The contrast between all the places I had been and Hong Kong was amazing and really interesting! My overnight flight had been changed by Quantas to a day flight so it was 6pm when we landed at the new airport on Lantau Island and already dark. From my window seat, I had seen patches of lights as we approached, then there was nothing but darkness. As we got closer to the airport and the cabin lights were dimmed, I made out the lights of a series of high rise appartment buildings, all uniform in height but that was all that stood out in the darkness.
Pick up by the transfer company was a bit of a fiasco and it was an hour before I was on a coach heading towards Kowloon and I was quite weary after an early start but by the time I arrived in Kowloon itslef, the weariness was replaced with excitement and anticipation. It was by now about 8.30pm and dark but the streets were brightly lit with illuminated shop signs and with many people still out on the street. A far contrast from what you would expect in the UK in winter. And to add to the usual illuminations, the city was already prepared for christmas with decorations and tinsel everywhere too. First impressions, vibrant and buzzing, a very positive place to be.
After that we were taken around the south side of the island, past Repulse Bay and then on to Stanley Market for a spot of shopping. The guide was really very informative and I learned a lot about Hong Kong, its history and people and traditions which made the trip excellent value.
That evening, I opted for an evening excursion which would take us on a cruise around the harbour then on to Aberdeen again for dinner on the Jumbo floating restaurant and then a trip up to the mid levels of Victoria Peak to get a view of the city lights and harbour from that vantage point. The cruise was very interesting, the harbour was pretty choppy and stepping on board our boat was quite interesting, the crew didn't seem to bothered and just yanked us each on board without giving us chance to be too worried about it. I had met up with an Australian couple, Sonia and Rob who had also been on the earlier trip so we spent the evening getting to know each other. They were actually on their honeymoon so I was quite lucky that they didn't seem to mind company.
Dinner at the Jumbo was excellent, the benefit of doing a tour and eating with a group of people is that you get to try so many more dishes. We were started off with soup, then went on to have 5 main dishes, mainly seafood with noodles and rice, all followed by mango pudding. It was all very tasty and we enjoyed it.
A good day all round, I decided to take the following day to explore myself and headed out to the MTR (underground) station to pick up an Octopus Card, something like the London Oyster card, and take myself over to Hong Kong island to explore. Once I had established what I was looking at in terms of the map and the different routes, it was fairly easy to navigate and I was really pleased becasue I had been a little disortientated and had been a little intimidated by the size of the place, it was much bigger than I had been expecting and everything looked the same. Whatsmore, Kowloon is almost built on a grid pattern but with so many one way streets that the buses which did pick up and collection from our hotel seemed to me to be going around in circles. I normally have a very good sense of direction, but this was very confusing. So by the time I was on the MTR and heading for Central station on Hong Kong, I was already feeling a small sense of acheivement.
The other benefit of doing the day trip was that I met people who had been in Hong Kong for longer than me and who had friends living there, so I was able to get some tips from them as to where to go and what to do. From Central, I wandered towards an area called Soho and found street markets selling fruit and vegetables, meat and fish, lots and lots of fish. It was really interesting to look at all the produce, some of which I recognised, other things I didn't. I was looking at fruit on one stall and the stallholder was trying to get me to buy a fruit I didn't recognise. It was like a large grapefruit but shaped like a pear and some of the fruits had been half peeled like an avocado halved with the tone still in. It looked interesting and he kept telling me they were very sweet, so I decided to buy one and then worry about what it was afterwards. He kindly peeled the rest of the fruit for me and separated some of the segments to make it easier to peel then sent me on my way! I later discovered it to be a Pomelo, the flesh was quite dry and less juicy than a grapefruit and milder in flavour but very interesting. I enjoyed it.
At the top of the street, there was a large group of people standing outside a bakery, queuing for freshly baked something or other. I couldn't see what it was so I walked past and then doubled back. An american bloke was now standing at the back of the queue talking to a group who were with him, I assumed them to be guests visiting from overseas, and he was explaining that this was the place to go for tourist to try the Hong Kong egg tarts, somewhere that Governor Chris Patten used to go when he was in charge there. So I joined the queue and picked up a tart and some things which looked like they were made of coconut and then headed off to find somewhere for a coffee.
I spent the best part of the morning exploring, even went into Marks and Spencers, only because it was the first M&S I'd seen since August! Very amusing to see typically M&S clothing in the middle of Hong Kong. I went for a late lunch back in Kowloon at a place recommended to me by the lady from the tour desk. It was inside a shopping centre and when I went in, there wasn't a single person in there who wasn't chinese and I soon discovered that the servers didn't speak english! My server asked me if I wanted chinese tea, but when I asked her what was good on the menu, she didn't understand me. I spent a little more time looking at the menu offering lots of things which didn't look familar and just as I was about to panic, one of the managers approached me and offered to help me make my selection. Phew! Dim Sum was what would be served, a meat choice, a seafood choice and then the restaurant's specialty, one dim sum filled with hairy crab coral. It was a really delicious lunch and quite special as it was, I beleived quite authenic and in authentic setting surrounded by locals. Although I have to say I did feel that all the people around me were sniggering at my clumsiness with my chopsticks, but I didn't care!! And in the main, they did all smile at me which made me feel a bit less like I stuck out!
That day, Sonia and Rob had planned to go to the horse races but we had agreed to meet at a bar near the hotel in a shopping centre called The One. The bar was on the 19th floor with an outdoor balcony offering seating with a view of the harbour and all the lights of the city. A beautiful location and when they arrived, they brought with them some other aussies who had also been at the races. It was a fun evening, the view was stunning and at 8pm we had a perfect view of the laser light show. A great end to the day.
To be continued......
My flight from Fiji took me to Brisbane for an over night stay before my flight to Perth the following morning. All pretty painless really, as was the 5 hour flight from the east of Australia to the west and with clear skies, I had an excellent view of the thousands of miles of desert which makes up the vast centre.
I arrived in Perth to a heatwave. It was sunny and very very hot, 39 degrees and as I waited for the shuttle to my city centre hotel, I was wishing for a cool breeze to help cool me off a little. And the next couple of days I spent reacquianting myself with the city I last visited in 1997 were almost unbearable, walking the streets exploring what had changed was exhausting, early starts when it was cooler helped, but by lunch time, I found myself seeking the cool air of the hotel before venturing out again after a nap.
Before arriving in Perth, I hadn't made fixed plans of what to do. My first few days in the hotel on my own after a fabulous second visit to Fiji were a bit challenging again, I missed the company of all those lovely people. I knew that I would have a bed with my friend Annamarie's daughter Sophie from the Sunday and after that, had thoughts of visiting the south west corner of the state where I worked on a vineyard during my gap year.
In the next block from my hotel I found an Avis hire car office and on enquiry, discovered I could hire a small car for a week for a very reasonable amount so decided to go for it, it would be necessary in any case to get myself to Sophies and made complete sense if I was to venture south. Perfect solution and a plan formed.
I had one night with Sophie, then headed south towards Bunbury and Busselton for my first night away. The highway was new since I was last in WA and took me straight to Bunbury where I stopped for a spot of lunch. As I remembered it, Bunbury was a small town and easy to navigate, but not any more. The road in from the highway was one continuous retail park all the way to the centre which is now a large shopping centre with supermarket and mall. I didn't hand around as it appeared to have lost a lot of the charm it had before. It wasn't far to Busselton which is where I had planned to spend my first night. A quick stop in the Information centre sorted me out with a map and somewhere to stay, the Busselton Guest House close to the beach.
The following day, I drove down the coast a little further to Cape Naturaliste, a rocky point with lighthouse which is lovely to have a walk around. As I approached the car park, there were thousands of dragon flies circling which was an amazing sight, but when I got out of the car, I discovered they were not alone, there were thousands of flies too which was a real shame. I had a walk around the lighthouse taking the shortest of several hiking routes and didn't hand around. By the time I got in the car I had five bites on my legs.
After visiting a couple of the beaches on the way back , I the found my way to the beach at Busselton for views of the coast and the famous jetty and then had a late lunch overlooking the water. I spent the afternoon having a look around the town before packing to head out early the following day for the journey south the following day.
From Busselton, I drove down towards Margaret River famous for its vineyards. I stopped breifly for a cold drink and noted that again, it was a little bigger than I rememberd but still small enough to look very similar. From there, I took the road inland towards Manjimup before branching off to Pemberton. I spent some time in Pemberton before visiting the enormous Gloucester tree and the railway museum. Pemberton really hadn't changed that much, I was pleased to note that the Gloucester tree was still standing but there wasn't much esle to see so I pressed on towards Walpole and Denmark. It was lovely to see these places but they were not so different and I didn't see anything that enticed me to stop and stay over so I continued on to Albany, the largst of the towns of the south west corner and somewhere I had spend many a weekend while working there.
I found a Best Western Motel close to the centre which was very basic but functional which served as my base for the next three nights. That gave me two full days to explore the area, which is exactly what I did. When I had been there before, I hadn't had access to a car so had explored mainly on foot but this time, I was able to cover the same ground and more in the time I had. The main street was much the same although more supermarkets and large stores had moved into town in a new retail area and town itself seemed quieter. The YHA Backpackers I had stayed in before was still there and looked like it hadn't had much work done in the last 12 years which was amusing.
I was able to venture out to Frenchman Bay and peninsula, a national park offering stunning coastline and beaches all unspoilt. It was a treat tp find something new that I hadn't already discovered. The highlight was the deserted Goode Beach, crystal clear turquise water, white white sand so fine it squeaked when I walked on it, and not another person in sight
Then it was time to head back to Perth for an evening with Sophie before she went off on a big bus trip, leaving me in the unit for my last few days in WA. I set off from Albany with a full tank of petrol for the 460+ Km journey back to Perth, planning to stop off in Frankland, the town I lived in while working on the vineyard.
Thirty minutes up the Albany Highway, I passed Mount Barker and knew that the turning to Franland wouild be coming up on the left hand side but none of the side roads appeared to be very well sign posted and 15 minutes later, I was starting to worry I might have missed it. Resigning myself to the fact I may not be going back to Frankland this time round, I continued on but then a sign in the distance indicated a turn off to the Frankland River Wine Region. Well that was new! And not long afterwards, a roadsign indicating 59km to Frankland. Something I hadn't remembered, that the road to Frankland was actually that far off the mainroad! I continued on but a change in my planned route back to Perth started to form in my head, although I realised that in '97 the road on from Frankland back to Manjimup was a red dirt bush road.
Frankland had not changed a bit, small still, and not a soul about. I didn't stop in the General Store as the name on the outside was one I didn't recognise, so obvously not the same family running it and the post office. And the Road House was closed so no need to pop in there either. I drove around to Rhonda and Jason's and the house I used to stay at, but it was closed up for the weekend, along with the house belonging to Di, another vineyard worker, but that's what I had expected as they have a house in Albany somewhere too.
Pressing on on the road towards Manjimup, I passed many more fields of vines than I remembered and then took the side dirt road down towards the vineyard I worked on, and the little house I stayed in first on the corner of the vineyard, the one without furniture and with red backs in the corners outside. This time it looked a little more lived in, there were cars outside so obviously someone is now making it more of a home.
I was pleased to find though that the tarmac didn't run out as I made my way further across country towards Manjimup. It was actually a really pleasant drive, red dirt to the sides of the roads, green bushland and fields with cows, sheep and views strethcing on for miiles and miles. The road strethced out ahead of me, the mirages disappeared the closer I got with more and more appeared in the distance. Except one mirage didn't disappear and the closer I got, there was still a line across the road, so I slammed on the breaks and missed squshing a massive lizard by only a couple of feet. He moved out of the road but was kind enough to stop by the side of the road for me to take a photo.
It was 4.30pm by the time I arrived back in Perth after only a brief stop for lunch. It had been a long day of driving, I had seen lots of wildlife, lizards and colourful birds. What struck me as I approached the outskirts of the city was that when something startled the birds out a tree, what flew out were white cockatoos, grey and pink gallahs and red and green parrots. Beautiful, makes a change from our usual selection of brown native birds as lovely as they may be. Dinner that evening had been arranged by Sophie and her boyfriend Wez for her last night before she went off for three weeks and she had invited her brother Lachlan, his fiancee Dana and their little girl Ayla to come along too. Now I had last seen Sophie and Lachlan in 1998 when they were 5 and 8 respectively and neither of them really remember me, but that didn't mean they were any less pleased to see me and warmly welcomed me in their mother's absence. It was great to catch up with them and for me, to tell them some of the funny stories from the three months I spent with them. It was a pleasure to see them all grown up and responsible and was nice to be looked after by them, last time, it was me taking responsibility for looking after them!
Once Sophie had gone off on her trip, I had a couple of days to enjoy the last of the heatwave, more 35+ degrees of heat and sunshine. I had to go in to Fremantle on the sunday as that was the only place in the area with a supermarket opening on a sunday, something which I found a little bizarre. The many many bottleshops seem to be open at all times and all hours but buying a pint of milk a little more challenging. So I had a little walk around Freo in the sunshine, had a look at the shops and got a coffee.
The the last day, I spend doing all my laundry so I would leave Australia en route to Hong Kong with plenty of clean clothes!
It was a little sad to leave Australia again, but I have a feeling it won't be 12 years before I go back this time and have plans to see Annamarie and the Alexander clan again soon and for more time to have a proper catch up and who knows when that may be. We will have to see how the job market is in the New Year!!!
The other benefit of doing the day trip was that I met people who had been in Hong Kong for longer than me and who had friends living there, so I was able to get some tips from them as to where to go and what to do. From Central, I wandered towards an area called Soho and found street markets selling fruit and vegetables, meat and fish, lots and lots of fish. It was really interesting to look at all the produce, some of which I recognised, other things I didn't. I was looking at fruit on one stall and the stallholder was trying to get me to buy a fruit I didn't recognise. It was like a large grapefruit but shaped like a pear and some of the fruits had been half peeled like an avocado halved with the tone still in. It looked interesting and he kept telling me they were very sweet, so I decided to buy one and then worry about what it was afterwards. He kindly peeled the rest of the fruit for me and separated some of the segments to make it easier to peel then sent me on my way! I later discovered it to be a Pomelo, the flesh was quite dry and less juicy than a grapefruit and milder in flavour but very interesting. I enjoyed it.
