Category: Uncategorized

Why would anyone choose to sit on a flight in economy for 14 hours, only to board another flight for another 6 hours? They say that the journey is part of the experience – well maybe not in the case of 20 hours in Economy (cattle) class.

Australians love to travel, however whether you are going to North America or Europe, there is really no way of avoiding an epic flight or 2.

The 6-hour flight is okay, a few movies and you are there, so it’s the 14-hour flight that is the tough one. It’s difficult to believe that you could possibly be stuck on this flying tube for that long! But there are currently so many people travelling these long distances – so the journey must be worth it and it can be done! And I am one of the many who can’t just sleep for 9 hours on board.

I was contemplating this article on a long-haul flight from Dubai to Brisbane, a Boeing 777 with a flight time of around 14 hours.

Here is how I survived…..

Like any large or long-term goal, the best way to achieve it is to break it down into smaller, more palatable or manageable parts – in this case I used 3 distinct stages:

Stage 1 – the first 4 hours

By the time you board, settle in and select a movie the crew is likely to serve a meal of some sort – for us, even though we boarded in Dubai at 2:30am, within 2 hours the crew had already started to work on Australian Eastern Standard Time (AEST) – so they served us breakfast. This was a bit strange as none of us had been to bed yet.

Let’s say that this stage takes the first 4 hours away by the time you watch some movies or TV shows – so it knocks the edge off, but still 10 hours to go…..

Stage 2 – The Twilight Zone

This is the toughest part for me – 4-5 hours in a semi-conscious state. This is the part where, if someone asks me after the flight if I slept at all – I can never give them a definitive response.

You turn the TV off or dim the brightness down low. You try to find a comfortable spot for the provided pillow, possibly by folding forward the flaps of the seat rest and jamming the pillow in there. You pull up the blanket and recline the seat just enough for comfort without p***ing off the person behind you. Ahh…its so cosy (just try to convince yourself). And that’s about the best you can do. Ideally you will drift off into a semi-sleep mode and wake up in 4-5 hours time. So when you ‘wake’ up, hopefully you turn on the flight tracker and you have made some progress.

It was sometime towards the end of this stage that the crew served lunch. I had to ask them which meal this was – and as for the drinks – is it a time for coffee, a coke or a beer?

Stage 3 – The Final Frontier

Okay – you are not exactly on final approach yet – there could still be 6 hours left – and a six-hour flight is still a long time. But, ideally the twilight zone has taken you past the halfway mark!

Thinking glass half-full, 6 hours left means a couple of movies and maybe some TV episodes, the last of the meal services (in our case dinner) and about an hour of descending through the clouds in to land.

You may start to get your second wind here. Whether it be you are getting near to your holiday destination or back home, you can finally start to look forward to walking on terra firma again. You start to remember all of the incredible experiences that you had on your trip and look forward to seeing everyone at home again.

Somehow, it feels like an achievement even though you were just sitting there!

It’s 14-20 hours of flying, but still only 20 hours.

I did it and it was worth it!

Share this...

Facebook

Twitter

Everyone, at some time or another has been moved or touched by a piece of music or a performance? Even, at times, just the memory of that time when you saw a concert or musicians at the peak of their powers can give you goosebumps! ‘Hey, remember that night I saw Cold Chisel and they didn’t stop for 2 and a half hours!’

And how can you not be inspired and moved by a 100 piece Symphony Orchestra playing Beethoven’s Symphony No. 5 (written 212 years ago). They say his greatest achievement was ‘to raise instrumental music to the highest plane of art, above vocal music, literature and painting’.

As far as orchestras go, the Queensland Symphony Orchestra (QSO) is amazing and I have seen some incredible performances from them. I’m certainly not as familiar with music from the baroque, classical or romantic periods, but seeing these pieces performed live and watching a 100-strong orchestra come together to perform beautiful music is truly inspiring. I have also seen them perform the music of John Williams, (including Superman, Star Wars, ET, Indiana and friends).

My son is trying to talk me into an opera now. Not sure about that, the closest I have been to that is a ballet performance of Swan Lake, but that’s so different! Maybe I would see the opera in the Pretty Woman movie because I would recognize about 30 seconds of music from that one! I guess I have appreciated some of the incredible voices I have heard over the years, from Jimmy Barnes to Pavarotti – they are a bit different, right? I will see how the opera pans out, who knows maybe I will become a fan!

I often get asked what kind of music I like, a question that I find impossible to answer and for a very good reason. Because it all depends…What sort of mood am I in? What was my day like? Do I need a release of some sort? Did someone piss me off? etc etc.

Can the one person (A.K.A. me) get pumped up walking to work with Detroit Rock City or Uprising blasting through my headphones but the next minute be listening to Ed Sheeran or Adele? Then followed up with some Bon Jovi, live from Tokyo in 1988. (I have done all of the above, yes!)

And when watching live music, can you be blown away by a Symphony Orchestra performance of Bolero, and a day later be rockin’ along at a Midnight Oil gig. The love of live music is the common theme here and I think you can really learn to appreciate awesome musicians of all types.

Maybe there is something wrong with me – why can’t I make up my mind on which music genre I am into and just stick to it?

It could be something to do with my formative music years, listening to a lot of church music, Elvis Presley and Sandy Scott, but then also (like every other kid at the time) being obsessed with the Knights in Satan’s Service – or KISS. Our neighbourhood even put on a full-on backyard KISS concert sometime in the early 80’s.

Of course, I played in a band for a while and there is nothing like hard rock music to pump up a crowd, but somehow Dancing Queen always fills the dance floor.

I have seen some awesome rock concerts through the years, which again range wildly in genre. A few varied and notable ones are John Farnham (couldn’t hear for a few days after), Bon Jovi (outdoor concert at QEII standing in the middle of a stadium in pouring rain for 2 hours), Michael Jackson (there is only one), at least 2 of the Angels farewell tours (only will ever be one Doc Neeson) and Billy Joel (at Maddison Square Garden).

Musical Theatre is another big passion of mine and one day we might actually be able to go back! I have seen everything from the Jersey Boys to Grease to The Bodyguard. We even saw an off-broadway production of The Grinch in NYC. And (confession time)…I have seen Mamma Mia every time it has come to BrisVegas!

Then there is YouTube / Google predictive music which probably uses some algorithm to work out what I would like to listen to next – good luck with that one, technology has no chance of keeping up with me! It’s a fun game to play Metallica and then some Bee Gees and see what it predicts next!

Music and experiences

Music is a great way of reminiscing about memorable times of your life, with certain tunes or songs bringing back distinct memories. Our brains can trigger a cognitive memory if we have somehow associated a song with a time in our lives. Virgin Australia always used to play Black Fingernails, Eskimo Joe (such a great song) when coming in to land so obviously I can’t help thinking about that – from a time where I was travelling to Sydney a lot. Likewise, every time I hear a song from Diesel’s Hepfidelity it takes me back to probably my favourite concert of all time – Jimmy Barnes’ Rock n Soul tour supported by Diesel at Fishermans Wharf on The Spit, Gold Coast (circa 1992).

Good and bad covers

I have always thought that if a band can record a new take on a classic then they should do it and make it their own. Great examples include Band on the Run (Heart), Layla Unplugged (Eric Clapton – a brilliant cover of his own song), and American Woman (Lenny Kravitz – Shag Well by Reputation!) Its surprising some of the songs that we think are originals but they are actually cover versions. Not going to mention any here, but there are some truly awful covers around and some that are exactly the same, so why bother?

So there you have it, my absolute ‘non-committal’ answer to the question of which type of music I like! And if you see me out and about with my headphones on, see if you can guess what type of music I am listening to, then tap me on the shoulder and see if you were right!

But I guess that’s not really what this post is about – it’s about the power of music to take you to a place like nothing else can. Whatever the genre…..

Share this...

Facebook

Twitter

A bit of a sentimental post this time as my son very recently graduated from high school, with lots of family and friends commenting on how quickly his school years have flown by. And yes, in a way they certainly have done. 13 years later and just like that he is Finito!

But it has got me thinking that if you consider all of the things that we have done, the places we have travelled to and the challenges along the way, time goes by very slowly as well.

If you look at some of the cherished memories in your life such as family celebrations or great holidays, just 5 years ago seems like an eternity. In 2015 we took a summer (for the first time not for snow) trip to North America. The kids have grown up significantly since then and when you look back at the photos you can see that it not just seems like ages ago, but you also can’t believe the kids looked so young as recently as 5 years ago.

So, back to the point of this blog post…. yes time goes by so slowly and so quickly. This affords you plenty of time to do some really cool stuff and make memories along the way, yet if you keep putting things off, you could end up at a point and say ‘where did those years go, and why didn’t we do more’.

So, take each day as a blessing and make the most of it! Carpe Diem!

Graduation Day

Not sure I remember too much about my Graduation Day, way back at the end of 1989, except I do remember cutting my school trousers into shorts after I got home – a 5 year old pair of trousers as well – what a rebel! There may also have been a pile of school shirt pockets, but that’s a bit blurry.

It’s different now! School seems to mean a lot more to students and graduation day (and the lead up to it) in 2020 is pomp and ceremony, emotionally draining whilst marking the start of a new beginning.

My experience is that teachers build up great friendships with the students, but it is the unusual type of friendship that has an end date. For classmates, some of who you have seen every day for 13 years, suddenly you might never see them again. So, the emotional roller coaster ride comes to an end the day after graduation day…then there is just schoolies to go!

It’s expensive to travel…but there’s nothing quite like it!

You can certainly blow a bucket load of cash on a big trip, especially if going O.S.! On one trip we averaged $1,000 a day (all-inclusive in North America) and that wasn’t eating at restaurants most of the time (lots of nuggets and chips), just staying in decent hotels, touring around and sightseeing. I know you can travel a lot cheaper than that, but I would only class that trip as mid-range, while making the most of every day, granted that the skiing probably bumped it up a bit!

You might say ‘I can’t afford a trip like that’ which might be the case, but I have such fond memories of that (and other) trips which I wouldn’t swap for anything – picture ice skating on Christmas Day at the World UNESCO listed Old Quebec City.

At the time I didn’t think that we could afford that trip either. But I had set myself that goal and was determined to reach it.

You can also have some incredible experiences locally as we have all learned through COVID. There is a lot to see at home, either within driving distance or a short flight away – these trips can also be expensive, but it’s so worth finding the time and funds to make some incredible memories.

So, make the time to travel and experience this magnificent world we live in, and then when you reach one of those milestone moments you will have much to look back on.

Self-development

10 years goes by ‘in the blink of an eye’, right? It’s true, with the day to day grind and Groundhog Day seeming to happen week after week and month after month it’s easy for time to just fly by and you are in exactly the same position as this time last year, and possibly will be this time next year.

Procrastination is all our biggest enemy if we want to improve our own situations in whatever way to achieve some of our goals. Let’s say you have been wanting to learn a different language for 10 years but haven’t yet taken the steps required to get there. 10 years is plenty of time to learn any language with the amount of resources available now – so it’s about having the self-discipline to make every day count which will enable us to achieve our goals.

I’m not saying I am necessarily good or bad at this, as there are plenty of ways I can better spend my spare time – other than binging the latest streaming channel – but it’s this time, over weeks, months and years that can truly make a difference in your life. And, again when you get to a point in your life, whether it be a milestone birthday (or whatever) you can truly say that you have achieved something special.

Looking back

When you look back over a period of time it’s hard not to feel sentimental and wonder where all of those years have gone. You want the good times to last and you would love to experience some of the joyful events again and again. That would help us to achieve the true happiness that we all want.

But that’s not how life works!

As hard as it is, it’s up to us to embrace change, look back on our limited time with gratefulness and be happy in all that the present and future holds.

Share this...

Facebook

Twitter

Here I am at the end of my challenge and the results are in….

My main goal was to find out the effect that diet would have on my body, given I was already doing some pretty intensive exercise – 4 HIIT sessions per week + a game of tennis, with little (apparent) improvement in fitness to show for it. During the challenge I haven’t increased the level of exercise at all.

Following a strict diet of healthy eating, maxing out at about 1,800 calories per day, I have also dramatically changed the quantity of food at various times of the day. Before the challenge I would have a light breakfast (generally a piece of toast), a protein shake for lunch and a big dinner. This has changed to an equal calorie distribution (450 calories) for the 3 main meals and a mid-morning and mid-afternoon healthy snack of about 250 calories each.

The meals have been of decent proportions as well, with the only time I feel hungry being after dinner sometimes. An evening green tea is my daily reward.

My Kryptonite is potato chips and alcohol! During the downhill part of the Challenge, I had 1 Guinness to celebrate a friend’s 50^th birthday and 2 XXXX Gold’s at a Christmas party. Apart from that I have been good. The nightly glass of wine has been shelved and the multiple beers on Friday and Saturday nights were also avoided. (Apparently I have a reasonable amount of discipline).

The food preparation has been the most difficult part and I spent much longer in the kitchen preparing the next day’s meals and protein balls. However, in the second 3 weeks of the Challenge I ordered some YouFoodz meals (again restricted to 450 calories each) for a quick option when I have been time-poor.

I have been fixated on the scales for most of this year, but I have now found the solution (just in time for the party season).

So that’s about it! Here are the results….

before scan – 22nd October 2020….

after scan – 4th December 2020….

My goal was to lose 4-5 kg, but ended up losing almost 9kg! I also was able to reduce Visceral Fat significantly, which was previously way too high. Last of all reducing my ‘bio age’ from 50 to 46 has to be a good thing! This challenge really worked for me.

I believe everyone has the capacity to achieve results similar to these, but as all of our bodies are unique and react differently to various stimuli we all just need to find out what works for you.

I wish everyone the best in achieving their fitness goals.

David B

Share this...

Facebook

Twitter

I’m sure I am not the only one who has put on a few extra kilograms during the COVID lockdown period. In Brisbane, for a fair while there was no gym (the zoom version was hard to get up for), no tennis or other sport and while you were encouraged to walk, run or cycle there was a fair bit of comfort food that went along with it. With every day being like Groundhog Day, for some (like myself) beer o clock was every day as well.

Despite the gym starting up again and doing 4 sessions per week plus a game of tennis, those ‘Kovid Kilo’s’ just will not go away! My best intentions often come unstuck on the weekend with 1 or 6 beers and the obligatory packet of Doritos. And so, the week-to-week Yo-yo continues.

Whilst I live a fairly active lifestyle and eat reasonably well, a full body scan quickly dispels any myths and shows all the different levels of unhealthiness that I have, including my bio age (which is not too bad but a couple of years more than it should be).

Time to do something about it….time to challenge myself!

There are other benefits in going to the gym and in fact my lower back pain disappeared once I was able to strengthen it again. But to get the full benefits I think you need to go all in. With a 45-day challenge beckoning and all the support I could hope for, it’s time to give it a crack!

So, in the lead-in to summer, finishing early December this challenge involves full calorie control, quality food, no alcohol and no unhealthy snacks for about 6 weeks. And just for something different I am going full vegetarian for at least the first week.

There are so many distractions that are coming my way – Hallowe’en (for the first time in a long time on a Saturday night), The Melbourne Cup, 3 x State of Origin games, the Bledisloe Cup, the first of the Christmas parties starting to happen, work functions and of course, every Friday and Saturday night! At least the footy finals are over and there are very few work trips on the horizon.

There’s also temptation everywhere, Tony’s bakery (the best bread), a quick drive-through at Maccas for a Saturday lunch, Pizza Friday! Willpower is required here so I want to see if I have what it takes.

I have had lots of support already so I am trying to tell as many people about it as possible. The normal reaction is ‘why are you doing that’, quickly followed by ‘I should do that as well’.

Clearly if you want to be the best version of yourself means more than 45 days and then letting yourself go. Its long enough to get into good habits and get out of some of the bad ones, so it hopefully it works that way for me.

This one is a bit of a self-indulgent blog, but I figured if I get the word out in the public realm there would be nowhere to hide.

There are many people around the country and globally who will still be in partial or full lockdown into 2021! But it won’t last forever, and soon hopefully everyone can get back to getting out there and doing what they love.

In the meantime it’s time for me to get that bikini body ready for summer!

Share this...

Facebook

Twitter

Hi all,

It might not seem like a lot in this age of information overload, but I have reached double figures in my blogging ‘career’ – so a very small milestone of sorts! Why not then celebrate it with a blog about the best time of the week and one of my favourite things – The Saturday Night Barbeque.

The key ingredients are:

Chimney Fire Starter – how come nobody told me about you?

I have owned a kettle Barbeque for 8 years, it being a 40^th birthday present. I love the concept, the cooking style and the character, but struggled for years to light it and get it up to temperature in a decent length of time. This basically ruled out any weeknight barbeques which sucked a bit! I probably should have done my research at this point…

Enter the chimney fire starter! 45 minutes has become 20 minutes! This combined with some home-made firelighters has been a truly life-changing discovery for me. Now it’s only a one-beer process to light the BBQ.

I love my Primo Barbeque

Armed with the tools to get up and going quickly, there really is nothing better than a kettle BBQ for flavour and tenderness whatever is on the menu. Doubling as a wood-fired pizza oven, the options are virtually unlimited. Apart from the steak, tiny ‘tatoes and corn are a couple of favs of my family.

Quality steak from a butcher

An essential ingredient for a perfect steak is a quality piece of meat. The flavour might be the same but if you want that ‘melt in your mouth’ meal the quality makes all the difference in the world. I don’t have any bias here but sometimes the local butcher is the place to go, particularly at this time to support local business.

(For the vego’s out there I have also cooked veggie patties and schnitzels)

The lost art of cooking a steak

At some point in time people started to want their steaks to be cooked underdone, with anything more than a medium steak being untrendy to order. In my (far from) expert opinion this coincided with chefs losing the art of cooking a steak properly. Also overnight, eating rare meat was now okay and healthy. The latest opinions are that you if you order a steak medium-well or (the dreaded) well-done, then you are missing out on the taste and experience. But I call BS on that idea as my steaks always end up tender and tasty, no matter the level of doneness.

I generally never order steak when I go out to a restaurant – because I feel like I can cook it better at home!

A couple of beers

As made famous by the Tongmaster many moons ago (see following link) you just can’t cook a BBQ without a couple of ice cold beers. You need to crack the first one to light the BBQ and then you can progressively down a few at regular intervals from there. So, an essential preparation tip would be to have a few on ice from about lunchtime. I often get asked what type of beer do you like, but I like to try all different beers from stouts to lagers to craft beer and sours there is no shortage of options. As a Queenslander I am required to always have a few XXXX Gold in the fridge, so that’s a good standby, but hey anything is good.

https://www.beesnees.com.au/2009/08/the-tongmaster/

A choice red wine to accompany the meal

Online shopping has been hugely popular during the COVID lockdown, and surely wine was a star performer over those months. A Barossa Shiraz from any of the vineyards is great but just like beers, I am always wanting to try different things from the plethora of vineyards around. I recently saw a documentary on Sam Neill and his Two Paddocks vineyard in Central Otago – would be cool to try this next.

https://www.barossa.com/wine/our_wineries

Family or friends

Here we are with the final ingredient to a great Saturday night BBQ. We are lucky in Queensland to have very few COVID restrictions on social gatherings now. But there was a while there that you couldn’t have anyone around for a BBQ, which was pretty tough for a lot of folks. Still now, many countries around the world are still not allowing it.

But there really is nothing quite like it! Here’s looking forward to family, friends and the next Saturday night Barbeque.

(writers note: It also works on a Friday or Sunday as well).

Share this...

Facebook

Twitter

I’ve been thinking about this song a lot lately. Originally written by Bruce Woodley of the Seekers and Dobe Newton, it really has a new significance right now. It’s most recent outing was at the Fire Fight Australia concert in February – here is Delta Goodrem’s version of a song that always stir emotions of national pride.

It’s been around for a while now that it could be the National Anthem one day, but that’s a thought for another day!

Here we are on the 20^th Anniversary of the opening ceremony of one of the proudest moments in Australia’s recent history – the 2000 Sydney Olympics, an event that united the country and showcased us to the world. I watched the opening ceremony whilst on holiday at the Gold Coast and was lucky enough to attend some events in person during the second week. The highlight for me (apart from the ‘high’ of attending a truly global event) was watching the chain-smoking Aussie Jai Taurima almost take out the long jump Gold Medal, eventually winning Silver.

Its hard to imagine a time where we can get back to being one country again – to travel freely across borders and see all there is to see across this great southern land. 6 Months ago, it was almost unthinkable that you couldn’t travel from Coolangatta to Tweed Heads for the day. We did this a couple of times last summer, staying on the Gold Coast and taking day trips to Brunswick Heads and the beautiful Pottsville, NSW.

There’s a lot of desperate and worried people at the moment, a lot of people in need, which is certainly leading to some feelings of keeping borders closed, staying at home or anything else people need to do to keep this virus under control. You have got to feel for the families and friends who are spread across states (and of course countries), unable to see each other and many of them have no-one to connect with. A Zoom call just doesn’t cut it!

The state borders are currently being used to protect COVID cases moving between states, however the virus doesn’t recognize state borders, rather it seems to act in clusters which have no political affiliation. What we seem to be lacking at the moment is a nationwide approach to fighting COVID-19 and without this we may be lacking a vision of the long game. It has become apparent that state borders are completely under state control. Did anyone else even know that a premier of a state could even close state borders?

I think its vitally important that we are collectively wanting the best for Australia, not just our own state and to have a pragmatic and compassionate approach to open up the country as soon as practical. The latest announcement this week – to open up Queensland to the Australian Capital Territory (approximately 1,000km apart) seems an unusual decision to say the least.

It’s okay to want the best for your state and to implement temporary measures to combat this pandemic, but we don’t want to forget that we are Australian!

It’s never been like this before! Sure, we have bitter interstate rivalries with sporting events like the annual State of Origin series between Queensland and New South Wales bringing out the best (and worst) in passionate and one-eyed fans. But even that is ‘state versus state – mate versus mate’!

Both Queensland and New South Wales are in a comparatively good spot at the moment with new COVID case numbers in the single digits. But still the borders remain predominately closed. The big question for me is what are the triggers that will get the state leaders working in a unified direction?

My family is all located in Queensland, but I know many families who are spread across 2 or 3 states – many of these families have had a very tough 2020. What thoughts are there on how Australia, as a country will come out at the other end of this?

On face value, the divided approach is similar to the many different COVID-19 vaccines being developed around the world – around 150 are under development. But this is a global issue – so where is the global approach and the pooling of resources to fight this pandemic? It’s a rare opportunity for us to show just how humanity can work together.

We have been exploring Queensland lately and discovering some amazing local experiences. But as all Australians love to travel, we should be looking at a coordinated approach to open up the country as soon as possible to get everything going again.

My hope is that Australia emerges at the other end of the pandemic a stronger nation and that we can, once again look forward to hosting nationwide and global events as only Aussies can!

Share this...

Facebook

Twitter

Okay, now the restrictions are being lifted and we can now at least travel locally within our own state or between certain other states.

Australians love to travel. We don’t mind going on long haul flights because to travel to many places around the world we have no choice, we are used to it! A 20 hour flight to Paris – bring it on! Of course, our remoteness to Europe, Africa and the Americas proved to be a blessing in disguise when it comes to fighting a pandemic!

It seems like it will be a long time before we can, once again, hit the long haul flights to a far off destination. So, it’s time to look local, to support Australia and come up with our Aussie Bucket List.

We live in a great country and there is lots to see right here! Last year I ticked off 2 of these must-do experiences.

I camped in a tent at Uluru in the middle of winter and hiked King’s Canyon and Kata Tjuta. Of course, we had to capture the money shot at sunset in front of Uluru and circumnavigated the rock on a Segway tour. Its approximately a 10km trip at the base so a Segway is a great way to take it all in.

The other great local experience from last year was a self-guided winery tour around the Barossa – with over 75 wineries, you can’t help but have a great time in this beautiful region. The winter adds another element to the tour and there’s nothing like sipping a Shiraz overlooking a vineyard in puffy jacket and beanie.

Here are some of the other amazing experiences I have had in Australia:

• Skiing at Perisher, Thredbo and Falls Creek. Conditions can be a bit unpredictable as it doesn’t (comparatively) get very cold, but if the weather gods are smiling on you there is a great time to be had.

• Watching the sun set over the Indian Ocean from the Sunset Coast north of Perth, Western Australia. The foreshore has been redeveloped and is an amazing place to visit. I was there in winter so will have to go back there one summer.

• Snorkeling the wrecks and feeding wild dolphins at Tangalooma Resort, Moreton Island

The Brisbane side of Bramble Bay is all mud flats, so when you get to the other side of the bay off Moreton Island it is quite stunning how its just like a tropical paradise. Set up a shade pergola for the day and grab whatever floating device you can. If you are staying on the Island, feeding wild dolphins each night is a must-do!

• Whale watching off the coast of Hervey Bay. August is peak migration season for the humpback whales. These curious creatures come and say hello to you so you can get extremely up close and personal. The boat I was in sat just off the northern tip of Fraser Island for an hour and let these magnificent creatures swim around and squirt water on us.

• Playing Beach Cricket on Whitehaven Beach, Whitsundays. This is definitely one of the world’s best beaches and you can only visit on a day tour. Yes, you have to wear a stinger suit in the summer but that doesn’t take away from the sheer beauty of the beach.

• The Inland road to Sydney. It’s the long, scenic route from Brisbane to Sydney but its well worth the effort. You pass through some great towns along the way including Tenterfield (I love Peter Allen), Cowra (for the remnants of the Japanese POW camp and the liberty bell), Dubbo (Western Plains Zoo) and Coonabarabran (Australia’s star gazing capital).

I have done a lot but there is so much more to do… So what is on my bucket list?

The Great Barrier Reef – This is next! I have been to the lower reef about a 2.5 hour ride through very rough waters in a small boat out from the Whitsundays. Next is seeing the reef out from North Queensland, Cairns and Port Douglas to be exact.

Visit the Daintree rainforest and Cape Tribulation – hey I’m there now as I write this blog!

Fishing for Tailor off the beach on the largest sand Island in the world – the World Heritage-listed Fraser Island. I plan it for this August.

Go diving for pearls off Broome, Western Australia. A very remote part of the country but I am keen to see it.

Visit Kakadu National Park

Drive along the Great Ocean Road, Victoria.

Visit Margaret River and Albany in WA, possible when I make it back for a summer holiday on the Sunset coast.

A driving tour through outback Queensland and Longreach

Go fishing for Barramundi in crocodile-infested waters in far North Queensland. I’m no fisherman but sounds like a great experience.

It’s great to travel locally to support the Aussies who have done it so tough over the last few months – so what’s on your Aussie Bucket List?

Share this...

Facebook

Twitter

The following is a true story – before mid-March 2020 of course when we all used to love travelling! One day we will all be able to hit the skies again for a dream holiday.

One of my lifelong obsessions is to score a free business or first class upgrade on a longhaul flight. So off I went to the airport on a recent trip to Toronto and did all of the right things:

Dress appropriately ✓

Everyone is a decision-maker ✓

Ask nicely (and ask everyone) ✓

Get there early ✓

Have a decent frequent flyer status ✓

You can pay for an upgrade to business class or use points, but that would miss the mark and I still think I would be obsessed with the free upgrade concept. Either way I didn’t have enough points, so I would have had to buy points ($2,500) for a business class upgrade from Brisbane to LAX. On a 12 hour flight that works out to $200 per hour, so clearly couldn’t justify that!

Going through the check-in process and seeing the staff at different points along the way there didn’t seem to be even one point where it was going to happen. There are many articles written about getting upgrades, that everyone is a decision-maker, but it seemed a bit like the opposite. The only time an upgrade may have been handed out was possibly at the gate if your name is announced. (BTW Didn’t happen either).

So Cattle Class it was, and fortunately I was lucky to have a spare seat next to me, enabling me to slumber in a half-lying position with my head against the window whilst able to encroach uninhibited  into the middle seat. If only I could stop that pillow from slipping down between the window and my seat!

A (requested) long layover in LAX and the huge Oneworld Lounge helped to ease the upgrade letdown, prior to my onward journey across continental USA and Canada.

Lets try again on the way home!

The way home – Dallas to Brisbane (via Los Angeles)

A similar experience on the way home, with it seemingly a hopeless case for an upgrade, yet I tried my best by doing all of the right things…again! So, I basically gave up hope.

It has to be said that the transition through LAX on the way out of the USA is incredible easy compared to when you enter the USA at that port. So, my love-hate relationship with LAX, which has developed over the last 23 years is in positive territory right now!

Okay, so now for the happy ending….

No, I wasn’t upgraded to either Business or even Premium Economy between Los Angeles and Brisbane. But I did have a lie flat bed! So how is that possible you ask???

Once again, I had a spare seat next to me, but as it turned out there was an entire spare row behind us. As luck would have it the last few people to board the plane did not sit in either row, so me and my fellow row-mate each took a row and I was left with 3 seats to myself. So yes, a lie-flat seat, Woo-hoo! Even though I couldn’t fully stretch out, I finally had a lie-flat seat on a long haul flight.

My obsession fulfilled? Well, not quite, but thanks to a bit of luck and possibly the Corona virus effect, I experienced my most comfortable long-haul flight.

So, until my next overseas adventure I am going to take this experience and be satisfied that sometimes things just work out – I didn’t pay for the upgrade and I am glad I didn’t.

Footnote – If I had paid for premium economy upgrade I couldn’t have laid across the seats as they have a solid armrest. Those poor people in Premium Economy!

Share this...

Facebook

Twitter