Sunday 5th February 2023

So, we are now back home in the UK. We left Melbourne late afternoon on Thursday (OZ time) with Singapore Airlines for Singapore (3 hour stopover) and then on to Paris - which was a near 14 hour flight. Thank good ness we were in Business Class and had lay-flat beds so we could at least get some degree of comfort and sleep. Arrived in Paris CDG in the early hours Friday 4th Feb (European time). Unfortunately our connection onwards to Birmingham wasn't until later in the day. So, a lot of hanging around at the airport. Luckily we had arranged 'special assistance' for Jenny Middleton, which proved to be very useful as we seemed to bypass a lot of the waiting queues - especially going through Security etc. 

Paris CDG (Charles De Gaulle) Airport is without doubt the worst airport we have visited. It is vast and the distances between the various terminals are enormous, so there is no way you could possibly rush from one to another. Infact we had a train ride and bus trip between terminals - complicated by absolutely awful signage and directions. Not our most popular place right now.

Arrived back in Birmingham about 5.30pm (British time) where our very kind neighbours Bob & Angela picked us and drove us home.

We have had an absolute wonderful time, seeing lots of places, doing lots of things and most importantly spending precious time with our lovely 'OZ Mob'.

We have reached the end of another of our 'Nomad' adventures, and we have had a fantastic time (as usual).  We hope that if you have been following the blog that we have kept you well informed and possibly entertained.

So, with lots of good wishes we are now signing off the 'Blog'

Cheers everybody and thanks again.

ps: Now beginning to think about 'Greynomads 6' - hopefully in 2025!! - Bring it on.

Pete & Merle

Saturday 28th January 2023.

We all stayed over at Hannah's place in Cairns on Friday evening, and as a family went out for dinner in central Cairns - art was very warm and also very sticky - but we were booked into a restaurant on the Pier side. Excellent meal. We then had a wander around, visited a market place, had some ice cream and the kids actually bought us a ride in a bicycle rickshaw, accompanied by the singing off 'What a Wonderful World' by Louis Armstrong - we actually had this at our wedding. Such a lovely gesture from our Australian Grandchildren. We got up early Saturday morning and all met up for breakfast at a ''Waffle parlour called 'Waffle-on'. A great choice of both savoury and sweet waffles - everyone had a great 'brekky'. We had the 'gang' take us to Cairns Airpost quite early as both of us are not good at 'goodbyes. Back in 2 years - hopefully.

Evening Dinner in Cairns with the family

Merle's Waffle Brekky

Leaving Cairns and the Great Barrier Reef

Sunday 29th January 2023

We caught the train from Flinders Street Station to Frankston - which takes about an hour. Frankston is a terminal train stop on the Mornington Peninsula south of Melbourne. There we were met by John - Jenny Middleton's son-in-law and headed back to his and Caroline's home, where we were royally entertained in a really relaxed atmosphere followed by a classic UK Sunday lunch - Roast Leg of Lamb and all the trimmings, accompanied of course by some excellent wine. A lovely day out, and made our way back to central Melbourne late in the afternoon.

Monday 30th January 2023

Today we had pre-booked tickets for a experience at the Lume in Melbourne. This is a very large arena, and contained within it is an absolutely amazing visual and musical experience called Monet & Friends. The whole area is a constant movement of projected images and music all related to the art of Monet together with such friends as Manet, Renoir, Pissarro,  Toulouse-Lautrec, Degas,  Cezanne,  Berthe Morisot, Caillebotte,  Mary Cassatt, Sisley, Guillaumin, Seurat, and Signac, Edmund Cross. There is a constant change of imagery both on the walls, the floors and building blocks  - see some of the pictures below, other will follow. Treated ourselves to a Chinese Takeaway in a food hall. In the evening we made our way to are area in the north of the city - utilising the free circular tram service, where we met up with our friends Rod & Geri from the USA who also just happen to be in Melbourne at the same time, and they bought along some very old friends of theirs. It was a very pleasant evening in an excellent Italian restaurant. We need walking all the way back to the apartment, as we discovered that the free tram actually stopped at 6.00pm. A lovely walk, and thankfully all downhill - Melbourne is actually quite hilly.

Views from Monet & Friends

Tuesday 31st January 2023

Today we went and met up with a distant cousin - Campbell Horsfall - who is the son of my late uncle 'Dick's' wife's sister. I think that it correct? We caught a train from Flinders Street Station in central Melbourne and went out to a place called Clifton Hill. Met up with Campbell and had a very pleasant morning drinking coffee, nattering, and generally catching up. Then on to his house, an then back to central Melbourne where we met up with Campbell's wife Sue and had sa very pleasant luncheon followed by a general stroll around the many interesting alleyways - with their boutiques and trendy eating places. We actually ended up in the somewhat palatial Royal Automobile Club of Victoria Members Club - very nice, relaxed and a pretty good Gin & Tonic!

Relaxed in the evening and thinking about tomorrow and getting ready.

 Wednesday 1st February 2023

We are now in Melbourne, and are getting ready to make our way to the airport tomorrow lunchtime, ready to fly back to the UK via Singapore and Paris. All being well we should be back in Birmingham early evening on Friday 3rd.

 Friday 27th January 20023

Today is our last day on the farm, later in the day we are all heading off to Cairns to have dinner, stay overnight and then the family will drop Merle and I at the airport for our flight back to Melbourne.  We are both really sad to be leaving the farm, but also pleased in a way that we are heading for our own home. We have been away for some time.

Thursday 26th January is a public holiday in Australia - Australia Day - so everything is basically shut. We went out for a lovely drive up into the Atherton Tablelands - very green, rolling countryside (not unlike the UK - but drier). We visited a lovely garden centre specialising in 'native plants' - didn't realise there are so many.

We then went on to the famous 'Curtain Fig Tree' - see the pix below, and then on to Yungaburra for lunch.

A lovely day out.

Wednesday 25th January.

We had a quiet day, just made a visit to the local coffee plantation, shop and restaurant. The shop/restaurant is in a fascinating building, what they call a 'pole building' as it is basically built on and around large poles sunk into the ground or rock. all timber building - really lovely with amazing views from the terrace over the gorge. Pretty good lunch as well!

 Sunday 22nd January 2023

Well, at long last we managed too do our hot Air Balloon flight. Yesterday morning - or was it in the middle of the night - we got up at 3.330am and headed off to Mareeba to meet up with the rest of the air balloon flyers. We all meet up on the outskirts of the town and were divided into two coaches which took us off to the launch site - basically in a local farmers field.

We were divided into two groups of 16, with there being 8 in each side of each balloon basket - obviously for balancing. Once aboard and settled into our places the pilot ran through a brief safety procedure, and then basically 'fired up' the balloon. We were in an all yellow one, with another in an orange and yellow livery.

There is really no sensation that you have left the ground - no sudden increase in speed and noise etc that you get when taking off in a plane. You just simply float up into the sky.

It was still quite dark when we took off, and we watched the sunrise. The sensation of being in the air, with no method of propulsion besides the wind and the pilots ability to manoeuvre the balloon - sideways and up and down is really extrodinary and quite - except of course when he ignites the burners.

We then sent the next hour or more - you lose a sense of time - and just floated over the countryside, sometimes we were up at over 3000 feet and at other times we were literally skimming the tree tops. It really was quite amazing, and were able to recognise many places - some with the help of Hannah.

Eventually the flight had to come to an end, and our pilot Frank found a suitable spot out in the countryside from Mareeba - good for us, but not so good for the ground support team to come and find us and take us back. It took about half an hour for them to  track over to us.

Once they had arrived, the balloon was gently deflated and whilst this was happening we were all photographed inside our balloon. Once outside again we were treated to glasses of champagne and more photos. We were then all loaded onto a trailer and taken back to the nearest road that the coach to get close to us. There we were given our Flight Certificate, and Merle, Hannah and I then went off with Jan who had been following whilst the rest went off in the coach.

What is our conclusion about a Hot Air Balloon flight - it is fantastic and if you get the chance - or even make the opportunity - do it, as you will never forget the experience. Rest assured, it is not frightening at all.

Our team, including all the ground crew- especially our driver Browny, and the pilot Frank were brilliant. Well done to them all.

Would we do it again - you bet your life we would!

The rest of the day was restful - catching up on lost sleep time, and then in the evening jan organises an outdoor get-together with friends, family and the farm workers were all had plenty of 'nibbles' supported by plenty of various drinks - alcoholic and no alcoholic. Another really pleasant evening.

 Thursday 20th January 2023

So, what's been happening since the lat entry. Well the weather has continued to be very mixed - very hot and sticky and lots and lots of rain. Infact on the television it showed a placed that we drove through on our way - Proserpine - which had 317mm ( 31.7cm) of rain!!

Reasonably quiet week, but once again our supposed Hot air Balloon flight was cancelled due to the weather. We are hopeful that it will happed this Saturday as the long range forecast is reasonably good.

Sunday 15th January

We met up with friends and family for a get together lunch at hotel in Tolga (which is on the Atherton Tablelands) - which are somewhat reminiscence of the English countryside. 16 of us in total and in usual 'Aussie style' a bit of a free for all - everyone offering and paying for their own meals which were not necessarily delivered in the same order. Again, usual 'Aussie amount of food. Diet when we get back home.

Monday 16th January

Merle and I took off from the farm and headed for the coastal towns. We booked three nights at a lovely resort in Trinity Beach which is north of Cairns. We had a lovely relaxed drive down from the farm - over age famous Kuranda Range, stopped for lunch, did a bit of shopping and made our way to the resort. We visited some of the other beaches as well. We had a very nice ensuite unit with a kitchenette. Just relaxed. 

Tuesday 17th January

Merle was up early and had a nice swim in the pool - had the pool to herself.  Walked up to the local shops, and back to the beach area where we had one of the mandatory 'coffees', and generally did a bit of exploring - Trinity Beach is a lovely place, but like all of the beaches you cannot swim in the sea except within the prescribed 'stinger net' areas. We are currently in the ''''''stinger ' season - 'Stingers' being Box Jelly Fish' which f you get stung by can be very very painful and sometime fatal - not to mention that there is also the possibility of a hunger 'croc' somewheres about. Our grand-daughter Hannah, who lives and works in Cairns, came over to Trinity for dinner. we found a very pleasant Italian restaurant in town and had a very pleasant early evening meal with her - guess what - it actually rained and rained and rained!!

Wednesday 18th January

Wednesday, we took off to Hartleys Crocodile Experience which is 20 minutes or so up the coast road. We spent pretty much the whole day there - and yes - it did rain and rain - but it didn't spoil the day at all. We had some good fun. The highlight I suppose for many is the trip around a large lake area which is invested with approximately 30 crocodiles, and you are guaranteed to see them, including watching them trying to grab food. see the photos and video below:

we also saw a fantastic selection of other animals, birds and snakes. Below are a few pix of some of them - owls, koalas, the kookaburra, large (1+metre long) Iguana, the Cassowary ( particularly rare and extremely dangerous non flying bird, and it is big (emu sized), Wombat.

During the afternoon we were entertained with a 'snake' experience where we saw, experienced(didn't hold) both a non venomous Python and an extremely venomous Taipan. It was very entertaining and informative - especially the bit about what to do if you do unfortunately get bitten - 'don't panic' he said!!! Then proceeded to demonstrate what to do.

This was followed by an equally impressive display and experience involving a guy and a 3 metre+ crocodile. Lots of fun, lots of croc splashing about trying to catch him, but again very informative.

We got very wet during the day, but it really didn't make any difference, it was a great fun day out. Then back to Trinity Beach.

Thursday 19th January

We left Trinity beach in the morning and went south down into Cairns, and in particular the harbour area where we haven't visited for a number of years. It was very sad to see the Pier (a large complex of shops and cafe's) almost empty of them and obviously not many people. We did manage to find a cafe for yet another 'coffee'. There was also a large cruise ship in the harbour so we had a very pleasant walk down through the gardens to the cruise ship, and met a very pleasant lady with whom we had a good chat.

Decided to make our way slowly back to the farm, so stopped off for a lunch, followed by a nice drive back over the Kuranda Range and towards Atherton ( more coffee) and then back to the farm. all in all a lovely and relaxing break.

The weather forecast looks promising for the weekend - so hopefully we'll get to do the Balloon flight.