Melbourne Australian Open Jan 2024 – Images
Category: Holiday
Melbourne AO 19 Jan 2024
The Williams travelled to Melbourne for the Australian Open and other experiences.
First impression on arrival is that it is freezing at 14 degrees, feels like 10, this afternoon 33 degrees and high humidity for the last few weeks in Queensland.
Great jobh Williams, after enjoying our coffee at Pelligrinis we walked out without paying. I nice customer chased after us to tell us. Fran went back in to pay, but how mortifying
Victoria markets was nice, similar to the Adelaide markets but not quite as big.
The focus for the day was the Mystery Picnic which had us solving clues to know where to go to collect ingredients for the picnic at the end of the the great thing about this was that it included little jaunts to interesting spots along the way. Lots of walking and lots of thinking to solve the puzzles.
The culmination was a picnic on the grass amongst the water fowl in Treasury Gardens.
We were so exhausted from the mystery picnic chase around, and the late night arrival, that we decided to head back to the hotel from an afternoon snooze before heading over to the tennis.
Tennis - Margaret Court Arena
We had tickets for the evening session from 7pm with two matches scheduled, the first was a women’s match between a young 20 year old Russian, Maria Timofeeva, and a Slightly more experienced Brazilian, Beatriz Haddad Maia, who was seeded 10. The game started off looking like being a rout by Haddad when she easily went 3-0 up in the first set, however, Maria pulled herself together and, supported loudly by the crowd, proceeded to dominate and pull off a straight sets win. We might have seen the emergence of a new star!
The men's game was a smash-bang affair but still entertaining. Andrey Rublev pulled a straight sets win over Sebastian Korda, the son of Petr Korda. It turns out Sebastian won the boys Aus open in 2018, his dad won the mens in 98, and his sisters have won the LGPA gold open and masters in golf respectively, pretty impressive!
Snorkeling Chalkies Beach and Plum Pudding Island, diving Bait Reef – Whitsundays – pics
We visited Chalkies Beach on our first full day, on a catamaran which also took us to Whitehaven Beach.
Plum Pudding Island is a small island between the northern ends of Hamilton and Dent Islands with a small and vibrant reef surrounding it. A highlight here was the beautiful Phyllidiid Nudibranch that we saw.
In addition to the snorkelling, we managed to get two dives in whilst on Hamilton Island. This involved a boat trip out to Bait Reef, where most people where tipped into the water to snorkel, but there were a handful of us who went diving.
Unfortunately, the first dive was only 15 minutes long as one of the young girls on the dive sucked all her air very rapidly, she was clearly very nervous. The second dive was a bit better, as the crew made a plan to take the girls up when they got low so that the rest of us could keep going. I managed to keep my air going for the ful time and we surfaced on 50 minutes after seeing some cool stuff.
Amazingly, there was also pretty good snorkelling at Catseye Beach, in front of the big hotels. I came across two cleaning stations where small cleaner wrasse where busily attending to Parrot Fish and another larger fish that I haven't figured out yet. I saw three turtles in my first session, and another one in my second.
Bruny Island walking tour – 9 to 14 May 2023
Frev were joined by close friends for a walking trip with Parktreks to Bruny Island, a trip that always seemed to be in the distant future, but now was suddenly upon us.
The four of us travelled to Brisbane Airport together from the Sunshine Coast to catch our earlyish flight to Hobart. Amazingly it was bitterly cold in SE Queensland in the morning, which meant that we were primed for the cold that was to come!
Our flight landed in the early afternoon, when the ambient temperature was still below 10 degrees. We found it very difficult to get an Uber that would take all four of us with our luggage, so we ended up splitting into two Ubers for the trip to our hotel.
As we were checking in, the receptionist asked for a credit card, before the words were even out of his mouth, I had the dread realisation that I had left my wallet on the plane! An immediate dampener to the holiday which was resolved wonderfully by Virgin as I ultimately collected it from baggage services in Brisbane when we returned. It had had an adventure all on its own. The only thing I could see that was missing was the lotto ticket that I had purchased, otherwise all the cards and cash, even the $7 fijian note, were there.
Dinner that night was at an expensive restaurant called Mures, which had been preceded by a few, outside, at the Hobart Brewery. Dinner was amazing, Fran had the best Seafood Chowder I've ever tasted. I had a very tasty, but less memorable Salmon.
Australian Geographic has a guide to Bruny Island here.
Day 1
We were picked up Emma and EJ from the front of the Hotel Grand Chancellor as planned at 830am on the Wednesday morning. We met our guides and the other folk who were also joining the tour, all lovely people.
The journey to the ferry was quick with a short stop at a coffee shop to discuss the plans for the trip.
After the ferry trip and an enjoyable drive which included a Stop on the "Neck" to admire the views.
We arrived at the lodge which was situated in a remote part of South West South Bruny Island. The rooms were very comfortable although the bathroom facilities were shared but that was fine.
We unpacked and had a quick lunch before we set off for our first walk on the Luggaboine Circuit, which was on the Labillardiere Peninsular. I managed to contact Virgin Lost Property again on this walk and they confirmed that my Wallet was in Brisbane and could be picked up from the Baggage Counter at Brisbane Airport - phew, that was a relief.
After this short walk, we then visited the Cape Bruny Lighthouse, located in magnificent surroundings. The weather was very dramatic with the sun setting low in the sky across the D'Entrecasteaux Channel. This was truly beautiful.
Day 2 - the Big Walk
Day 2 dawned cold but calm and sunny. Today's walk was a 12km out and back route from the mouth of Sheepwash Creek on Cloudy Bay up to East Cloudy Head.
The walk started with a tentative stream crossing of Sheepwash creek. The water was flowing quite rapidly but was shallow enough to tiptoe through. This was the first real test of our new boots and they passed with flying colours!
We were glad to have our full shin gaiters as the path was overgrown in places. The walking poles were also very useful on the rocky and steep sections.
Everybody seemed to cope well enough with the fairly challenging terrain, there were a few tumbles but thankfully no body hurt more than their pride.
I regret not taking photos of the Shongololo (millipede) creatures on the beach. They were fairly common on this walk and I assumed we would see them again but alas no. I also asked our guides about them when back at the lodge by neither EJ nor Emma new what I was talking about.
Highlights of this day were definitely the glorious sunny day coupled with the magnificent views across the stretches of water. the wildlife was a bit lacking in inspiration, just a few gulls, terns, Oyster Catchers and the like.
Day 3 - Funghi and Seals
So today we were going on a boat, but before that we went for a delightful walk through a temperate rainforest to look at gorgeous and numerous fungis in the forest. We took so much time looking at them that we didn't make it to the end of the walk and had to turn back to avoid being late for the boat trip out of Adventure bay.
I have to admit to being a bit meh, about the boat trip at first but it turned out to be a highlight of the trip. The fluted Dolerite Cliffs dating back to the Jurassic period (we were told) were magnificent. We were shown caves, and an impressive blow hole that blew spray all over the boat when we can in close.
As we made our way further south along the cliffs, the wind became stronger and stronger as we were moving out of the protection of the land mass and into the teeth of the strong Sou'wester that was blowing. We arrived at the Australian Fur Seal colony with a sense of pity for these creatures who were perched on the rocks seeking warmth from the sun amidst the freezing cold wind. Of course, pitying them is ridiculous as they would have been perfectly happy but it still looked like a miserable experience. Apparently only male Australian Fur Seals gather here with the females being further north with the kids. The thinking is that this is to husband the resources more carefully. We also so a colony of New Zealand or Long Face seals nearby, these guys included boys and girls and their pups, they were on the rocks, but in the shade of the adjacent cliff, I felt that I wanted to yell at them to move around a bit.
Another highlight from this trip were the Albatross that we saw on the wing on the way back. Such elegant birds that apparently spend almost all of their lives on the wing, with only occasional periods were they will come to land to breed and raise a chick. Incredible birds.
Only 5 of us from the gang went on the boat trip, the rest did a walk up the adjacent headland. It sounds like that was another tough walk but I was sorry that we didn't get to do that too.
Day 4 - Cape Queen Elizabeth
It was with some regret that we packed our bags that morning and loaded them into the trailer as this was our last day. The plan was to walk on Cape Queen Elizabeth.
It turned out that we didn't get to the end of the Cape, but we still had a lovely day. The highlights were the rock formations (Dolerite, Sandstone and some mudstone) and fossils.
Closing
As always, we had a hugely enjoyable trip. Emma and EJ from Parktrek were great, as were our fellow participants. We were reminded of the cold climates we used to live in in Londan and Christchurch, and, while we enjoyed all those locations, and Bruny Island, we are glad to be able to return to warmer weather.
The most memorable things from this trip were the fungi, the rock formations, cold wind and glorious views.
We will definitely be back for another trip with Parktreks, either in Tassie, or elsewhere in Australia. As an aside, they do walks in every state of Australia except Queensland (huh?).
Bruny Island Funghi
I took these photos using my 24-105mm lense, they seem to have come out ok but I really wish I'd had my 100mm macro lense and tripod as these funghi were enchanting. All the photos were taken in a temperate rain forest near Adventure Bay called the Mavista Trail.
Fiji – 7 to 17 April 2023
Of course it poured with rain on our arrival day, leaving us with a gloomy foreboding that we’d be having a wet cruise, however, it turned out it was the last day of a wet perio and we were set to enjoy some magnificent weather.
Fiji has won a special place in our hearts. We all agree that this trip was probably the best holiday we’ve ever had. This despite the slightly inauspicious start at the less than glamorous Club Fiji with it’s dated decor, indifferent reception staff, and heavy downpours (not their fault I know).
Our departure was delayed for some reason so this added a subtle layer of trepidation to our excitement, we were thinking Oh no, please don’t let there be an issue with the boat. Well, it turns out there was an issue with the boat, actually, lots of issues with the boat, but these didn’t delay our departure and only came to light during the cruise. I got the sense that the ‘issues’ are constantly under management and so were not really a problem. This was things like, flooded rooms, doors falling off hinges, leaking celings (Abbey and Elley’s room), and failing aircon in the dining room. Who knows what was goinf wrong in the behind the scenes areas like the engine room, kitchen, hull!?!?
Regardless of this, we had an incredibly memorable trip and came away with a deep affection for the Fijian people. They are proud, intelligent, educated, noble people.
People like Sali, who was the entertainer on the boat, he had given up a career as an Environmental Scientist with the Fijian government to become cruise ship entertainer, he was incredible. His singing and instrument playing were wonderful. He was also a magnetic MC who made us all laugh. It is please to know that he signed a contract to record a song he has written with Sony in Sydney later this year – we really wish him well for that. His wife also works for Captain Cook Cruises on the tall ship, also as the MC on the boat and also with a charming personality. We know encountered her on the changeover day when we got on the tall ship to go to the Tivua private Island.
Nicky was the senior tender driver, I say senior not because he was old, but because he was the more experienced of the two. The other tender driver was a younger lad called Illy, Abbey’s Beau, maybe more on that later. Both of these guys were very skilled, this was evident when getting the glass bottom boat back onto the ship via the lift system at the back. On one occasion there was a 1-1.5m swell running which made this activity very tricky (and unnerving for us passengers), but Nicky managed it with skill and an air of calmness that made us all feel at ease. Both Nicky and Illy were also very engaging, witty and very interesting to talk to. They were both at maritime colege studying to become mariners. This meant that they were away from the boat on occasion to head to a lecture block, presumably in Nadi, or maybe Suva.
These guys were the ones who made the biggest impression on us, but just about every body else on the team was wonderful. A few seemed a bit more reserved, but still very friendly, and genuionely so.
The diving and snorkelling were fantastic, however, it was notable that there weren’t any big fish around. Thinking about this now, I surmise this is probably because the villagers catch the fish for food before any really big ones can grow. Consequently there weren’t any big sharks either. It is of course quire reasonable for them to be catching the food to eat, especially when you see how remote some of the communities are.
Highlights included two moray eels close together on one dive, a very busy Banded Krait (Sea Snake), a smallish Chinese Football Cod, amazing coral, and seeing elley on her first two dives.
It was also very pleasing to witness that there wasn’t much rubbish floating around, in fact none. This wouldn’t be the case had we been in Bali or somewhere else in Indonesia. I can’t figure out why there is a difference.
The meals were very good and they generally catered for Abbey’s gluten free needs without too much difficulty. There was a bit of a hiccup on the first night but they chef was clearly onto it after that.
Abbey and Elley made some friends, Abbey with one of the ‘Able Seaman’ (IIlly he tender driver mentioned above, and Elley with young Corban, from Sydney. In fact, we become very friendly with his whole family and ended up having meals with FIona and Adam on a few nights and then even caught up with them for dinner on our last night in Denerau.
A very entertaining event was the most awesome Crab Race, won by Fran with her $5 crab, Hermione. All of the other crabs cost $40 +, but Fran managed to snag the outside winner for $5!
All in all, this was one of the best, if not the best holiday we’ve ever had. Frev even paid a deposit for another trip, probably to the Lau group on an 11 night cruise. We have to commit to a date within the next year and we will get 35% off at least – sounds pretty good to me.
Lady Elliot Island Jan 2023
We flew into Lady Elliot Island from Hervey Bay on the morning of Saturday 14 Jan 2023. The weather was sketchy with lots of rain squalls around, some of which we flew through so our view was obscured for large parts of the flight.
These rain squalls were caused by a huge weather system that had moved across the northern part of Australia from WA, where it had caused extensive flooding as a cyclone, across the NT and into North Queensland. We experienced the bottom end of it as it moved out to sea to the east. The consequence was that we had strong southerly winds blowing along with occasional squalls of rain for almost the entire length of our stay. No sunshine to be seen anywhere for our whole trip. We didn’t feel like complaining though as this system had caused extensive flooding and misery for people in WA.
There were a huge number of sea birds nesting on the island – Black Noddy’s, Sooty Terns, Eastern Reef Egrets, a pair of magnificent Sea Eagles, Lesser Frigate birds and cheeky Buff Banded Rails. The Frigate birds were constantly cruising in the sky above the island, day and night. Unfortunately I didn’t have my camera gear with me so didn’t get any good shots of them.
The nesting birds had no fear of humans, we would come to within a meter of them and they wouldn’t fly away. This put me in mind of Mauritian Dodo’s, which apparently just passively sat on the ground as a salor walked up and clubbed them on the head. These birds would have been the same had anyone on the island been of a mind to do this. It must be a sea bird thing.
Frev did 3 dives while on the island. Dive 1 on Spiders Ledge to a max depth of 18m. This was our first post-qualification dive with our new gear, we were a teeny bit nervous in case we made some silly mistake. In the end, it all went well and we had no issues. The dive was, of course, awesome, and we saw White tip and Black tip reef sharks, a big Eagle Ray, a few Green and Loggerhead turtles, and lots of colourful little fishies, the equivalent of LBJs, but colourful!
Dive 2 was an afternoon dive on Maori Wrasse Bommie to a max depth of 18.3m with a bottom time of 51 minutes. The dive master showed us a Moray Eel hiding in a crack on the bommie, more sharks, and a BIG Loggerhead turtle. Apparently, others saw a school of Eagle Rays but Frev wasn’t so lucky, we must have been looking the other way!
Dive 3 the following was on the Severance Wreck. Apparently, there is a suspicion that this wreck was an insurance job. The wreck itself lies in about 20m of water which was our maximum depth (19.8m), a bit naughty as we’re only supposed to go to 18m but oh well. We seem to be getting better at breathing as our bottom time was 53mins. Feature creatures spotted: a big Spotted Sweetlipm beautiful Lionfish and a school of Big Eye Trevally. I love seeing the schools of fish, big or small, cruising around the joint.
We couldn’t dive anymore, as we were flying the next day, but that was okay because we wanted to go snorkelling with the goils. We went in at Sandy 2nd’s and checked out a large part of the shallow reef. Elley and I saw a beautiful Chinese Football Cod, and a big Maori Wrasse. I spent some time just floating on my own in the deep water and was rewarded with a siting of a bull ray, turtle and magnificent Eagle ray. Elley and I also saw a Black Tip reef shark in the shallows. While swimming back towards the southern end of the island, I saw a number of turtles feeding on the coral in the shallows. While observing these guys I looked down and there was a cheeky deadly Cone Shell, waiting for prey. This would have been in about 500mm of water so it’s a good thing that they insist that people wear reef shoes.
The water was clear and warm and just awesome to be in, especially with the shitty weather above. I really wish we had the go-pro with us to record the scenery and creatures.
All in all, this was a great trip, despite the weather. Frev plans to go back in late Winter or Spring in 2024, this will hopefully avoid the incessant noise and smell of the sea birds and also give us a better chance of enjoying nice weather.
Interesting bedding on the neach showing the shells and stones.
Goils
Da Fam on the beach
Birds everywhere
First view from the air
