Degustation, boats and beaches

The rest of our Sunday passed by in a blur of dodgy fish and chips, ice cream, feeling unhealthy and getting another early night.

Monday morning dawned grey, raining and miserable, and as a result we were both feeling very unmotivated to get out and do stuff. After a lot of sitting around hoping the weather would clear, we finally gave up and headed out for a walk up to the second highest point of the island, which promised a spectacular view. The climb was challenging, and we got absolutely drenched by the time we got to the top, but was generally quite invigorating. Unfortunately, the 'view' was practically non-existent due to the rain and fog.

When we got back to the hotel, we had lunch downstairs, during which time the sun finally showed its face. By the time we'd showered and read on the balcony for a while, the skies had completely cleared to reveal a beautiful day. George went down to the beach for the free windsurfing lesson, which unfortunately was cancelled because the water was too calm. Meanwhile, I went to the day spa and got a pregnancy massage, which was awesome (although I'm not sure what exactly distinguished it from a regular massage, other than the belly-sized indentation in the table).

Once we'd both read in the sun for a while, we decided to go up to One Tree Hill, where island staff set up a temporary bar with cocktails every evening to watch the sun set. We got the shuttle bus up there and George had a cocktail. The sunset was spectacular, as promised, and we braved the walk down the steep hill back to our hotel to get ready for dinner.

I won't go into too much detail about the degustation at the Hamilton Island Yacht Club, but suffice it to say that it was the best deg we've ever had and we left feeling very satisfied with the evening.

Today we went on our snorkelling/beach tour, which began on a giant catamaran. We couldn't have chosen a better day - the sky was clear, the sun was shining and the sea was calm. We were taken first to a reef off one of the islands to do some snorkelling, and after some teething issues (I don't care what anyone says, breathing with your face in the water is simply not natural), we were underway.

After my only previous snorkelling experience many years ago, I was quite disappointed - apparently the majority of the reef has been bleached, so there was none of the vivid colours and wildlife that I remembered. This, combined with my mask continually letting in water and fogging up, made the whole expedition quite unsatisfying for me.

After this we had lunch (salad wraps for me, while everyone else scarfed down cold meats and prawns) and headed to our next destination. Whitehaven Beach is Australia's most beautiful beach, and the third best in the world, and it's easy to see why. At least two, possibly three kilometres of pure white sand and vivid blue/green waters, completely undeveloped. We had two hours to wander up and down, lie in the sun or swim in the water before we re-boarded the boat for the trip back to the island.

After a full but enjoyable day, we're planning a quiet dinner at the Steakhouse and another early night. Tomorrow we're going across to Dent Island for lunch and a free tour of the golf club.

Chillin' in the Whitsundays

Today is our second day on Hamilton Island and so far we haven't exactly set the world on fire. We arrived just after 1pm yesterday and discovered the first of many bonuses of staying on the island - free shuttle bus to our resort. After getting settled in our very large room with balcony overlooking the bay, we headed out to find some lunch and do a bit of exploring.

There's a free bus that does a loop of the main area, but we spurned this in favour of walking - and quickly discovered why there's a bus - the hills here are very steep and the bus is well worth the wait! We started out at Catseye Beach and discovered that all snorkelling gear, kayaks, windsurfers and catamarans (including lessons in how to use them) are free for resort dwellers. Bonus, except that watersports aren't really my thing at the best of times, let alone with a bun in the oven.

We then found a cafe and had a quick lunch, accompanied by a few locals - enormous sulphur crested cockatoos and little parrot/rosella type things that perched on neighbouring tables to watch us eat.

After this we had a bit of a walk around the main area and had a drink at the yacht club, a beautiful open air bar overlooking the water. The entire club is shaped like a giant boat and is quite spectacular to look at. We've booked in for dinner in the swanky restaurant for Monday night - the degustation looks awesome.

After a rest in our room, we went out for dinner at a pizza place which, while not exactly rocking the pizza industry, did break records for speedy service - we sat down at 7pm and were out by 7.30. After a 4.30am start that morning, we were more than happy to go back to the hotel for an early night.

We got up early this morning and went out for a cheap breakfast before going to the general store to buy cereal and yoghurt - we're already over eating out for every meal and want to save a bit of money too. After that George went to the gym (also free) while I did 20 lengths of the enormous pool downstairs. We're now contemplating getting on the island's free bus, which goes all the way around the island, and see what else there is to do, plus we'll book a snorkelling day tour for Tuesday.

Overall, Hamilton Island is great, although it's a bit like welcome to the future for us - everywhere you look there are families with babies and young kids. While this is kind of freaky, it's also comforting to know that holidays with small children are accessible, practically if not financially.

Finally, I apologise for any typos or Americanised spellings - I'm writing this on my iPhone and auto correct is rife.

And cue the sun

It's our second full day at Yondah and as with any god holiday I am only just clearing away the cobwebs of sleep at 10:30am after almost 12 hours of sleep. I was crow-barred out of bed by Bec and Jedi both champing to go for a walk; when I finally did muster the fortitude to rise, the sun ducked behind a cloud and sideways sleeting rain took its place. But now, thirty minutes later, the sun has reappeared and a walk beckons.

I imagine today might now be a carbon copy of yesterday, now that it looks like we'll be blessed with sun for most of the day. Yesterday we spent our time either chasing or hiding from the sun - it was bizarre weather, with a cool breeze that was easily defeated by a blazing-hot sun, but the breeze alone was cold. Even the sun became too strong at times, so we moved between decks as needed. At one stage when a balance couldn't be struck, I gave up on the outside world and retired inside with a Pale to watch The A Team, which was ridiculous but fun.

I did get semi-active once during the day, taking my dodgy ankles and toes down the evil goat track to Yondah's private beach with Jedi. He of course had no issue racing down the insane decline and I could see him hunting for a stick while I was still only half way down to him. The water was ice cold but it didn't stop Jedi racing in there to retrieve his stick - although it didn't take him long to work out that the tide would do half his work for him. The cold, salty water somehow also helped relieve the pain in my feet so we ended up staying until the tide began threatening my bag of valuable electronics (of course I had to take the video camera to record Jedi's frolics; I would include one here but as an appalling video recorder it's both too long and of inadequate quality to justify placing here).

The sun is now beckoning me outside so I shall wind up.

Yondah II - The Return to Paradise

His two cents:

I've been waiting for this pretty much since we last locked the doors of this gorgeous place behind us. Bec had purchased the return trip as a Christmas present in 2009 (probably as much to shut me up about it as to secure a good time to visit, given how heavily booked this place is becoming), and I'd been counting down the days since.

If you've got no idea what I'm talking about, Yondah is a self-contained holiday home on the far south coast of South Australia's Yorke Peninsula.  I say 'home' advisedly, as to call it a shack would be like calling Bill Gates 'kinda well off'. This place has, to use the cliche, all the mod-cons - reverse cycle a/c, fully equipped kitchen, three bedrooms, a super comfortable lounge room with stupendous views over rocky outcrops that separate lush farmland from Investigator Strait.

Most importantly, it's pet friendly, meaning Jedi gets a week of jovial, bounding freedom followed by nights on his bed in air conditioned comfort. (Sadly for the cats, as poor travelers, it means a week isolated in the Adelaide house, with kindly visits from our good friend and neighbour Rachacia.).

As always, getting here was NOT half the fun. In fact, the getting here contributed almost no real joy to the holiday. In actual fact (what does that mean anyway?), it was a bit of a debacle. We ran far behind our intended departure time as I'd overslept and spent more time catching up on work I should have done in the week prior than preparing, and was still very much in my usual state of morning filth when Bec got home from a very early visit to Buzz (her horse). I pulled my act together, but we still managed to leave almost two hours later than intended. We also had to stop at the chemist (my fault) and bottleshop (my fault) and to get fuel and check the tyres (the car's fault) meaning it was about two when we were finally under full steam. Determined to defeat the night we drove through the 2.5-3 hour journey.

Apart from our usual entertainment at Jedi's joy at seeing farm animals along the way (he reserves a set of special faces for these moments - cleverly referred to as 'cow face', 'sheep face' or 'horse face' depending on the livestock in question) the journey was uneventful. We had the usual consternation over directions, largely because I only saw signs as we passed them, meaning we took the usual, less direct path to get here, but one which maximises the use of sealed roads.

Despite one ill-advised traverse via a dodgy dirt road we made it here in one piece and promptly unloaded our grossly excessive inventory. We took our exploding dog for a walk along the ridge above the beach, where he tried to convince us, despite chilling winds and descending sun, that it was a good time to go down to our private beach. We weren't tempted by the notion of struggling back up the goat track that leads down to our little beach enclave in the dark and instead headed back to a spot of reading, a pumpkin and bacon pasta and a quiet night in front of the TV.

Today is off to a very slow start - for me at least. I slept from about 10 till well after 8 (when Bec set off the fire alarm with steam from the shower) and have managed a measly 15 minutes of exercise. Bec on the other hand has been for a run with Jedi, which entertained him no end no doubt as he would have ran 3km for each of hers.

The day now beckons a great deal of not much; we haven't seen the sun yet, but that allows for a quiet day of reading, eating and sleeping. I can live with that.

Home again

It is with much relief that we make our final report from the comfort of our own home, with our own bed, own shower and tap water that is not only sanitary, but drinkable even. Not that we haven't enjoyed the holiday, but coming home is always the best part of the holiday!

Nothing much to report from yesterday really - Changi airport is like Disneyland, with no shortage of things to do. After a terrible breakfast/lunch of microwaved quiche and beef pie, we signed up for the free Singapore tour, which was quite underwhelming. The two hour tour (which ended up being one hour and ten minutes, plus 45 minutes stuffing around in the airport before leaving) took us on a 'cultural' tour of the city in which we only got off the bus once to look in a Chinese Buddhist temple. The rest of the tour was simply driving around the city, which was admittedly quite beautiful, but severely lacking in culture (the tour that is, not the city). Nevertheless, it did get us out of the airport for a short time.

We had the option of taking a free shuttle bus back into the city after the tour, which we did consider doing so we could actually see a few things, but unfortunately the tour bus had to take us all the way back to the airport and then we'd have to go back in. Considering George had been nodding off in the bus as it was, we decided against this option.

We dribbled away the rest of the day wandering around the airport, looking at duty free options, buying alcohol, considered buying a camera but ended up not doing it, ate quite good ramen noodles for dinner, lay around in the hotel room, then checked out and waited for our flight.

The flight was uncomfortable but tolerable and we're very glad to be home and with our animals again. Some final reflections on the India experience - as with any country, there was plenty of good and plenty of bad. Some of the positive things:

• The Indian head waggle. This endearing gesture, done mostly by men, seems to mean anything from 'yes, that's OK' to 'I like you' or 'you're funny' or pretty much anything positive.
• India is definitely a country on the move - you can feel it, more so than any other Asian country we've been to. While there's still plenty of poverty, there's also a shitload of prosperity, innovation and development going on.
• The food is completely awesome - even better than we expected, and it seemed that the cheaper it was, the better and more authentic. We both have an even greater appreciation for vegetarian food, given how much of it we ate. It seems there are infinite ways to prepare vegetables and they are generally far better than meat. Also, the seafood on the coast, particularly in Goa, was mind-blowingly good. I will dream of that Tandoori pomfret on Palolem beach for many years to come.
• The way traffic just works despite the appearance of utter chaos. I certainly wouldn't brave it, but you have to admire the fact that when millions of people are trying to get somewhere at the same time, horns are literally used out of consideration and there is absolutely no aggro whatsoever.
• Most people seem happy and easy-going. As above, no one gets angry...despite the frenetic activity, everyone moves at a steady pace.
• Goa. Loved it.

The not so good:

• India is still a very patriarchal society, and travelling there as a woman is not as simple as it is for a man. Everywhere we went the men would address George and pretty much ignore me altogether. He was served food and drinks first, doors were opened for him, the works. It wasn't intentional, but it was hard to get used to. The only place I was treated as an equal was at the Taj Malabar, where I'm sure the staff are rigorously trained on how westerners expect to be treated.
• Following the above point, Indian men are not shy about openly staring at western women. Everywhere we went I had men staring right at me, even waiters in restaurants while we were eating.
• The gap between poverty and prosperity is stark, and I think it's only getting wider. The middle and upper classes are flashy in their wealth. We saw one particularly nauseating billboard in Bangalore advertising a new apartment complex with the slogan: 'It's not how you live that matters, it's where you live'. Ugh.
• The persistence of tour operators, auto rickshaw drivers, taxi drivers, etc, of taking you to shops that you've said countless times that you're not interested in. We got so worn down by it that we literally bought no products or souvenirs other than the attars (sorry everyone) because we wanted no part of it. And going on the Thailand/Vietnam/Cambodia example, most of it is cheap crap that was made in China anyway.

Well, that's pretty much it. Not wanting to end on a down note, India was a great place to visit and was nowhere near as full on and scary as we'd expected. If we do go back we'll probably make a beeline for Goa and spend a week or two around there. This holiday has made us come to the realisation that we're no longer intrepid travellers wanting the 'authentic' (read: manufactured tourist trap) experience. We like going to places that are set up to western hygiene expectations - it doesn't have to be anything fancy (in fact our one five star experience was actually pretty ordinary), but just clean, hygienic and with a big supply of bottled water!

Until our next holiday...thanks for reading :)

Killing dead time on the countdown to home

Stage one

We’re currently waiting in the elaborately-decorated lobby of the Taj Malabar Hotel on the furthermost point of Willingdon Island, one of the three islands – and an artificial one at that – that comprise Cochin. We’re winding down part one of several episodes of waiting that will make up our return journey.

Before I bring you up to date on what we have in front of us, let’s go back 24 hours. We finally got our swim in the so-called infinity pool, so called because of the illusion that the water line of the pool meets the line of the sea.

It was a very hot day, so the cooling swim was welcomed. Tiring from the exertions, we returned to our rooms and changed for lunch. After our (once again average and grossly overpriced) lunch (a ‘Mediterranean’ pizza, which apparently means tinned olives, and that’s pretty much it), we once again adjourned to our room. This one was truly worth spending some time in – a king-sized bed, two bay windows, both looking onto the sea, air conditioning and all the trimmings. We sat around doing nothing of note:

until we decided the time had come to move some blood into our limbs, so we headed to the bar, of course. Still gun-shy of beer I joined Bec in a cocktail – I had an old favourite, a Harvey Wallbanger, and she a Mai Tai. We then concluded the night with the best meal at this hotel, and the cheapest, at the Thai Pavilion. Back in the room I toyed with the idea of watching Armageddon, but sleep took over.

Sleep had me in its clutches for a long time, and we both slept past nine. Instead of rushing to take advantage of the day we both sat around playing Solitaire, like the radical elements we are.

We finally wrested ourselves from the room around 11 and took the ferry to Jew Town, as the name suggests an area of Jewish worship and trade from old times, which is now more a tourist trap.

Tiring of this we took the next ferry to Fort Cochin. We saw a lunch-wallah delivering shitloads of lunch tiffins to workers on the island we were staying on:

At Fort Cochin we walked along the top of the island to find a restaurant highly recommended in the Lonely Planet. We found it after a parching walk, and enjoyed a healthy, hearty vegetarian lunch. With time already against us we rushed back toward the ferry, stopping briefly to look in a bookshop and to snap some photos in a desperate attempt to compensate for our awe-inspiring lameness in not getting to the Fort prior – the architecture is beautiful, there’s plenty of places to stay, eat and drink, and in hindsight we’re kicking ourselves we didn’t stay there. Oh well.

And the requisite funny sign photos – we declined stopping for soft drings:

And if the food is crap, never fear, the Lilly Grace will MAKE you enjoy it.

Anyhow, our combined slowness and delays meant we missed the bloody ferry and with the aid of some extremely confusing advice from the exceptionally unhelpful ferry ticketing staff, I spat the dummy, and stood around in a sulky strop, waiting for the next ferry. I was cranky because our well-laid plan – to have an hour plus to shower, pack and check out – was cut back to 40 minutes. On reflection, it wasn’t really the sinking of the Titanic, but I admit I am prone to slight over-reactions from time to time.

We have since completed the aforementioned plan, with the only contingency being the local tour operator turning up at 3:45pm – to pick us up for an 11:45pm flight! When he drove to the reception area to pick us up, we asked why we were leaving so early; he got on the phone to his boss, told us he was waiting for a call back and has since driven away, leaving us with limited knowledge of what is to happen next. Last we heard he was waiting outside the hotel gates (security is very tight here, being part of the same hotel chain attacked in last year’s terrorist attack), ostensibly still for that call. But we figure he’s going to just wait there until we’re ready – which by my reckoning is another two hours. Bizarre. Oh well, we’re prepared – we have books, water, snacks and the computer, and we’re currently enjoying watching the staff move in a family that arrived with a quantity of luggage that would ground a herd of packhorses. Classic. That’s it for now – if the battery holds out and we’ve got anything to say we might report again from Singapore.

Stage 2

We’re now hanging out in the transit hotel room in Singapore airport. This room may end up costing us almost as much as the Taj Malabar, but right now it seems worth it after a flight that began at midnight last night and got in at 6.30am Singapore time. George snored through most of the flight but I only managed about 20 minutes towards the end, so we were walking zombies by the time we got here.

We crashed out for about three hours or so before a refreshing shower and a decidedly crap breakfast/lunch. We’re now killing a bit of time before we take the free Singapore tour at 3 o’clock. Waiting is never fun, but it’s certainly a lot more bearable with a comfortable bed, private shower and free wi-fi. At some stage before our 11.30pm flight we’ll do the requisite duty free shopping, but right now we’re just resting and feeling thankful that we don’t have to sit out in uncomfortable airport chairs for 18 hours.

Rest and recuperation, river style

Day 1

We’re somewhere in the Kerala backwaters. You could say we’re wonderfully lost, because we don’t really care where we are and we literally have nothing to do. The two-night houseboat tour commenced around midday after a slightly frightening drive from Cochin to Alleppey and a couple of debacles involving waiting, something we’re not accustomed to given the overall efficiency of our tour operator. While waiting for the boat to arrive we had time to become concerned about the quality of our quarters and the class of our travelling colleagues. Our worries were misplaced as the boat is very comfortable and we have it to ourselves with the exception, bizarrely, of three staff.

We have a host, a driver and a chef, although all three share responsibilities. Soon after leaving we stopped at a small riverside fish market where the chef picked up some pomfret for our lunch. Not long after, when we were back in motion again, we began to smell delicious cooking smells coming from the back of the boat, and we soon stopped at a micro-coconut plantation (where a couple of blokes were gathering sap for fenni, a fiery coconut liqueur) to eat. We have a little dining table on the boat, and this was almost covered in food: three different types of vegetables cooked with fried coconut – cabbage, beetroot and okra – fried okra in a style reminiscent of bhaji and the pomfret lightly fried in turmeric, chilli powder, masala and lemon juice. It was frickin’ awesome, and I said no word of a lie when I told the chef it was better than the food we had at Taj Malabar. He was probably a touch confused, then, when we made a very poor attempt at eating it all – it was a massive serve and I was still not feeling 100%.

Aside from eating we’ve really done nothing but sit and read, and I’m loving it. The scenery is truly beautiful, and the river is very tranquil. The number of houseboats though is quite surprising – it’s certainly not a unique experience any more. We’re now moored for the evening, right outside a tiny riverside duck farm. When we first arrived there were literally hundreds of ducklings trotting around a little shed which seems dedicated to them. I must confess a brief concern that duck was on the menu for dinner tonight…

Speaking of all things wildlife, we have also spotted our first Kingfishers, other than the beer and airline of the same name. They’re a magnificent-looking bird, with the shape of a small kookaburra and the colours of a rosella, but with very different markings and blue as their dominant colour.

We’re currently just sitting on the boat as the sun – once again huge – sets over coconut palms and awaiting the night to commence.

The boat staff are having a pow-wow with their colleagues from other boats, but the smell of cooking is coming from other boats, so no doubt our chef will be back soon to bring on his next food opus.

Day 2

Our second day on the houseboat was much like our first – we both devoured our books, gazed at the scenery, played cards and ate a veritable shitload of awesome Keralan food. If we come back weighing a few kilos more than when we left, it will probably be due to these couple of days.

The previous night we ate channa dal, chicken curry and fried chicken drumsticks with an enormous bowl of chapattis to scoop it all up with. Once again it was delicious. Once night fell the bugs descended, which was not so great, along with a whole heap of geckos. We started watching a movie on the laptop, but soon gave up and went to our bedroom, only to discover an absolutely enormous bug that looked like a cockroach but was actually a flying beetle of some sort. It was so big that when it flew across the room and landed on the opposite wall it made loud skittering noises. We were not amused, and not much sleep was had that night.

The following morning we awoke to find that there was no hot water, so we had very quick and unsatisfying cold showers before emerging to a beautiful morning and steaming cups of masala chai. But it didn’t end there – to our delight, we were served up an egg curry for breakfast, accompanied by rice noodles and more chai. It was magnificent.

Breakfast out of the way, we settled down to some serious reading. George read an entire book in one day while I polished off the second half of my 600 page book. In between snatches of reading George drove the boat for a while:

The backwaters are lined with beautiful colourful buildings and a surprising number of Christian churches considering the area is predominantly Hindu. Probably stinking missionaries, but at least the buildings are nice.

The deck of the houseboat was very clean and with comfortable chairs to lounge on while watching the world go by. These houseboats are a huge trade in the area – there was almost always at least one within sight, of varying sizes and quality:

The pace of life here is very slow and everything is based around the water – everywhere you go people are fishing, washing their clothes or their hair, or ferrying people back and forth across the channels:

It’s a very tranquil and peaceful place to be. If we’d been any more relaxed we’d be comatose:

Our crew were a jolly bunch, always singing and laughing together:

We had another awesome lunch of fried river fish with various bowls of delicious vegetables and rice. And then all too soon the sun was setting once again and we were served up our dinner – a Chinese-style chicken curry, fried rice and more fried chicken drumsticks.

We slept far better last night (no giant bugs in the room) and the cold shower this morning wasn’t even too bad. This morning was possibly even more beautiful than yesterday, and was highlighted by a huge flock of ducks being herded up the river past our boat:

It was quite an amazing sight to see so many ducks all moving as one – it was literally like a river of ducks.

After a very simple omelette and toast for breakfast, the boat started off once again and after around an hour we reached the end of our trip and farewelled our crew to head back here to the Taj Malabar.

It’s just after midday, so we’ll probably stay here this afternoon and finally get in a swim in the awesome infinity pool (and hopefully get some photos of it to share) and generally lounge around. We fly out tomorrow night at 11.45pm, so during the day we’ll finally go over to Fort Cochin to check that out and hopefully avoid at least one, if not two, expensive meals here.

No doubt we’ll report again tomorrow, if not it’ll be from Singapore where we’ll be stuck for 18 hours.