Ginger DJ Rob

Walked up George Street (think of it as Sydney's version of London's Oxford Street) past the shops and office blocks. As we approached The Rocks , I spotted a side street with an art installation of bird cages hanging from wires above. On closer inspection there were also well-hidden speakers broadcasting bird songs of those specicies no longer in the Sydeny area (either migrated away or extinct). Found David Jones department store for Kerry amongst the Westfield shopping complex (is it Australian or a UK company?). Sadly for Kerry they didn't yet stock the Dita Von Tease clothing in store. Within the same block is the Sydney Tower which we booked the 360 restaurant for next Sunday. Walked further towards The Rocks then sat down to check our bearings when a tramp approached us asking for spare change. She had a 100 yard stare. We said sorry, no, She asked for a cigarette. We said sorry again as Kerry had barely enough for herself at which point she had a go at us for sa...

We checked out the Desert Gardens hotel at 10am ready for the 10:30am transfer to the airport. Had time to quickly check the internet at $2 for 5 minutes but it was painfully slow (using satelitte connection I guess). the local newspaper made me smile at the type of hearsay it has to rely on for headline news . We arrived at the airport to find both our Virgin and Quantas flights delayed due to the heavy rains in Sydney. We also found out that the same two English guys I had a go at yesterday were waiting for perhaps the same flight...D'oh! Not much at Ayres Rock airport to be honest and the extra 30 minutes delay was hard work especially as the air-conditioning wasn't working particularrly well. As we boarded we notcied the same two English guys in the same queue then as our luck goes we were sat on the same row separated by the isle! I must've been dehydrated as my headache didn't really go away and with a combination of this, a slightly bumpy ride and not in the ...

Very, very, very tired after perhaps sleep calculated in minutes. Breakfast was excellent with more choice than expected. Some awkwardness and lack of eye contact with our Japanese neighbours but at least everyone was ready to go at 5:20am for the Uluru sunrise. Again it was no secret to every tourist who all got up even earlier than us to get their viewing place. Coaches and their guides had already set up breakfast tables for their passengers. The raised viewing platform was already humming with people so we found a quiet spot further in front of everyone. Although it had a more vegetation (trees and shrubbery) but only one couple was there enjoying the silence. We kept quiet ourselves looking for the same chilled vibe but then a German couple and teenage son arrived chatting away. Worse though were the pair of British gap year guys who just talked and talked ignoring the sunset and the majesty of the scenery. It got to the moment of them talking about X Factor that something had t...

Such an early start with an 5am alarm but my paranoid mind woke me 2 hours earlier. We managed to leave just after 5:30am whilst it was still dark. The satnav predicted an arrival time just short of 9am. At the start of the journey there were a few cars and UTEs on the road and as we approached Newcastle many construction and mining workers were arriving to start their day. After Newcastle we joined the motorway and if it wasn't for the different place names you couldn't help feeling we were driving in the UK. Getting out of Sydney was slow when we first arrived but returning back was horrendously slow building up our stress levels. Through hideous traffic that never seemed to let up. The rush hour and traffic lights added more and more pressure, and the satnav recalculated a later arrival time as we crawled along. By the last 5kms we were truly panicking especially as the baggage deadline was about to come up (30 minutes before the flight). Through a tunnel we lost the satnav...

Original plan was to have breakfast down at the beach but the grey weather must have put off the cafe owners who didn't bother opening up. Instead we went back to Nelson Bay marina where I spotted a modern day Long John Silver with a proper wooden leg. Normally the dolphins would hang around the edge of the marina but we had to make do with some window shopping of boats for Neil. We must have been getting too acclimatised as with the 21C we felt we needed long-sleeved tops. Went back to visit a few more beaches further down the coast but the damp air and greyness didn't look that inviting to stay. Only a few hardcore (and jobless) surfers stuck around. Near one of the beaches was a known area for koalas where eucalyptus trees for common. It took awhile but Kerry spotted one sleeping but it was so high up and had its back turned to us so couldn't really see its face. Lunch was at Murrays Brewery which offered a taster 'wheel' of their six beers. Unlike the Blue ...

A fractured night's sleep meant my mental capacity unable to cope with anything less than one word responses. We'd got up a little earlier to climb a local hill of Tomaree Head to enjoy the vista of Nelson Bay and its many coastlines. It took about 30 minutes to walk up whilst freaking ourselves out at the massive spiders and their webs along the way. The Scalp Spiders weren't poisonous but just looked nasty like something from the dungeons of a Zelda game. Past the spiders and we spotted our first kookaburra just perched on a branch above our heads just ignoring us. At the top of the hill was indeed the impressive views of Zenith, Wreck, Box and yesterday's beach, Fingal. A quick shower back at home then back out to Newcastle. The weather had clouded over as we approached the coal and mining town. We drove past massive piles of coal being moved by huge scooping machinery either onto the already long row of train trucks or for the container ships we would see la...

Escaped the golf village and headed out for breakfast at a place called Oscars near the Hunter Valley gardens. Ordered a proper fatboy meal of French Toast which the bread was the size of my head, had about 4 strawberries, covered in maple syrup and bizarrely (though very Australian) came with a dollop of vanilla ice cream. Delicious and it worked. The shopping centre was a typical outlet tourist fare and very over-priced. Next stop was the Blue Tongue Brewery to sample some beer instead of wine. We bought a paddle of 6 for $15 which allowed us to choose a complimentary midi sized beer of your favourite. The ginger beer had a weak flavour but strong with alcohol content whereas the other 5 beers ranged from light, crisp tasting lagers to a red coloured ale. It was a tough task in the heat of 30C! The rest of the afternoon was traveling back to Corlette via Petersons Champagne place for some present buying and helicopter spotting. A quick freshen up after returning from Hunter Valle...

Managed to have an undisturbed night of sleep until dawn broke and the local bird life waking up. Quite nice to hear the kookaburras and parakeets instead of the normal Brighton seagulls. Stuck in the earplugs and dozed until 8:45am though Kerry couldn't resist the pool for a morning dip. The weather had improved slightly but it was still cloudy. Today's plan was to drive down to Hunter Valley for some wine exploration which was on the way back to Sydney through some quite ordinary towns filled with popular fast food chains though in Australia, Burger King is called Hungry Jacks. Good to see some traditional 'hotels' or what we'd define as pubs. Passed some roadkill of a wallaby which smelled so bad we had to wind up our car windows. First stop in Hunter Valley was the champagne place called Petersons to have lunch. The day had started quite overcast and fresh at 21C but by the time we finished our meal, it was a scorching 27C. Restaurant was a stylish place and...

Arrived at Sydney (woke up at 4am local time and landed at 7:30am). Nice to skip the long queues of the normal passport control but we had to hang around to get customs to check Kerry's medication. Bro-in-law, Neil wasn't at the gate but had waited at a different. Still he had driven 200kms to pick us up and was probably been up the same time as us. Weather was wet with light rain but we appreciated the fresh air. The weather didn't change much in the 2 and half hour drive north. Getting out of Sydney was very slow with traffic and single lane roads. At least we drove over Sydney Harbour Bridge with a view to the Opera House. Still, it looked really different in the grey, dull light of the overcast sky. Stopped for a coffee at a McCafe (crap coffee) then drove past Newcastle, very industrial with the coal business but surrounded with loads of fields where every house owned at least two horses. Saw our first wild kangaroos before reaching Neil's home in Corlette, a c...

Finished work about midday and got ourselves ready for our chauffeur pick-up. We'd saved enough Virgin Atlantic loyalty points to get some great discount on Upper Class which included a chauffeur pick-up. I had to ask who else the driver had a famous passengers which he replied with an impressive list including Naomi Campbell and Steve Coogan. The car didn't have a privacy screen and he didn't wear a peaked hat. For the first time ever I was almost car sick by the end of the journey as the driver kept blipping the accelerator rocking the car to and fro up the mototway. We arrived at Virgin Clubhouse at Heathrow via the private road then the check-in staff took our bags. The only thing that didn't quite complete the perfect experience was the standard (yet speedy) security check and walk through the hoi poloi of the retail area. The actual Virgin Clubhouse lounge was pretty cool but no one famous flying that day. Haircut was complimentary but any further services ha...