Willunga and McLaren Vale

As the Indian Pacific pulled slowly into Adelaide Parklands station after our memorable 24 hour trip from Sydney, we spotted our friends Gene and Julian on the platform. Less than 90 mins after the warm welcome, we had picked up our hire car in the city and driven to McLaren Vale for an emergency dental appointment that Gene had kindly arranged for me. After that it was back to their lovely new home in Willunga for a dip in the pool where I managed to cut my knee on the sharp edge of the step requiring dressing. On the assumption that bad things happen in threes (dentist, cut knee...), I awaited the third with trepidation.

My mind was subsequently distracted by aperitifs prior to a thoroughly enjoyable (drink fuelled) dinner with next door neighbours, Pete and Annie, who had kindly let us stay in their house last year when they were away.

The following morning we awoke to a torrential rainstorm, which was apparently the first rain they had had since before Christmas and was courtesy of Cyclone Yasi (which also caused the rain we’d encountered earlier in NSW). We were then invited to coffee in a converted local church, which I can safely say is a first. I followed this with a run and another dip in the pool. However, the third bad thing duly arrived when I realised that my mobile phone was in my back pocket and was now inundated with water. My mind was then further distracted by a trip to several McLaren Vale wineries and a brewery, which served as a great way to celebrate Julian’s birthday. Fortunately, Gene was subsequently able to supply me with a spare Telstra phone and my sim card worked okay.

In the evening, Julian cooked a lamb meal using a clever Aussie device called an Easy Cook in which you insert the meat and vegetables inside a glass container and it cooks by convection, quicker and more evenly than conventional cookers. Apparently, Aussie caravanners wouldn’t leave home without one.

On our 3^rd day, I got up early and cycled through the vineyards to McLaren Vale and back and we then experienced the Willunga weekly farmers’ market, featuring an amazing variety of local quality produce and some definitely alternative folk. We concluded our most enjoyable stay with a visit into the Adelaide Hills and (you’ve guessed it) a couple of wineries; K1 alongside a beautiful lake with an avenue of Agapanthus and Lazy Ballerina containing an English rose garden.

We are looking forward to reciprocating the hospitality when Gene and Julian come to the UK in May for the first time in over 20 years.

The Indian Pacific

This trip was always going to be a highlight. The Indian Pacific and The Ghan are the two iconic trains of Australia – The Ghan crossing the continent from North to South (Darwin to Adelaide) and the IP from East to West (Sydney to Perth). On previous holidays we had travelled the entire length of The Ghan route, and the Indian Pacific from Adelaide to Perth, across the Nullarbor Plain. Both journeys took 2 days and 2 nights. On this occasion we filled in the missing part – Sydney to Adelaide, travelling through the beautiful Blue Mountains at sunset. They really do live up to their name – the blue haze surrounding them is produced by the thousands of eucalyptus trees covering the region.

The train stopped early in the morning at the outback silver mining town of Broken Hill. There was time for a brief tour of the town and a hilltop memorial to the more than 800 miners who have lost their lives there since the nineteenth century.

These trains are a real experience, especially travelling in Gold Kangaroo class which isn’t cheap but we believe worth every dollar. In your own private compartment, with a very cleverly designed en-suite loo and shower, you pass through some spectacular scenery. There’s a lounge bar carriage for when you are feeling sociable, and a restaurant car serving excellent breakfast, lunch and dinner. While you are having dinner, your compartment is converted into two sleeping berths with crisp white sheets. The rocking motion of the train at night is a lovely sensation, and peeping through the blinds to watch the sun rise over the outback is a memorable experience (especially for someone like me for whom sunrises are not a common sight).

One of the joys of the train is that you meet so many people. Sitting with a different Aussie couple for each meal of the 24 hour journey, we met some lovely, and well-travelled, people and picked up lots of tips for future Australian holidays, especially in the more remote areas which we love.

On both our previous trips the Hospitality Manager on the train had been Catherine, with whom we had struck up a good relationship and spent some time chatting in the bar late at night (as you do). That in itself had been a coincidence, as there are at least 8 train crews, so we were amazed to find that once again Catherine was our hostess. She greeted us like old friends so we felt immediately at home.

I could have happily stayed on the train all the way to Perth, but there was a big incentive to get off at Adelaide – we were being met by our friends Gene and Julian and were so much looking forward to seeing them.

Sydney

Having spent a few days on the Central Coast, NSW, we returned to Sydney for one night and day. Despite around 8 previous stays in the city, we still love coming back and soaking up the atmosphere.

Having dropped our cases at a “mid-town” hotel in George St, we headed down to Circular Quay where we were greeted with a huge cruise ship, Diamond Princess, initially blocking our view of the Harbour Bridge and setting sail for Beijing later in the day, with about 2,000 passengers taking 23 days – no thank you!

We settled for a 25 min trip on one of the newer Harbour ferries to Watsons Bay (where the famous Doyles fish restaurant was full of lunchtime diners). This and the return trip provided an excellent view of many of the Harbour delights and countless photo opportunities, despite our earlier trips.

After a brief look at the rock art works of an Aboriginal artist, Bardayal “Lofty” Nadjamerrek, in the Museum of Contemporary Art, we couldn’t resist sitting by the Opera House in the sunshine, with a glass of sparkling wine, looking over to the Harbour Bridge – an iconic setting which Dave and Pam will remember from a previous visit when we couldn’t tear ourselves away until the sun went down and a couple of bottles had been emptied.

This time we had to leave to get ready to meet Aussie friends, Sean and Anne, at a great fish restaurant called Fish at the Rocks, where we conversed non stop until we were the last ones left. The previous weekend, super fit Sean had run 45km in the Blue Mountains, up and down peaks, across creeks and a river up to his waist – it made my jogs along the Bridgewater Canal seem incredibly tame.

The following day, we had a few hours to spend before catching the Indian Pacific train to Adelaide. We walked to Darling Harbour and Cockle Bay in the sunshine and had a first look at the impressive National Maritime Museum, with an exhibition called Planet of the Sharks providing some thoroughly scary pictures and stories about these creatures that have inhabited our seas for 400 million years.

We also viewed the Australian Welcome Wall which lists many of the 6 million people who have made this country their home from elsewhere. Anyone or their forebears who has migrated to Australia can apply to have their name listed – an example of how proud most Australians are of their country.

Aussie Aussie Aussie!

Sydney and Central Coast of NSW

Vietnam was a wonderful experience and pretty full on, so the more relaxing part of the trip begins here, in our favourite country. Arriving in Sydney we couldn’t wait to get out and hit the town. We try to stay in a different part of the city on each visit, so this time we were near Central station, convenient for our train journeys. Although on the edge of Chinatown, we found a little Spanish area, a cultural centre and several authentic tapas restaurants (For those who know Sydney – corner of George and Liverpool Streets). We couldn’t resist a change from Asian food and weren’t disappointed.

Walking back to our hotel we noticed the Shark Hotel – attracted by the name, we had a look inside. There was a busy karaoke night in full swing, and although we increased the average age in there by several years we stayed for a few drinks. Two British lads in their twenties performed a difficult Eminem number really well, so we got talking to them. They had met picking Bowen mangoes up in Queensland while backpacking around and had settled in Sydney. Jack and Chris didn’t seem to be planning to return to Kent and Coventry anytime soon!

Next day we took the train to Warnervale on the Central Coast, to spend four lovely days with our friends Aid and Ed who have recently bought a new house in Gorokan. This is the sixth time we have experienced their great hospitality – although they have moved all over the country (Melbourne, Palm Cove, Brisbane, The Entrance....) we always track them down! Thanks Aid for suggesting we make the trip by train rather than car – the journey is spectacular in parts as the line cuts through mountain passes then hugs the edge of the scenic Hawkesbury River.

We had arrived in NSW toward the end of a heat wave with temperatures of over 40 degrees, so Aid and Ed’s lovely pool got lots of use and I was delighted to find that Crocky the inflatable crocodile, an old friend from Palm Cove, had survived their various house moves.

The following day we were all invited to lunch at our friend Sue’s. Sue, like Aid, was at school with me in Ruthin and emigrated in the seventies. Last year she had a new house built in Kellyville Ridge in the Western suburbs of Sydney and it was really good to see her happily settled in her new home. Lunch was very convivial – we renewed our acquaintance with Sue’s friends Marion and Richard, and were pleased to meet Patrick and Jose Carlos for the first time.

There was a big drop in temperature and some heavy rain the next day. Aid and Ed had taken us to the beach resort Terrigal for lunch, and the sudden cloudburst sent everyone scurrying for shelter. The poor waiters were like drowned rats trying to roll down plastic sheeting to protect the outside eating areas, but the whole place was soon awash and we all huddled inside till it had passed over.

The Central Coast is a lovely area, with miles and miles of beautiful surfing beaches. The weather stabilised the following day and Aid took us to Soldiers Beach then on up the coast to Newcastle for lunch.

Our time with Aid and Ed went too quickly, as always. We enjoyed a lovely last dinner together in the aptly named Ocean View restaurant, overlooking the coast, and then it was back on the train to Sydney the next morning.

Singapore return

We had a one night stopover in Singapore on our way from Vietnam to Sydney, which coincided with Chinese New Year’s Eve, so Chinatown was a blaze of colour, rabbits (2011 is Year of the Rabbit) and throngs of people. However, an early night was in order to prepare for our 5am taxi to the airport.

We had time to experience the impressive MRT metro system, with its no eating and drinking rule (which we broke due to ignorance) and visit the lively Arab and Indian quarters of the city, where we had a strong Indian beer with Graham, a Welshman we met from Newport visiting his son and grandson in Melbourne.

It was strange seeing so little traffic on the roads after our Vietnam experience, but I expect we’ll get used to it in Australia!

Saw another bizarre photo being taken by a young guy walking along with an ice cream cone, taking a picture of it with his mobile!

Ho Chi Minh City (Saigon)

We have spent 4 nights in the city, staying in 2 hotels in different areas, separated by our trip to the Mekong Delta (described in another posting). From the moment we stepped off the plane it was evident that HCMC is very different from the other places we have visited in Vietnam. The first, very pleasant, change was the weather. We were welcomed with 32 degrees and sunshine, not something we had been acquainted with so far.

The comfortable taxi ride into the city showed us a very western-like scene of modern buildings, including high rise (such as the futuristic, impressively shaped and tallest, Financial Tower), flashy advertising hoardings and expensive cars. There is much more open space than Hanoi but one similarity was the incredible volume of traffic, especially motor cycles and scooters. The 7km journey to our hotel in the backpacker area took about 45 mins, which enabled us to gain a quite intimate view of city life on the streets.

The backpacker area was wonderfully lively, with fantastic choice of bars and restaurants. We soon made friends with a waitress called Mun (moon), who engaged us in lively banter and proudly showed us the menu she had produced on the computer. Then we met a Geordie called Andy over from KL for the weekend, followed by Aussies from Alice Springs. The only disturbing thing was to see a good many middle aged white men picking up young and attractive Vietnamese girls. We actually walked into one bar during our stay and realised very quickly that it was populated entirely by the above combination so didn’t stay.

On our first full day we decided to visit various sites on foot and by taxi. However, we were persuaded to accept an offer of city tour by cyclos (as in Hue). We agreed a price and our riders (Phung and Thao) set off through the busy traffic (you simply have to trust them to safely navigate through the hundreds of motor cycles) to the War Remnants Museum. This was extremely harrowing, because it portrays the American War in all its gory detail with horrific pictures and stories of the atrocities committed on the Vietnamese people and the long term effect still being suffered because of the use of toxins such as Agent Orange. It also reminded us that nothing has been learnt because similar abuses have been committed in Iraq and Afghanistan, the only difference being 40 years more development of the technology.

Phung and Thao waited for us and then took us to a wood lacquering factory, followed by a long ride in the hot sun to Cholon (China Town) to visit the huge market and Buddhist temple. A look at the Saigon River (although it was actually a canal we discovered later), then lunch at a local Vietnamese restaurant some way from our hotel. All was friendly, sharing several beers and stories until Phung (the senior rider, who spoke quite acceptable English) started to re-negotiate the price by showing us glowing comments written by previous clients in his little book and indicating on his watch that we had had 4 hours of their time. We knew from the guidebooks that this was a typical scam so argued our corner and it got very unpleasant. We eventually walked off, having given them what we thought the trip was worth, about a quarter of what he was asking – it spoilt the experience somewhat.

The 2^nd hotel was close to the up market hotels, of which there are many, and City Hall. In fact it had a restaurant on the 17^th floor where we had breakfast and an outside pool on the 16^th floor with small selection of modern gym equipment where we spent our final afternoon in Saigon.

It was a wonderful time to be in the city in the lead up to Tet (the Vietnamese New Year) celebrations from 3^rd to 5^th Feb. This is their biggest event of the year and boy do they go to town. The central attraction is a wonderful flower festival taking up one of their principal boulevards, Nguyen Hue. We had a cocktail on the 23^rd floor of the Sheraton Hotel and watched the opening ceremony which many thousands flocked to see. The 2^nd night was just as busy and the sight of hundreds of motor cycles, many with a family of 4 on board, gridlocked along Le Loi (similar to the Champs Elysees) was absolutely amazing, notwithstanding the significant effect on air quality.

Another main attraction for tourists is Reunification Hall, which was the presidential palace up until the success of the North Vietnamese Liberation Army in 1975, when the tanks smashed through the railings shown on TVs around the World. It provides a memorable history lesson and fascinating collection of 60s and 70s furnishings, as well as the untouched communications rooms in the basement and an abandoned American helicopter still sitting on the 3^rd floor roof.

HCMC is a thriving city with a feeling of wealth, mixed with the inevitable poverty symbolised by the constant attempts to sell. The people are generally slim, attractive, smiley, wear bright colours and love posing for photographs.

The slightly disappointing thing is that at times you look around and see a city that could easily be Paris or any number of other World cities. Then you see the volume of motor cycles and realise where you are. It’s been a wonderful introduction to Southeast Asia.

Wincarnis – a blast from the past

I wrote the Mekong Delta post whilst at HCMC airport waiting for our flight to Singapore. Imagine my surprise when, having a browse round the duty free shop, I saw a section marked ‘Premium Wines’, where bottles of Wincarnis were proudly displayed! It took me back to the sixties and the days of ‘Mrs Wilson’s Diary’ in Private Eye.