Great green guavas

Fri 04 Mar

Our hotel has an amazing breakfast, another big plus of this place. Cold and hot buffet, fresh fruit and juices, and a chef on hand for customised eggy stuff. Delish!

We took the SkyTrain (picture the DLR, but bigger, faster and cleaner) to Saphin Taksin station near the river, then took a river ferry (mad mad mad but fun; you just get on this long, quite narrow bus-boat, then this shouty woman comes down the centre aisle screeching out in Thai, then people furiously digging for the right amount of change - don't dare try to break a big note, that would result in being thrown overboard, no doubt) to the Tha Thien station to visit the Grand Palace. Disembarking the express ferry we fought our way through a market selling tat and dried fishy stuff (pongy) and other street food. Then walked past more street market stalls selling tourist stuff, bottles of coke, 'antique' coins, buddhas, machetes (seriously!) and loads of other stuff.

The Grand Palace complex includes the palace where the King is coronated, does official stuff, and also the marvelous temple of the Emerald Buddha. To enter this temple, modest clothing is required. Fortunately La was in long combats and I had brought jeans along with me, else we both would have had to queue (with all the tourists in string vests and tank tops) to rent sarongs and/or long thin trousers (harem pants). The fun never ends. Strangely 'innappropriate clothing' seems to mainly mean mini-skirts and shorts as we still saw loads of tank tops and other beach/nightclub type top halves.

The temple itself and grounds were magnificent! The Emerald Buddha is also beautiful, but tiny (about 50cm high) and placed on top of a high chair on a parapet inside the temple. And dressed in one of 4 seasonal gold chainmail, or similar, outfits. No photographs allowed so you'll have to take my word for it. Our entrance tickets also got us into a museum of Royal coins and swords and photos of Royal births and weddings.

After a light lunch (nothing worth writing about) we went into another temple, this one of the "Reclining Buddha". Not only was this statue reclining, but it was huge - about 45m long. You sort of enter the temple near the Buddha's head, then wander down to his feet, then round again to the back of his reclining self. Pretty impressive. This temple complex was also beautiful, with other smaller temples, loads of Buddhas everywhere we looked and also loads of stray kitties wandering around looking miserable. On the way out we bought sort of freshly squeezed orange juice then took the crazy river taxi thing and Sky Train back to the hotel.

After a quick shower and relax, we headed for our first massage of the trip. Awesome little spa near our hotel, quite a quality establishment compared to some of the places we had avoided in the streets. And even this place was ridiculously cheap, around £7 each for an hour Thai massage. Much pain, but the sort of 'cleansing' pain, then more relaxing. And they even washed our feet before hand. That sort of made up for the way they laughed at me when I cried out in pain during the massage.

For supper we got lost. Or should I say, I got us lost. We headed off in what I decided was the right direction, then after not finding the restaurant, stopped in a posh hotel for directions, and eventually got there. My poor wife's clean feet and massaged back were almost undone.

Eventually we got there and had a great meal but oh so spicy. Yum. Pre-starter was a collection of titbits like chopped lime skin, ginger, fresh chilli and peanuts all self-parceled and swallowed in some sort of leaf with satay sauce. La then had some very agreeable spring rolls while I had a spicy green papaya and carrot salad. Very spicy. La had a green curry and I had chilli and Thai Basil chicken. Delish. And to always ensure fresh rice, they walked round with a big bowl pretty much constantly and dished out to plates of all tables as required. Genius. Surprisingly, I was able to still manage my new favourite dessert of fresh mango slices with sticky rice and coconut ice cream. Hmm.

After supper we did not get lost and wandered back to the hotel (took about 10 minutes!), and did a brief detour of an alley that was crammed full of bars and places offering all sorts of combined exotic dancing and sporting activities like ping pong. Curious, that :)

Day 49

Sat 05 Mar

After two nights in Bangkok, the world was our mollusc! Another great breakfast; I had an omellete with the works, and pancakes. Then we packed our bags and checked out and left our bags in the hotel storage. We had a midnight flight so would spend the whole day touring the city again. We planned to sneak into the hotel gym when we picked up our bags and use the showers there. Cunning, we were. But as we left the hotel, the ever-efficient staff offered the gym showers to us. Well, same result but no stress, so excellent!

Took the SkyTrain to the National Stadium stop, then a short walk to Jim Thomson House, the former home of American Jim Thomson who almost single-handledly rejuvenated the Thai silk import/export business in the 1950s-1960s. He settled in Bangkok and constructed a wonderful home by buying traditional Thai wooden houses from the country and transplanting them into a single, linked complex. And filled them with Eastern ceramic work and art. A few years after his mysterious disappearance in Malaysia , his home was turned into a museum.

From there we took a taxi (no seatbelts, but blessed cool air conditioning) to the Khao San Road for a bit of a wander and gawked along with all the other tourists and backpackers at the alleyways and market stalls of tourist tat, fake driver's licences etc. Had a very reasonable lunch (best veggie Pad Thai in the world apparently) then bought a few souvenir gifts.

Another taxi to the MBK shopping centre - 7 floors of wall to wall madness. Clothes, shoes, restaurants, general electronics and a whole floor entirely devoted to mobile phone shops, sardined next to each other, selling virtually identical stock from what we could tell, real and fake iPhones, un-locking services, you name it. On another floor La bought a leather belt which was cut and re-buckled to size while we waited. And apparently the MBK is only one of many such complexes in Bangkok and *not* the largest. A shopper's paradise.

SkyTrain back to the hotel and decided to have another massage, but our spa was fully booked so we picked another place nearby, where we both had foot massages (which for some reason included upper back and shoulder work) for about £5 per hour each. May be worth going to Bangkok for massages alone! Back at the hotel we chilled in the lounge and had juice and coffees, then popped round the corner to a very local restaurant (meaning plastic chairs, strip lighting, cheap food) for a quick supper. Interesting surroundings and service but forgettable food.

Then back to the hotel, collected bags and used the Gym showers, then took a taxi to the airport. Another ride with no seatbelts and a friendly driver who laughed maniacally at anything we said. Bangkok's new main airport is amazing, efficient, clean and beautiful. And an absolute high-end shopping gem designed to part awaiting passengers from their cash in the most efficient manner. One of their tricks is not to have anywhere to sit down, except right next to the gates which were (what seemed to be) about a kilometre from the shopping area. In other words a horrible, nightmarish place for the two of us. We spent our last few Thai Baht on some fresh fruit (mine was mango with a side serving of sticky rice, of course!), trekked to our departure gate and then, after 7 weeks travelling, we were on a plane home.

Day 50

Hook turns and foodie heaven

Sun 27 Feb

And so, off to Melbourne. We arrived late morning and were picked up by K, the friend who we were staying with.

Temp: 17 Deg C, no humidity

Time: no change from Sydney (still GMT +11)

A brief detour via K's place to drop off bags and pick up another friend S, then we headed out to the Mornington Peninsula, a beautiful wine area that runs along the south-east of Port Philip Bay. We had a lunch booking at the 1 hat (like a Michelin star) restaurant on Montalto estate, a farm that specialises in Pinot Noir and Chardonnay. Lunch was superlative, a set menu (I had the lamb, La had the barramundi [fish], followed by rhubarb brulee and oozy choc pudding) and some wine tasters. Delish. Then went for a wander round the installation art/scuplture on display in the gardens and around the vineyards.

Scenic drive home along the coastline, then unpacked and went for a walk in St Kilda's Acland Street, a very trendy mix of bars, coffee shops and cake shops; think Melville (Jhb) with less sleaze. Even for a Sunday night, it was pretty busy. Lunch had been late, but K and I still managed to fit in falafel in pita. The falafel ball mix was being machine gunned into the oil by some sort of mincer/spitter/outer contraption. Amazing. We rounded off the evening with a night stroll on the St Kilda beach front.

Day 44

Mon 28 Feb

After a fairly relaxed breakfast, we borrowd bikes from our hosts and cycled through Brighton down to the Bay. We then biked along the cycle path running next to the ocean, all the way to St Kilda harbour and then back to where we were staying, about 16km round trip. Easy on the legs, but not so much on the bums, which were not used to bike seats. A great way to see that part of Melbourne with its wide streets and verges and pavements and beautiful houses.

Back at K's place, we did our first DIY lunch in what felt like ages then made our way into the city, straight into Flinders Street station on the train. First stop was Federation Square and a view over the Yarra river, then we were on 'Masterchef Australia' location hunting. First success was 'Movida' and the alley adjacent to it; next was 'The Press Club'. The months before our trip we had become addicted to the show so this was a bit like a groupie pilgramage.

Some more wandering in the city, we had a coffee in Burke Street, window shopped in the Burke St mall and explored some of the alley ways to either side, crammed full of speciality shops, from boutiques selling hats to more coffee and cake places.

Then, we had our first Melbourne Tram experience, riding the 64 line back to K's place, where he had been slaving away over our supper: mediterranean style hake in parcels. After we'd eaten, we met up with a former Pretorian, G (who we'd been friendly with in London) and his wife D for a catch up and home baked brownies.

Day 45

Tue 01 Mar

After breakfast, took a tram into the city and headed straight for the Queen Victoria Market, one of Melbourne's biggest fresh produce markets. The market has several large food halls, divided into meat, fish, fruit, veg, deli goods. Awesome. And then another few large halls full of flea market tat. We wandered up and down, bought some fruit, a bit of lunch and some souvenirs. We also bought a tasteful gift for our host K.

After lunch we picked up a hire car and then headed for the Dandenongs, an area of hills and valleys and rainforesty type stuff, about an hour East of Melbourne. Great drive and lovely meandering rode up towards Mount Dandenong (633m). We stopped at the National Rhodendendrum Gardens, which are truly spectacular, and where we got a little lost amongst the plants. We were a little late in the season to see them in their full flowering glory but still a fantastic place to visit. We pushed on to the village of Sassafras for some tea and scones, but missed last orders (at 16:30!) at most of the shops.

Back in Melbourne we had a few hours to freshen up and then headed out to my cousins A & V who lived virtually around the corner from K. It was a big family affair with A&V's sons, cousin B and wife K and their youngest and cousin N. Over schnitzel, falafel and chips, my Melbourne family were properly introduced to La and we picked their brains for stuff to do in our last full day in Melbourne.

Back at K we had a quick catch up and presented him with a beautiful tea towel hook thing, sure to take pride of place in his kitchen. (Link)

Day 46

Wed 02 Mar

For our last full day in Melbourne we parked the hire car in a side street near North Brighton station, bought a quick coffee (another excellent flat white) and then trained into Flinders Street in the city centre. From there we took the free tourist shuttle bus, winding its way past the MCG (huge!) up to the Italian quarter, where we got off in Lygon Street. This street has an incredible array of Italian cusine on offer, virtually every shop is either a pizza or pasta place or both. Of note was the beautiful Brunetti cake and coffee palace which has rows and rows of the most delicate looking pastries, tantalising torte and craftily crafted cakes. And sandwiches on delicious Italian breads and, of course, excellent coffee.

Next, a stroll through Carlton gardens past the Melbourne museum and Royal Exhibition building and into Brunswick Street precinct of Fitzroy, a multicultural district full of bars and galleries and eateries. We eventually settled on a satellite shop of Brunetti (how could we not?) and had lovely sandwiches and coffee.

After lunch we trammed back towards the city centre, hopping off at the Sofitel in Collins Street. Why, you might ask? Because on the 35th floor of that hotel, there is a restaurant, and the restaurant has public loos, and the loos have floor to ceiling windows with a sweeping view over Melbourne. Incredible views, although I must admit to feeling a little uncertain of the strength of the glass so didn't get too close or lean on the blessed things. The mens room faces east with a view of the Yarra river, the MCG (still huge), the Bay and the Dandenongs in the distance.

Visually sated and with empty bladders we continued wandering down Collins Street, noting the craziness of the Melbourne 'hook' turns (to turn right in the city centre and to avoid blocking trams, you bear left, effectively stopping in front of the cars waiting at the Red light, sort of joining their wait but cutting to the front of the queue, until the lights go green for you), and turning down some of the little narrow alleyways crammed with bars and coffee shops and Thai food places, like Flinders Lane and Degraves Street.

We crossed over the Yarra River at Queens bridge for a walk along the south bank, snuck into the Langham Hotel for a snoop round and to make use of their facilities (5 star toilets I say!). We then had an ice cream on the river side, walked along the bank to Alexandra Gardens, and narrowly avoided being knocked out by rowing club fitness freaks taking their punts onto the water. We crossed back over the river at Swan St bridge towards the unnofficial sporting district. First we came across the Rod Laver arena, home of the Australian Open (tennis), then the HiSense (soccer) arena and lastly the Melbourne Cricket Ground, as mentioned before, pretty huge, and actually used for both cricket and Aussie Rules football.

Ended off our travels in the city with a tram to the Chapel St precint for some window shopping, popped into the Prahran market there (but too late, it was closed already) and had one last Melbourne flat white before taking a train back to our car. Supper was a delicious Italian meal with friend's of La's mom, J and M, at Rossini Ristorante in Malvern, followed by frozen yoghurt from IglooZoo (great name!) for dessert. Lovely, but very full.

Day 47

Thu 03 Mar

Mostly a travel day but I managed to squeeze in a quick run along the beach, from Brighton up to St Kilda and back. Breakfast, finished packing and then followed trusty sat nav instructions to the airport. But because we were so early, I decided instead to try give my lovely wife heart failure by taking a wrong turn and missing our off-ramp and heading about 20 minutes round trip out of our way.

But got to the airport in the end, in good time, and checked through. Then had a delightful conversation or 3 with Melbourne toll road people to pay for a toll charge for using the highway to the airport. Of course it is possible that our detour also took us over a toll route (they don't have booths, just automated things for people with chip devices in their cars, and for the rest of us, they expect you to know where you went and phone and fess up) but as I couldn't remember which bridge I got lost on...

Flight across to Bangkok was ok, quite late at night when we arrived but still quite warm. And only the second location on our trip where we know no-one (Hawaii was the other).

Temp: 32 Deg C with 85% humidity

Time: -4 hours (GMT +7)

Crazy taxi driver, chatted to us the whole way into the city in broken English, main topic was pointing out the railway lines and stations of the new SkyTrain route from the airport to the city. No irony meant I'm sure. Arrived at our hotel, what bliss. Everything crisp and clean and air conditioned loveliness. The housekeeping origami artist had twisted one of our hand towels into an elephant; genius! Also the hotel has an all day lounge with coffee and snacks and juices. Next time you're in Bangkok I strongly recommend a drop-in to sample the wonderful green guava juice on offer.

Day 48

The Bridge over the Queen Elizabeth

Wed 16 and Thu 17 Feb

Today (Wed) and today (Thu) was a confusing travel day. We woke up very early and headed to Maui airport for our connection to Honolulu. I left La to check in the bags while I returned the hire car (easy peasy, Thrifty in Maui are very friendly) then very stressful wait for the car rental shuttle to the terminal which the staff kept assuring me would only be a minute. 20 minutes later it rocked up (I could have walked to the terminal and back at least once in that time!) and was reunited with a slightly anxious La (where were you? what took so long?).

The flight to Honolulu was short and uneventful. We then had a boring 2 hour wait for our flight to Sydney during which we tried to spend some of our remaining US dollars on coffee and cinnamon buns. The flight to Sydney was quite empty so we commandeered a spare row and La managed to get 40 winks pretty much lying stretched out across 4 seats. Meanwhile I watched 3 movies (shared screen: bummer) - 'Convicted', 'Unstoppable' and 'Salt'. Sometime half way through the flight we crossed the International Dateline and lost a whole day in a matter of seconds. To be fair, we'd been gaining time ever since we left London so we could afford to lose some. But a whole day!?

On arrival in Sydney we of course declared everything that might have been on the food and animal products list at customs, having watched too many episodes of 'Nothing to Declare'. In fact, I was looking forward to being questioned, just to say I had been and to see if they would clean my running shoes or something. Alas, there were such long queues that our declaration of food (4 choc-chip macadamia biscuits and 40 tea bags) and animal products (two lei made from small shells) were waived through with disdain and the next minute we were in the Sydeny arrivals hall and receiveing a very warm Aussie welcome from my friend T, and her sons B and T. It was sunny and hot and lovely to be with close friends. G'day mate, welcome to Australia!

Temp: 26 Deg C with 80% humidity

Time: -3 hours but crossed the date line so lost a day (GMT +11)

When we got home, my friend's husband A, my best mate from school and best man at our wedding, was home from firing people at work. We relaxed and chatted and had an awesome meal (grilled tuna; T is a fantastic cook!) and chatted some more and caught up. It was great to be in Australia.

Noon, noon, night. Day 32/33

Fri 18 Feb

Apparently February in Sydney is often humid and sticky and hot and in this respect it did not disappoint. However it is apparently not common to have neighbours angle-grinding roof tiles and sawing aluminium sheets at 07:30am, but we were nevertheless treated to both of these. Ah well, at least on the weekends this would only start at 8am!

Spent the morning with T, jump-started their spare car and got a new battery for it and went shopping. She drove us to Bronte beach, we parked and then we did the beautiful walk along the rocks that runs from Bronte to Bondi. Sydney has beautiful beaches with white sand and big waves and blue ocean. It was wonderful. At Bondi beach we strolled across the sand and were amazed at how many beach goers there were out on a working day. Also amused by the school groups doing surf lessons.

Had fish and chips and my first Australian coffee (a 'flat white' of course!) at a cafe next to Bondi. Delish. Nice and fresh and the batter was light and crisp. Then we walked back along the same path to our car and back to T&A's place. La and I took their spare car for a spin and did some shopping at one of the many Westfield malls in East Sydney. This one (East Gardens), in common with many other malls in Australia, has a huge fresh fruit and veg shop in what would otherwise be a thoroughfare. I think I counted 6 different types of peaches and 3 nectarine variants. La was in heaven.

Back at home, T had collected their two young boys from school and then I watched in awe as she made fresh pasta from scratch, mixing and kneading the dough, then rolling it into fettucine and leaving to rest before supper was started. She made it look enjoyable, if not quite effortless. For Shabbes supper, some of their friends came over, also with kids of similar ages to B&T. Supper was awesome - challah and hot smoked salmon, then the fresh pasta with tomato sauce or pesto (both homemade by T) and then fruit, ice cream, wine and coffees.

Shabbat Shalom all.

Day 34

Sat 19 Feb

Woke up and A made lattes (fresh ground coffee and an espresso machine with milk frother - the whole experience!) then headed off to Rose Bay to meet up with my former boss B and his wife G and son A. They had left London to return to Sydney last July or thereabouts. We had a delicious breakfast (La and I both had scrambled eggs on Rye toast which were much better than that sounds!) at Sugarloaf Espresso then went for a walk with ex-bossman and crew along the sea-front of Rose Bay, one of Sydney Harbour's gorgeous inlets. Yachts, seaplanes, kids learning sailing, standing boards and harbour beach (no waves).

As it so happened, our next arrangement was lunch in a few hours, also in Rose Bay, so we walked some more the opposite way round Rose Bay and surrounding streets. Lunch was at Den sushi with some friend's of La's mom. The food was again superb and I was introduced to the friends and their daughter and husband. After lunch we returned to T&A's place in Maroubra (technically Kingsford, but the Maroubra side!) to chill a bit and I went with T to another shopping mall (Pacific Square) which has a meditteranean deli that makes awesome biltong and has a huge selection of olives and 6 different types of fetta. Also the local supermarket there stocks South African products so bought some Ouma Rusks. Very cool.

For supper we were out in Vaucluse visiting our former upstairs neighbours G and N and baby J. They live in a flat in Vaucluse, near Diamond Bay, with an almost sea view if you stand on their balcony. Their area is very windy which in the humidity was a great relief. G braaied boerewors and steak for us guys and the girls had mielies and stir fry. Delish. They had also left London for Sydney sometime last year and it was great to catch up with them. N had rudely missed La's hen night as she went into labour that afternoon and J was born the next day and he's now almost walking and has grown so big.

It had been a very busy but great day in Sydney catching up with friends from London and SA.

Day 35

Sun 20 Feb

I was up early and had a cold shower as it was so humid and hot. Besides being a keen barrista, A also loves to bake, so for breakfast we had fresh Rye bread and cinnamon buns. And coffee of course. Yum.

Have I previously mentioned that Australians have very high standards in coffee making? Coffee culture is huge here and pretty much every restaurant and bar will be able to sell you very good, fresh coffee. Espresso based drinks are the norm. In fact, unless you walk into Starbucks (which is very uncommon and hard to find, thank goodness), you will struggle to find plain old filter coffee anywhere.

We took a bus to the city with A and younger son T (wife T and son B went to a birthday party but would meet up with us later). The bus route took us past some Syndey landmarks like the main rugby stadium and Centennial Park, Oxford Street (full of Asian take-aways, strip joints and bars) and Hyde Park (much smaller than you'd expect) and terminated at Circular Quay which is sandwiched between the Sydney Harbour Bridge and Opera House. Awesome views of both from the Quay and then we walked to and around the Opera House. Amazing. And it was a glorious day (ignoring the humidity) with sunshine and blue skies and the harbour is fabulous. The harbour actually refers to the whole set of inlets from the heads westwards and includes several beaches and wharfs and piers and neighbourhoods. Enormous.

We bought ice creams and then took a ferry to Watsons Bay. The ferry route offers mroe incredible views of the bridge and opera house and makes several stops along the way. T and B had finished at the birthday party and boarded our ferry at Rose Bay and then we all continued on to Watson's Bay. La and I were trying to spot the house used during Masterchef Australia 2010 which is somewhere in Diamond Bay and we probably did!

At Watsons Bay we had fish and chips from Doyles for lunch then walked along the beach and quayside and took a stroll up to The Gap - a cliff-side lookout point over the Pacific which is also unfortunately a popular suicide point. We all bussed back to Rose Bay and then drove home. The afternoon was hot hot hot and we didn't know what to do with ourselves. While the kids had a bit of a nap La and I ended up in T&A's bedroom with them (no, none of that!), which was the only airconditioned room in the house. Heaven. I don't think we even spoke to each other, just read and relaxed in the glorious coolth.

That evening we had an early supper at some friends of my sister and she had invited a whole bunch of old friends drom our youth movement camp days. A busy evening, but nice to catch up and meet this one's boyfriend and that one's kid. Our supper host runs a deli so we had awesome bagels and cold cuts. After supper we still had one more arrangement and met up with La's first cousin, originally from Pretoria but who moved to Sydney many years ago. Drinks and catch up with her family rounded off a very busy day.

Day 36

Mon 21 Feb

It was much cooler this morning. Apparently the wind had shifted from hot easterly (from the desert) to cool westerly (from the ocean) and this is known as The Change. Whatever, it was a great relief from the humidity. I went for a jog down to Maroubra beach, about 4km away. Then had a nice big breakfast as reward for my run and then drove about an hour to the North to visit D, a friend of La's mom in St Ives (aka St Africa due to the high number of South Africans living there). D was at school with La's mom which meant she was at school with my aunt. And she was also in the same hall of residence at Wits as my mom. Looking through some of D's albums we found photos of my aunt and mom as students; incredible.

After a refreshing tea and croissant, D then drove us around North Sydney, taking us to Manly (beautiful palm tree-lined beach and great cafes and shops) then on to Dee Why, where we had an awesome lunch at On Shore cafe (I had a steak sandwich, La had Greek Salad). We pressed on northwards past Collaroy beach and on to Narrabeen Lagoon, then headed inland to the Ku-Ring-Gai Chase national park, a huge, lush forested area. In the park we visited the West Head lookout point with awesome views of the Tasman Sea, Pittwater and the back of Palm Beach. Then back to St Ives (stopping first to pick up D's grandkids from school), to pick up our car and drive back to the Eastern suburbs.

A and I had a guys night out planned so I changed into something slightly smarter than flip-flops and shorts and bussed into the city. We started off at a very cool bar frequented mostly by city types (I was with one!) then continued with some pretty incredible Japanese food in The Rocks area (sashimi and teriyaki chicken). Rounded off our night with a whisky (Irish) at the Blu Bar (top of the Shangri La hotel) which has an incredible view of the Sydney Harbour bridge and Darwin Harbour. It was so nice to catch up with A, comparing wedding ring tans and giggling like school boys. An awesome day!

Day 37

Tue 22 Feb

Today La and I took a bus to the city for a good wander round. We got off at Circular Quay and headed straight for the International Passennger Terminal. There were three good reasons for this. First, it had started to rain so we needed to take some cover (we'd left our brollies in London!). Second, we were on the hunt for restaurants featured in Masterchef Oz and Peter Gilmore's Quay Restaurant was there (photos taken of the outside!). Lastly, the Queen Elizabeth ocean liner was berthed. Boy is it huge, and we could just about imagine what it would be like in the upper deck rooms, each with its own ocean facing balcony. Awesome.

From there we walked around the quay a bit, popped into the Park Hyatt (mainly to use the loos but also the views of the Opera House and the Bridge from its terraces are incredible) and then strolled around The Rocks. This area is a few blocks of shops and cafes and museums located more or less where the first British colonists settled. We had a forgettable lunch (but with great coffee) at the Fine Foods Store then went to the Rocks Discovery Museum. The museum takes visitors through the history of The Rocks development and the early life of the first colonists, and there was a nice exhibit showing the growth, changes and decline of European colonies over the last few hundred years or so.

We then cut across town to the botanical gardens, gorgeous plants and trees, although the wrong time of year for most of the flowers. Also in the gardens were hundreds of bats, most roosting in trees, some flying around, all making an incredible amount of noise. We even stopped for coffee (excellent) at the cafe, located more or less under the bats. From there we made our way to the Woolloomooloo Bay side of the gardens to have a gawk at the Queen Mary 2 ocean liner, which is older but bigger than the QE. Then back along Mrs Maquarie walk, saw her chair (a rocky outcrop more or less bench-shaped) and along the waterside to Farm Cove (towards the Opera House) and passed Government House, all still within the gardens.

We bussed back to T&A's place where T had just finished preparing fresh gnocchi for supper and rounded off a busy day with a glass of wine and game of '30 Seconds' where La and I thrashed T&A. Yay us!

Day 38

Wed 23 Feb

This morning after breakfast and T had taken the boys to school, she joined us for a bit of retail therapy at Bondi Junction, a huge mall in Bondi. We managed to find gifts for our hosts and sons without T noticing as she had some serious bookclub business to discuss with the soon-to-be-closing Borders there. She joined us for coffee (La had awesome hot chocolate, I stuck to flat whites) and then we drove into the city to pick A up who had taken the afternoon off to spend time with us.

Lunch was at Dolcissimo in Haberfield, the area of Sydney where the best, most authentic Italian bakeries and restaurants are found. It was salad and pizza all round and we concluded our meal with Affogatos (shot of espresso served over a scoop of ice cream). Delish. Back home to T&A then La and I went to Maroubra beach for my first swim in Sydney. It was great. Big, powerful waves. Cool but not cold water. Beautiful.

La and I headed to the city for sundowners, a return visit for me to Blu Bar at the top of the Shangri La and a first for La. This time it was still daylight when I was there and the views of the harbour and the bridge and the Opera House were even more spectacular than the night views a few days earlier. Then it was a quick walk down to Kings Street Wharf to meet friends of La's mom for dinner. We had an incredible meal at Malaya, delicious and the courses just kept on coming - in fact we had so enjoyed (and were full from) our starters and the stir-fried main dishes, practically licking the plates clean, that we were totally surprised when they brought out the curry dishes. Yum. Somewhat heavier, La and I walked across town for our bus home, sated and another great day in Sydney over.

Day 40

Thu 24 Feb

Today was more a rest day. We caught up on emails, did a bit of shopping, ate leftover pizza, spent time with T&A and kids, and had chilled supper at their house.

Day 41

Fri 25 Feb

Up not too early and went for a run around the Centennial park, about a 4km perimeter route, surrounding a lake, horse bridal way, sports fields and some foresty bits. After breakfast, La and I drove down to Rose Bay shopping area where our friends from Sunday night have their deli - Biancas. It is a wonderful mix of home cooked Jewish foods like gefilte fish and hamentaschen and South African goods. Chatted for a while with B who does the cooking and bought some boerewors for a braai Saturday night.

Did some more grocery shopping for T and bought very missable (wish I could forget) pies for lunch. La was more sensible and had a salad. My coffee was nice, of course. T picked the boys up from school and I joined them at Maroubra beach for a swim.

Shabbes supper was at A's brother and fam who put together an awesome meal of challah, antipasta (incredible feta and olives and homemade sushi and salad) and mielies, potatos, braaied tuna and salmon. Dessert was fruit and icecream and T's homemade Mars Bar chocolate sauce. Delish.

Shabbat Shalom all.

Day 42

Sat 26 Feb

We were all up early for our day trip to the Blue Mountains. This is a really beautiful, forested area West of Sydney and so-called (so they tell us) for the blue hue caused by the gases emitted by the Eucalyptus. We got out at Scenic Point, took the cable car down the cliff, wandered round the forest a bit, past old coal mining gear and exhibits and then back up the mountain on a fernicular/train, apparently the steepest in the world.

Lunch was at Leura Gourmet, a cafe in the town of Leura. For dessert, the boys had ice creams and we had coffees then headed back on the road to Sydney. A and I had time for a quick swim at Maroubra (awesome water, waves, quite busy even at 5pm) then back home in time for a braai with G and N and little J (our previous upstairs neighbours) who came over to us for dinner. Boerewors and chicken for the meaties and vege 'not burgers' for the veges. Delish!

After the guests had left, La and I packed (Melbourne tomorrow) and then joined T&A for a '30 Seconds' rematch over chocolate and teas. La and I must have had too much wine at supper as we were not on our game and they easily beat us. I guess that makes it 1-1 which means they will have to visit us in London for the decider. A fine end to our Sydney stay.

Day 43

Maui - Sunsets, snorkelling and whales

Wed 9 Feb

Up early today for our flight to Hawaii! We were gently woken with the tinkle of teaspoons on teacups, courtesy of our hostess, who brought us tea/coffee in bed. How awesome! Had a quick breakfast then off to the airport. Car rental return etc was painless but then got caught in the full body x-ray security queue and it went sloooowly. But eventually got through, allegedly with no more radiation than what you get every 3 minutes sitting in an aeroplane at altitude. Allegedly.

Landed in Honolulu airport, for our connection to Maui, with great views of the islands as we descended. The terminal is really unique; sort of a set of airy buildings, all built in the 50s or something, connected by passageways with a least one side totally open allowing the breeze to flow through. And boy did we need some breezing as it was hot and humid and very sticky. Coming from (slightly) cooler LA we were both dressed in jeans and trainers. And we were pretty much the only people wearing longs and closed shoes in Honolulu. It was wonderful.

Temp: 30 Deg C with 70% humidity

Time: -2 hours i.e. GMT -10

Connecting flight to Maui took less than an hour and the bag and rental car collection were painless. La was chief navigator, she setup the GPS and double checked that its directions agreed with those from the B&B to the T. They did (thanks again Francis!) and we were quickly underway on the road northwards to Lahaina where we would spend our first 3 nights. Gorgeous views of the setting sun from the road and we arrived at our destination about half an hour later.

Our room was waiting for us with the keys in the door; a very comfortable upstairs suite, with views of the ocean from a shared lanai (balcony) directly outside our door. Awesome.

Headed down to Lahaina town centre for some supper - by this time I was starving (tiny breakfast, shrivelled sandwich early lunch and no tea make me hungry) and the B&B had recommended a cheap and cheerful place called 'Aloha Mixed Plate', which serves salads, stir fries, burgers and the eponymous Hawaiian mixed lunch plates. You can actually order these any time of day, but they have their origin in the lunchtime meal eaten by sugar cane labourers. It consists of two scoops of rice and one scoop of macaroni salad with some sort of meat/veg/fish. I had mine with teriyaki chicken and La settled on vegetarian stirfry with noodles with tofu. Delish! The place was pumping and is very popular with locals and tourists.

Snack, sarnie, AMP. Day 25

Thu 10 Feb

So, perhaps this place we're staying in (Garden Gate B&B) should just be called a "Bed". Breakfast barely existed. It was billed as "continental" but I reckon there would be a lot of 'sacre bleu!' and tutting from any continentals. Basically a few yoghurts and stale bagels, no butter, no cereal, no pastries (do mini muffins count?). At least there was coffee, but no milk, only that dodgy flavoured cream in little plastic cup things. Anyways, we did have a nice chat with a friendly retired couple from Ohio who have been coming back to the same Bed for 10 years, so it cannot be all that bad.

We borrowed some beach stuff from the Bed, which was very well stocked with grass mats, body boards, surfboards, cooler boxes, beach towels, swim noodles, snorkeling gear etc. Headed northwards, passing through Kana'apali with its high-end resorts, which block direct access to the beach on one side of the road and have landscaped the other side into gorgeous golf courses with fairways right next to the road; no fences or hedges. Beautiful.

We stopped in Napili, found parking in a side street and then headed for Napili Bay beach. A gorgeous crescent of reef, sand, palm trees and shallow, gorgeous blue ocean. Not a beach with big waves but still powerful enough to knock swimmers over and breaking very close to the beach so when you get dumped, you sort of end up with your head in the sand. Actually, this can be quite dangerous as evidenced by the guy receiving paramedic treatment (CPR, drip, neck brace, the works) as we arrived on the beach. This beach was also lined with resorts, but not quite as luxurious as earlier.

The day wasn't that sunny but with the humidity we were wonderfully comfortable. We sat, we read, we ate (chicken sandwich for me; humidity makes me hungry), we walked, we read, we sat. Paradise. Of course, in homage to our adopted country, I hand't really applied that much sunscreen because it wasn't that sunny, right? Success; that evening, my shoulders, face and chest were a healthy (well cooked) crustacean crimson. With red chili sauce. Hot hot hot.

Rounded off the day with some take-out pizza and a crisp Rosé at sunset on our lanai. What a great first day! We were sun- and heat- tired, a little sunblushed, but it was paradise!

Mini-breakfast, noon and night. Day 26

Fri 11 Feb

Our second morning in our Bed began with a simple breakfast again, and this time we asked for milk! Yay. Then drove to Ma'alaea harbour to check out the options for snorkelling trips. You can buy these pretty much anywhere on the island but we'd been told by the Ohians that the harbour had some good deals.

Chatted to Scott, a tour guide-booking dude in a hut in the harbour. He gave us some brochures and ideas and then we headed for Ma'alea beach; not as nice as Napili Bay, but very quiet and more secluded. Headed back to the harbour and booked a snorkel trip for Saturday morning with 'Frogman' tours. By this time I was starving (talk of goggles and fins makes me hungry) so headed for 'Beach Bum's bar and grill' for some lunch. La had a veggie burger and I had a regular one and did some sampling of their hot and very hot homemade BBQ sauce. Delish.

Some time during lunch, the weather turned from 28 Deg C, humid and slightly overcast to 28 Deg C, more overcast and more humid; in fact, torrential rain type of humidity. Apparently it only rains 7 days a year in Maui and I think we experienced all 7 days of rainfall in 2 hours. We did the obvious thing in these situations - went for ice cream. I had chocolate with macadamia (grown on the island) and La had choc chip mint and coffee ice cream. The rain continued but was very localised apparently - we drove back towards Lahaina and within a few minutes we were out of the rain. Bizarre, but I guess not really for an island with big volcanic mountains to tease the weather gods.

Back in Lahaina we did some shopping (T-shirts and boardshorts and shorts, tally is now La 3, Dave 7), loads of window shopping in the crowded 'old' town, walked along the boardwalk, saw this huge Banyan tree which took up pretty much all of a park. The Banyan trees sort of spread their branches, then drop more roots from the branches which become more trunks, then grow more branches so you can walk under the tree and there are benches and grass, but all under the same tree. Very cool.

Also had the always pleasant experience of timeshare salesmen parading as discount tour operators. The bastards. And the sales woman still didn't answer my question on how they could sell me whale watching for $5. All in all another great day in paradise, topped off with more chilled wine on our Lanai.

Morning, noon and night. Day 27

Sat 12 Feb

Snorkel trip day. We had to check in to our boat (Frogman II; allegedly the first one was swallowed by a whale) by 07:15 which meant we missed "breakfast" at our Bed. But wait, no we wouldn't because our Bed doesn't do breakfasts on weekends. Grr. But I digress...

On the boat we had some jokey boat safety stuff and some hilarious boat toilet humour (jokes about the boat toilet, not what you were thinking), then we set out. The sun was beginning to rise and it was alreayd wonderfully warm. Had a continental breakfast on the boat which was better than what we had to choose from (on weekdays) at our Bed so that was nice and then the boat dudes (tall, blond, very bleached and La says very well built, but I'm not to worry apparently) took us through snorkeling 101 and issued goggles and snorkels and fins.

We arrived at Molikini crater, our first snorkel point, which is a partially submerged dormant volcano crater (half in the water, the other half out, with the inside bit a relatively shallow spot packed with fish and covered with coral.) With some initial trepidation, we entered the water and then underwater bliss. The water wasn't too cold, just about 23 Deg C, and we didn't need a wetsuit. And fish and fish and coral and fish and it was incredible! Beautitiful views from the boat of Molikini and Maui.

We snorkeled for about an hour, then back onto the boat and off to the second spot, an area of reef/ocean just off Wailea (or was it Maluaka?) beach, unofficially known as Turtle Town. We did spot one or two from the boat, but unfortunately were not as lucky from the water. Ah well, still loads of fish and fantastic coral views. We heard later from the owner at our second B&B that other tour operators have more dudes on shift and in the water spotting for animals and pointing them out, but what can you do? We still had a great time.

On the way back to the harbour (note we were about 11 miles from where we started so not that close) we had sandwich lunch on deck which was just as well because I was starving (saltwater up my nose makes me hungry) and had a DIY sandwich and salad meal but that was ok as gave more options for La. And they also had a coke/sprite etc soda gun thing and let me tell you, cold ginger ale is the best thing for thirst on a boat! Delish. Also did a little whale spotting from the deck - December through April is Humpback whale season in Maui so we were always on the lookout for the telltale spout and cries of 'thar she blows'. More about whales another day.

Back on dry land, we drove back to Lahaina and parked at Hanakao'o beach which is close to Kana'apali beach which has all the posh resort hotels. We then walked along the beach to the areas in front of the Hyatt and Mariott and soaked up the atmosphere on their decks and swam in their parts of the ocean. So there! The resorts look great but not sure why most people were at the pool when the beach was like 20 metres away? Go figure.

Back to the Garden Gate Bed where we had left our bags, ate some leftover pizza in their garden and then headed south to our next B&B in Kihei, more south than Ma'alea harbour, where we did the snorkel trip. On the way, we stopped at a lookout point along the road . The sun was almost setting and this spot is great for whale watching. We had at least half a dozen sightings but they were too far out to see much detail.

Checking into the new B&B was interesting. Owner (Eva) was not around but she had left notes taped to the garage about how to find our room and left it unlocked. Must be a Maui thing this, i.e. owner not present at check in. Our suite was quite large, but weird as the entrance from the driveway takes you straight into the bathroom and then you access the rest of the suite from there. Very strange. Also, the big clothes cupboard could be accessed from both the bedroom and the bathroom - basically they had turned their garage into a suite and the doorway between the bathroom and bedroom had been converted into a cupboard. Also, no sea view, no sea breeze, very dark and the linen and towels smelt damp. Mrs C was not happy. Not quite bad enough to sacrifice our deposit (actually, the full amount for 4 nights) so we thought we'd see how it went.

Did a drive-by of the main Kihei road looking for restaurants for supper and settled on a fantastic place called 'Cafe O'Lei', which was not a coffee place, so don't think the pun was intended. Very trendy, very busy, we had to wait for 45 minutes for a table, but it was worth it. I had steak and La had Mahi-Mahi (a firm white fish, very delicious). Very nicely presented, great food and not too pricey.

Snorkel, noon and Maui Mahi-Mahi. Day 28

Sun 13 Feb

Not a great night. May have mentioned earlier that our suite is a converted garage and that the driveway is directly outside our door and windows? Well, it is, and our hostess is an early riser and feels the need to run errands at 05:30 and being American she drives a huge Toyota truck (that's a bakkie for South Africans) and we had the window blind things open to get some air movement. So that woke me up. Then had just drifted back to sleep when she got back from errands. And every time I tried to go back to sleep I got wonderful whiffs from the damp linen. Humph. Then she was getting breakfast ready, but the kitchen and upstairs lanai eating area are directly above our room. She also has some dogs, so we heard her back and forth and the pitter-patter of unclipped toe nails. (sigh) I won't complain about the noisy birds because they are beautitiful and natural and a joy to hear in the morning.

But this place (Maui What a Wonderful Life B&B) does do a decent breakfast. Fruit, juice, teas and coffees with milk, cereals, yoghurt, toast, jams and boiled eggs. So this somewhat made up for the damp, noisy no-sleep. And Eva is charming and helpful and offered information on what to do and what to avoid.

We decided to not do the beach thing today as still looking a bit lobstered from snorkeling and previous beaching. Instead we picked up maps and borrowed an audio guided tour of a driving route to Hana, a pristine, relatively untouched viallage about 60 miles away, to the North-East of the island.

They say the road to Hana is about the journey, not the destination and this is true. It is a beautitiful coastal road, winding up and down with the sea on one side and the foresty mountains on the other. The twists and turns are so sharp and the road so narrow that the speed limit is restricted to about 15 mph. But the drive is gorgeous, deep cuts into the mountain with glimpses of waterfalls followed by sharp bends out towards the sea. We stopped a few times along the way to take photos at viewing points and to investigate swimming options in numerous waterfalls, giving a miss to several roadside bamboo shacks selling coconuts and fresh fruit.

We had a forgettable lunch at Hana beach and then drove through Hana village, which consists of a school, a few hundred houses, a luxury hotel and the famous (in Hawaii, at least) Hasegawa General Store which is actually quite something. Want to buy a spare part for a tractor, some deoderant and an ice lolly? You got it! Then it was back on the road, taking all 600 or so twists a second time back towards Kihei, only briefly stopping at Paia Bay to watch crazy surfers catching some huge Hawaiian waves.

Back in Kihei, we scouted out some restaurant options for that night and Valentine's day, then sat for about an hour on Kamaole Beach to watch an awesome sunset. That evening was one of the clearest of our stay in Maui so we took full benefit of the lingering dusk and took some classic snaps of the sun dipping down over the ocean. Breathtaking.

For supper we went to Cuatro, a fusion Latin/Hawaiian restraurant that is apparently the best restaurant in Kihei. La had the seared tuna and I had Mahi-Mahi. The owner entertained us with war stories about moving his family from the mainland USA to Hawaii, how he and his wife also run a cleaning service (including crime-scene clean-up - eugh!) and explained why early bird supper was so popular on Maui - a combination of discounts and the age demographic of most of the tourists. Apparently Maui is for "the newly wed and the nearly dead". I suppose as this was a delayed honeymoon for us we did fulfil the former.

Breakfast, scenic drive, and sunset. Day 29

Mon 14 Feb

Woke up early and went for a run in Kihei along the main strip which takes in some of the beach. It was hot and humid, but not as bad as it had been in Lahaina a few days ago. After another great breakfast we headed further south to Wailea beach, a beautiful wide beach. Sunned and read and swam a few times and snooped on the views from the Four Seasons' pool.

Had simple lunch of rolls and salad and leftover steak from a few nights before - delicious - then headed for Kihei town centre to try book into a whale watching tour. The company that we had snorkeled with also arranges whale watching but due to their 2 for 1 deals, they had no space till the following Saturday. Instead we took a chance and drove to Ma'alea harbour where Pacific Whale Foundation is based and managed to get into their last trip of the day.

Now, at this time of year they say that it makes very little difference which tour company you use for whale watching as there are so many whales to be seen. But we were very happy with this crew because they always have at least one marine biologist on board (in fact we had two on ours) and any profits from their tours go towards supporting study/observation of whales and saving whales etc.

The trip was awesome! We saw whales to the left, to the right, the front and behind. Most of the whales were mom and calf pairs. And occasionally a male 'escort' - a suitor hoping to be next year's dad and who had probably successfully driven off other suitors for that privilege. We saw several full breaches, when the whale leaps out of the water, both adult and calves doing this. Hundreds of head slaps, dorsal fin waves and tail flaps. Then the staff lowered a special microphone under the water and broadcast the whale song over the PA. Incredible. Snapped nearly 200 action shots during the 2 hours, some of them even usable!

Supper was a mostly forgettable Italian meal at Aroma de Italiana. It wasn't terrible, but nothing particularly special. But then the elation of the whale watching was a hard act to follow.

Breakfast, beach, whales. Day 30

Tue 15 Feb

For our last day in Maui we decided to rent snorkel sets and do some of our own fish spotting. After breakfast we headed down to Snorkel Bob's rentals and picked up masks, fins and snorkels. Our first spot was a reef accessed from Wailea beach where we had been yesterday and actually this was close to the region known as turtle town where we had snorkeled previously with Frogman II.

We sat in the sun to warm up a bit then I headed into the water kitted up. You sort of duck wade till waist deep and then swim about 20 metres then you're at the reef. Coral and rocks and fish. Beautiful. Then I sat with our stuff while La went out alone. Then we went out together. Snorkelling rules!

Picked up some sandwiches then picnicked down the coast a bit at another snorkeling spot called Makena landing. Several other people snorkelling there that day had spotted turtles but we weren't as lucky. Did see loads of fish, though, and heard whales singing again (they in the know say that whale song can travel up to 3 miles). Incredible. We had asked a young Dutch couple to watch our stuff while we were in the water and we had asked another young couple from Saskatchewan to watch the Dutch couple. Hawaii is very popular with Canadians, it seems.

Rounded off the day with a bit of window shopping and a sunset drive then watched the sunset from a park near Maui Sunset Condos, an affordable-looking complex to the north of Kihei. Then supper at Stella Blues Cafe where I had a pretty decent burger and La had a huge portion of Nachos with tuna and Mahi-Mahi. It was a gorgeous cool, but not cold, evening and perfect end to our week in Hawaii.

Breakfast, snorkel, night. Day 31

Sun, sea and cheesecake

Mon 7 Feb

I don't think Los Angeles believes in winter. We woke up to beautiful, bright sunshine, not a cloud in the sky. Something like high of 23 Deg C expected. In February!

After breakfast (the usual - fruit, cereal but today ending off with some Peck's anchovy toast!) we phoned some local friends and family and then set off to do the Pretty Woman thing in Rodeo drive (I mean the bit where the shopkeepers sneer at her, not the bit where she shows off in heels and a hat). Walked up and down and in and around Rodeo Drive for a few hours. Anyone know why it is pronounced to rhyme with Galileo? It was blissfully sunny with a cool breeze and pleasantly un-crowded as we artfully resisted the temptations of the store-front displays.

We settled on an unassuming Venezuelan cafe for lunch, Coupa Cafe on North Canyon Drive. By this time I was starving (famous streets make me hungry). La had a Nicoise salad, without the anchovies (skandaal) and generously allowed me to have her olives and egg whites. I also wolfed down the national dish (apparently) of Venezuela called Pabellón, a.k.a. shredded beef, black beans and rice with plantain and corn-meal cakes. Delish.

What followed was a little more retail therapy, this time in Santa Monica at the 3rd St promenade, a pedestrianised street lined with shops. I was a focused hunter and scouted out the correct shop (Levis) and stalked and snagged my prey (new 501 jeans). Success! (To date on this trip I think the score in terms of purchases is David 5, La 0).

We then met another of La's cousins, this time on her dad's side, for coffee at the Cheesecake Factory in Brentwood. For the uninitiated, this is neither a factory, not does it sell exclusively cheesecake. The menu is like a short novel, running to about 20 pages or so, from burgers to teriyaki, soups to pizza. And of course about 3 pages devoted to cheesecake. I asked the waiter for a recommendation, and his answer took about 10 minutes. I asked him if any were better than my mom's baked cheesecake. He wisely answered that all and none fit that description.

I eventually settled on 2010's special creation: layers of cheesecake and red-velvet sponge with sour cream frosting. My arteries cried out for mercy, but it was goood! La had the one with fresh strawberries which, with hindsight, was a very sensible choice. Mom, I must confess these cheesecakes were incredible, but truly not as good as yours!

Back at our hosts, we had a little time to relax with some tea and then we went out for dinner in Malibu at Gladstones, a seafood/fish restaurant on the beach. I had the striped bass and La had seared fresh tuna. For dessert, we all shared a brownie doused in about a gallon of ice cream. (We fought the war, and the brownie won!) Our host was also mistaken for Sean Connery by our waiter (working hard for his tips) and we were also very amused by the bus-boy who creates themed sculptures out of the 'take home' tin foil - the table next to us took home their leftovers in a (silver) beluga whale and a swan.

Morning, sun and night. Day 23

Tue 8 Feb

A very busy day which started bright and early with a run up and down and around in Brentwood, passing John Travolta's house (one of them), along the section of San Vincente Avenue with a grassed island full of joggers and dogs, and then back past Alanis Morisette's place. Not at all ironic.

After breakfast we drove out toward and past Malibu on the Pacific Coast Highway. Beautiful road and gorgeous houses and coastline and mountains. Then all the way back again, and onward along Ocean Avenue through Santa Monica to Venice. Took a stroll on the boardwalk at Venice Beach, full of flea-market stalls selling dream-catchers, bad watercolour paintings and bongs. And stoners, homeless peeps and tweens squatting on the beach in tents. And the 'permanent' shops selling an endless array of junk, t-shirts, peak caps and loads of 'medicinal' marijuana, each staffed with a doctor willing to sign you off with some ailment qualifying you for treatment. Sheesh.

Went for lunch in Main St Venice at a cool place called Chaya - Venice, related in some way to The Governator, but not sure how. By this time I was ravenous (avoiding sweaty street sellers makes me hungry) and wolfed down a chicken sarnie with fries. La had the same with a salad and sans chicken. Delish! Then window-shopped for a bit, some very cool boutique/specialist shops, hardly a chain store in sight except the ever-present Starbucks.

We had some newly 'popped' friends to meet. First stop was Culver City to a friend of my sister's whose second was born a month ago. Very interesting trying to avoid excitable labradoodle slobber on arrival but very cool catching up. Then detoured via Beverly Hills for one last look at Rodeo Drive and also some super slick star spotting (attempts 7, successes 0) at the Beverly Hills Hotel on the way to meet up with a friend of La's from school. Her daughter had been born about a week ago, teeny tiny fingers and very cute.

Rounded off the day (and our LA stay) meeting more cousins (children and husbands and grandchildren of our hosts) at the Cheesecake Factory (second visit, no cheesecake this time).

Morning, noon and night. Day 24

Vancouver last few days

Thu 03 Feb

This morning we went down to Granville Island, a mini-waterfront area of Vancouver with shops and restaurants and very cool fresh foods market. First stop was some artisan coffee (I think this is what they call it when it is organic and tastes a little fruity) followed by a truly glorious croissant from a La Baguette. Buttery, crusty, crumbly yumminess. We then uhmmed and ah'ed a bit about what to do and eventually settled on having lunch right there. Just as well - I was starving (indecision makes me hungry) and gobbled down a pepper steak pie and a fresh bagel. Delish.

Then we drove with Toots to Granville area to help her pick out a new computer. Let me tell you, the 'extended warranty' up-sale thing is as strong here in Canada as in the UK. And the very persistent sales lady would not take no for an answer. We eventually fended her off by donning 'chugger' bibs and signing her up for a monthly direct debit of £20 per month to Help The Aged, UK.

Back at Toots' place, I removed all the pre-loaded rubbish on the machine and introduced her to the wonders of the mouse-pad and laptop use. Plus, added bonus of course, was that she can now watch the Michael McIntyre box-set DVDs we gave her as these were unplayable on her Canadian region, NTSC-only DVD-player. I also waved a magic wand and with some advanced geekery recovered most of her iTunes library from her old, dead hard-drive. Yay me.

That night we went to friend of Toots' for some sushi and teriyaki chicken (salmon for La of course). After supper we retired to their living room for a catch up and a serious Glee/So you think you can Dance session on their daughter's Wii (her choice, not mine. Really.).

Morning, noon and night. Day 19

Fri 04 Feb

Got up early and went for a run. I had learnt from my elliptical torture experience so headed outside for outdoor exercise to the more residential, treed suburban part of Burnaby. I was totally overdressed as previous days had been wet and chilly but today was positively balmy. Well, not quite, but not cold.

Much more relaxed day which we spent with Toots in her local hood, La had a mini-mani-pedi, did some shopping and continued setting up her new laptop. For lunch we had leftover Thai from a few nights ago. By this time I was starving (hill running makes me hungry) and my curry was much improved by the extra days maturing in the fridge. Delish.

That afternoon we got some DVDs from the library and ended up watching some drivel about a man in NY with 3 girlfriends, all hot. Much worse than it sounds but it did have Ali G's wife in it, innit, so not a total loss. Aaai.

Supper was at Toots' friends near Dunbar St in Vancouver. Great meal cooked by the hosts and we were entertained during the meal by another guest's tales of being sued by his tenants and counter-suing them back and physically cutting off their telephone and electricity supply when they didn't pay rent. Hilarious.

Breakfast, lunch and supper. Day 20

Sat 5 Feb

After a light breakfast, we set off for the SkyTrain station to go downtown. We were meeting my cousin and his family for brunch at the English Bay side of Stanley Park. For the first and only time on this visit to Vancouver, the bus driver was clueless (although still friendly and polite) and assured us that the restaurant we were aiming for was accessible from his last stop, near the Aquarium. Strictly speaking, this was not incorrect, but a 20 minute slow jog across the park, round lakes and the like was not really what we had in mind!

We arrived at the Fish House restaurant only 25 minutes late. My cousin, wife and son were politely waiting with their 10th glasses of OJ but we were assured the fruit scones and muffins they sampled while they waited were most excellent. By this time I was starving (jogging round lagoons makes me hungry) and I polished off 'the biggest salmon benny in Canada', with a side of crushed potatoes, in no time. Delish!

There was a lot of catching up - the last time I'd seen my cousin was when I was knee high to a grasshopper, long before wives (ours) and children (son, his). Afterwards they dropped us off back at the Aquarium where we queued and queued and queued and eventually gave up. Walked a round that side of Stanley Park a bit then public transport to Oakridge mall area to meet up with a friend of my folks'.

Instead of coffee in the mall we went for a walk to Queen Elizabeth park, where there are gorgeous views of Vancouver from the top of the rose garden looking North.

Morning, brunch and burgers. Day 21,

Sun 6 Feb

We woke, had a light breakfast, finished packing, then Toots drove us to the airport. Continued frustration over our inability to use online check-in and actually for this flight we couldn't even use the little self-help computer things in the terminal. Apparently on Alaskan Airlines you need to be American or Canadian to use this!!!! Then, when we were checking in with an attendant we were informed that checked baggage was not free on this airline. Grr. A really snotty email to our travel agent was forming in our minds.

Passing through security was harmless, but I was then given a bit of a hard time (in broken English no less) at US immigration. US bound travellers effectively enter the USA inside Vancouver airport, which is great from a time-saving point of view, but rubbish if you want to shop in the airport as you end up in a smaller, US flight only section of duty free. I was travelling on a UK passport (with a visa waiver agreement) but apparently my old SA passport with a still valid visa takes 'prejudice' over this, so the immigration officer had a bit of a rant at me about this. Funny how the New York immigration guys never knew this rule?

So by now we were in the perfect frame of mind to write said email to our travel agent and due to free WiFi in Vancouver airport (at last, something good to mention here!) our little moaning missive was soon on its way across the interweb. Justice would be ours! Then off to get some lunch before the flight (did I mention previously how overjoyed we are that US internal and Canadian flights have no complimentary meals?). By this time I was ravenous (bile and vitriol make me hungry) so we had sandwiches and coffee before boarding. Ok, I guess, but not quite Delish.

The flight to LA was just under 3 hours and we had a gorgeous view of the city as we came in to land. We made good time getting bags and our rental car (rude attendant, but could just pick any car from our booked category from the parking lot and drive out!) and GPS was perfect (thanks again to Francis) so arrived much earlier at La's cousin than expected. So we went to meet him at his friend's house where they were watching a football match.

Turned out that it was Super Bowl Sunday and this was the big match between some team and some other team and one of them won. Green Bay Packers I think. La's cousin was watching the game with some friends, pretty much all ex-pat South Africans, cigars, whisky, biltong, and egg sandwiches on platters covered in shredded lettuce. Just like the Old country, except the rules of the game are incomprehensible to normal people.

After the match, we went out for meal at the Tavern in San Vincente, Brentwood; apparently, a sometimes celeb hot-spot. But I guess they were all in rehab or drunk in front of football detritus or something because we saw no-one we knew. Maybe a glimpse of Sean Connery ;) After supper, La's cousin took us on a bit of an orientation drive through the neighbourhood: Westwood, Montana, Venice, Santa Monica, Ocean Avenue and towards Malibu.

Breakfast, rage, Lamb Shank. Day 22.

Trained Attack Cat

Wed 02 Feb

Toots has taken the rest of the week off which is really great. We started off the day helping her with some errands, choice of library books, drive by of the bank for some cash and the like. Then we headed off to Steveston, a neighbourhood in the South West of Vancouver. It is a very scenic drive south until you hit some water, then head west till you get to Steveston, a former fishing village, full of charming shops, from boutique clothing to Italian delis and of course the usual ones selling tourist tat. And a Greek restaurant guarded by a kung-fu feline. Well, that is what the sign said.

We took a stroll along the quay, next to tourists queueing up for whale sighting trips and small fishing boats. And loads of fish and chips and seafood restaurants. Which was good timing because by now I was starving (errands make me hungry). La and Toots both had the halibut and I had the large cod and chips. And bottomless coffee. Delish. The enjoyment of the awesome food was only interrupted when La tried to kill me by exploding a ketchup bottle in my general direction. Luckily her plan was thwarted when it was blocked by her fleece (actually Toots' on loan, he he). And her arm. And her hand, he he. And even more luckily there was still enough left for us to dip our chips into. Whew.

After lunch we wandered around the village a bit, into several shops, avoiding the ice cream places (it was freezing today) and the cupcake shop (we were full from lunch). Incredible restraint was shown by both of my companions and a bad day was had by the shopkeepers. Leaving town we took the coastal road again, really beautiful.

Back in Burnaby I was dropped off in Hastings Avenue for my date with an Armenian barber. And to buy some second hand books, as I've finished the two I brought with me. Success on both accounts. Actually the Armenian was busy so my hair was chopped by another barber (a lady barber, so a 'barbara'?) who was actually from Northern Iraq. Very interesting chat we had.

Because the buses here need exact change for the fare (and I didn't know exactly how much that was anyway but probably more than $2 and less than $4 and I only had 2 Toonies on me), I decided to walk back to Toots' place. By the way, $1 coins here have (used to have?) a duck called a Loon on them, so are called 'Loonies' and so $2 coins are called Toonies. Go figure.

Anyway, I was walking home, but then decided to try my luck hitching. So I hitched up my ski jacket and a little Mazda pulled up next to me driven by a charming Toots lookalike with a beautiful La lookalike riding shotgun and they just so happened to be heading back to Toots's building. Can you believe it?

Breakfast, no mushy peas, Thai. Day 18.

Frostbite and Bear Claws

Sun 30 Jan

As it was our last day we woke up earlyish and just as well. It was a gorgeous, clear day. Not a single cloud in the sky. This would mean excellent visibility and awesome skiing conditions. But also meant that the temperatures would be on the low side -> -3 Deg C at base and -13 Deg C at the peaks. Brr. But those pieces of information we only found out later, so did *not* dress accordingly.

Good weather and the weekend mean the queues were pretty impressive. But again moved smoothly with no pushing, shoving, biting or swearing. We went up and up and up to Whistler peak, somewhere above 2km. Took some great photos of the views and an iced-over Inukshuk. It was totally worth the frost bite.

Peak 2 Peak (P2P) Gondola was ridden again. As it was clear today I think this time it counted. Actually not that bad, very smooth ride. But still cold, I managed to de-frost my fingers during the 11 minute death ride, but couldn't feel anything from the ankles down. We skied down to Blackcomb base for lunch. I was starving (sub-zero digits make me hungry) and wolfed down a burger and fries and a coffee served by a fellow P-town traveller. Delish.

After lunch it was now time for our attempt at Blackcomb peak, about 200m higher than Whistler. Even more awesome. I had given up on my fingers and toes and was composing hate mail to the manufacturers of my gloves, socks and ski boots.

We did the P2P again to get back to Whistler side, then all the way down to Whistler Creekside for our last run of the day and our trip. The sweet mountain host lady informed us that actually the better route down was a black run (part of the famous Dave Murray downhill which was used for the Mens' Olympic Super-G race) rather than the narrow blue run we'd taken on other days. And you know what? She was right. There were some very steep parts, but wide enough to not be that bad (I imagine that the Olympians didn't traverse the pistes quite as frequently as I did, but still, we can both say we did it!). The only annoying thing was all the kiddy winkles scooting straight past us. Seriously, they have no fear.

After handing back our skis and boots, La relaxed a bit with some hot chocolate and I went for a jog. Found an awesome walking path along the valley, running between Whistler and Creekside, next to some frozen lakes. Beautiful.

Then after I'd showered, La and I went to our building's outdoor hot tub. May I remind you that the temperature was sub zero, but it was oh so nice and hot in the jacuzzi. It was still super clear so we had the bizarre but beautiful view of stars, heads freezing, rest of us toasty (well, soupy really). An awesome (almost) conclusion to our ski trip.

Soft-boiled, lunch and pasta. Day 15.

Mon 31 Jan

Today was the last morning in our place in Whistler and had to leave the fridge/cupboards empty. So chicken, pasta and salad for breakfast. Kidding. We finished packing then loaded the car and left town. Skiing part of our trip officially over. (sniff, sniff) The drive back is gorgeous and this time we were on the sea side of the road so stopped at pretty much every viewing point along the way for photos. Awesome.

We made good time back to Vancouver and the handy GPS (thanks Francis!) got us nicely back to the car rental place, although human error (mine) meant initially we parked under the wrong hotel (Alamo rental returns is in a Hotel parking lot). Took the Sky Train back to Burnaby, easy peasy, and then we were at La-Sis' place. She had cooked up a storm for us the night before so the fridge was well stocked. Just as well - by this time I was ravenous (returning to sea level makes me hungry) - so wolfed down pasta bake and mushroom tart. Delish.

Spent the rest of the day relaxing and doing laundry with only a minor incident involving a washing machine, a stuck door and a steel coat hanger. You can fill in the blanks. Much hilarity followed (La laughing at me should I say).

Joyful reunions later when Toots came back from work. We'll miss the the snow but nice to be back in Vancouver

Breakfast, Drive and Tacos. Day 16.

Tue 01 Feb

Right, properly back in Vancouver to do some shopping and sight-seeing. We took the Sky Train into town, check at us go, just like the locals! Got out in downtown area and went into The Bay in Pacific Centre looking for a jacket pour moi. I was wearing one of my new T-shirts bought last week. The 'door thing' beeped as I entered the shop, not a good sign. But a quick survey found no heavy set be-suited men with guns bearing down on us, so, all OK. (PS. No jacket found.)

Exiting the shop, the same thing. Beeeep. So, seems like one of those tag things was not deactivated when I bought my T last week. Humph. Then went for a wander down Robson, into and out of shops, looking for Levis, jackets and Bear Claw salad servers. Beeping away. Only in one shop (American Eagle) did anyone query this. Laurel gave me a quick pat down to try locate the security tag but no luck. I told her to look more thoroughly, but we were in a public place after all...

We then met Toots (La-Sis) for lunch near her work in a fabulous food hall-cum-deli-cum-restaurant called Urban Fare. By this time I was starving (security pat downs make me hungry) so I wolfed down a chicken pot pie and a house drip coffee. Delish.

After lunch I frogmarched myself to the washroom (Canadian for toilets) to try locate the offending tag. Success! The bugger was hiding behind the 'do not dry clean' thing. The bastards! Managed to tear it off with my teeth without too much damage to my new T. I showed it to La who threw it in the bin. Damn, think how much fun we could have had tossing that into some SATC-alike's handbag.

We then strolled down to the Waterfront area to check out the Olympic torch. Smoking! And from same spot a great view of North and West Vancouver across the Burrard Inlet. Wandered down to Gastown (the old part of Vancouver) popping into every tourist drek shop looking for bear claws and of course the steam powered clock. Found the claws, but no whistles when we were there.

Then went for a stroll along the Olympic Village side of False Creek, although actually we walked the wrong way so ended up closer to the hockey arena, but that was the sunny side and it was cold so that was alright then. Headed back to Toots' place with a detour up Hastings Road in Burnaby, looking at shops, getting an awesome coffee at Cafe Artigiano, buying some pastries and scouting out barbers as I'm looking a bit fuzzy.

Topped off the day with a visit to La-Sis' building's gym. But some other guy was on the treadmill so I braved the stationary bike (hill program, ouch) and the Inquisition inspired elliptical thing. I'm not sure if I did it right, I got my heart rate up but sure felt strange.

Morning, noon and night. Day 17

Peek of the Peaks

Fri 28 Jan

The morning after the first day skiing is always tough. We had slept the sleep of the very sleepy. Now we woke the wakefulness of those with very sore muscles. Thighs hurt, calves hurt, even the muscles in my feet (?) hurt. Ouch. I had chafe from my rental boots below my calves, not cool. Fortunately we had painkillers.

Breakfast with all the trimmings (fried egg on a bagel and fresh coffee) then headed out to the snow. The weather had turned a bit nasty overnight, raining at the base of the mountain, but this meant snow higher up. New snow is great, but the visibility was not.

Slow, snowplough turns were the order of the morning. Still, the snow was very forgiving so when I had my first tumble of the trip (Mom, don't worry, I was wearing a helmet and pads and had my jersey on) it wasn't too uncomfortable. The sleet and snow was quite chilly so both of us wrapped up warmly in our most stylish headie/neck warmer items. Very dashing. With now only noses exposed to the elements, we ventured onwards.

For lunch we went to the only place in Whistler not run by or for Australians so not much in the way of vegetarian options for La. I was more fortunate and by this time was famished (precipitation makes me hungry) so made do with a super beef curry soup and rare roast beef sandwich. Delish.

After lunch we carried on skiing till the sun went down, with a brief pause for hot chocolate and brownies somewhere high up on Whistler mountain. Another great day on the pistes, albeit one where we didn't actually see where we skied.

After showering and chilling for a bit, we took a drive then a walk round Whistler Village. The shops and restaurants are quite expensive, sorry, extensive. And monuments and plaques and other evidence of the Winter Olympics all over the show.

A quiet, simple supper back in the apartment. Shabbat Shalom all.

Morning, noon and night. Day 13.

Sat 29 Jan

The snow from yesterday continued through the night, roads covered and hopefully a nice dusting of powder on the pistes. Saturdays must be a popular day-trip day for Whistler as there was a steady stream of cars into the village. So much for 'no crowds' comments from a few days ago.

Arriving at the Creekside gondola, oh, boy, yes, there were queues of people. Or rather, loads of skiers standing in line. Absent, though, was any shoving, pushing-in or unpleasantness. Everyone still polite. Even the stoner dudes in our gondola very politely shared their smelly Subway sandwiches' delightful stench with us the whole way up.

At the top, another long line for the first chair lift, but again this went smoothly, everyone waiting their turn, going one/one at merge points. Amazing, and quite a contrast to some of the chaos we'd seen in European resorts.

The morning was quite clear, new snow on the ground made for excellent skiing. We did some great runs close to the peak of Whistler mountain. Awesome. We were enjoying the conditions so much that we almost forgot to eat lunch. Almost. Dropped whatever we were doing and had a bite there and then at a place next to the peak 2 peak gondola. I was starving (fresh powder makes me hungry) so we both had soup and a slice of pizza. Delish.

Then, full of hope and courage we braved that overgrown pendulum swinging between mountains AKA the Peak 2 Peak gondola. I was sweating, butterflies in my stomach. All for nothing really as the cloud was so low and so thick we couldn't see anything. It was like being in a gondola shaped lift with windows looking out onto greyness. Score!

La says that this doesn't count so apparently we have to do this peak 2 peak thing again when we can actually see how far we are going to fall to our certain deaths. Rumour has it Sunday will be sunny. Yay.

We decided to treat ourselves to supper out so strolled down to a great sushi place near our apartment.

Scrambled, pizza and bento. Day 14.