The noisy morning chatter

Sitting here having breakfast on the deck, and listening to the noisy chatter of parakeets, kookaburras, galahs, Australian magpies and many others. Sadly I am not a good enough photographer to have been able to capture pictures of the early morning flyover that happens every minute or so as groups of noisy local residents head off to where they need to be. But as the sun rises, and everyone gets about their business, the diversity, liveliness and volubility of local bird chat is a wonderful thing.

Exploring the rock pools on Fairhaven beach on Saturday morning

Look who ate my muesli this morning..

A female Australian King-Parrot decided that my breakfast looked better than the fruits of her tree foraging.

Gymnastics by the Southern Ocean

Down to Fairhaven beach again, for our brief afternoon interlude between mock Maths GCSE papers..

Three surfers on Fairhaven beach

In Melbourne's botanic gardens

Saturday morning in Melbourne's beautiful botanic gardens. Lakes, herb gardens, majestic oaks and gum trees, riotous colour from banks of flowering shrubs.

By the sea

Last night we left Melbourne and drove down the great ocean road. We are now holed in a lovely little cottage a few mins walk from Fairhaven beach, which is simply stunning. Fine sand, miles long, crashing waves, nobody around. Chilly water but warm weather (it'll be 26C today and 30C tomorrow). The only man-made noise comes from an occasional helicopter overhead, tracking the great white sharks which patrol the beach..

Howzat!!

Sunday afternoon at the MCG, to see the one day international between Australia and Pakistan. The Aussies started confidently, having beaten the Pakistan team convincingly two days previously. But over-enthusiastic and sloppy early order batting led to the loss of most of the more experienced hitters before half of their allotted overs had been bowled. The Pakistan team adopted a more measured approach, and ultimately prevailed in a close battle. Exciting stuff! (We had the stamina only for the first hour or two, if truth be told, but followed the rest of the battle remotely.)

11th January 2017: Bat hunting!

After several bat sightings during the week, (all of which I never managed to see), and only one day left in city centre Melbourne, J realised that my time to see a bad was growing short. Finally, after a dose of the puppy eyes, I managed to persuade my family to take me to FitzGerald park see them myself last night. The air was crisp and cool, the moon was hidden behind a thick blanket of clouds, and the local witches were flying low on their brooms; it was a perfect night for bat hunting. I was hoping to catch a sight of a bat or two, snap a few picks and tick off "bats" from my birdwatching list. (OKAY, okay, whilst they may not actually be birds, they needn't conform to the labels society pushes upon them. It's 2017, you know! #Batscanbebirdsiftheywantto #Bepoliticallycorrect) Anyway, the bats didn't disappoint.

There's a theory that everything's bigger in Australia (spiders, BBQs, sharks) and let me tell you, there's a reason why this species are called flying foxes! The wingspans ranged from 30 centimetres to a metre, and they would swoop low across the sky, right over our heads. I guess I shouldn't be surprised, but I was shocked at how "bat like" they were - like, the literal Halloween cutout silhouette. Anyway, to inform you of these wonderful species, here's a fact file about these awesome bats that I, err, made up- I mean FOUND:

Name: Flying Fox
Species: "Grey Necked" Australian flying foxes
Colouring/markings: Our team of specialists couldn't see... it was dark, duh!
Food: Well, it accepted the beer we offered it...
Additional info: These flying foxes were originally based in the Botanical gardens of Melbourne, but were deemed too destructive to the flora and fauna there. The whole flock was moved, several years ago, by the use of incredibly loud percussion music blasted through incredibly big speakers. (True) The bats said they preferred Shakira.
Fun fact: They, unlike most bats, do not use echolocation. (True) Instead, they just scream really loudly and fly into things. (Less true)

Sorry for the blurry pics - as you can tell, 30 minutes standing in the cold didn't really give us any good pictures.

Big Bash Aus!

On Tuesday we went to the Melbourne Cricket Ground, the vast cathedral to Australia's passion for the game. Capacity 90-100,000, and membership of the MCC as hard to secure as its English namesake.

The Big Bash League is a thrill-a-minute version of cricket: strictly 90mins, twenty overs each way, fireworks for fours and sixes, razzmatazz on the big screens and loudspeakers. An outrageously partisan crowd, of course. Happily the home team Melbourne Stars beat the visitors from Adelaide, albeit in the final over.

View over the Melbourne skyline

This is the view from our lovely apartment. We're in the trendy/gritty area of Collingwood, a stone's throw from the beautiful park at Fitzroy Gardens, with a hundred excellent coffee shops an easy walk away. Perfect for caffeine addicts like us!

Australian Open tennis

Went to the qualifiers at the Aussie Open this afternoon. Blisteringly hot courtside. Some excellent tennis: quick serves (180kmh for the top women and 210kmh for the best men) and razor sharp groundstrokes. Might defer going pro until 2018..

10 January 2017: Pancake time!

After a hard day's work, Rachel and Mum stump around Melbourne Fitzroy looking for good deals on anything really. The city's unique; displaying a blend of hyper smart clothes shops next to bizarre "emporiums". We weren't feeling incredibly hungry, until we saw the gluten free crepe shop.... we justified it somehow.

***
Rachel

Silver linings

Arrived at Chiangmai airport nice and early, to find that the flight to Singapore is in fact an hour later than we thought .. oops.

But spirits lifted when we discovered a very fine macaroon shop. Yum!

7 January 2016: Good bye Thailand!

"Goodbye Thailand," I whisper, as the taxi pulls away from our hotel. We haven't left Thailand yet, you'll notice, but since we've left the hotel (and more specifically the buffet bar), I have due cause to be sad. That said, this stay in Thailand has been awesome. We've tasted and seen the culture, ticked off several tourist check points and even managed to scoop one or two bargains in the markets.

Well, we now have a 16 hour journey ahead of us, so I can cheerfully say "Tata for now" without sounding like an idiot. On second thoughts...

***
Rachel

Saturday 7 Jan: Packing Frenzy

And so concludes our stay in Thailand, finishing not with a bang, but with a frantic ten minutes of rushed packing. We always manage to have one bag seven kilos over the weight limit, creating a mad circulation of miscellaneous stuff and a dialogue that goes something like this:

"Okay, well, mum's over the weight limit. We'll need to transfer over some of her books to everybody else. Who has space?" Dad looks around at everyone else. We all avoid his gaze.
"Okay, we'll just have to carry it in hand luggage, then. What could we move, Mum? Clothes?"

Mum has a suspicion that everybody else has been reusing clothes for a week, (she's right, but we haven't told her yet) so she decided to sacrifice her toiletries instead. "Pass it over, pleas- WOAH, Mum! What could possibly be in this? It weights as much as a large toaster!"
Mum pretends she can't hear.

Under no small amount of protesting, Rachel's bag has been chosen to have the toaster crammed into. Everyone breathes out a sigh of relief, and quickly weighs the bags one last time just to make sure.
Rachel's bag is now over the limit.... repeat scene.

***
Rachel

Shaq, be very afraid

A new skill acquired - twenty hoops in 60 seconds!

We're all Thai chefs now..

On 3 January we spent the afternoon in a Thai herb and food market with Aon, a Thai chef and cooking school owner. Really interesting to understand how Thai cuisine focuses on many different types of herbs: coriander root, kaffir leaves, different types of basil, galangal, and a variety of chillies.

Then back to his place for an intensive four hour tuition. We learned how to cook tom yang goong soup, red and green chilli paste and curries, pad thai and sticky rice with coconut sauce and mango. Wow. Delicious, even though we say so ourselves. Lots of mistakes and laughter!

6 January 2017: exploring Mae Sa waterfalls

We took a car out of downtown Chiangmai and headed northwest for 40mins, to a relatively remote area called Mae Sa. The Ping river descends through a ten-phase waterfall, amid pretty tropical forest scenery. We hiked up to the summit, and then swam (sort of) in one of the pools on the way down. Beautiful!

4 January 2017

At the Elephant sanctuary (no riding!) after the elephants have been smoothed over with cool mud. If you look closely, Christopher is the one in the middle...

You know you're back in Asia when...

You know you're back in Asia when you see signs like this... brings back memories of finding footprints on the loo seats in the HK law firm where I used to work...

Hawaii-Five-O!

"I think that it wants to eat me.."

At an elephant sanctuary north of Chiangmai. E, C and R getting involved with feeding and bathing the charming pachyderms..

Art in Paradise..

Spending a drizzly morning at a fun local museum that explores tromp-l'oeuil effects in contemporary art.

Poetry about eels and other Buddhist rituals

One day on our vacation,

For the new year's celebrations,
We visited a temple in Chang Mai. 

So we waited in the sun,
Sat and watched everyone,
As they crowded next to the river.

They carried boxes and dishes

Inside were eels and fishes
Swimming hither and thither.

Well, they released their load

And out came the toads
Stacked two on two

The smell was atrocious

The seagulls were ferocious

But at least we had a nice view. 

Sorry for the cringey poem... *wince*

Spicy!

Teenage Son bravely tries a local chili pork dish ..

1 January 2017: Arrived in Chang Mai!

First impressions of the hotel: smug swaggering manliness and ... dead? We're not sure. Send medical assistance quickly.

Why doesn't this taxi have a door?

The intrepid Wizards head off to Chiangmai Old Town, incognito. The bargaining with the charming cabbie didn't work very well. Still, he looked pleased.

2 January 2017: Wake up and smell the buffet!

As incense was to our flat in Hong Kong, buffet makes up our morning experience, here in Chang Mai. This is good news for me, a renowned breakfast-eer, as buffets signal two and a half hours of excessive eating. I always pity hotel owners, as it is my design to make the most of the flat rate meal. If the charge for the buffet will remain the same, then it is my goal, no, my DUTY, to have as many courses as will possibly fit inside my happy tum-tum.

My breakfast will always go like this: two (full) bowls of sugary cereal, a savoury course of eggs, beans and fried rice, a fruit platter and then a delicate finish of another two bowls of cereal - literally. My aim is to eat enough to avoid eating lunch, and preferably dinner as well. It always gives me a guilty jolt, though, seeing the waitress' eyes widen as they watch me visit the cereal counter a sixth time.... better comfort myself with another bowl, then!

***
A slightly delirious Rachel