Suddenly realised it's 1 Feb today and I haven't blogged about anything in January - it's just been one of those months that has kind of flown past. Here are the highlights (some pictures here):
Festival First Night - picnic in the park with tens of thousands of people (somewhere between 50,000 and 250,000 depending on who you believe!), beautiful weather, still in shorts & t-shirt at 11pm, Al Green the main star - a decent show albeit a wee bit on the short side, but hey, he is in his 60s!
Big Day Out in Sydney - 38 degrees in the shade wasn't ideal for rocking along to Kasabian, Dizzee Rascal et al, but thankfully it was dark and cool by time Muse came on to headline. Another storming show from the boys, fantastic! Was a young crowd this year - reckon K and I increased the average age in the audience by about 10 years :-)
Aussie Open in Melbourne - thankfully the mercury in Melbourne was quite a bit lower and we had ideal tennis watching conditions. Saw an unexpectedly great match between Cilic and Del Potro - 4.5hrs five set tussle! Disappointed at lack of Aussie support for Lleyton "Lleyto" Hewitt, but all in all, a fun few days of soaking up the atmosphere.
Kayaking, wine & oysters at Woy Woy Bay - my Christmas pressie from K, a day trip to beautiful Brisbane Water where we kayaked for a good few hours, broken up with a mid morning glass of wine and oyster snack - very decadent! Lunch on the beach then back to the paddling before finishing off with a waterside seat for daily pelican feeding - quite amazing birds. Great day out despite me forgetting sunscreen on my legs - oops! Finished off with a trip to Palm Beach to see the Home & Away beach - sometimes you've just got to do the tourist thing!
Moonlight cinema in Centennial Park - and last night, the perfect end to the month - The Commitments by moonlight on a big screen in the park accompanied by pals, wine, cheese, dips and crackers - and text updates on the tennis score!
Not a bad way to spend January!
Monday, 1 February 2010
Monday, 11 January 2010
Tassie Day 10 – Tamar Valley
Today was wine tasting day, although we didn't really get going till this afternoon as we had a lot of catching up on sleep to do! There are lots of boutique vineyards speckled around the valley, within easy driving distance of each other, and we managed to squeeze a lot in! K was on driving duty so was spitting mostly, but I wasn't and by the fourth vineyard, it's fair to say my powers of discernment were deserting me! We ordered quite a bit of wine, enough to keep us going for a good while yet, and K is now a convert to pinot noir after telling me for the last 18 months how he doesn't really like it...!
Dinner tonight at the local pub, which was 'interesting'. Never had rice, chips and pasta on the same plate before! Back at the chalet, we cracked open another of Marion's wines and fired up the woodburner outside, keeping us warm and the bugs away, while we sat back, got slowly pissed and as the last night of our holiday slipped into darkness, reflected on one of the best holidays we've ever had.
Tassie rocks!!
Dinner tonight at the local pub, which was 'interesting'. Never had rice, chips and pasta on the same plate before! Back at the chalet, we cracked open another of Marion's wines and fired up the woodburner outside, keeping us warm and the bugs away, while we sat back, got slowly pissed and as the last night of our holiday slipped into darkness, reflected on one of the best holidays we've ever had.
Tassie rocks!!
Tassie Day 9 – East Coast to Tamar Valley
Another early start, up at the crack of dawn to get packed up, breakfasted and on our way out of the festival, hoping to beat the traffic. We'd been warned that it could take a LONG time, particularly as the Australian police have a policy of random breath testing cars leaving festivals the morning after, and this had caused massive delays last year. But we were on our way fairly quickly, K passing the breath test with flying colours, and we took advantage of the unexpected time in our hands to meander up the East Coast a wee bit. Stopped off in Swansea (pronounced Swan Sea here!) for a big brunch and then took in the sights of the Freycinet National Park, including Wineglass Bay, one of the most photographed beaches in Australia apparently. Tasmania's beaches are heralded as some of the best in Australia, but to be honest, the beaches everywhere in Australia are pretty spectacular, and we've seen a lot of beaches in the past 18 months...so we left the East Coast glad we'd spent most of our time in the more unusual scenery of the mountains and national parks.
Then it was on to the Tamar Valley, a wine-making region famous for its pinot noirs and chardonnays. After a fairly long drive up the spine of Tasmania to get there, it was bliss to arrive in the gorgeous hideyhole of Marion's Vineyard, where we were staying in a self-contained chalet with a tree-top balcony and four poster bed! We had a lovely meal at a nearby motel – much better than you'd think to look at the place – and then enjoyed a bottle of Marion's pinot noir on our return to the chalet, before crashing out after our early start this morning.
Then it was on to the Tamar Valley, a wine-making region famous for its pinot noirs and chardonnays. After a fairly long drive up the spine of Tasmania to get there, it was bliss to arrive in the gorgeous hideyhole of Marion's Vineyard, where we were staying in a self-contained chalet with a tree-top balcony and four poster bed! We had a lovely meal at a nearby motel – much better than you'd think to look at the place – and then enjoyed a bottle of Marion's pinot noir on our return to the chalet, before crashing out after our early start this morning.
Tassie Day 8 – Falls Festival Part 2
Woke up very early in the sweltering heat that was our tent at 6.30am! Ah well, that's what festivals are all about isn't it?! Quick breakfast and then we joined the ant-march of our fellow festivallers to the beach a few kms away. The water was too cold and jellyfish-infested to tempt us in, but it was a pleasant place to blow away some cobwebs before diving into festival day 2. It was a scorcher today, over 30 degrees, so we spent most of our time in the shade, relaxing to the sounds of Dundee's finest, The View, Norway's DataRock, Welsh rockers The Future of the Left (who cracked the funniest jokes of the festival at the expense of a) Aussies and b) Coldplay), Aussie band The Temper Trap, Editors (who we'd really wanted to see and who were v good). As it started to get dark and as the new year approached, Aussie band Midnight Juggernauts got the crowd going nicely before having to leave the stage as a lightning storm blew in to clear the muggy air! They managed to finish their set though, before the Yeah Yeah Yeahs brought in the new year. They were a bit disappointing – reminded me of a pale imitation of Garbage – but all in all, it was a fine festival and we retired to bed in the wee small hours of 2010 very happy and content. Even being woken a few hours later by the god-awful techno being played by our teenage tent neighbours, wasn't enough to spoil the occasion! (I'm not just getting old, it really was terrible!)
Tassie Day 7 – Hobart and Falls Festival
After breakfast at the hostel, and after stocking up on supplies for imminent festival camping, we wandered around the harbour, taking in the sights and sounds of the end of the Sydney-Hobart yacht race. We'd seen the start of last year's race in Sydney, where hundreds of boats of all shapes and sizes belch out of Sydney Harbour, jostling and tacking for position, before heading out to the high seas for the long trip South. This year, so we heard, the weather at sea had been unusually calm and there was talk of food and water rationing on many of the boats, as they'd had to spend a day longer at sea than expected – not fun! Mind you, all the returned crews looked pretty happy and relaxed as they washed and dried their gear in the sun, while knocking back a few beers!
We had another tasty lunch at the food festival before hitting the road for the hour or so drive to Marion Bay, our home for the next 2 nights, at the Falls Festival. Soon enough, we were there, the tent was set up and we were ready for some music – hurrah! As festival settings go, this one is hard to beat – the backdrop to the main stage is beautiful Marion Bay, with the ocean and hills framing the view, and on a day like today with the sun beating down and not a cloud in the sky, it was sheer relaxation to be sat on the grass with a beer and good music. Highlights of the evening were Rodriguo y Gabriela, a spanish guitar and singing duet, and Moby, who did a storming set over midnight, with his full band on display. Despite lack of prior arrangements or mobile phone reception, we managed to find our friend P, who'd originally recommended Falls to us. All in all, a great day and night.
We had another tasty lunch at the food festival before hitting the road for the hour or so drive to Marion Bay, our home for the next 2 nights, at the Falls Festival. Soon enough, we were there, the tent was set up and we were ready for some music – hurrah! As festival settings go, this one is hard to beat – the backdrop to the main stage is beautiful Marion Bay, with the ocean and hills framing the view, and on a day like today with the sun beating down and not a cloud in the sky, it was sheer relaxation to be sat on the grass with a beer and good music. Highlights of the evening were Rodriguo y Gabriela, a spanish guitar and singing duet, and Moby, who did a storming set over midnight, with his full band on display. Despite lack of prior arrangements or mobile phone reception, we managed to find our friend P, who'd originally recommended Falls to us. All in all, a great day and night.
Tassie Day 6 – Lake St Clair and Hobart
Today was the biggest driving day of the trip – about 5 hrs worth of driving, most of it on twisty, windy roads that twist and wind for no apparent reason! We broke the journey up with a stop at Lake St Clair, where we did about an hour or so's walking through the rainforest and then around Platypus Bay (sadly no platypus to be seen) before walking along the side of Lake St Clair for a while, one of the most beautiful settings I've seen - the water is deep, royal blue, Mount Rufus rises in the background like an old king and the lake stretches out for miles and miles with white sandy beaches at its shoreline and barely a sound to be heard. Blissfully peaceful. Lake St Clair marks the end of the Overland Track and it must be quite a relief to be able to drop your pack and drop into the lake for a cooling swim after 6 days hiking!!
Onwards from Lake St Clair to the big metropolis of Hobart. Well, it's not exactly New York, but after a stretch of time in the peace and quiet of national parks, anything feels like a metropolis! Hobart's the capital of Tasmania, with a population of around 200,000 (Tassie's total population is about 500,000). It's celebrated for its well-preserved colonial era architecture and it's relaxed-yet-cosmopolitan way of life. Hmm, I'm not sure about that, but we were lucky enough to be there for the two big events on the Hobart calendar – the end of the annual Sydney-Hobart yacht race and the Taste of Tasmania food festival, handily located at the waterfront next to the yachts.
After checking into our hostel, we bussed it into town and headed pretty much straight for the 70 food and drink stalls that make up the Taste festival. Clearly, there's only one way to go with food festivals – sheer gluttony. I think we 'sampled' a good 5 or 6 things, all of which were very tasty indeed. The evening's entertainment was provided in a side tent where various performers had slots for the evening, including an all girl hip hop group and a unicycling juggler – “eclectic”!
Onwards from Lake St Clair to the big metropolis of Hobart. Well, it's not exactly New York, but after a stretch of time in the peace and quiet of national parks, anything feels like a metropolis! Hobart's the capital of Tasmania, with a population of around 200,000 (Tassie's total population is about 500,000). It's celebrated for its well-preserved colonial era architecture and it's relaxed-yet-cosmopolitan way of life. Hmm, I'm not sure about that, but we were lucky enough to be there for the two big events on the Hobart calendar – the end of the annual Sydney-Hobart yacht race and the Taste of Tasmania food festival, handily located at the waterfront next to the yachts.
After checking into our hostel, we bussed it into town and headed pretty much straight for the 70 food and drink stalls that make up the Taste festival. Clearly, there's only one way to go with food festivals – sheer gluttony. I think we 'sampled' a good 5 or 6 things, all of which were very tasty indeed. The evening's entertainment was provided in a side tent where various performers had slots for the evening, including an all girl hip hop group and a unicycling juggler – “eclectic”!
Tassie Day 5 – West Coast Wilderness
Today we set off towards the West Coast of Tasmania, skirting round the edge of the Cradle Mountain – Lake St Clair National Park, with the little town of Strahan as our end destination for the day. We took a slight detour to do a couple of hours rainforest walk into & back from Montezuma Falls, one of the highest waterfalls in Tassie – very high they were too!!
Clearly the West Coast of Tassie is much like the West Coast of Scotland or Ireland as it poured with rain for a lot of the drive onwards! We crossed up over a lot of very rugged, isolated scenery, with the occasional quarry and mine – iron ore I think – before winding our way down to the coastline to Strahan, where the weather was quite a bit nicer. Strahan itself is a bit of a one-street town, but the main tourist destination in these parts because of its location at the head of the Franklin river. Sea planes, helicopters and boats all take people out to see the river but we didn't have the time or really the inclination to do that, so we soaked up the local atmosphere instead (i.e. we went to the pub!)
Clearly the West Coast of Tassie is much like the West Coast of Scotland or Ireland as it poured with rain for a lot of the drive onwards! We crossed up over a lot of very rugged, isolated scenery, with the occasional quarry and mine – iron ore I think – before winding our way down to the coastline to Strahan, where the weather was quite a bit nicer. Strahan itself is a bit of a one-street town, but the main tourist destination in these parts because of its location at the head of the Franklin river. Sea planes, helicopters and boats all take people out to see the river but we didn't have the time or really the inclination to do that, so we soaked up the local atmosphere instead (i.e. we went to the pub!)
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