Kelandjon.com

After an early start to catch our flight out of Adelaide, we had a trouble free journey over to Brisbane for our connecting flight.

We hit a slight bump just as we were about to board our flight to Proserpine Airport. A lady with a very soothing voice announced that four people would have to be bumped from the flight due to adverse weather conditions at our destination.

This brought on a mild panic about the safely of the flight until we realised they needed less people on the plane to use less fuel so they could avoid a bad weather cell.

At least that was our original theory, as when we sat on the plane we saw that there were actually no seats free, so we figured it was more likely a load of guff by Virgin Blue to cover up the fact they had over booked the flight.

One bumpy flight later we touched down at Proserpine. Which is a larger than average shed with a landing strip and toilets.

Collecting out baggage was the best part, three realisers full of bags came out and it was a free for all to grab ours. Quick and easy though and we were through to catch our transfer to the apartments pretty fast.

It was a half hour drive into Airlie Beach. Stunning views and very, very hot weather. I first visited the town 18 years ago on my back packing trip. It’s certainly changed beyond belief since then, much more developed, but still small enough to be nice.

The Summit Apartments are gorgeous. More like a new flat in London. Spacious and clean. We went self catering to save a bit of cash and be able to relax a bit more.

The views from our balcony are stunning.

The humidity is incredible, the actual temperature this morning is 24c, but it ‘feels like’ 34c. My glasses steam up whenever I leave the apartment (as we have a wonderful air-conditioning system). :o)

Comments: 0 - Make a Comment

We were taken out to an Adelaide suburb called Mawsons Lakes on our final night. Dee and Sue Ellens parents - Len and Sue -  kindly came along so we could all meat.

It was a great meal (lots of Snitzel for some reason).

And here is a picture of Sue Ellen or she’ll cry.

Comments: 0 - Make a Comment

On Boxing Day we moved once more back to Shan and Dee’s and have spent the last couple of days catching up with friends and chilling out.

We had a lovely time meeting Lindsay and Sal in Hahndorf, the German village.

Another highlight was possibly one of the most lovely walks I’ve ever taken down a beach in Adelaide. White sand and the warmest water I’ve ever paddled in. We had a cultured time chatting and taking the mickey out of any beach goers we could poke fun at (they didn’t know of course).

Comments: 0 - Make a Comment

After a couple of nights with Shan and Dee, Christmas Eve was the day we travelled up to Murray bridge to stay with Pam and Dave for Christmas.

Our first stop was at Nanas house, so we could drop off her present and say hi. She was very pleased to see Kel and we spent a an hour chatting.

We arrived in Murray Bridge just after lunchtime and quickly settled in (everywhere we go it only seems like five minutes since we were last here.)

In the evening we had the family Christmas party. Shan, Dee, Ben, Kirsty and Dee’s sister Sue Ellen (a very quiet, shy girl) all piled in for sherry and mince pies.

Pam, REALLY liked her rolling dog. :o)

Comments: 1 - Make a Comment

We flew to Adelaide yesterday to meet with Kels family and meet Dee, Shans fiance. It was an easy flight with ‘Tiger’ (the Oz version of Ryan Air). Apparently they’re pretty similar to their UK counterpart, when they work, they work great, but any problems and your stuffed.

Pam and Dave picked us up at the Airport, Karen tagged along and surprised us too. Which was great,. She’s spending Christmas in WA, so took the opportunity to say hi.

After a few drinks in an Adelaide pub, we were joined by Ben and Kirtsy then drove over to Shan and Dees. After a tour around the house, we all had a lovely meal. A bit later they drove us out to see some of the Adelaide Christmas lights.

42c forecast for tomorrow. Eeek.

Comments: 0 - Make a Comment

Once the early cloud cleared the day turned out a sunny 27c. So we took ourselves down to Bondi beach to top up (or start) our tans.

Rather foolishly, we didn’t put on any sun tan lotion and after an our or so felt pretty well toasted. It was a beautiful day though.

Comments: 0 - Make a Comment

A nice relaxing day today. We’ve pretty well ‘done’ the city now, so like to use it for a couple of days to acclimatise to weather and time differences on arrival. It was very warm but cloudy today. The forecast is good for tomorrow so hopefully we’ll hit the beach then.

We wandered around Sydney, walking through Hyde Park, the Botanic Gardens, past the Opera House and Harbour Bridge. Following lunch it was Darling Harbour, a spot of shopping then back to the hotel to collapse once more.

Comments: 0 - Make a Comment

As it turned out, the flight to Singapore wasn’t too bad. Singapore airlines has a new On Demand system so you can pick and choose which TV Shows and films you want to watch, rather than put up with a preset playlist.

The service has certainly suffered though. We reckon the airline must have cut back on staff, as they were all running around like blue arsed flies and forgetting things (it took them about 15 minutes to respond to me pressing the request button).

On one trip to the loo I was surprised to see a funky new blue hand-wash, so applied it liberally only to find it was mouthwash! Quite how you were supposed to used a mouthwash fixed to the wall in a pump action container I don’t know.

I came down with a rather snotty cold a couple of days before we set off, so drugged myself up to the eyeballs before we left. It didn’t really help on the descent as my ears did that stuffed up blocking thing. I held my nose and blew out as hard as I could, clearing one ear and not the other. This did something unfortunate to my balance and suddenly the plane felt like it was spinning. According to Kel, I went rather pale at this point (I was too busy spinning in the head and trying not to throw up to notice).

We managed to gain a little time and in the air and arrived at Singapore about 50 minutes late. Still in plenty of time for our connecting flight though, so we took a wander around Changi Airport.

After boarding for the final leg to Sydney, the pilot announced there was an extra bag on board which they had to account for, this led to a delay which led to a congestion in flights taking off. So we took off an hour late. Again.

The flight passed by pretty quickly, my entertainment system stuffed up, it kept rebooting after a windows screen of death. In the end I got it to work but I didn’t have any on demand services.

We landed in Sydney an hour late. Passport control was a bit of a chore as there were hardly any staff on. We grabbed a taxi and ended up at the hotel at about 10.30pm. We collapsed into bed.

Comments: 0 - Make a Comment