geordie mandy

Grab a seat, and make a cuppa, this could be long .
Where do i begin .
Me and my hubby flew with BA and Qantas on the 11th of OCT.
We set off from Newcastle with BA and were pleasantly surprised by how friendly the staff where. We got to Heathrow and began our trip to oz.Our flight was a lunch time one.
I was well impressed with Qantas staff, they helped me feel relaxed prior to our flight. My hubby had mentioned to them that i was a nervous flyer.
We had the video on demand which was brill.
one of the female air hostess, was fantastic with me as i developed an 'icky tummy' (time of the month as it turned out) .i felt very ill .
I took on board advice about drinking lots of water. I also changed my watch to local time.
I was impressed with having loads of meals on the flight.
My only complaint i had was in Hong Kong. We ended up with 1 hour of waiting in the airport on route. Unfortunately i became very dizzy and nearly passed out. When i mentioned it too the staff they weren't too helpful.

We landed in Melbourne at 8.30pm. We got stopped at customs as the sniffer dogs took a fancy to our shoes. We were throughly searched (not quite the rubber glove treatment but not far off LOL)
All our bags were searched but the staff were polite and courteous with it and even apologised when nothing was found.
We stayed at the quality hotel airport motel about 10 mins away from the airport.
We got their free mini bus. I could not believe how warm it felt while we waited .
Our motel room was really nice and again the staff very friendly and polite.
I would recommend anyone to stay there.


Our Journey to Albury was an eye opener, i had expected flat ground every where and lush fields, instead everything was parched and there were hills to be seen. My hubbies uncle and aunt picked us up. We stopped en route at Wangarratta.
Thanks Nicky for the cold drinks it was very welcome. It was great to meet you




ALBURY/ WODONGA

A country town on the NSW/VIC border.
I found it to be a bustling town and really enjoyed the lay out and atmosphere it had. I could easily picture my family living there. House prices around the $300k - $400k would certainly get you a decent sized house and in some areas a couple of acres of land
the shops seemed to stock familiar products to back in the UK the prices seemed reasonable although i did notice some food products were expensive

We visited the army areas in Wodonga and the army housing looked really good, i certainly would feel safe living there.

We got taken to the Hume weir and i got such a shock to see how little water was there. We were told that there was enough water to last 200 days.
A very sobering thought for some one who takes water for granted.
I became very conscious when ever i needed to use water.

The rellies took us over the Snowy Mountains on the Alpine way to their fav holiday destination. We passed the villages of Threadbo and Jindabyne(sp)
I could almost imagine being in the alps of Austria, it was a very tranquil place.

BATEMANS BAY(NSW)
We actually stayed 10 mins North of Batemans bay at a place called Durras Lake. We were amazed at how scenic the place was. We only stayed a few nights but in that time we encountered loads of roos, which we videoed and photographed (for the kids).
I had crimson Rosella's, king parrots and various other colourful birds feeding from my hand.
A fantastic place for the kids as the lake is shallow enough for kids to play in and the beach is just behind the lake.There is very little commercialism there, so some may find it too quiet.
www.joalah.com.au check it out if you want.

I thought Batemans bay was a really lovely small coastal town, i certainly would consider living there as it contained plenty of big enough shops to cater for the residents as well as a smattering of tourist type shops.

Although house prices were too high for us

We flew from, Moroya to Melbourne via Merribula with REX airlines. When we got to the airport my hubby actually thought it was a toilet block LOL.
The flight scared the life out of me, but the staff handled me well. Although my hubby tying a sock over my mouth to stop me screaming was not nice(just kidding)

A huge big thanks to Cas for picking us up at the airport and getting us safely to ST kilda.

We stayed at the Easy stay Bay side motel on Fitzroy street. (thanks Fraser for the recommendation)
ST kilda beach was lovely although it was a busy place and too crowded for me to live there.

We ventured into Melbourne on the tram and really enjoyed the visit. We managed to get a hire car through budget and risked the roads to get back to St Kilda. Hubby was not impressed with the right hook turns, he went very grey on that journey back.

Thanks to Tash we had a tour of Melbourne at night it was really enjoyable and educational too.

To me Melbourne was very hectic and a place i could not live in. The shops were great and to visit was great but as a country girl it was not for me.


Philip Island
We stayed at the Ameroo caravan park in a chalet, very basic but good enough for us.

I loved the island all the fresh air and space was fantastic.
We did all the touristy bits, the penguin parade, koala conservation center.
We got the 5 parks pass and enjoyed it all.

I even got to swim with dolphins with moon rakers at sorrento.
What an experience, the water was freezing though.
Getting to sorrento we stopped off at Rosebud on the Mornington Peninsular
We were blown away with the place and my hubby is very keen to look into living there. Although it may not be for some time yet.

On our last day in oz we got the Sorrento - Queenscliffe ferry and explored Geelong, as well as Melton. Melton is another area i would be happy to live, i could see the sky scrapers of Melbourne but was surrounded by countryside.

WEll thats me done. i think you deserve a beer at the bar if you managed to survive this post
Mandy

tiredwithtwins

lol ... nice post petal!!!

you packed a lot into 2 weeks!!!

glad to hear cas found you ... we were all a little worried at one point

when you going back for good then!!?


sue xxx

Jaycee1

Hi Mandy,
I have been eagerly awaiting this post and you didn't disappoint!!
Excellent info on the outer Melbourne. My Dad was/is at Mount Eliza on Mornington Peninsula and I fell in love with Mornington and the little markets and lovely Main Street. Dad is renting in Woolwich, Sydney working there at moment.
So your OH is a hooker eh? So am I and it certainly got the adrenaline going!!
Really pleased you enjoyed yourself.
Did the kids like it too?
Where do you think you will settle? Melton? Rosebud?
J x

Ozzidoc

You went past my folk's street!!!!

geordie mandy

Where we live will intially depend on where my hubby gets posted when he joins the oz army.
If he gets posted to Melbourne then we will look at living in Melton.
Once he has done his time in the army then i would love to see us settle in Rosebud.
However if gets the Wodonga region then i would proberbly live with in the army community there.
The kids stayed at home with the grandparents . But they loved the video's and photos that were taken.
Mandy

Margaret3

Mandy am shattered reading that, but helped me alot Thanks for taking the time to post

oh!! and glad cas found you

geordie mandy

Cas did tell me about her losing my flight details.
But it all came good in the end
Mandy

fraser

Hello Mandy, If you like Melton you'd probably love Point Cook which is very quiet and surrounded by fields(in fact the very reason we don't lke it) but also near the coast.

We also love Rosebud it's our favourite place on the peninsula.

I hope the hotel was OK

zx10r_aus

Hey Mandy,

Good to hear you had a good holiday. I'll see you in the bar some time...

ZX.....

Teliko21

Excellent report Mandy, you must have been knackered when you got home

thebears

Life is like that

The only thing worth stressing is what happens if the world runs out of chocolate or beer. Everything else is trivial

Great post Mandy - glad you had a good trip, sorry to hear about your sons broken arm. Hope the reccie brought you more knowledge and enabled you to focus more on your expectations.

Know what you mean about the hook turns - my OH just turns left at the next block, then left again and left again so she can drive straight on
Me I just like the look of horror from the drivers as I get out (and change seats with the wife -who they didnt see).

Australia awaits.....

Vash the Stampede

Good onya Mandy, great to hear that you had such a nice time.

herrchook

Wow Mandy, sounds like you need a holiday now, what a busy time you've had. Must have been great to have the time to explore without the kids.

Thanks so much for sharing this info with us.

Gill

CasG

Ssshhh....I did tell her


You did do a lot Mandy what a great run-down off it all

iPom

Nice trip Mandy... glad you had a fab time. Sorry to hear about your son's arm... hope all goes well there.