The story so far

So as of 2014, this is what the map of the world looks like in terms of where I've visited. USA looks a bit blank, but I have sat in LA Airport for about 2 hours if that counts.... ;-)

Create Your Own Visited Countries Map

Pastrami on Rye, Swedish Meatballs and Giant Cinnamon Buns

In November 2014 I took in a sneaky long weekend away with the lovely Kate and Andréa. After months of considering a girly New York Trip for some Pastrami on Rye (no idea if I like Pastrami. Or Rye. It just sounds like the sort of thing one should order in New York), we decided to make use of Andréa's apartment out in the lovely city of Gothenburg, Sweden, instead. 

All. The. Steps.

Gothenburg is a beautiful city with an airport that I can only liken to a car shed in the middle of nowhere. In addition to this Andréa had sold it well - she'd mentioned the hike up the steps to the apartment...

Wow, she wasn't kidding!

More steps

And these are just the steps inside, there were three flights of steps outside just to get to the front door as well! 

Once we'd settled in we headed into town the next day. 

Gothenburg has a very efficient tram system and Andréa knew it well.   We'd taken it when we'd arrived the night before so Kate and I were slowly learning the ropes too.   Many of the tram routes take a loop around the city.  After a day looking around the various offerings of Gothenburg we headed for our return tram.

Kate and I marvelled at Andréa's grasp of the city's public transport links, and commented on how confused we'd be navigating it, as we pointed out various landmarks that we could've sworn were the other direction to the apartment that we were now heading back to.   And then we saw it.  The face change on Andréa.  She's a proud Scottish woman and you don't argue with a fine lady like Andréa... You trust Andréa.... You trust her command of the Swedish public transport system.  You don't expect Andréa to take you the wrong way on said public transport system!  But gosh, if she makes a mistake she likes to make it count!  I saw her face drop as we continued to point out the seemingly similar-looking landmarks, as it dawned on her - and us - that they weren't just similar; they were the SAME landmarks.  We were heading in completely the opposite direction to the apartment!   But it's ok, as I said, most the trams do a loop so we'd just sit on the tram until it went back on itself until...

Oh wait.

The tram didn't go in a loop, it stopped at the 'end of the line' because another tram the other side of where we were was currently loading the return passengers for the ride back to the city.   There was nothing to do but get off the tram we were on and hope we could somehow connect with the other tram.  We raced across the grass (in the dark) to the other side but alas, we helplessly watched as not just one, but two trams (the one we'd just been on) departed from the other side of the station!  We waited in the very residential area of Gothenburg for the next tram that would take us back to the apartment.  It was a bit of a wait, a heck of a detour but such a funny experience. It's the mishaps that make the memories! The following day we took in some culture at an art gallery, watched some sort of protest and then headed to Gothenburg's equivalent of London's Winter Wonderland, Liseberg. It was very pretty and had a wheel similar to the London Eye with views across the night sky of Gothenburg. 

Liseberg big wheel view from the nearby tram stop

It looked very gentle and would be a great way to see Gothenburg from a different angle. What the picture here doesn't show is just how high this thing is - it's on the side of a big hill and as we got on, the carriage swayed from side to side. I'm not usually bothered by heights, but this thing was something else... Unstable, I think that's the word I'd use to describe it! We each sighed a breath of relief when we came to the end of the loop. Thank goodness, we could get off this wheel with our dignity almost still in tact. 

Oh no, wait....

It went round a further THREE times! We were quivering wrecks by the time we got let off the thing!  We stepped off, a shell of our former selves.  After a great afternoon / evening enjoying the Christmas markets and the 'views', we decided we'd had our fill of adrenaline-filled adventure and headed back in search of the correct tram to take us to dinner and then home. This time we took the direct route.

In addition to the tram and Christmas markets, no visit to Sweden would be complete without a write-up of some of the fine culinary offerings the country has to offer.

A strawberry daiquiri - nom nom nom

Cocktails - check. And super yummy.

Biggest cinnamon bun you've ever seen - check!

Meatballs with lingonberry sauce - check (of course!)

Giant Cinnamon Bun

There were many other culinary delights had and I'd recommend them all. After a few days our trip was over, but it was a memorable few days with great company, great food and a generally great experience. I'll be back in future, I'm sure.
Thanks Andréa and Kate; so when are we off to New York??

How's Your Free Spirit Doing Katrina??

Thought it about time I get this blog up to date again! For my own benefit more than anything. So here are the highlights of what has happened since I last updated in case anyone else is interested too.

France - September 2014

In September 2014, the duo that is Wharton and Wallbridge decided to take on another adventure together, this time in the form of a road trip around France. No set agenda, we'd just drive until we found a decent looking campsite and just see what France had to offer.

We decided to take Katrina's car, her logic being "it's more likely to break, so I might as well run it into the ground"... In hindsight I'm not sure this was the best logic to apply for a week that relied upon the use of a functioning car, but we went with it anyway (and it was fine - the car's recently been sold on in fact)!

On the first day we met in Dover at stupid o'clock in the morning and transferred all the food and camping gear you've ever seen into the back of Katrina's (tiny) car. That was a mission in itself but we did it and Katrina expertly drove us off to the ferry where we could catch up on some Z's and start planning a route for our epic road trip.

Next thought was who would drive us off the ferry - I've driven in France before, but not in Katrina's car, whereas Katrina's more confident at the map reading than I. So that settled it, I would start the driving, Katrina would get us down to a nearby town and then we'd take stock and start a bit of itinerary planning for the day. All was going swimmingly until..... The ferry docked in Calais and by the time we got to the car the ferry doors were already open and we were holding up everyone else trying to get off the ferry. No time to swap drivers, we just had to go! Katrina was driving (eek) and I was navigating (more eek). Still, we'd find somewhere to pull over soon enough wouldn't we?? Hmm, nope! We kept going for a while and then found a nice spot for lunch. Success so far - and both our fears out of the way with no accidents so far, yay!

After a stressful drive through the city of Boulogne (several times round I think) we picked a spot on the map and attempted to head for it, sure that we'd find a campsite nearby. And we did, another success! The tent went up and the camping stove came out. We were really doing this camping/road trip thing... Until the mosquitos came out and we retreated inside and watched iPad to protect ourselves from the outside world! So perhaps it wasn't all countryside bliss but this was only Day 1! The next day we headed for the shop to buy them out of all their insect repellent items - citronella candles, bug-catching strips, post-bite cream, mosquito-repellent - if they sold it, we bought it! We weren't taking any risks, there were loads of the little critters (see Katrina's last blog post if you think we're overreacting - http://katrinasbigadventure.blogspot.com/2011/05/final-chapter.html)!

Because I'm writing this retrospectively I can't remember all the places we went over the next few days, but we travelled down through Normandy and down to Brittany. We never booked anything in advance, we embraced our free spirits and just went with the flow. The deeper into Brittany we got, the more my French skills were called upon. We found a lovely spot though, expertly asked for in pigeon French. In the middle of the countryside, not too far from the coast. We were sharing our field with just two other caravans, one that had a cute little dog called Simba. Simba was a character and loved to run over to us to play and investigate, his owners would frequently have to come and get him back. It was at this point I realised my French did not stretch to complimenting Simba's owners on their cute little chien!

Once the tent was set up, citronella and insect repellent included, we nipped out for some basic food supplies. This was when we discovered that going with the flow may not always be as free as it sounds. Turns out that in France one does not just 'pop to the shop', I think one might actually plan their weekly shop and only between the hours of 9-5?! We drove around for ages looking for a shop that would at least sell some milk. No corner shop, outrageous! And then I saw it.... A sign for Lait. Excellent! I know what Lait means, milk! My French skills were back in the game.... All was not lost after all! Except... Well... My friends will know my love of milk and this sign wasn't for a shop, it was for a MACHINE! Personally this is the best machine I have ever seen in the world! It dispenses milk from this metal tube that looks like... Well, like a metal udder actually... But it was amazing! A machine dispensing as much milk as you could carry!! We just needed to find a bottle to carry it in. We're resourceful, we emptied a squash bottle and voila! We had milk! Back to the campsite we headed for the evening safe in the knowledge we could once again have coffee, tea and cereal.

We stayed at the campsite for a couple of nights and visited the local sites, beaches and a little further out, Le Mont-Saint-Michel. Hadn't been here since my school trip to France, but it still seemed the same (except the extortionate price to park). Had a lovely walk and wandered around for some French crepes (well, rude not to really 'eh?).

After a few days of unplanned meandering around France we decided we'd best start heading back up in the direction of the ferry. This had been a brilliant tonic for our free spirits. We picked a rough area to drive to and figured we'd find a campsite as easily as we had every night so far. Except... we didn't. It got later and later and we couldn't find anywhere! To start with we may've been a bit fussy after being so spoiled by our other choices so far in our trip. But we soon threw fussiness out the window and were prepared to take anything that came our way. Nothing! They were either full or closed! I remember asking Katrina how her free spirit was doing... I think that's the closest we came to a falling out! Her look said it all, we had to find somewhere quick! We considered Gites rather than a campsite, but again passed nothing. The SatNav came out to help in our search. It was getting dark and we were near to giving up hope, the latest resort would be to head back to the ferry port and catch an earlier ferry, or sleep in the car. This may not have been the safest idea as this was a time when migrants were trying to get into the UK and cars were being searched. In the nick of time we found a campsite that was still open for a further 3 minutes. They didn't speak a word of English but with the help of my best GCSE French and some helpful pointing we found somewhere to take us in! Finally! As the sun was setting we found somewhere to set up the tent for the final time ready for our departure the next day. By far the most stressful day but also the funniest to look back on with the best memories! I don't know that Katrina agrees though....

We made it home, migrant free. It was quite a sight though. Immigrants are quite a hot topic still at the time I write this, but to see it first hand with crowds of people walking miles towards the ferries, and the French military dotted around to control it, it was quite something. And it makes me very grateful that we found a campsite to spend our last night in, but if we hadn't the worst case scenario for us is that we would still have had the car. Some people aren't so lucky.

Did Someone Order a Storm?

Here comes the storm

Having arrived late last night and spending a few hours catching up with Karen, today has mainly been a day of chilling out.  Karen took me to the Window to the Wetlands, which is home to an abundance of wildlife, water buffalo and good views.  Good views, that is, when it is not hammering it down with rain. Here's the wet season!  







So we headed to Fogg Dam which is also home to birds and plantlife.  Oh, and some other critters too.

I know it's low season, but I can't get over how few people I have seen so far.  We drove past the Jumping Crocs boat, where they take you out on the river and basically encourage wild crocodiles to jump out of the water, and there wasn't a soul there.  On Fogg Dam we passed one guy on his phone, and a ranger, and that was it.  It wasn't even raining when we were there, it is just this quiet.

Still, it's a nice change in pace after Busy Brisbane.

Malt Vinegar's a Marvellous Invention

A nice spot for lunch

My last couple of days in Brisbane were spent catching up and chilling out with my lovely friends here.  On Wednesday I met Dan for some lunch and we headed out to Redcliffe for some fish & chips.  Really tasty, but the Aussie's sure need to learn the wonder that is malt vinegar!  Dan showed me round some of the sights of the outskirts, including Portside Wharf, and we looked at all the lovely expensive houses I could buy if I win the lottery.  Note to self; start playing the lottery if you're ever going to have a hope of buying one of these places.  

One example of a fine Australian coffee

A milkshake and a coffee later and I was back at the hostel where I spent the evening with good intentions of making a start on my assignment.  As I sat down to read my book, an irritating dorm-mate who had not stopped talking since her arrival (to other people, on the phone) came to talk to me.  Solace never loses its appeal for me!  She doesn't think so though and is very homesick.  I actually ended up having quite a good chat with her and she even declined a phonecall in favour of talking to me.  High praise indeed!

That's popping candy on top. It popped as it got to me.

On Thursday I met up with the lovely Sophie and Todd.  We started as we meant to go on - a chocolate frenzy of a brunch!  Nom nom nom.  There's this place here, Max Brenner's, that does a lot of chocolate.  I guess it's kind of a cross between Thornton's/Hotel Chocolat and Sprinkles, but without the gelato and with extra servings of chocolate.  It's all rather yummy-looking.  I had a chocolate Explosion which literally exploded as it arrived at the table (I'm not sure that was meant to happen)!  
After our healthy brunch we headed into the Botanical Gardens and Todd had a play in the park before heading off for some lunch.  Yes, there's a bit of a food theme here but when you do food as well as the Aussie's, it's rude not to indulge a little... plus, I'm on holiday!!

I'm leaving town tonight, which is probably just as well as the Ashes are just about to begin in Brisbane and I'm not sure I can stomach the barmy army right now.  I'm headed to Darwin to meet Karen, the friend I've only met twice but feel like I've known a lifetime.  I've never been to Darwin before and I'm told it's going to be hot.  It's the Wet season so not an ideal time to go really, but what the heck, I come from England, I'm used to the rain!

Southampton 1, Portsmouth 3

North Stradbroke Island, or Straddie as the locals affectionately call it, was pretty good.  I'll be honest, I didn't do much research on this island before I went.  As I said, it was a last minute decision to go at all.  All I knew was that it was the 2nd biggest sand island in the world (Fraser Island being the biggest - I've not been there yet).  I hadn't realised that people live on the island and it's taken care of both by the indigenous and non-indigenous population, which is quite unusual but nice to see.  Most the islands are looked after by the state of Queensland which means there's very little Aboriginal input.

Anyhow, we had a good bunch of people on the tour, 2 of which came from Pompey (well, Hayling Island, but my title doesn't make sense if I say Hayling!).  So 3 small-world Pompey (or thereabouts) stories in 2 days - that's a record even for me.  There were a couple of Kiwis too, one of whom has a son working over in England at moment, again in Hampshire.  The Hayling Islanders and I had to try and explain the size of Hampshire when she said "You might know where he works, it's in the Duke of Wellington Pub" ..... bless.

Our first stop was to Brown Lake where we could go for a swim. You'll never guess what colour it is.  The colour comes from all the tea tree that is naturally absorbed into it from all the surrounding treas.  Tea Tree has good natural healing properties and the guide promised us we'd look 10% younger once we'd swum in there...  



This is me after a swim there... I'm not convinced but I never got round to asking him how he quantified his statement.  I wondered if it was a bit like Quantum Leap - next time I look in a mirror I'll look like a teenager?

10% younger? Yeah, right!

After our quick dip, us 'youngsters' all headed off to Amity Point and Point Lookout - a little beach spot.  Looked lovely but too dangerous to swim.  It's opposite Tangalooma Dolphin Resort, which is on Moreton Island, another Sand Island, so if you're lucky you can see dolphins playing.  We weren't lucky.  We waited there for ages, no dolphins.  All I saw was some kid trying to dig their way to the UK which in itself was reasonably impressive.

There's a child somewhere under that parasol

But all was not lost as we made our way back up the track towards the bus.  The guide had informed us it was a good spot for koala spotting and he was right.  As we walked, necks critched upwards, I counted 6 of them.  I can only imagine what we must all have looked like and I think my neck will be paying for this for a few days!  We only walked (well, stumbled) 10 minutes so not a bad set of statistics considering how difficult it is to see them in their natural habitat usually. 

Back on the bus, it was time to head for lunch.  We went up to the North Gorge walk which is also home to Whale Rock.  Sadly it doesn't look like a whale.  But it does have a sort of blowhole like a whale.  As the sea is sucked in and blown out it makes the same kind of noise.  It's a lovely rugged bit of coastline.  I set off on the walk around the gorge and saw more wildlife, a pod of dolphins, a couple of sea turtles and just before I went off I'd seen the back end of a Kangaroo.  I sat and ate my cheese spread sandwiches looking out to sea.  It was a beautiful day but a bit too hot to be walking too far.  

These dolphins looked more impressive off camera!

After lunch we headed to our final stop of the tour, the beach at which we could have a little swim and chill out after the walk.  This was the highlight of the day for me, not because of the beautiful surroundings but because it was a first for me.  Whenever I come to Australia, someone always asks how I'm not scared of the crocs, the spiders, the sharks, the snakes, yada yada yada.  Well, to be honest I'd never really had anything to be scared of.  Until today.  The beach was closed because of sharks!!  Amazing!!  This has never happened to me.  They'd closed it for a couple of hours, but they re-opened it shortly after we got there, explaining the sharks had headed East.  Stupidly or bravely, I'm not sure which, we all headed in the water, cautiously at first but soon acting as if there had never even been sharks around.

The island is abundant with other wildlife too.  On this one trip I saw:

6 Koalas
8-12 Kangaroos
A pod of dolphins
2 turtles
LOADS of jellyfish (as illustrated to the left here *shudder*)
Schoals of small fishies
0 sharks (thankfully)

So all in all quite an exciting day!

The beautiful beach we swam at... once the sharks had swum off

Mad Dogs and Englishmen

The day was looking promising, the thunderstorms that had been forecast had been replaced by crystal blue sunny skies and really warm heat. I put on my shorts and vest and headed off into town, quickly remembering that I had forgotten to buy any suncream yet. I'm not sure if I count as a mad dog or an English man, but I was out in the midday sun.  But I wasn't the only one.  I was struggling in the humidity just walking and yet I passed people going for their daily jogs in this time - mad, definitely mad.

The heat had got to me and I decided I'd best get some shade, which of course is always possible when there's a food court in sight.  I treated myself to some Gyosa, a dish I had forgotten how much I'd missed since my last trip here.  Ok, so it's not strictly Australian, but it's still yummy.



After lunch I headed off to South Bank and strolled through The Parklands, along by the river and onto the fake beach.  Yes, Brisbane has a fake beach.... don't knock it, these people can't all be wrong:

I even dipped my toe in the water!  


And then I saw it.  The big looming blacky/grey cloud.  It was in the distance, but it was definitely there.  So I made my escape and wandered back through the city, making use of all airconned building cut-throughs I could find as it was still pretty hot.  I stumbled upon the library and was rudely reminded that I have an assignment due, so I thought I'd just pop in and see what facilities they had should I choose to do any work on this with my spare time.  Bad idea. By the time I came out the heavens had opened, there was no shelter, I was still 20 minutes walk (at least) from my hostel and soaked to the skin within about 5 minutes.  I had missed my opportunity to dodge that looming blacky/grey cloud as it enveloped the skies above me.  Doh!

I tried to take shelter but there was no point, I was already soaked so I just kept going.  Eventually the skies cleared and I bought some supplies for my next few days, including sunblock.  As I got back to the hostel the skies turned again and another big black cloud, this time in the form of a full-on thunderstorm set in.  I watched as the rain rebounded off the ground, heard the massive clap of thunder and saw a few sheets of lightning.  Just because I'm in Australia does not make thunderstorms anymore tolerable for me!

The weather is SUPPOSED to improve tomorrow though so I've made a last-minute decision and booked a tour to North Stradbroke Island.  Dude, I really hope that weather forecast is accurate.

Oh, and I met my first Pompey fellow traveller of this trip today.  You'll be pleased to know I resisted the urge to start any fisticuffs......

Who Needs Sleep Anyhow?

4 days in and I'm still struggling with jetlag.  I've made sure I've got up and stayed up during the day to ensure I sleep at night, but still find myself wide awake all night.  I guess it doesn't help that the hostel is on a main road and tramline, and the 4 chaps I share the dorm with like to keep the window open (not that I blame them - boys smell after all). ;-)

Tonight I head to Brisbane for a few days to meet up with Sophie and Todd and sample the delights that Brisbane has to offer.  Today is a glorious day in Melbourne - by far the nicest since I've been here.  The weather in Brisbane is supposed to be thunderstorms until... yep, you guessed it... about when I leave!  Never mind, I'm sure I'll find something to do to entertain myself.

This morning I met up briefly with the lovely Ross and Sally and shared some lunch with them and the others at their church - I recognised some faces from last time I was here and they recognised me, which was reassuring.  Apparently I've not changed a bit.  I beg to differ - I think I got old!  Last night, I went to brush my teeth before bed and was surprised by everyone else doing the same.... only to discover they weren't getting ready for bed, they were getting ready to go out....  I'm sure I didn't have this issue last time!

That said, I tried to go and see a band last night, but they posted the wrong venue on their website.  Helpful!  So I'm not quite over the hill just yet.

I'm heading off to get my shuttle to the airport soon so I'll end this post here and hopefully be in touch with something a little more exciting in the not too distant future.

Right then, laterz dooodz.
Love, Peace and Jelly Babies
Han x