Tag: International

Alaskan Cruise

by theholmesteader, posted in Alaska, International, Travel

Saturday 20th September – Embarkation

Following a short Uber ride, we arrived at the cruise terminal in Canada Place and joined the long queue to go through US customs and immigration, which proceeded relatively smoothly. We soon boarded Holland America Line’s MS Koningsdam and were shown to our stateroom on the Main Deck, and introduced to our cabin stewards Riben and Ganang, 2 extremely nice guys, who promised they would look after us during the voyage.

We went for a wander around, this huge ship, to try and familiarise ourselves with the its layout, then we went on deck to watch us departing Vancouver, we found a spot on the Lido deck beside the pool and spent most of the morning watching and learning the ways of the ship, how to order and pay for purchases using our ships ID Card, ensuring we could stay within our daily limit. We were well catered for, with the ship having a wide variety of restaurants and bars and a good number of entertainment venues. During the voyage, we dined mainly in the main dining room, where the quality of the food and service was exemplary, and used the casual Lido Market restaurant for breakfasts and lunches. We did take advantage of our included speciality restaurant booking and made another booking for our last night on board. As I stated earlier, the quality and quantity of the food available to us were superb.

There were a good number of entertainment venues on board, where we spent most of our evenings. The ship had a large main theatre which hosted dance shows, a magic show, singer songwriter performances and movies, a BB King R&B club with an OK band, held our attention for one night, Billboard 2, was a couple of excellent singer pianists, playing music from all eras and who held a nightly request show, we alternated our time between them and the Rolling Stone lounge, where the resident band put on some great shows.

Sunday 21st September – At sea

At sea today, cruising up the inside passage, we had a relaxing morning before going to book our speciality dinner reservation for Wednesday evening, then going up to deck 12’s excursion desk to book a trip for our day in Skagway. Whilst on deck 12, we settled into the lounge in the forward section of the ship. This lounge, The Crows Nest, was also a games room, so we quickly found a table and whiled away some time playing cribbage. It was fun exploring the different areas of the ship, discovering hidden spots, one we both enjoyed finding was a little room next to the spa, that they used as a waiting room, it was a wonderful chill out room with comfortable loungers, gentle background music, all with great views of the ocean gliding by, we visited it regularly during the voyage. I later discovered that this day was unique in my travels as it was a day when I didn’t take a single photograph. I have included some I captured from a video by The Port Lowdown of various images from around the ship.

The Lido pool area
The Dining Room
The Pinnacle Grill
They change the lift carpets daily
A cool relaxation room
The World Stage

Monday 22nd September – Juneau

We arrived at our first port in Alaska, the state capital of Juneau, on a wet and windy day. Juneau is unique among U.S. state capitals in that there are no roads connecting the city to the rest of the state or to the rest of the United States. We had decided not to take up any of the shore excursions while here, so after going ashore, we had a walk around town, visiting some of the many souvenir and jewellery stores that lined the streets. From what we could see, this seemed to be the main source of income for the town.

After wandering around in the rain, we paid a visit to the Imperial Saloon, Alaska’s oldest bar (established in 1891), which was an interesting place, but with very little in the way of atmosphere. After a walk around the town trying to find a Starbucks, to no avail, we settled in a local coffee shop for lunch. I even managed to find some street art while wandering around town.

Later in the evening, in an effort to get out of the rain, we visited the famous Red Dog Saloon. This was a great fun place, a true dive bar with sawdust on the floor, good beer, and a gnarly old guy singing country songs, and a black bear chasing a guy through the ceiling. They also claim to have a pistol that belonged to Wyatt Earp, one of history’s most notorious gunslingers. How true the story is debatable, as there is also a notice in the Imperial Saloon saying that they took his gun from him.

When we returned to the ship, we discovered that we were correct in not choosing any of the available shore excursions as they had all been cancelled due to the poor weather. We really felt sorry for a couple we met who had booked this cruise with the intention of going whale watching in Juneau, only to have their trip cancelled at the last minute. Perhaps because it was late in the season, our impression was one of a town that relied on its past history and the millions of cruise ship passengers who visit each year.

Tuesday 23rd September – Skagway

Skagway, our second port in Alaska, was our destination today. At the northernmost point of the Inside Passage, Skagway is the main port of call for cruise ships, and was the trading post serving the Klondike Gold Rush in 1897. Within three months, a tent and shack town of 20,000 people had sprung up, and throngs of hopeful gold-seekers stampeded the town, the jumping-off point for the 500-mile (805km) trek to the goldfields in the Yukon, and it still maintains its historical feel, with old original wooden buildings and boardwalks instead of pavements.

On coming ashore, we were picked up by our excursion guide and driver, a quirky little lady with a great sense of humour. Our trip started with a visit to Liarsville, a replica tented town so named for the journalists dispatched to Alaska during the Klondike Gold Rush who fabricated tall tales from a safe location away from the hardships of the Yukon. We were greeted by a troupe of 4 young sourdoughs and dance hall girls, who acted out the role of residents of the town. This camp, situated at the foot of the White Pass, nestled beside a waterfall, on arrival, we made our way to the Hippodrome, where our hosts put on a fun and irreverent show, performing with great humour, a hilarious melodrama and a poem by the “Bard of the North,” Robert Service.

We were then taught the art of gold panning, before being set free in the Liarsville gold fields, where we were guaranteed to find that precious metal that started the gold fever! We did indeed find gold in our pans, but not enough to start another gold rush, it’s sad to say.

Pockets weighed down with our gold, we then made our way to the Liarsville BBQ area for an all-you-can-eat alfresco campfire feast in the forest. The wild Alaskan-caught salmon was freshly grilled over an open wood fire, Prospector Pete’s Reindeer Beans really gave the meal that authentic touch, and the blueberry cake finished off a great meal. It was then fun to wander through the camp and visit the Fancy Goods store, bordello and laundry tents to view the antiques and vintage clothing left behind by the miners and ladies of the evening.

Back on the bus after lunch, we returned to Skagway to board the 1898 White Pass Railway, which took us up the treacherous pass the original prospectors had to undertake on foot while heavily loaded with supplies, eventually, after passing back through customs and passport control, back into Canada, to reach Fraser, British Columbia. The trip took us through mountains, tunnels and glaciers, often above the clouds, in restored old railcars complete with a log-burning stove in the corner. The commentary given during the trip was very entertaining and informative. Once in Fraser, we were happy to get away from the cold weather by re-boarding our bus for the return journey, back into the USA and Alaska, on our way back down to Skagway.

The final visit of our trip was in the town where we were given a tour of the upstairs rooms of the infamous Red Onion Saloon. This was an interesting place to visit, full of history, with the bar staff and girls all dressed in period costumes. Of course, we stayed a while to sample some of the beers on offer.

We truly enjoyed our time in Skagway and the excursion we had chosen, one we would recommend to anyone making the same journey as us. It really provided a taste of how things really were in the gold rush days of the 1890s. We were only too glad we missed a snowy season, especially when we saw the size of the railway’s giant snow blower engine.

Wednesday 24th September – At sea

We were at sea all day, cruising down the Endicott Arm, a deep fjord which led to the stunning Dawes Glacier, the captain had opened up the bow section of the ship so I took the opportunity to get up close to the glacier, fortunately not too close that I was required to wear my thermals, although the decks were very wet and slippery. The views of the glacier and the bergy bits (large lumps of ice that had calved from the glacier) were a little of what we had come to Alaska to see. After reaching the glacier at the end of the fjord, the ship was turned around, and we continued our voyage South. We then spent the rest of the day having a relaxing time playing cribbage in the games room, then attending an origami presentation where we learned how to make a crab; it was great fun. Jim was highly delighted when we returned to our cabin to find that our steward, Riben or Ganan, had created a towel elephant sculpture for him. When it came time for a shower, he didn’t want to use his towels.

Our evening meal tonight was in the Pinnacle Grill, our speciality dining option. The food and service in this restaurant were of an extremely high standard, making it really special indeed. The day was finished off listening to some good music in the Rolling Stones Lounge.

Thursday 25th September – Ketchikan

Today we visited Ketchikan, the salmon capital of Alaska. Again, this town seemed to us a wee bit tired and worn out, relying on the tourist trade, although there did seem to be more fishing boats around, and we did see some industrial parts of town.

Due to a strong tail wind, we made good time on our voyage South, bringing our arrival time forward a couple of hours, this meant that they were able to add in an additional performance of the towns Lumberjack Show, which we decided to take up, since this wasn’t due to start until the afternoon, we went exploring to find the elusive, to date, Alaskan Starbucks. Tucked away in a Safeway supermarket on the outskirts of town, we managed to find it. We were delighted, of course, but just a little saddened that we couldn’t complete the challenge by finding a Lego store.

Back in town after our adventures, we joined the audience of the Great Alaskan Lumberjack Show and had a thoroughly enjoyable afternoon watching 2 teams of 2 guys representing the US vs Canada, competing against each other in a tournament of wood-cutting activities. The skills they demonstrated with chainsaws, axes and the like were amazing and all performed with great humour as they egged on the audience to cheer them on. It was a great fun visit and another highly recommended one. You can get a taste of what we saw in this YouTube video.

Whilst in town we paid a visit to its oldest pub, the Arctic Bar, which by coincidence had 2 of the musicians from the Rolling Stones Lounge band playing, they have a regular gig there each Thursday when the ship is in port, this was a typical dive bar and right up our street with good beer and real friendly people, we even sampled their signature shot, a Ducks Fart, a once in a lifetime experience. All too soon, sadly, it was time to leave this great port to continue our voyage South.

Friday 26th September – At sea

Our final full day on board was like all the other spent at sea, starting with breakfast, a game of cribbage in the games room and another visit to the origami class, this time to make a rose, we were all delighted to spot an Orca playfully swimming alongside us while we were in the class, it was good to see, but I didn’t take any photographs of it as I have found in the past that they just don’t turn out right.

One of the highlights of the day was the City on the Sea presentation in the main theatre, given by the cruise director and the captain and many of the crew members, which explained a great deal about the day to day operations of the ship and crew from the engine room to the bridge with everything else in between, we were amazed to discover that the ship had its own tailoring department which manufactures all the uniforms worn by the officers and crew, what also astounded us was the amount of provisions taken on board at the start of each cruise.

Another highlight for us was our evening meal. We decided to make a reservation for the pan-Asian Tamarind restaurant, and the meal we had was something really memorable, and the service from our waitress was marvellous; she couldn’t do enough to make the meal a special one. All in all, for a supposed quiet day, it turned out to be another one to remember, despite having to pack our cases during it.

Saturday 27th September- disembarkation day

Having packed our cases the day before, we were able to take our time over breakfast and enjoy the last few hours of the trip before going ashore in Vancouver. Despite us both saying that we are not cruise people, we both thoroughly enjoyed every minute of our time on board. We experienced great sights in some stunning locations, met some really nice people from a variety of nationalities, listened to great musicians every night, ate some wonderful food, all served up by people who bent over backwards to provide a great experience, so thanks to Holland America Line and the crew of the magnificent MS Koningsdam for adding to our memories.

Banff to Vancouver

by theholmesteader, posted in canada, International, Rail Journey, Thailand, Travel, Uncategorized

Thursday 18th September – Banff – Rocky Mountaineer

A special treat for us today, as we set off on our Rocky Mountaineer train on their “First Passage to the West” journey from Banff to Vancouver. As this is a private railway company, and there are no public access stations, we were collected at the hotel by the Rocky Mountaineer team. At this point, we said goodbye to our luggage before being taken by coach to their terminal in Banff, where we were greeted by our carriage hosts and invited to board car number 3 via a lovely red carpet, guided upstairs and shown to our very comfortable seats near the rear of the car, where we settled ourselves down and started exploring our environment for the next 2 days.

Melissa and Victor

We had booked a Goldleaf Service rather than the Silverleaf, which provided us with a double-decked carriage with a lower deck containing a dining room, large, spacious and clean toilets, an open-air viewing platform, whilst on the upper deck we had larger, comfier reclining seats with tons of legroom, plus fabulous full glass-dome windows with panoramic views. This level of service also provided an upgraded food and drinks package plus a slightly superior hotel at our mid-point stopover. Was it worth the additional cost? Read my conclusions at the end of the journey.

Once underway after being waved off by the station staff, we made our way through some stunning scenery, and each corner when turned provided another beautiful vista. The staff were very attentive and after an initial safety briefing, our carriage hosts Robert, Victor and Melissa described the day’s schedule and the sequence of dining options. We were lucky to be allocated to the first breakfast group today, and went down to the dining room for a really good breakfast. When entering the dining room, you are asked if you wish to share your table with other travellers. We chose to do so, and during our 2 days, we met and chatted with some friendly and interesting people. Having previously seen some YouTube videos of the journey, we were looking forward to some good food, and we were not disappointed.

Robert in the background

The day continued, with Robert giving us a running commentary highlighting the areas we passed through, pointing out the significant attractions. At times, there were just too many sights that it was difficult to photograph them all. All of this was done whilst being served complementary drinks and snacks. All too soon, lunch time rolled around, and we went down to the dining car once again for some excellent food accompanied by a glass or two of fine Canadian wine.

Jim loved this, he had it twice

When we were passing through towns and villages along the way, it was really good to see people being excited when the train passed through. People were holding up children so they could see the train. People were running out of their homes to the trackside to wave. One pair of fans, Robert told us, is Doris and her husband Brian, who greet the train each time it passes their house, near the town of Canoe. He told us that the Rocky Mountaineer staff became so fond of Doris’s big, joyful waves that when they discovered that they had an approaching anniversary, they invited them on board for a trip to celebrate. They then sent Rocky Mountaineer staff to wave at them as they passed their own house. It was eventually discovered that it was their dogs who could tell from the sounds and vibrations of the Rocky Mountaineer trains that alerted them when they were approaching. Right on schedule, there they were, standing on their back porch, wildly waving at us as we passed. As you can imagine, we were all just as wild with our returning waves.

The pace of the journey was at all times dictated by the volume of traffic on the line at any given time, with freight trains taking precedence. As there were a number of trains in front of us, we were often slightly delayed. Due to these delays, we were served an extra meal at dinner time, which was very welcome. It also allowed us to take some nice sunset photographs on the way. I thought that I would be taking tons of photographs during the trip, but there was just too much wonderful scenery of mountains, rivers and lakes, that it was impossible to capture it all. We were told that this is the busy season for grain trains, which are given priority on the line. This caused us to reach Kamloops much later than expected. On arrival, we boarded coaches in the dark and were taken to our hotel, the Windgate, to find our luggage already in our room, or at least some of it. By the time we checked in and searched, and found Jim’s misplaced backpack, it was time for bed.

Friday 19th September – Rocky Mountaineer

Day 2 of our railway journey started with us being collected early in the morning and taken back by coach to the Rocky Mountaineer terminal to reboard the train to be waved off by the terminal staff. We were later told that they were the night shift staff, and waving the train off was the last duty of their shift. As we had our meals on the first sitting yesterday, it was our turn to dine in the second sitting, while the first group were having their breakfast, we were given a coffee and a pastry. This was a nice way to start the day, riding along the Kamloops Lakeshore watching the eagles soaring above the waters, in yet another brilliantly sunny day, the weather on this trip has surpassed us; we never expected it to be so sunny and warm.

Early on in our journey, we encountered a couple of giant freight trains. The length of these trains is mind-boggling, at over 3 miles long, with well over 150 box cars; one recently took well over 5 minutes to pass us.

As we travelled further west, following the banks of the magnificent Fraser River, the landscape changed from an almost arid prairie to more agricultural flat lands. Our crew, Robert, Victor and Melissa, kept us informed and entertained during the journey. It appeared that all the hosts on board were linked via radio, so they were able to point out any highlights and wildlife we encountered along the way, but importantly, they kept us going with drinks and snacks as we travelled.

I apologise for the lack of photographs in this edition of the blog. We were enjoying the journey so much, it seemed such a shame to miss anything whilst behind a camera, so to compensate, here is another YouTube video; however, this one shows our journey in reverse, but we did pass through all of the places mentioned.

We eventually arrived in Vancouver and were taken by coach to the Sutton Place hotel, when we checked in and given our room key, we were very pleasantly surprised by the room we were allocated and opened the door, it was fun to walk down our hallway towards our sitting room, which sat alongside our kitchen and dining room, then we discovered the 2 bedrooms with their giant king sized beds, I chose the en-suite one, mainly due to my nocturnal activities, whilst Jim was more than happy with the other one. The large balcony overlooking the city was an added bonus.

Saturday 20th September – Vancouver

After a visit to the local Tim Horton’s for a quick breakfast, we returned to the hotel to finish packing and took advantage of a suitable time to catch up with family in Scotland and Australia, before departing on our cruise.

After a bit of a Snafu with an Uber hire, we were eventually dropped off at the Canada Place cruise terminal, where we had to pass through security and USA customs and immigration. Despite the long queues, we passed through this fairly quickly, and we boarded the MV Konigsdam and were directed to our stateroom.

In conclusion

I have travelled on many rail journeys listed as one of the world’s most scenic, only to find them a wee bit mediocre. This journey, however, I would certainly say has been the best I have travelled on to date. The scenery we passed was fantastic; there were sights to be seen around every bend and turn in the route. The Goldleaf carriage, with its high, full glass-dome windows, which provided wonderful views of that scenery, made it all the more special with comfortable seats, entertaining and knowledgeable hosts, a lower deck dining room and viewing platform, in addition to the wonderful food and drinks that would rival any high-class restaurant, puts the service at the top of my list. If you are considering a trip on the Rocky Mountaineer, don’t hesitate to upgrade to the Goldleaf service; it certainly is worth the additional cost.

The next instalment of this trip’s blog will follow shortly

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India’s Golden Triangle

by theholmesteader, posted in International, Travel

Following my return from India and Sri Lanka, I have been quite busy preparing for the coming festivities. This led to a delay in getting my travel blog for the India stage of the trip completed, thankfully it is now done and hopefully will bring back memories to those who joined me in the adventure, perhaps inspire others to venture out into the world, or simply to while away some time reading it.

The blog can be found on the MY TRIPS AWAY page, or by simply clicking on the following link.

India 2024

Sri Lankan blog to follow, soon I hope!

Melbourne 2023 – Part 5

by theholmesteader, posted in Australia, International, Travel

I know that I have returned home and back to feeling cold again, but I thought it would cheer me up, and make sense to finish off the blog for this trip, so here is the last instalment.

Wednesday 22nd February

Today was Briony’s birthday and as we were meeting the family for a meal in the evening, I decided to stay quite local. I took the train a couple of stations up the line for a bit of exploring, again mainly to see some murals, I certainly have visited many places in the Melbourne area this trip. On my return to Mordialloc, I happened to bump into Graeme and Briony, who had popped out for lunch at Main Street, so we all had lunch together. I then went for some shopping and a coffee before returning home.

In the evening, we went to Beaumaris, where we went to Oshima, a local Japanese restaurant, where we were joined by Sean, Moni, and the boys for a lovely buffet meal, when we got back to Pat & Kay’s we all had fun looking at photographs of the many cakes Kay had made for her children over the years using instructions from a Good Housekeeping book of children’s cakes. Graeme surprised us when we returned home by producing his production of another cake from the book for Briony, spectacular and tasty it was too.

Thursday 23rd February

Today I went into the city to do some shopping and to get my phone contract sorted out, I visited Queen Victoria Market, which was a busy vibrant place displaying none of the shortages I had been reading about in the UK papers, lunch at the market was a really good Turkish lamb sandwich and a coffee sitting outside watching the world go by. I then went to an Optus phone shop and sorted out my phone setup before wandering down to visit the Stella Maris, the Seafarers Centre on Little Collins Street, there I had a nice chat with Lee-Anne, the manager who kindly gave me a tour of the centre, which is very impressive. Lee-Anne expressed a keenness to open links with our Glasgow branch of the Merchant Navy Association, saying that she would be happy to keep in touch with us and pass on our details to some of the regular visitors to the centre.

Shopping and phone sorted, it was time to head for home, stopping off in Mates in Mordialloc, to wait for Graeme before we both hit the trail back home.

Friday 24th February

It was a scorcher today, much too warm to do much, it was even too warm to be outdoors, so it was a chance to sit with my book in the lounge with the AC turned on. However, boredom got the better of me and I got the lawn mower out and cut the grass and tidied away some weeds, then it was back indoors to cool off. I eventually went into the shed and designed and made a coaster for Briony’s brother Andrew, he is a bit of a petrolhead with a liking for Holden Commodores, which was his first car, both Graeme and I are sure he will like the finished result. The high temperatures continued into the evening so we all gathered around the AC with some cold beers to keep us happy.

Saturday 25th February

Today we went into Melbourne’s CBD to go on a Chocoholics tour, we met up with P&K at St Paul’s Cathedral, where we met with Tonya, our tour guide, and the rest of the group. Off we went initially to Degraves street to visit Clementine’s to sample the first of the day’s chocolates from Chocamama, from there we went to the fabulous Block Arcade to sample the wares from Coal River Farm, a Tasmanian Chocolate and cheese producer.

The Royal arcade was our next stop and we dropped into the original Koko Black shop to choose our sample selection, we were all spoiled for choice here. (Check out the video tour when you scroll down on the linked page) After a stroll through the city, we arrived at Guildford Lane and the Scoopy Milk bar, where were treated to a serving of Bingsu, a bowl full of snowy shaved chocolate ice, condensed milk, raspberry boba, and fresh salted fruit to tempt our taste buds. This was a great way to spend a couple of hours, getting a chance to visit some different spots of the city.

As Briony had to return home Graeme and I stayed in the city for a beer in the Duke, (a favourite of Jim & mine while in Melbourne last year), before we got a train back to Mordialloc, where we walked to the Braeside Brewery for a couple of pints and a nice pizza, I had a rather spectacular Chicken Parma one which topped of yet another great day.

Sunday 26th February

Today we drove down to Mount Eliza to visit Andrew and Sheree and the children Isla and Leo, after a stop at their home, we all went to the Ranelagh Club, their local tennis club for lunch, it was a good place to sit in the sunshine, enjoying the food and the company.

On our return home, we all had an afternoon siesta before watching that night’s episode of Australian Survivor, which has become a little bit addictive, I will need to find a way to keep updated when I get home.

Monday 27th February

Today, for part of my birthday, Graeme and Briony got me, Pat & Kay tickets to see an exhibition called Time, by the artist Rone, in a long-neglected part of Flinders Street Station. Rone, an international street artist from Geelong, whose works can be seen in and around Melbourne has created a unique space that takes you back to a part of the world where time has stood still for 70 years or so. Each of the 11 rooms tells its own story of a world that used to be – from deserted switchboards to the ghostly library, lined with hundreds of fictitious novels marked with the exhibition and its artist on their spines, the room with the sewing machines almost looked like the staff had just walked out after a day’s work and the room left neglected for 70 years.

Watching over every room is a portrait of Rone’s long-time muse, Teresa Oman, and the scene is made more memorable with the clever use of lighting and an original score by local songwriter, composer, and multi-instrumentalist, Nick Batterham. A YouTube video tour of the exhibition can be seen here:

We all thoroughly enjoyed the exhibition, especially P&K, who were enthralled by the 1950’s newspapers covering the windows, they certainly brought back memories to them.

After the exhibition, we walked to the National Gallery of Victoria where we went to the member’s room for a coffee before making our way home. I met Graeme in Mordialloc and we got home to find Sean, Moni, and the boys had called round to say goodbye and we all enjoyed the Afghan meal that Moni brought over, it was so nice of them, as they all made me feel so welcomed and a part of the whole family.

Melbourne 2023 – Part 1

by theholmesteader, posted in Australia, International, Travel

Saturday 21st & Sunday 22nd January

After being picked up and dropped off at Glasgow Airport I didn’t have too long to wait until my flight boarded. Everything seemed to be going well until we had to wait for a wee while for them to de-ice the plane, more about this later.  The flight was up there with the usual Emirates standards and passed smoothly, I eventually got to see the end of the Elvis movie I had started watching last year.

Due to the delay in leaving Glasgow, we arrived in Dubai around 30 minutes late which only left me with around 20-30 minutes to get to the gate for my flight to Melbourne, as it turned out there were a few of us in the same situation so they held the flight back, so the mad rush through the airport wasn’t really necessary.   That flight also went well and after arriving on Sunday night, and going through the usual custom and immigration checks, I was met by Graeme and Briony and returned to their home in Aspendale to be met by a very excited Joffrey.

Monday 23rd January

A bit of a chill-out day to allow me to recover from my flight, as it was a nice and sunny day I sat out on the decked area and read my book and did nothing much else.

Tuesday 24th January

Up with the lark this morning to travel into the city with Graeme, he went off to work while I only had to stroll around getting to know Melbourne again.  I had a wander up Swanston Street towards Queen Victoria Market before heading to the Optus phone shop to get my Sim card sorted out, once back online I went for lunch before heading to the Southern Cross Station to make enquires about the journey I was planning to make on Wednesday.  My next stop was an Officeworks store to get some materials to allow Graeme to try out the laser engraver I had brought out with me.   Back in the city centre I then visited an exhibition in the Town Hall by the French artist Invader, although interesting it was a little small with only one piece by him, the remainder of the exhibition was made up of photographs of similar work in the city,  The weather in the city was very good for most of the day, however, just as I boarded the number 35 tourist tram, it started to rain so I was glad that I was undercover, the tram ride was very interesting and fun, something that Jim and I were unable to do during our visit, there always seemed to be problems whilst we were here.

After my day in the city, it was soon time to meet up with Graeme for a beer before catching the train home again.  Unfortunately, he had chosen a hotel I was unaware of and my phone ran out of battery on the way which meant that I got slightly lost on the way, but due to the kindness of strangers, I was able to meet up although a bit later than expected.  After a couple of well-earned beers, we headed home after a great day out in a city that I am beginning to get to know quite well.

Wednesday 25th January

An early start again as I headed back into the city to begin a journey from Southern Cross station to Rutherglen, a small town 190 miles northeast of Melbourne, near the Murray River border with New South Wales.  The journey was very good, the first part by one of the regional trains took me to a town called Wangaratta where I changed to a small bus onwards to Rutherglen.

After leaving the bus, I quickly checked into my accommodation in the Poachers Paradise motel, where my room was very nice and comfortable and suited my needs perfectly.  I then went for a look around town, a former gold mining town, today Rutherglen, recognised as one of the premier wine-growing regions in Victoria with around 20 wineries in the area, approximately 1 per 100 of the 2000 or so population.  I found the town and its residents very friendly, they were all really interested to learn that I was born and raised in Rutherglen Scotland and many were quick to tell me how it came by its name, apparently in 1860 gold was found in the area and in the newly formed Star Hotel, the publican, Ruglonian John Wallace, was told: “Shout the whole bar and you can call this town whatever you like.” So he bought a beer for everyone in the pub and called the town Rutherglen.

After a walk around town, I ended up in the same Star Hotel for dinner and a beer and enjoyed watching some of the Australian Open tennis on TV before hitting the sack.

Thursday 26th January

Today being Australia Day meant that it was a little quieter in town and there were no winery tours available so I settled for a long leisurely breakfast in Caffeine N Machine, a bakery café with a vintage bike museum display situated at the roundabout at the entrance to the town, I then discovered that the towns tourist information office across the road was open, and it was there that I was directed to the towns old school museum which became my next stop.  The museum was interesting with many exhibits showing life in the old town, it was also good to chat with the 2 volunteers in attendance, they were very keen to find out the differences between the 2 towns and they were quite surprised by the size of Rutherglen in Scotland.  After a nice afternoon sitting in the sun reading, I finished off the day with another nice meal in the Star Hotel before retiring for the night.

Friday 27th January

Today I arranged a tour of some of the wineries with one of the locals, Alister Chisholm, an ex-pat Scot who has lived in Rutherglen for a number of years and runs a B&B in addition to running tours.  After brunch again in Caffeine N Machine, I was picked up by Alister and off we went to visit ……. for some tasting sessions.  Back in town, it was time to visit the local supermarket for some bits for the return journey before catching the bus back to Wangaratta for my return to Melbourne, by the time I got back to Morialloc to be collected by Graeme I was pretty jiggered to say the least however, I really enjoyed my adventure into a part of Victoria I had never seen before and the town of Rutherglen was a great place to visit.

Saturday 28th January

Today we were all rather busy, Graeme and Briony headed off to one of her friend’s baby shower while I went out with Pat & Kay firstly to visit Shannons, a specialist vehicle auctioneers to see their current display of vehicles, we certainly saw some spectacular cars and bikes of all ages and standards, one that really stood out was the gorgeous red 1935 Swallow (Jaguar) SS1 ‘Airline’ Coupe thought to be the only one of its kind in Australia.  Our next stop was the Moorabbin Air Museum where we were able to see, clamber aboard and climb into the cockpit of a vast collection of aircraft of all sorts, it was great fun and certainly a wonderful way to pass an afternoon, from there we then visited an old haunt, the Naked Racer Café for a refreshing brew or two before head back to G&B’s at the end of another great day.

Sunday 29th January

For today Moni had booked tickets for us all to visit the Royal Exhibition Building Dome Promenade, this guided tour allowed us to experience spectacular views across the city along with an exhibition that explored the building’s significant history and varied uses over time, the Royal Exhibition Building is beautiful inside and out and sitting alongside the Melbourne Museum certainly made it an interesting place to visit.  It was really nice to be able to catch up with Sean, Moni, Jensen, and Ollie again.

  Once back home we chilled out watching the final of the men’s competition of the Australian Open championships with Novak Djokovic capturing his 10th title.

Singapore 2022

by theholmesteader, posted in International, Travel

Wednesday 28th September

Another early morning rise to get ready for our pickup for the airport, once we had checked out of the hotel we took off with what seemed like a new driver to the route, she mistakenly took and left us in Terminal 1 when apparently we should have been taken to terminal 4, fortunately, there was an airport bus just outside that was able to take us on the 30-minute journey over to the other side of the airport. Once in terminal 4, the confusion continued, our flight turned out to be with Qantas and not Emirates as expected. Once airborne everything went well and we both had a pleasant flight into Changi.

When we arrived it took us well over an hour to clear immigration and customs before being picked up by our driver and driven to the Furama Riverfront hotel, our home for the next week. After checking in and exploring our room, which we found to be perfectly adequate for our stay, we went out for a walk around to try and get our bearings. I had stayed in this hotel 4 years ago and had some idea where things were, so we went along the road towards Clarke Quay where we found a nice Thai restaurant to have some dinner before returning to the hotel ready for bed after a long and tiring day.

Furama Riverfront Hotel
A room like ours
The hotel pool & Jacuzzi
Clarke Quay
Clarke Quay
Clarke Quay

Thursday 29th September

After our breakfast in the hotel, we went along the main road into town heading for Chinatown. This is one of the city’s bright, colourful and vibrant areas and we were happy to wander the streets soaking in the sights.

Our main reason for visiting Chinatown was to go to the visitor centre, next to the Buddha Tooth Relic Temple, to buy some phone SIM cards and to scope out tickets for some of the attractions of the city, on reaching the riverbank on Raffles Place, where we sat for a while watching the world go by, we decided to head towards the Merlion Park at Marina Bay, we got there easily and stopped for lunch, Jim loved the large Merlion and Unicorn Elephant statues we found there.

The Meerlion
Marina Bay
Marina Bay
You just have to do it
You just have to do it
A Unicorn Elephant !!
Marina Bay

In the Marina. Bay, we could see the grandstand for the F1 GP we have tickets for Sunday’s race and decided to see how and where we could get there, we found the entry point easily, so we thought it would be a good time to visit the Gardens by the Bay and the Marina Sands Hotel. This is where all our problems began, almost all the streets in the area were closed off and no matter how many ways we tried, we just couldn’t get to them. Feeling a bit frustrated we returned to Chinatown to the Maxwell Food Centre, a typical Hawker food court, after passing through the colourful night market, to see what was on offer, and after a couple of most refreshing Tiger beers, we had a lovely meal from the Michelan rated Tian Tian Chicken Rice stall, we both agreed that it deserved the plaudits, afterwards, I just couldn’t resist sampling one of the delicious Fuzhou Oyster cakes again it was worthy of the praise. From Chinatown, we slowly made our way home after yet another warm and tiring day, the heat and humidity really sap your energy so it was nice to return to our air-conditioned room.

Friday 30th September

We had a bit of a lie-in this morning after yesterday’s long walks, but we were still in time for a good breakfast before heading out to find the Fort Canning MRT (metro) Station to take us up to Little India, this area of Singapore is where it’s mainly Indian population lives, when wandering the streets there you could be forgiven for thinking that you really were in a part of India. This week sees the festival of Deepavali being celebrated so the streets were decorated with colourful banners and lights and there were many flower sellers on the streets selling colourful garlands.

After a refreshing sugarcane juice drink to cool us down, we took the metro to Bayfront, intending to go up the Marina Bay Sands Hotel observation deck, but due to the F1 race, it was closed. We took a stroll around the shoppes in the arcades in the hotel in search of a coffee and to say that the place was a world apart from Little India would be an understatement, despite them only being 15 minutes apart by metro, there is even a mock canal with gondolas running through it.

Now that we were in the Bay Area, we crossed over to the Gardens by the Bay, where we decided to see it all if possible, this included the Double Conservatories of the Flower Dome and the Cloud Forest with its 35-meter waterfall and the aerial Cloud Walk. We were stunned by both of them, but especially the Flower Dome, with plant species from the Mediterranean, the African Savannah, and Australia, all in a massive structure. From there we had a stroll through the gardens to the Supertree Grove, the Supertrees are 18 tree-like structures 25 metres to 50 metres tall, they are vertical gardens that are home to enclaves of unique and exotic ferns, vines, orchids and also a vast collection of bromeliads.

The Flower Dome
The Cloud Forest

We then went up to the elevated walkway, the OCBC Skyway, a viewing platform between two of the larger Supertrees to enjoy a panoramic aerial view of the Gardens, we had also purchased a ticket for the Supertree Observatory, an observation platform at the top of the tallest of the Supertrees, which provided an even more spectacular view of the city and the bay.

We stayed in the park for dinner in Satay by the Bay, a hawker-type outlet before going back to Supertree Grove to see the evening’s light and music show known as the Garden Rhapsody. The music played tonight had a retro pop theme and was well coordinated and it was great fun lying on our backs watching it all.

Garden Rhapsody

We made use of public transport a lot today, using both the MRT and buses in getting about the city, mainly to avoid the restrictions due to the Grand Prix, but we still managed to put on a few thousand steps on the way. Again we returned to the hotel very tired but happy after yet another great day.

Saturday 1st October

This morning we jumped a bus down to the harbour front to get the Singapore Cable Car, a cable car ride north to Mount Faber, one of Singapore’s highest points, when we got there we were slightly disappointed as, apart from a walk through yet another rain forest, there didn’t seem to be much to do or see, perhaps. Perhaps we have just become a bit rain forest jaded.

We went back on the cable car which then carried us south to Sentosa Island, an island resort off Singapore’s southern coast, from what we could read about it, it looked like a super place to visit, with beautiful beaches, plenty of bars and restaurants and loads of activities such as zip wires, bungee jumping and what we fancied doing was a few runs on the Skyline Luge, a thrilling gravity fuelled ride downhill that I had first tried in New Zealand. We booked 3 runs intending to create our own Singapore Grand Prix, the first 2 runs went well, with each of us gaining a victory as we rode down the purpose-built tracks with their hairpin corners, tunnels and downhill slopes through the forest, however, it all changed on the last run, it had started with light rain as we took off, but by the time we reached the bottom we were in the middle of a tropical monsoon and thunderstorm, soaked to the skin, we shared the victory, the championship was drawn.

A Sentosa Saturday

After waiting for the storm to abate, we returned to the cable car to take us back to the mainland where we eventually made our way to Chinatown for a late lunch/early dinner and a well-earned beer in the Maxwell Food Court, which is becoming one of Jim’s favourite places where he likes to sample something different every time we visit.

While we were there the rain started again so we agreed to return to the hotel to dry off a bit, before going out for a snack and a beer in nearby Tiong Bahru, one of my favourite areas in Singapore, this area has a really cool vibe with its 1930’s Art Deco styled housing complexes, the suburb has become famous for its trendy cafes and independent shops. There’s also a local park and a traditional food market. There is also plenty of high-quality street art by a local resident, Yip Yew Chong, I first saw them when I visited in 2018 and they remain among my favourite murals. A 5-minute walk took us back to the hotel tired after yet another interesting day. (Expect to a page devoted to Yip Yew Chong’s work coming soon to my Street Art section)

Tiong Bahru Food Court

Sunday 2nd October

A big day today, we have tickets for the Singapore GP, which is undoubtedly the potential highlight of the trip for Jim (and me too). We thought that although the gates open at 10:00 we would wait until later to go to the track.

We started off after breakfast by going back out to Tiong Bahru to capture an image of a mural by Yip Yew Chong that I had missed during my earlier travels, we stopped off at the food court there and had some Kopi, (also known as Nanyang coffee) and a Singaporean version of a Portuguese custard tart, they were both very good. In order to see another of his wonderful murals we then went to the Amoy Street area to see his wall, describing some of Singaporean history on the wall of the Thian Hock Keng temple, since it was quite close we returned to the Maxwell Food Court for lunch before heading to the Bay Grandstand and our seats for the race.

Our seats facing the Sands Marina Hotel are very good with a great view of the track with one of the giant screens directly in front of us. The preamble to the race proper was very good, we had a W Series race, which is a fairly new series designed to encourage women into the sport, and then we saw the Formula 1 drivers parade where the drivers were taken around the track in a collection of historic vintage cars, this was when things changed a little.

Before Merchandise
After Merchandise
Our view on the day

At this point, the heavens opened and we had a massive rainstorm, despite cagoules and ponchos, we couldn’t stay dry and, in addition to almost everyone there, we retreated to the area under the grandstand to shelter from the rain in the hope that it would eventually stop and the race be allowed to start. After a nail-biting hour, the rain stopped and the decision was made to start the race, so following the Singaporean National Anthem, it all got underway.

It was brilliant, the sound of the cars, the vibration in our seats as they passed and the additional visuals provided by the giant screen opposite all added to the once-in-a-lifetime event, after a fabulous fireworks display, we left the area on a high and made our way back to the hotel after a fAntastic day, the potential of the day was fully realised, it was a highlight.

Race Day

Monday 3rd October

This morning, now that the road closures and the restrictions placed due to the F1 were lifted, we made our way to the Marina Bay Sands Hotel and its observation platform on the 57th floor, the views over the city were spectacular, it was good to see many of the places we had visited and the F1 track from above, however, being up so high it felt extremely warm so we were glad to return to ground level and the air-conditioned comfort of one of the malls in the hotel.

Marina Bay Sands Hotel Observation Deck

Our afternoon trip was one we had always planned, a river cruise on one of the city’s Bumboats from Clarke Quay, this trip around the river was very relaxing and enjoyable, providing yet a different viewpoint of the sights seen earlier.

With time to spare after our cruise we thought we would visit Kampong Gelam, a neighbourhood known as Arab street, to see some murals by Yip Yew Chong, one of my favourite ever artists, again, nature took over with yet another rainstorm, this time, unfortunately, we were in a predominantly Muslim area so we couldn’t take solace in lunch or a beer in one of the malls, we sat it out as long as we could before trying a sprint to the nearest MRT station, we thought we had done well staying reasonably dry until a passing motorist going through a puddle completely drenched us. The murals did make the trip worthwhile though, and I did find a quirky camera shaped building that turned out to be a camera museum, unfortunately it was closed, which was a shame as it would have been a great place to shelter from the rain.

Kampong GelamVintage Camera’s Museum

We made our way back to Clarke Quay to have an enjoyable dinner in a Hawker Centre we had seen earlier before returning to the hotel to pack our cases ready for our departure tomorrow night, stopping off in Boomerang, an Australian bar across the river from us for one last round of drinks.

Tuesday 4th October

For our last day in Singapore, we decided to visit Everton Road, #33 on the Time Out list of the coolest streets in the world at the end of our trip, it was a pretty cool area, but we couldn’t see what made it stand out over other places, perhaps we needed to see it at night. The area did have some pretty cool murals by Yip Yew Chong so the journey wasn’t wasted.

On my last visit to Singapore, Raffles Hotel was closed and undergoing refurbishment and was covered in scaffolding, so I couldn’t see much, this time, however, we saw it in all its glory. We thought that it would be very exclusive and that we wouldn’t be allowed in, how wrong were we, the staff couldn’t have been more helpful, offering to take photographs and guiding us to the best spots, it really was a special place to visit.

Raffles Hotel

With loads of time to kill, we visited the Newton Food Court for lunch, this Hawker centre is a bit further out of town, and although it had been recommended to us we much preferred the Maxwell Food Court which we visited frequently.

An MRT ride back into Chinatown’s Mohamed Ali Lane led us on a hunt for more murals by Yip, which was a great way to revisit some of the places we had visited earlier and to see them with fresher eyes, it is strange how all of our walks in the area takes us back towards the Maxwell, where we had to stop for a refreshing beer before returning to the hotel to rest for a while before being collected for our travel to Changi Airport.

Unlike Perth and Western Australia, we managed to meet Dan’s Challenge by finding A Starbucks (it wasn’t hard, there are 130 of them in Singapore) and a Certified Lego Store (there were only 7 of them).

We both fully enjoyed Singapore and its many attractions, especially the F1 Grand Prix, which was very special, amongst our highlights were the Gardens by the Bay, the view from the Marina Sands hotel’s observation deck, Sentosa Island with its cable car and Luge run, plus of course the hawker food courts, especially the Maxwell. I enjoyed seeing as many of Yip Yew Chong’s murals as possible, they really tell the story of his Singaporean life in vivid colour. The photographs shown above are only a sample of the many hundreds taken by both Jim and I, but I’m sure you will agree that they show just how wonderful a time we had there. I certainly would like to come back again.

[Return to My Trips Away]

Australia – Part 5

by theholmesteader, posted in Travel

Monday 12th September

Today was an exciting one, we had an early start with a scratch breakfast then on to a shuttle bus to the Port Douglas marina to board Quicksilver VIII, a fast wavepiercing catamaran, out to the the Agincourt reef located 75 nautical miles off the coast of Port Douglas. This reef which is reputed to be one of the best diving and snorkeling sites in the world, is located at the very edge of the Great Barrier Reef and provided us with some of the spectacular vibrant aquatic animal and plant life unique to Australia’s coast.

On boarding we had tea/coffee and biscuits before departure then a nice relaxing 1 1/2 hour cruise out to the reef listening to all relevant safety briefings, on arrival at Quicksilver’s activity platform we enjoyed all of it’s facilities, we loved watching the marine life from the underwater observatory, took a cruise in one of the semi-submersibles, Jim liked that so much he did another while I got suited up and went for a snorkelling session from one of the platforms, we didn’t feel brave enough to try the ‘oceanwalker’ helmet or scuba diving.

We had the opportunity to watch the crew feeding some of the many types of fish, Jim even spotted a great view of a Green Backed turtle while out in the semi, quite a rare experience he was told, all of this kept us busy and once we had seen and done everything we realised how hungry we were so we availed ourself’s of an excellent buffet lunch. Later in the afternoon we had a beer from the onboard bar before we headed beck to port. It was great fun sitting on the foredeck being buffeted by the wind and spray at 35 knots.

Once back in Port Douglas we did a bit of shopping before returning to the hotel tired but happy to have had another smashing day out.

Tuesday 13th September

A fairly lazy day today, we first went to the Four Mile Beach next to our hotel and paddled and frolicked in the lovely warm Coral Sea. On our return to the hotel, we put on our laundry then lounged by the pool reading our books catching up on some relaxation time. In the evening, after packing our cases, we took the shuttle into town for a last look around and a lovely Thai meal in the extremely popular Star of Siam restaurant, a final beer in town before returning to the hotel for an early night.

Jim tries surfing (without aboard)
Four Mile Beach Port Douglas

Wednesday 14th September

An other early start for us this morning, as we had a 3:40 am pickup arranged to take us down to Cairns sirport. We got to the airport in good time, the road was deserted at that time in the morning, and everything went well with our flight etc.

Arrival in Brisbane

We arrived in Brisbane and were met by our driver who quickly got us to the Grand Chancellor Hotel, our home for our week here. After dropping off our luggage we headed into town for a look around and to get our bearings followed by a nice lunch from one of the vendors in the local Wednesday city market. During our tour of the city we managed to meet what we call “Dan’s Challenge”, although we couldn’t quite find a certified Lego store, we did, however find Jimmys On The Mall, a great place to get our bearings when in the city.

First day in the city

We then popped over to the south bank to the Queensland Performing Arts Centre to book tickets for a show on Thursday before returning to the hotel on one of the free City Hopper buses to check in. Our room, although smaller than we have been used too, suited us fine, and we then spent some time on the Internet researching Brisbane and surrounding areas before heading out for dinner. This proved the only disappointment of the trip so far, we had chosen a local Mexican restaurant where the meal and especially the service was dreadful so much so thst I sent in an email, to the company, complaining, a first for me. After our early morning start we were quite pleased to return to the hotel for an early bed. Another good day in Australia.

QPAC
City Hoppers

Thursday 15th September

The sun was shining so off we went after breakfast for a trip down the river. Using the local free bus service to get into town we crossed over to the south bank where we found many activities and installations as part of the currently running Brisbane Festival, which for us is quite fortunate. The area was extremely busy with families enjoying themselves in the sun, and it was really good to see how much the city utilises the river, with pleasure craft and ferries plying their trade, there are many new interesting building projects going up and the installation of a new bridge, the Neville Bonner Bridge which looks like it will be pretty funky.

On finding the ferry terminal we went for a trip, on one of the City Hopper Kitty Cats, down to Howard Smith Wharves, the last stop, to find that was at a large riverside complex that included Felons Brewery, we enjoyed our time here, the large Barrel Hall, crammed full of barrels painted by local artists, had tons of room for diners and lots of seating on huge bean bags outside facing the river. After an obligatory beer we returned back upriver where we had lunch, a wander round the festival installation of giant spheres before relaxing in the sun on some more of Felons bean bags, when I touched the spheres my hair stood on end, it didn’t have quite the. Same effect on Jim.

Felons Brewery

We returned to the hotel, after a bit of shopping in town, to get ourselves ready for our evening outing. Yesterday we booked tickets for the musical “Girl from the North Country” featuring songs from Bob Dylan, the show, held in the impressive Lyric Theatre, a part of the Queensland Performing Arts Centrehttps://qpac.com.au/, the show was very entertaining and certainly a different way to listen to Dylan’s music.

Friday 16th September

We decided to search for some Brisbane street art today, we had asked earlier in the tourist information office and they couldn’t help, so armed with a couple of maps and a phone app off we set, it was extremely frustrating as we couldn’t find anything mentioned in the app. By the time we reached the Howard Smith Wharf we had given up. After stopping there for lunch, we caught a Kitty Cat back to the south bank, where, with a lovely ice cream, we lounged near the bandstand listening to a good set by Felicity Kircher, a local singer/songwriter.

As usual we did a bit of shopping on the way back up to the hotel, in the evening we had a takeaway meal in our room whilst Jim watched his new favourite of AFL, he is becoming hooked on it, it’s finals season and always supports the winning team, he is really forward to the Grand Final next Saturday. During this time I reached out to a local street art blogger who provided some hints of where to look, holding out more hope for tomorrow, despite the frustrations of the morning we still had a great day.

Saturday 17th September

With the information provided by @dkjstreetartphotography we set out again to find some of Brisbane’s street art, this time much more successfully, our walk took us through Fortitude Valley back again to the Howard Smith wharf next to Felons Brewery where we intended to take the ferry back to the south bank, however due to the lovely weather, we chose to walk the 800 metres across the impressive Story Bridge towards Kangaroo Point, once we had reached the Queensland Maritime Museum on the riverside walkway and had a look around, we stopped for a coffee at this point we thought it was now a good time to try out a Neuton e-scooter, once we got the hang of them we scooted along the remainder of the riverside drive towards the Merivale Railway Bridge to look at the Pillars Project, a series of murals painted by leading artists on the pillars supporting the bridge, they certainly were impressive. Whilst in the South Brisbane area it was easy to visit Fish Lane for more street art and a beer, the scooter ride was great fun and something we will do again,

Jim scooting along
Choc’n’chip for Jim
Rum’n’raisen for me

The sunshine then took us back to the Brisbane Festival site on the South Bank for another of the nice ice creams, and a bit of relaxation listening to some live music, before returning to our hotel for dinner, despite wanting to do it by scooter we thought it better to go by bus to avoid the city traffic.

Hot Wheels Holmes

Sunday 18th September

Whilst Jim went to scope out a local laundrette I met with Mike and Donna Holmes, distant relatives of mine in our hotel, although I had never met them previously, I have been in contact with Donna over a great many years in connection with our respective family history research, it was nice to finally meet with both of them and to put faces to the names, since they had both lived in Singapore for a while it was also good to get some tip for our visit there.

After our meeting Jim & I made our way into town where we topped up our phone cards then purchased a Go Card for the very good Brisbane transport system, and to buy some things for lunch. We then revisited the South Bank to take one of the larger City Cat ferries further down the Brisbane river. This was a great way to spend an afternoon seeing how the city is built around the river. We stopped off at one point to have our picnic lunch before travelling further down river visiting places such as Hawthorne, Tenerife and Bulimba before getting off at Northshore Hamilton, our last stop, after a walk around the area and some chill out time in the park, I love how the council provides plenty of picnic tables & benches, they even provide free electric BBQ’s for families to use, all of which are spotlessly clean.

We returned back up river getting off at the Eagle Street Pier where the are developing a new riverside complex, after a look around and the capture of some good street art we walked back to Queen Street to catch a bus back up to the hotel.

In the evening we walked into town for a meal in Hot Star Large Chicken, a place we had wanted to visit since we spotted it in Sydney, the food was very good and worth a visit, it certainly lived up to it’s name, the chicken pieces were huge. A pint in Brew Cafe & Wine Bar in Lower Burnett Lane, with it’s great murals by Drapl, before our walk up the hill to the hotel finished off the day nicely.

Monday 19th September

What would seem to becoming a regular for us, was a bus into town, buy something for lunch then walk over to the South Bank. This time we took a ferry upriver, there were limited stops on this route due to wharves closed due to damage caused by flooding earlier this year. We stayed on the ferry for the return trip, stopping at New Farm Park to visit the Brisbane Powerhouse, an old power station converted into studios for Brisbane’s creative, we managed to photograph a couple of good murals in the space.

The nearby park was a lovely place to have our picnic lunch and for Jim to have a post lunch snooze.

Once back on the South Bank we decided we would try riding an e-bike and eventually could find only one nearby, Jim had a trial ride and found that he didn’t like it too much, so I took the bike and he picked up an e-scooter, which we then used to go along the river bank for a while. Back in the CBD we pick up some things for dinner then returned to watch the Queen’s funeral on TV.

Lewars Hamilton burnin’ rubber

Tuesday 20th September

Our last full day in Brisbane started quietly with us sitting in the sun reading the papers with a coffee whilst our laundry was being done using facilities in the hotel.

We then went for a walk downtown via the nearby Roma Street Parkland and spent some time in the beautiful gardens, stopping off for an hour or so to read our books, it was so pleasant to just sit and relax without any hustle & bustle. Once in town we visited the Brew cafe again for a refreshment, and after chatting to the barman there, he directed us to Urban Climb, a climbing centre, where we could view some good murals by local artist Sofles. Fully refreshed, off we set by bus to find it, it certainly was worth our while as the place was fabby and murals were very good too.

We then used up the last of our travel credit returning to one of our favourite spots on the South Bank where we had lunch and another relaxing time watching the world go by and doing a bit of reading before returning to the hotel to pack our bags ready for our morning departure.

In the evening as the sun set we went for our last meal in Brisbane and visited Bishamon Japanese Restaurant just around the corner from the hotel, for a wonderful meal, we were lucky to get a table as the place is so popular, it would have been a shame to have missed it. This topped off a great time in Brisbane, Perth here we come.

[Return to Australia 2022]

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DZIA

by theholmesteader, posted in Street Art

Whilst in Glasgow at the weekend for the Merchant City Festival, I popped into the Tontine Lane, off Bell Street, to see if anything new had been added to the little collection of street art there. Nothing new had been added but I was pleased to see that the pieces created by Dzia were still there to be seen.

Dzia, originating from Belgium, is a multi-disciplinary artist who creates drawings, sculptures, and murals. A common theme in his work is animals, usually made up of complex graphic lines in which he establishes a recognisable style that evolves in his species.

The three pieces in Tontine Lane were created in one day in 2015 when he was invited by the Heverlee brewery invited him over when they were setting up a pop-up Belgian beer bar.

Tontine Lane – 2015

The giant Sea Eagle created by him I found in The Norwegian town of Bodø, just north of the Arctic Circle, it was created in 2016 for the Up North street art festival

Bodø – 2016

Berlin Day 2

by theholmesteader, posted in Glasgow, Street Art, Travel

I had a leisurely stroll into town for breakfast before heading to the meeting place for the street art walking tour I was going on, on the way I decided to go on one of the bike tours of the city, so I booked a 3hr one for Saturday morning.  The street art tour was very good and the workshop which followed was great fun, we got a chance to create our own stencil then used a few different techniques to create our own piece of ‘art’, our guide Alex was very knowledgeable and entertaining.  In the evening I visited the East Side Gallery where there is a graffiti painted stretch of the wall,  usual I took a great many photographs, these and more details of my day will be found on the relevant sections later.

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