When in Rome...

For the entire time Garry and I lived in London we never indulged in a High Tea. This quintessentially British tradition was conceived by high society in the Victorian era. At the time most people ate a hearty breakfast and often didn’t dine again until the evening.

The Victorians began taking afternoon tea to bridge the gap. By the end of the century, afternoon tea had become a daily ritual for the upper classes, though it had spread in various forms through much of the rest of society too.

In the more privileged households the ladies would dress for the occasion whether at home or out in public, and the selection of goodies on the tea tray become equally elaborate. Pastries, scones, clotted cream, delicate cakes, and the ubiquitous thinly sliced cucumber sandwiches.

While in London last month we took time out one Sunday afternoon to treat ourselves and a long-time friend to a decadent High Tea. I booked us into the ornately decorated Oscar Wilde Lounge at the Café Royal in Piccadilly Circus. The afternoon was totally over the top but heaps of fun.

We spent almost four hours drinking champagne and nibbling on canapes and petit cakes while being entertained by a pianist on a grand piano. Our waiter even put on a show for us. Our empty flutes were regularly topped up with an outstretched pouring ritual that I’m honestly not game to try at home.

Keeping ourselves busy

Two weeks from now Garry and I will celebrate the fourth anniversary of our departure from Australia, followed eight weeks later by the fourth anniversary of our arrival in London. It’s hard to believe that our fifth year in the North Hemisphere is almost upon us. This also means we'll soon be entering the final 12 months of our current work permits. We clearly have some serious decisions to make in the year ahead. Should we renew the lease at Swiss Cottage? Should we stay in the UK beyond 2010? As I said to Garry recently, if we stay another year, we’ll probably want to stay a further six months beyond 2011 and enjoy Olympic Games.

Meanwhile, we’ve plenty to keep us busy for the next couple of months. Next Friday we’re off to see La Cages aux Folles. This was actually the first Broadway musical I ever saw live. I saw it in November 1983 as an exchange student on a school trip to New York city. Ironically, the following day, I’ll be off to New York for a week on business.

I wonder how well La Cages aux Folles has stood the test of time? The current West End production should hold its own as it includes two of my favourite actors; Simon Burke and John Barrowman. Simon starred in Phantom of the Opera and is recognized by many young Australians as a former Playschool television host. John is well known in the UK as the star of a popular Dr Who spin-off called Torchwood.

In mid-October Garry and I then fly to Dubrovnik for a long weekend. Late November has me scheduled to be back in China for business. Early-December is another round-the-world trip for both business and pleasure; taking in California and Australia for work, New Zealand for an early Christmas with the family. Garry and I will finally round out 2009 with a Christmas/New Year vacation in South Africa. Plenty more photos and blog post to look forward to!

By the time we ring in the New Year I’ll have completed at least 59 separate flights this year. Along the way I’ll have flown around the world twice, visiting every continent except South America and Antarctica. Somehow 2009 turned into a year of particularly heavy travel. Next year won’t be any quieter. We already have flights booked to Sweden, Greece, Canada, the USA and Australia. We’re certainly getting plenty fo mileage out our annual round-the-world tickets. I'm sure this jet-setting life will come to a sudden stop when we finally return to Australia.

The ultimate Aboriginal art gallery

Having lived in Australia for almost two decades I’ve inevitably seen many images of Aboriginal rock art. However, nothing could have prepared me for the real thing. The preserved art sites we visited at Ubirr and Nourlangie were truly magic. Some of the images we saw dated back 4000 years or more. They were created long before the Pyramids of Egypt.

Ubirr was the first site we visited. A 47km road winds north of Jabiru to the edge of the East Alligator River. The road ends in a rough rock ford crossing, known as Cahills Crossing. From here you cross into Arnhem Land, a remote wilderness that stretches across the top of Australia. This is restricted Aboriginal territory, accessible only by permit.


We arrived at the river’s edge as low tide was turning. This proved the ideal time to see huge crocodiles idling in the sunny shallows. I’ve never seen so many crocodiles in the wild in such a small stretch of water. We spotted at least half a dozen in a 60-metre arc. As we watched, one enormous beast, easily four-metre long, eased itself out of the water on the opposite mud bank and gave a small yawn. We were left in no doubt who was king of this domain.

Ubirr had five separate art sites. Each is accessible via an easy circular 1km walking track. The most spectacular site called the Main Gallery sits under a broad rock ledge, spanning almost 20 metres. Most of the paintings here are relatively new, painted within the last 1500 years. I was fascinated to learn that the act of painting itself is far more important than the actual images themselves. As a result, newer art is often painted over older pieces. At the main gallery at least three layers can be glimpsed.


The x-ray paintings were everything you image them to be; bold, evocative and colourful. They display all manner of local food including fish, wallabies, turtles and goannas. Nearby a rock even boasts a faded image of a thylacine, or Tasmanian Tiger, an animal that became extinct on the Australian mainland more than 2000 years ago. The Almangiyi, or long-neck turtle, was probably my favourite image.


We completed our walk at Ubirr with a short climb to a rocky lookout offering expansive views across the Nabah floodplain. Given that we were visiting during the Dry Season, only a few remote billabong water holes could be seen dotting the green, fertile plains. As the wind gently cooled us it was easy to fall in love with Australia all over again.


Our second art site was almost due south of Ubirr, roughly 80kms away. Nourlangie was an exceptional location. A 1.5km circular walk took us along the shaded base of a towering rock plateau where we saw some of the most astonishing art imaginable. Without a doubt the most impressive of all was the Anbangbang Gallery where dramatic red and white images of Namarrgon, the creator of lightning, and his wife can be found. The size, colour and power of these images have to be seen to be believed.


We completed our time at Nourlangie by climbing up to Gun-warddehwardde lookout which offers an uninterrupted view of the dramatic Kakadu escarpment in the distance. As we left the area we briefly stopped at Anbangbang billabong to watch teeming birdlife go about its day. We shared this magnificent sight with just one other couple, making for a wonderfully private moment in the heart of Kakadu.

The rain in Spain is also in Amsterdam

My last post covered our first day in Amsterdam. Let me tell you about our second day. First, the weather (of course, we are in England now and you should always open a conversation with a meteorological comment). Our first day was a warm, sunny day, while the second day was marred by very heavy rain late-afternoon.

We started the day with a leisurely morning. After our 4:00am start on Saturday, a sleep-in was always on the cards. We eventually wandered out of our hotel, making our way to La Place for lunch. This was a fantastic venue we'd spotted the previous day. It's effectively a fresh food, indoor market restaurant where you select your preferred menu items, have them cooked in front of you, and then fight with hundreds of others for a table in the upstairs food-hall-style seating space.

The available menu was astonishing. There was everything from roast pork to stir-fried scallops, seared tuna steaks to fresh fruit platters, crusty bread sandwiches to exotic salads. I eventually settled on a chicken quiche and a selection of char-grilled roast vegetables. Garry went for the roast Chicken.

From here we wandered back across the city to the Van Gogh Museum, stopping briefly to watch diamonds being polished at Coster Diamond. Coster's is also famous for successfully polishing the world's smallest diamond, barely half a millimetre wide. I was fascinated by a raw diamond rock on display. It looked like a large chunk of lead or coal with the occasional sparking edge. I would have walked right past it if it had been lying on the ground in Africa. It was about now that the heavens opened up, making it an ideal time to linger indoors.

The Van Gogh Museum contains more than 200 paintings that span the artist's professional career. Perhaps career is a little generous. Van Gogh, a Dutchman by birth, only sold one painting while he was still alive. The museum's collection includes several famous masterpieces including Sunflowers, Irises, and Wheatfield with Crows. I also recognised several self-portraits.

Access to such a large collection gives you a rare glimpse of how an artist's signature style develops over time. Van Gogh's early paintings were dark and somber, a stark contrast to his later, more colourful, short brush stroke technique. Another memorable highlight was the most exquisite marble sculpture of a peasant woman nursing a baby. This wasn't a Van Gogh art piece, but it did capture the essence of rural scenes that dominated his early work.

We later took advantage of a brief break in the rain to walk across the city to the Amstel River. I was particularly keen to see Magere Brug, a traditional double-leaf Dutch drawbridge. The current bridge is a 20th Century replica of a wooden bridge built in the 17th Century. It's considered one of Amsterdam's more famous landmarks. Unfortunately, we'll remember it more for the torrential rain that started to fall as we neared the entry ramp.

With such heavy rain falling it was time to head back to our hotel and catch the World Cup knock-out round game between Holland and Portugal. Holland eventually lost 1-0. The following day Australia also bowed out of the competition, losing 1-0 to Italy thanks to a penalty in the game's final minute.

One of the more novel sculptures we spotted.