Birthday and Blue Mountains

On the 28th of Dec it was Jasmin’s 20th birthday. We decided to go out to dinner and have a curry, however there did not seem to be many Indian restaurants around, after doing a bit of research on the web we found one called the Mantra Indian Restaurant and so made our way there.



From the outside it looked awful, a bit run down and the cheap sari material hanging inside the entrance made it look very tacky, we all looked at each other and considered maybe going somewhere else but decided to brave it. As we walked inside there were only 2 other families there and the tacky saris and decorations continued. We sat down to order and waited for our curries. Everyone else seemed to be enjoying their food so we were hoping to be pleasantly surprised. Also as it came up to 8pm the place started to get a lot busier which reassured us a little. Our food came and it was ok, not the greatest Indian we’ve had but it was edible. After our dinner we surprised Jasmin with a small birthday cake with a “20” candle on top. Jasmin commented on how embarrassed she was to have her age displayed for all at the restaurant to see, well if a 20 year old feels old, what does that make me?



The following day the 4 of us left to do a daytrip to the Blue Mountains (the blue haze, which gave the mountains their name is a result of the ultra-fine oily mist given by the eucalyptus tree). We left about 9am and relaxed on the 3 hour train journey there. The train was so busy that at first we couldn’t find seats but eventually we did. On arriving at Katoomba we got a tourist map and had a look at our options. We noticed there were a lot of coaches and buses that seemed to go to the main attractions but the girls wanted to save their pennies and so we opted to walk to the Blue Mountains. The walk via the small chocolate hut which had scrummy, cooling milkshakes took us about 45 minutes, it wouldn’t have been so bad if it wasn’t for the intense heat, but at last we arrived. The views from Echo Point were amazing.



We overlooked the Jamison Valley and to the left we could saw The 3 Sisters rock formation. The girls wanted to carry on and so we did the 1 hour nature walk to Scenic World which had a steep railway and cable cars. The queue to do these were very long and the girls seemed a bit bored and so wanted to go back to Katoomba city centre. We took one of the tourist busses which only cost about $2 and grabbed some lunch. After wandering around the shops for a little while we made our way back to the train station and then back home. Adam said he felt a bit rushed and would have liked to have stayed a bit longer so we decided we would definitely have to come back to see more.

Christmas and Boxing Day

Happy Xmas – It’s the 25th! Where has the year gone? I got up at about 8am to open the present I had bought myself-Kylie perfume (yes I know I’ve gone a bit Kylie mad). Adam had bought some Xbox games so he could play them on Frank’s Xbox but as a little something to open on xmas day I bought him 12 small metal ring puzzles – that should keep him out of my hair for a little while. For the girls just so they too had something for xmas day I gave them a Kylie vanity case filled with smellies and toiletries. So whilst everybody chilled I got started on the turkey. I have only ever done a proper christmas dinner once before as we normally always go to Adi’s (my brother in law) as he does the most fantastic spread, however this year it was all on me.



I started to prepare the turkey and even made my own stuffing. The worst part was definitely having to put my hand up the turkey to stuff it I’m just glad it had all been cleaned out prior. I was quite happy preparing everything in the kitchen whilst the girls decorated the table and Adam as you probably guessed was happy playing on the Xbox. So it got to about 1pm and it was time for lunch. We had turkey, carrots, peas, boiled potatoes, parsnips, 2 types of roasties (1 lot in vegemite just for Adam- they tasted surprisingly nice) and I even managed to find some sprouts which weren’t in season so were rationed to 2 per person.



For desert we had a traditional Christmas pudding or as the Aussie’s call it plum pudding which Jasmin and Annika had never had before and pretty much devoured between the 2 of them. After indulging in too much food we decided we would go over to Bondi Beach to see what was happening. We had been told that there was always a really good beach party on Christmas day but tickets were $75 each so we thought we would take a trip there to see if it was any good. When we turned up we expected the beach to be fenced off as that was what we had been told but no, it was open to the public, it was only a small section where the bars and pubs were that you needed a ticket for so we were very happy to be able to relax on the beach and to be able to say we went to Bondi on Christmas day.



After a while Adam and I decided to head home, the journey would usually take 1.5 hours so we always had to leave at a certain time as they normally closed Bondi junction train station at 12pm. The girls decided to stay and have a look around a bit more.
For Boxing Day Lisa had told us that there was a Sydney International Passport Horse Racing Day on and anyone with an international passport would get free entry. So Adam and I decided to go, we got all dressed up and made our way there to meet the girls. Adam and I had never been horse racing before so we were looking forward to this new experience. We arrived there and everyone looked very smart with a few exceptions where some people possibly backpackers had just turned up in shorts or jeans. We got a bite to eat and a few drinks and reviewed the form guide to see what horses to bet on.



We sought some advice from the cashier to how the betting worked and decided to splurge on our first bet, $2 each way so between the 2 of us it was a total of $8, our horses didn’t win. On the next go I bet $2 each way which was a total of $4 and I won- hold on before you all start to ask me for expert tips on horse racing I only won $3, but a win is a win, needless to say Adam and I betted a few more times only a couple of dollars each time and won nothing, however we all had a great day.

XMAS Wishes

Hi Everybody
This is a quick email to wish you all a Happy Christmas and New Year. We are a little sad that we cannot be with friends and family at this special time of year but are excited that we will see you all soon.
2008 has been an amazing year with the start of our travels and a wedding in between. Our experiences so far have been fantastic and we are sure 2009 will bring even more opportunities. We are already half way into our trip and will be celebrating Christmas and New Year in Sydney. We will try to update the blog and publish photos of our time here in the next couple of days.
It will be our 9th christmas together but our first as Mr and Mrs Gallard.
See you all in 2009!
Love



“The Gallard’s”

GMTV

I had remembered that around about Christmas time GMTV would broadcast from Australia, so Adam had a look at their website and told me that they were going to be at Mrs Mcquarie’s Chair in the Botanical Garden in Sydney on Tuesday 23rd Dec. As Adam was finishing work that day until the new year i persuaded him to come and meet me there and also told the others about it. We met Matt, Emma and 2 of their friends there too.



I had made a poster to try and get noticed but there were so many people screaming out trying to grab the camera’s attention it just didn’t work. Eventually Matt, Emma and co decided to leave but I was adamant I was going to get on the telly. I found out who the producer was and approached her, I needed a story to tell her so i could be guaranteed to get on the tv, so I told her that Adam and I had just recently got married and we wanted to let everyone know the wedding was fantastic and went really well, she told me to come back about 7pm and she would try and get us on but there were no guarantees, the problem was i had overheard her say this to everyone else so wasn’t convinced.



A little later I approached her again (I can be very persistent or some people might describe it as annoying) and this time took Adam with me, I just blurted out oh by the way this is my husband in case she didn’t believe my story, so she told me that they were going to do a sweep of everyone at the end where people would be able to pass their messages onto friends and family back home. So a little later we all lined up against the wall with the Harbour Bridge behind us. We were about half way in the line, she came walking by and spotted me and said it would be better if we were nearer the front of the line – result, and so were moved much to the annoyance of everyone else-like i cared because i was going to be famous!!!


So the camera came on and Johnno pointed his microphone at people but only for a couple of seconds, the speech I had prepared would have to be cut down to 5 seconds , I panicked, the camera was on Adam and he said “Happy Christmas”, I felt I had to say more and not just be the average Joe Bloggs that no one remembers, so I said Happy Christmas, and Johnno started to move the microphone away, quick what else can I say, then out of nowhere I blurted out “The wedding went well”, Johnno repeated what I said back to the camera and then carried onto the next person. I did it, I was on GMTV! Minutes later we had a stream of text messages from friends and family who had seen us. Matt had mentioned to his mum that I had got onto GMTV and I had said the wedding went well and she apparently remembered me even though she had no idea who I was-mission accomplished!

Merry Christmas

Hi Everyone, we would like to say Merry Christmas and a Happy New year to you all.

We have found out that GMTV will be in town tomorrow, so keep an eye out for us between 5.30am and 9.30am uk time.

More Kylie and Visitors

As it was coming up to Christmas I decided the apartment needed a Christmas tree and decorations as it did not feel very christmasy and Frank and Marion had not put any decorations up as they would be in Germany. So Frank kindly took me to Mcquarie Shopping Centre where I managed to find a 6ft artificial Christmas tree for just $14 = £7 and some cheap decorations and lights all from the Reject shop so I was happy with my bargains. I also got very creative and cut out shapes such as stars and stockings out of wrapping paper and stuck them on the wall-very festive!
Frank was leaving on the 15th Dec which was the day my cousin Jasmin and her friend Annika were flying over to spend Christmas and New Year with us. It was lovely having family celebrate Christmas wih us and they kept us constantly amused with stories of their travels and how they were trying to do things on the cheap.



Adam had been looking on the internet to see how much Kylie tickets were going for – they were quite expensive- $99, however he managed to find some on ebay for just $40. At first it sounded a bit dodgy as the lady had about 12 available but having spoken to her we found out she worked for a social club and had some spares so decided to ebay them. Well this was just too good an offer to turn down so after phoning all our friends to tell them about this we ended up buying 9, of which 2 were our Christmas presents to Jasmin and Annika. On the Wednesday we got ready for the concert and decided the colour scheme would be red and black. I also with the help of Jasmin and Annika created some large letters for us to hold up at the concert which read KYLIE X’08.



Unfortunately Matt found out he had to work that evening and so I tried to tout the ticket at the concert but nobody wanted it so we kept it as a souvenir. We all had a brilliant time at the concert.



We sat quite far away so the view wasn’t great but you didn’t need to see Kylie you just needed to hear her. Her voice was amazing and we all had fun singing and dancing to her songs. The performance and choreography was all really great. Well done Kylie!

Kylie

On the weekend I had read that Kylie would be in town at the Myer Centre promoting her new perfume and the first 100 people would get the chance to get a personal signed autograph from her. Well since I wasn’t working I thought I would go along and just check out what was happening. I left home about 9am and so thought there was no chance I would be the first 100 as people would probably have camped overnight, however when I got there I could see a group of people in a corner behind a barrier, I asked the security guard if there was any places available and he told me that he had 30 wristbands left which meant I was in – woo hoo! Well the first thing I did was to phone Adam who couldn’t believe I had made it. So for the next 3 hours I waited for the pint sized pop star to appear. In the meantime I had got chatting to a girl called Natalie who was meant to be at work and had popped in just to see what the commotion was, but when she too realised she was the first 100 hundred there was no way she was going to give up her spot to miss out. Whilst waiting, a local radio presenter was keeping us entertained and asking people Kylie questions and asking to look at Kylie tattoos to win her latest cd. I was shouting at the top of my lungs to try and get a cd but it wasn’t working. I then got chatting to a guy called Matt and his friend Emma who were also trying to make lots of noise to grab the entertainer’s attention. We joined forces and tried to shout in unison but to no avail. The entertainer then asked if anybody would be prepared to sing a few Kylie songs to win tickets for her latest concert. Matt and I were very tempted even though neither of us can sing and could only think of the words to Locomotion but thought embarrassing ourselves in front of millions of people would be a high price to pay for the tickets.



Eventually a little girl raised her hand and was chosen to sing. Well what can I say except amazing. She sang White Diamond and everyone cheered for her because she was that good. At last the time had come for Kylie to appear. She walked past and all I could see was the top of her head (she is tiny), and walked onto the stage. There was a quick interview style chat and then everyone started shouting out the little girl’s name who performed earlier. Kylie asked what was going on and then met the little Kylie wannabe performer which ended up in an impromptu duet. At last the time had come to get our autographs. Natalie, Matt, Emma and I were in the last lot of people to meet her. We had noticed that the security guards were taking personal belongings off people including cameras which was annoying as a photo of me and Kylie would have been cool but I can’t complain. I got there and she looked at the sticky note that had the name of who I wanted the poster made out to, I had asked for “The Gallard’s” and she said what does that say and tried to pronounce it.



After explaining that Adam and I had recently got married and so wanted the poster signed to the both of us she wrote Congrats on it and signed it With love Kylie. I have to admit I was very star struck but did feel that the guards didn’t allow us much time to say anything to her. After coming down from my high I felt hungry and so the 4 of us went to grab some lunch and talk about our encounter and what we had said to her. Natalie and I swapped email addresses and she then decided to go to work – I believe work were ok about her not coming in! I carried on talking to Matt and Emma who told me they had only recently come to Sydney and had not made any friends as yet, so just like that I invited these two strangers over for dinner and they seemed very grateful for the invite.
On the weekend we took the ferry with Frank to the Sydney Wildlife Park.



From the outside it looked deceptively small and yet inside they had all sorts including some of Australia’s most deadly spiders and snakes, a butterfly farm and also rare yellow tailed wallabies.



Afterwards we walked along Darling Harbour to find somewhere to eat. Having found somewhere we were about to walk in when the security guy asked me for id, I laughed but he didn’t think it was very funny, I explained I was 27 and Adam was my husband, but even after Adam showing him his id he still would not let me in. We carried onto somewhere else where eventually I was let in. I have to admit it was a little flattering at first but whenever we went out I always got asked for id whereas Adam and some other friends managed to walk straight in. So I learned I would have to carry id everywhere!

Party, Party, Party

Lisa and the girls had been looking for a house to rent around Bondi and after 2 weeks they found one just up from the beach, so they decided to have a house party to celebrate.



We took 2 trains and then met Ella to get the bus to Bondi together, we arrived at the party and the girls were dressed up in Hawaiian skirts and had their beach buckets filled with alcohol. We partied late into the night and at about 3am i decided to crash. Beds were limited so i found a spare which turned out to be Roisin’s so I just decided to get comfy in it. Adam on the other hand was found in the morning by Lisa lying on the floor huddled in a horrible old rug trying to keep warm, where is there a camera when you need it? Once we had all woken up we went to get some breakfast to cure the hangovers and walked down to the many restaurants and cafes. We made our choice and sat down to eat. It was already 30c and Adam and I were getting very hot in our jeans, so went to find some cheap clothes we could get changed into. After finding our bargains we then carried on walking with the girls around the main parade. We came across a discount shop and spotted some santa hats and reindeer antlers. We came up with a brilliant idea of having our photos taken on the beach with them on to send as Christmas cards, so we all bought one. On the way to the beach one of the girls spotted someone she recognised who turned out to be Pancho from Dirty Sanchez. We weren’t sure whether or not to approach him so after 5 minutes of stalking him we followed him into a clothes shop and asked him for a photo. He was very obliging and I think secretly enjoyed having all these women around him. After our celebrity spotting for the day we headed towards the beach and got some really cool photos.



At our local shopping centre, there was a dvd rental shop called Redroom, it is a self service system but Tuesdays are $2 for a new release, so we started having a DVD and dinner night on Tuesdays and invited our friends over.
On Wednesday’s the Sydney BSAC club met at a pub in the CBD. Adam, Ella (who had just completed her Padi course) and I all went to meet up with them. We didn’t find the club as approachable as the one in Brisbane, there was no diving scheduled for a while and no one really offered to take me on to complete my training and so because of all that we decided not to go to the club again. (We miss you Brisbane BSAC)
A couple of days later whilst Adam was at work I met up with Ella. We went to George Street so she could get some Christmas presents for her family who were flying over to spend Christmas with her. We then had to stop in at the Lindt cafe where I had the most amazing chocolate milkshake. After our little indulgence Ella took me to the museum where we spent a couple of hours just taking in the amazing artwork that was on display. In the evening I met Adam at the Extend office for his work’s Christmas party.



There was lots of free alcohol and the food was lovely. We had taken part in the secret santa that had been organised and had lots of fun trying to swap presents with other people. Adam and a few of his colleagues as well as me also enjoyed having fun on Guitar hero throughout the evening.

Update

Hi everyone, just a note to let you know we have updated the blog (I know its about time!) we have put these in to date order so you may need to look through the archive to see them all, feel free to comment on our posts.

We have also uploaded loads of photos to our photo album, visit picasaweb.google.com/adam.gallard or click on the link in the link section(right hand side) of the blog to view them

Lastly have a quick look at our route at the bottom of the blog to see where we are at the moment.

Film Stars and a Zoo

I had read in the paper that Australia (the film) premier was due to take place in Sydney city centre and so managed to convince Adam that we should go. We got there about 4pm and got a really good spot inside the entrance to the cinema next to the barrier.



Anastasia also came to meet us. We waited for a good couple of hours and were tempted at one point to just leave as we were meant to be meeting Frank and Marion for dinner as Marion was leaving to go to Germany for Christmas. It got to about 6.30pm and people started to walk down the red carpet, at first we didn’t recognise anyone and then we started to see people from Home & Away, Marcia Hines –Australian Idol judge, the two Australian Idol finalists, Ian Thorpe and others. Eventually we heard lots of screaming and knew the screen stars were here and got ready to pounce.



Nicole came first. She was very tall, skinny and looked beautiful in a white sparkly dress. I shouted Nicole can I get your autograph and she came and signed my little pink book with a “NK” whilst Adam took lots of pictures, then Hugh Jackman came, looking very sexy in his fitted suit. At first he went to the other side and I thought we would miss him but he came over to our side and again I shouted can I get your autograph at the top of my lungs which seemed to work as I got his too. We would have liked to have stayed longer to see what other celebrities showed up but could not miss having dinner with Frank & Marion. We made our way to the exit and caught a glimpse of Keith Urban too! Anastasia was leaving the following day so we said our goodbyes and then caught a taxi to Balmain to meet them at a lovely Japanese restaurant called Samurai. As we were an hour later we had to say bye straight away and Frank took Marion to the airport whist we got something to eat and waited for Frank to return to at least have dessert with him.
A couple of days later we caught the ferry from Circular Quay over to Taronga Zoo.



Once we arrived we had to take the cable car to the entrance, we shared the cable car with a girl called Ella, who was travelling alone, we got chatting and invited her to go around the zoo with us.




We got on really well and saw Ella a few more times before she left and headed to Canada. Taronga Zoo didn’t quite compare to the standard of Australia Zoo (we are biased now), however they did have more of a range of different animals including seals, penguins, monkeys, gorillas, giraffes etc. We did enjoy our time there and the day just flew by.
Extend Technologies (the company Adam had worked for in Brisbane) called to say they could offer him some work until the end of January which was a huge relief so we went to DFO (Discount Factory Outlet) to go do some shopping. The DFO wasn’t as good as the one in Brisbane so we only bought a couple of items. On the Monday Adam started his job whilst I went into the CBD to register with a couple of job agencies. However they all told me that as it was the run up to Christmas, there would not be many job available which was a bit disappointing. Adam was quite tired after his first day of work not just because of getting back into the routine of things but also the journey there and back would take him an hour each way on Sydney’s packed trains.
Later on that week we met up with Kris, Henne (Kris’ mum) and Akka for dinner as Henne and Akka were due to leave. We met up at “The Rocks” where we enjoyed a pub meal and then Kris took us to where she worked so we could see the view from the roof top. And what a view it was, with the Sydney Harbour bridge to the left of us and the Opera House to the right and as it was in the evening the city was lit up so we took advantage of the amazing view by taking lots of pictures.

Welcome to Sydney

We arrived in Sydney at 4:30pm and had to change our watches as Adelaide is 30mins behind which just confused me. We collected our bags and headed to the train station, by this time it was gone 5pm on a Monday and everyone in Sydney catches the train home. It was a bit of a struggle with our huge bags on a packed train. After 40 minutes on the train we arrived at the suburb of Rhodes where we would be staying.



We had arranged to stay in Frank and Marions’ apartment, the couple we had been house sharing with in Brisbane. The apartment was great, with fantastic views over the Olympic Village and the Parramatta river. We dropped our bags off and went to explore the local area; we found the local shopping centre which was only 5 minutes from the apartment.
A couple of days later Adam and I headed towards the CBD. It had been 4 years since we had last been there and it looked pretty much the same. We had spoken to our travelling friend Lisa and found that she was going to be in Sydney at the same time as us, we arranged to meet up at Circular Quay. Lisa had been in Melbourne for a few months and had met up with some other girls, Sally and Roisin, we all met up and spent the day wondering around the CBD and Darling harbour.



Adam had spoken with the people he had been worked for in Brisbane, they were trying to sort out a job for him in their Sydney office, but while we waited for an answer, we decided to visit some of the local attractions. We also met up with Anastasia who we had made friends with on the Alice to Adelaide trip, she was due to leave Sydney to go back home to Germany so before she left we invited her over for dinner and also went shopping with her around the CBD and Paddy’s Market.



We went to go and visit the Olympic Village on another day out. We decided to walk there as it was a nice day and most of the walk was next to the river, it took us about 40 minutes. When we arrived we picked up some leaflets from the information centre and were very tempted to hire Segways, but they were a little expensive and so just decided to have a wander round. It was a very large complex and the main ANZ stadium was huge.

Adelaide

In Adelaide we were going to be staying with a lady by the name of Maria who we had met earlier in the year on a trip we had done in Airlie beach.



I had got chatting to Maria’s husband Alan who had tried scuba diving for the first time. She had kindly agreed to put us up for the duration we were there, which was very unexpected considering we had only known her for 1 day. We had contacted Maria to let her know what time we would be arriving however we found out her car had broken down and so when we met her we waited for the RAA. 30 minutes later she tried the car again and it started so we all jumped in and headed back to her house in Brighton. That night we checked our emails for the first time in over a week and found that my cousin Jasmin and her friend Annika were also in Adelaide so we arranged to meet them the next day in town.
The following day we caught the bus into Adelaide CBD and met up with the girls as well Anastasia who had been on the Alice to Adelaide trip with us. We had a wander round the CBD and then stopped for some lunch at Central market, where Anastasia tired Indian curry for the first time and loved it. After lunch the girls and I overruled Adam and decided to go to Haigh’s chocolate factory. The factory was small but the smell inside was just delicious. After buying some chocolate-it would have been rude not to, we caught the tram and made our way back into town. We went into a few travel agents to help the girls have a look at some trips to Uluru as they would be in Alice Springs in a few weeks. Adelaide for me was nice but not my cup of tea although the Brighton and Glenelg areas were lovely. They were seaside suburbs which had a relaxing, friendly atmosphere.



The next day Maria kindly offered to show us around Adelaide hills and then onto a place called Hahndorf. Hahndorf was a quaint little town with lots of crafty shops where we spent a couple of hours wandering around.
On Sunday we got up early to go to the local car boot with Maria and Adam told me I could only buy things if they fitted into my pocket, I bought nothing! That afternoon we enjoyed a walk in the sunshine to Glenelg and spent the rest f the day relaxing and playing Scrabble next to the sea.



On our last day in Adelaide we packed our bags and Maria drove us to the airport via a quick tour of south Adelaide. We said our goodbyes and thanked her for the lovely, relaxing time we had had. Our flight was due to depart at 12.30 but when we go to the check in we found out there was a delay and we would not be leaving until 2.30pm. Fortunately for me the airport had wi-fi so I was quite happy to catch up on my emails.

Alice to Adelaide Last Day

The next morning Max told us we were going to climb a mountain called the Dutchmans Stern (called this as it looked like the stern of Dutch ships back in colonial times), we all laughed at him until he pulled up at the car park and pointed to the top. It was over 800m high and the walk would be 3km long to get to the top.



It took us about 2 hours to get to the top and it was pretty tough going but the views were amazing. We could see all the way to Port Augusta and into the desert.




After this we returned to The Mill for lunch and then got ready to leave for Adelaide. On the way to Adelaide were going through the wine regions and so we just had to stop and do some wine tasting. We ended up buying a bottle of Reisling wine from the local vineyard. This was to be our last stop on the trip.



On the way to Adelaide to pass the time we had a quiz where made up questions for the other team mainly on things we had learned on the trip. We split the bus front and back and came up with some questions which included things like, how high is Uluru, what was the aboriginal word for waterhole, when was Max’s birthday etc. You will be pleased to know that team Gallard and Marcel won!



So once we arrived in Adelaide our trip was over, we said goodbye to the many friends we had made and arranged to meet up with some of the people who were going to be in Sydney.