Not sure where we are going or what we are doing...except it's home time

Sigh... as the saying goes, all good things must come to an end. Yes, it's the end of the tour.

Although as the flight leaves in the afternoon (no point staying a night to have to rush off in the morning... just as any good date should be).

So lets check out of our accommodation and head back to the Harbour as there is one last place to have a look see...the Australian Maritime Museum.

The Museum is oh so interesting.

Exhibitions on American-Australian relationships; the Royal Australian Navy; Wartime - interestingly I knew about Australian wartime brides, migrating to America after they met American service men, but not about the brave Japanese wartime brides who migrated to Australia after marrying their Australian service; a sad reminder of a time when we had the "white Australian policy" which was not that long ago; emigrations from around the world; our indigenous people; beach fashions (interesting how we have done the full circle - fully covered up at the beach, to skimpy bikinis to be being fully covered up again.

Today,let's check out some predator action:

Well I guess it's about time to catch a quick bite and a bit of a play in one of the water features before catching our plane home..... Maybe time to think of the next adventure!

Day 3 - Well not quite the not sure where we are going or what we are doing...

I have a little bit of a confession to make... today's adventure was planned, so it's not quite a let's see what happens day. However, I can promise, for a change, it is not going to be a hectic day, more of a sit back, relax and enjoy type day...

After booking flights on-line an option to book other activities was offered, so it was a good opportunity for us all to get out of the city and expand the horizons further ... guess what we are doing? Yep we are going to go off wine tasting in the Hunter Valley. Oh but I do have another surprise for you too, so stay with me!

The Hunter Valley is about two hours drive from the city along the Pacific Highway. It is Australia's first ever wine producing region. Having been picked up at 7.30am the tour bus heads off. The tour guide is informative and the group joining the tour fun and friendly.

What amazes me as we drive along is the greeness of Sydney and surrounding area, especially coming from a scorched, summer rain-deprived State. How the Hawesbury winds gracefully through national forest, how there are small communities on the river's edge that commute to Sydney via boat each day. Totally magic.

Visiting one boutique winery after another. Enjoying informative presentations and learning more about the techniques of wine making. Mmmmm.... did you know wooded wine, doesn't necessarily mean the wine has been maturing in oak barrels, however the technique of oak chips placed in mesh bags (as if a tea bag) dangling in a metal barrel is often used?

The day was fun and our guide fabulous. We had intended to be back at our accommodation by 6pm, but goodness it was such a fun day, the wineries enjoyed our visit, not rushing and taking the time for us, our tour guide was fabulous and didn't shepherd us like a border collie to the bus at any time, so we didn't get back until after 7pm. This still giving us plenty of time for us to freshen up before my special treat for you....

I'm sure you may be aware when Oprah was visiting, she had a special surprise waiting for her.... wooohoo fireworks... well guess what I have for you... oh yesseee fireworks, so sit back, relax and enjoy (oh and just because Australia Day falls on the same day, purely coincidence, these were organised specially for you!)

Day 2 of the not sure where we are going or what we are doing...

Hope you are all refreshed from Day 1's adventure, because I think that we may have a slightly busy day ahead of us :).

So to get off on the right foot, a visit to the Chinese Friendship Garden is warranted. Located at the end of Darling Harbour, walking along a water featured concourse, through a palm grove, past the Moscow Circus, we arrive at our destination. The Chinese Friendship Garden was established by the Chinese community to celebrate our Bicentenary in 1988.

A small oasis in the middle of a bustling city. The perfectly sculptured trees, imitating nature, a rushing waterfall, Chinese temples, Buddha sculptures, friendly dragons and quiet lotus filled water ponds brimming with giant Koi, provides tranquility and welcome relief in the sultry heat.

Following our sojourn around the garden it is time to make way to King Wharf, where lunch has been arranged and what better place, or way to do it, than cruising the Harbours on the catamaran the Majestic.

After being shown to the reserved place, the crew busily filling the buffet, the Majestic reverses easily out of her dock as we make our way out of Darling Harbour and to Port Jackson Harbour (or as more commonly referred Sydney Harbour).

Once underway, we are invited to help ourselves to the luscious cold and warm food from the buffet. The prawns are sweet and juicy, the salads plentiful as are the different varieties of vegetables and spicy noodles. Fish marinated in coconut sauce is divine and for the carnivores, juicy chicken pieces. Followed by mini deserts, fresh fruit and cheeses.

Stopping at Circular Quay for more passengers the catamaran makes it way around the Opera House and the small islands doting the harbour. Commentary being provided pointing out various places of interest and an overview of the Harbour from its establishment, during the wartime era and to recent port developments that have changed the docks to trendy (expensive) apartments and offices.

As the evening plan is for a Ghost Tour, the easiest method of transport to get there is via the Catamaran when it docks again at Circular Quay.

Now remember I warned you I don't regimentally plan my holidays... well this is one such time :). Getting off at Circular Quay, with time to fill in, makes it is the perfect opportunity to visit the Museum of Contemporary Art. An interesting option, there were pieces I really enjoyed and pieces... well you know the saying Art is in the eye of the beholder... just give me some paint and materials and I will see what I can come up with! But really I guess that is the beauty of art, it holds something different for all of us.

However, what I hadn't planned on, was a special exhibition of Annie Leibovitz works, "A photographers life, 1990-2005". It was fabulous, I have never been so awestruck. But it wasn't just her work of the rich and famous, or the power of politicians, but the essence she captures in photographs of her family and loved ones, from birth to death. (I think I'm babbling!)

Having a bit more spare time, I find the Argyle, it was suggested by a cousin as on the must do list. A hip-happening bar, just perfect for sitting in sunshine in the cobbled courtyard under the shade of a umbrella while drinking a refreshing lemonade (yes bubbles, but just of a different kind this time :)). But really as a shake was calling from down the road, it was time to get another quick bite to eat and another praline shake (just couldn't help myself).

Before long it is time to meet up at Cadman Cottage for the Ghost tour. As evening draws in, our black-caped, lantern holding tour guide meets us and provides each of us with some props for the tour, that we are to hang around our necks. Well at least with mine I get to hold a hand if I get too scared! And off we go, with two words, "follow me".

The evening is fun, exploring lane ways, through locked gates with tales of murder and self mutilations at the site where they occurred, with us having to part take in the tales as to what prop we had been given.

Ok, I will admit only now, I did have tingles up my arm and around my back (this was before we were told that tingles in females occurred in this particular place and one young girl in the tour had to leave the lane with her mother, visibly upset). This was in a certain lane, a hospital lane, where patients were kept in the laneway in the overcrowded conditions and the only anaesthetic to amputations was rum and yes there were plenty of deaths.

In the ruins of a cottage, that were discovered whilst a car park was being built under a building, after we descended into the warm, musty smelling, dark conditions, standing by the fireplace, I felt extremely uncomfortable (yes you guessed it, we were told people often felt uncomfortable in that spot) and what or who touched another one of the ladies on the back? Was it really a skull another one of the younger ladies saw while peering under the scaffolding stairs?

Whether it was overactive imaginations, from the atmosphere of the tour / or an actual presence or not the tour was super fun and interesting, going to places where I wouldn't have thought or found without a guide.

So that ending the day's adventure, I hope you manage to sleep well!

Not sure where we are going or what we are doing...

Well if Oprah can do it, there is nothing stopping me!

And you, dear friends, are one of my specially chosen audience members... a bit of hysteria about now please (oh and don't expect pink diamonds and pearls, vegemite not a problem).

Sydney - not sure where we are going or what we are doing but come along for the ride: Day 1.

On a side note, be prepared I don't tend to plan in great detail, so each day is an adventure for me too, just the unknowing of what is to come!)

To make the most of the day when we reach Sydney and due to a three hour time difference (yes each Australian State has a different time), we are flying the first available morning flight (no grumbling now, just because it means we have a 3am start, it is worth it, no point arriving when the day is almost done) on our chosen carrier, Qantas (if anyone out there is from Qantas, I am more than happy to do sponsored Adventures and blog favourably about my experience).

Unfortunately, Captain John Travolta had an urgent family commitment, so whilst he had every intention of being our own personalised Captain on this journey, family comes first. However, he did pre-record a personal welcome message, which was waiting for us once we embarked (and of course being a safety conscious airline, emphasised the importance of watching the safety demonstration).

Our chosen accommodation for the next few nights is a 1800's wool storage / warehouse building that has been converted into funky self-contained apartments, a stone's throw from Darling Harbour.

You did remember comfortable shoes, didn't you? As the only way to really explore a city is on foot!

Maps to my brain are, well to me, just a squiggle of lines and concentrating on lines, you may miss out on so much. So as long as I have a vague idea of where we should be heading, my best method of getting to a destination is to pick someone and follow them. Not only does this get us to where we are going, but provides an interesting journey into unknown side streets, with hidden staircases, the real vibe of a city.

Our destination, this afternoon, those famous landmarks that have become known as Australia: the Sydney Opera House and Sydney Harbour Bridge.

Having chosen my target, an American tourist who has just left her hotel (and looks like she knows where we are going), we head off. Our first stop is Pyrmont Bridge, the perfect place to over-look the hustle and bustle of Darling Harbour. Darling Harbour is a happening place. Full of waterside restaurants and bars, shopping, departure points for various harbour tours and home to the Australian Maritime Museum, Aquarium and Wildlife Centre.

Pyrmont Bridge connects the western suburbs to the city, and how cool is this, when a marine vessel needs to get to the end of the dock, the middle section of the bridge rotates to allow the vessel through.

Next target I choose are two young Italian guys. We head towards the City centre, following the signs to the Harbour Bridge, however at one stage my inbuilt beacon, determining we are going slightly off the beaten path, into Oxford Street, so glancing at Maps on my phone I detour back on track. Sydney is a combination of the old and the new. Limestone convict built buildings, converted into trendy businesses, terrace inner-city houses with the Cosmopolitan giants of the CBD providing a glass backdrop.

I arrive at The Rocks area (my favourite place....where the first colony was established, becoming home to sailors, whalers and traders) and head towards our destination point.

Ladies and gentlemen may I present the Sydney Opera House and the Sydney Harbour Bridge, dah dah.

It's not all work on my tours, we do have time, for a refreshing break, time to sit and take the scene in, watching the ferries come and go through the harbour.

Mmmm, I'm thinking you are hungry by this stage as it is hitting evening, well I know just the place. Back into the Rocks, what better place than for a little bit of indulgence, than... the Guylian Belgian Chocolate Cafe... chocolate heaven. I have to say I have never had a shake like a Guylian Praline Shake, smooth as velvet and full of calories, but hey we're on holiday and are allowed some self-indulgence, plus I did top it off with a healthy quiche and salad, even though the various chocolate desserts looked as if they were to die for (including chocolate brownies - lightly dusted with what looks like gold dust).

Time to head back, sauntering through the streets full of boutiques, shops, restaurants, bars and laned history. Until tomorrow.... lets hope we don't get to detoured on the way back!

Smoulder and burn

Woohooo.... chest, stomach hips.... wave upon body wave against the pole... change sides and repeat. Hip thrusts, now work it down. Butt circles...come on ladies really stick that butt out now ... Keep it low... now work it right back up. Figures of eight... move those hips... change sides...Move those hips deeper... Right arm high and salsa.... wooohooo get those hips moving.... move that left arm up and down your body seductively... remember the higher you keep it the higher the heart rate the harder you're working it...

So began the one hour, sexy, high cardio, low impact Smoulder and Burn class.

I had two hours to wait between work finishing and yoga class starting. If I headed home, I would have ended up on the sofa and wouldn't reappear out of the house until the next morning.

In a way this wasn't a bad option, as I had struggled to keep awake towards the end of the day, and I could just see that sofa beckoning...but then there was the other side of me, the one that argued and urged me to get out and get some long needed physical activity.

Impulsively, as my nature can be, I phoned the studio to see if there were any classes I could participate in... and just as I was justifying sofa time to myself ... I was enthusiastically told yes it wasn't too late to attend the S&B class.

A change of gear and off I headed.

Different routines: pole routines, chair routines, ab routines, hip and thigh routines to different, get-you-moving tracks. I smouldered and I burned for an hour, silently dreading the next morning, at the thought of every muscle still burning and smouldering.

Discoveries, disappointment and murder

As Dad (Chief aka Dad) has grounded me, because of The Weed's giveaway, I thought I would continue with the decorating this weekend as I'm not allowed to go out and enjoy myself.

I've discovered I am pretty good at this painting and decorating business. And ok, all the insinuations that "I get paint everywhere" and have never been taken up on the offer to help paint (yes I somehow managed to get covered in paint just doing the paint run to the shop and bringing it back for my sister) may have some truth to it... I'm sure my painting attire isn't too badly covered, well no worse than a professional painter's overalls (ok they paint all day every day, I paint when the mood takes).

I've discovered carrying a damp cloth while painting is a great way to clean up spills and no one will ever know how messy a painter I really am.

I've discovered paint effect paint is good fun and not that hard to apply.

I've also discovered that when fixing the cracks in the ceiling, where the plaster boards have moved, you need to use flexible filler, not the normal poly filler, as you get disappointed when the cracks reappear and the time and mess spent sanding back poly filler, to have to apply correct flexible filler can drive one mental.

I've discovered that when tidying up paint job and mopping slate floor, the slate looks really great when wet... which means yes I'm going to seal the floor.

So, it was while in the process of prepping slate floor, that the vacuum dislodges a plastic covered package from behind the fire. The package had been tucked away, deep at the back, where the metal was bent to form the stand. I have a gas fire, which looks like a slow combustion wood fire, with glass front, logs and coal.

I drag the package out with the vacuum. I've never really considered myself to be a drama queen (that is my mum's forte), or to have an over imaginative imagination, unless of course messing around with friends.

But here lay this package.

As I continue to vacuum I keep looking at. It keeps drawing my eye to it. Not sure really what is in the package. Not sure whether I really want to know what is in the package. But it keeps drawing my attention to it.

There is of course a reason for this hesitation to open the package and find out.

The previous tenant of my house is a friend. Now I know friend well enough to know he is not into drugs or trafficking, or the like, and there would be no reason for him to hide anything. However, prior to my friend getting married, he had a housemate.

His housemate was a quiet, introverted person. Not like the previous one that was accident prone and nearly managed to burn the house down. When my friend had people around for a bbq, although housemate was welcome to join us, he would often than not make himself scarce back into his bedroom or would go out.

It wasn't long after the housemate had broken up with his girlfriend that he began to act strange. One evening when my friend had a female friend over the housemate started to get quite abusive to the female friend. So my friend told him to pack his things and to leave, otherwise he would get the police involved. As a precaution my friend had the locks changed to deadlocks. Not only because of the violent tendency, it was discovered in the bedroom the housemate had used, was evidence of ritualistic type going-ons. A few weeks after this incident, the now ex-housemate murdered his ex-girlfriend. He is fortunately locked away.

So the reason for my hesitation at not opening the package straight away, and yes my mind was going a little wild as to what could be in the package, I will admit. Drugs? a knife? a left behind ritualistic type item? And what was I going to do when I found out?

Eventually, curiosity out won the initial hesitation. I slowly unwrapped the carefully wrapped item. I'm not sure whether immense relief or immense disappointment washed over me at that moment. In the package were spare pieces of fake coal for the fire place.... mmmm maybe my imagination is a bit wilder than I first thought.

Friday sweet friday

Ahhhh Friday... Today couldn't come soon enough. After the break and the short weeks, this week just seemed sooooo long. Not that it has been a bad week and I fortunately work with an awesome group of fun, unpolitically correct people, however Friday's arrival is always something to look forward to.

Today was a mixed bag of goodies. The morning consisted of volunteering to help copy information for some research work - mind destroyingly boring. Doing the final proof and edit to a publication, so much more interesting, especially choosing the pictures and the placement of them.

At lunch time I finally booked a flight to Sydney, yipeeee. I've had to put the trip off a couple of times for various reasons, so decided why not go over during the Australia Day celebrations. So in just over a week's time I'm off for a break ... ummm now just to let the boss know, hope he agrees, sure he will, won't he?

Then in between sorting out some policies for a Manual update I decided to quickly catch up on any blog updates. And it's celebration time!!!!

To celebrate reaching 100 followers, The Weed is having a GIVEAWAY.

Excitingly it's not just one prize but two.

He is prepared to part with his much beloved (unopened) Little Thumper and a gift card to the Cheesecake Factory. Unfortunately, as the Cheesecake Factory has still yet to make it to these shores, if I was fortunate to win I would have to decline the gift card, as I'm sure there wasn't mention of an air ticket to collect the prize (are you open to bribery Weed? If I win, the gift card is yours :)).

The motivation for winning the Little Thumper??? No, not quite the motivation that you are thinking! More my sense of humour at the thought of showing off Little Thumper, and telling the guys I work with the delightful story of how I was sent it by a man I hardly know, all the way from the US.