Andy listening to ghost lady - note mysterious crosses on wall behind...

As we walked back to the hotel we passed a sign for a psychic, now this is something that we have always both been quite curious about, but I would never dare go to one in case they told me something bad that I would dwell on for ever! We have only seen them in Blackpool before, and unfortunately (?!) it was closed when Andy went to go then. We thought Sydney would surely have a far better quality of psychics than Blackpool (“I’m sensing…. Nonce”) so Andy went in to see about having a reading done! They were very busy people there, so he booked an appointment for the Friday morning with Petra who reads the tarot cards! We must have been in quite a spiritual mood that afternoon because we decided to book a ghost walk for that evening around the old parts of Sydney. Now, I am very sceptical about all this but I thought even if it is a load of rubbish, at least we’ll get a nice walk around the old parts of Sydney!
We met near the harbour and stood in a circle as a woman dressed in the usual ghost-tour-leader uniform of black long skirt, black boots, black cape and black hat proceeded to give us all a ‘prop’ relating to the ghosts of Sydney. My heart sank as she delved into her bag and dished out big rubber rates on a neck chain for people to wear for the tour and I studiously tried to avoid eye contact as she selected people from the group. There was only one prop that wasn’t to be worn around the neck, and this was given to Andy. Andy had to wear a sailor’s hat for the duration of the tour!!! Ha ha, luckily I managed to get away with wearing a choker! We all trooped off, looking like we had just got off the funny bus, and started hearing about the ghostly goings on in Sydney! It was quite interesting actually because she told us a lot about the history of the area, I wasn’t convinced about a lot of the stories but if you treat it light-heartedly then you can enjoy the evening, which we did. I even had to act out being murdered and had the pressure of having to scream in front of everyone! It was interesting to hear how the plague hit Sydney in January 1900, hundreds of years after the London plague, it was spread from the waterfront and the rats carried it into the city. The death toll was only about 100 however, compared with the plague in London in 1665 which claimed about 100000. They also have very steeply descending narrow streets which people used to throw rubbish into so that when the tide came up at the harbour the rubbish would simply be washed away.

We returned to our hotel room to find confirmation that we were staying at a special hotel… a plate with 2 huge cookies on our bed, and the room had been cleaned and tidied whilst we were away (actually, quite embarrassing as we were rushing to get out and had thrown things everywhere!).

The Establishment Hotel, Sydney

Sydney

The Establishment Hotel

We arrived in Sydney in our t-shirts, shorts and thongs looking completely out of place as it was 21 degrees, cloudy and raining. It was like arriving back into Manchester from a holiday. There were business people marching about the streets with their corporate umbrellas and winter coats on as we slipped about in our thongs (lethal in the rain) and may as well have had a sign saying ‘Queenslander tourist’ above our heads. I hadn’t been that cold for months and was panicking that I hadn’t even bothered packing a jacket, or even a long sleeved top as I’m so used to being boiling hot wherever we go!

The taxi driver helpfully had dropped us off at the other side of the building to where the hotel entrance was, we were especially grateful for this as it was pouring with rain. We eventually found the hidden door to the hotel in a back street and yet again felt a little under-dressed as we entered the uber-cool hotel that is the Establishment. I had painstakingly done my research and found this amazing boutique hotel at a good price so I was keen to get into the room to see whether it was as good as the reviews made out. We weren’t disappointed, the room was a showcase – marble bath in the centre with an optional screen to close the bathroom off if required. Two huge marble sinks, separate cubicles for a walk in shower and toilet. Bose stereo system, DVD, touch screen phone to enable you to: choose your lighting, set the temperature, set an alarm, order room service, switch the ‘do not disturb’ light on and book a table at a selection of choice restaurants. I was like a small child racing round the room on my voyage of discovery! After climbing over the bath to get into the bedroom for the third time, we decided we really ought to go and see the sights of Sydney.

We went for a walk down the street to an area known as ‘The Rocks’ which is at the Circular Quay harbour and is where a lot of the original housing and alleyways from the first settlers still exist. It is a very charming area, with lots of specialist shops, small restaurants and cafes, museums and the tourist information centre is here too (you may wonder why I mention that – but believe me, it is the most impressive tourist info centre I have been to, it even has a museum!). It was only about a 15 minute walk until we finally stepped off the street and onto the edge of the harbour where we got our first glimpse of the Opera House and Harbour Bridge. Well, it was one of the most breathtaking experiences just to see two of the most iconic and photographed structures right there in front of us. In a funny way, it finally hit home that we were in Australia! I must admit I got quite emotional, which was unexpected I have to say, Andy wasn’t quite sure what was going on when I suddenly started sobbing at the water’s edge!! From that moment I knew that I was going to love Sydney.

Super Ben!

This was the sheet to wrap around the bottom of the Christmas tree – poor Ben, he has to put up with all sorts for our entertainment!!

WATCH THIS SPACE FOR ALL OUR SYDNEY PHOTOS AND NEWS V SOON!!

My Birthday - accessories thanks to 'Party In a Box' aka Caroline!!

My birthday was a strange day because I was all on my own (Andy was at work)! I had a few cards to open – thanks to everyone who sent them, they were much appreciated!! I missed my trip to the pub at dinnertime with the SITS people!! Ben and I had a birthday walk and then I opened my present from Caroline. It was a Party in a Box – a shoe box filled with lots of birthday fun, a wig, tablecloth, straws, candles, bangles, sweets, toys etc!!! It was perfect to get me in the birthday mood so I set up my party table and wore my wig, much to Ben’s bewilderment. We went for a meal that evening which was a nice end to the day.
Not liking how old I am now – although I had a phone call today and the woman said, “Hi, it’s Julie from we’re-going-to-rip-you-off-with-an-offer-that-is useless-and-ask-for-money-now-but-not-stop-talking-so-you-can’t-say-no holidays, can I speak to your mum or dad please”? Which I found highly amusing!

Moranbah 4x4 track! Looking back down...

On the way back into Moranbah from Nebo, Andy decided he wanted to look at the 4x4 club. We drove there to find it was (not surprisingly) closed, however there was still access onto the track. At this point we made the error of deciding to ‘see what it’s like’ in our nice clean new Ford Territory. It was all going swimmingly for the first 20 metres, a few bumps and round a few potholes – great. Then we turned the corner and looked up to see the steepest, rockiest looking hill I have ever faced in a car. After a few minutes of me saying that I really think we should turn round, and Andy saying that as long as we don’t tip over backwards then we’ll be fine, Andy won and we commenced the ascent. We actually got up fine, a few revs required midway but the Territory did us proud! We had to have a stop at the top to recover, and then had the thought – how do we get down?? The course is arrowed to show you which way you should be heading, and there are red signs to tell you not to go down/up a particular hill. Some rascal must have hidden a lot of the arrows as we didn’t have a clue where to go, all the signs seemed to say ‘don’t go this way or you’ll face certain death’. We ended up debating whether to break through a fence and cross onto the motorbike track, or cross our fingers and head off down one of the tracks. As there were motorbikes on their course we thought we’d better not take that option so we headed off down the longest bumpiest, sandiest track ever! After going sideways across potholes and moving wing mirrors in to get through the main thing was in the sand not to stop!! Otherwise the car would get stuck and there wouldn’t be many people very impressed at having to come and rescue us on a bank holiday!! After what seemed like eternity, we finally found tarmac!! It was a fantastic course, but not when doing it in your own car when nobody knows where you are!

The drought - this is supposed to be a river!

Must mention the ever so helpful tourist information centre in Nebo (I am trying to inject sarcasm here). They were very unfriendly and when I asked about the Bicentennial national trail I had read about, they said they had never heard of it, but it would only be a short walk around Nebo. I am glad we didn’t decide to have a quick walk along it – the Bicentennial trail is the longest marked route of its kind in the world. 5330km through Australian bush, wilderness and mountain areas and suitable for horse riders, walkers and mountain bike riders!! It covers virtually the whole east coast of Australia. I am tempted to arrive disheveled at the tourist office saying I’ve just got back from that quick walk she was telling me about! Seriously though, the walk sounds amazing, maybe one day that would be the ultimate adventure?!! I’ll post a link up about the trail soon.

The historic Nebo Hotel

The day after New Year’s Day we decided to risk a drive out to Nebo – which I may have mentioned before in conjunction with the only petrol station between Mackay and Moranbah. Nebo is about an hours drive away and has quite a few historic sites to see, and some walks so we thought we’d take a look.
The first European to travel through this area was Ludwig Leichhardt in 1845, and then William Lansborough in 1856 who named Nebo creek. The town was surveyed in 1865 and originally called Fort Cooper (after the mountain nearby) but in 1923 by popular demand (!) the name was changed to Nebo after the creek. The main production here used to be dominated by sheep, but then they found the area more suitable to cattle. Apparently, a horse bred in Nebo became one of King George V’s favourite chargers (recognised from the brand on its shoulder)!
Five aborigine tribes used to dominate the area, each tribe averaging 500 people. Now, the population is mainly from mining and cattle workers.
Unfortunately, a lot of the attractions were shut when we got there due to it being a public holiday, but we did get to have a drink at the hotel. Nebo hotel was originally Fort Cooper Hotel (due to name change described above). It was built in the 1860’s and still maintains the original structure.

Ben found Nemo...

New Years Eve was a bit of a washout to be fair, but there was nothing else we could do as we were both working until 6pm on the day, so by the time we travelled anywhere decent it would be too late, plus we had no spare tyre, plus we had Ben. Moranbah had absolutely nothing going on for New Year which was strange, the pubs even shut early!! So we resigned ourselves for a night with drinks, sparklers and party poppers in front of the televised Sydney firework displays and other special events. Australian television just isn’t a patch on the UK, the television schedule for that evening was appalling, apart from the Sydney coverage there was pretty much nothing else on – so don’t complain about the license fee otherwise you’ll end up with the same! After having New Years celebrations in Edinburgh, York (with the gladiator!), London and of course Hambleton then this was a quiet one, but we have promised ourselves that next year will be a big one – hopefully in Sydney!!

Andy's Birthday

New Year and Birthdays

The Christmas and new year period is always a hectic one for us as we also have to fit in an ‘anniversary’ (11 years since we got together!) and both of our birthdays. To add to that, this year we were both working throughout instead of having our usual week or so off. Due to work and the tyre incident we were restricted to the one restaurant that we actually like in Moranbah and cooking ourselves in order to celebrate the various occasions. I bought a cake for Andy’s birthday and some sparkler-stars which I’m not sure were intended for the top of a cake as they were rather keen and sparks were flying everywhere! The event turned into a panicky ‘what to do with cake spitting fire’ rather than gaily singing happy birthday.