days (as it was yesterday) the city is covered in a grey haze of smog… Not all that great.

Back in the city there is, through the smog, actually some things to see though. There are tons of Spanish colonial buildings, which are quite pretty and interesting. Some areas have quite a Spanish feel to it. Others not at all, where colonial buildings are interchanged with many “new” or “modern” Chilean buildings.

Having said that, we are looking to leave the city and it´s smog for a day already! We are looking to go to the coast tomorrow, to visit some old towns and the day after we might try and do some wine tasting outside of the city. Should be good fun! Sunday we have booked for a museum tour (museums are free on Sundays!) and I am especially looking forward to the Museo Chileno de Arte Precolombino, which should display pre-Spanish invasion art. Should be very interesting!

That´s it for now! Soon more! :-)
No pictures yet… have made over 100 already, but still have to figure out a way to put them online… Hopefully I will get that sorted quickly… would be nice to put some pictures with the stories! Hasta luego!

Posted in Chile | 2 Comments »

For all of you that want a small idea of where we will be at what time during the trip, this is our itinerary for the South America part of the trip. Still some gaps to be filled in, but that’s no worry, as I am sure we shall find something fun to do! :-)

Update (28 February 2007):
Due to the circumstances, the initial part of the trip had to be postponed. Not sure what the new dates will be just yet. Hopefully we will just be delayed by a month. Does mean that we probably have to wave goodbye to visiting the southern tip of South America, as the weather would be going towards winter there by the time we would get there, and although the area is probably still beautiful in cold conditions, I am not sure if we are packing enough thermo underwear just to visit the place. Time will tell.

Update (16 March 2007):
My eye is improving slowly, and so is the plan for the trip! Happy to report I was able to reschedule the flight to Easter Island to the 15th of May. It’s a great feeling to be able to think and plan for the trip again! :-)

Update (28 March 2007):
Very excited day today! The whole trip is back on the agenda!! All flights have been changed and rebooked, plus as an extra bonus Sally is picking me up before leaving! She will fly to Holland on the 11th of April (my last working day at Shell will be the 10th), then we will spend some time in Europe before flying off to Hong Kong, where we will have a little stopover and then onto Australia. Very excited!!! :-)

Posted in South America | 3 Comments »

Last week there was “The great relief“, to day it turned into a nightmare after all… Yesterday my eye turned all red again, same symptoms as last week, just worse… Kept me awake again last night until Sal brought some words of wisdom and took most of my worries away. To remove even the last little worries, I decided to swing by the hospital eye doctor again, just to make sure I was worrying about nothing again…

But no… this time I was not as lucky. The serious eye inflammation was back… Sadness… Postponing the trip has become inevitable… The inflammation ain’t the biggest problem right now, but apparently there is something more serious wrong with me, causing the eye inflammation. And that is what they will try and find now. They took 6 small tubes of blood for testing, and took x-ray pictures of my lungs for checking.

Scary thing now is that I could have a whole range of serious or less serious conditions… Don’t wanne think about that to much at the moment… the lung x-ray results will be there in 3 days, the blood tests could take “weeks”. Patience seems essential. But my worst feelings are not in any regards to my health. I know I have something, I know they are looking for it, I know they will fix it again. All good. But what does worry me a lot and makes me very sad is the fact we have to postpone the trip.

Even though there ain’t much I can do about it, I do feel quite guilty towards Sal. I know how much we both looked forward to this trip, we planned so much already and Sal took her leave without pay and probably can’t delay that… Many reasons to feel sad…

Oh, if anyone is curious about what an injection into your eye does to your eye… this is how my eye ended up after an injection of anti-inflammation medicine… Yes, not very sexy… :-)

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Pffff… what great relief. Yesterday afternoon my eye started getting more and more red, and with it, I got more and more worried. To the point where I couldn’t handle it anymore, and called the hospital directly. Well… that’s not allowed. So had to go back to my general practitioner (GP) first and get a referral… OK, called the doctors office but the assistant wouldn’t give the “go ahead”… So had to go see the GP in person. Strangely enough, my eye got less and less red the more time I was away from work… so when I finally got to the GP’s office, it was actually feeling quite good. Tiny little bit red, little bit painful, but in general much better then it had been…

But still, I was very worried. Hardly slept the night from Monday to Tuesday, the worrying was keeping me awake, and just didn’t wanne go through that again. All I wanted was for the hospital doctor to have a look, as he would be the only one would could really tell me what the problem was and take my worries away. Well, went to see the GP, got send to the hospital immediately, and half an hour in the emergency room later my worries were gone. Just a minor cornea irritation… Unfortunately for me, with almost the exact same discomforts as with my earlier eye problem. But it’s behind me now. What a relief… Slept like a baby last night! :-)

Plus I can put the focus back to the trip again! Got my new camera yesterday, a lovely IXUS 850 IS. Now just going to invest in an extra battery, so I can’t run out of power on the Inca Trail! As I don’t believe I can send my porter back to charge the battery for me! ;-)

Did get the hotel (Hotel Gomero) booked for Easter Island, or Rapa Nui as the locals seem to call it. Only thing left is a hotel for the first week in Santiago. Well… only thing… that, and a ton of administrative stuff, additional travel gear, sorting travel insurance, etc., etc. … But fortunately nothing that can’t be sorted in time before I leave! :-)

Posted in Travel, Health | No Comments »

Scary day today. My left eye didn’t feel all that well today, and I got very worried the problems that hit my left eye by the end of last year were back… And as being back would mean there is something somewhat serious wrong with me. That’s not the biggest worry, as that can be fixed either way, but it would most likely also mean postponing the trip… and that would suck big time! Especially now we paid and booked the tickets a couple of days ago.

But, so far so good. Went to the doctor and got yet again the classic: “See what happens, if it get worse, come back” … So guess there is not much else to do then just that. Somewhat comforting is that I had somewhat similar issues a week and a half ago, ignored them as much as possible and a day later they were gone… so hopefully it will work out the same way this time! Have to try and stay positive! :-)

As I had the appointment in the afternoon, and the plan was the contact the vaccination office today, I managed to combine the to. So after seeing the doctor, I was off to the hospital to get some advice on the vaccinations I will need for our trip to South America. Funny enough Sally got her shots as well today. She got three in total. I was expecting somewhat of the same, as I looked it up on a travel information website and it turned out I mainly needed: Yellow fever, Hepatitis A and DTP (a three in one shot to cover Diphtheria, Tetanus and Polio). Knowing Sal got 3 shots, I thought that would be enough for me as well… I was wrong…

Clearly wrong, as I left with 4 shots in my body and have to go back next week for another 4, have to get an extra 2 in either Sydney or Santiago and have to get a final one somewhere in September… that’s 11 in total!!! Ok, little difference that they pushed me to get the Rabies shots as well, what are 3 in total, but that still leaves me with getting 5 more (!!) shots then Sally…. Mmmmm… That gives to think… Is the Australian healthcare system that much more advanced then the Dutch one? That they are able to reduce the same number of shots by 5? Stunning!

Another stunning thing was the price! A lovely 230 euro for 8 shots! K-tjingg!!! OK, let’s finish with at least one positive thing about the Dutch vaccination office at the hospital, I left without any sign of pain, where Sally could hardly move her left arm after her visit! Guess 5 shots less come with a certain price as well! ;-)

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With me being in London last the week for work, most of the planning for the trip is coming down on Sally’s shoulders. Not that we aim to plan or book that much ahead, but for some things it’s quite essential. The 4 day Inca trail hike we want to do towards Machu Picchu, we have to book very early, as we will require a permit to hike on the Inca trail. And these permits are hard to get. The government only gives out a limited amount to not damage the trail to much. No clue what that number is, but hopefully it’s small enough so we don’t charge up the trial with hundreds of people on our day of the hike.

Similar problem occurs on our trip to the Galapagos Islands. To really experience the beauty of the Islands a Cruise is said to be essential. Only same as with the trail, places are limited, so book early. As Sally and I are meeting up with Sal’s two sisters in South America, and we will travel our last weeks together, so booking 4 places on the spot for both events could prove impossible.

So Sal has done an absolutely amazing job arranging the tours, and matching our round-the-world-ticket flights around them. That might sound easy, but does involve a hell of a lot of work; endless number of phone calls, emails, checking with and updating sisters and boyfriend, etc., etc. My involvement was only acknowledging her great work.

But now I had time to have a look at the tour packages, I finally have some input for her! Our Inca trail porter! :-) For US$ 45 you can hire a porter that caries 9kg for you up and down the Inca trail. OK, maybe not essential, but probably quite welcome when hiking at an altitude of 3500m. Plus who am I to deny the locals their work? It must be a good thing to support the local community!

Posted in South America | No Comments »

With the new year well on it’s way, it’s been way to long I haven’t written on the blog. *shame, shame, shame* As always after a long period of blog-silence, a lot has happened and there is a lot to catch up on. Let’s try the nutshell version for now! :-)

The first 2 weeks of December were not that exciting, working in Holland. Then the excitement started by flying to Australia for Christmas and New Years! Quite a journey to get to Canberra, leaving midday on the 15th, getting to Melbourne at 2200 on the 16th and not being able to get to Canberra until the next morning. No flights to Canberra later then 2100, so I was forced to spend a night at an airport motel. Other option was to take the night bus… but I wasn’t to keen on sitting in a bus for about 10 hours, after being in a plane for 24! :-)

Australia was yet again great! First the lovely Batten family lunch just after I arrived in Canberra. Sal’s birthday dinner at a lovely restaurant and then on to Melbourne for Christmas and Ashes cricket at the MCG. Up to Sydney for New Years eve, some snorkelling at Manly beach and back to Canberra for the final days of the trip. And such a great trip it was yet again.

Coming home was hard though… Arrived on Monday at 1900 and got up at 0600 on Tuesday to get back to work… Outch… that was rough… but actually worked out great! The plan was to ignore the jetlag and get straight back into the working rhythm. No point in postponing the inevitable. And now work is almost over again. My contract ends on the end of February, and the travelling life awaits again!

Early March I will fly back to Australia, and then together with Sally we will fly to South America a short week later. We plan to start in Chile, travel down the continent, back up to Buenos Aires and then go onto Peru to do the Inca Trail and see Machu Picchu and finally see the Galapagos islands before flying back to Europe. That’s the plan so far. Not much and still very flexible. We only have a ticket reservation so far, but even that is not holding back the planning!

Because even though we don’t have a “real” ticket to Santiago in Chile yet, I did book a flight already to Easter Island! Very excited about that one! As a little Bert I got very fascinated when reading about those big statues on an island truly in the middle of nowhere! How did the people get there? Why build those statues? In many ways I am very excited to go there and see my fascination come to life! So whatever happens, happens.

But if you are looking for me, I will be on Easter Island from the 20th till the 27th of March! :-)

Posted in Travel, South America | No Comments »

Time to catch up with the blog again. And so much to write… had a truly wonderful time in Australia. Absolutely amazing!!! Will post the “new” stories on or around their original dates, so please follow these links to read them:

- My first play [What can I say - 27-07-2006]
- A taste of Africa [Ethiopian food; one big pleasant surprise! - 26-07-2006]
- Tossing the coin [How we ended up in Mallacoota - 14-07-2006]
- Amazing bushwalking [Tidbinbilla and Orroral valley - 03-07-2006]
- Not a hole at all [Canberra, the bush capital - 30-06-2006]
- Keep left, keep left, keep left, keep left! [Cycling in Australia - 28-06-2006]
- Snorkelling with the turtles and fishies [So much fun!!! - 23-06-2006]
- Breath in, breath out… [Diving in the Great Barrier Reef - 21-06-2006]

Posted in Personal, Australia | 6 Comments »

The last weekend before going back to Holland Sally and I stayed in a hotel on Manly Beach in Sydney. A lovely location and with the ferry from Manly just a short and nice “ride” to the city centre, ending at Circular Quay, right between the Harbour Bridge and the Opera house. Easy as anything.

On Friday evening we ended up having dinner at a grill restaurant (can’t remember the name… “Something” Grill…) at the waterside with a view on the Harbour Bridge on the left and the Opera house on the right. Lovely spot for a nice dinner. And a nice dinner it was! I finally got to try some Kangaroo and Crocodile! After trying a barramundi in Port Douglas (really, really nice fish!!) those to were left on the list to try and didn’t think I would do so before leaving but when the opportunity came by at the grill restaurant I had to make a stand! Kangaroo and Crocodile it would be! :-)

And I did not get disappointed at all! They were both jammie. The Kangaroo very nice and tender, the croc … well… like a weird tasted chicken… :-) but nice as well! Still enjoying the moment a guy appeared on the terrace we were sitting, with a little flute and started playing a birthday song for the table next to us. We just smiled and thought the guy belonged to the restaurant and was just being funny on request… little did we know! Moments later he appeared at our table playing some annoying song! Leaving us feeling quite uncomfortable, but luckily after he played a bit a waiter came and asked the man to please leave the restaurant terrace…

And little we knew indeed! Because when the guy left and we saw that there were people with camera’s, Sal figured out the guy was from a ABC TV show called “The chaser’s war on everything“, and was just recording a little bit for next weeks show… And yes! We made the show! *LOL* well… made it… click here to see our 7 seconds of fame! (7.9 MB, © ABC TV). And you have to look carefully, because I am hard to spot, but Sal is quite obviously looking away in disgust! ;-)

[Ok, I will help a bit… it’s us between 0:57 and 1:04!]

Posted in Movies & TV, Restaurants, Australia | No Comments »

How to get to Mallacoota? Fairly easy, just toss a coin! :-) Well, that is what we did when we had a weekend to spare, wanted to get out of Canberra and didn’t know where to go. We would let the coin decide where to take us. So we looked on the map and decided to either go North or South and then toss the coin and every big split of the highway to determine our further course. Worse case we would toss ourselves in a circle and end up in Canberra again, but what were the odds of that happening?

First toss of the coin was at home in Canberra. Heads for North, tails for South. Toss. Tail. South it was. Next toss was a the first mayor split of the highway at Cooma. Here the road went West or East, and so our next toss was there! This way we tossed our way through Australia and finally ended up in the most South-Eastern corner of Australia, in Mallacoota.

The drive down there was a lot of fun because of the tossing and not knowing where we would end up, but also the endless quiet roads surrounded by the emptiness of the land, made it quite impressive. The last stretch of the trip turned out a bit stressful though. Because even though there is not many cars, there is a lot of kangaroo’s! Especially around dawn… And judging by the number of dead kangaroo’s we saw on our journey along the roads, that wasn’t something we would like to experience… But we nearly did…

To get to Mallacoota we had to turn off the Princess Highway and follow a smaller, quite bendy road for 25km to get to Mallacoota. The bush was quite close to the road and dawn was there so we had to be very sharp on possible kangaroo’s sitting on the side, or just right on the middle of the road. And so it happened. Little hill. Soft right turn. “KANGAROO!”. Breaking. Kangaroo hopping onto the road, probably scared by the sound or lights of the car. More breaking. Peeping tires and a sliding car. Relief. The car stopped about 5 cm in front of the kangaroo. I looked him straight in his scared eyes and off he went, hopping back very quickly into the bush! Pfffff… we got lucky! Thanks to some amazing breaking and car handling from Sal, we avoided impact and let the kangaroo, which after close eye contact turned out to actually be a wallaby, live to fight another day. Adrenaline was pumping and with our hearts in our throats we continued the last bit of the trip. Luckily we didn’t have any more of those close encounters…

The toss that let us to our accommodation in Mallacoota turned out to be a brilliant one! The toss brought us to the Karbeethong Lodge. A very cute little B&B in an old wooden house, with a great view on the bay and run by very friendly people. Breakfast included and with very reasonable rates. A clean and nice room, and a lovely big fireplace in the common area to drink wine and play Stratego at! :-) Definitely worth a visit!

Besides the weather, the weekend turned out to be great! Even the rainy days didn’t bother us so much. Went up the coast for a drive to Eden, a walk and a nice lunch. Furthermore we just relaxed and enjoyed our weekend. The drive back was long and it turned out nearly impossible to find a place for lunch, but we had fun as well. Although I do promise not to scare Sally anymore with my improvised car-haka when she starts overtaking! ;-)

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