Haven't even left yet.

Heading Home

2007-01-06T00:02:10Z

We decided to go home via Sale and turn up at Cann River to Cooma. Thursday we travelled to Sale. We stopped in Melton to fix a couple of things for the couple who rent a house we own there.
It was so hot the whole time we'd been away, I foolishly bought Hollie and Chris some chocolate form The chocolate shop in Ballarat. We were only out of the car about 1/2hr. The two little chocolate owls turned to blobby owls. Oh well.
We stayed at the best Western in Sale and as soon as I turned on the air conditioner this huge cat turned up at the door. He came in like he owned the place. Probably does. He was so thirsty, we filled the sink with some water and he gulped it down. Of course he looked very hungry so I went up the road and got him a tin of cat food which he quickly ate down. After that he curled up on the bed and had a nap. He went out when we went to bed but turned up first thing as soon as I turned the air conditioner on again in the morning.
The next morning we had breakfast delivered at 6;30am and left by 7am. We stopped in Cann River for a coffee. We wanted to have lunch at Bombala at the pub that is now owned by the couple featured on the Sea Change programme on sunday nights. Just as we got there we saw the couple leave the hotel, towells over their arms, obviously off for a swim with the kids. Another time maybe.
We carried on and finally had lunch at Bredbo and looked around the xmas barn. What an awesome shop, worth a drive out there from Canberra. I had a pumpkin and pesto lasagne for lunch with a salad. Highly recommend.
Arrived home around 2pm. So very, very tired. Back to work and reality on Monday. Has been a lovely 3 weeks, I have soem beautiful memories. Will add photos when I get more memory next month.

Heading Home remains copyright of the author cherubsact, a member of the travel community Travellerspoint.

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Ballarat

2007-01-05T23:48:02Z

We left early as planned on Tuesday 2nd Jan. We decided to take a bunch of CD's with us only to discover our cd stacker, which is in the boot of the car, had been stolen. Strange, last seen the morning we left for NZ, left in locked car in a security car park near the airport. Will phone them but not holding my breath. Didn't help that Steve also discovered when we got home last weekend that the big truck, left at home as we felt this was the most secure place, had been siphoned dry. Not like a car that gets siphoned, a truck is hard to get diesel into and the lines will be dry. We weren't going to let our holiday get ruined by these things so we carried on.
Trip down to Melbourne was nice, stopped at Ettamogah Pub. I love this place, so cute.
For lunch we stopped at a cafe called HalfWay Cafe. This place was the kind I love to discover. Very, very old and filled with bits and pieces for sale. Lots of antique items and other bits you'd normally see in a garage sale. The thing we were amazed to see though, all through this store, on the ceiling, the walls and shelves are parts of super V8 cars, signed by the drivers, such as Peter Brock, Craig Lownes to mention a few. Great for the race fans which of course includes Steve.
We got into Ballarat around 2pm, this was the first time for both of us and we just drove down the main street both pointing and yelling, "look at that one" "Oh see the lace on that one". The historical houses in this place amazed us. One after another. We found Anne, the owner of the B&B we were staying at and picked up the key. She owns and runs a little bedding gift shop with all the accesories I love so I was in heaven.
As we spent the next few days in Ballarat we were to discover like many towns in Australia, it has its set of problems such as bored youth etc but overall we found it such a friendly town. People were so helpful and quick to chat.
The first morning I went for a walk and stopped to pat a dog who was with two elderly gentlemen. They were very quiet and never said a word until the owner piped up and said "don't spoil her too much" then he laughed. I realised as I stood up why they were so quiet, I'd been giving them a birds eye view down my top. Oh well, probably topped the morning off for them.
We really did fall in love with this town and hope to go back soon. Maybe not everyones cup of tea but it would suit us.

Ballarat remains copyright of the author cherubsact, a member of the travel community Travellerspoint.

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The Trip home

2007-01-05T22:26:28Z

I got up at 6am, eventually we were all showered, breakfasted (is this a word?) and packed to head home. Judy arrived to say goodbye. The part I absolutely hate. We left just after 8am. We stopped in Mokau for coffee and a quick snack. I think my family has stopped in Mokau, especially returning home, all our lives. Really good food. We sat and watched a couple trying to hitch a ride. He was a real character and had we had the room we'd have loved to have given them a ride but they seemed to have more baggage than we did.
We then stopped just out of Huntly at a large tourist restaurant and shop. Really nice food and great view. Carrying on the only other stops were for fuel and a toilet stop. I said to Tineka and Phillip and we could just pull up in front of the airport and say quick goodbyes. I hate airport goodbyes bigtime. We got there just after 2pm for checkin, flight was due to leave at 5pm. The time went quickly though. Finally we boarded, no delays and all was well until just after the meal one of the passengers in the row over looked like he'd fainted. They pushed the button to call for help but they sure took their time coming. By the time the attendant got there his poor wife was panicking. They called for a doctor who took even longer to come. Next thing the young girl behind him started throwing up, then someone somewhere else started doing the samething. To top it all off a 4th person collapsed in the aisle. By the time we landed they had airport quarantine waiting, police and an ambulance. Was a really worrying time not knowing if what we had was contagious and how long would we be delayed.
Thankfully they announced we could leave. I believe he was taken to hospital but we never heard anymore about the others. We finally arrived home lst night about 10.30. I went straight to bed abd dont remember a thing until I woke around 5 this morning.

The Trip home remains copyright of the author cherubsact, a member of the travel community Travellerspoint.

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24th to the 29th Dec

2007-01-05T23:10:35Z

Well the weather really stank. Our 2nd day there was the best. Clear sunny skies, we went down to the beach and the kids swam. We all had an icecream and got burnt. But, that was the end of the lovely weather. Our other sister Bev arrived with two of her children and various grandchildren on the 20th Dec and it started raining and that was it. There were 28 of us for xmas and we were pretty much stuck inside for the day. My two sisters and I put on a singing, dancing item for the family, who quite frankly looked pissed about the TV being turned off. We made them suffer through it anyway. We lipsinced to 'We are Family, I've got all my sisters with me'. They should be thankful we didn't actually try and sing it!!
Anyway after lots to eat we went for a walk down to the beach cliff where mum always loved to walk to and sat staring out to sea.
While we were there I got to revisit so many places of my youth. Steve, Hollie and I also went down and visited mum and dad's grave site.
On boxing day, Steve, Hollie, Phillip and the Momfug went to New Plymouth and did some shopping at the sales. The next day Bev and her family left and we sat and watched the awful storm outside. Suddenly around 3pm it all blew over, the skies cleared and so we jumped in the van and headed back to New Plymouth. The kids all went to a movie, including Hollie who actually sat with all the kids and from what I hear played up more than they did. Judy, Steve and I went and visited Phillip who was with Tineka and her Mum and Step-dad who were up from Wellington visitng family. We then went and had a cappuncino, picked up the kids, had dinner at MacDonalds then went to Pukekura Park to see the lights at night through the gardens. I believe this would be one of the most beautiful parks in the world. We got home around 11pm. Was such a nice day.

24th to the 29th Dec remains copyright of the author cherubsact, a member of the travel community Travellerspoint.

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Arrival into Auckland

2006-12-31T01:37:37Z

What is a m.o.m.fu.g ? you ask. Stands for 'mother of my future grandchild'.
No pressure of course. Her name is Tineka and had I handpicked a partner for my son (Phillip) I could not have done a better job than he has. She is awesome and fitted into our family as if she's always been there. She even let my sister and I tease her about being the MOMFUG and the wedding the two of us have designed for them. Kind of goes like this, on the beach, paper flowers, colour scheme of purple, yellow with red accents. My goodness, who would have a problem with that? Of course Hollie is not happy with the nickname given to her boyfriend Chris, does not look the best when spelt out I guess. D.O.M.FU.G.
Seriously though, Tineka is wonderful and I couldn't be happier for him and should they choose to remain childless she has Phillip who we all believe will remain her biggest child forever.
Phillip handed over his car to us at the airport and he and Tineka led the way in her car.Took us an hour and a half to leave Auckland because of evening traffic. Phillip drove until we hit Otorohonga where we had a toilet stop and filled the car with snacks. Tineka then took over the driving and we weren't two minutes out when she got pulled over and handed a speeding ticket. Poor thing, what an impression to put on the inlaws. Really though, we were just glad it was her and not us.
Finally arrived in Opunake around 11.30pm.

Arrival into Auckland remains copyright of the author cherubsact, a member of the travel community Travellerspoint.

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The flight

2006-12-20T20:13:18Z

Hollie asks, "what time are we leaving to go to the airport?" 6:30am I replied. "Ok then, she says, "I'll get up at 5am, I need to do my hair".
Geez, I just can't be bothered spending that much time on my hair. Oh well each to her own. Anyway we all got up, Steve and I had our showers then spent the next 1-1/2 watching Hollie do her hair!!
We checked in at 7:15 and went and had breakfast. Boarding time was 9:45 but an announcement said it was delayed half an hour. They had been late coming in due to flight congestion and then someone became ill and they had to get an ambulance for him. Couldn't wait till he got off the plane till he got sick could he. We finally left. There was quiet a bit of turbulance due to bad weather, Sydney was cold, wet and windy. The flight was quick and a nice flight really. We had the monitors in the seat in front so it was good entertainment and made the flight quick. We arrived and had made up time on the flight over, everyone starts standing up to get off the plane when the captain announces the walkway has jammed and we can't get off the plane. We were stuck there for about 1/2hr. It was so good to finally get out of the airport. Hollie got pulled over for a random questioning. Guess she looked like a criminal. Will continue this tomorrow, I need a coffee.

The flight remains copyright of the author cherubsact, a member of the travel community Travellerspoint.

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We're Here!!

2007-01-05T22:25:18Z

Its so nice to finally be here. Its Thursday now and I'm doing this on my sister Judy's computer. We got in last night to the motel around 11.30pm.
Tuesday I spent the day doing the final pack. Hollie came home, packed her stuff then she went to Chris's place till it was time to go.. Steve worked up till about 2pm. We got into our Sydney motel aorund 11pm. Stevbe asked which bag we wanted to take up to the room, Hollie and I said all of them. So there we were standing outside the car with Hollie's HUGE pink monster bag, my medium size, normal bag and then here is Steve's tiny little bag. Pretty pathetic really. Hollie's is on wheels so she was able to pull hers along but Steve, ever the gentlemen carried mine and his. I said we'd have to get the parking ticket from reception as it was $5, Steve complained and said "yeah by the time we pay the extras it costs us as much as the big hotels!! No it doesn't, I'd done my homework. As he's dragging the bags into the hotle he was muttering under his breatn "probably cost us another $5 to go up the elevator". He had to shut up when the guy gave us the parking for free. We finally stagger into our oversized wardrobe of a room. Talk about tiny. There's even a note on the bathroom door to make sure you keep the door closed when you have a shower so the water doesn't wet the carpet.
I'll continue this with another page on how we got on on our flight.

We're Here!! remains copyright of the author cherubsact, a member of the travel community Travellerspoint.

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Sunday

2006-12-17T04:12:39Z

Well we've decided to stay in a hotel Tuesday night now as the morning traffic in Sydney has gotten so bad over the last few months we felt we'd need to leave by 2.30am to get there on time and once we fly into Auckland we then have a 5 hour trip ahead of us. I got on to Wotif.com, what an awesome site. Got a airport hotel for $87.00 for 3 of us for the night. Steve will work up until 12, lunchtime then we'll do the last minute packing and leave Tuesday night.
Yesterday Steve had to work all day and his last pick up was at Wilmotts down in Cooma. They make furniture out of recycled timber. Absolutley beautiful. They've been customers of his for many years. Here's their website if you'd like a look.

http://www.thewillmottcollection.com.au/tables/index.asp

The father and son make the tables and the work is suburb. Anyway Steve picked me up and I went for a ride with him. Nice being in the truck again. We turned off just before Cooma and then after a while turned onto a gravel road. We continued up this for about 20km leaving a huge dust cloud behind us. They used to have their business in Fyshwick but wanted to move to the country. I do too but I don't think we'll be going that far into the boonies!!
Their house is an old farmhouse that they are slowly doing up. Every bedroom has a fireplace. After we loaded the truck, i.e. Steve and Daniel did the physical work but I was there for them in spirit. These tables are huge and solid. The legs are turned and massive center pieces so you can imagine really heavy. The workshop is a converted shearing shed. The smell of the sheep remains heavy in there. It was so quiet out there and so peaceful. Daniel's parents came over just as they finished and invited us to join them for dinner. It was a really pleasant evening with Steve and I doing most of the talking as usual.
We got home around midnight, which is way past my bedtime. Very enjoyable night though.

Sunday remains copyright of the author cherubsact, a member of the travel community Travellerspoint.

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YeeHaa!!! Last day at work

2006-12-15T20:30:24Z

Well the day started early, got to work just after 6:30am. 71 cheques to bank so took most of the day to process, then it was accounts payable. Busy day but got through it and in between had some nice conversations with a couple of people. Makes one glad they work there. Still I needed relief from all that built up stress. Rang home and Steve had just got in, so off home quickly for a bit of 'how's ya father'.
Didn't quiet picture announcing it to the world when I got back but oh well. To those of you still so young to find anyone over 40 doing it repulsive just wait till I'm 60. On my return the party was in full swing and so was Gayle. And for those who missed my announcement I can thank Gayle for making sure EVERYONE heard about it.
Then its on to the games, lots of fun except noone told me the secret so I can take it to NZ. After dinner we had a little bit of stretching, led by Gayle. Damn!! who knew,.... that lady is very flexible. Great party trick Gayle, I'll be taking that to NZ as well. Where's the damn video when you need it.
I thank those who were so thoughtful in giving the little gifts to us all, Renay, Steph and the mystery person who I'm not allowed to name yet. Thank you all for your effort, very sweet.
Renay I'm sorry I didn't get to say Merry Xmas to you, had something else on my mind but thought of it on my way back.
Today begins the major clean up here and last minute things to get ready for the big fly off Wednesday morning.
Well guys, talk to you again soon, I'm hoping to get up early enough Wednesday morning to say bye before we leave for Sydney but we have to leave by 4am so i'm not promising.

YeeHaa!!! Last day at work remains copyright of the author cherubsact, a member of the travel community Travellerspoint.

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Friday 15th Dec

2006-12-14T06:56:00Z

Well its Thursday night, one more sleep till I leave work to go on three weeks holiday. Tomorrow its going to be all go as I try and complete everything so I can leave. Our xmas party starts at 4pm, hopefully everyone will be dressed for the celebration. We will also be sending Lou off into the wide blue yonder as he begins his great adventure on the coast as a fish and chip shop owner. How cool is he going to be doing that.
I will spend the first four days of our holiday getting the house tidied up so we can leave Wednesday morning. Our house is being housesat so we wont have to worry about Gumby (dog) and Strippy (cat) while we're away.
This is my first entry and seeing as I haven't even left work yet there's really not much to say. I just wanted to get it up and going so I can give everyone the site to check up on me.
Love to all Pam

Friday 15th Dec remains copyright of the author cherubsact, a member of the travel community Travellerspoint.

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Getting ready to go to Melbourne

2007-01-01T04:59:11Z

Well today is New Years day and we're getting ready to head for Melbourne tomorrow. We hope to leave about 5am as we have an appointment with someone down there at 5pm. We've booked into a little B&B which is a renovated miner's cottage at Ballarat. Here is the website.
http://www.ballarat.com/elgin/
How cute is it? Didn't make the New Year last night, Steve and I went to see a movie in civic (Babel). I enjoyed it except the new theatre is very small and the screen large and so we ended up with blurred vision and the lady next to us left after an hour because of a sore neck. Very hard to make out what was going on at times. One of the characters was deaf and mute and so to understand her now and then the movie went into total silence and the only thing you could hear was the man two rows in front of us snoring.
Anyway we got home around 10 so I went straight to bed and read for a while before I crashed.
Not sure when I'll update this as it depends if we go anywhere there is internet access. Will take lots of photos though.

Getting ready to go to Melbourne remains copyright of the author cherubsact, a member of the travel community Travellerspoint.

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