Originally Posted by Vash the Stampede

Well, I took literally hundreds of photos (about 730 Mb in total!) during my brief trip home, but I'm sure you don't want to see them all. :o

For those who may be interested, my camera is a Canon Powershot A620, and my photos were taken at a resolution of 3072 x 2304.

I've had to crunch them down to 640 x 840 for the sake of uploading them to this thread, so the quality has suffered a great deal - but I think they've served their purpose. :)

Many thanks again to everyone who's contributed - particularly all you Tassie-lovers out there!

This is Vash the Stampede, signing out... for now. :cool:

Originally Posted by Vash the Stampede

Here follows a brief account of Mr & Mrs Stampede's recent holiday in Australia. :)

We left home on the evening of July the 28th, taking a taxi to Walsall train station, a series of trains down to Gatwick, and a taxi to a local B&B.

Mrs Stampede's holidays had already begun, but for me it was the last day of work. By the time we reached Gatwick (four hours later) it was about 22:30 and I was very tired. I do not enjoy travelling by train in the UK.

We spent the night in our B&B, and had a good solid breakfast the next morning. A courtesy bus took us to Gatwick Airport (5 minutes away) where we checked in our baggage and settled down in the departure lounge.

Our flight was divided into three sections: Gatwick-Dubai; Dubai-Singapore; Singapore-Melbourne International (Tullamarine). Each stage of the journey was 7 hours long, with a 1-2 hour wait in between. This helped to break up the trip, and gave us time to stretch our legs.

We flew with Emirates (whom neither of us had used before) and I would definitely recommend them to anyone. Service was excellent, seats were comfortable; cabin crew were well-groomed and courteous; in-flight entertainment was great; food was of a high standard, and arrived at regular intervals.

During our stopover in Dubai, we refreshed ourselves with beer, cider and a bowl of chips at a pub in the airport; it was called The Irish Village, and looked completely out of place with its surroundings. :confused:

Originally Posted by jugsy

I know how you feel. I lived there for a while - awful place.

In your 2 years til you return you should try to live somewhere like Devon, Dorset etc. Much nicer parts of the U.K.

Originally Posted by Vash the Stampede

I could have cried during the train journey to Birmingham New Street; the grinding tedium of countless terrace and semi-detached houses (all virtually identical, with no character, no driveways, and no front lawns!) was extremely depressing. :(

Originally Posted by Britishaussie

Yeah, know what you mean. The most depressing place on earth. We're not too far from you, in Stafford, and quite regularly visit your neck of the woods. Hubby and I get depressed when we see rows and rows of "3 bed semis" which seem to dominate the landscape, particularly in the midlands. I know Australia is guilty of building hundreds of identical suburbs but at least they look more appealing than the UK's endless rows of ugly terraces and semis. Weather like we're having today makes it even more depressing - FFS it's supposed to be summer!

Originally Posted by Margaret2

Yeah, yeah, yeah, its all great, but where the hell are you in these photos :mad:

Originally Posted by tin

Thanks for putting in the effort Vash that was an entertaining read :)
btw how did you end up in Birmingham, I thought all the Aussies in the UK were in London? ;)

Martyn