The house is getting near finished- At last

Well its been a busy old week. Last Sunday we took the caravan back the the dealers for its first complete service, not that its been used much, but as we are planning a french trip we felt it would be necessary to have the van completely checked.
So we left on Sunday and drove to Fakenham Race Course where we spent the night before delivering the van to the dealer. During the afternoon we were called to say that there was a faulty part in the cooker and there was a high level of carbon monoxide and so they have disconnected the cooker. Great and lucky we had it checked.
Anyway we headed back home on Tuesday, dropped the van at Walton on Thames and then back to the house.
During the past week there has been carpet laying, decorating, the kitchen units being fitted and the electrician working at all the switches and lights. Our security lights outside now light up Weybridge and are good competition for Terminal 5.
We hope to have the lounge and atrium ready by Sunday, the two new bedrooms now have carpet and beds with curtain rails already fitted and just waiting for curtain and also the final fixing of lights, bathroom cabinets and fans etc. Perhaps another week for all the major bits and pieces to be fitted,
We have moved the fish filter to its final resting place and we now need to plant some bushes around it.
Next week its the turn of the fitters to lay the bamboo floor whilst the updated security system is being fitted and yet more painting. Still quite a bit to do but we are getting. We have found the tunnel and can spot the light at the end.
We are planning to go to France for about 2 months staring in early June and staying at Ebruil, Near Vichy for about 3 weeks and the head of to the Lot Valley for a similar period with a brief visit home in early/mid July to see Elton John at Brookland with Michael and Joanne. Should be good.
Its time for bed!!

One day in to another

The days are rushing by. There has been considerable activity at the house and the garden has been improved by new turf and the drive way has been laid.
Decoration has started on the atrium and lounge with carpets being laid next week and the bamboo flooring the fallowing week.
We are targeting finishing everything by the end of May in time for our 37th wedding anniversary bash.
The photo above was taken from the bedroom of Auerbach ( no questions please) and you can get an idea how the place is looking.
This weekend we take the caravan back to Norwich for its first service and get back on Tuesday afternoon. On Wednesday there will be carpet fitters, window cleaners, and others battling for space. Should be fun

Two weeks later

Well, over two weeks have passed since we returned from our trip and now we are acticly working with the builders to obtain completion as soon as possible. There are lots of little things to be done but on the whoole all of it could be completed within three weeks. Lets see what happens.
The glass link building was finally finished last Friday and they have started with the plaster board etc. We hope to see the electrician and some others tomorrow to get the ball rolling and with a view for us to regain out house from the building site.
The front driveway is now virtually complete and together with the new paving and decking at the back of the house its beginning to look like home again.
On wednesday the 23rd the turf will be laid in the back garden and we are waiting for the new top soil in the front garden to find its own leve before we put more turf on.
Using turf is cheating a bit and a lot more expensive but it is an instant fix.
Photos will be added when all is finished.

We are home and back in to the fray

The flight from Hong Kong was twelve and a half hours long, but this was only after we had an aborted take off. Low pressure in the tyres was blamed.
We arrived back to the cold and saw Piplin House for the first time in almost 10 weeks.
The building development had moved forward but not as much as we had hoped for. The framework for the link building was up but we are still waiting for the glass to be fitted which should be very soon.
We soon got in to the swing of cleaning the place.but at least now we can start to see the end, perhaps another 8 weeks max.
This week the weather has been very kind to us and will enable the development to continue.
I am not planning to take any more photographs of the house until it is finished.
We both keep looking back at the photos we have taken during our NZ and OZ trip and watch them with a tear in our eye.

It’s time to go home

A model being photographed in the mall

Well this is our last day in Hong Kong and we leave tonight at about 1130 pm. The weather today was still grey but it only started to rain when we were looking for a taxi to take us to the Airport train station.

In the morning we roamed the streets and shopping malls which were quite interesting. In the Pacific Place Mall, there is one complete floor with more of the major Fashion Brands than you can wave a stick at, from the Chanel Shop to Armani to Salvatore Ferragarmo to shops and designers so famous that I have not heard of them.

The walk through Central at lunchtime was very busy. Most people in Hong Kong go for lunch and the eating places are full. We came across a fantastic food emporium called grEAT which had the most amazing selection of fish, meat, cheese, wine and a group of chefs making Sushi and Sashimi for lunch take-away. The prices were very high but so was the quality. There was nothing like this when we first arrived in Hong Kong.

We packed our bags and left the room around mid afternoon and then went for dinner at Dan Ryan’s Chicago Grill & Bar, where we enjoyed great steaks and a nice bottle of Californian wine.

Getting a cab was difficult for reasons of rain, but we caught the free bus and arrived at the Train Station for check in. During the check in process the girl looked surprised at the computer and then called somebody and we both thought, Oh No not offload. Anyway it was because she was concerned that our seats were not together and so she rang to check the change was possible for what looks like a full flight.

This Blog is being written whilst sitting in the Virgin Clubhouse in Hong Kong and we hope to leave on time.

Well this is the last BLOG from us on this amazing trip that we have had and we have both enjoyed it so much but now it is time to go home and assist in the final stages of the house development. Incidentally a mate of mine in Austin (Texas, USA) started his new house 6 weeks after we started and theirs is now finished. A mere 4500 sq ft house with 5 bathrooms, 6 bedrooms etc etc, where did we go wrong. Never, Never trust your builder.

Our day around Hong Kong

After breakfast we headed by MTR to Wanchai Computer Store to buy a new battery for our notebook. The current battery will last about 20 minutes before it needs power and so we decided to get one here as it would be cheaper.

We were successful and then left to catch the bus to Stanley Market to do a bit of shopping. The weather at the moment is wet, and very dark with grey skies and not particularly pleasant.

The double-decker bus trip to Stanley is quite exiting and not really great for the faint hearted like Noel. This thing whizzed around corners missing other buses by centimetres and swaying over the very bumpy roads with drops of several hundred feet just by the side of the road.

The walk around Stanley Market brought back pleasant memories for us both as we used to wander round the market on a Sunday with two little children clutching our hands before we went to MacDonald’s. This place has changed a lot since then and is much more professional and also more expensive.

We decided to have a snack at a waterfront café and so we sat down and ordered some fried rice with a view of the Stanley Bay only a removal wagon turned up and blocked the view.

We headed back to town and the Hotel but left again for Causeway Bay area to a restaurant called ‘Milano’ which Noel used when he regularly visited Hong Kong. The food as usual was excellent with ‘Rack of Lamb’ to die for, leaves the rack of lamb at Gianni’s restaurant in Weybridge looking not so good.

A final walk back from the restaurant to the Hotel and we stopped to watch a group of quite middle aged men playing football on a hard and wet surface. We think the Goalkeeper our end was about 80.

Walking through the streets at night with all the coloured lights etc is fascinating and we both look back with pleasure at the years that web lived here.

After 2800 kilometres we left OZ

We had a slow start this morning while we sorted out our suitcases for air travel. On the way down in the lift for breakfast we noticed that the clocks were still wrong by one hour. We knew that the clocks were changing around the world this weekend and were now worried that we had got up too early but we were OK.

However we arrived at the Airport about 12:15 and noticed that clocks there were also showing 11:15, Great for an Airport to have the wrong times shown everywhere. We understand that Queensland never changes it’s clock, see earlier Blog, but it would also appear that either NSW won’t change when other states change but the doorman at the Hotel explained that it was only Sydney that would not toe the line. However nobody seems to have told the computers that control the Government Clocks. All very confusing.

The Virgin flight left on time and we arrived in Hong Kong early along with many other flights so immigration was packed and very slow compared with my past experience of visiting this place many times.

We took the train to Hong Kong Island and arrived at the Hotel around 22:45 local, just in time to have a cup of tea and go to bed.

The Caravan Show

The train took about 35 minutes with one change but it was very cheap. Two adults return was about 11 Dollars or about £ 5.00. I am not sure how far you will get in the UK for £ 2.50 one way and certainly not Weybridge to Woking.

This show was huge and took place at a race track where there were outdoor exhibits as well as outdoor but undercover areas. We spent about 7 hours wandering around looking at some very fancy caravans.

As most people know we have a caravan, but not like those in OZ, where they make them for the outback with 4 x 4 wheels and the base of the van at least 24 inches from the road so that they can be driven over extremely bad surfaces in the outback.

The show was extremely busy with loads of people everywhere. We saw lots of interesting products including one to allow you to load your heavy boat on to the roof of the Toyota Land Cruiser. Boy I must get one of those but they are not available in UK. So I spoke to the Boss and will set him up with a contact. Perhaps if I had more time I could have marketed this product, but NO, I am retired now.

We headed home and walked back up George Street which was now crowded with Chinese, it looked like Hong Kong on a Saturday afternoon.

It has been a long day and so we will take advantage of the free titbits in the Exec lounge instead of going for dinner.

We arrive in Sydney

As there was no rush to get to Sydney, we had all the morning, in fact most of the day, to drive the 60 miles to this great town. So we had a long walk around the place where we stayed called strangely ‘The Entrance’

It’s a very new area where we were staying with a Resort Hotel plus a lot of new apartments with great views over where the river meets the sea. There were quite a few sandbanks where children could play safely and with lots of play areas for the older children and also it had not been spoiled by graffiti.

After taking a few photos we headed south and left on the old Pacific Highway but after about 10 miles it stopped and we had to revert to the new motorway. Actually this was good as the views from this new motorway, which is built up high through the mountains, provided spectacular views of the sea and forests and eventually Sydney.

Sydney is a very large town and so we had planned to arrive over the famous Sydney Harbour Bridge as that is also close to our Hotel which is on George Street. We followed the signs to the motorway we needed and then came across a new road signposted City and Bridge and so we followed it through miles of underground tunnels with signs talking about E Pay and No booths to pay any money on what was obviously a toll road. We finally arrived at the famous bridge, crossed it and found the Hilton Hotel almost immediately. We checked in and then two hours later took the car back to Hertz where we asked about this Toll road, they said if you do not pay within 24 hours they hit you with a big fine to which Hertz would add their bit. So a phone call later we were clear. I did complain that as tourists we are unaware of this system and they should surely put up some signs, to which she said ‘it would be a good idea but it’s not up to her’, Great.

We walked back from the Hertz office and came to a cathedral where there was a wedding taking place with three white Rolls Royce cars, an expensive Ferrari and Porsche, a pony and trap and two very expensive US made special motor bikes. We waited around for a while to see the bride but we left when she did not appear. We think it was a Mid-Eastern family wedding.

We walked around China Town and also visited the Station to check on travel details for our visit to the Caravan, RV, Camping and 4x4 Show. We went for a quick trip on the monorail down to Darling Harbour for a few photos and a bowl of noodles. This place was really buzzing with talent with so many Ladies nights out and Hen parties. I tried to get Jennifer to leave but she would not.

At the other end of the harbour was a Greek Community festival. Just too much excitement for us oldies.

And so we headed back to the Hotel for a quiet drink and bed

Travelling South in direction of Sydney

We left after breakfast, a bit later than intended as unbeknown to us there had been an electric brown out the previous day for about an hour and the clock by the side of the bed has stopped for about one hour ten minutes. When Noel woke up he looked at the clock and it said 0640, a bit early for morning tea and so further rest ensued and then he got up quietly at 0730 only to find breakfast being delivered, so it was really 0830.

We decided to have breakfast inside as the birds are fully aware when breakfast is delivered and some of them arrive on the doorstep singing for food, see picture, and if you leave the food on the outside table it goes very quickly indeed.

We headed South through a lot of road works, they are extending the motorway system further North and there were many miles of slow driving which made our arrival into Newcastle, about 100 miles from Sydney, about 1600 hrs

As the Easter holiday rush was over we had not booked anywhere. We were certainly put off by this place which is a large port and industrial area and with quite high Hotel and Motel prices and so we headed further South.

Most of the Motels we saw were either low standard and often without internet connection which I needed today so as to be able to make some Skype calls. We came across a new’ish resort area with golf courses etc (very nice but that was very pricy) and by now it’s beginning to get a bit late. We came across a Bridge to a place called ‘The Entrance’ a strange name but found a multi story hotel/apartment complex with a good price and so we are staying here for the night. Also it’s got a good internet connection so I can do my calls.

The front of the block is right on the sea front with a large area of new buildings and a large choice of restaurants and so we were pleased that we did not stay in Newcastle.

Sacred Mountain Retreat

We have booked two nights at this place South of Coffs Harbour. It is a romantic hideaway type of place and we have a small one bedroom cottage on the top of a mountain with sea views all around.

The only sounds are of the birds and the occasional aircraft, a bit like Weybridge???

We spent most of our first complete day really just taking it easy as we were both a bit tired from the previous days journey which took longer than expected. We were relieved to have done our food shopping first as the nearest place is a few miles away and neither of us felt like going out. There is no telephone in the cottage and no internet and so we had to beg borrow and steel some time on the owners private internet connection to be able to keep up with emails etc.

The weather was quite nice in the morning but by late afternoon the tropical down poor had arrived. The garden had many fruit trees in it from banana, papaya, lemons, pineapple and melons and probably more that we did not see. There was also a vegetable garden with a great choice. Breakfast was provided by the owner and mainly focused on the fruits from the garden.

The cottage was a good size and although nice we felt the furniture in the lounge could have been more comfortable and the TV could have been bigger. Perhaps we are just getting grumpy as we get older.

We went to bed to the sound of heavy rain but at least Noel was not dreaming of the very dangerous funnel web spider’s which he dreamed about the previous night.

Wednesday - we are off to Coffs Harbour

We headed off from Noosa and stopped to buy some fuel for the car. Prices for fuel are all over the place here. One day it is AUS$ 1.43 and a few days later AUS$ 1.27 (about Seventy pence per litre) and there is a big uproar in the press about the petrol companies increasing the prices when people want to travel over Easter.

We arrived at Brisbane, back to square one, and headed South alongside Surfers Paradise which is now a bit like Miami and/or Spanish high rise apartment blocks for miles on end. We are pleased we decided to stay in Noosa as it is a more salubrious place by far.

We arrived at the outskirts of Coffs Harbour after being chased down the Motorway by the huge Road Trains, they are bigger on other routes but these were big enough. On one I counted 36 tyres and they seem to love sitting three yards from the back of the car as you are travelling at 100 Kmh whilst they wait for several kilometres from the passing zones to appear. We did some food shopping and arrived at the Sacred Mountain Retreat which is miles from nowhere and sits on top of a small mountain with great views.

It was here that we discovered that the time had changed by one hour and upon investigation understood that Queensland refuses to follow all the other Australian States by changing it’s clock twice a year. Good on them.

We have just heard on the news that the new Australian Prime Minister is making his first overseas trip to Washington, London and Europe. Somehow I thought that UK was part of Europe. Actually I thought that UK had become part of the Eastern Bloc countries with so many Polish, Albanians etc living in the country.

NB Photos to be added when we have better (faster) internet connection. The average here in Oz appears to be 512K or if you are very very luck 2k

Noosa Monday and Tuesday

We were quite tired from the longer journey than expected and so we decided to keep our heads down for Monday and just took it easy, read books and watched TV. Not exiting really. We were enjoying being here so much that we asked if we could spend another day and that meant changing the next booked place, but this was not a problem.

Tuesday we felt much better and had recovered from the Trauma of Yeppoon. So we headed downtown and walked around Noosa Heads. It’s a nice little town and still buzzing with many restaurants and fashionable shops, Hugo Boss etc. The beach was crowded with people swimming whilst on the bay round the corner the surfers were out. Not huge surf but just enough to keep moving.

We did some food shopping at the local Woolworths and headed back to the house for the afternoon and some swimming. The new swimming goggles that we bought in Cairns are brilliant and Noel thinks he can see better with the goggles than with his own normal glasses. However he will look odd with swimming goggles driving the car and decided against using them.

We had some nice Salmon tonight and a cheap bottle of Oxford Landing Chardonnay. I am not sure if I mentioned that Supermarkets do not sell booze in this country and so you have to find a Booze store which is always difficult to find.