Saturday, January 31, 2004
Jody is asleep in the back of the campervan and Roj is reading the Life of Pi (which Camilla leant me to read, but I have been too tired to concentrate on) on the step, so I am taking the opportunity to update the last week.
We were ready by 9:30am on the 27th to be picked up from Hotel Centra by the campervan people, but it took until 1:30pm before we were all sorted with the paperwork, unpacked, stocked up with groceries and ready to go. We were totally deluged at the supermarket (giving me a chance to try out my Christmas present raincoat) and were finally coming to terms with the fact that NZ is a land of rain. It was quite exciting to set out on the first leg of our journey down to Dunedin. Roj did very well as driver, despite mixing reverse and first gear on the odd occasion, and I was on baby duty; feeding Jody and entertaining her as required with her new favourite toys (headtorch, sunglasses case, alarm clock, toothbrush - anything that isn't a 'toy' in fact).
The countryside to Dunedin was pleasant but very English - not yet the NZ we had been expecting. We arrived at the campervan park at about 5:30pm in cold and grey weather. Not really prepared to dig out the grill, we decided to brave the fish and chips at the park shop and then take a walk along the beach. Unfortunately while we were unpacking the fish and chips, Jody took a fall from the seats in the back of the van onto the floor, causing much concern (on my part) and a little shocked shouting (on hers). Luckily she was mostly unhurt (except for a small bruise on the bridge of her nose), but we resolved to keep a closer eye on her. The fish and chips were pretty horrible but the walk along perfect St Kilda's beach was truly wonderful, despite the cold greyness.
The next day - the 28th - was our day to look around Dunedin which is renowned for its wildlife. In the morning we checked out Baldwin Street - the steepest street in the world - which was truly impressive to walk up (I lost grip with my trainers). More impressive was watching somebody training on it for the annual race which is held there in a couple of months. When we first saw him (skipping down the slope then running up the steps at the side), we thought he was about our age, but when he stopped to take our photos we could tell he was nearer 50 - he told us he was the old duffer of the race (and we secretly hoped we'd look as good as that when we are old duffers).
Next we headed out on a winding coastal road to the end of the peninsula which is habited by penguins, seals and albatross. We booked in to view the rare yellow-eyed penguin and were taken around to see the reserve (consisting of around 50 pairs) through a system of covered walkways and hides. It was quite interesting to see the work that was being done there, but at this time of year the penguins are quite drab (they've done their mating season so I guess their feathers don't need to do much attracting), and at that time of day (lunchtime) they were mostly out at sea. We got to see a handful of fluffy stinky chicks though, and Jody enjoyed the tunnel trip, so it was all worthwhile.
Less success at the albatross reserve which was pretty much booked up for the next few hours. After studying the albatross cams for a couple of minutes we decided not to hang around and headed back to the campsite where I took advantage of a couple of free hours by going for a run on the beach and having my legs sandblasted in the wind. Very enjoyable but also nasty because it served as a reminder of just how much work I have to do before the marathon.
The next day - the 29th - we left Dunedin at 9:45am to catch our boat trip to the Glow worm caves at Te Anau. Except that we realised quarter of the way through the journey that it was longer than we'd thought and we'd be lucky to catch the 2pm boat we'd booked on. Roj put his foot down though (quite remarkable in a 6-berth campervan) and we arrived on location at around 1:40 at which point Roj checked his diary and found that the tour wasn't til 2:30. So I started to make some sandwiches for lunch and Roj went to ask at the office where the best place to park (a truck) was. At which point I noticed Roj running back to the van telling me that the tour was at 2pm and the boat was boarding now. So we packed up our stuff in super-quick time and just about made the boat as it was about to depart - lots of eyes to heaven from the kiwi staff. The 25 minute trip to the caves was very pleasant as Jody was handed round a group of Japanese tourists as the rest of the boat looked on in amusement. For the rest of the tour each one of the group would approach me in turn and say 'baby', which was clearly the only means they had of communicating their admiration. I was quite touched though.
Roj and I took it in turns to view the actual glow worm caves, as they required complete silence to glow their best (?). It was quite an impressive little trip with amazing limestone caverns and torrential pure alpine water. The glow worms looked like somebody had got busy with those little luminous sticky stars on the roof of the caves - the hungrier the brighter, apparently. The first reaction from both of us was that we wouldn't like to be cavers. How do they do it?
On return from our trip we signed into a campground then went to look round the town and settled for an early dinner in a nice restaurant full of retired people. As usual the waiting staff took great delight in Jody, and proved the 'family-friendliness' claimed under the name of the restaurant by bringing over a box full of childrens toys. I realised too late that they were all sticky and covered in unidentified jammy stuff, but retired them under my chair and gave Jody Roj's wallet to play with instead. Well she may as well get practised!
An early evening and a very sleepless night (teething and hungriness) was followed by a 6am alarm call to get us to Milford Sound for our 9:30am tour the next morning - the 30th. Jody and I both slept for the first half of the trip and woke to the most amazing fairy-tale landscape of vast precipitous mountains emerging from streaks of low cloud. The area gets around 9m of rainfall a year, so needless to say it was raining at the time, and this only added to the atmosphere. Hundreds of waterfalls covered the sides of every rockface, which were also covered in thick dark rainforest. We all felt like we were in the middle of some mythical land - beyond even what the Lord of the Rings (filmed quite nearby) had shown.
The boat tour of the Sound was more of the same phenomenal views (better than Grand Canyon, in my view). Even the rain subsided long enough for some photo-opportunities on the front deck although nothing could possibly relate the sheer scale and power of the landscape. On the return route we took the opportunity to visit the very interesting underwater observatory in the Sound which showed an amazing amount of wildlife living just under the freshwater layer, including the rare and endangered black coral - which is white.
There was no real chance to hang around the Sound because of our need to get to Queenstown that afternoon - but the prevalence of sand flies made us quite glad to leave. Again we appreciated the beautiful trip back up the mountain (including the most ominous tunnel any of us had experienced). In one day we had been shown what all the fuss about NZ was about, that's for sure.
The trip to Queenstown was also very beautiful. We're in the middle of a campground surrounded by huge mountains and vast lakes - like a cross between the Lake District and Switzerland. Queenstown is the self-professed centre of outdoor adrenalin sports in NZ but we're probably tamely going to stick to a short jet-boat ride and a trip up the gondola to appreciate the views. Bungy jumping loses its appeal somewhat when you have a baby to tag along, and we all know how I feel about white water.
Am very much enjoying the trip so far. I do feel to an extent that our agenda (to see most of the country in our 3 weeks here) means that we're rushing from place to place and then getting out for a small taste before rushing to the next place. I think Roj will be utterly sick of driving before the holiday is up. But the campervan is a good way of having complete independence without putting up with utter basics. There's plenty of space in the back (much more than any yacht we've chartered), and even driving is done in relative comfort. Inevitably NZ is so popular that we're following a very well-trodden tourist route and coming across heaps of backpackers as we go, but that doesn't detract from the beauty of the country. And the people are fab.
Jody is proving herself very flexible in most respects. She's still teething significantly and the upheaval of moving around is preventing her from getting on a good night time schedule (I'm still getting up 3 times a night at least to feed her, even though she proved in Sydney that she remembered how to sleep through the night - am looking forward to get to a place where a better routine can be enforced). She is happiest when she is let loose to crawl around the place and is now pulling up on every wall or post or piece of furniture she can find (which means a couple of falls and head-bumps every day). She's happy as larry most of the time though, which assures me that we made the right decision in coming out here when she's so cheap and portable. Two years down the line it will be a different story.
More later of our trip. Must go and peel the beetroot.
We were ready by 9:30am on the 27th to be picked up from Hotel Centra by the campervan people, but it took until 1:30pm before we were all sorted with the paperwork, unpacked, stocked up with groceries and ready to go. We were totally deluged at the supermarket (giving me a chance to try out my Christmas present raincoat) and were finally coming to terms with the fact that NZ is a land of rain. It was quite exciting to set out on the first leg of our journey down to Dunedin. Roj did very well as driver, despite mixing reverse and first gear on the odd occasion, and I was on baby duty; feeding Jody and entertaining her as required with her new favourite toys (headtorch, sunglasses case, alarm clock, toothbrush - anything that isn't a 'toy' in fact).
The countryside to Dunedin was pleasant but very English - not yet the NZ we had been expecting. We arrived at the campervan park at about 5:30pm in cold and grey weather. Not really prepared to dig out the grill, we decided to brave the fish and chips at the park shop and then take a walk along the beach. Unfortunately while we were unpacking the fish and chips, Jody took a fall from the seats in the back of the van onto the floor, causing much concern (on my part) and a little shocked shouting (on hers). Luckily she was mostly unhurt (except for a small bruise on the bridge of her nose), but we resolved to keep a closer eye on her. The fish and chips were pretty horrible but the walk along perfect St Kilda's beach was truly wonderful, despite the cold greyness.
The next day - the 28th - was our day to look around Dunedin which is renowned for its wildlife. In the morning we checked out Baldwin Street - the steepest street in the world - which was truly impressive to walk up (I lost grip with my trainers). More impressive was watching somebody training on it for the annual race which is held there in a couple of months. When we first saw him (skipping down the slope then running up the steps at the side), we thought he was about our age, but when he stopped to take our photos we could tell he was nearer 50 - he told us he was the old duffer of the race (and we secretly hoped we'd look as good as that when we are old duffers).
Next we headed out on a winding coastal road to the end of the peninsula which is habited by penguins, seals and albatross. We booked in to view the rare yellow-eyed penguin and were taken around to see the reserve (consisting of around 50 pairs) through a system of covered walkways and hides. It was quite interesting to see the work that was being done there, but at this time of year the penguins are quite drab (they've done their mating season so I guess their feathers don't need to do much attracting), and at that time of day (lunchtime) they were mostly out at sea. We got to see a handful of fluffy stinky chicks though, and Jody enjoyed the tunnel trip, so it was all worthwhile.
Less success at the albatross reserve which was pretty much booked up for the next few hours. After studying the albatross cams for a couple of minutes we decided not to hang around and headed back to the campsite where I took advantage of a couple of free hours by going for a run on the beach and having my legs sandblasted in the wind. Very enjoyable but also nasty because it served as a reminder of just how much work I have to do before the marathon.
The next day - the 29th - we left Dunedin at 9:45am to catch our boat trip to the Glow worm caves at Te Anau. Except that we realised quarter of the way through the journey that it was longer than we'd thought and we'd be lucky to catch the 2pm boat we'd booked on. Roj put his foot down though (quite remarkable in a 6-berth campervan) and we arrived on location at around 1:40 at which point Roj checked his diary and found that the tour wasn't til 2:30. So I started to make some sandwiches for lunch and Roj went to ask at the office where the best place to park (a truck) was. At which point I noticed Roj running back to the van telling me that the tour was at 2pm and the boat was boarding now. So we packed up our stuff in super-quick time and just about made the boat as it was about to depart - lots of eyes to heaven from the kiwi staff. The 25 minute trip to the caves was very pleasant as Jody was handed round a group of Japanese tourists as the rest of the boat looked on in amusement. For the rest of the tour each one of the group would approach me in turn and say 'baby', which was clearly the only means they had of communicating their admiration. I was quite touched though.
Roj and I took it in turns to view the actual glow worm caves, as they required complete silence to glow their best (?). It was quite an impressive little trip with amazing limestone caverns and torrential pure alpine water. The glow worms looked like somebody had got busy with those little luminous sticky stars on the roof of the caves - the hungrier the brighter, apparently. The first reaction from both of us was that we wouldn't like to be cavers. How do they do it?
On return from our trip we signed into a campground then went to look round the town and settled for an early dinner in a nice restaurant full of retired people. As usual the waiting staff took great delight in Jody, and proved the 'family-friendliness' claimed under the name of the restaurant by bringing over a box full of childrens toys. I realised too late that they were all sticky and covered in unidentified jammy stuff, but retired them under my chair and gave Jody Roj's wallet to play with instead. Well she may as well get practised!
An early evening and a very sleepless night (teething and hungriness) was followed by a 6am alarm call to get us to Milford Sound for our 9:30am tour the next morning - the 30th. Jody and I both slept for the first half of the trip and woke to the most amazing fairy-tale landscape of vast precipitous mountains emerging from streaks of low cloud. The area gets around 9m of rainfall a year, so needless to say it was raining at the time, and this only added to the atmosphere. Hundreds of waterfalls covered the sides of every rockface, which were also covered in thick dark rainforest. We all felt like we were in the middle of some mythical land - beyond even what the Lord of the Rings (filmed quite nearby) had shown.
The boat tour of the Sound was more of the same phenomenal views (better than Grand Canyon, in my view). Even the rain subsided long enough for some photo-opportunities on the front deck although nothing could possibly relate the sheer scale and power of the landscape. On the return route we took the opportunity to visit the very interesting underwater observatory in the Sound which showed an amazing amount of wildlife living just under the freshwater layer, including the rare and endangered black coral - which is white.
There was no real chance to hang around the Sound because of our need to get to Queenstown that afternoon - but the prevalence of sand flies made us quite glad to leave. Again we appreciated the beautiful trip back up the mountain (including the most ominous tunnel any of us had experienced). In one day we had been shown what all the fuss about NZ was about, that's for sure.
The trip to Queenstown was also very beautiful. We're in the middle of a campground surrounded by huge mountains and vast lakes - like a cross between the Lake District and Switzerland. Queenstown is the self-professed centre of outdoor adrenalin sports in NZ but we're probably tamely going to stick to a short jet-boat ride and a trip up the gondola to appreciate the views. Bungy jumping loses its appeal somewhat when you have a baby to tag along, and we all know how I feel about white water.
Am very much enjoying the trip so far. I do feel to an extent that our agenda (to see most of the country in our 3 weeks here) means that we're rushing from place to place and then getting out for a small taste before rushing to the next place. I think Roj will be utterly sick of driving before the holiday is up. But the campervan is a good way of having complete independence without putting up with utter basics. There's plenty of space in the back (much more than any yacht we've chartered), and even driving is done in relative comfort. Inevitably NZ is so popular that we're following a very well-trodden tourist route and coming across heaps of backpackers as we go, but that doesn't detract from the beauty of the country. And the people are fab.
Jody is proving herself very flexible in most respects. She's still teething significantly and the upheaval of moving around is preventing her from getting on a good night time schedule (I'm still getting up 3 times a night at least to feed her, even though she proved in Sydney that she remembered how to sleep through the night - am looking forward to get to a place where a better routine can be enforced). She is happiest when she is let loose to crawl around the place and is now pulling up on every wall or post or piece of furniture she can find (which means a couple of falls and head-bumps every day). She's happy as larry most of the time though, which assures me that we made the right decision in coming out here when she's so cheap and portable. Two years down the line it will be a different story.
More later of our trip. Must go and peel the beetroot.
lara : 08:48
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Monday, January 26, 2004
Terrible start to our Sydney departure yesterday morning. Roj was packing the car and the string holding the door (and preventing it from swinging back on its broken hinge) came undone leaving the door stuck irreversibly (except by professional metal-batterers) open. Gah. Greg and Sally were both very nice about it but it must have been more than slightly annoying to be left to deal with it when they were looking forward to a quiet morning in, and we were certainly embarrassed to have left them in that predicament. Furthermore at the airport Roj realised that he still had the keys to their car in his pocket, so we had to pay the taxi driver to return them for us. Double whammy.
Luckily the misfortunes didn't continue into the day and our flight was another good one. Jody didn't gripe at all, apart from the minute preceding her going to sleep on my lap. Watched Dickie Roberts Former Child Star which was appallingly crap but good for a few laughs. Arrived in a much more temperate NZ (around 23 degrees) and took a taxi to our hotel room which has lots of crawling space on a pristine carpet. Went out for dinner soon after arrival to a street café which was quite nice until we were rained on and Jody started whinging from tiredness, forcing us to forgo desert until she was lulled to sleep in the buggy allowing us to indulge in the hotel restaurant. All exhausted in the evening (luckily Jody didn't stick on Sydney time) so early to bed for everyone.
We're definitely looking forward to head out into the countryside tomorrow because Christchurch is rather unimpressive. A bit of a grey and dull city with a couple of minor highlights. Roj, Jody and I took the Christchurch gondola this morning to see the sights from high up. Granted the colour of the water was amazing, but in every other way we could have been anywhere with a good view. Christchurch is the most English of all the NZ cities though, so we're hoping things will improve (also not helped by the fact that it's rather chillier here than we expected).
After the gondola trip we did a bit of window shopping and took the tram on its scenic city tour (all of 20 minutes). The most amusing thing about that was sitting at an open window with Jody yelling and grinning at all the passers by. After we got back to the hotel (via more window shopping and a haircut for Roj), Jody hit her head quite hard on one of the chair legs in the room. Both of us went to grab her, thinking she'd scream for a while, but she just cried mildly for about 20 seconds before grinning widely at Roj, never mind the big black bruiser she'd acquired on her forehead. Later though, she got quite overtired - having not had much of a chance to sleep during the day - so we shelved our restaurant search in favour of room service. We figure that the next fortnight will involve enough eating out so we may as well take advantage while we can.
So our NZ trip begins. Tomorrow morning we pick up the winebago and head down to Dunedin which is a good 300 miles away. Looking forward to see what our accommodation is going to be like for the next week, and to actually start the sight-seeing which we anticipate will be spectacular. Will be looking out for internet cafes at opportune times but in their absence will keep an offline journal of our exploits. And the camera will be clicking of course.
Luckily the misfortunes didn't continue into the day and our flight was another good one. Jody didn't gripe at all, apart from the minute preceding her going to sleep on my lap. Watched Dickie Roberts Former Child Star which was appallingly crap but good for a few laughs. Arrived in a much more temperate NZ (around 23 degrees) and took a taxi to our hotel room which has lots of crawling space on a pristine carpet. Went out for dinner soon after arrival to a street café which was quite nice until we were rained on and Jody started whinging from tiredness, forcing us to forgo desert until she was lulled to sleep in the buggy allowing us to indulge in the hotel restaurant. All exhausted in the evening (luckily Jody didn't stick on Sydney time) so early to bed for everyone.
We're definitely looking forward to head out into the countryside tomorrow because Christchurch is rather unimpressive. A bit of a grey and dull city with a couple of minor highlights. Roj, Jody and I took the Christchurch gondola this morning to see the sights from high up. Granted the colour of the water was amazing, but in every other way we could have been anywhere with a good view. Christchurch is the most English of all the NZ cities though, so we're hoping things will improve (also not helped by the fact that it's rather chillier here than we expected).
After the gondola trip we did a bit of window shopping and took the tram on its scenic city tour (all of 20 minutes). The most amusing thing about that was sitting at an open window with Jody yelling and grinning at all the passers by. After we got back to the hotel (via more window shopping and a haircut for Roj), Jody hit her head quite hard on one of the chair legs in the room. Both of us went to grab her, thinking she'd scream for a while, but she just cried mildly for about 20 seconds before grinning widely at Roj, never mind the big black bruiser she'd acquired on her forehead. Later though, she got quite overtired - having not had much of a chance to sleep during the day - so we shelved our restaurant search in favour of room service. We figure that the next fortnight will involve enough eating out so we may as well take advantage while we can.
So our NZ trip begins. Tomorrow morning we pick up the winebago and head down to Dunedin which is a good 300 miles away. Looking forward to see what our accommodation is going to be like for the next week, and to actually start the sight-seeing which we anticipate will be spectacular. Will be looking out for internet cafes at opportune times but in their absence will keep an offline journal of our exploits. And the camera will be clicking of course.
lara : 10:00
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Saturday, January 24, 2004
Off to New Zealand tomorrow. Is our time in Sydney already over? Had a wonderful time with Greg and Sally who have been the best hosts in the world. On Thursday Roj, Jody and I went to the impressive Sydney aquarium (after, I confess, an 11am glass of white wine and mango kicked by Jody all over me). Definitely the best shark tanks I've seen, and the biggest barramundi (60kg). We then wandered into the city with the aim of finding me a bikini and seeing the sights. Luckily we were successful on all counts. Very impressed indeed by the Sydney Opera House which is substantially more spectacular in real life than in photos - I love the way it changes shape from every angle. Got back late afternoon quite knackered and headed off to Manly with Greg & Sally to see the night sights and eat Thai food. Unfortunately Jody was desperate for sleep by the time we got there (and she wasn't the only one) and turned super-grizzly so the evening was cut rather short.
Yesterday Roj, Jody and I went for a leisurely wander around Taronga zoo where we were photographed with koalas and Jody puked eucalyptus (don't ask), spent a little while looking around the Rocks and then headed off to Doyles with Greg and Sally for some fish and the most amazing thunderstorm I've ever seen. Was quite pleased to catch a bolt of lightening with my camera although couldn't have really missed it as they were coming down every few seconds. A lovely evening made especially easy by the fact that Jody slept through the whole thing. Stopped for some night views of the Harbour Bridge and the Opera House on the way back (at which point Jody became rather less sleepy and easy but who could blame her).
Today the 4 of us took Jody for her first dip in the ocean at Clovelly beach. Roj was a bit of a wuss to start with (the Pacific was, admittedly, a little parky!) but eventually made it into the water. Jody soon got over her initial anxiety and splooshed happily for 10 minutes or so. Her favourite thing was most definitely playing in the sand and she inevitably ended up completely covered, including minor ingestion. We didn't spend long at the beach for fear of sunburn all round, but followed a gentle walk along the cliff with an excellent lunch at Bronte. This afternoon we've been into Sydney under more torrential rain in a vain attempt to find Billabong shorts for me. A short but easy shopping trip as Sally and Greg looked after Jody while we were out (they are definitely the most baby-smitten couple we have encountered).
So that's about it. Greg and Sally have more guests coming round tonight so Greg is busily preparing a feast in the kitchen. Jody is, once again, asleep (there's something to be said for sun and ocean and fresh air), and we'll be packing up all our stuff for a midday flight tomorrow. We've had a wonderful time here. Sydney is a very easy city to enjoy, particularly when offered such splendiferous hospitality (we hope to return the favour one day).
I don't know when I'll be blogging again. I might be able to fit in a quick update in Christchurch where we're staying tomorrow and Monday nights, but after that we're in our winnebago for a week, and last I heard they don't come with internet capabilities! Trust me though, if this week's anything to go by, we will be having a wonderful time!
Yesterday Roj, Jody and I went for a leisurely wander around Taronga zoo where we were photographed with koalas and Jody puked eucalyptus (don't ask), spent a little while looking around the Rocks and then headed off to Doyles with Greg and Sally for some fish and the most amazing thunderstorm I've ever seen. Was quite pleased to catch a bolt of lightening with my camera although couldn't have really missed it as they were coming down every few seconds. A lovely evening made especially easy by the fact that Jody slept through the whole thing. Stopped for some night views of the Harbour Bridge and the Opera House on the way back (at which point Jody became rather less sleepy and easy but who could blame her).
Today the 4 of us took Jody for her first dip in the ocean at Clovelly beach. Roj was a bit of a wuss to start with (the Pacific was, admittedly, a little parky!) but eventually made it into the water. Jody soon got over her initial anxiety and splooshed happily for 10 minutes or so. Her favourite thing was most definitely playing in the sand and she inevitably ended up completely covered, including minor ingestion. We didn't spend long at the beach for fear of sunburn all round, but followed a gentle walk along the cliff with an excellent lunch at Bronte. This afternoon we've been into Sydney under more torrential rain in a vain attempt to find Billabong shorts for me. A short but easy shopping trip as Sally and Greg looked after Jody while we were out (they are definitely the most baby-smitten couple we have encountered).
So that's about it. Greg and Sally have more guests coming round tonight so Greg is busily preparing a feast in the kitchen. Jody is, once again, asleep (there's something to be said for sun and ocean and fresh air), and we'll be packing up all our stuff for a midday flight tomorrow. We've had a wonderful time here. Sydney is a very easy city to enjoy, particularly when offered such splendiferous hospitality (we hope to return the favour one day).
I don't know when I'll be blogging again. I might be able to fit in a quick update in Christchurch where we're staying tomorrow and Monday nights, but after that we're in our winnebago for a week, and last I heard they don't come with internet capabilities! Trust me though, if this week's anything to go by, we will be having a wonderful time!
lara : 08:12
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Wednesday, January 21, 2004
Well here I am in Sydney. Can't believe it really. Somehow couldn't really picture this a week ago.
It's lovely. I'm finally starting to relax a little. It's a bit hot, and that's caused some issues with Jody, but I think we'll cope. Am trying to persuade her to take a bit of water in a cup so that she's not in danger of dehydrating. She's not overly keen at the moment but every sip counts and in the next month I'm sure she'll get the hang of it. Also slathering suntan cream on her is clearly something that'll become a bit of a chore, necessary though it obviously is. Our intention is to keep her out of the sun altogether but at times that's just not possible so total sunblock and thin layers of clothes and plenty of sunshades will have to suffice. It may be overkill but I'm not taking any chances with the notorious missing ozone down here.
The flight was amazing. Jody slept for maybe 3 hours total on the first leg (12 hours to Singapore) and then about 5.5 of the 7 hour second leg to Sydney. The time she was awake she was perfectly amenable apart from a couple of hunger shouts. Any noisiness in the first leg was cunningly disguised by being next to a family with three screaming daughters aged 15 months, 3 years and 8 years, who had all come to the conclusion that constant whinging was the way to their parents' hearts. Did feel very sorry for the littlest one though, who a couple of hours in took a nasty nosedive from the bassinet onto her mum's tray table causing screaming, a nosebleed and much concern. After that we were doubly sure to keep firm hands on Jody when she knelt or stood up in her own bassinet.
Even managed a couple of hours kip during the second half of the journey, which stood me in reasonably good stead. Luckily we'd made the choice to take the Qantas flight which brought us in to Sydney at 7pm and enabled us to catch up on sleep later that evening - would hate to have arrived early morning. Was a little apprehensive that Jody would get her days and nights muddled up but after 15 minutes wanting to play at 2:00am I managed to coax her back to sleep and she stayed that way until 6:30am. Excellent.
Blockette and Grant were kind enough to pick us up at Sydney airport and take us to Greg and Sally's house where we are now (after meeting Blockette & Grant again this morning for brunch at Coogee beach before they headed out to Canberra). Roj is resolving jetlag issues downstairs and Jody after a loud bout of teething is asleep on my knee. I am hot and sticky but happily taking in the sights and smells of a rather impressive thunder storm and waiting for Greg and Sally to get back from work in an hour or so. Can't get much better than this really.
Our plans are to view a bit of Sydney - the harbour bridge, the opera house, the Rocks, the zoo and probably the shark feeding at Manley aquarium via the ferry. We may head out to the Blue Mountains on Friday but it depends how much we've managed to see of the city by then - taking into account the baby which inevitably slows down the whole process. We also have every intention of taking Greg and Sally out to dinner to thank them for being our hosts for this whole five days. Absolutely fantastic to see them and their lovely place and very kind of them to put us up for so long.
Midday Sunday we catch our flight to NZ and prelude the road trip with two nights in Christchurch. Am looking forward to the whole thing enormously. Feel very far away from chilly Britain, awkward clients and perpetually living out of bags. Ah … well two out of three aint bad!
It's lovely. I'm finally starting to relax a little. It's a bit hot, and that's caused some issues with Jody, but I think we'll cope. Am trying to persuade her to take a bit of water in a cup so that she's not in danger of dehydrating. She's not overly keen at the moment but every sip counts and in the next month I'm sure she'll get the hang of it. Also slathering suntan cream on her is clearly something that'll become a bit of a chore, necessary though it obviously is. Our intention is to keep her out of the sun altogether but at times that's just not possible so total sunblock and thin layers of clothes and plenty of sunshades will have to suffice. It may be overkill but I'm not taking any chances with the notorious missing ozone down here.
The flight was amazing. Jody slept for maybe 3 hours total on the first leg (12 hours to Singapore) and then about 5.5 of the 7 hour second leg to Sydney. The time she was awake she was perfectly amenable apart from a couple of hunger shouts. Any noisiness in the first leg was cunningly disguised by being next to a family with three screaming daughters aged 15 months, 3 years and 8 years, who had all come to the conclusion that constant whinging was the way to their parents' hearts. Did feel very sorry for the littlest one though, who a couple of hours in took a nasty nosedive from the bassinet onto her mum's tray table causing screaming, a nosebleed and much concern. After that we were doubly sure to keep firm hands on Jody when she knelt or stood up in her own bassinet.
Even managed a couple of hours kip during the second half of the journey, which stood me in reasonably good stead. Luckily we'd made the choice to take the Qantas flight which brought us in to Sydney at 7pm and enabled us to catch up on sleep later that evening - would hate to have arrived early morning. Was a little apprehensive that Jody would get her days and nights muddled up but after 15 minutes wanting to play at 2:00am I managed to coax her back to sleep and she stayed that way until 6:30am. Excellent.
Blockette and Grant were kind enough to pick us up at Sydney airport and take us to Greg and Sally's house where we are now (after meeting Blockette & Grant again this morning for brunch at Coogee beach before they headed out to Canberra). Roj is resolving jetlag issues downstairs and Jody after a loud bout of teething is asleep on my knee. I am hot and sticky but happily taking in the sights and smells of a rather impressive thunder storm and waiting for Greg and Sally to get back from work in an hour or so. Can't get much better than this really.
Our plans are to view a bit of Sydney - the harbour bridge, the opera house, the Rocks, the zoo and probably the shark feeding at Manley aquarium via the ferry. We may head out to the Blue Mountains on Friday but it depends how much we've managed to see of the city by then - taking into account the baby which inevitably slows down the whole process. We also have every intention of taking Greg and Sally out to dinner to thank them for being our hosts for this whole five days. Absolutely fantastic to see them and their lovely place and very kind of them to put us up for so long.
Midday Sunday we catch our flight to NZ and prelude the road trip with two nights in Christchurch. Am looking forward to the whole thing enormously. Feel very far away from chilly Britain, awkward clients and perpetually living out of bags. Ah … well two out of three aint bad!
lara : 04:21
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Wednesday, January 14, 2004
Goodness. After several days of solid work including one 1:30am night last night (a very big thing for a nursing mum) and a post-midnight tonight, I am finally ftp-ing this damn site. And after all that I even got a single reasonable comment from my client. Which makes it all worthwhile. Ahem. Thanks must go to my parents for looking after Jody much of the time I've been glued to the computer screen. They've done a wonderful job and without them this site might not have launched until the next millennium.
Tomorrow I am going to do only nice things on the computer - send a couple of emails, update my Jody Journal. I am not going to do any work. That is, unless the launch goes horribly wrong and corrupts just about everything and I need to redo the whole site. Agh!
I am also going to pack tomorrow, because Friday I have to go into town for an appointment and then go up to my father-in-law's place in the evening for its proximity to Manchester Airport. Then on Saturday morning daddy finally gets back to his two girls. Am looking forward to that enormously - been rather envious of his last fortnight in NYC despite hideously cold conditions and an empty apartment, and have missed him loads while he's been away.
Will then spend 24 hours with the mother-in-law before heading off to High Wycombe on Sunday afternoon for tea with Camilla who has so kindly offered to take us down to Heathrow in the evening, where we'll spend a night in the Hilton (ooer) before flying out to Sydney on Monday morning. I say that flippantly: "flying out to Sydney Monday morning," but really the thought of it fills me with dread. Jody is absolutely wonderful, but she's a handful and a half and particularly of late with those sore teeth. And forget 15 hours on a flight ... it's twenty two. Did you hear that? Twenty two. With only a couple of hours in Singapore to relieve the boredom. Yikes!
It'll be worth it though. Once we get to the airport and meet up with Blockette and Grant and Greg and Sally and Jody calms down, it'll be wonderful. It's 25 degrees in Sydney and there are no nasty clients lurking in my freetime. I am going to have a ball!
Right. FTP over. Site launched. Bed calling.
Tomorrow I am going to do only nice things on the computer - send a couple of emails, update my Jody Journal. I am not going to do any work. That is, unless the launch goes horribly wrong and corrupts just about everything and I need to redo the whole site. Agh!
I am also going to pack tomorrow, because Friday I have to go into town for an appointment and then go up to my father-in-law's place in the evening for its proximity to Manchester Airport. Then on Saturday morning daddy finally gets back to his two girls. Am looking forward to that enormously - been rather envious of his last fortnight in NYC despite hideously cold conditions and an empty apartment, and have missed him loads while he's been away.
Will then spend 24 hours with the mother-in-law before heading off to High Wycombe on Sunday afternoon for tea with Camilla who has so kindly offered to take us down to Heathrow in the evening, where we'll spend a night in the Hilton (ooer) before flying out to Sydney on Monday morning. I say that flippantly: "flying out to Sydney Monday morning," but really the thought of it fills me with dread. Jody is absolutely wonderful, but she's a handful and a half and particularly of late with those sore teeth. And forget 15 hours on a flight ... it's twenty two. Did you hear that? Twenty two. With only a couple of hours in Singapore to relieve the boredom. Yikes!
It'll be worth it though. Once we get to the airport and meet up with Blockette and Grant and Greg and Sally and Jody calms down, it'll be wonderful. It's 25 degrees in Sydney and there are no nasty clients lurking in my freetime. I am going to have a ball!
Right. FTP over. Site launched. Bed calling.
lara : 23:58
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Friday, January 09, 2004
Goodness. I'm supposed to be on holiday aren't I? And all I'm doing when I get a free moment is working. And yet the list of work that needs to be done (as soon as possible of course) is constantly growing. It's like a mold!
Roj disappeared to New York about this time last week. In the meantime I've been staying at home for some r and r. My mum has been amazing with Jody - looking after her a lot. But I still find I have almost no time to do things. I am well behind on work and I don't feel good about it.
Went up to Yorkshire this Wednesday/Thursday to visit relatives. Enjoyed seeing my cousin Andrea for the first time in 10 years, with her two youngsters Hollie (2yrs) and Poppy (3mths). Very interesting to have 3 baby girls in the near vicinity and to get an idea of what Jody might be like in 18 months time. She's crawling like anything now. She's become enormously unhappy on her back and sits herself up almost immediately. Which makes nappy changing interesting. She's also managing to pull herself up to standing on some low furniture which is cute to watch but rather hairy since she's nowhere near strong enough and inevitably ends up on her back. 2 feet isn't a massive height to fall from but it's high enough. She's also teething like crazy. Not sure which are the next to pop through but it's very clear that she's in quite a bit of pain. Which makes nights rather sleepless for both of us. Add to which the amount she's been carted around different locations the last 3 weeks and it's understandable how unsettled she is. Unfortunately it's not looking likely to improve in the next 6 weeks either. I'd better get used to these bags under my eyes!
While in Yorkshire also took the opportunity to visit Alex - good friend from university and deputy curator of the Yorkshire Sculpture Park. Had a lovely lovely evening with steak pie, burnt potatoes and yummy apple crumble in her gorgeous little spider-overun house in the middle of the northern Peak District. Was brilliant to see her again and really didn't feel like it's been well over 3 years since the last visit. Sadly Jody had an enormous over-stimulated badly-teething strop towards the end of the evening. I felt so sorry for the little mite screaming away without any hope for comfort. Nothing I could do seemed to ease her distress. Even when I nursed her to sleep she woke soon after in another crying fit. Hopefully Alex didn't take it too personally!
Have done a couple of runs in the last week up the Long Mynd. The only way I can stomach marathon training is to aim for the Swaledale Marathon in June rather than the London one in April, and just hope I'll be ready for the latter when the time comes. Swaledale still isn't confirmed due to hazy dates for the Cambridge Boat Club reunion this year, but I have high hopes that I'll be joining my bro and Charlotte (and Roj!) on the hills. Right now it's a much more appealing prospect than tramping the tarmac in the Big Smoke.
Can't believe we'll be off to Australia and New Zealand in little over a week. Roj has been a star in sorting out loads of stuff to do while we're over there (I would never have had time) and it's almost looking like a reality (although I'm trying to ignore the prospect of a 15 hour flight with a teething 7-month-old). Sadly one of the couples we intended to stay with are moving to Canberra the day we arrive so we'll only see them for a quick beach brunch. Luckily Greg and Sally have very kindly offered to have us for the full 5 days so we don't have to move around too much. Can't wait to see them.
Right. Better sign off. Can't possibly spend 5 minutes more blogging when there's so much work to be done (yes I'm feeling sorry for myself). My work is either for my horrendous client or unpaid, both of which are essentially pretty thankless. Still ... I made my own bed I suppose.
Roj disappeared to New York about this time last week. In the meantime I've been staying at home for some r and r. My mum has been amazing with Jody - looking after her a lot. But I still find I have almost no time to do things. I am well behind on work and I don't feel good about it.
Went up to Yorkshire this Wednesday/Thursday to visit relatives. Enjoyed seeing my cousin Andrea for the first time in 10 years, with her two youngsters Hollie (2yrs) and Poppy (3mths). Very interesting to have 3 baby girls in the near vicinity and to get an idea of what Jody might be like in 18 months time. She's crawling like anything now. She's become enormously unhappy on her back and sits herself up almost immediately. Which makes nappy changing interesting. She's also managing to pull herself up to standing on some low furniture which is cute to watch but rather hairy since she's nowhere near strong enough and inevitably ends up on her back. 2 feet isn't a massive height to fall from but it's high enough. She's also teething like crazy. Not sure which are the next to pop through but it's very clear that she's in quite a bit of pain. Which makes nights rather sleepless for both of us. Add to which the amount she's been carted around different locations the last 3 weeks and it's understandable how unsettled she is. Unfortunately it's not looking likely to improve in the next 6 weeks either. I'd better get used to these bags under my eyes!
While in Yorkshire also took the opportunity to visit Alex - good friend from university and deputy curator of the Yorkshire Sculpture Park. Had a lovely lovely evening with steak pie, burnt potatoes and yummy apple crumble in her gorgeous little spider-overun house in the middle of the northern Peak District. Was brilliant to see her again and really didn't feel like it's been well over 3 years since the last visit. Sadly Jody had an enormous over-stimulated badly-teething strop towards the end of the evening. I felt so sorry for the little mite screaming away without any hope for comfort. Nothing I could do seemed to ease her distress. Even when I nursed her to sleep she woke soon after in another crying fit. Hopefully Alex didn't take it too personally!
Have done a couple of runs in the last week up the Long Mynd. The only way I can stomach marathon training is to aim for the Swaledale Marathon in June rather than the London one in April, and just hope I'll be ready for the latter when the time comes. Swaledale still isn't confirmed due to hazy dates for the Cambridge Boat Club reunion this year, but I have high hopes that I'll be joining my bro and Charlotte (and Roj!) on the hills. Right now it's a much more appealing prospect than tramping the tarmac in the Big Smoke.
Can't believe we'll be off to Australia and New Zealand in little over a week. Roj has been a star in sorting out loads of stuff to do while we're over there (I would never have had time) and it's almost looking like a reality (although I'm trying to ignore the prospect of a 15 hour flight with a teething 7-month-old). Sadly one of the couples we intended to stay with are moving to Canberra the day we arrive so we'll only see them for a quick beach brunch. Luckily Greg and Sally have very kindly offered to have us for the full 5 days so we don't have to move around too much. Can't wait to see them.
Right. Better sign off. Can't possibly spend 5 minutes more blogging when there's so much work to be done (yes I'm feeling sorry for myself). My work is either for my horrendous client or unpaid, both of which are essentially pretty thankless. Still ... I made my own bed I suppose.
lara : 21:31
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Thursday, January 01, 2004
Happy New Year everybody.
For me, 2003 was a fantastic year. I went freelance and it worked OK; we spent our third and final year in New York and loved it; and most notably we acquired a whole little human being. It was also the first year in a few that I haven't attempted some big physical feat (birth not included). A year ago I thought I would never cope with relegating exercise but right now I feel like I haven't missed out at all. OK I have a marathon to look forward to in less than four months so I can hardly say it's disappeared forever, but it's way down the priority list these days and I don't even mind. Amazing how things change.
I'm very much looking forward to 2004. My only new year's resolution (so far) is not to become a New York bore. I'm already liable to get nostalgic over those beautiful New York things, but I am determined to look on the positive side (which shouldn't be too difficult as the list of positives is as long as my arm). I am very much looking forward to kicking off the year with a relaxing two weeks with my parents while Roj bids a final farewell to the Big Apple. I have plenty of work to do, and am determined to run most days but otherwise my only aims are to catch up on sleep and take advantage of the fact that my parents are devoted grandparents. Then there's obviously a big fat holiday to look forward to in mid-January to New Zealand. Now there's something to make the year memorable. Should be wonderful. So we're not even going to be settling into a routine until mid-February by which time Jody will be over 8 months old and getting on with walking (if current progress is anything to go by). This year, clearly, time will be flying again.
For me, 2003 was a fantastic year. I went freelance and it worked OK; we spent our third and final year in New York and loved it; and most notably we acquired a whole little human being. It was also the first year in a few that I haven't attempted some big physical feat (birth not included). A year ago I thought I would never cope with relegating exercise but right now I feel like I haven't missed out at all. OK I have a marathon to look forward to in less than four months so I can hardly say it's disappeared forever, but it's way down the priority list these days and I don't even mind. Amazing how things change.
I'm very much looking forward to 2004. My only new year's resolution (so far) is not to become a New York bore. I'm already liable to get nostalgic over those beautiful New York things, but I am determined to look on the positive side (which shouldn't be too difficult as the list of positives is as long as my arm). I am very much looking forward to kicking off the year with a relaxing two weeks with my parents while Roj bids a final farewell to the Big Apple. I have plenty of work to do, and am determined to run most days but otherwise my only aims are to catch up on sleep and take advantage of the fact that my parents are devoted grandparents. Then there's obviously a big fat holiday to look forward to in mid-January to New Zealand. Now there's something to make the year memorable. Should be wonderful. So we're not even going to be settling into a routine until mid-February by which time Jody will be over 8 months old and getting on with walking (if current progress is anything to go by). This year, clearly, time will be flying again.
lara : 22:07
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