Well after a few days in Perth meeting up with former colleagues, and Wendy and a group of old mates from Brunei and Darwin days and giving a talk to the WA Environmental Consultants Association I found myself on the QANTAS flight to Darwin where I was met by my dear friend Chris - who with his partner Shirley have kindly offered to put me up. My house was re-let last week for 6 months so I am still "homeless" in this town. The weather is hot and pretty humid, certainly by the standards of the desert places and Perth I have been in recently.
The view from Chris and Shirley's flat is out over the golf course where C and I used to play every week.
The course looked to be in great condition but we never did get around to playing this trip.
The Darwin skies and sunsets were as dynamic and spectacular as always with the wet season still around.
I made a visit to the old OSS office and saw a few old friends there - we had been hoping to organise a training course in Darwin in October but it seems it will be postponed.
I also caught up with the Baddeleys and had dinner at John Spellman's new restaurant in Darwin - the Tramontana. The place is the ground floor of the new Evolution Tower built on the site of his old restaurant "Missisippi Queen"; a very good evening out with great food superb company and John still the queen of Darwin catering.
Then all too soon it was back tothe airport and off to Sydney.
Wednesday, April 21, 2010
Sunday, April 18, 2010
Off again: Australia - Perth and the Red Bull air races
So, I arrived back in Vienna on the afternoon of Sunday 11th as an unemployed person. Monday I went back to the office to collect mail (mostly bills) and learned that I re-start work on May 3 and will be off to Namibia the following Monday on a 3 day mission!
Anyway a couple of days to relax and do the washing (and for the cleaning lady to do the ironing) made a welcome break...............and a chance to get ready for Australia.
So Thursday 15th it was downstairs at 0615 to get in the car and head back to Vienna Airport for the early morning British Airways flight to London.
The new BA lounge at Vienna was very nice ; quiet and not crowded with good coffee and croissants in the morning. The BA flight was fine and we arrived a bit early at Heathrow. I called Clare to say I had got so far OKand then I heard about the ASH for the first time. There had been no news at Vienna and none on the flight so when I heard that all airports north of Birmingham were closed. I was more than a little apprehensive when I got to the transfer desk to get my onward boarding passes for the two QANTAS legs to Singapore and Perth. The good news at the desk was that I had been successful in my request for an upgrade to First class on the Airbus 380 to Singapore; the better news was that we were going to leaving at least one hour early; the not so good news was the British airspace would be closing at about the same time. The First Class lounge was good at Terminal 4 Heathrow and I had a drink and tried to read papers and the internet to learn all about the Icelandic volcano erruption and what was happening. Soon enough it was time to board and enter the wholly unreal world of my First Class suite on the A380. Quite an amazing set up with a swivelling seat that becomes an (almost) flat bed, a TV screen about 21" across, lots of little tables and storage spaces and even a guest seat so I could share dinner with a friend. You can see it all in the pictures on the QANTAS website although they do not really do it justice. One sits in a sort of self contained cubicle and it is very nice.
We left London 17 minutes before the airspce was closed which was pretty damn tight timing. Some of the sircraft behind us on the taxiway may not have been allowed to leave we were told.
The flight was great naturally, with Penfold's St. Henri to drink with the lovely lunch and Dom Perignon champagne as a welcome drink, an aperiitif and at any time you felt like it! Good movies, super service, wonderful food and a comfortable bed. Breakfast before Singapore was lovely too.
In Singapore the news from Europe was all poor when it came to air travel, so we had obviously been very lucky to be able to leave when we did.
Anyway I was soon off to fly on to Perth and arrived a little early and was soon settled into the Criterion Hotel on Hay Street. A central location , a reasonable 3 star place with free internet in the room, a good cafe and a fair bottle shop; only one block from all the shoping action in the pedestrian centre of town, opposite a free bus stop for transport to the bus station from where it was another free bus ride to the flying at South Perth.
The flying was exciting with lots of action on both days, plenty of plyon strikes which is unusual.
Anyway a couple of days to relax and do the washing (and for the cleaning lady to do the ironing) made a welcome break...............and a chance to get ready for Australia.
So Thursday 15th it was downstairs at 0615 to get in the car and head back to Vienna Airport for the early morning British Airways flight to London.
The new BA lounge at Vienna was very nice ; quiet and not crowded with good coffee and croissants in the morning. The BA flight was fine and we arrived a bit early at Heathrow. I called Clare to say I had got so far OKand then I heard about the ASH for the first time. There had been no news at Vienna and none on the flight so when I heard that all airports north of Birmingham were closed. I was more than a little apprehensive when I got to the transfer desk to get my onward boarding passes for the two QANTAS legs to Singapore and Perth. The good news at the desk was that I had been successful in my request for an upgrade to First class on the Airbus 380 to Singapore; the better news was that we were going to leaving at least one hour early; the not so good news was the British airspace would be closing at about the same time. The First Class lounge was good at Terminal 4 Heathrow and I had a drink and tried to read papers and the internet to learn all about the Icelandic volcano erruption and what was happening. Soon enough it was time to board and enter the wholly unreal world of my First Class suite on the A380. Quite an amazing set up with a swivelling seat that becomes an (almost) flat bed, a TV screen about 21" across, lots of little tables and storage spaces and even a guest seat so I could share dinner with a friend. You can see it all in the pictures on the QANTAS website although they do not really do it justice. One sits in a sort of self contained cubicle and it is very nice.
We left London 17 minutes before the airspce was closed which was pretty damn tight timing. Some of the sircraft behind us on the taxiway may not have been allowed to leave we were told.
The flight was great naturally, with Penfold's St. Henri to drink with the lovely lunch and Dom Perignon champagne as a welcome drink, an aperiitif and at any time you felt like it! Good movies, super service, wonderful food and a comfortable bed. Breakfast before Singapore was lovely too.
In Singapore the news from Europe was all poor when it came to air travel, so we had obviously been very lucky to be able to leave when we did.
Anyway I was soon off to fly on to Perth and arrived a little early and was soon settled into the Criterion Hotel on Hay Street. A central location , a reasonable 3 star place with free internet in the room, a good cafe and a fair bottle shop; only one block from all the shoping action in the pedestrian centre of town, opposite a free bus stop for transport to the bus station from where it was another free bus ride to the flying at South Perth.
The flying was exciting with lots of action on both days, plenty of plyon strikes which is unusual.
Jordan - Petra, Wadi Rum and Aqaba
The hotel in Petra was reached at the end of a longish day where we visited the reputed burial area of Moses, saw some very old and interesting mosaics and then a mosaic factory (and shop) and a few other old sites,a dam and even the rare black iris growing wild before trying to see the sunset from the top of the ridge at Dana.
Sunday, April 4, 2010
Off again - Jordan
Just back from Morroco. Well, after 5 nights in Vienna I am off again. The first three days in Vienna were at a technical meeting then my contract expired; so on April 1 I was unemployed and spent the day in the Wachau with my old mate Alan Hughes (the current Supervising Scientist). Then Good Friday I set off on a holiday to Jordan with a group put together by the bar steward from work.
We flew fromVienna directly to Amman with Royal Jordanian - good flight and OK people. Organization at Amman was a bit chaotic but the visas all arrived in the end and we eventually found ourselves on a bus to the Dana Palace hotel - I would not choose to stay here again and cannot recommend it (no beer, poor service over-avaricious waiters) - but it will do for the moment as we are off after 2 days.
The journey took us to sea level.....................
...........and then beyond to eventually the lowest land on the surface of the planet. The sea level is minus 422 metres or so - you can see I was up on the road when I took this picture........
........the water level decreases by up to a metre a year we were told, with a significant effect on the area.
Sadly the River Jordan is reduced to a trickle of thick, polluted, muddy water barely 4 metres wide and probably only a metre deep. This is due to the over extraction upstream for irrigation by both Israel (mostly) and Jordan. The site of Jesus's baptism has an orthodox and a "baptism place" and the Israelis have built a rival baptism facility immediately opposite. There were no tourists to be seen on the opposite bank. On the Jordan side there are several different christain churches of various denominations being built and a convention centre!
We then went on to the Dead Sea - a truly amazing feeling to be so bouyant, even trying to stand after floating was difficult. Several people were trying out the black mud 20 minute beauty treatment.....
We had lunch before the mandatory stop at the tourist shop with the whole range of Dead Sea "chemical and beauty" products. And then back to Amman. Tomorrow we set off to see the location of Moses's burial ( well the general area at least) and then end up in Petra.
We flew fromVienna directly to Amman with Royal Jordanian - good flight and OK people. Organization at Amman was a bit chaotic but the visas all arrived in the end and we eventually found ourselves on a bus to the Dana Palace hotel - I would not choose to stay here again and cannot recommend it (no beer, poor service over-avaricious waiters) - but it will do for the moment as we are off after 2 days.
Day 1 we saw the sites and sights of Amman and the area to the north - mostly roman ruins at the Citadel and the Philadelphia ampitheatre. There are several such ampitheatres in Amman and the surroundling area and they are in pretty good condition.
Ampitheatre
The Citadel site, Amman
The Ampitheatre and Amman from the Citadel
We also went to Jesrah and Ajloun and saw the old castle from the crusader times - sadly it was a Saturday so all of Amman's school children seemed to be there too which made it very crowded and detracted from the experience.
Coffee seller at Ajloun Castle
Ajloun Castle
Day 2 (today) we have been to see the site of Jesus's baptism and stood within a couple of metres of Israel. Probably the closest I shall ever get to that country. The journey took us to sea level.....................
Sadly the River Jordan is reduced to a trickle of thick, polluted, muddy water barely 4 metres wide and probably only a metre deep. This is due to the over extraction upstream for irrigation by both Israel (mostly) and Jordan. The site of Jesus's baptism has an orthodox and a "baptism place" and the Israelis have built a rival baptism facility immediately opposite. There were no tourists to be seen on the opposite bank. On the Jordan side there are several different christain churches of various denominations being built and a convention centre!
Russel Edge on the bank of the River Jordan at the baptism site.
Melanie, Abdullah ( tour organiser) Jim and ? in the mud!
We had lunch before the mandatory stop at the tourist shop with the whole range of Dead Sea "chemical and beauty" products. And then back to Amman. Tomorrow we set off to see the location of Moses's burial ( well the general area at least) and then end up in Petra.
Subscribe to:
Comments (Atom)