The first look

The new outdoor lounge suite has arrived. Here's a quick photo to wet your appetite. Our next challenge is to work out how we fit it all on our balcony! More pictures and details shortly.

It's here!

Our final apartment refresh purchases are about to arrive. Over the last couple of days we’ve been contacted by the company manufacturing our new window blinds and the retailer supplying our new outdoor lounge suite. Both suppliers are delivering their wares a week ahead of schedule. The suite arrives tomorrow while our blinds will be installed on Sunday. We’re thrilled that everything will be in place before my parents visit in ten days time. They’re in town for a long weekend to see the fruits of our labour (and see for themselves how boldly we’ve burned a hole in our wallets). Stay tuned for more images. For now I’ll leave you with a wonderful rainbow over the SCG and a look at our refurbished home office balcony.
 

The prodigal Saab comes home

We've completed the final step in relocating back to Australia. This week we collected the Saab from Quarantine & Customs and registered it once again for Australian ownership. It been quite an experience getting the car home. The endless paperwork and delays have almost driven poor Garry to distraction.

At one point we even had the receiving agent in Sydney call us and ask us what we'd done with the car keys. Garry rather curtly pointed out that their UK partner had collected the car from our London home and thus we weren't in possession of the keys. Other stressful highlights include paperwork disappearing between our UK relocation agent and its Australian partner, being pursued by bailiffs after the UK agent incurred a London congestion charge penalty and finally being ordered to pay for steam-cleaning by Quarantine before our car could be released.

The congestion charge penalty was particularly galling. The removal company arranged for a car transporting company to collect the Saab directly from Swiss Cottage. The driver then drove through the London Congestion Zone without our permission, incurred a transit fee and failed to pay it. It took several months for the resulting penalty notice to finally reach us by which time the penalty had trebled and then been refered to the County Court for collection. Fortunately the Uk agent accepted liability, but did do only after we chased them and spoke with the local authorities.

Sadly the car arrived in Australia with a few more dents than when we'd last seen it. In particular the roof has a large dimple where something was obviously dropped. The relocation company had to build an wooden frame over the car to fit all of our house contents into a shipping container which clearly increased the risk of damage. Perhaps the most galling aspect of this particular incident is the simple fact that the removalists in London were rather inefficient with their packing, ultimately forcing us to pay for an "overcase" frame.

For example, when we originally relocated to London the Australian removalist carefully packed cushions and other loose items under the legs of dining chairs to save space. It also wrapped our glassware in protective cardboard tubes, allowing more to be packed into every shipping box. By comparison, the UK agents packed our glassware loosely and on occasions packed nothing more than a toilet bruch and dush pan in a large box. I'm convinced these lax packing practices added at least another ten boxes to our load.

We've chalked up the entire relocation experience as yet another examples of the shoddy service we constantly encountered in Europe. I'm glad to be back in Australia where the service is already more attentive and efficient.

Just like the catalogue

Our new outdoor dining suite has arrived. Ironically it was delivered on a day of heavy rainfall, giving its durability an immediate test. As I noted in my last post, our table was floor stock used for photos in Harbour Outdoor's new season catalogue. The catalogue went on online today. You can see our furniture in catalogue photograph above. The store even gave us the bowls that appear in this image. Below is the same table at home on our own balcony.


Below are the chairs that came with our suite. The first photo comes from the catalogue, the second was taken on our balcony. Perhaps we'll publish our own catalogue? We love our new dining suite!

Some finishing touches

Our apartment refresh reached another milestone this week. After week of searching and driving all over Sydney we’ve found the perfect outdoor furniture for our main balcony. Even better, we took advantage of the end-of-Summer sales, and saved thousands. Our shopping spree has netted us an outdoor dining suite, an outdoor lounge suite and enormous BBQ. With luck it’ll be delivered by early-April.


Our dining suite was floor stock used to shoot photographs for next season’s catalogue. It’s delivered next week. We’ve been promised a catalogue when it comes back from the printer. However, you can see last season’s range in white, above. Our table is the same style but has a light tan frame with charcoal coloured slats. The chairs also have a tan frame with white fabric. We’ve bought the six-seat version. To give us additional seating capacity we’ve also ordered a smaller two-seat version. It will live on our bedroom balcony and move any time we need additional table space on the main balcony.


The lounge suite we’ve bought looks identical to the one you see above. The cushions are covered in the same chocolate brown tone but we’ve bought a sofa, two armchairs and a coffee table that doubles as a sun lounger. It was marked down 25% but we managed to get delivery and scatter cushions thrown in for free. We’ve been promised delivery by April 7. The frame is constructed from artificial wicker and aluminum so it should survive life on our balcony without problems.


The new BBQ is Garry’s pride and joy. It was floor stock and the last in the store. We got it for a bargain and talked the store into throwing in a filled gas cylinder. Garry then decided we could save the delivery charge if we partially dissembled it and carefully fitted the pieces into our tiny rental car. After several attempts we finally managed to squeeze it into the car with millimeters to spare. I still marvel at this feat as it has to be the largest BBQ I’ve never set eyes on. Needless to say Garry’s fired it up at least twice since we got it home.


Finally, inside the apartment I’ve been spending my evenings working on the new staircase joinery in our entrance lobby. Unfortunately the custom woodwork I ordered was poorly installed. I arrived home one evening to a scene that almost made my blood boil; two immaculately crafted joinery pieces had been literally butchered by crude saw cuts and other unsightly flaws. Repairing the damage involved a ten-day remedial project. I meticulously prepared paper templates, cut and glued new sections and finally painted the entire ensemble. The result is now much like the image I’d been carrying in my head.

I almost forgot to add that we've successfully secured the services of a cleaner. Incredibly the cleaning lady we had five years ago was still available. She'd even kept the same mobile phone number. Juilet was thrilled to hear from us and immediately made herself available to clean and iron once a week. She's easily the most efficient, thorough cleaner I've witnessed. Life in Australia is definitely falling back into the same familiar rhythm.

Hello Saab

We heard today that our Saab has finally been released by Australian Quarantine. However, we were forced to pay for a comprehensive steam clean before they'd sign-off the paperwork. Garry's now making plans to collect it from the warehouse next Tuesday. With luck it'll be back in our garage by next weekend.

I've also found just the car I'd love to get as a second city run around. It's the Peugeot RCZ coupe. You can see a photo of it above. I've been told its the poor man's Audi TT; a car I'd been fantasizing about until now. I think I've found a huge incentive to save hard for the next year or so!

Another big one hits the Pacific Rim

Northern Japan has been devastated by a massive earthquake today, the nation's largest for more than 150 years. The powerful tremor registered an astonishing 8.9 magnitude, shaking much of Honshu for almost two minutes. Its epicentre occurred 382km northeast of Tokyo, approximately 100 kilometres offshore from the coastal city of Sendai. 

According to US Geological Survey data, the strength of this quake makes it the seventh largest in recorded history. I'm relieved to report that staff from my company's Tokyo office and its local clients are all safe. However, everyone is now stranded as the city's entire subway and train system has shut down.

The unfolding disaster also has a personal connection. On my last trip to Japan I caught a shinkansen train to Sendai for a weekend excursion. My day trip included time on the water in picturesque Matsushima Bay, roughly 30 kilometres north of the city (that's the photo opening this post). 

During this trip I snapped a photo of the ubiquitous tsunami evacuation signs you see everywhere in the town. At the time I dismissed these signs as a classic example of a highly organised, but excessively bureaucratic culture. How wrong I was!

This entire coastline has now been devastated by an extraordinary and destructive tsunami. We've been watching dramatic television footage of a giant ten-metre wave sweeping across farmland and the Sendai airport. As I type news reports are reporting that a ship with more than 100 passengers was swept away by the tsunami. We're bracing for a terrible death toll as the news fog clears in the days ahead.

Earlier this evening my mother called from New Zealand some what concerned. The nation's automatic tsunami warning system had been triggered by the quake so coastal towns began receiving alerts. This meant that emergency broadcast messages interrupted television broadcasts and internet services where my parents live. 

They live less than 500 metres from the beach on New Zealand's Pacific coast (that's the photo below). As my mother noted, it’s a little unnerving when your television tells you without warning to flee for higher ground. The alerts were soon lifted.


UPDATE: March 16
I found the following story about the tsunami's impact in Matsushima. It seems that the bay's chain of limestone islands saved the tourist town from the worst. The town central is flooded, the boat wharf I once disembarked from has partially collapsed and many waterfront homes are damaged. However the story is very different a few kilometres up the coast where thousands are missing and entire towns have been literally wiped off the map.

The big reveal

It’s done! Our relocation back to Sydney is complete. We’re about to unpack the last box. After more than a month of painting, repairing and unpacking our apartment finally feels like home again. We’ve reached a point where Garry’s been filling his day finishing minor handyman jobs rather than painting ceilings and finding new homes for the contents in dozens of boxes.


Here in all its glory are a few photos of our almost normal home. You’ll see the new carpet adoring our internal staircase, the new feature wall and the painstakingly assembled TV bed. You’ll also see the joinery that went in yesterday at the base of the stairs (yet to receive a coat of paint) and the bookcase wall I’ve assembled in the spare bedroom. Our new blinds have yet to arrive and we’re still searching for the perfect outdoor dining suite. I hope you’ll agree it’s all starting to come together. Home sweet home.

250 boxes are on their way

We heard yesterday that Customs and Quarintine have inspected and released our household effects without incident. Tomorrow the removal company will finally deliver our worldly goods to the apartment. No doubt the next couple of days will fly by in blur of cardboard and bubble wrap. We had more than 250 separate boxes and furniture items removed from the house in London. Three months later I can barely remember half of what was packed. Stay tuned for an update on this final phase of our relocation.

Customs confirmation

We've heard today that Customs will be inspecting our household contents this Saturday or Monday next week. Assuming there are no complications we're hope to have it delivered to our apartment by the middle of the week.

Our refresh continues apace. Garry finished painting all of the doors on the top floor of our apartment today. He's only got the kitchen ceiling and staircase balustrade to do and the entire place will have been completely. We could have a complete home within seven days.

On less positive note, we've discovered that the driver who collected our car for shipment to Australia drove through London's congestion charging zone and never paid the standard fee for doing so. As a result, while we were travelling back to Australia a penalty notice was sent to our former address, followed by a further fine when we failed to respond to this notice.

It seems that the matter has been handed to the county court and baliffs are now involved. We're understandably furious that this happened and are waiting for our removal company to resolve the matter. The entire incident has left us wondering if our UK credit record has now been trashed.

New Zealand's "darkest day"

Another terrible tragedy has struck New Zealand today. A second major earthquake rocked the city of Christchurch at 12.51pm this afternoon. Today's tremor, registering magnitude 6.3 jolted the city at the worst possible time with the central city packed with lunch-hour shoppers, office workers and school children. While less severe than the 7.1 quake that struck on September 4, its epicenter was relatively shallow and located closer to the city centre.

As a result, the quake’s destructive force has proven far greater. Buildings have collapsed around the city killing at least 65 people. This toll is expected to rise as at least 100 remain trapped in the rubble tonight. Many fear that the final toll will exceed 200 people. The nation’s prime minister has described today’s tragedy as possibly New Zealand's "darkest day.

My mother was born in the city and so many extended family members still live in the area. Over the course of day we’ve been able to make contact with all of them. I’m relieved to report that all are safe but badly shaken. As you can imagine this destructive quake has trashed the contents of their respective homes, toppling furniture and throwing the contents of cupboards onto the floor. My Aunt whose house was condemned after last year’s quake has now been impacted by liquefaction. Her garage was flooded and her yard has been smothered by layers of mud. While the damage is heart-breaking it seems she may have been relatively lucky.

In town, one of the destroyed office blocks, the Pyne Gould Corp building, was occupied by my brother’s employer. While he’s based in Auckland much of the company’s IT infrastructure resides in Christchurch. He’s now working tirelessly through the night rebuilding their network. The media is reporting that up to 30 people are trapped in ruins of this building; roughly half work for my brother's company. Understandably there are grave fears for their safety as one death has already been confirmed on site.

UPDATE: February 23
My aunt has had to abandon her home as the area is still without water, sewerage and power. She's now staying with my cousin. My brother finally got home at 3pm today after working 36 hours non-stop. At least five people have been rescued from the PCG building overnight. However,the official death toll has climbed to 75 and is expected to rise further. At least another 80 bodies are believed to be buried at the site of the CTV building that also collapsed yesterday. Other news reports claim 22 people have died in the rubble of Christchurch Cathedral.

All day today new images of the earthquake's devastation have poured into newsrooms showing unbeliveable scenes of damage across the city. Christchurch has been seriously battered. Unfortunately the worst may not be over. Regular aftershocks continue to rattle the city, inflicting further damage. Tonight one of Christchurch's tallest buildings, the Grand Chancellor Hotel, is on the verge of collapse.

UPDATE: March 10
The official death toll in Christchurch now stands at 166 people. Authorities are still saying the final toll is likely to come in close to 200. As the last two weeks have unfolded the scenes of utter destruction across the city have begun to reveal the true extend of the quake's damage. Large sections of the inner city are literally in ruins and hundreds of building will have to be demolished.

Photo source: The New Zealand Herald

Mission accomplished (almost)!

Last weekend we broke the back on our floor to ceiling refresh of the apartment. As you can see from the photo above it’s been chaos in the living room for most of the week. However, I can now report that we’ve all but finished painting the top floor of our apartment. I’m also relieved to report that our chosen colour palette seems to have worked. Incredibly, even the original (and rather cheap looking) kitchen finish now looks somewhat smarter. Garry has a few minor paint jobs to complete such as painting the doors and the kitchen ceiling. We’ll then be ready for our furniture. There’s no word yet as to when Customs will release our household contents. We remain hopeful it’ll be sometime this week.

Temperatures hit 30C in Sydney on Sunday. Unfortunately the air-conditioning unit for the top floor broke down last Thursday and no repairman was available until today. As a result, our final painting blitz had to be conducted in the sweltering heat. We sweated buckets the entire day. I’m hoping we’ve also lost a few extra pounds in the process. Since our return to Australia I’ve been forced to take my belt in two notches. A few more months of daily exercise and healthy eating should see us trying on clothes we’ve not worn for years.


We’ve also made progress on a number of other apartment refresh activities. Here are a few highlights:

• While the air-con repairman was here today Garry arranged for a new, modern control panel to be installed. The panel downstairs was replaced a couple of years ago when the downstairs unit failed. It makes the original panels look rather cheap and nasty. Our new panel will be installed this Friday.
• Today we had the carpet deep cleaned upstairs. It’s made an incredible difference. I’ve gone from hating the carpet to feeling I can live with it for a couple of year.
• Tonight Garry’s surfing the web looking for new colour coordinated faceplates for our light switches and power points.
• I also want to tile the chipped and worn splash back in the kitchen. This should also give the kitchen a slightly smarter look. We’ve yet to find the right tiles so this job hasn’t progressed.
• Last Friday I had a joiner come in to quote for minor alterations to the base of our staircase. Hopefully this will all be in place before the end of March.
• Last week I placed an order for new blinds throughout the property. They should be also here some time towards the end of March.
• Finally, the cable guy came in on Friday and connected us to the network.

Piece by piece we’re slowly getting the house in order.

Once our furniture arrives the next project we’ve lined up is the purchase of some modern outdoor furniture. We saw some impressive dining suites several years ago just prior to our move to London. We’ve no idea if the warehouse we visited is still in business. As for outdoor seating, three years ago while walking the streets of Berlin I saw a stunning sofa and chair suite. Unfortunately, at the time, I didn’t make a note of the brand or the store it was in.

However, I had a brainwave a couple of weeks ago. Using the magic of Google Maps and Google Street View I located the store in question, surveyed its website and finally tracked down the missing brand name. As luck would have it there are two retailers in Sydney that sell this product. The power of the Internet is amazing. I’m now dying to see if this furniture really is as perfect as I’ve been fantasizing all these years. I’ll let you the verdict.

Refreshing news

Four weeks after arriving back in Australia Customs remains in possession of our household contents. We heard early last week that it began processing shipments that landed a week before our own. With a little luck, our house lot may be released next week. 

The delay is proving very fortuitous. It’s given us plenty of time to give the entire apartment a thorough refresh. Two weeks ago Garry boldly took on the project of repainting the entire apartment; both stories from ceiling to floor. We completed work on the lower floor last Monday, just in time for the carpet layers to install the new carpet the following day. It looks stunning.

Attention has now shifted to the top floor. Over the weekend Garry finished the final coat of paint on the master bedroom and today he had a go at putting a final coat on our new feature wall. We’ve painted the stairwell wall that links both floors a stunning terracotta colour; a British Paints shade called Outback Sunset. The effect is impressive. 

Garry also gave the main balcony a thorough clean yesterday and so this space is also starting to come together again. Later this week we’ll start work on the final two rooms; the living room and the kitchen. It’ll be a mammoth job as both rooms have high ceilings and plenty of surface area to paint. 

Tomorrow we're getting the windows in this space measured for some stunning modern blinds we’ve discovered. The bedrooms are being dressed in the Luxaflex Luminette Privacy Sheers while the living area will receive a new Luxaflex range called Pirouette. They’ll take five weeks to arrive and are guaranteed to bankrupt us for months. 

To complete our refresh I’ve arranged for a joiner to come in on Wednesday and quote for minor cosmetic improvements to the base of the staircase. Garry is also ordering some slim-line light switch covers and new downlight covers to add the finishing touches to his repainted walls. 

Once it’s all in place we can take our time drawing up plans for a more extensive renovation in 18-14 months’ time. We reckon it’ll take us at least that long to agree on the design, secure body corporate and council approval and finally book the relevant tradesmen.

We moved back into the apartment on Friday morning. The move was totally unplanned. The night before our move I discovered I’d forgotten to extend our service apartment booking. A quick check with reception confirmed that the apartment had been booked and no others were available. We were left with little choice but to move out. 

We spent Friday morning shifting gear into our apartment and shopping at K-Mart for a list of living essentials. We’re now living in one room downstairs, sleeping on a couple of air mattresses, and watching TV nestled in bean bags. We’re now patting ourselves on the back for saving at least one week of fees in the serviced apartment, even after paying for cheap crockery and cutlery. 

We’re using a $12 saucepan and frypan set for cooking and even found a perfectly decent good steam iron for $14. Fortunately, we’d left an old table in the apartment and our new washing machine had been delivered earlier in the month, along with a TV I’d bought for the bedroom. 

We have everything we need to set up a temporary home until our household effects are released. Hopefully, life will almost be back to normal by the end of February.

Hot but happy

It’s been too long between posts! Our first two weeks back in Sydney have simply flown by. I’ve found myself drawn straight back into work with a stream of meetings, emails and conference calls. As has been the pattern for many years I’ve found myself up before breakfast most days for calls and back on the phone for a few more after dinner. Antarctica is rapidly becoming nothing more than a distant memory!

The weather has been simply glorious since our return. Temperatures have peaked in the mid-30s while Australia Day, the nation’s national holiday, proved to be Sydney’s hottest public holiday for more than twenty years. Garry spent the public day enjoying a traditional BBQ with friends while I worked as I had an American business colleague in town. However, it wasn’t all toil. We broke away for a couple of hours shortly before noon to walk across the harbour bridge and enjoy a leisurely lunch at Circular Quay.


We timed our excursion perfectly. As we crossed the bridge the annual boat regatta was drawing to a climax with vessels churning up the water in all directions. As noon approached a ceremonial gun opposite the Opera House let off a booming 21-gun salute. Lunch was then followed by a ferry ride back to Milson Point to resume working for another couple of hours.

The walk across the bridge is just the start of a new regime for myself. I'm determined to lose the "Heathrow Injection" obtained while living in London. I first heard this phrase about six years ago when a returning expat noted that everyone relocating to the UK inevitably puts on 10-20 pounds. At the time I simply chuckled. However, Garry and I soon discovered it was no laughing matter. The cold weather and indoor lifestyle in London really does encourage considerable weight gain. In an attmept to reverse the damage I've now started walking to and from work; a distance of almost six kilometres daily. Garry has also put us on a low-fat, lean meat and salad diet.

On the home front things are slowly falling into place. We took procession of our apartment mid-week once our tenants had vacated. The initial inspection proved a little disappointing. While the tenants had generally kept the place in good condition it looked tired. It’s been at least ten years since the walls were last painted and its suffered inevitable wear and tear. I think we’ve found the motivation we needed to plan our long mooted renovation!

For now we’ll repaint the entire apartment and repair minor dings. Garry has already been down to the hardware store several times to purchase trestles and painting gear. Last night we settled on colour palette. We’re planning a vibrant orange/red feature wall, soft brown and cream highlights and a brilliant white ceiling. It’s a huge paint job that’s bound to keep Garry busy for the next week.

We’ve been told by our removal company that our household effects should be released from customs and quarantine some time after February 7. The ship carrying our container safely arrived in Sydney on January 23. Garry had been tracking its imminent arrival on the Internet almost daily. We’ve also purchased a new washing machine and a new TV for the bedroom. Piece by piece our lives are falling back into place.

New posts uploaded

I plan to spend the next week or so filling in a few gaps in the current blog record of our recent travels. This includes posts on our time in Chile, including Easter Island, and several posts capturing highlights from the final days of our train journey through the Swiss Alps. 

As a start, I've posted updates today about our brief Santiago stopover and an early morning tour of the El Tatio geyser field high in the Andes. Both posts have been back-dated so that they appear online roughly around the date they occurred. You'll have to scroll down a little to find them. Check back during the week for accompanying photos I've yet to upload. Watch for more such posts in the days ahead.

Finally, for those so inclined, here's a day-by-day summary of our extraordinary sabbatical itinerary back to Australia. This little beauty has tested my HMTL coding skills to their limit. I've included all of the 11th-hour itinerary changes that occurred after we were stranded in Antarctica for three days.

DAY	DATE	LOCATION	NOTES
SAT	11 Dec	Vienna	Le Meridien Hotel
SUN	12 Dec	Vienna	Royal Palace
MON	13 Dec	Vienna	Christmas Markets
TUE	14 Dec	Salzburg	Mozart Dinner Concert
WED	15 Dec	Kitzbuhel	Picked up by Hamish
THU	16 Dec	Kitzbuhel	Hahnenkamm lunch
FRI	17 Dec	Liechtenstein	Hotel Residence
SAT	18 Dec	Bern	Glacier Express: Chur to Brig
SUN	19 Dec	Interlaken	Day exploring Bern
MON	20 Dec	Interlaken	Jungfraujoch Railway
TUE	21 Dec	Santiago	Evening flight from Frankfurt
WED	22 Dec	Punta Arenas	Transfer flight to Punta Arenas
THU	23 Dec	Tour Day 1	Join group for Fly Cruise Antarctica
FRI	24 Dec	Tour Day 2	Flight to South Shetlands
SAT	25 Dec	Tour Day 3	Mikkelsen Harbour & Cierva Cove
SUN	26 Dec	Tour Day 4	Dorian Bay & Charcot Cove
MON	27 Dec	Tour Day 5	Paradise Bay & Neko Harbour
TUE	28 Dec	Tour Day 6	Deception Island & Half Moon Island
WED	29 Dec	Tour Day 7	Stranded in Antarctica
THU	30 Dec	Tour Day 8	Stranded in Antarctica
FRI	31 Dec	Tour Day 9	NYE stranded in Antarctica
SAT	1 Jan	Santiago	Flight to Punta Arenas
SUN	2 Jan	Tour Day 1	Hotel Taha Tai. Easter Island
MON	3 Jan	Tour Day 2	Rano Kau. Orongo. Ana Kakenga
TUE	4 Jan	Tour Day 3	Puna Pau. Rano Raraku. Ahu Tongariki
WED	5 Jan	Tour Day 4	Flight to Santiago
THU	6 Jan	Tour Day 1	Morning flight to Calama
FRI	7 Jan	Tour Day 2	Salar de Atacama
SAT	8 Jan	Tour Day 3	Tulor & Pukara de Quitor
SUN	9 Jan	Tour Day 4	El Tatio. Fly to Santiago
MON	10 Jan	Santiago	City Bus Tour. Evening flight to NZ.
TUE	11 Jan		Cross the Dateline
WED	12 Jan	Tauranga	Transfer in Auckland
THU	13 Jan	Tauranga
FRI	14 Jan	Auckland	Evening with Matt & Shelley
SAT	15 Jan	Sydney	Home again!

Shipping, shopping and settling in

We’re finally back in Sydney. Initial preparations for setting up home again are already underway. We already know the container holding our household effects and Saab is scheduled to dock in Sydney on January 23. It’ll then take up to six weeks to clear quarantine and customs. 

We googled the location of the ship carrying our worldly processions last week and discovered that it was due to dock in Freemantle, West Australia on January 15; the same day we arrived back in Australia ourselves. Until our household effects clears customs we’ll been camped out in a serviced apartment literally across the road from our own property. This should make it reasonably easy to complete final preparations for moving back in. 

Garry has already taken it upon himself to repaint the entire apartment when our tenants vacate on January 25. The current paintwork is at least nine years old now so a touch up is well overdue. We also have several appliances and numerous minor items to purchase as part of our relocation. The shopping list includes a new washing machine and some outdoor furniture for our expansive main balcony. 

Of course we also have the joy of sorting out phone lines, cable television and all manner of regular household utilities. Garry plans to manage most of these chores in between job interviews. With a little luck we should be settled back in our own home by mid-February. 

At this point I’m unsure if I’ll continue maintaining the blog as its original purpose will have well and truly ended. Dear readers, what do you think?

The final flight

Garry and I are sitting in the Qantas lounge at Auckland Airport. After exactly five weeks on the road, we're preparing to board the final flight on our leisurely journey back to Australia. In a few hours from now, we'll begin our new (or is that old ?) life in Australia. It's been five years, three months, and nine days since we departed Sydney in 2005 to embark on our grand European adventure. It's hard to believe that another chapter in our lives is drawing to a close.


We've capped off our eventful journey home with three gloriously relaxing days at my parent's beachside home. The weather has been glorious with blue skies and sunshine every day. We've also made a daily pilgrimage down to the beach to soak our feet in the surf and watch majestic waves rolling in one after the other.


We even took advantage of our jet lag early one morning rising in time to watch sunrise over the Pacific Ocean. It was a magic experience and perhaps the ideal way to draw a metaphorical line under our time in London. A new adventure is dawning. Stay tuned for more updates as we work to settle back into Australian life.


• Posted by iPhone
• Location: Puhinui Rd,Auckland Airport,New Zealand

24 hours in Santiago

Almost six million of Chile’s 15 million people call Santiago home. As a result, the capital of Chile is a sprawling, bustling metropolitan that doesn’t look that dissimilar to any other large city. We’d originally booked ourselves into the Sheraton using loyalty points for three nights, but had to abandon this plan after becoming stranded in Antarctica over New Year's Eve. As a result, we ended up spending less than 36 hours in Santiago. However, despite our truncated itinerary, this proved to be enough time to sample the city's highlights.


To initially orient ourselves, we bought tickets for the hop-on, hop-off bus that circles the inner city from 9.00am to 6.30pm every day. The entire circuit takes roughly two hours, giving visitors a quick sense of the city’s historical districts and its modern additions. Garry loves these bus tours as he enjoys gaining a brief understanding of what it’s like to live in a given location.

After completing a circuit, our first stop on the route was Santiago’s bohemian arts and cafe district, Bellavista. It was here we discovered the expansive Patio Bellavista, a delightful complex of redeveloped warehouses that now house dozens of cafes and restaurants. We stopped for a leisurely alfresco lunch before making our way toward Parque Metropolitano, an expansive parkland that covers a series of hills on the city’s north side.


The 860-metre summit of the nearest hill can be reached via a funicular tramway, built in 1923. It offers an open-air ride through groves of mature trees as the sprawl of Santiago slowly unfolds before you. Santiago is huge! The hilltop itself is dominated by a 14-metre pure white statue of the Virgin Mary, who stands looking serenely over the city with her arms outstretched. It is now a historic moment, but it still attracts regular streams of devout Catholic pilgrims.

Our next stop was the city’s historical centre, located in the shadow of a small hill called Cerro Santa Lucia. Pedro de Valdivia founded the city here on February 12, 1541. Today, the hill is an attractive park upon which an extensive series of terraces, paths, viewpoints, and grand stairways has been constructed. Much of this work was completed over a two-year period, starting in 1872, by 150 convict labourers. The entire neo-classic construction is an impressive sight, and it’s easy to imagine the city’s more fashionable citizens ostentatiously promenading here 130 years ago. The design and location do make you feel a little like royalty.

From here, we wandered into the Plaza de Armas, the old city’s central square that remains the city’s heart today. The square is bordered by a series of impressive buildings that include the city’s cathedral, central post office, and City Hall. Each building was constructed during a different period, creating a wonderful array of architectural styles that simply reinforce a sense of the city’s growing age. 

We wandered briefly among its ornamental palm trees, past groups playing chess at the bandstand and the inevitable flurry of illegal street vendors and buskers before making our way back to our hotel for dinner and on to the airport for our flight to New Zealand.

No doubt with a little more time, we’d have visited more of Santiago’s historical buildings and perhaps a few museums. However, we appreciated spending time outdoors and saw enough to satisfy our own sense of discovery. 

Garry also enjoyed our hotel’s outdoor BBQ restaurant, which always had lamb roasting on a charcoal spit and every conceivable carnivore’s delight hanging on hooks nearby. If you ask him, he’d tell you it was the perfect way to end our tour of Chile. Over a period of three weeks, we’d seen the country literally from top to bottom (from the Atacama to Punta Arenas) and east to west (from the Andean altiplano to Easter Island).