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Assorted observations from Oz

Tropical Winter, Sat, 19 Aug 17
Simon with Charlie, Dee, Eva in Australia, Australia & Oceania

I keep learning more about Australian pests. The biggest pests – white people – brought with them a while host of other creatures that soon became a massive problem, for the land, but for humans as well. The story of …

All of the water

Tropical Winter, Fri, 18 Aug 17
Simon with Charlie, Dee, Eva at a Jungle, Sea, Waterfall in Australia, Australia & Oceania

Last night I slept well! Finally! The earplugs I bought yesterday really helped. Got up at a crazy 8:30am and had a wonderfully relaxing morning, not rushing anywhere, eating a glorious tropical fruit breakfast. Charlie and Dee got up after …

Under water

Tropical Winter, Thu, 17 Aug 17
Simon with Charlie, Dee, Eva at a Sea, UNESCO site in Australia, Australia & Oceania

What a noisy night! We have room on the back of the building yet I can hear all of the street noise! Are walls made of paper here? Every truck passing by made the air conditioner vibrate, and then a …

Tropical

Tropical Winter, Wed, 16 Aug 17
Simon with Charlie, Dee, Eva at a Jungle, Mountain, Museum in Australia, Australia & Oceania

Last night was colder than I expected, and definitely more noisy. But the warm day is making up for it! We had some fruit for breakfast and went out pretty early to catch a scenic train to Kuranda, a mountain …

The first breath

Tropical Winter, Wed, 16 Aug 17
Simon with Charlie, Dee, Eva at a City in Australia, Australia & Oceania

Today I woke up to a lazy morning. Charlie and Dee went for a run, Eva went to see the opera house and parks, and I just stayed home pretending this whole city episode isn’t happening. I spent the morning …

The lost day

Tropical Winter, Tue, 15 Aug 17
Simon with Charlie, Dee, Eva at a City, Transit in Australia, Australia & Oceania

Today was a travel day. We had a relatively lazy morning, Eva and I went to see the sunrise over the canyon, we had breakfast outside watching birds and people on the campsite, dingos running about… Really need to come …

In 150km turn left

Tropical Winter, Mon, 14 Aug 17
Simon with Charlie, Dee, Eva at a Desert, Mountain in Australia, Australia & Oceania

Today we got up very early to go and see the sunrise. However, we were once again almost late due to needless faff. This time driving was even more stressful – tour guides can wait, sunrises generally don’t. We barely …

The Rock Walk

Tropical Winter, Sun, 13 Aug 17
Simon with Charlie, Dee, Eva at a Desert, Mountain, UNESCO site in Australia, Australia & Oceania

Today we wanted to start the day by taking the Mala walk – the free one the Anangu people want you to take. Dee was slow to get up and we were almost late, which was quite stressful for me …

The. Best.

Tropical Winter, Fri, 11 Aug 17
Simon with Charlie, Dee, Eva at a Desert, Mountain, UNESCO site in Australia, Australia & Oceania

Today we got up early to be at the airport for our 9am flight to Uluru. Oh. My. Gods. On the plane, I had an aisle seat, but then spotted an empty window seat and just clawed my way to …

Way too much city

Tropical Winter, Thu, 10 Aug 17
Simon with Charlie, Dee, Eva at a City, Museum in Australia, Australia & Oceania

The last two days, both spent in the city, were hard. It was everything I don’t want from holidays now – having plans, busy streets, cold and wind, people wanting me to go to places, huge crowds… I’m tired. It’s …

Train, mostly

Tropical Winter, Tue, 08 Aug 17
Simon with Charlie, Dee, Eva at a City, Museum in Australia, Australia & Oceania

Today we got up early to go visit the settlement in Swan Hill. Dee couldn’t sleep last night and got up late, and Charlie, whose snores might have been related, did go for a morning run. I’ve seen the settlement …

Sniffing around

Tropical Winter, Tue, 08 Aug 17
Simon with Charlie, Dee, Eva at a City, Forest, River in Australia, Australia & Oceania

Today we got up around 9, after yet another night of sleep-not-sleep. Morning at the Farley Estate was rather pleasant – after some playing with the dog I sat on the verandah, under a blanket, enjoying the sun. Perfect state …

The road

Tropical Winter, Sun, 06 Aug 17
Simon with Charlie, Dee, Eva at a City in Australia, Australia & Oceania

This morning I couldn’t sleep past 7am. I tried, but soon I joined Eva, who got up even earlier, for a literary morning. Around 9 Charlie and Dee got up, abandoned their ambitious plan to go running, and we went …

August: Australia’s reply to February

Tropical Winter, Sat, 05 Aug 17
Simon with Charlie, Dee, Eva at a City in Australia, Australia & Oceania

They were waiting on the other side! We did eventually come out of the mammoth queue – turned out that Dee, who was landing half an hour later but has a UK passport which can be used in the automatic …

Two very short days

Tropical Winter, Fri, 04 Aug 17
Simon with Charlie, Dee, Eva at a Transit in Australia, Australia & Oceania

I am not looking forward to this. 27 hours between three planes. First leg, Edinburgh to Amsterdam, was very stuffy and sleepy – I was pretty much passed out. I think I dreamt that Eva kept offering me some of …

Reindeer with the polycule

Short UK trips, Thu, 29 Dec 16
Jemma and Simon with Charlie, Dee, Eva, Niki at a Mountain

Inverness visits

Short UK trips, Wed, 28 Dec 16
Jemma and Simon with Charlie, Dee, Eva, Niki at a City in Europe, UK

28 December 2016, as part of the reindeer with the polycule

Edinburgh life

Lived here!, Sun, 18 Sep 11
Jemma and Simon with Alex, Charlie, Dee, Eva, Iwona, Jacek, Julia, Lef, Lorraine, Lu, Matt, Michał, Miron, Niki at a Castle, City, Graveyard, Mountain, Museum, Park, Ruins/Excavation, Sea, Temple, UNESCO site in Europe, Poland