Back to the Humdrum (and the Opera House)

The holiday is over and we're back to life as normal, so what have we been doing?

• Dusting off the golf clubs and having a few rounds at Lane Cove & Cammeray
• Starting a new job (Bek) and having an RDO in the first week!
• Being front row centre in the Opera House Concert Hall to see The Whitlams playing with the Sydney Symphony and hob nobbing with the guest performer TORCHER in the Opera Bar afterwards
• Enjoying lunch in Manly by the Ferry Wharf
• Considering walking from Paddington to Wollstonecraft after failing to hail a taxi (Chalky)

This is a link to YouTube it's The Whitlams rehearsing before the show:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4QffXciakjU

I'm enjoying my new job, the team will certainly lift me to a new level of management, I have sussed out where I can shower and park my bike so the next step is to ride into work. It was great on Thursday night to meet Chalky after work and head straight to the Opera House for the concert, I also got my first pay packet on Thursday so we tested out one of the restaurants along the Quay.

It's a long weekend here this weekend and we've got a Football end of season dinner on Saturday night so we'll have some party shots to post from that.

Crocodile Hunting

On our taxi ride from the airport to Airlie Beach we were lucky enough to have a local on board and we asked for his recommendation for what else to do while we were on holiday - he suggested the ECO Friendly Crocodile Safari on the Proserpine River so we swapped our swimming costumes for camouflage and headed west.The trip included a ride in a boat up and down the river spotting crocs, we were the last onto the boat and strangely enough the front seats were still free so we took our perch and Chalky got his binoculars out (such a well used leaving present) and off we set.

The guides were very knowledgeable and these were wild animals we were seeing, as the weather was just starting to warm up there was a very good chance that the crocs would be out on the banks absorbing some sun, we were not let down, we saw about 8 crocodiles and other bird life along the river. Luckily!?! none of the crocs were hungry so we didn't see any chomping action - much to my disappointment.

We did get into the chomping action when we returned to camp as there was quite a bbq feast for us to enjoy! This was possibly the best meal we'd had all week. After lunch we headed out on a tractor train to spot some of the other wildlife in the mangroves - this time were were really trying to spot for snakes, along the way the guide gave us a lesson in Australian Bush including how you can use the leaves from one tree to work up a soapy lather to clean yourself like the Aborigines and how to get water from a paperbark tree.

We didn't spot any snakes but we did see some wallabies, brolgas and other birds.

We returned to the camp and some freshly made Damper & Bush Tea was available for us to enjoy - this video shows the guide stirring the tea for us!

This was the end of our holiday, we spent the last few hours by the Lagoon having a swim before our flight home. The holiday was fantastic, we loved swimming with the fish, chilling out and getting out of Sydney - I am sure we'll be seeing more of the Queensland coast line over the years!

There seems to be a new holiday trend that no one had told us about - it's Theme Dressing on our day out to the reef we saw and snapped it and on this trip there was another Theme dresser, we didn't manage a snap of this guy, I am sure we could have asked him and he would have happily posed but we were just too frightened - we don't need a new best friend!

Fly us into Fantasea - YEAH!

Fish on the reef - can you ever bore of these shots?

Hardy Reef & Reefworld from the air

We'll start by saying hope you're all enjoying the updates from our holiday and if you weren't already jealous you will be after this day of adventure!!!

First Officer Chalky

After hearing about Trav & Dan's fantastic New Zealand holiday and how they took a helicopter ride to the top of a glacier we were determined to do some activity on holiday in the air but not counting the flight to get to our holiday destination. There were helicopter flights on offer but we decided on a seaplane trip to the outer Barrier Reef and a day on the Reefworld pontoon on Hardy Reef, we would spend the day snorkelling, I was planning on giving Scuba diving a go, enjoy a buffet lunch and then cruise back to town.

It was another early start but Chalky wasn't fazed, he was quite excited about the flight...there were 2 other people + the pilot on the plane and we were sat in the front row, Chalky had a birds eye view out the front window and out the side window. The flight took us over Airlie, the Whitsundays, Hill Inlet, Whitehaven Beach & Hill Inlet, and the Reef.

Hill Inlet & Whitehaven from the air

The pilot seemed in no hurry and encouraged us to look out for whales, dolphins and if they looked like they were going to play he would take us down for a closer look... we did see a few whales - a mother & her calf but they were happy to just to float at the top and weren't interesting in jumping about, we also saw a few other whales and dolphins and sea turtles but we won't bore you with those aerial shots when we have loads from the water...

Groper in the water

Flying was the way to go as we were first on the pontoon - we got to see a big Queensland Groper fish called Mildred enjoying a few bits of frozen fish...this shot is her opening her mouth for a feed, I wish we'd got a video of it but all we've got is this shot!

This shot is not just gorgeous blue water but millions of little fish

And one naughty fish chasing them all away

I missed out on scuba diving - we needed to book in advance - so we had great fun snorkelling together, the water was so warm and the day was perfect, you had to remind yourself that we were about 30kilometres from land and swimming in the Coral Sea.

Chalky swimming into the horizon

more fish shots - we've got around 250!

Crusing home

Chalky with Chalkies Beach behind him

Video of Chalky out on the reef apologies if you can't hear him but the camera was in the waterproof casing.

Hanging Out on Holiday

Airlie Beach & Coral Sea

We decided that we deserved at least one lie in while on holiday so we had nothing 'officially' planned for 1 day, we would just hang out, go for a walk, swim, read and relax.

With Whitehaven Beach just having the most perfect sand in the world and us staying at Airlie Beach you would expect that we wouldn't be away from the sand and surf, however that is not the case, Airlie Beach has a coral type sand, which is not so white and appealing so the council has built a lagoon right on the waterside - a perfect location for Joan to enjoy, grass on one side and sand on the other, lots of shade.

We did go for a walk to Cannonvale Beach, the walk had a few nice views on the way but didn't completely captivate us so at the end when there were no cafes or gorgeous beach in site Chalky had lost interest and we ended up catching the bus back to Airlie where we had some lunch before making a few videos of us having fun...

Chalk swimming in the pool

Bek doing tumbleturns in the lagoon


Chalky doing a handstand, he never believes me when I tell him that his legs aren't straight, now we have the evidence!

And finally shark Chalky.....

Whitehaven Beach, Scuba Diving and Snorkelling

Chalky on Whitehaven Beach

So holidays are supposed to be about lie-ins and taking it easy, right? Well those of you who know Chalk would expect that, but when you're in paradise with the Coral Sea on your doorstep, the Whitsunday Islands being the only interruption to the calm sea and one of the 7 natural Wonders of the World, The Great Barrier Reef, just behind them sleep falls down the list of priorities!

(L) The Coral Sea, view from the Balcony,

above: Illusion pool

Our apartment was everything we were expecting and had everything we needed. The ensuite had shutters that you could pull back so that while you were in the bath all you could see is the sea. The swimming pool was an illusion pool so it dropped over to a waterfall and down to a second pool below it. Anyway, we hadn't come all this way to swim in a pool we can do that in West Ryde!

We made friends with Cassie in the local booking office and on her recommendation booked a day out to Whitehaven Beach taking in some snorkelling, optional Scuba Diving and a cruise past quite a few of the islands. So it was a 9am pick-up from our hotel and down to the Marina to board our transport for the day - Mantaray a cruiser along with about 25 others to enjoy the day. We cruised past some of the Islands with resorts on them and were mesmorised by the calmness of the water and the azure colour. Chalky put his hand up to do a scuba dive later on that day, (he had expressed an interest and when they mentioned that it was on offer that day - down from $70 to $45 he was a shoe in, but more on the scuba dive later.)

above: Hill Inlet (r) Us enjoying a swim at Whitehaven

First stop was Tongue Bay where the boat was moored and we boarded dingy to Hill Inlet, a stunning inlet located at the northern end of Whitehaven Beach on Whitsunday Island, as the tide shifts, the golden sand and blue hues of the inlet blend seamlessly to create a breathtaking mosaic.

(l)Bek underwater... (above) us with Chalkies Beach behind us

The only thing you can say about Whitehaven beach is that it's better than Blackpool!! OK that's not the only thing, it is thee most beautiful beach in the world (regularly voted as such) with perfect white silica sand that is so fine it doesn't heat up at all and you can polish scratches out of your watch face. The water is just the clearest, purist sea water you've ever seen, it's all at a beautiful temperature and you feel like you never want to leave. So yeah, s'awright.

After we were dragged away from Whitehaven back to the boat for a Mediterranean lunch then it was time for those brave souls who were scuba diving to start their briefing (and signing their life away and any incling of responsibility of the operator!!)

Chalky getting geared up for diving

With all the preamble out of the way and the test routines which sorted the wheat from the chaff (or rather the blokes from the birds) our numbers were down to 2 divers.

Put simply scuba diving is a bit like holding your breath and diving as deep as you dare to get a good look underwater, but put more accurately it's feeling like you're a great big, if slightly clumsy fish, being able to follow the fish as they meander down the sea bottom, all the while amongst the colour and splendor that is the barrier reef makes you feel awe inspired. The only other time I feel so lucky and thankful is when I look in the mirror each morning!!

To use another Blackpool comparison, it would be like going on th Arabian Derby and chucking your ball in the 3 furlong hole avery time!!

When my Scuba time was up then I joined Bek in a spot of snorkelling, she directed to me a boat where 3 blokes would feed the fish when you swam by so that you were suddenly in the middle of a school of fish with them sliding by your skin, a bit spooky but good fun.

We both had an absolutely fantastic day and finished it off in a suitably athletic fashion by having a few beers (in the bar that Mathew McConaughey and Kate Hudson frequented whilst filming here) and getting an Indian takeaway delivered to our apartment. Well we had treated ourselves to a lie in tomorrow

We had use of an underwater camera compliments of my old employer - Sony, as you can tell we had lots of fun with it and you've got lots more treats to come...we're going to do a post for each adventure on our holiday and then publish one entry a day.

Holiday Time

We're leaving tomorrow - we're off to the Whitsundays for a few nights to unwind and relax it's been ages since we've had a Bek & Chalky holiday and we're both really looking forward to it.Nothing much is planned but we've packed snorkels and swimming gear! We're leaving the bikes in Sydney, no bike riding for the next few days - that's a relief to Chalk who headed out with a group today and did 8okm, 50miles with an average speed of 27km/h, I just did a spin class!

We'll obviously be blogging when we get home, to give you a taster....

Sunday Bike Ride to Manly

Manly Beach

Something that we thought would just be a dream turned into a reality on Sunday - we rode our bikes to Manly. For those of you who don't know the geography of Sydney from where we live we had quite a descent down to the Spit Bridge before a big climb up through Seaforth before again descending down to sea level at Manly and then of course we had to get home again!

We had the bikes serviced last week so they were in top shape and we set off around 1pm, Chalky carrying the backpack with swimming trunks and towels packed.

Looking down from Dobroyd Head Manly Wharf side

We made it to Manly - the views along the way were stunning and we were both pleased with our effort climbing up through Seaforth. We had the same agenda as almost a year ago when Chalky & his mum headed to Manly - food first! We enjoyed a sandwich before heading back to the beach, by this time most of the heat had gone from the day and so we didn't get wet, we just enjoyed stretching out on the sand visualising the ride home, both not wanting to express our doubts and fears about what lay ahead and how challenging it might be.

Chalky stretching out after the ride

In all honesty the ride home was not as tough as we had thought, we covered 40km, 25 miles for the day and both deserved the barbeque meal we went to Mum & Dads for afterwards.

We're now looking forward to even warmer weather and our next trip to Manly that will include a swim!

Goto Boxing Day - Fun with Karl & Jayne for shots of us swimming in the pool.

Let's Get Dressed Up - Lidia Is 30!

Marilyn's flatmate and now our friend Lidia had her birthday on the weekend and we decided to make it a great excuse for a girls night out. The party was Wonderland themed so you were to get dressed in anything Fairytale!

Sophie came down from the coast for the weekend and on Friday night we caught up with Mick & Michelle, Karen & Cammy in North Sydney. Saturday Sophie and I had quite a shopping and Sydney agenda set, we walked the Bay at Drummoyne before having a spot of lunch at Birkenhead then onto a new chocolate shop that Soph had found - Belle Fleur in Balmain. The store was amazing, I had to walk out to just walk back in again to be hit with the smell of chocolate. They had a fantastic window display including pieces of art made out of chocolate and gifts for Father's Day all made from chocolate in the shape of spanners, paint tins, paint brushes and other manly tools!


The chocolate was pretty amazing - they put fresh cream inside some and they just melt in your mouth for quite a taste sensation. Our next point of call was Simon Johnson's in Pyrmont where we sampled some cheese and splurged on a few luxuries. Then it was back to Crows Nest as I had a hairdresser appointment and Sophie got some rest in before the party.

The party was celebrating 3 birthdays and the array of costumes was fantastic, we all had a great time as I hope the photos will tell. If only there had been enough light for me to capture Marilyn's bunny hop dance - it was sensational!

Fairy Soph & Angel Kaz

Lidia (one of the 3 Musketeers) and Witchy Mar & Bek

Soph - feeling the love!

Soph & Mar making friends

We all loved the cake - especially me, I had blue icing stain under my fingernails the next morning.

Lidia getting her own back on her trainer Mal!

Soph's wand was all danced out!

We all thoroughly enjoyed ourselves just dancing, catching up and having lots of laughs. Thanks for coming to Sydney for the weekend Soph it was great to spend time with you, thanks for driving us all to the party Kaz and good luck with your September detox we'll try not to tempt you away from goodness! And Mar thanks for your crazy dancing you entertained us all!

Happy Birthday Lidia - you have set a high standard for celebrations!