For our final adventure in Brisbane, we took Aubain and Ingrid out to Scarborough for some fish and chips. The Seafood Lover’s Cafe had been recommended to us by some locals (thanks Melissa!) so we thought we’d give it a whirl. I don’t think the bird behind the counter liked me.

Bird: Hi, what can I get you?
Me: Hi there, could I please get a Two Person Combo pack, with barra as the fish?
Bird: No, sorry, the combo only comes with dory. It’s a combo.
Me: Really? I’m happy to pay the difference in price.
Bird: No. It’s a combo, we can’t change it.
Me: Oh, ok… well then I’ll have the Two Person Combo pack, one piece battered, one crumbed.
Bird: No, both pieces of fish come crumbed. It’s a combo.
Me: Oh I see how this works now. I’ll have the Two Person Combo pack please.
Bird: (to kitchen staff) One Two Person Combo pack!

However, their stubbornness at refusing to change the fish is my only complaint. The food was excellent! We were joined by the rest of the Thomases, Kristy’s folks, plus the Threebies, and we all loved our meals!

We finished off our afternoon with some Boules in the park at Woody Point. Conditions weren’t the best, with a fairly soggy ground and a lot of wind whipping along the waterfront, but you have to take what you can get!

We had such an awesome week with Aubain and Ingrid visiting, and we were extremely sad to drop them off at the airport on Monday morning. We had crammed so much into the week that it felt like a much longer break from work than it had actually been, but only one week in Australia is definitely not enough to see everything! Hopefully they’ll be back soon so we can start with Part Two of their Australian adventure!

A few photos from the Sunshine Coast and Brisbane and Woody Point now online at Picasaweb.

With only the weekend left to prove beyond all reasonable doubt that Brisbane is definitely the place that Aubain and Ingrid should be, we took to the city for a scenic tour. Thankfully, the City Cat is partially back up-and-running after that whole January flood debacle, so we parked Alby at New Farm Park and jumped on a city-bound boat.

We hopped off at Eagle Street Pier and walked through the city, eventually stopping for a coffee at Brew – just one example of Brisbane’s uber-trendy urban cafe scene. The coffee was sensational!

To impress their lunch socks off, we decided it would be hard to go past Pane e Vino on the corner of Albert and Charlotte streets. It was a gorgeous day, perfect for sidewalk dining. Everyone thoroughly enjoyed their meals (though Kristy felt super dodgy after hers – but that’s not Brisbane’s fault!).

Our final activity of the day was to try and get a little bit of perspective on the city. To do that, we drove to a number of viewpoints which each offered a different angles over Brisbane. First was Wilson Outlook Reserve, at the top of Bowen Terrace in New Farm. It’s amazing how brown the river still is after the floods three months ago!

Next up came the view from Kangaroo Point cliffs, just across the Story Bridge.

And finally, the view from Mt Cootha. I must have subconsciously been in quite a hurry to get to the viewing platform, as I also managed to clock up my first ever speeding ticket on the way up the mountain. 77km/h in a 50km/h zone! I had no idea I was going that quickly – in fact, in a heavy car carrying four adults up a fairly steep hill, I had no idea I could go that quickly!

Oh well, such is life. Aubain and Ingrid were grateful for the view from the top, and they even bought me an ice-cream cone to make me feel better!

To me, the big ticket item for Australia is definitely our beaches. In order to give Aubain and Ingrid a sample of this, we booked a top-floor, three bedroom unit at Atlantis Marcoola for three nights. Our unit also included a private rooftop terrace which afforded us some spectacular views over Marcoola and Mudjimba beaches.

Aubain was keen to try his hand at surfing, so he and I booked a lesson with Heath at the Mudjimba Surf School. We both managed to get a few good rides, and I really took to Heath’s teaching style – though I had a bit of an advantage over Aubain given that it was my 4th attempt at surfing!

Of course, we couldn’t entertain two trendy Europeans without taking them to the trendiest place that we know of on the coast – Hastings Street, Noosa. The Threebies joined us for lunch at the always excellent Bistro C; as awesome as their beer battered fish ‘n chips is, I strongly envied Kristy’s chicken and coconut risotto dish!

We walked our lunch off with a walk along the Noosa Heads Costal Track. We didn’t make it the whole way around, though it was getting dark by the time we got back to the car, so it’s probably good that we didn’t stay much longer. I really loved watching the surfers working the point, especially as with the setting sun as their backdrop. Unfortunately I didn’t take my camera with me on the walk (I had a baby taking up all the carrying real-estate on my back), so I’m going to shamelessly poach one of Ingrid’s photos here instead.

The dark coastal sky provided an excellent setting for some Grande Florida style sparkler writing, but none of us were able to come up with anything that looked convincingly legible! I’m not sure why this is, though I partially blame the sparklers – star shaped sparklers (which we had last time) seem better for writing than the straight-shooting ones (which we had this time). This here homage to our visitors from overseas was probably our best win.

Our three days went by far too quickly! We took the scenic route to get back to Brisbane, first stopping at what is now my favourite place to eat breakfast – the Sunrise Cafe at Coolum. The sun came out in full force on Friday, so we stayed a while to bask in its warmth, and snap up some memories overlooking Coolum beach.

We had planned to visit Kennilworth Falls via Mapleton, but our plans were foiled only a few kilometres from our destination when we found the road closed due to landslip. Thankfully, our day was not entirely without a waterfall viewing, as we had taken a short feeding break (mainly for Oscar, though I had some rocky road) earlier in the day at Kondalilla National Park. We grabbed a couple of photos at the waterfall at Picnic Creek, but we didn’t undertake the 1.5km (or so) walk down to the main show.

Our drive home took us along the Blackall Range, which was just beautiful – I honestly had no idea that we had such amazing scenery sitting there, practically in our backyard! After stopping for a pie in Maleny, our plans to drive home along the Glasshouse Mountain Tourist Drive were once again foiled by road closure! And so, back to the highway we trundled; it definitely wasn’t a winning way to finish the day!

Still, after so many hours in the car, I think we were all pleased to arrive back home and tuck in to some pizza for dinner!

Aubain and Ingrid decided that they couldn’t come all the way to Australia without seeing Sydney, and so on Monday and Tuesday of their visit, I did my best to show them around a city that I myself am pretty unfamiliar with. Here’s some highlights from our trip:

The Pylon Lookup

I first heard about the Pylon Lookout from a work colleague of Kristy’s in the UK, who said it made for an excellent value visit when time and budget are limited (in comparison to the Bridge Climb). As it turned out, the lookout entrance was not where I had thought; rather than going to the bottom of the pylon and then walking up from there, you actually have to walk along the bridge then enter from about half-way up the pylon. The views from the top were well worth the $9.50 entrance fee!

And, since we had to walk a third of the way along the bridge to get to the entrance, we decided to finish what we started such that we can now all cross “Walk across Sydney Harbour Bridge” off of our bucket lists.

Fish ‘n Chips at Manly Beach

Our timing for the 30 minute ferry ride out to Manly beach couldn’t have been better, as the weather over Circular Quay had started turning very “Sydney”. We were glad to be escaping towards the coast where the sky looked much more “Brisbane”!

We all enjoyed the view from the boat, though after a long day of walking we all also enjoyed a brief kip in the afternoon sun.

After heavily talking up all the merits of chicken salt to Aubain and Ingrid, I was disappointed that the fish and chip shop we ordered from used plain salt instead. Plus, they didn’t even have any bread for me to make a chippy sandwich! What gives?

Drinks at The Opera Bar

I have to admit, I can’t think of too many places better suited to enjoy a sunset than at The Opera Bar.

We arrived just as the sun was considering its descent below the horizon, and secured ourselves a good spot for some beverages. We also met up with a gaggle of Sydney locals – Charlie (who used to work with Aubain and I in London), Lisa (of New York fame), and Jason and Louise (who need no introduction).

Taronga Zoo

We had a number of recommendations to check out Taronga Zoo, not only because it’s an awesome zoo full of animals from all over the world (including this weird hybrid giraffe camel thing), but also for it’s spectacular views back over Sydney harbour.

We were not disappointed! Those animals are on some prime real estate! Favourites for me were the platypus (because they always seem to be hiding in zoos, but the one at Taronga was happily doing circles in his tank), and the koalas (because they’re so lazy and yet so cool).

Food and Drink

Sydney often gets rated as one of the best places to dine in the world, and though we weren’t exactly seeking out world-class dining, we thoroughly enjoyed the food that we did eat (save for the chicken salt disappointment mentioned earlier). Our favourites were:

• The coffee at Chrysler – specifically, the one at the bottom of the Pitt Street mall.
• Modern Australian dining at Bills Surry Hills. Charlie and I had the chili prawn pasta, and it was excellent; The gingersnap biscuits with ice-cream dessert was also a total winner.
• Brunch at Blackbird Cafe in Darling Harbour – a top recommendation from the concierge at Aubain and Ingrid’s hotel.

All in all, it was a busily wonderful two-day tour of Sydney, and it was a number of days before my feet finally recovered from all the walking!

A huge thanks especially to Jason and Louise who so kindly let me crash their spanking new house in Rose Hill Roseville… what I hadn’t realised when I called them up and told them that I would be staying with them, is that they themselves hadn’t even stayed in the house yet! It was like a proper hotel soft opening!

Photos in the Sydney photo album on Picasaweb or on Facebook.

I’ve no doubt that our Australian friends will be very relieved that Aubain and Ingrid have made it to Australia, because now we no longer need to drop phrases like, “When our friends Aubain and Ingrid come to visit”, and “Our friends from the UK are coming over in March”, and such and such. I hope it hasn’t been too painful for y’all.

Anyway, after what I’m sure felt like the worlds longest journey (from London, to Hong Kong, then Auckland, and finally Brisbane), Aubain and Ingrid arrived on Australian soil just after 1 PM today. We trolleyed out to a very quiet Brisbane International airport to catch them as soon as they had cleared customs!

Yes, that’s a particularly unflattering picture of the two of them, and I’m sure that as soon as they’ve recovered from jetlag and realised that we’re all in the same country, they’ll no be having a stern word with me regarding which photos are “internet appropriate” and which ones aren’t. But I figure that will take at least three or four days, and hopefully by then they’ll be having too much fun to care!

I’m jetting off with them tomorrow for a whirlwind tour of Sydney, and after that we’ll be heading up the coast for three days of beachside bliss. It’s going to be awesome!

Any hit tips from the Sydney folks out there?

Our very good buddy Aubain turns 30 today, and we really wish we could be there to help celebrate with him. But on the upside, he and his lovely wife Ingrid will be coming to Australia next year, and so we’ll just have to celebrate with them when they get here!

Oscar had some great ideas about what we could do when he comes, so he decided we should make a quick video to demonstrate.

Happy Birthday, buddy! We can’t wait to see you both!

Yesterday, we joined Aubain in Ingrid in a lovely boat trip along the Thames. We picked up our boat from the boat hire company in Datchet around 11 AM, then set out “uphill” towards Windsor and Maidenhead. It was perfect boating weather, and the temperature by the water was just lovely!

We stopped and enjoyed a delicious champagne picnic for lunch on the grounds of Oakley court. We chose the spot based not only on the lovely scenery, but also on the sign which clearly stated that non-guests were welcome. It was only when we pulled away after lunch we read the other sign which said, “mooring for hotel guests only”. Whoops!

We also had to master the art of “locking”. OK, admittedly it wasn’t exactly difficult to master, but it was still a big part of the experience! We went through three separate locks on our day trip – I wonder how many you’d have to go through until you made it to Manchester?

Here’s a short video of our day on the water. Note that the maximum speed of our boat was a hair-raising 8km/h (or perhaps 9km/h when we were going “downhill”); consequently, parts of the video have been sped up for your viewing pleasure (including the 6 minutes of footage of one of the locks draining!).

View the Boating along the Thames album on Picasa or Facebook.

It’s a good thing that Powderfinger put on such a good show on Saturday night, because prior to rocking up to the concert, Julian, Shelley and I had been enjoying an amazing BBQ at Nick and Suzie’s place! It had absolutely every ingredient for a successful afternoon – loads of delicious food, awesome people, amazing sunshine, an unexpected quiz (including an Australian themed tin-foil sculpture round), awesome people (did I mention that one already?), and most importantly, table football!

When the invite said “come round at 2 PM” I had thought it would have given us loads of time to enjoy the afternoon with everyone, but before I knew it, it was 8 PM and time to leave! I could have more than happily stayed there until the wee small hours with everyone; I’m wondering what time the tequila and jenga would have inevitably come out?

Anyway – a massive thanks to Nick and Suzie for their awesome hosting skills; it was such a great afternoon, and it really felt like the start of summer. Fingers crossed for more weekends like that!

View the BBQ at Nick and Suzie’s gallery on Picasa or Facebook.

Checking out a new city is always better when you’re there with an expert. With this in mind, we jumped at the chance when our Swedish friend Oscar (who I used to work with at CQS) offered us a tour of Stockholm. Aubain and Ingrid were on the same wavelength, so we all jetted off on Friday night after work to spend a weekend in the the capital of Scandinavia.

Stockholm is an absolutely beautiful city – so fresh and so clean! It’s actually composed of hundreds of little islands (well – 14 islands), so it’s hard to pick a photo that shows the “centre of the city”, mainly because I never really worked out where it was. Instead, here’s a photo of some water, buildings, and a park. The street on the right is Strandvägen, which according to Oscar is one of the most expensive places to live in the world.

The people who live there seem to be a bit of an enigma; clearly they want society to think the best of them for living in such a prestigious location, yet I saw at least two or three of the oldies sitting on their balconies and enjoying the sunshine – completely naked! Well, you know what they say about Europeans and nudity…

One of the great things about Stockholm is that all the streets are named after the most successful pieces of Ikea furniture. Take this sign for example, which not only points the way towards the Vasa Museum – but also towards Gälarvarvet street, named after their most successful ever line of dwarfish steak knives.

We chose the path towards the museum, and enjoyed learning about the “most badass warship of its time” (as described by Oscar), which, in 1628, sailed about 150 meters out of port before sinking to the bottom of the harbour. But, as Aubain put it so well – trust the Swedes to turn failure into success, by rescuing the ship in 1961, painstakingly restoring it and housing it in a purpose built museum, and then charging the public 110 SEK (about £11) to visit! It was well worth it!

When we told people we were going to Stockholm, the phrase we heard most often was, “ohh, it’s expensive”. Some people used even more “h’s” on their “ohh”, like, “ohhhhhhh”. And oh my, were they were right – for lunch on Saturday, we had two salads and a bottle of sparkle sparkle (that’s water, by the way) for the princely sum of 502 SEK (around £50). Ouch! So with that in mind, we were pleasantly surprised when in the Old Town, we stumbled upon a little hole in the wall called Caffellini Bar, and I found myself drawn inside. I did my best to try to blend in with the locals; as opposed to Aubain and Ingrid, who did their best to not look like the locals.

For 10 SEK (around £1), I wasn’t expecting too much from my macchiato, and yet it was exceptional! I would recommend the Caffellini Bar as the first port of call for any visitor to Stockholm!

We had enjoyed amazing weather on Saturday – perfect for exploring the town, grabbing some caches, and getting a bit of colour in our pasty white skin. As much as I’d like to say this continued on Sunday, it was actually the complete opposite – in fact, every time we went outside, it started pouring down, and every time we went inside, it stopped again! We were cursed! Thankfully, Stockholm is home to the largest photography museum in the world, so we had plenty of things to keep us busy. But we still got wet.

(That’s my photo by the way. The museum has approached me to feature it, but I’ve so far declined to comment.)

A huge thanks to Aubain, Ingrid, and Oscar for a great weekend away!

Everybody loves themselves some thai food, so when Aubain and Ingrid invited us round for a thai dinner – along with their friends Paul and Alex – of course we were going to accept! However, this was no ordinary thai dinner; instead, our very own personal thai chef also came around, and cooked us up a five course feast!

There’s only one way to describe it: magnificent!

The chef – Brett – turned up around 6:30PM, and immediately took over the kitchen, cutting up fresh ginger, sweet basil, beef, chicken, spring onions…. you get the idea! He was great to watch, and super friendly too – offering us all tips on cooking the meals for ourselves (such as: mix peanut oil with olive oil for shallow frying, since peanut oil has a higher boiling point, but olive oil gives things a nice colour).

The moment our first course was ready, we sat at the table and started feasting. From then on, we were bombarded with an endless stream of deliciousness, as course after course was wiped from our plates. We had all pitched in our opinions to choose the menu for the evening, and this is what we came up with:

1. Spicy fish cakes served with sweet-chilli peanut cucumber relish
2. Whole sea-bass steamed with lemon, garlic, and Thai herbs in white wine
3. Chicken marinated in lemon juice and light soy sauce, stir-fried with ginger, spring onions, garlic, and black mushrooms
4. A ‘dry’ red curry of coconut milk cooked until thick, with beef, loads of kaffir lime leaves and Thai sweet basil
5. Lemongrass, honey, and lime sorbet

Each dish was fantastic, but I’d have to say that course three was my favourite – I’ve never had black mushrooms before, but boy were they good!

Loads of wine, great company, and your own Thai chef to cook you some awesome food makes for a wonderful evening, and we left feeling very, very full! A huge thanks again to Aubain and Ingrid for having us along – we feel very privileged to have taken part!