Wednesday 15 September 2010

The long and winding road

can sometimes turns into a long and winding blog

I might not be able to fly you all here but at least I can give you a tiny taste of what Oprah and her 300 plus friends are going to see when they get flown to Australia by Qantas pilot and sometime actor, John Travolta, at the end of the year (by the way Tourism Australia is paying for the trip not Oprah - I love the idea what great marketing it will be). Here are a few pictures from my road trip (a few? -that's so not true but ..)

In a nutshell, and without drawing breath, I left my city, went out west, then much, much further out west than planned because I got the towns confused, saw too many road signs, caravans, trucks and kangaroos and wondered WTF am I doing many times over, played Usher loudly on repeat to the point that if he needs a stand in at any time I am so there, then went north to a bigger city, went round and round in circles for far too long swearing at my Sat Nav trying to find my sister's house situated somewhere in the middle of the dense urban sprawl, then after staying put for a while in gorgeous surrounds I eventually went further north up the coast to some beautiful beaches and am now coming back down (no, not to earth just in case you were wondering).

As we only have six States (yes I realise some of you have bragging rights to 50 plus), I only made it up through part of the one State I live near, New South Wales, to another one called Queensland. Our whole island covers an area of 7,686,900 square kilometres which is slightly smaller than the United States mainland which is 7,827,848 square kilometres (not including Hawaii and Alaska - I had to google that because the reality is I've always been under the impression that Australia and Texas were the same size. See what wearing big hats says to people?)

Anyhoo, moving right along, who knew where one little road could lead.... it started off a bit questionable but got better and better...

















You can tell a lot about the inhabitants of a country from it's road signs....we are black and white and say what we think...ok.....and clearly some of us may drink and swear too much as well.





Civilisation finally..or so I thought....even the wildlife looked different...just to see if you are still awake..

I actually saw way too much of the inner workings of this beautiful city (Brisbane) - I circled it for hours it seemed..L-O-S-T.







And then, I finally found what I was looking for ....my sister's house. That's only half the house and personally I thought it should have stuck out like a sore thumb but instead it was like finding a needle in a haystack. I've never been so pleased to arrive anywhere....and couldn't wait to get out of the car.


On the road again.......























the road pretty much led to paradise.






I know, someone's got to do it....and you can thank your lucky stars the road ends soon...stay well everyone!!

20 comments:

  1. thanks for the travel pictures. The water looks great in those bottom few pictures. Did you go for a swim?

    So you heard about Oprah's big trip. That would be cool to win something like that.

    You sister has a huge house.

    Did you happen to go that beach town where they had (maybe still do) meter maids in gold bikinis?

    I've only read about that but it sure looked interesting.

    ReplyDelete
  2. I've only been to Sydney so I'm just loving traveling vicariously through you. The photos are awesome, Lily. You are so so brave!

    ReplyDelete
  3. It is a long and winding road isn't it Lilly.
    Thanks for sharing your travels with your blog friends.
    Stay safe my dear friend.
    Hugs
    Peggy xxxxx

    ReplyDelete
  4. Oh lilly, what a fabulous trip! And I loved your sister's house! It looks HUGE and VERY architecturally interesting - I would have loved to see the inside too!

    ReplyDelete
  5. Wow! What a trip! Fantastic photos...thanks for sharing xx

    ReplyDelete
  6. I really need to find that road! It does look like paradise!! And your sisters house....WOW! Does she adopt? :)
    Have fun on the road home.

    ReplyDelete
  7. Still awake and all agog for more fantastic photos !

    ReplyDelete
  8. Ohhh my, and it was worth it all the while. Beautiful and loved the kangaroo with the beer photo thrown in for good measure :) I was thinking of the places Oprah might take her peeps, but as I looked through the places you went, well heck, Oprah who?

    ReplyDelete
  9. I so wish I was one of Oprah's fans coming to Australia and getting to meet you, Lilly. What a beautiful country, great photos.
    I always hope that people who have such lovely houses, as your sisteri's is, are happy in them as well. Thanks for sharing.

    ReplyDelete
  10. Lilly thanks for showing us beautiful, multi-faceted Australia through your eyes. Looks like a great adventure.

    ReplyDelete
  11. Hi everyone,

    @ Lisleman, I sent you an email but the city you are talking about is called the Gold Coast. They have girls walking around in bikinis, feeding parking metres. Its a tourist thing. Its full of the beautiful people and very commercialised. The first couple of pictures of the beaches are of the Gold Coast. Its all a great area along the whole coast really and all countries are the same. Beaches are beautiful wherever you are.

    @ everyone who mentioned my sister's house - it is beautiful and open plan and backs onto incredible trees. You lie on the deck and think you could be in the middle of the Amazon or something. She and her husband and four kids came back to Oz after spending ten years in London. It is a great entertaining house and great for kids going into their teenage years. I will ask her if I can post some pictures - as long as I dont mention the suburb I am sure she wont mind. We dont all have big houses like that of course and it is highly unusual in inner cities to have such modern homes but of course these days they are knocking down older dwellings and rebuilding. It certainly is a dream house for a family and I loved staying there. It also has a separate curry kitchen which I will be posting about as it is unusual to say the least. The house was previously owned by an Indian couple. They cooked their curries in a special, fully equipped kitchen away from the main kitchen - unbelievable and I am still shaking my head! I have loads of pictures and I will post some of more unusual things I have seen.

    @ Peggy - you will note I said NSW and not ACT - too damn hard to explain territories as well, ha ha. Hope you are well and recovered from your big trip!!!!

    ReplyDelete
  12. Sorry to point this out.. we don't have seven states... we've got a couple of territories :)

    Thank you for those gorgeous photos... sigh. Chained to the desk ... more sighs..

    ReplyDelete
  13. @ Werner - you are right, I just do my damnest to ignore those pesky internal and external territories - 11 in total. They should call them all the same thing. Hope you get to have a break sometime soon and get away from your desk!!

    ReplyDelete
  14. Very gorgeous shots. Now I really want to visit Australia. Since I obviously missed some sort of contest Oprah's having, I'll have to figure out a way to pay for it myself.

    ReplyDelete
  15. Wonderful photos, Miss Lilly. Some of these photos remind me of parts of the U.S., 'cept we have different wildlife :)

    ReplyDelete
  16. Oh if I could jump in that last shot I really would, does that not look inviting?

    ReplyDelete
  17. Paradise is right! Wow. Your travel pictures are stunning and beautiful and funny and OMG-- Those last two beach/water pictures took my breath away.

    I hear you about driving around in circles in big cities. I do that all the time. Oy.

    Hope your visit with your sister and her family is/was fabulous!

    Safe travels, xo jj

    ReplyDelete
  18. Oh Lilly....This was a real treat! I feel like I took the most WONDERFUL Tour of your BEAUTIFUL Country, with you...The Beaches are STUNNING! The Animals so very very dear....LOVED The Signs, too....I hope you will show us more, especially more of your sisters house---It Looks AMAZING!
    Such a very very beautiful country you live in, my dear....! This is better than Oprah's trup....!

    ReplyDelete
  19. Dear Lilly,
    I am so very much in love with your country. I could look at your photos for hours on end. Did you get close to Mooloolaba? (hope I spelled it correctly) My blog friend's partner is still trying to sell her lovely home on the beach. Problems with a not so nice real estate agent (greedy.) I simply must figure out a way to return to Australia ... must!!!

    Stay safe and send us more pictures please ........

    ReplyDelete
  20. Hey, I know a Wisconsin blogger who needs some Aussie help.
    She received a jar of vegemite. Is there any actual recipe that calls for vegemite?
    here's her post link
    http://www.halfpastkissintime.com/2010/09/dare-i.html

    ReplyDelete

Thanks for your comments.