Profiles-My Profile

Profiles-My Profile

Qantas breaks my heart!

I'm extremely annoyed at the recent series of poor experiences I've had with Qantas. Starting with the most recent, today, I found out my flight home to Sydney was cancelled when I attempted to check-in. Actually, my initial attempt to check in at the kiosk resulted in the kiosk informing me the flight was already closed and I'd been moved to a later flight (2 hours later). As I was checking in 45 minutes before the flight was due to depart I knew the flight could not be closed. So I went to the business class check in where I waited 25 minutes in the queue to be informed of the cancelled flight. Why can't Qantas inform me of this earlier? I could have stayed at the office or if the option was available, made it to the airport earlier to get on an earlier flight. This last minute notification of the cancelled flight increases my extreme annoyance at not being able to make it home in time to read my son his bedtime story - an event that both my son and I value very highly.

This recent event is in addition to my return flight to Singapore earlier this month. I flew business class for the outbound and return flights and on both occasions the in flight entertainment service failed. It seems that every time I fly with Qantas Internationally the inflight service fails - it is extremely poor in comparison to your competitors. How does Qantas think it is acceptable to have to restart the system multiple times interrupting the entertainment viewing of all passengers with the result that the system still doesn't work. This failure occurred on both flights to and from Singapore and my experience is that it fails almost every time - it's appalling!

I like Qantas for it's safety record...and that's about it these days. Quality of service is terrible. I'd be embarrassed to have to work for an organisation like Qantas. And I'm increasing frustrated using your service and I do NOT recommend Qantas to overseas visitors.

I think I need to write a song and post it to YouTube called Qantas Breaks my Heart! Seriously, how can they do this to their customers? I wonder if the money that they're saving is going towards a pointless migration from one mail platform to another? What a waste of time and money that is!

Holiday at Twin Waters

Our holiday started with a little hitch - we couldn't find where the resort was! We'd hired a car from the airport for the week and figured Twin Waters Resort would be easy to find. We had Mike's GPS after all. However, it took us to the Twin Waters Golf Resort - close but not right. So after stopping and asking for help (clearly Taemar's idea) we were directed to the Novotel Twin Waters Resort. We were then directed to the Grand Mercure Twin Waters Resort which is actually called North Shore...phew made it.

Having arrived we were very pleasantly surprised. The two bedroom apartment is large and very well finished and furnished (42 inch plasma with DVD and air conditioners in all rooms). What's really nice is that we got a ground floor unit and can walk straight out onto the grass, look out to the lagoon, and are only 50 metres from the sand - excellent.

On the first night our trials with navigation continued but we eventually found and decided to eat at the Marcoola Surf Club - small club, friendly atmosphere, beach outlook.

On Sunday we had breakfast and coffee at the Lizard Cafe 5 minutes up the ride. As QLD doesn't like to have their curtains faded and don't have daylight saving we arrived at the Lizard Cafe at 7:25am, 5 minutes before they atarted serving!

After brekky we went to the main pool at North Shore. As usual Stephen had great fun swimming, Mike went in a bit, and Taemar mostly enjoyed the sun.

What has become very apparent since we've arrived is that Eva has decided she now walks! Where previously she would wobble along for a few steps but once she was on all fours would crawl, she now falls over but prefers to stand up again and keep walking. So she is walking all the time, and even thinks she can run. This has caused a little issue later in the week because she's fallen over so much and quite hard that she has "Snowboarders Bottom" and has a big bruise on her bottom.

Mike left the family at the pool and did the week's shopping - no problem, except that he paid for the bread and rolls at the bakery but forgot the important part of taking the bread and rolls with him. As this was a key ingredient for lunch back he trouped (10 minute drive up the road) and the people at the bakery remembered him, however Mike decided he needed a meat pie to tide hime over.

Sunday afternoon we walked right around the resort including over to the Novotel side. Now we've experienced the North Shore side and the Novotel we much prefer where we are. We feel like we have a quieter environment with a much less busy pool and a biger apartment, and if we want to use any of the Novotel Resort's facilities it's only 5 minutes walk away.

Sunday night we used the bbq that's on the deck of our apartment - Mike had a bit of trouble as it was tricky to start and then when it did it was much, much hotter than our bbq at home, but the Porterhouse steaks and sausages were delicious.

On Monday we went to the Sunshine Castle & the Big Pinapple in the morning. The Sunshine Castle was amazing in a number of ways. It was really well done with a treasue hunt with clues that took us to all parts of the castle. Plus, there were an amazing exhibition of toys and dolls that must have been collected over a lot of years by the castle owners. It almost seemed like the owner was a mad doll/toy collector and needed somewhere to keep them all so built a castle and turned it into a tourist attraction.

The Big Pinapple is a ... Big Pineapple. Not hugely exciting for the adults but Stephen enjoyed the Big Pineapple experience.

Tuesday was a massive day for us. Firstly (and most importantly) it was Taemar's Birthday. Second we'd decided to spend the day at Australia Zoo. We started by giving Taemar her presents and cards in bed which Taemar really loved.

Australia Zoo amazed all of us. We had no idea how large a zoo it really is and how slick a production it is. Firstly the kids loved it - it's perfectly targeted for them to have an awesome time. The adults could see the commercial focus. It combines the basic Toronga Zoo concept with US Theme Park style shows throughout the day. This combination keeps the interest longer, keeps you there longer justifying the very expensive entry fee ($140 for 2 adults and one child) and also gives you more opportunity to buy food, have your photo taken (and pay for photo's) buy things at the varous shops, etc... We could certainly see how Australia Zoo was a very commercial success, all in the name of conservation. Steve is remembered and revered everywhere which is both nice and appropriate. What is missing is a sense of history with absolutely zero information on Steve's parents who founded the zoo, probably as they now have no involvement since a falling out with Terri.

Stephen loved the section on dinosaur bones wher he got to be a paleontologist and dig in the sand for bones. Hw quite honestly could have spent the whole day just there and we had to drag him elsewhere.

We saw the Otter feeding and the main show at 11am where ther birds were the most amazing part of the show, swooping in over the heads of the crowd, while the croc seemed a little disinterested.

Stephen also loved the snakes, particularly the giant python. We walked around to the Tigers enclosure and again this highlighted how Australia Zoo do things really well. They rotate the Tigers into the viewing area based on which ones are most active at that time so you always get to see some Tigers that are up and about, which contrasts with the typical zoo experience.

In the afternoon we went to the pool which is only a few minutes walk from our apartment. At the pool we bumped into Fiona Ellis who lives nearby and who we'd arranged to see on the Friday. She was there for a friend's little girls birthday party and the friend lives at the resort.

Before dinner Stephen & Mike played a game called Uphill v Downhill which was played on the lawn outside the apartment. This game was kind of like soccer where we had to get the ball past each other. The field was about 30m long and 10m wide. Stephen was the uphill team and Mike was the downhill team. They played this game every day we were there and I don't think Stephen ever lost!

In the evening we went to Mooloolaba Surf Club for dinner for Taemar's birthday. This is a large surf club and Taemar had a beautiful deafood platter for one which she loved.

On Wednesday we were keen to get moving so that we could spend time at the Eumundi markets. We went a back road and Stephen got a litle car sick but he felt ok once we got to the market. The Eumundi markets are huge and the Wednesday market is now as big as the Saturday market. In fact when we arrived we couldn't tell where the market was because all we could see was the cars in the car park. We overheard people saying that there were coaches that had come from the Gold Coast & Bunderberg.

We stopeed for a coffee and some mini-pancakes that were so yummy we had to get a second plate. There were 10 mini pancakes on each plate and Stephen had about 12 of these delicious pancakes showing that he was difinitely over his bout of car sickness.

Taemar then spent an hour or so wandering through the markets while Mike, Stephen and Eva went to the nearby playground. While at the playground a street performer started his performance. Well, actually he started to build the crowd for his performance. He was exceptionally good at generating interest and getting a large crowd to watch his performance. By the time he started there were 50 - 60 people watching. He was funny as well as a great performer and juggler. We particularly liked his juggling from around the world - the poor Kiwi's juggling representation was not very flattering but was very funny. What was also very funny was that a little boy called Angus kept interrupting and no matter how subtle or obvious the performer hinted Angus' parents did not seem at all inclined to control him. It climaxed with the performer asking Angus if he could take his sharp juggling knife and go and play on the road...still no response from the parents!

The performer's final performance was to juggle a large knife, a flaming stick, and a tennis racket while on top of a three tiered platform held up by a combination of cylinders and beer glasses. This meant he was about 1.5m off the ground, but in addition he was on top of a board that was balancing on a cylinder so he was rolling from side to side 1.5m in the air on an unstable platform while he juggled the three items - quite an impressive performance. At the end of the performance of coruse he asked for money and we were happy to give him $10 particularly when he put it in perspective by reminding us we'd paid $4 to park in a paddock and we was pretty sure he was more entertaining than parking a car in a paddock.

On the journey back we drove up to Noosa and had a quick look around before taking the nice drive back via the coast road. We saw a nice walk to do at Coolum while we were driving and decided we should do that tomorrow.

In the afternoon Taemar went and had a relaxing facial while Mike and the kids went to the pool. Stephen played with some new friends he met there although he did hurt his knee jumping into the water. Luckily it turned out to not be serious.

On Thursday we drove to Coolum and did the headland walk. Coolum seems nice - not too busy but with some nice restaurants and cafes.

Im the afternoon Taemar and Eva had a rest while Mike and Stephen went to the resort pool. They also had a great time jumping off the trampoline in the lagoon.

In the evening we went to Mooloolaba to the fish market and got some beautiful prawns and fish that we took home for a yummy dinner.

On Friday we went to the Ginger Factory. The Ginger Factory has an authentic cane train which allows you to see the gardens and listen to the history of Ginger.

What was even better was Adventures of a Stowaway: a boat ride in a massive shed. This was an amazing ride. Overboard takes you on a colourful, theatrical voyage around the world. You're following the journey of the escaped Ginger Bread Man, as he runs as fast as he can to escape the baking tray of two very determined chefs!

In the evening we visited Fiona & Warren who are fantastic hosts. We had a very tasty curry that Warren cooked> Warren & Fiona's children are lovely and played with Stephen & Eva very nicely.

On Saturday it was time to go home. we knew it had been a great holiday when Stephen burst into tears as we were leaving and said he didn't want to go home.

Nelson Bay - October 2010

14/10/2009

Stephen - "1 Newsagent - lego + magazine in one. 2 beach - dams surf. 3 Trampoline somersalts. 4 dinner - at the rsl club."

Translation - Newsagent - lego + magazine. Went to beach - dams, surf. Trampoline somersaults. Dinner at the RSL club.

Breakfast again in town at Nelson Bay. We also went to the Newsagent & Taemar bought a book, Mike a magazine, and Stephen got a magazine with lego. We again went to Fingal Bay where it's protected from the wind. Stephen had a great time with some other kids and another Dad where they were able to build a great dam from the storm water outflow - the Dad had a real shovel and poly pipes! Eva is getting much more comfortable with the sand but is still uncomfortable with the water. Stephen also went for a swim and a surf with the friends he made.

As Stephen had been great all day - we're working on speaking nicely (no yelling) and obeying Mum & Dad without question - he got to go on the super trampoline's at the Nelson Bay Marina. Stephen was awesome - he did about 50 backward somersaults and came off very dizzy!

We went to the RSL club for an early dinner - 5:30pm - and we had a lovely time.

Eva is starting to walk quite a lot, even walking and kicking the wahoo ball.

Nelson Bay - October 2010

13/10/2009
Stephen - "Lanbifootim. Brefeb. Bech. Lunch. Ablony. Mis Mery Mack. Salamanba. Li down afdernoon ty.

Interpretation - Land Before Time on TV. Breakfast. Beach. Abalone. Miss Mary Mack. Salamanda. Lie down. Afternoon tea."

Went to Nelson Bay for breakfast - well Mike had first breakfast there while Tae, Stephen & Eva had 2nd breakfast! Strong westerly blew up once we arrived back at the unit. We went to Fingal beach where it was protected from the wind and was warm. Mike taught Stephen how to play the board game Abalone and Stephen was really good, although easily frustrated :-) Tae & Stephen playd Miss Mary Mack - a hand slapping game. We went to Salamanda to get some groceries, however Stephen & Mike went to EB Games and played FIFA 2010 on the XBox and had great fun. We had a lie down when we got back. Stephen & Mike played Backgammon - another new game for Stephen and we finished 1-1. Just time for Stephen & Mike to have a run on the beach out the front. Stephen made some new friends, Kane & Jai, and then on the way back Mike kicked the Wahoo ball straight into the side of Stephen's head...and it was an accident!

After the kids went to bed Taemar cooked a delicious seafood pasta with prawns & Atlantic Salmon.

Nelson Bay - October 2010

12/10/2010 - Stephen's Summary
"Nelsesesn Bay fersd we went to the bech theen mum went to the shosh ten oscer cam over we hab chis. ok & i 4ert foo fun"

Translation - Nelson Bay. First we went to the beach then Mum went to the shops. Then Oscar came over we had chips. Oscar & I fought for fun.

Mike - A warm day but a strong westerly wind. We went to the beach out the front where it was a nice high tide. Stephen went for a swim and convinced Tae to go in too - ha ha! Angie, Liam & Oscar Diggin came over for drinks on the deck which was lovely. The boys were a little crazy - so excited to see each other I think. It turns out Liam & Angie know Mike Yokom quite well - small world.

Mission Beach IV

Saturday, our last day at Mission Beach dawned fine, clear and warm. After breakfast we went for our longest walk on the beach. We made it all the way to the creek a couple of kilometres along the beach. Once at the creek we had a great time racing leaves, sticks, and cuttlefish in the creek out to the ocean. Tae collected many, many shells on our long walk, and Stephen & Mike had a great time kicking and throwing balls all the way along the beach.

Upon returning Stephen & Mike spent time swimming in the pool before Tae went to the bakery to get pies for lunch. Stephen & Mike spent more time in the pool and sunbaking – Mike even managed to do the hard Sudoku in the Australian! We all had a rest in the afternoon after a big morning.

After sausages for dinner, Bernie the next door neighbor lit a bonfire on the beach and Stephen, Mike, & Tae enjoyed bbq'd marshmallows. Tonight is the first Bledisloe Cup match and Stephen was allowed to stay up late to watch the Haka.

Mission Beach III

Friday was a beautiful sunny and warm day. After breakfast we went for a very long walk along the beach. Firstly, we checked our sand castle from Thursday and it was still completely intact because the tide didn't come up as high as where we built the sand castle. Tae collected lots of sand dollars while Mike & Stephen kicked the ball, played dinosaurs (including the dinosaur dung game), buried logs in sand, etc... We stopped for coffee and ice cream on the way back at the beachside cafe.

When we got back Tae chatted to Christine who told Tae if we'd walked a little further we would have come to the river...which is populated with crocodiles! Pretty sure we won't be walking that far tomorrow. In summer when they put out the stinger nets crocodiles have been spotted resting on top of the buoys. Christine also told Taemar about cyclone Larry two years ago. The water was two feet deep and she called two of her boys who flew up from Perisher. They carted 40 wheelbarrow loads of coconuts alone out of her yard!

We had lunch at a cafe we hadn't been able to try previously and we really enjoyed the food – Barramundi, chips, salt & pepper squid, salad – beautiful.

In the afternoon we went for a drive back to the rainforest walk. We intended to do the longer 1.3km walk but it was closed for some reason, so we did the shorter walk following Cassowary footprints until we found the eggs. Stephen pretended we were following Velociraptor footprints and he was Nigel Marbury (from Walking with Dinosaurs). We stopped the car a little way along the dirt path back to the main road and we were able to do 100m or so of the longer walk that features a huge number of fan palms. We also went for a drive North to Bingal Bay and arrived at the jetty in time to see the catamaran arrive back from the reef and unload all the people. It's only an hour from Mission Beach to the Reef.

Stephen & Mike played some soccer on the front deck, which they have done every day! Yet again Stephen won, this time the score was 12-5. We were pretty tired in the evening and stayed in for dinner. When we spoke to Bernie next door who spent the day repairing the seat that sits just up from the beach out the front of our house, he told us they were planning a bonfire for Saturday night and we were welcome to join them. Stephen was really excited about this, as were Taemar & Stephen.

Mission Beach - Part II

Today, Thursday looked like it was going to be a fine day, and so it turned out. After breakfast at home in the morning and some relaxation indoors we went for a long walk south along the beach. Mike & Stephen spent time kicking the ball – a bit tricky as we were into the wind. A little way up the beach there is a shack and for the first time since the weekend it was open & Mike was able to buy a coffee and an ice cream for Stephen. We continued walking all the way to the corner where the beach heads a little west and there is a lone palm tree that is away from the shore in the sand (you can see a phot of this if you search for Mission Beach on Google Maps).

When we got back home Stephen & Mike spent time in the pool having a swim. Stephen & Mike took turns pretending they were sharks or crocodiles. After a lunch of sandwiches, followed by some more pool time for Stephen & Taemar, Stephen & Mike headed to the beach for some serious digging & built a magnificent sand castle.

There was time for some more relaxation at home and then we headed out for dinner to the Pizza restaurant – yummo!

New photo's have also been uploaded to the Mission Beach Picasa web album.

Mission Beach Holiday, Part 1

Our holiday started very smoothly; We were all up early well before 6am, so we were just ready in time for our 7:15am taxi to the airport. We left plenty of extra time to make our 9:25am flight because of World Youth Day (week?).

The flight was no problem although there were only adult shows on the Qantas in-flight entertainment, which is pretty crap. I’d brought 2 laptops with me, one had an absolutely flat battery and wouldn’t even start, while the 2^nd had been recently setup with Linux and didn’t have the required video codecs. This meant that despite having a range of DVD’s with us we couldn’t play any. Stephen was happy in any case listening to Mike’s iPod.

The Hertz car rental was smooth, however the baggage carousel was clearly being manned by a single one armed man as it took a long time for any luggage to appear. Taemar was strongly suggesting to Mike that a luggage trolley would have been a great idea as we got to about 200m of the 500m walk to our hire car (although Mike was carrying all the bags except for one!)

The drive to Mission Beach was easy and for once the GPS was absolutely spot on with the location and directions.

Our house by the sea is lovely and could probably be described as rustic. I love the corrugated iron roof & we’ve had plenty of rain to listen to on the roof! The best part is from our deck it’s 20m of grass, then the sand of the beach – lovely. If we’re not listening to the rain on the roof we can listen to the surf a stones throw away.

On our first night wen went to one of the local restaurants for pizza – yum!

On Sunday there was a local market – not interesting as with every market, however time passed. We went for a walk on the beach, heading North, relaxed, had coffee, and lunch in town. Mike really enjoyed the works burger.

On Monday we fell into our routine of breakfast at home followed by the trip into town (about 50 metres) for coffee, the paper and lunch. We went for a long walk on the beach to the south. Mike & Stephen went quite some way as they were kicking a ball and running. On the way back Stephen & Mike were distracted by sand and dug some large holes and joined them together. Mike & Stephen also enjoyed playing soccer on the front deck. In the afternoon we went for a short bushwalk. What was interesting about this were the signs saying “don’t feed the Cassowary’s”. Mike carried a stick just in case because there were warning signs saying that Cassowary’s can get aggressive if fed. It was only when we went to the Crocodile farm on Wednesday that we realized how dangerous Cassowary’s actually are.

On Tuesday we went for a walk on the beach again although this time we headed North. Stephen & Mike dug a quite impressive moat with a feature tunnel. In the middle were towers and we then built a bridge across to the other side.

On Wednesday it was very rainy. We spent the morning lazing around the house and then we went to the crocodile farm. We made it in perfect time for the crocodile feeding which was great. The crocodiles were quite sleepy as it was a bit cool for them, but we got to see quite a few of these impressive creatures. We also got to feed some Kangaroos and hold a small crocodile, however we turned down the opportunity to hold a rather large snake… There were also two Cassowary’s as well and we learnt that they are the most dangerous bird in the world. They have a middle tow that is called a garroting claw and they know how to use it! Also, if they have been fed by humans they will expect humans to keep feeding them, but if they come across a human who doesn’t feed them they attempt to persuade them by kicking them with their garroting claw…not fun!

We had lunch at a café in Innisfail and then on the return trip home our windscreen wipers stopped working. As it was pouring we couldn’t continue and we had to call the RACQ. After a little over an hour of keeping a bored 5 year old entertained the RACQ guy turned up…and the wipers worked perfectly…awesome!

For dinner Taemar cooked a beautiful chicken laksa with the fresh coconut juice we got from the coconuts out the front of our place. Stephen was a little worried going to sleep – he was worried that a salt water crocodile was going to come in and eat him!

Football Registration

Today was Football (Soccer) registration for Stephen. Stephen is now a member of the Curl Curl Under 6 team called the "Mini Monsters". As part of his registration he received new shorts, socks, and a ball. We then went to the shops and picked up a set of boots (they have to have studded boots to be allowed to play) for just $7 - not bad!

Holiday - Summary

We thoroughly enjoyed our 17 day holiday around NSW & Victoria. Our total travel distance finished at 3,866km. Taemar was much closer in her guess as to what the total distance covered would amount to. It’s funny because Mike & Taemar separately were a little skeptical as to whether a driving holiday with a 3 year old was a good idea, but neither strongly expressed their doubts. Fortunately the trip exceeded both their expectations.

What was a surprise was that the actual driving was at least half the fun of the trip, where our initial feelings of trepidation were because we felt the driving component would be mostly pretty dull, plus a bored 3 year old would make it even tougher. In actual fact, because the majority of the roads and places had never been seen by either of us previously, it was actually interesting and the time didn’t drag at all. A huge bonus was how well Stephen took to the borrowed in-car DVD player. He watched a heap of movies, some, like Fireman Sam, many, many times, and he rarely complained or got upset. Plus, Stephen generally slept for an hour or two on the longer parts of the journey.

These were the main highlights:

• Anglesea to Apollo Bay – the best portion of the great ocean road. Absolutely beautiful and mouth-dropping natural beauty. The towns of Anglesea and Apollo Bay were also nice places to spend a few days, and the pizza place in Apollo Bay is awesome!
• Zoofari at Western Plains Zoo – we love zoo’s at the best of times, but sleeping in the zoo grounds and going on three behind the scenes tours with an incredibly knowledgeable and enthusiastic zookeeper, where we got to touch and feel some amazing animals – well we would have paid double for the pleasure, it was that good.
• Bendigo – not a focus for our trip initially, but a lovely surprise. It’s a beautiful historic town, and the talking tram tour was fantastic.
• Hallidays Point – the best part about this was spending some decent time with Sean, Karen, and all our friends, plus Sean & Karen’s great news.
• Tocumwal – specifically the Murray River. It was peaceful and beautiful. Made us think that perhaps a houseboat holiday might be for us after all.
• Warrnambool – although it was shockingly cold when we were there, it’s a nice town and the children’s playgrounds are phenomenal.

Other notable mentions:

• The 12 Apostles – actually I thought the Arch & London Bridge were more impressive. We didn’t see these natural wonders on their best day as the weather was pretty awful the day we saw these.
• Temora Aviation Museum – definitely worth the diversion, and it will be great to get back there for a flying weekend.
• Parkes Radio telescope – definitely worth a stop & when Stephen is older it will be worth a longer look.
• Merimbula, Barlings Beach – both were nice places to stay and spend a couple of days.
• Big4 Caravan Parks – we stayed mostly in cabins in the Big4 caravan park chain, and the quality was pretty consistent. The Apollo Bay & Dubbo cabins were a highlight, partly due to the inclusion of a spa in the cabin, and in the case of Apollo Bay the view was great, and being 50m to the beach was excellent. The bonus of staying in the parks is that there is most often a pool and a childrens playground, plus bbq facilities.

What wasn’t so great:

• Ballarat, Parkes, Temora – somehow these towns just didn’t feel nice to us. Ballarat we probably didn’t give much of a chance, but both Parkes & Temora actually felt pretty horrible.

Here are two maps showing our total journey, firstly from Dee Why, via Barlings Beach, Lakes Entrance, Anglesea, Apollo Bay, and onto Warrnambool. The 2nd is the return journey starting at Warrnambool, via Bendigo, Echuca, Tocumwal, Temora, Dubbo, Hallidays Point, and back to Dee Why.

Holiday - 2006/10/30

• Time to head back home today for the remaining three families. There was just time for another hour at the playground where we invented a new game where a batsmen attempts to kick a ball that has been bounced to him. This doesn’t sound difficult until you realize the batsmen is swinging on a swing!
• It was time to leave when the 10am checkout time rolled around and for Taemar, Mike, & Stephen it was time to head home from their holiday on the last of their 17 day trip that started in Sydney and went to the south coast of Victoria and then back up to Hallidays Point before south again to Sydney.
• Not wanting to head straight home we stopped at Pacific Palms and Smiths Lake. Both locations seem very nice and have a couple of great caravan parks to choose from, so we think there might be a future holiday in those locations as well.
• Lunch was at Heatherbrae for some nice pies and coffee.
• When we arrived back in Sydney we first stopped to pickup Jordan. After we had unpacked the car and relaxed for a little while we all went for a walk to Dee Why Beach. We finished our holiday with a nice warm spa.
• Drove 350km.
• Google map

Holiday - 2006/10/29

• Daylight savings started last night, so it almost felt like a sleep in to have Stephen wake at 7am! We had a quick breakfast at home and then headed into Hallidays Point bakery for a coffee, croissants and the Sunday paper. Stephen then went for a bike ride along a bush path to the beach and Tae and Mike followed behind for a nice walk. When we got back to the caravan park everyone else was up and ready for the beach. The Dads and children headed for the beach and the Mums had a lovely chat over cups of tea on the verandah.
• There were many holes dug on the beach in the morning and it also included many tunnels, channels to the water, bridges over the channels using available sticks, and walls and towers. With the tide coming in, each major construction would eventually be swamped by the rising water. Sean was able to successfully capture the construction phase, but always seemed to miss out on the destruction phase! There was also a great deal of kicking of the footy on the beach, and running in and out of the water – a great time!
• The Cameron’s left just after lunch and it was sad to see them go. It was great to have everyone together and we all felt that this should be the first of many family holidays together. It was agreed that Mike & Tae would arrange the next holiday for April/May next year.
• The remainder of us, except for Kylie and Laura, then went on a bush walk to find the lookout. And it turned out to be a nice walk, but a fairly arduous track for Rob who was pushing a pram with a sometimes sleeping Elise, and Stephen who was riding his bike.
• Once again, a little bit of exercise was enough justification for ice creams upon our return.



• The Dads and kids enjoyed a game of Boulle later in the afternoon while the lovely ladies provided nibbles and thirst quenchers. Stephen seemed to come up with a different technique every time he through one of the heavy boulle’s, with varying degrees of success. The combination of Sean & Josh was too hard to beat – their consistency made them a tough challenge.
• It was time for a break from cooking bbq’s so the Dads were able to provide fish & chips for dinner, and after dinner (and Australian Idol) had finished Sean got out his Poker kit and we played poker for an hour or so. Not surprisingly peoples enjoyment of the game closely followed the degree of success they had in building their pile of chips. It maybe that Sean will have to do some overtime to pay back the bank all of his borrowings!

Holiday - 2006/10/28

• We spent the morning at the beach before the wind picked up and then moved to the pool in the caravan park. While we were at the beach Taemar spotted whales off the shore and they were having a lovely time. At times you could see the entire underbelly of a whale as it rose up out of the water before crashing back down with a huge splash. We weren’t sure weather they were fishing or playing as they seemed to spend quite a lot of time beating the top of the water with their massive tails.



• Near the pool there is a large playground with a heap of equipment, and there is also a basketball court. Mike, Sean, Josh, Michael, and Stephen played basketball until they were too hot and then it was back in the pool to cool down.
• After lunch Taemar went for a run, while most of the others went up to the shop and bought ice creams which were thoroughly enjoyed.
• Rob, Kylie, Laura, and Elise arrived in the afternoon, and we had another bbq in the evening, although because of the wind we all crammed inside Sean & Karen’s cabin. Stephen had fallen asleep just before 5pm and really wasn’t happy to be awake, so after the bbq was cooked he went off to bed early – it had been a very big day!

Holiday - 2006/10/27

• Today started with a zoo tour before breakfast. We visited the giraffe’s (Gerald), black rhino (Gwonza), Cheetahs, and the Simian Gibbons from Sumatra. We were all given the chance to feed Gerald who is a very friendly giraffe with a very long tongue. He loved the carrots for breakfast. Afterwards, Stephen said feeding Gerald was his favorite part of our zoo trip. On the way to feed Gwonza the Black Rhino we paused to look into a paddock where some of the white rhino’s were lounging including a 2 week old baby who is identical to his mother, except for the absence of a horn (less painful birth without the horn). We also visited two young male cheetahs who were quite frisky and running around their enclosure. They are an awesome sight when they wind up to a decent pace. Interestingly, while the cheetahs can only go at their top speed for 400m or so, the wild African dogs we saw the previous day can sustain a speed of 60-70km per hour for 7 to 8 kilometers. Our last stop before a hearty breakfast was the Simian Gibbons who will put on a show a few times a day to let everyone know where the boundaries of their territory lays. We recorded this on the video camera – the sounds the male a female pair made were extraordinary and the interaction between the two was great to watch. They have a young baby gibbon who also danced around during the performance. While it was great to watch it was also sobering to be told that if someone were to actually encroach on the gibbons territory they would definitely be killed. The Simian Gibbons are fiercely territorial and aggressive in their defense of their territory.



• After breakfast we set off on our long drive to Halidays Point. We had a few stops a long the way, but only short stops. Our longest stop was at Raymond Terrace where we picked up a few things at the grocery store for a bbq that night. We took approximately 6.5 hours to cover the distance from Dubbo to Hallidays Point.
• We arrived just on 5pm and Sean, Karen, and Josh arrived 5 minutes later. Angela, Michael, Matthew, and Joel were already there having arrived around 2pm. Incedibly Stephen had stayed awake the entire drive, mainly watching DVD’s, but he fell asleep about 5 minutes before we arrived! We had a nice catch-up – everyone was very happy to see each other and we had a bbq for dinner and ate together on the deck of Sean & Karen’s cabin.
• The big news is that Karen and Sean are expecting a baby next year. Everyone was overjoyed at the news – we know how excited they are to be expecting a little brother or sister for Josh, including Josh himself.
• Josh & Sean introduced us to Josh’s cricket card game called Wickets, and we spent a fun couple of hours playing the game while tweaking the rules.
• Drove 515km.
• Google Map

Holiday - 2006/10/26

• What an absolutely awesome day!



• We had some shopping that needed doing this morning and the car was pretty dirty & dusty, so while Tae went shopping the boys took the car to a car wash. Stephen & Mike had a great time washing the car – even Tonky got a wash. At one point Stephen was holding the hose when Mike started the high pressure rinse. Stephen was laughing while trying to tell Mike that he was being pushed backwards almost onto his bottom.
• We checked out of the park & headed straight to the zoo. We got there around 10am and first off we drove around the 6km circuit. We stopped a couple of times for the Rhino feeding and the Hippo feeding.



• Next we went to the Elephant enclosure. Stephen had told us the previous day that “there aren’t any elephants at the zoo, they’ve gone to Dubbo”. When we told him we were at Dubbo, he got a very puzzled expression and was quiet for some time while he thought that through! We saw three African elephants, and they are very large. I think we’d forgotten how big elephants are.
• We finished driving around the circuit and stopped at the café for some milkshakes and muffins.
• We then hired bikes so we could ride around the zoo at a more leisurely pace. Stephen got a carriage that was attached to Mike’s bike. It was quite a hot day so we had lots of drinks breaks.
• We visited the elephants again, but this time it was feeding time with a zoo keeper talk, which was great. The elephants are able to be controlled by the keepers – they’re very intelligent animals and can be trained to a greater level than other animals, e.g. horses. There are three African elephants ranging from 5 tonnes to 7.5 tonnes, and they eat approximately 300kg of food per day.
• Next, we visited the two Asian elephants who were previously at Taronga zoo. They have smaller ears, only the males have tusks, and they don’t have wrinkles. The African elephants are wrinkled so when they cover themselves in damp mud the mud fills the wrinkles and the outer layer dries leaving a cool moist layer below.



• We stopped for a brief look at a lounging Cheetah – the fastest land animal with a top speed that would allow them to sit comfortably in the right lane of a NSW expressway.
• We climbed up to the top of the African viewing tower and had a great view of the elephants and the giraffes.
• Next, we stopped to admire the size of the White Rhino’s which grow to 1.8m tall compared to 1.5m of the Black Rhino’s. Did you know that the White Rhino’s aren’t white! They are named because of their wide lower lip, and the word for wide in Africaans is “weit”, pronounced “white”.
• We stopped to look at the sleeping Tiger and then saw some sleeping Lions, but our time there coincided with a large group of disabled kids who don’t have any of the inhibitions of other kids their own age, so they were whooping and hollering trying to get the Lions to wake up. Well, it worked! First, the Lions sat up, and then the male lion actually got up and walked past the female towards the back of the enclosure. I actually think he just wanted to get away from the noisy kids, but they were ecstatic and gave him three cheers.
• We saw many other animals, wild horses, dingo’s, kangaroos, deer, camels, etc… Finally, just before 2pm we made it back to the start and we all enjoyed a well earned ice cream.
• We then checked into our zoofari lodge, and the first thing we did was take a dip in the saltwater pool to cool down.
• At 3:40pm it was time to begin our first behind the scenes zoo tour. There were two minibuses of approximately 12 people, plus a taxi that carried a person in a wheelchair, and that person was none other than the Olympic Champion Louise Savage!
• Our first stop on the afternoon tour was the elephants night time sleeping quarters. This was such a fantastic way to start – we stood behind a fence with the enormous elephants no more than 2m from us, while the zookeeper told us about the elephants and asked “Yum Yum”, the matriarch to lift each foot in turn and put them on the fence so each foot could be inspected and cleaned. This included the back feet. They respond to a huge variety of spoken commands, and are generally extremely responsive. Mind you they are very well rewarded with treats! The next largest elephant, “Cuddles”, then showed us her trick which is keeping her massive mouth open while treats are thrown straight in. Cuddles has a longer left tusk than right task because elephants are right or left tusked much like humans are right or left handed, so she wears the right tusk down as fast as it can grow.



• We then visited the Sumatran Tiger who had been kept waiting for his dinner. When we arrived he was pacing along the other side of the moat. He then jumped into the water and swam backwards and forwards until his keeper threw his dinner to him. His keeper informed us that the only way to control Tigers is through food and it would not be safe for him to be in the enclosure with the Tiger at any time – he would be mauled.



• We also visited the Wild Dogs of Africa at their feeding time. We had visited the Wild Dogs earlier in the day and they weren’t moving at all. Feeding time was a completely different story. Firstly, they made a high pitched squealing noise at the mere prospect of food, which rose in volume tenfold when food was thrown to them. I caught on camera the first chicken (not live) being thrown to them. Five separate dogs grabbed hold and all pulled in different directions until the chicken tore apart, which only took a few seconds. They were able to gobble down their portions in a matter of moments. Their teeth are very strong. We had seen these dogs on a BBC documentary which highlighted how they can communicate and work as a very effective hunting pack. Well, in this environment teamwork was not the priority!
• Our last stop of the afternoon was to visit the white handed (and faced) gibbon and view his tricks. He was a massive showoff and loved swinging from branch to branch and then hanging calmly from one hand while watching us to make sure we were watching him.
• Then it was back to the lodge, time for a quick freshen up and another swim for Stephen, and then it was dinner time. We had pre-ordered when we had checked-in, so that saved time. Stephen had fish fillets with chips and vegetables. Mike had Pumpkin soap, followed by Atlantic Salmon. Taemar also had the Atlantic Salmon for main, and she had a goat’s cheese tart for her entrée. Mike & Taemar both had sticky date pudding for desert, while Stephen almost ate all of his “Frog on a Pond”, which was ice cream, green jelly, and a large chocolate frog!
• After dinner it was time for the night tour. Our tour guide, Greg, was excellent. Twice he stopped, jumped out of the bus and came back with gecko’s to show us and touch. The first was a fat tailed gecko and the second was a velvet gecko.
• Our first stop on the night tour was the lions. Greg took us within a couple of metres of the female and the male lion. The male was pretty laid back but the two females were very active. In an attempt to get the male on his feet, Greg turned out all the torches and lay down on his back beside the fence. After about three seconds I heard the sound of paws hitting the ground beside Greg’s head. I had assumed it was the male, but when the torches came on a female lion had absolutely silently and with incredible speed come from the back of the enclosure and had her head inches from Greg’s. She had seen him in a vulnerable position and thought there was a chance of quick kill. The female left but stopped for a wee. This was what finally got the male lion on his feet. He went and sniffed the wee quite extensively before making a face like it was the most offensive thing he’d ever smelt.
• We next visited the maned wolf, a native of South America, and looks like a fox on stilts. We had also seen the maned wolf earlier in the day, but she was out to is when we saw her. She, and her three grown up cubs were very active at night, and Greg fed her baby chicks (not live) as treats.
• We then got to visit a wombat who was more awake than any wombat we’d ever seen before. Although by this point, about 8:15 at night, Stephen was more asleep than any Wombat that has ever slept. It had been a really big day, and he’d had no naps at all during the day. He was great all day, even during the meal at the restaurant. Greg told us lots of interesting facts about Wombats, like they very hard plate of bone that makes up their rear backs so they can leave that poking out the whole and it acts as a front door. Also, they can flatten themselves so if an animal pokes it’s head in the burrow the Wombat can flatten itself and then stand up and crush the would-be predator’s skull between the Wombat’s back and the burrow ceiling. Also, their pouches are rear facing so they don’t get full of dirt when they’re digging. He also told us a tale about the previous wombat who discovered that she couldn’t dig out because of the cement underneath the dirt, but if she dug the dirt from the middle towards the fence she could make stairs that she could use to escape. They had to bring her back on the zoofari bus a couple of times, until an ample breasted women went to pat her and “Molly” grabbed onto the lady’s breasts.
• Our last visit was to “Happy” the Hippo. He was born on Christmas Day 21 years ago so was given the name Happy. Unfortunately he’s the grumpiest Hippo at the zoo and you’re not safe in the same enclosure as him. Hippo’s kill more people in Africa than any other animal. They are extremely territorial, then can swim and run at speeds up to 35km per hour. They can stay under water for up to 30 minutes at a time and they can open their mouths to a 180 degree angle, and the have massive teeth. Basically, they are not to be messed with at all.



• Finally, it’s time for sleep, and from our accommodation – solid walls for the bathroom, and the remainder is a luxurious tent about the size of a large hotel room – we can hear lots of fantastic sounds. It sounded like a Lion roar earlier, and you feel like you’re in the jungle. Just a simply wonderful experience.

Holiday - 2006/10/25

• We went to the Temora Aviation Museum this morning. It’s a fantastic museum because all the planes actually fly. We weren’t there on a flying day, but the planes are in fantastic condition. We spoke to a volunteer for some time about the planes. They have one of the only flying spitfire’s in the Southern hemisphere and recently acquired a 2^nd spitfire. At the last flying day the Prime Minister attended to open a new runway – the federal government has given quite a substantial amount to the museum, it helps when the main benefactor has the surname Lowy!
  


• Anyway, James Packer and a number of other distinguished guests were present, apparently 600 million dollars worth of executive jets were there that day, plus 7,000 visitors. On our visit there were probably 15 visitors so it was good to be there on a quiet day.


• We stopped at a lake just outside Temora for lunch and Stephen had a play in the sand.


• We drove onto Parkes where we had thought we would spend the night, but it looked like a bit of a dive, we got some information and then we visited the radio telescope made famous in the movie “The Dish”. It’s a very impressive piece of equipment and its well setup for visitors.
  One of the cool things they have there is two small dishes (2m or so across) that are arranged vertically (the edge of each dish is touching the ground about 50m apart. By standing on a step and facing the dish you are facing the centre of the dish. The way the dishes are configured you can talk into a dish and your voice is clearly heard by a person standing in front of the other dish. In fact, you can whisper and the person 50m away can hear you clearly!
• We decided to drive onto Dubbo – there is a Big4 caravan park in Dubbo and we are staying in a spa cabin – very nice.


• Tonight we went out and got takeaway pizza for dinner and we all had a spa afterwards – very relaxing.
• Tomorrow we check-in to the Dubbo Zoofari lodge, so no driving & we’re all really looking forward to our zoo trip.
• Drove 335km.
• Google Map

Holiday - 2006/10/24

• In the morning we went back to the banks of the Murray river for another play in the sand. What was really cool was that our hole from the previous day was still there! We were able to extend it using the cups from Mike & Tae’s coffee’s with the bottoms cut out. This made a great pipe which we built a bridge over the top.
• We drove to Narrandera and arrived there at lunch time. We stopped at a park in the centre of time for a cuppa and a sandwich. We also played in the park and there is a cricket field at the same place and the sprinklers were on. Stephen & Mike had some fun running across the field and dodging the sprinklers. There was also a little wildlife enclosure that had an emu, some kangaroos, and some native birds.
• We arrived in Temora around 3pm and we spent a while deciding where to stay. There were no decent caravan parks so we stayed in a motel, which is actually quite nice – the lady gave us a big room. When you arrive in Temora the sign says, “The friendliest town in NSW”. By all indications this is somewhat exaggerated. When we went to the information centre, which is in the library, we couldn’t actually interest anyone in helping us, even though we were there for 15 minutes!
• Stephen is very excited about the aircraft museum, but it was too late in the day to go to the museum, so Mike & Stephen went to the local recreation centre which has a full length Olympic pool and a smaller pool for little children. They had great fun in the pool and doing interval training (Stephen’s insistence).
• In the evening we all went to the Ex-Services club for dinner. Fish & Chips, followed by ice cream for Stephen. Mike asked for the chicken Madagaskar (sounded nice) but they were all out of chicken breast! So, Mike had a steak and it was massive, and also quite nice. Taemar had Penne alla amatriciana.
• Drove 310km.
• Google Map

Holiday - 2006/10/23

• Mike was suffering from his cold last night and this morning so Taemar & Stephen went for a walk in the Bendigo park where they saw ducks, baby ducks, swans, and baby swans.
• Stephen & Mike planned to do a mine tour at Bendigo’s Deborah Central Mine. Unfortunately Stephen decided he didn’t want to go down the hole after all, so instead we panned for gold and caught the tram again into town where we met Taemar.
• We drove on to Echuca for lunch which is a lovely town on the Murray with an historic port region. We saw plenty of paddle steamers cruising up the Murray, Stephen played in the park, and we had sandwiches for lunch.



• We arrived in Tocumwal before 3pm – Stephen had a good sleep in the car. We found another very nice caravan park and a brand new cabin to stay in, right opposite a solar heated pool and a bbq.
• We all had a swim in the pool to cool down. It’s much warmer inland than what it was down on the south coast – around 30 degrees here today.


• Later this afternoon we all went down to the banks of the Murray river. Mike has thought about the Murray a lot and remembered reading the book Riverboat Bill, set on the Murray, when he was a child. The banks of the Murray where we spent time were nice and sandy & Stephen & Mike were able to play happily digging holes, tunnels, and channels before the sun went down. We were surprised at how quickly the Murray was flowing, even quite close to the shore.



• At the Murray where we played is a campsite, not a caravan park, but a site where people can camp. There were approximately 20 caravans and campervans and when we arrived it seemed like they were all sitting in a big circle chatting and sipping wine & beer, no doubt swapping tales about the “good old days”.
• We had another bbq tonight – sausages, pumpkin, potato, mushrooms, and salad. Stephen struggled to finish his dinner – he was very keen on the ice cream that he knew was in the freezer, but the parents one this battle of wills and even though it took another half an hour Stephen got his ice cream only after he had finished all his dinner.
• Drove 220km.
• Google Map