Australia - Seeing in the New Year in Sydney

Being in Sydney for New Years Eve was right up the list of must-do experiences for this trip, especially as we had missed out two years before. We spent some time researching the best places to see New Years in Sydney and having read many other blogs we ended up agreeing with them - it was totally worth paying the extra for the best seat in the house, and getting what we felt were front row seats without having to sleep over night in a queue and wait all day in the sun (only to probably end up behind a tree!).

Our view as the sun went down

So, we booked tickets to The Point within the Botanical Gardens. Situated on the waters edge by Mrs Macquarie's Chair, with THE view across the harbour overlooking both the opera house and the bridge. The only obstruction were the boats in the harbour, but once the fireworks got going at quite some height, we forgot the boats were even there!

Australia - The Blue Mountains

With plenty of time in Sydney we decided to head off on a day trip and explore the surrounding areas. A good day trip from Sydney is to the Blue Mountains - a quite beautiful set of mountains and valleys, where the eucalyptus give the valley a blue tinge.

Lots of great views!

Australia - An Aussie Christmas

Christmas on the other side of the world would never quite be like home. The sunshine, beaches and surfing of Australia were a world away from the log fires, mince pies and family we were missing this Christmas. So when our friends Kat and Andy (who kindly had us for Christmas and New Year) asked whether we wanted an English Christmas or an Aussie Christmas, we quickly decided that having turkey and all the trimmings in 30 degrees just wouldn't quite feel right, and that the Aussie way would be the most fitting for the day.

Christmas morning

Australia - 12 days in Sydney

As soon as you see the opera house and harbour bridge with the most spectacular harbour in the world you know you are in Australia. Having been here twice before, we knew we were in for a good time, but this time it was for Christmas and New Year.

We were greeted by the fantastic Kat and Andy at the airport who were going to be our hosts for the next 10 days. It was rather nice to go back to a home (even better with a pool and tennis court on the roof in Surry Hills) like we did when we stayed in Melbourne with Stu and Megan. Huge thanks for allowing us to stay as accommodation in Sydney around Xmas is difficult to find and seriously expensive!

Our lovely hosts!

After a good night sleep and super brunch (the Aussies love their brunches) on Christmas Eve we were ready to take in the sights over the next 12 days.

Australia - The Hinterland of the Sunshine coast

Most people focus on the coast along the Sunshine coast, and I can't blame them. But there the hinterland is not to be missed and does not really add that much to your journey.

To change the journey a little as we headed back to the airport for our late flight to Sydney we headed inland from the Sunshine coast to the hinterland.

The drive and views are fantastic and there are lots of other things to do along the way from walks to waterfalls and swimming holes, to arty villages and did I say the views?

Beautiful walks in the hinterland

Australia - The sunshine coast

We had heard many good things about the sunshine coast and especially Noosa, from not only travelers, but locals to. It seems that the Gold Coast, which is further south on the other side of Brisbane, has a negative reputation with large high-rises, casinos, drink, drugs and lots of tourists and the Sunshine coast is the better beach area. So we sacrificed an extra day on Fraser Island and drove the couple of hours south when we got back from our day trip.

The sunshine coast

Australia - Fraser Island

Fraser island on the east coast just north of Brisbane is the largest sand island... in the world (queue impression of Jeremy Clarkson). This rather large sand dune or series of sand dues it dunes, is therefore an obvious stopping point along the Bruce Highway (which has become a bit of a second home for us).

Bruce

There are two places to get on the island - Hervey Bay and Rainbow Beach - however, as its made out of sand you need a 4WD... something our little rental was not. As we were travelling south we decided to pick up a tour from Hervey Bay. 

The best way to see the island is from a self drive in land cruisers but these tours and rentals are a min of 2 days and we didn't have time (and there was limited availability) so we had to stick to a 1 day tour. 

Australia - Whitsundays

725 miles north of Brisbane (more or less the distance from Lands End to John O'Groats!) we finally made it up to the Whitsunday's and Airlie Beach. We decided the best way to explore this area was to spend it on a sailing boat (one of our favorite ways to travel since we did it in the Bay of Islands in New Zealand). So we booked 2 nights, and 3 days on ex-racer yacht Silent Night.

Our home for the next few days

Australia - Turtle rum in Bundaburg

The joys of travelling include the getting from A-B and when these run smoothly that's all great, but there are times when things don't always go to plan and you have to be flexible and just get on with the situation in hand! 

We transferred in Sydney on to Brisbane and discovered on arrival that most flights out of the airport had been delayed due to high winds, which would mean we would arrive too late to pick up our hire car on arrival into Brisbane and to reach our AirBnB for the night. Luckily a kind flight attendant was able to move us onto an earlier flight, but on our arrival we found that our bags hadn't been transferred too! We had no choice but to head straight over to the car hire, and hope that when we drove back and our original flight arrived that our bags were on that flight! Luckily they were, and an hour or two later than planned we headed on to our AirBnB, on the outskirts of Brisbane. Having slept outside in a Swag for 3 nights and we welcomed the nice big comfy bed! 

Australia - Uluru - One hell of a rock!

We'd done quite a bit of research into the best ways to experience The Red Centre of Australia, many stay in resort and day trip out, but we wanted a real outback tour so booked with Mulgas Adventures and we weren't disappointed!

Mulgas wheels (named after the Mulga Tree)

We flew into Ayres Rock and joined their Rock to Rock tour over four days and 3 nights. Picked up from the airport we joined the Mulgas bus and our driver/cook/guide/joker extraordinaire, Lincoln, and discovered we had quite a mix of nations including, Swedish, German, French, Dutch, Swiss, Egyptian, American, Australian and of course the Brits!

Australia - Great Ocean Road

We waved goodbye to our Stu and Megan in Greensborough and headed off to drive along the Great Ocean Road which is a short drive to the south west and runs for 243km between Torquay and Warrnambool.

Our wheels

This stretch of surfing paradise was home to lots of wildlife, beaches, winding roads and rocky features. We drove from Melbourne to Warramnbol in a day stopping on route to check out the sights...

Australia - Arriving down under - geoggers reunited!

The first section of our Australian tour was actually more of a reunion!

Flying into Melbourne, the home of two fellow geographers from Reading University, we made the most of having the opportunity to catch up 9 years later (and for some great tour guides!).

Having picked up our hire car after an overnight flight we headed straight for St Kildas on the coast for breakfast with a view! We then drove into the CBD and parked up at Harbour Town so we could make the most of the fantastic Free Tram Zone in the city and in particular the Heritage Tram that circles the centre.

Boarding the tram

We finally made it to Federation Square decorated with a huge Christmas Tree made of Lego, and our meeting point with Nick Earl (wannabe weatherman now Dr and runner!).

Lego santa!

We grabbed a sandwich and enjoyed sitting by the river catching up on old times and getting top tips for our Great Ocean Road adventure. So much so we lost track of time and Nick had to race it back to work quick!

Singapore in 3 days

Singapore was a breath of fresh air after India... literally. The airport sets the tone with quick and efficient passport control, and bag pick up. It was also the first time we came across our first Christmas tree... with Star Wars figures as decorations!

Darth Vader baubles!

We really enjoyed Singapore and it was a good break from the craziness of India. Singapore is known as a stop over, with most visitors there to break up a longer journey or are using it as a hub, but we thought we would check it out for a few days, take in the sights and catch up with washing!

Top tips for Taj Mahal at sunrise

Having visited the Taj Mahal two days in a row (due to poor weather on our first day - you may find it a bit misty in November so visit in Sept/Oct to get clearer air if you can), we felt the need to share our top tips for seeing the Taj and getting those postcard perfect photos! 

However, don't expect to get into the Taj for sunrise, or be allowed to stay for sunset - they don't open the doors until 7:50 (in November).  But it is still worth the effort to get up early, as you will have the opportunity to get photos of the Taj with no-one in the way and the light will still change to allow you to get those colour changes.

Saving the best to last

After travelling for almost a month in Rajasthan we took our penultimate train in India to Agra to see 'THE' sight in India; the Taj Mahal.

Agra allures the crowds because of the wondrous Taj but it is not the only attraction in and around this city, it's Fort, mosques and the nearby ancient city of Fatephur Sikri are all well worth giving yourself two full days to make the most of this magical area.

We decided to stay right by the West Gate entrance at Hotel Sidhartha, which was perfectly located to see the sights of Agra itself and its surrounding areas.

What we had come to India for...

Getting around India

Getting around India, whether its in a city or across country, is relatively simple. The train network is extensive and perhaps provides the best method for getting around. However, it does not go everywhere and can be time consuming, so look at buses, a private taxi and internal flights as well, depending on your budget and time available.

Trains

We opted for a India rail pass to make things simple, as we could book all our train tickets in the UK.  Having spoken to several other travellers in Delhi railway station, it is clear that you can waste a lot of time trying to buy train tickets, and they can get booked up well in advance so if you need specific trains or are travelling to India's many festivals, it is worth planning ahead if you want a reserved seat/bunk.  There are some tourist quota tickets available for some trains, but we did not have to look into getting these too much and when we did, the train didn't have a quota. 

Trains are big

The holy city of Varanasi

Having arrived 4 hours late into Mughal Sarai we headed off by auto rickshaw to nearby Varanasi - the holy city.

Varanasi is one of the oldest continuously inhabited cities in the world. Situated in Uttar Pradesh it is the spiritual capital of India.

Varanasi's ghats on the Ganges River

30 hours on a train!

We left Jaislamer for our epic train journey to Varanasi which consisted of two trains with a 50 minute change over in the middle. The first leaving Jaislamer at 00.45 and arriving to Ajmer at 12.00 and the second leaving Ajmer at 12.50, arriving at Mughal Sarai (nr Varanasi) at 04.55 the next morning.

Hand painted platform signs

Given that Indian trains are notorious for being late we were a little cautious of this small gap between them!

Sandcastles and Sand dunes

After another overnight train we arrived into Jaislamer, the furthest point west before reaching the borders of Pakistan.

Jaislamer is known for two things its huge sandcastle standing tall in the middle of the town otherwise known as the fort, and camel safaris!

Jaislamer fort

The blue city

Jodphur is known for its speckled blue buildings, which was in fact until relatively recently restricted to the old town.

Originally painted to signify the home of a Brahmin and thought to repel insects, the old city was the only area that could have its houses painted blue. But others have in recent years got in on the act, and so now the city looks more like a patchwork of blue, yellow and red than a 'blue city'.

A patchwork city

From one festival to another

Leaving the large city of Jaipur behind us we headed further west by train (2.5hrs) to the small holy town of Pushkar.

You can't reach Pushkar directly by train, so ours stopped at nearby Ajmer, where we decided to take the local bus on to Pushkar. Getting the right bus was an experience as all we were told was to wait under the clock tower over the road, which was fine except for the mass of small minibuses with numbers but no English explanation of where they were going! We soon gathered a little group of westerners attempting the same mission and between us eventually found the larger bus to our destination.

The local bus to Pushkar

Festival of light

Jaipur is known as the pink city from the colour of the stone and painted decor used on the ramparts of the city walls and its key sights; The Amber Fort and the City Palace. But we were there for the great festival of Diwali (the festival of light) so not only was the city its usual pink hue, but the streets were covered with ceilings of multi-coloured lights and the skies filled with busting fireworks.

We arrived from Udaipur on the train (7hrs) and after a little confusion over where we were meeting our driver and who he was supposed to be collecting (Mr David Shoulder was on his sign) he eventually found us at the station masters office trying to call the hotel, this time with our names on his placard so an hour later we were finally on our way.

After a good nights rest and a breakfast of chocolate banana pancakes at Hotel Kaylan, we awoke to our next city for exploration.

Jaipur is the capital and largest city of Rajasthan. Founded by Maharaja Sawai Jai Singh ll who ruled the town of Amber where the magnificent fort is located just 10km outside of the city.

The Amber Fort of Jaipur

The city of romance

After the intensity of Delhi, arriving in Udaipur was  a welcome change. The station located on outskirts of the city (only a short 10 - 15 minute journey by taxi or tuk tuk) still had lots of traffic and roads lined with popup market stalls,  but as soon as we arrived at our hotel we could feel the change in pace.

Udaipur is in the South East of Rajasthan, surrounded by the Arwalli Hills and set on the banks of the shimmering Lake Picola. A city of palaces and tales of maharanas, its tag of the "most romantic spot in India" given by Col James Todd in 1829, even if now though a little worn and tired still fits this fine city.

Udaipur Lake

Delhi

We had heard alot of negative things about Delhi from friends and family who had visited before, many said don't even go there, but we always like to give places a chance and so we decided to stay for a few nights.

Having arrived into the (rather nice) airport at 1.20am and taking over an hour to go through passport control (e-VISAs are great, but not when the system fails!), we were confronted by our first taste of India - dodgy taxi drivers! We followed the advice we had read and after a couple of false starts, we got our government approved taxi and we drove off to our accommodation in Hauz Klas in New Delhi. A lot of the accommodation for Delhi is focused around the station and in Old Delhi, but we had heard a lot about how crazy Old Delhi was, so we opted for the south in a much quieter area.  However, it seemed that our taxi driver wasn't quite sure where to go so after about an extra 30 minutes driving around, we got as close as we could, handed over our payment slip and wondered through Hauz Klas until we found our  ABnB homestay. Finally at about 4am India time we were able to hit the sack and looked forward to thrusting ourselves into the sights, sounds and craziness that is the capital city of India...

Sights

Humayun's Tomb (INR250 pp) was our first sight of the Indian red stone architecture. The Taj Mahal's design was based on this tomb so it seemed like a great place to start. The best bit about this was watching the Indian sweepers going about their daily work keeping the tomb as free as possible from the constant dust of the city and litter from tourists.

Humayun's Tomb (5 Nov 2015)

Speak-easy’s of New York

Having a slight obsession with cocktails and being in the original city of the Prohibition bar we decided to spend two evenings trying some of the best speak-easy’s out…

Beauty & Essex

Located in the south of East Village on 146, Essex Street (even in NYC you can’t keep the Essex girl out of Essex!) this restaurant/lounge hidden at the back of a Pawn Shop was one of our favourite eats. A tapas like menu this was a great sharing dinner accompanied by some delicious unique cocktails.

Cocktails of Choice:

• The Bajan D’usse cognac, the Real McCoy 12yr rum, amaro, lemon nectar, lime, angustora, prosecco
• The Woodsman Woodford Reserve bourbon, allspice dram, maple syrup, lemon, muddled pears

It’s all about the food!

When in New York….you’ve got to try out all the different foods on offer! With so much to choose from we tried to make sure we savoured all the ‘top’ American eats across our trip.

Shake Shack

Our first night we decided we had to have a Shake Shack Burger from the original shack in Madison Square Park. A great tasting burger with a view of the Empire State, who could ask for more!

The greatest views in New York

1. View from the top of the One World Trade Centre

NYC in Style!

New York is definitely one for the girls! Having been one of those avid watchers of Sex and the City I think every girl who visits Manhattan secretly imagines themselves as Carrie Bradshaw strutting the streets – and secretly a little part of my inside did!

Front of Carrie Bradshaw's apartment in SATC

A city of villages (New York)

My favourite part of New York City was the fact there are just so many areas to explore. Having arrived at our amazingly homely Air B&B apartment in East Village (highly recommend!) we found ourselves feeling very comfortable in our surroundings.

So here are the highlights of our favourite areas of NYC:

East Village:
East Village used to be part of the Lower East Side of NY but since the 1960s in began to develop its own identity and is now very much a gentrified area and a great alternative to the more expensive West / Greenwich Village as a place to stay. ‘Typical’ New York apartment blocks with fire escapes line the streets and it is also home to some of the most highly recommended coffee and bagel shops  as well as the most popular speak-easy’s in Manhattan; Beauty & Essex, Death & Co. and Please Don’t Tell. It was a great place to base ourselves for our trip.

East...

A BIG Birthday in the BIG Apple

If I was going to HAVE to turn 30 this year, I decided that there was only one way to do so – in style!

So, I set upon writing a list of 30 (fabulous) things to do in my 30th year and top of this list was the one great city of the world I’d always wanted to explore but had always had in my head that it needed the money – or more importantly the excuse to spend the money – on doing it properly.  

I couldn’t think of a better reason to visit The Big Apple than to celebrate My Big Birthday.

So much so that during the trip we made sure everyone knew about it!

Beauty & Essex, East Village 

Photo of the month (May)

    Poppies in Giverny (29 May 2015)

Roycing around

Having spent many a weekend when growing up in the back seat of a classic car on the winding country roads of England’s green and pleasant land, when Dad mentioned he was off to spend a long weekend doing just this around the picturesque landscape of northern France, I jumped at the chance of being able to turn back time and join him on the 21^st Fougere Rally.

We left Wally (our not so appropriate Clio!) safely tucked up in a Portsmouth car park and met our ride for the trip at the harbour – a 1934 Rolls Royce – nicknamed the ‘Chocolate Rolls’

#ChocolateRolls

The Spice Island

Our first encounter with the Caribbean took us to the Spice Island; Grenada, which could also been known as the island of rum...but more on that later!

Thanks to the generosity of Chris' Mum (Carol) we were about to experience our first ever all-inclusive holiday with Chris Sister (Sarah) and partner John. Well if you're going to do an all-inclusive anywhere, the Caribbean is most definitely the place to do it!

Home from home

Grenada is one of the southern Caribbean isles and because of this it wasn't swarming in package holiday goers, mainly retirees staying for one – two months many of whom came back year on year because of just this reason (they’d practically moved in!). It's also known for being one of the safer and most friendly so when it came to choosing which island to make our destination we were easily swayed by the sound of this little paradise.

On arrival we were hit by the hot air, with temperatures averaging 30 degrees, we were very grateful as our rep met us with bottles of ice cold water as we transferred to our resort of choice The Cobaya Beach Resort.

Coyaba Gardens