Long (Good) Friday

“Have you been to Barbados before?” the gorgeous Bajan Customs guy asks. “Yes” I manage to say while trying not to fall asleep standing up. “Welcome back” he drawls with a smile as he stamps my passport. My heart flutters!

I have collected two stamps in my passport today, given myself two DVT-preventing clexane injections, and taken three flights, lasting a mammoth 26 hours of transit. Mum drove me to the airport as the sun was coming up in Ballarat on the morning of Good Friday, and saw me off for my first flight from Melbourne to LA. I then transited to Miami, which was another good five hour flight, and one more down to the Caribbean island, and the location of the first cricket test.

Most of my flight was a massive movie marathon, until the disappointment of no personal entertainment screens on the American Airlines domestic flight. First I watched the last half of the season of Californication that was on offer – that show is such a guilty pleasure! Then I watched One For The Money, of the Stephanie Plum crime treat fiction. I really enjoyed this depiction of a book series I have really liked over the years, and happy with the castings – Ranger is totally hot, just like he is meant to be! But it is light, and funny, and Heigl is perfectly cast for mine. I hope they continue with some more of the series.

I then watched My Week With Marilyn, and despite disliking Michelle Williams with a passion, thought it was really good. This story of her visit to the UK to do a film, and her experiences with method-acting coaching, self esteem and mental health issues was so real, and portrayed so well. I also caught J. Edgar, with Leo starring as the founder of the FBI - interesting portrayal of a very extraordinary man. Next I viewed The Cup, the Australian movie about the 2002 Melbourne Cup win, and all that was going on for Aussies and the Oliver family that week. Such a great story, and one that makes you proud of our passionate, sporting nation!

I tuned in to bits and pieces of The Adventures Of Tin Tin on the domestic flight, and got the gist of it, although it didn’t really engage my attention. I was pleasantly surprised with a bonus upgrade to Business Class for my last flight, when I could curl up or stretch out, and crack the spine of the final Harry Potter novel.

Upon arrival, and my flirty admission into the country, I have grabbed a cab and checked into the room Melissa and I will share this week, at South Gap Hotel, in St Lawrence Gap. I totally feel like this is a second chance visit to Barbados for me, because last time, 4 years ago, I got sick and feel like I missed so much of it. I am so, so excited to lap it all up, and have the greatest time!

I am now sitting out on the balcony listening to Soca tunes from a playlist Springer put together, as the waves lap below me, and the full moon shines overhead. I was just going to wait for the girls to come back to The Gap so I can have a welcome drink with them before I crash…but I think I am done. Early start tomorrow for the first day of the First Test!

Trading RTW for RTW

For the last six years RTW has meant ‘return to work’ for me, rather than ‘round the world’, which it stood for before I got my job in the UK. On Wednesday I finished up that work, I think for good, and I feel so free and so much lighter for the shedding of responsibility for other people’s lives and their jobs. It feels amazing, and so I am taking back the real meaning of RTW too!

The dramas of my last few weeks, you wouldn’t read about! For someone who never takes sick leave, I came down with some hideous virus and was down for the count for the last week and a half before my very last day at work. With so much to do, but being unable to function, it was so frustrating, and meant I didn’t leave things, nor say goodbye to a couple of clients, as I would have wished. I also didn’t even get to have a farewell lunch where I could leave feeling loved and valued!

Since writing the post about selling my car, the sale fell through after the driver’s side door suffered some damage by vandals. So, so frustrating and maddening, and so thus the need to sell continues to be a burden.

On my final day at work, a legal firm called me to check on my whereabouts, and informed me that they planned to serve me with a subpoena. This would be for a court date appearance for a case I had back in late 2008, scheduled right in the middle of my trip. No way! So I spent my last days in Ballarat trying not to make eye contact with anyone near me on the street, reminding myself not to answer to my name. I managed to smuggle myself out of the office that Wednesday in a totally crazy covert operation, and then had Mum on high alert that night, after their being a very suspicious car lingering out the front of the house. Such dramas!

Managing to evade being served with scary legal papers, and clearing up my weird sickness, I also finished up with my last uni day, and packed at the very last minute! My plans are now to do as much travel as I can for the next couple of years, supplemented with work here and there to fund it, with the notion of freedom before being too old and grown up to throw on a backpack, sell or store all my possessions, and hit the road (or air!). With the completion of my Masters at the end of the year, I should be free to see all the places on the top of my wanderlust list.

…although I was invited to attend a Research Pathways session on my last day at uni, because I have qualified to move into a research addition to my Masters…hmmm, we’ll see!

Pinnawala Elephant Orphanage

In the last post for now about looking back at old trips and old photos, I wanted to post and share the visit I made in 2004 to the Pinnawala Elephant Orphanage.

This was a trip to go to the cricket in Colombo, but upon arriving with a couple of days up my sleeve, I went to Kandy first. Along with visiting the Temple of the Tooth, I managed to get out to see the elephants, before getting the train back to Colombo.

Pinnawala is a village in Kegalle District of Sri Lanka and was just a local bus ride out of Kandy. This was one of those amazing travel experiences, just getting out there, figuring out which bus, and also squeezing onto the bus with the locals. These are the times when being white and kinda blonde stands out the most!

According to this site, through a quick Google search:

The Pinnawela Elephant Orphanage was started in 1975 by the Department of Wildlife on a twenty five acre coconut property on the Maha Oya river at Rambukkana. The orphanage was primarily designed to afford care and protection to the many baby elephants found in the jungle without their mothers. In most of these cases the mother had either died or been killed.

At Pinnawala you can feed baby elephants, and even take part in their bathing, but from memory the time of day of my visit didn't allow for this. But just being in the same paddock as this cobbled-together herd of elephants, adults and babies, was just surreal.

Such an amazing travel experience.

The Big Wool Bales

Coming back from Warrnambool yesterday, I made a significant detour to track down one of the Aussie Big Things, but also as a continuation of what felt like a bit of a farewell to the region, for now.

I ducked back inland to capture the Big Wool Bales in Hamilton. I am not sure why I haven't found them before, but I didn't really know where they are. You need to head out on the Coleraine Road to see them, but there is a sign about them on the main road.

They are not really that spectacular, but they meet the Big Things brief in that that are bigger than the item for which they are depicting. Apparently you can go inside for the museum of all things shearing, and there is also a restaurant inside! Big bales indeed!

The sign on the site, being on the edge of an industrial area, tells us that Hamilton is the Wool Capital of the world!

I did try and track down the Big Stockman, which is supposedly in Koroit, but didn't find him. There is a statue on the main road of a stockman, but he doesn't fit the Big Things brief...in fact, he may even be less than lifesize, considering my impression of a Stockman would be Hugh Jackman-build from Australia - no?

This detour allowed me to enjoy the view of The Grampians as it came into view in the windscreen, before filling my mirrors for quite some time. A spectacular sunset, with pink and purple clouds dotted all the way home, I also got to check out those gorgeous letterboxes along the road, at Wickliffe as I passed. Such an authentic, rustic, and pretty part of the world, just in our back pocket!

The Eight Apostles

Today's roadtrip for work felt a bit like a goodbye to the Western District of Victoria, given my pending last day of work and travel plans. I shot down to Warrnambool, and managed a couple of detours on the way to and from, just in case it's ages and ages before I get down this way again. I mean, who knows when I will have the chance!!??

Once I got to my favourite bit of the driving part of my job, being the sight of the Camperdown Clock Tower, and since I was ahead of schedule (unheard of!), I took the turn to hit the Great Ocean Road, and complete the mission we amazingly failed at on our Roadtrip to Radelaide in January.


Taking careful note of the signs, I turned off correctly, parked, and walked the underpass to take in the view of this rugged coastline and the remaining Apostles. There is supposedly 8 now, of the 12 original (or so named), due to ongoing erosion.

Once you get out to the walkways positioned for the best views, the sight of the little formations out in the waves is spectacular. The cliffs, the blue, blue ocean, and the sunshine. Gorgeous, and enchanting!

The remnants of Apostles lost to the forces of the ocean and time can be seen in line, whilst you can't actually see all 12 at any one time due to the twists and turns of the coastline. Such an iconic view, and one of the gems of our state!

Changing Colours of an Uluru Sunrise

These photos are taken from the same standing point at sunrise, watching as the light of day changes the colours of Uluru. So amazing!


Part of this trip to the Red Centre, back in 2004, our tour group was up before the sun to head to Uluru for sunrise to watch the colour show of the rock. With the hoards of other tourists!


It was really amazing to watch the variations of colour around and of this magical natural icon over such a small space of time. This experience certainly added to the wonder of this part of our country. So beautiful.

The Ghan, Katherine Gorge and Uluru

The Red Centre, Uluru and travelling on the Ghan was something that I had longed to do, the more I got the taste of travel. Given that Australia has such a vast array of travel experiences at our doorstep, it's pretty remiss that so many of us have yet to see our own backyard.

This is a trip that I completed in August in maybe 2004, and I started it by flying up to Darwin to visit Braiden and Paul. After a few nights hanging out with them, I then boarded The Ghan, the great train journey from the top of Australia and through the middle. On arrival I found that there had been a mix-up with my booking and as a consequence I was given a twin Red Seater cabin all to myself, which meant a sleeper instead on the planned seat I had booked. Bonus! This meant that I had someone come and convert the little space with a bed, after being able to take in the passing Northern Territory from the window in blissful peace.

Leaving Darwin in the morning, the train made a lunchtime stop at Katherine, where I disembarked and joined a cruise in the beautiful Katherine Gorge, which was all arranged from the train.

Back on the train for the overnight portion, we arrived in Alice Springs in the morning where I joined a camping tour for a couple of days, to see Uluru and Kings Canyon. This wasn't hard core camping, but in luxury established tents, shower blocks, and with meals provided.

I had long decided that I would not climb the rock, in respect for our Indigenous brothers and sisters and their beliefs about the sacredness of this big stone in the middle of our country. As we reached the Uluru area we first visited the Cultural Centre, which highlighted this importance, but also provided further background to my rudimentary school-provided overview of Indigenous Australian culture and customs.

I walked around the circumference of Uluru, which was such a magical experience. The colours, the shadows, the quiet, and the feeling of being connected to the land and nature was so strong. The different personalities of the rock with each arc was surprising, and only reinforced the significance of this place to our country and to our Indigenous people. So beautiful.