Lightening Online

Hi Everyone,

HUGE apologies for my silence over the past month or so.  We continue to have trouble with our internet at home and they are now saying we need a new modem.  *sigh*

Christmas was chaotic but a LOT of fun!  Things went as planned though and everyone indicated they had a lovely relaxing time which is great.

The kids had a blast!

I then had 2 days to recover, wash, pack and do a quick clean up of sticky spots on the floor etc before we headed down to the family shack.

Again, we had a lovely yet chaotic time down there with Farmboy’s siblings and their families.

The day after Christmas, we decided we would head to Western Australia for 3 weeks.  Farmboy’s dad agreed to keep an eye on the farm for us.

I had 2 days after our time at the beach to again wash and pack.

No internet to properly research where we would go and what we would do.

So, we are now in Western Australia.

Fingers crossed when we get home I’ll have internet and can do some more detailed posts about our trip.

We spent 8 nights in Perth - and it was hot and muggy most of the time.

We still managed to have fun though.

And lots of swimming.

Now we’re in Albany.  With some free internet at the Caravan Park we are staying at (hence my ability to do a quick update post).

If you’ve commented and I haven’t responded - my hugest apologies.  Hopefully I’ll get to those before I run out of free internet time.  Otherwise, I’ll make it a priority when school goes back.

Yesterday we drove from Albany back to the Tree Top Walk.

Today we went to Whale World.  I’m quite surprised at how interested the kids were in the whole whaling industry.

From here we go to Esperance then home a few days before school goes back.

Phew!  The holidays have simply flown by.  Not surprising given how busy we’ve been.

Hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas and New Year and that 2012 is turning out to be everything you hoped.

Catch up when we get back!

Farmboy and I watched a movie the other night called “The Bucket List”.

Then today on Simple Savings there is some discussion about Bucket Lists.

I know I have written short term goals like my 37 Things To Do Before I Turn 38 list.

But I’ve never really “dreamt big” so to speak.

The biggest dream I’ve had (other than getting married and having kids - great dreams by the way), was to do our 14 week trip.  It took a decade to make it happen but it was so AWESOME and so much fun planning and preparing.  I feel like my life has been in a funk since we got back.

So, today, I’m going to make a start on writing a Bucket List.

Some “dreams” might be just what the doctor ordered.

Here goes.

Lightening’s Bucket List

aka “things I’d like to achieve before I kick the bucket”

1.  Run 12km (also on my short-term list but….)

2.  Go on a Cruise

3.  Take my kids on a Cruise

4.  Go to Disneyland

5. Spend winter at Mission Beach

6. Convince hubby to get out of sheep (I know they’re our bread and butter but I’m a bit “over” them)

7.  Do another “big trip” (this time around the West Coast and up to Darwin)

8…..I should be able to come up with  more than 7 things right?

I guess it’s a start.

Funny how most of them are holidays!  LOL.

So, what’s on your “Bucket List”?  I need some ideas people!

While Farmboy was climbing to the top of Ayers Rock, the kids and I drove around the other side and did a short walk to a Gorge that was marked on our map.

Fortunately for us, we were just behind a tour group and overheard the tour guide tell her group to turn around and have a look at this:

I doubt we would have noticed it otherwise.

Beautiful isn’t it?

Apparently.

Well, I didn’t get that far up Ayers Rock.

But I did do the entire Rim Walk of Kings Canyon (just over 6km including plenty of steps to get up there - the hardest part was coming down the slope mind you).

And it would seem I do have a small chip out of my left ankle.

Nothing too serious (well, no more serious than the serious sprain we thought it was).

However, it does mean I’m unlikely to play anymore netball this season.

And it does explain the amount of pain I am still having.

Especially when hubby rolls over during the night and kicks or brushes my ankle with his foot.

So, rest and physio and sitting on the sidelines at netball is what my immediate future holds.

Bet there aren’t too many people who can say they climbed Ayers Rock with a broken foot!

Image via Wikipedia

If you look at the image above, I made it to the top of the rocky bits.  You can see where they finish about 3/4 of the way up the image on the left hand side.

It wasn’t hugely high in the scheme of the over all climb but not too bad an effort with a broken ankle, eh?

It’s not really something I’ve ever thought about to be quite honest.

I always think of Ayers Rock as a hot, arid, place.

But in the rain, it is SO different.  Unfortunately, pictures don’t really do it justice, but we did try to capture the experience as best we could.

This is on the way out to the rock in the morning.  It looked like a volcano with steam coming out the top (but it’s really just cloud):

All around the rock were streams of water like this one, flowing down the rock:

Now, I know you’re going to struggle to believe this next one is really Ayers Rock but you’ll just have to take my word for it!

It’s a small gorge at the base of the rock and in the rain, water just streams into it.  It was quite cold in this spot with the water spray chilling the air (when you got back from the rock, away from the water, the temperature was warmer).  Evaporative air conditioning at it’s most natural!

It was great to find a spot where we could take refuge from the rain in a cave-like section of the rock:

It was quite a popular spot so wasn’t easy to get a photo without others in it!

And a visit to Ayers Rock in the rain wouldn’t be complete without this:

A little drink direct from water coming down and dripping from the edge of the rock!

He certainly provided plenty of amusement for others visiting the rock.

I feel so blessed and amazed to have had the opportunity to see such a magnificent part of Australia in the rain.  I’m sure the experience is one that is going to stay with me forever!

They say that Melbourne is full of “hidden treasures” in all their little streets and laneways.

“They” are right!

Thanks to a great review by Kath from Gone Chocco, we hunted out Chokolait, a chocolate cafe tucked away in an arcade off one of Melbourne’s more minor streets (Little Collins St).

Once you know where it is, it’s actually not far from Burke Street Mall.  But I will admit, even with an address and a map in hand, it did take us a little while to find it.

But the hunt was definitely worth it!

Of particular interest to me was the Chocolate Pavlova:

Gone Chocco had a review on it that sounded delish!

It looked AMAZING when they brought it out.

Farmboy and I chose to share it.

The chocolate was the most amazing chocolate I have ever tasted!

I have to admit that I wasn’t all that thrilled with the pavlova.

I’m a big fan of crunchy pavlova.  This one was a bit chewy for my liking.  But it also wasn’t overpoweringly sweet which is a positive for those who don’t like the sweetness often found in pavlova.

The chocolate though….

Despite the high price tag, I just HAD to purchase some of their chocolates after tasting the chocolate drizzled over the pavlova.  There we so many beautiful looking chocolates to choose from but I restricted myself to just 5 (which still cost more than $10!!!).

Back in our Hotel Room, the tasting began:

Unfortunately, I didn’t write down what all the different chocolates were and I can’t find them on their website.  This was a kind of mousse chocolate.  Velvety and delicious!!!!  The red one is raspberry and I didn’t taste that one until we came home.  The raspberry filling was so light and creamy.  Absolutely AMAZING!!!

My hands down favourite though was the Champagne Truffle (the round white one).  I took one bite and Farmboy cracked up laughing at the look on my face.  His comment was “you’re not going to share that one with me are you?” 

I don’t even know how to describe it.  Light, buttery, creamy.  Just absolutely DELICIOUS!!!  The first bite was so good, I didn’t even need to go finish the chocolate.

Our plan while we were in Melbourne was to visit 3 different chocolate cafes.

However, I was so in love with Chokolait that we chose to go there instead.

I loved that it was in a quite little arcade away from the hubbub of city life.

I loved that they had comfy couches in the corners.

I loved the smile on the chocolatiers face when he brought out our order.  You could really see his genuine pleasure at creating pleasure for his customers.

And I LOVED that they had several Gluten Free options on their menu and they indicated this.

My plan for our second visit was to try the chocolate mousse cake.  I LOVED chocolate mousse cake.  And it was gluten free so I could have it “guilt free” (I did go off my wheat free diet while in Melbourne but still wanted to minimise the amount of wheat I ate).

However, as we walked past, I spotted another dish a customer was having that sparked my interest.

The chocolate heaven!

I deliberated for some time over which dish to order.  In the end, given the chocolate mousse in this dish was the same as the chocolate mousse used for the mousse cake, I decided to go for the Chocolate Heaven.

I’d been wanting chocolate dipped strawberries since before we’d left home so that swayed me a little.

It was a mind-blowing experience!

The mousse - not sickly like chocolate mousse can be.  It was chocolately and light and velvety and just plain “YUM”.  The cream and chocolate on top balanced it all perfectly.  In between mouthfuls, I dipped my strawberries in the amazing melted chocolate (when I’d finished dipping, I was tempted to spoon the leftover chocolate out and eat it but I didn’t).  Coupled with a lovely pot of tea, it was the perfect way to spend the afternoon.

I spirited the chocolates away in my handbag to enjoy at a later time (which I did once we were home again - it was wonderful to relive the experience!).

I would be tempted to fly back to Melbourne again, just to have more of this chocolate mousse!

A trip to Melbourne certainly wouldn’t be the same again without a visit to Chokolait!

One simply cannot visit Melbourne without a visit to one of their 2 Lindt Cafes.  Unless of course you’re from Sydney where Lindt cafes are no doubt “so yesterday”.

For those of use who live in the “backwaters” (I say that with great pride of course) where no such Lindt cafes reside, must, of course, take up the opportunity to visit one.

If only for the simple reason that we can then say “we’ve been to a Lindt cafe”.  Because, of course, the question “have you been to a Lindt cafe?” comes up so often in day to day conversation! 

To help pass the time while waiting for our wonderfully romantic trip to Melbourne was finally upon us, I read as many Lindt cafe reviews as I could find.

The general feeling across most of the reviews?

Cakes were a little on the dry side and prices a little on the expensive side but you SO HAVE TO GO THERE ANYWAY!

Or words to that effect.

Some Melbourne bloggers and reviewers indicated that there were much better chocolate cafes to visit in Melbourne.

But I KNEW that I had to follow my heart and visit the Lindt cafe for myself or live to regret it.

In fact, it was one of the first things we attempted to do after checking in to our Hotel.

I say “attempted” because we had trouble finding it on our first walk around Melbourne.

Turns out we hadn’t gone quite far enough down Collins Street.

When we did finally find it (on our second walk around Melbourne), it was 10 minutes until closing time.

I decided to purchase a couple of their Delices (Lindt’s version of a Macaron) to take back to the Hotel with us.  They only had Champagne and Rose flavour left but I’d read good reports about both so bought one of each.  For $2.70 each ($3.50 if you eat in), I have to admit I was expecting a little more than what to me tasted like a cream filled biscuit.

Champagne Delice From Lindt Cafe

Nice but not “party in your mouth” exciting.

It wasn’t until our final day in Melbourne that we finally got to dine in at the cafe.

Sadly, all my research was for “naught”.  I had already decided I wanted to share a Degustation Plate that I’d read about on other blogs.  A selection of several Lindt treats in small serves, perfect for those “I don’t know what to have” type people (of which I am definitely one).

However, my disappointment turned into my good fortune.

I wasn’t planning on ordering a chocolate drink.  I find it too rich and sweet to eat something chocolate AND drink something chocolate in the same sitting.

Since I couldn’t have what I thought I was going to and didn’t know what else I wanted to have, I decided to go with an Iced Chocolate (a personal favourite of mine).

IT

WAS

AMAZING!!!!!!!!!!!!

Like, REALLY, REALLY amazing.

Like, “party in your mouth” amazing.

Hands down the BEST Iced Chocolate I have ever had.

I gave Farmboy a taste and he instantly regretted ordering Iced Coffee instead of one of these.

The chocolate was so smooth and velvety without being overly rich.  It just had the perfect balance of flavour.  And really tasted like Lindt chocolate.

Of course, we couldn’t leave without doing a little bit of chocolate shopping.

We bought some Lindt balls in flavours we haven’t yet tried as well as a few more delices to try (strawberry, chocolate and salt caramel).  They packaged our goodies up in lovely white boxes and placed them in a blue Lindt carry bag which I then carried all over Melbourne for the rest of the day (no doubt making everyone jealous!  LOL).

Since we got back, I’ve slowly been making my way through our purchases, starting with the Delices as they were the most likely to go stale.

My hands down favourite Delice was the Salt Caramel:

Lindt Cafe Salt Caramel Delice

A beautiful mix of sweet and salty.  Mmmmmmmmm!  Definitely a “party in the mouth”. 

Overall, it was definitely worth the visit and I’d go there again another time (I’m just glad I don’t actually live too close to one).  However, there was another chocolate cafe we went to (review to come) that I liked better and wasn’t as expensive.  If you’re going to go to Lindt though, you have to have an Iced Chocolate!  I can still taste it in my mind!  YUM!!!!

When we first started planning our trip to Melbourne, I had never even heard of the Hotel Windsor.

Sure, I lived in Melbourne for 6 years.

But I never had call for 5 star accommodation when I lived there.

And I never really went to that end of town either.

I only ever found it through a search for Accommodation near the Princess Theatre on google and wotif.

But as soon as I saw the photographs on Wotif, I just knew in my heart that I HAD to stay there!

Further investigation turned up mixed reviews on the place.  Mostly positive with the occasional mention of how tired the rooms are looking.

It’s OLD.  I don’t think you need highly polished, modern rooms.  To me that would take away the charm of the place.

So I was MORE than happy with our room:

The bed was comfy, we had plenty of room and I LOVED the curtains!

There was a little bit of wallpaper coming away in one corner and the exhaust fan in the bathroom was dusty.

For someone used to 5-star accomodation, I can understand perhaps some level of disappointment.  For me, I didn’t really care that much!  I was just happy to be there!

One of my favourite parts of the Hotel was the Grand Staircase.  We used it several times the first couple of days but after a while we resorted back to using the lift (as you do when you’re tired and your shoes are rubbing!).

The main hallway was so beautiful!  Chandeliers were in many places throughout the Hotel.

We were able to purchase a great priced package online which included a full buffet breakfast.  It was a particularly spectacular buffet.  Not only did they have the usual cereal, juice, yoghurt and bacon and eggs but there was smoked salmon, fresh fruit, a variety of pastries and muffins, mushrooms, tomatoes, baked beans, hash browns, cold meats, cheese platter and some other food I didn’t recognise (I think perhaps an asian based breakfast food?).  Tea & coffee was served directly to your table as required by the staff and everything else was on a self serve basis (although they did also have a menu you could order from).

The staff were wonderful.  Polite and friendly and nothing seemed too much to ask of them (not that we actually asked all that much).

All in all, our stay was WONDERFUL!!!!  I’d definitely go there again (assuming I can get a good deal of course - bit out of range at the normal prices but they do seem to have some good deals regularly which is hopeful).

Flying didn’t turn out to be nearly as bad as I thought it might be.

In fact, I was quite surprised by how smooth the ride was.

If you didn’t look out the window, you’d hardly know you were thousands of feet up in the air.

Unless you hit a bit of turbulence.

We had pretty good weather for all our flights with only the occasional bit of turbulence.

I didn’t even have too much trouble with my ears, until the last leg of the trip that is.  Not sure why but it was not good.  The pain was almost unbearable.  But they came good pretty quickly once we landed and it was really only on the descent I had trouble.

So, what have I learnt from my experience?

1.  You need HEAPS of water!!!

I got so dehydrated, even though I carried bottled water with me.  I had heard that flying can be quite dehydrating but didn’t expect to have such a problem on the length of flights we were on.  I even declined a wine on the final flight (the only flight we were offered alcohol on) in favour of juice as I was worried about the alcohol increasing the dehydration factor.

2.  You need to take out a second mortgage to eat at the airport!

We left home early on Monday and figured we’d have some breakfast at the Adelaide airport in between our flights.  A bottle of water was $4!!!!  The food we ate was pretty ordinary too.  Not to mention very ordinary (ie “grumpy”) service.  :(  Perhaps we chose the wrong place to dine at?

Funnily enough, on the way home from Melbourne, the chocolate cafe at the Adelaide airport seemed “cheap” in comparison to the ones we’d visited in Melbourne.  Problem was, they didn’t taste anywhere near as good either.  Sometimes you do get what you pay for (or maybe I was just all chocolated out by the time we ate there).

3.  Allow plenty of time between flights.

We did.  But I had NO IDEA it would take us 20 minutes to actually get OFF our plane once landed.  We spent more time on loading and unloading than we did in the air!  Of course, if you’re waiting for luggage, there’s really no hurry.  Even with having to wait to disembark and make our way downstairs, Farmboy and I still had time to each visit the restrooms before our luggage turned up.  According to the lady standing next to me, it took a lot longer than “normal”.

4. Booking with the one airline was an EXCELLENT decision!

When we started out looking at flights, I was simply going to book whatever worked out cheapest.  After doing some searching, I worked out that our best option was to fly with Qantas on both legs of the trip.  There was one other flight $3 cheaper but it would cost us $12 for luggage, effectively making Qantas cheaper.

Anyway, we ended up booking it all as a single trip each way via the Qantas website which meant our luggage was automatically transferred between our flights and we didn’t have to worry about.

Not that I didn’t actually “worry” about it getting there.  But as it turns out, Qantas actually has some clue about what they are doing and our luggage made it all the way in both directions. 

5.  Flight safety information sessions get boring after a while!

The first one freaked me out!!!  You get that when you’re already scared of flying (and in my mind, with good reason!) and then they start telling you what to do in the “unlikely event of an emergency”.

The second one fascinated me.  I kept comparing it to the first one.  Even though we were flying with the “same” airline, it wasn’t exactly the same (the first airline was actually a subsidiary or something).

By the 3rd one I was all “meh, we haven’t crashed on the last 2 flights so why start now?”

And the 4th I was cracking up at the parent behind me telling their child the plane wasn’t going to crash “this time”.  Farmboy was all like “is that kid going to wonder every time they fly if maybe ‘this’ is the time the plane IS going to crash?”  LOL.  It’s kind of a tricky one to explain to kids isn’t it?

All in all, it went really well.  I gripped hold of Farmboy’s leg on the first take off but after that I was fine.

I’d love to take the kids sometime.  Of course, paying for 5 people instead of 2 might take a bit more saving up for.  But I think it would be so worth it if we could do it even just once with the kids.

It’s going to be interesting to see how I go going back to road travel not that I know how quick and easy flying can be!

Only a few more sleeps until we head off on our big adventure to Melbourne.  SQUEEEE!!!

I am MEGA excited!!!!!

All except for the flying bit.

I’ve been deliberately trying not to think about that.

You see, I’m flying phobic.

I’m 36 years old and I’ve flown in a plane ONCE in my entire life.

A small 12-seater plane.

I thought I would be pretty safe because it was a short flight over the gulf.

My biggest fear is going down in the water.  But I figured it was only a short expanse of water so any trouble and the plane could simply glide across and land safely, right?

Wrong!

Less than 2 weeks after my inaugural flight, the exact same company in an exact same model plane I had flown in had an accident.  The plane went down in the water and all onboard were killed.  Including our next door neighbours.

On that day I vowed and declared I would NEVER fly again!

And I haven’t.

Until early next week when I’m planning to conquer those fears and fly again.

Not with the same company mind you.

They went bust after the accident.

But firstly in a small plane from Port Lincoln to Adelaide.

Then a larger one from Adelaide to Melbourne.

All with Qantas (yeah, the company that’s been having all the engine troubles in recent times… at least no-one has died though).

But right now, I’m not even thinking about dying.

I’m too confused about what I’m allowed to take and not take.

Particularly in the carry-on section.

So, help me out peoples who are used to flying.

1.  Can I take all my medications for the trip on board?

Some places seem to be saying only what you need for the actual flight (or in my case I assume both flights given it’s been booked together - basically flying from Port Lincoln to Melbourne with a change of planes in between).  Others seem to say take all your medications on board in case your luggage goes missing.

2.  Am I allowed to take my own bottled water on the plane?

From what I’ve read, you have to restrict all liquids to 100ml and that includes water?  How stupid!  Will they give me water on the plane and will it be nice water????

3. Do I have to put any lipsticks or lipglosses I usually carry in my handbag, into a little clear plastic bag?

Guess I might have to clear the million and one of them out of my handbag and only carry 1 or 2?

4.  Will they offer me a gluten free snack or can I take my own?

They won’t allow me to put gluten free in my special requests on the Qantas website as we don’t get a meal.  But I understand they still serve some kind of refreshment on the plane (?).  The trips are only short (about 45 minutes and then an hour and a quarter) but I like eating when I’m bored and we leave home at 6am and get to Melbourne after 1pm so I’m gonna get hungry at some point!

5.  Are they going to strip search me?

Bwwahaahaaa.  No, seriously.  I’m terrified about all this “security” stuff and I’m not even leaving the country!

6.  What if they lose my luggage?

And what if we think they’re putting it onto our next flight (which they’ve said they will do) and they don’t and it’s left sitting in Adelaide?  Or what if someone else grabs it and I have no clothes to wear?  And what if we get lost in the Melbourne Airport, or worse still, our flight from Port Lincoln gets delayed and we never make it to Melbourne?

Yeah, I’m a worry-wart. 

Please share with me any tips you have for flying, including ways to overcome my fears and relax and enjoy the journey!

I mean, come on, people do this all the time.  I don’t want to spoil the trip by being over-stressed about the flying bit.

P.S.  My kids are SO jealous that we’re leaving them behind AND that we’re flying - we never fly when we have them with us (I did the sums with them to show them the reason we don’t fly when we have all 5 of us).