He’s My Japanese Boy!

Hello Readers.Welcome back to our blog. We Cassons (well, Bec and I) currently find ourselves holidaying in Japan. For two weeks. It’s a ten hour flight from Melbourne so very doeable for a holiday.The Japanese are an amazingly polite, considerate and technology obsessed nation; and it’s awesome. If you’ve ever thought about adding technology to an everyday item, they’ve already done it. For example, at home my toilet has just two buttons to flush it: one for a long flush and one for a short flush. In Japan it’s not that simple. Firstly, you have a heated seat. Just like in your car. Once you’ve embraced this, and you’ve done your business you then have to choose your flush type (normal, light, oscilate); but before you make that choice you have to choose how you want your personal parts washed. Wonderfully bizarre! So even going to the toilet in Japan is an art form thanks to technology.Technology is just awesome.

TokyoSo today the weather in Tokyo was mild but wet. Actually, very wet. This meant that traditional sightseeing wasn’t on the agenda. So we decided to go to a district in Tokyo called Akhibara, an area renowned for it’s electronics. After a few short train rides (the trains are fantastic and unnaturally punctual) Bec and I were in Akihabara. As we dodged the rain drops the shops came in to view with their doors consuming the techno hungry Japanese public like whales consuming plankton. Happy to be at the mercy of consumerism, Bec and I donned our plankton onesies and merrily entered the mouth of the beast.Upon first viewing the shop was like a massive supershop teaming with all the phones, tablets, games machines, fans, TVs, fridges, toys, models, laptops and gadgets you could think of. Some shops were spread over six floors, with staff at every turn. It was chaos, but worked. However, what we didn’t realise was that the shops in shopping centres in Japan don’t have walls to seperate themselves from one another. The shops just occupy a space in a building. Hence the feeling of being in a super sized shop because all you can see is row after row after row of products. It was like the duty free areas in airports where you just meander through all the goods because there aren’t any walls to get in your way, but on a much bigger scale. Like, much bigger.Suffice to say I was in my element. There were a ton of things I had no need for, but all the same still needed them. Bec and I walked (I probably skipped) through a plethora of zones offering to trade our money for pure electronic magic and wizardry. I never realised I needed so many new phones, and neither did my gorgeous wife. She knew right away I didn’t need so many new phones.After much oohing and arring in the wondrous money draining electronic spectacle that was Akihabara, it was time to embrace the rain, and head back by train to our hotel to find a restaurant for dinner.Just a quick note about the trains in Japan. They are amazing and used by much of the population to move around. The stations are choc full of people and just buzz with life. There isn’t an ounce of graffiti or litter anywhere. Information is everywhere, either electronically or in human form. The trains operate to a strict timetable and run every few minutes, even the bullet trains (we travel on them soon). Inside the trains information screens, once again, are everywhere. Letting you know what carriage you’re in, what your next stop is, how long your trip will be or if there are disruptions on other lines; all interspersed with movie trailers and adverts for cleaning products. In Japan, the railways are still king.

Bye for now.

More Tokyo

So over the past couple of days Bec and I have been stretching our tourist legs in conjunction with the trains to explore a bit more of Tokyo and it’s suburbs / districts. With a warm weather predicted for Sunday, we set off for the gardens that surrounded the Royal Palace. However, they’re not actually thee palace gardens but the public spaces that border the palace. This was great and gave us our first glimpse of some historical Japanese buildings with their enigmatic styling that western movies have popularised over the years. The walk was pleasant, the glimpses of the old buildings was thrilling, the weather was a balmy 30°C and our day was still young.

From the faux palace gardens Bec and I meandered into central Tokyo without an agenda. It was just walk until something caught our eye, and there’s a lot to catch your eye. Here’s some of what caught our, or more my, eye.

After a spot of lunch, and with time on our side, it was off to Tokyo’s Skytree. A stunning tower with viewing platforms some 450m in the air. Still, that distance was nothing compared to the length of the queues for tickets to ascend this monster of a structure. How I loathe queues 😠! Lucky for us though, their was a ticket area just for tourists and with a little bit of extra cash we avoided the anger inducing queues that the Japanese couldn’t. Huzzar! This is what we encountered:

Once back on terra firma it was time to head to Shibuya, one of the busiest and most densely populated places in Japan. Oh, and it has the world renowned Shibuya Crossing. Something I remember from the Resident Evil movies. Happy to report no zombie outbreak when we were there. By golly though, it was stuffed with people. I didn’t realise so many people actually existed in the world. Everything moved at a pleasant pace though, which was surprising. No bumping, stopping, stalling, swerving or cursing involved as Bec and I rounded off our day at one of Shibuya’s best vegan friendly restaurants (got to support the other half).

Phew! What a day.

Even More Tokyo

Crikey! Tokyo just doesn’t let up. It devours time like a sweet starved kid eating chocolate in a candy shop. The past two days have vanished in an instant. We have one day left in this stunning city before heading off to Osaka.

On Monday Bec and I headed off to Hakone, an area 70km out of Tokyo and just 28mins by Bullet Train. This place is made up of many smaller villages all in an area of natural wonder. It’s also one of the best places to see Mt. Fuji from if the weather is clear enough. No such luck for us though. However, that didn’t stop us from doing and seeing some great things.

So, our day went a tad like this.

Come on Bec. Noisy train station. Announcements. This way. Jingles and melodies. Announcements. Shooooowiiiiiish! Train arrives. All aboard!

Ooooh! Wow! Bloody hell this thing’s fast. Bec, Bec, look at that. Wow! Bloody hell this thing’s fast. Blank stare! Annoyed look. Wow! Ooooh! Bloody hell this thing’s fast. Stopping. Doors slide open. Jingles and melodies. Announcements. Woohoo! Another train ride. Mind the doors.

Toot, toot! Rattle, shake, rattle, bump, sharp turn, slippery seat, squashed wife, smile on my face not appreciated, rattle, rattle, shudder. Wow! So many hydrangeas.

Doors open. Footsteps. No melodies or jingles. Toot, toot! Quiet platform. Signs. Arrows. Traffic. Sigh! Shops, I think. Food.

Later. C’mon, c’mon. Museum. Picasso. No pictures. Whaaaaaaat? Ooooooooh! Amazing man. Wise words on walls. Humbling. C’mon, c’mon! Outside. Sunny, hot. Blues, greens, rich reds. So much smiling.

Time to eat. No I don’t want sushi. Errrr! Opinions shared. Pizza. Woohoo! Rush, rush. Get that bus. Hungry. Signs. Huh? No eating or drinking. OMG! Torture. Come on bus, come on bus. Hurry, hurry, hurry. Slooooooow journey. Hills. Bendy roads. Tight turns, slippery seat, squashed wife, smile on my face not appreciated. Braking. Swooooosh! Footsteps. Fresh air. Bus leaves. Waiting. Boxes opening, containers cracking. Hungry. Honk, honk! Swooooosh! Bus. Slooooooow journey! Sigh! Hungry. Ooooh! Great views. Final stop, everyone off. Smell of water. Hills. Pathway. Shoreline. Peace and quiet. Watery sounds. Boxes open, containers crackle, scrunching of foil. Food! Boat ride. Cool.

Another bus. Toot, toot. Doors closing. Traffic. Peak time. Rivers, bridges, Japanese architecture, people. BULLET TRAIN. Bloody hell this thing’s fast. No response. Crikey! Things to see. Windows are cool. Slowing down. Doors. People. Many, many people. Jingles and melodies. Walking. Walking. Walking. Hotel. Kon’nichiwa. Ding! Elevator noises. Ding! Lock whirs. Door closes. Rest.

Last Bits of Tokyo

So our time in Tokyo is over and we are now on Osaka. However, before I blog about the latter city I need to finish off chatting about the former (in a very brief manner). So here’s the other stuff Bec and I got up to:

The Teamlabs Borderless Art Museum was a lot of fun. Digital art that freely flows between rooms and spaces, some of which you can follow around and watch evolve. Very different and unlike any art space you’ve been to before. Museums and I have an unusual relationship, in that I don’t dawdle in them. I stop at what intrigues and interests me whilst bypassing material that doesn’t, no matter it’s creator or significance. However, this art installation held my imagination captive longer than any other art installation has done in the past. Go see it if you ever get the chance.

Another port of call in Tokyo was the Mipig Cafè which is a cafè that allows you to have beverages and vittles whilst micro pigs (piglets) freely roam about, and because you’re sitting low to the ground there’s the chance they might come and rest on your lap. Or legs. Or both. It was a lot of fun, and piglets are so cute.

And that was some of Tokyo, or rather the tiny amount we saw of it.

NY Sydney

Okay, it’s been a while. I always have the best intentions to blog more often, then life comes along and wrestles time away from me. Still, looks like my Full Nelson has won this round; so blog away I will.

Ever since I can remember, we Cassons have wanted to see Sydney’s NYE’s fireworks in person, and up close. Watching this amazing city herald in the New Year on TV via the BBC was always time well spent in front of the gogglebox. When we eventually moved to Oz in 2009 we were one step closer to seeing those amazing fireworks in person. However, what we’d seen of them up to this point had been in other areas of Sydney and not with a view of the iconic Harbour Bridge.

In 2018 that would all change as we could finally (had to wait for someone to become 18) go on a boat that was a part of the flotilla that sailed under the Harbour Bridge throughout the night, and then anchor up near the bridge come midnight to give an unspoilt view of Sydney’s world famous NYE spectacle.

The boat was a futuristic looking beast but with the shape of an old American style paddle steamer. Inside, the boat was modern, spacious and split over three levels. Due to a mad storm front that ripped through Darling Harbour just as we boarded, we secured a table on the lower deck and used this as our base of operations for the rest of the night.

We departed the harbour around 7pm and so began the festivities. On our deck, the lower deck, we had the pleasure of a live band that banged out a range of melodies from across the decades. Also on our deck were food stations as well as a bar, which was all inclusive; so there was only the human mind to limit one’s food and alcohol intake (which, over the course of the night, proved quite difficult for some to manage 😀).

The night went really quickly. Before we knew it the 9pm fireworks came and went, and then within the blink of an eye the captain was positioning the boat for the midnight show; and boy what a show it was. It is a good job we live in an age of audio/visual finesse because words alone wouldn’t do the fireworks justice. They are every bit as good as you see on the gogglebox.

Once the last of the pyrotechnics fizzled out the band struck up, people returned to their seats and the dancefloor became a mass of happy revellers soaking up the last of the evening’s entertainment as the boat made its way back to Darling Harbour. What fun!

NY Did we go There?

Hello readers.

As I write this entry we Cassons are 37, 000ft above planet Earth and about an hour away from landing in Los Angeles. So far we have been in the air for some 13hrs, and will still have another 5hrs to do once we have boarded our plane to NY. eNwhY (deliberate, relates to this post’s title) are we going to New York? Birthdays! Lucy’s 18th and my 50th. So what better place to celebrate two big birthdays than one of the planet’s biggest cities? New York . . . . . . in early spring . . . . . . when it’s chilly . . . . . . and I’ve packed shorts . . . . . . could be interesting.

So far the journey has gone well and I’ve only got annoyed once. At Melbourne Airport. In a queue. Not a pastime of mine. Then, to make the whole stand in a line like a herd of zombies worse, some crazy old ninja biddy pushed her way to the front of the line and just stood there. Totally ignoring the many requests to go to the end of the line. As keen as I was to discuss the ninja biddie’s erroneous behaviour with her, I was less keen on seeing what was behind my wife’s death stare.

Two Days In

Crikey! Where do I start when tackling the subject of NY City? Breathtaking is certainly an apt adjective for this concrete jungle. It’s busy. It’s crowded. It’s noisy. It’s tall. It’s rough. It’s polished. It’s unusual. It’s bland. It’s colourful. It is fantastic!

In the two days we’ve been here we cassons have walked 25km but only seen a minuscule amount of the place. Our hotel is a short walk from Time Square so we’ve gotten used to that and we’ve managed to see the 9/11 memorial, Brooklyn Bridge, the Guggenheim Museum and Central Park. All these places are as amazing as you think they’re going to be. Oh, and we shopped in an artists’ market that had an exuberantly dressed man dancing in a window in a very camp manner. Only in NY? Probably.

The people are awesome too. Not gushy and in ya face, but friendly and helpful and happy to chat. Even the homeless ones. Here’s the abridged story behind my chat with a homeless dude: learning on a railing taking a photo, took photo, turned to walk away, caught foot on railing, stumbled, cursed, nearly faceplanted, recovered, heard a giggle, saw coloured dude smiling, laughed at myself with him, sat down and had a great chat. An awesome few minutes with a happy man that didn’t have much.

Or maybe he had everything.

Seven Days In

Crikey! Where did those five days go? It’s hard to prècis the past few days since NYC isn’t really a place that lends itself to summaries. It’s just too bombastic to be hamstrung by the simple word, so I shall accompany my words with good ol’ fashioned pictures. Lazy? You betcha!

My Birthday

This was a groovy day that started with a ride in a stretched limo to an amazing cinema to watch Ready Player One. Fantastic! This was followed by a little light shopping and rounded off with a dinner in one of NYC’s finest steak restaurants. It’s the only place I’ve seen that has it’s shopfront filled with ageing cuts of meat. Well funky, and an amazing dining experience too.

Central Park pt2: Snow Limits

One of Lucy and I’s best days EVER (Bec doesn’t like the snow, whaaaat!). Amazingly NYC got smashed by snow during the night of my birthday and on the 2nd April we woke up to a winter wonderland. It was great. I hadn’t seen the stuff for years (ye have to travel a fair distance in Oz to see the stuff). Since the white stuff was only forecasted to last a few hours, Lucy and I decided the most iconic place to play with the stuff was Central Park. It didn’t disappoint either, everything was a crisp white and everyone was a child again.

Great Place For a Museum

The next thing to inform you about is a museum in an unusual place, that place being a WW2 aircraft carrier. Now normally I stay well away from anything with the word museum in it’s name due to the fact that they have queues, billions of people to dodge and tons of info to read. More than enough reasons to keep me away. However, this museum was in a WW2 aircraft carrier which itself was part of the museum, that also had the original prototype Space Shuttle stuffed inside it. This museum was like a Russian doll. It was awesome too. I even practised my reading skills.

Big Building Day

Everyone knows NYC has its fair share of tall buildings. So we decided to spend a day exploring two of the tallest ones: the Empire State Building and the Rockefeller Center.

Although not thee tallest buildings in NYC they both offer awesome views of the city. They are also very popular with tourists, which means queues. These queues are exacerbated by airport like security with body scanners and x-ray machines. Grrrrr! Then there are some more queues for the lifts, but thankfully these move quite quickly. The lifts in the Empire State Building were the best as they had TV screens in the roof playing a short movie about the building.

Regardless of how the buildings differed neither of them disappointed when it came to the views. It really is breathtaking to see a city like NY from the perspective these buildings offer.

Washington DC

The middle weekend of our trip was dedicated to America’s capital city, and to make sure we did it justice we spent four days exploring it’s landmarks, museums and history. We also decided to make the trip from NYC to DC by train since there was no real advantage by flying. Suffice to say the journey was fast, effortless and comfortable. The best mode of transport by far.

Unbeknownst to us our trip to DC coincided with the annual Cherry Blossom Festival, a festival that brings thousands of people into DC to take part in festivities that celebrate the arrival of spring.

Most of our visit, though, was spent taking in as many landmarks and museums as possible, rather than welcome in one of the four seasons. None of what we saw a did was a disappointment. Everything in DC is worth looking at, it’s a very clean place and all the buildings look like photographs. Washington has a very polished vibe about it, it’s almost like you’re walking through a model village where everything is shiny and new and you feel privileged to be amongst it.

Our days in DC were busy and crammed full of sightseeing and walking, but thankfully not too much queueing. Of note, I would say the Washington Monument and Abraham Lincoln Memorial were my standout landmarks; but the place that will haunt me the most has to be the Holocaust Museum. For obvious reasons, but mainly because it brought an added sense of reality to this shocking piece of history. A must see museum that is worthy of many visits.

There and Back Again: A Return to NYC

So after Washington DC it was back to NYC for three more days before heading home to Oz. It was decided that this part of the holiday would be used for shopping, revisiting places we’d already enjoyed, and checking out sights we’d discovered earlier in the holiday. One such place was the ‘High Line’, a section of disused elevated rail line that had been bought by local residents and turned into a picturesque walkway through their neighbourhood. It sounds ordinary and not really a tourism icon but it was probably one of the best sights we saw on the whole trip, and one of the best walks I’ve ever been on. A tranquil experience doing something that, on the surface, promised to be anything but. NYC is full of surprises.

Summary

Coming soon.

Doorstep!

It seems all too easy to overlook what’s under your nose / on your own doorstep, but we’re probably all guilty of it to some degree.

One such place that’s on my doorstep that I often overlook is Melbourne, Australia’s best city by far (Sydney is awesome too but Melbs just edges it).

Today however, I addressed my oversight and travelled to Melbourne to visit ARTVO, an art display that only gets its perspective when you’re in it.

I journeyed by train for just over an hour and then hit the streets for a casual ten minute walk to Melbourne’s Docklands precinct, with a few stops along the way for photos (Melbourne is choc full of the weird and wonderful waiting to be photographed).

The exhibition / gallery is tucked away in the corner of Dockland’s shopping centre and could easily be overlooked in favoury other, more dynamic, shop fronts.

As much as the bling of the other emporiums appealed to my inner jackdaw, I resisted, handed over my entry fee and entered a magical world of perspective.

ARTVO featured eleven zones, each one with it’s own theme. The paintings covered various parts of the walls, ceilings and floors, and each one had a hotspot to stand in in order to create the illusion of being in the art.

As you can see in the shot above the effect is quite convincing and a lot of fun.

Unfortunately ARTVO is an exhibition that is best enjoyed in at least a pair. Going on your own like I did doesn’t yield the best results (as can be seen in the shot above). Thankfully a member of staff was on hand to take some pictures of moi in the art. Lucky her!

ARTVO was a lot of fun and easily worth multiple visits, and a great advert for checking our doorsteps more regularly.

Bye for now good readers!

Blur (but not the pop group)!

Hello readers.

No sooner had I promised myself I’d blog more regularly, four months pass by without a single update. So lazy.

Anyway, on to this entry. In early November 2017 Bec and I headed off to the Yarra Valley to spend a weekend at a winery / spa resort to pamper ourselves and indulge in wine, desserts, cheese platters, room service and chocolate.

The Balgownie Resort wasn’t hard to get to and after a ninety minute drive we were checking in to our luxurious room.

The countryside surrounding us was stunning and thankfully not that busy. Crowds are so annoying. Being plonked in the middle of such amazing flora meant there wasn’t much to do off site, so we stayed on site and had massages, drank alcohol, had copious amounts of cheese platters, spent lots of time in the restauran; and when all of that got too much for us we abused the room service facility.

The one time we did manage to leave our resort we visited a chocolate shop to, once again, do some more eating. What puddings we were.

There were a myriad of other things to do through the resort, like an early morning hot air balloon ride over the Yarra Valley; but who wants to get up at some ungodly hour to burst into flames thousands of feet above the Earth? Not me. I’m quite happy on the ground scoffing cheese platters,

So it would seem the marrying of a spa resort and winery is a grand idea. All we Cassons need to do now is workout how many of these spa / winery hybrids there are in this amazing upside down land? I suppose Bec and I will have to find out.

Bye for now.

Some Summer Sun

G’day Readers.

Another eternity has passed since the last post. Trying to work out how the months can sail past as quickly as they do requires a brain far more capable than mine.

Anywho (not a typo) on to this post. In the middle of the Australian winter we Cassons had the opportunity to spend a week on the Sunshine Coast in Queensland. A place that, on average, has around 3,000hrs of sunshine a year. It also has a thriving pineapple industry (apparently it takes two years for them to become ripe). They’re big too. Just look at the one in the photo below.

The place we called home went by the name of Mooloolaba and was about an hour above Brisbane by car, on a good day; but since the roads between the Gold Coast (where we flew into) and Sunshine Coast are crap, journey times are random at best.

However, the frustrations of the drive soon faded away once we soaked up the view from our apartment.

Unfortunately for Bec, some of her time on the Sunshine Coast was taken up with work; but the rest of the Casson family didn’t have such binds, so off we went and explored this great part of Australia.

We visited waterfalls:

Walked amongst dinosaurs:

Enjoyed the watery delights of an aquarium:

Visited coastal towns renowned for their natural chic and beauty:

Mixed with the locals:

And walked in rainforests:

We also made sure we dined out as much as possible to experience the renowned local cuisine:

Suffice to say, it was a tough few days on the Sunshine Coast but we Cassons were more than capable of meeting the challenge head on.

So until that challenge surfaces, be well one and all.

It’s Been so Long

Hello wonderful readers. We Cassons are still on planet Earth, even though the lack of blog entries might suggest otherwise. Life is still marvellous in the land of kangaroos, koalas, whales, dolphins, pelicans, wombats and sunshine; although the latter noun in that list is slowly dwindling as we enter the middle of autumn.

The three of us are all well and making the most of the Ozzy way of life: plenty of BBQs, walking our dogs on long, empty sandy beaches, paddleboarding on the oceans and rivers, finding new places to dine and using our holidays to further explore this massive country.

So below is a rundown of some of the things we’ve been doing since our last blog entry:

In November 2016 we went and visited our friends Jayne and Ronnie in good ol’ Sydney town. As regular readers you’re probably aware that we’re no strangers to NSW’s capital, and we don’t need much of an excuse to ged on up there. Truth be told, I can’t even remember why we did go there this time; but suffice to say it was worth it and Sydney is growing so quickly there’s always something new to do. For example, the redevelopment of an area of Darling Harbour called Barangaroo. Once a piece of land used for car imports and cruise liner berthings, it is now home to massive office and apartment blocks as well as a swanky casino. Although most of this is still being built, it is still impressive to see once baron wasteland being put to good use (if casinos and tower blocks fall into that category). The other beautiful thing in this part of Sydney is the landscaped gardens that furnish the lower end of Barangaroo. A huge man-made floral delight that gently bleeds into Sydney’s many waterways.

On to December 2016 now, and our holiday in Tasmania. Only an hour’s plane ride from our local airport, this Australian state is probably thee most picturesque place on the planet. It has everything: amazing beaches, stormy seas, tranquil bays filled with the bluest water this side of a paint shop that only sells blue paint, vertigo inducing mountains, green fields, wineries a plenty, old English landmarks, static trains turned into shops, fantastic restaurants, amazing walks through stunning landscapes, prisons turned into tourist attractions, cinemas (an absolute must), one-way road systems that trick you into going down them the wrong way, museums that have plaster cast displays of ladies bits; and some typical English weather. Without a doubt, Tasmania is worth a week of your time if ever you’re over this side of the world.

Okay. Up next is the Australian International Air Show. This event is held every couple of years at our local airport (a 20min drive from where we live, with flights to some great places avoiding the need to drive to Melbourne airport) and is the place for armed forces from all over the world to display their latest advancements in aviation technology. It is an exhilarating experience that’s full of noise and big toys. Awesome!

Bringing us bang up to date, and an end to this entry, is a brief summary of my sister’s first visit with us in March and April 2017. Finally, I had a member of my family over to show around this part of Oz. Wooohooo! We dined out plenty, day tripped the hell out of the local attractions, walked the legs off our dogs, enjoyed many an alcoholic tipple, indulged in some watery past times and even watched the opening race of the 2017 Formula 1 season. What fun!

That’s it folks. No more news for now. However, holidays are being planned so hopefully it won’t be too long before we blog again.

Good bye for now.

Good, But Not Perth-fect

Howdi readers.

Here is my somewhat belated post that covers what we Cassons got up to when our good friend Mel came to visit us for the month of August.

Mel is always keen to explore this wonderful land so we are rarely left with nothing to do. Case in point, Mel’s first week with us was reserved for exploring Perth and it’s surrounding areas. A marvellous choice since I hadn’t been to Western Australia and had wanted to visit Perth for quite some time.

Perth is a about four-and-a-half-hours from Melbourne by an amazing invention called an aeroplane. Mel and I flew on one of these crazy contraptions that was owned by one Richard Branson.  The flight was quite pleasant and even had people on it that served you food and drink. What fun!

Upon touching down In Perth Mel and I rushed to get our luggage and then rushed a bit more to get our hire car. Then we rushed out of the airport in our hire car and followed the spoken directions of the lady in my phone. Some Harry Potter magic going on there.

Unfortunately the magic of the said Harry Potter didn’t extend to the hotel Mel and I had chosen to stay in. It was a crap hole and didn’t even appeal to cockroaches. If you’ve ever seen the room of the first victim in the disturbing but totally watchable movie Seven you’ll have an idea of what our rooms were like. After a short chat, Mel and I went to reception, told them what we thought of their room (politely), informed them that we wouldn’t be staying with them, instructed the receptionists we would be getting a full refund and then promptly exited the hotel of death. After a little online searching we managed to secure a couple of rooms in a hotel and began to plan our time in Perth.

So Tuesday landed in our laps and Mel and I decided to go and investigate some sand dunes about one-and-a-half-hours north of Perth by car. With a little help from the lady in my phone we arrived at our destination in good time. Although sand dunes don’t sound like a must see attraction these ones were renowned for being big, tall and out-of-this-world like in their looks. Also, they were significant enough to sandboard down (nope, didn’t do it). Upon first glance the size of the dunes wasn’t evident because their undulations and structure were obscured by everything being the same colour (just like the walls in a photography studio where the floor, walls and ceiling are all the same colour). However, once you got closer the magnificence of the dunes became quite apparent; and boy were they fun to explore. Mel and I ran, sank, stumbled, cartwheeled and laughed as were traversed a terrain that resembled the surface of an alien planet. It truly was spectacular and never got boring. Who would have thought that sand would be so much fun?

  

After going mad in the sand Mel and I headed back to Perth, with an unexpected pit-stop at a national park that promised food, drink, pretty birds, kangaroos and koalas. We’re not sure why we stopped here but we’re glad we did. Australia is full of little wonders like this park and if you’re not a local it’s important to seize the opportunity to explore these hidden treasures since the chance might not come around again. So explore we did.

  

Once we had cleared the park it was back to Perth for some food. Well more Freemantle than Perth since Freemantle is a foody’s paradise. Chic restaurants, gourmet food and some stunning interiors make Freemantle the place to go for food and drink. Suffice to say Mel and I enjoyed exploring this suburb of Perth.

Wednesday rang in quite early and wasn’t really welcomed until I had eaten a hearty breakfast and drank a gallon of coffee. Only then was I okay with being up early to catch a couple of boats to our destination for the day: Rottnest Island. By the way, the boat trips were cool. The first one was a gentle ride down a river to the main port, whilst the second was a speedboat across a choppy sea to the island. This was awesome and very bumpy. Quite a few of the passengers didn’t share the grin I had on my face as we crashed, smashed and forced our way through the rolling sea.

Once on the island Mel and I sort of hurriedly looked for some form of coach / bus terminal that our bus tour was departing from. We figured it was the best way to see what the island had to offer, and it was. It took us everywhere of importance and gave us quite a lot of info about the island (the name of the island was given to it by a Dutch explorer who thought the island was over run with rats, so he called it a rats’ nest which in Dutch is rottnest). The island is most famous for being home to the happiest creature on Earth: the Quokka. Once mistaken for a rat and getting the island it’s misinformed name, Rottnest Island is the only place you will find these amazing creatures (oh, and Mel found a type of bird that dive bombs you, steals cake from your hand, draws blood and makes any onlookers giggle with amusement). Quokkas also lend themselves to dad jokes and Mel and I had a great time making some up, for example: What do Quokkas eat and drink from? Quokkary. What is a Quokkas favourite month of the year? Quokktober. What creature does a Quokka fear the most? A quokkadile. See. Funny stuff. Mel and I had a ball coming up with Quokka jokes, which probably made us the happiest people on the island.

  

After the reverse boat trips back to Perth it was time to, once again, head to Freemantle to indulge in some more eating and drinking.

Thursday was our last whole day in Perth so we decided to stay local and check out WA’s capital city, and that’s where our trip becomes a little meh! What we checked out was okay (the Botanic Gardens, some of the suburbs and their marinas, the War Memorial) but Mel and I have seen better. Even Mel, an infrequent visitor to these shores, said she had been to better places in Australia. For us, Perth was saved by what was on offer outside of the city; by attractions it had on its doorstep. So although not a total let down Perth wasn’t as Perth-fect as Mel and I thought it would be.

  

Friday saw us reverse engineer our trip and head back to Geelong, via Melbourne airport.

The rest of Mel’s time was a combination of exploring other parts of Australia (the Gold Coast and Uluru) and chilling with us (drinking wine, eating cheese and bingeing on awesome TV shows). We all had a great time and look forward to seeing Mel in 2018 for Christmas in Geelong and New Year in Sydney (not Perth).

Goodbye for now lovey readers.

(Pssst! I will check this article’s grammar and spelling another time).

A Bright Start to Winter

Australia is a very diverse country, a diversity that is wonderfully represented in its geography. Everything from tropical climates to wintery wonderlands, and everything in between, can be found on this massive continent. One thing that has always piqued my interest are the vibrant autumnal colours of the trees in parts of America and Canada (you know the pictures I’m talking about, they’re all over the web at certain times of the year). Well guess what? It just so happens that Australia has an area that is famous for its vibrant colours during autumn too, and only a four hour drive from where we live (I say ONLY a four hour drive as if it’s a trip to the shops, but in Oz a four hour drive is insignificant compared to some of the drives you can do over here). So, with the sat. nav. system fired up Bec and I headed for the township of Bright.

  

The first thing we had to do upon arriving in Bright was to check in to our accommodation, which was an upmarket eco-lodge. One of five nestled away in the countryside just outside Bright on private land.

 

We began our first day exploring the town of Bright. It was a sunny day and the colours in the flora didn’t disappoint. Bright, at this time of year is quiet and life ticks along at a sedate pace. We mooched in and out of the shops (especially the quirky ones), rested in cafes, enjoyed the sounds of the nearby river and worked out which restaurants to dine in during our stay. Very taxing stuff.

  

Obviously you can’t come to this part of Australia and not explore the countryside, and being situated on the cusp of The Snowy Mountains we decided to investigate the nearby Mount Buffalo. On our way up to the summit we came across a 2km trek to a waterfall (who doesn’t love waterfalls?) and decided to investigate. It wasn’t too challenging to traverse but had it been any longer I may have had to change my high heels for something a little more comfortable. Anyway, after a lot of grunting, slipping, giggling and mild cursing our goal came in to view; and it didn’t disappoint. The water was flowing freely and roaring proudly. No trickling streams falling 10ft here, this was a proper waterfall. Marvellous!

After a little more slipping, sliding, giggling and cursing we jumped in to the car and headed to the summit of Mount Buffalo. Sunset wasn’t far away and we wanted to make sure we could enjoy the vistas before the light disappeared, and the temperature plummeted. The road to the top twisted, dipped, rose and narrowed without warning and was a lot of fun to drive. I even added sounds effects to my driving (only boys can do this, girls don’t have the voice box to hit the required notes), it was that much fun. Bec seemed to enjoy the drive but not to the extent I did. Anyway, we got to the summit and raced to the viewing platform (with a slight detour to walk around a disused hotel complex that is the largest wooden structure of its kind in Australia, and bloody spooky looking too; I don’t mind admitting to being creeped out by the place). The vistas from the viewing platforms were stunning and proffered us unspoilt views of this beautiful part of the world.

 

Once we had soaked up the amazing scenery, and got caught out by the sudden drop in temperature, we zipped back down the mountain and in to the warmth of our lodge. We followed this with a trip back in to Bright for a sumptuous dinner in one of its many great restaurants.

Unfortunately our time in Bright did come to an end but we will knock on its door another time. Especially as there is still a lot more wineries and restaurants to try out (and I didn’t use up all of my racing car sounds either, so I’ve got to go back and get them out of my system).

Liar, Liar, Pants on Fire!

Hello readers. Apologies for the long pause between posts. We Cassons have done stuff that to blog about but just never got around to it.

However, what we’re up to now is worthy of sharing. As I write this post we Cassons are holidaying in Hong Kong’s Disneyland resort during a four day stopover en-route to a surprise visit to England, although it’s only a surprise to our respective parents.

Due to this element of secrecy we haven’t been able to share anything on Facebook for fear of being rumbled.

Anyway, it’s now day day three of four in Walt’s wonderful take on the World and we’ve fully explored the place, and had so much fun.

We stayed at the main hotel which is massive and elegant at the same time.

It had an indoor pool, three restaurants, a grand lobby and a live five piece band that cracked out some groovy tunes.

The weather here so far has been quite wet but it did keep people away from park, which was cool since crowds annoy the sh*t out of me. We managed to see half the park before rain stopped play on our first full day in Disneyland. We also got quite a bit of shopping done too. Obviously the highlight of the day was going on the Small World ride. It never gets old, and you just can’t help but hum its catchy little tune.

  

Our second day in the park was spent exploring the areas we didn’t cover the previous day. The rain held off and we hit the park with gusto. Since it wasn’t raining the park was a little busier but not to the extent that it felt there was no room to breathe, and the queues were bearable. Phew! Since it was Easter time the park had its own Easter Egg hunt but not for chocolate, it had created large egg shaped versions of its many franchises and dotted them all around the park. Which in all honesty was pretty cool. Take a look at the pictures below to see what I mean.

Not a bad attempt by Disney to make Easter a little more interesting. The rest of our stay in Disneyland was peppered with eating, drinking, going on rides, shopping, getting wet, lounging around and just generally soaking up the wonderful atmosphere only Disneyland creates.

Once our stay in Disneyland had come to an end it was time to head off to England to catch up with friends and family.

The 13hr flight went relatively quickly, as did our walk through customs and immigration. After a little wait at the baggage carousel we were on our way to Heathrow’s (crap airport) pick-up lounge and the arms of my lovely sister. However, our journey wasn’t quite over as we still had a a 3hr journey to the Romney Marsh via the M25 at rush hour. Holy cow! Had I forgotten how busy that road was, and how man cars there were in England. Australians really don’t know what a busy road looks like. Anyway, by late evening we were in the company of our wonderful friends the Geddes and setting up camp at their place (thanks again Roy and Karen for a magical time).

 

Our stay in England was a short one, weighing in at six nights. Not long, but long enough to see lots of beautiful people. We visited old haunts, drank in new places, stayed in manor houses, had a traditional English cooked breakfast in a roadside cafe, surprised people, laughed a lot, stayed in a converted oast house, drove quickly through country lanes, ate loads, consumed a lot of alcohol, checked out Greatstone Primary School, had an awesome party to catch up with lots of people, danced like we didn’t have a care in the world, had some awesome meals with awesome people, ate flapjack (thanks Ann & Alan), fell asleep too much, reminisced, remembered, saw adults where there were once children  and said far too many goodbyes. Before we knew it we were back at Heathrow (crap airport) and heading back to Hong Kong for another stay, but this time in Hong Kong itself.

Okay, at long last I’m back to finish this post. Goodness knows where the time has gone. So, our flight to Hong Kong came with a surprise: as a birthday treat Bec had organised for us Cassons to travel business class from London to Melbourne. It was fantastic and definitely the way to fly. It was everything I expected. The service was better, the food was better and having a chair that extended into a bed was fabulous.

Our time in downtown Hong Kong was spent exploring places not usually found outside of this amazing city. So in between trips to the shops and markets we visited a cafe on the 35th floor of a high rise building that was once an apartment to a man that collected comic books. The apartment was turned into a cafe, decked out in  a beautiful shade of purple and festooned with thousands of Chinese comics. Lucy and I had a ball checking out one serious collection of graphic novels. Although I did forget that the comics had to be read from back to front.

Our next stop was a cat cafe. Yep! A cat cafe. A cafe that had about twelve cats that walked freely around the place mingling with its patrons. It was great. In fact it was so good we visited it a couple of times. All us Cassons love cats so it was a must have experience. Dining out on fresh cookies whilst sipping hot ginger tea in the company of felines was absolute bliss. It made us puuurrrrrrrr!

We also took in the Hong Kong Harbour light show. A supposedly fantastic display that lit up the place at night with its dazzling array of light beams synchronised to music, and best viewed from one of the official boats that took you up and down the harbour to give you an unspoilt view of the lights. We were excited and boarded our ferry with fervour, and that’s where the excitement stopped. The ferry was a tug that pumped its exhaust fumes straight into your face, the light show looked like a bunch of people standing on the top of buildings waving candles whilst the journey on the tug went on for so long we Cassons felt like jumping overboard and swimming back to our hotel. Only Stevie Wonder would have been impressed by this travesty of a light show. Grrrrr!

 

However, we laughed about this experience and continued to enjoy our time in Hong Kong. Unfortunately it wasn’t long before we were due to fly home, on my birthday. Business class. Not a bad way to celebrate one’s special day, and not a bad way to bring a holiday to a close either. Toodle-pip.