Bega

We have settled in to our new home. Matt has gone to work and i am left to finally get by blog up to date and explore. I'm adamant that i'm going to be more productive than I was in Leigh Creek. I will complete my Spanish course, update my blog and also finish the two English reference books that I started writing while I was in South Australia. That should keep me busy.

The Angry Lady has not been out of her room much since we arrived. yesterday a Kiwi lady from Dunedin arrived. She will be working with Matt in the HDU of the hospital. She is really nice, we had a chat yesterday which ended up with her in tears. nothing I'd said. I suspect she is a bit emotional after spending a month in India with her partner and now coming here to work on her own.

We had a little explore around town yesterday. Its quite nice, it even has a shopping mall which for a town of only 5000 is unusual. The people seem friendly (excepting the Angry Lady). When we first arrived I was a little concerned as the taxi drive seemed quite lengthy and it would be inconvenient to be stuck out of town. It now appears that, in order to bump up the taxi fare the driver had took us the long way round as town is no further than 300 metres down the road.

Bega is famous for cheese... from Wikipedia....

The Bega region was used by the Yuin-Monaro tribal grouping of Aborigines for thousands of years before Europeans arrived in the area. The first European to come near the area was George Bass, who explored the coastline in 1797 as part of his broader explorations of the Australian coast. William Tarlinton was the first European to explore the area on foot, arriving in 1829. He returned in the early 1830s and settled there, starting a cattle farm. Others who arrived in the area around the same time were the Imlay brothers, who also began farming there. Their name has since been preserved in the form of Mount Imlay National Park. Live cattle were transported to Sydney for a time, to be supplemented by tallow and hides in the early 1840s.

Beef and dairy farming were carried on in the area through the 1840s, and many towns were surveyed in the 1850s. Dairy farming expanded quickly throughout the 1860s, overtaking cattle farming as the predominant industry. In 1858, Tathra was used as a port for the transport of products to Sydney, and the Illawarra Steam Company was established. In 1860, Tathra Wharf was constructed, which allowed for the further growth and expansion of the dairy industry.

The region received a further boost in the late 1870s when gold was discovered in the Bermagui area. The Bermagui gold rush followed quickly in 1880. Two years later, in 1882, the Municipality of Bega was created. The Bega Dairy Cooperative Limited was set up in the late 1890s.[4]
Bega is now well-known for its cheese. Bega Cheese is manufactured by The Bega Co-operative Society Limited which is one of the larger Australian cheese companies. Their products are exported around the world and distributed across Australia and are available in most supermarkets and general stores.

Notable local landmarks are Bega Court House and Rosevear Jeweller's shopfront, which are both listed on the Register of the National Estate.[5] The court house was built in 1881 and consists of rendered brick and iron roofs. The Rosevear shop is in Carp Street and was established circa 1899. It is listed as a notable example of Victorian commercial design.

I'm probably going to have plenty of time to explore and taste the cheese. Red wine and cheese, hmmmmm. Going to have to find a discount shop for the booze though. It as double the price of Sydney!

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Location:Auckland St,Bega,Australia

Sydney to Bega

We left Ashfield at 10 to catch the midday train from Sydney Central. I was quite looking forward to the trip, other than the local service into town, I had never travelled by train in Australia. The fares are not expensive at all. The cost of a single from Sydney to Bega was 78 dollars.

Me, with my trusty backpack and Matt, with his huge new case made our way down to the local railway station in Ashfield for the short trip to Sydney Central where we were to catch the train for our first leg of the journey. Being so vast, Australia does not have a massive train network. We arrived at the station in good time and had chance too grab a cup of coffee and a 'Krispy Kreme' donut. One is never enough, but, bing on a diet now, having put around two stones on since I arrived in OZ we decided that we would not be greedy. We had a Hungry Jacks 'Whopper' meal instead.

We boarded the tran and Matt decided he wanted something to read so jumped off the train. i did have visions that it would go without him, it didn't. While he was pissing about with his 'huge' case though, he did lose his credit card. fortunately the steward on the train found it and he was reunited. Lucky !

The journey to Bega went via 'The Nation's Capital', Canberra, that leg of the journey took around four and a half hours. From there we take a coach on for the couple of hours to . Its all integrated, the coach is waiting at the railway station for you so it is basically, off the train, onto the bus and off you go again. The journey was very comfortable. The weather was appalling, it was nice to be watching the fork lightening and torrential rain from inside for a change...

The scenery during the journey was beautiful, despite the inclement weather. after the suburbs of Sydney we made our way into the semi bushland, stopping off along the way. it was a little like the countryside on the last part of the journey to Chesterfield through the Derbyshire Dales. The difference being that these trains seemed to adhere to a timetable. At the prescribed time we arrived in Canberra. I'm not sure what I was expecting but a railway station the size of Chesterfield was not it. Being the 'Nations Capital' i expected something bigger.

Graeme, our friendly Aussie coach driver got us boarded and we were on our way. It would be another two and a half hour to Bega, with a 30 minute stop along the way. The weather was still bad and although it was only 6 o'clock, t was quite dark. not too dark to enjoy the scenery and quite a few Kangaroos hopping around in the bushland. The journey took us over the 'Snowy Mountains'. Its quite a steep climb and by the time we hit Cooma, our stopping point, the temperature had plummeted and it as positively arctic. We had another cup of hot coffee to keep out the chill and a wander around the town. It was a bit out of date. Around the park were flags, included was one for Yugoslavia, long gone. Once back on board we headed further up the passes, such as the height we actually passed snow on the ground. It was hail really but whatever.

At 8.15, spot on time we arrived in Bega. It is a small town of 5,000 people. a little inland from the Sapphire Coast in South New South Wales. It waas actually pissing down when we arrived. I watched the bags while Matt went to try and track down a taxi. By some stroke of luck he found one and we made our way to the hospital he would be working at for the next four weeks. Once again, as part of the contract, they would be providing accommodation. We picked up the key to the shared house and walked the short distance to the house.

My face must have been a picture. It was rather like a cross between a halfway house and a hostel. We were met at the door by what can only be described as an Angry Woman. She pointed out the bedroom, a single bed !!
Pointed out huge Huntsman spider that was half poking out of the aircon unit. Told us that everything on the second shelf of the fridge was hers and not to touch it and then disappeared into her room. It was wine O'clock. It was fortunate that I had brought a bottle of wine with me. We celebrated the warm welcome to Bega.








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Location:Auckland St,Bega,Australia

11th December:- The trip to Leigh Creek

We were up early for the long drive to Leigh Creek. It's around 600km and is situated between the Flinders range of mountains and the Simpson desert. After checking out of the motel we stopped off at McDonalds for a latte and then made our way towards the outskirts of the city. Adelaide looks to be quite a nice city, tidy with some pretty suburbs and a fair number of very smart looking churches. All in nice pastel colours. We headed out through the wine growing regions of the hunter valley and surroundings. As we moved further north the landscape changed dramatically. Very soon we were in the outback, the little towns became further and further apart and less populated. Still quite pretty but some consisted of just a garage, a couple of shops, some houses and of course the pub with its bottle shop. Unlike the UK supermarkets don't sell alcohol. It is sold in bottle shops, drive through booze barns or pubs.

Despite the fact that I have been to Australia Several times before I have never seen a wild live kangaroo. I was beginning to think that would be the same as we drove past dozens of Roo's dead at the side of the road. Some quite recent, others little more than a skeleton with fur. We did spot some live emu though. Big buggers. We stopped the car to take some photo's as the looked menacingly over. Wouldn't want to set too close. Still no live kangaroo though. Apparently they are quite plentiful at dawn and dusk. Surprising drivers by hopping in front of cars and causing numerous road traffic accidents.

The flinders range of mountains were quite spectacular but it soon became clear why the middle of Australia is called miles of 'nothing' the roads snaked into the distance with nothing as far as the eye could see but red desert. It would be quite a query to break down as we went for hours at a time without seeing another vehicle.


At lunchtime we stopped for fuel and something to eat. The meat pie was delicious, not quite as nice as the Tesco Meal deal scotch pie but not far off.

Matt and I shared the driving, sticking to a sensible 120km per hour and eventually arrived at Leigh Creek. Not before I had unavoidably slaughtered a quite huge lizard which ran into the middle of the road and stood there. I was traveling at speed and it would have been dangerous to try and avoid it so I splattered it. I have seen a natural history programme that these lizards are monogamous and have a partner for life. When stage partner dies the other lizard will grieve for weeks by the side of the road. I felt very guilty.

Leigh Creek is a mining service town. It has a population of 500 ish and quite a lot of temporary accommodation for the miners. It was built fairly recently and has the look of a school campus. It has a hospital, school, post office and ridiculously high priced supermarket. We were to be living at Leigh Creek Caravan Park, just off the main road. Matt had to pick up the keys from the service station and once done we got ourselves installed in the mobile home which was to be 'home' for the next 6 weeks. After that we went for a look around which took all of 10 minutes and called in the 'tav' for a beer and something to eat. I was really looking forward to a steak. It was months since I had eaten proper meat so treated us to a couple of pints and a steak dinner. It was a huge T-bone. Delicious with egg, chips and gravy. Replete, we headed back to our caravan and had an early night. Matt was working the following morning at 7:00.

Location:Black Oak Dr,Leigh Creek,Australia

10th December:- A few hours in Sydney

The flight from Darwin to Sydney was long, that said, I did have two seats so got a bit of sleep. I was arriving in Sydney at 2:30 and would be flying out to Adelaide later that afternoon at 4:20 for a relatively short flight. I was getting quite excited looking forward to meeting Matt later that afternoon. I landed at the domestic terminal and then, after collecting my luggage made my way to terminal 3 which is the Qantas terminal. It's all self service and very smart. After dumping my baggage I made myself through security and then headed straight to the Hungry Jacks for some food. I was starving having not rated at all on Friday. I could have actually got an early flight but it was still only a couple of hours to wait.

It went quite quickly, I seem to have spend a disproportionate amount of time in airports just recently. Checking in I changed my seat to a window and emergency exit seat, a bit more room!

It was amusing to see the average age of the flight attendants, it must have been 60, quite possibly older than the ageing plane. We did get food though, and to my glee a nice bottle of red wine. The first real wine I had drunk for several months. It was bliss. We landed on time and as I made myself into the arrival lounge I was quite excited to see Moo. There he was, unfortunately he had not made a sign but never mind. He had arrived in Adelaide a few days before and had booked into a motel not far away from the airport. Despite this we managed to get lost...

It was quite a nice place, a kitchenette, a separate bedroom and quite large. We had a subway for dinner and a bottle of wine. An early night as we had an early start for the rather long drive to Leigh Creek which would be home for the next 6 weeks.

It was great to seemafriendly face after so long.

9th December:- Darwin - The worlds beer best drinking city....

The flight to Darwin was bang on time. So, here I was in the southern hemisphere. It is actually 21 years, almost to the day that I had last been in Australia. How things had changed. For a start it was much more expensive. The last time it was $2.50 to the £. Now it is similar to the American dollar at around $1.50 to the £ plus the prices have gone up a lot.

I had applied for an 'E' visa. I was a little anxious that things had gone through OK, despite the fact that I had the confirmation email and had boarded the Air Asia flight with no problems. On the website it suggested that you had to pay $20, but I got it for free. I passed through immigration with no problem, just a few questions around where I was going and had I planned to come to Oz. the 'e' visa gives me three months in OZ although I could leave the county and return for another three months within a year if I decided that is what I wanted to do (or if I could afford it)!
Immigration decided to follow the lead of the Bali immigration and stamp my passport from the back. Fuckwits.

In the airport terminal I got some cash from the ATM which gave me $50 notes. I knew that the place I was staying was not far from the airport but had no idea how much it would cost. I saw a change machine and without really reading it put in a $50 note. It was like winning the jackpot... I got $50 in $1 coins, not only that, the poured out all over the floor. Rather embarrassing to say the least.

I had to wait ages for the taxi, eventually though I was on my way. You can imagine my horror as the taxi meter spun round and I ended up paying $25 dollars for the short trip. Once again the taxi driver could not find the hostel. He was reasonable enough to stop the meter at $25 though.

The place I was staying was a youth hostel. As I was leaving at a ridiculous hour in the morning I had opted for a singe room. Even that had cost me $50 for the night. Well over my daily budget. At least when I met up with Matt we were getting free accommodation for a month and then the accommodation charges would be shared.

The room was very very basic, just a bed. No bathroom, that was shared. I had a quick wash a d the. Went out to explore. Darwin has the claim to being the biggest beer drinking city in the world. It was later afternoon and loads of Christmas parties were in full swing. Darwin seems to revolve around Mitchell street, it wasn't long before I was observing people staggering around pissed in the afternoon. I had a couple of beers, even they were significantly more expensive than in Asia. The weather was roasting, after a drink and a wander round ( stopping to purchase some nicorettes as I was going to make a concerted effort to reduce the number of cigarettes I smoked - for budget rather than health purposes).

I headed back to the hostel, fully intending to go out for something to eat later. I never made it....

My flight was at 7:30 in the morning so I needed to be up early. Rather than get a taxi, there was a bus that stopped at the hostel. Even that was $15.

I didn't sleep very well at all, it was so hot, unfortunately it was only about 3:00am when I realised that I had aircon as well as a fan and I was to be picked up at 5:15 for the short trip to the airport. I was up early and the bus was on time for the rather long flight to Sydney.

The bus driver was much too jolly for that time in the morning...

7th December:- Three days in Bali

Kuta is not my favourite place but I was actually quite looking forward to a couple of full days there. I had found some very reasonably priced accommodation in booking.com. So everything was just fine and dandy. The flight landed on time and I made my way to pay the extortionate $25 visa on arrival charge. For some reason the immigration officer thought he would start from the back of my passport this time. Annoying !

The last time I was in Bali was 12 months ago when I went with Lesley and the kids for Christmas. This time the weather was much better. No lashing rain and thunderstorms. It was hot and sunny. I took a taxi for the short ride to Kuta which is about 10 minutes from the airport. It looks as though they are updating the rather quaint airport and the surrounding area looked rather like a building site.

My hotel was good, in an OK area, had wireless access (yipee!) and served reasonably cheap food and beer. Bali is the holiday destination for Australians going overseas. Kuta especially is rather like Benidorm. Youngsters getting pissed cheaply and it was packed. I'm afraid I'd didn't spend any time in bars or nightclubs but still had a nice time. The beach was only 5 minutes walk from the hotel. I spent my first full day on the beach and the second day around the pool. Unfortunately the pull of cheap Bintang beer was too. And I was bintangoed twice waking up with a bintangover.

I met up with a Swiss backpacker and gave him some tips on his planned trip to the Philippines. He was planning to go there in the next month or so. I couldn't sell it enough. I'd loved the place.

I had booked a fan room in Bali, up to now I had not really felt the need for aircon although this place was probably the exception. It was roasting at night. Next time.

I only had three nights in Bali which, given the time of year was quite sufficient. I thought I had better get a few western clothes as most of my stuff was rather ethnic and I wasn't sure how it would go down in OZ.

I left the hotel at 7:30 on the 9th and headed to the airport. I was having a coffee in one of the many little caves and looked up to see a huge rat eyeing my Danish pastry. What is it with rats and me. They seem to follow me around.

The Air Asia flight once again had been changed. This was actually better for me as the flight now left at a sensible 10:30 and arrived in Darwin at 2:30 in the afternoon rather than the 2:00 in the morning. After my episode in Bangkok I decided to fuck the budget and booked into a hostel. I guess I had better get used to the prices in OZ. they are certainly more expensive than Asia. That said, I was a little in front of myself so no drama.

I boarded the plane, along with dozens for youths and headed for Australia and the southern hemisphere.

5th December:- 28 hours in BKK Airport

I had not been looking forward to this..... There was a time where I would deliberately make sure my flights were at sensible times. Now budget management meant I couldn't be so choosy. I think this was going to be a world record for me. I arrived at Bangkok at 2:00am on the 4th and would leave at 6:15 on the 5th. I would see two nights in an airport terminal. Plus, i wouldn't be able to go airside till probably 3:00 .
The irony was that i could have changed the flight except the air asia desk didn't open till 6:00 which would mean making the flight pretty impossible. The seats in the airport check in lounge at BKK are particularly uncomfortable too, to top it all it was bloody freezing. Im all in favour of air conditioning but in the airport it was positively arctic, so much so that every couple of hours i had to go outside to get warm. Since I was last at the airport they have done some changing around and now the smoking area is i the middle of the carriageway so each time I wanted a cigarette I needed to try to avoid the speeding taxis who didn't seem to understand the meaning of pedestrian crossing.

One good thing about the airport, unlike airside and many other airports is the fact that you can get pot noodles for the equivalent of 10p. I did have quite a few to try and keep warm too.

It must have been the slowest 28 hours ever but it was eventually over and I checked in for the flight and made my way airside. I had a rather nasty pizza and chicken wings and boarded the flight on time. Next stop Bali. As we took off and headed over Thailand it became quite evident that the recent flooding had caused tremendous damage around the outskirts of Bangkok. It was still waterlogged. Let's hope they get things back to normal as soon as possible.