Oh, I do love to be beside the seaside!

Okay, I'm all set. A new season of Downton Abbey on TV, a cup of tea beside me, stretched out in my recliner chair, ready to write a new post.

I now live, as per the title of this post, at the seaside! I've moved to a small seaside city north of Brisbane. It's a long commute to work by bus & train, a minimum of one & a half hours, but it's worth it to live here. I am five minutes walk from the beach which also has a man-made lagoon on the foreshore, & I'm surrounded by numerous hotels, restaurants & cafes. There's a small cultural centre, a play theatre, a movie theatre & numerous shops around the area. In the winter I will walk five minutes in the opposite direction to the local heated swimming pool. The flat I've rented is only a year old & nicely modern with three levels, three bedrooms, two bathrooms, balcony & a teeny, tiny courtyard. I am thoroughly enjoying living here. The city is on a small peninsula & I found, shortly after moving here, that the circumference is approximately a half marathon. That makes a good training walk, now all I need is somewhere for hill training. There are fifteen kilometres of lovely beaches with good walking paths & great scenery & seascapes. All in all, this is a great place to live. If I get fed up with it, I can move, but I don't expect I will yet! 

Anyway, nicely timed. Downton Abbey is finishing now. Next post will be my travel plans which are progressing nicely.

Oh, I do love to be beside the seaside!

Ciao!

Yay! Work got better!

It's 31st January. I'm hoping to write at least one post a month this year. Just made it for January, eh!

Amazingly, after my disappointment in my last post about my part-time hours, I was offered a permanent full-time position at the Uni. At last! Since 1st January I have been working full-time. Fantastic! Now I can get on with my travel plans.

So, my flights are booked from Brisbane to Abu Dhabi, stay 2 nights with Dan, then on to Athens, hopefully for another 2 nights to sightsee. Then I'll get an overnight ferry to Italy & start wandering around. I have places I want to go in Italy, Lake Orta & Assisi for sure. I'll travel by train & local buses most of the time & stay in hostels. I might take a side trip, not sure yet. I eventually head back to Athens in time for a 10 day coach tour of Greece continuing with a 5 day cruise around some of the Greek Islands including a brief stop in Kusadasi in Turkey. It all sounds marvellous. I've paid my flight & I've 2/3 paid on the Grecian tours. Nearly there!

Half the fun is in the planning, lol.

I'm missing all my entertainment though. No concerts, shows, outings, so sad. But it's the only way to save. I will go to one concert though. One of our students is performing in 'Spring Romance' & he suggested I go to hear him, so I will. He is a baritone & has recently realised he can also sing tenor., gives him a much greater range. This will be his first tenor role. I'm looking forward to that.

So all is sounding good, looking promising, & I'm optimistic. Oh, I also found a great place to live but I'll relate that next post. Ciao!

Possibilities abound!

Work can take a running jump, it's just a job, no more jumping through hoops.

There, it's time to be proactive. So I'm now looking for a temporary place to live, suitable for about 18 months. Then I may be able to consider longer term, I hope. Thanks to my v handy daughter there's a possibility coming up in a couple of weeks, so I'm hoping.

I've also started planning my next overseas trip for July/August next year which is exciting. I want to do a pilgrimage through Umbria in Italy along The Way of St Francis finishing in Assisi. There are two choices; the official accredited pilgrimage of 13 days, about 20 or more kilometres each day, maybe alone for long stretches each day, staying in basic refuges along the way & carrying everything in a backpack, OR, join a shorter, possibly more convivial, organised tour of 8 days, covering 15-20 k's each day, staying in B&B's or hotels, & my luggage would be transported each day, only need to carry my daily needs. Either way, I will have to do a lot of training. This pilgrimage is over mountains & foothills! Quite a challenge. Then there's a continuation option of 6 days walking to Rome - I'm not sure about that. Again over mountains for a couple of days & then several days flat terrain. Choices - I'm thinking.

Anyway, after Italy I'm considering Greece & maybe Turkey. Also hoping to stop along the flight at Abu Dhabi & investigate Oman. I still want to go to Egypt but that'll depend on fighting & politics which also may affect visiting Turkey. I will be constrained by finance, of course, but it'll be fun sorting out the possibilities. Italy, Greece & Abu Dhabi are definite.

Never forget - life is interesting! If you land in a rut, lift yourself out of it.

It's been a while!

It has been a while! I've been constantly waiting for things to happen, then the things I'm waiting for don't happen. V frustrating.

When I first came back to Australia I was planning to find a place to live, work hard & save for another overseas trip, &, a minor thing, also get the final charms for my travel Pandora bracelet . I've not managed to do any of that yet. But I will.

The main reason has been my library work which for the last year has been undergoing change, both the parameters of the job & the conditions of work with extensive training/retraining demanded. The upshot of that is I am now working my permanent role of 25 hours per week, which thankfully can't be changed. I do get extra hours when someone is away but that can't be relied on. So I am waiting to see what happens next. No job is worth the pressure, the lies & the strain. I like things smooth.

When things settle, if they ever do, I will look for another part-time job or take on junk mail deliveries again. Oh joy! I'm working on the saving, just not as fast as I had expected. Once again a lesson to only rely on myself.

In the meantime, I have gained a great-granddaughter, Skylah Jade, who is now 9 months old. I've been over to see her once & I hope she'll grow up feisty. Pity I'm living in a different country though.

My Pandora bracelet should be complete this week. I'm getting the last charm & a safety chain. I hadn't planned the chain but Jan rightly has suggested that I need to insure the bracelet & I imagine any insurance company will require it. I have started an NZ Evolve bracelet now which is for my Kiwi memories, as the Pandora is for my travel mementoes.

Entertainment wise, I've been to see Celtic Woman, Celtic Thunder & some of the Conservatorium student concerts. I had a weekend down at Cooloongatta to see Opera on the Beach, Opera Australia performing The Magic Flute. Thoroughly enjoyed that. I have booked for Andrea Bocelli in September, should be great. Oh, I've seen some good movies & read a heap of good books. I do enjoy entertainment!

So life continues & fun is always a possibility.

Holiday roundoff (belated!)

The play in London, 'The Woman in Black', was a thriller & great fun, even managed to elicit a few screams from the audience. The rest of us then lol'd at the screamers. There was a huge cast of just two men & they were excellent actors, kept me enthralled. So that was a fitting end to my time in London & the UK. Many thanks to Michelle & Karen & their families & to Alan for having me to stay & showing me around their adopted country.

I flew from Heathrow, with a visit to the Kath Kidston shop in Terminal 3 for some essential present purchases, & eventually arrived in Dubai for 2 nights. I had booked a ticket online to go up to the observation deck on the 124th! floor of the Burj Khalifa, a truly fantastic building with fabulous views over the city & towards the desert, loved that. I roamed around the Dubai Mall for several hours, without shopping, just looking at the exoticism of the place, especially the Souk area. Even took my first video ever, of the daytime fountain show at the foot of the Burj Khalifa behind the Dubai Mall. Next visit I'll try to get the evening show which is even more spectacular with laser lights, fountain & the Burj Khalifa lit up behind. Froze in my hotel room that night. The aircon was set on 17c!, got them to up it but it stopped at 20c. Way too cold for me & the room smelt damp, not my favourite hotel.

 

Dan, my young cuz, picked me up the next day & off to Abu Dhabi in the next Emirate where he is living. He has a nice flat there with a big balcony for entertaining (just getting bbq & outdoor furniture now that I'm back in Brisbane, lol). We went swimming in that lovely, warm, blue/green ocean, really it was nearly bath temp, just lovely. Afterwards, Dan's Dad, David, rang so we chatted to him in turns while showering & changing. Standing on the beach in Abu Dhabi, UAE, talking to David in Brisbane, Aus, sometimes things seemed quite surreal! Anyway after a lovely lunch, saw those smoking pipes!, Dan drove me around the city showing me the sights & the great buildings, including a fabulous mosque. (The pictures are on fb, I think.) Abu Dhabi will soon outdo Dubai with its unique, modern architecture which is fitting as Abu Dhabi is the capital of the United Arab Emirates. It was a good day with Dan & after picking his lady, Lisa, up from the airport that evening it was time to drive back to Dubai for my last freezing night. Thanks, Dan!

I arrived back in Brisbane early in the morning on the 31st August & was picked up by Jan, of course, & 2 v excited granddaughters. Just as well I had shopped at Kath Kidston! So great to see them all again - I really had missed my own little Brisbane family.

My exciting, wonderful, dream-fulfilling 4-month OE adventure was over & it was so awesome! I visited fifteen fabulous countries & landed at/took off from one more, twice. Loved travelling, loved seeing new places, loved catching up with my friends & relations in foreign climes, loved the whole overseas experience immensely! 

But it's not enough, future trips to come!!!!!

Let's go to the seaside!

Scarborough was great, two biggish bays, North Bay where I stayed with mini golf, Sea Life Adventures, Peasholm Park & a mini railway, & South Bay with the trashy amusement arcades, rides & further around was a Spa Centre with orchestra! Both beaches are good for swimming though too cold for me. Peasholm Park was lovely with tracks to roam & it seemed every time I turned a corner there was another view to photograph, lovely wooden carvings too. In between the two bays is a promontory (I think that's what it would be called, could be wrong!) with Scarborough Castle at the top & the ruins of a Roman Signal Tower by the cliff, photos on fb already.
I did a lot of walking around then on my last evening realised I hadn't set foot on the actual sandy beach. So I clambered down to the sand & walked to the other end of North Bay. Btw, North Bay, South Bay? They're as unimaginative as us Kiwis with the North Island & the South Island, eh.
I've been back in Huntingdon for a few days now, did a day trip to Peterborough for a looksee. Again plenty of walking around fens. Great cathedral there with a v unique painted wooden ceiling.

From Wikipedia:
By 1193 the building was completed to the western end of the Nave, including the central tower and the decorated wooden ceiling of the nave. The ceiling, completed between 1230 and 1250, still survives. It is unique in Britain and one of only four such ceilings in the whole of Europe^[6] It has been over-painted twice, once in 1745, then in 1834, but still retains the character and style of the original.

If you want to see it you'll have to google it as I didn't take any photos. The Cathedral only allows photography if you buy a licence for £3! I was too mean to pay it, worth looking up though.
Anyway, I've since been to the movies, so prosaic, eh. City of Bones, the first of the Mortal Instruments series, started yesterday & I couldn't miss that as I am currently reading Book Four of that series. Tomorrow I have booked a ticket to 'The Woman in Black', a play showing in London. 

Travelling on

Stratford-upon-Avon was a v short visit, just overnight then the morning. So I hopped on a red bus, did the sightseeing thing, then wandered along the Avon a little, saw more narrow boats, swans, & rowers.
Anyway I moved on to The Lakes District, Cumbria, for a couple of days. It is gorgeous there. I went on two day trips, one to the Beatrix Potter locations, & then on to see some of the lower lakes including a short cruise, & wandered round another stone circle. The second was to some of the higher lakes & passes, even saw the Irish Sea, & explored a Roman ruin while dodging sheep dags.
I've spent some days in Brampton, also in Cumbria, catching up with an old school friend. We went to the Edinburgh Military Tattoo & I loved that. There was a band from New Zealand & a marching girl team, totally stole the show of course. Even included a little gangnam! The whole show was great, well worth the trip. I walked along a section of Hadrians Wall, only finding out at the end that it was a 'moderate' stretch, not the 'easy' I had hoped for. Thanks, Alan!
Now I'm in Glasgow & today I have followed a trail of Charles Rennie Macintosh stuff. (Great word 'stuff') Macintosh was a Scots architect, artist, interior designer, & was married to Margaret MacDonald Macintosh, also an artist, sculptor, textile & interior designer. I started at the Hunterian Museum & viewed Roman artefacts from the Antonine Wall, another Roman wall built in Scotland. Then found out I needed to be at the Hunterian Art Gallery. That was where the Macintosh reconstructed house was. The house was amazing, loved the lounge especially. The Art Gallery is at the University of Glasgow & while I was there Eduroam Wifi kicked in which was a bonus. Next place was the Kelvingrove Museum & Art Gallery for a Macintosh exhibit, great, with the Glasgow Style Gallery, great, plus I walked through some other exhibits, then on to the Willow Tea Rooms designed by Charles Rennie Macintosh. I stayed there for a late lunch, had a good look around, lovely place & a good meal. The last place I visited was The Lighthouse, home to the Macintosh Centre, a great exhibit & interesting as they had made models of 'unbuilt' Macintosh buildings as well as his built. I enjoyed my day & Macintosh was obviously the highlight. I did do another red bus tour yesterday arvo which gave me a good overview of the central city.
I decided a few days ago that I was all 'historied' out so following the Macintosh trail was a pleasant change & another aim achieved. Even though I missed out five other pertinent buildings! Couldn't get to them all in one day.
Tomorrow the seaside for some beach walks & relaxation.