1st day of Autumn - HOPE

ET announced to me that it is the first day of Autumn and the temperature will be a max of 20 degrees today...

I get easily depressed lately as I struggle to cope with every single shit happening. I believe deeply in entropy now.

The normal me would have been so happy to embrace Autumn, but all I could think of was shit, its already Autumn and my life is still a mess. Just being sad at every occasion possible in such a lovely city of Melbourne, and I don't understand why. Melbourne is beautiful and I love being here. What is wrong?

We have moved into our cute 2 bedder in Kensington 2 weeks ago, and we are still not fully settled in.

It took 2 weeks for the agency to send cleaners in to clean the house, fix the lights, shampoo the carpet and also 2 weeks for our broadband to be set up. I hate it when people don't do their jobs causing my plans to fail. So we push them and push them just to get what we were supposed to get and in the process get frustrated for having to be chasing people around.

I've learnt to let go, let go of the breakage to our stuff by the movers. It is not so bad afterall, since they were sincere in apology and gave us 2 free movie tickets. Seriously, I've no energy to fight with anyone. Learning to let go is the best you can do for yourself. I fully understand the need of drinking a glass of wine in the day just to be able to feel like you are living in that moment.

My major problem is that I still have 1 box and 2 bags of clothes to unpack... it seems like an non-issue but I just can't find the space to store them yet. So everyday I stare at them, feeling guilty. It doesnt help that we are supposed to clear our guest room for my sis in law to move in this Monday.   

Work is hectic, working in the office is good for synergy but Im still getting used to having to spend 1 hour a day getting there and back. 

I have an invisible to do list which lingers at the back of my mind even when Im in bed supposed to be resting. Thus I have the strangest dreams ever. Fortunately my memory has deteriorated with the exhaustion that I can't recall my dreams. Who has time for such menial stuff anyway.

Today is a strange day at work where Im alone in the office. What a peaceful start to Autumn.

It should get better or at least I hope, and I certainly hope I can snap out of this mood. 

Well I can certainly keep hoping things turn up... 

Officially OTW (Overland Track Walker) - Day 1/6

Survived 6 days of trekking in the Cradle Mountain with our humongous back packs of 12-18kg walking 10-17 km per day. Picked up from the fellow 2 timed OTW what motivated her was the sense of achievement of completing the track. Initially thought it sounded superficial, expecting more of how passionate she is about being in the nature, meeting the animals in the wilderness, etc. On hind sight, who in the right mind would subject himself to such an ordeal if not one who loves challenges. I finally understood, indeed, the greatest reward is the sense of accomplishment- I'm so proud of ourselves for completing this track and glad we did it before we become old folks :p

For anyone who intends to attempt it, I would say, it is not necessary to pay $2- 3grands to join a guided tour. The guys who went on the the $2K package still had to carry all their stuffs though they got to borrow the gears (sleeping bags, tents etc). In that case, it will be better worth to pay $3.5K to join the 5 star tour where they stay in private huts with hot water showers and have food flown in by helicopters and cooked by the staffs. But to me, that totally defeats the purpose of escaping into the nature for 6 days, as that is too extravagant to be considered hiking.

The track is well maintained, can be easily navigated following a $15 map bought from the visitor's centre. We were surprised how costly it was considering it was a rugged camping trip.

We incurred a $470 fixed cost per person which includes; $260 for Overland track permit and park pass, $60 bus from Lauceston to Cradle mountain, $80 bus from lake St Clair to Hobart and $70 for groceries and gas for 6 days. This did not include the purchase of gears like hiking boots, jacket, outdoor wear etc and of course the air fare. The backpackers who did the trip had to save up for it, or asked their families to sponsor it as their christmas/birthday gifts.

One thing we have learnt from experience is that although the park authority insists that we have to bring a tent, it is not necessary lugging that extra 2kg around as we never got to use it. There were always enough room in the huts, and if not, one can always sleep in the kitchen, which is even closer to the heater. What's really necessary are things for protection against the changing weather ie, a pair of slippers, thin gloves, beanie and thermals.

So much of the background, time to post some photos.

On the way to the cradle mountain by bus from Launceston leaving at 830am, we stopped by Sheffield the town of murals, where I took a photo in front of the mural of Gustave the "Father of this track" who promoted Cradle mountain as a national park for all to enjoy in the 1920s.

At the visitors centre where we arrived at noon, we caught a shuttle bus to the starting point of the overland track. Unfortunately, it started to rain when we started the track but we have to keep going as we started late. With the wind blowing the rain on my face, I imagined the worst for the rest of the 6 days as I pushed on with my 14kg bag full of food. After 30mins we started climbing up the mountain alongside waterfalls, and were sheltered from the wind and rain. I finally smiled!

Half way to the Cradle mountain, we stopped for lunch (sandwiches) with a view of Dove Lake. It didn't look windy in the photo, but it was! so much so we needed both beanie and hoodie to protect our heads.

Good thing was we were leaving the grey and rainy weather behind the higher we climb. See the track we walked? We were told there was a blizzard a day before there, and we count our blessings.

Finally a nice view of the Cradle mountain (in the shape of a gold miners cradle). We will not be climbing to the top (1545m) as all we want is to head towards our hut for the first night.

So we ploughed on.. My shoulders were aching and burning, and I begged Et to walk in front instead as I needed to slow down. He hates leaving me behind and was rather angry haha... It was only the next day that I realise that I should be carrying the weight on my upper hips.

Finally we arrived at our hut and was surprised how nice it was. There were only 12 of us in it that night as some preferred to camp. The compose toilets actually smell nice!

We made ourselves comfortable with inflatable mattress and sleeping bags for the night which was at one point 3 degrees celsius I think.

Last 50 days in Darwin (plus a last 30 days update)

Counting down! ET will be transferred to Melbourne and when we move there in February, I will no longer be working from home anymore. Lots of changes to come with this new adventure but first we need to plan how the move will be done and it is getting more and more complicated.

This week, I managed to secure a buyer for most of our furniture and electrical appliances (fridge, coffee machine, vacuum, hifi set, etc). It is not so difficult when you are basically selling most things as 1/3 of its price and simply giving the rest off as freebies. Everyone is happy.

Our strategy is to get rid of as much of our possessions and move as light as possible. Of course there are still some more stuff to be sold/ gotten rid off but it takes time, time to detach emotionally from the items, and time to find new owners for them ie. our bicycles and wii console.

I've also given up my plot of veggie patch in the Snakebean Botanic Gardens which I know will be in good hands.

After getting a couple of car transport quote, we are debating what to do with our car. It seems unreasonable to spend 1600$ just to bring our car valued at only 8K to Melbourne. But once we sell the car, ET will have no means to go to work in Darwin. And if we start advertising the sale too late, we may not be able to sell it off successfully before we are gone.

Fortunately we have already found our accommodation for the month of February in Melbourne, we will be staying with a friend who has a spare room for 4 weeks. This way we buy time to find our own place and in case we need, a new car or motorbike.

Just hoping that somehow things fall into place. 50 days to go!

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Update
Melbourne in 30 days!
1) The car is sold. Whoppee! A man bought it on Xmas Eve as a pressie for his wife.
Our temporary form of transport are a Toyota yaris & a scooter with compliments by Pookie our fabulous and helpful neighbour.
2) The wii too is gone (boo hoo, was a sad day!)
3) Left only with bed frame and dining set to get rid of.
4) Getting 5 cubic metres of space to bring our stuff to Melbourne, hence Im keeping my bike :) Can't wait to cycle to work like a Melburnian.
5) I've given away some of my clothes to Lorraine but still having at least 6 bags of clothes. I think I just have to compress them into 5 and bring them all.

I think I'm pretty ready to get out of Darwin.

Scotland trip Part 5/5

After Maccallan estate visit and jolly good lunch, we went to Glenfiddich.

Visiting Glenfiddich is a totally different feel as they are used to visitors and are very well organised, the hourly tour is free and consists of up to 25 people. While waiting for everyone to gather, we learnt about the history well illustrated on the wall.

oh and we visited the spacious toilet which even has a chandelier made of fiddich ( deer)'s horns.

To be honest, I was wondering if we would get to see some deers which we did not that day but we did, the next day!

After the tour, sadly we were too late for the tour at Aberlour. As it was Etienne's favourite we still went to have a look. Fortunately the souvenir shop was still opened and we were given some whisky to taste :) That's Et monkeying around after too much whisky!

Having not much more time to sunset, we left the region to head towards Braemar where we stayed for our last night all together.
The next morning we stopped at Scones Palace before driving back to Edinburgh. Spent the whole morning in the palace and learnt whole lot of confusing stories about the Earls and the stone of Scone.

Sometime after lunch in the palace cafe which was surprising good although it looked like a canteen, we lost GS to the pretty big souvenir shop, and had a little stroll just the two of us in the majestic grounds of the palace.

In the evening we sent G&S to the airport promising to see each other again somewhere in the world soon as we were left to continue the last 2 days of Scotland trip ourselves. We were happy that we managed to have such a memorable and fun trip together, and we certainly will see each other again.

Initially the plan being the two of us left was to take things easy, but somehow we could not as there were so much we wanted to see ( oops, I shall I say "I", suddenly with my hubby, I became more bossy and want to go more places!). The next morning, we visited the entire Edinburg city on foot and fulfilled some gift obligations.

We had such lovely weather and even had lunch in a terrasse at the Grassmarket.

After that we drove 30min to Rosslyn Chapel south of Edinburgh. It was a bit out of the way as we were supposed to drive to Dundee in the north for the night, but the visit was totally worth the detour.

When paying for our tickets, the gentleman asked if we were students and we said no, but he insisted to charge us the student concession rate. That was how much they appreciate visitors from far away land :)

We spent a good 2 hours in the chapel, longer than we intended as we were so captivated by the freemasonry story and finally even bought a book there. The symbols were very exciting to decipher and we really appreciated the tour organised by the volunteers without which would not have been that interesting.

By the time we drove to Dundee, the sun was setting. We treated ourselves to the best hotel there called Malmaison which has a view of the sea and an incredibly comfortable bed.

However we did not have a sound sleep as my electric tooth brush started itself off in the middle of the night and caused a huge commotion. That leaves us the most ridiculous story to tell of our trip!

On the last day of our trip we went to visit the seaside, it was really grey but well fitted the scene. We visited a fortress where I failed to spot dolphins but many huge white swans before we head off to St Andrews.

On the way Et chanced upon a big barn restaurant where we had delicious lunch.

It is pretty much a place where you know you get to eat some good meat looking at all the animals in the yard!

After which our last stop was the St Andrews Cathedral and the golf course.

It was incredible to imagine how the cathedral was like when it was around. It really took us a huge moment to absorb what we were looking at, it was huge.

We were running out of time to go to the airport but still managed to do a quick tour around the birth place of golf. Apparently you need to be "somebody" in order to play here. Probably a good place to spot important peopl. I can see that it can be really nice as it faces the sea but with such strong sea breeze, it could be very tricky too.

We were pretty proud of ourselves for packing so much into a 8 days trip, and I really appreciate my hubby for driving us around without a single complaint following my crazy plannings. It was such an awesome trip, I just wish that I can have 1 such trip a year!

Scotland trip Part 4/5

Leaving Skye very full and satisfied, we headed towards Loch Ness where we will next stay for the night. Along the scenic route passing the bridge which brought us out of the island of Skye, we stopped at the famous Eilean Donan Castle built on an island in the middle of 3 loch (waterways).

Being in it brings me back to the past, imagining how the castle survived through the past 800 years of fighting and revolution. View of the castle from the bridge linking to it.

 We visited a total of 5 castles in the next 3 days as Scotland is about castles! And trust me 5 in 3 days is more than enough although they were all different and have their own charms.

At Loch Ness we did not enter the Urquhat castle which was in ruins, we climbed to the top of the carpark and admired its grandeur from afar.

Loch Ness is so huge that you can take a ferry to tour it for hours, but we did not have the time as we could not wait to get to Speyside for whisky tasting.

The night was spent at Fort Augustus where the Loch Ness meets the Caledonian Canal, we were not able to book a B&B as it was a busy town and stayed in a hostel with 2 bunk beds which meant playing cards on the floor till we were all too tired and fell asleep!

Next morning we visited the Caledonian Canal to watch the boats move through the locks while having our brekky.

The sun shinning on our faces while having coffee was a memorable moment. It was a long drive to the Aviemore where we initially wanted to go cycling, but did not as we were too late.

Hence we hiked on the "windy ridge" on a ski slope which almost blew us away! 

We gals took a break while the boys continued to the top.

There were still some patches of snow at the top.

 Moving to our B&B near Dufftown, passed by many of the famous distillery, which we told ourselves we will go the next day! Our B&B was called Castleview but we arrived we were so disappointed that there was no Castle in sight. However the host quickly booked us into the Huntly castel hotel for dinner and told us to go early to visit the nearby castle. The walk was amazing...

 Running streams under medieval bridge.

to Huntly castle...

Scotland trip part 3/5

Our only day on Skye was precious as we were very ambitious. So as early as we could, we set off to tour the island along the east coast to the Quiraing. The weather was so bad that we missed spotting the Old man of Storr which was hiding in the clouds.

The coast was still spectacular as we braved strong winds and rain for a hike.

Fortunately we saw the needles, which made the 2.5 h drive worth the while. It may not look much but it was really impressive. If the weather was better, I would love to do a hike to the base of the needle.

Time was tight too as Et press hard on the accelerator to bring us to Talisker for some whisky tasting. Other than it being the only distillery on Skye, I love peaty whisky so it was not a stop to be missed. By the time we arrived, we had only 30mins to linger so we did some quick tasting (no tour boohoo!). Fortunately Talisker being under Diageo, has a good enough exhibition on how their whisky is made and I realised

Talisker faces Loch Harport and must be the distillery in the most scenic backdrop.

All the whisky tasted so good, for "peat" sake, someone must buy a bottle, and so we can always count on Steve. He really got a wonderful one, which tasted AMAZING. I hope I get to enjoy that with him at their home some day!

That black MPV which Ginger is facing is our luxurious ride. Kudos to Etienne for navigating it on super narrow roads over the 6 days, how glad that I wasn't driving.

So you must be wondering why all the rush at Talisker since we were on holidays? Well, we had booked ourselves in for a super special lunch at Kinloch lodge at 130pm which was the last order of the day for lunch. That was the most exquisite meal we had during our entire trip so every bit of rush was well worth it. When we arrived, we were already awed by the view. We were first ushered into the room with a bar for aperitif and it felt like a totally new universe. Suddenly time slowed down, the waiter brought us a wonder drink list but as we already had a lot at Talisker, we settled for Kinoch lodge sparkling water.

I sincerely believe that every decent Manor should have a welcome room with a nice bar like this. I could read books, sip whisky and stare at the view for eternity here...

However we were rather hungry so we moved on to the dinning room shortly. Being the last customers for lunch that day, we had the entire dinning room to ourselves.

After the splendid lunch, coffee and tea were served in the drawing room. Initially I thought it was a room for drawing, but realised it meant for "withdrawing".

This hexagonal room has a lovely view of the valley and was just the perfect place to retreat into after a heavenly meal. We give the entire experience 5 stars!